'What the fuck is going on?' she roared fiercely, jerking her shoulders in violent spasms to indicate to the armed officer bearing down on her that she was shouting at him. 'Get the fuck off me!'
The weight was suddenly released from her legs and back but before she could consider that her request had been granted, she found herself roughly pulled up to her knees and lifted bodily to her feet, two officers tightly gripping her upper arms to hold her steady. A female officer approached and quickly but efficiently gave her a thorough pat down, feeling all over her body for lightly concealed objects. After a nod from the stone faced police woman, Rebecca felt herself lifted again and was immediately propelled out of the pub so that her toes simply scraped across the carpet and through the snow as she was effectively dragged outside and into the back of a waiting police van.
Within minutes, all four friends had been transferred to separate vans and were unknowingly en route to the same secure interrogation facility, an excursion organised by courtesy of the United Kingdom's counter-intelligence and security agency; Military Intelligence, Section 5.
Chapter XXIX
IM - Incriminating Messages
Jolene had decided to delay the journey to Krefeld after receiving a call confirming that the raid on Open-EZ's premises was to be undertaken that very morning. She had been uncharacteristically hesitant in making the decision, mulling it over with a frown before finally deciding that their ability to react to further developments would be inhibited if the situation changed drastically whilst they were travelling. She considered that it was better for them to stay put and wait for further news, after all, the raid could direct them back to mainland Europe again and she really did not want to risk wasting time in a fruitless journey to the UK.
A further series of calls had confirmed that the MI5 operation was starting, was under way and then had been successfully completed. The Open-EZ personnel had been rounded up in a series of operations in locations all over England, some of them dragged from their homes and one group even grabbed as they sat in a bar drinking. Jolene had peremptorily insisted that the computer server dumps from the Reading office be sent to NSA headquarters immediately and it was just a matter of time before their forensic data specialists came up with some firm intelligence.
It was approaching one o'clock in the afternoon and the team had finally set off in convoy in a couple of rented cars to their original destination, Sergeant Stanley driving Jolene and Dale with PFC Oliver following up with Jackson as they made their way to Burg Linn in Krefeld. Although the journey would take just over two hours complete, they were only halfway when Jolene's phone began to trill yet again.
'Lovell,' she quickly answered.
The voice mumbled on the line, impossible for Dale to hear.
'Hang on a moment, I'm going to put you onto loudspeaker.'
Dale raised his eyebrows at the sudden inclusivity as a voice with a Baltimore accent started to emanate from Jolene's phone as she held it out on the flat of her palm.
A slight throat-clearing cough choked from the speaker.
'Yeah, I was just saying, we have some preliminary intelligence from the Open-EZ transfers, it's not confirmed yet but it looks like it could be useful.'
'What do you have?' Jolene asked urgently, glancing at Dale.
'Well, we have lots of encrypted files so they'll take a bit longer but we have isolated a few transactions to bank accounts across the globe and we're working on following up with them, however, in particular, we have a payment to a holiday home firm called 'Scottages' that may be significant to the current situation. They rent out cottages and farmhouses in Scotland in the United Kingdom and it would appear that Rey Faber, through Open-EZ, booked a farmhouse at a place called Oban from the beginning of December 2009 to the end of March 2010. I'm sending over details right now as it seems that it could be an ideal location for a safe-house.'
'That is great!' Jolene gasped with excitement. 'Have you informed Operations in London?'
'Yes, they are aware and are using this intelligence in their current appraisals. The British military forces are organising a raid on the premises on our behalf since their Prime Minister wouldn't allow US troops to mount an operation. They have been informed that a group of terrorists is hiding out there and that a weapon of significant destructive power may be secured in the vicinity. Their instructions are to capture if possible, or kill and destroy as appropriate.'
'Excellent!' Jolene enthused, glad that she had taken the decision to remain on the European continent. 'Keep me informed of their progress. Do you have anything else at the moment?'
The voice was silent for a moment.
'Well, there is something, but it is confidential and for your ears only.'
Jolene looked at Dale and frowned.
'Give me a second -'
Switching off the loudspeaker and placing the phone to her ear one again, Dale could no longer hear anything except a muted mumbling but he became intrigued as a look of extreme consternation spread across Jolene's face.
'Alright, thanks,' she suddenly breathed, 'keep me up to date.'
Dale watched as she ended her call and slowly placed the phone within an inside pocket of her jacket.
'Everything alright?' he enquired.
Jolene looked at him and her frown tightened again, she blinked a couple of times and sat back into her seat, discretely glancing at the back of Stanley's head. She cleared her throat with a couple of slight coughs and licked her lips to wet them.
'Text messages were sent from a pre-paid handset to a cellular number registered to Open-EZ and in use by Rey Faber, signed into a network mast in the UK on Friday when the first attempt was made.'
Dale expressed a wry look and grinned unsurely.
'So somebody was communicating with Faber but used the wrong number, since we know that he was in The Hague on Saturday. So what? There is little point tracing the pre-paid since they would have certainly purchased it without leaving a trail. At most we would get a very general location fix for where the message was sent from.'
Jolene shook her head.
