Fair Game (27 page)

‘I’m looking forward to that,’ said Shepherd.

‘You’ve decided, then?’

‘Yeah, I think we’re going to go for it. It’s just a matter of finding the right school.’

‘I’m sure you’re doing the right thing,’ said Button, and she ended the call.

Shepherd had to juggle the tea and coffee he was holding to press the buzzer for the office but he managed it and the lock clicked and he pushed the door open. He took the two cups upstairs, where Button already had the door open for him. She took the tea from him with a smile of thanks and sat down at the desk. There were several aerial photographs of a yacht next to her Gucci handbag and she pushed them over to him. ‘Things have started moving,’ she said. ‘This is the yacht. It’s been taken to a place called Eyl, an old fishing town in northern Puntland. That’s where Crazy Boy’s family is from. It’s a Wild West place and anyone in authority is in the pay of the pirates. As we speak there are nine hijacked vessels moored at Eyl.’

‘Do we think that the crew are being held there?’

‘They were taken off the yacht so they weren’t on board when it moored at Eyl. We don’t have an exact location for them but they’ll be in Puntland and probably won’t be too far away from Eyl.’

‘And why aren’t we just going in and taking the yacht back?’

‘Because it’s not about the boat, it’s the crew we want.’

‘Any chance of us getting a location? It’ll make our life a lot easier if we can go in now and pull them out.’

Button shook her head. ‘We’ve got our man in Mogadishu but he can’t suddenly pop up in Eyl. It’s a small place and they’re wary of strangers.’ She pushed another photograph towards him, this one an aerial shot of a large container ship. ‘We’ve got a line on the ship that Crazy Boy is planning to take,’ she said. ‘It’s a cargo ship that left Tianjin in China a few days ago. The
Athena
. It’s one of the largest cargo ships in the world, a shade under three hundred and fifty metres long with several thousand containers on board.’ She handed him a large colour photograph of a fully laden container ship, its deck piled high with containers of different colours. ‘It cruises at about twenty-four knots and spends most of its time ferrying cargo between China and Europe.’

‘Any idea why they’ve chosen this one?’

‘It’s a valuable vessel, obviously. But there’s some interesting cargo that might be the reason. Chinese arms destined for the Yemen. They’ll be offloaded in Jeddah and taken overland from Saudi.’

‘What sort of arms?’

‘Guns, RPGs, ammunition. Nothing big and all legal, they’re showing on the ship’s manifest and all the paperwork’s in order. But the shipping company isn’t going to want a cargo like that delayed for any longer than necessary, and the Chinese will almost certainly start to apply pressure to get it resolved.’

‘And you think Crazy Boy knows that?’

‘I think he’s a lot smarter than the average pirate,’ said Button. ‘He probably realises the publicity value of a British ship carrying Chinese weapons to the Yemen. No one is going to want that information in the public domain, so everyone is going to want to see the ransom paid and the ship back on its way.’

‘And this is connected to the shipping company? Did Candy tip them off?’

‘That’s the strange thing, no. None of their containers are on the ship. This is a departure from his normal way of operating. Maybe there’s a problem with Candy. Maybe she had a bust-up with the Somali boyfriend.’

‘The bruising and the scratches? Maybe.’ Shepherd frowned. ‘But we’re sure that he’s going to go for this ship?’

‘Straight from the horse’s mouth,’ said Button. ‘Or at least his uncle’s mouth. We heard him on a mobile in Somalia referring to the
Athena
by name. And we have Crazy Boy on Skype with his uncle talking about a ship leaving China. The uncle is taking delivery of weapons and GPS equipment as we speak. Two and two together make five.’

Shepherd looked at the photograph of the
Athena
. It was huge. ‘I’d have thought the really big ships would be harder to seize,’ he said.

‘It’s certainly way bigger than anything he’s taken before,’ said Button. ‘But he was on Skype to his uncle and told him to get ready for the ship, the week after next. The ship’s stopping at Malaysia before heading through the Suez to the Mediterranean and then to Jeddah and Southampton. We then monitored phone traffic between the uncle and an arms dealer in Yemen. It’s definitely on.’

‘And I’m guessing you’re telling me this because you want me on board?’

‘That’s the plan, yes. You can monitor what’s happening on the ship and then we can work out some way of following the pirates to their base and locating the crew of the yacht.’

