Hunting Ground

by L J Morris

  Kinsella nodded. ‘I would say so. Sometimes they use one identity to enter the country and a different one to leave; I think, they pick up the new passport while they are in the country, after they’ve carried out the assassination. I’ve then tracked that second ID to another killing sometime later. It would take a lot of money to have fakes this good waiting for them. Money, or government involvement – or both.’

  Carter slumped back in his chair. ‘We know Vadim is high up here, but this points to other members of this conspiracy in influential government positions all around the globe. This is much bigger than we feared.’

  Kinsella nodded. ‘I reckon we’ve got five assassins travelling the world, carrying out the killings, supported by a group who can supply fake passports at the drop of a hat. Five assassins backed up by Vadim’s foot soldiers.’

  Carter was always amazed by Kinsella’s ability to track things down and his talent for finding patterns and piecing things together. ‘Do you have pictures? Can we identify any of them?’

  Kinsella pressed another key and a series of passport photos appeared. They all had the classic look of the official identity photo. The subjects looked straight ahead, blank faces and lifeless eyes staring down the lens. Four men and one woman posed for the camera, different hairstyles and colours, some with facial hair and some without, but, undoubtedly, the same group of five people. ‘These are the pictures from the fake passports. Obviously they can’t change their appearance too much in the short time they spend in any particular country.’

  ‘Do you know where they are now? Who’s next on the kill list?’

  Kinsella picked up a printout. ‘That’s the thing, Simeon, three of them have gathered in London. That’s the first time I can find more than two of them in one place at the same time. The other two seem to be in Geneva. None of the targets in the notebook are in London or Geneva. I think they’ve abandoned the list.’

  Carter could tell Kinsella was worried by what he’d found. ‘Why would they do that? This thing all started in Geneva, what are they after there? Is that the team chasing Sinclair and McGill?’

  Kinsella took off his glasses. ‘I don’t think so. These two,’ Kinsella pointed at two of the passport photos, ‘are still there.’ He clicked on a newsfeed on a screen that showed a hotel preparing for a large group of visitors. ‘There’s a UN security summit due to be held shortly at this hotel, just outside Geneva. I think this is the big event they’ve been leading up to. They’ve dropped all their other plans to concentrate on this. An attack at the summit could kill several very big birds with one stone.’

  Carter picked up the note he’d been handed earlier and read the text again. He hoped he was wrong, but he had a sinking feeling in his stomach. ‘This has all the hallmarks of a coup.’

  ‘What do you mean, Simeon?’

  Carter let out a deep sigh. ‘I’ve been in this game a long time. I’ve been involved in operations like this before.’

  Kinsella had no experience in the world of espionage outside of reading about it in James Bond novels. ‘I don’t understand what you mean.’

  ‘If you want to take control of a country, there are only a few ways you can do it. You can invade, but then you end up in a mess, like Iraq. You can convince the country’s own military to rise up and overthrow the government, but then you end up with Cuba or Zimbabwe.’

  Kinsella was fascinated that Carter had been involved in this kind of thing. He’d always taken the stories he’d heard with a pinch of salt. ‘And what’s the other way?’

  The more Carter explained, the more he believed that this was Vadim’s plan. ‘You get rid of the government you don’t want, covertly, and put your own puppets in at the top.’

  ‘How do you get rid of a government “covertly”?’

  Carter paused and looked straight at Kinsella. ‘You discredit them with fake allegations of corruption or some other criminality. That way, their own people take them down. Or …’

  Kinsella’s heart was pounding. ‘Or, what, Simeon?’

  ‘Or you kill them and blame someone else. That way, everyone gets behind the new government.’

  ‘Holy shit. They couldn’t be planning that, could they?’

  Carter took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. ‘A moped nearly ran me down in the street today, and the passenger shoved this into my hand.’ He held up the piece of paper. ‘It looks like it’s come from Sinclair and McGill, but god knows how they got it here.’

  Kinsella was glad to hear they were still alive. ‘They are both very resourceful. Are they alright? Where are they?’

