BEYOND THE PALE: ( The Outlander ) Read online

  He worked at a long bench row of desks that accommodated five surveillance officers and their array of multiple interactive screens. You wouldn’t find any personal items or clutter on these desks; they were hot desks which had to also serve the team members from all the rota shifts who manned these offices all day, and every day. There were four other set-ups like this each in a separate room. It made sense to organize it this way because of the noise from five Surveillance officers all talking on communicators whilst trying to concentrate was bearable, whereas the cacophony from twenty such officers working together was not.

  Each officer was allocated a random selection of automated surveillance feeds. There were so many that they appeared on continually updating lists which displayed the higher ranking priorities at the top. Each entry represented a citizen who was under surveillance. A priority codes of five, meant that they were inactive and no threat; perhaps asleep or at home. A priority of four meant that they were active but posed no threat. A priority of three or above required the intervention of a surveillance officer. The priority codes could be automatically changed by the computer system. When a surveillance system or camera noted that a target was moving out of its scope of monitoring, it raised the code to a three designating that it needed certain intervention. Priority codes one and two were usually raised at the discretion of a watching surveillance officer. A code two was employed when a local asset needed to be mobilised to follow a target. A code one priority required the urgent apprehension and arrest of a target. The codes did not reflect the importance of the targeted individual, but only the change in circumstances to their surveillance. The targets could be arbitrarily chosen by any Security or Intelligence Officer from the Interior Office. Only they could open or close a case; the system just managed their surveillance.

  Like most of his colleagues, Stanton cared little for who these targets were, or what they were supposed to have done. If he wanted to know, there was a brief note section which outlined the nature of the threat concerning the particular target. Alan Stanton prided himself on his multi-tasking abilities which were definitely a core requirement for this job. He usually had a number of code threes on the go and was quite competent in managing them. The threes would flash at the top of list on his management console. If he did not action an intervention within 60 seconds, an alarm would sound on his system. If he didn’t action it within 90 seconds, it would pass on to another surveillance officer. When this happened it reflected poorly on the initial surveillance officer. He was already managing one code three when he saw the system had raised a new priority three which had started flashing on his management console. He clicked on it almost immediately, which brought the camera feed up on one of eight divided sections on his large forty inch display. In an adjoining screen section, it showed some relevant notes regarding this particular target and her local environment. Her name was Audrina Carlson and she had just ‘clocked out’ at her workplace which was Gold Shield Securities in the financial zone. Stanton watched her coming down a steep escalator to the ground floor plaza at Gold Shields. She was a pretty young woman wearing a smart trouser suit and a chic silk scarf head wrap. It was just after six o’clock, so he assumed that she maybe heading home for the day. He clicked on her present GPS location, and a new separate display of available CCTV, surveillance cameras, and CPS officers or plain clothes assets in the local area were revealed. He commandeered a street CCTV feed that watched the front of the building. He was presently watching her on Gold Shields own security cameras, but he needed to know in which direction she would be heading once she reached the street. Her notes said that she usually took a taxi home from a nearby taxi rank. He also read that she had a linked association with a priority code one target named Eli River whose present whereabouts were unknown. The case notes advised that her priority should be raised accordingly if she appeared to be making a rendezvous with the linked target.

  Stanton watched her walk past the taxi rank and head down the street. He watched her for a while not sure whether to raise the priority. His local information display identified available surveillance cameras, and he would switch from one to the next with a single touch of the screen. It was when he saw her walk up the stairway to the Elevated Metro station, that he raised the priority to a code two. He searched for a working metro camera and found a platform fish eye camera which was not really practical for him. Stanton was also concerned that the metro trains only had fixed cameras in their carriages which were insufficient for his needs. Priority code two allowed him to commandeer any available plain clothes asset or CPS officer in the local zone. He could only find a CPS enforcement officer who was both nearby and available. So he activated a status 2 alert to commandeer him from his current duty assignment. When the officer acknowledged, Stanton connected to the man’s ear piece instructing him to conduct ‘eyes on target’ until she reached her destination. He quickly forwarded a screen shot which he had taken of Audrina as she was coming down the escalator at Gold Shields. This appeared on the CPS enforcement officer’s personal visual display. By now he had reached the stairway of the metro station and was bounding up them. He scanned both platforms from a vantage point and saw a girl wearing the same outfit who appeared to be the target. He joined her on the platform and when Stanton saw him appear in view of his platform camera, he confirmed with him that he had ‘eyes on the target’.

  When Audrina boarded the next train, so did the officer. Stanton asked him to maintain a discreet distance so as not to discourage the target from following her intended route, and to follow her wherever she exited. Sure enough, when Audrina stood up to exit at the next stop, the CPS officer got ready to exit too. He capped his hand discreetly over his mouth piece and said the word ‘Berkley’ quietly to warn the Surveillance Officer. Stanton immediately conducted a search for local surveillance assets in the Berkley Station area. He also commandeered the station platform camera and was able to watch Audrina waiting for the train to leave before disappearing into a passageway in the direction of the exit.

