Baines stood up and smiled over to the MI5 director "Thanks for coming, I am fully aware as to how busy you are. So, I'll start by asking. Do you know Michael Rickers?"
The witness looked at Michael then at Baines "Yes I know him. I've met him on a few occasions"
"And what is your opinion of him generally? How does he seem to you? Rational? Logical?"
"Well, his methods seem to show a sense of logic but he does sometimes acts upon emotion. I doubt I could ever say he is of a complete stable rational mind and I would go on to say that he can so easily become a danger to the general public"
Baines was stunned. His eyes grew wide and his head tilted to one side. This wasn't what they had discussed beforehand. He needed to ask something else and try an hope it wasn't noticed.
"So even if that is how you think of him generally. I might ask how he performs out on the field? Was of good use for the service? As in create another way in which the desired goal could be reached?"
"I won't doubt for a moment that he can hold his own in a fist fight. I suppose a military background in one way or another does that to anybody. I should know and you would probably know that too, admiral. Though in respect to good use for MI5, that's where I have to stop you. I know that his father worked with MI6 in the Cold War and did a few operation with 5. However I'm afraid I have to say that Michael has never worked for or on behalf of the service at any point in time"
"What!" Baines shouted out. Michael and most of the group were on their feet. There was commotion and noise from everyone.
"SILENCE!" The Major General roared. The room fell silent "All of you sit down"
Everyone sat as instructed except for the MI5 director as he had no seat. Simmons looked around and waited till he was satisfied that there was order.
"Rear Admiral Baines, you may continue your examination"
Baines stood up and nodded to the Major General. His face was sullen, he didn't know where to go from this. He stood but looked at the table in front of him. He looked at his papers for inspiration but got none. He wiped his face his his left hand to ponder a bit a longer.
"Ok" He started. Everyone in the public gallery watched on in trepidation. Baines took a nice long breath. "In my papers here I have example after example of cases where Michael has done work for MI5 plus I have his bank statement showing where you paid in after the success of those missions. This is proof that he has worked for you. Am I wrong? Also I may remind you of the consequences if you are found to be lying"
Baines picked up sheets of paper and held them out on display. One of men standing on guard quickly approached the admiral, took the papers off him and handed over to the director in the witness stand. The director took his time to read over the documents and read them a second time and a third to be sure of there contents. The room was silent with only the sound of paper ruffling.
Baines hands were sweaty. Everyone was now relying on him to turn this whole thing around. Michael stared blankly at the table, he was still in a state of shock. His face was turning pale and his eyes were wide and vacant.
The director held a sheet in each hand and quickly scanned one then the other and back again.
"Hmm" He murmured.
With each hand Baines rubbed the palm with his fingers to wipe the sweat. He licked his lips and swallowed. His eyes blinking more than average. All coping strategies to dealing with stress, but they hardly worked. His mind was in overdrive and was having a hard time making sensible and rational thoughts.
"Right, having looked at this now I do see that there has been deposits in this account, and they do coincide with the dates on the other document as you say"
Baines took a sigh of relief and so everyone else, but it was premature .
"But, there is a major problem here. The account where the money has come from is not used and has never been used by MI5. Also I have no recollection of these supposed missions"
"So what you saying? I'm lying?" Baines asked incredulously.
"Not you, him" He pointed at Michael "That man is a cold hearted killer who bullies and intimidates who he likes, when he likes and shows no remorse or respect for anyone but himself. And he thinks he can get away with it because he comes up with these elaborate stories of working with the security services. He is a cold blooded murderer plain and simple"
Miko jumped up from her seat "You double crosser!" She hissed as she raced toward the witness box. She didn't get far as one of the grey suits got in the way and grabbed her.
"Get her out of here" Simmons ordered. He looked at the over animated teenager. "You control your temper young lady. Cool off outside and you'll be allowed back in once you can prove you can keep a lid on that temper of yours"
He told the grey suit to take her away. Bulkhead's hologram and June got out of their seats and excused themselves to the foyer as well.
Simmons addressed the admiral again "Do you have any further questions?"
Baines stared at the director in utter disbelief "No, sir. I don't" he sat back down defeated and damn right angry.
Simmons gestured to Barnaby. He could sense that something definitely wasn't right but he was unable to do anything about it. He had to stay impartial which meant he couldn't question whether the witness was lying as that would imply a bias to one side.
