Simon Pegson was dressed in grey prison clothing, he was around fifty, had once been fit, possibly a rugby player, but a lot of the muscle had now turned to fat. Jane stood away from the table, she watched as Dave sat down. He had no paperwork or notes.
“Simon Pegson, we have just been looking at your phones, the private one is very interesting,” his head came up to look at Dave. “Yes, you thought an iPhone was secure, but we now have a list of contacts, investigators are, as we speak, looking at the emails, when I have finished with you, I will have a much clearer picture of what is going on.”
“If you’re so fucking smart, then why am I here?”
“Several reasons, one is to see the look of fear on your face, you know there will never be a trial, you won’t have your day in court. You will die whilst on remand, I hope it is me who is chosen. I will make it slow and very painful, or we could have one of the relatives of those killed or maimed at Kings Cross. I like the Mafia version, they cut your cock and balls off and stick them in your mouth, they then let you bleed to death. The other option might be to declare you insane and have you locked up in one of the secure mental hospitals, they have a much more respectable name now, but you get where I’m coming from.
I want information from you, you can either tell me or I will beat it out of you, no one will bother about your injuries when you go back to prison. They might even put you in with the general population instead of the segregation unit you are on.” There was a look of fear on his face. “It’s up to you. I want to know who is behind this, it will save me a lot of time, there is another bombing planned, I want to know where and when.”
“I am Simon Pegson, an MP and member of the Patriotic League. I will not tell you anything, you are establishment puppets. I will make sure it is you who ends up dead.” Dave hit him in the face, his nose exploded, Jane looked away. The handcuffed hands went up to cover his face.
“Patriotic League, you’re just a bunch of fucking useless anarchists. You don’t give a fuck about the population in this country, you want power for yourself. I’ve seen your type before, use others to do your dirty work, then try to take over. The world is full of useless wankers like you. If you ever succeeded, you would be swept aside by those paying you, they couldn’t give a fuck about you.” With that, he walked out followed by Jane. “I’m sorry, your prisoner fell over, you might need a tissue for the blood. We’re finished now, you can take him back.”
Jane said it had been a waste of time. “It hasn’t, did you see him, he kept looking at the clock, something is happening today. We have to find it out what it is.” In the office, Harriet was waiting to talk to them. “The money comes in from abroad, I have the details, but I can’t understand all the numbers.”
“Print it out, I will look. Jane go through the emails, look for a reference to Christmas Eve or the 24th December, we have to find it. Janice, wait for Jane to give you some email addresses. Start checking them, you are looking for references for today.” He sat down next to Jane. “There’s something else, this is all too amateurish, nothing is encrypted, there is very little attempt at secrecy, it’s like we are meant to find out.”
He phoned Cyrus Grantly. “Why didn’t you send me all the information I asked for? People are going to die today and it might be down to you.” Dave listened to the reply, “Cyrus, I don’t give a fuck about your relations with other countries, get your boss to phone me and he can explain why you didn’t send me all the information. I’m not asking for a favour or anything like that, I’m demanding, If I don’t hear within the next hour, then I will assume cooperation between our two countries is finished.”
Jane looked at him. “You can’t say that, it’s down to ministers to sort that out.”
“Keep looking.” Harriet handed him a sheet with a long string of numbers, it was the details of the foreign bank account, Dave wrote down the numbers she needed, a few minutes later she called him over. “It’s an Italian bank, there is over 300m euros in the account.”
“Print out the account details, see if you can find out where their money comes from, I will look for the owners.” Sitting back down at his laptop, he typed in ‘Cemento Milano’ and the address, there was no web site listed for the company. Using Google Maps, he looked for the address, it was a small hairdressers in a run down part of Milan. The name on the account was Davide Bianco, he knew enough Italian to know the name was David White. He looked at the Italian equivalent of Companies House, it listed Davide Bianco as the sole director, the address was the same. Dave saw his date of birth, he searched with the name and date of birth, six other companies came up in the Milan area, for each one he was listed as the sole director, the address being the same.
