Sitting on the bench, Dave could see over the wall and across the river, there was a little warmth in the sunshine, however the breeze blowing up the river was cooler. He sat alone, his phone in his hand. At exactly 10:30 Jane Goodley sat down beside him, there was about six inches between them. “Where’s Sally?” “I’m not sure, she was here earlier, but went off for a walk. Are you on your own, you didn’t bring anyone with you?” “No, why would I do that?” “You looked a little pissed off this morning.” “You can’t talk to people the way you did.” You were about to get a bollocking, I stepped in to make sure he read the report and that you would be OK. What went on when we were out the office?” “There were several discussions, the main one was about the Home Secretary and what to do with him…” She was interrupted by a voice from Dave’s phone, “It all looks clear, but I will keep watching.” “You don’t trust me?” “It’s not a question of trust, I need to be safe, go on.” “The Prime Minister has a dilemma, he has only been in position for a couple of weeks, he cannot sack him, it would make him appear unable to choose the right person. Politically, it would weaken him a little. He will speak to him this afternoon, I’m not sure what will happen after that.” “What about Sally and myself?” “You’re not all that popular, twice now you have brought down a Home Secretary.” “I didn’t bring them down, I found out their secrets, they brought it on themselves.” The sons business is likely to be raided before the end of the week, not by the local police, Revenue and Customs are going in directly without informing anyone locally. I would have told you both this if you had come into the building.” “Sally is listening as she is watching, I don’t want to have to pick up a visitors pass and be escorted round the building.” “David, there’s something else, there is to be a meeting regarding the Americans, we cannot get anything from them at the moment, they demand more and more. The Prime Minister was impressed with the way you were able to easily pick up the file, he wants to set up a meeting to discuss mutual co-operation with myself, the head of MI6 and the CIA, if it goes ahead, he wants you and Sally there.” “Sally, come back now,” a couple of minutes later, a smiling Sally was sitting on the other side of Jane, “I’m looking forward to shopping in America.” Jane said it would be a business trip, nothing else. The Prime Minister wants to talk to you later in the week, will you be back down on Friday?” “Maybe, I’m working on something for the MOD, I may be down for that, if you pay for the hotel, we could come down on Thursday afternoon. When you know when the meeting might take place, tell Sally, she would need to book time off work.” Jane stood up, she shivered briefly, “I will talk to you both soon.” She turned and walked away, Sally put her arm through Dave’s, they walked back towards the hotel arm in arm. Instead of collecting their luggage, they headed for the lounge, Sally ordered coffee and sandwiches as Dave was at reception, he booked a room for next Thursday. As they sat eating, the talk was of the meeting on the bench, Sally had heard most of it, she asked about bits she missed or didn’t understand. “What do you think he will do?” “I don’t know, personally, I would kick the shit out of him, then cut his balls off, but I don’t think that will happen. It will be kept quiet, he might even be left in place as a figurehead only, someone else would be calling the shots. I’m not sure he will be replaced. He could be promoted to the Lords to keep him out the way. I can’t get my head round a lot of this political intrigue. There is work to do at the MOD, but my heart isn’t in it today, shall we go home, pick up food, cook a meal, have a bottle of wine and an early night?” “I like the sound of the last part, let’s go.”
