The African Diamond Trilogy Box Set

by Christopher Lowery

  ‘Just a few days and I’ll see you. You know the upload was successful?’

  ‘I never doubted it,’ she lied. ‘You were in charge and it went perfectly. Well done, mon chéri. Will the trigger command go out tomorrow?’

  ‘More likely on Sunday, I’m staying in Shanghai to make sure. But it’s time for you to get out of Dubai before the shit hits the fan. I can’t come back there, and I think you should go straight to Dublin. I’ll join you there on Monday.’

  Elodie was immediately suspicious. She was supposed to be dumping him, not the other way around. ‘Then I won’t see you before getting to Ireland?’

  ‘You’ll have time to make sure everything is OK at the apartment. Get in more champagne and caviar, fill it with flowers.’

  ‘Well, if you say so. I’ll book the flights now and be there when you arrive.’ Some chance, she said to herself. ‘Are you certain we’ll be finally through this whole five-year struggle, with our pay-off?’

  ‘Don’t worry, by Monday you’ll be rich and we’ll be as free as two birds.’ He liked the metaphor. Two separate birds, he thought, but I’ll finally be free of the past.

  Delmas, Mpumalanga, South Africa

  ‘What do you think of Dr Middleton’s theory about Shen’s second-son complex?’ Coetzee was having breakfast with his family and Leo.

  ‘Am I allowed to know what it is?’ Karen didn’t know what he was talking about.

  After he managed to explain it to her over the interruptions from the others, she said, ‘I can understand Dr Middleton’s point of view. That poor man, Shen, being kicked out of his family and his country like an illegal immigrant. If you had that kind of money, wouldn’t you do anything to get your own back? Who’s this Dr Middleton, by the way?’

  ‘He and his partner, Ilona, head up a cyber security company in London, very tight with US Homeland Security. It’s funny,’ Coetzee mused, ‘he didn’t say much, but I was almost sure I knew him. I seemed to recognise his voice, but I just couldn’t place it. Anyway, he seems pretty bright, so if we suppose the theory’s right, and that Russian Hub Manager code seems to confirm that, it means Shen’s going to deploy the trigger from Moscow via Shanghai. How would he do that?’

  ‘If the Lee-Win people are in the clear, he couldn’t have set up a transit facility on their hub without their knowledge, so he’ll need someone, a physical person, to do it. It has to go out from the Shanghai hub, with their signature, otherwise the download will be refused by the customer networks.’ Abby described the problem.

  ‘So, this Hoi Wei that he’s been writing to is his accomplice in Shanghai, and he’s going to receive the trigger update and send it out from there.’

  ‘Logically, yes. That’s why Shen’s in Moscow now, if we’re right about that. Wei’s his mole in Shanghai.’

  Leo swore in frustration. ‘That means we’ve been spinning our wheels looking at ways to hack into the Lee-Win hub. If the upload’s going to be sent out from Moscow via Shanghai, it will be gone before we could touch it. We would have to actually bring down the hub, knock it over, to prevent the trigger going out.’

  ‘Problem is,’ Abby mused out loud, ‘how do they keep sending it? If they’re in the clear, the people in Shanghai are bound to spot it, and when they do, they can just switch it off. I still don’t get how it works.’

  ‘Maybe they’re not in the clear after all, but whatever’s going on, time’s really short. If Shen’s in Moscow, it must be ready to send out, so we’re probably right about Sunday at midnight.’

  ‘He must be completely mad.’ Karen shivered.

  ‘He might be, but he’s not acting alone. I’m sure Middleton’s right. He thinks it’s about money and power, as usual. Chillicott’s finally going to look for the owners behind those trusts. Middleton and Ilona are betting they’re oligarchs, investing alongside Shen to pick up the pieces when the USSR is reconstituted.’

  ‘That makes sense, there’ll be chaos in those countries and that means rich pickings.’

  Abby frowned. ‘But even if General Chillicott finds the truth, it doesn’t help us stop the Moscow-Shanghai deployment.’

  ‘I have a feeling that he’s not in a position to act directly. Politically, I mean. He’s leaving it to us.’

  ‘In that case, Dad, we’ve got to get into Shanghai ourselves to derail the upload. But how?’

