Chapter 40

MI5 Headquarters, Thames House

The phone was ringing as Toni opened the door to her tiny office. She dropped her bag on the floor near her desk and picked up the receiver.

It was Nell, with a request. Could Toni pop over to New Scotland Yard to see her and Stuart? ‘We found something,’ was all her researcher would say. No detail.

‘This early?’ Toni asked. ‘I was planning to come over at about nine.’

‘How about right away?’

She was just about to reply when the office door sprung open. Suze Bickerton, Department Head at T5B, arms trafficking, leaned in. She looked flustered. ‘Long Room, five minutes, Toni. Headshed have called an emergency meeting.’

Toni nodded and Suze headed off along the corridor. Ending the call to Nell with an apology, she explained that things would have to wait. ‘Headshed’ was a colloquial term to describe the bosses, but it wasn’t used that often. In fact, the last time Toni had heard the term used was in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 when the Deputy Director-General herself had addressed a meeting of departmental and section leaders.

Certainly, something was up. Before heading upstairs, she glanced in the mirror, tidied her hair and flicked away a speck of mascara she spotted beneath her left eye. A quick check of her in tray revealed nothing so urgent that might give an indication as to the reason for the meeting.

In the Long Room, the atmosphere was alive with gossip. Toni noticed that Suze Bickerton was standing at the far end on her own. Ignoring the nervous smiles of her peers, she negotiated the narrow gap between the walls and the empty chairs until she was close enough to speak without being overheard.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked, as Suze glanced over her shoulder.

‘I’ve no idea. All I can say is that Mr Dyer rang me and said to get everyone who was at yesterday’s meeting up here straight away.’

‘Dyer called this? It must be about the poor response he received.’

‘That’s what I thought. Hey up … he’s here.’

Toni turned on her heel towards the door and noticed there were two people waiting outside in the corridor. The room fell quiet as Alex Dyer entered, followed by the Deputy Director-General.

Sometimes, Toni wondered if Stuart could actually function without a mug of tea on the go.

For once, she declined the offer to join him. The tiny listening device that sat nestled between her thumb and forefinger held her full attention.

‘Just this one, Nell?’

‘Yes … although I would have liked a little longer to conduct a full sweep but he said we had to leave.’ Nell nodded her head towards where Stuart stood near the kettle.

Toni smiled. The mischievous grin on her researcher’s face suggested she was having a little joke at her new supervisor’s expense.

‘I heard that,’ called Stuart. ‘Having found what we were looking for I decided discretion got the better of valour.’

A few moments later, all three were huddled together, all eyes on the bug. ‘And it’s the same manufacturer as the one found at Kevin Jones’s house?’ Toni asked.

‘Same model,’ replied Nell.

‘But there was nothing else in the house to interest us?’

It was Stuart’s turn to speak. ‘The forensic teams were thorough … as you’d expect, really. We only found this as we had an idea where to look.’

‘Behind the plug sockets?’

‘Exactly. Nell found it in one of the main sockets in the living room, near to where PC Jones had collapsed.’

‘After taking an overdose that in normal circumstances would have killed him,’ said Toni.

‘So they say. Although ketamine seems a pretty odd choice and not something you’d expect the average PC to have so readily available.’

‘Jones isn’t your average PC, Stuart,’ Nell interrupted.

‘Sure, but you know what I mean,’ he replied. ‘Ketamine isn’t like … like paracetamol or one of the stronger pain killers. It’s a horse tranquiliser, from what I’ve read.’

‘It’s an anaesthetic,’ said Toni. ‘And it’s becoming popular as a recreational drug. So it’s quite possible a cop could have had come into possession of it.’

‘Illegally?’

‘Yes. I do understand the point you’re making, and I also doubt very much if Jones was in the habit of anaesthetising horses, Stuart. So, almost certainly he shouldn’t have had it. The question is, did he take it, or did someone pour it down his throat, like Robert Finlay is suggesting? Now let’s get back to this bug as it’s the best lead we have to help us answer that question.’ She held the device up to the light.

‘What can we do with it, Nell?’

‘This one is working. I may be able to use that to trace the receiver.’

‘It’s a transmitter?’ said Toni, her hopes raised.

‘Yes, but before I disconnected it, whoever was listening in could relay it using a mobile device to send the signal anywhere. They wouldn’t have needed to be nearby.’

Toni leaned back in her chair, now feeling slightly despondent. ‘So, we’re really no closer.’

‘Unless I can find out who planted it. If I can find a record of some kind?’

‘Which we’ve already tried.’

‘There might be a paper record,’ Stuart piped up.

‘Where though?’

‘Like we talked about before, the police stores,’ he continued. ‘I’d start there as that’s where they seem to have come from. Everything goes through them at some point, whatever the source.’

Toni thought for a moment as she weighed up the options. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘Go for it.’

She was just about to continue the conversation when her phone started to vibrate. It was Finlay. She answered and asked him to wait for a moment.

‘Sorry guys…’

‘We know,’ said Nell. ‘Time for a break.’

As soon as the office was empty, Toni returned to the call.

