Three Faces of West (2013) (10 page)

“This is it,” Remarked Hudson,

“We’ll take it from here.” Said West, cueing the clerk to leave them alone,

“See what is in here.” He asked.

The clerk did not immediately disappear, instead once he knew they had the correct strongbox he proceeded to grasp at a large bunch of keys swinging from his hip in the fashion of a classic jailer. Almost barging through the two men performing his duty to the letter by inserting the right key, the clicking of the lock told them they were in,

“Thanks for your help.” Said West, politely gesturing to the clerk to leave them alone. Doing so gave West and Hudson the breathing space to finally grasp at the locker, hopefully this would be the correct course of action to give them the clues they were missing and so desperate to find. West quickly opened it, inside he found a small briefcase. Being the only item there, West quickly grasped at it to gain a better view. In the light from the solitary window he could see that the case was not locked by any sort of combination,

“Thank God.” He thought to himself.

John looked on as West probed further. Quickly opening it to divulge the contents inside he dipped his hand in to feel around the interior. There appeared to be only one thing in the case, a small singular piece of paper. Jack pulled it out to see what was written on it, but as soon as the light shone on the document both men could tell exactly what it was. Printed in black ink, the grid filled with familiar combinations of letters told both men exactly what it was,

“Look,” Said John, “That’s the periodic table!”

“Yes.” Said Jack examining the piece, all the time looking closer at the document. His vision made him notice that at least five of the periodic elements were marked with what appeared to be slight pencil marks. He made a mental note of each one in turn,

“John take a note of these, C L, that’s chlorine. C, is carbon, H is hydrogen and O, now that’s oxygen I think.”

John took down the notes to what the periodic table was referring to,

“It sounds like a formula for something to me.” He remarked.

West wanted to give a suitable reply but he interrupted himself after having another feel around inside just for good measure. This time he located another, smaller piece of paper he had missed the first time, thinner and more delicate than the one making up the periodic table. He pulled it out wondering what it was. He looked on with John also examining the document. West could see two addresses, one in this country linked to another name,

“Mr Fisher”, Said Jack to himself. The other address in China, a tracking number, quantity and product,

“This is an invoice, it’s a shipment from China for something called arsine,” He declared,

“What is arsine?” Asked John,

“I don’t know. John get on the phone, contact through to HQ, give them the elements see what they can dig up. Tell them about the invoice give them this tracking number, see what they can find.”

He showed Hudson the tracking number, “528799411” printed clearly across the top. Pulling a phone from his pocked John furiously danced his fingers across the touchpad keying in numbers as he went. Putting the phone up to his face the signal strength was good for a prison as he started to get through pretty much straight away,

“Hi, yeah it’s me Hudson, listen can you recall some info for me? I’m going to give you a list of chemicals, see what you can find for me. Also do a check on an invoice, I’ll give you a tracking number…. Yes…OK, well here it is, its 528…799…411, got that? OK the chemicals I want a check on are chlorine, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and something called arsine. Check with the lab see if any of those chemicals make something, perhaps some kind of compound will you? Get back to me on this number once you’ve found something out…OK…thanks then, bye.”

Pressing the little red button terminating the call he turned back to his partner,

“Hope we won’t have to wait too long for a result.”

“Hopefully not, because from the look of this, there’s more than meets the eye here. Let’s hope the lab finds something of interest.”

A few minutes passed. Both west and Hudson spent the time examining the rest of the locker making sure that nothing was missed. The only thing in the strongbox was the case. West took a few moments to examine it a bit further; he could see that it was quite well made, black, soft leather with a silver buckle,

“A designer bag. Must be quite expensive.” He thought to himself.

He didn’t have time to make any more deductions; just a quick external examination of the bag could be made before a faint jingle could be heard from behind him. Instantly recognising it as John’s mobile tone, his partner was way ahead of him. Pulling it out of his pocket to answer the expectant phone call,

“Hello….hi there, yes that’s correct….what do you have for me?”

