otherwise he would not have been invited so he was anxious to be done with all this banter and move on. He gave his assessment: ‘So the continued secrecy of this tablet depends on Durrani and those other characters not telling the Americans that he’s carrying something inside his belly.’
‘In a nutshell,’ Nevins responded, eager to move on himself.
‘Bloody marvellous,’ Sir Charles grumbled. ‘Now we’re relying on Taliban terrorists to keep our secrets for us.’
Nevins wanted to tell Sir Charles to stop being so melodramatic but he continued to disguise his irritation.
‘I take it everything’s in place to knock off the doctor and the mullah,’ Jervis said matter-of-factly.
‘Of course,’ Nevins said with equal callousness. ‘If it’s any consolation, what little information we have on Durrani is that he is regarded as somewhat special among the Taliban, hence him being entrusted with such an important mission. He doesn’t seem the sort to give it up easily . . . And the Americans would have to know what they were looking for before they began searching for it.’
Sir Charles made a disagreeable harrumphing sound.
‘Gentlemen,’ Nevins declared, as if the word might clear the air. ‘I would like to move on to the next phase of this meeting. I want us to examine the feasibility of getting close enough to Durrani to neutralise the tablet. Are we all in agreement?’
‘Do we know where he is?’ Jervis asked, displaying his characteristic impatience in the face of protocol, a habit at the root of his unpopularity among his peers.
‘I’d like us all to move forward together,’ Nevins said. There were some basic ground rules in this game that every man in the room knew well enough and Jervis was obviously trying it on.These meetings were recorded and anyone agreeing to proceed to the next decisive phase was also technically agreeing to favourably conclude the preceding one. In this case it meant approving the minister’s request for time to consider an alternative means of retrieving the tablet and to delay informing the Americans. The important subtlety, and also the danger, was that the group would have ostensibly formally agreed to deceive their country’s closest allies. If the group decided against moving forward to the next phase the request would not be given operational approval and it would be returned to the minister who would have little choice but to follow a course that would ultimately result in revealing the true situation to the Americans.
But there were some obvious as well as hidden dangers in that course of action.The arc of the swinging crushing-ball is predictable but the collateral damage caused by falling debris is not always easy to foresee. Heads would roll as a result of the action. On the face of it, as it had been laid out by Sumners and Nevins, the safest and most prudent course, for the group at least, was to decide against attempting to ‘neutralise’ the tablet. However, the reputation of the service was also at stake and that was no small matter. The British enjoyed the most enviable position when it came to international espionage on practically every level. For the group to accept the risk and move forward would take them into territory where the dangers were unknown. Still, one could not get a little pregnant in this business.
‘I have another meeting I must attend,’ Sir Charles said, getting to his feet. ‘I’ll see you later, Gerald. Van der Seiff . . . Jervis.’
Nevins and Jervis watched Sir Charles leave the room while Van der Seiff stared ahead as if he was unaware it was happening. One decision against might not be enough to close the case - depending on who made it, of course. But two would seal it. Now the only person Nevins could afford to lose had gone and he waited for one of the others to climb out of their chair and end the meeting.
Sumners resealed the bubble entrance and returned to the podium, unsure if he was to press on or not.
As the seconds ticked away neither of the two department heads spoke and Nevins grew confident that they would remain seated. He took a moment to consider his next move. He was not overly concerned about Sir Charles backing out. The old boy was the sort who could be revisited if advice was needed, even with a task that he had declined to approve. Few people knew that about Sir Charles but Nevins had known him for many years, having served under him in MI6 in his earlier days. Van der Seiff and Jervis were the more important, for the time being at least. The operation to get a team close enough to Durrani was going to need Jervis’s particular genius. And Van der Seiff would be essential when it came to political plotting, defending against repercussions and manipulating the players in the international arena.
The Americans were going to have to be played very carefully. They were old allies but had a severe sting in their tail if crossed. Britain’s enemies within the US corridors of power would call it mistrust while its friends might understand it was all about saving face. Nevertheless, the hammer would fall, and hard. The danger of the tablet ending up in the wrong hands was a serious one and British Military Intelligence as well as the minister would suffer immensely as a result of their decision if it went wrong.Then there was the risk to the identities of the secret contacts on the tablet if they ended up becoming public knowledge. Pragmatic individuals within The Service would argue that its reputation was more important than the lives of a few wogs.
Fortunately for Nevins that was beyond his area of consideration. He’d been given the job of assessing the immediate options. He was not officially committed to going forward either, even if the others decided to proceed. That was the luxury of his position as the meeting director - for the time being, anyway. His final decision would depend on the ideas and suggestions of the two men in front of him. Van der Seiff and Jervis were the ideal pair to devise an operation of the complexity and subtlety required and were clearly curious to hear more. The prospect of an interesting challenge was probably the only reason keeping them in the room. If they could convince Nevins that it was possible to get to Durrani then he would go along with it. But despite his positive leanings, that would not be easy.
‘Let’s move on then, Sumners,’ Nevins said. ‘And since your flair for suspense is not appreciated why don’t you cut straight to where Durrani is being held?’
‘Yes, sir,’ Sumners said, pursing his mouth in irritation at being the butt of Van der Seiff’s sarcasm and striking a selection of keys.
A schematic diagram appeared on the screen. It looked like a hill containing dozens of engineered tunnels and compartments in various layers with a large portion of the excavation beneath ground level. As the schematic turned on its axis, showing plan as well as side elevations, more detailed illustrations were speedily created. A slender cord grew skyward out of the top of the hill, curving like a snake.When it reached a considerable height a large barge-like construction with several compartments began to take shape. Antennae protruded from it and it moved gently as if on water. A pair of cable cars left a floating platform and moved at a steep angle down to the hill on a system of heavy-duty wires. Machinery appeared in the lower hollows of the hill with conduits and hawsers fanning throughout the complex, some following the tunnels while others created their own ducts leading to dozens of small rooms in neat rows on several levels.
‘Styx,’ Jervis mumbled.
‘That’s right, sir,’ Sumners said. ‘The undersea prison. Destination of America’s highest-category prisoners.And since the announced closure of Guantanamo it has also become a terrorist-detention centre.’
Van der Seiff glanced at Jervis who was grinning slightly. Jervis raised his eyebrows at him in a manner that suggested he thought the situation was becoming much more interesting.
‘It’s immediately obvious why the minister hopes that time may be on our side,’ Nevins said.
‘Durrani won’t be going anywhere for a long time,’ Jervis surmised.
Nevins looked at him as if he might not entirely agree with the comment, a sentiment that Van der Seiff appeared to share. Jervis caught the subtle flicker in both their expressions and narrowed his eyes. ‘Why would that not be true?’
‘There’s a rumble in the jungle,’ Nevins replied. ‘Styx may be in trouble. Something’s going on down below but we’re not entirely sure what. It may be a combination of things. We initially assumed the problem was to do with rumours about the CIA using unconventional interrogation techniques. But it could be worse than that. Public interest in Styx has grown with the transfer of prisoners from Guantanamo Bay to the underwater facility. Human- rights groups, the media and political opposition groups are unhappy that they can’t even get close enough to look through the bars.’
‘Excuse me, sir,’ Sumners interrupted politely. He had started off the briefing feeling a little nervous but Nevins’s increasing encroachments on what he regarded as his patch were now beginning to irritate him. ‘I can expand on that subject.’
‘Go ahead. Go ahead,’ Nevins said.
