***
Thursday morning (29th) and the RAF bus was on its way to the works. It was going down the Stamfordham Road past Blakelaw, a large sprawling council estate built after the Second World War. Each of the men on the coach was busy with his thoughts. Only two more days of this and then a final bus trip on the Monday morning to Central Station to get the train south. Higgins was looking forward to the end of the detachment and his return to Acklington where he would be much closer to his girlfriend. Others, like ‘Sarge’, looked forward to being closer to loved ones when they moved south. There was none of the usual chatter between them. They saw the usual sights as the bus headed into town, past Fenham Barracks and the Leazes Park; past St. James football ground and through Gallowgate; past Grey’s Monument towering over the other buildings, its stonework almost black from the years of industrial pollution in the air. It was a slow trip through the city with the rush hour traffic and the large numbers of council buses, all a bright yellow, helping to clog the streets. So, on to Wensley Electronics and their second last day there. Once there they all settled into their work, dismantling and packing equipment and preparing it to be picked up by RAF transport the next day. All the test results and settings were gone through with the Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) representative and staff from Wensley Electronics. The company was in the process of building a second prototype under Air Ministry orders. It would use all the settings agreed from the trials and testing so far. Andy was completing his work and also giving others a hand as it was needed. Flying Officer Goodhew had him in his office and they went through the work that Andy had done on the analysis and recording system.
Hamilton had caught an early train from London and was on his way to Newcastle. He wanted to finish the work he had started and make sure there were no loose ends. Reflecting on things, they had to thank the observations of Corporal Hill for the big ‘clean-up’. The question was — what would Moscow do next? Things were pretty much under control now at Argonaut Industries. The launcher was pretty straight forward and no great improvement on the technology. The missile was already being tested at the Weapons Research Establishment in South Australia and also at the Woomera rocket range. That was the responsibility of MI6 and the Australian Security System. The tractor was different. It combined two operations into one vehicle which cut down the re-load time substantially. The design was not ‘high-tech.’ but the result of good method study and innovative engineering. It would be of interest to Moscow but they would most likely already be trying to get information if they hadn’t got it yet. The attempt to steal the klystron unit showed that they hadn’t got the key information yet but they had enough information to know what to aim for. The other key piece of information they wanted was the wavelength that the system operated on. That had to be protected at all costs. Then there was the death of their agent in London after he followed up a suspected lead on a leak in Air Ministry. Was that connected to this project or another? He was obviously too close for the comfort of that spy network. The woman in question was still being watched. What of young Corporal Hill? His earlier assignment (or should that be plural?) had caused enough pain to the other side to want him dead. If they associated him with the latest setbacks (and that was possible, given the press photograph) there would more attempts on his life. He wondered whether young Hill could be recruited into MI5. It was unlikely at present since he had already been recruited by another organisation that was obviously internal to the RAF. He thought he knew who controlled it and wondered who had set it up but only the head of MI5 and the top RAF ‘brass’ knew the answer to that one. For the time being Corporal Hill may be safer on an RAF station rather than travelling around the country but that decision was for the RAF. As long as MI5 kept an eye on him it could reap benefits in weeding out Britain’s enemies. His thoughts were interrupted by the dining car steward sliding open the compartment door and asking if he wanted breakfast. Hamilton nodded his assent and rose to follow the steward out.
Back in Manchester, Major Garasov was having similar reflections. There was no doubt that the man in the photograph was their agent Vasiliy. The man holding him
