Vauxhall Cross, London
SHOWERED, DRESSED, RESTED, Luke Carlton felt clean on the outside, but inside the guilt was gnawing away at him. So much so that he had hardly closed his eyes on the flight back from Taipei the day before. He knew Jenny Li felt likewise. Crammed up next to each other in Economy, red-eyed and sleepless with worry, there was no chance to discuss their predicament without being overheard. Yet even on the brief refuelling stopover in Bangkok, they had barely said a word. In a single brief exchange before leaving Taipei, they had decided, on balance, to confess all once they reached Vauxhall Cross. Hannah’s fate would surely have been sealed the moment they left her in that forest. She would have had no chance. The collector, they concluded, had done her duty and done it magnificently, but she was beyond saving. And the last thing either Luke or Jenny wanted was to find themselves part of a Taiwanese judicial inquiry.
So here he was, driving into Vauxhall Cross exactly eight days after they had left for Hong Kong, yet it felt like a lifetime ago. Luke searched for a space in the garage beneath the MI6 headquarters, parked his Land Rover and strode past the two Union Flags on miniature flagpoles that marked the discreet entrance for visitors who preferred not to be seen. He nodded to the black-clad security guards as the door hissed open for him. And then he was inside, walking into the circular marble atrium, and suddenly a familiar figure was rushing up to him and gripping him affectionately by the shoulders.
‘Luke! Oh my God, I’m so worried about you!’ It was Angela. She looked tired and stressed but then, he thought, I probably look ten years older after this week.
‘Good to see you too, Angela,’ he replied cheerfully. ‘Sorry, what do you mean you are so worried? I’m back now. Hell of a trip, lots to discuss, of course.’
Angela took a step backwards, clamping her hand to her mouth. ‘Oh Christ. You don’t know, do you? No one’s told you?’
‘No one’s told me what? Come on, Angela, don’t be cryptic.’
She looked around and moved another step away. ‘I’m so sorry, Luke. I can’t say any more but you’d better get yourself up there. They’re waiting for you in C’s private office.’
‘They? Who’s they?’
A shake of the head.
‘Go. Just go. Come down and see me at my desk afterwards, if they’ll let you.’
Into the lift, up to the sixth floor and down the hall, then past a sign on a closed door that read ‘Wellness Team’, until he reached the Chief’s private office. This had to be about Hannah, didn’t it? But how bad could it be? He wasn’t proud of what they’d done but he and Jenny had done it together and they’d done it for the Service. And the results were out there for everyone to see, even if the PM was giving all the credit to other people.
He pushed open the door. Six people, all standing. He recognized Alex Matheson, the Chief, Felix Schauer and Jenny. She looked as if she’d seen a ghost.
‘Come in, Luke,’ the Chief said. ‘I think you’ve met Floyd, our Ethics Counsellor? These two people are from Legal.’
Oh God. So Jenny’s told them about Hannah. She must have done. Maybe he needed a lawyer of his own.
‘Look,’ Luke began, hoping to regain the initiative, ‘we both feel terrible about what happened to Hannah. But she didn’t die in vain.’
‘She didn’t die at all,’ retorted Felix Schauer. ‘It’s worse than that.’ He walked over to a desktop computer, tapped a key and a grab from a newspaper filled the screen. ‘Take a look at today’s South China Morning Post. It’s all over the front page.’
Luke froze.
‘MI6 Left Me to Die’ ran the headline. ‘Dogs Ate My Face’ was the line beneath it. Next to the text was a photograph of Hannah Slade, lying in a Hong Kong hospital bed. It looked as though half her face had been torn off.
‘She’s done an Edward Snowden,’ said the Chief. ‘She’s gone over to the Chinese and told them everything. Everything!’ She let those words hang in the air before she continued. ‘So while I’m grateful for all the work you and Jenny did in retrieving that intel, I’m afraid this has blown up in our faces. Badly. Even if this is all a set-up by Beijing, and she’s been coerced into it, the effect is still the same. It’s nothing short of a PR disaster for the Service.’
Luke said nothing. He stood stiffly to attention, waiting for the blow to fall.
‘So, Luke and Jenny, I am placing both of you on indefinite suspension pending an investigation. As from this moment, and until further notice, you no longer work for this Service as case officers. That is all.’