Shroud of Concealment (Jake Dillon Adventure Thriller Series) (32 page)

“If they are, they’re not watching you.” Dillon raised his glass. “Here’s to us and the good times.”

Morgan rang the door bell at exactly 8.30.

Rachel said, “I’ll go and let him in and then disappear to the snug, and watch television.”

Morgan came into the living room with a rush of cold air, handed Rachel his coat and without invite, sat himself down in a vacant armchair. He saw Dillon but gave no sign of surprise.

“If that is your wife, Mr. Havelock, I must compliment you. She is a very lovely lady.”

“Thank you. Please call me Dunstan. After all, we are out of working hours. You’ve already met Jake Dillon, of course.”

“Oh, yes. He’s the chap who roams around England carrying a gun as if he’s the Lone Ranger, blowing holes in Government property and frightening the life out of my men who had been assigned to protect him. I suppose that’s your 911 outside. You’re getting lax, Jake.”

“Bollocks,” Dillon said with a smile. “If they’d told me, I might have believed them. As it was, they even denied that they’d been following me. They’re lucky that I only put a bullet in their radiator.”

Havelock, who knew nothing of the finer details, looked a little perturbed.

“Can I offer you a drink?”

“A brandy would be good, thank you.”

Morgan glowered at Dillon with something approaching a quiet rage.

“You virtually destroyed that car,” he accused. “They had to be towed ten miles to the nearest garage. Running around the countryside shooting at anything that takes your fancy, is not on. And I’ll wager that you’ve not got a licence for it either.”

“No. But as I’m officially down on record as a personal bodyguard to Sir Lucius Stagg, it’s never been an issue.”

Morgan’s features suddenly cracked and he couldn’t resist a smile. He took the drink Havelock handed him.

“You are a born bullshitter, aren’t you? What a load of rubbish. But you know that we would have a hell of a job to prove otherwise.”

His smile broadened and in a completely different tone, “Well done, Jake. You’ve done a brilliant job.”

Dillon placed his drink on the side table next to his chair.

“Well, I never thought you’d be gracious enough to say that.”

“I think that evens everything, gentlemen,” Havelock said as he sat down.

“Now, shall we get down to the real issue in hand?”

Dillon said, “Tell me, Brendon. How did you know? I’ve only told Dunstan, which means you’ve still got his office phone tapped.”

Morgan dismissed the very idea with a shake of his head.

“We’ve been involved with this affair for a very long time. It’s an ongoing investigation which first came to light after the nine-eleven atrocity and a few intercepted phone calls. All the agencies are caught up in it, but without much success. Until, that is, you came on the scene, Jake. Now that we have some pretty concrete evidence we can start to make moves to dismantle the whole enterprise. There are teams already being put together as we speak.”

“What are you saying? That what I discovered in Dorset is the first real evidence you have?”

“Well, you must admit it was well-hidden and you did have to look hard for it. It’s why we had to have you working with us. You can go where we dare not to tread. Unlike you, Jake, we have to work to the letter of the law.”

Dillon couldn’t help but laugh and Havelock had some difficulty in repressing a smile himself.

“So you’re admitting that a maverick gun-toting cowboy has his uses.”

“Obviously we could not condone your methods publicly. And in less experienced hands there could be real problems. You know this as well as anybody, especially as you’ve been threatening almost everyone you’ve come into contact with since embarking on this enquiry.”

“That’s because almost everybody has either been threatening or wanting to kill me. So where does this thing go from here?”

“There is nowhere to go. There are over forty remaining addresses which we have established as being used as part of the distribution pipeline for the stolen property and drugs. We already knew that Tommy Trevelyan was the catalyst who had brought some of the largest crime syndicates throughout Europe together for this project. Julian Latimer was useful in many ways to the enterprise, not least, in obtaining vital intelligence that would otherwise have not be available to them. Paul Hammer is able to move freely around the globe with his hotel chain. This is obviously the ideal cover to attend clandestine meetings with the syndicate partners. Charlie Hart – now there’s the enigma. We know that he has a global network of trading contacts and is still operating heavily in India. His organisation is so well-run and the people involved so loyal to him, that so far we have been unable to get anything on the man. Except, perhaps, that he owns an outstanding, yet dubious, copy of the most famous painting by Vermeer, which is hardly illegal, and it’s not a viable reason to arrest someone as wealthy and prominent as he is. The frustrating thing is that we’ve had all of these men under surveillance for many months and they’ve not made one single wrong move in all that time. The same goes for the locations, and until today we’ve not seen, sniffed or retrieved one ounce of any illegal substance. By the way, did you manage to bring any of the drugs you found in Lyme Regis away with you?”

