The Phoenix Series Box Set 3 Page 6

  Giles and Artemis were halfway out of the door, eager to get on the trail of Ardal James Hannon and his new identity.

  “Before we hear Minos and Alastor’s report,” Athena continued, “let me add to what Phoenix suggested. The time has come to re-evaluate our global strategy. Zeus is protective of his role in that theatre. He has been guiding it since Olympus formed. Phoenix and I will need to tread with care. If the immediate threats we face centre in Britain, then we could consider switching overseas agents from dormant trouble-spots. That throws up a logistical nightmare. Our agents do not drop into a foreign war-zone the day before a mission and get evacuated to safety after they have completed their task. They live and work in areas identified as potential flash-points. Often, they married local women and have families. There are fifteen hundred sleeper agents abroad, but few are available for transfer back home without careful extrication.”

  “Erebus explained this when I arrived,” said Phoenix, “we must guard our true role at the Project. Someone in Moscow should be able to quit their job working for a small international company to return to their country of birth without comment. But someone always asks questions. In countries that contain known flashpoints, this is inevitable. Even if the agent’s work colleagues accept he’s merely received a better offer from elsewhere, government spies will stick their nose in, to see what’s happening.”

  “I agree,” said Athena. “If we identified one hundred agents as surplus to requirements where they work now, sooner or later someone would uncover their links back to Larcombe Manor. We must avoid that whatever happens.”

  “So, we must manage with what we have available on the ground, and add to their number in modest increments,” said Minos. “That’s not ideal, but perhaps Zeus can help. We would be switching experienced agents back home, instead of sending freshly trained personnel into the front line. If the current hot-spot is here in Britain, the more experienced our agents the better.”

  “We’ll take our concerns to Zeus at the next meeting,” said Athena. “Phoenix and I will attend the Manchester venue on the first Wednesday in July.”

  “Only a full-blown crisis will bring that date forward,” said Phoenix. “Let’s hope one isn’t lurking around the corner.”

  “Someone had better tell Hannon to behave himself then,” said Rusty. “Based on his actions before Easter, he could well take further steps to achieve supreme control of this network.”

  “Shakespeare wrote that something wicked this way comes, didn’t he?” asked Henry.

  “Macbeth,” replied Athena.

  “Literature never was my strong point,” sighed Henry.

  “Better than you think, Henry,” said Athena, “and the quote sums up the situation well, I fear.”

  CHAPTER 5

  There was a brief pause in the meeting. Those seated around the table absorbed the import of what might be dismissed as a light-hearted exchange, but which was a clear definition of the threat posed by the evil financier.

  Athena cleared her mind of negative thoughts. She moved to the next item on the agenda without delay. She asked Minos and Alastor to take them through the detailed analysis of the histories of the four candidates to be Olympians.

  Her two most senior colleagues delivered their report.

  The decorated war-hero Ludovic Tremayne, who would assume the code name Achilles, was everything the initial checks carried out by Zeus on his background had suggested. His credentials had been straightforward to verify. Minos had concerns over the moderate sums he offered the Olympus fighting-fund. Alastor, as a former Major in the Blues and Royals, had been more impressed with the counter-intelligence knowledge he brought to Olympus. Tremayne’s wife Rosalind was active in the community, as a parent-governor at a local academy, and she did volunteer work for several charities.

  “One name to add to the list?” asked Phoenix.

  “Tremayne gets our vote,” replied Alastor. “Even if he’s not mega-rich, the other attributes he brings to the table will be invaluable.”

  Next, the Two Stooges had scrutinised the second candidate, Jean-Paul St. Clair. The prospective Daedalus had the funds to make him attractive to Olympus. There were no doubts on that score. St. Clair’s business acumen, steely determination, and inventive mind appeared to be the icing on the cake. Minos paused though for a moment.

  “I sense a ‘but’ coming,” said Athena. “Have you found a flaw in his character?”

