People Trafficker (19 page)

“I did, Sir Peter. My analysis of Karen, and it is only my opinion, is that you have a very dangerous and capable girl who is not averse to using extreme force to get her way. I say extreme in that I believe she has killed beyond her admission and like I’ve just said, I suspect not always when she’s had to protect herself. On that basis it is reasonable to assume, that given the chance to interrogate Saeed or his mother, she will use excess violence because she still considers these people her abusers.”

“Are you suggesting Saeed’s in hospital because of her?” Sir Peter asked, although he already knew that she had injured him.

James sighed. “I’m suggesting more than that. I believe it was her who pulled the trigger. I agree with the Captain, she is still traumatised. So I’m warning you to keep her well away from Saeed and his mother, unless you want a war on your hands.”

“I see, but what’s your opinion of her saying she’d stay on? Is that talk or do you believe she’d do just that?”

James said nothing for a short time trying in his own mind to answer Sir Peter’s question against his experience and not his opinion. “If you’d asked that question against a great deal of people I’ve interrogated, I’d have to say it was a bluff. But with Karen, I don’t think it is. My reason in saying that is I think she wants to go back in to settle a score. She also perhaps has a belief that this abduction would not have happened if she’d succeeded in killing Saeed, rather than just cripple him. So yes, even though the danger of her getting caught this time is very high, she would take the chance and try to bring the girls out.”

Sir Peter smiled to himself; he knew that was exactly why she wanted to go back, but he said nothing, as a few more in the room backed James’s recommendation to keep her away. However, General Ross from military headquarters cut in.

“If what I’m hearing is right, this girl is ideal. We reject ninety per cent of soldier applicants to the Special Services groups for various reasons, but Karen would be perfect. You see, you have what’s effectively a battle-hardened girl prepared to go back, after what she’s been through. We have soldiers in Special Services that wouldn’t do that. Snatch her hand off I say. Let her interrogate and see if she can break the wall of silence that our teams will almost certainly come up against. If the girl who has a serious medical problem isn’t in Saeed’s house, and Karen can find out where she is, so be it, we don’t have time to pussyfoot around or the kid will be dead.”

“I still advise extreme caution,” James cut in. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with here, Sir Peter. The girl could be very unstable and I believe the risk to her has also got to be considered. The General is looking at Karen as some sort of trained soldier. She isn’t, she’s a girl just out of school, who has experience of survival yes, has managed to get herself out a very difficult and dangerous situation yes, but it’s impossible to predict how much more she can take. I believe the continued pressure on her under battlefield conditions will break her.”

“In that case,” the General began, “it will take ten days or so to get everything in place for a team to go in. Why not use that time with Karen, and send her to an army training camp? Test her stamina, her ability to use weapons, her capability in protecting herself. But more importantly give her the opportunity to realise the professionalism of the people around her so that she has respect for their judgement. The trainers can also strengthen her weaknesses and assess her mental state.”

Arguments came for and against until everyone had made their opinion heard, however, it was up to Sir Peter to actually make the final decision.

“Thank you all for your most valued opinions. I needed to understand this girl, that’s why I visited her at her home. I also found James’s assessment extremely enlightening and I tend to agree with his summing up of Karen. However, we’re dealing with a civilian, who at present is still going through her own process of trying to come to terms with what happened to her. Besides which she is still in the media spotlight, so the slightest error of judgement on our side would end up in a blaze of publicity. Her need for excess personal protection is yet another indication of her perceived and very real vulnerability returning so soon to a hostile location.”

Sir Peter took yet another look at his papers in front of him, then looked directly at the General. “Tell me, General Ross, is it possible to train someone in ten days?” he asked.

“Normally I’d say no Sir Peter, but we would be taking a girl who already has a background in survival, weapons and other disciplines including actual battlefield experience. I’m proposing that we hone those experiences and bring her more into a team, give her a real working knowledge of the weapons she will carry besides bring her fitness level up. That would be as far as we could go.”

Sir Peter thanked him then fell silent while he sipped water from a glass which he’d taken from the table. He was purposely delaying the end of his summing up to be sure in his own mind what he wanted. “I’m going to join with the yes vote this time. Karen must go back, there is too much at stake not to have someone with the team who has in-depth knowledge of these people and the way they think. With the proviso that we insist she does what the General suggests and goes to a training camp, so we can assess first hand her strengths and weaknesses. I know it’s high risk, I know Captain you disapprove, so I’m going to request another Captain take your place. Whoever goes in must be confident in the girl’s abilities and limitations. We’re very lucky Karen is prepared to help. It couldn’t have been easy for her to make that decision, so every officer in the team must back her one hundred per cent and always remember the girl is just eighteen and could still be traumatised.”

The room remained silent after his words.

“I presume from your silence, some of you agree and others still have doubts? Perhaps I should now call Karen back and put our conditions to her? However, before I do, I suggest you leave us, James, with our thanks. You’re not flavour of the month with this girl, and I don’t want to antagonise her.”

