Laden’s son and he didn’t even have a gun. For all I know he could have been surrendering. It was an assassination, nothing less.’
‘There are those that might say it’s better they didn’t take him alive. Can you imagine what al-Qaeda might have done to try to force the Americans to give him back? At least this way that’s not an option.’
‘Yeah? You think there won’t be repercussions? Because I’ll take any bet you want to place. If Bin Laden had come out firing an AK-47 there might have been an argument for shooting him, but he was unarmed and they put a bullet in his chest and one in his head.’ He forced a smile. ‘At least they didn’t shoot me. I guess I should be thankful for small mercies.’ He toyed with his wine glass. ‘So what now?’
‘Business as usual,’ said Button. ‘I need you to hand-hold Chaudhry and Malik. Especially after what’s happened.’
‘I’ll check in by phone tonight and arrange a meeting.’
‘How do you think they’ll react?’
Shepherd grimaced. ‘They’ll be pleased he’s dead; they both hated him for what he’d done. But they’ll wonder why I didn’t give them a heads-up about what was going to happen.’
‘Smooth their feathers,’ she said. ‘Say whatever’s necessary to keep them on track.’
‘I’m not going to lie to them, Charlie.’
She swirled her wine around the glass. ‘No one’s asking you to lie, or even bend the truth. But they’re amateurs doing a very dangerous job and they need the kid-gloves treatment. For instance, probably best not to tell them you were in Pakistan.’
‘I wasn’t planning to,’ said Shepherd. ‘They don’t know about my SAS background.’
‘That’s the way to play it,’ she said. ‘You’re a regular MI5 intelligence officer with undercover experience pretending to be a freelance journalist,’ she said. ‘Anything else will just overcomplicate it.’
‘Let me ask you something,’ said Shepherd. ‘Do you think killing Bin Laden makes it more likely now that Raj and Harvey are going to be put into play?’
‘They were already in play. They’ve been trained in Pakistan; they met with Bin Laden; they’ve been groomed to commit a major terrorist atrocity. It has always been a matter of when and not if. I’m surprised it’s taken as long as it has.’
Shepherd sipped the last of his wine and then refilled their glasses. ‘I just can’t help thinking that killing Bin Laden is like a red rag to a bull. Especially the way they did it. Shooting him in cold blood and dumping his body at sea. If I was a radical Muslim I’d be getting ready to make my point.’
‘But as the Americans are taking the credit, they’ll be the ones suffering the consequences,’ said Button. ‘No one knows of our involvement and the Americans certainly won’t be publicising that you were with the Seal team.’
‘But if al-Qaeda does lash out at the UK, Raj and Harvey could be at the forefront.’
‘We’ll be listening for chatter and the Border Agency is on alert,’ said Button. ‘I think if anything it’ll subdue al-Qaeda for a while. They’ll retrench and regroup.’
‘Would you like a bet on that?’
‘I never gamble, Spider. You know that.’ She raised her glass to him. ‘And seriously, I’m glad you’re okay. I was never convinced that sending you to Pakistan was a good idea but my bosses wanted one of ours on the team. Word had come down from Number Ten.’
‘What, to demonstrate that the special relationship is still there?’
‘Who knows how our masters think?’ said Button. ‘It was probably just to get one over on the French.’ She sipped her wine again. ‘While we’re waiting for Chaudhry and Malik to be put into play there’s another job coming up, if you’re interested.’
‘I get a choice?’ said Shepherd. ‘That’s a change.’
‘It means a secondment to the Met.’
Shepherd’s eyes narrowed. ‘I’m not investigating cops again,’ he said. ‘I told you after the last time, that’s not what I’m about.’
‘Heard and understood,’ said Button. ‘No, it’s run-of-the-mill bad guys being targeted. And it’ll mean you meeting up with someone from your past. Sam Hargrove.’
It was the last name that Shepherd had expected to hear and he raised his eyebrows.
