‘Arbuthnot could have brought this off, kept us out of it,’ Cameron Smythe said.
‘No point in speculating. Woolston killed him,’ Claude said.
‘Woolston’s a nuisance. What are you doing to bring this man in?’
‘We’ve some people undercover looking for him.’
‘Who?’
‘Leave that to me. You just keep the contacts open.’
‘There’s a facility where he can go when you find him.’
‘In England?’
‘As you’ve just said, leave it to me. We’ll have him out of the country within hours.’
‘One-way trip?’
‘He’ll not be coming back. They’ll extract whatever they want, force him to complete the project, and then…’
‘When he’s outlived his usefulness, they’ll rid themselves of him.’
‘Bullet to the head, that sort of thing.’
‘Nasty.’
‘Does it concern you?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Then how will you flush out Woolston?’
‘There’s only one way.’
‘You’ve got the people?’
‘Once we agree.’
‘Are we there yet?’
‘The files he gave us were fake. It was just a ruse to flush out Sue Christie.’
‘It worked.’
‘He’s working to a plan. If he knows about us, then we’ll be in his line of fire.’
‘For a self-proclaimed pacifist, he certainly has no issue with murder.’
‘He’s the same as all of them. If it’s a noble cause, then anything is justified.’
‘Is it a noble cause?’
‘This project of low-cost energy? I suppose it is, but the alternative project is of more interest to us.’
***
Isaac brought the team together in Challis Street. Sue Christie’s death had brought renewed focus on the Homicide department to find Malcolm Woolston.
‘Woolston didn’t kill her without reason,’ Larry said.
‘Woolston’s told me that already. If she had sold out, as he claimed, then that means Ed Barrow has too.’
‘That’s never been a secret that Woolston intends to kill Barrow as well.’
‘Is he the last on the list?’ Wendy asked.
‘We’ll not know unless the man contacts us.’
Isaac’s phone rang. ‘There are people after me,’ Woolston said.
‘We are,’ Isaac replied.
‘It is important that these people do not catch me.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘They will force me to complete a weapon of immense destructive capability.’
‘You could refuse.’
‘That will not be possible.’
‘Why?’
‘They will threaten my family.’
‘Why didn’t you stay dead?’ Isaac asked. ‘Leave well alone?’
‘I knew Bob Robertson’s surfing the net would cause trouble. I had to pre-empt them.’
‘What do you want us to do?’
‘I want you to know in case anything happens to my family or to me.’
‘We can’t protect your family any more than we are now, and besides, if you surrender yourself to us at Challis Street, you’ll be protected.’
‘There is no protection there for me. I just wanted you to know.’
‘Where will they take you?’
‘You will never find me, they’ll make sure of that.’
‘We would continue to look. You are still a self-confessed murderer.’
‘They will stop it, apply the Official Secrets Act.’
‘We’ve been there before,’ Isaac said.
‘Then you know what I’m talking about.’
‘Whether I do or not is immaterial. You have committed crimes, I’m a police officer. I have my duty to do.’
‘They will not allow you.’
Yet again, Isaac had to admit, a bizarre phone call.
***
Gwen Barrow did not often travel to the centre of London. It was her first time there for some years, and the meeting in a hotel room close to Leicester Square was important.
As she entered through the swing doors of the hotel, a wave of nostalgia swept over her. It was where she and Malcolm had honeymooned. Even the room was the same.
She wasn’t sure what to expect, not sure if she should have agreed, but Sally said it had been arranged, and it was important. Besides, there were questions unanswered. It had been eleven years since she had seen the man, not all of them bad, but now with Ed almost certainly involved in something nefarious, and Malcolm killing people, her relationship with her current husband was tenuous.
Ever since Malcolm had returned, she had not slept well, not wanting to see him, wanting to see him, and there he was standing in front of her as he opened the door. Gwen was not sure if she wanted to chastise him or hug him.
‘A long time,’ he said.
‘I wasn’t sure.’
‘Hear me out.’ Malcolm put his arms around his former wife and gave her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. She did not react.
‘Why here?’
‘I couldn’t think of anywhere else that had pleasant memories.’
‘You’ve not changed,’
‘I’m older, less hair, but I suppose I’m still the same.’
‘Sally said I had to come. I was in two minds.’
‘She was right. It may be the only chance that we get to spend time together.’
‘If you hadn’t killed anyone.’
‘Not even then. They’ll not leave me alone.’
‘They?’
‘The government, the military, Ed.’
‘He’s been a good man to us,’ Gwen said.
‘He’s involved.’
‘But why Sue?’
‘She had her fingers in too many pies.’
Gwen sat down on the bed. The man looked the same to her, a little older maybe, and where there should have been hair, there was none. The voice remained the same, the mannerisms. She was in their honeymoon suite, yet she felt she was with a stranger.
Ed had been there for them for the last eleven years, in truth a better father to Sally than the man standing in front of her, yet he had not been the father. And now, Malcolm Woolston was back in their lives. She had not known that Sally had a phone number for her father and that she had phoned him up after her mother’s request.
Gwen was not sure what to expect, what she wanted from the meeting. Malcolm came forward, attempted to put his arms
