Chapter 19
Friday, March 16th 11:00,
Moscow, Russia.
Akira sat alone and cleared his thoughts as best he could. Images of Patrice Marraud flashed by in his mind and with them fragments of the memory he had lost long ago.
Marraud is badly wounded my love, he is weakening as we speak. Push away the feelings you have for him. He must be killed. What will it be? Our vision or a man who doesn’t want to be saved and will destroy us all?
‘I hear you, Maddy.’ In the background of the stage and in amongst the shadows, Akira mumbled the nickname for his former love and couldn’t repress a tear as he said it. The last time he had ever said that word had been so long ago in a darkened hospital. For some reason, he felt the need to say that word almost as if it reconnected him to his dead wife despite failing her in recent events. He felt the bruises all over his body, in particular the heavy bruising around his left temple.
Several feet away he heard Salenko give his speech at the second political rally he had organised. The loyal followers, which had increased with each rally, were now at their feverish best as they screamed out a chorus of ‘RUSSIA IS POWER!’ At least this is going to plan.
Akira looked away and thought again of his confrontation with Marraud. It had been some time since he had been beaten in combat and despite his wounded pride, he still felt all-powerful and that the emotional ties with Marraud had prevented his victory. Everything had changed now. Gone were the feelings of sympathy and the bond he had felt with Marraud. All that remained was an anxious need to make sure it was over and Marraud, like all the others who had stood against him, would perish. The clock was ticking and with it so was Akira’s dream of the future. He made eye contact with Denyer and moved over to his position. ‘Well?’ he snapped.
Denyer almost stood to attention and took out his mobile phone. ‘My source at the FSB has several addresses. I’ve gone through my notes and picked out which one is the most likely. It was the best I could do in the time.’
‘Where is he now? Where?’
Denyer passed him a piece of paper. ‘I’ll come with you, together we can make sure he-’
Akira pushed him back. ‘No. Stay here with Salenko. It’s vital this rally goes ahead as planned.’ He strode past and rushed down some stairs. The thunderous chants from the rally behind him seemed to heal his wounds as Akira felt the hatred and determination from the crowd. The potential that Russia had once it was under his control electrified him, it would win the war and crush the West. At the same time, he was certain it could all be threatened if the legendary Marraud had his way. Legend or not, he would have to be stopped, with no chance of a reprieve.
Ramsey looked behind him and noticed the S.U.C.O. members file through the door and take their seats. The MI6 number two lingered for a moment but made his mind up and approached the bench of the courtroom style set-up that had been installed, all to give Drake his moment of glory. He moved to Drake and caught his attention.
‘Not now Ramsey. The inquiry is about to start. Whatever it is, it can wait till the end of the day.’
Ramsey put a hand on the desk. ‘This will only take a minute, sir. I’ve been looking through the records and couldn’t find the Pathologist’s report concerning Bedford. I could contact the office of-’
Drake moved forward and spoke quietly. ‘Leave the matter to me. I will deal with it. Now…take your seat.’
Ramsey saw the fire in Drake’s eyes and decided to leave the matter for another time. I’ll get that report though… he told himself.
The Chief of MI6 watched the briefing room assemble and waited for silence before he rose from his chair and addressed everyone. He looked out at five rows of seats and two guards posted at the doors. ‘Before we begin this inquiry, I’d like to make it clear that it is with great regret that this had to take place. Team S.U.C.O. which stands for Special Undercover Covert Operations has served our country magnificently well over many years. Unfortunately…in these changing times, we must be more vigilant with our undercover operations. It is the hope of this inquiry committee that we find the underlying cause of the recent failure of Operation Reprisal. My colleagues here’ Drake looked to his left and right at the two other committee members, ‘have decided to waive their opening remarks so we can start with one of the most principal witnesses, Agent Samuel Olsen.’
Olsen got up from his seat and walked over to the main table, in front of the inquiry committee.
Drake ignored Olsen’s glare and read from a card in front of him. ‘Agent Olsen, please rise and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear that the testimony you are about to give to this committee is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, so help you god?’ His tone was lacklustre throughout.