‘Some way? I’d hope we have something more specific than that.’

Button smiled thinly. ‘There’s going to have to be an element of playing it by ear, that’s true. The
Athena
is a big ship so it’s unlikely that they’ll take it to Eyl. They might well insist on the ransom being paid to the ship. We’ll be insisting that the ransom is paid on land, and that we get sight of the hostages there. Once we know where the hostages are, your guys can go in and get them.’ She sipped her tea. ‘OK, so far as your legend goes, we thought we might as well continue with the Oliver Blackburn legend. The consultancy thing holds together, you’ve already got a passport in that name, and we’ve got confirmation from the company that owns the
Athena
that you’re going on board to do a time and motion study. That way you’ll be able to move around the ship without the crew wondering what you’re doing.’

‘Wouldn’t it be better to put me on as security? That way at least I could be armed.’

‘The shipping line doesn’t have armed security,’ said Button, ‘so it would look suspicious if you suddenly turned up with a gun.’

‘I thought the shipping lines used private security firms for protection when they sailed near the Gulf of Aden?’

‘Some do,’ said Button. ‘But this one doesn’t. I’m not sure why, but I’d guess that it’s to save costs.’

Shepherd sat back in his chair and folded his arms, then realised that he was adopting a defensive posture and tried to relax, putting his hands on his knees. That felt uncomfortable so he folded his arms again. He saw a look of amusement flash across Button’s face and he realised that as always she was assessing his body language and drawing her own conclusions. ‘And the shipping line is OK with me being on board?’ he asked.

‘They weren’t crazy about the idea,’ she said. ‘They don’t see why they should be putting one of their ships in harm’s way.’

‘Not to mention the crew.’

Button smiled. ‘Actually, I got the impression that they were more concerned about the vessel and its cargo than they were about the men. They were all for taking the Jeddah and Karachi cargo off and rerouting the ship around the Cape.’

‘But you managed to persuade them otherwise?’

‘I explained that if they pulled the
Athena
from the Gulf of Aden the pirates might target another of their ships and that next time we might not have advance warning. At least this time we know what’s happening.’

‘And the ransom? That’s what the pirates are after. They’ll pay. Right?’

‘That’s where it got complicated. They have insurance, but the insurance company isn’t going to be pleased if they find out that the company knew that the hijacking was on the cards.’

‘Understandable,’ said Shepherd.

‘So they won’t do it through the insurance company, they’ll come up with the ransom themselves and we’ll provide the negotiator.’

‘That’s very public-spirited of them.’

Button looked uncomfortable. ‘I did sort of promise that we’d recover any ransom that was paid.’

Shepherd raised his eyebrows. ‘How exactly can you make a promise like that?’

‘Because we’re going to catch Crazy Boy in the act of piracy and we’ll hopefully get the ransom back.’

‘All’s well that end’s well?’

‘Something like that. I also mentioned that there might be someone on the ship passing information to the pirates.’

‘Is that likely? Or even possible?’

‘No and yes,’ said Button. ‘We’ve no evidence that there is an inside man but it would make Crazy Boy’s life much easier if there was. I just put it forward as another reason why the shipping company shouldn’t pull the vessel.’

‘And would my presence on the ship have something to do with them accepting that deal?’

‘Let’s just say that they’ll be happier knowing that we have an operative on board and that the SAS are on stand-by.’

‘The SAS? Not the SBS? The Special Boat Service has the edge when it comes to naval matters.’

‘I’ve already talked to the Increment,’ said Button. ‘They’ll have a unit standing by on one of the navy ships in the area, ready to go in at a moment’s notice.’

‘The Increment?’

Button nodded. ‘There’s a new head, now that Major Gannon’s . . .’

‘Dead?’

Button smiled sympathetically. ‘No longer with us, I was going to say. I met his replacement two days ago. He’s putting together a team.’

‘Who is he? The replacement?’

‘Another major, six years with the Regiment. Andy Johnson. Did you ever come across him?’

Shepherd shook his head.

‘He’s very professional. But then all you guys are. Must be the training.’

‘It’s more to do with the selection,’ said Shepherd. ‘It weeds out anyone who is less than professional. So this Major Johnson sets up a crack team to do what exactly?’

‘To a large extent that depends on you, Spider. You’ll be the man on the inside.’

‘But I’ll be held hostage, along with the crew?’

