“Here, sir,” Melissa’s boss said.
“If the bath is overflowing, what’s the first thing you do?”
“Turn off the tap.”
“Correct. So, now that we know the procedure has been compromised, there are to be no further transfers of hospital waste until further notice. Take care of that, will you?”
“Sir.”
“We’re making good progress on most fronts, but there is zero room for complacency. The existing precautions are good. We’re making them better. But in a day’s time, they’ll be tested. We need to pass that test. And our efforts to penetrate the suspect group - they need to be redoubled. Also, I want to know why GCHQ hasn’t turned anything up about the additional material we now know to be out there.”
“I’ll chase them up, sir,” Chaston said.
“Good. Wainwright?”
“Sir?” Melissa said.
“Our deceased friends from the hospital? Good work uncovering them. Now, stay on that tack. It’s clear that Sole recruited Shakram, but who recruited Sole? Did it happen before he worked at the hospital, or once he was there? Who was his contact? How did he get his instructions? I want the link back to al-Aqsaba’a nailed down and clearly understood.”
“Yes, sir,” Melissa said. “And sir? Another thing occurs to me, coming out of what we found.”
“I see. What is it?”
“Well, they stole two separate batches of caesium. After the business with the fire, they stored it in two separate places. Or maybe it was always kept separate. But my question is, does this mean they’re aiming for twice the damage? Or are they going after two separate targets?”
Or was someone trying to divide our efforts to stop them?
No one spoke for over a minute. Even the traffic noise from Hardwicke’s location seemed to reduce in volume while Melissa’s suggestion hung in the air, waiting for someone to acknowledge it.
“We should consider that a viable possibility,” Hardwicke said, finally. “Everyone is to factor it into their activities. Any other thoughts?”
No one responded.
“Right,” the DG said. “Next call - same time tomorrow. Same number. In the meantime - good luck.”
Melissa reached out to hit the disconnect button then shoved the spider phone away from us, across the table
“What do you think?” she said.
“We’re in good shape,” Jones said. “I’ve already started pulling records. By lunchtime we’ll know all there is to know about Stewart Sole. Family background. Bank records. Financial profile. Employment history. Everything. Have no fear. Whatever the DDG asks for, we’ll have it.”
“Thanks, Tim,” she said. “Good initiative. David, what’s your take?”
I didn’t answer straight away. Not because I didn’t have an opinion. But because I was at a crossroads. I was convinced we were facing a serious threat. Caesium was missing, people had been killed, and more were going to be if the right steps weren’t taken in the next twenty-four hours. The snag was, as far as I could see, Melissa and her colleagues were on the wrong track. So, I could either do what my control wanted me to - stand back, wait for the carnage, and see whether either of the people in the room with me had a hand in it. Or I could try and stop the train from crashing, and worry about handing out blame when everyone was safe.
In the end, it wasn’t too hard a choice.
“I admire your brown-nosing instincts, Tim,” I said. “You’ll go far. But for now, Melissa, you need to call your boss. Tell him Hardwicke’s barking up the wrong tree. There’s a threat, but not to the opening of Parliament.”
“You can’t be serious,” she said. “They’ve found a dozen ways the place is vulnerable. And the problem with the fire sprinklers? If al-Aqsaba’a could feed in dissolved caesium and trigger the system? There’d be nowhere to hide. Everyone in the building - the Queen, the MPs, the Lords, everyone - would be fatally contaminated.”
“How much caesium would that take?”
“I don’t know. Why?”
“Because this is where they’ve gone wrong. They were looking for a target on a scale which matched all the caesium stored at St Joseph’s, because that’s what they thought al-Aqsaba’a was trying to steal. Now we know they were never after that much. So, if the weapon is different, it follows the target is different.”
“Not necessarily. What if there’s a way to control where the radioactive water comes out? The system’s bound to be broken down into discreet circuits. Then they could target the Queen directly. Or the PM. Or whoever they like.”
“That’s...”
“And we don’t know that they want to kill everyone, anyway. Maybe the chaos that any degree of radioactivity would cause would be enough for them.”
“Melissa, no. You could come up with any number of possibilities, but the logic doesn’t hold up. You’re starting with an answer, and working back to a question. Things don’t work that way.”
“Have you got a more plausible suggestion?”
“No. That’s why we need everyone to stop chasing after something that isn’t there, and help find the real target.”
“Don’t forget what Leckie’s guy told us.”
“I’m not. But all you can really take from him is the timescale. The rest - to bring down or close down the government - that’s too ambiguous. We’ve got to start again, and this time not lose sight of the facts.”
“What facts?”
“That the original plan called for two small amounts of caesium, and that al-Aqsaba’a’s M.O. to date involves focused, high value objectives. Not huge public spectacles which depend on weapons they don’t even have.”
“No. I’m sorry, David. None of this is convincing me. They could have been planning to add the two lots of caesium together. They could have been moving both lots to the same place, and got disturbed half way through. They could prefer storing them separately, keeping their eggs in separate baskets. And by now, they could have a completely different means of attack lined up.”
“You’re grasping at straws. This makes no sense.”
“And nor does throwing the baby out with the bath water.”
I didn’t respond for a moment. Her reluctance was making me uneasy. Could she really not grasp what I was saying? Or did she have another motive for not warning her people they were on the verge of a huge mistake?
“OK,” she said, after a few moments. “Look. I am prepared to expand the parameters of what we’re doing. A little. Assuming you’re both prepared to put in a few extra hours?”
“Absolutely,” Jones said, nodding his head. “Count me in. Whatever you need. We should be sure about this.”
“Good,” she said. “But I’m not calling Chaston. Not yet, anyway.”
“Why not?” I said.
“Tim, could we have the room for a second?” she said.
“No problem,” Jones said, getting to his feet and heading for the door. “I need the bathroom anyway.”