‘Sam’s found a home in the Met’s Covert Operations Group and needs a hand on an undercover job,’ continued Button. ‘He’s a DCS now. He was still a superintendent when you were with his unit, right?’
‘Yeah,’ said Shepherd. ‘Good to see him doing so well. Did he ask for me specifically?’
Button shook her head. ‘The Met is stretched, SOCA’s in disarray and the head of Covert Policing Command knows my boss at Five so I think it got discussed over lunch at the Garrick and I was asked to put someone forward. With your police background you were the obvious choice.’
‘Okay,’ said Shepherd hesitantly.
‘Problem?’
‘No, it’s not that. It’s just, you know, the past is a different country. You can’t go back, can you? I left the Met to join SOCA and left SOCA to go to Five. It’s going to feel strange going back to where I started.’
‘It wasn’t that long ago. But if you’ve any reservations, any reservations at all, let me know.’
‘No, it’s all good.’ He nodded. ‘Really. It’ll be interesting to see how the Met’s been getting on without me.’ Shepherd smiled. He wasn’t worried about working with Sam Hargrove again. In fact he was looking forward to it. He’d enjoyed working for Hargrove in the Met’s undercover unit in the days before it had been taken over by SOCA, and there had several times over the past few years when he’d considered giving his former boss a call.
‘Why don’t you sleep on it and if you’re not keen you can let me know tomorrow?’
‘I don’t need to,’ said Shepherd. ‘It’ll be fine. It’s not as if I’m rushed off my feet, is it?’
‘There’s a lot of waiting, that’s true,’ said Button. ‘But I’ve made it clear to Sam that if you are co-opted your Five work takes absolute precedence. If Chaudhry or Malik need you, you drop everything.’
Shepherd nodded and sipped his wine, watching her over the top of his glass. She almost always referred to the men by their family names, almost never as Raj and Harvey. He wondered if it was deliberate and that she was distancing herself from them. And that made him wonder how she referred to him when he wasn’t around. Was he Dan? Or Spider? Or Shepherd?
‘What?’ she said, and he realised that he must have been staring.
He grinned. ‘Nothing, I was just wondering if Jimmy Sharpe would be involved. I haven’t seen him for months but the last I heard was that he was doing some undercover work with the Met.’
‘Well, if he is, give him my best.’ She looked at her watch. ‘I’d better be going, I’ve a stack of emails that need answering and I’ve a conference call with Langley in a couple of hours.’
Shepherd slapped his forehead. ‘Damn, I knew I’d forgotten something. I was supposed to Skype Liam.’ He groaned. ‘They’re not allowed to use their laptops after eight. I’ll have to call him tomorrow.’
‘How’s he getting on at boarding school?’
‘Loves it,’ said Shepherd. ‘His grades are improving and he’s really into all the sports. He’s started rock climbing, and that’s something I used to do as a kid so hopefully we’ll get in a few climbs together at some point.’
‘It’s funny how quickly they adapt,’ said Button. ‘My daughter always wanted to go to boarding school. There were a few tears the first week she was away, but these days she can’t wait to get back. It’s a teenage thing, I guess; they’d rather be with their friends.’
‘It works out really well for me,’ said Shepherd. ‘I can take him out any weekend if I want and they’re very relaxed about midweek visits. I try to Skype him every evening but this whole Pakistan thing has meant that I haven’t spoken to him for a week.’
‘What did you tell him?’
‘I spoke to him just before I went away, but obviously I didn’t say where I was going, just that I was working and that I probably wouldn’t be able to use my phone or computer. The Yanks were so paranoid they took everything off me as soon as I got to their airbase. They didn’t give me my phone back until I was boarding my plane this morning and by then the battery was dead.’
‘He’ll be okay. He’s used to your absences.’
‘It’s not him I’m worried about,’ said Shepherd. ‘I’m the one that misses him, not the other way round.’ He drained his glass. ‘At least I don’t have to nag him to do his homework; the school’s doing a better job of that than
