She coolly traced his steps and turned into the alley, walking up to a wide railing guarding the edge of a walkway that cut across what appeared to be the end of a short stretch of canal, although this description of the partially frozen but lapping green waters was not quite accurate. In this particular section of the city most of the so-called canals were in fact remnants of the old city defensive moat rather than the genteel transport routes so synonymous with The Netherlands.
Akosua reached for her phone and flipped it open, snapping a couple of digital pictures of an array of multi-coloured lights strung between a line of lamp posts as they swayed merrily in the cold breeze. She turned and just caught a couple more snapshots of Dale as he entered the stark complex, confirming his status as an associate if not an employee of the government of the United States of America. The photographs would be useful in identifying Dale later in any counter-intelligence operation. Akosua now needed to make another call.
Rey snatched up his phone as it began to trill.
'Hello.'
The reply was relaxed.
'It's your sister. Our new friend has just gone to see a guy called Sam who has a large house in town. I'm waiting for him outside and could do with a lift; it's cold and windy out here.'
Rey knew exactly what Akosua was saying in spite of the rather theatrical obfuscation.
'Sam' could only be 'Uncle Sam' and that would mean that her target had entered the US Embassy.
His voice was calm.
'Alright, I know where you are, stay on him and I'll send your uncle to give you a ride home. Call me with any changes.'
Flipping her phone shut, Akosua started to wander idly around the perimeter of the palisade fence. She needed to find a spot where she could watch the exits from a suitable distance away and so walked around the building into the midst of the plein of Lange Voorhout where she had spent a couple of hours surveying the flea-market the previous morning. Events seemed to be turning full circle. After a quick reconnoitre it was clear that she needed to return to her original position to be able to watch the main entrance and as she retraced her route she suddenly became aware that she was starting to look a little conspicuous.
After bustling through the usual security checkpoints within the embassy, Dale had finally barged into his small office and lumped down into his chair. His colleague Phil had evidently finished his report and left off for the day since their section of the building was now empty. So much for the early afternoon that he had been looking forward to.
He swivelled his chair around and without any hint of curiosity swiftly locked the packaged book away into the secure filing cabinet behind his desk area. He turned back again and glanced at his desk phone, a red light intermittently flashing above a small row of buttons indicating that he had a new voice mail message to be picked up, although in fact he had only just missed the last call itself. Dale grabbed the receiver and sat back into his chair, the struts hissing as he reclined into an exaggerated repose.
'Dale, 'hi', this is Jackson Revere, I'm just about to board my plane, the time here is just coming up to midday, it was a bit tight getting here on time and there was a threat of light snow flurries affecting take-off, but anyhow, I should be landing in The Netherlands at around three o'clock Saturday morning your time.
'I aim to find a room at the airport until a reasonable hour and then take the train down to The Hague where I should have a hotel organised.
'Now, I'm sure that everything went smoothly in retrieving the book, but if you need to contact me you can get me on my cell number. Unless there has been a problem, I guess that we're in possession and so we can take it easy until Monday morning, I'll see you at the embassy, eight o'clock sharp; have a great weekend, and thanks!'
The line clicked off.
'Yeah, thanks!' Dale muttered to himself as he peremptorily replaced the handset.
Without further delay, he stood up and shrugged his coat closer as he started to head for the exit. At last he could look forward to an indulgent weekend of Dutch hospitality.
It was gone seven o'clock in the evening as Frans and Akosua wandered into the de facto fall-back position of the
Brave Hendrik
bar just around the corner from Rey's hotel. An earlier telephone update from Akosua informing them that their target from the US Embassy was on the move again and that she was following him meant that Frans had finally caught up with her at a location outside of an apartment block; they now had Dale's address even if they did not actually know who he was.
Frans had driven her back to the bar in the VW and when they entered they could see Rey sitting at a rear corner table where it was devoid of any other clientèle.
Noticing them come in, Rey waved a hand in recognition as they started to walk over, Frans acknowledging the waitress at the bar as she greeted them and indicating that they were joining an existing patron.
Frans beamed at Rey as he came close, slapping a hand onto his shoulder.
'Have you ordered any food yet my friend? I think that Akosua needs warming up.'
'You're not kidding,' Akosua exhaled irritably.
'I've been walking around all day, I'm cold and I'm starving!'
'Its all good training for you,' Rey laughed, 'so Frans told me yesterday.'
He sat back as they removed their winter clothing and settled down at the table, Akosua scanning the walls for a menu board.
'So, let us order some food and drinks and then we can talk shop and decide how to proceed, eh?' Frans piped up.
Akosua nodded vigorously as Rey raised an arm up to catch the waitress' eye.
Rey and Frans supped their dark beers as they wiped away the remnants of spare ribs and a chicken kebab from the corners of their mouths, Frans considering that his chicken had been served with the best peanut satay sauce he had tasted in a long while.
Akosua was still ploughing through a huge stacked beef burger and a pile of fries and swigged a white wine in contrast to the rather informal meal that she was devouring. She washed down a mouthful, indicated her diminishing plateful with her fork and grinned.
'I needed this so much!'
Rey crumpled his soiled napkin onto his empty plate and ran his tongue over his front teeth, clearing his palate a little.
'So, to business, we've had some ups and downs over the last couple of days. Where do we stand and what do we do next?'
Gulping a healthy swig from his beer, Frans took a while to swallow it before placing his glass back down on the table.
