sThe Quiet Wart (6 page)

The news was filled with the death of Nick Allsop. MPs spoke highly of his commitment, avoiding actually saying that they agreed with his views. The police were still saying that it was a suicide and experts in male depression were dragged onto the TV screens, all seemingly
knowing
why Allsop took his own life.

Sitting around the small wooden meeting table in Clive's office, Sean, Liz and Clive tried to work out what to do next.

‘I had a visit from the police this morning, who said that they were helping the French police with a shooting incident in Strasbourg and the hotel had given them our names. I just said that we were caught in the crossfire of some local gang war and I got you out of the back door. I know the investigating officer well, and I think he believed me. They didn't come to see you, did they?' Clive asked.

‘No,' Sean said shaking his head.

‘That's good. The other good news is that Terry's alive and well. He got back into England about the same time as us,' Clive said. ‘The bad news is that there's still no sign of Anna Faustein. She's not at her office in Brussels, her office in Munich, or at home. She's just vanished.'

‘Probably dead, given what we went through,' Sean added.

‘Maybe, but as I said, we shouldn't ignore the possibility that she killed Allsop and put them onto us,' Clive responded.

‘You know, I was getting to quite like him. He was very charismatic, you know, and surprisingly intelligent,' Sean said.

‘For a Nazi,' Liz added.

‘Did you get anywhere with that mumbo-jumbo he left us? It must be the key to why he was killed and why somebody tried to kill us,' Clive suggested.

‘Not really, we got—' Sean was interrupted as his phone rang. After looking at the screen he chose not to answer. ‘I don't know the number,' he said.

‘Answer it,' Clive insisted.

Sean picked up the phone again. ‘Hello?'

The faint voice on the other end of the line was tinged with a German accent. ‘Hello, can I speak to Sean McManus, please?'

‘Speaking.'

‘Mr McManus, It's Anna Faustein. You left a message at my office. We need to talk.'

‘Okay, that sounds good,' Sean said.

‘Not on the phone. I'm in London. Can we meet?'

‘Okay, where are you?'

‘Meet me in the lobby of the May Fair Hotel in one hour.'

Suddenly the line went dead and Sean relayed the conversation to the others.

‘What if she
is
the killer? How did she know that you were back in London?' Liz said.

‘Why would she contact me if she was?' Sean asked.

‘To kill you before you publish the contents of the USB?' Liz questioned.

‘Publish what? It'd take me a year to understand it first,' Sean laughed.

‘Well, somebody tried to kill us all for it,' Liz noted.

‘We can cover you when you meet her in the hotel. Then bring her here. We'll make sure you're not being followed.' Clive said.

*

At thirty-eight Anna Faustein was young for an MEP. Her short blonde hair was covered with a large floppy hat and she wore tight jeans and a long woollen jumper pulled down to her thighs. She was looking around the lobby, nervously assessing the people coming in and out of the doors, when Sean approached her from the side, having entered via the door from the bar. ‘Frau Faustein?' he said quietly.

She immediately swivelled to the side, as if touched by a cattle prod. ‘Hello… er, Mr McManus?' she said, looking at him, her eyes dancing with fear.

‘Yes, are you okay?' Sean asked.

‘I'm scared. They killed Nick,' she said, still assessing the people coming and going from the lobby.

‘Why come here, not to the police?' Sean asked.

‘Nick said that he trusted you, and that's more than I can say for the French police,' she said. ‘I'm sorry, but I had nowhere else to go.'

‘Come with me,' Sean said calmly.

‘Where to?'

‘Somewhere safe,' Sean added. He nodded to Clive and they left the lobby of the hotel, walking quickly towards Piccadilly, then turned left onto Dover Street. Within five minutes they were seated around Clive's meeting table.

‘Please call me Anna,' she said forcing a smile, when Liz addressed her as
Frau Faustein.

‘Anna,' Sean said. ‘You said
they
killed Nick. Who did you mean?'

She shook her head. ‘I don't know; whoever is perverting the legislation.'

