It was another gloomy day, precociously autumnal in its dankness. In Thames House Liz was writing a report of her meeting with Tahira when she became aware that someone was standing in the doorway of her office. She looked up – and groaned a secret groan. It was Geoffrey Fane. She hoped that at least he would have something interesting to tell her.
He did, though as usual he took his time getting to the point. ‘I like this new office of yours,’ he began inconsequentially, pointing out of the window. ‘I find a river view lifts the spirits on a gloomy day like this. Even on a floor this low down in the building.’
Liz suppressed a sigh, thinking of Fane’s eyrie high up in Vauxhall Cross. She said tartly, ‘I’m suited for life at this level. I wouldn’t want to develop ideas above my station.’
Fane allowed a smile to touch his lips. ‘Touché, Elizabeth. But à nos moutons. I’ve been considering this hijacking business of yours. Bruno in Athens has been speaking to our friend Berger and there’s another UCSO shipment planned for two weeks’ time. Same vessel – the Aristides – and to Kenya again. The same route as before, right by the Horn of Africa.’
‘I hope they stay a little further from shore this time.’
‘That seems to make no difference nowadays. The pirates are becoming bolder all the time. They seem perfectly willing to go miles from shore if they think there’s a sitting duck out there. And the whole point about this shipment is that we want them to think it’s a fat bird, ripe for the plucking. The ostensible manifest is mouth-watering and its value is in the millions. It’s a fake, of course, but it’s been drawn up with the utmost security, so no one in the office has any reason to believe it’s anything but legit. They may know we suspect a leak – and if this girl Maria was murdered because someone knew we’d put her in there, then they’ll know what we suspect – but I’m willing to bet they’ll still go for this shipment.’
‘You’re probably right. So what’s this thought of yours?’ She’d learned long ago in dealing with Fane that it was always best to stick firmly to the point. Otherwise, he’d lead you round and round, in a bewilderingly indirect dance. And you’d find yourself tied up in knots and agreeing to things that you’d regret later.
For once Fane was equally direct. ‘I want to put a man on board. Undercover, of course.’
Liz looked at him with a slight frown. Behind her cool grey gaze her mind was racing. What was Geoffrey Fane up to now? ‘And what would he do, your man?’
‘Find out if anyone on the ship is helping the hijackers.’
‘That seems most unlikely. If you’re right, they’d already know which ship to attack, and what it’s carrying. They don’t need anything further from someone on board the Aristides.’
‘Unless the pirates have people there to help them take control when they try and board.’
Liz thought for a moment. What Fane said made sense – there might well be an advantage to the pirates in having accomplices already on board. Or allies anyway, she thought, thinking of the crewmen who had jumped ship in Mombasa after the last hijacking attempt. And suddenly it occurred to her that this might be the whole point: men on board could certainly assist the hijackers, but more importantly, once on shore, they could stay there and join the pirates or else the forces of Al Qaeda, who might well have recruited them in the first place.
She realised, as she sat gazing blankly at Geoffrey Fane, that she hadn’t thought through the full implications of all that Peggy had discovered. She’d been distracted: by the attack on Boatman, and the urgent need to get him and his wife to safety; by the recruitment of Tahira to cultivate Malik. All of this had taken her attention off Peggy’s research.
Now, as she thought about it again, everything seemed a lot clearer. Amir Khan had attended the New Springfield Mosque. He had gone from Birmingham to Pakistan; from there he had somehow got to Athens, how or why he was still refusing to tell them. Then he had turned up with a band of pirates in Somalia. The six crewmen who had disappeared in Mombasa had, Peggy had discovered, been recruited for the Aristides in Athens, via a Pakistani company. They had false Pakistani passports but had spoken to each other in English, so were probably not Pakistanis at all. Had they come from Birmingham too? Could it be that Amir Khan was just the tip of the iceberg? Were many more British recruits heading for Somalia? She needed to think more about this idea before she shared her whole investigation with Geoffrey Fane. She’d rather talk to Peggy first, and then to Martin to see what he made of it.
Her eyes focused on Fane again and she realised he was still talking about his proposal to put someone on board the ship. But, if she was right, it was hard to see how placing a solitary undercover agent on the Aristides could do anything to foil a plot of this complexity. It was far more likely to blow the investigation and precipitate a change of plan by the plotters. She started to repeat her objections to Fane’s proposal.
He cut her off with a raised hand. ‘Hear me out, if you would, Elizabeth. If we have someone on board, with direct communications of course, he’ll be able to alert us immediately the attack takes place – if it does. We’ll have naval forces all over the area who can move in quickly – there’s not a chance the pirates will get away. Then we’ll discover what this is all about and who the leaker in UCSO is.’
The plan still seemed to Liz just the sort of John Buchan-like adventure that had filled MI6’s past history – and which, in her view, rarely achieved its objective. Her scepticism must have showed clearly on her face. Fane said earnestly, ‘I can see you’re doubtful about this, but what’s the risk?’
In the first place, somebody’s life, thought Liz, looking at him and remembering what had happened to Maria, his last attempt at infiltrating an agent. The dead girl seemed to hold for him all the importance of a tax deduction – something to be written off.
Fane went on, ‘Look, the simple truth is, if we don’t take charge of this operation, the Americans will.’
‘The Americans? What have they got to do with it?’
‘Quite a lot by now.’ He was looking slightly sheepish. ‘You were right about the head of the Athens office – he’s ex-Agency. Langley has suddenly started to take an interest in what they’d previously dismissed as a parochial Greek affair. It feeds into their growing concern about Somalia.’
‘What’s that got to do with putting someone on board the Aristides?’
‘Simply this: if we don’t do it, Langley will. And I’m sure that neither of us wants that to happen.’
She didn’t answer at once. Fane was right to think that it would be disastrous for the CIA to come charging mob-handed into the case. Now was not the moment for a ‘bombs away’ approach.
But Fane’s alternative, putting a Six officer on board, was equally unpalatable to Liz. The emphasis then would be less on discovering any links between the Birmingham mosque, Al Qaeda and Somalia, and more on adventures against pirates and… well, ultimately, she thought cynically, furthering Fane’s own glory. No, thanks, thought Liz.
She said, ‘I agree we don’t want the Americans taking over. But I don’t think it should be one of your people on board.’
‘Why not?’ demanded Fane, looking affronted.
‘Because if anyone’s going to do this, it should be one of us.’ Before he could object, she continued, ‘If there are people on board who are in collusion with the pirates, the likelihood is that they will be British masquerading as Pakistanis.’ She told him what Peggy had found out about the six crew members who had disappeared during the Aristides’ previous voyage. She went on, ‘And we’re obviously in the strongest position to spot them. We’re already investigating the mosque in Birmingham that Amir Khan used to attend. We think that’s where he was recruited to do whatever he was sent out to Somalia to do. It may be that all this links together. Anyway, it’s in our bailiwick. So whoever we put on the Aristides should know the details of our investigation and be from this side of the river.’
She pointed out of the window. ‘Low floor perhaps, but the view from here looks pretty clear to me.’