  Abby was quiet while Coetzee and Leo talked the problem over, then she asked, ‘What was the name of Jenny’s banker who sent the documents from Hong Kong?’

  ‘Patrice de Moncrieff, French guy. He’s kind of part of the family in Marbella. I never liked him much, but he’s delivered the goods this time.’

  ‘You told me he met with Mme Lee-Win and her son, right?’

  ‘Junjie, yes. Patrice went to her house and met them there.’

  ‘Did he tell them what this is all about? I mean the cyber-attack?’

  ‘No. Jenny specifically told him not to, because she’s ill and it wouldn’t be fair to upset her. What’s your point?’

  ‘Is he still there?’

  ‘You mean Patrice? I don’t know. Aunt Jenny probably knows. Why?’

  ‘Wait, last question. How long is the flight time from Hong Kong to Shanghai?’

  ‘I’ll check.’ He looked it up on his phone. ‘It’s about two and a half hours. Now, what’s the interrogation for?’

  ‘Ed told us the Lee-Win board have huge respect for Chongkun, the founder, they even dedicated the upload to him. If they’re not involved in the conspiracy, I’m sure they’d listen to his son and help us find this Hoi Wei, and maybe prevent the trigger upload.’

  Coetzee said, ‘You mean, Patrice and Junjie should go to Shanghai to talk to the Lee-Win board?’

  ‘That’s a great idea, Abby. I’ll ask Aunt Jenny to call him, see if he’s up for it.’

  ‘Wait on, Leo, not so fast,’ she said. ‘There are a few problems. Chillicott has produced nothing to confirm a Russian involvement, and Patrice hasn’t told Junjie about the cyber-attack. It’ll be a huge shock to him and we don’t want his mother to know about it. And if the board members really are clean, they’ll know nothing about any of this either. It’s not the kind of thing you can explain or demonstrate from a distance. They’d need to see Leo’s network shutdown to understand the potential catastrophe they’d be involved in.’

  ‘So, we need someone who can explain it and show them what’s going to happen?’

  ‘Exactly.’

  Everyone looked at Leo.

  He said, ‘OK, guys, I get it. You’re right, as usual. I’ll check the flights to Hong Kong. I’d better get moving, time’s short.’

  Moscow, Russian Federation

  ‘Shen’s at his home in Rublyovka, pretending to be in Shanghai, and you’re in my apartment in Moscow, pretending to be in Dubai. It’s like one of those farces you French people love.’ Elodie was on the phone with Piotr Gavrikov at his office in the GRU headquarters.

  ‘I suppose it is, but I have to keep it up until Monday. Why can’t you send out the trigger command today, and get it over with?’

  ‘It comes from the very top. Vladimir wants to do it in the middle of the night on a Sunday, while most of the world leaders are asleep or having dinner and can’t get hold of their staff. I actually agree with him, it will create more panic when they’re woken up to mayhem and start running around like headless chickens.’

  ‘So, it’s midnight on Sunday and that’s final?’

  ‘You’re worrying about your paycheque on Monday, right?’

  ‘Should I be?’

  ‘Have I ever let you down, Tsunami? If the boss and his friends get what they want, we’ll all be buying big fancy houses in the sun.’

  General Gavrikov called Shen’s mobile. ‘It’s fixed for midnight on Sunday. I’ll expect you at eleven. Is your man primed and ready?’

  ‘Midnight, that’s what I told him, no problem. I’ll confirm it with him again to be sure.’

  ‘OK. One f
inal rehearsal tomorrow afternoon, and it better be perfect. No mistakes, Shen, or we’re all history. Understood?’

  ‘Don’t worry, Piotr. Monday will be a great day for the New Russian Federation.’

  Shen texted Hoi at Lee-Win, Confirmed midnight Sunday, five a.m. your time.

  FIFTY-THREE

  Malaga, Spain

  Saturday, 17 July 2017

  It was another very hot day, and Juan was driving Jenny to the airport for her two o’clock flight to London. She was still feeling off-colour, suffering from the oppressive heat, looking forward to escaping the Spanish summer temperatures and cooling down at home in Ipswich. Her phone rang as they were leaving the highway. It was Leo. ‘Hi, Aunt Jenny, where are you?’

  ‘On my way to the airport to go back to London, it’s too hot for me in Marbella. What’s new?’

