The Dark Web_The stunning new thriller from the author of The Angolan Clan

by Christopher Lowery

  ‘What? I don’t believe it. And where’s Leo? Why isn’t he with you?’

  The lawyer looked uncomfortable. ‘I have to inform you he’s not coming back to XPC.’

  ‘What are you talking about, he’s not coming back?’ Tom was on his feet now, shaking his head in bewilderment.

  ‘That’s what he told me.’

  Shen had been waiting for this, and before anyone else could respond, he said angrily, ‘What? Never? What in hell is that supposed to mean? He’s got a job to finish, an urgent job. He can’t just walk away and leave us in the lurch.’ For once, the Chinaman was thinking on his feet. He had to discredit Leo with Tom and Sharif.

  The lawyer weighed his words carefully, ‘I think we have to respect his decision. You didn’t see how he was treated in that prison. After what happened to him, it’s not surprising he wants to get away. In any event, he is definitely not coming back here.’

  Daniel Oberhart was watching the Chinaman’s reaction with increasing suspicion. He said calmly, ‘I can understand his point of view, Shen. I’m pretty sure I’d want to get out of this country if it had happened to me. And from what I’ve seen and heard, he finished his job with flying colours before he was imprisoned, otherwise you wouldn’t be planning to send the package to Shanghai on Wednesday. I see nothing reprehensible about him leaving.’

  Ed gave him a grateful glance. ‘Right on, Danny. It’s not our place to question Leo’s decision. He’s just got out of that shithole, for Christ’s sake. And he’s done here. If he wants to go home, it’s entirely up to him.’

  Tom couldn’t agree. His Senior VP had quit, and he didn’t like it. ‘We’re not responsible for him going to prison, Ed. That had nothing to do with XPC. Shen’s right, I’m disappointed with Leo’s behaviour. Where is he now, Hatim?’

  ‘I don’t know. I left him outside Bur Dubai this morning and I have no idea where he was going.’

  Sharif started to speak, but Tom interrupted. ‘All right, I think that wraps it up. Thanks for your report. I’m not very pleased with the situation, but we’ll manage without Leo Stewart. We’ll manage just fine.’

  ‘That’s what I was about to say, Tom. We can manage without Leo. Wednesday’s delivery day, no more discussions.’ Sharif looked across at Shen. He was about to become famous, and the sooner the better as far as he was concerned.

  Ed watched the lawyer leave, feeling a grudging admiration for Shen’s pantomime. It’s going to be impossible to delay things now, he realised. I’d better let Leo know asap.

  THIRTY-NINE

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  Monday, 12 July 2017

  ‘Leo Stewart was released this morning.’

  ‘Really? And Angela?’

  ‘She’s gone. Left the country last night.’

  Elodie gave a cynical laugh. ‘I knew it. I told you so. It must have been Ed who convinced her and bought her a ticket. Merde, if only I’d been able to find her at the airport, I’m sure I could have changed her mind.’

  ‘I’m not so sure. The lawyer told us he’d been given a video and letter by someone he’d never met. A stranger, friend of Leo’s family.’

  ‘Hmm. He’s probably lying to protect Ed, I don’t trust lawyers. Where’s Leo Stewart?’

  ‘I don’t know. Ackerman said he’s not coming back to XPC, but that’s all. You’re probably right, he’s obviously been told to say nothing more.’

  ‘You mean Leo’s gone as well? Where?’

  ‘I have no idea, but it doesn’t matter any more.’

  ‘What do you mean by that?’

  ‘We’re sending the package on Wednesday.’

  ‘C’est vrai, it’s true? Chéri, you talked them into it? Well done, darling, I knew you could do it.’ She was becoming tired of feeding Shen’s ego, but she didn’t have much choice. ‘Have you told Shanghai?’

  ‘I called them straight away. They said they can move the schedule forward on their side, just a few days testing, that’s all. They’re very happy with us.’

  ‘Did you have much of a fight?’

  ‘That little prick Ed Muire tried to win more time. But Tom and Sharif supported me, we’ve got the deadline you wanted.’

  ‘I assume he’ll be staying at XPC. Can he cause us any trouble?’

