The Gruiard Project Chapter 12

[khandy]

I'm not sure if anybody is interested in this story at all. I realise it is not like the show we are all watching and I did write it a year ago before series eight so maybe it is just not relevant any more.

Anyway here is chapter 12 it is plotty hope you enjoy it.


Chapter 12 Section D Thames House. 10.00hrs
Spencer Perceval


Lucas and Kate walked in to the conference room as Harry held up the note.

“Any ideas people as to what this may mean?”

Lucas waited momentarily, to see if anybody else answered Harry’s question. When nobody did, he spoke up.

“Harry our threat just got worse, they have given you a target you can’t ignore”

“Why Lucas, who is he?” Harry asked.

“Spencer Perceval, British Prime Minster 1809 to 1812. Difficult period in history, we were fighting the peninsular war and George III was going mad. I am sure he was a reasonable PM but he is remembered, not for his time in office but for his death.”

“How did he die?” Ros asked.

“He is the only British Prime Minister to be assassinated. We just received a threat to the PM‘s life,” Lucas explained.

Harry looked at Lucas keenly.

“I suppose it’s too much to hope that this could have some other meaning?”

“Well I could Google the name to see if we come up with anything else, but it’s unlikely that they want us to think anything else.”

“How was Perceval killed ?” Ros asked.

“He was shot through the heart. In the House of Commons I believe,” Lucas said.

“Do you know who killed him?”

“I think it was somebody called Bellingham but I don’t know much about him.”

“That’s it you have blown your A+ you big swot,” Jo commented dryly. “Do we take this to SO15 Harry?”

“I will have to bring them into the loop. I’m going to speak to Sir James Mayhew now and bring him up to date. Ros carry on. We need to figure out what is going on. The PM and Home Secretary are going to want answers and as of yet I have none to offer.”

Kate looked round at the others as the door closed behind Harry.

“Sorry, I know that you probably all know why Harry is informing that man whoever is and who SO15 are, but I don’t, could somebody give me a two minute fill in, so I am not out of the proverbial loop?” she asked.

“SO15 or Counter Terrorism Command are a division of the Metropolitan Police , they were formed in 2006 by joining Special Branch and the Anti Terrorist Branch. They provide personal protection to amongst others, the PM. We work closely with them, especially towards the end of an operation, as we are not able to arrest suspects but they are. Sir James Mayhew is the officer in charge of the PM’s personal security,” Malcolm explained. “See, you’re not the only geek here Lucas,” he smiled.

“How do we know this is a genuine threat against the PM? Could they not just be toying with us, as you felt they were with the other warnings?” Kate asked.

“They almost certainly are toying with us but protocol dictates that we inform SO15 of any direct threat to the PM,” Ros explained.

“Hold on, let me get this right. You don’t inform the public of any threats to homeland security, but you do inform the PM if he is threatened?”

“That about sums it up. In the greater scheme of things the PM is more important that the public. I know I struggled with that concept as well,” Jo told her.

“No wonder you’re not very popular.”

“Well I am not running for Prom Queen, so I don’t care about being popular,” Ros said. “Can we move on, please?”

“Sorry Ros.” Kate looked at Jo and winked, Ros might talk tough but she was ok really.

“Jo, find out if the PM’s seriously pissed anybody off recently,” Ros asked the younger woman.

“You mean besides the 60 million affected by the credit crunch. Or the Tory MP’s in the smear campaign that was planned. Or all the British people who are against the war on terror. Thanks Ros does needle haystack mean anything to you?” Jo grumbled.

“I’m sure you’re up to the task. Lucas, ID the guy who followed you and double check that this name…” she pointed at the note, “has no other meaning. Kate I really need something on this threat. I want you and Malcolm to get your heads together and come up with something; even if it’s a just a place to start. I have to go and brief Dolby.”

“Ros count to ten silently,” Lucas said.

“What?”

