The Silk Road by Mark Leggatt

Author:Mark Leggatt
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Fledgling Press
Published: 2018-09-14T16:00:00+00:00

The clamor of the faithful around the Vatican became a hush as the armor-plated doors closed. Faber slid down in the rear seat.

Napier leaned forward to the driver. “Take a walk.” He waited until the driver had closed the door then switched on the LCD screen embedded in the rear headrest.

“Do you think he knows?”

Napier said nothing and stared straight ahead. Campbell’s face appeared on the screen. “Did you get all that?” said Napier.

“Yes,” said Campbell. “A very interesting man, Mr. Saitsev. Very impassioned. Very imaginative.”

“Cut to the chase, Director Campbell. Tell me this is a set up. Tell me we don’t have fifty missiles hidden somewhere in Italy.”

Campbell shook his head and looked down at his notes. “NATO defense chiefs have just concluded an emergency meeting. I’m sure you are aware that the original attacks were on a NATO plane, in a NATO country, and a direct violation of NATO Article 5. An attack on one member state is regarded as an attack on all member states. The Defense Secretary, the Secretary of State and the Vice President have been reminding the member states of their obligations. The point was firmly made that these were Russian missiles, being used against NATO. I’m afraid to say that there was not unanimous agreement on action, despite the overwhelming evidence that this is a Russian operation. They were, despite their own intelligence gathering, rather dubious about our conclusion.” Campbell looked up. “I can assure you, the government in Washington made clear their grave disappointment at this weakness.”

“Woah. Are they saying we set this up? We shot down our own plane?”

“They intimated that the evidence to prove or disprove this theory no longer exists, and if anything, it exists to the contrary.”

“What evidence?”

“Tell me, Napier, in the first attack, who removed any opportunity to capture and question the perpetrators? And who stole the missile from under our nose, then appeared at the top of the Palatine Hill? Who is the man I stressed should be executed on the spot?”

“Yeah, Montrose.”

“Exactly. The intelligence services of all NATO countries are talking to each other behind our backs. They know who he is. We have lost their trust, Napier.”

“Yeah, I wonder how that happened? History, eh? Like the man said, it’s just one goddam thing after another.”

“Flippancy is…”

“Listen, Campbell, I’m at the end of my line with this shit. There are fifty…”

“No!” Campbell pushed his papers aside and jabbed his finger at the screen. “Montrose was with the two terrorists when they shot down the first plane, then he killed them. And when the attack on the Palatine Hill miraculously failed, he did so again. How many times does it have to happen before you understand? Montrose is working for the Russians, but they have given the game away. If they really wanted us to believe it was some mysterious terrorist organization that only exists in the minds of the madmen in Moscow, they would have shot down their own plane. But they didn’t. This is Moscow’s operation.

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