Sally found Dave sleeping on a sofa upstairs, she gently woke him. “Time to go, everything is done, you can start again in the morning.” There was a nod from the porters as they walked into the hotel, the head porter followed them upstairs carrying Sally’s suitcase. He asked if he might come into the room,
Dave looked at him. “There are two of your men in the lounge, another one is by the staff entrance. Later another will be in the corridor, it has all been approved, all the staff are aware.” Sally said she would explain while he was in the bath, his eyes were closed, she knew he wasn’t sleeping, a coffee was put near him on the edge of the bath. Tears now flowed, she looked at the man she was deeply in love with, his hand came out the bath, she took hold of it.
“I’m sorry to have dragged you into all this, maybe it would have been better if I had stayed out in the field.”
“I’ve seen the shit that’s been found tonight, use it, threaten them, let them know you will fuck them up if anything happens. I’ll shoot the bastards myself.” She left the bathroom as he climbed out the bath, when he came into the bedroom, she was naked, waiting for him.
They were almost the last down for dinner, Dave wore a jacket all through the meal. Sally’s handbag was on the table, the flap undone. Eating their main course Dave said to be ready, her hand went into her bag, Dave unbuttoned his jacket. “Good evening Cyrus, would you care to join us.” He pointed to one of the two empty chairs. Dave raised a hand to stop the two security men from approaching. “Are you alone, and are you wired?”
“Yes, and no.”
“I hope you said that in the correct order, Sally is very trigger happy, she said if anything happened to me, I wouldn’t be the only one. I’m sure this isn’t a social call, we only spoke on the phone this morning, it must have been a rush to get here so quickly. What brings you to London?” A waiter had come across to see if Cyrus wanted anything, he asked for coffee. Dave and Sally ordered dessert. “Excuse me if I carry on eating, I’ve missed a couple of meals over the last twenty four hours.”
There was no conversation as they ate, Cyrus drunk coffee. When they had finished Dave asked if Cyrus wanted to stay where they were or sit in the lounge. He ordered more coffee, said to the waiter they would be stay for a while and he would sign the bill so they could be left alone. Dave pushed his chair back a little. He stretched out his legs, Sally remained where she was a look of loathing in her eyes. “If you don’t say something, this my be the longest flight for the shortest meeting.”
Dave saw a porter come towards him. “Mr. Stretton, there is a telephone call for you.” Dave stood up to leave to take the call, “Sally, entertain Cyrus while I’m gone. He walked towards reception, “there isn’t a call sir, the doorman says your friend got out a car which keeps circling round, he thought you should know.” He was passed a piece of paper with the registration number, slipping into the lounge, he repeated what the porter had said. “Have the car stopped, the occupants arrested and the car impounded, give me a nod when it is done.”
He walked back into the dining room. “Sorry about that, we have a meeting at 08:00 tomorrow morning, I’m sure you will know who with and where fairly soon won’t you Cyrus. There’s not much point in coming to see someone and then not talking, if you’re down here keeping us busy while someone goes through our room, I’m sorry to disappoint you, there is someone in the corridor watching.” He saw a raised hand in the doorway, leaning over the table, he flicked the tie Cyrus was wearing. Getting up, he walked round the table, pulled up the tie and ripped out the two wires connected to it. “You lied on both counts, the car has been stopped and the two inside arrested, I have no idea what charges, but you won’t be going home with them. And you are wired as well, it’s about time you told me why you are here.”
“Drop all this, you are messing with stuff you have no idea about.”
“You told me the same this morning, you didn’t fly across the Atlantic to tell me again. As far as my involvement is concerned, it is now out my hands, my last bit of input was this morning when I spoke to your boss, he put the phone down on me, I called him back on his office number, I said I was Nat Dawes, this time he listened. I have been doing other things since then.”
“I’m here to find out what the British Government wants to make all this go away, everyone in Langley knows you have been advising the Prime Minister. You are still involved, we might not be listening, but we can still see who is going where.”
“Cyrus, how do you think this is going to play out?”
“It will just fade away and relationships will return to normal, before then we will have to make a few concessions, it will all be theatrics, it will soon be back to how it was.”
“And what about me?”
“There is no capture or kill notice. I can tell you it was discussed, but there are those in Langley who think you might be useful in the future.”
“What you mean is, they are looking for dirt on me to use as blackmail, to either do your bidding, or force me out.” There was no reply, “I hope you have found out what you wanted, I’m tired and I have a busy day ahead of me, so we are going to our room, I’m sure the doorman will call you a cab.”
There was no shake of hands or a goodnight, Cyrus Grantly walked out the restaurant, Dave and Sally waited until he had gone before he motioned to Sally to not say anything, he checked out where Cyrus had been sitting to see if he had left any sort of device, his side of the table was clear. They left the restaurant and headed upstairs, both of them were tired.