  “In the period since he sold his business for three billion pounds, Jean-Paul has lived just across the border in Wales. The age gap between him and his glamour model wife Simone could drive them apart. The amount of time she spends in their flat in Paris is on the increase, and last winter she used the Chamonix lodge for eight weeks.”

  “There are no children, though, if I remember right?” asked Phoenix.

  “No,” replied Alastor, “and so far, Simone has remained alone on her travels. There doesn’t appear to be a third party involved in the separation if that’s what it has become. Indeed, Jean-Paul has visited both Paris, and Chamonix in the last six months. On those occasions, they got on with no apparent discord. If they are growing apart, then it’s an amicable distancing, you might say.”

  “Careful, Alastor,” said Rusty. “If that phrase ever gets out, I can think of a few celebrities’ marital breakdowns it describes. It might go viral.”

  “In their world, a twelve-month marriage is an equivalent to a golden wedding, for normal couples,” snorted Henry Case.

  “The separation isn’t official then,” asked Athena.

  “Not at this stage,” replied Minos.

  “What are you recommending?” asked Phoenix.

  “St. Clair shows no weaknesses to rule him out,” said Minos. “Simone may be disenchanted with living with a billionaire in Monmouthshire day in, day out, yet Jean Paul’s reaction to him and his wife living apart feels in tune with his Gallic roots. One can imagine him shrugging, accepting the situation, without resorting to tantrums or extravagant gestures. We suggest Daedalus is a candidate who adds diversity and a wealth of talents. The discord with Simone is a distraction Olympus could do without, but the man himself is just the person we’re seeking.”

  “A cautious yes, then,” said Athena. “I hope you’ve been leaving the best to last, with our two female candidates?”

  “Not entirely,” said Alastor. “Piya Adani, has youth, and a healthy bank balance in her favour. Since her father’s death, she has challenged a host of taboos she encountered in the business world. Piya hates the label of feminist, but if as Ambrosia she joined the Olympus upper echelons she would challenge the existing order. Her ambition knows no limits.”

  “You might have a rival, Athena. Your succession to the top job when Zeus stands aside may not be automatic,” said Phoenix, with a smile.

  “I’ve never thought that far ahead,” said Athena. “I’m more concerned with what effect this challenging attitude might have on the whole group. We have three women in the eight current Olympians. After what happened last year, we need to promote harmony, not discord. We need team players, not loose cannons. Can Piya Adani be a team player, or not, Minos?”

  “Piya’s a leader, and a proven winner, Athena,” the former Judge replied. “I believe Zeus has selected her, not to cause division, but to inspire each of you to question policies which hitherto have been for the most part male-dominated. Alastor and I believe she will bring a breath of fresh air to proceedings. Hera, with her seniority, might need to temper her exuberance from time to time, but Ambrosia still smells sweet to us.”

  “Fair enough,” said Athena, “so that leaves us with Dawn Prentice. What have you unearthed on Aurora?”

  “Enough to discount her out of hand,” sighed Minos.

  “Zeus had her checked out before he put her name forward at the last meeting,” said Phoenix, surprised. “She had her problems in the past, but she was clean, and committed to ridding the streets of the scourge of drugs. What on ear
th happened?”

  “As you know,” said Minos. “Dawn Prentice worked for a charity helping recovering addicts. After over eight years staying away from her old life, the wealth she inherited from her late parents a year ago, attracted attention from unsavoury characters in her past. Dawn’s ambition was to use her fortune to help combat the spread and use of drugs. It was the magnet that drew Zeus to her. He believed she had conquered her demons. In the spirit of the new blood he wanted to introduce to Olympus, she was another fascinating candidate. The new dawn for Aurora proved to be false.”

  Alastor then took up the story.

  “The massive lottery win in 2010 received widespread publicity. Dawn’s parents enjoyed the limelight their fifteen minutes of fame afforded and then spent their windfall modestly. They travelled the world but there were no grand houses, or fast cars that spent months untouched in garages. In the months that followed, Dawn’s past life was exposed in the media, at the lower end of the market. What they used to term the gutter press. Of course, they sensationalised her story, but she appeared to weather that storm, and continued her work with the charity.”