In the morning, Dave was more focussed, he read through the file he had been given in Hereford, it gave details of the mission, what had taken place and then the second mission the following night to look for the missing Fraser MacIntire. He wrote down the dates and who had taken part, He rang the Brigadier, he was in a meeting and would call him back when he was free. While he was waiting, he brought up the picture Sally had taken in Edinburgh, he cropped everything but the head, he logged into the Passport Office. The image was copied over, the system was set to look for a match. While he was waiting, he made another coffee and a sandwich for his lunch, he heard the front door open and then close, a voice was calling him from the bottom of the stairs, he shouted saying he was in the kitchen. Sally came in and kissed him, as he filled the kettle again, she asked how it was going. They both went upstairs carrying coffees, as he sat back down, he heard the shower running. The search on the computer had stopped, it had returned five possibilities, it was the fourth one that was the closest match. Fraser MacIntire was now Richard Shanks, he printed off all the details from the file. Sally was now in shorts and a tee shirt and on a chair beside Dave. “That’s him, does it say where he lives?” “Yes, there is an address in Broughty Ferry, Dundee.” “That didn’t take long, what are you going to do now?” He looked at his watch, “I don’t know, I’m waiting on a call from the Brigadier, I want to see the three others who took part in the operation, find out what happened. Sally was in the kitchen, Dave was in the garden cutting the grass, she had to go out to tell him the Brigadier was on the phone. “Sorry, I was in the garden,” Dave was walking upstairs as he was speaking. “Sir, I have three people I would like to speak to regarding the missing SAS soldier who has re-appeared. The Brigadier asked for names and service numbers, “Privates James Donaldson, Richard Thompson and Lieutenant Gregory Hinds, he gave the service number for each one. “Donaldson was killed in Afghanistan, Thompson has left the Army with no current location given, the Lieutenant is based in London Squadron at Regents Park.” Can you arrange for me to meet him at the MOD on Friday, preferably in the morning, the earlier the better, I may have another meeting later in the day.” The following morning there was an email confirming the time on Friday. Dave went for a run, Sally would be back just after 15:00, the train was an hour later. He ran his usual circuit twice, as well as the exercise, it helped him to clear his head and put everything in order. He showered and sat with a coffee, he had heard nothing from Jane Goodley, his hopes of being back in the MI5 building on Friday were gone. He had wondered about the meeting with the Prime Minister, again nothing had been heard. Sally came in, she kissed Dave as he was sitting in the lounge, “have you seen the news?” “No, I went out for a run, I was having a coffee before I finished the packing.” She had the remote in her hand and was switching on the TV, she flicked on to BBC News, scrolling along the bottom was a news flash saying the Home Secretary had been found dead in his car. “Shit, he must have thought there was no way out.” He phoned Jane Goodley, Howard her deputy said she was in a meeting, he didn’t know how long it would last. “What happened?” “I shouldn’t say, but it will come out later, there was a pipe from the exhaust into the car, he was found in the underground garage of his London flat.” Dave asked if Jane could call him if she had the chance, he slumped back on the sofa, Sally sat beside him saying nothing. His eyes were closed, a few minutes later, he sat up, “at least it’s a little bit of justice for all those young girls he had.” Unknown to Dave and Sally, that morning, the sons business had been raided. They were on the train when Jane Goodley called. Dave asked if there was anything she wanted him to do, “keep out of fucking politics, that’s what I want you to do.” She hung up and immediately regretted what she had said. There would be time for apologies later, right now she was stressed. The press were hounding the Home Office, the police and her department for more information, the Prime Minister had said there was to be no press release other than the information already given out. “I heard that, she sounded either really stressed or pissed off with you, maybe it’s a bit of both.” In the hotel, Sally put on the TV, there was no update, camera crews were outside the Home Office, the block of flats where Sir Alan Cunningham lived while he was in London and outside his Surrey home. There was speculation from the reporters as they had no information. Sky News had experts on talking about his career. Dave switched the TV off, “I’m not sure what will happen tomorrow, do you want to come with me to the MOD or go shopping, if it’s shopping, you must be ready to stop if we have to go to a meeting.” Dinner and the rest of the evening were quiet, Dave couldn’t put his finger on what it was that was bugging him, he had never met the Home Secretary, for whatever reason he hadn’t liked Dave, he was a cruel and nasty man, but yet Dave felt sorrow for him. When they were in bed, he explained his thoughts to Sally. “I don’t know what to say, as you have said on many occasions, you only find out what people have been up to, it wasn’t you who made them do it, they are only sorry when they are caught. Dave, what would you choose, shame or death?” “Shame, you can always begin again somewhere you are not known, there is no comeback from death.” He put out the light, Sally kissed him gently on the cheek, she told him she loved him, her head rested on his outstretched arm.
