“I thought he was moving you away from him so that Stanton would shoot at him not you, I thought he was protecting you.”
“You’re a good man Mr..?”
“McKie, David McKie.”
“Do you have a family?” She asked.
“Yes.”
“Don’t ever put your work before your family like he did. His work turned him cold. He wasn’t like that when we first met, his work changed him.”
“I’ve heard a lot about that, killing rotting the soul.”
“Then you’ll know to be careful.” She said and opened the car door and turned to face him. “We’ll be at my sister’s house if anyone wants us. I expect you can get the address easily in your line of work.”
David nodded. He watched her get in the car and pull out of the drive.
He turned his own steps to the Citroen C4. It was getting on for eight o clock and he had a meeting to get to.
Euston Tower
8 p.m.
April 19th
Brook hadn’t heard anything from anyone. He hadn’t been in contact. Once you were into the tube of an E order you kept out of contact and kept heading for the target.
He had prepared well on the information Stanton had given them and done some research on the floor layout of the building from the plans, which were available, but didn’t show any of the details, just the structure.
He walked into the revolving door at the tower. It moved slowly, very slowly. The guards watched him. The x-ray showed the holstered weapon and the infra red showed he was hot, sweating probably. The guard at the desk readied a weapon. When the door revolved to let him into the lobby he made his way to the desk and held up his badge. The MI6 people had quickly made a copy. It was good.
“Hi lads Leigh Taylor new guy reporting for duty.” Telford held out the badge.
The guard looked at the badge and then at the roster and the list of expected people on the screen in front of him under the desk.
Telford noticed a second guard appear from a door to the side. He was a heavily built man. He leant on the door frame.
The guard behind the desk rose and opened the sliding gap in the long desk pressing a button under the table.
Telford walked through, walked up to the two lifts and pressed the button. The door of the left hand lift opened instantly. He stepped in and the door closed. The two guards smiled at each other and one picked up a phone. DIC medical team came down in the lifts behind the hidden entrance door and deployed themselves outside the left hand lift door.
In the lift Telford had a second’s abject fear as the lift filled with gas and then he passed out and slumped to the floor. Fans switched on and sucked the gas out.
Minutes later when the doors opened the medical team put Telford on a stretcher and unconscious he was loaded into a private ambulance. The guards were back at their posts serious faces, but there was an atmosphere.
Suddenly one of them laughed then the other joined in. Their laughter echoed around the lobby.
“Silly bugger!”
“I wonder who he was?”
“I expect Jack will tell us when he gets back from Downing Street.
10Downing Street
8-15 pm
April 19th
Tarquin Robinson sat on the same side of the cabinet room table as Gary Braine. Across the table Diane Peters sat with an MP3 player attached to speakers in front of her. Next to her Jack Fulton sat with his face like stone looking over at the photographs arranged in front of the PM. They were photographs of Sternway and Mrs Robinson leaving La Rueda, separately.
“This is ridiculous!” Robinson was in full flow. “I have no idea what this is all about. That could be Nigel Sternway’s voice, it sounds a bit odd, but Melinda didn’t meet him there as far as I know, even if she did we’ve met socially, she could have been there to ask a personal favour.”
“You know why she was there.” Jack’s voice was flat.
“This doesn’t change anything Fulton. We need to suspend all DIC activity until this whole sorry mess has been investigated.” Robinson was adamant
“I’m sorry Jack, it doesn’t look good. I’ll admit the tape does show Mrs Robinson speaking to Sternway, but frankly Jack I’m shocked you’d make the accusation on such flimsy evidence. The Home Secretary has a point, you’ve hardly distinguished yourselves.”
Jack looked at Diane and Robinson smiled.
A phone rang. The phone was in Robinson’s pocket. He took out the orange coloured Bic cell phone and pressed cancel.
“I’m sorry…” He went to put it back in his pocket but it rang again. At the same time the cabinet room door opened and David McKie walked in holding an identical orange Bic ‘disposable’ cell phone in his right hand. In his left hand he held a sheaf of papers.
“What’s the meaning of this?” The Prime Minister asked tersely. Jack looked quizzically at Diane.
“I’m sorry Prime Minister. I’ve just come from Nigel Sternway’s house where myself and another DIC officer shot Trevor Stanton…”
“This is ridiculous!” Robinson shouted. “Your duty teams were suspended Fulton. I want this man arrested.”
“.. Stanton spoke before he died. Sternway was injured and a female DIC officer, unarmed, shielded Sternway’s children with her own body and was also injured.”
Jack looked horrified.
“It’s alright Jack she was just a shot in the arm, Ellie’s fine.”
Robinson rose from his seat.
“I must protest Gary…”
“Sit down!” It was Diane’s voice.
Robinson suddenly bidden by her voice did sit down glowering and was beginning to feel warm and uncomfortable.
“Stanton told me about the plot to discredit DIC and he told me about this cell phone. It was in Sternway’s jacket. I checked the locations of phone calls.”
David moved around the desk and put the papers by the Prime Minister. Then he reached into his pocket and took out two lime green cell phones.
“These link Stanton and Sternway. The orange ones link Robinson here and Sternway. That’s the chain. There are two dead bodies, Stanton’s work, at an MI6 safe house. Sternway was there earlier this evening and he took a call from that phone whilst he was there. The whole plot was to discredit and disband the Department for Internal Concerns. Stanton told me that Sternway had Cole killed, by Marco Spencer, the man who died at Perth, no less. Della Sternway is a witness to everything Stanton said. Sternway himself is in hospital with a police guard, shot in the shoulder.” David looked at Jack. Jack gave a grim smile.
The Prime Minister looked at Robinson, who was no longer protesting then he looked at McKie.
“Good work McKie. Now call a police officer and have Mr Robinson arrested.”
