Deadly Game

by Matt Johnson

  On a flip chart, Nell was drawing up a list of facts. Nell didn’t really like theories, they relied too much on imagination. She was happy to leave the creative thinking to Toni.

  And the facts had started to stack up. Nell had already recorded that Robert Finlay and Kevin Jones had similar gaps in their army service records from late in 1980 through to 1984. Toni had looked through them in some detail. There were training reports, expense claims, a disciplinary matter and other small clues that put them both in the UK for a part of the time. But there was no information on overseas deployments. Either someone had removed it or it had never been recorded.

  The Falklands conflict had taken place in early 1982. With so many Special Forces soldiers having been involved and quite a few being killed, Nell had queried why there was no mention of either Finlay or Jones on any paperwork relating to SAS operations at the time. Where had they been, she asked?

  Toni checked on the two policemen who had been killed in the recent London attacks: Bridges – who they now knew had been in Afghanistan; and Skinner. Both had left the Army in late 1980. Both had joined the police force several years later: 1984 in the case of Bridges, ’85 for Skinner. No records for the interim period.

  When Nell discovered files in the name of Iain Blackwood, a picture started to form. Blackwood had also left the army towards the end of 1980.

  And there were two other soldiers who had left with Skinner and Bridges: Brian McNeil and Chris Grady. McNeil had been mentioned in reports as working as a security operator and was last heard of in Iraq. Grady had dropped off the radar.

  So, Toni asked, as they broke off for a coffee and to review their progress, what had happened in the early 1980s to prompt five Special Forces soldiers to leave the army and then for all their records to show similar gaps? And why were there similar breaks in the service records for Finlay and Jones?

  Nell mentioned the missing Federal Intelligence report from Pakistan, which had led her down a blind alley. It dealt with the rendition of a terrorist suspect from Pakistan by the CIA. There were no names on the report but the details of the flight, the departure point and the destination told Nell what it was.

  Toni suggested they switch focus to men who had left the SAS at about the same time as the others – in the early 1980s. They found there were twelve of them. Hunched over the computer, Nell searched military records, salary payments, newspaper articles and all manner of sources in an attempt to trace any common link.

  It was when Nell decided to check pension and life insurance records that her efforts bore fruit. In ten cases, the immediate dependants of the men who had left both the SAS and the army between April 1980 and February 1981 had claimed on life-insurance policies. All had paid out.

  So, ten out of the twelve who left the SAS between 1980 and 1981 were dead. The only ones alive were Grady and McNeil. Nell wrote in red ink on the flip chart, underlining her words.

  Toni started searching names but produced nothing of note. It was as if the men had disappeared off the face of the earth between 1981 and 1984. There weren’t even any social security claims. Nell in the meantime beavered away at Government databases. She, of course, came up trumps. She had switched tack to regular outgoings – the kind of thing that everyone pays: car insurance, national insurance, even income tax.

  By tracking the sources of the national insurance payments, Nell was able to identify bank accounts. Most were now closed, but two were still open. They were joint accounts shared with surviving partners. Within a few minutes she had details on her screen of two accounts that bore the names of deceased soldiers. Both had received salary payments. Both from a company called Black Suit Travel, listed as BST on the bank statements. Nell checked Companies House. There was no such organisation listed.

  Dead end.

  She started on Bridges, Skinner and Blackwood again. All had changed accounts, but the banks were thorough and kept detailed records going back for decades. It wasn’t long before Nell found what she was looking for. BST had been paymaster to all three throughout the important years.

  It was the same for McNeil and the others.

  Bingo.

  With the exception of Chris Grady. For him there were no NI payments, no benefits claims, no bank account, no records. Chris Grady had disappeared from the electronic world.

  Then, as Nell added to her fact list, a thought occurred to Toni. Something Finlay had said about the Cyclone book, which, she remembered, was also set in the early 1980s. She saw that Stuart had left the office copy on his desk. She picked it up and, returning to the comfort of her chair, opened the front cover.

  Chapter 59

  I woke up late.