  ‘Is Patrice still in Hong Kong?’

  She thought for a moment. ‘I would think he’ll stay for a few more days, he went on bank business, but with the Lee-Win problem he hasn’t had time to do anything. Why?’

  Leo explained their theory and Abby’s suggestion. ‘Do you think he’d go to Shanghai with me, and maybe talk Junjie into coming? I’ve got a flight to Hong Kong at five-twenty, arriving just after midday tomorrow, local time. It’s only two and a half hours from there to Shanghai and there’s lots of flights. We think the trigger command will be sent out at midnight tomorrow, so if we get a quick connection we could get there in time to stop this Hoi Wei character and convince Lee-Win to hijack the Moscow update and kill the deployment.’

  ‘I see.’ Jenny decided to defer the telling-off she’d been preparing for her nephew. ‘OK, I’ll call him now and ask him to wait for you and talk to Junjie. If he can go, I’ll tell him to book connecting flights for all of you. Text me your flight details and I’ll get hold of him before I leave Malaga.’

  O. R. Tambo International Airport,

  Johannesburg, South Africa

  Leo went early to the airport and had lunch while waiting for his flight. With all the rush to organise his flights and departure, he hadn’t eaten any breakfast. He called his mother to let her know what was happening.

  ‘I’m at the airport on my way to Shanghai,’ he answered to her first question, then related the morning’s happenings, ticking them off in his mind as he brought her up-to-date.

  Jenny had texted that Patrice would meet him at Hong Kong airport when he arrived at midday the next day. He’d booked three seats on a flight to Shanghai at three-twenty, getting in at six-ten. He confirmed that Junjie would join them, which would give them the credibility they needed.

  Coetzee had asked Tom Connor to contact Han Wang Tāng to arrange a meeting for them with the Lee-Win board. Tāng had been reluctant when the CEO told him that Leo was coming, and especially when he heard the real reasons for him leaving XPC, but when he knew that Junjie Lee-Win would be with him, he finally agreed to go into the office to receive them at seven o’clock. That gave them just five hours to convince the Chinese of the imminent catastrophe and to access the hub.

  Emma listened in silence until he’d finished, then she said, ‘Is it dangerous?’

  ‘Maybe if I was going to Moscow, but not Shanghai. They’ll be just as keen as us to kill the upload and it’s their hub, so I should be able to access it and sort it out before Shen sends his code over. Don’t worry, Mum, I’ll be with Patrice in China and the bad guys are in Russia.’

  He managed to calm Emma’s fears and she wished him luck and said goodbye, but Leo wasn’t as confident as he had sounded. On the plus side, he had everything he needed in his laptop and carry-on bag to demonstrate the A2 shutdown code, and hopefully convince them to prevent the hub deployment. Middleton’s assessment of Shen Fu Liáng’s psychological condition, and the documents about his background he’d received and printed out from Ilona, would help him explain the Chinaman’s role in the deception. Billy Chillicott’s account of the Soviet military strategy meant he could describe exactly what a devastating blow the attack would be to global stability and security. And with Junjie’s help, he could probably convince them of the circumstances of their founder’s death.

  But there were two big negatives. He knew nothing about Shen’s accomplice, Hoi Wei, who somehow had to be neutralised. And even though he felt fairly certain the Lee-Win board members were not involved in the conspiracy, if he was wrong he might walk into an ambush. And what he couldn’t yet show, the key to the whole conspiracy, were the faces behind the plot. Who had invested almost $2.5 billion to acquire Lee-Win and spent five years in a bid to recreate the USSR and reap even more billions in the process? He couldn’t prove who actually owned their company, who the Lee-Win directors were really working for, if they didn’t already know. He prayed that Chillicott would turn up some names for them, and fast.

  His last call was to Ed Muire, to bring him up-to-date and ask him to share the news with Tom Connor. For once, Ed listened to the plan in silence, then he just said, ‘Be careful, Leo.’

  Moscow, Russian Federation

  General Piotr Gavrikov was in a meeting room in the Kremlin building in Red Square with five other men. Three of them were dressed in smart, expensive suits, one was wearing torn jeans and a sweatshirt, and the fifth looked as if he was still on his yacht, in deck shoes, white trousers and a blue and white striped T-shirt.

