Amanda: Tales of an international female spy
Page 16
‘There are several more of them in the basement,’ Jeremy warned. ‘Be careful of Viktor!’
As Charles and Julian were handcuffed the SVHQ team headed down the narrow staircase to the basement to take the rest prisoner.
Chapter 21
Safely back at SVHQ, Amanda and Jeremy sat together in the chairman’s office. Amanda held a cup of hot cocoa and Jeremy an espresso. Once the rest of the henchmen had been arrested and the location secured MI6 had been contacted to lead completion of the operation. Marcus, one of their agents, sat alongside James, Mai, Chaumert and the chairman, listening to Charlotte as she recounted the events of the night of the break-in at the ‘Solution d’energie’ plant. Now the pieces of the puzzle fell into place.
At precisely two-thirty a.m., as darkness enveloped the building, Viktor and Stefan had been met in the shadows by Julien.
Julian knew the patrol pattern of the guards around the ‘Solution d’energie’ perimeter and had been able to bypass them just as one guard was changing shifts with another. This had been at two-forty-five a.m. He had escorted the two of them into the building unnoticed. Once he had given them the codes for the safe he had slipped back out of the building. They were now on their own.
Avoiding the CCTV they had winched themselves up into the rafters of the building using a grappling iron and a steel rope fired from a specially designed gun. Traversing across the roof they had been able to avoid all the video monitoring systems within the building. Once they had reached their desired location they had lowered themselves to ground-level using a steel rope once more.
Perhaps the most ingenious aspect of their successful removal of the documents had been the refrigerated bodysuits they wore. These allowed them to pass freely inside the building without being picked up by the thermal imaging cameras.
Once inside the office they had entered the code they had been given, opened the safe and raided its contents. They had then resealed the safe and left the office. That was when they had collided with the security guard and he had met his gruesome fate.
Chaumert was shocked at the revelation that Julien had been an informant of Balthazar Charles. He had placed complete trust in him and was now overcome with gratitude that the whole affair had come to a happy conclusion, which would allow him and his family to continue their lives.
The chairman and Monsieur Legarde had both received unanimous congratulations from the global community for bringing the matter to a satisfactory end, the outcome of which could have been unspeakably horrific. ENCO’s assets had been frozen and seized by the government. The company had obviously breached its contractual obligations and the energy contracts would be put back out for tender.
Patrick, Viktor, Charles and Julien would be the principal defendants in a court case that would draw heavily upon terrorist legislation to reach a rapid and inevitable conclusion.
Many months later, as she sat one evening in her apartment, Amanda was able to reflect on the ENCO case. Since then no other case she had been assigned had been of quite the same magnitude.
Bach’s Johannes Passion played in the background as she sipped her Lafitte.
Then the telephone rang.
‘Hello, mademoiselle.’
She knew the voice instantly.
‘Hello, Jeremy.’
‘How is work?’
‘Fine. How is France?’
‘Great.’
‘Actually, I’m phoning to let you know that I have a new assignment and have requested that you come to Paris to work alongside me again.’
She had not seen anything of Jeremy since he had returned home.
‘I have a lot of work here, Jeremy. I don’t know how the London office will respond.’
‘They will be fine. Besides, I have already booked the tickets.’
‘When?’
‘Tonight. In fact I have them right here.’
‘Then how am I to use them?’
She sensed some mischief was afoot, but she was not sure of what yet.
It was then that she heard three smart taps on the door.
Still in her dressing gown she stood up and went to answer.
It looked like it was going to be a long night.