Authors: Conrad Jones
“Commander,” Alec knocked and opened the door at the same time. His superior was sat behind his desk, and he didn’t look happy. His face was dark with worry.
“Alec, come in,” the Commander said. He left the formalities aside for now. “You and Agent Spence are familiar with each other by now, so let’s get down to the nitty-gritty, shall we?”
“That suits me,” Alec closed the door and sat opposite the Commander. He positioned himself so that he could look both men in the face without moving.
The Commander coughed nervously, and cleared his throat. “I`m sure that you have lots of questions, Superintendent, and I intend to answer them as honestly as I can, with the help of Agent Spence, however I must remind you that whatever is discussed in this meeting is top secret information.”
Alec didn’t like the sound of that. He could smell bullshit and cover-up coming over the horizon; they usually travelled together. He decided not to comment and to remain silent for now.
“I must reiterate, Commander, this is an ongoing operation, and as such I`m limited as to what I can divulge.” Agent Spence smoothed his grey hair backward. He was already nervous, before they`d started. Alec was pleased that he was uncomfortable.
“Yes, quite,” the Commander waved his hand face down as if he were waving him away. “Alec, what do you need from me?”
“Why did you block the security information that I requested from the airport?” Alec asked casually. He was keeping his powder dry. There would be plenty of time for getting annoyed, he was sure of that. The Commander looked at Agent Spence.
“I didn’t block it, Alec, MI5 did.”
Alec looked at Spence for a reply to his question, but none was forthcoming. Spence didn’t look at him.
“Why did you block my request Agent Spence?”
“I`m afraid that`s classified, Superintendent.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why would footage from check-in desks and boarding gates be classified information?” Alec wasn’t going to be fobbed off. “We were in pursuit of dangerous criminals, that`s what we do, and you stopped me doing my job.”
“You have no solid evidence that the Bernstein brothers were in the airport, let alone that they boarded a plane. We will release the passenger manifest and the camera evidence to you tomorrow.”
“Thank you, now it`s virtually useless.” Alec raised a finger to his lips and looked confused. He was playing Spence. “Why did you mention the Bernstein brothers?”
“I beg your pardon?”
“You said we had no evidence that the Bernsteins were in the airport, why mention their names?”
“We were following your investigation.” Spence looked down at the floor, another lie.
“I thought you were following Malik Shah and his gun running business?”
“We were.”
“How do the two things collide?”
“I don’t understand your problem,” Agent Spence was on the back foot. He had slipped up mentioning their names, and he knew it.
“The Bernstein investigation uncovered a tragic family history connected to Shah and his cronies when they were teenagers, but nothing to do with gunrunning or arms deals.”
“We are aware of your findings, Superintendent.” Spence straightened his tie, and sat rigid. He wanted to look composed, but he wasn’t at all.
“Then how would Shah`s gunrunning be connected to the Bernsteins?” Alec frowned again.
Agent Spence smoothed his hair back again. He had blushed again. The Commander remained quiet while Alec made the agent squirm. “I`m sorry, Superintendent but that is classified.”
“I`ll ask you again, Agent Spence, why would the Bernstein family have anything to do with your arms dealing investigations?”
“It`s classified.”
“So it is connected?”
“You`re repeating yourself, Superintendent.”
“You`re damn right I am.” Alec turned the volume up a few notches. “The Bernstein investigation revealed a family grudge, a bitter campaign of revenge against a group of men that raped their sister, now tell me what the fuck that has to do with international arms deals?”
“It`s classified.”
Alec turned to the Commander, and tried to read his face. He couldn’t look him in the eye. Alec`s brain was working overtime, and he wasn’t enjoying the answers that it was coming up with.
“You didn’t want us to capture the Bernsteins did you?”
“Don`t be ridiculous.” Spence tried to be aloof and bat the question away, but he failed miserably. Alec was all over his reaction immediately.
“You blocked our request for information at the airport, because you didn’t want us to capture them, why else would you block it and then release it to us when it`s useless?”
“The reason is classified.”
“The reason speaks for itself, Agent Spence.”
“I`m not sure there is any point in continuing this line of questioning, Commander,” Agent Spence looked for a way out.
“You couldn’t nail Malik Shah could you?”
“What are talking about now?”
“You couldn’t nail Malik Shah, but the Bernsteins could use methods that you couldn’t.”
Agent Spence shifted in his chair and crossed his arms. Alec was driving him into a corner and he wasn’t articulate or intelligent enough to fend off his questions. “I think we`ve accomplished all we can from this meeting.”
“You let them go, why would you do that?”
“What, that`s ridiculous!” Spence looked shocked by the remark, but Alec was onto the truth.
“Are you that stupid, or do you think that I am?”
“I`ve had enough of this, I`m calling it a day. If you need anything else do it through the proper channels. We`re done.” Agent Spence tried to stand up, but Alec was too quick. He closed the gap between them and grabbed Spence by the tie, and twisted it tightly. Spence tried to relieve the pressure on his throat, but Alec squeezed harder. The Commander raised a hand to intervene, but he was gobsmacked by the accusations Alec was making, and the credibility that they had.
“I think the least you can do, Agent Spence, is listen to me for a few minutes. You see I`m just a bog standard detective. I follow the evidence and try to put the bad guys in jail, no bullshit, no cover-ups. I have to play by the rules, and I want to know what happened.”
Agent Spence held up his hands in surrender and Alec relieved the pressure on his necktie. He brushed down the agent`s suit with the back of his hands, and straightened his tie sarcastically. Stepping back, he sat back down in his chair.
