Counterpoint (46 page)

“The man is travelling under the name
of Paul Farr. He has bought a ticket to Budapest. If you are sure
he is our man,” said Nelson, “I believe he will hand the papers to
the Russian Mafia.”

For several minutes, Nelson typed into
the computer. The message relayed the news to Sam Leighton. Sam
responded by saying he would inform Interpol, so the likely
personnel of the Russian Mafia, would be closely shadowed by
intelligence agencies, and police, in an effort to catch Paul Farr.
Sam made it clear, this was designed to buy time and delay any
meeting to hand the papers over. Sam added, a team would be
assembled, to include Max and Carla. They were to make their way to
Budapest immediately and find Farr. Any further intelligence would
be passed to the team, as soon as it came in.

Max was sceptical about picking up what
was now a cold trail, but to give up now would be a certain victory
for the other side.

Carla asked Nelson if anyone was
checking hotel registrations.

“The police will be doing that,” he
told her, “as we speak; now we have passed your identification of
the man to them.”

“How come you are working with the
authorities,” questioned Max.

“We aren't exactly,” said Nelson, “we
feed them information as fortuitous leads, or discoveries, and take
back what we need to keep ahead.”

“But don't they know you are tapping
into their resources?”

“Well, we have provided all the
software and systems they use, so we have first pick. We always
have, that is why we are so successful in avoiding discovery, in
all the civilised countries of the world. We all know they know,
and more. Anyway, you had better make your way to Heathrow; your
flight is in four hours' time. Make your way to the Gellert Hotel
and the team will join you there.”

Bob Barclay had planned where he would
hide out in Budapest before he left for London. He took a
helicopter flight around Lake Balladon and noted small but
exclusive properties in secluded settings. Later he used public
records to find out more about the residents. He was looking for a
particular type of male homosexual.

It would have been so much easier to
pick up a girl at a bar and stay with her, but women tend to be
inquisitive about their new men friends and he could not afford
that. He could, of course, just kill her, but she would quickly be
missed, by neighbours and employer.

The certain class of homosexual, he was
after, would live alone, have independent means, and not be
inclined to be neighbourly.

The recently built bungalow he included
on his list was not a traditional design. It had hard, angular
lines and lots of concrete. The open garden was simply laid out to
lawn, and stark. The owner of the property obviously wanted luxury,
exclusivity and no complications in their life. Barclay could not
see a hint of a woman’s influence there.

Barclay drove there and on the pretext
of seeking directions to a place nearby, was invited in by a man, a
bit older than himself. The man was keen to talk and admitted he
did not know anyone in the area, although he had lived there for a
year. Furniture, photos and the eagerness of the man to develop the
conversation, because he never got visitors, was all the proof
Barclay needed; he would come back here after his London business.
He planned to dispose of the man, and stay in his home, until the
exchange of documents was completed.

It was 8am; Max and Carla were in their
hotel room when the phone rang from reception, to say eight people
were waiting to see them in the conference suite. Max and Carla
were to introduce themselves to the team leader, Tony Gal in the
conference room.

Immediately, the team laid their plans
on how to locate Farr. Apparently, Farr had not booked into any
hotel, so, either he was staying with someone, or had his own
private accommodation. Everyone agreed that he had probably taken
up with some unsuspecting person, and was living with him or her
for a few days, until the handover.

Carla spoke. “Perhaps we could look at
this from a different angle. Paul Farr is going to be impossible to
trace quickly, but perhaps the other party, who will make contact
with him, will be easier. At some stage, they will have to meet and
hand over the papers, and perhaps payment.”

Tony Gal replied. “Interpol has listed
a few persons who could be Farr’s contact, we are shadowing them
now. I guess Farr will be smart enough to spot this, and will have
to find a safe way to complete the transaction. It does help us by
delaying the transaction, if this is the case.”

Gal’s phone rang and he responded to
the caller with a few yes's, and no’s, finally a curt “Thanks,” as
he closed the call.

