She nodded. ‘Whatever it is, exposure charges up the Shamir until it reaches a critical level. I’ve seen something similar before. Although this is much more destructive. It seems to produce ultra-low-frequency sound waves to shake apart — smash apart — solid objects.’
‘A sonic weapon,’ said Brice, almost admiringly. ‘The Horn of Joshua, for real. The Americans and Russians spent years working on similar ideas, but never managed to make them useable in the field. This, though? A man-portable weapon that can obliterate a building using nothing but focused sound, and do so from a distance — it’s an extremely valuable find.’ His expression became more calculating. ‘The perfect tool for regime change. Just wait for a country’s leaders to be in the same place at the same time, then open the box. Take them all out in one go, and make sure your preferred replacements are ready to step up in the ensuing state of emergency. And there’s no defence, because nobody even knows it exists…’
‘Is that your deal?’ Eddie asked, scathing. ‘You going to offer us a cut of what you get from selling the Shamir to the highest bidder?’
‘Actually, no. That wasn’t why I wanted to speak to you. My business here in the Congo is more important. Or rather, it was until you put a spanner and six Magnum rounds in the works.’ A small sigh. ‘And after everything I did to rescue him from the Yanks…’
‘How did you rescue him? He was on a bloody plane!’
‘A pilot with some large debts, and a mid-air interception and transfer,’ Brice told him, as if it was no big deal. ‘Members of GB63 — the Removal Men — pulled Mukobo out through the 747’s cockpit escape hatch and winched him up.’
‘But… then the plane crashed,’ said Nina. ‘What went wrong?’
There was no regret or apology in his reply. ‘Nothing. The plan went exactly as intended.’
‘You what?’ said Eddie in disbelief. ‘“As intended”? Over three hundred people fucking died!’
‘You crashed a plane full of civilians just to cover up that you’d rescued one man?’ she cried, appalled. ‘My God!’
‘Over half a million Iraqis died to secure American interests in the Middle East,’ Brice replied patronisingly. ‘A few hundred deaths to secure British interests in Africa is a rounding error by comparison.’
‘What do you mean, British interests?’ demanded Eddie. ‘What’s Britain got to do with the Congo?’
The other Englishman laughed. ‘Why do you think I’m here, Chase? I never really left SIS — that was all part of my cover. I’m here on a mission, a very important one.’
Eddie was stunned. ‘What — the British government knows you’re trying to start a civil war?’
‘They authorised it! Do you think I ended up in this hellhole on a whim? I’m working on the orders of C, and with complete immunity from prosecution for any and all actions I take in the course of my mission. We want secession for eastern Congo. My job is to make sure it happens. Although,’ he glanced at Mukobo’s body, ‘you’ve complicated things quite considerably.’
‘Oh no, I heartily fucking apologise,’ said Eddie, though his sarcasm was blunted by shock. His own country was behind everything?
‘You destroyed an airliner!’ Nina added. ‘You killed hundreds of civilians — how can you possibly have immunity?’
‘Section 7 of the 1994 Intelligence Services Act,’ Brice replied in a smug, lecturing tone. ‘Otherwise known as the “James Bond clause”. SIS officers are protected from prosecution for any actions taken in service of Her Majesty’s Government anywhere in the world, as long as they have written authorisation from the Secretary of State. And I assure you, I have full authorisation.’
‘You were ordered to take down a plane to rescue Mukobo?’ asked Eddie, horrified.
‘No, no. There are very few politicians willing to get their hands that dirty. I was simply given an objective — “to bring about the independence of eastern Congo and secure any and all British interests therein” was, I believe, the exact wording. How I achieved it was entirely my decision. Mukobo was by far the best strongman to unite the various political groups and militias, so I had to arrange his removal from American custody. Which,’ he gave Eddie a sharp look, ‘I would never have had to if you hadn’t turned him over to the police in Tenerife. If the Removal Men had bagged him as planned, we would have brought him back to DRC and set things in motion three years sooner. You cost us a lot of time, effort and money. And lives.’
‘Don’t you fucking try to put any of that on me!’ Eddie shouted. ‘You set up the plane crash, you let that fucking maniac Mukobo run loose and kill God knows how many people. You’re the one responsible, not me.’
‘And why are you doing all this?’ Nina demanded. ‘Why would Britain want to split this country in two? What’s in it for them?’
Again, Brice became distinctly lecturing. ‘The Democratic Republic of Congo has some of the world’s largest deposits of rare minerals. Unfortunately, the mining rights have been handed to other countries of late — China and even Russia have been taking control. I’m not saying the current government is utterly corrupt, but… money talks. However, if the east becomes an independent state—’
‘You get to negotiate new deals,’ she realised. ‘And the new rulers will be very grateful to the people who put them in power.’
He nodded. ‘You’re brighter than your husband. Although I never really doubted that.’
‘And you’re only as bright as Mukobo if you’re going to insult a man pointing a gun at your head,’ the Yorkshireman rumbled.
Brice ignored him. ‘But yes, you’re right,’ he told Nina. ‘We may have won our freedom with Brexit, but because it’s taken us out of the European Union, we’re losing out on a lot of deals that were signed with the EU as a bloc. This way, we get to secure vital access to rare minerals with exclusive mining concessions for Monardril — a British company.’
‘All this is about fucking mining?’ Eddie said with disgust. ‘MI6 has killed Christ-knows how many people, just so some silver-haired twat in a helicopter can make more money?’
‘It’s about securing the future of my country!’ Brice replied, for the first time revealing a hint of defensive anger. ‘Of your country too. Never forget that, Chase. We both took an oath to protect it against all enemies. And any nation that denies us a resource we need is an enemy. There are plenty who are rushing to sabotage us now that we’re going it alone.’
‘So your allies suddenly become your enemies because they’ve got a contract to mine coltan or whatever, and you haven’t?’ said Nina.
Eddie rolled his eyes. ‘Great, like we need more people who hate us. So is this how MI6 protects us from enemies — by making sure we’ve always got plenty of enemies we need protecting from?’
‘Oh, grow up, Chase!’ Brice snapped. ‘The job of SIS isn’t to chase spies or fight terrorists. We have far more important things to do. We were founded to help the British Empire play the Great Game against the other imperial powers of the day; the players may have changed since then, but the game is still going on. We’ve lost some pawns, but we still have powerful pieces on the board. Our purpose is to keep them there, and make the best use of them.’