“Hang on, Boss. There’s a message from Abi. She says her friend, who you know about, will meet you in the hotel restaurant at ten a.m.”
“Okay, thanks, Bernie. I understand the message. Will you tell Abi that I’ll be there?”
“Okay. Cheers, Boss – bye for now.”
Jago disconnected the call and stared thoughtfully at his phone for a few moments before relaying the information to Dom and Fi.
Dom responded, “My God, aren’t they going to be hacked off in the morning! First a so-called earth tremor near their arms cache, and then they’ll discover that their bank accounts are empty. And then they’ll find that they’re in debt. How wonderful will that be?”
“And that’s just the start,” said Jago pensively. “They won’t know what hit them.”
Jago finished his drink. “Right, Dom, we’d better get you a room.”
“I’ve got a room, Boss. I just haven’t had the time to check in yet. You get your heads down and I’ll see you later for breakfast. What time suits you both?”
“I’m meeting someone at ten here in the hotel. Does nine thirty sound good to you, Fi?”
She looked at her watch. It was 3.45 a.m. “Yes, sure, Boss, nine thirty is fine with me, as long as there’s a good breakfast. You know me, Boss, always up for a good feed.”
Chapter 37
Jago was finishing his made-to-order omelette and coffee when Dom and Fi arrived at his table.
“Good morning. Did you sleep well?”
“Morning, Boss,” came the reply in unison. Fi still sounded sleepy, whereas Dom was awake and raring to go.
“Grab yourselves some breakfast, and Dom, can you see if they do anything to go? We could be in for a wait later.”
“Will do, Boss.”
Jago poured another cup of coffee.
“How many is that so far, Boss – three, four maybe?” laughed Fi. It was a standing joke between them.
“The fifth, if you must know, but who’s counting?” smiled Jago.
Once they were all seated at the table, Fi briefed them about the kit that she had prepared and checked.
“What about the respirators?” asked Jago.
“We’ve got an SGE 400 each. Do you think we’ll need them?”
“I don’t know yet, but it’s possible. I transferred the little extras we took in the car, including a dozen tear-gas grenades,” said Jago.
“What else did you manage to acquire?” asked Dom.
“We have some C4, plus dets and timers. Plenty of extra ammo and a selection of weapons, including a couple of NLAWs.”
“You do mean business, don’t you?” said a surprised Dom.
“Like you never imagined, Dom, like you never imagined.”
Fi and Dom threw each other a look.
Jago drank the rest of his coffee. “Okay, I’m done and I have a meeting in five, so I’ll see you both in an hour by the car.”
***
Jago sat at the rear of the large, empty restaurant area and ordered another coffee while he waited for the police commissioner.
A short while later, a young Asian man in casual clothing entered the restaurant, looked around and disappeared. Another man immediately walked in. He too was Asian, but older, in his mid to late forties, with greying hair, and he wore smart-casual clothing. Jago noticed two men outside the restaurant windows and a large four-by-four parked outside, obscuring any view of the meeting.
The man approached Jago’s table. “Good morning, Mr Jago. I am Police Commissioner Satyam Gopaul. I’m an acquaintance of Abigail.”
Jago stood and extended his arm to shake hands. “Good morning, Commissioner. It’s good to meet you, please take a seat. Would you care for a drink?”
“No thank you, I’ve just had one. And please, call me Satyam. How is Abi?”
“Apart from Abi’s message the other day, how long has it been since you two have spoken?” asked Jago.
“Let me see … it must be five years. Why do you ask?”
“Did she tell you about her accident?”
“No, she didn’t mention an accident. What happened?”
“She’s paralysed from the waist down after a blast from an IED. She’s wheelchair-bound, and works for me as my operations coordinator and analyst. She’s one of the best in the game.”
Satyam looked visibly shaken. “I didn’t realise. Why didn’t she tell me?” he asked anxiously. “All those years. I never knew.”
Jago probed: “I know that you were on a course together, but I’m getting the sense that there’s more to it than that. Am I right?”
“Yes, you’re right. We were very close. So close, in fact, I was even thinking we might have a future together. Then she stopped calling and emailing.”
“You wouldn’t know this, but she was pretty torn up. She lost her mobility, her independence and a job she loved. She was a wreck. But she’s okay now, and that’s the important part.”
Satyam raised his head, looking directly at Jago. “Thank you for telling me. I am very grateful to you. But we haven’t met today to talk about my personal life, have we?”
“No, but it’s good for me to know who you are. Did you get any information from the men we captured?” asked Jago.
“Two are quite weak and are starting to open up. The other two are hardened mercenaries and it’s unlikely we’ll get any information out of them, but we’ll keep trying. They’re being held in secure locations.”
“I take it you’re restrained by protocol when it comes to interrogation?”
“Yes, we adhere to all the usual conventions, if that’s what you mean?”
Jago changed his tone. “There are times with men such as these when protocols need to be cast aside for the benefit of everyone. I have a very skilled interrogator working with me who, shall we say, knows these types of people well. He has a lot of experience in this area, probably too much. I could offer you his services after we finish this operation – unofficially, of course.”
