A Choice of Evils (16 page)

‘So you knew all along what I was doing from day one?’

‘Of course dear boy,’ continued the Commander. ‘You must know that all foreign embassy staff are vetted. We have means of listening in on conversations and we know all about Hashemi Ahmed as an official interpreter and his unofficial activities with you.’

‘Then why let me go on with it all? Why wasn’t I arrested?’

The three of them smiled. ‘It will all become clear to you.’ replied the Commander.

It was beginning to dawn upon me. They had used me as a pawn in their game plan. I felt a complete prat and so stupid that all my plans had been monitored and condoned by the highest authority in the land, the Intelligence Services. Now the questions were starting to fire in my head.

‘So you engineered everything? The keys in the lab were a put up, together with the fake formula at Barclays bank. You knew that I would work out a way to collect the formula through my own contacts and means so you gave me some obvious clues to follow at the lab.’

‘That is right. Even down to the old man and the guards at the bank. You couldn’t go wrong.’

‘What? You are not kidding?’

‘No kidding. It was important that you presided over the whole plan yourself and you did well. But now you know it was all arranged for you.’

‘So where does that leave me?’ I wearily asked.

‘Between a rock and a hard place,’ the commander continued.’You entered into this agreement with your eyes open. In doing so, you committed numerous offences which carry very long jail terms. I am sure you don’t want that.’

My head shook vigorously.

‘Then will you deliver the fake formula to Ahmed under our directions?’

‘But what shall I do if they find out? Surely they can’t believe that I would know it was a fake.’

‘It’s worse than that, I am afraid. Most likely they will think you have double crossed them. What do you think?’

‘That I still had the real one?’

‘Or that being a crook, you sold it on to someone else,’ he smiled.

‘Christ!’ I shouted. ‘You are giving me the shits. What can I do now?’

‘Cooperate with us. Give him the formula. Take your money and obey our instructions.’ he continued.

I looked at all three of them. It seemed all so unreal. I could see that I was dealing with professionals. There was no way out but to go along with them and hope for the best. At least I didn’t have to worry about the implications of the formula. It would seem that the Iranians were never going to be in a position to poison the British water supply systems.

‘Just like that?’ I persisted. ‘Hand the formula over and take the money? You obviously know about that. What is in it for you?’

Finally the Sergeant spoke. ‘Integrity. The satisfaction of knowing our secrets are safe, and of course, the prestige of the Intelligence Services. The Iranians will work it all out in due course. They will hold you accountable for taking the money and double crossing them.’

I felt the last remark like a slap in the face. It was a show stopper. My life was crumbling before me. Now I was a victim of blackmail and there was one hell of nothing I could do about it. My balls were being squeezed from both sides.

‘Ok. I know what’s in my best interests. What do you want me to do?’ I asked.

‘Good. We have a meeting of minds then. We shall expect your total cooperation.’ he continued.

‘Right,’ Inspector Marsh added. ‘We shall phone you at midday tomorrow. By the way, put the photos of the real Dr Bruce down the side of your settee and don’t forget to phone Louise, now that Susan has gone back to work. And remember to take your make up off.’ she smiled.

‘You know everything about me, don’t you?’ I queried.

‘There is a message in your answerphone.’ She continued. ‘And we’ve read your book, The Mind of a Thief. The rest is history! Goodnight.’

The Sergeant picked up the red fake folder from the carpet. Then I watched all three of them leave by the front door. The bolt was off. They had obviously got in from the back, via the kitchen window, the same way as I had. Nothing surprised me about that. After all, we were in the same game in a roundabout way. It felt like I was in a film without an end.

It was a horrible feeling knowing they had me squeezed by the balls. They were going to use me in their wider plans and now I didn’t know what I was up against. After all, I was just a thief. Who would miss me? Christ! It was all happening again. The paranoia and thinking over the conversation of the last two hours didn’t help. I was now a puppet of the Intelligence Services. I remembered the Inspector’s last remarks; there was a message on the answerphone for me. I pressed the button. It was Louise. Could I phone her? Damn it! I was not in the mood for talking. What about Aisha? She had not phoned me neither.

