There was an email waiting for him when he returned, a meeting place had been agreed, it was to be at The Oval cricket ground. The message said it had been booked for the entire day and possibly into the Monday, the place could be easily secured, with plenty of meeting rooms for breakouts. Dave was informed he had to be there by 07:30 with the meeting beginning at 09:30. The email also stated that he was to take no part in the negotiations or discussions at the Americans insistence. He sat and wondered why he his presence was required when he wouldn’t be taking part.
Pushing his chair back, he said to Giles he was going to see Jane again. “I’m not being told everything about tomorrow, either you or the Prime Minister are holding something back. The Americans have insisted I’m not to be there, yet my arrival is scheduled for 07:30, will I be hiding somewhere, to be brought out if it is going pear shaped?”
His question wasn’t answered for some time. “David, you know why you need to be there, everyone else will be diplomats or negotiators, when there has to be some plain speaking, you will be the one to do it. Sally will be there as well, I will be speaking to her when she comes back in.
By Friday evening, they had everything ready, there were printed files on all the main players, they were having dinner in the hotel that evening followed by shopping on Saturday. In the evening, Sally had booked theatre tickets. Hopefully the next day it would all be over. Dave noticed the two Americans following them as soon as they walked out of the hotel on Saturday morning, there plan was to walk to Oxford Street, he spotted the car containing two more, further down from the hotel. Stopping at the car, he made them wind down the window. “We’re going shopping, if you try to follow us, we will lose you in the first shop we go into, my advice is to save yourself a lot of running about by going back to the Embassy. If you are thinking of trying anything, I will kill you both and the two across the road. Call Cyrus Grantly, he will tell you what to do next.”
He and Sally carried on walking, the two on foot carried on following, in John Lewis, they split up, having agreed where to meet up. Sally went to look at perfume, she spoke to one of the assistants saying she was being followed and would they help, a phone call was made and a female plain clothes security officer came up to her. She hugged Sally like she was an old friend, the two walked off together, she was led through a door into the back of the shop. A few minutes later she was thanking the woman as she was let out the staff entrance. It took Dave much longer to lose his tail, his size made him stand out, he was in the lingerie department, he was looking for something for Sally, the man following him stood on the edge of the section, not venturing in. Dave was moving farther in. He had a couple of pairs of knickers and a bra, the checkout was near an escalator, he stood in the queue. Suddenly he put them down and hurried to go down to the floor below, he ran down the moving stairs, there was no way his follower would find him.
Sally had almost drunk her coffee by the time Dave joined her. The rest of the day was spent shopping without anyone following them.
They were told by the doorman when leaving to go to the theatre about the two waiting across the road. Before getting in the taxi, Dave nipped across the road to tell them where they were going. It was the same when they came out, Sally said she was hungry, they ate in a small restaurant in Soho. As they were paying the bill, Dave asked if there was a rear way out, giving the waiter a generous tip, he and Sally were shown out into a side street.
In their room Sally said she was nervous about the following day. “You will be OK, you know as much about what is going on as I do, you won’t need my help, however I will be there if needed.”
At 05:30 the lobby of the hotel was empty, the porters brought coffee and bacon sandwiches, Dave said he hoped they would be going home the following day. The doorman came to say their car was outside. In MI5, passes to allow them into The Oval cricket ground were on Dave’s desk. He checked through the plastic box to make sure all the files they needed were there, he fired up his laptop to make sure everything was duplicated on the USB stick he had. Hugging Sally he said she would do a good job. Once through security, they were greeted by one of the Prime Ministers aides, Dave was shown to a breakout room. The blinds were closed, he was told this would be his base, a screen in the corner was linked to the main meeting room. He followed Sally as she was taken into the main room, there was a place for her next to Jane Goodley. She looked round, there were around twenty places, the tables were in a circle, crisp white linen covering each one, name plates, note pads and pens were in front of each place. Bottles of water and glasses were placed at points round the table. The edge of the room had tables and chairs for the rest of the attendees.
“Dave, what shall I do when I’m called?”
“Make them look at you, walk round, pick up a bottle of water or a coffee, anything to draw their attention. You won’t need your notes, you know every aspect, start as you mean to go on, if you feel nervous, just think these people might have ordered my execution, that should keep you going.” It was after 08:30, a few people were beginning to arrive. Dave was told to go to his office, Sally waited for Jane Goodley to arrive. When she saw her, they shook hands, she was asked if she was ready and if Dave was in his place. Sally said how nervous she was and kept needing to pee.