Jack looked on observing John’s reaction for any clues to what was being said to him. West looked on as John’s eyes widened in a reaction, clearly there was something that had been found, he was desperate to discover what,

“Right then, what about the chlorine?….and what does that mean?…OK…and the arsine?…Right yes I understand thanks for that, any news about the invoice?…. OK let me know when you do.”

“What have you found?” Asked West as John hung up.

“In the case of the nitrogen, oxygen and carbon, certain isotopes make up the formula for a drug.”

“What kind of drug?”

“Our old friend scopolamine.” Replied John

Ringing alarm bells inside Jack’s head, well aware of the effects of scopolamine he knew that this periodic table heralded something potentially sinister,

“So we have the formula for a drug which we know is dangerous in quantities and is also a known deliriant. What about the chlorine?”

“According to the lab, chlorine is a poisonous substance, but it’s what they call an oxidizing element.”

“What does that mean?”

“According to them it means that it can start an ignition if another element is present.”

“So it’s explosive?” Asked Jack,

“Perhaps not, I suspect chlorine is more toxic than explosive. But that other element-‘

“Is arsine!” Said Jack, cutting him off. John restarted again relaying the information he had been given,

“Yes and arsine is a highly flammable gas. Ideal as an accelerant.”

West thought about this for a second, obviously choosing to examine Grey’s possessions paid off handsomely. He tried to look at it objectively,

“So here we have the formula for hallucinogenic drug, extremely powerful, chlorine, a potent poison and arsine a flammable gas used as a combustible accelerant.”

“Providing you have a source of ignition” Added John pointing out the finer details. Jack wanted to tell him not to jump to conclusions but was interrupted by John’s phone ringing yet again,

“Probably more about that invoice.” Said John pressing the green button on the phone to answer the caller,

“Hello…..yes sir,” Jack could tell instantly it was Harvey on the phone,

“The invoice sir…….right……no, that’s very interesting…….well thank you for investigating……sorry?…….really?! now that is a bit of news……..yes Jack is here with me……OK I’ll mention it…….thanks once again…..OK, bye.”

This sounded promising to West, as soon as Hudson hung up he turned to reveal the news,

“That was our Harvey; they’ve done a trace on that invoice. Apparently an order was placed in the name of Mr Fisher, likely an alias for Grey, for half a litre of arsine from a Chinese chemical company. Apparently the dates show that this was ordered after the mayoral attack plot, when Grey was on the run. The tracking number was picked up by the police and used it to lead then straight to him, that why these are here, he must have attempted to hide or get rid of them somehow to distance himself from any future plot.”

West tried to challenge his partner,

“And you think there definitely is another plot involving Grey?”

“Pretty conclusive don’t you think?” Was John’s reply.

West believed him. The truth was he though exactly the same thing himself,

“Then this is the proof we need to link Grey indirectly to the Finnin murder. It also highlights the potential of another attack somewhere on a larger scale. Prison is no deterrent for someone as radical and determined as him. OK I think we are done here, come on let’s go.”

Putting the contents back in the case and the case in the locker, they proceeded to the exit. The duty warden at the desk at the top of the room watching the men head for the exit rose to close the locker back again leaving the contents to gather dust as they had been before they gave up their secrets. West and Hudson had made disturbing progress, but this was only the tip of a very large iceberg, they were not finished here yet, and they both knew it.

Chapter 6:

Upon exiting the locker room they found themselves back in the corridor of the admin block from which they came. By now the two men were at a bit of a loose end as what to do next. Hudson thought on for a minute, then turned to West,

“You think we have to see Grey again? Confront him with the evidence?”

“Yes, come on let’s go back to the segregation unit.”

They proceeded back to the corridors passing the admin offices on the way down. They still had their security passes so there should be no problem with regards to access, but the commotion from the rooms was beginning to get quite noticeable,

“You hear them?” Asked John,

“Yes. They’re complaining about the computer glitch interfering in the running of the prison.”