Barnaby got up and gave a nice warm smile to the MI5 director "So, you say that Mr Rickers has never worked for the security services?"
"That is correct"
"I too have this list here of all the cases when Mr Rickers supposedly worked for you. Nearly all of these cases revolves around the death of certain individuals. So if you were to say that he did work for you, would that mean he had been assassinating people for the security services?"
"That would be the case. Though I would like to stress that we are bound by international law from both the United Nations and the European Union which both have charters of human rights. Both charters start with the right to life. That means we cannot and do not go out to kill those, not matter how bad or evil they are. So the notion that we would employ anybody to kill is absurd"
"Looking at the list, these are certain individuals that you had under surveillance. May I ask the reason behind that?"
"Most of them on the list are big time criminals who dealt with class A drugs and weapons smuggling. One is a human trafficking ring leader bringing in people from mostly Romania to the UK to be used in further crimes. Some are known potential terrorist by AQ and other networks we are concerned about, but mostly crime related"
"And the last one on the list. The former Carbombain military dictator Abdul Fakkadi. What was the purpose of watching him?"
"Where do I start? A self proclaimed supreme leader of a failed state, threatening international shipping on the former country's coastline. After the country was broken up we were concerned about where he went and what he would go on to do next"
"But was there a need to silence him for good?"
"No, he lead a fanatical faction yes, but all they were was just words, nothing more"
"So Michael was never instructed to eliminate him?"
"That is correct"
Baines shot up from his seat "I have to object to this. The facts behind the death of Abdul Fakkadi was never discovered. Their was no proof that Michael made the killing shot"
"But the bullet was a NATO round. Was it not?" Barnaby countered.
"Still doesn't proof anything. Was the gun that fired the round ever traced? No" He addressed the panel "I want it to be noted that this is not evidence and it should be struck off from the record. This is merely hearsay, not proof of any wrong doing. There is no evidence that Michael was at the scene or had the gun or fired the killing shot"
The Major General looked at the papers in front of him on his desk "I too am familiar with that particular case and I have to agree with you admiral" He looked and stared at Barnaby "What you are insinuating is not actual evidence. So I will instruct you to cease this line of questioning and move on"
"Sorry, sir" Barnaby apologized to the panel then turned his attention back to the witness "So forgetting about that particular case, we can say for sure that he was behind the deaths of all the others and he did not in fact have any form of approval from you or MI5?"
"That is completely correct"
"So there we have it" Barnaby said to the whole room "This is solid proof that Michael is not only a dangerous criminal, but he has created a web of lies so big it has fooled everyone in the gallery. Also it shows that he poses a real danger to the general public so I recommend to the panel that they send this case onwards to the criminal court to be put under public trial"
Barnaby sat down, looking all smug. Baines couldn't stop glaring at both him and the MI5 director.
The three panel members conferred. Simmons addressed the witness "We have no questions for you. So you are free to go"
The director bowed and silently made his exit.
"Is their any more evidence that either side would like to present at this point?" Simmons asked.
Both Baines and Barnaby had no more to give.
"Well then I would like to adjourn this hearing while we deliberate and come do a decision"
The three panel members got up from their seats along with everyone else and the three marched out to the double doors.
"Get out of here before I loose my patients with you" Baines threatened Barnaby.
"You do that and I'll have you for assault" Barnaby grinned as he packed his papers into his fake leather brief case "Has anyone ever told you that you are a bad loser?" He picked up his briefcase and trotted off towards the door and left.
Baines knew better than to let his emotions get the better of him. He looked back at Michael. His eyes were cold and dark, his fists were clenched tight.
"Michael? You okay?" Baines asked.
Michael said nothing.
"Lets go back to your room shall we?"
Back up on the forth floor in the room, Michael was sat on the end of the bed silent. His back slumped over, his head rested in his hands.
"Whoever they are, they have a very effective way of turning people" Baines commented, standing in front of the window, looking out. The sky was still grey "He told me he was going to say the exact opposite to what he just said back down there"
"Fat lot of good that did" Michael grumbled.
Elita sat down next to Michael on the bed "Surely there must be something you can do?" She asked the admiral.
"Like what? He was supposed to be the star witness. I can't come up with anything that can counter balance that"
"Surely we can make him see reason and change his mind"
"He won't"
"What makes you so sure?"
