Dark Intent

Dark Intent

By Brian Reeve

Published by New Publishing in 2013

Copyright
©
Brian Reeve
2013

First Edition

The author asserts the moral right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work.

All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted, in any form or by any means without the prior consent of the author, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

Durban, Republic of South Africa

After evading Jan Krige and the three men, members of the group of no name, James Steiner reversed his car out of the
donga
and headed for Durban, reaching the city four hours later. He went to his flat near the centre and put a call through to Peter Smith, a high-ranking operative in the Directorate: Special Operations, the Scorpions. He got through to David Johnson, Smith’s assistant, and after introducing himself was told Smith was out of the city for two days. It meant waiting before he could tell Smith a copy of the file, desperately wanted by the group of no name, had been sent to him by Krige’s lawyer, David Staples. He left a message for Smith to ring him when he got back; it was urgent. Johnson knew Steiner had been on the Andrew Cartwright case.

Steiner had a shower, changed clothes
and left the flat to get in some food. He had just entered an arcade when he saw a South African girl, Sophie Carswell, leave a shop. He remembered her well. He had met her a year ago in Johannesburg and more recently had come across her in London when he was on his way to Japan, the place he regarded as his spiritual home. She was bitter when they parted in London. He had taken sexual advantage of her in her flat, an act he regretted afterwards.

Steiner didn’
t know if she would still be angry with him when she saw him but decided to greet her. He increased his pace and when he was close said: ‘I didn’t think I would see you again.’

S
he turned quickly and he was surprised when she smiled and seemed pleased to see him. ‘How are you? This is a long way from London and Japan.’

Before she could say any more he said:
‘I regret the way I behaved and I hope you are not still angry with me.’

‘That is forgotten,’ she sai
d. ‘Would you like some coffee?’

‘I would love some.
There’s a place over here.’

They got a table and ordered.
For a while they talked and then she said: ‘You told me you were going to Japan. When I told my boyfriend Paul Adams what you had done to me he was incensed and from a friend of yours in London found out where you had gone. Paul did not find you and returned to London. He said you were known in South Africa and had returned there.’ She pushed him to see if there was something she hadn’t heard about. ‘Is that all? Clearly it was not much of an adventure for either of you.’

‘
I will tell you what I know,’ said Steiner. ‘Adams got a friend to try and kill me. I evaded him and then two
ninja
were sent after me. I was a step ahead and they lost me. That is when I came back here.’

For a while she was quiet. She knew Steiner had killed Adams’ friend and the
ninja
. ‘Paul and I parted soon afterwards and I came out here,’ she said. ‘I’m staying with close family friends near the University of KwaZulu-Natal on the Berea and teaching dance classes until I decide on my future.’

‘Let’s have a drink sometime,
’ said Steiner.

‘That will be great
,’ she said.

They exchanged
phone numbers and left the bar.

Durban
, Republic of South Africa

Two days later Peter Smith arrived back in Durban. He had been working on a case in the provincial area of KwaZulu-Natal, previously Natal before apartheid was abolished in 1994 and the ANC party became the elected government.

A
fter entering his office he phoned Steiner at his flat to find out what was happening in the Cartwright affair. It was his priority and they arranged to meet at the flat in five minutes.

When the two met
Smith went straight to it. ‘The stage is yours,’ he said. ‘Tell me where you are in this affair.’

Steiner began.
‘You told me before I went that you believed these men were after something of great importance, the evidence you have been after for years. The something is a file.’ Steiner was mildly amused to see no response from Smith. ‘The file was stolen on the night Cartwright was killed. That was when I phoned you, but I knew nothing about the file except that the safe in Cartwright’s room was open. It appears the file was compiled by the group of no name, or the group, and contains the names and details of the leading white players who were in government, security, the police, the military and business during the apartheid period. In addition the file makes reference to vital information that if revealed would provide the evidence to convict the men and women named. Needless to say all those in the file refused to attend the TRC hearings.’ Steiner poured water into two glasses and gave one to Smith.

‘
Three men from Pretoria went to Durban and this group orchestrated the operation with information they had acquired. The leader of the three was Jan Krige, a tobacco farmer who owns a spread outside White River near the Kruger Reserve. These three had a boss in Pretoria who set the thing up. His name was Johan Muller. Of these four only Krige is still alive.’ Steiner drank some water.