  ‘No. Leo must have told him to try to slow things down, but he’s not smart enough to understand why. Even Sharif doesn’t know what’s going on. Anyway, it’s too late for that now. Everyone’s red hot to get the project finished, so he’ll just have to toe the line if he wants to keep his job. He likes it here and he’s got a girl, he won’t make trouble.’

  ‘And by the time Leo and Angela get to wherever they’re headed, it’ll be too late for them to cause us problems.’ Elodie was breathing a sigh of relief. It had been a close-run thing getting Angela to take Leo Stewart out of the way. If he’d been left to poke his nose into things for just one more day, it would have been curtains for the whole operation, she realised. ‘We know she’s gone home, but where do you think he’s gone?’

  ‘He won’t stay here, unless he’s looking for more trouble. And I doubt he’s gone with her after what she did. I expect he’ll go back to the US or the UK, probably already run home to his mother, arrogant, cowardly little African shit.’

  Her voice dropped to a whisper. ‘Come home early tonight and we’ll open a bottle of champagne. I’ll have something unusual waiting for you.’

  He felt a movement in his loins. ‘I’ll be there at seven. Put on your special outfit.’

  London, England

  Ilona Tymoshenko called through to Dr Middleton’s office. ‘There’s a Mr Marius Coetzee on line one. He wants to speak to you about Leo Stewart. He got our number from General Chillicott.’

  Middleton almost fainted with shock. Marius Coetzee? He’s still alive? It’s not possible. How did he find me? What does he want? He panicked, thinking, I can’t speak to him, he’ll recognise my voice. Although he had used acoustic software to disguise his speech whenever he had called the man, he knew his vocabulary would give him away, no one spoke the way he did any more. ‘What name did you say?’

  ‘Marius Coetzee, I got him to spell it out. He has a South African accent. Do you know him?’

  ‘Not that I recollect. If it has to do with Leo and XPC, then you are equally informed on those subjects. I’m afraid I’m in the middle of researching something rather complex. Do you mind speaking to him to see if you can be of assistance? Please omit our suspicions about Tsunami and Liáng’s family and fortune.’

  She was immediately suspicious. Everything to do with Leo Stewart is shrouded in mystery. What’s Hugh playing at?

  ‘What about the possible Russian connection?’ she asked.

  ‘You could vaguely allude to it, if it crops up in the conversation.’

  ‘Very well, I’ll talk to him.’ She took the line back. ‘Dr Middleton’s busy right now, I’m his partner, Ilona Tymoshenko. Can I assist you?’

  ‘I hope so. I spoke to General Chillicott yesterday, and he said you’d be able to give me the heads-up on Shen Fu Liáng at XPC and his girlfriend, Elodie Delacroix.’

  ‘Can I ask you what your interest is, Mr Coetzee?’

  Coetzee explained only that he was a friend of the Stewart family, he’d been asked to come to Dubai to help, and he’d been able to arrange Leo’s release from prison. ‘It looks like something bad’s going down at XPC, and I’d like to help to sort it out.’

  ‘Congratulations on arranging the release, Dr Middleton will be delighted. He’s very interested in Leo’s well-being, although I don’t know how he knows him.’

  Coetzee didn’t understand this remark, so he ignored it. ‘I haven’t discussed the XPC business with Leo yet, and I don’t know the background. All I know is he was locked up to keep him out of the way for some reason, and we need to find out why. We’re going down to Joburg together to try to work on some technical stuff, but I’m sure we can be more useful and effective if you
can share what information you have with me. Do you want to help me, or am I wasting my time?’

  Ilona hesitated. If this man had somehow managed to get Leo released in twenty-four hours, he must be a close friend, and highly efficient. And if he already knew something was happening at XPC, what was the risk of confiding in him? General Chillicott had put him in touch with them for that reason. She took her decision. ‘Very well, Mr Coetzee, I can share some information with you in the strictest confidence.’

  Fifteen minutes later, Coetzee knew everything she knew, except for the pieces Middleton had asked her to omit. He was used to looking for the key to a puzzle, but in this case he hadn’t spotted it in her explanation.

