The printer had stopped, he took off the sheets and sat down. “Jane,” he looked across at her, she was still on the phone, he waited until she had finished.
“He will be here within an hour,”
“Jane, do you know what SAC/PAG?”
“It’s a shadowy CIA section, ‘Special Activities Center/Political Action Group’.”
“Sally, find out what George Frascati does at the CIA.”
“He’s second in command in the Directorate of Operations.”
“Jane, do you know what that is?”
“Yes, it’s the covert operations department. Dave asked Sally to print out three more copies.
“We need a meeting room, somewhere secure,”
“Use my office.”
“No, call someone from security, I want your office swept, something else is dropping into place.” Dave went with the man from security, Jane and Sally remained reading the printout. “There is a bug somewhere in this office, I want it found.” Dave stood outside while the room was checked, ten minutes later the man came out, he was told the room was clean. “It’s not, there is something in here, it has to be electrical, probably with a sim card built in, this has been going on for too long for it to be a battery. Have you got a detector which will pick up GSM signals?”
“Yes, I’ll have it brought up.” Five minutes later, a CD player was put on Jane’s desk, play was pressed, noise, which sounded like speech came out the speaker, the room was carefully gone round. Every electrical item was tested, those which were off, were turned on. A white sticker was placed on a phone charger, the coffee machine and the computer.
The CD player was switched off, outside the room, with the door closed, Dave was told there were three bugs. He was asked if they were to be removed. “No, leave them, we will decide later what to do, thank you. Will you check another office please.”
When Dave returned, the Prime Minister was now in the office, Dave put a finger up to his mouth, he motioned for everyone to leave the room. The security man moved in, nothing was found, they returned inside. “Jane, there are three voice activated bugs in your office, no wonder Cyrus Grantly always knew what was going on. Sir, thank you for coming, have you read the paperwork from the US, if you want my reading of it, the Americans are behind this. They stole the money from the EU, I bet if you investigate each company involved, the CIA will be involved. I can’t say they instigated the bombings, but their aim was to destabilise the UK government. How far up it went, it’s not for me to say, the deputy director is involved, I suspect there is someone in this building who doesn’t have our best interests at heart. I’m sure internal security will find them.”
Richard Carlton had said nothing, he was deep in thought, he looked up. “How many people know about this?” Jane said only the people in this room.
“David, you and Sally will be required to give a presentation tonight to the emergency committee. I want you to think what our options might be, please don’t let it be shooting people. I want an outsiders view on this, you will be sent the time once it has been organised.” Dave watched as he made a call, when he had finished, he said to no one in particular, “what an almighty fuck up.” He thanked them and left.
“David, nothing changes, you discover something and it creates more problems than it solves.”
He protested, “would you rather I didn’t bother?”
“Of course not, no doubt there will be a lot more of this. Should I have everything cleared out my office, destroy the bugs?”
“No, not yet, call someone from IT, make sure they bring a toolkit with them.” While Jane was phoning, he went to get the phone charger with a bug in it. Again, Dave put his finger up to his lips, the cable was pulled out the USB slot, he looked carefully at the charger, underneath, he saw five very small holes. With the tools from the IT man, he took out a scalpel and carefully ran it round where the plastic was joined together, it took fifteen minutes before he was able to split the charger open. Inside was an additional pcb, on it was a micro sim card, there was also a small lithium battery, the wire from it was cut. Dave finally spoke. “It’s disconnected, on the sim will be a preprogrammed number the line will always be open.” Handing it to the person from IT. “I want to know the number it was connected to, you have around fifteen minutes.” He left with the bits of the charger. “It will be a burner phone, I want to know the location of the phone it is calling. Jane, we are going now, will you pick us up on the way to the meeting. I want to freshen up and have something to eat. I also want to talk to Sally about what should be done. When you know the number, get onto the mobile phone company, you want the location of the phone.”