  “Follow her please but keep your distance. This target may be downgraded to a code 3 because she lives here in Berkley,” Stanton briefed the CPS officer.

  The uniformed officer hung back a good fifty yards from the Audrina who was walking at a slow pace and lagging behind all the other exiting passengers. He didn’t want to risk getting closer, and he could still watch from a distance. He could see that the lift at the end of the passageway was out of action and an engineer in a boiler suit and cap was working on the door. Many of the exiting passengers were still trying to get in and use it and the engineer appeared to be directing them to use the stairs instead. When the target walked by the lift, she appeared to ask the lift engineer likewise, except this time the engineer removed the out of order sign and let her onboard. As the doors of the lift started closing, the uniformed CPS officer started to run towards it but he failed to catch the doors before they shut. It hadn’t moved yet, but the doors would not open. So he breathlessly warned Stanton on his communicator that the target was proceeding to ground level by lift and that he had lost ‘eyes on’ contact.

  “That is okay, Officer,” Stanton reassured him. “Take the stairs and see if you can view her exiting the ticket barriers. I have a plain clothes asset ready and available to follow her from the station entrance. As soon as she confirms ‘eyes on’, you can disengage.”

  The officer then raced down the two flights of stairs and was surprised to actually beat the lift to the ground level. He was able to calmly watch inconspicuously as Audrina exited the lift and passed through the ticket barriers.

  Stanton was now in communication contact with the plain clothes officer that was waiting by the station entrance. When this woman identified Audrina as the target, she let Stanton know, who then dismissed the previous uniformed officer without even a thank you.

  These plain clothes officers were available assets to the surveillance officers. There would always be a few plain clothes officers on du
ty in each zone of each District. Their work schedules were kept purposely free in order to make them available assets for surveillance or to arrest targets. They were expert at being inconspicuous and at following targets with practiced stealth.

  This lady officer kept her distance as she followed her target for three blocks to her apartment. She stood back discreetly and watched her target swipe her door pass and enter through the door.

  When it appeared to Stanton that Audrina had actually gone home, he lowered the priority code to a Three and dismissed the plain clothes officer. He managed to commandeer the building’s internal CCTV which monitored the stairs, lifts, and hallways, but when he saw the target enter her apartment, he lowered the priority code to a four and marked his own actions as non pertinent. As he disengaged his own intervention from her ongoing surveillance, the computer system automatically took over. Stanton however was already actively engaged on another priority three case.

  Another CPS officer, Major Nathan Carlson was sitting nearby in a non service vehicle. He had activated the time freeze program on his own inbuilt surveillance inputs as soon as he knew Audrina had reached Berkley. There would be no record of him parking opposite his daughters address, and his location would not appear on any Surveillance Officers local information display. Personally he had found it easy enough to spot the plain clothes officer that had been following his daughter. He recognised all the signs, the slow pace, the quiet discreet talking into a hidden police communicator and the serious look on her face. He watched the front door close to his daughter’s apartment building, to which he had yet to be invited. He then waited for the plain clothes officer to disengage, and knew that she had stepped down once he saw her openly talking on her communicator. Whilst he still watched her walking away, he became aware of his rear door of his car opening and someone sitting down behind him.

  “Hello Daddy,” Nathan turned around to return Audrina’s greeting. She was wearing a boiler suit and had a cap pulled down over her face.

  Meanwhile in Audrina’s apartment, Anton kicked off the uncomfortable shoes and removed his wig and head scarf. This was not his first time here, and so he helped himself to a one of the beers that he had previously left in her refrigerator. Returning to sit and relax on Audrina’s couch, he reached out for her home entertainment remote whilst he rested his beer can on his fake pregnancy bump.

  Chapter Forty Two

  Due to his union position and his supervisory responsibilities, Ramesh was used to having the complete freedom of the freight port. Therefore it felt uncomfortably awkward and strange for him to be furtively sneaking about on foot with a large set of wire cutters. He headed to the perimeter fence between the staff vehicle park and the export container park and started to cut an access path through two parallel rows of chain-link fences. When he was done, he whistled and River and Isa appeared from out of the shadows and crawled quickly through. Both of them had dressed in the typical working clothes of a port stevedore. Ramesh had also given them the specific hard hats and high-vis vests needed in order to help them blend in down under. He had been able to conceal them in the back of his vehicle when he drove through the security check points at the main entrance. But he did not want the brothers appearing on camera, which they would have if they passed through the security gate between the vehicle park and the work zones.

  Once inside the export container park, the three walked quietly and stealthily following Ramesh’s lead. They stayed in the shadows of the high stacks of containers which were waiting to leave New Denver. Of course it didn’t matter if he was seen, but Ramesh knew that if he was seen here in the company of River and Isa he would be in big trouble with Shondran.