Olsen looked at each member of the committee in turn. ‘I do, sir.’
Drake continued. ‘Mr. Olsen, you may consider yourself under oath. Please be seated. For the record, please state your name and occupation.’
‘My name is Samuel Patrick Olsen and I’ve worked for MI6 for eight years. My current assignment is Head of team S.U.C.O.’
Drake’s tone lifted slightly at his next comment. ‘And your status now?’
‘I’m currently inactive, sir.’
‘Let’s start at the beginning please. Operation Reprisal came about because of what happened on another operation, codename Safeguard?’
Olsen found several papers on his desk. ‘That’s correct. I went to Oman to join up with OMA1 on Operation Safeguard. We were there to offer additional security for the Royal visit. During that visit, an attack took place where we lost several agents and narrowly averted a car bomb explosion that would have been fatal. Our intelligence showed it was Jozef and Gyorgy Kiprich. The Oman police investigation also proved this.’
Drake thought over his next question. ‘According to several reports made by the survivors of the Royal security teams, your behaviour and decision making was reckless and caused the death of several agents. Explain.’
‘Well, that’s their opinion, sir. I left my position from the security team around the Prince and went to a nearby car that I was convinced was a threat. If I hadn’t gone to investigate then everyone there would be dead, sir.’
Drake raised his voice in an attempt to add drama to the moment. ‘But you left your position, which made the Prince vulnerable to enemy fire. Isn’t that so?’
Olsen squirmed in his chair and knew he was being backed into a corner. ‘It’s not as clear cut as it sounds, I knew that car was-’
‘Answer the question, Agent Olsen. A simple yes or no will suffice.’
‘Yes. I left the Prince vulnerable for an instant but my instincts proved right about-’
‘And the resultant car chase?’ Drake raised a hand to stop Olsen from responding straight away. ‘You stole a Police car and chased a white Mercedes car through the town of Muscat. Eight Omani locals were killed in that chase. Now tell me…did Agent Deane, who was in charge of the operation, authorise this?’
‘Well, there was no time-’
‘Once again, a simple yes or no will do.’
‘No, sir but-’
Drake cut in. ‘Thank you. Now, let’s move on to Operation Reprisal. Tell us what happened when you were informed of this operation.’
Olsen locked eyes with Drake, but eventually looked down and laid out several official reports on the desk, to be used as a reference throughout his testimony. ‘Well, at 08:00, on the 12th February I was in Operations Command with some of my colleagues. At that point, Richard Elliott, who was then Chief of MI6, came in and assembled both S.U.C.O. teams in briefing room one. He informed us that Operation Reprisal was a go operation and that G.C.H.Q. had provided us with intelligence on the Kiprich brothers, Gyorgy and Jozef, that showed they were now in Cracow, Poland. Elliott told us that POL1 already had a fix on them. He also informed us that our S.U.C.O. Commander, Hal Burton, would be giving us our operation briefing some time later on that day. From then on, each team m
ember began to prep themselves for the upcoming operation.’
Drake fiddled with his glasses as he listened to the testimony. ‘I see. Tell us about Burton’s briefing.’
‘It was on the same day, at about 13:30 when Burton gave his debrief. He handed each team member a copy of POL1's report and took us through a series of satellite images concerning the operation. This covered the storage bay area that the Kiprich brothers were using and the house they were staying at as cover. Burton informed us that we would split up, with my team tackling the storage area and Agent Jordan's team handling the house. He also covered travel and that the strike time would be 02:00 hours. From there we made our way to the armoury and left the building, on route to Heathrow airport.’
‘I think in the interests of keeping information on a basis of what we need to know, we should move on to when you and the other agents arrived in Cracow, Poland.’
Olsen took a sip of water and continued. ‘At around 01:20 both teams had left the armoured van and were on route to the target coordinates. As we arrived, I heard over our short-range radios that Team A had arrived at the target house. I then replied that my team had arrived at the storage bay and were about to engage. I gave a signal to Agent Carter.’