There was no conversation in the taxi on the way back to the hotel, at reception, he ordered food to be sent up to the room and housekeeping to call. Once the door was closed, he said for Sally to get undressed.
“Dave, I’m not sure this is the time to be making love.”
“Undress and put a dressing gown on. Do you want your clothes freshened up for this evening?” Sally said she had a change, his suit was handed to housekeeping, he asked for it to be back by 19:00. The food arrived, before he started, Dave turned on the bath taps, he took a coffee with him when he had eaten, he called Sally to join him. “Switch out the lights and get in, we need to do some thinking.” She lay against Dave in the bath, his hands were resting on her stomach, both had their eyes closed. Every so often one would make a suggestion, by the time the water had cooled, Dave thought he had a plan, whether anyone would think it was a good one he didn’t know.”
There had been a message from Jane saying the meeting was at 20:00 and her car would pick them up at 19:40. Sally replied saying they would be ready. Dave had his suit back, Sally insisted he wore a tie, at 19:15, there was a knock at the door, before opening it, Dave asked who it was. He recognised the head porter. “Sir, there are two Americans downstairs, one in the lounge, the other in reception, are you expecting anyone?”
“Is that a polite way of saying someone is waiting for me?”
“Yes, there is a car outside on the opposite side of the road, I have the registration number.” Dave dialled the night desk at MI5, he identified himself. “Call the police, 999, tell them there is a car in Half Moon Street, the occupants are armed,” he passed over the registration number. His next call was to Jane, “Change of plan, pick us up from the staff entrance at the back of the hotel, I’ll explain later.” A few minutes later, they heard sirens, the head porter led them down the staff staircase and out into the street, they stayed by the door until Jane’s car arrived. He thanked the head porter and passed him several notes. “Will you keep this quiet please?”
Jane wanted to know what had happened, Dave quickly explained, she asked why. “I don’t know, I will find out tomorrow, when we have finished tonight, I want to talk to you.
There were around twenty in the room when they got there, most were talking and drinking coffee, on the table in front of each person was a folder marked ‘Top Secret’. At 20:00, there was the sound of a spoon being tapped on the side of a cup, Richard Carlton asked everyone to sit down. People walked round looking at name cards, Dave and Sally were seated near the Prime Minister, he remained standing until everyone was sitting. “I’m sorry to bring you all in this evening, but a few hours ago, more information regarding the bombings came to light, this meeting is to bring you up to speed and to plan our response to the new development. In front of you is a folder, you may open it a read it once you have been given a brief synopsis. Mr. Stretton, who some of you may know will give the briefing.” Dave stood up, “before I start, for those of you who are familiar with myself and Miss Fellowes, I need to inform you my status has now changed. From Monday, I will be assistant to the Head of MI5 in charge of investigations. Going back to the bombings, in our final investigation on Christmas Eve, there were two separate investigations, one to find the bomb, the second one to find those responsible, at the same time we were trying to chase the money, it appeared to lead back to the EU. However, we couldn’t determine if it was an EU funded operation, or if the money was stolen. The money had passed through many shell companies and accounts all over the world, this was an attempt to hide it’s origin. The companies it passed through, weren’t investigated until today. Information was withheld from me during my investigation, the missing file was found this afternoon, the file is damning, please now open it a wait until everyone has finished before asking questions.”
As they were reading, Dave moved to speak to Jane Goodley, Sally couldn’t hear the conversation, she watched as Jane left the room, she looked at Dave as he sat down. “She’s gone to have Cyrus Grantly arrested, the receiving phone was in an American safe house used by the CIA. I’ll be interviewing him later.”
People were now talking, the Prime Minister tapped his cup again. “Now you have read the file, Mr. Stretton has to leave us on urgent business, before he does, I would like his thoughts on how he reads the situation.”
