The Phoenix Series Box Set 3 Page 23

  Friday, 30th May 2014

  “I won’t be sorry to see the back of this month,” said Athena, “let’s get to this final meeting of the week.”

  “Life’s hard, and then you die,” replied Phoenix, as he bounced Hope on his knee.

  Athena gave him a stare. Phoenix stopped bouncing their five-month-old daughter.

  “Daddy said something silly,”

  Hope’s expression suggested she wanted to know why he had stopped playing with her.

  “Sorry, darling, that was insensitive. I’ve spent little enough of this past four weeks at home. We must stay positive. Our efforts have taken a significant number of criminals out of the game in the missions we’ve undertaken.”

  “We’ve lost three good agents in the process,” said Athena, joining her husband and daughter on the sofa, “notifying families of the death of a husband, or a son, doesn’t get any easier.”

  “Neither of us will be comfortable with that task,” said Phoenix, “but we must remind ourselves that our cause is just. Erebus always stressed that fact when times were tough. When we suffer casualties, we should measure the loss of a colleague against the damage we’ve done to the enemy. So far, Olympus has consistently inflicted more harm to the opposition than they have to us.”

  There was a knock at the door. It was Maria Elena, their nanny.

  “Good morning,” she said as she breezed into the room. Hope gave her a big smile. Athena and Phoenix spent as much time as possible with their child, but Maria Elena coped with the little rascal for the large part of her waking hours.

  Phoenix was about to hand Hope over to the nanny.

  “Sit her up next to you,” said Maria Elena, placing herself on the opposite end of the sofa.

  Phoenix did as he was told.

  Hope sat upright for thirty seconds. She looked at the three faces that surrounded her. What were they expecting her to do? She patted her hands on the thighs. They smiled and cooed. This was fun.

  “How long has she been able to do this?” asked Athena, “we’ve never tried it.”

  Hope slid gracefully towards Maria Elena, who scooped her up and placed her on her stomach on the carpet.

  “Yesterday was the first day,” she said, “watch her try to scoot along the floor. She’s not there yet, but she’ll be crawling in a few weeks.”

  “We’ll need eyes in the back of our heads then,” said Phoenix. “Sharron was into everything once she became mobile. We had to keep breakable items out of harm’s way. They don’t stay babies for long.”

  Maria Elena had no clue who Sharron was. She imagined Phoenix had a younger sister.

  Athena watched as Hope moved her hips with her head raised. Maria Elena was right, crawling was just around the corner. If only they could spend more time together. The clock had moved past nine o’clock without them noticing, engrossed as they were in their daughter’s antics.

  “We’re late for the morning meeting, Phoenix. Come on, we need to make a move.”

  They dashed along the corridor to the meeting room. Maria Elena and Hope watched them leave from the doorway of the apartment.

  “Mama y Papa volveran pronto,” she whispered in Hope’s ear, “they’ll be back soon.”

  Hope thought that was easy for her to say. It was difficult enough learning to sit up unassisted without being bi-lingual at five months.

  Minos and the others were deep in conversation when Athena and Phoenix arrived.

  “Leaves on the line,” said Phoenix by way of explanation.

  Athena took her seat at the head of the table and ran through the morning’s agenda.

  Rusty brought the agents up to date with the retraining. Henry Case passed Athena a folder containing the psychological assessments of the twelve men currently in the system. Giles reported what new data had been gathered on The Grid over the past twenty-four hours.

  Minos and Alastor confirmed that their investigations into the backgrounds of the proposed new Olympians were now complete. Achilles, Daedalus and Ambrosia had been given the all-clear. There was no reason to exclude either of them from the next meeting in Manchester on the second of July.

  Reservations over Jean-Paul St Clair were resolved. The industrial designer and inventor had taken his wife, Simone, on holiday to the south of France for two weeks, and they returned together to their home in Wales.

  “Our surveillance photos, both in Nice and at home portray a happily married couple,” added Alastor, “in fact, several photos were a trifle indiscreet. The tabloids would pay a fortune for them.”

