The Big Breach - Index of

More documents

Recommendations

Info

The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.comcheck-in staff were too busy with other passengers to pay him muchattention.I chose Monday, 27 July for my abscondment because it was the schoolholiday season, so the ports would be busier than usual. MI6 would beparticularly vigilant during the last week of my probation, meaningsubterfuge was needed. On 12 July I telephoned a travel agent andbooked a Qantas flight from Manchester airport to Sydney for 2 August,the day after the end of my probation and just when MI6 wouldanticipate my departure. Friends who rang me were informed that thelast week in July was to be spent on a cycling tour of Scotland. Thiswould all be picked up by the UKZ telephone transcribers and relayedthrough the corridors of Vauxhall Cross.On 22 July an unexpected visit forced me to bring my plans forward. Atabout 11 a.m., as I was upstairs in my bedroom working on the internet,I heard the crunch of two sets of heavy footsteps on the gravel drive.Spying from behind a curtain, their odd and inappropriate clothingrevealed they were from SB. The elder was in a dark pin-stripe suit andheavy brogues, the younger in jeans and a blue fleece top; they lookedlike The Professionals with Bodie off sick.Presumably they wanted to question me, though about what I didn't know.I had not committed any new offence and SB had no business inquiringabout breaches of my probation conditions. I paid no attention whenthey rang the front door bell and ignored their banging on the backdoor. They must have known I was at home through surveillance, for theydid not give up easily and rang and banged until Jesse, now nearlystone deaf, heard the noise and started barking. Luckily I had lockedall the doors so they could not enter without using force. They wouldhave brought a bigger team if they had a warrant, so as long as I laylow, they would give up and go away. After a poke around the garden andoutbuildings, as if recceing the lie of the land for a later arrest,they trudged back up the drive some 40 minutes after their arrival.They would be back with a warrant and a bigger team, so there was nochoice but to leave. It took half an hour to pack. I had time for aquick lunch once my parents were back, said a fond goodbye to Jesse,knowing that I would never see her again, and put my two cases on theback seat of my mother's Saab. In case SB had posted surveillance, Ihid in the boot like Gordievsky until clear of the village. We arrived20 minutes later at Penrith railway station, from where the picturesquewest country line took me to the southern port city of Poole.The morning of 24 July broke cloudy and dull, like so many othersduring the summer of 1998. As planned, the terminal was thronging withfamilies and children, off to France on the first day of the schoolholidays. Flourishing my birth certificate, driving licence and creditcards at the harassed check-in girl at the `Truckline' counter, Iexplained that my passport had been stolen a few days earlier and,after some cursory questioning and a quick but nerve-wracking phonecall to her superior, she issued a boarding pass for the 1245 Cherbourgferry.With my luggage stowed, I went up on the promenade deck to catch mylast view of England and watched the myriad windsurfers and jetskiersflitting across our bows as we pulled out of Poole harbour. Just aspage- 203 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com
The Big Breach; From Top Secret to Maximum SecurityCompliments of http://www.192.comwhen I left the country two years earlier on my way to Spain, it gaveme no jubilation or triumph to slip from under the nose of MI6, justsadness that the dispute had ever arisen and that it was still notresolved.I hung back from the other foot-passengers as we disembarked atCherbourg and joined the back of the queue, thinking that if the Frenchcustoms officers stopped me it would be better not to hold up a line ofgrumbling holidaymakers. My caution was prudent because French customswere having one of their periodic clampdowns. As soon as I presented mylimited documentation and caught the sceptical glare of the FrenchDouane, it was evident that getting into France without a passportwould be harder