Dave was woken as he had been several mornings, by his phone ringing, looking at the time, it was 06:45. The voice on the other end said he had a meeting at 08:30 in Downing Street, a car would pick him up at 08:10. He put the kettle on and went into the bathroom, Sally was half awake when he returned. “I’m being picked up just after 08:00, I’ll make sure a car picks you up and takes you to the office, hopefully I will be back later.” He sat in the restaurant alone, watching each person who came in after him. Afterwards, he waited in the lobby, he rang for a car to pick Sally up at 08:30, she saw him just before she went in for breakfast. They had a kiss just before he went outside when he saw the car arrive.
The PM was already at his desk working, he said for Dave to sit down. “The Americans have finally decided to talk, the meeting will be here on Sunday, the venue has yet to be agreed, there may be up to fifty in their party, we are looking for a secure place, they have stated it must be mutually agreed.”
“Buckingham Palace, if Charlie is about, he could meet and greet everyone, make it look like a friendly meeting.”
“I assume you mean the King. One specific point they made was that you are not to take part in the proceedings, you were described as ‘unhelpful’. Needless to say their request has been ignored. The problem we have is they haven’t supplied us with a list of who is coming.”
“I doubt if they could arrange fifty seats on a commercial carrier at this late stage, they must be chartering a plane or using a military transporter. Contact them, say you need a list to match delegates up with a suitable counterpart, I will see what I can find out. What part do you want me to play, if any?”
“I’m not sure at the moment, you might be kept in reserve.”
“Have you decided what you want from all of this?”
“Firstly, an apology, there won’t be a public one, an admission they had been snooping and an explanation why they did it. This we will go public with, we will also be aiming for a trade deal, much more advantageous to us rather than them. There is no point in making them say it won’t happen again, we both know it will. I hope you have something in case it isn’t going our way.”
“Yes, but the sooner I know who is attending, the better. Don’t forget the threat to close some of their bases. It’s a win win for you, more employment for the locals, especially if the airbase is turned over for commercial use.” His phone was ringing, he apologised, would you mind if I answered the call. “Yes, I’m sorry about yesterday afternoon, I was involved in work for the Prime Minister, plus there were people following me. Yes, I can be there in thirty minutes.” The Prime Minister looked at him when the call ended, “Sir Rupert Parsons, I was meant to see him yesterday afternoon, but it slipped my mind, I am off there next.”
“As soon as I have the list, I will send it to you.”
He stood out in the street, he called Jane Goodley, he asked if she knew where the Americans stayed when they came across for meetings. “Fifty are on their way, I need a list of who is coming, hopefully they have booked into a hotel. Sally will find a way into the reservation system, when she has done that, can you send her to where the equipment was taken. I want her to look at the computer of the main woman there, Mary Stevens. If there is anything, I want it by the end of today. I am off to see Sir Rupert, then I will be in.”
He was shown in immediately, Dave apologised for the missed meeting yesterday, it was dismissed with a wave of a hand. “You had a little outburst yesterday, I listened to the recording following a complaint from two of the people there.” Dave guessed Peter Stockdale would be one of them, he had no idea who the other was. “I called you here to reprimand you, but it’s not going to happen. I laughed when I heard it, I would have loved to see their faces. It’s definitely not how they are used to being spoken to. I wish some of the others would do the same. The only thing MPs are good at is being elected, ministers are only in place as a figurehead, it’s the civil service which runs the Government. Seriously, you are having quite a start, are you coping?”
“Several people have said I’m different to how I was, not as demanding and I’m trying not to upset people. My problem, is I become frustrated by all the indecision, that’s when I tend to say what I think.”
“As long as you aren’t thumping them, then it does them good to hear a bit of plain talking, there will be nothing put on your file.” They shook hands before he left, his car was waiting for him.
On his desk was a list of the delegates, Giles had written in the job title against each person, “it will be typed up in a few minutes.”
“Send a copy over to the PM, I’ll be back in a few minutes.”
He knocked on Jane Goodley’s door, there was no reply, he looked in Howard’s office. “The Home Secretary is in there, Sally left about three quarters of an hour ago. He didn’t look very happy when he went in, I hope she isn’t getting a bollocking.” Dave said to call him when he had gone.
The new list was on his desk, he went through highlighting names, handing the sheet back with the key to the filing cabinet. He said to see if a file had been created yesterday. “If there is a name which doesn’t have a file, start digging, I want the dirt on all the main players.” He called Howard, “I want a coffee machine in my office, is that something you can organise, if you can, make sure it is scanned as soon as it is installed.”
Fifteen minutes later Howard called back, “the machine will be with you later this morning and he has gone now.” The door to Jane Goodley’s office was open, she was slumped back in her chair, he made two coffees, put one in front of Jane before closing the door and sitting down.
