The Fusion Cage

XXII

The diplomatic vehicle slid to a halt alongside a vast jetty that extended out into the pristine waters, the sparkling azure ocean in sharp contrast to the flaring golden sands of Saudi Arabia.

Doug Jarvis had worked fast, Ethan’s vanquish call sign accessing a DIA safe house used by overseas operatives to eavesdrop on Iranian communications and monitor the flow of Iranian — backed militia moving in and out of Iraq. Ethan and his companions had been spirited out of Damman’s dangerous streets within an hour of their arrival by a tired looking, middle aged agent going by the name of Jones — easy to remember Ethan guessed, and the less real names used, the better.

‘You’re going to need to stay off the radar,’ Jones reported as he handed Ethan a series of documents including passports, visas and some currency that had obviously been cobbled together with extreme rapidity. ‘They’re not gonna last long but they should get you through customs and out of the Kingdom, then far enough away before anybody raises the alarm.’

Ethan took the documents as Jones handed similar papers to Amber, Stanley and Lopez.

‘The ship you’re boarding is called Huron and is bound for India,’ Jones added. ‘Your next contact is aboard. The ship is also calling into Abu Dhabi to pick up cargo. Disembark in India and get the hell back to America while you still can.’

Ethan climbed out of the vehicle, closely followed by Lopez, Stanley and Amber. As soon as they closed their doors the vehicle moved off, swinging sharply around to accelerate away back down the dock. Ethan turned and observed a series of non — descript cargo vessels, none of them particularly large but all laden with the standard shipping containers seen on most major merchant vessels. He spotted across the stern of one particularly dirty — looking ship the name Huron and immediately began walking toward it.

‘I need to talk to Doug again,’ Ethan said to Lopez as they walked. ‘Getting us here must have cost him dearly, given his non official status with the DIA.’

‘It’s the least he can do,’ Lopez said. ‘He’s not the one dodging bullets again.’

‘Amber seems to think that Huck Seavers might be willing to strike a deal with her father,’ Ethan suggested.

‘They’re not compatible,’ Lopez pointed out. ‘Stanley is the philanthropist, Huck the capitalist businessman. Any alliance they tried to form would be broken within days as soon as the cost of development is measured up against the lack of profit that Stanley’s aiming for.’

Ethan looked up at the Huron, the ship’s hull stained and dirty, pockets of ugly brown rust around the anchor chain stays and railings.

‘Looks like the DIA’s budget has been severely cut,’ Lopez observed dryly.

‘If it gets us out of Saudi Arabia unobserved, it’s good enough for me,’ Ethan replied as he walked to the boarding ramp and began climbing toward the deck. ‘Let’s hope they’re planning to set sail this morning.’

As Ethan reached the deck an angry looking man with skin as dark as obsidian and wearing a set of grey overalls confronted him.

‘Warner?’ he asked, as though it was an accusation. ‘Captain Youssef Alem.’

‘Pleasure to meet you too,’ Ethan replied as he stepped aboard.

There was no handshake, no welcome from the captain as he gestured with a lazy jab of his thumb over his shoulder toward the bridge at the stern.

‘Your quarters are back there, B deck, port side. I’d appreciate it if you all stay out of the way, we have work to do.’

Ethan glanced across the deck to see various deckhands engaged in their duties, checking braces on the shipping containers and preparing to winch in the enormous anchor chains and jetty ties keeping the ship in place.

Lopez, Amber and Stanley joined him on the deck and watched the captain suspiciously before another man appeared from the bridge and hurried forward. Dressed in overalls not dissimilar to the captain’s, he extended his hand to Ethan.

‘Mike Willis, DIA,’ he announced himself with a smile, all bright eyed enthusiasm.

Ethan raised an eyebrow as he shook Willis’s hand. ‘You’re posted here?’

‘We have a small presence using trade vessels as a platform for discrete intelligence gathering. The ship’s crew’s appreciate the extra revenue in return for allowing us to come along for the ride.’

Ethan glanced at Captain Alem, who had returned to his work with his crew and showed very little interest at all in the new arrivals.

‘Call me clairvoyant, but I sense a reluctance,’ Ethan said.

‘They fear retaliation by Iran should signals equipment be detected and the ship boarded, although they are careful to stay inside international waters as instructed. Of course, their fear is easily surmounted by cash. I’ll show you to your quarters, such as they are.’

Ethan followed Willis along with Lopez and the others as they descended into the bowels of the ship, the vessel’s hull now shuddering and reverberating as the engines were started and the ship moved away slowly from the dock.

‘It’s not exactly the Hilton, but it will do for tonight until we can get you out of Abu Dhabi in the morning.’

The interior of the ship smelled of grease and metal and looked as though it hadn’t been swabbed down in at least fifty years. The cabins that Willis presented to them were little more than prison cells with open doors, thin mattresses and a tiny port hole along with a sink.

‘The latrine is down the end of the hall and best used as little as possible,’ Willis admitted.

‘It’ll do,’ Ethan said as he tossed his satchel into one of the cabins. ‘I don’t plan on getting much sleeping done anyway.’

He intercepted a look of reluctance from Lopez and Amber as they ambled slowly into their respective cabins.

‘Do you have a direct line to the DIA, to Jarvis? Something that doesn’t use commercial satellites?’

‘I don’t have any names I’m afraid,’ Willis admitted. ‘I got a direct call from director Nellis himself and was ordered to set you up at short order. Is Jarvis your handler?’