Dillon had the distinct feeling that Morgan knew full-well that he did.

“Naturally. Otherwise there would be no evidence. But the majority of the stuff had already been moved to another location before I arrived down there.”

“How much did you get?”

“All that was left. It was in three plastic containers hidden inside one of the wooden crates. Each had around five kilos of cocaine in it. I left the crate there.”

“Do you think it was deliberately left behind?”

“Most definitely. They’d put it inside the caretaker’s van, which was then driven away from the house by Trevelyan’s men and hidden in woods about a mile away. The caretaker said that he heard one of them talking about hiding the van and then coming back for it later. But something he hadn’t thought about, was that they were almost certainly going to return later to kill both him and his wife, of that I’m positive. Once I’d pointed that out to him it was all it took for him to tell me where they were likely to have hidden the van. Anyway, after driving around for a bit I spotted it from the road. Thank God for amateurs, because in their haste they’d made a shabby attempt at concealing it.”

“I see. But why leave such a small amount behind? It seems a bit odd, doesn’t it?” Morgan asked.

“My view is that Trevelyan’s men were going to line their own pockets with it. And what better time to steal from your employer? Who’s going to miss one crate when there’re so many being shipped to God knows where?”

“So what have you done with it?”

“It’s safe. I’ve got a contact in the drugs squad, I’ll hand it over to him the moment I leave here.”

“You don’t have to do that. I’ll take it to them myself. Your job is done.”

“I don’t think it is. And anyway, drugs are not your concern.”

“Just what are you implying? And, damn it, Dillon. Aren’t you satisfied with your success?”

“No, not really. And as I say, Morgan, it’s not finished yet. I’m not one of your menials who you can push around, you know? I don’t work for you and you aren’t paying for my services, so you can piss off. You made your entrance long after I’d started on this assignment for whatever reasons. And you still haven’t given a sufficiently believable explanation as to why MI5 is so involved with what is evidently a narcotics investigation.”

Morgan’s voice took on an almost casual tone.

“Let me reiterate, Jake. We have been working alongside agencies from across Europe and the United States on this investigation. And, of course, their respective drug squads. This is far too big for any one agency or, come to that, any one country to handle. We are primarily concerned with the terrorist threat in the UK, of course. Our intelligence tells us that revenue is being generated from the sale of drugs, which will end up in some of the world’s hotspots to fund terrorist training boot camps.”

Dillon was taking a perverse sort of pleasure in seeing Morgan attempt to wriggle and squirm his way out of the situation he now found himself in.

“Does the drug squad know that they’re involved? I mean, if so many agencies and their highly qualified and experienced officers are tied up in this thing, why was it one person, an outsider, who was able to come up with the evidence where they had not? My instincts tell me that you’re talking a load of old bollocks, Morgan. I don’t believe a word of what you’ve just said and I reckon that you’re working alone on this whole affair. The only thing I’ve not figured out is why.”

Havelock was listening to this exchange, wishing he could break from the diplomatic protocol and niceties that he was bound to live his life by, like Dillon did so easily.

Morgan tried his best to sound reasonable and not at all peeved.

“Jake, call me what you like, but we only had your interests at heart once we found out where your investigation was taking you. We decided to let you run with it on your own because we all know that you get results. Quickly. If you still don’t believe me you can verify everything I’ve told you both this evening with Sir Lucius. He’s been behind you one hundred percent ever since you inadvertently discovered this very real threat to the security of this country. We all admire you, Jake. Hell, you might even get a bloody Knighthood for your roll in this. But believe me when I tell you that your part in this is now over. Mr. Havelock will confirm it.”

Dillon gazed across at Havelock as Morgan did. He shot him a quick look as a warning to not be intimidated into a hasty agreement.

Havelock was in a quandary. All his allegiance lay with Dillon who was right about who had engaged him. But even if he supported him now he knew that if Morgan represented the official line, he would have to comply. He tried for a compromise.