“That is a tempting offer and one I shall have to consider carefully. But first, shall we talk about today?”
“Mr and Mrs Marne are implicated in the Australian massacre. Mrs Marne has a lover who is of British Pakistani origin and is linked to a number of terrorist organisations. His name is Bryn Khan-Wright. Flur Marne and this man were together in a hotel in Islamabad three days ago when there was an attempt on either his or her life, if not both. They neutralised the assassin.”
Jago paused before continuing.
“We understand that a meeting is taking place at the Marne residence here today. Several private jets arrived last night and the night before – with attendees, we think. We are a three-person team, and we have covertly placed visual and auditory recording devices in the Marnes’ house. We’re awaiting confirmation of all the attendees.”
“I see, and may I ask how you have obtained this intelligence, and how you’re going to get the confirmation of attendees?” asked Satyam.
“We have someone on the inside.”
“Interesting.”
“Why is it interesting?” asked Jago.
“Because we have someone on the inside too and we’re not getting that level of information. We are getting numbers, but not names. May I ask who your source is?”
Jago momentarily hesitated. “Two brothers, Javi and Vikram. They were following us for Marne and we turned them with the offer of a better life.”
Satyam smiled. “I see. The Appadoo brothers.” He leaned forward and lowered his voice. “I know their family well. Let me tell you about the brothers. Vikram is technically a failed policeman. He joined the service and failed the training; he had a problem with gambling, drinking, et cetera – the usual. And he built up quite a debt at Marne’s casino, The Empire. Javi is a technical wizard. He can put his hand to anything technical and succeed. He was set to go to high places, but chose to help his brother pay off his debt to Marne. You see, I personally recruited Vikram before he even entered police trai
ning. Everything was meticulously planned. Putting him through the police training, so at least he could enhance his skills before going undercover. He’s been there three years now, and during that time he’s been feeding me information about Mr and Mrs Marne and their activities. But there was no mention of the massacre in Australia – a big business deal, yes, but no hint of violence. I initially passed what information I had on to Interpol, but in the months that followed, three of Marne’s employees were found dead in suspicious circumstances, and none of the intelligence appears to have been acted upon.”
“So, you suspect a leak in Interpol?” questioned Jago.
“Yes indeed, that would appear to be the case. Marne’s reach is wide. He appears to be a meek and mild-mannered man, and face to face he comes across like that. However, when things don’t go his way, he turns, and by all accounts he becomes pure evil. As for his younger wife, she’s on a whole new level. When she plans something, she will let nothing get in her way, and I mean nothing. I suspect from what you’ve said she has used her charms with certain individuals to get her own way, regardless of any ideology or motivation. As long as she gets what she wants, she doesn’t worry about how that is achieved.”
“How many trusted officers have you got?”
Satyam raised his brows. “I have eleven officers I can absolutely trust, and I have a further ten officers I think I can trust. The ten are trustworthy; it’s just that they haven’t been tested yet. And you are just three?”
“Yes, we are three. It’s amazing what you can do with small numbers and high levels of expertise,” said Jago with pride.
“Yes, I have seen what the British special forces have been able to achieve in recent years. I don’t doubt you for a moment. How can we help?”
“Look, I should tell you that I’m a man seeking vengeance. I was there.”
“Where, at the massacre?” asked Satyam.
“Yes, I was on holiday with my girlfriend, Rebecca. We were visiting friends. Rebecca was killed and my friend’s wife was seriously wounded, alongside many others. I’m telling you this because I’m not here to arrest those responsible, I’m here to take them out, to stop what they’re doing once and for all. If we are going to work together, you need to know this.”
“I understand, and while in my position I cannot condone such actions, I recognise that there are occasionally exceptional circumstances where one has to take exceptional steps to make our world a safer place. Thank you for telling me, for being open and honest. Now we both know a little more about each other, shall we get to work?”
“Yes, let’s. I should warn you that these people will not be happy.”
“Why, because you blew up their arms cache?”
“Well, that’s one reason for them to be seething. The other is that when they woke up this morning, the Marnes would have found out that they’re broke. They don’t have a cent to their name. We have seized and redistributed all their wealth. We’ve discovered all of their shell corporations and charities and dismantled them. We’ve emptied all their offshore accounts, including those of Marne’s mother, Agnes. And we’ve seized and frozen other assets right across the globe. And the best part is that they now owe money to the banks and other financial institutions. So, if you add that up with the loss of their arms cache and men, it should prove to be quite a fruitful meeting, don’t you think?”
“But how did you manage to—?”
Jago cut Satyam short. “You have policies, procedures and protocols to adhere to. We have no such rules. We can go where others cannot, and that’s what it takes to be effective sometimes.”
“I understand the checks and balances culture; I have to. But then I must admit that with people like Marne and his associates, the rules make us weak. It’s a good job that people like you exist. It will be a pleasure to work with you. Let’s plan our operation then; we haven’t much time.”
