Three Faces of West (2013) (30 page)

Jack, intrigued wanted to know further, “How could this be achieved?”

“By poisoning large swathes of the population via a concoction of the potions you discovered.”

“Scopolamine, Arsine and Chlorine?” Said Jack,

“Yes.”

Suddenly the story enlightened West as much as it did Hudson, “So that’s the poison connection. The drugs we associated with Maxwell Grey in Bellmarsh and the Finnin connection.”

Harvey carried on, “The lab confirms that such a mixture ingested, or more commonly inhaled since it can be airborne would first induce delirium, thanks to the Scopolamine, then violent madness concluding with eventual death.”

“My god.” Said John,

“If something like this gets airborne into the capital’s population, the hysteria that ensues would cause mass damage and violent riots, most likely against the establishments and the very infrastructure of our society.”

John proceeded to cut Harvey off, “And David Finnin was the perfect guinea pig to test the virility of such a poison.”

The implications of such a reality were beginning to surface in all terrifying ferocity,

“So we’re looking at a chemical attack on London?” Asked West,

“A certain possibility.” Replied Harvey, “There must be a way to deliver that poison, the airborne route is clearly the most effective.”

John tried to put the whole plan into some kind of context. He could see implications of such a plan but how did it fit into the bigger picture?

“OK so Bruenstein looks likely to try another attack soon, fine. But how does that relate to Jack’s so-called death and disappearance, how does he fit into all this?”

Before Jack could respond, Harvey explained, “Bruenstein is a former CIA operative so he knows all the methods inside out. The only way to get close and track him was to make him think the case officers were out of the picture.”

“Our man used his stake in the internet news company, BeeBee.org to influence its news output; by discrediting the security services and creating fear and panic in the process.” Added Jack,

“The backbone of terrorism - fear.” Concluded Harvey.

To John that made sense. He turned to Jack, “But how did you manage to keep a track on Bruenstein?”

“Through Maxwell Grey. That is why I had to help him escape from Bellmarsh Prison; it was the only way, via a false recruitment.”

“I knew when you visited Bellmarsh.” Said Harvey, “There was a computer glitch that day that affected the computer systems wasn’t there John?”

“Well yes but…that was us?!!”

Harvey continued, “Yes, MI5 planted a short lived computer virus to freeze out certain security systems, allowing Grey to escape.”

“But why break him out? Why not just interrogate him on the inside and get the information you want?”

“Because we knew we couldn’t trust Grey one inch. We had to put him in a position where he could lead us directly to our man.”

John, thinking about this for a second turned toward Jack as he came to a natural conclusion, “So that is why Grey was waiting outside after we were cleared to leave. You knew he would be there all along.”

West responded, “Yes and that is why I told you to go to Finchley straight after. I took Grey to a safe house knowing full well he would escape, and this allowed our colleagues to keep a track on him.”

The fiasco at the prison was now becoming clear, “But what about the police? What was Scotland Yard’s role in all of this.” John asked. He got his answer from Harvey,

“Inspector Waterson originally arrested Maxwell Grey 18 months ago. That’s how he came into contact with this whole plot.”

Suddenly a frightening though hit John, “So if Waterson came into contact-‘

“Inspector Waterson was also one involved with Victor Bruenstein and his plot.” Said Jack, stating the obvious. This was a truly shocking revelation, the chief investigating officer, one of them?

“It’s now clear that this thing has corrupted the highest levels of the police as well as government. When we found out even I was not sure who I could and could not trust.” Remarked Harvey,

“But you didn’t let us know.” Asked John, but he was mistaken,

“But I did John.” Suddenly it hit him,

“The phone call you took in Bellmarsh Jack! That was Harvey! That was you were being told of, Waterson’s corruption!”

Jack nodded, “Yes it was.”

Harvey then proceeded to reveal the full extent to the cover up, “Waterson used his position to forge police documents to cover his own tracks. It was also him who planted the obviously fake Cullinan Brooch, the one he showed you in Scotland Yard after the robbery on the day of the King’s Cross bombing.”

“Yes I remember, the Duke of Westminster’s apartment, the glass cabinet and so forth.”