“You will be OK, just be like David.” At 09:15, the Americans arrived in a coach, Sally recognised quite a few of them from the files she had been going through, she held nothing but contempt for them. When Cyrus Grantly saw her, he walked over and asked where Dave was, she replied saying he wasn’t invited.
“I didn’t know you were coming, you weren’t on the list?”
“I am, look again. S. Fellowes, Senior Auditor.” He immediately left her and returned to report Sally’s presence, she could see him talking and pointing across towards her. It was too late, the meeting was about to start.
As soon as they were all seated, the Head of the CIA Bob Smidowitz stood up. Addressing the Prime Minister, he asked for Sally to be removed from the meeting. “On what grounds, she is part of the British group?”
“Her partner is David Stretton, we asked for him to be excluded.” The Prime Minister confirmed he wasn’t taking part. “No mention was made regarding his partner, you had the list of our people, if you are not happy, then you have two choices.” There were no further objections.
Richard Carlton started the meeting, he thanked the Americans for coming and hoped there would be a positive outcome. “We all know why we are here, for those of you who are not fully up to date with our investigation, I would like to ask Miss Fellowes, who has been involved since day one to recap the events that have brought us to where we are.”
There was to be an objection from the Americans, but a look from Sally stopped it. She stood up, walked round the table, picked up a bottle of water and returned to where her seat was, she took a few sips before starting. Jane Goodley guessed Dave had told her what to do.
“I will stand whilst I talk, it helps me concentrate. Let’s start with the bomb on the Underground.” Looking directly at Bob Smidowitz. “The money you stole from the EU paid for the bombs, you have the blood of all the innocent people killed and maimed on your hands.” There was an objection from the Americans, Sally ignored it and continued. “Sometimes it’s hard to hear the truth, a few people in this room saw the horror on the platform, imagine if it had been one of your loved ones. We traced the money through all the shell companies right back to Fairfax Movies.” The mention of the name had the Americans looking between themselves. “Then we wondered how it was you knew everything going on in government almost immediately, we found your bugs. This led to us finding your listening station which monitored MI5. But you didn’t give up, you tried to install more devices, this time it led to us finding your European hub in east London. To say you fucked up is a slight understatement.” She picked up a sheet of paper from in front of her. “On here is a list of every bug placed in Europe, I took it from one of the computers, I will give you a copy before you leave today. You have been arrogant and dismissive of our attempts to have a dialogue over this, only the threat of mass disclosures to the media have brought you here. I hope you have come here to explain why you funded the killings and the eavesdropping.
We have already been told you are here to smooth things over and everything will be back to normal in a few months. As I said a few minutes ago, you have fucked up this time, you are not to be trusted. In our hotel room a few nights ago, they were showing re-runs of the old Lone Ranger TV program. In one episode, an Indian was speaking to the Lone Ranger, his words were very apt for the way you talk to us, ‘White man speaks with forked tongue’, so very, very true.”
With that she sat down, there was a stunned silence in the room, it was broken by the Prime Minister. “Thank you Miss Fellowes for setting out the background to today.” Sally gathered up her papers and left the room, she made straight for the office Dave was in, she collapsed in a chair.
“You did very well, did you see their faces?”
“I didn’t see anything, I was focussed on what I was saying, I don’t know how you do it.”
Dave kissed her on the head, “are you ready for part two? After that, it will be a doddle.”
When the meeting broke for lunch, Sally was called into a breakout room where the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary were, aides were busy typing up the progress from the morning session.
“Miss Fellowes, we need you to do what you have to, each person will be brought to you in turn, the first one will be the head of the CIA followed by his deputy, I hope David’s plan will work.” She returned to the room allocated to her. She was on her own, a minute later there was a knock at the door, Bob Smidowitz was shown in, he was accompanied by an aide.
“Why have I been brought in here?”
“Shut up and sit down.”
“You cannot talk to me like that, I’m returning to the rest of our group.”
“Leave this room and in five minutes, your personal file will be released onto the internet, I don’t give a damn either way.” Sally’s heart was thumping as she spoke.
“What file?”
“I have two, the CIA file which has been sanitized and the FBI one which gives the true information, would you like to read it?” The aide was dismissed, Bob Smidowitz sat down, having closed the door, Sally pushed the file across the desk for him to read. “Why is it you all like fucking kids, can’t you find anyone your own age?” There was silence as the file was read, as it was being closed, Sally asked if he wanted to see the file on his wife. “She likes young men, not kids, strapping college football types. There are files on everyone important present today.” She pointed to a plastic box on the floor. “If necessary, I will have everyone brought in, the next one is your deputy. The FBI must hate you guys, they are very good at gathering information. Bob, as far as I can see, you have two choices, sit in the meeting trying to justify what your country has done and pass it off as nothing, or start bringing out the concessions your President has agreed on before you left Washington.