Dave was up first, he showered then put his suit on, Sally lingered in bed until the last moment. “Come on, get up, I have a meeting at 09:00,” “I’m staying here a little longer, come up and see me before you go, I will be in Oxford Street later.” Dave ate alone, he returned to the room to pick up his briefcase, Sally was now in the shower, he waited for the water to be switched off before going in, he kissed a wet, naked Sally, she wanted to wrap her arms round him but he moved out the way. “I’ll see you later, listen for your phone ringing, one last thing, do you want to stay an extra night, if not, have a porter take down the luggage.” He kissed her again and was gone. He checked with reception at the MOD, he had been given an interview room on the first floor. It was 08:50, the phone in the room rang, he was told his visitor was waiting for him. They stopped at the coffee machine on the way up, Lieutenant Hinds was dressed in civilian clothes, in the room Dave introduced himself, they shook hands, Dave explained who he was and what he did, “I’m investigating an incident in which you were involved in several years ago.” “I’m sorry but unless I have authorisation, I cannot say anything.” Dave opened his case and took out the file, he passed it over for the lieutenant to read, “I already have the file, it only gives me facts, I want to know what happened. If you need to call for authorisation, use the phone, I will wait outside if you want. I spent six months training in Hereford, I understand your position.” No phone call was made. “We were sent out as a patrol, we were attached to a group of regulars training in Arctic warfare and survival. Thompson was ill so there were only three of us who set out, the base we were sent to check out was around ten miles from our position. Although the snow was deep, it was firm and we made good progress, we checked our position, we were just over the border into Russia, the base we were looking for was located around two miles further on. We carried on, more slowly, looking out for patrols, there was nothing, when we saw lights we dug in. From our position we could see huts, lights and vehicles, our task was to recon only, find out the size of the camp, identify the troops if possible and get out. It should have been an easy job. As he was a fluent Russian speaker, Mack said he would move forward, see if he could gather any further intel. I gave him strict instructions, one hour travelling each way, thirty minutes to find out what he could. We never saw him again, we waited three hours, myself and Donaldson searched a mile each way from our position, there was no sign, we pulled back, and returned to our base, the next night with Thompson no better, we went back to look for MacIntire, we found our position from the previous night, we could see a much stronger presence in the area, there were now floodlights trained round the fence. I suspected he had been captured or killed, I didn’t think he would be held there, more than likely he was now in Murmansk.” We returned to join the training camp, I reported to my superior the situation, we were recalled to London, you have my report, there isn’t any more to add.” “What do you think happened, this won’t form any part of a report.” “I think he was either killed or captured.” “If he had been captured, he would have been paraded in front of the world press. Why was he chosen?” “He was good at his job and as I said earlier he was fluent in Russian.” “I think that is everything, I don’t have any further questions.” “May I ask why you are investigating this now?” “You may, but I won’t be answering. Thank you for the background.” They shook hands at the exit barriers, Dave returned to the interview room, he sat back in his chair thinking, the door opened, “I saw on the screen he had gone, I thought I would come and see you, rather than you come up to my office, how did it go?” “Sir I’m not much further on, I was trying to work out what happened. There had been no shots, gunfire would have been heard for miles around. I think he walked in and gave himself up, why, I don’t know, but I will try to find out, anything online has been wiped. I might have work for some of your researchers. I will decide what I want and let you know.” “David, will you tell me what is going on, not with this case, you know what I mean, the whole of Whitehall is awash with rumours.” Sir, I can’t,” “David, you once told me that your first loyalty, other than to the Country was to the MOD,” “Who wants to know?” “The Chief,” then let’s go up to his office.” Upstairs, after a phone call Dave and the Brigadier were shown into the Chief of the Defence Staff’s office. “Sir, before I start, I don’t want what I say being spread around like office gossip, I’m in a very difficult position. I’m sure the Defence Secretary knows, why haven’t you asked him?” “He isn’t taking any calls unless it’s an emergency.” “OK, I don’t want this repeating, if it comes out as being leaked from here, then the finger will be pointed at me. You are obviously aware the Home Secretary killed himself, I don’t think it was a government wet job, the Prime Minister doesn’t have the guts to do that. His MI5 file was a whitewash, I obtained the file held by the CIA when I was in the US, I handed it over on Tuesday to the Prime Minister. I will not say what was in it. That is about all there is, please don’t press me further, that’s enough information to give you an understanding of what happened. I was supposed to see the PM and the head of MI5 today, but I think it will be cancelled. If you need me, I will either be at Flemings Hotel or on my way home.” Sally had booked an extra night, Dave lay on the bed, he drifted in and out of sleep. It was 17:00 when Sally came into the room, she didn’t have many bags, she explained saying her heart wasn’t in it. “I booked for tonight. I had hoped it would be better than last night, but I don’t think it will, how did you get on?” “I’m not much further forward, I think there is a lot of research to do, but you won’t be doing it, it’s mostly phone calls and checking for information.” She lay down beside him, “Anything from Jane?” He shook his head.
Sally had a gin and tonic, Dave a whisky and water, they were standing in the bar before they went into dinner. A porter was in the bar looking, he saw Dave and Sally, “excuse me sir, there is a car waiting outside for you.” They looked at each other, “Would you ask the driver where we are going, if he won’t tell you, bring him in please.” The porter returned with the driver, “Mr. Stretton, Ms. Fellowes, I am to take you to Downing Street.”
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