Chapter 38
Jago, Dom and Fi were in close proximity to Maison du Miel et du Vin and listening in to the conversation in the Marne residence. The meeting seemed heated, with many voices overlapping. Fi was watching via the cameras in the main room, but it wasn’t the best of angles and really didn’t show much of use, so she discarded it, preferring to listen to the live feed. The team knew that besides Javi and Vikram, there would be eleven other people in the room.
“Dom, would you run through the list that Javi sent, please?” asked Jago as he peered through his high-powered binoculars.
Dom read through the list. “Okay, so we have the Marnes; Bryn Khan-Wright from the UK/Pakistan; Mr Jared Tandy from Australia; Elizabeth van der Hoort from South Africa; Huang Li from China; Henry Darmawan from Indonesia; Ruslan Dimitrov from Bulgaria; two sisters, Alice and Ingrid Stronoch, from the USA; and the Mauritian minister for education, Tanvi Sookun. It sounds like a United Nations summit. And there are ten bodyguards and four grounds guards.”
Jago scanned the area. “Well, it looks as though the bodyguards are pretty relaxed. They’re all chatting and smoking around their cars in the parking area. There are two guards on the gate and two roaming.”
“Boss, I’ve just had a message from Satyam. His team is in position and ready,” reported Fi.
“Thanks, Fi. Let him know we’re going to let the meeting continue for a while before we intervene. We want to see what intelligence we can glean first.”
“Okay, Boss.”
The three had been listening intently to the conversation for about thirty minutes when it got more heated.
“Have you discovered who was responsible for destroying our arms and ammunition yet, Augustus?” asked a scathing male voice.
Augustus Marne responded calmly, “No, we have not discovered their identities yet, but they must still be here on the island. They can’t have gone far. We will catch them and extract the information we need from them. We can be very persuasive.”
Marne paused and then said, “Bryn, I apologise for calling you in the early hours of last night. And it was good of you to make it at short notice. I thought that you could give us a first-hand report about the Australian project, please.”
“Augustus,” said a man with an English accent – Bryn, presumably, “it’s a pleasure to be here. As you all know, we’ve been growing the Australian market over the last few years. Many of the distributors have been happy to buy and resell some of our products. But mainly drugs shipments – they’ve been reluctant to buy and resell weapons. Unlike the US operation we conducted previously, which continues to bring us a quality return and growth.”
“That’s good to hear. The question is, how can we advance weapon sales in Australia?” asked Augustus Marne.
“Well, we have successfully conducted an attack on the Australian mainland, the result of which will benefit our organisation twofold. First, it will aid in expediting the sale of mine land that’s coming up for sale within the next ten years, and second, there may be a case to create a call to arms in response. The government would likely block any new legislation surrounding licences to carry arms. In fact, we’re sure that this would be the case, and it would fuel demand on the black market. That’s where we come in.”
“That’s all fine in theory, but how would that work in practice?” asked a female voice.
The English voice thought to be Bryn answered, “We will lead the government to believe that a new terrorist organisation is at large and seeking retribution over Australia’s involvement in joint operations in Afghanistan. The government will respond to this by pouring large sums of money into counterterrorism strategies and measures. They’ll be too busy to consider our purchase of the mines for development as anything other than pure business. Our investors require a mechanism by which to distribute their funds transparently and get a healthy return that, on the face of it, is open and transparent.”
“May I speak?” asked a woman in a slow southern drawl.
Augustus Marne cut in, “Of course you can, Alice.”
Dom looked at the l
ist and whispered to Jago, “That’s Alice Stronoch.”
“Can you assure us that this will work?” asked Alice.
“I can assure you that the first phase of the operation has taken place and was a success. Phase two will comprise feeding credible intelligence regarding the ‘new’ terrorist organisation. There will be more unrest in those mines identified as being near the end of their life, which will force the owners into thinking they’d be better off selling sooner rather than later.”
“And the bureaucrats?” asked another woman in an American accent, who Jago presumed would be Ingrid Stronoch, Alice’s sister.
“Don’t worry, even Australians can be greedy, and we’re paying them well to move things along without a hitch. If all goes well, we should take possession of our first site for leisure resort development next year, and then two more the following year. More purchases will take place over the subsequent five years, to bring us up to ten sites for development; these are all to include hotels, golf courses, casinos and such like.”
The room fell silent.
Augustus Marne spoke. “Yes Henry,”
“These sites, do they require permits?” asked a male voice with an Asian accent.
Bryn responded in a calm voice, “They do, for building and for use. For example, we would need permits to run our leisure resorts that incorporate casinos. We have assurances that this will not be a problem in fifty per cent of the proposed sites. And we’re working on the other fifty per cent.”
“I saw your handiwork on the news,” stated a voice with a heavy eastern European or Russian accent directly. “You appear to have been a little overzealous, don’t you think?”
“On the contrary. Those actions were necessary for the authorities to understand that we’re well organised and connected, and that we will not go away. What we did will fuel outrage in the people, who will demand better protection,” said Bryn.
“But there were so many dead and wounded, women and children among them. Couldn’t you have just attacked a mine or something?” asked an unknown female.
Lethal Promise Page 24