  He asked, ‘What single piece of information could be most helpful to you, to find out who’s behind whatever’s happening?’

  ‘Who provided the funds to buy the technology business from the Lee-Win family.’

  ‘Wait, you said their bank is the BIP, the French bank, right?’

  ‘Yes, we assume the funds were sent there, but we don’t know from which bank and who was behind the payment.’

  ‘I think we may be able to help with that. I’ll get back to you asap. Thanks for your information and your trust.’

  Ilona went into Middleton’s office. He had his nose in a highly complex document on a new super-conducting material called Cronimum. Looking up, he said, ‘Apologies, Ilona. This is the most fascinating of materials and I was lost in admiration at the almost infinite possibilities it presents. How was your conversation with Mr Marius Coetzee from South Africa?’

  ‘You should have spoken to him yourself, he told me he just got Leo Stewart out of prison.’ She waited to see Hugh’s reaction.

  A beaming smile came to his face. ‘Leo Stewart has been released. My word, that is good news. Well done Mr Coetzee.’ He paused, looking a little self-conscious. ‘What else did you find out from him?’

  ‘I think he’s on the level, he’s very concerned about helping Leo and finding out what’s going on at XPC. I told him everything we know, except for Tsunami and our suspicions around Liáng’s parents’ deaths. He thinks he can help us track the money.’

  ‘Splendid news. I suggest that since you have obviously developed a positive relationship with Mr Coetzee, you should continue to deal with him. Best not to confuse the issue with too many cooks in the kitchen.’

  Ilona went back to her office, still wondering. What is going on in his head? He never leaves important matters to me, he loves interfering too much. What’s this unnatural interest in Leo Stewart?

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  ‘I don’t believe it, Chillicott and Middleton investigating Shen and Elodie, and possibly Russian connections. This thing’s even bigger than I imagined. It explains what happened to me, and probably to Scotty as well.’

  Leo was with Coetzee in Ed’s flat, and the South African had just recounted his conversation with Ilona Tymoshenko. He had taken very few notes, like everything about him his memory was well-trained and in excellent shape. They discussed the matter for a while, and he said, ‘Ilona, she’s Middleton’s partner in the business, said he was quite concerned about you. Do you know him well?’

  ‘I don’t know him at all, never spoken to him. He was on a video link from London at the conference in San Diego where I met General Chillicott, but that’s the only time I’ve seen him. He’s an expert on the Internet of Things, machine-to-machine communications. He’s like Billy, fanatical about Internet security. They’re both convinced the Internet will bring about the apocalypse.’

  ‘If this XPC threat is as bad as you think, they could be right. A virus in the upload could cause a global catastrophe.’

  ‘I’ve been thinking about that. I told Chillicott that it might take a major event to convince the world to do something about Internet security, but I didn’t expect to be a part of that event.’

  ‘If you hadn’t spotted that code, we wouldn’t be talking about preventing it, it would be happening as we speak.’

  ‘Ed called me. They’re delivering the package to Shanghai on Wednesday. They’ll want a day or two to run tests, then, bang! What possible reason could anyone have for sabotaging millions of computers? I mean, who would benefit from such a mad global cyber-attack? It makes no sense. Only a maniac would risk the repercussions.’

  ‘According to Ilona, if they can find out who actually owns Lee-Win Micro-Technology, that might show up the motive for what’s going on.’

  Coetzee’s mobile rang before Leo could answer. He looked at the name on the screen. ‘Hello, Jenny, how are you?’

  London, England

  Jenny Bishop was meeting with her sister Emma and Jo Greenwell. It was their Thinking Woman Magazine weekly editorial review session, and they were discussing an article on Brexit, being written by Emma for her blog in the July issue. Time was tight, it was due for submission on Monday and Emma was having difficulty getting it right. Although the piece was theoretically a neutral analysis of the current, apparently deadlocked negotiations, the state of play in the office was also stalemate. Jenny and Emma agreed with the referendum result, but for differing reasons. Emma – who, apart from her time in Rwanda, had never lived outside of the UK – was concerned about the lack of border controls and immigration, whilst Jenny was tired of dealing with EU red tape which was impacting all her businesses, slowing down growth and wasting thousands of costly man-hours. Jo, on the other hand, had never known life outside of the EU, and was devastated at the thought of the UK having to cope alone in an unfriendly outside world.

