“Beautiful, wouldn’t you say John?”
“Indeed, absolutely. A finer gem I have never seen.”
She was lapping it up. “You British men are so attractive. Just a pity you are not perhaps a little younger. I could show you both some true African hospitality. If you know what I mean?”
She clapped her hands together vigorously and threw her head back in a raucous laugh. No one seemed to notice or care, the party was getting underway, speeches would follow and more inane chit-chat too, but this was an investment for Denby and in turn Daniel – and beyond that it could lead to something simply earth shattering.
“Oh, I think I do young lady, but I am sixty-three and you must be at least half my age.”
Denby feigned embarrassment, but genuinely wished he was forty again. Daniel wished he was somewhere else. She’d kill him with her athletic kindness an hour into any such meeting. And if she didn’t, his wife Lynne would.
“I have to circulate, but make sure we exchange details before you leave!” She was walking away when Denby called out to her.
“But miss, you didn’t allow us the honour of knowing what you do for your most beautiful country.” He was pushing the barriers aside now.
“Well, let us say I make things happen when the government can’t. I add my own unique way of doing things and often end up with very successful business deals for the country that raised me. It is the least I can do. I live here now and very comfortably. You should visit my place in Knightsbridge some time. I must circulate.”
Denby pretended to sip from his glass and whispered, “She sleeps her way to the top JD.”
“Never? Really? I wouldn’t have guessed. But more importantly, have you remembered where you know her from?”
“Oh, of course I knew that the second she walked in. She is called Doto because she was the second born, that’s for sure. And I just happen to know her sister Adaeze. There’s a sad story to tell, but it’s far too long for here and now.”
“Can you summarise?”
“I brought her sister to England, John, and we left the other one in a bush to die. And until this evening, I didn’t know she had survived.”
“And that worries you?”
“It terrifies me. I need to see if Adaeze is OK. I’ve got an awful feeling in my water.”
“Does your bag need changing?”
“JD, if I’d wanted a clown for company, I’d have gone to the bloody circus. Come on, let’s get another drink whilst I compose myself.”
Hewett was moving around the room with the Ambassador’s daughter like a ballroom dancer, light on his toes and charming the birds from the trees. All the while gathering intelligence and sticking to the plan. Sooner or later the main target had to arrive.
Daniel and Denby stood, pretending to eat from the buffet, backs to the wall. They mirrored every other government employee in the place, there because they needed to be.
There were representatives from the UK, Europe and many of the smaller African nations.
“Tell me about Reddington.” Daniel was smiling as he spoke.
“Former brigadier, British Army.”
“Yes, I know that much. I met him don’t forget and I know that you are still convinced that he’s a bad apple.”
“But you don’t know why. He and his stooges set up the most heinous of people smuggling operations many years ago, all under the umbrella of British trade and military aide to the west coast nations of Africa, and that still operates today. I know it. I can just sense it. There’s far too much money to be made for someone not to carry this on.”
He also smiled, forcing himself to eat a vol-auvent. “And Reddington is at the top of the bloody tree.”
A tall and very white man approached them, in a fading grey three-piece suit. He had old-school Foreign Office written all over him, he even had the correct tie. He’d been speaking to the Ambassador for far too long and now made a beeline to the two men.
Hewett spotted it and glided across the floor with the charming daughter on his coat tails.
“Derrick! How wonderful to see you. Have you met Simone, isn’t she just radiant? Simone is the Ambassador’s daughter, Simone, meet Derrick. Derrick and I go way back.”
They shook hands. Derrick Ripon had always been fascinated by the beauty of the many different women he had met at embassy and consular functions. European, South East Asian, South American, in truth he liked them all, but he had a particular liking for woman from Africa, especially the western region, where their skin was a shade or sometimes two darker than the women from the east. His mind had often wondered, thinking about them, beyond the boring functions, but his naivety and lack of confidence had never allowed his shallow fantasy to be more than that. “Gents it seems I have important business to attend to. Another time.” And with that Rippon was gone, into the crowd.
“Young Johnnie saved us there, Frank.”
“He did indeed. Hang on, the lift has arrived.”
They watched discreetly. A person exited the lift among a crowd of others. Eight new guests. Daniel listened acutely.
“Captain Susan Reddington. British Army. How lovely to meet you.”
Daniel looked at Denby.
“Did you hear that?”
“I did. I’m ninety, but I’m not deaf. That can’t be the right one. Captain. No. And the wrong sex. We’ve got this wrong. The covert source said that an army officer called Reddington would be here tonight. And they’ve got it right, but for us, very wrong.”
“Just hold your horses a second. Give me ten minutes.” He took his glass, grabbed another and walked indirectly towards the army officer, elegant in her green mess uniform and simple diamond earrings.
She was nodding and saying all the right things but looking across at Doto. There was a connection, and it was electric. For Daniel it was now or never.
“Captain Reddington, how lovely to see you. I’ve taken the liberty of getting you a drink. I’m John,” he whispered. “Can I rescue you from all of this madness?” He grinned at her. It was disarming and she needed rescuing, at least until she could get to Doto.
