Claudia watched as Amy and Kerry were handcuffed and led into the cells. She swallowed at the sight and hoped she was doing the right thing. Trusting the famously incompetent security service wasn’t something that came naturally to her.
“Well done, McAllister.”
She turned to see Miranda Haynes. “Thank you. It was a little harder than I’d anticipated, but I got them in the end.”
“I’m still awaiting the final briefing report,” Miranda mentioned. “I heard you were attacked? In the woods?”
That information had been included in the brief round-up of information given to the team. Though it was suspicious that it would be the first thing Miranda would bring up.
“Yes, a man, I didn’t get a good look at him,” Claudia lied. “It all happened quite fast, and I was shocked when a passer-by hit him over the head.”
“Dog walker?” Miranda guessed. “They are always in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Exactly.”
“You were missing for a while?” Miranda fished.
“Have you tried getting a signal in the middle of Scotland?” Claudia joked.
“Did you speak with them much? Get any intel on their organisation?”
Claudia shook her head. “No, it was quickly apparent that they had a story and they were sticking to it. I thought I’d leave the interrogation to you lot.”
Claudia wondered how Miranda had managed to remain under the radar all this time. Her barrage of questioning was eliminating any doubts Claudia might have had.
“You have the USB stick?” Miranda asked.
“It was destroyed.”
“Destroyed?”
“Yes, destroyed. Nothing left of it. As I began to close in on them, they took the decision to destroy it. Presumably to cover their tracks so they can maintain this ridiculous story of their innocence.” Claudia turned to walk away. “I suppose that was something they were briefed on. As I say, they adamantly stuck to their story.”
“They are professionals, highly trained,” Miranda reminded her. It was all Claudia could do not to chuckle. Seeing Amy refer to a dummies guide in order to put a tent up and only managing to put down ‘poo’ on a Scrabble board didn’t exactly scream terrorist genius.
“So, when you say destroyed?” Miranda quizzed.
“Completely destroyed, nothing but cinders left.”
“I see.” Miranda pressed the button for the lift, and they both waited.
“Will you be questioning them?” Claudia asked, hoping she sounded casual.
“Yes, I’ll leave it for tomorrow. Separate them and give them time to stew, see if that makes them a little more open to questioning.”
More like give you more time to forge whatever documents you need, Claudia thought.
“Good idea.” The lift doors opened, and they stepped in. Claudia pressed the button for the top floor. Miranda looked at her curiously. “Need to speak to Andrew,” Claudia explained. She rolled her eyes. “I just want to get paid and get out of here.”
“Not been encouraged to come back?” Miranda asked.
Claudia laughed. “No, definitely not. After the last few days, I’ll be glad to get back to my own office.”
Claudia paced Andrew’s office. The trap was set and now they were just watching and waiting for someone to fall into it. It was the early hours of Monday morning, but the office was as busy as always. The MI5 offices were in the centre of the building. With no access to natural light and officers working shifts, it was always a hive of activity.
But this time the office was buzzing with tension. Or maybe Claudia just felt that way because she was stressed and sleep-deprived. She itched to go down to the cells and check on Amy and Kerry, but Andrew had only allowed her to remain in the building under the proviso that she keep a low profile.
“This had better work,” Claudia said, not for the first time.
“It will. If you’re right and she is the mole, then everything is set up nicely. We just need to wait.” Andrew sat at his desk with his fingers steepled as he waited for news.
“And you’re sure of the officers you have working on this?” Claudia pressed.
“Absolutely. None of them have ever had contact with her. They have all performed undercover counterterrorism work before, two of them from within the service. When she makes her move, we’ll know.”
Claudia sat on the sofa and put her head in her hands. She hated the idea of Amy and Kerry in the cells, separated from one another.
“Which one is it?” Andrew asked.
Claudia looked up at him. “I’m sorry?”
Andrew drew a finger in the air in her direction. “You don’t get like this. You like one of them. Is it Amy?”
Claudia blinked. “What... I don’t know what you mean. Don’t be ridiculous, I’m just—”
“If you were worried about the mole, then you would be angry. You’re not, you’re nervous. That indicates to me that you are concerned about something going wrong. And I’m willing to bet it’s related to our two new additions to the cells. You only spent around fifteen minutes with Kerry, but Amy... well, I’m still waiting for the full story there.”
“You’ll be waiting a long time.” Claudia chuckled. She didn’t work for Andrew; she didn’t have to provide him with a blow-by-blow report of what happened.
“I see.” Andrew grinned knowingly.
Claudia smiled in return. “You spend too much time around the profilers.”
“And you just basically told me that I’m right.” Andrew looked smug. He leaned back in his chair. “Amy, then?”
“It’s nothing,” Claudia assured him. “She’s very sweet and innocent, and I feel guilty for putting her in this situation.”
“What happened after you arrested Kerry? I didn’t quite get the whole story between the services and your attacker in the woods.”
Claudia raised an eyebrow.
Andrew put his hands up. “Off the record, just two friends talking.”
