THE SPIDER'S WEB (Ch 5 & Last)

THE SPIDER'S WEB (Ch 5 & Last)

 By Bob French

CHAPTER FIVE -  RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA

Bond was met by the First Secretary of the British Embassy in Riyadh and vanished into the secure zone of the building.

          “Good to meet you, Bond. I have been fully briefed by M.  Just let me know what you want and I will fix.”

          Bond relaxed and took the cup of tea offered by one of the staff.

          “Thank you, just two things if I may. A good hacker and a guide to take me in and out of Yemen.”  The First Secretary nodded, turned to the young woman who had just delivered the tea and asked her if she would ask Warrant Officer Fellows and Yeoman Barrister to join him.

          “Fellows is out here training the Saudi Special Forces and Yeoman of Signals Kenny Barrister is on loan from the Royal Signals; he looks after my discrete comms equipment.

          Bond took the hard hand of Fellows and nodded, instantly recognizing the suntanned hard look of a man who lived and survived in the desert. A minute later Barrister entered the room.  A tall balding muscular man who clearly did not like the sun, Bond felt the firm grip of his hand and nodded. 

          “Gentlemen, this is Mr Bond from London.  He needs your help with a little project.”  With that, he nodded to Bond then left the room.

          Bond briefly explained the operation whereby three teams from the CIA, MI6 and DGSE would take out the buyers in Cuba, Madagascar and Yemen at exactly the same time, then re-route the buyer's laptop to theirs and take control of the operation so that their masters are unaware anything has changed. My part of the operation is to infiltrate Sana’a, locate the buyer, take him out and take control of his laptop.  Winston will then take overall control of all three machines thereby deceiving the person sending him instructions so they think nothing is amiss. Then get out without being noticed.  Can you do that?” Both men nodded their confirmation.

          Twenty minutes later the three of them had roughed out a plan of infill and exfil from Sana’a.  Bond, although trained, wasn’t enthusiastic about parachuting in at night and Fellows summed up by saying that once they’d reached the Red Sea, men from his training team would ferry us back up to Jeddah where he could fly back to the UK and them back to Riyadh.       

 ANTANANARIVO, MADAGASCAR

Adrian Benoit had landed in Madagascar and vanished into the suburbs of the capital, Antananarivo before anyone noticed him.  It took him just under half an hour to trace Jules Philipp Sadine, his old Lieutenant of the Paratroop Regiment of the Foreign Legion.  They had spent a year here a few years back when France had been called in to put down a rebellion. Sadine had retired from the Legion and chose to live in this paradise island in the Indian Ocean. When Sadine opened his front door he gave a yell then hugged Adrian like a long lost brother and pulled him inside to meet the family.  After a light lunch, Adrian nodded Jules to the back door.

          “You have a mission?  I had heard that you had been working for the ‘Shadows,’ the slang for the French Intelligence Services.”  Adrian nodded. 

          “Jules Mon Ami, how many of the lads retired here and can be counted on?”

          The old Lieutenant thought for a minute then said “Three and they still have their weapons,” he said enthusiastically.

          “I also need access to a really good hacker.  Do you still know that young girl we used in the old days?”

          “Ah we, but she is no longer young or pretty.”

          “Can we meet this evening?”  Jules stared at his friend and nodded slowly. 

          “This is important. Who is it, Mozambique rebels or Somali pirates?” Benoit shook his head.

          “I will explain what is to be done when we meet.   Can you call the lads in at nine tonight?  But first I want to meet our lady hacker.”

          They met at a run-down café on the outskirts of the capital and after brief introductions, Adrian explained what he wanted her to do. “Are you happy to help? I will pay you very well once the job has been done.”

          The broad grin on her face told him that she would do anything for him.

          He explained that someone called Winston of the CIA would contact her with instructions once we have taken control of the enemy laptop.  She was to comply with any messages from him.  Eve nodded.

BEIJING - CHINA

Bud Westerbrooken slammed down his phone, then stared at his team.

          “Just tell me how the hell did Emily get picked up by the MSS?” It was Abraham who spoke after a minute’s silence.

          “We think she was set up.”

          “By who?”

          “By a Triad War Lord who controls the Gansu Province. A real hard nose bastard.  He is known as ‘The Spider.’”

          “How do we get her back?”

          “We don’t.  Not unless we mount a covert Op into the heart of his domain and snatch her back.”

