Enemy Within (11 page)

“Great view.”

“Yes,” Plavsic responded, “particularly on a clear day like today. Can we get you some coffee or tea.”

“No thanks,” and we sat down at the table.

“Well
Mr
Lever, what can I do for you? Have you decided to accept our offer after all?” He smiled.

I returned the smile and hesitated. Now I was here I wasn't sure how to begin, although I would really like to find out if they were behind the personal assaults of the last few days.

“No, the decision to say no to your offer was a board decision and frankly, was made partly on the basis that we did not know you and that we were well down the road to an IPO which it was thought will ultimately give shareholders a better return. However I am in London for a couple of days and thought I might look you up. Tell me a bit more about Mendip Finance.”

“I am sure you must have done your own research before considering our offer,” he said.

“Yes, but it is much better to hear it from the horses mouth, so to speak.”

He looked puzzled at that phrase and paused. “OK,” he said eventually, and went on to describe Mendip Finances activities. He pointed to a map on the wall where various coloured pins denoted Mendip activities. Most of them were in Africa and Central Europe and Russia.

“Do you have dealings with governments?” I asked. “I understand that in Russia for instance, the oil industry has a heavy government involvement and shareholding.”

“Yes they do, remember we are not just interested in oil
,
we have many other interests.”

“Does that include arms and the
defence
industries?” I asked.

“No, we don't have interests in those areas but some of our associates do.”

“Associates?”

“Shareholders, investors, sister companies.”

“Does that include Dalrymple Technology?”

He ignored the question and said, '
Mr
Lever, why are you here? I have already had the police here making suggestions that we have been threatening you. I assure you that our intentions are totally
honourable
, we are an investment organisation looking for good investments.” he smiled, but his smile had a smarminess about it that made my skin crawl.

“You were right, we did do some research on your organisation, but as you will know it's ownership structure is extremely complicated, as if the real owners did not want to be revealed. Why would a legitimate investment company want to conceal its true ownership in this way?”

A flash of irritation briefly wiped the smile from his f
ace revealing an altogether harder
individual but it was gone within seconds and the surface smile returned. “International trading across several continents frequently requires complex structures,” he parried.  Pausing, “
Mr
Lever, it is very pleasant to meet with you again but I have an appointment so if there is nothing else I really must conclude this meeting.” he stood as he said this, offering a hand in farewell, effectively ushering me towards the door. 

Outside the office I joined up with Jason and we left the building and caught a taxi back to the hotel.

That evening in the hotel, Frank, Alec, and I met up for a drink before attending a dinner with clients. “What do you make of the Dalrymple link to Mendip Finance?” asked Frank looking at Alec.

“I'm not sure what to make of it. Dalrymple are rumoured to have very close links to the US Government procurement operations particularly the Pentagon, but that is hardly surprising really as they have had some very major contracts with them. What do you think Michael?”

“Well, the story on the 'technical grapevine' is that they have some significant product development problems. It is said they are just not keeping pace with the technology. There appears to have been an exodus of senior technical staff, in fact I am interviewing one of them next week. I have heard that there is a lot of dissatisfaction internally with the technical strategy of the company. However that is all rumour, I daresay you could find people who would not have a good thing to say about us if you tried.” I hesitated, and then went on. “I went and paid Mendip Finance a visit this afternoon.”

“Why?”

“Well, I had nothing to do
and I wanted to find out if they are the people who are hassling us. Plavsic was all charm and politeness but it was a futile visit, I couldn't even get him to respond to the Dalrymple link.”

The rest of the stay in London and the following visit to Birmingham proved to be just the routine presentations and dining a
nd we ended up back in Bristol two
days later.

A good bit of news was that the insurance company had paid out on my Range Rover and a new vehicle was waiting for me in the Company car park.

The first evening back home, Jason and I had just finished a steak and salad meal and I was about to settle down in front of the laptop to catch up with some work when the doorbell rang. I opened it to find two men who claimed to be police officers; one flashed a warrant card identifying him as Inspector Naismith. They had come to discuss my car stealing offence. I showed them in to the lounge, Jason stood up and his presence seemed to catch them off guard.

“ Is this your brother
Mr
Lever?”

“No this is my security guard, Jason Walgrave.” I hesitated. “How do you know I have a brother?”

Naismith ignored the question and said, “
Mr
Lever, you are liable to be charged with car theft. Can you please explain the circumstances to us?”

“Inspector Naismith, do you know a Chief Superintendent Fleet in Bristol? We have already discussed this with her and Inspector Lloyd, and while they warned me there were likely to be repercussions I am surprised it is not her dealing with this.”

This seemed to take Naismith by surprise but he recovered quickly and went on, “
Mr
Lever, this case is ours, and I don't know Fleet or Lloyd but I will check out with them. In the meantime the owner of the car is upset and is pressing to know why we have not pursued the matter. I require you to come to my office in Bath in the morning when you will be formally charged.” He handed me a card and said, “11 am please,” and with a curt, 'goodnight', he turned towards the door and he and his colleague showed themselves out. 

I turned to Jason. “That was strange, it was almost as if they backed off when I mentioned Fleet; and how did they know I had a brother? He did not answer that question. I am going to call Lloyd and ask what is going on.”

