Terror Illusion

by James R Conway

As the train began to slow for Newcastle, Mac called Roger to inform him and to check on any activity by Sean or the MI5 men on the train. There had been nothing suspicious.

  Jonathan and Mac left the train and walked toward the station exit. There were so many people milling around on the station concourse that it was unlikely they would be spotted either by the MI5 men or by Sean. In fact, the MI5 men were so busy watching Sean that there was little chance they would follow Mac even if they saw him.

  “Let’s concentrate on watching Sean,” said Mac, “and let’s not worry too much about the spooks.”

  They followed Sean out of the station to the area where buses and taxis stopped. Sean studied the notice board for a while, then moved to wait at a bus stop labelled “Shuttle Bus to Ferry Port”. Meanwhile, the MI5 men were hanging around near the taxi stand but they did not appear ready to hail a taxi. Mac and Jonathan stood well back, behind the luggage trolley parking area and in the shadows where they would be less noticeable.

  A shuttle bus arrived and they saw Sean step onto it. The driver got out and loaded Sean’s suitcase while Sean took his seat on the bus. Meanwhile, the MI5 men had hailed a taxi. The shuttle bus drove away, followed closely by the taxi.

  “We know where they are going, and the ferry doesn’t leave for about four hours,” said Mac. “We might as well stroll over and get a taxi. We don’t need to follow them.”

  “The spooks also know where he is going,” said Jonathan. “Why were they following so closely?”

  “Because they are MI5 and we’re not,” said Mac. “Remember, they might be MI5, but they are still civil servants.”

  Mac hailed a taxi and they got in. “International Ferry Terminal,” Mac told the driver. The taxi drew away from the kerb. Mac turned to Jonathan. “It’s about ten miles to the port,” he said. “Takes about fifteen minutes.”

  “This is the first time I’ve been to Newcastle, I think,” said Jonathan.

  “I expect that Sean is using this port because it is a long way from where the bomb will be detonated,” said Mac.

  They arrived at the ferry port and the taxi stopped outside the passenger entrance hall. Mac paid the driver, and he and Jonathan walked into the hall. They walked over to a desk labelled “Tickets and Reservations”.

  “Two open returns to Bergen,” said Mac, “with a cabin in each direction, please.”

  The clerk printed the tickets and Mac paid with his debit card, then the clerk pointed towards the departure area. “We are boarding now, sir, and thank you for travelling with us today.”

  Mac looked around the departure area but could see no sign of either Sean or the spooks.

  “Best if we get to our cabin straight away,” said Mac, “Then you can have a stroll around the ship and see what’s up. I would really like you to do a mind link to Sean and get an update on his plans. We need to stop him detonating the bomb.”

  They passed their bags through security, then boarded the ferry. It was a fairly large ship, designed for the rough waters of the North Sea. Mac led the way to the cabin, which had two single bunks, a bathroom with a shower, two armchairs and a table between them. There was a large window, which right now showed the roof of the passenger hall. They stored their baggage in the cupboards provided.

  “I’m going to give Roger a call,” said Mac. “Why don’t you have a quick look around?”

  Jonathan went out of the cabin and found his way to the upper deck, which contained restaurants, bars and shops. He slowly worked his way through the various rooms until he reached a bar where he saw Sean sitting in a reclining seat with a glass of beer in front of him. Jonathan walked on past and looped round to the other side of the bar and saw the MI5 men sitting in similar reclining seats with coffees in front of them. He walked back to the cabin and reported his find to Mac.

  “I think the most important thing is to get into a mind link with Sean before the spooks make their move,” said Mac.

  “I agree,” said Jonathan. “I’ll head back to the bar and start a mind conversation with Sean, and then with the spooks.”

  “Good,” said Mac. “I’d better stay here in case I get recognized. I’ll call for cabin service.”

  Jonathan left the cabin, returned to the bar, and took a seat a few feet behind Sean.

  Hello, Sean. You are dreaming. What are you doing on this boat Sean?

  Getting away from England for a while.

  Why don’t you go and see your family in Londonderry?

  They could probably track me down there.

  Who could track you down, Sean?

  MI5 of course.

  Why would MI5 want to track you down, Sean?

  Because I did a job for them.

  Don’t you trust MI5, Sean?

  No, I don’t. They’ve killed us Republicans before to stop us talking.

  What job did you do for them, Sean?

  My usual job, put a bomb in a tunnel.

  Is that the one at Kings Cross, Sean?

  How did you know about that? Are you MI5?

  Don’t worry, Sean. I am on your side. I’m here to help you out. You can trust me.

  I can trust you?

  Yes, you can trust me. Have you detonated the bomb yet, Sean?

  No, I was going to do it late tonight, when there are not so many trains around.

