"First, the prisoners escape had been somewhat thwarted in that only two of the five prisoners remained on the lose thirty hours after they had gotten away. Local law enforcement and security agencies are hard at work tracking down the two missing men. Due to what had happened, Cabinet have just asked the Attorney General and Minister of Residential Affairs to undertake a review of the entire prison system operation and report back to Cabinet with recommendations two weeks from today. The review would include (but not be limited to) an examination of current HMP Dodds procedures, enhancing the mechanisms used in transporting prisoners to and from court, the existing security protocols, what new or additional equipment, personnel and funding might be required to enhance the BPS’ capacity, efficiency and effectiveness going forward. I stress that the re-capture of the escaped prisoners remains our priority and is expected soon.
"Second, I acknowledge but will not at this time shine any new light on what progress had been made to date following the sudden disappearance of our Central Bank’s Deputy Governor.
“Third, it is still too early to say any more than has already been stated by our Commissioner of Police on last night’s St. Lawrence Gap incident. However, be advised that having visited the scene first thing this morning, Commissioner Jeremie has since also met with the four British visitors involved in the incident. Both he and Minister Thompson have also spoken with British High Commissioner Tullock today. To summarise, all hands were on deck to quickly and satisfactorily resolve all three incidents by close-of-play-Monday in cricketing parlance. Once these targets are achieved, I will address the country. In the meanwhile, our GIS will issue regular updates on these incidents over the next three days, i.e. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday at 4:00 p.m. Any questions?” Motby concluded.
It was Cornelius Picket, Head of News at the privately owned Star News Corporation Inc. who was first.
“Prime Minister, with these two prisoners on the loose, can you assure Barbadians and visitors alike that they can continue to go about their business, day or night, in peace and safety? A follow-up too if I may…why were the deficiencies in the BPS – HMP Dodds in particular, not known about earlier and if they were known, by whom and why were they not fixed before this escape under your administration?”
"Mr Pickett! First in and on-the-ball as usual! Great questions, all of which I’m happy to answer for you, and the general public. I am assured by the Heads of our law enforcement and security agencies that…and I must emphasise this, the country is safe. There is no national security threat against the country, from inside or outside. These three incidents could have taken place together at any time of the year, or at separate times. It is unfortunate that they’ve occurred this week. But rest assure, prior to these incidents, we had set up an elaborate security system around the Test Match starting tomorrow and ending with the Commonwealth Sports Ministers meeting by the middle of next week. As a result, everyone here, Barbadians and visitors alike, should be aware that there is an extra level of protection for them over and above what they would normally experience.
“Now, as to your second question, I’ll not prejudge what might or might not come out of the BPS review but again, please be assured that we will take its findings seriously and act on them promptly, even if it means my having to shift around some funds to satisfy elements emanating from the review in my forthcoming Budget.”
“Prime Minister, can you give us a Budget date at this time please?” The questioner was Barbara Jarvis, Head of News at the Government-run Barbados News Corporation.
“Sorry, Mrs Jarvis. I’ve not decided that yet, but it is possible that the review’s recommendations might prompt me to delay my timing a little, but not by much. Remember, I’ve not delivered any of my thirteen Budgets any later than the end of June. Okay?”
There were three other questions from local journalists, but none of them connected to the incidents mentioned by Motby. Then Oswald King from Sky Sports asked the Tourism, International Transport and Sport Minister a question.
“Tell me, Minister Grant…why should UK tourists come to Barbados in the future rather than go to other Caribbean islands? Your Prime Minister says safety is not a concern now, even with these three incidents, but what about the future? People back home want to be comforted before they come all this way and during their visit. What advice do you give to encourage them to come here?”
“Thanks, Mr King. As the Prime Minister has just intimated, and as I told you yesterday morning during our interview, Barbados is one of the safest places in the world to live, work, visit and play. We also have a lot of foreign investors and expatriates who run some of those businesses who not only enjoy living here, but the special working, business, social and recreational environment we offer here in Barbados. Visitors, certainly a lot of Brits, are already in for the start of tomorrow’s Test Match. I’ve met some for example at the British High Commissioner’s reception last night. They’ve told me how much they are enjoying their stay, the accommodation, the food, the sea, local entertainment and of course, to being at the cricketing tip of the world, that is New Kensington Oval, to see some great cricket. My advice, to answer your question directly, is for visitors to take the same precautions in Barbados that they would normally take when they are back home, wherever they come from. It is what I do when I’m away from Barbados.”
With that answer, Motby brought the media conference to an end. The attending media appeared to be satisfied. He felt confident that he and his fellow Ministers had given a good account of themselves. It was always best to be open with the media…provide them with as complete answers to their questions wherever possible, as opposed to being evasive with (and certainly not lying to) them. His team had just accomplished that.
Being as open as he could be at most times was one of the secrets for his longevity and survival as a leader and as the Prime Minister of Barbados for the past thirteen years.
***
Around two hours after the meeting at the British High Commissioner’s residence had started, it ended.