“We know the deputy director is involved, but is it a rogue operation, how high up the chain of command it goes we may never find out. My choice would be to call in the Ambassador, let him read through the files so he can tell them back in Washington how much we know. I would stop cooperating with the CIA, expel their known operatives in this country, you would expect a similar number of our people to have the same done to them. Selectively brief the press, try to be one step ahead of the American spin. If you are losing, release some of the documents, it will be bruising, but let them know we are no pushover, you never know, there might be some votes in it for you.
Miss Fellowes will remain to answer any questions about today, thank you.” He gathered up his papers, “I’ll be back later, if not, Jane will stay with you until I return.”
Jane left the room with Dave, there was a brief break for coffee, “He’s at Charring Cross Police Station, phone me later.” Dave said to look after Sally, she said she would. A Range Rover with three armed guards was waiting for him. Dave stopped before getting in. “Would you go back in, I want the PM, Home Secretary and the Foreign Secretary. I have a job for you and Sally, bring her out as well.” Jane returned with everyone he asked for. “While the rest of the room are having coffee, I want two private meetings. Sally, I want you and Jane to do a little research, find an office, he handed his phone to Sally, speaking in a low voice, he asked her to use the software from his phone. “I want the files on the US Ambassador, the CIA and the FBI ones, once you have them, I want the bits I will need highlighting. Say nothing to anyone else, delete the programs afterwards.” He left them to go into the meeting with the other three. “I don’t have much time, so I will be quick. Jane Goodley’s office was bugged, she informed me on the way here the bugging devices had been traced to an address rented by the Americans for secretarial purposes. The building is not classified as US soil, there is no diplomatic protection. I suspect other offices have similar bugs, I want the place raided and secured, let those inside go once we have their identities. Home Secretary, would you bring in the Head of the Met Police?” He looked at the Prime Minister, there was a nod. Minutes later they were told there was no way an operation like that could be arranged at such short notice. It was Friday evening and armed response units were spread thinly on the ground. Dave said for him to go and send in the Defence Secretary, the PM said to Dave to stop and tell them his plan. “Wait until the Defence Secretary is here,” there were now five in the room. “You have two options, you can roll over and forget any of this happened, ignore the findings from today, or you can stand up and say, ‘no one fucks with the UK and gets away with it’. It’s your choice, if they have done this once, they will do it again.” No one round the table said anything, Richard Carlton asked the other three to wait outside. “David, I will be condemned whatever I do.”
“Sir, do you want to be remembered as the Prime Minister who stuck it to the Americans or as someone weak who capitulated? Margaret Thatcher stood firm when the rest of the world thought the UK would cave in, this isn’t quite the same, but you stand alone. Instead of always looking west for support, maybe try the east, old enemies can become friends. As I’ve said on many occasions I know very little about politics, I do know a lot about right and wrong.”
“Thank you, would you ask the others to come back in,” when they were seated, he said the USA would be exposed over their treatment of the UK. “David, what do you need to raid the building?”
“Since the Chief Constable is unwilling to help, we will use the SAS, Defence Secretary, there is a section based in London, will you have their commander meet me at Charring Cross Police Station, give him the address, have his men ready to go in one hour. The Chief Constable will need to be told, do not tell him until fifteen minutes beforehand, his men are not to intervene. It’s 21:30 now, we go at 23:00, I will be with them. Summon the Ambassador, tell him to be here at 23:30, do not say what it is about. I assume my start date has been brought forward and I am now officially working for MI5, make sure Sally has a letter confirming this before 23:00. The shit will hit the fan tonight, I will expect you to have my back, if not, there will be trouble, if something happens to me, I have friends who know where the dirty secrets are.”
Dave said no more, he stood up to leave, he shook hands with the PM, he went to find Sally, she was reading papers, Jane was also reading. “Do you have anything for me?”
Sally looked at him, “why is it always kids?”
Dave took his phone, “I’m off to see Cyrus, then to raid the building, I should be back by midnight. The Ambassador will be here, the fun will start then.”
© 10210ken 2026
