Snatched

by Lilburne, Guy

  “Where are you from in the middle east?” asked the prince.

  “We are from Syria” said Azeez, with more than a little pride.

  “So, the Syrian President is behind this then?”

  “Haha! Charming, you are a funny man. No. We are from the Free Syrian Army. We fight against the President.”

  “Oh! Then why did you kidnap me?”

  “We didn’t. We rescued you from the Myanmar rebels who did kidnap you, but then we decided to keep you for a while.”

  “For what?”

  “So that the British will help my brothers back in Syria, of course! The British can then convince the rest of the West to also help in our struggle.”

  “I think you over estimate the political punch the British carry amongst their Western allies and the British government wouldn’t get involved in the war in Syria. Not because of a kidnap victim.”

  “Not even for their prince?”

  “No. Not even for me.”

  “Well, we’ll see, Charming. We’ll see.”

  It was all lies of course, but the prince didn’t think it through enough to spot the holes in the story. He felt happier knowing who his captors were and he felt relieved that they were rebels fighting against the tyrannical regime in Syria. This made them the good guys! Maybe that is why he didn’t think it through enough. Maybe it was easier for him to accept this as the truth, because it wasn’t so threatening to him.

  ~3~

  The Western world was starting a new day. The news channels were full of the breaking news from Myanmar. People around the world, who had never heard of the city of Mawlamyine, now all knew exactly where it was. Photographs and pictures, most of them taken on mobile phones, started to fill the TV screens around the world. The story started to emerge that the Muslim and ethnic rebels had formed an alliance and were trying to overthrow the fragile government. Reports started coming in thick and fast and news channels all around the world started showing photographs of destroyed and burning buildings, airports, army barracks, tanks and vehicles. TV and radio stations had been destroyed, bridges had been blown up, whole cities isolated. People in their hundreds were lying dead in the streets. Soon each news bulletin started asking the question ‘Where is the prince?’ They thought that it raised concerns because the Palace or the government would not confirm that he was safe and well. It was a French news channel that broke the news about Prince William. They showed photographs of the destroyed convoy. Bodies scattered on the road. They had an eye witness report from a local villager who had heard all the noise and went to see what it was. The old man said that he had seen the prince tied up and thrown into the back of a car. Just one man was driving and they headed north. It was only a few minutes after that that the embassy in Myanmar confirmed the report. Prince William had been taken. Everyone else had been killed. They found just one survivor; SAS trooper Mick Smith. He was badly wounded and taken to hospital.

  A second C.O.B.R.A. meeting was called later the same day. It was the first time since the days of World War II that C.O.B.R.A. had held two meetings in the same day.

  The Prime Minister took his jacket off and rolled up his sleeves. It wasn’t hot, the room was air conditioned. It was just a subconscious act that he meant business. The faces around the table looked grim. If there was ever a time for a leader to show his worth it was now. The Prime Minister was calm. He had already made a decision.

  “The Myanmar President has declared war on the Muslim and ethnic rebels from the north of Myanmar. He has asked the free world for help. The United Nations Security Council has called an emergency meeting for tomorrow. I think we all know that the Chinese and the Russians will veto any military intervention.” He looked around the room at the faces staring back at him. The burden of leadership was weighing heavily on his shoulders, but he was the Prime Minister and he was man enough for the task.

  “I have spoken to our legal people” he continued. “We are satisfied that the attack upon the royal convoy was an act of war upon the United Kingdom. We do not need our actions to be sanctioned by the United Nations. In just under an hour’s time I will declare that we are at war with the rebels from northern Myanmar and announce our support and allegiance to the Myanmar government. William, you can mobilize our troops.”

  ~4~

  As soon as the news about Prince William hit the screens it had a world impact such as hasn’t been seen since the terrible events of 9/11. The whole world was watching their TV screens. Governments and heads of state, including the Syrian President, sent public and private messages to the Queen and to the British Government. Reporters, journalists and newsreaders tried to ring out every drop of drama in their reports. As if it wasn’t dramatic enough already! The opposition party in Great Britain was the Labour party. Its leader, Ed Militin, was a smarmy man from an ‘over privileged’ background. He was more akin to Mr. Bean than he was to a leader of a political party. Actually, he had a remarkable resemblance to Mr. Bean and his political punch was like a limp lettuce, but he was an opportunist. He took every opportunity to make the headlines and started every interview with the sentence “We in the Labour party are deeply concerned about the situation in Myanmar and the plight of Prince William and we fully support the action taken by the government, but……” Then he would go on to denounce the government as incompetent, the Prime Minister as a clueless leader. He called for the resignation of nearly all the cabinet members for various things that he stated they should or shouldn’t have done to prevent the events taking place in Myanmar and for their failure to protect the prince and the British interests.

  The Foreign Secretary rang the Prime Minister again at 2:00am to inform him that they had found a body in the jungle in the north of Myanmar. The body was dressed in the prince’s clothes, but it wasn’t the prince. The PM thought that that was probably good news. The next C.O.B.R.A. meeting was held at 6:00am. Whitehall had been closed off, but herds of reporters and TV crews gathered at each end of the road to photograph and film the ministers arriving for the meeting.