‘I’ve been trying to get hold of you,’ she said.

‘Likewise,’ said Finlay. ‘I found what I was looking for.’

Toni frowned, hesitant in case she had misheard what he’d said. ‘What did you find exactly?’

‘Can you speak?’

‘Of course. You mean you managed to get into the house?’

‘Yes. And I found what I was looking for.’

Toni was perplexed, wondering if she was misunderstanding what he was saying. ‘The document Kevin Jones had given him?’ she asked, to try and make sure she was hearing him right.

‘Yes, yes. Is everything OK, Toni? That is what we agreed I would do.’

‘But you can’t have.’

‘Can’t what? What’s going on here?’ It was Finlay’s turn to sound confused.

‘You can’t have found Kevin’s copy of the Al Anfal document,’ she explained. ‘You can’t have. Only yesterday I saw our Assistant Director produce it at a meeting. Special Branch seized it and sent it to us.’

‘Well, I’m telling you I have. In fact, it’s sitting in my briefcase next to my feet as we speak.’

‘So, if that’s the case, what was it the Assistant Director waved in front of us and asked us about, if it wasn’t the Al Anfal document?’

‘Your Assistant Director has another copy?’

‘Yes, like I said. And we’re told it came from Dr Armstrong’s house.’

‘What did he say about it?’

‘He was asking everyone what we knew about it.’

‘What did you say?’

‘Nothing. For pretty obvious reasons I kept quiet.’

‘Maybe the doctor made a copy?’

‘Maybe … I’m really not sure what to think now. But I’m pretty sure it was the genuine article I saw in the Director’s hands.’

‘What makes you so sure?’

‘Because of what happened after the meeting when it was produced.’

‘Which was?’

‘I met with a colleague who seemed to know something about it. He told me he had been black-balled, passed over for promotion, just because he’d stumbled across the existence of Al Anfal. Yesterday he seemed to be buoyed up because the document – the one we think Kevin left with Dr Armstrong – had fallen into the hands of Special Branch and now isn’t such a secret.’

‘Did they say if they’ve had it translated?’

‘They didn’t, but quite possibly they have, because, with one notable exception, every single person at that meeting was given a warning by our Deputy Director-General not to discuss the document with anyone. And you want to know who the notable exception was? Well, I’ll tell you. It was the very same man who told me all he knew. He wasn’t there.’

‘Where was he?’

‘I’ve no idea, Finlay,’ she answered, impatiently.

‘You were all warned off – all of you? I would have thought that doing that would have raised everyone’s interest, got them talking about it?’

‘That’s not how things work here, believe me. When a Director-General puts the frighteners on, people stay shtum’

‘It’s … it’s just like last year,’ said Finlay, his voice becoming more subdued. ‘With Howard Green.’

‘Trust me, you’re not the only one to notice that his name keeps popping up at the moment.’

‘Toni, something has just occurred to me.’

‘What?’ she asked.

‘This document I have sitting at my feet. It has what looks like a complete translation with it.’

‘Done by Armstrong?’

‘Looks like it.’

‘He didn’t hang about.’

‘That’s just what I thought. So, there’s another possibility.’

‘Go on.’

‘That what I have here isn’t the copy Kevin gave him. Last year, I agreed with him that the copy I gave him would be destroyed. What if he kept it, what if the one I have here is that one?’

Toni hesitated as she caught her breath. Finlay had to be right. She recalled him saying that he’d not actually seen the document destroyed, despite agreeing that would be its fate.

‘Is there any way to tell?’ she asked.

‘Not that I can think of. Shall I bring it to you?’

‘No need. Now that she knows about it, I’ve decided to ask Nell to give it the once-over. I’m here at the Yard, with her and Stuart so I’ll come downstairs to collect it from you. Have you given any thought as to what you’re going to tell Kevin?’

‘Nothing … at, least not at this stage. To be honest, what does or doesn’t happen with this document is the last thing Kevin needs to worry about.’

‘How did it go?’ Toni asked. ‘The entry into the Armstrong house, I mean?’

‘Well, I wasn’t arrested, if that’s what you mean. But I did have visitors. A three-man search team turned up. Thing is, they definitely weren’t police. Cops have a way of working and moving. These guys were military by my guess.’

‘Were they looking for the same thing as you, do you think? Maybe they weren’t aware Special Branch had already found it?’

‘No way to be certain, but they were looking for something and they were very thorough.’

‘Not thorough enough if you found it, though … Makes you wonder, if they were Security Services, just what else they may have been looking for?’

‘Armstrong was still a weapons inspector wasn’t he?’ Finlay asked.

‘I’m not sure. Still on the list, I think. We were told this morning he’d been doing some work on the planned Iraq invasion for the government,’ said Toni.

‘What kind of work?’

‘We weren’t told.’

‘Perhaps somebody making sure the good Doctor hadn’t left anything embarrassing behind?’

‘I guess.’ Toni wasn’t sure though. Once again, the name Howard Green was foremost in her thoughts. And she wondered if – like the Increment soldiers before him – Dr Julian Armstrong had been silenced.