having an effect after all. He fell asleep.
‘It’s years since I was last in Edinburgh,’ said MacFarlane as they walked up the steep hill out of Waverley Station and into the sunlight on Princes Street. ‘I must have been fourteen at the time. I remember I was with a girl called Karen, my first real love. We came to Edinburgh for the day, which is about as much as any true Glaswegian can stand of the place. We climbed that.’ MacLean pointed to the Gothic spire of the Scott Monument, towering up out of Princes Street Gardens.
Leavey said, ‘I didn’t realise you had an interest in Scottish architecture Willie?’
‘I haven’t,’ said MacFarlane. ‘I thought I might get a flash of her knickers if she went up the steps first.’
‘And did you?’ asked Leavey with a smile.
‘It was too dark, damn it.’
Tansy served roast beef for dinner. MacLean knew that she had been nervous about meeting Leavey and MacFarlane but watched her warm to them as the evening progressed. MacFarlane in particular was an asset to the party with his easy-going nature and lack of self-consciousness. His determination to be on his best behaviour and be mindful of his language in Tansy’s presence made his stories sound even funnier.
When Tansy went to the kitchen to make coffee MacLean joined her leaving Leavey and MacFarlane to pursue some obscure argument. He put his arms around her waist from behind and kissed her hair. ‘All right?’ he asked.
‘Yes,’ said Tansy. ‘They’re nice people.’
‘Then what’s troubling you?’ asked MacLean, keeping his arms around her and nuzzling her hair.
‘I… Oh it’s nothing,’ said Tansy.
‘Tell me,’ insisted MacLean.
‘I keep wanting to thank them,’ said Tansy, ‘But I can’t find the words and it makes me feel so awful. I should be able to say what I feel, especially now, but I can’t. I just can’t.’
‘Don’t worry about it,’ said MacLean. ‘They understand.’
‘No,’ insisted Tansy. ‘There’s more to it than that. I keep making comparisons between these men out there and the people I used to consider were my friends, the Nigels and Marjories of this world. My kind of people. How could I have been so wrong?’ Tansy turned to face MacLean. Her eyes showed bewilderment. ‘Nigel and Marjorie made me feel so beholden to them over a few nights bed and breakfast while these two men are going off to risk their lives for my daughter with no more fuss than if I had asked them to change a tap washer! Help me; I just don’t understand.’
MacLean smiled. ‘There’s no great mystery. You’ve just made the same discovery I did after I went to work on the rigs. There’s a basic goodness in ordinary people which most of us in our own sheltered, prejudiced little worlds never even suspect, let alone see. Some might suggest it only comes into its own when evil is around. Don’t worry about it. You’ve just become one of the privileged few. You’ve seen the light.’
Tansy said softly, ‘Thank you Sean MacLean. I’m so glad I met you.’
MacLean kissed her gently on the lips and said, ‘And I you, my lady.’
Tansy used a piece of kitchen roll to dab at her eyes and said, ‘I got the flight information you asked for.’
‘Good,’ said MacLean.
‘Looks like Monday or Tuesday.’
MacLean had the advantage of knowing the Lehman Steiner building from the inside. He drew a map from memory and pleased MacFarlane when he added the underground car park. ‘That’s our best bet for entry,’ he said. ‘I can go to work on the staff elevator.’
‘I think we have to face the fact that most of the Personnel files will be on computer discs not lying about in filing cabinets,’ said Nick Leavey.
‘That’s no problem unless they are protected,’ said MacFarlane.
‘Protected?’ asked Leavey.
‘Password access,’ said MacFarlane.
‘I think we can safely assume that any file connected with X14 will be protected,’ said MacLean.
‘Then we’ll need the passwords.’
‘Won’t they be kept in people’s heads?’ asked Leavey.
MacFarlane said not. ‘Big companies insist on all passwords being written down and stored somewhere safe. It gives employees too much power if individuals have sole access to company files. If they fall out with the management they might refuse access to their superiors.’
‘Blackmail,’ said Leavey.
‘Or even if a code holder falls under a bus it could mean lots of valuable data lost for ever,’ said MacFarlane.
‘So where would a company keep these code words?’ asked MacLean.
‘In a company safe,’ said MacFarlane.
MacLean could not help with the location of a safe in Personnel.
‘We’ll find it,’ said Leavey.
Leavey quizzed MacLean about his last trip to Geneva, asking whether or not he could be sure that his ‘Keith Nielsen’ alias was still safe. MacLean had to admit that there was no way he could be absolutely certain but the fact that he had successfully left Switzerland using that name suggested that it was still okay.
Leavey nodded thoughtfully and said, ‘I’m just trying to look into the minds of the opposition. They think that Sean MacLean is dead so we have no worries on that score and, from what you say, it seems a pretty safe bet that they don’t know about Keith Nielsen. They have however, been alerted to the fact that someone is interested in the X14 project so they’ll be on the look out for nosy parkers. Three of their people were taken out in Geneva but, as far as we know, none was left to tell the tale. That means that they don’t have much to go on but on the other hand they’re certainly not going to be asleep.’
‘Lehman Steiner is a very big organisation,’ said MacLean.
Leavey gave him a look that said, ‘So?’
‘I was thinking it wouldn’t be possible for them to tighten up security everywhere. As they don’t really know where the threat is coming from maybe the wisest thing for them to do would be to tighten up security around the X14 project itself and leave it at that.’
‘Good thinking,’ said Leavey.
‘You mean they won’t be expecting a raid on Personnel?’ said MacFarlane.
‘Unless Rives was already trying that angle when he got caught,’ said Leavey.
‘No,’ said MacLean. ‘Jean-Paul did think of it but he told me that he didn’t know anyone in Personnel. He was trying to find X14 through accounting records.’
‘Does that mean he was looking for a place and not a person?’ asked Tansy, speaking for the first time.
‘Yes,’ agreed MacLean. ‘And he found it. He just didn’t live long enough to tell us.’
‘Only the name of the woman, May Haas,’ said Tansy thoughtfully.
On Sunday, Leavey and MacFarlane diplomatically went off on their own leaving MacLean and Tansy to spend their last day together. MacLean had booked the three of them on to a flight to Geneva on Monday. He and Tansy visited Carrie in the afternoon and then walked by the shores of the Forth in the early evening. They stopped at Cramond, a pretty village, which had seen the legions of Rome come and go, and had a quiet drink at the inn. MacLean didn’t say much and Tansy didn’t prompt him. She knew from earlier experience that tension was building and he would not want to talk but, before they got up to leave, she said, ‘There is one thing I must ask you before you go. How long has Carrie got before a start must be made on surgery?’
‘It would be best if things got under way within four weeks,’ said MacLean.
Tansy wrung her hands uneasily then dropped them below the level of the table to disguise the fact. She began, ‘If… ‘
MacLean interrupted her, saying, ‘If for any reason I should not return, I’ve left a letter for you in the flat with the name and phone number of a Glasgow surgeon you must contact. Ron Myers is one of the best. Give him the sealed letter I’ve included and let him arrange the rest. On no account let Coulson touch her.’
Tansy’s eyes were full of uncertainty. She took MacLean’s hands in hers and whispered, ‘Come back to me… please.’
MacLean did his best to reassure her. He said softly, ‘I intend to. I also intend bringing Cytogerm home with