‘I won’t
ask how they were killed,’ said Smith. ‘I assume they had nothing to offer.’

‘No, they didn’t,’ said Steiner. ‘B
ut Krige did. The names of the three dead men were given to me by John Bryant, your informer in the group. I am afraid he is also dead. He knew too much.’

Smith blanched. ‘I hope there are some people left in Pretoria.’

‘
Krige’s name was given to me by Muller before his end,’ said Steiner. ‘At last I had found the leader. I went to Krige’s farm. One of the men who went to Durban and was still alive had gone to kill Krige. He hated him. He shot Krige, who appeared after he got there. The man, Johannes Koch, was busy trying to rape Krige’s wife Kirsty when he was rudely disturbed. At that point I arrived and managed to save Krige.’ Steiner drank more water and went on. ‘At last I got the full picture. Krige told me they had broken into Cartwright’s house to get the file. Krige found it in a safe. It appears the other two had already gone, if they were ever there. After Krige had left I arrived and found Cartwright dead, which I told you over the phone at the time. I can only believe Krige killed him but he did not admit it and there is no evidence.’ Steiner got up and went to the glass doors. ‘The final turn in all this is that Krige went back to Pretoria alone and the next morning contacted his lawyer. He gave him the original of the file and instructed him to send a copy to you in the DSO and the press. By now it would have been in the newspapers if they had received anything. You haven’t got a copy either and that is important.’

Durban
, Republic of South Africa

A day before Smith arrived back in Durban from KwaZulu-Natal, a man in the DSO, John Kallis, was going through Smith’s mail and noticed a large package. It had been sent by courier and marked Urgent, Addressee only. Smith’s secretary would have signed for it and placed it on his desk for his attention.

Kallis
, tall and well built, looked at the package and decided to open it. He and a few others had the authority when Smith was away. He closed the door and with a paper knife cut into the package. He extracted a file with State Security 1960 to Present, File A written on the cover and a letter attached to it by a paper clip. The letter had no name or address and simply said the file was the missing file wanted by the group of no name and sent to a Durban lawyer, Andrew Cartwright. Clearly the file had been removed by someone in the group before being sent to Cartwright. He was interested and flicked back the cover to the introduction.

Kallis
had read a page when a colleague entered the office. He saw the black file in Kallis’ hands and said: ‘That looks interesting. Is it a good read?’

Kallis
shut the file and said: ‘Yes, I will have to contact Smith. It might brighten his day.’ His colleague picked up a newspaper on the desk and left.

Kallis
put the file back into the package, opened the door to see if anyone was about and walked from the office. He held the package under his jacket and left the building.

When Kallis
got to his flat he sat down and started to read the file. He read part of it and then skimmed the remainder. He took a pen and paper and wrote a short letter. He destroyed the package’s envelope and after placing his letter, the covering letter and the file in a white jiffy bag called for a courier from a company he used frequently. Ten minutes later the package was collected and he sank into a chair, pleased with himself. The package was addressed to Johan Teichmann, a leading member in the group of no name.

Pretoria
, Republic of South Africa

The package sent by Kallis reached the group in Pretoria later that day and was sent to Teichmann. When he opened it and saw the file he could not believe their good fortune in getting it back. He read Kallis’ letter and the letter that accompanied the file, and then contacted the man who led the team responsible for compiling it.

The man
Teichmann summoned to his office was pleased when he saw the front cover of the file. He took it from Teichmann but after inspecting it showed disappointment.

Teichmann
saw the look on the man’s face and knew something was wrong. ‘What is it?’ he said, knowing the answer before it came.

‘This file is a copy of the original and the person who made it did not try to pretend otherwise
,’ said the man. ‘In the group, the original will have a small Oriental seal heavily stamped on the inside of the back cover under the synthetic backing. You have to peel away part of the backing to find it. The seal is virtually undetectable unless you know exactly what to look for and where it is located. It is a near certainty that the file is the original if the seal is there. Only five men, and now you, are aware of what I have just revealed to you. You have always worked on copies, and will continue to do so, but the system I have just described was created and applied to the original in case it fell into the wrong hands, which it did, and a copy, was made by the person who stole it.

‘
The way to use this system is first to see if the seal is where it should be. Final and absolute confirmation that the file is an original is to get an independent expert who specializes in assessing the authenticity of produced works to conduct a scientific examination.’

