The CO knew something of Sumners’s responsibilities at MI6, and a little of Stratton’s unique relationship with the London-based organisation. He was never privy to any operational details. But he was no fool and was aware that there was no love lost between the pair.
‘Yes. How are you, sir?’ Stratton asked.
Sumners gave him a very brief, empty smile and brushed his lapel, a characteristic gesture of his that implied he was marginally irritated.
‘Right. Shall we get on with this?’ the CO urged. ‘The preamble, please, Mr Sumners.’
Stratton sat in one of the chairs beside the CO. The ops officer remained standing to one side and Mike took a seat at the back of the room. An empty seat remained at the other side of Stratton.
Sumners walked to where he was comfortable addressing everyone and took a moment to collect his thoughts. ‘You all understand that what we are about to discuss is beyond secret,’ he began, somewhat moodily. ‘I am obliged to stress this even though it is a given . . . This operation is unique insofar as it will be a combined SBS and MI6 effort. We have always trained together, shared resources and skills. I have given many intelligence briefs to your personnel in various parts of the world. But I cannot recall the last time the two organisations actually combined operations in the manner we are proposing today. We have been joined at the hip with regards to this task, having previously been pawns in a plot that led to the destruction of the Morpheus and the theft of Her Majesty’s property.
‘Binning was not working alone when he removed the tile from MI16 and brought it aboard the oil platform in order to steal it. It is our belief that the hijacking of the platform was contrived entirely for the purpose of procuring the decryption device.’
‘Excuse me,’ Stratton interrupted, much to Sumners’s annoyance, as well as the CO’s. It was generally unacceptable to i nterrupt a briefing. All questions were usually left until the end. The sign of a good brief, in fact, was that no questions were required by the end of it, the briefer having covered all topics and contingencies. For Stratton to interrupt so soon was a surprise. An unwelcome one.
Sumners could not help taking it as a slight by the upstart. ‘What is it?’ he asked, frowning as he stared at his subordinate.
‘Sorry, but I need to catch up on a few things. I don’t know anything about a tile, or what happened to Binning and Rowena . . . if it’s pertinent to the briefing.’
The CO eyed Sumners with a look of acknowledgement concerning Stratton’s comment. ‘He’s been in information isolation since the incident. You should go back a little further.’
Sumners frowned again, even though Stratton obviously needed to know all the details. The CO coming out on the operator’s side did not help soothe his animosity towards him. ‘The tile refers to an extremely valuable decryption device that Binning stole from MI16, and he, along with Miss Deboventurer, escaped in a lifeboat before the platform was destroyed. During the subsequent emergency response we found the lifeboat. Empty. There was only one way they could have escaped, in our opinion at least, and that was by submarine. It would have been possible for a small surface vessel to get through the security cordon under the cover of the intense storm. But all things considered, that is highly unlikely.The destruction of the platform was calculated, a phase of the escape plan to create confusion and drain the resources of the security cordon. But that would still have left escape by a surface vessel, even a small stealth version, a high-risk option, considering how elabor - ate the rest of the operation was. The planners could not have guaranteed the arrival of such a storm to mask their escape, for instance, even in the North Sea. One has to assume that they had an all-weather escape plan. A small submarine of the type we believe was used could have made it through our cordon, particularly under the prevailing conditions.
‘The question must be asked, then, how the planners could justify such an expensive and elaborate operation. The answer is simple. The value of the tile is many times more than the cost involved in stealing it. I’m afraid its uses as a tool for industrial espionage are incalculable.’
‘This was all about industrial espionage?’ Stratton said.
‘Elements of the Russian government clearly played a part in its theft - the submarine, for example - and I’m sure they didn’t do it for charity. The tile is a new generation of decrypter. Hackers have successfully infiltrated the most sophisticated databases on numerous occasions - MI6 and the CIA have been victims over the years, as have many corporate and financial institutions,’ Sumners explained. ‘The problem they have always run into is the decryption of the stolen data. The tile has so far shown the potential of being able to crack every encryption it has been tested against. It hasn’t been completed but Binning may be able to finalise the design. There are foreign governments and corporations willing to pay anything for it. To put it in perspective, imagine what the Nazis would have paid to get their hands on Ultra, the decryption device that ultimately lost them the war. Relatively speaking, the hijackers acquired the tile for practically nothing.’
‘Excuse me.’ Stratton felt obliged to interrupt once again. ‘Was Deboventurer working with Binning?’
‘We don’t believe so. He took her as a hostage to assist in his escape. We can only assume that he didn’t leave her on the lifeboat because she has some value. That remains unclear for now. The investigation into MI16 is intensive and ongoing. As for the other players involved in the theft, those behind the planning and funding of it, we know some of them. As I said earlier, it looks to have been a joint venture involving private individuals and elements within the Russian government. There is no evidence of direct government or FSB involvement. But state resources were clearly misused by people of influence within those organisations.’
The seated men exchanged glances.
‘You may recall a certain Russian naval vessel called the Inessa,’ Sumners said, glancing at Stratton, well aware of his failed operation on that mission. ‘One of its uses is as a “stable” for long-distance mini-submarines.The operation that Stratton failed in was completed a week later by MI16.’ Sumners showed no sign of revelling in the comment. Stratton knew him well enough to know how much he really was.
‘The Inessa was monitored leaving the North Sea at a time and place that calculations indicate could have enabled a rendezvous with a submersible from the area of the Morpheus not that long after its sinking. It is also interesting to note that while Jackson was holding position in the SBS mini-sub after dropping off Stratton and the others, its Doppler sonar picked up a significant shadow about as large as a medium-sized whale. Close examination of that recording revealed that he had inadvertently registered another submarine. Since we did not put all of this together till well after the incident, nothing was done about the Inessa at the time.’
Sumners picked a glass of water off the table and took a sip, giving the others time to digest the information so far.
‘Working on the principle that the guilty are usually far closer to home than one might expect to find them, a subsequent investigation into the owners of the Morpheus revealed some interesting facts. I won’t go into all the details simply because of the time factor. But in summary, one of the major shareholders of the group that owned the platform has been in financial difficulties for years. During the last twelve months they uncharacteristically began putting money into the venture, spending it mostly, apparently, on costly improvements. That increased its insurance value. The controlling cadre is made up of four significant characters: two Arabs and two Russians.’