A ‘verbal understanding’ was now in place between the Heads of Barbados’ security and a sub-regional one, plus the Head of one of Britain’s most durable security agencies. Only time would tell if the understanding reached would become a formal written policy, protocol or agreement between the politicians on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. They would have to consider the merits of and all aspects of implementing such an eventual agreement before full cooperation, collaboration and implementation could take place.
What the action timeline for this would be was yet to be decided. Given the speed at which these formal agreements usually took to be finalised, realistically it was unlikely to be completed before the end of 2018. In the meanwhile, a softer, informal working relationship might be implemented between the two sides once the ‘reporting’ was done back to the UK and Barbados governments by Sir Thadeus and Colonel Burke respectively.
***
After exiting Ben Mar, but still on the compound of the High Commissioner’s residence, Superintendent Innis received a call from his secretary, Melba Bodie.
She was upset, because she’d just discovered that the original papers regarding Wednesday’s PR had gone missing. She assured him that she’d secured them in the usual way on Tuesday before leaving work. The only other persons who had access to the filing cabinet where PR records were retained were himself and George Telford, HMP Dodds’ Deputy Superintendent. Furthermore, Telford had apparently left the compound shortly after Superintendent Innis’ departure to go to the British High Commissioner’s residence. Telford had given no reason for leaving, stated where he was going or indicated if he would be returning to the compound. This was the normal protocol and practice when either of the compound’s two senior members of staff left that facility during a regular work-day.
Innis thanked Bodie for informing him. Seriously? George Telford! Why would he break established protocol?
Then a thought started to come to
Innis. Could…? He stopped himself in mid-thought. Yes, someone on the inside of HMP Dodds had ‘sold them out’ by providing details of Wednesday’s PR to persons on the outside which enabled the daring prisoner hijack and escape to occur.
He became uncomfortable as things started to become clearer.
***
Colonel Burke returned to BIB HQ around 5:30 p.m. He found JJ, Mohammed, Jayne, Fred and Joe in the conference room just as his mobile phone rang. He put up a hand to stop JJ from speaking.
“Colonel Burke.”
“Innis here, Trevor. Just got news from my secretary that my second man, George Telford, left HMP Dodds just after me this afternoon.”
“Not normal…but why are you telling me this, Simon?” asked Colonel Burke.
“Because I’m beginning to think that Telford might have given up details of Wednesday’s PR,” answered Superintendent Innis.
“Oh really? Well, you better find him quickly and establish that for a fact,” said Colonel Burke coldly.
“I’ve been trying to reach him ever since I heard the news. I’ll keep trying. Once I get him, I’ll provide you with a readout on what he says…”
“Yes. Please keep me posted.” Colonel Burke ended the call.
“News?” asked JJ.
“Maybe. Just that Innis feels Telford might have been the person at HMP Dodds who sold out yesterday’s PR. Apparently Telford left the compound this afternoon after him and during normal work hours without telling anyone where he was going. He’s not reported in or returned. Innis is trying to track him down.”
“Ah…alright. Let’s focus on what we have again, just in case we’ve overlooked something,” said JJ.
“Why not indeed,” said Joe.
This time, more slowly, Jayne told them what had happened from her viewpoint.
“I recall seeing a masked man limping as fast as he could towards the getaway car before it screeched off. His right leg was hampering him as he ran. Three or four gunshots were fired from the car as it sped away.”
Mohammed then did likewise, reiterating what he had seen. It was not dissimilar to Jayne’s version.
“Once we arrived at the scene, we drew our weapons but did not fire them. The last person to enter the getaway car carried a limp. Everything happened quickly. The getaway car wasted no time in leaving –”
Colonel Burke interjected, “Why didn’t any of you try to shoot out its tyres?”
“In the melee, we could have hit one of the prisoners. They were in close proximity to where the getaway car had stopped to collect Power. Once it had its passengers on board, including Power and the limping man it took off,” answered JJ.
“Chief, I also reiterate my observation at the time that the getaway car used was a dark blue Mitsubishi Lancer Evolution 6 saloon,” said Mohammed.
No one doubted him. Mohammed had been a fireman prior to joining BIB and had attended two crashes on the ABC highway where similar vehicles were involved.
Mohammed’s observations were subsequently proved correct after a similar car had been spotted at the bottom of a shallow gully by a visiting hiker. He had reported his discovery to a passing police vehicle on patrol once he was back on the main road. A wrecker had been summoned to pull the car from the gully. The Barbados Licence Authority (BLA) subsequently confirmed that the bent-up number pates found on the car were false. The car’s engine and chassis numbers matched those of a car that had been reported stolen to the RBPF two nights earlier.
The getaway car could now be checked for fingerprints and DNA evidence.
***
The established custom remained alive and well.