‘Perverting the legislation? You mean they're changing the bills after they've passed Parliament?' Liz asked.

‘No… well, sort of. The translations are not always the same as the original version of the bill,' Anna said.

‘What do you mean?' Sean asked.

‘It's very subtle in the wording, but changes some powers in the bills.'

‘Is that what was on the USB stick that Nick gave us?' Sean asked.

‘Yes, the original version was in German and that's the version that will become law. But the English, Swedish, Danish and Polish translations have been interpreted slightly differently from the original.'

‘How so?' Liz asked.

‘There's a single line about halfway through the text in the original version that clearly gives the President of the Commission the authority to invoke Article 7 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU, if a member state defaults on an EU debt obligation. In the four translated versions that permission is more vague, and although the power is granted, it seems to require European Council approval. The actual wording difference is very subtle and very clever, so nobody could obviously point to fraud, but when scrutinised, the meaning is quite different.'

‘What's Article 7?' Liz asked.

‘It's the mechanism by which a member state can be temporarily suspended from the EU,' Anna replied.

‘That seems fair. People are getting tired of constant bailouts that aren't repaid,' Sean said.

‘Why shouldn't they be suspended if they don't pay?' Clive said.

Anna frowned. ‘Maybe they should, but should that much power rest with one person, especially one who doesn't face election?'

‘Probably not, but isn't it just to cut out bureaucracy and get quick action?' Liz asked. ‘After all, we are talking about countries that are in default on their debts, and quick action could be vital to stop the situation slipping further.'

‘Hmm… whether it's the right thing to do or not is irrelevant. It certainly doesn't justify the means, changing the translations like that,' Sean said. ‘Why only the four languages though?'

‘Because they're the languages of the members most likely to object to a bill like this, and block it. In general, they're the countries that are opposed to anything which strengthens the power of EU, or pushes it closer to federalization,' Anna answered.

‘It seems like a pretty minor risk to the countries mentioned, none of which are at risk of debt default,' Sean said.

‘Maybe, but we don't know how many other clauses there are like this. This is just the one that we found.' Anna's expression conveyed her seriousness.

‘She's got a point, Sean. If this was just something small, why would they need to kill Allsop?' Clive said.

Sean noted that Clive didn't mention that they were also nearly killed. He'd said that he'd use it at an agreed time to measure the response of Anna Faustein, in an attempt to gauge her surprise.

‘Exactly,' Anna agreed.

‘If
he was killed, that is. The police are still saying that it was suicide. Do you have any idea who might be involved?' Sean asked.

‘There would have to be a few people, but it wouldn't work unless somebody senior in the Commission's translation services directorate was involved, maybe even Henrik Blom, the Commissioner himself.' Anna shrugged.

‘Blom? He sounds Swedish. Why would he change his own country's translation?' Liz asked.

‘He's a staunch pro-federalist and for those people, Europe comes first, country second. He doesn't agree with his own government's sceptical views,' Anna answered.

‘It's a good place to start. Do you think he's capable of killing somebody?' Clive asked.

Anna lifted her shoulders again. ‘Maybe,' she said quietly.

‘Well, it looks like the Belgian police just want to sweep this under the carpet, so I think we should take a closer look at it,' Sean said.

‘Agreed. I didn't particularly like Allsop, but if he was murdered then he deserves justice,' Clive said. ‘And, of course, I'd like to know who was shooting at us, and why,' he added.

Sean studied the features on Anna's face carefully.

‘What? You mean somebody tried to kill you?' she said, but Sean couldn't tell whether she was lying or not: her shock seemed genuine, but it was easy to fake.

‘Yes, somebody took a few pot shots at us in the city,' Clive said, adding no more detail.

‘Liz, what do you think?' Sean asked.

‘Well, it's a major change from our original plan, but I agree: he deserves justice if he was killed. One proviso though, if it gets too dangerous, we pass our findings to the police and get out.'

‘Agreed,' Sean said.

‘Do you feel that you could go back to work, with protection of course?' Clive asked Anna.

