A Covert War (27 page)

A single light bulb hung from the ceiling with no benefit of a lampshade. And up against one wall were a couple of chairs that had seen better days. The floor was plain wood, and lodged against the open window was an old, air conditioner. Marcus wondered if it ever worked.

Standing beside the air conditioner, her arms folded was a nun. She tipped her head in greeting and asked them, in English to sit down. Then she looked beyond Marcus and Susan to Ali Seema and nodded. The interpreter bowed his head, said a few salaams and backed out of the office.

Marcus and Susan did as they had been asked and sat down. Meanwhile the nun took her place in the chair behind the desk. They heard the car engine start up and listened as the Tata drove away, the sound of its engine fading into the night.

Then they heard something else; the sound of footsteps on the gravel outside, then the creaking of the main door as it swung open. The footsteps sounded again in the corridor outside the office. Suddenly the door opened and an Arab walked in. Marcus and Susan both gasped in surprise; it was the driver of the Tata.

‘Good evening,’ he said to them in passable English. ‘I’m sorry for the…’ he stumbled on the word for a moment. ‘… how do you say, tricks? But I have to be careful.’ He bowed his head. ‘Please allow me to introduce myself; I am Abdul Khaliq.’

***

Cavendish woke up, his head throbbing like mad. He opened his eyes and looked around him. He could see white walls and smell disinfectant and soap. The ache in his head reminded him that he had been drinking Jim Beam, but there was something else he couldn’t quite put his finger on.

He lifted his head off the pillow and looked around the room. It was like a private room in a hospital, but without the personal touches he would have associated with such a place. There was a bell cord beside his bed which he pulled. A nurse appeared soon after. She was wearing a white coat over army fatigues. She lifted Cavendish’s arm and checked his pulse, then put his arm down and put her fingers to her lips.

‘Back in a while,’ she told him, and left.

The nurse came back with a doctor. He also was wearing camouflage fatigues beneath a white coat. He had the traditional stethoscope hanging round his neck.

‘Good morning sir,’ he said cheerfully. ‘How are you feeling?’

Cavendish couldn’t tell him the truth, which was that he didn’t want to give the doctor a reason to keep him there.

‘I’m fine,’ he lied. ‘Too much to drink I guess.’

The doctor smiled and pulled a pen torch from his top pocket. He shone it in Cavendish’s eyes.

‘You fell over and banged your head, they tell me.’ He peered closely at Cavendish’s eyes. ‘But these tell me something different,’ he muttered.

‘What, my eyes?’

The doctor laughed. ‘No, these,’ he said and touched Cavendish on the side of the neck. The doctor’s touch made him yelp, pulling his head away.

‘It looks like something hit you on the side of the neck.’ The doctor was moving his head around as he spoke, carefully examining the bruising. ‘I think the collar of your flak jacket saved you. Wonderful things, flak jackets.’

He straightened and put his torch away. Then he finished of examining Cavendish and told him he could go whenever he felt able.

Cavendish was mightily pleased; eager to get out of the Base hospital and speak to Lieutenant McCain. He was also curious to find out who the man was he saw coming out of the headquarters building. The bang on the side of the head hadn’t exactly cleared it, but neither had it diminished his sense of urgency nor his sense of intrigue. Something was nagging away at him and he needed to find out what it was.

And quickly.

***

Abdul Khaliq sat facing them across the desk. The nun had left the room after asking them all if they wanted something to eat or drink. They settled for water which the nun brought in. She had put the jug and three glasses on the desk before leaving.

‘Why the subterfuge then?’ Marcus asked Abdul. ‘Why couldn’t you have come up to the hotel room, avoid all this drama?’

Abdul studied Marcus with the air of someone who feels sympathy for one who understands so little. ‘We are at risk even now,’ he explained. ‘If I had approached you openly in Kabul, I would never have left the hotel. And nor would you.’

Susan twitched at that last statement. She tried to keep thinking of David and not let her nerves get the better of her.

‘What can you tell me about my brother?’ she asked Abdul. ‘Is he ok?’

Abdul smiled at her, his teeth flashing brilliantly white beneath his beard. ‘I can promise you he is alive and he is well.’

