SIX
Stuart arrived at his home a little after six o'clock. His flat was on the first floor in one of those new blocks that sprung up during the last 20 years to take advantage of the property boom as homes were sold at 3 or 4 times their value in the area around Edinburgh Castle.
He climbed up the common staircase that cut each flat off from each other. This was supposed to keep a secluded atmosphere across the whole of the building. Approaching the door of his flat having rapidly climbed the stairs he immediately pulled out his key which had a small sheep tied to it which his niece had given to him last Christmas. He was just fitting his key into the door when he noticed a man at his elbow. Stuart had not seen him approach, and the sudden appearance made him startle.
He was a slim man, with short red hair and small piercing green eyes. He recognized him as the occupant of a flat on the top floor, with whom he had passed the time of day on the stairs.
'Can I speak to you please?' he said. Without pausing, he continued.
'May I please come in for a minute?'
Stuart wondered what did this man wanted. He hoped it was not a call to sign a petition or a compliant about his music.
The man was steadying his voice with an effort, and his hand was pawing at his arm. Stuart opened his door and motioned him in. No sooner was he over the threshold than he made a dash for the far window, where Stuart usually read his e-reader or used his tablet. Then he bolted back towards the door they had both just walked through.
'Is the door locked?' he asked anxiously
Without waiting for an answer, he fastened the chain with his own hands.
‘I'm very sorry,' he said humbly.
'It's an almighty ask, but you look the kind of man who would understand.'
'I'll listen to you,' Stuart said.
'That's all I'll promise.' The antics of this man were worrying Stuart. He wondered if he had just let some nutter into his house that was going to attack him.
There was a tray of drinks on a table beside him, from which the man filled himself a very large whisky. He drank it down in three large gulps. The glass cracked as he set it down.
'Excuse me,' he said
‘I was a little thirsty’.
'I'm a bit rattled tonight. You see, I happen at this moment to be dead.'
Stuart sat down in an armchair and rubbed his chin thinking how I get rid of this nutter.
'What does it feel like?' Stuart asked with a smile on his face.
It was all he could think to say
He was certain that he would to deal with this man if he was to get rid of him. The question was how could he get rid of him? How could he do it without upsetting this obviously insane and lonely man? Stuart wondered about him. Perhaps he had dementia or some other mental health problem.
A smile flickered over his drawn face. 'I'm not mad. Well, not yet any way’
A nervous laugh came out from both men.
‘That’s good to hear’ responded Stuart.
‘I've been watching you, and I reckon you’re a good person, someone who can deal with a dangerous proposition.’
He continued now with some confidence.
‘I reckon you are an honest man, and not afraid of talking on people. I am going to tell you a secret. I need help more than any man ever needed it, and I want to know if I can count on you.'
'Tell me your story,' Stuart said,
The man seemed to brace himself for a great effort, and then started to tell Stuart a weird story. At first, Stuart did not quite understand everything, stopping and asking him questions.
The man told Stuart he was Irish, from County Down, and after college, he travelled the world. Did the usual 7 day tour of Europe? He wrote a bit, and acted as Newspaper reporter for an English and then an Irish paper. Later he went to university studying English Literature and Greek graduating from Ulster University with a 2:1 before he took up a commission with the Northern Irish Police. He worked there for a few years before he took a secondment with the Foreign Office. They placed him at the Chinese embassy in Shanghai where he was based there for a two years in the security section.
Stuart quickly gathered that he was a fine linguist, and had to know pretty well the society in those parts as the Chinese moved away from Communism towards Capitalism and its free market. He spoke familiarly of many names that Stuart had seen in the news. He had even entered Chinese politics, at first for the interest of the subject, and then because he could not help himself.
To Stuart this man came across as a sharp, restless man, who always wanted to get down to the roots of cause. He told Stuart that away from all the politicians and diplomats there was a big movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people. He had come on it by accident and this fascinated him. Then he was caught.
He went on to tell him that most of the people in it were the sort of educated anarchists that want to create a revolution, supported by lots of money who were playing for control of the world. A clever person can make big profits on a falling market if they know when to buy and when to sell, and it suited these people to set the world up for war.