“Before you talk to Dolby remember to count ten, we…” he looked round at the others. “We don’t want your smart mouth to get you into trouble with the Director General.”

“Me, a smart mouth? You lot just don’t appreciate my caustic wit.”

“Who’s Dolby?” Kate asked when Ros had left.

“Pompous ass who happens to be the Director General,” Jo said before leaving the conference room.

Malcolm followed Jo out telling Kate he would meet her over at his desk.

Lucas moved to her side.

“Is it still overwhelming?” he asked.

“No not as much as it was.” She brushed a kiss on his lips. “I best get to work.”

“Yeah I should as well. Kate lets go out tonight?”

“Yeah that sounds great. You decide where.”


Thames House 1pm.

“Ros can I have a word in private?”

Lucas had been waiting for Ros to return and although she looked like she would be grateful for some time to calm down from her meeting with Dolby, he couldn’t afford her that luxury.

He followed her into her the conference room.

“Tough meeting?” he asked.

“Yeah Dolby is a misogynist. I don’t know what was worse for him, not being informed about the threats two days ago or the fact that I, a mere woman, delivered the news. How he became the D.G. is beyond me?” Ros sank to her seat.

“Brown nosing Ros, he’s a yes man. It’s certainly not because he has any talent for espionage. Christ in the old days he couldn’t have spotted a spy if one had bitten him on the bum, and from what I have seen since I have been back, that’s no different now. Is he mad with Harry for not inviting him to speak with Sir James?” Lucas asked.

“Yeah he is spitting nails. So what do you have for me?”

“The man following me is a private eye name of Henry James. It’s a small business mainly dealing with divorces and small time computer fraud. He has got an office in Clapham.”

“Right well we need to get into his office and bug it,” Ros said

“Already on it, Malcolm is paying him a visit.”

“Malcolm?” Ros asked surprised.

“Yeah he looked a little peaky, I thought it was time he remembered what the sun was like,” Lucas told her. “Before your time Ros I know, but once upon a time Malcolm used to venture out quite frequently.”

“Ok I’ll run with it. What else?”

“I did a search on the name Spencer Perceval, as expected I didn’t come up with any other plausible reason for this name to have been sent to us. However the assassin’s name on the other did turn up something interesting. His name was John Bellingham. Prior to killing Perceval he had been held as a prisoner, would you like to hazard a guess where?” Lucas asked.

“No idea?”

“ Russia. He was imprisoned for four years; latterly in St Petersburg. On his return to this country he made several attempts to obtained compensation from the government, all of which were refused. In 1812 he tried again and was told by the home office to take any measures he saw fit and proper to resolve the issue. Bellingham’s idea about how to resolve things was to kill the PM,” Lucas paused.

“This interests you because of the Russian connection?”

“I don’t believe in coincidences Ros. I think this is part of the warning. A private eye is following me, just me, no other member of the team. We then receive another note and there is a direct link to somebody having been imprisoned in Russia. I beginning to feel that this is personal to me, I may just be being paranoid but my instincts say I am not. I think we need to look into the cases I have worked on since I returned see if we can establish any kind of link.”

“Ok Lucas. Good work.”

“Thanks Ros. Don’t let Dolby get to you.” He was about to leave but Ros halted him with a question.

“Do you resent me being section head Lucas?” she asked.

“Resent you? No I don’t, not at all, why?”

“I just wondered as you were up for section head before your imprisonment,” Ros answered.

“That’s a long time ago Ros. You deserve the job, you’re good at it.”

“What despite being a woman?”

“Have I ever led you to believe I think less of you because you are a woman?” Lucas asked.

“No Lucas, ignore me. The run in with Dolby affected me more than I thought. The dickhead implied I was sleeping my way to the top.”

Lucas’ face split into a grin.

“Oh my God, with Harry? I told you he was crap at his job. That he thinks you would sleep with Harry confirms it. You know what you should have told him?”

“No idea, what?” Ros asked intrigued.

