THE ORANGE MOON AFFAIR (30 page)

I turned to the filing cabinets. They were locked, resisting my efforts to open them. Defeated I went over to the desk. Perhaps I would have better luck there. The third drawer came open, and inside were several folders. Most of them were really of no consequence at all, but the last couple I came to spread a different light on the matter. They seemed to be draft computer printouts of what could be best described as a business proposal. The meat of the proposal was to encourage member companies of the Party to invest their resources in the Pakhia Research Foundation, who would in turn buy property and establish a tax-free operating base for these companies. It then went on to detail the areas that had been earmarked for development, they related to some of the markings on the wall map. I put the papers back and went over to the map again. The areas actually covered two of the islands. The capital Pikua, and one of the smaller islands to the north, called Sahito. The puzzle was most certainly getting more complex the further I dug into it.

Just what were they up to? There was only one real answer.

They were trying to stage manage a take-over of the whole Dominion. That would explain the marking of strategic points such as the telecommunications centre and the government buildings.

But how?

No government was going to stand by and let somebody buy the entire land from right under their feet.

There was only one way.

Finance a coup by interested local parties and then rule by proxy.

My knowledge of the Dominion of Pakhia was sadly lacking, so I had no idea just what the politics of the country were, but I guessed Radley would know. Now all I had to do was get the information to him.

I didn't fancy another trip across the rooftops. Still, it had to be done. Before that though, I wanted to have a look at a couple of the other rooms down here. The one opposite that the man had come out of, intrigued me.

I replaced the papers and made sure that there was nothing else that looked out of place, and then went back to the door. As I was about to open it, the sound of footsteps came down the passageway. The door opposite opened and I risked a quick look. I caught a fleeting glimpse of a control room with large wall monitors, computer terminals and a microwave satellite setup.

They obviously thought that nobody could get into this part of the house, except lunatics who risked life and limb climbing around rooftops and they weren’t expecting any of those.

There was a layer of snow all over everything, and it was falling faster than ever. I climbed out onto the ledge and within a few seconds was covered from head to foot. If I didn't keep moving, my fingers would go numb and I wouldn't be able to grip anything.

The trip back to the apex of the roof went fine, mainly because I was so petrified of falling my grip couldn’t have been broken with a crowbar. Instead of sliding down the tiles to the next ledge, I used the ornamental brickwork on the gable end and let myself down slowly and carefully. Once on the ledge, it was easy to crawl gingerly along to the window of my room.

"W
ell, well, Mr Camden,
been practising for the next Everest expedition have you?” Lambert sat in the chair at the far end of the room, an automatic held loosely in his hand. There wasn't time to think, I just threw the jacket at him and leapt forward. He wasn't expecting it and I was onto him before he had time to react. There was a small table next to where he was standing and on it an ornamental vase. I picked it up and crashed it down on his head. He grunted and slid to the floor unconscious.

Then I broke his neck.

It was over in seconds.

Rifling quickly through his pockets I found a letter of invitation to a dinner at the Tower of London, and a Samsung smartphone. It was on but I couldn't access any information.

“Okay guys I need help unlocking a smartphone.”

After an interminable ten seconds the phone came to life. I checked the calendar app. and found a cryptic notation two days from now.

Keskküla. Suldiski. 236. Load.

Whatever ISEC was planning would be in Suldiski and I bet my life that Marika Keskküla was getting ready to move her supply of DU ammunition. I put the phone and the invitation in my pocket and cleaned up the room. After stuffing his body under the bed I straightened the covers and looked over the room. I wanted it to look as if nobody had slept there.

“Slight problem. Had to take out Lambert.” The back-up team would have heard the noise and needed a quick explanation. “So I've just outstayed my welcome."

Yesterday I'd had time to look around to the east end of the estate along the river. There was a waterfall of about sixty feet in height at the bottom of which were some natural stepping-stones across the river. The only problem was a sheer drop of sixty feet and only a fly could have stuck on the face of that rock. But the nearest place that any of Radley's men could get was the bottom of the waterfall.