James smiled. “I will leave, Sir Peter. You’re right, Karen does not like me one bit. However, please take heed of my warnings. The girl, if she’s allowed to carry weapons, will be very dangerous, believe me.”

Karen took her seat in the large meeting room a short time after the meeting with Angela’s mother.

“Did you enjoy your lunch, Karen?” Sir Peter asked.

“Yes thank you, it was also very enlightening,” she replied with a little contempt in her voice.

Sir Peter didn’t rise at her words, just gave her their decision. “It has been decided, Karen, to accept the terms by which you are prepared to return to the Lebanon. We do, however, have a condition of our own. This is, like yours, not negotiable and a condition of you going.”

She smiled. “So what’s that?”

“I’ve been told by the military that they need ten days to brief and train their personnel, besides get them to the point where they will enter the country, you will be flown directly to join them at the last moment. In the ten days before, you will go to a military training camp. You will learn how to handle weapons correctly and safely. You will be brought up to a high fitness level and more importantly you will learn discipline and teamwork. We don’t intend to have a loose cannon in what is otherwise a well disciplined and trained combat troop. I know it’s a very short training time, but with your experience on weekend mock military operations, plus your other skills in self-defence I’ve been assured this will alleviate you training starting from scratch. Finally while you are there we will be assessing your mental state and decide if it’s actually possible that you could endure another operation so close to the last. You yourself have told me, besides independent reports have also confirmed, that you’re still having difficulty coming to terms with your ordeal. It’s perfectly understandable and I’ll tell you now, if there was an alternative which meant you didn’t need to go, we’d be taking it. As it is time’s not on our side so you’re in, providing we get a positive report from the camp. Whatever the risk to the other girls I don’t intend to sanction an operation built around a girl who cannot cope mentally, as well as physically. Under those circumstances we would have to find an alternative, even if it was too late to save the life of Angela.”

Karen sat quietly for a moment, everyone in the room was waiting for her reaction. Then she looked at Sir Peter.

“When I was in the Lebanon, particularly when I was alone and surviving just on experiences from my limited training, both in self-defence and weekends doing mock exercises, I realised how little I really knew about what war was, besides trusting and working with men. You need to remember I was a schoolgirl, in fact head girl at a convent school. My abduction brought home the reality of just what the world was really all about and the vulnerability of a girl on her own. I was with people I couldn’t confide in, couldn’t trust and they always promised the world if I paid. The payment of course was to have sex with them. But if I’d agreed, I’d have got nothing in return, just empty promises. So you can understand once among the soldiers I’d lost all trust in men until something happened that left me completely confused and not knowing what to do.”

“What was that, Karen?” Sir Peter asked with interest.

She looked away obviously ashamed. “An SAS soldier laid down his life for me, after our helicopter was shot and was coming down. He held me tightly, preventing me from being injured when the helicopter crashed, with no thought for himself. He could have just told me to keep my head down and saved his own life, stuff mine, after all I was not exactly flavour of the week, but he didn’t, and like I said, it cost him his life. I tried to understand why, then when the going got tough, no one suggested I should be handed over to the Lebanese. After all I was the one the Lebanese were after, not them, they could have all gone home. But none did, they were soldiers, comrades and they looked after me,” she hesitated. “Only I came home. So what I’m trying to say is I agree I should go to this camp. It’s a good idea, and for me necessary, so that I can be sure I understand comradeship including discipline. But I don’t want to receive any favours. I should be pushed to the limit and beyond. If anything goes wrong out there, my life and others’ might depend on my ability to cope under difficult conditions and I need to know I still can.”

“Thank you, Karen, for that very frank answer,” Sir Peter began. “Perhaps, General Ross, you can take charge of Karen for us and make the arrangements with the camp you have in mind for her training?”

“I will, Sir Peter.”

“What about your parents, Karen? Do you want to go home first and explain before you go?” Sir Peter asked.

She nodded. “I think I should.”

“Then she’s all yours General,” Sir Peter said. “If you go through with Karen just how you intend to present her at the camp, then she can be taken home in the morning before moving on for her training, I’ll be very grateful?”

“Consider it done, Sir Peter. Are we all right to leave now?”

“Of course.”

Then Sir Peter looked at Karen. “Keep in mind, Karen, if it’s not working out, call me or the General, and we will understand. But don’t leave it too long, if you’re experiencing any problems, as a new plan would have to be considered very quickly.”

“I promise.”

When Karen left the room, General Ross held back, asking Sir Peter for a private word. “I’d like you to back me, Sir Peter, in requesting Karen is made a Lieutenant, before she goes to camp. I’m not sending her to Sandhurst, but a camp that specialises in training troops for regions that require special training beyond the basics. However, I want her to stand away from the other troops, and them to have respect for her. My ideas for this girl are very specific, so I do need this.”

Sir Peter rubbed his chin in thought. “All right, if you’re sure, I’ll make a few calls. Are you going directly to the MOD building?”

“Yes.”

“In that case I’ll have papers waiting there, ready for signing. Don’t let me down on this, General, all our necks are on the line.”