than getting out of England. In rusty French, Iexplained to the first Douane my cover story; I had left my New Zealandpassport in Paris and travelled to England on my British passport,which had subsequently been stolen, and so needed to get back to Paristo pick up the New Zealand one. He called his boss over, who asked meto explain again. We were then joined by a third officer and my coverstory was starting to sound very thin even to my own ears. `C'estimpossible,' the first Douane told me repeatedly. `You must go back onthe next boat.' But after much discussion, grumbling and criticism ofthe English authorities for permitting me to travel, the senior officerallowed me to proceed. Grabbing my bags, I made a dash for theCherbourg train station, eager to get away before they changed theirminds. By 11 p.m., I was lodged in a cheap hotel on the Rue d'Amsterdamby the Gare St Lazare in Paris. The first part of my return to NewZealand had gone reasonably smoothly. Now, all that remained was topersuade the New Zealand High Commission in London to send my passportto Paris.The switchboards of the New Zealand embassy in Paris opened at 9 a.m.on the Monday morning and the receptionist put me through to KevinBonici, the second secretary in the consular section. He agreed to ringthe High Commission in London and request that my passport be sent overin the next diplomatic bag. It was a relief that he saw no objection toreturning it immediately. `Sure you can have it back. You've broken noNew Zealand law, and no French law,' he assured me. This sensibleattitude was encouraging, but a couple of hours later he rang me backagain. `We have new instructions from Wellington not to return yourpassport until the expiry of your licence on 1 August,' he explained.It was astonishing that Wellington had taken an interest in such atrivial incident - the MI6 liaison officer there must have swung hisaxe. Was not New Zealand a sovereign country with complete independencefrom the United Kingdom? Wellington had no legal justification torefuse to return my passport, as my breach of the OSA was not illegalin New Zealand or France. Guessing that Wellington's capitulation topressure from MI6 would be of interest to the New Zealand media, I ranga few journalists there.Their inquiries must have caused a bit of uneasiness in Wellington, forthe following morning, shortly after 10 a.m., Mary Oliver, the consulin Paris and Kevin Bonici's boss rang me. `Sure you can have yourpassport back,' she enthused. `Wellington have now issued a freshinstruction. You can collect it as soon as it arrives from London onFriday morning. Come round here at noon. I look forward to meetingyou.'page- 204 - To purchase the original limited edition hardback version of this bookplease call 08000 192 192 or go to http://www.192.com
Page 2:
The Big Breach; From Top Secret to
Page 5 and 6:
Page 8 and 9:
Page 10 and 11:
Page 12 and 13:
Page 14 and 15:
Page 17 and 18:
Page 19 and 20:
Page 21 and 22:
Page 23 and 24:
Page 25 and 26:
Page 27 and 28:
Page 29:
Page 32 and 33:
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
Page 42 and 43:
Page 44 and 45:
Page 46 and 47:
Page 48 and 49:
Page 50 and 51:
Page 52 and 53:
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57:
Page 58 and 59:
Page 60 and 61:
Page 62 and 63:
Page 65 and 66:
Page 67 and 68:
Page 70:
Page 73 and 74:
Page 75 and 76:
Page 77 and 78:
Page 79 and 80:
Page 81 and 82:
Page 83 and 84:
Page 85 and 86:
Page 87 and 88:
Page 89 and 90:
Page 91 and 92:
Page 93 and 94:
Page 95 and 96:
Page 97 and 98:
Page 99 and 100:
Page 101 and 102:
Page 103 and 104:
Page 105 and 106:
Page 107 and 108:
Page 109 and 110:
Page 111 and 112:
Page 113 and 114:
Page 115 and 116:
Page 117 and 118:
Page 119 and 120:
Page 121 and 122:
Page 123 and 124:
Page 125 and 126:
Page 127 and 128:
Page 129 and 130:
Page 131 and 132:
Page 133 and 134:
Page 135 and 136:
Page 137 and 138:
Page 139 and 140:
Page 141 and 142:
Page 143 and 144:
Page 145 and 146:
Page 147 and 148:
Page 149 and 150:
Page 151 and 152:
Page 153 and 154: The Big Breach; From Top Secret to
Page 203: The Big Breach; From Top Secret to
Page 243: The Big Breach; From Top Secret to
show all

The Big Breach - Index of

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?