“You might have the authority you say, Brendon, but I cannot accept it without confirmation from a higher level. Preferably in writing from the Director General.”

Morgan shrugged. “Well you won’t get anything in writing and certainly not from the Director General. I’m surprised you even asked. I can phone someone now, if that will satisfy you.”

“I’m afraid that won’t do at all. After all, you could be calling anyone. And with respect, you’re no stranger to the art of deception, are you?”

“You surely don’t expect Dunstan to just take your word, do you, Brendon?”

Morgan turned to Dillon in fury. “I’ve already told you, Jake, that your input is no longer required. This is a matter for Mr. Havelock and me to sort out. Do I make myself clear?”

“I’m afraid not, can’t understand a bloody word you’re saying. It’s almost like you’re talking penguin or something.” Dillon was quietly laughing.

“And that nice guy façade of yours is slipping a little, Brendon, old son. You were thanking me just a minute ago. But I knew that you’d have difficulty in keeping that one up. You’d better watch your lip and start treating Dunstan with a little more respect than you’ve been showing him. Or suffer the consequences.”

Dillon stood up and moved to the front window, leant against the wall and crossed his arms.

Morgan managed to regain control of his temper, well aware that Dillon was merely goading him. He turned back to Havelock. “Would a word from the Home Secretary satisfy you?”

“Of course. But you don’t intend to call him right now, do you?”

“First thing tomorrow. In the meantime, I’ll have to take the drugs back to Thames House. Obviously I’ll give you a receipt.”

“Oh, the drugs are not here in the house, Brendon.”

Havelock had told the lie with ease and without feeling guilty. He did not like Morgan’s increasing arrogance or his assumption that he could get the better of him.

Morgan tried to stare Havelock out, but the senior civil servant had now taken his stand and was not going to be intimidated. Morgan lowered his head, gazed at his drink for an instant and was silent for a short while.

“You do realise that I could have you both arrested for obstructing the law?”

“Well, you should know a thing or two about that,” Dillon said from where he was standing by the window.

Every now and then he eased the curtain to one side and took a look outside.

“I’ll tell you what I’ll do. I will leave here and drive straight to the drugs squad and hand the drugs over this evening. What could be fairer than that?”

Morgan said with tension in his voice, “What is your problem with allowing me to take the drugs? You know who I am and what my authority is. So what’s the big deal here?”

“The only problem is that the drugs are not here, Brendon. Nothing more and nothing less.”

Dillon was convinced by now that Morgan’s men had seen him lift the holdall from out of the boot of the Porsche and into the house, but Morgan couldn’t admit to it because he would then have to explain why Dunstan’s house was under surveillance.

“I see. Well I believe that the drugs are in fact here in this house.”

Dillon gave Morgan full credit for the way he was controlling his exasperation.

“So what are you saying? That we are both liars?”

Havelock intervened again. “Gentlemen, please. All that you are achieving is to display just how much you despise and dislike each other.”

He directed his comment at Morgan.

“I suggest that we leave this now and sleep on what has been said here tonight. I will await instructions from the Home Secretary in the morning. Obviously I will comply fully with whatever he says and that seems to be the fairest way to proceed. I cannot see any problem with this course of action unless you fear that the drugs may be stolen.”

Morgan had been beaten and was finding difficulty in accepting it. The power of the security service usually made most people very wary of crossing swords with them. Morgan knew that he had to tread carefully with Havelock, but Dillon was another story and it was to him that he now turned.

“I’m sorry I was abusive, but you seem to have a knack of winding me up. Whatever else I have said to offend, the fact remains that I meant what I said about respecting you. I can see I will have to take this to a higher level.”

He stood up. “Thank you for the drink and your hospitality, Mr. Havelock.”

He turned to Dillon. “I’ll be in touch. By the way, where are you staying at present?”

“The Old Colonial.”

“I thought you would have left there by now.”

“No. I’ve been using the staff entrance when your boys have been looking the other way.”

But Morgan having asked, merely made Dillon even more curious as to why he wanted to know. This also made up his mind that the drugs would remain safely hidden under Havelock’s stairs for the time being. Because once Morgan had possession of them there would be no proof that they had ever existed. It would be natural to let the drug squad have it, and have them fully accounted for. And that was the problem – men like Morgan were rarely accountable in the public eye.