“I`m pissed off, Agent Spence, because I watched a good man get blown to bits by the lunatics that you let walk. Now I want to know why you would let them leave the country, why?” Alec was beginning to put the pieces together himself, but that didn’t mean he was about to let the MI5 man off the hook.
“That`s classified.” Agent Spence looked jumpy. Alec had him rattled, but he wasn’t going to spill the beans.
“So you did let them walk?” Alec pressed, looking for a chink in the armour. “Did you know David Bernstein was here all along?”
There was a flicker of recognition in his eyes as Alec mentioned it. It was enough to cement Alec`s theory in his head. David Bernstein was an operative in one of the world`s most secret military units. The Israelis denied that the unit actually existed at all, and so would MI5 if they were asked. Alec could tell by his reaction that he knew David Bernstein was in the country.
“That`s classified.” Agent Spence wanted to make a bolt for the door, but he could tell Alec wasn’t going to let him walk out. He had to stand his ground though. “I really can`t say anymore on the subject of the Bernsteins, Superintendent.”
“Fucking hell!” Alec looked at the Commander and slapped his knees with his hands, as if he`d had a Eureka moment. “They knew he was here, and they knew he was Israeli Special Forces, and that`s why the Israeli military wouldn’t cooperate when we asked them where he was.”
“I can see where you are coming from, Alec, I`m not so sure there`s anything that we can do about it now,” The Commander wobbled his jowls as he spoke. “If this is true then it will have been approved by the top brass.”
“Was David Bernstein sent here by the Israeli government?” Alec turned back to Spence and jabbed a finger toward his face. The agent looked away.
“I`m not saying anymore, Superintendent.”
Alec sat forward in his chair. He was calm because he was amazed at what he`d discovered.
“Was Malik Shah selling weapons and munitions to Israel`s enemies?”
“Yes, that I can confirm.” Agent Spence looked relieved that he could answer a question at last. “He was supplying Hamas with reactivated weapons”
“I thought Shah was a non-religious Muslim?” the Commander looked to Alec for confirmation.
“He was,” Alec agreed. “This was all about money, not religion, wasn’t it?”
“In the Middle East there are a lot of incentives on offer to those who support the Arab struggle against the Jews.”
“Yes, I bet there are,” Alec laughed sarcastically. “Shah has business interests in Dubai, Saudi and Qatar, not bad for a drug dealer from Liverpool, eh?”
“That`s the way business works there, Superintendent. Support is rewarded with money.”
“So Shah was targeted by the Israelis as a legitimate target, and David Bernstein is one of their operatives?”
“My God,” the Commander whispered. “He was sent here.”
“He wasn’t sent here,” Spence said curtly.
“He wasn’t sent here officially, you mean?” Alec taunted him. “The Israelis knew where he was, but they didn’t try to stop him, it would kill two birds with one stone.”
“All I can tell you is that he wasn’t sent here.”
“Bullshit!” Alec sat forward and shook his head in disbelief. “Mossad highlighted Shah as a legitimate target on their list, and David Bernstein was made aware of the fact, and allowed to disappear for six months. In the meantime no one knows where he is, conveniently?”
“We were not aware of the Bernstein connection, until you uncovered it, Superintendent.”
“No, maybe not, but you knew there was an Israeli agent in the country stalking Shah, didn’t you?”
“Anyone supplying Hamas is an enemy of the Israeli state, and so they should be.”
“If only we could all just assassinate our enemies, Agent Spence,” the Commander chipped in. He was shocked but not surprised.
“I`ll bet David Bernstein jumped at the chance to take Shah out of the game, and you lot at MI5 jumped at the chance of letting them do it as well. You couldn’t do it yourself so you let a foreign government do it for you, David Bernstein happened to have a history with Shah, and his brother was only too willing to go along with it. He`d planned revenge for decades. How neat for you. All you had to do was cover their escape from the country when it was done, or am I wrong?”
“We didn’t know about his brother, I can assure you of that. We didn’t expect bombs, and we weren`t sure it was them when they started.” The Agent coughed nervously. “I can`t comment anymore.”
“You really don’t need to, Agent Spence. Tell me were any of your agents killed investigating Shah or the Bernsteins?”
“Yes.”
“Then you and your superiors are disrespecting every one of them and their families. You let killers off the leash to kill one of your most elusive targets, and then you let them escape.”
“I think we`re going around in circles, Superintendent.”
“Where did you let them go to, Agent Spence, are they all in Israel now?”
“I`m leaving, Commander, and if there`s any repeat of your behaviour earlier, then I will press charges, is that clear?”
“Perfectly, leave, because I won`t be responsible for what happens if you stay,” the Commander snarled. “I will be speaking to the director later today, and you can tell him from me that we will be raising this case with the Home Secretary.”
“Fine, do that, he`s very familiar with the case, if you know what I mean,” Spence stood up and winked at Alec, smoothed his suit and left in silence.
Alec felt enlightened, but numb. Either the Intelligence Services, worked with the Israelis or they knew David Bernstein was here and chose to ignore it, despite his history with Shah. There were times when the politics involved in his job made him puke. The door closed loudly as the agent slammed it behind him.
“What are we supposed to do with that, Commander?”
“Absolutely nothing, Alec, there`s nothing that we can do.”
“What do I tell my team?” Alec shrugged. “We were shafted by our own people, and the whole fucking investigation was a smoke and mirrors operation by the Israeli Secret Service?”
“Whatever you decide to tell them Alec, they`ll believe you, and the next bad guy that you investigate will get their undivided attention. Put this one to bed, you couldn’t have done anymore than you did.”
“I`m not so sure, Commander,” Alec felt drained. Was it time to pack it all in? “This time around, I am just not so sure.”
CHAPTER 61
Checkmate