  Why is that, Sean?

  They told me not to hurt anyone.

  Just to cause damage, but not to hurt anyone, right?

  That’s right. I put a special device on the detonator. It won’t allow it to go off if there’s any noise in the tunnel.

  That’s very clever, Sean.

  I am a professional in the bomb game.

  When are you going to set off the bomb, Sean?

  Tonight, when we are in the middle of the North Sea.

  How are you going to detonate it from the middle of the North Sea?

  My usual way, with a mobile phone.

  What if they track down the phone?

  It won’t matter if they do, I’ll throw it overboard.

  I don’t suppose you can give me the phone number for the bomb, can you?

  I’m not sure that I can remember it. It’s in my phone.

  I’m sure we can find it if we dig deep enough. It starts with 07 doesn’t it?

  I’ve got it, I think. 077...0090...0831.

  Let me just read that back to you so I can remember it 077 0090 0831, is that it?

  Yes, that’s it.

  What about the code to detonate the bomb?

  What use is that without you having my phone?

  Why do I need your phone, Sean?

  Because the bomb will ignore you if you don’t call from my phone,. It has to recognize that I am calling.

  What’s your phone number Sean?

  Jesus, you are asking a lot of questions.

  That’s what I do, Sean. You’re dreaming and dreams sort out all the stuff that’s jumbled up in your mind.

  Oh, I see! Now what were you just wanting to know?

  Your phone number, Sean. The one you are going to use to blow up the bomb.

  Yes, to blow up the bomb. Well I bought them at the same time, so it’s nearly the same number. It just ends in 0832.

  There’s one more thing, Sean.

  What’s that?

  The codes to detonate the bomb and to make it safe?

  That’s easy. Just text BLOW or SAFE to the bomb. But remember, once it’s SAFE you can’t blow it up.

  That’s very good Sean. In think you should wake up now.

  Sean tossed his head back and blinked his eyes. He had just had the strangest dream. He took a drink of his glass of beer and looked very dazed.

  Jonathan walked quickly back to the cabin and reported all he had discovered to Mac, and quickly wrote down the phone numbers before they could fade from his memory.

  “We’ll need to steal his phone, won’t we?” said Jonathan.

  “No need, now you’ve got the number,” said Mac. �
��I’ve got a gadget here that will re-program a SIM card with any number.”

  “Another of your clever little gadgets from your MI5 days?”

  “Well, not exactly. They didn’t have mobile phones back then, but I do have a few contacts.”

  “Does it actually change the number?”

  “No, I can’t receive calls on that number, but it fakes out the number that shows up on the phone you are calling to.”

  “So, what we need to do is send the SAFE text to the bomb?”

  “Yes, as soon as I’ve got this SIM card re-programmed.”

  “I’m going to go back to the bar and see what I can get from the MI5 guys.”

  “Good idea. I’ll get on with re-programming this SIM.” Mac was sitting on the bunk with the back off a phone and extracting the SIM card.

  Jonathan made his way back to the bar and chose a seat just behind the MI5 spooks who were sitting reading newspapers.

  He started his mind conversation.

  You are dreaming. Can we have a little chat?

  I suppose so. What do you want to talk about?

  Are you MI5?

  Of course. Proud to serve.

  Black Ops Division?

  Yes, I am. And we are on a black op right now.

  What is that op?

  We call it a clean-up operation.

  What are you cleaning up?

  A bomb maker who’s on the run.

  Would that be Sean Donnelly?

  How did you know that?

  Lucky guess.

  What are you going to do with him?

  Kill the bastard and throw his body overboard.

  Do me a favour, will you?

  What’s that?

  Wait until tonight, around midnight. All the other passengers will be asleep. We’ll be right in the middle of the North Sea, his body will never be found.

  Midnight. That’s when we were planning to do it, anyway.

  It’s time to wake up now.

  Whiteley shook his head and rubbed his eyes. He had had a really weird dream, but he really could not remember it.

  Jonathan hurried back to see Mac in the cabin. He gave Mac the information he had got from Whiteley.

  “I’ve got good news,” said Mac. “I have re-programmed the SIM in my phone to make it look like calls are coming from Sean’s phone. I need to test it by calling your mobile.” Mac called Jonathan’s number, then as soon as it rang, Mac ended the call. Jonathan compared the caller’s number showing on his phone with the number of Sean’s phone that he had written down earlier. The numbers matched.

  “It works,” said Jonathan.

  “Good,” said Mac. “Let’s shut down that bomb of his.” Mac typed in the text of SAFE and sent it to the bomb number. “Well, we are either in the clear or we just blew up the tunnel at Kings Cross.”

  “Perhaps we ought to keep an eye on the news,” said Jonathan. “SKY News is available in the bar.”

  Chapter 33