‘Why didn’t you bring him here?’ Marcus asked him.

Abdul glanced across at Marcus knowing that he still did not understand. ‘He is too important to be brought here and handed over to you two.’ He held both his arms forward across the desk, his hands open. ‘Surely you can understand that?’

Marcus could see the logic; anybody seriously opposed to Abdul Khaliq would have no problems wiping them all out. The sense of danger, of risk, was beginning to stir something in Marcus; he was beginning to feel that strange sense of displeasure that often surged through him whenever anyone spoiled his day. He wanted David Ellis free, back home with Susan, unhindered by the war lords and the drug barons, and he was beginning to get a little tired of all this posturing he was witnessing from Abdul.

‘So when are you going to take us to see him? I presume you are, Abdul,’ he said. ‘Or is this just a bloody game to you?’

Susan turned sharply. ‘Marcus!’

Marcus stared at her with hard eyes. There was steel in them which Susan recognised and she began to wonder if Marcus might blow it for them all because of his latent temper.

‘I’m sure Abdul will take us to David in good time,’ she insisted, trying to bring a calming influence on Marcus. She looked across at Abdul. ‘Well, will you take us to see my brother?’ she asked.

Abdul sat forward, his manner changing a little; it was more business like. ‘The reason you are here is to get your brother released, is that right?’ Susan nodded. ‘And you are here because you have been sent by your government, is that correct also?’

Susan hadn’t been given any real mandate from Cavendish other than to keep him informed of developments over the phone.

‘Yes, but I’m not sure I have any real authority,’ she replied weakly.

‘Then let me explain something to you.’ He paused and cleared his throat. ‘The war here in Afghanistan cannot be won by the Americans or the British. The Americans do not like our president; they see him as weak and ineffective. And when our so called democratic elections come in the summer, they expect him to be re-elected; in which case they plan to install someone in the government who will have the real power. He will be pro-American. He will be the top man.’

‘What’s your point, Abdul?’ Marcus asked him.

Abdul frowned. ‘He will be a CIA man. He will run the country, and he will want complete control of the poppy fields.’

‘So men like you will be an obstacle to the Americans, is that it?’

Abdul nodded. ‘To the CIA. And even if I withdrew, they would find me and kill me. In fact, they are trying now.’

‘And that is why you want our help?’ Susan asked incredulously.

‘Yes!’ He slapped his hand on the table making Susan jump. ‘So you can tell your government that I will exchange your brother for my freedom. I want political asylum.’

TWENTY

Susan carefully composed the text message using cryptic language that she hoped Cavendish would understand. When she was satisfied that she had written the text out correctly on a scrap of paper, she punched the letters into her mobile phone and held her finger over the ‘send’ button.

‘You promise we will see David?’ she asked Abdul again.

Abdul nodded but said nothing. Marcus thought the man looked quite nervous.

‘It’s done,’ Susan said, breathing out sharply and lifting her finger off the key. She looked guardedly at Marcus. ‘All we can do now is wait.’

Abdul leaned on the desk and pushed himself upright, shoving the chair back with his legs. It scraped noisily on the bare floor.

‘When we receive the reply I want, I will take you to see your brother.’ He walked round from behind the desk. ‘Now we must see about getting some sleep.’

He left Marcus and Susan sitting together in the room. They said nothing for a while. Marcus yawned which made Susan do the same thing. They were both very tired. It was past midnight and the talking had gone on for such a long time, neither of them had been aware of their tiredness creeping up on them.

When Abdul came back he motioned them to follow him. He took them both along the corridor to an open door. He stood there and pointed into the room.

‘You will sleep here,’ he told them. ‘Keep your door shut. If you need anything urgently, there is a nun sleeping in that room there.’ He pointed along the corridor to a closed door.

‘Where will you be sleeping, Abdul?’ Marcus asked.

Abdul smiled. ‘I won’t be far away.’ He put his hands together in an attitude of prayer and bowed his head. ‘May the one, true God be with us all tonight.
Salaam
.’

When Abdul had gone, Susan and Marcus looked around the room. It was sparsely furnished. There was a single bed and a very small table on which a jug and bowl were standing. It looked like the room was almost certainly intended for a nun because of the crucifix tacked to the wall above the bed and the complete lack of character in the room.