It was damn clever how MI5 had handled this affair. I now knew what it felt like to be humble. They had been ten jumps ahead of me all the time. So the voice on Ahmed’s tape had been right, that the British Intelligence Services had been detected listening in on their embassy. It was clear this had led them on to me and they had picked up on everything from there. By letting me commit all the offences of fraud, burglary, impersonation and collusion with Ahmed I had paved the way for them to use me. I expect it was convenient for Dr Bruce to be at the Porton Down Research Centre too. That’s if he ever went there. And to learn that the keys in the Tropical Research Lab were placed there, so that they would lead me into the bank was a smart ploy which paid off for them. Then to learn that even the guards there were placed to ensure that nothing went wrong for me, all but blew my mind. I had no one to scream at but myself, which reminded me to get rid of their bugs.

I went upstairs to the bed post. It was gone! No bugs? Back downstairs I checked the base of the telephone. That one was gone too. Was there any point of replacing them elsewhere? No. Now we all knew what each other was up to, there could be no mileage in it. Besides, after their appearance here, they knew that I would be looking everywhere for a bug. They were now in the position to call all the shots. Damn it again. I would phone Louise. My biological rhythms needed regulating.

Louise answered the phone with a sigh. ‘I thought you were ill or something.’ She said.

‘No. I had just been too wound up with writing my novel.’ I assured her.

‘Oh, I thought maybe you’d had a change of heart or found someone more exciting.’ she giggled.

I sold her the best lie I could think of. ‘I can only handle one woman at a time.’ I said.

‘Then what are you waiting for? Let’s have a takeaway at your place. I will get you a surprise one on the way over, huh?’ This was too good to be true, but answered my prayers right now.

‘That would be nice.’ I answered. ‘I will take a shower and liven myself up then.’ Louise agreed to be here at nine o’clock. I knew I had seen the last of Susan for a while. She would be jetting around the world in her job as an air stewardess. But that is the kind of lifestyle she liked.

As for me, I only liked doing what I did when I got away with it. But I should have stayed in my retired mode from being a thief. I was reformed up until I met Ahmed. But then I remembered there was only a slight difference between a straight man and a crook. It was the price! Perhaps I shouldn’t be too hard on myself after all, I thought.

The scotch bottle called my attention. I poured a large one. It was just the tonic. Next, I made for the shower where I topped and tailed myself away from the image of Dr Bruce. A squirt of this and that here and there extinguished any of the colognes used by the sisters. I knew that Louise just like Sharon and Susan would interrogate any smells they were not familiar with. And I had had enough of being asked questions for today. That done, I slid into a bathrobe then waited for the doorbell to ring. It did. Spot on at 9 o’clock so I put on a jazz tape.

She looked a picture with her beautiful smile, long legs and curves.

‘Has someone stolen your car?’ She asked after planting me with a kiss.

‘Oh, it is having a service.’ I said as I let her in.

Like a breath of fresh air she waltzed in with a typical takeaway carrier bag.

‘Barbecued chicken, waffles and sweet corn,’ she announced. I nodded. ‘Just what the doctor ordered.’ I told her. Then she left me to sit down while she divided the meals. A look in her eyes told me promise was the air.

The evening passed into night and into bed. The meal had long gone washed down with wine. Our arms and legs met each other in all positions, until the thrills of new games drained us both especially after I promised not to tell anyone of her fantasies. I wouldn’t even write them into my novels, I told her.

Sleep met us both locked in each other arms. But that night my dreams went far away to places I had never known. There were faces I could not make out and places that I felt trapped in. It was quite a misty place I had been to.

Next morning, in the distance of my dream, I heard the snuffing of mouse as my eyes flicked open. Louise had reached across to bang him on the head then like two sleepy kids we sank back into oblivion, only to be awoken again by the mellow chimes of the carriage clock downstairs. It was 10am.

Our eyes met to mirror that nice feeling of the night before. Louise complained that it was her working day. She would need to be at the stock market offices by midday. It’s no good, we agreed, the world was still going round and things had to be done. That was reason enough to get out of bed, shower, dress up and breakfast. As usual, the toast went on with the kettle and some radio news helped focus in on a new day.

