Empire State Part 29

'We don't know,' she said.

The three men exchanged looks, unnerved by the urgency in her voice and the undisguised command in her manner.

CHAPTER TWENTY EIGHT.

The operation to arrest the nine suspects would begin in the early hours of Wednesday morning, giving the security forces across Europe about thirty hours to prepare themselves. Vast amounts of surveillance detail, much of it merely proving minor crimes and a.s.sociation, was already hurtling from the Bunker to intelligence services in Paris, Rome, Copenhagen, Stockholm, Budapest and Sarajevo. With this went the names, addresses and photographs of the members of the helper cells. In its final hours, everything RAPTOR had h.o.a.rded and secreted was unloaded with abandon.

By the time Herrick went with Colin Guthrie to the Chief's office late on Monday afternoon, ninety-four people, including twenty-three female helpers, were on the arrest list. The Chief informed them that local agencies were gradually taking over the job of monitoring the suspects, though in some cases it was clear they were already familiar with the routines of the suspects as well as their Anglo-American watchers. The surveillance equipment installed by Collection and SIS was kept running so that each country could tap into the live feeds still flickering twenty-four hours a day deep underground at Northolt.

The US President and the British Prime Minister had been seized by an unusual spirit of international cooperation. RAPTOR would now be presented as an initial inquiry into what one diplomat termed the 'morphology of terrorist cells', an exercise whose purpose was to benefit all Western allies. To disguise the unwavering focus on the men who had pa.s.sed through Heathrow, it was decided, princ.i.p.ally by the French, British and American governments, that the dragnet should also include suspects who were not members of the Heathrow group. For this reason the Dutch, Belgian and Spanish governments were brought into the operation and asked to arrest people they had been observing independently of RAPTOR. The Spanish government which, with the French, had in the past mounted among the most successful operations against al-Qaeda and a.s.sociated North African groups, said it would arrest three men living in La Rioja; the French opted for a man in Ma.r.s.eilles; the Dutch and Belgians had any number of suspects who could be hauled in for questioning, if not actual arrest.

All hope of a publicity blackout had quickly been dropped. The number of people was far too large to contain the news, so it was decided they should make the most of the situation by issuing a joint statement by the Americans and major European governments about the unprecedented cooperation between intelligence services. The Russians were informed on the grounds that the Syrian suspect in Copenhagen, Hafiz al Bakr, had served in Chechnya and was connected with a group who had planned an attack against a Russian emba.s.sy.

'It's interesting how these things turn out,' said the Chief. 'You know, it's my firm belief that the idea of keeping this to ourselves was just as much ours as the Americans. A bit of sucking up.'

'Walter's bid to get back in the saddle,' said Guthrie.

'I suppose,' the Chief mused, without sign of malice. 'I must say he made a bit of a fool of himself with Youssef Rahe, given that he never acquired much from the man. Of course we'll need to debrief Vigo as soon as possible. Before we move on the bookshop.'

'You're going to search Rahe's shop?' asked Herrick.

'Yes, before the other arrests, sometime tomorrow evening. But I don't want the scene fouled up by a lot of heavy-handed Special Branch. I've arranged that you will go through the place the moment the police move in. But first I want you to see Vigo.'

'What about the photographs from Bosnia?'

'We'll hold off on that until tomorrow morning. For the moment it's enough that you've established Rahe was in Bosnia. We're ninety-nine per cent sure he is the man referred to as Yahya and you've got a picture of him from the period. That's not a bad day's work, Isis.'

She nodded, aware that the energy was suddenly draining from her.

The Chief noticed the expression in her eyes. 'I know you've had a time of it, but I need you for at least the next six days. Try to get some sleep before tomorrow. Don't spend more than an hour with Vigo.' He handed her an address in Holland Park. 'Take Harland with you. He knows how to handle the b.u.g.g.e.r.'

'Harland?'

'Yes, he should be at Brown's by now and I've asked him to help out.'

'Harland?' she said stupidly again. 'What's he doing here? I thought he was in the Middle East.'

'No, he's here.' The pale eyes narrowed slightly. 'You're not there to parry with Vigo. Just tell him we need a complete account of his relations with Rahe. If he proves difficult, mention that one way or another we will press for a prosecution. '

Normally Herrick would have relished the return match, but she left Vauxhall Cross without much enthusiasm and only when she found Harland in a jaunty mood in the hotel bar did her spirits lift slightly. It had been a matter of days since she'd seen him climb into the little boat on the Nile, but it seemed like weeks, particularly as Harland appeared so different. She asked why he was looking so pleased with himself.

