Sam gave his mate a playful punch on the arm.
‘Come on mate, we need to keep looking, find some connections.’
Mickey started stabbing the keys on his keyboard, making the same violin sound that Sam had made the previous afternoon, while piercing the film on his microwave dinner.
Chapter Thirty
‘Mr Barford, so glad you could find the time to come back.’
Virani was smiling, standing behind Latif who was analysing more communications data that had been sent from GCHQ, trying to find clues as to whom the hitman was working for.
Barford looked sheepish as he handed Virani the findings of the dust analysis.
‘Nothing much to tell you really Jay. It’s just pollen.’
Virani raised an eyebrow.
‘So we have a botanist hitman?’ she asked.
‘He’s a serious one if he is Jay.’ Barford replied. He glanced at Latif and smiled, almost embarrassed that the results seemed to be of no significance.
‘And why would that be?’
‘Well it’s the pollen from a rare lily. Lilium Bolanderi. Native to North America.’
Virani raised her left index finger to her lips and started pacing in small circles. A thoughtful expression on her face. After several laps of her extreme pondering circuit she stopped and addressed Barford.
‘Any chance we can track purchases of the bulb?’
‘We could try,’ replied Barford, ‘but the pollen might come from a plant that’s several generations old. We have no idea how old the original bulb is.’
‘Right, well, thanks for your effort on this Neil, it’s appreciated even though it gets us no closer to finding our hitman’s employer.’
Barford wasn’t entirely sure if this was sincere or just a dig at him. ‘Sorry it wasn’t of more use.’ He said.
She smiled back at him sincerely, the smile reaching her eyes and making them sparkle. Then she placed her hand on his shoulder and said.
‘Don’t worry Neil, it’s hardly your fault.’
Neil smiled back, relieved. Virani continued.
‘Now stop pissing about feeling sorry for yourself and help Upex with whatever he’s doing.’
Barford smiled broadly as he turned and left the room.
I’m starting to like this girl. He thought.
Virani turned to Latif.
‘Okay Zavina, you carry on analysing this, I need to call Sam to make sure he’s alright, and to bring him up to date with what we’ve found.’
Dave was studying the server deep scan results. There was definitely a Trojan horse on the server. He turned to Lucy Green, who was also staring intently at the screen.
The police had laughed when he phoned them, threatening to arrest him for wasting police time.
‘Come back with some proof, Sir, then we’ll take you seriously.’ He was told. When Dave told them he had a friend on the MI5 investigating team he was told.
‘Of course you do, sir. And I’ve got Jason Bourne coming round for dinner later.’
After the call he took it upon himself to not only prove his theory, but to do all he can to assist in stopping Raynor. He called upon Lucy Green to help him.
‘Do me favour, will you Lucy?’
‘Sure, what do you need me to do?’
‘Contact a few mobile carriers. Vodafone, O2 and a few others. Tell them what we’ve found. We need to track the replies to these messages, they must be going somewhere.’
‘Will do. What about your friend, Sam isn’t it? Shouldn’t you tell him what you’ve found?’
‘Yeah you’re right, he needs to know how technically sound Raynor is. To be able to hack our systems and drop in a Trojan? That takes some doing.’
Sam was approaching the end of Raynor’s service record. He was staggered by the knowledge and abilities the man possessed. Why would the SAS turn him down? Then he saw paragraph titled SAS Application.
‘Here we go Mick, would the real Nathan Raynor please stand up?’
After careful consideration, it is my opinion that Sxxxx Rxxxx should not be recommended for a position within the Special Air Services.
While he demonstrates outstanding physical and mental ability, it is my belief that his mental state demonstrates characteristics that would detract from the standards required by the Corp. In particular, Sxxxx Rxxxx displays narcissistic qualities that would make him stand out amongst his peers. Possibly even cause distrust and resentment with them. There is no room for ego in the Corp.
This leads to a wider issue of the possibility he is, in fact, a sociopath. Specifically, he shows a lack of remorse or shame, an absence of nervousness, though I’d expect that from a well-trained soldier. He’s unresponsive in general interpersonal relations, which could lead to a ‘loner’ attitude with the Corp.
I feel the candidate could kill without remorse. Man, woman, or child. The Corp requires members who have humility, and can relate to and understand the plights of others.
Winning hearts and minds is as important as winning on the battlefield. A modern soldier must show empathy. I do not believe this candidate is capable of such emotion.
In conclusion, I cannot, with any conscience, recommend Sxxxx Rxxxx for a position within the Special Air Services. However, I feel the skills of the applicant may be suited for other one-off missions, and I will endeavour to call upon his services as and when they may be beneficial in assuring the success of future covert operations.’
Sincerely
Wxxxxxx Txxxxx
Sam and Mickey sat back in their chairs they looked at each other in disbelief. Mickey was the first to speak.
‘He is a psycho.’
Sam tutted and corrected his friend. ‘No Mickey, he’s a sociopath.’
‘What the fuck’s the difference?’
‘I don’t know, but it says socio, not psycho.’
‘Anyway, it doesn’t really matter. He’ll still rip your arms off and beat you round the head with them without a care in the world.’
Sam laughed, and then leaned back toward the keyboard and mouse.
‘So, who’s SR and who’s WT?’
Mickey picked up his mug and took a sip of coffee. It was cold. He made a disgusted face and offered to go and make them both a fresh cup.
Mickey left the room and Sam took up the mouse and keyboard once more. He double clicked a folder called images and saw a number of SCU folders within it. He opened the SCU8 folder and found Raynor_N.JPG. He double clicked it and an image of his adversary appeared.
I’m coming for you, Raynor. He thought.
Sam decided he’d have to check all folders prior to SCU8 to try and determine any connection between Raynor and prior squad members. He still needed a clue as to the identity of WT. He started at SCU7, checking the name of each file, looking for the initials SR or WT. Even when they weren’t there curiosity got the better of him and he opened the images anyway.
He opened Bush_A.JPG and froze. His stomach lurched, bile made a mad-dash escape attempt up his throat, but he managed to control it. Sitting back, he started to take deep breaths and regain control.
His phone rang, making him jump, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the screen. He picked the phone up and pressed the accept button without looking, while lifting the device to his ear.
‘Hello?’
‘Sam, it’s Jay, are you okay? You sound a little distant.’
‘I know who I killed last night.’
To Sam, this knowledge made it real. A name to the face made a lot of difference. It turned an anonymous image into a once living, breathing being. Bush might have had a wife, children even. And Sam had taken him away from them.