chain of command and areas of responsibility. Basically he and his officers, who were limited in numbers and resources, would be available to provide initial uniformed back-up if any incident during the visit required it. Political relations between South Africa and the UK were good, so there was no threat of any demonstration or protest — not that such actions would even be feasible within the confines of a national park where, for the most part, animals rather than people held sway. Isaac explained that should Greeves be taken ill, or injured in any way, there was a doctor on call twenty-four hours a day at Skukuza, and Nelspruit hospital was forty-five minutes away.
‘Really, I can’t think of anything that could go wrong, other than the minister falling ill, or being eaten by a lion on a game drive.’ The burly captain’s whole body shook and Sannie swore she felt the floor vibrating under her high heels as he laughed at his own joke.
Tom, she saw, smiled politely, then asked questions about police radio communications, emergency frequencies, phone numbers, and crime figures for the national park and its surrounds. He was very professional, but Sannie expected nothing less of the Englishman. As she had reflected earlier, even that sleaze Nick Roberts was good at his job. Being a protection officer — dropping in and out of other people’s turf — required diplomacy, and Tom had it.
Their briefing session over, Sannie and Tom left the captain and went back to her car. ‘The lodge is only about ten minutes from here.’
‘Do you share his confidence about the risk assessment here in the park?’ Tom asked as she unlocked the Mercedes by remote. The horn gave a little beep and the hazard lights flashed as the alarm was disabled.
‘I lock my car, even when I know there’s about a one in a million chance of it being broken into or stolen outside a police post in the middle of a national park.’
Tom opened the car door. ‘That’s why we’re here.’
4
‘Mr Speaker, will the Minister for Defence Procurement elaborate on remarks he made to defence contractors recently in which he indicated the government in fact has no real intention to further scale back troop numbers in Iraq? Further, will the minister come clean on the government’s timetable for withdrawal?’ The opposition backbencher grinned, and sat as the guffaws rose from his side of the House of Commons in the Palace of Westminster just as the groans and jeers from the government benches mocked him.
Robert Greeves buttoned his suit jacket as he stood and approached the despatch box and coldly eyed the members of Her Majesty’s loyal opposition, though how loyal this cretinous mob of political featherweights were was debatable. ‘Mr Speaker, once more for the slow learners…’
He paused as the peals of forced laughter erupted from the government benches. When the theatrics had subsided, he continued. ‘Mr Speaker, this would be a laughably dim question if the subject were not so desperately serious. We sit here in parliament today, safely surrounded by armed police, security staff, metal detectors, cameras and an array of protective systems. Out in the deserts of Southern Iraq, and on the streets of Basra and Baghdad and many other towns and villages of that poor benighted country, there are British men and women in harm’s way. Men and women who face the dangers of improvised explosive devices — bombs to you and me — rocket-propelled grenades and bullets.’
‘So why don’t you bring them home?’ an opposition member jeered.
Greeves knew better than to take the bait and get into a slanging match. He paused and stared at the member of parliament opposite who had asked the question. His silence was effective and infectious. The whole house was quiet, waiting for his deep, measured voice to continue.
Although a relatively young fifty-two, he was one of the longest serving members of parliament, having been elected at the age of just twenty-six. He had never aspired to the prime ministership, though countless hacks and plenty amid his own Party had speculated or urged that he should. He had been a member of parliament longer than the current prime ministerial incumbent, and he had helped put the man there. Robert Greeves was not a king but a king-maker. His satisfaction was in steering his Party towards government — and that goal had been achieved after years in the wilderness of opposition — and helping to place a succession of talented, driven, intelligent people in the top job, for as long as his Party held power. For himself, all he wanted was a challenging cabinet position where he could make a difference. Leaders came and went, and when they left the highest elected office in the land, that was generally the end of their political career. Greeves wanted to be in politics until he died. It was his life. It was his calling. And he was very, very good at it.
‘However, Mr Speaker, I address the house today not on the subject of the fine men and women of our own army and Royal Air Force who serve in Iraq, nor our equally upstanding seamen in the still troubled waters of the north Arabian Gulf. I speak of the men of the fledgling Iraqi defence force and the Iraqi police force.
‘It is these men who risk assassination, hatred and intimidation not only of themselves on a daily basis but also of their families, by daring to do the right thing and don the uniform of their newly independent, newly democratic country.
‘How can we say, “We, like you, don’t believe that foreign insurgents should be allowed to kill your women and children indiscriminately with car bombs, but we’ve had enough now and it’s all over to you”?’
‘It’s not our war!’ called another opposition member.
‘Tell that to victims of the seven-seven London bombings!’ Greeves shot back at the interjector. Damn, he said to himself. He had risen to the challenge and this prompted a fusillade of catcalls from both sides. He did get emotional, however, when discussing terrorism and the global fight against it. Skilled politician and orator though he was, he was only human. When relative calm followed the banging of the speaker’s order, he continued.
‘Mr Speaker, we cannot leave the Iraqi recruits to their own devices just yet. I cannot say whether they will be ready to do the job next week, next month or next year. The war they fight is the same one Britain fights against the rise of cruel Islamic fundamentalists who bring shame on their people and their faith. I would like to use this opportunity to bring members up to date on the events of two days ago at Enfield.’
Greeves gave a rundown on the explosion at the house in Enfield, without going into detail about the operation to hack into the occupants’ computer. His praise of the young man killed in the blast was heartfelt, though he released neither the name nor the occupation of ‘one of the security service’s best and brightest young people’. He silently also congratulated himself on turning a question about the government’s frankly nonexistent exit strategy in Iraq into a reminder of the threat of terror attacks on the homeland.
‘Mr Speaker, the two suspects killed at the scene of this bombing were, it would appear, slain by one of their own. It can only be surmised that these two men, of Pakistani origin, carried information about a terrorist network or an impending attack that was so vital their co-conspirator could not risk them being arrested and questioned. This, too, explains why the terrorists blew up their own lair, thereby denying our security services access to whatever materials or information may have been stored there.
‘This is a reminder to us all that the foes our young Iraqi friends face — side by side with their comrades from the British armed forces — are the same as those at work in our own backyard. It is a reminder to us all to be vigilant, determined, strong and courageous in the face of adversity. It is a reminder, Mr Speaker, to be British, and proud of it!’
The roars of support from the government benches drowned out the opposition and Greeves turned to his colleagues, many of whom nodded genuine wishes of congratulations.
His press secretary intercepted him as he left the chamber. ‘Choice,’ said Helen MacDonald, using a favourite adjective from her New Zealand upbringing. A year earlier Greeves had poached her from a tabloid, where she had put in ten years’ service as a political reporter since leaving the New Zealand Herald. Helen had often been stinging in her criticisms of the Party and its governance of the country, and that had been one of the reasons he had hired her. In part, taking her on board was removing a thorn in their side. However, he also wanted to ensure there was at least one member of his staff who was not a self-serving political apparatchik, merely biding their time until a safe seat could be found for them. A press secretary needed to be independent — ideally, apolitical — honest, and not afraid to deliver criticism. ‘You overdid it a bit at the end. I could almost hear “Land of Hope and Glory” coming out your bum.’
He laughed. He’d chosen Helen well. ‘As ever, you flatter me too much, Helen. What’s up?’ He knew she would not have come looking for him simply to give her critique of his performance in question time.