  At least, it might have been called late on a normal day. As the alarm wrenched me from a deep slumber, I had been in bed for just three hours.

  Staggering towards the shower, I noticed a note on the chest of drawers next to the bedroom door. It was from Jenny. I was not to be too late home from work. I smiled. Chance would be a fine thing.

  The DCI had suggested we get into the office by noon. Josh proposed we meet in the canteen for a brew before starting work. We would both need the caffeine to kick-start our brains.

  I could have easily succumbed to temptation and spent another couple of hours under the duvet, but I had an appointment to keep.

  Rupert Reid was now back at work and fully recovered. I had sent him a text while we had been waiting for SO19 to turn over the Romanian house, asking him if he could look at something for me.

  Despite the unusual hour, Rupert had replied almost immediately. My instructions were to attend his office on the sixteenth floor, Scotland Yard, Room 1604 at 10.30. It would be great to see the old guy again. The last time that we had spoken was just before he had warned me not to trust either MI5 or Nial Monaghan. How right he had been. The bomb that went off beneath my car had been just far enough away from him to spare his life.

  I arrived at Rupert’s office just as his clock showed ten-thirty.

  There were two mugs of coffee waiting ready near the kettle. A huge bear hug and much hand-shaking later, I showed Rupert why I needed his help.

  As I laid out the contents of the yellow folder on an empty desk, I could see from Rupert’s facial expression that there was going to be a problem.

  ‘It’s Arabic, Bob,’ he commented, as he donned tortoiseshell-framed reading glasses and leaned heavily over the desk for a closer look.

  ‘Which is why I came to you, Rupert,’ I replied.

  He took a deep breath, exhaling slowly as he flicked over the sheets of paper. ‘I don’t read Arabic as well as I speak it, but I can tell you what it’s from.’

  ‘That’s a start. Can you work out what it says?’

  ‘Well…’ he paused. ‘It looks like it might be something from a collection of Islamic works called Mawsu’at al-Jihad, the ‘Encyclopaedia of Jihad’ … but it’s not a section I have ever seen before.’

  ‘I’ve never heard of it.’

  ‘After your time, Finlay. We first came across sections of the Mawsu’at in the late 1980s. It was written by people working for a man called Abdullah Azzam. Your extract seems to be slightly different; it’s called “Encyclopaedia of Political Jihad” – maybe a localised version?’

  ‘Political Holy War?’ I asked.

  ‘Not Holy War. It’s a misconception that “jihad” means “holy war”. It actually translates as “struggle or effort in the name of Islam”, so what we have here is something about political struggle.’

  I sat down. My lack of sleep was already starting to catch up with me. Rupert stopped talking for a moment, walked across the office and returned with one of the mugs of black coffee. ‘Here, get this down you,’ he said. ‘This could take a while.’

  I sat and listened as Rupert continued to browse the documents. Here and there he could pick out words he knew – signs and names that were familiar. Azzam, he explained had been a co-founder of the Palestinian Hamas organisation. He had commissione
d the ‘Encyclopaedia’ as a means to teach Mujahideen how to resist the Soviet invaders.

  ‘Sounds like a nice bloke,’ I commented.

  ‘Not really. He’s widely reported as having been responsible for persuading Bin Laden to travel to Afghanistan and get involved in what he called the “global jihad”. Azzam met Osama Bin Laden in Saudi when he taught him at the university. Bin Laden fell under his spell.’

  ‘The same Bin Laden that they say is behind 9/11?’

  ‘The very same. Azzam recruited him.’

  ‘He’ll be high on a CIA hit list then?’

  ‘Not anymore, Finlay. Late 1989, Azzam was driving his father and brother to prayers when they were taken out by a roadside bomb.’

  ‘CIA got him?’

  ‘One of many suspects. Serious money is on Bin Laden taking out his old mentor when they started to head in different directions. Sure as eggs are eggs, if Azzam was alive today then it would be him in charge of Al Q’aeda, or whatever it might have become.’

