34

As soon as the door closed Sarah said, ‘What game are you playing, Jake?’

‘I need you to do a couple of things. Get hold of Barrow – ’

‘You mean Sir Barrow Jones?’

‘You have it in one. I want information on Peter Jackson – who has contacted him and his visitors – and his relationship to The Family?’

‘Do I need to know about his family?’

‘No, not his family, The Family. I best tell you but remember this is strictly confidential. Not just client privilege stuff; this is really secret. It’ll be good for you to know what you may be up against or just involved with. Okay?’

She looked intrigued. ‘Okay, Jake. Secret it is.’

‘But, when I’ve told you and perhaps you want out then that’s okay, but you don’t tell anybody because it could cost you your life and perhaps mine.’

‘Are you just trying me on, Jake.’ I started to laugh.

‘Has Keith told you anything?’

‘Well, he sort of said you’re into some pretty dodgy stuff. Okay, I’m in.’

‘Let me sort this out for you. Talk to Keith; he might be a bit annoyed at me for telling you these things but I don’t think I’ve a choice. There’s a high-powered criminal family and it has members right across the ruling elite of the UK. I’ve only had contact with a small and very powerful part of it. Let me go over what we do know. Mike Munro and Jase Phillips killed Major Carmichael and that was how I got involved. The case was thrown out due to evidence tampering. Double jeopardy was invoked and there was a retrial. Jase Phillips got sent here and Mike Munro was dismissed from the service. Jase Phillips was murdered here. Okay so far?’

‘Yes.’

‘The case was a stitch-up.’

‘Yes, I know about the court martial and the double jeopardy. I expect it’ll become a classic case study. Are you sure it was a stitch-up?’

‘Is the Pope a Catholic?’

‘How?’

‘A better question is by whom and why?’

‘Okay. By whom and why?’

‘By The Right Honourable Antony Bray, the cousin of the major.’

‘Oh, do come on, Jake.’

‘They were brought up together, went to school together, went to university together and took the same degree. Then the brainy one went into politics and the sporty one went into the army. Bray was a minister in the Home Office.’

‘Yes, I know, but you don’t do this just because he’s your cousin.’

‘Right. You do this to stop the information getting out that your cousin was a drug addict and a crap officer.’

‘But he was a hero; everybody says so.’

‘Yes, everybody says so, so the image has to be maintained.’

‘I’m struggling. Why does the image have to be maintained?’

‘Because they’re members of The Family.’

‘So they’re in the same family; I still don’t understand.’

‘No, not just in the same family; members of The Family.’

‘You’re baffling me with words. The Family?’

‘Right. Rupert Carmichael is the Earl of Charnforth and the present head of The Family. I won’t go into history but it’s a close-knit, very powerful, political, economic and criminal family.’

‘Whoa, just wait one minute, Jake. Do I look green? You’re telling me that Rupert Carmichael, one of the most respected men in this country, is head of a criminal family?’

‘Yes. Alongside their legitimate businesses of natural gas, tin, insurance and banking, they’re into some iffy stuff, part legit and part criminal, such as silver, diamonds from the Marange, diamond fields in Zimbabwe, gambling and, at the extreme, money laundering and drugs.’

‘By drugs you mean…?’

‘Cocaine and heroin.’

‘But they can’t be.’

‘Try this for size; Rupert Carmichael introduced Penelope Whitehaven, the daughter of an American billionaire, to George Mabry. The Mabrys and Carmichaels have previous family links. The next Mabry to be produced was Randolph Mabry. Rumour has it that Randolph Mabry is actually Rupert Carmichael’s son. He runs the drugs, silver, immigration and commodities.’

‘You’re saying that Randolph Mabry, the Home Secretary, is his illegitimate son and also a criminal?’

‘More than that; he’s half-brother to Michael Carmichael.’

Sarah was looking at me and I could see the wheels turning. ‘So, Phillips and Munro kill Michael Carmichael, they get off, Antony Bray, Carmichael’s cousin, cooks the books, there’s a retrial and Phillips goes to prison. Munro shoots Bray and is shot by the police at the scene. Sir Nicolas Ross, Keith and you are going to challenge the case against Phillips and that will open a whole can of worms so Phillips is killed here.’ She stopped and was thinking again. ‘Sir Barrow Jones; you work for him?’

‘I do.’

‘So you’re undercover here?’

‘Yes.’

‘I thought so, the way Keith talks about you. And The Family tried to kill you? Is it Mabry who ordered that?’

‘No, not Mabry, he owes me some favours.’

‘Christ, Jake, what for? No, I don’t want to know.’

‘I’m just giving you an overview so you understand the depth of stuff we’re into, okay. You have the message. The Family man in here is Peter Jackson. He intimated that Carmichael was not killed to save the platoon. Well, he was but that was just an opportunity for Jase Phillips. Jase wanted to kill Carmichael for some other reason, but I don’t yet know what.’