Lloyd was working late and he promised to check it out and get back to him but he added that the car theft incident was not his case. 

“I can understand that it is not your case but why police in Bath, the 'theft' was in Bristol”?”

“I don't know,” he responded, “It does seem a bit unusual. However I recommend that you keep the appointment in Bath.”

Over breakfast the next day, Jason said that he had also thought the visit was strange and had reported it to his boss who had said that he believed he knew Naismith and that he might have links to Special Branch or some other part of the security services.

“Special Branch! Why are they involved in a car accident, for
Christ’s
sake!”

“I have no more idea than you.”

Fleet and Lloyd met later that morning. “I am having trouble getting the Met interested
in the Lever case
,” said Fleet. “They were distinctly cool and not interested, and if I did not know better I would think they were deliberately playing it down. So I rang an assistant commissioner that I know from Hendon days and he was able to make some interesting observations, although he was cautious, so be careful with this.”

“He observed that he would not be surprised if Asimov was part of a much larger investigation and the last thing they would want is for us to rock the boat or ruin that. He would not however tell me anything more.”

“I asked him if he knew Naismith who called me yesterday. He was reticent to talk but it seems that he knows Naismith and that Special Branch is a bit of a screen for him, and that Naismith is really MI5 nominally reporting to a Nicolas Ridley at MoD, but in reality operating with quite a free hand on anti-terrorist stuff and closely tied in to his opposite numbers in the US. All very woolly and with distinctly dirty ops overtones.”

“So where do we go from here?” said Lloyd. It sounds as though Lever could be in trouble but that our hands are tied.”

“Yes, it is not an easy one, but I am reluctant to allow it to drop quite yet. Lever seems to be a reasonably upright citizen, and it looks like he and his colleagues are building significant business for the community here in Bristol. I am not convinced that he has come completely clean with us however; I suspect he has more of an idea why the Branch are interested in him than he is admitting to us.”

“Yes, I agree,” said Lloyd, “I am not convinced that his brother is not part of this in some way, I have a check running on him. I think we should get them both in for a more formal interview.”

CHAPTER 20

The morning was bright and sunny and the City of Bath looked wonderful sprawled on the bottom and sides of the valleys as we drove down into it. It has many Roman remains including the Roman Baths that have been renovated and are a major tourist attraction. Like Rome it is built on several hills although I am not sure if it is seven! The Georgian buildings and avenues are attractive but the one-way systems and customary traffic problems soon brought me back to earth. We eventually managed to park round the corner from the police station in the Bath Rugby Club car park.

The events of the previous evening had unsettled me and in particular the mention of Adrian and the rev
elation that Naismith might be Special B
ranch, so I had called our company solicitor, Ron Cheadle, and asked him if he would accompany me. We met on the steps outside the police station and chatted for a few minutes.

“Just tell it as it happened,” said Cheadle.  It was dead on 11am as we walked in and I asked for Inspector Naismith.

After a wait of a few minutes while I stood reading the wall posters addressing such issues as how to deal with domestic violence, car theft, and burglary and home security, a young uniformed police woman appeared to guide us upstairs. Jason stayed below to wait for us.

Upstairs we were shown in to a bare windowless room that had a wooden table and four chairs in the middle and virtually no other furniture. There was a large mirror along one wall and long neon strip lights in the ceiling. The woman PC offered us both a cup of tea or coffee and left the room to get them.  

She returned a few minutes later with two paper cups of coffee and was followed in to the room by Naismith and his colleague from last night each carrying their own coffee.

“Good morning
Mr
Lever,” said Naismith in an overly cheerful voice, “this is sergeant Baker, you met him last night but I don't think you were introduced.”

He looked pointedly at Cheadle and I introduced Ron as the Company solicitor, “I believe I am entitled to have legal representation at this meeting, am I not?”

“You are indeed
Mr
Lever.
Mr
Cheadle, depending on the outcome of these discussions a decision will be made as to whether to charge your client. The charges being considered are theft of a motor vehicle and absconding from police arrest by escaping from the hospital. I should warn you that if we do decide to proceed with charges we might deny bail, your client having already demonstrated his willingness to run.”

I thought Cheadle was going to explode. “This is preposterous! The fact that my client is here this morning is clear evidence of his willingness to cooperate with the police.” I shivered; these guys were serious and really intent upon applying pressure right from the start. 

Naismith smiled obsequiously, “Well why don't we ask
Mr
Lever to explain his actions and go from there,” he said calmly.

I then went through the story of the men waiting for me at the house and the subsequent escape ending up in the car smash and being in hospital.

“Sounds a bit far fetched if you ask me,” said Baker, “what did these men say they wanted?”

“They were threatening injury if the company I worked for went ahead with its planned stock market flotation.”

“Sounds even less credible,” said Baker aggressively, “why were they searching the house if their main purpose was as you say, to scare you, what could they have been looking for?” Baker was obviously designated the ‘black hat’ in this interrogation.

“Does any one else live at the house, your brother for example?” interrupted Naismith, “He could have had something valuable that these men were looking for Sam,” he said turning to Baker with a 'be reasonable' look.

Definitely a game going on here, I thought. “Why are you so interested in my brother,” I said looking directly at Naismith. “You brought his name up last night and here it is again, nothing to do with a car theft.”