  “The tragic death of her parents got reported in full too,” continued Minos. “Dawn was their only child, and it didn’t take long for the same newspapers to sniff out a story. This triggered a change in her attitude. Her friends at the charity said she became withdrawn, less engaged in the work they did. The events that followed suggested she was being blackmailed.”

  “Dawn’s old friends had caught up with her, you mean?” asked Rusty.

  “At least one of her old drug dealers had got back in touch, threatening to uncover sordid secrets from Dawn’s past life. When she was at her lowest ebb, she sold her body for a fix. In return for keeping quiet, Dawn had to finance the import of large quantities of Benzo Fury, and Meow, Meow. There’s no evidence to say Dawn has used these drugs, nor was she involved in dealing. However, we consider her candidacy to be too risky to support.”

  “Excuse my ignorance,” said Rusty, “but are these the designer drugs, those legal highs that cropped up over the last five years?”

  “Yes,” said Alastor, “the correct term is NPS, or new psychoactive substances, rather than legal highs. They contain one or more chemical substances which produce similar effects to illegal drugs such as cocaine, cannabis and ecstasy. These substances are not yet classified as a controlled drug, although there have been preliminary discussions. Often you will see them advertised as incense, or plant food to get around the law. The ingredients on the packaging may not represent what the product contains.”

  “Even if it did,” continued Minos, “there hasn’t been enough research on their potency yet. Nobody can gauge any adverse effects from human consumption, nor how they react if taken with other substances or alcohol. The internet is the driving force behind the accelerating rate at which legal highs are hitting the European drugs market. They are traded across the ‘dark web’. The authorities are struggling to cope with the rate at which new synthetic substances are emerging, and designer drugs that have contributed to deaths are escaping detection.”

  “I sense you’re about to tell us Britain is leading the way again,” said Rusty. “Only six weeks ago, you told us we led the way in cocaine use.”

  “Our average mortality rate due to overdose is more than twice the average for Europe,” said Alastor. “The total number of new psychoactive substances available exceeds three hundred and fifty. With new products being developed every day. The open sale of so-called legal highs on the internet has increased its availability to distributors and consumers. The potency of designer drugs means small quantities of the substances can be converted into multiple doses. That means that small, easily transported packages of innocuous-looking powders slip through customs check unnoticed. Once here in the UK they convert them into thousands upon thousands of individual doses.”

  “The dealer who approached Dawn Prentice, wasn’t working alone,” said Minos. “He was part of a gang who operated on both sides of the Channel. As heroin usage dropped, they searched for a product to replace it. They didn’t want their lucrative criminal income to falter. Dawn was forced to hand over the funds to import the substances; the gang’s supply chain manufactured and packaged the final product. Then the distribution link in their organisation got it to the consumer.”

  “Why haven’t these drugs been banned?” asked Phoenix.

  “At the outset, they weren’t even illegal,” said Athena. “Many still aren’t, although they often contain a banned chemical. It’s complicated, and a total ban could cause difficulties. It might lead to more drug-related deaths, if people drifted back to heroin, for instance.”

  “Whether they’re legal, or illegal, they are far from harmless,” added Alastor, “and can have similar health risks to cocaine, ecstasy and speed.”

  “One imagines young people engage in this madness?” asked Henry Case.

  “The majority are youngsters,” said Minos. “I have personal experience, as you know with my son Harry. I often compare the actions of teenagers consuming a cocktail of alcohol and drugs, with playing catch using a live grenade instead of a ball.”

  “I’m sorry, Minos,” said Athena, “this matter must have brought back painful memories.”