  ‘The King is dead, long live the King. Bin Laden takes out his biggest rival leaving the path clear?’

  ‘Got it in one, Finlay. Makes you wonder who taught those guys how to make bombs like that.’ His eyebrows raised, Rupert looked hard at me over the top of his reading glasses. He knew what I would be thinking. I paused for a moment before answering him.

  ‘I know what you’re saying. We did, mostly … me and a few others. We had quite a few of them over here in the eighties. Mostly up in Scotland. We taught them a lot of ways to kill Russians.’

  ‘It’s a murky world. I saw that Collins lad on TV last weekend. He’s stirred up a real hornets’ nest. I had a feeling when I looked through the book that some of your lads might have been involved … but I didn’t think you were a munitions specialist?’

  ‘I’m not, I was sent up there to train them on missiles. First it was the Milan, but they couldn’t get the hang of the wire guidance system. A year or so later the Americans managed to sort out some Stingers. The Afghans were much better with that. Fire it, forget it.’

  ‘And once they got the Stinger, Russian air immunity was defunct.’

  ‘Exactly. And, like Beaky wrote in his book, war games for the Americans.’

  ‘Beaky?’

  ‘Chas Collins, the author you’re referring to. Me and Kevin knew him. He was on Goon troop for a while before he quit to work the circuit.’

  ‘So, he was SAS then? That TV programme at the weekend made out he was fake…’

  ‘No, Rupert. He told some porkies and paid the price. Beaky wasn’t badged; he never passed selection.’

  ‘Hardest course in the army.’

  I laughed. ‘No, that’s the one run by the Catering Corps. Nobody’s ever passed it.’

  We laughed together. It was an old joke.

  Rupert continued to mull over the papers, making notes on a jotting pad as he slowly worked his way through them. After about twenty minutes, he admitted defeat. Slamming his pencil onto the notepad he swore under his breath.

  ‘It’s got me, Finlay,’ he said. ‘The text is confusing. Some parts I can work out, then, in the middle of a sentence the language seems to change. It’s really odd. Like it’s been put together by several different people.’

  ‘That might be the case if it is what you think. I doubt if Azzam wrote it all himself.’

  ‘Can you wait a minute while I “phone a friend”, so to speak?’

  I readily agreed. While Rupert headed off to his desk in the corner of the room, I stared out of the window.

  It was a grey October day. In the street below, hundreds of people were going about their working lives. Not far away, the River Thames was visible as it cut through the heart of the city on its way to the sea. A small boat was struggling eastwards against the flow of water. Somewhere out there, I thought, Jenny was shopping for our new home.

  I had an idea what she would be looking for. I had seen the latest estate agent blurb on the kitchen table before I’d left that morning. Over the preceding weeks, there had been piles of property listings arriving in the post. I had scanned through them but none seemed to excite me. The listing that had been sitting on the kitchen table for the last few days was different, though. Quiet, rural and with roses around the door, the house was described as having nice views and no neighbours. Jenny didn’t like having neighbours; it was a trait that we shared.

  A few moments later, Rupert returned.

  ‘Good news. A mate of mine who works over at the Ministry of Defence will have a look at it for you. He’s a top-drawer translator; bit of an oddball, but great with languages. One of the few blokes in the UK who can debate the Quran with a Muslim cleric without getting into a heated argument.’

  I hesitated for a moment. The idea of allowing an MOD employee to have the file troubled me. I had promised Gayle Bridges some answers and I didn’t plan to get us all in the mire by having it handed over to the Ministry of Defence.

  ‘Can he be trusted … I mean, can he work without the MOD knowing what’s in the file?’ I asked.

  ‘If that’s what you want. He might work for the Government, but he’s discreet. If you want a private job done then I can vouch for him.’

  ‘OK, what’s his name?’

  ‘Dr Julian Armstrong. He’s a Taff, like your mate Kevin Jones. Lives in the Black Mountains, gets up at some God-earthly hour to get to work in London. Just don’t get talking politics or religion with him is all I’ll say.’