Stuart remembered the Libor cases and how key people in the banks of the United Kingdom, Switzerland and United States had used their positions to engineer massive profits. So this all sounded quite plausible.
The man continued. He told Stuart a weird tale that explained a lot that had puzzled him about global politics in Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, China and India. How one regime suddenly came to power, why alliances were made and broken, why certain men disappeared, and where the sinews of war came from?
The aim of the whole conspiracy was to get Russia, China, Europe and the United States at loggerheads in the Middle East. An attempt to develop and create a new Crusade against Islam and reek the benefits of cheap dependable oil and gas.
Stuart asked ‘why?’
The man said ‘many thought it would give them a chance to make money as the West, China and Russia re-armed. Everything would be in the melting- pot, and if war came they looked to see a new world emerge, and if no war came then they would make a fortune as the ‘International Community’ rearmed.
‘They would rake in the money, and make fortunes by buying up wreckage. Capital, he said, had no conscience and no fatherland’.
‘Have you been reading the news?’ He asked Stuart
‘Yes’.
Stuart sat up at that, for he had been reading about China that very afternoon.
'The Chinese are the ones who are trying to wreck their games. They want peace not war. They are the peacemakers and they happen also to be really good at brokering peace and preventing wars.’
‘They have been marked down’.
The man went onto tell Stuart how he had found out this information. That it had not been that it was difficult, for any fool could guess as much. Nevertheless, he had found out the way they were going to get him, and that knowledge was deadly.
‘That's why I have had to die.' He said
‘Well here’s to death’ said Stuart lifting up his glass.
Both men had another drink, but Stuart mixed their next drink with water this time, as the story was just getting interesting.
'They can't get the Chinese on their own land but they can pick off their leadership. Soon the Chinese Leadership will be visiting Edinburgh. The Chinese President’s daughter is graduating from Edinburgh University this summer.
Now while the President is visiting Edinburgh, the Chinese consulate is to host a party with him as the principal guest at one of the hotels near the Scottish Parliament, and if our friends have their way, he will never return to China.
'That's simple enough, anyhow,' Stuart said.
'You can warn him and keep him at home.'
'And play their game?' he asked sharply.
'If he does not come then terrorism wins and China will have no option but to join the west.
'What about the British Government?’
'They're not going to let their guests be murdered.’
'They want it to happen, there is an agreement between some people within the British government and the French government to kill the Chinese President on UK soil as part of some deal over the terrorist Abdulla Megahit.’
Our friends are not playing this game for fun. They want a big occasion for his death with the eyes of all world on them when it occurs. A Muslim will murder him, and there will be plenty of evidence to show that al-Qaeda committed the act. It will all be a conspiracy of course, but the case will look black enough to the world’.
‘I'm not making this up my friend!’
He sat down and stopped talking for a few minutes. All was silent as both men took in what had been said.
However, he soon continued determined to get his story out.
‘I happen to know every detail of this act, and I can tell you it will be the most furnished piece of manipulation since the Weapons of Mass Destruction invasion of Iraq in 2003. But it's not going to come off if I get the chance’.
Stuart was getting to like this strange man. There was a fire of battle in his eyes. If he was spinning Stuart a lie, he could act up to it.
'Where did you find out this story?’
'I got the first hint in a lift several months ago when two men were discussing their plan at a party in Canary Wharf.’
‘Of course they were not to know that someone was working on the maintenance of the lift above them and could hear everything that was being discussed.’
‘That man was not to know that someone was listening to him while he was gossiping to his girlfriend in a pub about what went on’
‘That set me inquiring, and I collected my other clues in an internet cafe in Brighton, in a Strip Club in Liverpool, and in a little bookshop in Hay on Wye. I completed my evidence when I hacked into the Defence Information Systems Agency and the British Military of Defence intranet in London. I can't tell you all the details now, for it's something of a history lesson.’
‘When I was quite sure in my own mind I judged it my business to disappear and I reached Edinburgh in a roundabout manner. I left for Paris on train in late March and fled to Amsterdam a few days later before I flew to Hong Kong. There I tried through one of my contacts to contact the Chinese President. Despite trying to get my a message to the Chinese Government we both came to the conclusion that the Chinese President had little option but to go along with his visit to his daughter. As I say if he did not go terrorism wins but if he makes the visit then terrorism and the west plot could be foiled.