          Bud turned to a short stocky Texan.  “Three things Hank. One,”  He counted them off on his fingers. “Gansu province is your patch, so get your contacts out and about.  I want to know where she is being held. Two, where is the nearest SEAL team? And Three, how quickly can we spring her?” 

          Hank stood, stubbed out his cigar and left the room.

          Lee Ping Woo, unlike his elder brother Chow, had not gone to Peeking University and then been head-hunted by the State Ministry of Health.  Life was more exciting on the streets.  It wasn’t long before his talents had been noticed by the local Triad Master and invited to join them.  That was fifteen years ago.  Since then he had risen to the rank of War Lord in the movement and over the years had mapped out his own kingdom on Gansu Provence.  He chose this province because it had an outlet into the great Gobi Desert of Mongolia to the north, easy access for his gun-running, people and Heroin smuggling.

          Every Sunday Lee would meet up with Chow at their mother’s home for the weekly family meal.  It was here over a glass of beer that Chow, who looked strained, told Lee of the threat of America and Europeans sanctions over the lack of control of the virus that was affecting the world.

          “Why not give them a hand?”  Chow looked at his brother.

          “What do you mean?”

          “Look I know that the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress is meeting on Monday afternoon and…”  Chow suddenly stood up.

          “How did you know that?  These meetings are secret!”

          Lee had given up trying to explain to his brother that the Triad had infiltrated every level of government, so just shrugged his shoulders,

          “The western news is all about the shortage of protective clothing, so I was thinking, if your ministry decided to sell or donate this protective clothing, and we do have sheds full of the stuff stored in and around Gansu Province, they might look upon us with a little more kindness, besides, it may also get you promoted.”

          That evening, with the help of Lee, Chow compiled a brief detailing the number of pallets, their locations and a suggested amount of PPE the government could give to the rest of the world. Lee had been surprisingly helpful with quantities and locations and trucking companies that could move the equipment from the warehouses to the airport.

          As the senior members of the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress assembled to discuss the epidemic, Chow quietly approached his senior legislator bowed, then passed him his brief, then slowly retired to the back row of his staff.

St. JOHNS - ANTIGUA

          It took Winston forty-eight hours to trace the exact locations of the three buyers.  He had also set up a secure link with Eve, Kenny Barrister and Felix.  Once he had sent over the locations of the buyers Winston sat back and waited.  One by one the teams came back with one word, ‘ready.’ 

          At exactly ten minutes to ten that night, Bond, Adrian and Felix covertly took control of the buyers and their operation.  They had secured bank details, dates when to bank, passwords, contacts and transmission times. The three buyers were all Russian, which did not surprise Bond, but Winston discovered that the instructions were coming from Beijing, which seemed to fit in with what Alison Wentworth had told Bond.  By two the following morning Winston had routed all traffic into and out of the three buyer’s machines to his laptop.  He was now the buyer for all three locations and when whoever made contact with him, he would act the part of the buyer.

BEIJING – CHINA

          The three of them decided to fly to Beijing and kill this operation off altogether. To their surprise, they were each met off their separate aircraft by a senior officer of the Ministry of State Security, the MSS, and taken to the Headquarters of the MSS.

          Once they had all been detained, they were ushered into a small room on the second floor to wait.  To their surprise, the door opened and Moneypenny stepped in.

          “James, Adrian, Felix.  So nice to see you boys getting along.  Please follow me.”

          They followed her down the corridor until she stopped, then pushed a heavy door open and stood aside. M, the DGSE Director, Bud Westerbrooken and a stern-looking Chinese official of the MSS stood to greet them.

          “Bond.” Was all M said.  Beniot simply nodded at his director and Felix said nothing, but stared at the Chinese official.  M spoke.

          “We have a problem which needs you three to sort out. A CIA operative who went undercover has been captured.  You need to find her and get her out.”

          Bond took out his silver cigarette case, extracted a Morland cigarette with its three gold bands and lit up.  “Do we have any leads on where or who has her?”  M frowned at Bond’s cigarette, cleared her throat.

          “Thanks to Mr Ping here, his chaps think she is being held in an electrical warehouse just outside Lanzhou, it’s in the Gansu Province.”

          Adrian spoke rapidly with his Director, who replied in English.  “Yes, heavily armed and we suspect that they are Triad.”

          Bond turned to M.  “Once we have retrieved this CIA agent, can we close down the controller of the stocks and shares operations Sir?”

          M noticed the sarcasm in Bond’s request and gave him a curt nod.

