The Old Enemy by Henry Porter (read with me .TXT) 📕

‘If we’re going to have an agreement,’ said Samson, ‘I don’t want you getting in the way. You will also tell me of any pushback you’re getting from the politicians. By the way, what’s the hurry?’

‘What do you mean?’

‘You seem nervous, Toombs. I mean, you’re pushing this.’ And then he had a second thought. ‘They’re going to shut you down now you’ve nailed the supply line, and you know there’s so much more. And you desperately need it to come out. They’re telling you – job done!’

‘Something like that, yes. But you have to tell me what you’ve got. I need to have ammunition and, in the meantime, I will guarantee your safety.’

‘Others have offered.’

‘Suddenly everyone wants you alive, Samson.’

‘Fine – it’s a deal.’

They shook hands and he left the car.

Chapter 29

Raw Data

The address on Ulrike’s note was a drama school. The entrance was barred by an elaborate art nouveau metal gate. Samson pressed the bell and the gate lock was released. He entered a short, gloomy passageway and, after being asked by a young black British woman to switch off his phones and deposit them in a box, was directed to a rehearsal room at the back of the building. ‘Have we met?’ he said. ‘I feel we have.’

‘Maybe my twin, Jessie? She was working at GreenState. I’m Joy.’ She led him to a rehearsal room at the back of the building, where Ulrike stood with her hands clasped like a welcoming headmistress. Behind her were the props from a production: an empty picture frame, suspended on wires, an animal skull on a cocktail table and a psychiatrist’s couch. The chairs were organised in a crescent. A portable screen had been erected and Naji stood at a flat lectern with an open laptop. He raised a hand without looking up.

‘This is Paul Samson, who some of you know,’ said Ulrike. ‘A dozen or more faces turned. Macy Harp gave him an awkward nod, and the Bird, still in his faded cap, performed a sort of salute. Anastasia, Zoe and Rudi were sitting together. Zoe got up and introduced the young people around her – Kurt, Joy, Jessie, Patrick, Craig, Leah, Magnus, Rose, Chris, Axel, Ibrahim and Marina. Samson lost track of who was who, but he logged that four were American, ‘Finally, this is Merlin,’ she said. Francis, the young gamer who had shared the overflow room with Samson at GreenState and introduced him to the concept of Düppel in the gamers’ pub, nodded and flicked back his hair.

Ulrike dimmed the lights with a remote and moved forward into a pool of light. ‘Samson is now going to take control of the operation. My husband would want this. I have spoken to Mr Harp and Mrs Hisami, and they’re in agreement and believe it would also be Mr Hisami’s wish.’

Samson turned to them. ‘Okay, so we need – I need – to know everything. I guess someone had better take me through it. Naji, can you do that?’

Zoe spoke. ‘We thought I would do the talking and Naji the slideshow, if that’s all right with you. I now know everything Naji does. Okay, so the first thing those of you who haven’t worked on this must understand is that the global environmental action group GreenState is a total fraud. All the marketing and branding says “We’re here to save the planet and we’ve got a whole bunch of dedicated activists working round the clock in every time zone.” That’s bullshit. GreenState is a scam. It’s a ruthless enterprise that soaks up money and data and allows Mila Daus and Jonathan Mobius to influence politics on both sides of the Atlantic, but, much, much more important, it is one part of their operation to gather high-grade intelligence for the West’s enemies.

‘GreenState is a brilliant cover operation, yet it provided us with a great opportunity to penetrate Mila Daus’s organisation because it has inbuilt vulnerabilities, not the least of which is its size. This was Robert Harland’s idea.’ She stopped, looked around the young people in her audience, who had not been at the funeral. ‘Most of you don’t know he was my father. I want to say right now he gave what little remained of his life for this work and, because of that, Ulrike, Rudi and I were never able to say goodbye to him. That’s one good reason why we absolutely have to see this through.’

She turned to the older faces. ‘But GreenState and Jonathan Mobius are not the only part of this organisation. There are three other individuals in the United States who run their own networks and are entirely distinct from GreenState. You should think of GreenState as just one of four separate operations – okay?

‘My father gave these four entities colour codes: ‘PEARL GREY, PITCH BLACK, AURORA RED and SAFFRON YELLOW. On top of the pile, receiving all the information and controlling everything, was Mila Daus. My father named her Berlin Blue.

‘What we did was to mirror Mila Daus’s structure to find out what we could about these individuals. Then all the information went to my father and Denis Hisami, who built a picture of Mila Daus’s activities. The people in this room – plus others who can’t be here – worked separately and we had little contact with each other. Only Naji, Rudi and I had contact with all of you.

‘It’s really important to understand that our task was to acquire the raw data, the leads, the connections, the copies of emails and text messages, recordings of video calls, information about the money transfers, the dates and venues of meetings, plus information on Mobius’s use of shell companies in London to launder money and distribute it. That was the basic material. We didn’t do the analysis or piecing together. What we are going to show you now are some snapshots of Mila’s network, but it is not – repeat not – the final product. I’m going to start with my own group, which investigated Jonathan Mobius – Pearl Grey.’

An organisational