“You should have told him you were glad that you weren’t just sleeping your way to the middle. Honest Ros you are the best section head I have worked for.”

“Yeah and pink pigs fly. Get out of here Agent North.” Ros stared at the door for several minutes after Lucas had left, ridiculously pleased that he thought her the best section leader he had ever worked with.

****************


The shops and businesses in Falcons Way looked sad and tired, many were boarded up a sad reflection of the times. The economy of the country was in free fall and nowhere was that more evident than on small local high streets. Malcolm had no doubt this scene was replicated all over the country. Young people were hanging around in groups devoid of ideas or places to go. They looked bored and disinterested with life. Malcolm could never understand why young people hung out in front of the local SPAR or Bargain Booze; it wasn’t as if they looked like they were having a great time. If asked why they were there, they would answer sullenly that they had nothing else to do.

Henry James’ office was above a small mobile phone shop, that didn’t look as if it had sold a mobile phone since the day it had opened. A small door to the left of the shop, opened on to a narrow flight of stairs which led to the office above. The door was locked so Malcolm buzzed.

“ ‘Enry James … office… ‘ave you an appointment?” The voice broke up over the dodgy intercom.

“Sidney Harvey, I have a 2pm appointment to see Mr James.”

Malcolm heard the click of the door being unlocked and pushed it open. The reception area was small and dingy. The stained thread bare carpet had seen many years of wear and tear. The furniture was neither antique nor quality, it was just old. A basic computer, phone and cheap answer phone were on the desk. A battered steel grey filing cabinet and photocopier were behind the desk between two doors that led of from the reception area which was empty, either the receptionist was at lunch or there was not the work to employ somebody full time. One of the doors was ajar through which Malcolm could see a small kitchen. The other door opened as Malcolm was appraising his surroundings and a balding fifty year old man entered.

“Mr ‘Arvey, ‘Enry James, do you want come through?”

Mr James’ office was as sad and depressing as the building that housed it. The windows that overlooked the road were coated with years of dirt and grime, the furniture was as old as the stuff in the reception area.

“Please ‘ave a seat. Can I ask how you came to ‘ere of me? The reason I ask is you look a bit posh to be in my neck of the woods.”

“ You’re listed in Yellow pages. I liked your name.” Malcolm looked around. “It’s more upmarket than you are.”

“Me Name?” Henry James asked.

“ Yes Henry James, famous 19th century novelist, wrote one of my mother’s favourite books ‘The Wings Of A Dove’ perhaps you have heard of it?”

“No can’t say I ‘ave, would you like a cup of tea while we chat? I was out tailing somebody all night I was catching 40 winks when you rang so I’ve not ‘ad me lunch.”

“That would be lovely I don’t suppose you have Earl Grey do you?” Malcolm asked.

“You’ll be lucky if it’s anything better than Sainsbury’s value basics.” Henry James laughed.

“Well I’m sure that it will be an experience at any rate. I don‘t suppose it‘s loose leaf is it?”

“Well only if the tea bag splits.”

Malcolm could hardly believe his luck; he used the time to place the listen devices and to tap the phone.

“So what can I do for you Mr ‘Arvey?” Henry James asked as he handed Malcolm a mug of tea.

“Well it’s the usual story, one I’m sure you have heard countless time. I would like you to follow my wife. I suspect she is having an affair.” Malcolm handed an envelope across the desk. Inside was a picture of a young woman, who worked for an escort agency, Lucas had hired her that morning.

Henry James looked down at the picture of the stunning woman and then at Malcolm.

“I know what you are thinking, how does this sad middle aged bastard, with a face like a sack of spuds, get a woman like her? I am no fool she married me because I have loads of money. Now I don‘t mind her spending my money if she is my wife but I will not let her spend it, if she has some other bloke. So how exactly are you going to get the information I require?”

Henry James explained that he would follow the girl for a couple of weeks and compile a report which he would pass on at the end of the surveillance.

“Can you start straight away?”