Tony Gal spoke to the team. “Carla, the
man you identified as Paul Farr is actually Bob Barclay. We have
discovered from our agent in the Russian embassy that a man has
recently arrived there. He is a Ukrainian called Kay;
unfortunately, we have no records on him. He has no unusual
background or obvious ties with the known members of the Russian
Mafia. Normally, he would not be of any real interest to us, except
that a position was specially created for him after he arrived. He
has a simple administration post, at a time when they are
overstaffed and sending people, like him, back to Moscow. I think
this man is the Mafia contact. The other strange thing is that he
has brought with him an envelope with old stamps on, this is worth
at least €1.2 million. He keeps it in the office safe.”

Pressing keys on a laptop produced a
picture of the envelope and stamps on the screen, courtesy of a
Stanley Gibbons publication.

Gal continued, “I believe neither Kay
nor Barclay knows each other, if a meeting between them has not
already been made, it will be made very soon. With Barclay
constantly on the move, and Kay just on the scene, there must be a
common link so they can communicate, and set up the exchange. We
don't know what this link is or if our target wants the stamped
envelope as payment for the papers. So what do we do about
that?”

“Simple,” said Max, “we will have to
bug his office and keep watch to see what he does.”

“That could work,” said Gal “we know
the room Kay works in, and should be able to fit one of our new spy
cameras in the room. It has been designed to be undetectable by the
usual scanners because it transmits using ultraviolet light. The
very faint illumination from the transmission, reflected by
surfaces in the room, can be detected by a receiver up to a mile
away, provided it can see into the room. We get high definition
video and audio to work with. The small button cells that power it
will last only 8 hours, but we can replace them every day.”

Another phone warbled, and a team
member answered. A few moments later, he pressed a few keys on his
laptop and a photo appeared on the screen.

“Now we have a photo of Kay,” said the
man.

Everyone studied the photo and Gal
said, “Max, with a bit of make-up, you could pass for Kay, you
could be there at the handover instead of the real Kay.”

Max was not too keen on that
suggestion. Gal sensed his reluctance. “You are on this team aren't
you?”

“We will need to borrow the stamped
envelope as well,” prompted Carla “and a credible photocopy in
colour. You can bet Barclay won't exchange without seeing it.”

“Why do you need the photocopy then,”
questioned one of the men? “Well, Max can switch them if he gets
the chance, and the original can be returned to the embassy, before
anyone notices.”

“I think that can be arranged” said
Gal, impressed with the girl's positive contribution. Carla studied
the image of the envelope and stamps again, thoughtfully. Max had
seen the twinkle of larceny in her eyes before, so he wondered what
she might be scheming.

Gal issued instructions to his team.
“Lentoff, get our embassy agent to borrow the stamped envelope, we
need to make a high quality copy as soon as we can.”

Carla suggested. “I have a refinement
to my suggestion as well,” she added, “give me an hour, I will be
able to give you a copy stamped envelope to switch with the one at
the embassy, so they don't miss the original in the meantime.”

“
Good thinking, but be
quick, time is running out,” warned Gal.

Carla noted the actual size of the
envelope from an internet search and went out to the shops to buy a
similar sized and coloured pack of envelopes.

Careful work with scissors, cut away
the excess height of the rear part of the somewhat taller new
envelope to form the basic full flap of the original style. She
didn’t bother with the tearing marks on the glued flap, where the
original was first opened. Then she went to the business centre in
the hotel and laser printed the image of the valuable envelope over
the new envelope. She repeated the process on the rear from another
image.

A bit of ageing improved its
authenticity, if looked at casually.

She then returned to the meeting, so
the bug could be placed in Kay’s office, and the envelope could be
substituted for the one in the safe, by one of the team.

Tony Gal was issuing his final
instructions as she walked in, “Sol, we need a make-up artist to do
the business on Max, get that done straight away! All the rest of
us had better leave and stand by for further developments.”

