“I have the file here with me on disc. It is a record of several sessions, of one prisoner, presumably over a number of days. Can I play it to you?”
“Do I really want or need to see this?” I ’d said looking straight at him.
“Well, that is why I hesitated to talk to you, but I had no one else to discuss it with outside the group. They are great guys but I am not sure I would trust them with involvement in this; I can only discuss it with someone I trust. I admit that it might not be a good idea for you to see it but unless you do you will not know what I am talking about.”
“It is not the torture that is the cause of the problem. That is abhorrent and repulsive. The problem is that I think I recognise one of the officers conducting the interrogations, and if I am right it could be political dynamite. Are you going to look at it?”
I ’d hesitated, “OK,” I ’d nodded, and he slotted the disc in to my DVD player and pressed play.
The video showed a room with dirty white plaster walls in the centre of which sat a man apparently strapped in to a chair and illuminated by bright lights. Two men were brandishing what looked like flexible baseball bats, and in between blows they yelled unintelligible questions at him. Periodically they referred to someone off camera, for directions. When the prisoner seemed to go unconscious he was doused in a bucket of water and the beatings paused. Then it started again and amidst the screams and shouted questions, the camera suddenly zoomed out revealing a panel of three men sitting in a row at a table on one side; they were obviously the ones directing events. The camera quickly zoomed back in on the prisoner but not before one had a reasonably clear shot of the three men
“I don't want to look at much more of this,” I ’d said, “what am I looking for?”
Adrian rewound to the shot of the three men and froze the image. “Look at the three men sitting to one side, in particular the one on the right, is he not familiar?”
I ’d looked at the frozen image and tried within the limitations of my player to move it on frame by frame until I had a good image of the man in question. I stopped and stared.
I ’d looked at Adrian. “You're not really suggesting that is…it's impossible it couldn't be,” I ’d said.
“This video was shot some time ago, maybe as much as 8 years ago, possibly in the Middle East or Central Europe perhaps. The man has changed and the photography is also not good, which together with the shadows makes recognition more difficult. “
I ’d stared again at the image.
“I have enhanced a still like that and can show you.” With that he ’d taken out a laptop from his bag that was on the floor beside him and fired it up. “We are not used to seeing him in uniform and he has aged but I don't think there is much doubt.”
There was no doubt; he was looking at a picture of the Vice President of the United States. “What on earth would he be doing there?” I ’d said.
“Well he was a career CIA man and eventually deputy director of the CIA before he became the presidential running mate and subsequently Vice President. He was in one of the hot seats after 9/11, so he would have been close to it anyway. This seems to show that he directed it.”
“Who else has seen this?” I ’d said. “This would be dynamite politically if this became public knowledge.”
“No one, but they, whoever they are, will be tracing me. It will not be simple for them to do so, but if this is the CIA they have some of the best people possible so it will only be a matter of time.”
“God, Adrian, do you never learn? The shit could really hit the fan with this! They will make the hacking a major offence to which a long prison sentence is attached. When did you do this?”
“Last night, I haven't slept since. I keep going over and over it in my mind, trying to think what to do next.”
“How long do you think it will take for them to trace you?”
“If they are lucky, 2 or 3 days, but I have been totally off air since so it will take them some time.”
“I need a drink, do you want a Scotch?” I ’d said getting up and retrieving a bottle from the cupboard in the kitchen.
“No thanks.”
“I am not sure what you should do. It seems to me that if you admit it and hand yourself in you will inevitably be extradited to the US, and from what I have seen in the news they are getting incredibly tough on crimes like this.”
“It's not just my crime,” Adrian had said. “Don't get me wrong, I know what this means and what a fix I could be in, but also people need to know that this is happening!”
“I agree in ideal circumstances people should know but this could be the rest of your life you are talking about ruining.”
“You don't need to remind me.”
“You idiot! What gets in to you?” I ’d said pacing the lounge floor and my voice getting louder as I spoke. “You have a perfectly good career developing and then you go and do something like this!”
“No need to shout. I think I had better leave you to it,” he ’d said getting up and grabbing his jacket.
“No”, I ’d said grabbing him by the arm. “I think we should sleep on it, and discuss it again in the morning, you know where the spare bed is.” With that I patted him on the shoulder and went off to bed.
The fool, how on earth do we get him out of this? I ’d also had this nagging thought that perhaps prosecution was not the onl y thing that Adrian had to fear; people in that position would not want the video to become public and maybe were in a position to take extreme measures to stop it happening!
The next morning, after some discussion over breakfast, we ’d agreed Adrian would go back to his digs and get his main computer and any other evidence of the transgression that he might have and bring it back with him. He would then come and stay with me for a few days while we thought it through. I ’d gone off to work.
CHAPTER 10
(Langley, Virginia)
He was met at the door by a colonel in full uniform who greeted him with a salute and, “can't you stay away?”
“Take my word for it Bob, I would not be here if I didn't have to be, where's the meeting?”
“The colonel turned and said, we hold the Raven meetings in a secure room, follow me please.”
“I don't want my attendance at this meeting officially recorded, is that understood?”
“No problem. There will only be two others present.”
After following a number of winding corridors they turned in to a brightly lit but windowless room where two uniformed men awaited.
'Let's get started, why don't you bring us up to speed Tom,” said the Colonel turning to one of the two men.
“Well, as you know we have identified the source of the site intrusion and the nature of the download so the question is what we do about it. It is clearly a breech of the law and we are confident it would carry a conviction for the individual concerned, the difficulty being that the individual is a UK citizen. Do we go ahead and seek extradition?”
“We can't risk going through the normal procedures,” he said. “What about rendition and then trial here?”
“Rendition!” exclaimed the colonel. “Are you sure we want to do that. We have never done that before against a UK citizen in the UK, if it got out it would be risky.”