So here I was, back out on that damned roof again with the snow blowing all the harder and I was colder than I’ve ever been in my life.

There was no way I could take out both the guards on the bridge without creating too much noise. So the waterfall it was the only solution.

I came to the fire escape ladder that served this wing of the house and was soon on the ground and wading through the already drifting snow. At the moment, I was in shadow and so, hopefully, out of sight of the all-seeing CCTV, but as soon as I ventured out into the lit area I was going to be picked up.

From then on, it would be a matter of luck. What I hoped was that the glare of the lights on the snow would effectively 'white-out' the TV screen. I would soon know anyway. Just in case, I headed in a northerly direction and as soon as I was out of the pool of light shed by the spotlights, I turned back towards the river. It wouldn't keep them off my tail for long because of the tracks in the snow, but it may just give me that little extra time I needed to find away down the rock face if there was one. I could have sworn the snow was driving down harder now that I was out in the open with no shelter. As if someone had been watching and decided to make life even harder. Every now and then I had to keep rubbing my face to keep the circulation going and wiggling my toes in my already sodden shoes. A couple of hours out in this and I was going to be frozen meat, preserved until the thaw. Not a pleasant thought. I must keep moving above all else. To stop even for a few minutes would begin the process of hypothermia, or should I say, speed up the process.

Keep moving. Keep the brain active. Think, man, think.

I tripped and fell over a mound and fell few feet from the riverbank. A couple more and I would have stumbled right into the trip wire.

“Come on Gunn, use your brain. You're no use dead.”

The cold scored deep into me and my teeth were chattering uncontrollably. I had to move faster and harder. But if I did, when I stopped, I would cool down too rapidly with the sweat caused by the exertion. Take off the coat. Maintain a rhythm, do just enough to keep warm and keep that brain working, but above all keep moving. Survival was what it was all about.

I worked my way along the edge of the river towards the waterfall. It was a good six hundred metres from the bridge so there was no danger of being seen by the sentries and it was too late to worry about surveillance devices.

It took the best part of ten minutes to reach the waterfall.

A searchlight snapped on from the mansion and swept the grounds.

Either they had discovered I was missing, or found Lambert's body. Either way I was dead meat unless I got out of here.

The ground was cold and wet and as I waited for the beam to pass, I could feel my body cooling rapidly without the coat on. It reminded me of a film I'd seen as a boy.
The Great Escape
. The only problem was most of the escapees got caught.

There were shouts from the sentries on the bridge and the sound of an engine. The beam passed and I rolled over, struggled back into the coat and looked back toward the mansion. A strange looking vehicle had just pulled up by the front door. It jogged a memory. I couldn’t quite make out the details from this distance. It was the way it moved and the shape of it.

Then I remembered. It was one of those 'go anywhere' machines with a two-stroke engine and eight wheels. It was as long as a Mini and mostly used by farmers. This one had a searchlight mounted in the back and no doubt the men that were climbing into it were armed. I didn't wait to see what they going to do next, but scrambled to the edge of the rock face. The water gurgled and crashed the sixty feet to the pool below and a fine icy cold mist sprayed over me. Within minutes I was soaked. I thought I saw some movement at the bottom, but it was difficult to tell because of the darkness.

The choice wasn't very great. If there was somebody down there it would be either Danny or the opposition. Either way, I had to know.

"Hello, is anyone down there?" The only sound was the water cascading over the edge and the distant noise of the buggy-type vehicle. "Danny?"

This time a light flashed up in my direction. I ducked instinctively. Then thought that was pretty stupid if it was Danny. The light fell on me and I closed my eyes to save my night vision.

"Thomas?"

"Take the damn light off my face." The light snapped off. “I don’t know how the hell I'm going to get down from here."

"Jump. This is the only way out. Paul checked the perimeter and this is the only way that is not covered by guards, mines, booby traps and the like.”