“Well probably not for a couple of weeks. I am on a big case at the moment and that is taking up a lot of me time. I’m due to finish it next week though so I could start week after next.”

“Well that sounds acceptable how much do you charge? Malcolm asked.

“Sixty pounds an hour.”

With the arrangements made Malcolm left the office and headed back to Thames House.

*******************


Thames House 18.30

Kate tapped tentatively on Harry’s office door, she needed to speak to him before the final meeting of the day.

“Kate what can I do for you?” Harry asked.

“I need to talk to you about this morning Harry. I am not going to apologise for striking you, I would do it again. You made me feel dirty and unclean.”

“I know I did and I apologise for my methods but I have to see the bigger picture,” Harry explained.

“I realise that but I won’t spy on Lucas.”

“I know that Kate. Please be careful Lucas remains vulnerable. He has always felt things more acutely than most. I am not sure repressing his memories is a good thing for Lucas.”

“He needs to know you trust him Harry. He needs to know that whatever he remembers about Russia he will not be blamed in anyway, if he has compromised himself while being tortured.”

“Do you think that is what has happened?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know Harry but whatever it is I suspect it has had a profound effect on Lucas,” Kate said.

“Ok I won’t push you on this Kate what Lucas needs is to be trusted and you are probably the one person able to give him that unconditionally,” Harry told her.

“Thanks Harry, I will tell Lucas that I will only divulge anything to you that I feel could put his colleagues, or country at risk.”

Harry nodded and they left his office to join the others in the conference room.

Once everybody was seated Ros started the meeting. They discussed Lucas’ thoughts that the person behind the threats was in some way connected to him. Then Malcolm explained the surveillance he had set up Henry James, office.

“It’s interesting about the big case he is on, that has to be Lucas. I think your stalker will be with you a while longer but he doesn’t strike me as being behind this kind of threat. I think he is just keeping tabs on you Lucas,” Malcolm explained.

“Jo anything that the PM has done that would cause this kind of reaction?”

“Well there is a lot of resentment about the way the police handled the G20 protests but that is more aimed at the police and Home Secretary. So no I think for somebody to deliberately target the PM they would have to be slightly unbalanced.“

Ok thanks. Kate do you have anything that may give us a starting point.”

“These are just random thoughts but from a scientific point of view if you were going to design a biological weapon then you would look for something that had no known cure and was highly contagious. A lot of the potential biological agents simply have too many variables or we have developed vaccines so they are not really suitable as weapons. However there is a field of microbiology that has really shown staggering growth and development in the last five year, genetic engineering. Scientists the world over have been altering the DNA of all kinds of bacteria and viruses.”

“This is important to us how?”

“Ok let’s take smallpox as an example. Smallpox used to be a killer until Edward Jenner developed a vaccine for it. So successful was the vaccine that Smallpox was declared eradicated worldwide by the World Health Organisation and routine vaccination was abandoned in the early 1970s. Small samples of the virus are still kept. So what if a scientist works to develop a variant of the virus? You then have a known killer which has been altered to make vaccines ineffective.”

“Yeah but a lot of older people would not be effected having already been vaccinated,” Jo said

“That cannot be guaranteed and in any case even if the armed forces were not the target they would be brought in to contain it. What age group are we talking about here? The young, the population would be devastated.”

“So what do you suggest Kate?”

“I think we should look at specific scientists working in bacterial or virological engineering see if anything strange or suspicious shows up.”

“Like what?” Harry asked.

“I don’t know, I am hoping when I see it, I recognise it,” Kate admitted.

“Ok thank you everybody. Let’s all go home and get a life.”

Lucas stopped Kate in reception.

“I’m not leaving with you in case Henry James is outside. Wear these when I pick you up. Is there any kind of food you don’t like?”

Kate looked in the bag and smiled.

“Ooo role play Mr North that sounds fun. I will eat anything. What time?” Kate asked.

“Is eight thirty too early?”

“No it’s fine, see you then.”