Harriet called him over. “The money comes from another company, this time in France.”
“Janice, can you stop what you are doing, Harriet will give you a company name. Find out who owns it, if it is owned by another company then let me know and keep looking, it must end somewhere.” It was now 12:15, “Jane, part of the answer is with you, the other lies in the source of the money, they are two different challenges, but we need to find them both.”
She wasn’t listening to him, she was reading an email for the third time. “David, what, where or who is SPC? Read this, ‘The arrangements have been made SPC, 16:30, 24th December’.
“Well done, all we need to do now is work out what SPC means. Ring your man at the Met, if it’s a place, they should know.” He answered his phone as Jane picked up hers. “David Stretton,” it was Cyrus, he told Dave the file had been wiped and was no longer available, “Cyrus, when this is over, I will look for the file, if I find it, the shit will hit the fan.” He threw his phone back down on to the desk.
“SPC, it’s police speak for St. Pauls Cathedral, there is a Carol Service this afternoon at 16:00.”
“OK, no more secrecy, find the PM, I’ll speak to him. Ring the Met, tell them to have a bomb disposal team on standby in central London, the police and the PM can make the decisions. Janice, did you find the location of the Admiral?”
“Yes, he is somewhere near his home in Surrey.”
Jane passed over the handset. “Sir, it’s David Stretton, I hope you are in London, can you come to MI5 now.” He listened to his reply, “OK, I’ll rephrase what I said. You need to be here, there is another bomb, decisions need to be made now, tell no one.” Richard Carlton said he would be there as soon as he could.
“The bomb squad are ready, they want to know where to go?”
“Say nothing yet, Harriet, any update on the companies?”
“I’m in Germany at the moment, I keep having to use Google Translate.”
“Keep me updated.” There was a lull, he sat down and closed his eyes, he opened them again quickly. “We need to be there by 15:00 at the latest, I bet the doors will be open early to let people in.” From his backpack, he took out his Glock, he put on the shoulder holster, checked the gun and put it ready. “Ring security, I want a car ready to go,” as she was speaking to them, they said the PM had just arrived.
He was dressed ready to go out. “I hope this won’t take long, my wife and I are due at St. Pauls for a Carol Service.”
“I wouldn’t advise it, there is a bomb due to go off there at 16:30, we only found out around thirty minutes ago. Admiral Gordon Sheldon is involved, he is currently at home, we need you to take over, make decisions. Jane will stay with you. Once the police have been informed, I will go to St. Pauls, the bomb squad is on standby.
“Are you sure, you couldn’t have made a mistake?”
“Do you want to take the risk, maybe it’s aimed at you?”
“Do it, send in the police, if they find it quickly, then perhaps the service can go ahead.”
“That isn’t going to happen, whoever is doing the live broadcast, needs to be stopped. The area needs to be cordoned off. I understand it is a deputy in charge at the Met today, speak to him, tell them I am on my way. Clear the surrounding area including the Cathedral staff. I suppose you will have to inform the Home Secretary, Start now, I will be back in a few minutes.” When he returned, both Jane and the PM were on phones, Janice was answering calls as they came in. Dave said for Harriet to stay, Janice could go if she wanted as it had been a long day for her.
He indicated he was going, Jane nodded, it didn’t take long for the car to take him to St. Pauls. There was a delay while his ID was checked, blue and white police tape was lifted to let him through. Inside it was quiet, police were standing around waiting for instructions. Dave stood on one of the chairs and called everyone round, his voice echoed in the empty building. He was asked who he was, “Assistant to the head of MI5. There is a bomb somewhere inside this building, we have until 16:30 to find and defuse it. Can someone ask if there is a maintenance man anywhere about. Start the search at the back and work forward, do not touch anything you find. OK let’s go.”
More police came in to join the search, a man in overalls came up to him. “I’m the head of maintenance, how can I help you?”
“If I wanted to kill a lot of people, what would cause the most structural damage?”
“The Germans couldn’t do it in the war, I don’t think a bomb today will cause much damage, the walls are solid.” Dave asked if there had been any contractors in recently.