'I'm not,' he said, 'It's just that life seems suddenly full of possibility.'

'I know you were on the road to Damascus. Did you get G.o.d or something? What happened?'

'Nothing I'm going to tell you about, and you needn't look so b.l.o.o.d.y sour, Isis. Let's have a drink. You're looking a bit part-worn.'

He turned and ordered two Soho Cosmopolitans and just in case the man needed reminding, rattled through the ingredients. 'One measure of citron vodka, one measure of Stolichnaya oranj vodka, cointreau, cranberry juice, fresh lime juice and a twist of lemon. Plus two very cold gla.s.ses.'

They drank the c.o.c.ktails with ceremony. When they'd finished, Harland said, 'And now for b.l.o.o.d.y Vigo.'

They took the Tube to Holland Park with perspiring office workers and walked up Holland Park Avenue. The evening was warm. Harland removed his jacket and hooked it over his shoulder with one finger. Herrick noticed how young he was looking, even though his hair seemed more grey than brown in the early evening sunlight.

They approached the impressive entrance to Vigo's double-fronted house. Harland pressed the bell for several seconds. The buzzer sounded and they were let in to find a nervous but perfectly attired middle-aged woman in the hallway.

'Davina, this is Isis Herrick,' said Harland. 'We've come to see Walter.'

'He's expecting you,' said Davina Vigo. 'He thought you might like drinks in the garden.'

Vigo was sitting in a slice of sunlight underneath the boughs of a spreading chestnut tree. He regarded them with a baleful look and limply gestured them to chairs. Herrick noticed that Davina remained standing in the French windows with her arms folded apprehensively. He offered them a Pimms cup which they both declined.

'Isis is here to ask you some questions.'

'And you Bobby, why are you here?'

'Because I am.'

'But...?'

'But nothing, Walter. As far I'm concerned, you should be in jail. If you'd been prosecuted for the last business, none of this would have happened. You're within an inch of being arrested now, so...'

'On what grounds?'

'Aiding and abetting a burglary of Isis's house, for one thing. But that's only a start. They want your blood, Walter. What we need are straight answers to our questions and, more than that, we need you to volunteer everything in your mind, every tiny sc.r.a.p of information, every faint suspicion that you possess about Youssef Rahe, also known as Yahya.'

Again the slow-motion blink. 'Yes, of course,' said Vigo. 'Where do you want to start?'

'How did you meet him?' asked Herrick.

'At a sale of early Arab ma.n.u.scripts. Rahe was there to look at them before they went into private hands. I saw him at the preview. We talked.'

'Who made the first move?' asked Herrick.

'I forget.'

'In the light of what you know now, do you think you were targeted?' asked Herrick.

'Well, obviously,' he said disagreeably. 'But at the time I thought he might be useful in understanding the GIA - the Groupe Islamique Arme. The Islamists had taken their fight to France. We felt we were looking at the Islamic equivalent of the Cambodian ma.s.sacre. He seemed to know quite a few people involved.'

'Sure he did,' said Herrick. 'He'd been in Bosnia with all of them.'

Vigo sighed. 'It's easy with hindsight to say that, but our job does involve taking calculated risks about people.'

'And as you got closer, he began to open up,' said Herrick, brus.h.i.+ng the remark aside. 'Did he give you anything worthwhile? '

'Yes, there were names - names that were useful in the round-ups after September eleven.'

'And you plugged in and heard about the people pa.s.sing through his shop, people asking for help in London. That sort of thing?'

'Yes, the information was always accurate.'

'How much checking of his background went on?'

'As much as was necessary. The story about his upbringing, his job, where he lived in Algiers, all that seemed to tally.' Vigo's manner was now markedly less cowed.

'And you got his brother and family out?' said Herrick. 'Where are they?'

'In England. They were granted asylum.'

'Did you meet the brother? Can you describe him? Where does he live?'

'In Bristol, under the name of Jamil Rahe. He's younger than his brother. Tall, a little overweight, an engineer by training.'

Herrick took out the envelope from a bag and dropped a selection of shots of Rahe and Sammi Loz in Bosnia into his lap. 'Is the man you know as Youssef Rahe here?' Harland looked at the picture but said nothing as he registered Sammi Loz.

Vigo pulled a pair of reading gla.s.ses from his s.h.i.+rt pocket and examined the picture a little wearily. 'Yes... I see Rahe.'

'Anyone else?' said Herrick briskly.