“Oh my God, thank you. You are a knight in shining armour. John, did you say?”
“I did. John Daniel.”
“Well, thank you, John. Look I’ll be straight with you I suspect we’ve never met before but you just felt I needed rescuing. Correct?”
“You’ve sussed me completely, Captain. Must be the intelligence officer in you.”
“You are perceptive. Most people wouldn’t know one regiment from the next.”
“Look, I’ll be straight with you, Captain. My old friend Frank Asquith over there spotted the uniform. He’s ex-Int Corps from the old days. Could I introduce you? Take you further away from the organised chaos that is an embassy function?”
“I’d be honoured. Come on, whisk me away before I get rounded up by that awful-looking man in the old grey suit…” She giggled. It threw Daniel as until that point she’d been a model soldier – disciplined and the consummate professional.
Has she had a glass or two before she arrived?
“Captain Reddington. This is Frank Asquith. We used to work together until Frank took a sabbatical and buggered off to New Zealand on a pre-retirement jolly.”
“It’s nice to meet you, Frank. I hope retirement will treat you well.”
“I do too, my dear.” He held her gaze.
“Sorry, have we met before?”
“Only in an old man’s dreams, my dear…” He smiled back. “So how’s the Corps these days?” He knew it was risk-laden heading down this path.
“Same as ever. Fewer staff, greater expectations. Intelligence units are never heard of until they get something wrong. You must know how it is?”
“Hardly, Captain.”
“Susan, please.”
“Hardly, Susan. In my day we had money to burn. You could say we had money for Africa!”
“There’s a phrase I’ve never heard before.”
“One from the past, probably Susan. My memory isn’t what it was, but I can still dance the night away with a gorgeous girl.”
“I bet you could. Anyway, look, it was truly wonderful to meet you both and thank you for rescuing me.”
“Our pleasure.” Denby took a sideways glance at Daniel.
“Susan, forgive me, but I knew of a Colonel back in the day. He was called Reddington too. That’s why my ears pricked up when your name was mentioned. Superb leader of men. I lost touch a few years ago. Hark at me, probably twenty. He’s not a relative, is he? If so, I’d love to exchange numbers and meet for a brandy. He loved his brandy.”
She smiled. He did. Denby had disarmed her for a second.
“That would be my grandfather.”
“Dear Lord, no? How marvellous. And how is he?”
“Look, I’m really sorry, but I have to go.”
“Susan, have I said something to upset you dear?”
“Mr. Asquith. My dear grandfather died very recently. His funeral was delayed. It’s tomorrow at Highgate. You are welcome to come. Ten o’clock sharp, you know what a stickler for time he was.”
“I am so very sorry. May I ask, was he ill?” Denby hoped he was, hideously.
“No, he fell to his death. Into the Thames. They didn’t find him for days. It was truly awful. But these things happen. No point in seeking vengeance.”
“But why would one do that if it was an accident?”
“I didn’t say it was. And neither should you assume. Now, please, I must circulate.” She nodded, almost imperceptibly. It meant something, if you knew what you were looking for.
She walked away without looking back.
Denby placed his glass onto a passing tray and nodded to Hewett. The signal was clear. ‘I have what I need.’
He made towards the lift, conscious that the speeches were about to start. Daniel followed.
In fifteen minutes, they were in the cab and heading for Greenwich.
“Johnnie, sorry I had to drag you away from the gorgeous Simone. She was a dazzling specimen.”
“Wasn’t she just. It wasn’t her night. Did you identify anyone of interest?”
“Did we? Oh yes. Two people, actually. Doto Adesida and a certain blonde army captain that I saw you taking an interest in.”
“Your fieldcraft has never left you, sir. I bow to your greater skills. Tell me about Doto first.” Hewett looked in the rear-view mirror. The old man was flagging. It was a wonder how he operated at all – at least ninety years young and officially on the run from Cade and the team and the irony was, they were on his side.
“Long story lad. Best summarised as one of two girls I first set eyes on many years ago in Africa. I was given a choice by their mother. Take the healthiest child with me to England to start a new life, a new dynasty, take both, or leave the youngest behind.”
“And my senses suggest she was the one left behind?”
“Your senses don’t betray you. Last I saw of her was an infant in some scrubland. She wasn’t crying, just looking at the world around her. I’m not proud of my actions, Johnnie. I had to make a call and I could only take one more.” It was clear from the old man’s expression that he was back in Guinea.
“It’s like I was there yesterday. I broke all the rules I could. Her sister came with me. She was only little but as bright as a button. I also took a great deal of things that didn’t belong to me and that has haunted me to this day. Actually…” He laughed. “It hasn’t because I’d forgotten all about it until Jack Cade visited me in the hospice and somehow kickstarted my ailing memory.”
“I’ve heard this can happen,” said Daniel. “Before…”
“Aye lad, before it’s too late. Johnnie, I’ve got weeks to find the twelve girls I brought with me. There were others, many didn’t make it, drowned or froze to death. But the ones that did, I marked with a number.”
“Like a tattoo?”