  “Well, that’s one less concern,” said Athena. “I’ll send that information through to Zeus as soon as we’ve finished here. That and the progress on the retraining will be welcome news.”

  “Everything is in place for Monday, and the fresh intake,” said Rusty. “The stable-block and the old worker’s cottages will be more crowded than usual. We have solved potential accommodation issues so male and female trainees are billeted separately. We’ve added extra shifts for our permanent in-house personnel to bolster the canteen and the recreation areas. Extra rations are being delivered this weekend. I think we’re set.”

  “Well done, Rusty,” said Athena. “I’ve no idea how you’ve kept on top of this with the missions you and Phoenix have been on this month. My greatest concern isn’t the logistics of getting these reinforcements geared up to move into the field after twelve weeks. It’s how we explain the sudden surge in numbers to the Charity Commissioners on their next visit.”

  “Perhaps Alastor and I need to prepare cover documents for these men and women?” asked Minos.

  “The timetable for handing over security control from International Security Assistance Force to Afghan forces was agreed at the NATO summit in Lisbon back in November 2010,” added Alastor. “Task Force Helmand closed at the beginning of April this year, and Camp Bastion was handed over to Afghan security forces. We still have four to five hundred combat troops on the ground; training, advising and assisting local Afghanis. Their role will end in October, and we can bring them home.”

  “What will this whole campaign have cost since 2001?” asked Artemis. “In monetary terms, not the thousands of dead, and wounded.”

  “The best estimate is forty billion pounds,” said Alastor.

  “And the Taliban are still not defeated,” said Rusty.

  “Unless we send troops to war zones during the summer, it will be increasingly difficult to justify sizeable increases in the numbers of combatants returning to the UK suffering from PTSD,” said Minos. “We shall have to tread carefully.”

  “I appreciate your concern,” said Athena. “I know I can rely on you two to devise a method to convince the inspectors there’s no anomaly to investigate.”

  “The last thing we need is a snap inspection,” said Rusty, “what did they say when they were here last time?”

  Athena smiled.

  “We might never receive a surprise visit again after their last inspection. Could you explain, Minos?”

  “Their last visit was in mid-April while the Reverend Gough was staying here. I escorted the Commissioners around the estate and bumped into Henry and the vicar in the walled vegetable garden. They assumed she was our resident chaplain and were pleased we provided pastoral care for our patients. The frequency of checks has reduced. However, it will benefit us to take proper precautions.”

  “Exactly,” said Phoenix, “you can’t trust these organisations. A change of government, a new broom at the head of the Charity Commission. Without warning, all bets are off, and they’ll add extra demands to the already long list of things with which we need to comply.”

  “Over to you then, Minos,” said Athena, “give us a good smokescreen.”

  Henry Case had perked up at the mention of Sarah Gough’s name.

  Artemis spotted his reaction.

  “How is Sarah, Henry?”

  “Without a vehicle at the moment,” he replied, “her camper van finally pegged out. Ath
ena, is there any chance I can have a weekend off in early July?”

  “Of course, you can Henry,” said Athena. “I suppose we don’t need to ask where you might visit?”

  “Village fete, the padre said,” Henry was embarrassed and starting to get flustered. “Wondered if I wished to pay her a visit.”

  “She told you she was free to officiate at Hope’s christening in late August I take it?” asked Athena.

  “She did. While I’m in the village that weekend, I must ask her how she’s getting to Larcombe. Now Maggie has gone to the VW dealership in the sky.”

  “I think it’s wonderful that you two get on so well,” said Artemis.

  Henry thought so too, but he was wary of committing himself, in case certain matters came to light.

  Across the table, Phoenix and Rusty shared a glance. They too wondered whether the security head and the vicar indeed had a future. Since his arrival at Larcombe Phoenix had lost count of the criminals who had failed to return to the surface after Henry had taken them to Level Three and his suite of interrogation rooms in the ice-house.