  ‘All it says is that they were compromised and tracked down in Paris. McGill has been wounded but is recovering. They have holed up somewhere safe and ditched all electronic devices.’

  Kinsella nodded. ‘That must have been the incident the French were talking about. I’m not surprised they’ve ditched the electronics, it’s the best option. Whoever is after them has some serious resources.’

  ‘You can say that again. Sinclair has finally managed to identify Vadim. You’re not going to believe this, Danny.’

  Kinsella took the note from Carter. ‘Believe what?’

  ‘Ali says Vadim is the Honourable Marcus Enfield, our new Home Secretary.’

  The only noise in the flat was the sound of the fans inside the computers. The two men stared at each other in silence, incredulous. Kinsella was the first to speak. ‘This is massive, Simeon. They’re planning to bring down the government and take control. We have to tell someone.’

  ‘We can tell Lancaster, but what do MI6 do without any evidence? Don’t forget, McGill and Sinclair are off the books, we aren’t working officially either.’

  Kinsella turned the note around and held the text up to Carter. ‘We need to offload the evidence. This is too big to sit on. We know too much now, Vadim will be after us as well. We have to assume he knows everything. We have to get out and go into hiding, try and help the others.’

  Carter knew this could be the end for all of them. If Vadim pulled this off, he would be too powerful to stop. Vadim may have stopped everything else to concentrate on the coup, but he would still find time to kill them. ‘Okay, give me copies of everything we’ve got and destroy any mention of Sinclair and McGill. We’ve got to give them the best chance we can if things go wrong here. I’ll set up a meeting with Edward.’

  Chapter 21

  Hyde Park was full of tourists soaking up the sights and sounds of London while enjoying the fine weather. Kids ran around on the grass shrieking and giggling as office workers, glad to be away from their desks, sat and ate a sandwich or read a book. No one looked like they were taking notice of what was going on around them; no one obviously watching or carrying out surveillance. Everything looked perfectly normal. That was good, Carter wanted his meeting with Lancaster to be as public as possible. He didn’t want to be suddenly bundled into the back of a waiting van, and disappear to some foreign black ops site with the rest of the terrorists. If Vadim could pull that off, Carter would never see the light of day again.

  Edward Lancaster was standing just off the footpath next to The Serpentine, watching the ducks floating past. His suit jacket was folded and on the floor at his feet. Partly because of the temperature, but also because Carter had asked for it in his message. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Lancaster, but you could never be too careful. Carter had to be sure Lancaster wasn’t armed or wearing a wire.

  When Carter approached, Lancaster looked around and behind him – he was checking for followers or eavesdroppers; Lancaster wanted to ensure his own safety just as much as Carter did. These were dangerous times. ‘Good to see you again, Simeon.’ He held out his arms to the side. ‘Is all this really called for? You know you can trust me.’

  Carter put down his briefcase and took off his own jacket, laying it on the floor next to Lancaster’s. ‘I know I can, Edward, but it’s really for both of our sakes. You never know what either of us could be threatened with to mak
e us turn on each other.’

  ‘It hasn’t been like this since the Cold War, Simeon. You sounded serious on the phone.’

  ‘It is serious, Edward. Powerful people want us taken down before we can do the same to them. We have no way of knowing who is on our side and who is part of the conspiracy. I’ve already destroyed my phone, so don’t try and contact me on it.’

  ‘That’s a bit drastic, isn’t it? It was an anonymous phone anyway.’

  ‘With the information we’ve found out, you don’t want any link between us, believe me. I have a feeling I’m going to be running for a while.’

  Lancaster had another check around them and lowered his voice even though they were alone. ‘What is it, Simeon?’

  Carter told him everything: the notebook; the conspiracy; the assassinations and, worst of all, the new Home Secretary and the UN summit. ‘I know it sounds far-fetched, Edward, but Danny has been working night and day on all of this.’ He handed Lancaster a large buff envelope containing the sheets Danny had printed out. ‘This is everything we have. It doesn’t have any of our names in it, in case it falls into the wrong hands. I need you to keep it safe, we may need it.’