‘Thank you
for enlightening me,’ said Teichmann, dropping his body into a leather seat. Two questions came to mind. Where was the original file and who took it from Cartwright’s house? He knew Jan Krige had killed Cartwright and he believed Krige had not retrieved the file. That meant there was a man working alone, a man who had killed Muller, the two others and the DSO plant Bryant. Bryant’s death indicated that the man was not working for the Scorpions. If he was working for another organization, who were they?

Durban, Republic of South Africa

When he got to his office after seeing Steiner, Smith went through h
is mail without interest. That he had not received a copy of the file promised by Krige angered him and he knew he had to find out what was going on. He believed Krige had told Steiner the truth when he said he had given the file to his lawyer and a copy was to be sent to him in the DSO. Krige would have been stupid to lie because others would have been sent to get him.

After dwelling on the matter a little longer Smith shut his door and picked up the phone.
He had Krige’s number from Steiner and soon after dialling a man lifted the receiver.

‘Krige. Who do you want
?’

‘I’
d like to have a word with you,’ said Smith. ‘My name is Peter Smith. I work for the Directorate: Special Operations and I believe you met one of my operatives, James Steiner, a couple of days ago. He went to your farm to speak to you and the reason for his visit was to find out what happened recently in Durban and your involvement.’ Smith went to the window and looked out over the old part of the city, a part he loved. He continued. ‘I know the essential details of what went on. These go up to when you gave Steiner your word that your lawyer would send a copy of the file to me in the DSO. You can easily guess the file to which I refer is the one you took from Cartwright’s safe, the file the group of no name sent you to retrieve and which I want. Something has gone wrong. I have not received the copy. If your lawyer did send it, it has been intercepted.’

‘My lawyer assured me
it had been sent by courier two days ago. I trust him implicitly but I will ask him again.’

‘Thank you,’ s
aid Smith, rather liking Krige. ‘If nothing happens I will phone you again. In the meantime I want your lawyer’s name and contact details. When you speak to him you can tell him I phoned.’

‘These are the
details you want,’ said Krige. He read them out and Smith terminated the call.

Smith
did not think he would get much out of the lawyer, David Staples. If a copy of the file had been sent by courier it would have reached his office. That meant someone in the DSO had taken it.

Smith appreciated
that Staples would never have parted with the original and that meant he had it. He knew a copy was interesting, but the original was everything as far as evidence was concerned. It was quite literally the cream.

A couple o
f hours later Smith phoned Staples. After telling Staples what the call was about, Smith said: ‘Did you make any copies of the original other than the copy you sent to the DSO?’

‘No
,’ said Staples, lying. ‘That was the only one. In this business the fewer the number of copies you make of anything the better and it’s advisable to know each recipient in person. The DSO is a special case and a copy was sent only to you.’

S
mith coughed and said: ‘It is apparent you didn’t send copies to the press. You told Krige you would.’

             
‘I decided to send a copy only to you,’ said Staples. ‘You’re the major player in this game.’

‘
Where is the original?’ said Smith.

‘
Krige and I agreed, out of a sense of responsibility, to send a copy of the file to the Scorpions,’ said Staples, ‘not the original in case it went astray. The original came into Krige’s hands by chance and is in a safe place. Our intention was to keep the original secure until the copy had been examined and then if required send it to the appropriate authorities. I am not releasing the original now under these circumstances.’

‘I would like another copy of the file in case we can’t find the first,’ said Smith, guessing the reply before it came.

‘I emphasize that to prevent further replication of the original and avoid the danger of another copy disappearing, the copy I sent to you has to be found.’

Smith knew there was no way of
getting another copy. And, the chances of getting the original, which is what he really wanted, were not good.

After lunch Smith phoned Steiner and they arranged to meet at Steiner’s flat.
The flat was sparsely furnished with a hint of Japanese styling. When they were seated, Smith said: ‘I don’t like Staples. He is very confident and I don’t know when he is telling the truth or lying. I am sure you know most of what I heard. He did say the original is in a secure place and will be released when the copy sent to us is found and examined. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing when he said Krige had come across the file by chance. He seems ignorant of the fact that Krige admits taking the file from Cartwright’s safe to satisfy his masters in the group. That meant killing Cartwright, if the lawyer got in the way. Even though Krige would not admit it in front of his wife, he definitely killed Cartwright but that is not my problem now. I simply want to nail the person who took the file off my desk; and, I want the original.’