Carefully scanning the three people at the table, Anna seemed to be assessing whether she could trust them. ‘I could, but I'm scared. Everybody knew that I was close to Nick. If Blom had him killed, then he'd probably guess that I also have the information.'

‘We can provide you with round-the-clock security; professional men. You'll be safe,' Clive encouraged.

‘Okay,' Anna said, hesitating slightly.

‘There are still a few things I don't understand: firstly, why didn't Allsop just expose this in the Parliament, or go directly to the media?' Liz said.

‘To expose this one instance in the Parliament before the reading yesterday was his back-up plan, but remember he thought there may be many more instances which hadn't been found. And he did go to the media: you.'

‘Okay, the other thing that I don't understand is why he wanted to meet Sean again the night after the first meeting? Surely he could just have put this information on the memory stick? We could easily check it. Was he onto something else?' Liz asked.

‘He wanted us to both meet somebody, a whistle-blower in the translation services directorate that brought this to his attention. Apparently, he has proof of who might be behind it,' Anna replied.

‘Did he tell you who it was that he was meeting? Or who this person had fingered?' Clive asked.

‘No. Unfortunately neither. I knew he suspected Blom, but that's all I knew.'

‘Why me? Why not one of the thousands of political journalists that line the streets of Strasbourg?' Sean asked.

‘Because they'd never print Nick's comments. They didn't like him much. They too have a vested interest in seeing the EU grow stronger. It makes their jobs more important.'

‘Is there anybody who doesn't have a vested interest in this circus?' Clive asked rhetorically.

‘Only me,' Anna said, holding his stare.

On the two-hour train journey to Brussels Midi from London's St Pancras station, Sean took the seat next to Anna. Liz had chosen to stay in England to meet with the lawyer about Praew's immigration status, and work on the background research into Blom, while Clive was already in Brussels with Terry's team, working out the lie of the land.

Anna looked different from the day they'd met in the lobby of the May Fair hotel, when she'd been scared and tired. A weekend's rest, a change of clothes and some make-up had transformed her from the frightened little girl Sean had first seen, to the image of the modern career woman. When he sat down, their eyes made contact and he noticed the deep blue sparkle of her irises, before he quickly looked away, embarrassed by the brief interchange.

‘Frau:
that means you're married, doesn't it?' Sean asked.

‘It did. I'm divorced.'

‘Any children?' Sean asked.

‘No, just me. Too much time working and not enough time playing. It's why my marriage broke down. I was just never home.'

‘Some time apart could strengthen a relationship though,' Sean said, speaking more about his own situation with Liz than Anna's.

She picked the change up quickly. ‘Liz is very beautiful. Have you been together long?'

‘Only six months.'

‘That's very quick to be living together and supporting a child.'

‘Yes, more circumstantial than anything. We worked together on a story and I was badly injured. Liz looked after me and nursed me back to health.'

‘And the child?' Anna asked.

‘A long story, but we're fighting a losing battle to keep her in the UK. If she gets deported to Thailand, she'll be sold straight back into the horrific life we rescued her from, and I won't let that happen. She's a really sweet girl, who's seen too much of the bad side of life already, and she needs a break.'

‘Maybe I could help? I am an MEP after all; that must be useful for something. I could lobby the European Court of Human Rights to force the British Government not to deport her,' Anna said, tilting her head to one side and looking into Sean's eyes.

She looked older than her thirty-eight years and her short hair made her seem stern, but she had attractive features and a lean body. ‘I may take you up on that, if our current plans fail,' he said.

‘Why did you become an MEP?' Sean asked, changing the subject.

‘Ambition, I guess. It's very hard to get ahead in domestic politics in Germany. I think you call it
dead men's shoes
. I was young and I believed in the EU passionately, so … '

‘What happened to make you change your view on the EU?'

The question caused Anna to pause, seemingly considering her response. ‘It wasn't what I thought it would be. Instead of the shining light of change for good in Europe, it's become a forum riddled with political infighting and an unquenchable thirst for power.'

‘And Nick Allsop?' Sean prodded.