  Lancaster folded the envelope in half and slipped it inside his jacket. ‘How sure are you, Simeon? This could finish us all off.’

  ‘I’d bet my life on it. In fact, I might need to.’

  Lancaster looked around at everyone enjoying the park, blissfully unaware of any impending chaos that might befall them. ‘Sinclair’s sure about the Home Secretary?’

  ‘She’s in no doubt. Enfield was on the island with Bazarov.’

  Lancaster put his hands in his pockets and stared at his feet. ‘What do we do, Simeon? Is this evidence in the envelope enough for us to expose the conspiracy?’

  ‘Not on its own. A lot of it is circumstantial. Enfield could argue it’s all fake news, and the conspiracy is against him.’

  ‘The slippery bastard would probably get away with it, too. End up with all of us in prison instead.’

  Carter nodded. ‘We need more, and we need Sinclair. I’m hoping she can get to the other folder they’ve mentioned and get here before it’s too late.’

  ‘Where’s the other folder?’

  ‘We don’t know and Sinclair won’t tell us. We just have to trust her.’

  Lancaster lit a cigarette and took a deep draw on it, blowing out a cloud of smoke. ‘I’ve been meaning to give these things up, not sure I’ll manage it just yet. At least this explains the review.’

  Carter looked behind him as a couple walked by on the footpath. He waited for them to be out of earshot before he continued. ‘Review of what?’

  ‘The new Home Secretary has asked to be briefed on all security operations, domestic and foreign. Obviously, he has started with MI5, they report to him, but I can see us being next.’

  ‘What’s he looking for?’

  ‘He must be looking for Sinclair, trying to find out if any of us have had contact with her.’

  Carter smiled. ‘That’s a bit ironic, isn’t it? The mole trying to find out if he has a mole in his organisation.’

  Lancaster picked up his jacket and the envelope. ‘We have to stay away from each other until this is finished. It would be dangerous to assume that Marcus Enfield is the only member of this conspiracy to make it to a senior position within the establishment.’

  ‘Do you think you can trust your boss?’

  Lancaster paused. ‘I’ve never been that sure of him, even before this lot started.’

  ‘Has he done anything to make you suspicious?’

  Lancaster shook his head. ‘Nothing in particular, maybe I just don’t like men like him.’

  ‘Men like him?’

  Lancaster stubbed out his cigarette. ‘You know the type: public school, posh family, never been in the field. He only got the job because Daddy had friends in the service. He’s a politician, not one of us.’

  ‘We’ll have to be careful, Edward. Sinclair and McGill are unofficial, but these things have a habit of leaking out. Someone, somewhere, knows you are working with an unofficial asset.’

  Lancaster held up the envelope. ‘I’ll look after this, Simeon, and I’ll pass on our security concerns to the Prime Minister and the UN. It’ll have to go through my boss, unfortunately, but I can’t just bypass him. In any case, Vadim won’t come after me unless he has something concrete to go on.’

  Carter picked up his jacket and briefcase. ‘Let’s just hope we’re in time to stop whatever they’ve got planned in Geneva. Take care, Edward.’

  ‘And you, Simeon. Watch your back.’

  The two men parted and walked in opposite directions back through the park. Carter couldn’t help feeling that the world would be a very different place the next time they met.

  Chapter 22

  Lancaster knocked on the door of the Chief of the Secret Intelligence Service. Known as ‘C’ to his subordinates, Kelvin Hadley had been the head of MI6 for three years, but in that time he hadn’t managed to gain the widespread trust or respect of the service. There were too many stories from his past of how he’d treated people, throwing his own officers to the wolves so he could climb the ladder. The service didn’t forgive behaviour like that.

  Lancaster wasn’t interested in the gossip and rumours about Hadley, he just didn’t like the man. He always tried to avoid going to see his boss, but he had to push his personal feelings to one side and swallow his pride. Lancaster was a professional and had to escalate Carter’s concerns over Geneva. He put his hand on the door handle and waited.

