Robert Young - Gatecrasher

Sarah stopped Campbell and began to pace the room, running her hands over her face as if washing something away. ‘This is too much to take in. How is Griffin involved in this? Is this all on the memory stick?’

‘Most of it. Clues at least. The rest of the information is available, so long as you know where to look and you can pretty much fill in the blanks. There is one last thing though. Horner also developed ties with a company in Antwerp not too long after he began his little African adventure. Antwerp is the centre of the world’s diamond industry.’

‘So he was spreading the net a little wider? Investing in the diamond industry in Belgium?’

Campbell stopped her with a shake of his head. ‘The way it works in Antwerp is this: companies or people called ‘Sightholders’ are presented with mixed parcels of rough diamonds from the mining companies which they buy and then sell on, having re-sorted and repackaged them. Horner was not investing in a sightholder.’

‘What then?’

‘He wasn’t buying anything in Antwerp. He was selling.’

Thursday. 2pm.

Michael Horner was a very self-assured man who took particular interest in his appearance and was always impeccably dressed.

Walking stiffly at his side, the equally immaculate figure of Geoffrey Asquith was eyeing the camera-laden tourists bunching around Cleopatra’s Needle with a mixture of contempt and caution. He dipped his head a little into the upturned collar of his coat as the two men strode past them.

‘How far does it go Michael? How much did you hide from me?’

Horner took a deep breath before speaking. ‘Everything Griffin told you is true. I was routing shipments of arms into Liberia, through Tunisia and Guinea and did so on seven separate occasions. The illusion of legitimacy was maintained for the company through the fact that there were various waypoints for the merchandise. As far as you were concerned they were delivered on time and accounted for by the clients in North Africa. What you did not know was that the merchandise did not stop there. It was moved on again through another African state and repackaged before arriving in Liberia.’

‘And then?’

‘And then I presume into Sierra Leone. Perhaps it stayed in Liberia. I wasn’t on the ground.’

Asquith shook his head but it was obvious that he was wrestling with a boiling temper.

‘How could you have even contemplated such a thing?’

‘I don’t need to answer that. You were never especially sharp on the operational side of things and that made it easy enough for me to do what I did. You were rarely watching.’

‘And where did the money go?’

‘The goods were largely paid for already, separately. We acted as the carrier. The company was paid on arrival at the first stop. A sub-contractor took it on from there. After that the final legs of the journey were funded privately. Myself and others involved in the physical movement of the goods were remunerated separately. Entirely off the books.’

They stopped at the wall and looked out across the river, County Hall sprawled out across the bank down to their right and a cold wind whipped up off the water and stung their eyes as they gazed up at the majestic sight of the London Eye.

‘This could destroy us both Michael. What worries me is why we haven’t heard anything yet. I mean what are they waiting for? What do they want?’

‘I imagine we’ll find out soon enough. Whoever is in possession of this data assuredly has some agenda or other and clearly it relates to the two of us.’

Asquith nodded. ‘More to the point, who is behind this?’

‘We are both wealthy and successful men. You don’t get that way without making a few enemies, making a few people jealous. It could be anybody.’

Thursday. 3.30pm.

Daniel Campbell leaned back in the chair and stared at Sarah Knowles who had her hands over her face and her elbows on the table. In front of them the laptop computer hummed quietly.

‘I just can’t get my head around this,’ she said.

Campbell had spent the past hour showing her the information on the memory stick and then showing her the different sources of information with which he had filled in the blanks. Some of it he accessed through different websites which were either publicly accessible or to which he had subscribed through necessity at work. He also had a wad of documents that further backed up his story. It was all there, as fragmentary as it was, and the stick itself only gave a hint at the wider picture.

‘I know. It took me a while. Then I got a pretty good demonstration as to its significance.’

‘But why? I mean, why steal this? What good is it?’

‘If I could find out what I have found out with just a little application and initiative then you can bet there are a few people who can do the same, or don’t need to because they already know.’

She said nothing but looked up at him from the table.

‘Maybe they want to blackmail your boss? Perhaps simply discredit the company so some competitor can win a few more contracts, run you out of business. Maybe they are going after Asquith or Horner. I mean you know who Geoffrey Asquith is right?’

She shook her head. ‘An MP or something isn’t he?’

‘Exactly. A member of the Cabinet no less. That’s where my money is at a good guess — I mean, that seems the most obvious right? But I don’t know how or why. Or even who.’

‘Surely you know who. You met them.’

Campbell shook his head. ‘I think they were just muscle. Something about them just didn’t seem right in light of this. Its way out of their league I think. These guys were heavies you know — stolen goods and extortion and such. Maybe drugs. This is far too sophisticated for their type. There’s someone behind the scenes who knows exactly what they are doing.’

‘Or did. I don’t suppose they planned on losing the memory stick.’

‘No I suppose not.’

‘You said that you thought my boss might be involved too?’

‘Possibly. I mean everything about this is very murky so who knows who is involved and who isn’t? Maybe they had ties before he bought them out. Maybe he knows all about what went on and is looking to blackmail them.’

‘Have you gone to the police with this?’

He shook his head emphatically.

‘If people like Asquith and Horner are involved then why should I trust the authorities?’ he said ‘These are powerful men. If they want to keep this quiet they will and that doesn’t bode well for me. Maybe your boss is involved too, maybe there is more to him than meets the eye. Maybe I have some mysterious accident when I walk out of the police station.’

‘I think you’re overreacting.’

‘Am I? Really?’ he said and hoisted up his sweater to reveal a rainbow of colour spreading out across his ribs.

She gasped at the sight of it and instinctively reached out to touch the huge bruise. Campbell pulled away.

‘OK, maybe you’re right. But if you’re in trouble so am I,’ she said suddenly indignant.

Campbell shook his head. ‘Nobody knows who you are. They know about me but not you. So far as anybody else is concerned you are on holiday visiting your parents for a few days. You briefly met some small-time journalist called Owen Michaels the other night. But you have never heard of or laid eyes on Daniel Campbell before.’

She was quiet for a moment. ‘I guess you’re right. But then why me? Why did you come to me?’

‘Because there’s no-one else. Because you can help me. Because you’re on the inside.’

‘How Daniel? Help you do what?’

She stared at him, waiting for an answer that didn’t come, staring at the angry red swelling that almost closed his eye over. At the dark bruise that ringed it and spread down across his cheek to join with another, darker one, at the swollen, cut lip. She did not repeat the question.