‘I met Nick in my first year; he was very good to me. He also seemed to be the only person in the Parliament that didn't have a separate agenda to expand his power base, and he was the only person that was prepared to criticise the Commission openly. He was a good man and a loyal friend.'

‘Were you in love with him?' Sean asked.

‘Yes. No. Maybe. We weren't having an affair if that's what you mean. He was very dedicated to his family.'

‘Was he a Nazi?' Sean asked.

He'd expected that Anna would be shocked by the question, but she wasn't, she simply held his stare. ‘No. He told me that you'd asked him about his past and the alleged neo-Nazi ties. Strangely, I think that's why he trusted you. When Nick first became an MEP he had a reputation for being a racist. It wasn't true, but given that his party is seen as right of centre, people naturally believe it when he's called a racist. Out of some perverse idea of patriotism, he agreed to make contact with some neo-Nazi groups and pass information to MI6. His reputed racism gave him some credibility with the groups, so they accepted him readily.'

‘And what happened?' Sean probed.

‘He made contact with a few and passed the information to MI6, then suddenly people started to disappear and Nick didn't know who he trusted less: the security services or the Nazis.'

‘He said they were still watching him.'

‘Somebody was. He said they looked and acted like MI6, but in truth, he wasn't sure.'

After the train pulled in to Brussels, they made their way quickly through the busy, cave-like Midi railway station and out over the cobbled footpath, where they got into a taxi. When they turned off the central ring road, Sean was surprised by how rundown the area was, so close to the magnificent Baroque Palace. The buildings were covered in graffiti and at least half looked empty. Then slowly, they began to get cleaner and newer. Another kilometre and they were driving between massive steel and glass structures, with EU flags hanging from every lamppost and draping from every building.

Anna kept an apartment on the Avenue du Maelbeek, overlooking Parc Leopold. On the other side of the park, the huge towering glass and marble structure of the EU Parliament building dominated the skyline.

When they arrived, Terry was waiting for them at the main door and informed Anna that he had already checked the apartment out, noting that it hadn't been entered or damaged. Clearly relieved, Anna blew out a gasp of air and made her way inside, watched carefully by her protection team.

Happy that Anna was safe, Terry then escorted Sean the fifty metres or so to the Sofitel, where they'd booked rooms for the stay. Clive was waiting for them and once Sean had checked in, they met in the lobby for a coffee. A large map was laid out on the table and Sean was quickly taken through the key places.

‘The hotel is in Place Jourdan,' Clive said.

‘Which is the only sign of civilization in the EU Quarter. The whole place was a ghost town yesterday,' Terry added.

‘Most of the politicians and lobbyists go home for the weekend, I think,' Clive said.

Fifty metres away and visible from the hotel, Anna's apartment building sat inside the edge of the park. The European Parliament was just 200 metres away on the opposite side of the park, and the Berlaymont Building, the home of the Commission, and where Blom's office was located, was just one kilometre away.

‘We think he keeps a weekday apartment here,' Clive pointed to the map, ‘in a new tower on Rue Belliard, but he commutes each week from Stockholm.'

Following Clive's finger, Sean studied the map. Rue Belliard was between the hotel and the Commission. Everything they were here to watch was contained in an area no bigger than one square kilometre.

When Clive had finished, Terry took over the conversation. ‘I've assembled a team of six men: three for round-the-clock protection of Anna; and three to assist with the surveillance of Blom. I'll float between the two and coordinate activities.'

Can he really always be as happy as he looks?
Sean thought, as he examined Terry's smiling face. He was in his early forties, lean and strong, and had an as-yet-undiscussed military background. During the BW investigation, he'd saved Sean's life more than once and Sean trusted him without reservation.

‘Blom's at work in the Berlaymont Building now. Beyond that we don't know, as we can't get in. I've got people on the door. They'll know as soon as he leaves.' Terry continued.

‘What if he leaves by car?' Clive asked.

Terry raised his eyebrows at the comment. ‘It's covered,' he said, shaking his head at Clive.

‘And Anna?' Sean asked.

‘Two men outside, one inside. She'll be okay,' Terry replied.