Dominic Conlon - Silent Warpath

‘Quite right, Robert. But I’m more concerned about who carried out this unprovoked attack.’

The PM waited for the President to respond.

‘Terrance, I wondered if you have considered the most obvious cause of the accident?’

‘What’s that?’

‘Well you say that the boat suffered from vibrations and that there were no other ships or submarines in the area.’

‘Correct — as far as we know, apart from the fleet, the Astute was alone.’

‘Well it would seem obvious to me’ continued the President. ‘If there was no sign of another ship in the area, the vibration came from the Astute.’

Quiet fell as the PM and people around the table thought about that.

‘Terrance — are you still there?’

‘Yes, we’re all still here. Just considering your suggestion.’

The PM looked around at the baffled set of faces.

‘We’re not sure what you mean Robert. How could the vibrations be coming from the boat itself?’

The President could be heard talking to an aide. ‘You may know I served on a few surface boats in my time’ he continued. ‘My first posting was Ensign on the USS Garcia. She’s an old-style frigate. The propeller shaft came out of alignment on my second berth. The stresses resulted in damage to the struts and the hull. The noise was incredible and because no-one realised what was happening in time, the shaft bearings went. That caused the engine shaft assembly to go and by that time the external seals were compromised and we started to take on water.’

‘Oh’ said the PM, quite taken aback with the President’s technical knowledge. ‘We’ll bear that in mind.’

‘Well the noise from the vibration was unbelievable’ replied the President. ‘If you still want to, I’ll get my staff to pass on all the reports we received. This might help you collate your information and get a better idea of what happened out there.’

The PM was fully aware the UK depended heavily on the communications facilities provided by American satellites and AWACs systems. The offer was no doubt given in the expectation that Britain would reciprocate at some later point.

‘Thanks, very much appreciated Robert.’ The Prime Minister replaced the receiver and looked round the table again for reactions. His minister of defence was the first to speak.

‘Sounded very accommodating to me Prime Minister. And he did offer all their info to us.’

‘I suppose we should be grateful for small mercies’ replied the PM. ‘Pity though — he was lying through his teeth.’

‘Lomax?’

‘Yep, receiving strength ten.’ Lomax thought DD sounded tired.

‘Got a bit of a breakthrough. London’s been helping me trace Langham’s phone calls. There’s a couple of pointers to an outfit called AMA — Advanced Marine Agency. They’re located near the Naval Undersea Warfare Centre at Newport.’

‘OK, what do you know about them?’

‘Next to nothing.’ DD checked his notes. ‘It’s almost impossible to find out who they are. Ownership is via a complicated structure of offshore companies.’

‘Let London take care of that one’ advised Lomax. ‘Anything else?’

‘I’ve tried breaking into their network. It’s as tight as a drum.’

‘Well keep trying.’

‘I have been trying for the last two days.’ DD sounded exasperated. ‘There’s only one other way I can think of — accessing their Wi-Fi network.’

‘Well do what you can. And get some rest — you sound exhausted.’

Lomax ended the call. Five minutes later he snatched the phone and dialled back, but there was no answer. He had made a mistake. Asking DD to try and access AMA’s Wi-Fi network meant he would have to get into range of the company’s buildings. Damm! He fervently hoped DD had taken his advice and was resting, but he needed to make sure. Lomax dashed to the car.

As he drove north he saw DD’s car coming towards him. Lomax flashed his lights but DD was too intent on the road to take any notice.

Lomax slammed on the brakes as DD passed by. Lomax smacked his hand against the wheel. What a cock-up. This was the last time he would involve DD in a mission he was controlling. The man was a disaster. Short of overtaking the car and forcing him to stop Lomax had no way of getting through to him. He executed a U-turn and put his foot to the floor.

After several anxious minutes Lomax caught up close enough to see the car. DD was heading for Newport. Lomax lost sight of him briefly at the outskirts but by the time he found him again the car was parked. There was no sign of DD.

Lomax parked nearby and made a quick search of the area on foot. He spotted DD’s figure about a hundred yards away. Lomax assumed DD was homing in on AMA. It looked like DD was listening to music because he was wearing a set of ear buds and holding an iPod. Lomax started towards him.

DD looked around. Nearly all companies used Wi-Fi alongside their computer networks and they had a tendency to leak outside onto the street. But he wasn’t expecting to access Advanced Marine’s network right away, knowing just how tightly they guarded their non Wi-Fi networks.

He would need to record the traffic passing in the air for a while and take it away to analyse. To collect enough data he would have to return with the car and park in the vicinity of the building. The car would give the necessary camouflage and protection while he made the recording.

Then the MP3 player he was holding was snatched from his hand. DD’s first thought was that he was being mugged. Next he felt two arms under his shoulder. Two men, one on each side, lifted him effortlessly and carried him quickly to a waiting van. In seconds he was forced inside.

DD saw a man waiting in the back. The man forced him to sit while a bag was shoved over his head. The van took off rapidly.

The speed of the kidnap shocked and surprised him. DD flicked his tongue around his mouth and started to yell. A massive blow to the side of his head rocked his body to the floor where he lay. A man tied his hands together behind his back. It made it very awkward to sit up while the van was moving at such a high speed but eventually he managed to squat on the floor without receiving any more blows.

‘Hello’ DD ventured, cringing in readiness for the next strike. ‘Hello, I just want to talk?’

He should have known better he thought as the next blow sent him crashing back. For half an hour he sat, tensing himself against the turns and changes in speed of the van. Eventually they ascended a ramp and soon he felt a rocking motion as if they were on a boat. The van was stationary because the engine wasn’t running. He stayed where he was, feeling very weak and powerless. From the small conversations around him he thought there were at least two men in the front with the driver and one man in the back with him. He didn’t have much hope about his chances for escape.

At last his training took over and he tried to determine the general direction they were going. Thoughts of an old Hitchcock movie flitted through his memory. The victim listened to various sounds along the route, such as the chimes of a particular clock and had been able to retrace his route by remembering when they occurred.

DD felt the right side of his face becoming more painful as the bruise swelled. He guessed they were on the boat for around twenty minutes. Then he heard the sound of the engine starting. The van slowly moved off and DD could feel it descending a short slope, presumably the ramp as it came off the ferry.

The van continued for thirty minutes or so before it stopped and the engine was turned off. A few seconds later the back doors were pulled open and he was brought out into semi-darkness. He was escorted by one man on each arm through a door and into a room.