Everyone was impressed with the
effective copy of the envelope and thanked Carla for getting it
done. Better something that looks like the original than an empty
space in the safe they thought.

Everyone set about their tasks with
focused urgency; they were all professionals with a strictly
civilian background, as good if not better at their work than most
government or military agents, and far better paid.

The bug was placed up in the junction
of two walls and the ceiling. This diagonal view picked out pretty
well all the office, and if the safe was open, its contents, as
well. It was camouflaged to look like a large spider was nesting
there 3metres above the floor.

That lunchtime, Barclay phoned Kay,
using the assumed name of Farr. He confirmed he had the papers, and
did Kay have the envelope. Kay glanced over to the open safe and
seeing what he expected to be there, said it was.

“I will call at the embassy today at
4pm; I will park nearby in sight of the main entrance so I will see
you come out. Turn to the left and keep walking, I will catch up
with you. Is that clear?”

“Yes, ” said Kay and Farr ended the
call.

All this was picked up by the bug, but
with such a weak sound from the earpiece of the telephone, it took
an hour to filter out all the background noise, using computer
software.

By studying the video, and listening to
Kay’s voice, Max found he could imitate him well. It was a great
relief to hear he spoke good English with a minimal accent.

Carla and Max had gone back to their
room to get Max’s clothes, similar to those Kay wore. Then they
went to the makeup man’s studio in the City, across the river from
the Gellert Hotel, near the chain bridge.

Rupert was the makeup man, a right
pansy if ever there was one. Max hated physical contact with men,
but Rupert was so far gone, he was unquestionably a girl. In Max's
case, he got on with his challenge and showed no other
interest.

Rupert pointed out that even though the
typical video and a passport photo of Kay showed a heavier build
and was probably slightly taller than Max. Careful choice of
clothing from Max's limited wardrobe helped create the right
effect, as did an intense expression and aggressive demeanour.

Because of the side effects of his stem
cell treatment, Max looked much younger than his real age. Most of
his hair had returned, although still grey. A black hair dye and
restyling bulked his hair, leaving just a thin patch on top for
correction. Individual black hairs were glued in place on Max’s
thin spot, sculpted with comb, hot air drier, and scissors.

Carla reported back to Tony Gal and
said Rupert had done a remarkably good job, based on the video and
photo and was confident Farr would be fooled.

Gal told Carla to go back to the
embassy at 3.30pm, get Kay to come down to the lobby and speak to
her. She had to tell him the timing had changed.

A thrill ran through her slender body,
her eyes hardened as she focused herself for the mission. She knew
Farr had already set up a meeting with Kay and he would be on to
her if she arranged a new meeting, and then Farr rang again.
Unless, she thought, a problem had just developed, and she was just
delivering a message. Yes, that was it! Pose as a messenger; get
him to go with her, out of the Embassy, and delay him long enough
for Max to return, and come out again at 4pm to keep the
appointment with Farr. By the time the real Kay got back to his
office, the exchange should be made.

Carla explained this to Tony and Max.
They both agreed this was a good plan and to run with it.

At 2pm, Max received the original
stamped envelope and compared it with the other copy he had made.
They looked remarkably similar now that copies of the stamps had
been stuck over the printed image; the raised texture certainly
looked like real stamps. Fortunately, the stamps were imperforate,
so the classic straight edges were easily cut.

Max put the real envelope in a new
envelope for protection and the fake in his left breast pocket.

Carla entered the embassy lobby at
3.30pm and was horrified to see every receptionist had a large
queue waiting for attention. How was she going to jump the queue?
Looking around, she spotted a security man and made a beeline for
him. The young man watched warily as she approached. Her beautiful
face broke into a warm smile as she got close; he looked deeply
into her fascinating, twinkling blue eyes and suddenly felt
nervous. He wanted to chat her up, but duty prevented him.