He looked through the pictures and then handed them back, tapping the top image. 'That's the man I know as his brother - Jamil Rahe.'

Herrick glanced at the figure in a balaclava, pulled out her mobile and phoned Dolph, who said Jamil Rahe would be added to the arrest list.

'Let's wait,' she said. 'This may concern a murder charge, as well. He's important.'

She snapped the phone shut. 'A man of very similar appearance coordinated the switch at Heathrow, having come to an arrangement with a washroom attendant in Terminal Three named Ahmad Ahktar. Ahktar and his family died in a fire after the switch. The point is that we have witnesses who saw him watch the planes that day. Also, he appears to have shown interest when Norquist's escort left the airport.'

Vigo said nothing.

'About Youssef Rahe,' she said. 'In the last twelve months, what kind of information was he pa.s.sing to you?'

'Much the same as before. Things he heard from the Arab community in Bayswater and Edgware Road areas. Useful material about mosques - who wors.h.i.+pped where, the financial support of certain charities, here and abroad. It all helped. Then he was approached by a group, mostly Saudi and Yemeni in origin.'

'And you encouraged him to be recruited?'

'Naturally. It seemed a very good opportunity.'

'When was this?'

'Summer of 2001.'

'And he told you about the website, the screensavers that contain a daily message?'

Vigo nodded. 'That's what you were looking at in the shop, I a.s.sume.'

'It would help if you'd just answer my questions,' she said. Vigo stared back at her and she became aware of something stir in the shadows of his personality.

'I wouldn't take that tone with me, if I were you.'

Harland got up and crouched by Vigo's chair. 'Walter, you should know that I'm here on the off-chance that I get to beat the living s.h.i.+t out of you. Otherwise I would not waste my time. Now, answer Isis's question, or by this time tomorrow you'll find yourself on remand in Wandsworth Prison.'

'The screensaver,' she said. 'You were monitoring the messages coming in each day?'

'You forget, I was no longer part of the Service by then.'

'So who was?'

'GCHQ and the Security Services.'

'But there was something different about the information on Norquist's travel arrangements?'

'I gather it was in a double encryption,' replied Vigo.

'We know the Israelis had access to this particular service,' said Harland. 'How long had it been going?'

Herrick wondered how the h.e.l.l he knew that, but let Vigo answer.

'Two years or so. I'm not sure. You have to remember that once I had handed over Rahe to SIS, I had very little contact, although I did see him on the book-dealing circuit.'

'When the tip about Norquist came in, you were asked to check it?'

He nodded. 'Yes, I called him and he phoned me back on the day of the switch. Before he left for the airport.'

'Tell me about him,' said Herrick. 'What kind of man is Youssef Rahe?'

'Very able,' Vigo replied. 'A true scholar in his own field. A good father and husband too, I would guess. He has none of the obvious appearance of a fundamentalist. He goes to the mosque infrequently, doesn't pray five times a day, is relaxed and liberal in his att.i.tudes.'

'Where do you think he went?' she asked.

'Beyond Beirut? Naturally, I have no idea.'

She sat back and laid her phone on the table deliberately. 'I'd like that drink now,' she said.

Vigo poured the Pimms, holding back the mint leaves and fruit in the jug with a silver spoon.

'What would you do if you were in our position?' she asked quietly. 'We have two or three main suspects who are rich and mobile. They plan months, maybe years ahead and have a very sophisticated understanding of the way we work. What would you do? Where would you go?'

'There are two options, clearly. You can make it very difficult for them to move by releasing their photographs and all the information you have on them. But that may not deter anything planned to happen this week. So I would be inclined to risk revealing nothing whatsoever and hope to trace them. Sammi Loz probably thinks we believe him dead, and neither Youssef or Jamil Rahe know you're onto them. So I would use that slight advantage.'

'How?'

He breathed deeply and looked away to a column of gnats dancing in the sunlight. A blackbird sang out some way off. 'Well, there's no obvious way. But if Youssef is unaware that we're onto him, Jamil also thinks he's safe. You say you believe Jamil is a major figure in the Heathrow plot. I suggest you find him and start by monitoring his phone. If an attack of some kind is expected, then Jamil will be part of it. From what you say, he's murdered before - his own people. Then there is the mosque. You say Jamil made contact with this attendant from Heathrow at the mosque. I take it you're referring to the Cable Road mosque in Belsize Park, the one attended by Youssef Rahe and which is now believed to be under the influence of Sheik Abu Muhsana?'