‘Something like that,’ Ethan replied as he reached into his satchel and grabbed the satellite phone. ‘I can’t use this now because the Saudis will have identified it and will track its movements if I turn it on. I need to make a call.’

‘Come this way,’ Willis said in reply.

Ethan hurried in pursuit of Willis as he led him to the radio room of the ship, situated on the deck below the bridge. Little more than an old storage cupboard, a makeshift desk had been created using a piece of shelving bolted to the wall, and before it sat an uncomfortable looking wooden chair.

On the shelf was an old metal box that was bolted in place to the wall. Willis opened the box and retrieved from it a very modern looking radio set, glossy black and with a digital interface. He switched the device on and then reached around the back and attached a cable to a receptor concealed in the wall. Immediately, the radio display identified itself and became active, Ethan guessing that a direct satellite link had been established via a receiver mounted somewhere externally on the ship.

‘Five layers of encryption,’ Willis reported with satisfaction. ‘A direct line to Virginia courtesy of the top brass. It’s on a shortwave, modulating frequency that even the Saudis won’t be able to monitor for more than a split second before it changes, and they’ve never been able to detect it before.’

‘Variable receivers?’ Ethan asked.

‘Pretty much anything you want to tap into,’ Willis said with a smile. ‘I use it to talk to my wife from time to time. Nobody complains as long as you’re discreet and don’t take too long.’

Ethan sat down on the uncomfortable chair as Willis left the room, pulling the door behind him to give Ethan some privacy as he punched a number into the keypad attached to one side of the radio box. A whirring sound was issued from the headset he donned as he pulled the microphone down to his mouth and waited. The whirring sounds were replaced with a warble, and then the more familiar sound of a ring tone.

It took several rings before there was an answer.

‘Doug Jarvis?’

‘It’s me,’ Ethan replied simply.

Jarvis’s tone immediately became somewhat more clandestine.

‘Well you’ve done it again, Ethan. Apparently, the Saudis lost a helicopter yesterday morning in some kind of accident, possibly the action of militant groups in the desert west of Damman.’

‘We heard a bang,’ Ethan replied, conscious of not revealing any details even over such a secure line. ‘I suspect it was a completely defensive action against a hostile force.’

‘Anybody fleeing an event like that will be under extreme surveillance should they be observed,’ Jarvis said. ‘Any cover they may have obtained will be temporary at best. I’d say their best bet is to completely disappear as fast as possible until the dust settles.’

‘I’d agree,’ Ethan said. ‘They have acquired assets, most likely, those most prized by the enemy. Those assets need to be protected as a high priority.’

There was a long silence as Jarvis digested this new information and formulated his response.

‘The assets should be bought back to home turf,’ he said. ‘They’ll be safer there and it may be possible to arrange some kind of protection.’

‘Sounds like a plan,’ Ethan said. ‘Their journey will probably be complex and will involve more than one stop. It may not be possible to achieve under normal circumstances, so they may even need assistance of some kind.’

Despite the digital distortion down the line Ethan could detect the tension in Jarvis’s voice.

‘Things are not easy here. There are forces at work behind the scenes, attempting to sabotage our efforts. It’s not certain how long I can maintain support, especially in light of recent events. I’ve been called to a major meeting with the brass, and I can only assume they’re going to start yelling at me.’

‘Support need only be in terms of concealment,’ Ethan replied. ‘Or even deception. Do what you can, and we’ll be back as soon as possible. Can you get us out of Abu Dhabi?’

‘Agent Willis will enact the protocol, but you won’t have much time. He’ll assign you a passage out of Abu Dhabi leaving tonight. It’s the best I could do at such short notice.’

‘Perfect,’ Ethan said as a plan formed in his mind. ‘I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.’

The line went dead as Jarvis cut off the connection and Ethan leaned back in his seat, the old wood creaking beneath him as he considered what Jarvis said. The Defense Intelligence Agency was a very powerful organisation within the US government, but just as Ethan and Lopez had found on previous investigations for the DIA, even official ones, there were higher powers quite capable of infiltrating and disrupting operations even within the DIA. With Majestic Twelve likely representing the highest power of any organisation in the world, and with them being more than aware of Lopez in Ethan’s presence in the Middle East, he could only assume that they might be able to eavesdrop on any conversation, no matter how secure.

If they were pressuring Jarvis and the DIA, then they could no longer be considered secure.

Ethan got out of his seat and hurried forward to the cabins once more, and found Stanley attempting to lay a threadbare blanket over a particularly ugly stain on his mattress.

‘Stanley, is there anybody that can help us right now? Somebody you know in your industry perhaps, who you might be willing to reach out to?’

Meyer looked at Ethan for a long moment and perhaps for the first time he began to realise the depth of the trouble he was in. The old man had clearly been shaken by their encounter with the Apache gunships, and perhaps not as able as he thought he was to evade the authorities in order to bring his remarkable device to the masses.

‘Perhaps,’ he said after a moment’s thought. ‘There is a place in France, we might be able to find somebody there willing to help us.’

‘France?’ Ethan asked, somewhat surprised. ‘What are they doing in France that could possibly help us?’

‘Something quite similar to me, actually,’ Stanley replied. ‘They are trying to produce free energy for the world. But their method is somewhat different to mine, it’s a bit bigger.’

‘How much bigger?’ Ethan asked.

Stanley shrugged.

‘They’re trying to build a sun here on earth, and capture its energy.’