Malik returned after ten minutes with two paper bags containing soft drinks, sandwiches and muffins. He sat down and handed a receipt to Chaudhry. ‘You’re his mate so you can get the money from him.’
‘I wouldn’t say he’s a mate,’ said Chaudhry, slipping the receipt into his wallet.
‘He chats to you more than to me, have you noticed that? And when he calls it’s you that he phones.’
‘That’s alphabetical,’ said Chaudhry, popping the tab of his Coke.
‘What are you reading?’ asked Malik.
‘Anatomy,’ said Chaudhry.
‘Got anything I can read?’
Chaudhry held up the tablet. ‘This is all I’ve got,’ he said. His mobile rang and he took it out and looked at the screen. ‘It’s John.’
‘I told you he always calls you,’ said Malik, folding his arms.
Chaudhry pressed the green button to take the call.
‘How’s the sandwich?’
‘What?’
‘The sandwich. Cheese, right?’
‘Cheese salad,’ said Chaudhry. He looked over at Malik and pointed at the phone and then mouthed, ‘He knows what I’m eating.’
‘I just wanted you to know I’m in the Novotel, room 608. Come right up and knock on the door.’
‘Okay,’ said Chaudhry. ‘How do you know what sandwich I’ve got?’
‘I know you’ve got a sandwich and a can of Coke and Harvey’s got two chicken sandwiches and a muffin, and I also know that Harvey asked for a receipt because he probably thinks I’m going to reimburse you.’
‘Are you on the train?’
‘I told you, I’m in the room. I’ll see you when I see you.’ The line went dead and Chaudhry stared at the phone in amazement.
‘What?’ said Malik.
‘He knows what we ordered. He knows you asked for a receipt. One of his people must have been in the restaurant car.’
Malik sipped his Coke. ‘At least we know someone’s watching out for us,’ he said. ‘But bloody hell, they must be good.’
Shepherd opened the door to the hotel room just as Chaudhry was about to knock. Chaudhry froze with his mouth open in and his hand in mid-air.
‘Hello, lads,’ said Shepherd.
‘How did you know we were here?’ said Malik. ‘We didn’t talk to anyone at reception. We came right up.’
‘I got a call when you walked into the hotel,’ said Shepherd. ‘And I was told that you were walking here.’
‘We were followed from the station?’ said Chaudhry.
‘Every step of the way,’ said Shepherd, ushering them inside and closing the door. ‘They were on your tail from the moment you left the flat. Though they were surprised that you took a cab to Paddington.’
Malik looked around the hotel room. ‘You haven’t got cameras in here, have you?’ he asked. Shepherd laughed. ‘I’m serious, man. You spooked us with that sandwich thing. There was someone in the restaurant car when I was buying them, right?’ He took off his parka jacket and tossed it on to the bed.
‘It was our man behind the counter,’ said Shepherd.
‘The old guy?’ said Malik. ‘How did you manage that?’
‘We knew you’d be on a train to Reading, which was a bit of a cheat, so he had the uniform and was ready to go. Whichever train you got on, he’d get on.’
‘You can do that?’ asked Chaudhry.
‘It’s MI5, Raj, they can do pretty much what they want. We had a British Transport Police guy primed to go and he arranged it. He flashes his ID and tells the staff to do as our guy says.’ There was a small sofa by the window and he waved at it. ‘You guys take the weight off your feet. We’re going to be here for a while.’
Chaudhry and Malik sat down.
‘Do you want room service? Coffee? Water?’
‘Coffee would good,’ said Chaudhry. Malik nodded. Shepherd picked up the phone and ordered three pots of coffee.
It was a large room with a double bed and a working area where a whiteboard had been placed on an easel. There was a connecting door to the adjoining room and as Shepherd put down the phone there was a soft knock on it. Shepherd opened the door and took a handful of photographs from a man in the next room.
‘Who’s that?’ asked Chaudhry as Shepherd closed the door.
‘One of the guys who followed you,’ said Shepherd. He handed the photographs to them and the two men started looking through them. There were pictures of them leaving their building, getting into the minicab, and walking through the station. There was a photograph of them buying their tickets, and another of them getting on to the train. One photograph of them sitting on their train even appeared to have been taken on a mobile phone.
Chaudhry looked up in amazement. ‘How many did you have following us?’ he asked.
‘There were two on the pavement outside your flat. We had two motorbikes just in case you went by bus or cab, which was lucky.’
‘Was one a courier?’
‘They were both couriers,’ said Shepherd. He gathered up the photographs and put them on the desk.
‘I think I saw one following the cab.’
‘Well done,’ said Shepherd. ‘I hope he wasn’t too obvious. We had four at the station, plus the BTP officer and the guy ready to go in the restaurant car. And I cheated a little by having three at Reading station so that even if they missed you completely in London they could pick you up there.’
‘How come we didn’t spot them?’ asked Malik.
‘Because they’re professionals,’ said Shepherd. ‘They look totally normal. They blend in and they do absolutely nothing to attract attention to themselves. No one was going to get close enough to see what ticket you were buying, but that’s not an issue. If they’re professional then as soon as they know you’re heading for the station they’ll just buy tickets for all the main lines anyway. And our guys have British Transport IDs so they can just flash them to a ticket inspector.’ He showed them the picture of them boarding the train. ‘It’s always best to board a train at the last moment. It gives anyone following less time to get sorted. You made it too easy.’
‘The guy in the suit,’ said Malik. ‘There was a businessman at Paddington. He kept looking at us.’
‘He was probably looking at you and wondering why you were staring at him. He wasn’t one of ours. Our people would never look directly at you. And they’d never make eye contact with you. In fact that’s one of the ways you can spot a close-up tail — they’ll be avoiding eye contact even when you’d expect them to be looking at you.’
‘How do we spot them, then?’ asked Malik.
‘If they’re doing their job properly you shouldn’t be able to,’ said Shepherd.
‘I looked at everyone in our carriage and I didn’t think anyone was following us.’
‘There’s a good chance that they wouldn’t be in your carriage,’ said Shepherd. ‘That’s the beauty of a train. There’s no getting off anywhere other than at a station, so while the train’s moving they don’t even need to have you in sight. All that matters is that they see when you get off.’
‘So you check who gets off with you?’ said Chaudhry.
‘Not necessarily,’ said Shepherd. ‘If they’re pros there’ll be at least two on the train. One will stay put while you get off and radio or phone the other to say that you’re on the move. So your tail could actually be ahead of you.’
‘It’s impossible to tell you’re being followed, is that what you’re saying?’
Shepherd shook his head. ‘It’s not impossible, but it takes practice. That’s why we’re here. This isn’t about us showing off. It’s about demonstrating what a good surveillance operation is like. What I want to do is to run a few exercises with you. And give you a few tips about what to look out for and what to do if you think you are being followed.’
‘Is something wrong, John?’ asked Malik. ‘Has something happened?’