  “Situation report please, William.” The Prime Minister’s opening statement signalled the start of the meeting.

  “Yes, Prime Minister” said the Foreign Secretary, clearing his throat. “We have SBS and SAS troops already on the ground in Myanmar. HMS Illustrious will arrive in port in the next few hours with a full platoon of commandos. We have two ballistic missile submarines, HMS Victorious and HMS Vengeance, heading for the Andaman Sea. The parachute regiment is sending 1 PARA SFSG (Special Forces Support Group). They will be there before the end of the day. We think that the body found in north Myanmar was a deliberate decoy. Interpol is searching dental records and we are having DNA tests done on the body and the clothing to see if we can come up with anything.”

  “Theresa, what have you got for me?” asked the prime minister, looking at his Home Secretary.

  “I have spoken with MI5 and the chief constables of every force in the United Kingdom. I have instructed them all to task every CHIS (Covert Human Intelligence Source) they have on the books for information regarding the Prince’s disappearance.”

  “Have any of them got a CHIS in Myanmar?”

  “No sir. I don’t believe they have.”

  The Prime Minister flicked his eyes up towards the ceiling.

  ~5~

  With the arrival of British troops in Myanmar the TV coverage improved and images of war filled TV screens around the world. The world was watching Myanmar and the Syrian President used the distraction to use chemical gas against his people. Thousands were dead or dying in the city streets of Syria. No bullet holes, no wounds, just gassed.

  It was late evening when the Foreign Secretary telephoned the Prime Minister.

  “David we have an ID on the body. It’s a young German man named Wolfgang Bauer from Berlin. We know from passport checks t
hat he was in Thailand. There is no record of him having entered Myanmar. Our friends in Thailand have been able to confirm that he used his passport to check into a guest house in Phuket. I have taken the liberty of instructing our embassy staff in Bangkok to get down to Phuket and see what they can find out. It’s not much Prime Minister, but it’s a lead!”

  “Thank you, William. Good work. Ring me if there is anything else. Otherwise, I’ll see you in the morning.” No sleep in the last 48 hours was taking its toll on the Prime Minister.

  ~6~

  Prince William had made a good job of endearing himself to his captives. He ate with them every mealtime and he even took his turn in washing the dishes. The five Syrian soldiers liked playing cards. The prince showed them a card game that he knew and they all sat and played cards together. The prince had the entire camp mapped out in his head. He knew it off by heart. He knew where everything was and he had covertly paced out the measurements on his strolls around the camp. The forest surrounding the camp was dense and he had no view other than a few feet into the jungle. The only gap was the little mud track road by which the truck had brought them there. The prince knew that they were high above sea level because he had felt the truck climbing up and he guessed that they were probably reasonably high up a mountain ridge. Up a mountain in an area of tropical rain forest. It wasn’t much to go on!

  He kept thinking about Sgt. McGinley and what he would do. He kept thinking about all the training he had given him and he kept remembering more and more of it. He thought the best time to escape would be in the afternoon after the meal, when the soldiers were tired and prone to napping. The best route out was probably down along the muddy track, but then he would have to head into the jungle to evade further capture and survive on what he could find to eat. He could carry some water with him. The problems were that he didn’t know where the mines were and who else was waiting for him out there - and Maaz. Maaz was the biggest problem. He never spoke to the prince, never smiled, and just watched him constantly. Even in the afternoon, when they seemed to get a little tired and lazy and closed their eyes for a few minutes sleep. If the prince moved then Maaz was alert and his eyes opened watching the prince. He was the biggest problem alright!

  ~7~

  At the C.O.B.R.A. meeting the next morning the Foreign Secretary informed the Prime Minister that they had identified the guest house where the dead German had been staying;

  “It’s not really a guest house, just a few rooms to rent over a motorbike shop. It’s in a place called Patong on the island of Phuket. We have the man’s passport and all his personal belongings. The only thing of interest is a journal. We have people looking at it now in case there is anything of use in it. I’m told, Prime Minister, that the dead German is a Prince William look alike. We think he was taken into Myanmar as a decoy by the same people who probably kidnapped the Prince. I will have some photographs later today, sir.”

  The war in Myanmar was still raging, but the government forces, with the help of the British forces, were systematically pushing the rebels back to the jungles in the north. No prisoners were being taken! Hour by hour newsreaders announced success after success for the joint forces, but the big story was still about the missing Prince William. So called ‘Experts’ were being invited into TV studios; military experts, psychology experts, relationship experts, survival experts, even a hostage expert. They all took up hours of TV, talking nonsense about what the prince would be going through, as if he had rung them up and told them! Mini documentaries were made about Prince William and shown on a daily basis to be watched around the world by millions. The Sun newspaper in England started a ‘Free Willy’ campaign and anyone who signed up to their totally useless campaign was sent a ‘Free Willy’ flag, badges and stickers. The Sun made exaggerated claims in the paper each day as to how many millions of people around the world were signing up to ‘Free Willy’. They claimed it was the campaign that was making everyone take notice, but they never stated who the petition was going to be delivered to. In truth nobody knew where the prince was or who had taken him. They didn’t even know if he was alive or dead!