"If he did, then he would be admitting that he was lying. That in itself would start a whole new tribunal that would decide whether he was telling the truth in other cases. He might as well resign if he did that. Whatever made him change his mind means more to him than his own job and reputation"
Optimus leaned against a wall "What do you think will happen now?"
Baines turned around to face them all "Most likely is they will do as Mr Barnaby suggested and send the case onto the courts. It'll go straight to the magistrates who will immediately defer it to the crown court. However this time it won't be private, his face will be all over the news and I fear he might not get a full and frank fair trial"
"So we must find out who is behind this before it goes further" Optimus said.
"Considering how busy the magistrates can be, it could take a week, maybe a bit longer till they will have a chance to see this case. After that it might as well be game over"
There was a knock at the door. Baines went over opened it sharply.
A grey suit was there "Sir, the panel have reconvened"
"Thank you" Baines replied and promptly shut the door back in front of him.
Baines stepped back toward the centre of the room "Time to go" He told Michael.
Elita rubbed Michaels shoulder.
Everyone was back in the tribunal room. Baines and Barnaby sat at their places as before along the long table opposite the panel. The Autobot's holograms and the rest of the humans were sat in the row of seats while Michael was stood dead centre between them all. His body straight, shoes touched together, his white cap tucked under his left arm.
"Cadet Rickers. This tribunal was established to look into the reasons behind why you destroyed a classified file and to work out whether you are deemed a risk to the general public. We have seen and listened to the evidence put before us carefully and with great detail" Simmons paused. "In light of what we have seen we have decided that you pose a threat to the safety and well being of the people of this country and we will send this case onto the Crown Prosecution Service and let them decide whether they believe there is a case to be heard in court"
Their was a various amount of reactions from the gallery, Raff cried with Jack and Miko comforting him, June was in tears herself. Fowler was stoical. The holograms hung their heads in pity and remorse. Baines was blank, no emotion. He knew it was coming.
"Further more. Until a date is finalized for a court hearing, it is the conclusion of this panel that you Cadet Rickers are to be taken from this place and held in remand at Her Majesties Prison Southwark and not to be granted bail until given so by the magistrates court"
Michael hung his head as two police officers quietly stepped up behind Michael. One took his cap off him as the other placed hand cuffs on behind Michael's back.
The police officers guided Michael out of the square and towards the double doors and into the foyer. Barnaby gave a quick smile at Michael as he passed.
The Autobots and the others including Baines got up and followed Michael out into the foyer. They watched as Michael was led out of the building into the street. Outside waiting parked up on the street was a Metropolitan Police van. The rear door and the cage was open and ready. Michael was led down the steps and toward the back of the van. He stepped up and slid into the cage and sat on a bench. The officers moved back out and slammed the cage closed. Michael gave one pleading look to the others before the back doors were slammed shut. It was a face that simply said help.
The officers got in the front and the van drove off with a car escort waiting at the end of the street. The sirens wailed and yelped as they raced off into the busy London traffic.
The children burst into tears. Seeing a friend so cruelly taken away was too much for them.
Baines shook his head. It shouldn't have happened. They outsmarted him. They knew what he was going to do. They had succeeded and he was still nowhere closer to finding out who they were.
"We'll get him back admiral" Fowler spoke coming to stand beside him.
"I so hope you are right Mr Fowler. I so hope you are"
June was shepherding the children back inside the hotel with the holograms following. Baines and Fowler had decided to get out of the cold as well and they too started to follow the rest back inside.
Baines' mobile rang. He huffed, now was not the best of times to be getting a call.
"Yes" He answered.
"When?" He asked with a with a sense of urgency.
"Well who sent it?" He listened to the reply.
"Right, I'll be there as soon as" He hung up.
He quickly caught up with the others inside the foyer "Optimus, Elita" He called, they stopped for what he wanted "You need to come with me right now. You too Fowler"
They didn't argue and the four or them quickly headed back into the street.
"What do we do?" Arcee called to Baines.
"Stay here, go back to base. Your call" He shouted back while passing through the door. Arcee didn't know what to make of it.
The four got to Baines' black Jaguar. They got in with Optimus riding up front with Elita and Fowler in the back. Baines started the car up and pulled off down the street.