On the platform, a chill wind biting her wrists and neck, she called Mac.
‘Hello gorgeous,’ he answered.
‘Do you know anyone in Special Branch? I need an “in” to get some info.’
‘And hello to you too.’ His tone was dry but before she could snap at him – I don’t have time for this! – he said, ‘Hang on a mo…’
Lucy heard voices in the background.
‘Paul Gray.’ Mac was back. ‘He’s a pal of mine, so be gentle with him. Here’s his mobile…’
She could have thrown her phone onto the train track when yet another automated voice asked her to leave a message. Didn’t anyone answer their phones any more? At which point, her phone vibrated. Dan. Shit, she’d forgotten to ring him to tell him she was safe.
‘Dan, I’m sorry. I’m fine. I’ve just been busy.’
‘That’s all I need to know. Will I see you at the flat later?’
‘Actually, I might stay with Mum tonight.’
The train began to approach, engine rumbling. Dan obviously heard it as he said, ‘I’ll let you go, then. Speak tomorrow? I’ve got some interesting stuff to share.’
‘Me too,’ she said feelingly. She still hadn’t told him she’d found her father. She would, though, when the time came, and when she actually knew the whole truth, whatever it was.
Since she had more phone calls to make, Lucy didn’t take a seat on the train but took up position in a passageway and where she hoped she wouldn’t be overheard. Watching the suburbs of Wolverhampton merge into Birmingham’s outskirts, she tried Paul Gray again. This time she got through. Alleluia! Quickly she explained who she was and what she wanted. Gray said he’d check with Mac and if she was ridgy-didge – his words, not hers – he’d pass the message on to Geoff Hanmer.
‘It’s extremely urgent,’ she repeated. ‘Tell him to ring me day or night.’
‘Will do.’
Next, she rang Mac back. ‘Sorry about earlier. I was in a hurry.’
‘So I gathered. How’s things?’
She yawned so widely tears collected in the corners of her eyes. ‘I’m knackered.’
‘Where are you?’
‘On a train, heading back to London.’
‘What gives?’
At that moment, she realised she had to see Mac, and tell him about her father. He’d help her through this. Help her to make the right decisions.
‘I saw my dad again.’
‘Really? How did it go?’
‘I don’t know. It’s just… really complicated.’ Out of nowhere her throat caught. She suddenly felt like weeping.
‘Oh, my love.’ Mac had obviously heard the emotion in her voice. ‘I’m sorry. I wish I was with you.’
‘Me too.’ She braced herself against the wall as the train gave a lurch. ‘I need your advice like nobody’s business. I’ll come down tomorrow. Stay the night.’
‘Great. I’ll make sure I’m all yours.’
They talked about his case for a bit, then he moved the conversation away from work to everyday things, like his sister hosting a baby shower for a friend where nobody turned up.
‘What, not a single person?’
‘Nope.’
‘God, that’s rude.’
‘Everyone texted afterwards with their excuses, but she’s still really cross about it.’
‘I’m not surprised. I’d be furious. I’ll ring her later.’
‘Thanks.’
She stood staring out at the shiny wet buildings flashing past. Mac had, she realised, tried to interject some normality into their conversation. God, she was lucky to have met him. She was thinking how to start telling him about her dad when her phone rang. Unknown.
Thinking it might be her father using another number, she answered cautiously. ‘Hello?’
‘DC Davies?’
‘Yes.’
‘Superintendent Geoff Hanmer.’ His tone was clipped and businesslike. ‘Paul Gray tells me you want to speak to me, and that it’s extremely urgent.’
Lucy stood upright, her attention sharpening. ‘Yes. It’s about an officer of yours…’ Quickly she checked to make sure she couldn’t be overheard. ‘Black Rainbow.’
There was a stunned silence.
‘How do you know that name?’ The man’s tone turned wary.
‘Through a case I’m working on. He told me his code name so that I could check his legitimacy with you.’
Another silence.
‘I haven’t, ahem… heard anything from him for a long time.’ The superintendent cleared his throat noisily. ‘How is he?’
‘Er…’ Lucy felt wrong-footed. ‘Fine. I mean, really fine.’
‘I see.’
A pause fell.
‘You do realise,’ Hanmer said, ‘that only three of us know who he is. You are now the fourth. I hope you will take great care it stays that way.’
‘Absolutely,’ she said fervently. Her grip on the phone was slippery with sweat. Could she ask the question that was burning in her heart?
‘What I wanted to know was, er… his real name.’
‘If you don’t know it,’ he said icily, ‘then it’s certainly not for me to say. If, however, it is in his best interests, then you will have to apply to this station in person and give your reasons why.’
‘Actually, I’m hoping he’ll tell me himself,’ Lucy admitted.
‘He’s a deep swimmer, DC Davies,’ Hanmer warned. ‘Unless he trusts you a hundred per cent – and I don’t know of any SDS operatives that ever did that – you’ll never know.’
After they’d hung up, Lucy stood gazing outside. A deep swimmer was an undercover operative who immersed themselves in their role, sometimes for years. They were officers who lived a secret life among their targets, becoming so intimately acquainted with one another’s lives that in the end they could become closer than brothers. But it was all a sham.
The SDS, the Special Demonstration Squad, had been established by Special Branch and disbanded ages ago. They’d been notorious, using the names of eighty dead children to create false identities for their operatives. She guessed her father had been transferred to another undercover unit when the SDS finished. This was why he was investigating BreatheZero. I’ve been after this lot since kingdom come…
Lucy felt like crying for her mum. It must have been awful, discovering she’d married an undercover cop without realising it. No wonder she’d felt betrayed.
What was Dad doing with Amina Amari? He’d seemed genuinely shocked to learn she’d tried to kill Ricky. What was he involved in?
She spent the rest