We chatted the next hour away until eleven o’clock. It was time to split and return to the hungry worlds we lived in. I had already phoned a cab to take Louise to the city. We parted with a reluctance to say goodbye, but we both knew we would meet again. All that remained was the essence of the previous evening and the remains of a takeaway. We exchanged a kiss and the cab drove out of Brunswick Place.

At precisely midday the phone rang. I knew it would be my visitors from yesterday. ‘We would like you to meet us at Battersea Park, by the café near to the boating lake at 2.30 this afternoon. Will you be there on time?’ It was Inspector Elaine Marsh.

I was not in a position to refuse, knowing too well, it was an order and not a request. ‘Of course, I shall be there.’ I answered. ‘Good. Don’t be late,’ she added. Then the phone went dead.

It occurred that Ahmed had not attempted to contact me since our last meeting at Tesco’s Supermarket. For sure, I knew he would be expecting a call. No doubt MI5 would raise this at our meeting, but now I had two hours to fill in before then. Some therapy was needed. I decided to take the frustration out on my typewriter.

I punched through a reckless 5 pages of my novel during a car chase. How easy it was to express violence on paper! I had just run a man over and left him for dead. Perhaps it was my way of getting rid of Ahmed.

The soothing chimes of two o’clock brought me back to reality. It was just a 30 minutes’ drive to Battersea Park, and knowing how near it was to my past meetings with Doc’ at the dogs home, did not excite me.

I left my house for the shopping centre car park. It was just as I had left it. A quick look behind the interior light confirmed that once again the bug had been removed. Again, it was clear that I was up against a far more sophisticated team of surveillance operators than any of my previous experience could compete with.

The engine soon fired into life, and being a Saturday, the traffic was fairly light as I drove into the Old Kent Road through Vauxhall into Battersea.

There were no signs of anything unusual as I parked and made my way to the café. It was an ordinary scene of visitors feeding the ducks nearby. Yet it all seemed so bizarre that here I was meeting British Intelligence agents in the midst of such an idyllic place. It was the kind of stuff you would see in a film.

On purchase of some tea and biscuits, I sat at a table where I was joined by Elaine Marsh. I queried the absence of her other two colleagues. ‘We will move from here to another place when you have finished with your tea.’ she told me.

‘Ok.’ I answered, wanting to get on with it. She was so attractive and it was difficult not to admire her composure knowing who she was. Who would believe it, I thought. She was the reincarnation of the film starMarylyn Monroe.

As the last tea drop left the cup her smile invited me to follow her out. We walked away from the café and down the side of the boating lake to the end of the road, turning right towards Battersea Bridge. Then I saw it, a black rover car. Once again it confirmed what I already knew. It was the one I had previously seen parked next to mine near my house and the same one seen behind me at Surrey Quays garage.

Commander Bennett and Sergeant Morton were inside. The rear door was opened as I arrived to get in and sit next to the Inspector. Then the car was driven away into the city with hardly a word being spoken along the way. Thirty minutes later, we stopped to turn into a car park of a large Victorian building in Whitehall. I noticed a highly polished brass plate on the wall outside. Ministry of The Interior, it read.

Together we left the car and I was ushered upstairs into an air conditioned lounge room complete with easy chairs. With door closed, we sat in a circle.

‘You’re probably wondering what this is all about?’ enquired the Commander. ‘Ok. We’ve agreed to turn a blind eye on you. In return, you agree to cooperate with us. Yes?’

I affirmed with a nod of my head. There wasn’t a choice.

‘Good. Then first, I would like you to phone Ahmed on your mobile and leave him a number to contact you. We have found that he has a call diverter fitted on his answerphone so your call will reach him right away. Tell him you have what he wants. You must remain level headed acting normally, as if the formula is the real one. Only now, you will pass him this formula here.’ From his briefcase he took out a duplicate looking red bound folder. I noticed that its red backed spine was thicker. ‘You will pass this to him, ok?’

Again I nodded. He continued.