15.00. The sound of one of the world’s most famous
bells marks the passing of time. The young man sits at his desk and knows that
with every minute that passes his job gets harder. Unless the information is found
soon it could have left the country and be anywhere. The woman, who is now his
PA, walks through the door with coffee. It’s the first mistake she has made,
his predecessor drank coffee here for almost forty years. He drinks Earl Grey.
He wrestles with this thought for a moment knowing she is in deep mourning. “I
drink tea,” he says with a warm smile.
15.05. First edition of the evening paper has an
article on the shooting and a separate report on the helicopter crash. There is
also a type of ‘comment piece’ about ‘why so many important people’ have been
is a series of meetings during the day. There is some speculation about reasons
but none are even close to the mark. This will however be the last edition the
day that will have a ‘Is she pregnant?’ headline
15.10. Tracey-Rebecca goes to the first public phone
at the station and dials her police partner. As soon as he answers she says
‘Hello Pete’. When he replies ‘Hello Trace,’ she knows something is wrong. He
always calls her ‘Trellis’. A gun is pushed into the side of his head. ‘Where
are you?’ he asks. Without a second thought she lies and says ‘Manchester. I’ll
call again when I’m settled.’ She hangs up and runs from the station. The
second man at PC Groom’s house looks at a screen. ‘London’ he says with a dead
voice.
15.15. Half an hour in and the CRISIS meeting has
digested all the information they have. The news that the two ‘rogue’ agents
have voluntarily come to the building and their email explanation has been
reviewed. There is a consensus, but not total agreement, that their story and
behavior stacks up. The Minister does not know who to trust anymore and at 4pm
he has to go to see his superior. Today he hates his life however many good
lunches it has provided.
15.20. A national reporter receives a phone call from
someone who spins a tale so astonishing it brings the world weary cynicism of a
seasoned ‘hack’ to the surface. Many of the names he is quoted are national
figures and it is only when he ‘Googles’ some of the other names mentioned that
he begins to see the links emerge. The phone goes dead. He is left with no
proof but enough questions to start a ripple across the sea of the
establishment that could cause a tsunami of trouble.
15.25. Faith and I have gone through our story three
times and we appear to be believed. We have just covered visiting the man’s
wife when we are suddenly asked, “Did you kill her?” We are both so quick and
strong with our denial and then Faith states, “She’s been killed then?” A photo
of the scene is shown to us. “So either someone has been following us or
someone is just behind us in what we now know.” One of the men in the
background asks, “What do you know?” “Not a lot,” I say.
15.30. Tracey-Rebecca stands in Trafalgar Square and
feels sick and frightened. She knows taking the USB was quite simply the
stupidest thing she has ever done and if she could rewind time she would have
left it where it was. Slowly an idea comes to her. It won’t automatically save
her but it could reduce the amount of attention focused on her. It’s probably
her only hope.
15.35. He is still sitting in his pyjamas when the
door is opened and he is asked to come out. He goes into the corridor and sees
a man and a woman. He has never met them but he knows who they are. They are all
asked to move along the corridor and get into the lift. The woman glances at
him and once again he just wishes he had got dressed before stating work. The
lift door shuts and he fears the worse.
15.40. News of the phone call is relayed to his
office. They know she is in central London, they believe she has the USB stick
with her. All the research they have done about her points to this being a
‘one-off’ piece of erratic behavior. That doesn’t help in trying to calculate
what she will do next. Two members of the Zurich Team have her police partner
and his wife held. ‘Needle’ and ‘Haystack’ come to mind. He sips his tea that
is now cold.
15.45. The reporter shouts across the news room and
the relevant correspondent tells him there is a general press update later this
afternoon. After giving him the information of time and venue the correspondent
asks ‘why he wants to know’ but the reporter has his head buried in his laptop.
He is certainly not going to publicise yet what he has been told. Partly
because it just doesn't make sense.
15.50. The lift door opens and we are shown into a
very large office waiting room. We are asked to sit down. I sit next to Faith
and leave the man in pyjamas to sit alone by the glass-topped table. As we sit
and wait the inner office door opens and some of the most important people in
the organization file out. I now know whose office we are outside. Faith leans
towards me and whispers, “They must believe us if we are being brought here.”
“But what else can we tell them?” I say.
15.55. The room has emptied out and the Minister has a
headache that has grown over the last half hour. He believes the pain to be
unbearable but he hasn’t really felt true pain until he opens the door to his
balcony and steps out. With just two minutes until his 4pm meeting his
secretary opens the office door to see the Minister slumped on the floor. The
angle of his head gives the tell tale sign that he is no longer alive
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