“Well it was Waterson himself who had carried out the robbery, and it was the bombing that was used as a police distraction for the theft.”

“If you remember, I agonised about the timings of both the bombing and the robbery.” Said Jack, “There was a ten minute difference between the two.”

John remembered as Harvey resumed again, “What Waterson stole and then showed you was an obvious fake. The real one is far too valuable, it forms part of the crown jewels. The whole robbery was a setup.”

“But why? Why steal something you knew to be fake? What the hell was the motivation for this?”

“To pull off resources of the security services. Hence that is why you and West were sent there. It was a total fake throughout and only made us look like idiots.”

That piece of the puzzle was solved in John’s mind, but due to the complexity, there was still more to be revealed,

“What about the CIA connection in all of this? Apart from Bruenstein being a former CIA operative, where do they fit in, if at all?”

“He was a CIA operative. We were not the only ones working on this case, another section, Chemical Counter Intelligence was also tailing Bruenstein and Grey-‘

Suddenly a knock at the door, opening slightly a thin looking man in his late forties appeared,

“Ah just in time, come in.” Gestured Harvey. The man entered accompanied by a female colleague. Both took a couple of extra seats as they sat, both were smartly dressed in suits, very business-like. The man, black haired, but balding, the lady, younger, in her mid-thirties with blond hair listened in attentively to the briefing, waiting politely to be introduced,

“Jack, John this is Clive and Samantha, acting lesions from Chemical Counter Intelligence. I was just bringing my two operatives up to speed, so you have timed it perfectly.”

He continued, “As I was saying, our targets were being tailed, eventually tracing them to the CIA safe house we already knew about, but the Americans don’t know that, which was in Belgravia. That day when we found out about Scarlett Dawn, I went to meet my CIA counterpart. He provided me with the address of that safe house, I knew it, I just wanted proof of its location. That is when I forwarded it to you Jack.”

“To prevent any corruption permeating into the CIA.” Concluded John

“The Americans were the only ones we could gain any reliable information from purely because they were American. They had no interest in the establishment so therefore had nothing to gain.”

“But what about the explosion at the CIA safe house?” Asked John, again Harvey had an answer,

“I ordered West to stop off and pick up a package just before you left for Belgravia. It was an explosive device.”

“I placed it on that desk in the study upstairs if you remember.” Interrupted Jack, “The real reason we needed to sweep the safe house was to check and find those files and dossiers in the reinforced room at the back.”

Harvey then resumed the tale, “We knew from government files, confirmed by email and phone taps by GCHQ that Bruenstein was assuming intelligence on West, myself and many MI5 personnel in order to outwit us. The more you know your enemy, the easier it is to trick them. To prevent our friend uncovering things we didn’t want him to know about our operations I ordered West to plant a bomb in the building and destroy those files for good. The police acing on direction from us told the media it was just a gas explosion and nothing else. We however, know different.”

“But why did West disappear?” Asked John,

“It was at this point I instructed Jack to vanish without trace to throw Bruenstein and Grey off the trail so he could tack them ‘under the radar’.”

“But I assume you always knew the full extent of Waterson’s treachery.” Asked John as Harvey reassured him,

“We manipulated him, that’s why he appeared when you were removed for questioning. We engineered the disappearance in order to lure Waterson away.”

“So I was just a pawn in all of this? Asked John concerned,

“We’re all pawns Hudson.” Harvey replied.

“So his appearance at the warehouse in Colchester, was that also manipulation?” Probed Hudson, for which Jack answered promptly,

“Yes, we needed to get him out of the picture since he was the link between Bruenstein and the intelligence services, a kind of mole actually. Harvey did issue a kill order on Waterson to completely remove him. Given the known extent of his treachery, the course of action was clear, Harvey authorised me to kill him once I could get him on his own.”

“So you shot him?”

West gave John a long stare before his reply, “Wouldn’t you?”

Thinking about it for a second, John knew he actually would. Jack continued again,

“The next day, I had to fake my own death, and I needed a witness, you, so that Bruenstein and Grey would not be suspicious if they found out they were being tracked.”