  He didn’t comment on their dress sense. Worth $30 billion between them, they could afford to look the way they wanted. They’d spent the last two hours discussing a list of prime industries, government services and businesses in the countries that interested them. Now they moved on to the execution of their five-year plan.

  ‘It’s definitely tomorrow night, you’re sure?’ the smartly dressed Ukrainian asked.

  ‘At midnight, exactly. Vladimir insisted on that.’

  ‘There’s no way it can go wrong? Technically, I mean?’

  ‘We’ve run it again and again between our own hubs. I’ll get one last demonstration tomorrow, but it’s a thousand per cent OK. It knocks everything out like getting hit by both Klitschko brothers.’

  ‘And your guys, the military, they’re all in place?’

  ‘There’s enough ground troops on every border to quell any local resistance. Admiral Bolotnikov says the fleet positioning will be in place to back up the threat, and General Zhigunov will have a dozen squadrons over their airspace immediately after the cyber-attack. NATO will do nothing except call for meetings and it’ll be a fait accompli in a couple of days.’

  Gavrikov continued, ‘I’m having a last session with them tomorrow to ensure they’re all one hundred and fifty per cent ready. But in my opinion, it won’t be necessary. If our targets want their governments and industries operating again, they’ll just have to toe the line. There’ll be insurgent resistance for a while, but we’re used to dealing with that.

  ‘By the way,’ he continued, ‘have you seen all the publicity around Lee-Win since the new software was deployed? As well as the primary objective of this operation, it looks like we could make a fortune from the sale of the company. It’s being touted as the leading semiconductor business in the world. I was right, it’ll be worth billions more than we paid.’

  ‘You mean “more than we paid”, Piotr. But it’s a good point, we have to decide what to do with it when this project is finished. I just hope it’s still worth at least what it cost.’

  ‘OK, last item.’ The man in jeans from St Petersburg spoke. ‘We should talk about the Chinese who thinks he’s a Russian.’

  ‘Shen Fu Liáng?’ He laughed, ‘Or Grigori Vedeneyev, as he likes to be known in Moscow. He’ll send the trigger update to his mole at Lee-Win, then he’s expendable. All we need to agree on is what happens to him.’

  ‘You mean what does he get for removing the old man from the scene and working for us for five years, while screwing your girlfriend?’

  Gavrikov smiled uncomfortably. Thank God they don’t know about Shen’s family’s ‘acci
dent’, they’d be really worried about their homicidal partner. ‘When this is done, everyone’s expendable, including her. I think the Tsunami programme has run its course. Unless you’ve got other ideas?’

  ‘We should get rid of them both, they’re not part of the club. We’ve put up a shitload of money and now she’ll want a place at the table when the dividend is due, but I’m not feeling generous. As for Liáng,’ he laughed and looked around at the others. ‘That guy is a gullible idiot. Why would he think that hating the Chinese would make him a Russian? Once a Chinese, always a Chinese, you can’t change your skin because you were born in the wrong place at the wrong time. We won’t need him, and we won’t need Tsunami any more.’

  ‘You’re saying it’s a one-fifth share for each of us, instead of one-sixth? I’m cool with that. Piotr can earn his commission by removing the both of them.’ The Chechnyan in the Giorgio Armani linen outfit put his hand out. ‘Agreed?’

  ‘Soglasovano, agreed.’ The men around the table joined their right hands in a handshake with their left hands on top.

  Enviously, Piotr Gavrikov watched them leave. If this works, he said to himself, I won’t just be watching them from the outside, I’ll be on the inside, mixing with the oligarchs.

  Dubai, United Arab Emirates

  Tom Connor said, ‘I’m not sure I like the sound of this.’

  Sharif and Daniel were in his office, and Ed had explained Leo’s plan to them, emphasising that Patrice and Junjie would be with him, trying to make it sound as simple and safe as he could.

  ‘Thing is,’ he replied, ‘there’s nothing we can do about it from here. Leo’s right, it has to be sorted in Shanghai, and he’s probably the only guy who knows enough to get it done. Plus, he’s got the founder’s son with him, that should count for a lot.’

  ‘I should talk to Tāng again, explain what we suspect, prepare the ground for him. He and Cheong seemed to be on the up and up when they called, I can’t believe they’re involved in this business.’