She flopped back on the sofa and looked at the ceiling. She’d have to tell someone, keeping it bottled up was driving her insane.
“She boarded a narrowboat, which pulled away and started to sail along the canal. So, I boarded a narrowboat as well. We were travelling at something ridiculous like four and a half miles an hour, it would have been quicker to walk. Hell, it was quicker to walk. We were overtaken by dog walkers!” She laughed at the memory.
“I have a wonderful mental image of this,” Andrew admitted.
“I’m able to see the humour with hindsight. I was infuriated at the time. And then Amy came out onto the rear of the boat with a cup of tea in her hands and started chatting to me. Unbelievable.”
Andrew laughed. “This gets better and better.”
“They waited for another boat to get in the way, and then Amy ran into some woods. It took forever to get our boat to the path so I could follow her. Gave her an enormous head start. But somehow she got turned around in the woods and ended up behind me.”
Andrew sat forward with interest. “Wait, she was running away from you but ended up behind you?”
Claudia looked up at Andrew’s smiling face. “Yes, I wasn’t kidding when I told you she bumbled her way around the country. But thank God she was behind me.”
The smile vanished from Andrew’s face. “Yes. She was very brave.”
“Very stupid more like it,” Claudia added. “Attacking an armed man. She could have been killed.”
“Sounds like she didn’t care much at the time.”
“No, she is quite foolhardy: act first and think later.” Claudia smiled.
“Quite the opposite to you,” Andrew pointed out. “Maybe that’s what you need in life?”
Claudia shook her head. “She’s a child, Andrew.”
Andrew opened his desk drawer and pulled out a folder. He put his glasses on and opened the folder. He ran his finger along the first piece of paper. “No,” he said, “no, not a child, she’s twenty-five.”
Claudia rolled her eyes. “Practically a child.”
“You’re not exactly ancient,” Andrew argued. “You speak to me when you get to this ripe old age.”
“There’s just over ten years between us,” Claudia pointed out. “That’s a lifetime.” She shook her head; the conversation had diverted somewhere she wasn’t comfortable. “Besides, I like her. Respect her. I can worry about her without it being anything else.”
Andrew held up his hands. “Okay, if you say so.” He looked at her with a smirk.
“Don’t give me that look,” she warned him.
“It’s my face.” He shrugged.
Before she had time to reply, his phone rang. Claudia got to her feet, unable to sit when it looked like things might be happening.
Andrew answered the call and listened to the other person in silence for a few moments. Claudia started to pace, unable to hear the other end of the conversation and getting little from Andrew’s poker face.
“I see,” he eventually said.
Claudia let out a frustrated sigh.
“I see. Thank you for letting me know.”
“Know what?” Claudia whispered, unable to stay quiet much longer.
Andrew put the phone down. “It worked. The telecoms team managed to successfully listen to Miranda’s calls. She just contacted an external source. She told him that the necessary data was missing and a new asset needed to be deployed. She also said that she would arrange for the two decoys to be removed.”
“Removed?” Claudia placed her palms on Andrew’s desk and stared at him. Any joy at Miranda implicating herself in the plot was eradicated by the thought of Amy and Kerry being hurt.
“I have authority to go and make the arrest.” Andrew stood up and gestured towards the door. “Shall we?”
Claudia spun around and stalked towards the door. She opened it and quickly walked across the open plan office. Miranda just stood there, chatting with one of the secretaries. Claudia had to admit that she had courage. Standing in the middle of the secret service, discussing BBC dramas, all the while planning a terrorist attack. If it weren’t so horrendous, Claudia would have been impressed.
“Miranda Haynes, you are under arrest,” Andrew said as he approached her, flanked by three internal security officers.
Miranda looked at him in surprise. She looked around the room, which was starting to fill with officers—some ready to make the arrest, some ready to search through her office and personal effects for any information.
“Is this some kind of a joke?” Miranda laughed. “My birthday isn’t for three months.”
“Unfortunately, this is no joke.” Andrew gestured for the officers to restrain her. “We have evidence of your collusion with terrorist organisations with the goal of planning a mainland attack with loss of civilian life.”
Two officers stepped behind her and took her arms firmly. Miranda glared from Andrew to Claudia. Handcuffs clicked in place. Claudia could hear the rest of the office whispering about what they were witnessing.
“Ah, I see,” Miranda nodded. “You’ve become aware of the training exercise. I’m sure once you investigate it, all will become clear, and we’ll laugh about this.”
Claudia wouldn’t put it past Miranda to have concocted a paper trail proving her innocence. Her computer skills were legendary, and if she had assembled a like-minded team, who knew what they could have put in place.
Miranda didn’t seem worried. Claudia was hit by a strange sinking feeling. Of course Miranda would have an exit strategy.
“The exercise is simply to demonstrate how weak our security is. How our processes are too slow, and our methods don’t work. It’s highly classified, but I have proof.”
Claudia scoffed a laugh. “Of course you do.”
“Claudia,” Andrew warned.
“We found the explosives,” Claudia blurted out.