'That wasn't all -'
She paused and became thoughtful, looking out of her passenger window with a distant gaze.
'Stanley!' she suddenly barked. 'Call the embassy in The Hague and have them send across the main entrance logs for the whole weekend, I need to check some details.'
'What's going on?' asked Dale with confusion as he watched Stanley start to dial on his phone. 'Am I missing something here?'
'Text messages,' said Jolene distractedly, 'sent on Friday and then Saturday from two different pre-paids. The phone issued to Faber by Open-EZ received a message first, from the pre-paid in the US. The caller repeated the same message to another phone in use in The Netherlands, which we can assume was actually being used by Faber. If the wrong number hadn't been used to start with we'd be none the wiser, they must have realised their mistake and tried again. NSA have back traced all the other calls and texts that were made to Faber's second phone and it definitely ties into this whole thing.'
Dale gave a cursory shrug.
'Well, we already know they must be communicating, do the messages tell us anything significant?'
Jolene shook her head but not as if she was saying 'no'; she actually appeared to be unwilling to accept the truth that was suddenly dawning on her.
'DL Collection @ GV, GV Visitors, Leaving Now,' she intoned solemnly.
'What?' Dale grimaced.
'Just a few of the messages received by Faber,' Jolene explained,'"GV" for Gertrude Verker? "DL Collection" for when you went to pick up Dirigo Lux? "Visitors" for when we went to get her statement and "Leaving" for when Jackson's car was rammed? The times are too close for them to be anything else.'
'They've been tracking our movements the whole time?' Dale asked incredulously.
'Tracking us?' Jolene echoed. 'They've known what we were doing before we even started doing it. They may also have known that we were
visiting Paula Krom.'
'So are we being followed?' Dale offered unsurely. 'We'd have spotted them by now wouldn't we?'
Jolene stared at him for a moment, her jaw wavering slightly as she appeared to think about the implications.
'Not just following us Dale, working with us!'
Chapter XXX
Down on the farm -
Akosua lumped down onto the bare oak floorboards of the master bedroom in the farmhouse, sighing heavily as she leaned back against the cold stone of the wall. She had been crouched, using binoculars to scan through the small cottage window overlooking the drive and the snow covered meadow that lead away to the edge of the forest beyond.
'We won't see them until the last minute,' said Rey, acknowledging the frustration apparent in her forced exhalation. 'We'll more than likely pick them up on the radar before there is any sign of them in the grounds.'
'I'm just eager for something to happen,' scowled Akosua, 'we're all on edge and it blunts the crew for them to just be waiting for too long. I just want whatever is going to happen to happen soon, just to get it over with.'
'It'll be soon enough,' Rey smiled indulgently, 'but you have to keep yourself focussed, keep busy. Make a round of the crew, go and check that everybody is alright. I'm sure we could all do with a brew, put the kettle on and organise some drinks.'
Akosua sighed again, although she nodded and pursed her lips in mute acceptance of the suggestion before launching herself from the floor and clumping out of the room to visit the small pockets of defenders that had been dispersed at various doors and windows.
Rey glanced across at Private Ramsey and watched him nervously licking his lips, gently nibbling at the insides of his cheeks as his tension bubbled to the surface.
'You alright Ramsey?' he asked, conscious that his short exchange with Akosua may have unnerved him.
Ramsey quickly looked across and gulped before forcing a taut smile.
'Yeah, I'm just - well, I'm not used to this kind of thing, I mean, coming from the Seraphim, I've spent most of my life in academic study, physics, mathematics, that kind of thing.'
Rey nodded, knowing that the Brother had only been seconded to his team because of his knowledge of the vortex weapon and that he was not necessarily equipped to deal with the realities of active service. That was one reason why Rey had made sure that he had been posted close by where he could keep an eye on him.
'I'm sure you'll be fine,' Rey said quietly, trying to reassure him, 'just keep your head down and stay close to me, you've been issued with a weapon but I don't expect you to be leading the charge into the enemy ranks.'
Ramsey's taut smile flashed across his face again.
'I suppose that I just concerned myself with the operation of the cannon, I never really thought that we would end up in a live fire situation.'
'The cannon represents live fire,' Rey said flatly, 'people could die as a result of using it, innocent people who cannot afford to heat their homes, people who are susceptible to the cold, the elderly for instance. Were you alright with that?'
Ramsey looked down to the worn floorboards and exhaled sharply through his nostrils, shaking his head in quick short jerks.
'This is the old question isn't it? Who is more to blame, the scientist that creates the weapon or the soldier that fires it. Was Oppenheimer as guilty as Truman? Was the pilot of the Enola Gay free of responsibility?'
Rey pursed his lips and shrugged.
'I'm happy to take responsibility for my own actions Ramsey, the question is, are you?'
He watched as the young man before him look down to the floor again, averting his gaze from the direct stare of his commanding officer.
'It is easy to make decisions from the safety and isolation of an office a thousand miles from the battle front,' Rey consoled, 'it is the same the world over. In some respects I have been lucky in that I have been able to make decisions in the field for myself. Of course, I'm given an objective and I know that it may result in my having to take the life of another human being. I reconcile myself to the objective and I justify my decisions and actions, at least, I've been able to so far.