  “It doesn’t get any easier, Athena,” he replied, “but, Alastor is right. One can understand why the young lady felt she needed to bury these past indiscretions. She gave that money, with no intention of personal gain from the drugs it brought into the country. Yet, her elevation to an Olympian must be opposed. We were fortunate the loss of the Titans from their number was managed with such aplomb, that the media didn’t question their deaths. We left no clue that might lead them to our door. Dawn Prentice will have other skeletons, no doubt. They will surface in time, that is inevitable. Her potential to become Aurora is a weak link. I fear that is something Olympus cannot afford at present. The next revelation from her past might not be a drain on her bank balance. It might cause her to start using again.”

  “Understood, Minos,” said Phoenix, “better safe than sorry. Athena and I will continue to work on your report on the four candidates. Your recommendations have been arrived at in your usual thorough and measured manner. I doubt very much if we will disagree with your conclusions. Thank you for your efforts. Well, you know what they say, Athena, three out of four ain’t bad.”

  “That may be, but it means Zeus must look elsewhere, and Olympus will not have the financial resources available for which he will have budgeted. We will discuss this after the meeting. I may need to warn him before our trip north to Manchester, so he can start the hunt for a replacement for Dawn Prentice.”

  “What else do we have on the agenda?” asked Henry Case.

  “Didn’t you read the copy I sent you last night, Henry?” asked Athena.

  “Er, um, I must have,” Henry blustered, “but I can’t recall the details.”

  “I don’t reckon you read it, Henry,” grinned Rusty. “There was a date for your diary mentioned towards the bottom.”

  “A date?” asked Henry, now somewhat red-faced.

  “We have invited Sarah Gough to christen Hope here during the late Summer Bank Holiday weekend,” said Athena. “We are awaiting confirmation she can accept.”

  “I see,” said Henry, brightening up considerably, “well, that’s terrific. I shall be happy to accept an invitation… should it arrive, of course.”

  “Don’t worry, Henry,” said Phoenix, “we wouldn’t leave you off the list.”

  “Whether Sarah came to Larcombe, or not,” added Rusty.

  “On that happier note, we’ll call it quits for today, gentlemen,” said Athena. “Tomorrow is another day. We must hope for a resolution in the hunt for our elusive ‘H’.”

  Rusty and the others left the room. Athena and Phoenix continued to look through Minos and Alastor’s findings.

  “Am I being ultra-cautious after our experiences?” asked Phoenix. “Of the th
ree candidates we are ratifying, only one fills me with confidence.”

  “Achilles, I presume?” asked Athena.

  Phoenix nodded.

  “Why the reservations on Daedalus and Ambrosia?”

  “I know how difficult it can be to give something one hundred per cent concentration when there’s an issue in your private life,” said Phoenix. “It can lead to mistakes being made. His problems with Simone will need to be resolved before this chap St. Clair can commit to Olympus in full. As for Piya, well, I don’t doubt you can handle her if she mounts a challenge for the leadership. It might be way off but just read her history. She stepped up after her father died to run their company. She took no prisoners. It wasn’t only the competition that felt the icy blast as she swept them aside. She removed a complete level of management one Friday at the company’s headquarters without warning. Many of the people she fired that day worked for her father from day one. That move suggests she’s ruthless. Nothing stops her getting her own way.”

  “Are you proposing we tell Zeus not to consider her then?” asked Athena.

  “Piya has many positives in her favour, without a doubt, but she could be a disruptive influence,” said Phoenix, “I think we should tell Zeus to proceed with caution.”

  “Fair enough,” said Athena, “in the end, it’s his decision. I’ll send him our summary of the checks for each candidate and include our concerns over Daedalus and Ambrosia. I know he will be disappointed for Aurora, but there’s no way we can support her candidacy. Let’s hope he has another possibility up his sleeve. Zeus is a wise old bird. He may have anticipated someone falling at the last hurdle.”

  “Anything else?” asked Phoenix, “or can we check if Hope is feeling better?”

  “I asked Maria Elena to text me if an emergency arose,” Athena admitted. “I ignored my rule on switching mobile phones off when in a meeting, I’m sorry. I’ve heard nothing, so the doctor will have diagnosed it as a typical twenty-four-hour bug infants pick up with frustrating regularity.”