Promptly at 7:00 p.m., members of both squads commenced dinner with non-alcoholic drinks in different parts of the south coast hotel where they were both staying. Around the dinner table sat members of each teams’ full squad. The eleven members of each squad chosen to represent the West Indies and England in the Test Match at New Kensington Oval from tomorrow and over a five-day period knew who they were. It was over dinner that final match tactics for the game would be conveyed to the players by their coaching staff.
Of course, it was recognised that tactics would need to be adjusted, if not changed completely, from day-to-day, session-to-session (three per day) or even more than once within a session, as the game progressed. One side might gain the upper hand over the other at any particular time. The beauty of Test Match cricket could happen over a sustained period or quite quickly, even within a single over. The first tactical decision would be taken after the toss of a coin was won or lost. Does your team bat or bowl first?
Having seen the pitch that afternoon and bearing in mind the fine weather conditions expected over the next few days, both sides were inclined to bat first. Whichever team did so would want to do well in their first innings at the crease to ‘set up’ the game for themselves, hopefully enabling their spinners to keep the opposition under pressure during their second innings. On the other hand, should they manage to bat better and score a lot more runs than your team did in its first innings, then your team might be in trouble and end up losing the match.
Aside from the batting, how a team bowled – hopefully to get wickets and if not, to stem any flow of runs, was equally as important. Here’s where your coaching staff, a captain’s skill and leadership ability, along with the ‘buy-in’ and commitment of all squad members and the support staff came in.
Both sides knew what they wanted to do at the start of Day 1, but everything would depend to start with, on which team won the toss.
***
JJ’s Gold team, plus Fred and Joe spent another hour in BIB’s conference room, going over everything that had happened during yesterday’s prisoners escape, for what seemed like a tenth time. They came up with nothing new.
As Colonel Burke had left them to return to his office to finish off some paperwork before going home, JJ spoke to his fellow operators.
“Okay folks, let’s save some energy for tomorrow, eh? If we all go home now, get something to eat and some sleep, we can meet back here early in the morning before we start playing our respective parts in the EEC security project. Makes sense?” he asked.
The others nodded.
They knew JJ was right. Tomorrow might see them in a better place to be able to find something to work with to get them closer to finding the two escaped prisoners and those responsible for making it happen. The angle that someone on the inside, in the BPS, specifically at HMP Dodds or even from the RBPF, had been involved in the whole mess, was now uppermost in their minds.
They would start by speaking with George Telford once he got to work in the morning.
***
The unexpected convergence of these three events, were all suspicious and prompted three diplomats from the Mexican Embassy, USA Embassy and British High Commission to meet with their opposite number from the Chinese Embassy, at the latter’s rustic St. Thomas residence that night. The house, specially chosen for its isolated location, was an ideal venue for their clandestine meeting.
As with their earlier appearance in Independence Square, Jose Jesus Sanchez, Amarouse Busbee and Zoe Markowitz would ensure that they were not easily followed to Xui Kung Pei’s residence. They had arrived there by complicated and roundabout routes. They’d certainly not travelled there from their own residences ‘as the crow flies’, i.e. as directly as they could have done. Anyone seeking to follow any of these three persons to their destination would surely have been spotted. Their rare meeting protocol was such that, should any of them feel that they were being followed at any time during their journey to the venue, they would divert away from their destination and return home.
Tonight, they had been no problems and everyone had arrived safely and covertly.
In true diplomat style, they shared some fine wine and a meal together. It was Chinese of course which had earlier been purchased from a Maxwell Road, Christ Church Chinese restaurant. That done, they settled down to conduct their collaborat
ive business that was at hand. Their recent reading of the situation as of late-Tuesday afternoon, had changed…and not for the best.
Were the three events over the past thirty-six hours coincidental? Who were the players behind them? Were they local, regional or international? How had none of Barbados’ security agencies (at least their contacts within these organisations) known about them in advance? How might they follow up tomorrow and which agency would lead the response on each event? Was there anything to suggest that any of the security agencies or the political directorate might have had a hand in creating these scenarios?
Sanchez spoke up. “In answer to your question, Zoe, it’s been known that in other small countries with a struggling Government, it might want from time to time, to provide a ‘distraction’ from what might recently have been happening at home. But this clearly is not the case here in Barbados.”
“I agree,” said a mischievous looking Markowitz. “So, given our recent findings which we transmitted by respective dispatches to our capitals on Tuesday night, was our analysis flawed? If so, what did we miss?”
Busbee answered. “None, I’m sure we were accurate. Listen up. The prisoner rescue was obviously planned. The disappearance, let’s call it that for now as we’ve no evidence to date of it being a kidnapping and as for the robbery? These things happen all over the world and at any time. That’s just bad luck. Petty crime.”
“Then, my friends, let’s look at the other questions we’ve raised,” said Pei. It was a command, not a request.
One by one, they examined and answered the questions they had asked themselves during the evening. Determined to be thorough, they next turned their attention to new developments they had picked up from their local ‘scribes’, persons known to dabble or operate in Barbados’ small but active criminal underworld.
Hung Out to Dry Page 23
