Flushed, Rob did as requested. He fully understood Nat’s reasons, it made perfect sense. However, he flushed in any case and Laura reached out to rub his arm in sympathy.
As they passed the site entrance, two vans pulled out and quickly disappeared amongst the busy morning traffic. “Nat, what do you suggest?” Laura asked.
“We keep driving and find somewhere to park, ideally on a bus route. We then walk back on the opposite side of the road to have a surreptitious look, but we are not to spook them. If this is our site and they are this active, they will be on high alert!”
“I will call base and ask for more remote research,” Cezar volunteered. “All of the sites on our list should be unused. With this level of activity, we need to know as much as we can before we go in.”
“Good idea. We will also need surveillance,” Nat remarked.
A short while later they were walking down the length of the site, occasionally glancing across the busy road to have a look at the various buildings. As they walked, another three vans of different sizes, models and colours pulled out.
“The vehicle identification plates are from different countries,” Rob commented quietly. “They are not corporate at all; there is no uniformity about them. The vans we’ve seen also appear heavily laden.”
“Very good point,” Nat said.
“If this is our place,” Rob added, “for an unused facility, it’s very busy. I hope we’re not too late!”
“That all depends upon what we can do and when. But I can’t see us setting foot in that place today. We need a plan and support – that’s where you come in, Cezar. If there are that many vans moving about, there will be a lot of people as well!” It was obvious to all that Nat was starting to relish the obvious challenge that was facing them.
They started to walk more briskly so as not to waste any time. “When we do raid, I hope we will find information on their end destination, or destinations. It’s a long drive to Britain, so hopefully we can overtake the vans that are leaving,” Laura remarked.
“Agreed! Where’s that bus stop?” Nat queried impatiently. “We need to get back to the hotel, brief the necessary people and get down to some serious planning.”
“Should someone hang around here and photograph every van that leaves so we can track them?” Rob asked.
“I like the idea,” Laura answered, “But you would soon be spotted. No, we need to accept that some are going to slip through the net – for now!”
A few minutes later, they were sitting on a crowded bus heading back to the car.
* * *
At the hotel, Rob checked into the largest suite available so there was space for them all to gather round a table to plan and make calls.
“Before we settle,” Laura suggested, “I think Cezar should brief his superiors. We need them to arrange surveillance and start on gathering as much information as they can on that place.”
While Cezar was making his call, Rob arranged for coffees and pastries – he was expecting some long deliberations and they would need the sustenance! Lunch and afternoon tea, coffee and more pastries followed during a whirl of briefings, coordination calls and their own deliberations. Whenever they had a break, someone would open the windows to let fresh air in.
Everyone they spoke to was concerned that deliveries, quite possibly of toxic chemicals, were being made to unknown locations. How many van deliveries had been made already was something they did not want to contemplate – they had to get into the facility and find out what was going on – assuming it was the one they were looking for.
All of the findings and reports coming back from Cezar’s office indicated that the site should be unused. It had been sold some years previously to an off-shore shell company of which nothing was known. That in itself was not overly unusual; that happens to many potential development sites. What was surprising, and added to the concerns, was the activity and that no enquiries or applications had been made during those years for any form of site investigations or works.
The selling company had been a regional industrial and chemicals firm that went into administration having not been able to compete with multinational companies – its processes and facility were too outdated from not having had adequate investment and the costs of production were too high, making it highly unprofitable. Although the administrators should have ensured that the facility had been rendered unusable, discreet enquiries revealed that reversing those actions would have been simple.
“Everything points to this being the place, Steven,” Laura was saying during a briefing.
“It certainly sounds like it. So what’s the plan?”
“We’re working on that now. The SRI are mobilising teams to get surveillance in place as we speak.”
“That’s all well and good, but you’ve already said vans that are clearly heavily laden are leaving! Regardless of where they’re headed, if they have what we think they have on board, that is seriously bad news!”
“We agree entirely,” Nat interrupted. “That’s why Cezar has arranged for the SRI to also mobilise an assault team.”
“Steven,” Laura continued, as Nat took another gulp of coffee, “We are working on the presumption that the place will be well defended. The site is large with many buildings. The processes alone to make these chemicals will require a lot of people and then there are the large number of vans that are coming and going – this is a serious operation.”
“Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but at least it means you are preparing yourselves as best as possible,” Gurning responded. “Keep me updated, I need to brief the DG. How soon do you think you’ll be going in?”
“We will know tomorrow,” Cezar responded. “Ideally, we would wait a few days to understand the flow of activity and start to understand possible defences. We want to avoid sending our people in without knowing what they are facing.”
“Ordinarily, I would say the same and on the face of it, that is a good plan. However, given the seriousness of these chemicals, we need to move as soon as possible. I’m sure I could arrange for our SAS to come over and help, but clearly, that would only happen with your country’s agreement.”
“I understand. Let me speak to base again.”
“Thank you, Cezar. I will call my contacts at the SRI as well. Let’s hope that the raid uncovers sufficient information for us to catch-up with the vans, or their delivery addresses! The sooner we go in, the better.”
* * *
Gurning sat back in his desk chair. Why does everything always seem to come together at the same time when Burak’s network is involved? I should really have told Laura that we are planning an operation to capture Siggerty. Next time. I don’t want her distracted and I suspect it’s a long-shot that we will lure Nikki Williamson out of hiding!
Picking-up his phone Gurning first called the man in charge of arranging the operation to capture Siggerty, planned for the next day. Then there was a long, delicate call with the DG and the Commander of the SAS in Hereford – would he be willing to run an operation in Romania, at very short notice, without the benefit of any detailed briefings? All subject to the Prime Minister and British Cabinet agreeing, as well as the Romanians, of course. Gurning would speak to the SRI next, but wanted to know what Britain would or would not be willing to do first. As expected, the Commander was cautiously positive about the principle, would place a squad on standby and start reviewing whatever intelligence he could obtain.
While the DG contacted Downing Street to speak with the Prime Minister, Gurning called the SRI, knowing that both sets of conversations would be equally challenging.
* * *
Late that afternoon, the group reconvened, Gurning eager to hear from Cezar how his discussions had been received at the SRI.
“Hello, Steven,” Laura began. “Unfortunately, Cezar is in another room on calls, so we should start without him.”