The wardens, admin staff and the I.T. personnel were all at loggerheads as to determine the cause and the resolution to the system meltdown. Talk was turning to security risks, clearly they wondered if one or more of the dangerous criminals would dare to abscond.

Back in the segregation unit the supposed order had broken down somewhat, this glitch was certainly taking its toll by the time West and Hudson arrived. The wardens all seemed to be concerned about one thing,

“Problem?” asked West boldly,

“Yes,” replied Davison, turning round to see who had walked in, “It’s these bloody computer problems, they’ve affected the doors, and they’re automatically locked up.”

“So you can’t get in?”

“No, and we can’t get anyone out either.”

West thought this was supposed to be the idea, but he remembered what was said earlier about the duty wardens inside,

“So the duty warden is trapped inside with the prisoners?”

“Yes, that puts him in danger if we have a situation, even though we’re all fully trained for any emergency.” Replied Davison.

West and Hudson knew just what havoc the bug was causing to the prison operation, but this was a modern establishment, surely they could not have been crippled. West tested Davison with a single, simple question,

“Do you have some kind of override procedure in place here, for something like this? Surely you must have a contingency plan.”

“Yes all the security codes are held on computer file, but there are backups in case of emergency. Normally these backup files are held on a separate computer server in case one goes down, but this problem has affected all the servers. We can’t get access to anything until they’re back up and running.”

John decided to challenge the warden’s explanation. He was not satisfied with the whole prison system being dependant on just one computer system,

“Can’t you open the doors manually with your keys?”

Another warden butted in with a very suitable answer,

“Not in this part of the prison. Here to open those doors you have to use a key and punch in a code within two seconds, otherwise it locks you out.”

“It’s standard procedure,” Said Davison, “Here we house some of the most dangerous criminals in the county so you’ve got to take special steps.”

West turned to John, he had an idea. From the current evidence there seemed to be no way inside at the moment, but there could be a way with extrinsic help,

“John, go back to the admin offices, see if you can’t access a security code from there.”

“How, the servers are down?”

“Use your ingenuity John. Perhaps we could use a little outside help.”

John cottoned on to what Jack was referring to. There was a definite way to access to the security files, and he knew just the trick on how to do it.

The admin offices were still a mire of confusion and panic when John walked in. It was almost as if nobody noticed him as he appeared in the doorway,

“Yes?” Said a young woman,

“I’ve come from the segregation unit, the doors down there are locked, can I log onto one of your systems to try and gain access?”

The I.T. technicians looked on almost in hilarity, what did they expect this man to do? The admin assistant decided to challenge him further,

“Sorry, you can’t. You can see that we are tied up at the moment. We’re aware of the door problem so no I’m afraid not.”

Turning out of the room it seemed like a bit of a dead end for John. Walking back down the corridor proved a slice of luck for out of the corner of his eye, just off to the right there lay a smaller office. Pausing only briefly just enough to see if there was anyone inside John tentatively pushed open the door with shifty eyes to check the coast was clear. There were no detectable cameras in this part of the block so it seemed safe. He was in luck the small office private was vacant and John took the opportunity to slip inside. Upon closure of the door, apart from the usual office furniture the one object that was of interest was the computer situated on the desk. Taking his seat he pressed the first key he could on the keyboard prompting the screen to light up. Carelessly someone had left it on standby and it wasn’t locked so John proceeded to probe the files. Instantly he found that the whole operating system began to freeze, menus would not load and files would not open or disappear altogether, this was the legacy of the computer glitch. With his patience wearing thin discretely he pulled out his phone from the pocket and began to finger dance across the screen dialling a specific phone number. Hearing the ringing and knowing he had to speak softly, he pressed the phone as close to his face as he dared allowing his comments to be heard as clearly as the situation allowed,