It was a gamble; they hadn’t quite deciphered all the aspects of the plan. Claudia had her assumptions and was keen to fast-track the interrogation process. Miranda was a master strategist; she wouldn’t break easily under the intense lights of the interrogation room.
The look of terror in Miranda’s eyes told her that she was on the right track.
“And we’ve already linked you to the supply of explosives. Your man, in the woods, he’s working with us.”
“Claudia,” Andrew said again.
Miranda’s face was practically turning purple as she struggled to breathe. “The plan wasn’t mine.”
“Oh, well, that’s all right then.” Claudia laughed. “Phew. For a minute, I thought you were the mastermind. But you were just a sheep.”
“Nothing would have happened,” Miranda said. “You’ve got it all wrong.”
“Are you seriously telling us that you wouldn’t have let an actual attack happen? Or that you’d be able to stop one? You would have been in your element if an attack had taken place. You would have been able to throw Andrew under the bus, and you would have taken control of this division. Shaped it into what you have always wanted. A spy state where everyone is guilty until proven innocent, where you weren’t accountable to anyone. A large-scale attack on UK soil is exactly what you want to happen.”
“I have to read you your rights,” Andrew began. Claudia knew the tone. He was on board. He wanted her to push to see what they could get out of her in the heat of the moment.
“You’re up to your neck in it, Miranda,” Claudia continued. “If you want to help us with some of the finer details, maybe you’ll get a cell with a window. Although I doubt it. In the Miranda Haynes world of justice, you’d vanish from sight, wouldn’t you?” She turned to face Andrew. “What do you say, boss?”
Andrew drew himself up tall and turned to look at Miranda with disgust. “I don’t think we need anything from her. We’ve already picked apart the relevant details,” he lied smoothly.
“I can help you,” Miranda assured him. “For immunity”.
“What makes you think we need your help?” Andrew asked. “Your network has turned on you. We have everything we need.”
“I can give you names. All of them. I know things, things that you need to know. Just give me a chance,” Miranda pleaded.
Andrew sighed and rubbed his forehead. “Fine.” He turned around. “Get an interrogation room set up.”
Claudia imperceptibly nodded at Andrew and turned on her heel. She trusted his skills to get the details from Miranda, and either way they had suspended all trains operating on the so-called ghost lines pending a search of all vehicles.
Her suspicions of Miranda’s involvement had been spot on. She’d never liked Miranda. As much as she hated the red tape within the service, she had always felt that Miranda toed too harsh a line. Miranda had always claimed that an apocalypse was just around the corner, and every conversation quickly descended into a discussion about the softness of the agency.
Claudia just wished that she had considered the idea of doubting the intelligence handed to her by Miranda’s team long before she set off searching for Amy and Kerry.
Claudia pushed on the heavy metal door and winced at the loud screeching as it opened. She looked apologetically at Amy who was lying down on the cell bed.
“We pay millions of pounds in taxes, but it’s impossible for someone to oil that door?” Amy asked. “Then again, I should be happy it’s you and not the mole. Whoever that is. Did you catch them? Can you even tell me? I mean, you should, considering I agreed to this plan.”
Claudia smiled. “Do you ever stop talking?”
Amy pushed herself into a sitting position and smiled sweetly at Claudia. “Yeah, but only for tops thirty seconds.”
Claudia stepped into the cell and closed the door behind her. “We did catch the mole. They will be questioned and their network taken down. So, on behalf of Her Majesty’s government, thank you.”
“Does Her Majesty’s government pay compensation?” Amy asked, with a wide grin. “Because I’m suffering serious emotional distress.”
Claudia chuckled. “You will be compensated for the inconvenience.”
“Sweet. It’s pretty inconvenient being called a terrorist and having a shit picture of you plastered all over the news. And I gave my favourite coat away. And I think I lost a Q from my travel Scrabble, and that’s the best letter.”
“A retraction has been issued. We contacted your work and gave them the basics of what happened, so your job is still yours if you want it. Of course, you’ll have to sign a non-disclosure agreement. You can’t speak about what happened here.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Fine, fine. I was going to write a book about my daring escape, overcoming insurmountable obstacles in order to evade the stunning huntress.”
“Stunning huntress?” Claudia raised an eyebrow.
“Yeah.” Amy blushed fiercely.
Claudia blanked for a moment. Was Amy flirting with her?
“So, I get a retraction, but my Q remains lost?” Amy shook her head. “The stuff I do for Queen and country.”
“Can’t you draw a line on an O?” Claudia suggested with a smirk.
A knock on the door sounded, and it noisily squeaked open. Andrew stepped into the cell. “Miss Hewitt, I wanted to introduce myself and apologise for the events of the last few days. And to go over a few pieces of paperwork, if I may?”
Suddenly, the cell seemed so much smaller. Andrew’s awkward appearance had interrupted something, but Claudia wasn’t sure what it was. Had Amy being flirting with her or just letting her mouth run unchecked as she so often seemed to do?
Whatever it was, Claudia felt the need to get out of there quickly.
“I have to go, I have some things to finish up,” Claudia said. “All the best, Amy.”
She turned and left before anything else could be said.