London Downing Street

 

Lat = 51 degrees, 30.2 minutes North

Long = 0 degrees, 7.7 minutes West

 

On route to ICIS

 

Lat = 51 degrees, 19.6 minutes North

Long = 0 degrees, 1.3 minutes East

 

Wednesday 23rd March 1988

 

Strayker left Downing Street 11:20hrs after giving the PM and the Everest assembly an update, his chauffeur Corporal Edwards was waiting in the Range Rover, “back to ICIS sir?”

“Yes; by way of my house Edwards.”

Thirty minutes later they arrived, his butler opened the door, “welcome sir, I wasn’t expecting you till later.”

“Just in and out Bentley,” Strayker replied as he began ascending the staircase.

“You had a caller sir; a young lady.”

Strayker stopped and turned around, “anyone I know?”

“She left her card sir.”

Bentley walked over and handed the business card to Strayker.

Strayker was about to place it in his pocket when he noticed a newspaper logo embossed on it, underneath was the name Ruth Nelson with a contact number.

“Did she state what she wanted?”

“No sir, she wanted to speak to you and gave me the card when

I told her you were not here.”

“How long ago was this?”

“Less than half an hour ago sir.”

“Thank you Bentley if she calls again; inform her to go through the proper channels.”

“Certainly sir.”

Strayker placed the business card on the hall table, and continued up the stairs where he retrieved a sheaf of papers from the safe.

Outside a short distance away Ruth had observed Strayker entering his house and was now watching leaving with his chauffeur.

She ducked down to avoid detection as they went past; she fired up the Cosworth and followed at a discrete distance along the A21 South and turning right onto the A233, the traffic was light and Ruth was aware her vehicle would probably stick out to anyone trained in counter-surveillance measures, and she had no doubt Strayker’s driver would be adept at this.

She passed a sign indicating Biggin hill four miles away, Ruth’s mind was give consideration to whether Strayker was catching a flight from the airport there, she noticed she had dropped back to far and had lost sight of the Range Rover as it entered a left bend alongside Keston common, there were no vehicle in front she dropped a gear and applied the accelerator, the Cosworth quickly accelerated eating the asphalt before it she turned into the left bend following the road into a right bend, as she came out of the bend she clocked the Range Rover on the straight less than quarter of a mile away, she was now passing the airport on her left as the Range Rover disappeared around a left bend.

Ruth applied more power to catch up, she entered the left hand bend and came up behind the Range Rover waiting to make a right turn, the all-round disc brakes pulled the Cosworth up promptly just as the Range Rover began its turn, Ruth let out a deep sigh, “that was close,” she mused.

Her mind quickly made the decision not to make the right turn believing this would blow her cover, she carried on and made a turn at the airport main gate and was quickly back turning into the road on her left named Saltbox hill by her calculations she had lost no more than ten seconds the road ahead was fairly straight with no signs of the Range Rover.

There was no way that it could have gone out of view that quickly, Ruth contemplated her options to race down the road or call it a day, she pulled over opposite a turning on her right; where she observed a large cylindrical rusted metal container type structure at the end of the dirt track, her keen eye noticed that this surface showed signs of recent traffic and her natural healthy curiosity got the better of her.

Ruth stepped out of the Cosworth locked it up and walked across to the entry point to the dirt track, she stood there observing the structure and surrounding area that had no other visible structures or buildings, there was no movement and the only sound was that of an aircraft from the nearby airfield that appeared to have taken off as the sound was moving away.

She was startled by the sound of a vehicle’s horn as it went past her, she cursed herself “silly mare; your standing partially in the road.”

Ruth began walking down the dirt track towards the metal structure when simultaneously she felt something strike her neck coupled with a stinging pain and her neck whip lashed to the left, within a second her legs were buckling, her vision blurred, she observed the ground ahead of her move and stand upright, she thought that this was rather comical; Ruth’s eyes closed and darkness enveloped her as she collapsed to the ground.