  “I’ll leave you to make the arrangements, Henry,” said Athena. “You can drive over and collect her yourself, or I’ll send one of the transport section guys to do the honours.”

  “Righto, Athena,” said Henry, glad that this conversation was at an end.

  “What’s left on the agenda?” asked Phoenix.

  “Are you rushing off again?” asked Giles.

  “Rusty and I need to fine-tune our plans for the next mission; debrief the last one; that’s our itinerary for today. All things being equal, we’ll take tomorrow and Sunday off, and spend time at home, for a change.”

  This time it was Athena and Artemis who shared a glance. Two days free from worry. Several times in the past month there had been dangerous moments where they feared they might not see their partners again.

  Athena closed the meeting and switched back on her mobile phone. There was an immediate message. She read it and asked everyone to stay seated.

  “This has just come in from Zeus,” she said, “it concerns Dawn Prentice, the candidate rejected at last month’s meeting for elevation to the senior Olympus leadership.”

  “She was to become Aurora,” said Minos, “but there were grave concerns over her renewed contact with drug dealers. Specifically, those trading in designer drugs.”

  “We discovered she had been blackmailed into financing the raw materials for a large shipment on its way to UK streets,” said Alastor, “what about her?”

  “She’s missing,” said Athena.

  CHAPTER 4

  As soon as the agents left the meeting room, their planned activities for the day, and possibly the weekend, had altered. Giles Burke and Artemis returned to the control centre in the ice-house to track Dawn Prentice’s movements.

  Phoenix agreed to meet Rusty in the orangery in an hour. Giles would uncover something in time. Meanwhile, the debrief of recent attacks and future mission plans had to take priority.

  “Athena and I will grab lunch, relieve Maria Elena for an hour or so, and spend time with Hope. I’ll see you at one o’clock.”

  “OK,” Rusty nodded, “lunch alone again for me. Catch you later.”

  Henry Case contacted both training teams to tell them Rusty was unavailable until further notice. Any queries that arose should be directed to him.

  Minos and Alastor set to work straight away on constructing feasible backgrounds for the twelve agents who returned to these shores. They took the decision the recruits arriving on Monday would be far easier to handle. They either came directly from the armed services, after completing their time or had only been on civvy street for twelve to eighteen months.

  As for the men and women who survived over five years working undercover in a foreign trouble hot-spot, they could present a host of problems. Athena understood that when she assigned the role to the Two Amigos. There were no better men for the task.

  Back in their apartment, Athena asked Maria Elena to rustle up a light salad for lunch. Phoenix sneaked a cold beer from the fridge and flopped onto the sofa, He took a long pull at his drink. Then leant forward with his arms on his knees to watch his daughter.

  “Blink, and you miss it,” he said.

  Athena had returned from the kitchen. She joined her husband on the sofa.

  “What will I miss?” she asked.

  “Do you remember the days when she needed us every waking minute?”

  “How could I forget?”

  “Look at her now,” said Phoenix.

  Hope was lying on her back. For a week or more, she had realised her hands were useful to pick up things. They could touch her feet too, which she wasn’t sure her parents could do. So, she was showing off her newly acquired skill, clutching at her toes, and rocking from side to side. After a minute, she spotted her parents watching her and gave them a huge smile. Watch this, she thought and rolled onto her tummy.

  “She’s learning to play on her own,” said Athena. “We’re not redundant yet, but she’s growing up fast.”

  “What are our plans for her to have a brother or sister?” asked Phoenix.

  “Let’s enjoy things as they are for a while,” Athena replied. “We still have time to have another baby, but these are dangerous times. I worry about the risks you have to take,”

  Phoenix took her in his arms and kissed her. They were lost in each other. Maria Elena made to bring lunch through from the kitchen, but seeing them, thought lunch could wait.

  As she pulled the door quietly towards her, she noticed Hope.

  The excited squeal made Athena and Phoenix separate and look.

  Maria Elena hurried into the room and pointed. Hope had climbed to her feet and was resting against the end of the sofa staring at them. As soon as they turned towards her, she sat on the carpet with a bump.