“West’s pistol was altered so that it could not fire bullets above a certain calibre, otherwise it really would have killed him. Jack was actually wearing a bullet-proof vest and blood packs underneath his clothes to simulate a real gunshot wound. ‘Said Harvey, obviously in on the plot.

“What about the funeral?” Asked John,

“Faked.” Replied Harvey, “The coffin in the grave you saw, we all saw, was in fact packed full of bricks to simulate body weight.”

John, by this stage not surprised felt confident enough to finish off the tale on his own,

“So with Bruenstein and Grey thinking MI5 had stalled in its investigation, and with West dead as far as they would know it would be easier for us to investigate. But to them, they just thought they had bought themselves some extra time.”

“That’s right.” Confirmed Harvey as Jack spoke again,

“I investigated them after tracking their movements to an old London Underground statin called North Weald-‘

“The station you sent me to.” Said John as he cut in, turning to Harvey, “You knew he would be there!”

“That’s right. When West did not call in, I sent you to go after him.” Jack picked up the story again,

“I was caught unfortunately in the tunnels themselves. Not careful enough, I’m afraid. I was taken to a small room at the side, tied to a table and beaten by Bruenstein’s men. He was there, looks rather intimidating. He was mad; psychopathic in nature…I’m pretty sure he would have killed me if it wasn’t for him needing to go. He left me with only one of his henchmen.” He turned to John, “That’s when you turned up.”

“And rescued you.” He replied. To him the timeline of events was clear, but he wanted to return to the poison aspect of the plot once again,

“Just to go back to the poison, David Finnin, we now know was the guinea pig, but what about the larger scale of things? I mean are we looking at something big here in regards to Bruenstein, Grey and the poison?” He suspected they was,

“I’m glad you asked that.” Said Harvey, “I have reason to believe that given the time that has passed since King’s Cross and referring to intelligence we have received, we now feel more confident that Victor Bruenstein is definitely going to try a chemical attack on London. That is why our colleagues from the other department are here.”

“We have been tracking the shipments and delivery times. Regular cargo has been coming in from the ports and registered under false names at customs.” Said Clive. This sort of thing was his department’s speciality, “We have traced the chemical shipments being directed to just one place. APF Industries in London.”

“Whereabouts is this?” Asked Jack,

“The docklands.” Replied Samantha. “We think it’s the ideal place for shipments, both inbound or as an outbound distribution. If a chemical is manufactured and released, from that location, or from any other, let’s say multiple locations, the area of coverage is estimated to be approximately six square miles in the first two hours.”

“Depending on the concentration and how much compound they release dictates the degree of contamination. So that is what we believe is the strategy they will be employing. Releasing chemicals from different locations placed strategically around the city. What we don’t know yet is how they are planning to do that, and where.” Concluded Clive.

Jack wanted to know one more bit of crucial information, “When do we think an attack is due to take place?”

“We think they would be ready to go within the next 24 hours.” Said Clive “Based on what we have been hearing.”

Harvey, interrupting the proceedings made an official announcement, “So from this point onwards, the ‘Sunshine’ part of the operation, uncovering the plot has now officially ended. The next phase is now underway, the plan to prevent it. I’m giving it the codename ‘Moonlight’. Gentlemen, and lady, Moonlight has to succeed; 8 million people living in this city, I need not tell you the consequences if we fail.”

Harvey’s words rang like a prophet of doom into everyone’s ears. Suddenly the game became very serious,

“West, Hudson, I want you to liaise with Chemical Counter Intelligence. I want you to follow this one up. Don’t worry, you’ll have backup, police, armed response, possibly even special services ready to go in, but this thing I have to say now rests on your shoulders. This bomb threat has to be stopped, we cannot fail.”

“So just to summarise.” Asked John, “The King’s Cross bombing was a feint, a practice run for this new plot. The Cullinan Diamond robbery at the Duke of Westminster’s was a setup, chemicals were procured to form a mixture that would cause slow madness, then eventual death to thousands causing anarchy. Victor Bruenstein is the mastermind; Maxwell Grey is the poison specialist, that’s why he shipped chemicals in from China through that invoice we found in his locker at Bellmarsh.” Jack remembered vividly the situation John was describing, “But those three Russians we found in Colchester? What’s their role in this?”