Susan and Marcus exchanged glances. She could see the unasked question in Marcus’s face and put her hand on his arm.

‘Marcus,’ she said softly, a tremor in her voice. ‘Please don’t misunderstand me, but I don’t want to be left alone tonight.’

Marcus shook his head. ‘You won’t be; I’ll be sleeping on the floor beside you,’ he told her.

Susan gripped his hand tightly. ‘No, Marcus, you don’t understand. I’m scared and I need you to be close.’

She then pulled Marcus towards the bed and laid on it. She looked up at him and turned to face the wall. He laid full length behind her, then put his arm around her and slipped it beneath her blouse. He felt her stiffen and put her hand over his. Then she relaxed and he moved his hand over her breast, and squeezed it gently.

Susan moved her hand and placed it over the top of Marcus’s. She sighed and breathed in deeply. For a brief moment, both of them thought of nothing else but each other. But the truth was, neither of them felt safe.

***

Cavendish watched the Military Policeman leave his room with Lieutenant McCain. They had questioned him about the unprovoked attack the previous evening, but offered no clues as to why it took place. The MP suggested lamely that because of the number of people on the base, it was possible that one or two criminal elements on the base may have been attempting to mug him and been scared off.

Cavendish was quite happy to go along with that, but didn’t believe it for one minute. He said nothing of his fears to either of them, and they were happy to record the incident as an unprovoked attack by person or persons unknown.

It was as they were leaving the room that he found himself staring at the back of the MP. The uniform the man was wearing was common enough, but it took Cavendish’s mind back to the attack on Marcus and the two policemen at the bonded warehouse at Feltwell. It wasn’t the police uniform so much as the events and the personnel surrounding it. Everybody seemed to get in on the act afterwards, including the CIA.

And that was when it struck him; like a sudden realisation that he had interpreted that vital clue in a complicated crossword puzzle. Except that this was no crossword; it was a deadly game of murder.

The civilian he saw coming out of the main entrance of the Base Headquarters with an American Officer was Randy Hudson, the expelled Station CIA chief in England.

Cavendish’s heart sank as it dawned on him that The Chapter must have very powerful allies within the military to be able to send Hudson out to Afghanistan, without any sanctions, where he would be at the heart of the sinister work the organisation carried out.

Hudson should have been languishing in a police cell in America right now, awaiting charges of conspiracy, drugs and arms smuggling, and most other crimes that would send him to the electric chair, or at least many years on death row hoping he would beat the death penalty.

Hudson must have seen him; it was the only explanation Cavendish could think of. He was attacked last night to stop him; nothing else. He knew then that his own life was in jeopardy if Hudson learned that he had not succumbed to the attack, but in fact was recovering in the Base hospital.

He threw the covers from his bed and swung his legs round, sitting up at the same time. He was wearing a standard issue, hospital gown, which barely covered his backside as he stood up and went in search of his clothes.

As he reached into the slim, tall locker beside his bed, he heard his mobile phone ringing and vibrating. He put his hands into the pocket of his trousers which were hanging up and pulled the phone out. A text message had come through from MI6 in London. The message had been sent in ‘clear’, so Cavendish read the actual letters that Susan had entered; there was no code.

Five minutes later and Cavendish walked out of the Base hospital knowing that the next phase of the game had shifted; it had now become critical.

***

Shortly after Cavendish had read the text message from Susan, the CIA liaison officer at Khost base punched in a selection of numbers on his desk phone. He only waited a few seconds when he heard the voice of Randolph Hudson on the line.

‘Sir, I have something I think you will want to see.’ He put the phone down without waiting for a reply. Five minutes later Randy Hudson walked into the liaison officer’s room.

‘We picked up a transmission,’ the young official told him. ‘It’s from somewhere in Afghanistan to MI6 in London. We listen in on their Mercury 6 satellite sir,’ he reminded Hudson. ‘The message wasn’t coded sir, transmitted in clear. Headquarters at Langley interpreted the message and sent an encrypted version here.’ He picked up a sheet of notepaper. ‘I’ve written the message down sir.’ He passed it to Hudson.