'Well, we have the ring, which is one thing, however, the book is now an entirely different matter. We know that somebody, apparently working for the Americans, delivered it to the American Embassy where I guess it is safely locked away. All we can do at the moment is report back and see what our chiefs have to say. I'll make the call in a moment and we go from there. My guess is that our work here is over, we've done all that we can do as far as our initial brief was concerned. Akosua can call the Verker girl on Monday to see what she says.'
Although nodding in agreement, Rey was still keen to emphasise the issues that were apparent to him.
'Seems fair, however, this is beyond a simple pick-up now. There are bigger issues at stake, for instance, why are the Americans so interested in the book? What implications does this have for our other operations? We mustn't forget that this was supposed to be a straight-forward outing. I'm worried that the Americans' interest may be indicative of a connection with
Merkur
!'
Frans hummed as he mulled over the thought.
Leaning back in her chair, Akosua wiped her lips with her napkin before scrubbing her hands with it and scrunching it into a ball.
'Well, I'm booked into my hotel to check-out on Monday the same as my flight to England so if we're staying for longer, it would be useful to know.'
A rasp was emitted as Frans sucked in air between his beer-wetted lips.
'I'll call them now and hear what they have to say.'
He fumbled into his jacket hanging over the back of his chair and retrieved a different handset to the one he had normally been using for the last couple of days; for this call, he was using a secure quad-band GSM cell phone with one of the strongest and most secure voice encryption algorithms available. He switched it on and dialled, holding it to his ear as a muffled ringing tone emanated from the earpiece.
The line clicked and a crisp and deliberate English voice finally responded.
'Frans, how are you?'
Frans recognised the voice immediately and his face betrayed a slight surprise.
'Senator Dru,' he said after composing himself, quickly raising his eyebrows at Rey and Akosua in acknowledgement, 'I didn't expect to be speaking directly with you.'
The voice that responded was calm, controlled.
'I have been apprised of events and, of course, I take a keen interest in all matters of the Order as does the Sigulah and indeed my colleagues here with me right now - Frans, you are currently on speaker-phone and I have Senator Hollis, Senator White, Cardinal Aho and Imperator Bardot in attendance.'
There was a pause as Senator Dru let the fact sink in that some of the highest ranking members of their Order were listening in to their conversation.
'What is the current situation?'
Taking a deep breath, Frans began to detail the events of the last few hours. He could convey his narrative
en clair
since the secure communications they were using ensured that the call would not be intercepted and understood without considerable decryption facilities available - only the National Security Agency of the United States of America possessed such real-time intercept capabilities but without a specific reason for tracking the handset and the call, it was unlikely in the extreme that they would be listening in.
From the urgent responses that Frans was making, it was clear that Senator Dru was asking some pointed questions and on a couple of occasions he had placed the call on hold to confer with the other members of the assembled audience, however, in spite of Frans' candid depiction of the outcome of their venture, Senator Dru did not seem too perturbed by the news that
Dirigo Lux
was now residing within the walls of the US Embassy.
'Good work Frans, I'm sure that you all would have averted this situation if at all possible. Let Rey and Akosua know that we appreciate their efforts.'
'Yes Senator, will do.'
Frans could hear indistinct mumbling between the members of the group on the other end of the phone before Senator Dru spoke again.
'Frans, please hold a moment.'
The line was muted once again and Frans covered the mouth piece of his own phone.
'I think they're deciding what to do next.'
Senator Dru abruptly returned.
'Frans, please request Rey and Akosua to stay put for now and to return to England on Monday. We will arrange for a courier to take charge of the acquisition tomorrow and return it for safe-keeping, you should also send in your detailed report of events and persons involved. In the mean time, I suggest that you all take a breather over the weekend; it may be the last chance you get for a while. Thank-you Frans.'
Frans nodded and replied with a 'Goodbye' as the line was disconnected and the automated encryption key destroyed by the handset. He turned to Rey and Akosua.
'Well, that's it, we have our new orders!'
'What about the Verker girl and the book?' asked Akosua narrowing her eyes.
Frans nodded to acknowledge her point.
'The eBay account you used is untraceable?'
'Of course.'
'Alright, call the girl on Monday as she would expect and see what you can get out of her. She'll have to come up with some excuse so just ask the usual questions and go with it, no harm done.'
'What about this guy from the embassy?' Rey interrupted.
Frans pursed his lips and hummed to himself.
'I'll get counter-intelligence on to him and they can look into it.'
'Good, but make sure you use our crew, keep Cherubim out of it for now. Something doesn't seem right in all of this.'
Frans looked pointedly at Rey and Akosua glanced at both of them, not quite following Rey's drift.
'What's up old friend? Is your paranoia coming back?'
Rey grinned briefly.
'That paranoia has kept me alive at the sharp end of a bottle too many times to be ignored, don't knock it.'
'So what's up?' asked Frans.
Rey caught Akosua's eye and looked back to Frans, not entirely able to articulate his suspicions.
'To be honest, I don't know. I just have a feeling. This all seems too scripted; you know, where the ending has already been decided? The book and the ring being stolen, us being called in, then the next thing we know it appears that US Intelligence might be involved.'
Frans nodded and raised his eyebrows.
'- but it was me that called you in.'
'Yeah, you made the call,' Rey agreed, 'under the direction of Imperator Bardot who took the call from Cardinal Aho who took the call from Senator Dru. I don't know what it is; I just know that something isn't right.'