The male member of the committee spoke for the first time. ‘Hold on, I’m having trouble keeping up here. Agent Carter?’ The individual flipped over several sheets on his desk. ‘What was his role?’
‘Agent Daniel Carter was the deputy on my team, sir. He used the infrared scope on his Colt M16A2 rifle to identify that there were two guards outside the storage bay. I ordered Agent Carter to stay with the rest of the team as I tackled the two guards. Once that was done, I ordered Carter to take the other agents and circle the storage bay to look for other exits and terrorist backup.’
‘I entered the storage bay but found it to be empty. No resistance was encountered.’
The female committee member interlinked her hands and asked a question. ‘What were the contents of that storage bay?’
‘Well, that was confusing, nothing was in it at. Just old files, old shells that were redundant, several boxes of redundant rifles and nothing else of interest. It was at this point that I attempted to contact Team A-’
Drake piped up. ‘Attempted?’
‘Yes sir, my radio was not picking up their signal, so I ordered Carter to try to contact them but he had the same result. Nothing. It was at this point that I laid the charges and set the timers to two minutes. We then made our way back to the armoured van. Before we could really communicate or do anything else such as attempt to raise Team A, we were under heavy fire.’
‘From whom?’
‘The Kiprich group, sir. I ordered Carter to get to the van and start the engine and had the rest of the group provide cover so we were able to move into the woods and engage the attackers. We took cover behind the largest trees available and attempted to force them back. From what I could see, we were outnumbered six to one and were mainly pinned behind the trees, unable to be very effective in our return of fire. It was at this time that two men ran past us and I recognised them as Agents Jordan and Gibbs.’
‘How did you recognise them? Weren’t you all wearing your equipment at this time, Agent Olsen?’ Asked the female committee member.
‘Yes ma’am but each team member was wearing a coloured armband as part of their uniform that identifies them to everyone else. I saw it was Gibbs and Jordan. I then gave an order to turn back.’
‘There must have been other options, surely?’ Asked Drake as he leaned forward in his chair.
‘None. I used my night vision to scan the area ahead and could see no sign of any other Team A members coming our way, only more attackers. We had no choice but to leave.’
Drake smiled in disbelief. ‘I find that hard to believe.’
Olsen told himself to stay calm and continue. ‘There was no choice, sir. I wasn't prepared to lose any more agents in a futile situation. You have to remember the odds were six to one in the terrorists favour. I didn’t have any options available to me except to retreat.’
‘Exactly where did the Kiprich brothers obtain these extra forces that made the situation so hard for you?’
‘I don’t know. You’d have to ask the Kiprich brothers.’
Drake said nothing for a moment. ‘Carry on.’
‘We got to the van and Carter drove us back to the pickup point. From there, we were airlifted to Warsaw airport and then back to Heathrow before arriving at MI6 HQ. That completes Operation Reprisal, sir.’
‘Anything else to report?’ Asked the other male committee member.
‘Only that when we were on our way back to MI6, whilst at Heathrow Airport, I noticed a headline on one of the day’s papers. It related to our operation in Cracow and at the time, I wondered how this could have happened. I'm convinced that no one on my team had leaked anything to the press. This is crucial to this inquiry.’
Just a few feet away, Drake felt a rush of adrenaline through his body. Leaking the news to the press was not something he was proud of but he didn’t regret it. In his heart, he knew he would do the same again in an instant. The moment Operation Safeguard had run into trouble, he had seen his chance and acted quickly to make sure all roads led to MI6 and his reinstatement. Keeping a stony face, he raised his hand and overruled the male committee member next to him. ‘It’s another matter the committee is considering. You may step down. At this point we will adjourn for lunch and return in one hour’s time.’
Olsen rushed out of the building and loosened his tie. Ahead of him, the slender figure of Rachel Fadden caught his eye. Olsen rushed over and hugged her tight. He heard the question and replied softly. ‘It’s not looking good, Rach.’