  The discussion became a little heated, and Jenny thought it was time to change the subject. ‘I have to return a missed call. Try not to get at each other’s throats while I’m out.’ She stepped into the corridor and called Coetzee back.

  ‘I suppose Emma gave you the good news?’

  ‘We’re in London and she told me as soon as she got here. Thanks, Marius, I knew you’d sort it out in no time at all. So it was just a money-grabbing stunt?’

  ‘Not quite, I’ve found out a lot more since I called. I’ll put you on speaker, Leo’s with me and he’s just heard this latest stuff.’

  Leo was suitably apologetic for having fallen prey to the honey trap scenario, and embarrassingly thankful to Jenny for saving him once again. She avoided chastising him about his penchant for getting into trouble, and after they talked for a few minutes, Coetzee said, ‘OK, I’d like to give you my assessment of the situation, it’s complicated and potentially dangerous.’

  Jenny’s dream came back to her mind. ‘There was a man and another woman behind it, wasn’t there? Hold on, I need to grab my notebook and find an empty office. OK, I’m ready, go ahead.’

  With interruptions from Leo, Coetzee gave her a detailed account of everything that had transpired in Dubai, including his conversations with Ed, Ilona Tymoshenko and General Chillicott. Jenny finished making her notes, and said, ‘So, Homeland Security believes there may be a connection with the Russian Secret Service?’

  ‘That’s what it looks like. We just found out about them investigating Shen and Elodie and the Russian angle, so I’m still trying to get my head around that. But there’s definitely some kind of conspiracy at XPC. That’s why they framed me and maybe got rid of Scotty.’

  Jenny had another quick vision of Scotty’s last moments, but she said only, ‘And you’re going down to Joburg to try to stop this attack. Is there any way I can help from here?’

  Coetzee took over again. ‘Maybe you can, Jenny. Chillicott and Tymoshenko think the key lies in the acquisition of Lee-Win Micro-Technology in 2012. They can’t find out who bought the company, and that could reveal who’s behind this conspiracy. It set me thinking. That bank I went to yesterday, it’s related to your bank, is that right?’

  ‘Yes. It’s part of BIP, the International Bank of Paris.’

  ‘That’s who Lee-Win’s widow banks with in Hong Kong.’

  ‘I see.’ Jenny immediately fol
lowed his line of thinking. ‘You want me to find out who sent the money to her account in 2012.’

  ‘Exactly. It must have been a big number, a few billion dollars at least, and you’d imagine it would show up easily if someone was able to take a look.’

  ‘Let me think about it. I have to go back into a meeting now, but I’ll follow it up this afternoon. It’s a long shot, but I’ll try.’

  ‘Aunt Jenny, according to Ed the software package will be sent to Shanghai in a day or two. We don’t have much time.’

  ‘I understand. I’ll move as fast as I can, if I can. Meanwhile, Leo, please take care.’

  Jenny said goodbye and went back to the meeting room. Emma and Jo had moved on from the Brexit argument and were wrapping up their suggestions for the layout of the August edition of the magazine. Something was nagging at her mind, and she found it hard to concentrate on the conversation. It was something about her dream, Leo and Coetzee’s story, some link that she couldn’t quite grasp.

  After a few more minutes of discussion, they ended the meeting and she and Emma left Jo and went out of the building together. ‘Let’s go for some lunch, and I’ll bring you up-to-date on what’s going on with Marius and Leo. There’ve been some developments.’

  Emma grabbed her hand. ‘What’s wrong? Has something happened to Leo?’

  ‘Of course not. There’s nothing to worry about,’ Jenny lied. ‘Everything’s going really well.’ I’ll have to get hold of Bill right away, she told herself. I hope he’s as helpful as the last time.

  FORTY

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  Monday, 12 July 2017

  ‘This is for you, thanks for all your help, to me and Marius. Take care of it.’ Leo handed Ed the keys to his Harley Davidson Softail Slim.