“How was he, happy and smiling as usual?”
“There are very few people I loathe, but he is one of them, once he has made up his mind, nothing will move him, even when he is wrong. Needless to say, it’s all about you.”
“What have I done this time?”
“You don’t have to do anything, David, for some reason he resents you being involved in anything, he is pissed off you have the ear of the Prime Minister, he thinks you should be advising me and I in turn advise him, he can then get the credit for suggesting it to the PM.”
Changing the subject, Jayne asked if he had seen the list she put on his desk. “Giles is working on it now, the Americans had said if I attend the meeting then it is off. I think I will be there, held in reserve.” He got up and turned the key in the lock. “Jane, can I ask you a very personal question, it has been on my mind for ages, I have never found the right time to ask you it?”
“David, this is work, you can’t ask personal questions at work, we decided in here it would be business only.”
“I can never find the right moment, it isn’t something I would ask you if we were out for dinner, it wouldn’t be right.”
“OK, ask me, I may not answer it.”
“This is a hypothetical question. I love Sally, you love Ruth, neither of us would ever do anything intentional to upset our partners, but,” he hesitated, “but, could you ever see a time or opportunity where we spent the night together.”
Dave watched her colour up. “You can’t ask me a question like that, we are meant to have a working relationship. You say these things to embarrass me.”
“I just wondered, I’m sorry if I have said the wrong thing, I know it would never happen, but I wouldn’t need to be asked twice.” He smiled at her, unlocked the door and was gone.
Giles was printing off another file when he opened the office door, he could smell coffee. He phoned Sally to see if she was making progress. “A report is sent every time a new connection is made, I have found a database containing every sim card, type of device it is fitted in and the place they hope it is installed. I’ve sent them to myself, I need to sit with you to explain, we will do that later.”
Dave asked Giles to take a break, when they were alone, he carried on. “I think I might have gone too far with Jane this morning, I asked her something which had been bugging me. I said we both loved our partners and the question was hypothetical and would never happen.” Sally interrupted, “I can guess where this is going, did you ask if you could shag her?”
“I put it very differently, but yes.”
Sally was laughing, “I hope she slapped you.”
“She went bright red, as I was leaving I said I would.”
“You’re only meant to have eyes for me, I’ll sort you out when I get back, no doubt I will have to see Jane and apologise for you. Dave you might think these things, but you can’t say them to your boss.” He saw Giles as he walked along the corridor, he was chatting, Dave said he could go back when he was ready. He knocked on Jane’s door, she called to come in, he put his head round the door before going in, once the door was closed, he stood by it.
“I have come to apologise, I shouldn’t have said what I did.”
“I know it’s cold outside, but we have to talk, we will walk along the embankment, be across the road in fifteen minutes.” He put on his coat saying to Giles he was going out for some fresh air and wouldn’t be long. Leaning against the wall, he waited across the road, he saw her coming towards him, her arm went through his as they walked.
“Why do you say the things you do?”
“Sometimes I can’t control what I say, you know that, I tell Sally I love her at odd times.”
“You know what my feelings are towards you, A bit of me loves you, if there ever was to be a man, it would be you, but as I’ve said before, it will never happen. I’m in the minority, but I shudder at the thought of a sweaty man huffing and puffing as he is sticking his knob in me.”
“It isn’t always like that, sometimes we’re not sweaty.” They both laughed, “what about kissing, it doesn’t matter if you are male or female, surely it’s how much passion there is in a kiss?”
Jane said when she had tried kissing boys when she was younger, “they always wanted to stick their tongues down my throat.”
Dave had to agree, “so there is no hope for me then?”
“Don’t be a bloody fool, I saw how angry Sally was yesterday at the mention of someone shooting you.”
“I couldn’t ask you the question when we were away from the office, imagine if we were having dinner and I’d asked you, it would sound like I was making a play for you.”
“Perhaps you shouldn’t have asked it at all.” They had walked far enough, Jane turned, “David, we must have a working relationship, there cannot be any familiarity in the office. I don’t want you asking about Ruth or how my relationship with her is.”
“If I think it’s important, I will ask, you are my boss, but it doesn’t stop me caring about you.”
“I’ve said it before, but it’s true, I have never met anyone like you, ruthless one minute, showing love and compassion the next.”
“Only with people I care about, I’ve met hundreds, if not thousands of people, there are very few I care about, you are number two on the list.”
She took out a tissue and wiped her eyes, “I owe you…”
Dave stopped her, “I was doing my job, there is nothing more to be said.
He felt her squeeze his arm, “Sally is very lucky to have you.”
“I think I’m lucky to have her.” As they neared the building she separated from Dave, “I’ll wait a few minutes before I come back in.”
© 10210ken 2026