‘Got it. Can I ask some other things?’

‘You can ask.’

‘You said that Mabry owes you some favours.’

‘Yes.’

‘Can I ask what for?’

‘I’ll tell you but if you ever leak what I tell you I’ll have to kill you.’

‘You’re not joking are you?’

‘It may sound like that, but no.’

‘Keith said I would be the key liaison to Sir Barrow, so I best find out.’

‘Are you sure?’

She nodded. ‘I know you were the one that actually killed Bray; Munro couldn’t. This can’t be worse than knowing that.’

‘Okay. I rescued Mabry’s daughter in Bolivia.’

‘But he’s not married.’

‘True.’

‘So he has an illegitimate daughter.’

‘Right.’

‘That’s not so bad.’ She stopped and said, ‘That isn’t it. Was it rape then?’

‘Good Lord, no. It’s much more damaging than that.’

‘What, for goodness sake?’ She was irritable, probably the stress of having her picture of the world turned upside-down.

‘His daughter is a nun and her mother is a Mother Superior.’

‘This is no time for silly bloody jokes, Jake.’ She was looking at me. ‘Oh Christ! It’s true, isn’t it?’

‘Just imagine what his enemies and the press would do with that information.’

‘Christ, Jake, why the hell did you tell me this?’

‘Ah, sexy solicitor, you now know what you may be in the middle of and won’t talk to anybody, will you?’

She shook her head then tipped it on one side, thinking. ‘Can you prove this?’

‘Um no, the public evidence is circumstantial.’

‘How do you know then?’

‘I got involved with the Mabry’s part of The Family when in Bolivia. It was all about gas contracts, silver and drugs and I know that what I’ve outlined is fact.’

Sarah was just looking at me with wide-open eyes. ‘You were involved with a criminal gang in Bolivia. Are you pulling my leg? In the past couple of minutes I’ve heard enough stuff to make Ian Fleming’s Goldfinger sound like a second-rate criminal turd and you like a James Bond.’

‘I’m just telling you like it is.’

‘You’re just telling me that most of the people ruling this Sceptred Isle are criminals, and nuns have babies and the father is the Home Secretary. Jake, I want you to be sane.’

‘Look! Powerful people look after powerful people. Honest, powerful people need allies, particularly those with political clout.’

‘I don’t believe it. No, I do believe it, I just don’t want to.’

‘Okay, let’s look at another wing of The Family. Harvey Cannon, the city guy; have you heard of him?’

‘Vaguely. My brother was at university with his son or maybe it was his grandson.’

‘He married Rupert Carmichael’s sister, Bethany. This guy, Harvey Cannon, is Duke of Bartonshire. He’s a big wig in the financial world of investment, venture capital and the like. He currently manages the financial and business end of The Family. Mainly legitimate but the rumour is they’ve a large holding in gambling throughout Europe and the Far East and he does a little money laundering and banking for various syndicates.’

‘But he’s not in the government.’

‘He’s in the House of Lords.’

‘Why did you just tell me about Harvey Cannon?’

‘Just to give you a feel of the extent of The Family.’

She was shaking her head and at the same time, her powerful intellect was processing the information. I stayed silent.

‘Christ, Jake, Mabry can’t be a criminal.’

‘I was in Bolivia with Frances; she was our section head. Mabry was in Bolivia. Remember, Mabry is the political and muscle end of The Family. He’s the link with the Mafia and the Bolivians. In Bolivia he was doing a big deal with the Bolivians and the Mafia on oil, gas and drugs. It was his Mafia contacts that killed Frances by injecting her with some weird disease.’

Sarah was shaking her head.

‘Okay?’ I asked.

She nodded. ‘How close are you?’

‘To whom? To what?’

‘This Family lot.’

‘As I said, some members owe me favours.’

‘Including two nuns?’

‘Yes. The way I see it they owe me favours.’

‘No wonder you’re in prison, Jake.’

I just couldn’t help smiling.

‘But Mabry is the Home Secretary.’

‘My word, Sarah, you’ve good general knowledge and are repeating yourself.’

She smiled. ‘I mean, you’re saying that the Home Secretary is a criminal.’

‘Well, what I’m saying is that he has a lot of very dodgy people working for him, but I bet you’d be hard pressed to tie them in directly. From his political position he can, of course, ensure that the empire is well directed and he has some senior police officers who, shall we say, do little jobs for him.’

‘But this is outrageous.’ She was now bristling.

I laughed at her naivety. She misread my laugh and said, ‘You’re pulling my leg.’

‘I wish I was. Now cut along and see Sir Barrow Jones for me. Remember, I want information on Peter Jackson: who has contacted him, his visitors and his relationship to The Family.’

‘Yes, okay, you bastard.’ There was a slight edginess in her now. She rang the bell and Senior Officer James came in to escort her out of the prison.