  He found the correct container that he was looking for. It was on the ground and ninth in a long row of containers stacked five high. To anyone else it was completely non-descript, but Ramesh recognised it and noted the broken security tag. He ushered the two brothers inside and pulled the door too without closing it, and switched on a low light.

  “This will be going down to the export bay in level 5 early tomorrow. You said that a westerly tunnel on sub level 5 would make it easier for you. I will be on duty there, so I will find it and open it up at the right moment when you can slip away,” Ramesh looked a little forlorn at the thought.

  “I will always remember what a good friend you are to me,” said River with sincerity.

  “Yes I will miss you River, like a finger misses a splinter,” Ramesh joked to hide his real feelings. He pointed to a small crate. “Anyway there is a supply of dried food and water, some rope and some torches in the box. There is an oxygen flask in case of emergency and two breathing masks…” Ramesh had not finished listing his catalogue, but he trailed off when he saw the mutual expressions on both River and Isa’s faces. He turned around slowly to see a CPS Security Officer standing by the open door with his pistol drawn and pointing it at them.

  “Now gentlemen, raise your hands and place them behind your head and turn to face the wall,” said Nathan. He then walked towards them with his pistol ready to make sure they followed his instructions. Standing behind Ramesh, he patted him down and removed his weapons. He then walked behind Isa and removed his knives and lastly disarmed River of a taser and a stun shot being very careful and wary at all times of River’s lightening reflexes. He then backed up in the direction of the entrance and placed their weapons in a pile by the door.

  “Gentlemen, I am sorry for my interruption to your nefarious scheme. However this young man…” - he said referring to River who had spurned every attempt Nathan had made to contact him, “…doesn’t like to stay in contact. He doesn’t visit and he doesn’t even write. Well that is what happens when they leave home. However I must say what a pleasure it is to see you again Isa. And I am also pleased to make your acquaintance Ramesh.”

  Ramesh looked wholly confused and had turned slightly to his right to look at River and Isa. They appeared to be equally confused but obviously knew this security officer. Ramesh considered Shondran’s doubts about River, and was now wondering whether he had been entrapped by his supposed friend.

  River spoke first, “What do you intend to do with us?” he meekly asked his old friend Nathan.

  “Well I don’t know, I thought maybe I might crack open a six pack of beer and wish you ‘bon voyage’ but then I remembered that you don’t drink.” Nathan’s reply came in a tone that seemed very cordial and light hearted. He had also lowered his gun.

  Ramesh, River and Isa all remained perplexed as they slowly turned around to look at the security officer. They each still held their arms behind their heads.

  “Gentlemen, I am playing with you. Please relax; I am not on duty here and you can carry on with whatever you were doing, but I think you have another friend here that also wants to see you off.”

  For some reason none of the three felt comfortable yet to lower their hands. They still stood in arrest mode watching utterly perplexed whilst he signalled with his hand outside the door. And they still remained as such when Audrina walked in the door wearing a boiler suit and a cap. River watched her mesmerized as she walked towards him. She had a tearful but joyful look in her eye. He completely forgot about any thoughts of arrest, and dropping his arms he bounded towards her and grabbed a hold of her, embracing her long and hard. Then still holding on to her, he dropped to his knees and started kissing her small pregnancy bump. Ramesh and Isa watched avidly and slowly lowered their own arms, relaxing out of their arrest stance. Isa scrutinized Audrina and then looked at his brother who appeared so smitten. He wondered whether Audrina had cast a spell of glamour over him, but had to accept that they seemed to be genuinely in love. Nathan avidly watched the scene with his daughter as well, yet he had mixed emotions about it. Ignoring those thoughts, he retained command of the situation and suggested to Ramesh and Isa that they all go outside for a breather to allow River and his daughter a bit of privacy. He had holstered his weapon and now he offered his hand to greet Ramesh and Isa.
After they had both shaken it with weak enthusiasm, Nathan walked them towards the door with open arms across both their backs, herding them outside.

  Once alone, Audrina knelt down to mirror River’s position and started to kiss him passionately.

  “I have waited to do that for such a long time. I love you so much River. I am so sorry for the way I treated you,” she said through stifled tears.

  “I never could forget how I felt with you. I couldn’t be with any other girl, I only wanted you,” River replied telling the truth.

  “I don’t want you to leave, but I don’t want you to stay here if you are in danger. Maybe I can come with you.” Her request surprised him, and Audrina appeared genuine.

  “It is too dangerous for you to come with me and Isa, and you’re pregnant. Look after that baby, and make sure he is born naturally without anyone manipulating him in your womb”

  “Yes sweetheart, I know. Anton has already told me of your fears. You know he loves you too, but not like I do.” Audrina slipped her hand inside River’s shirt as if to prove her point. “The baby is going to be fine. I cannot wait to see his little face. I am going to love him so badly.”