He was told they were in almost daily. “Any you didn’t recognise?”
“Only the film crew, it’s different people every time.”
“Walk me round everything they have done, where their equipment is, cameras, microphones and anything else. Were they supervised?”
“No, we leave them to get on with it.”
“What about the undercroft?”
“It’s been closed for the last week, no one can get down there.” They carried on walking round, nothing looked out the ordinary, the police were progressing up through the building. One of them shouted, Dave ran over, a door under the altar was open, inside Dave could see three large cardboard boxes the top and bottom were taped shut. “I want a Stanley knife and call in the bomb disposal team. Everyone else clear the area.” He was brought a knife, he lay on the floor, using the knife and cut into the side of one of the boxes. A square of the cardboard was removed. Inside he saw thick black polythene wrapped tightly. He felt round, then moved out the way, standing around twenty feet away were two men dressed in protective clothing. “I think you will need a bit more than that, there are three bombs in cardboard boxes, maybe 10kg in each one. They are wrapped in black polythene, there are nails packed round the C4, a bit like the old IRA bombs. Inside each one will be a cheap Chinese timer, the way it is taped up makes me think if you cut the tape then it will go off. I understand they are timed for 16:30, I don’t think they were made up in here, they were probably brought in ready. It’s over to you now, good luck.”
They thanked Dave for the information, he gulped in the fresh air when he was outside. His first call was to Jane, he said he had found the bombs, the second one was to Sally to let her know he was OK and would be home later.” The driver took him back to the MI5 offices. The Home Secretary had joined the Prime Minister, they were talking to Jane Goodley, they asked what was next.
“A cup of coffee and something to eat,” Harriet called him over.
“I’ve traced the bank accounts to Russia, I can’t get any further, for some reason Google Translate won’t work.”
He looked at her screen, “write down the sort code and account number please. Jane, I need to use your office, I have to do something privately.” He unplugged his laptop and took it into the office, the door was locked behind him. He hoped his software supplier would answer. “Yuri, I’m sorry to ring you today, I need your help. I’ll pay you when we meet up or if you have someone in London I can see them. I want you to look at a Russian bank account, the software won’t let us in. I’ve been chasing money all over Europe.” He passed on the information written on the paper.
“I’m doing what I should have done days ago, following the money. I want to know where it has come from, can you tell me?”
“I am using a different piece of software, it is for the Russian banking system, it is a little slower.” He could hear the sound of typing at the other end. “David, the money comes from the US, do you want me to carry on?”
“Yes please, trace it as far as you can, send me over screen shots, especially names and email addresses.” There was silence for a time, eventually Yuri spoke. “From the US, it led to Panama, there are loads of dodgy banks there. I think this is where it started, there is a company registered there, give me half an hour, I will send you all the details.”
“Yuri, I need to know where the money originated from, if this was the original account, where did the money come from, you don’t just open an account with 300m Euros or the equivalent in Dollars. I appreciate you doing this, let me know how much later.”
He returned to the main office. “Thank you Harriet, it shouldn’t be much longer.”
“David, St. Pauls has been searched several times, the Carol Service will now take place at 18:00, The bombs have been defused and removed, they were nail bombs, they would have caused carnage.”
“I know, I cut one of them open before the bomb squad arrived.” Jane looked at him, “please don’t tell Sally, she gets upset when she thinks I put myself in danger.”
Coffee and sandwiches had been delivered while he was phoning. The Home Secretary asked where he thought this led to. “I’m not sure, the money has been traced back to Panama, I have someone working on it now, hopefully within the next hour we will know.”
No one was working, Dave said to Harriet, she could go, he thanked her for the work she had done. There were only four left in the room, they sat in silence, until the email from Yuri came in, there was nothing they could do. Dave sat with his eyes closed, it was almost an hour before he heard his laptop ping to say an email had arrived. All the message said was for him to call, he left the room and went into Jane’s office. “What is it, why haven’t you sent the information?”
Yuri asked him where he was, reluctantly he said he was in the MI5 headquarters, “I don’t want to send this over to your email address, do you have another one, preferably secure.”