Was the plan to sit there admitting nothing thinking we are a soft touch and return having given nothing away? I can tell you, the rules of the game have changed, as far as relations with the US are concerned, there are no rules. No longer will we be a soft touch, as I said earlier in the meeting, you’ve fucked up once too often. The meeting is now over, Nat Dawes will be in next.” A stunned head of the CIA looked at Sally, he had nothing to say, standing up, he kept hold of the file. “Take it with you if you want, I can soon print out another.”
The phone on her desk rang as soon as the door was closed, the PM said the conversation had been recorded and she had done well. There was now a second knock, this time Nat Dawes was shown in, he received exactly the same treatment. When he had gone, Sally picked up the phone, an aide to the PM answered, “I want a coffee and can you send in Cyrus Grantly next please.” The coffee and Cyrus both arrived at the same time, Sally drank half the cup before she spoke. “You’ll be pleased to know we don’t have a file on you, Dave said not to look, the FBI files on both your bosses has just been shown to them, I think there will be progress this afternoon.”
“Dave is behind this, it has his name written all over the way you are acting.” Sally smiled at him. “Things have changed, while the USA is not on the hostile list, it certainly won’t be on the friendly one. You only have yourselves to blame, I don’t think anyone on our side will ever find out who sanctioned all this, no doubt they will end up being promoted to a position where they cannot fuck it up again. Personally, Dave likes you, however, I wouldn’t think twice about shooting you if anything happens to him. You know he has his insurance policies in place, I too have spoken to people who are not on your radar, they would have no second thoughts about flying to the States if anything happens to either of us. It’s not a warning Cyrus, it’s a promise.”
“Where is he?”
“I’m not sure, he isn’t here, your lot said he was not welcome, you got me instead, maybe it would have been better if he had attended.”
She had finished with Cyrus, the meeting was re-starting in ten minutes, she wasn’t invited to that part either, instead, she ate from the buffet once everyone else had gone. She saw a smiling Dave come into the room, he too collected food from the buffet. “I was in the office listening to your chats, you did very well, I hope Jane rewards you for your effort.” When they had eaten, Dave returned to where he had been hiding, Sally sat with another coffee.
Around 17:00 she saw Jane Goodley come out from the room. “I need to speak to David, where is he?” Sally led the way, “The Prime Minister wants your advice, the Americans are stalling for another meeting tomorrow, they are saying any agreement has to be checked with Washington.”
“That’s a load of bollocks, they had decided the concessions before they flew here. They want to offer us as little as possible, tell him to say there will be no meeting tomorrow, if it isn’t decided today, then the information will be released to the media. Pass a note saying it would include the personal files we hold. Say to him to stand firm and not to give in, we want their signature on an agreement tonight.” She returned to the meeting room. “I think it might be a late finish, this is more knackering than being out in the field, at least there, you know who the bad guys are.”
There was another break at 17:00, Richard Carlton went to find Dave, he found him in an office sitting with Sally. “We are finally getting somewhere, there will be an agreement tonight, regardless of how long it takes. We are trying to push them further than they want to go, the meeting is to split into small groups to finalise the details before we go back into the main room. There will be a signing ceremony at the end, but no photographs will be released. There is no friendliness within the room, it’s like two enemies working out a peace plan.”
“As long as they realise going forward the relationship will be different. It will take a long time before we will trust them, I think you need to look for new allies, don’t drop the Americans, but they shouldn’t be the first people we go to. I have suggestions, but that is for later.” They were both thanked before he left the room. Sally waited until she thought it would be quieter, she went out, returning with two plates of food, they ate silently. Dave closed his eyes, Sally messaged Olivia saying they should be back on Monday or Tuesday at the latest.
Dave and Sally both woke up when there was a knock at the door, Jane Goodley came in. “It’s done, the Prime Minister thinks he has got as much as he can, the deal has been signed, there will be a press conference in the morning when the details will be released. It will be an all British affair, the Americans will be on their way back before it happens. A lot of this is down to you, the PM wants to see you in the morning, 09:00.”
Dave looked at his watch, it was now 01:45. “That doesn’t give me much time,” the Americans are leaving, the place is heaving with press outside, part of the agreement is nothing will be said tonight. You and Sally will be in a blacked out minibus, it will drop you off at the hotel, thank you for all you’ve done. Both of you be in my office at midday tomorrow.”
© 10210ken 2026