'Your science is different. You can convince yourself that you are creating, that you have engineered something good and useful to humanity. The fact that it can kill thousands of people in a stroke is incidental.'
'It isn't incidental,' Ramsey snapped, pausing at the vehemence of his own response. 'I just - well, I believe that this weapon can bring about stability for humanity, it can surpass the capabilities of the military around the world. It can be used as a force for good to alleviate the suppression and oppression that is everywhere.'
'Yeah,' Rey nodded, 'it can. It can also be used to subjugate entire nations, even the whole of humanity, but frankly, you can't beat yourself up over it. It exists. It is a reality. It is a weapon and represents a threat even when it is not in use. It terrorises even when not directed. We can't imagine it away, just as we can't imagine nuclear weapons away. All you can do, right here and right now, is follow your orders and take comfort that you are undertaking a noble objective. You've already proven that you can follow orders -'
Rey let the sentence hang, hoping that Ramsey would take some solace from his previous willingness to refuse a request to deviate from standard operating procedures.
'My advice is to live the moment. A Brother Master in the Seraphim should know that. Don't worry about what has gone before or what is about to happen. Just focus on the here and now. Think of the tenets of the Sigil Ring, understand them, take comfort from them.'
Ramsey looked up and out of the window, still avoiding eye contact.
'I've never had to think about death before, not the reality of it, even with all the teaching of the Seraphim, I just - I just don't want to die. I'm not ready.'
Rey nodded and started to scratch at his chin, feeling the bristles of his stubble prickling under his fingertips.
'Nobody is ever ready to die, no matter what they say. I've seen men who have faced death a thousand times, hardened soldiers who have come through it all, better than anybody they should have been able to be philosophical about death, but I've seen experienced men break down and cry like little children at the moment that they realised that they were going to die in some shitty jungle or a field in the middle of nowhere, a thousand miles away from people that cared about them, from their family, from their home.
'Death is something that we all go into alone even if we're surrounded by people, sometimes that loneliness can bite. Nobody is ready to die until that final moment when they manage to reconcile themselves to the fact that everything they feel, everything they perceive, all of it will be gone. In truth, the majority of people never manage it, they die weak, scared, alone. You don't have to like it, but our Order and our beliefs try to put that within the context of the whole of existence itself. Think about what you've been taught and at the very least, just remember that fighting inevitability is a losing battle, so you may as well get used to the idea.'
Rey felt that he had spoken enough and scrabbled to his feet, suddenly feeling his age as his joints subtly moaned at having been compressed against the hard wooden floor for so long. He edged around to the door, keeping his silhouette in the window to a minimum before he stopped at the door.
'I'll see about that brew.'
Wandering into the kitchen, Rey nodded at the faces that turned to see who it was that had entered, some of them showing focussed intent, others tinged with a wide eyed expression, anticipating the delivery of some news. Loftus just gave a perfunctory nod, his moustache turning up at one corner of his mouth as he smirked in acknowledgement.
'How are we doing down here?' enquired Rey distractedly, contemplating whether his team would really perform under the duress of an assault by Special Forces.
He knew that he had experienced men and women under his command but he also knew that some of his squad were relatively unscathed by the realities of a live fire fight.
'Not too bad,' grinned Loftus, 'nothing that a bit of action won't settle. You know how it is, the waiting is the worst of it.'
Rey nodded and hummed in agreement.
'I know, but this is better than being caught with our pants round our ankles. How is our retreat? Everybody know what they are doing?'
'Oh yes!' Loftus quickly replied, emphasising his conviction with a vigorous nod of his head. 'I've checked and double-checked, they all know what the score is.'
'Good, good, I just wanted to check and get a brew, I don't want -'
'INCOMING TARGET!' came the shout, interrupting Rey in mid-sentence and locking him into an instant of staring at Loftus.
'On your toes!' the Sergeant shouted. 'Take your positions and stay alert, remember, listen to what your NCO is telling you, use short bursts of directed fire, look sharp!'
Rey had exited the room in a flash and leapt two stairs at a time to the first floor, running to the bedroom where the radar unit had been set-up, Akosua closely followed him but passed him to take up a command position for the teams defending the upper storey.
After a few moments of spiked tension, weapons being levelled and aimed, men and women scrabbling to their primary positions, a grim silence settled through the whole farmhouse and Rey was suddenly aware of the almost imperceivable hum of electronics as he knelt down next to Private Stiles who was operating the radar screen.
'What do you have?' he asked, forcing himself to speak calmly.
'Three airborne targets, size and speed indicate that they are probably helos, they appeared travelling from the east as they crested the hills but they've ducked down and have disappeared. They're in a valley and should have come out the other side by now so they may be offloading some troopers.'
Rey grinned and suddenly felt serene. This was the start of it, he was sure of it. The helicopters were probably offloading troopers in preparation for a ground assault. An air assault would most likely only be considered as a secondary option if a direct entry could not be effected and heavier firepower was necessary, although he was aware that they would probably be brought up closer once the assault was under way.
Sun of the Sleepless Page 49
