could be bonfire night again. They’ll probably block off the road too to make sure it no one else tries to gate crash them but with a bit of luck, that’s as far as it’ll go.’
‘And the virus?’
‘I’ll make arrangements for it but I’ll need transport. My car’s sitting at police headquarters.’
‘Where do you want to go?’
‘Back to the Scottish Office. Maybe one of your people could contact Dr Malloy and ask him to meet me there.’
Tulloch nodded. ‘I’ll arrange a suitable escort.’
As Tulloch turned away, Karen returned to remonstrate with Dewar again. He held up both hands, saying, ‘Honestly, I’m fine and I’m getting a lift back to the Scottish Office so there’s no driving involved. I’ll see that all the vials are handed over to Steven Malloy and then I can sleep easy.’
‘I really wish you’d stay here tonight where I can keep an eye on you if I can’t persuade you to go to hospital where you really should be.’
‘I’ll be fine.’
Karen looked for a moment as if she was going to continue the argument then her expression softened and she said, ‘Go straight to bed after you’ve handed over the vials?’
‘I promise.’
They kissed but the sound of a large truck pulling up outside interrupted them.
‘It’s the vaccine!’ said a voice by the door. Karen and Dewar resumed their hug.
‘Thank God,’ said Karen.
‘He usually gets the credit,’ muttered Dewar. ‘Pity no one questions his creation of smallpox in the first place.’
A powerful police traffic-division car with four motor cycle outriders took Dewar back to the Scottish Office. He sat in the back with the case containing the vials on his knee deep in thought. The only advantage offered by this ‘parade’ — as he saw it, was that neither officer in the front asked him anything about the case or its contents. Presumably they had been instructed not to by Tulloch. This was fine; he didn’t feel like talking. The silence however, did allow him to consider another aspect of the package he was carrying. It was not only very dangerous, it was also very valuable. There were people, already in this city, who might pay as much as a million pounds for it and he was about to hand it over to an unemployed scientist named Steven Malloy.
Dewar trusted Malloy but he remembered having an earlier conversation with him about what people would and would not do where large sums of money were concerned. He remembered Malloy ‘hoping’ that he would have the resolve to turn down the offer of a huge sum if it involved him doing something against principle. Was hope good enough in this instance?
Half way through the journey, Dewar began to see his accompanying police officers as the solution to his problem. He leaned forward and said he’d like to speak to Tulloch. The officer in the passenger seat made radio contact and gave the handset to Dewar.
‘Superintendent? I’d like to requisition your officers for another assignment. I’d like them to accompany the case to its final destination and oversee it’s destruction.’
‘Won’t these vials be required as evidence?’
‘We can sterilise them without destroying them physically. No one’s going to check what they contain is still alive.’
‘I’m not sure that tampering with evidence is … ‘
‘My responsibility,’ interrupted Dewar.
‘As you say.’
‘Square it with your men, will you?’ Dewar handed back the handset to the front seat officer and listened in while Tulloch told him that they should take their orders from him.’
‘Are you armed?’ Dewar asked.
‘This is an armed response vehicle, sir.’
‘Good. I’m going to hand over a package to Dr Steven Malloy when we get to the Scottish Office. You are going to accompany Dr Malloy to the Institute of Molecular Sciences at the university and watch him sterilise this package in a steam steriliser. Although this is a formality, at no time is the package to leave your sight. Understood?’
‘Sir.’
‘There will be a temperature gauge on the steriliser. Watch the needle climb over 120 degrees centigrade and watch it stay there for at least fifteen minutes. After that you can relax and return to normal duty.’
‘Does this mean there’s a chance Dr Malloy won’t comply with the sterilising procedure, sir?’ asked the officer.
‘A very slight one.’
‘What then?’
‘You inform him that you’re armed; show him your gun and tell him to hand over the package. Bring it back here.’
‘And if he argues?’
‘Shoot him and recover the package. Stay where you are and telephone me.’
‘Bloody hell.’
‘”Bloody hell” is what could happen if the package escapes. Is that all clear?’
‘Sir.’
The rest of the journey was completed in silence and one officer held the door for Dewar when he got out at the end. He was escorted inside. Hector Wright was there to meet him.
‘Well done, Adam,’ said Wright.
‘Christ, I’m knackered,’ said Dewar, anxious to avoid embarrassment. ‘Is Malloy here yet?’
‘Not yet, but the vaccine is. It arrived half an hour ago.’
‘I know, I stopped at one of the centres in the estate.
Dewar took the case upstairs and opened it up to add the vials he’d brought back from Tommy Hannan’s flat to the padded bundle. He added yet more padding and
several layers of adhesive tape round the outside. He emptied the case of everything else and put the vials back to bring it downstairs where Malloy was now waiting.
‘Hello Steve,’ he said. ‘We got all of them back.’
‘Well done. What do want me for?’
‘We want the vials sterilised but not destroyed; they might be required as evidence. I though you could autoclave them at the institute?’
‘Sure, if that’s what you want. Right now?’
‘Is that a problem?’
‘No,’ replied Malloy.
These police officers will take you over and bring you back when it’s done.’
‘There’s no need for that,’ said Malloy. ‘I’ve got my car outside.’
‘We’ll have to do this by the book, I’m afraid,’ said Dewar. ‘Still, it’s not often you get an armed escort to work.’ He opened up the case and showed Malloy and the two police officers the contents. ‘It can go straight into the steriliser,’ he said.
Dewar could tell by the look on Malloy’s face that he’d taken all the key points on board. The police weren’t letting him out of their sight; they were armed and there was no reason for him to open up the package.
Malloy looked Dewar in the eye and said accusingly, ‘I’ve no problem with that, Adam. Still looking for a bogey man at the institute?’
‘Just procedure, Steve,’ said Dewar but he felt bad.
TWENTY FOUR