“Use my ProtonMail account, do you have a pen?” He gave Yuri the email address. “I’ll send it now, the fee is $5k, be careful who you share the information with.”
Dave thanked him, he rejoined the others. “There is an encrypted email coming in, no one is to stand behind me as I read it, once I have looked at it, depending on the contents, I will share it.” Dave sat and read the email, he read it twice more. “Get the head of MI6 here, I don’t care where he is or what he is doing, he needs to be here. I think the Foreign Secretary needs to be present. The contents of this email are very damaging.”
Jane looked at him, “David, before we do anything, let us read it or tell us the contents.”
“Harriet traced the money to Russia, but hit a dead end, I spoke to someone I know, he was able to get into the Russian bank. He then traced the money to the USA, from there it led to Panama, he spent some time looking at the bank account and company. It is a shell company, he then found the people who had set up the company, there had been emails sent back and forward using the dark web and aliases. He has software which will reveal the true name of the users. The money had been transferred from a bank in Strasbourg, the account it came from is The EU Overseas Development Fund. The email lists those involved. Someone or some group is using EU money to subvert the UK Government.
Gentlemen you have to now decide what to do, I’ve done my part, I have exposed the plot. The UK part of it is mostly done, I’m not sure what you will do with the Admiral. I’m going to walk away and as usual leave a trail of debris for others to clear up. I will print out copies for each of you, the email will be forwarded to Miss Goodley.” The three read the email in silence, when he had finished, the Prime Minister asked Jane and Dave to leave the room for a short time while he talked to the Home Secretary and made phone calls. They waited in her office, “David, how do you do it, you can’t say today was all about the software, it was the way you guided the investigation, you never stopped.”
“It’s what I’m good at, using Sally’s expression, I find bad people. This is serious shit, the issue now is whether it was done by someone working on their own, or if it was sanctioned by a person or group within the EU. From what I read, the control over money is very lax, the money may have been allocated for a genuine project, but was diverted. I don’t want to be part of that, it’s more a job for MI6, Jane don’t get drawn in, I have a feeling whoever does the next part, won’t have an easy time.”
They saw the Foreign Secretary and a short while later the new Head of MI5 arrive. “Jane, I think my work is done, I’ve been on the go since 03:00 this morning, we have guests coming for Christmas Dinner. I want to go home, I will start on the report on Boxing Day, I want the three hard drives from the PC’s used today.”
The Prime Minister knocked on the door. “We are going to Downing Street to carry on this meeting, thank you both for what you have done today, you have prevented many deaths and brought other issues to the fore. I will expect a report in the next couple of days.”
“That isn’t going to happen, I won’t start it until Boxing Day and it will take me a couple of days to write it out, there is a lot of explaining to be done.” The PM turned and was gone, Jane rang for IT to come up.
“Jane, I have a favour to ask, can I borrow one of the Range Rover’s with blue lights, I want to go home in a hurry?”
“Yes, I’ll make a call, would you like one when you start work?”
“I haven’t decided yet if I will be taking up the offer.”
“Yes you have, you spoke differently to people today, you didn’t demand, as you usually do. Something has changed, you might not be ready to admit it, but deep down I think you have decided.”
He said nothing, there was someone from IT waiting outside the office. Dave said what he wanted, fifteen minutes later he was handed a box with the hard drives. “I’m going to get my stuff together and go, do you want me to take you home?”
“No, there will be a driver for me. Thank you for offering. David, Ruth and I want to thank you for helping us.”
“It’s what you do for people you care about. By the way, the information tonight cost me $5k, I will put it on my expenses.” He made sure no paperwork was left in the room, his laptop was put in the backpack. Jane was still in her office, she was on the phone, he guessed it was Ruth, he kissed Jane on the cheek, wished them both a Happy Christmas and was gone. In the garage he was handed a set of keys, he left the keys for his car saying it would be collected next week. The blue lights were flashing before he left the ramp, they stayed on all the way to Loughborough.
© 10210ken 2026