  The next C.O.B.R.A. meeting was more interesting than the previous ones had been. The meeting heard reports about how well the war in Myanmar was going with very little loss of life to British soldiers. SAS and SBS troops were working behind enemy lines with devastating effect. The rebels thought that the British had ‘ghosts’ fighting the war for them and it made them very afraid. The newspapers around the world reported on their heroic actions. In the States the papers reported that ‘it was suspected’ that USA Navy Seals were also ‘probably’ being deployed in the area, but the truth was that they were not. The White House didn’t want to get involved in another war and the President had said a polite but very firm ‘No’ to the British Prime Minister after he asked for USA assistance. It seemed that the ‘special relationship’ that so many leaders of both countries had so often talked about was only special when America needed it to be.

  “Situation report, please William.”

  “Yes, Prime Minister.” The Foreign Secretary gave a long and detailed presentation. Photographs appeared on the big screens of the guest house in Patong; views from the outside, views of the room, photos of the journal and passport and Wolfgang’s personal belongings. Also photographs of his dead body lying dead in the jungle and close up photographs of his face and the terrible gunshot wound to his head. Everyone in the room noticed the likeness to the prince.

  “Did our special agents turn anything else up in Patong?” asked a thoughtful Prime Minister.

  “No, not really sir. They spoke to some Thai ladies who also lived in the rooms above the motorbike shop. They said they had seen Mr. Bauer, but didn’t really know him that well and didn’t know where he went to or any of his associates. They didn’t even know he was German.”

  “Is that it?”

  “Yes sir, I’m afraid so. But we are still looking at the journal and we are hopeful that there will be something in that.”

  “Jesus!” muttered the Prime Minister.

  “Sir! I have just received a very interesting phone call from the Foreign Office on my way here. The Syrian President has had his intelligence people contact us and they are saying that they might have some intelligence about the prince.”

  “Go on.”

  “The information isn’t going to come without strings attached. They have dangled the idea of a new peace plan for the area, with the rebels being given the south-east region of the country and enclosed there by a military demarcation zone, which they suggest should be policed by the West.”

  “Impossible! If that tyrant has information then he should be sharing it with us.”

  “He should, sir. But he won’t. Well, not for free anyway.”

  “Okay William. Look into it. Open up any back channels we still have with Syria. I want a list of his full demands and a list of the implications. We also need to risk assess the information. I want to know how good it is and will it get Prince William back unharmed!”

  “I’m all over it, sir.” The Foreign Secretary pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped the sweat from his bald head.

  “Is there anything else?” The Prime Minister looked around the room. There were a lot of shaking heads. He looked at the Home Secretary.

  “Theresa, anything from you?”

  “No Prime Minister.”

  “Look people. I am going to a meeting with Her Majesty this morning and I want to be able to tell her that we are doing absolutely everything we possibly can to find her grandson. Everything! I don’t want to just sit there reading off a list that sounds as if we are just going through the motions and hoping it turns out okay. If anybody has anything else, then let’s put it on the table now.”

  “Prime Minister.” The Foreign Secretary cleared his throat and then continued in his
monotone, nasally voice. “Do you remember Danny O’Brien? He was the ex-detective from Scotland Yard, did some work for the Thai government.”

  “Yes, I do remember him. He caused the White House and ourselves some embarrassment a few years ago.”

  “Yes sir. He is a loose cannon, but a good detective. He was responsible for Operation Tiger Lily. If you recall, sir, that was the operation which helped to close down the worldwide network of drugs and people trafficking by the Chinese.”

  “Yes, I remember. So what is your point William?”

  “Mr. O’Brien is still in Thailand. He has worked some high profile cases in the past, both in the United Kingdom and in Thailand. He is a loose cannon and he plays by his own rules, but he has had some amazing successes in the past. He may still be available and of course, he is expendable. He can do whatever it is he does and not be linked to the government, sir. I was thinking that now we have a link to Thailand with the dead German, it might be worthwhile approaching Mr. O’Brien.”

  “Yes it might be worth a try…….”

  “I was going to suggest that Prime Minister” interrupted the Home Secretary. Theresa may or may not have been going to suggest it, but she was a woman who had a long political history of trying to claim credit for things that she hadn’t done and deny responsibility for things that she had. Consequently, she wasn’t taken very seriously by anyone. She wasn’t popular amongst the British public and barely tolerated amongst her cabinet colleagues.

  “Of course you were, Theresa. Of course you were!”

  The Prime Minister turned back to the Foreign Secretary.

  “Can we get this man O’Brien on board William?”

  “I have taken the liberty of speaking to the Thai secret service people. I actually spoke to Mr. O’Brien’s old friend Captain Gee Wattana. He told me that O’Brien is happily married with children now and probably wouldn’t jump at the chance to work for the British government. But he thinks that if he spoke to him first and then you were to speak to him yourself on the telephone………..and if the money was right, then he may be tempted.”