“Just like a tattoo. And don’t even start questioning my motives because that’s a part of my brain I’ve shut down, and despite lying awake night after bloody night, it won’t open again. But I’m hoping I can find them all and do something positive for them.”
“Twelve girls, you say?” Hewett was driving south but thinking aloud.
“Yep. Just twelve.”
“Twelve individual numbers. Correct?”
“Well, of course. What else would it be?”
“They could all be the same. Have you considered what they might signify?” Daniel was joining in, hoping a wave of interest might provide a crowbar into Denby’s mind.
“A phone number perhaps?” Hewett.
“A special person’s phone number?” Daniel.
“Neither. It doesn’t make sense. Almost all UK numbers are eleven digits.” He knew this much. It was fascinating what micro detail he could remember.
“I didn’t know that Tom,” said Hewett, encouragingly.
“I’m not daft, lad. I just can’t remember a lot of the past. Sometimes I forget how to make a cup of tea. Now that is important! But I remember ridiculous detail. Like Bungy Edwards.”
“Who?”
“Richard Edwards. A Leading Hand I served with in the navy. I can still quote his service number. One letter, six numbers. As if it was yesterday, heading north east up into the Arctic. Christ, it was perishing up there.”
He mumbled something. Then said, “North and east.” As if they were relevant.
Daniel sought to bring him back to 2016. “How about a bank account number?”
“John, why would any man carve a bank account number into the back of a kid? I’m not a sadist.”
“No, Tom, I know. Sorry, I’m just trying.”
“You are. Very.”
The three men travelled in silence until they reached JD’s place. As they slowed to take the left turn Denby called out. “Stop the car!”
The black cab came to a halt within feet.
“What is it, Tom?” asked Daniel. “Are you OK?”
“I’m fine, lad. I think I’ve figured it out.” He was grinning like the proverbial cat from behind his white beard, blue eyes sparkling.
He pointed to the GPS screen in the cab. Both of the younger men looked at it.
“What? What are we looking at, Tom?”
“The map on the screen. 481883. That’s a grid reference.”
“It is. And?”
“And there are six numbers north and six numbers east. Six and six when I went to school was twelve. Twelve digits. Twelve numbers on twelve girls. It’s a map reference!” He was in tears.
Daniel was animated. “Tom, this is superb. You’ve done it. Incredible.”
Hewett was more pragmatic and had a pained facial expression.
“As much as I don’t want to rain on your parade gents, do we know what the number is and importantly, if it is a map reference, what is it that is important about it?”
“No, lad, I’m not sure of the number, but I know the sequence. I can recall each girl in sequence. I numbered them young to old. At least I think I did.” He searched his own soul, sifting through the files of over seventy years of professional service.
A huge tear appeared on each eyelid, turning his elderly blue eyes bluer.
“I’m sorry. I just wish there was more I could remember.”
“It’s OK. All we need to do is find the girls, make sure the numbers are in the correct sequence, and go to that spot and look for something. It sounds doable to me.” Hewett was aware he sounded sarcastic.
Denby adopted a different approach.
“Good. I’m glad. Then between us we’ll figure out before I bloody well die. I remembered the paperwork I buried in the wall of the hotel. If the man upstairs is on my side, perhaps I can remember the rest.”
“Are we talking about something of physical value, Tom, like a pile of gold? Or is of operational value, you know, like an intelligence file from the past, that will incriminate people. The people you tell me wer
e influential in bringing in all these people to England?”
“Slaves John. Give them their real name.”
“Fair enough, but slavery was abolished many years ago Tom.”
“Was it?” asked Hewett, as if he already knew the answer.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Hewett glanced in the driver’s door mirror as the two rear seat passengers sat once more in silence, trying to figure out what the revelation actually meant to them.
A silver Ford Mondeo saloon, as anonymous a car as he could imagine, edged out from a side road a few hundred metres behind them. Lights off. One occupant. Make that two.
“Gents. I hate to break up the party as it’s going so well. But I think we have some admirers. Don’t make it obvious. About two hundred metres to our rear. Side road. Silver Ford.”
Daniel held his cell phone up, used the screen as a mirror.
“Yep. What about it?”
“I first spotted it back on New Cross Road.” He looked ahead.
“Oh hello, stand by…”
Daniel’s house was on a narrow road alongside the park. The street lighting was sparse at best and afforded an ideal situation for anyone wanting to surveil anyone else. Unless those people were Hewett and Daniel and, in his day, Denby.
“See the van, John?”
“Yep. We’ve got company alright. No one comes down here at this hour and certainly not in a van. Neighbourhood Watch will be having a fit.”
“Plan?”
“Drop us off and have a drive by. Black cab in London late at night, hardly suspicious. I’ll get inside and call for a local unit to attend, fly the flag and all that.”
Daniel started to get out of the cab when the van accelerated down the street toward them.
“Get in!” yelled Hewett.
Daniel practically dragged Denby into the cab and was pulling the heavy door shut as Hewett was reversing at speed down the road toward the Mondeo.
Daniel dialled Cade.
“Jack, we’ve got a situation. I’m with John Hewett and…”
“You OK mate sounds like you are in a hurry.”
The Angel of Whitehall Page 27