‘That’s right, making sure that they’re safe. The ransom will be paid, the pirates leave the ship and the Increment moves in to secure the vessel.’

‘And at the same time on dry land Martin moves in and rescues the PM’s god-daughter? Hell’s bells, Charlie, shove a brush up my arse and I’ll sweep the floor while I’m at it.’

‘It’s a lot of balls in the air, Spider, I can’t argue with that. But if we pull it off we come out of it covered in glory.’ She leaned forward. ‘I know it’s all a bit seat of the pants, but we know what the target is, we know who the bad guys are, and we know pretty much what they’re planning to do. We’ll have full satellite coverage, we can put a GPS transmitter in the ransom, and the Increment won’t be far away. And from what I know about Martin O’Brien, I’m confident we’ll get Katie Cranham and the rest of the yacht crew back as well.’

‘I wish I was as confident as you,’ said Shepherd.

‘I’m looking at the bigger picture,’ said Button. ‘And it looks just fine to me.’ She reached down for her briefcase and swung it up on to the desk. She clicked open the locks and took out an A4 manila envelope. She pushed it over to him. ‘A few extras for you,’ she said. ‘There’s correspondence from the owners of the ship to our consultancy company in the Midlands and a yellow fever vaccination certificate that’s valid for another seven years. You’ll need that to get on board. If you haven’t actually had the jab then you should.’

‘It’s OK, I had it a couple of years ago. I’m up to date on all my vaccinations.’ There was a small grey thumb drive on the desk and Shepherd picked it up.

‘I’ve put schematics of the ship on there along with full details of the officers and crew,’ she said. She reached into her briefcase again and took out a plane ticket. ‘You can board in Malaysia. Port Klang. From there it makes a stop in Karachi and then passes through the Gulf of Aden on the way to Jeddah and then through the Suez into the Mediterranean.’

‘Why don’t I board in Pakistan, save myself a few days at sea?’

‘Because there are visa issues with Pakistan, and you’ll attract less attention going through Malaysia. Port Klang is one of the ports the company uses for crew changes and Karachi isn’t.’

Shepherd slipped the thumb drive into his pocket. ‘When do I board?’

‘As soon at it docks at Port Klang,’ said Button. ‘It’ll be departing within twelve hours of arriving so you’ll need to liaise with the shipping line’s representative in Kuala Lumpur. He’ll handle all the clearances for you.’ She took a Motorola satellite phone from her briefcase. ‘Communications on board are going to be a problem,’ she said. ‘Most of the time you’re at sea you’ll be out of phone coverage. There’s a ship’s phone but obviously that’s not secure. There’s email through the ship’s computer system but no wifi and no personal internet access.’ She handed him the sat-phone. ‘You can use this, but you’re going to need to keep it away from prying eyes,’ she said. ‘It’s not the sort of phone that a company official would usually have.’

Shepherd took the sat-phone from her. It was the size and shape of a regular handset. ‘I remember when these came in a suitcase,’ he said. It didn’t weigh much more than his Nokia.

‘It’s synced to the Iridium satellite system. Amar has been tinkering with it so now it gives you almost sixty hours on stand-by and six hours’ talk time. It’s got GPS so we’ll know to about twelve feet wherever you are in the world, even while you’re at sea.’

‘What about the captain?’ he asked.

‘What do you mean?’ asked Button, passing him the charger that went with the sat-phone.

‘I’ve known a few captains in my time and they’re all very protective about their vessels. And I’m damn sure they wouldn’t allow an undercover agent on their ship.’

‘The captain won’t know,’ said Button. ‘No one will know. It has to be that way, just in case something goes wrong. If no one knows, no one can give you up.’

‘Like Nicholas Brett?’ said Shepherd quietly.

Button’s eyes narrowed. ‘Now why would you say that, Spider?’

‘Do you know what’s happened to him?’

‘I know he’s dead, if that’s what you mean.’

‘It’s a bit more than dead, isn’t it? Shot in the face.’

‘America’s a violent country. More than thirty thousand gun-related deaths a year. Now if you don’t mind me asking, how did you hear about his death?’

‘More importantly, Charlie, why didn’t I hear it from you?’

‘He was a contact, nothing more. I was told that he’d been murdered but there’s nothing to suggest that it was anything to do with what happened in Belfast, assuming that’s what you’re concerned about.’