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THE FOLLOWING STORY is set in 1976. Back then, few people knew of the existence of GCHQ. Perhaps some vaguely knew it had connections to Bletchley Park and the cracking of the Enigma Code during World War Two. The end of that war saw the beginnings of the Cold War. It is then that the work of GCHQ expanded.
GCHQ, as the Government Communications Headquarters is better known, is housed in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. Most people know it as the eyes and ears of the United Kingdom government. Some know it as “spooksville,” using the Americanism of “spook” rather than the British “spy.” It employs “spies in the sky” as well as other sophisticated eavesdropping devices to monitor activities deemed to be injurious to the state or its allies. Its work, of necessity, is shrouded in secrecy.
What is not generally known is this organisation is also tasked with assisting in intelligence gathering to combat serious organised crime. Just like invisible eyes and ears, it oversees many law enforcement activities including police and Customs undercover operations. It oversees in the sense it watches and listens, and gathers intelligence. To be precise, one department holds this brief – the Composite Signals Organisation (CSO).
The employees at GCHQ may as well have no name. They are faceless civil servants, UK government employees. They are not spies nor are they law enforcement officers. Some, like an anonymous middle-aged man I will call Jack, are frustrated cops. They see and hear of the exciting adrenaline fuelled lives of the men and women in the field. They marvel at the skills deployed by the undercover operatives living duplicitous lives and the inherent danger they place themselves in. Jack was fascinated by all of that. Jack knew he was good at his job within CSO and was content to play a role in the fight against crime and terrorism; a desk bound role that fulfilled him until he heard some terrible news from an old friend .