          That evening Bond, Felix and Adrian watched as hundreds of MSS soldiers noisily surrounded the electronics complex.  Adrian quietly mentioned, “So much for stealth and surprise.”

          Bond agreed and yelled “This is ridiculous, follow Me!” and within minutes they had gained access through an open window and were rushing down a dark corridor.  A figure jumped out from the shadows and Adrian brought him down with his silenced 9mm pistol.  They kept moving until they reached the back of the factory.

          Felix, who was in the lead paused, then stopped.  “According to Ping, this looks like her cell. Three guards.”  Bond brought down two before he even stopped and Adrian the last man who was startled by the sudden arrival of three men.  Felix kicked in the door and push into a dimly lit office.

          “Miss Michaels, it’s the CIA.”  Adrian pushed Felix aside and brought down a man who stood over a figure on the floor with a single shot.  Bond flicked on the light and saw the figure of Michaels lying on the floor.  She had been badly beaten.

          “Felix, stay with her. Winston told me that the controller operated from this complex.  We have to find it before our friends do.”

          Within ten minutes, Bond and Adrian had found the office on the top floor and burst in.  The Man was trying to disconnect cables from his server, but Bond brought him down with a headshot.  Fifteen minutes later, Winston had control of the network.  The mission Bond had been sent to do was over.  All that was left was to report back to London for debriefing.

EPILOGUE

          Bond straightened his tie and knocked on the door and pushed it open.  “Moneypenny, so good to see you again.”

          “James,” she smiled and stood, then the squawk box on her desk suddenly came to life. 

          “When Bond has finished, tell him we are waiting.”  Moneypenny shrugged her shoulders as Bond turned towards M’s door and quietly vanished.

          M, waved him to the seat opposite Sir Michael Scavandish and went straight into his brief.

          “I have received notification from the CIA that their end of the operation was a complete success.  The Russians haven’t as yet caught onto the fact that their control cell in Beijing and the three buyers have been replaced by our network.”

          Sir Michael nodded. “Yes Bond, you seemed to have pulled off a blinder.  Moscow continues to think that the stocks and shares they purchasing were destined for their bankers, in fact, they have been routed to Lloyds who will share them out with Washington and Paris, and this chap Winston has also deceived Moscow by getting them to pay top dollar for the shares which means that their Swiss bank accounts have taken a hammering.”

          “I’m sorry we didn’t catch The Spider Sir…..” Bond said, but was interrupted.

          “This Spider is an exceptionally cunning man. He created the smokescreen by telling everyone that there was an outbreak of a virus in the Wuhan Province and that he had taken control of it.  In fact, it was he who acquired the contaminated waste from the markets and spread it around causing the virus in the first place.  The CIA have confirmed that there was no Chinese military chemical weapons plot behind this virus.  It appears that as a result of the MERS epidemic, the Chinese stockpiled all their PPE equipment for any future outbreak in Gansu Province, which happens to be The Spiders domain. We are not sure at this moment, but The Spider seems to have bribed or blackmailed a high ranking official in the Ministry of Health to loan or sell vast quantities of PPE to those countries who were badly in need of it.  This was agreed and under the careful eyes of The Spider’s Triad movement, hundreds of pallets of the PPE were packed and prepared for shipment to those countries who were screaming for it.  Now here’s the brilliance of his plan.  For every twenty pallets destined for a country, one pallet contained thousands of packets of Heroin.  His organization at receiving airports were already pre-warned so once the RAF landed in the UK, it was his men who unloaded it and made sure that the one market pallet vanished into the shadows.  I have spoken to the French, Spanish and Italians including our Scotland Yard about the plot.  The police have now intercepted the second and subsequent shipments; he thinks that the value on the streets of just one pallet would be in the region of millions upon millions of pounds.

          “So what you are saying Sir, is that this was all a smokescreen, nothing to do with us trying to find out who had control of the virus or the vaccine? Spider knew that after the last virus scare, there would be countries screaming for PPE. With this panic, it would allow him to distribute his drugs knowing that the usual customs checks would be waived as this PPE would be urgently needed.”

          No one spoke for a minute, then Sir Michael shook his head slowly.  “It will take the Russians a little while before they realize their operation has been infiltrated, but thank you for sorting things out.  He rose, nodded to Bond and left.

          M, looked at Bond.  “Right 007.  I want you to look into the missing, possible assassination, of Kim Jong Un.  He’s not been seen for a week or two.  Some say he’s been overthrown...”

The End

Copyright Bob French

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.