However before I had a chance to flesh out a strategy my contact was killed in a car accident. So I was forced with little option but to come back to Scotland and try to stop things this end.
After that, I sailed from China to Japan arriving two days later. From Tokyo, I flew to Moscow where I tried to get support from my contacts in the FSC. I then drove to Saint Petersburg before I boarded a cruise ship to Leith Docks. I came here from Leith. Once back in Scotland I then travelled to Paris. I took a big risk tricking some people into thinking I was one of them before fleeing back here to Scotland.
Since the middle of April, I thought I was safe until four days ago. I thought I had muddied my trail somewhat, and was feeling pretty happy. Then …’
At this point, the recollection seemed to upset him, and he gulped down some more whisky.
Then I started to see a man standing in the street outside this block. Eventually I narrowed it down to two men and one woman on different shifts. At first, I panicked and stayed within my flat in the day time, and only slipped out after dark for an hour or two. I watched these people for a bit from my window, and I thought I recognized them. Sometimes I would watch them come in and talk to my neighbours, including yourself.’
Stuart could not remember anyone asking him about his neighbour but the man seemed convinced this had happened.
‘When I came back from a walk last night I spotted evidence that someone had been snooping around my flat. Only the trained eye could have spotted their search. You see I place tape on my door so if the seal breaks I know someone has been sniffing around. Last night these seals had been broken.’
At this stage, Stuart could see a real change in his eyes, the sheer naked scare on his face.
‘What did you do next?’ Asked Stuart
'I realized that I was trapped, and that there was only one way out. I had to die. If my pursuers knew I was dead they would leave and that would give me the chance I needed to escape.'
'How did you manage it?'
'I phoned NHS 24 and I got them to order a doctor’s visit, and I got myself dressed up to look like death. That was not difficult, for I am very good at disguises. Then I got a corpse. You know you can always get a body if you know where to go for it.’
This intrigued Stuart, who was a little taken back by the man’s candid honesty.
The man continued.
‘I fetched it back in a trunk on the top of a four-wheeler, and just managed to get the body upstairs, it’s amazing how empty the building is at three in the morning. While I was alone I started to fake up that corpse. He was my size, and I judged had perished from too much alcohol, so I put some spirits handy about the place to make it look like I had “a problem”. The face was the weak point in the likeness, so I blew it away with a revolver. I daresay there will be somebody tomorrow to swear to having heard a shot, but there are no neighbours on my floor, and I guessed I could risk it. Therefore, I left the body in bed dressed up in my pyjamas, with a revolver lying on the bed-clothes and a considerable mess around. Then I changed into some clothes I had kept waiting for emergencies’.
‘After that I had you in my mind all day, and there seemed nothing to do but to make an appeal to you. I watched out for you from my window till I saw you come home, and then slipped down the stair to meet you as you came to your door.’
‘So now that I have told you my story.'
He sat blinking like a lost pet, fluttering with nerves and yet desperately determined to get what he wanted. By this time, Stuart was pretty well convinced that he was telling him the truth.
He paused for a few seconds and was silent. Thinking though what had been said he then broke the silence.
'Right. I will trust you for the night. I will lock you into this room once you are asleep. I will keep the key with me overnight. Just one word, I believe you, but if I find out this is a trick or something else then I warn you, you will be thrown out.’
'Sure,' he said, jumping up with some briskness.
‘But let me first tidy myself up’.
Stuart took him into his bedroom and left him to rest. An hour later a figure came out that Stuart scarcely recognized. Only his hungry eyes were the same. He was shaved clean, his hair was parted in the middle, and he had cut his eyebrows. Further, he carried himself as if he did not have a worry in the world. He had glasses on and every trace of his Irish accent was gone.
He then turned around and marched himself back to the bedroom.
With the man in the bedroom, Stuart locked him in his room and muttered a good night to him.
He stood outside his room for a few minutes. Hearing the man sit on his bed, Stuart turned around and walked back to his living room.
Now all alone Stuart made up his own bed in his living room and sought his own sofa, more cheerful than he had been for the past few months. Things did happen occasionally, even in Edinburgh he thought.
A few minutes later, he was fast asleep.