  ‘Why’s that?’

  ‘He hates politicians and, when it comes to religion, he follows a Buddhist order that dates back to the eighteenth century. He might try and convert you.’

  ‘You want me to take the folder over to him?’

  ‘No, leave it with me. I’ll pop it over to him in my lunch hour. Give us a chance for a natter.’

  I agreed. I was left with an hour to get to Hampstead.

  Chapter 60

  It was back to square one for the murder enquiry team.

  By the time I reached Hampstead, the DCI had sent several detectives to Ealing to sit in on the interviews with the slave girls. It was unlikely they would know where the Romanians were heading when they fled the house, but we had to try.

  I was sent with Josh Bonner to wear out some more shoe leather, knocking on doors in the High Street. It was tedious work, especially after the excitement following the lead we had gained from the CCTV at the garage.

  Several hours’ slog produced no rewards, save for the knowledge that Relia hadn’t been frequenting the local shops. That made how her killers found the safe house even more of a puzzle.

  Rupert rang me at about three o’clock. Julian Armstrong had given the document a quick once over during their lunch together. The reason Rupert had been unable to translate it was due to the fact that it was written in a number of versions of Arabic, as if it had been written by a Palestinian, edited by an Egyptian and then proofread by someone from Saudi. As Armstrong had been able to recognise all of the language variations, he had found reading the text less of a challenge.

  Rupert warned me to be patient for a result on the translation. Armstrong had proposed doing a superficial analysis, with notes, to see if the document was of any interest or significance. He would be in contact in a few days if he had anything to report.

  I got the distinct impression, though, that Armstrong didn’t consider the extra work to be a high priority. Although Kevin seemed to be anxious to know if the document had a monetary value – maybe even the kind of figure that could buy an early retirement – he was going to have to learn to be patient.

  Rupert wanted to know if I had ever heard of something called ‘Al Anfal’. I hadn’t. Apparently, the name was mentioned in the Chas Collins book and in several of the document pages that Armstrong had scanned over lunch. It seemed to be the name for another group, similar to Al Q’aeda. I had to confess to having skimmed some of the Collins book, so I wasn’t too surprised that I didn’t recall reading the
name.

  We ended the call and I returned to Josh and the job at hand.

  Chapter 61

  Ealing, West London

  Lynn Wainwright turned the Rover into the side street. In the daylight, it looked very different. The local station had mentioned there would be a PC standing outside and there he was, halfway along, looking chilly and bored.

  He watched her as she parked the car. Waiting for her to mess up a parallel park, she mused. If so, she disappointed him. One swift movement – a perfect manoeuvre.

  She climbed out of the car and greeted him. ‘Hello, mate. I’m Lynn Wainwright from SO19. Just popped back to pick up my torch. I left it here during the entry.’

  ‘Lucky you, I’ve drawn the short straw. No warm cars for me … Nice bit of parking, by the way.’

  Lynn smiled in appreciation. ‘You’re on stag, I guess?’

  ‘I’ve been standing outside these empty houses for the last two hours. Best entertainment I’ve had has been staring at the windows of the places opposite. Highlight was at about seven, when the lights started to turn on. Would you believe, the routine is almost the same in every house? First the bedroom light, then the bathroom. A few minutes later the hallway and then the kitchen.’

  ‘Alarm, toilet, cup of tea, shower,’ said Lynn.

  ‘Exactly. It’s the same in my house too, probably the same for you.’

  ‘Just starts a lot earlier.’

  ‘They tell me this was a brothel, which made me wonder why SO19 had done the raid. Prostitution wasn’t normally your thing, I’d have thought. But I guessed maybe the pimps have started carrying guns.’

  ‘Something like that.’ Lynn looked along the front paths to the houses. It looked like the Murder Squad forensic team had been on scene as well. Both were now closed up, the windows sealed with masking tape. All views from outside were blocked by sheets hung across the window frames. ‘Police Line – Do Not Cross’ tape was tied against the doors of both houses. ‘Do you have a key?’ she asked.