  Hadley could see Lancaster through the glass of the door; he didn’t like him. He didn’t like the way everyone talked about him being a hero in the field during the Cold War. No one said it to his face, but he could tell they were suggesting that Lancaster should be head of the service, not a man like Hadley: a man with no front-line experience. It was jealousy, he knew he was destined for greater things. Hadley enjoyed making Lancaster wait, it made his otherwise mundane day a little more bearable. ‘Come in.’

  Lancaster walked into the office and closed the door behind him. ‘Good afternoon, sir.’ Lancaster spoke with undisguised contempt. ‘Need to brief you on a possible security concern.’

  ‘Have a seat, Lancaster.’

  Lancaster sat down and looked around the office. The normally plain interior was decorated with shelves that were covered in mementos and awards, the man was displaying his ego for all to see. Anyone taking a closer look would realise all the awards had been given because of who Kelvin Hadley was, not for something he had done. Men and women who worked for him had risked, and in some cases lost, their lives in operations, while this prick soaked up the glory.

  ‘What is it, Lancaster? I haven’t got all day.’

  Lancaster considered talking to the Prime Minister himself, but that wasn’t protocol. ‘We’ve had a tip-off about a possible threat to the UN security summit in Geneva. We believe it’s a valid threat.’

  Hadley looked up from the document he was reading. ‘And where did this tip-off come from?’

  ‘I’d rather not say at this time, sir.’

  Hadley got up and paced around to Lancaster’s side of the desk. ‘You’d rather not say? Well, Edward, I’m afraid you’ll have to say if you expect me to escalate this any higher.’

  Lancaster couldn’t drop Carter in it. He’d rather just walk out. ‘It came from a trusted source; an operative I used to work with stumbled on the information.’

  Hadley stood behind Lancaster. ‘Would that be Simeon Carter by any chance? I know you’ve met with him a few times.’

  Lancaster’s heart skipped a beat. Had Hadley been following him? How much did he know already? ‘Simeon and I are old friends. We meet up for coffee, occasionally.’

  ‘Are you sure that’s all it is, Edward?’ Hadley put the emphasis on his name. ‘Do you know anything about an ex-operative called Sinclair?’

  Lancaster had to avoid giving away any more th
an he had to. ‘I’ve heard the name, sir. There’s a rumour in the office that she escaped from prison, again.’

  ‘We’ve been asked to keep an eye out for her, by Mexico. She’s not your source, is she?’

  Lancaster shook his head. ‘The source is unimportant. We need to pass on the possibility of an attack of some sort in Geneva. We have to tell the PM and the Americans.’

  Hadley opened the office door. ‘That will be my job, not yours. I’ll talk to the PM at our regular meeting, tell him what I’ve found. I’ll brief the Home Secretary, too.’

  Lancaster didn’t care about Hadley taking the credit, but now the Home Secretary would know they had found something; Vadim would know. He had to start putting things into place to protect himself and those around him who he knew he could trust. He got up and walked out without saying a word.

  Hadley closed the door behind him.

  * * *

  The street lights were just beginning to come on when Carter got back to Kinsella’s flat. He’d spent the time since his meeting with Lancaster putting some things in place in case he and Danny had to run: sending messages to old contacts to arrange travel and accommodation. Danny already had money in foreign bank accounts so that wouldn’t be an issue.

  He stepped into the lift and pressed the button for the top floor. He had been thinking about everything they had found out that day. He couldn’t get rid of the voice that kept telling him something wasn’t right. Every mole Carter had dealt with during the Cold War had been relatively low-level, hiding in the shadows. They had never had a mole who had reached the upper echelons of government before; a mole with such a high profile. Any security operative worth their salt would know to stay hidden. Call it gut instinct, but something didn’t add up.

  When the lift doors opened, Carter stepped out and turned right, heading for Kinsella’s flat. He wasn’t really paying attention to what he was doing, too many other things on his mind. When he pulled out the key it caught on the door handle and he dropped it. ‘Bugger.’ Carter reached out to steady himself and bent over to retrieve the key. As he leaned his weight against the door, it swung open.