  “As I was saying,” said Phoenix, “blink, and you miss it. This little lady is growing up way too quick.”

  “Lunch is ready for the three of you,” said Maria Elena. “I’ll bring it in and then leave.”

  “Thanks,” said Athena, “I’ll see you in two hours. I hope I can persuade her to repeat that trick and take a picture. I’m sure Mummy and Daddy would love to see it.”

  “Are they even in the country now,” asked Phoenix, tucking into his salad with relish. “Or did they fly off to the continent as soon as they went home after the wedding?”

  “Mummy has a check-up with her physician in Harley Street coming up soon. The outcome of that will decide their travel arrangements for the summer. Whatever they’re up to, we’ll be seeing them over the weekend at the end of August. They won’t miss Hope’s christening for the world.”

  Phoenix polished off his food and drained the dregs from his beer bottle.

  “Right, I need to get ready for my session with Rusty. I have to love you and leave you, I’m afraid.

  He kissed Athena on the lips, then kissed Hope on her forehead. She was enjoying her pureed meat and vegetables, thanks to her mother spooning it into her eager mouth. One spoonful missed as Hope realised Daddy was leaving and twisted around in her high chair to see where he’d gone. The contents of the spoon ended up on her shoulder.

  “Daddy will be back later,” said Athena wiping Hope’s shoulder with a tissue.

  Heard that one before, thought Hope, and turned towards her Mum and opened wide for more sweet potato and chicken. Yummy.

  Phoenix collected the files he needed for the orangery and headed off to meet with his colleague. He arrived well before Rusty and sat in his favourite spot. He looked out over the gardens and thought back over the past three weeks. In the week after their trip to Solihull, where they eliminated Piotr Kowalczyk, he and Rusty had moved on to strike at the Grid’s operations in the North West.

  Kowalczyk had controlled the slave labour trade in the West Midlands. His demise and that of his criminal colleagues had dealt a significant blow to the finances derived from that part o
f the business. The Liverpool and Manchester regions were just as lucrative to the Grid. Both major cities were bases for drug trafficking cartels. Phoenix had been aware the area’s criminal gangs were less territorial than gangs they had tackled in the capital. They were also more active on international fronts. The northern cartels smuggled cocaine and heroin into the UK, plus the Netherlands and the Iberian Peninsula. Add in the weapons trade, and the contract killings that were a speciality of the two cities, then the whole North West was ‘bandit country’.

  He and Rusty had carried out their accustomed detailed preparations in the early part of the week, then on Friday afternoon, they drove north to meet their agents on the ground. Rusty completed the drive to Chester via the M5 in three and a half hours. The meeting place for the sixteen agents was a motorway service car park on the M53.

  The crime gangs they were targeting trafficked drugs worth many millions of pounds. Local agents had provided data to Larcombe Manor over a six-week period. These gangs operated in the heart of both cities, not in the leafy suburbs, or remote detached properties in the countryside. They worked and flourished on dozens of housing estates, cheek to jowl with honest, hard-working citizens.

  Drugs were smuggled to Scotland by car or train, by couriers. The information provided by the Lancashire and Merseyside Olympus agents had been passed to their colleagues over the border. The noose was being tightened up there too. In the coming weeks, the whole network in Glasgow and Edinburgh would be identified, and direct action sanctioned to eliminate its leading lights.

  Phoenix wanted to demolish these organisations brick by brick. It was a slow process, but Olympus had to choose its targets. Time was against them, and resources stretched. It was imperative the Grid’s all-reaching spread was disrupted. Failure was not an option.

  Rusty had parked his van in the furthest corner of the car park, well away from the entrance and exit roads, and the longest walk from the franchised buildings. Three more dark vans pulled alongside in a designated box formation. Phoenix and Rusty were joined by fourteen agents in the open space inside the box provided by the vans. The time was then eleven forty-five at night. Each agent wore black clothing. The black ski-masks and night-vision goggles they carried completed their outfit.