Traveller Probo
85. England

The meeting was more upbeat than when they had last met. The Americans opted to be present only via a secure conference link, so their faces were projected side by side on the wall. General Humphrey stood as Murdoch entered and he shook her hand. “Well done Major Murdoch, well done! I’ve seen your report. Let’s give the Minister your news.”

Minister Paddington was already in the room and smiled as Murdoch sat. The British intelligence specialist sat to the other side of the table and with a straight face nodded in welcome but said nothing.

Murdoch stood and delivered her presentation, knowing that all images would be visible for the Americans. “We finally became aware of the Ukrainian kidnappers who had stolen the Transporter through a phone call from Zak Chandler to his wife, Mel, in Australia. He was able to pass enough details before the call was cut. She contacted me personally. They had set up in a boathouse in Belarus on the Dnieper River, here,” she gestured to a satellite image and map.

“Through our Foreign Office, our embassy in Minsk immediately advised the Belarusian President. We suspect the kidnappers were assisted by various arms of the Belarus and Ukrainian governments, especially the Ministries of Defence. As you know, the President and the Minister of Defence in Belarus have not seen eye-to-eye for some time. It seems connections with the Ukraine Ministry of Defence allowed the kidnappers’ access to Belarus without legal process,” Murdoch explained.

“Did President Orlof know about this perhaps?” asked Minister Paddington.

General Humphrey looked up through his bushy brows as he commented, “It’s impossible to tell, Ma’am. With the media attention on the theft, he was wise to deny all knowledge.”

The Minister nodded, “Go on, Major.”

“We contacted the Special Air Services Regiment who had been aware of our mission and the likelihood of our request for assistance. Utilising the Joint Rapid Reaction Force, our troops were flown directly to Minsk. We insisted that our forces were accompanied by Belarus Special Service personnel, so we could collect the Transporter and our personnel without any negative repercussions.” She smiled. “There were no objection, Ma’am.”

Paddington looked grim, “There bloody well shouldn’t have been.”

“The joint taskforce was flown by MI24 helicopters to the site where they immediately contained the situation,” continued Murdoch.

“You went with them?” asked the British spook.

Murdoch hesitated a moment, “Yes. I had to make sure all progressed as planned.”

“Any casualties?” asked General Humphrey.

Murdoch shook her head, “No sir. Most of the Travellers were not there. Those who remained were compliant and, I might add, looked somewhat relieved. You have copies of the statement of one of the Travellers, the commander of the team.”

“And our assets, our people? How are they?” asked the Minister.

“They’ll manage,” Murdoch replied. “Zak Chandler was in remarkably good spirits, though one of the engineers is showing symptoms of post-traumatic stress. We’re having them all checked.”

“And the Transporter? Is it functional?” asked General Connor’s image on the wall.

Murdoch nodded, “Yes sir. Immediately on being retrieved, the Transporter was checked and assembled. We then immediately activated the Transporter to Saxon Aengland.”

General Humphrey leaned forward in interest, “I didn’t receive any report on this.

Murdoch nodded, “Yes General, my apologies but I was informed of the results in the car to our meeting.”

He nodded, “And the results?”

Murdoch stopped a moment, her eyes icy and professional.

“Are you all right Murdoch?” asked Minister Paddington.

“Yes ma’am. My apologies ma’am. Because of the interruption of the Transporter feed, I regret to announce that Lieutenant Ethan Wicks was fatally gored in a training accident.”

“Jesus,” muttered the British spook.

“Oh God! What happened?” asked General Humphrey sharply.

“The men were engaged in a boar hunt as part of their training and Wicks was gored in the right inner thigh. Because the Transporter was off-line, he could not be evacuated for medical treatment and he died at the Area of Convergence,” reported Murdoch.

She noticed a sharp look pass between General Humphrey and General Connor on the screen.

“What of the others, Major?” asked General Connor. “What about …”

“My husband?” replied Major Murdoch. “Yes, my husband is alive and well, though covered with Wicks’ blood it seems. He and Hunter tried to save him of course, as well as the two marines who were stranded there for the better part of four days!”

“We have to look at the security arrangements General,” suggested General Connor. “If there was more security …”

“It would still not have prevented this happening,” replied General Humphrey in a tone that suggested frustration at going over familiar ground.

“The Transporter facility is far too exposed to terrorism,” added General Connor.

“Which is not what this was!” replied General Humphrey, who was becoming ever more exasperated. “Our security is more than sufficient. This particular event succeeded because it was undertaken by friendly forces.”

“Security screening of the candidates might have been more thorough,” responded the other face on the wall, the square-jawed blond man who Murdoch could only surmise was CIA or similar. She hadn’t been introduced.

“Security screening was undertaken by both Ukraine and British intelligence,” replied the British suit smoothly. “As you are aware, our Intel screening includes resources permitted by the US intelligence community and, though the relationship between Maksym Vasylenko and his uncle Aleksei was identified, all involved considered the relationship of no threat. If the US intelligence resources knew something we did not, we were not advised. All we can suggest is that despite the impressive resources of the intelligence communities involved, they slipped through our net.”

“Perhaps this is something we can discuss later,” offered Minister Paddington. “Major Murdoch, how are you coping with this? After all, Sergeant Hurley is your husband.”

“Thank you ma’am. Yes, it’s a relief now he’s back,” offered Murdoch. “Given any choice in the matter, I would suggest he’s back to stay.”

The Minister smiled but General Humphrey frowned in irritation.

The meeting was concluded soon after.

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