“Hold on a minute. I have to think.” I turned to see what was happening. The vehicle had taken off in the direction I had hoped they would, due north. As I watched, the vehicle came to a halt and the searchlight swept the immediate area. Then my heart turned cold as I saw the buggy swing round and follow the tracks I'd made down to the river. All the while I watched, I had ignored the cold and wet. Now, when I moved the fine mist of spray that had fallen on me from the waterfall cracked as it turned to ice. My face felt numb and I set to work rubbing the skin to get the circulation going again.

"There's only one way. Jump."

“You come up here and do it.”

“Mother of Mary, just jump and stop whining.”

"Whose side are you on?"

"Listen to me. It's deep where the water crashes into the pool. If you can jump clear then you'll hit the pool just right. It's either that or be caught, because no way can you get down that rock face.”

What a choice. Kill myself in the fall or be shot by the guys who were now fast on my trail. I looked back again. The buggy had reached the river’s edge and was less than two hundred metres away.

Still, I hesitated.

My mind was made up for me as a searchlight beam swept over me. The first round cracked past my ear as I launched myself into space.

The drop sent my guts up into my mouth as I tumbled in the air for an eternity, then hit the water with a stunning impact that knocked the breath out of me.

Somewhere a part of my brain was functioning as a rational logical machine. It took over and told my frozen aching body that I had to swim away from the fall of water before I could surface. I was only under for about twenty seconds, but to me it seemed like an eternity before I felt someone grab my arms.

Everything went black as I passed out.

When I came to, I was lying on the bank wrapped in an emergency space blanket and Danny had his hand over my mouth. I could see a shaft of light playing on the surface of the pool from above and caught the intermittent sound of voices through the crash of the waterfall.

".... gone over..... didn't kill him the fall would have.... an anorak...... else.... let's go."

The light went out and we were left with the sound of the roaring water. Danny let go of my mouth and I coughed, spluttered and retched.

"Jesus, I thought you weren't going to make it. You missed the edge of those rocks by a fraction."

The only thing I could do was stare at him, unable to talk because my teeth were chattering too much.

“Let's go we've got a Range Rover just round the bend." Danny started running along a narrow path, with me stumbling behind.

The run did me good, the blood sluggishly flowing to my extremities and with it the pain as my fingers and toes warmed up. Within a few minutes we reached the Range Rover with Paul waiting impatiently in the driver's seat. He handed me a flask.

“Get that down you.”

With hot strong sweet tea inside me, and the heater full on, I gradually thawed out as we drove to Perth. I started to tell Danny what I found but could still barely talk.

“Save it for Radley, Thomas. I can hear it then. You just rest yourself. I'm still trying to figure out how you survived that drop."

"It w…. was you're s…. suggestion." My mouth felt like it had a mind of it's own.

"Well we couldn't have you falling into their hands could we?"

“N…. next time y…. you go in. I'll s…. stay on the outside.”

We drove on in silence. I sat back wondering if I'd ever get warm again.

Radley was waiting in the jet. I recounted all the details to him about the Dominion of Pakhia. When I had finished he sat for a time deep in thought. It wasn’t until the aircraft was off the ground and climbing to cruise altitude that he spoke.

"It does tie in with reports we have been getting about an under current of unrest that has been rippling through the Islands for the past six months. Nothing specific.”

“I think ISEC is planning a coup in Pakhia.”

“What makes you think so?” His eyes already told me he was thinking along the same lines. I took Lambert's phone out of my pocket. It was soaked through but that wouldn't be a problem for Radley's
'tame techies'
.

“On there is a calendar note on the 28
th
. It reads
Keskküla. Suldiski. 236. Load.
”

“What does that mean?”

“That this Keskküla woman is selling DU for the coup in Pakhia. Then they’ll turn the country into a tax haven for ISEC members and manufacture and sell the ammunition to the rest of the world from there. Probably to Governments who want to keep their neighbours in check, or rebels who want a
'game changer'
.”