Poseidon's Ransom

Chapter Seven

It took a little over an hour for HMS Poseidon to sail from its Faslane Base, down the length of Gare Loch and out through the Firth of Clyde, into the Irish Sea. Another hour saw the vessel off the coast of Northern Ireland.

Soon after the boat had departed, Baine had called Grainger and the two officers into the small mess room. After the room had been cleared of catering staff, Baine stood up and smiled his sickly smile, then began in a quiet voice. ‘Now, gentlemen. You’ve all done well to this point. Your families are safe and will, as we have promised, remain so, as long as you co-operate.’

‘Get to the point. What the hell d’you want?’ said a stern-faced Commander Dowling.

There was no mistaking the tension in the room. The big man continued and the smile disappeared. ‘Yes, thank you, Commander. I’m coming to that.’ Baines eyes narrowed. He stepped back from the table and unbuttoned his shirt. This time Patel had the smile, when he saw the look on the faces of Grainger and the two officers.

‘What the hell is that?’ said the minister.

Around Baine’s waist was, what looked like, a normal light canvas money belt. Three small pockets were secured with Velcro. All eyes in the room were on the belt as Baine carefully opened one of the pockets. The only sound was the noise of the Velcro fasteners being pulled apart. Gently he removed a small glass vial, about the size of a man’s thumb. The overhead lighting sparkled benignly on the glass as Baine held it, almost reverently, between his fingers.

‘Oh, my God. What is that,’ said a pale-faced Grainger.

Baine looked at the faces of the men in front of him, and then turned his gaze on the glass container. ‘This, Mr Secretary of Defence, is one hundred grams of Ricin. And I have two more like this.’ Baine pointed to the belt around his waist.

‘Oh, God,’ said Grainger again.

‘I’m sure you all know what this can do, but just in case you don’t, I’ll explain. Ricin may be ingested or inhaled and the slightest amount, the slightest miniscule amount, is capable of killing a man within a few hours. If these vials are broken,’ he turned the container carefully around in his fingers, ‘and the spores enter the atmosphere, they will pass through this vessel’s air-conditioning system in seconds and infect every person on-board.’

‘Including you,’ said the First Officer.

‘Yes, including me… but I’m being paid a very large amount of money to take that risk, Mr Pike. But hopefully it won’t come to that.’

‘Paid?’ said Dowling, ‘What the hell kind of terrorist are you?’

The sickly smile returned to the big man’s face. ‘Who said we were terrorists?’

‘So, not terrorists?’ said Dowling, ‘hijackers then?’

Baine frowned. ‘What need is there for titles? Let’s just say we’re businessmen, negotiating the return of this very expensive submarine, for an equally large amount of money.’

‘Money? So, you’re just common thieves?’ said Grainger.

Baine’s frown deepened. ‘Common? Oh no, Sir Anthony, I think we are exceptional thieves.’

Patel stood up and said, ‘I need to get started.’

Baine returned the vial carefully to the belt, then fastened up his shirt. ‘Yes of course. Now, Mr Pike. Would you be kind enough to show Ravinda here, to Weapons Control, please?’

Both officers stood up. This time it was Commander Dowling’s turn to smirk. ‘That will do you no good. There’s no way you can get control of any of our weapons. Even we can’t do that, unless we are sent pre-arranged launch-codes. Our missiles are totally useless without those codes.’

Baine smiled and placed his hand on Ravinda Patel’s shoulder. ‘My young friend here is one of the top computer programmers in the world. In fact you may have heard of one or two of his more audacious hacks?’

The little Asian grinned as Baine continued.

‘I’m sure you’ve heard of the cyber-attack on America’s NORAD weapons system a couple of years ago? And then last year, when the Singapore Stock Exchange crashed, wiping billions from the Asian markets?’

Patel beamed as the big man extolled the young Indian’s capabilities.

Baine’s smile disappeared, and he turned to the First Officer. ‘Now. Will you please escort Ravinda to the Weapons Control Room, Mr Pike?’

After the two men left, Grainger said, ‘And what happens now?’

Baine’s sickly smile was back. He looked at his watch, and said, ‘As we speak, contact is being made with the British Government.’

‘Contact?’ said Dowling.

‘Yes, Commander. The return of this warship, the non-release of nuclear missiles, the safety of your crew, and of course the release of your own families, has a very high price.’

Dowling shook his head slightly. ‘And what price is that?’

Baine sat back in his chair, the smile widened. ‘Three billion pounds, Commander.’