She smiled. “I slept too, for a few hours, anyway.”
“I’m glad you woke me.”
The rueful look was back. “Are you? I’m sorry about that, actually. I just wanted to check in case you were actually awake. I told you I would come back and tell you what we found. Never wake a sleeping man is a motto to live by.”
Michael let out a breath. He did feel much better. Looking past Livia into the room opposite, the curtains weren’t quite pulled all the way across the windows, allowing him to see it was still dark. With the abolition of Daylight Saving Time, dawn would happen when it was meant to, at a quarter to six.
“So what did you find?” He took a sip of the coffee, which was good and hot and warmed him all the way through.
“Candy traced the hack to Eastern Europe.”
“The Balkans?”
Livia looked grim. “Worse than that. The same general area of Sarajevo where I used to work.”
Michael found himself gaping at her. “Are you saying there’s a connection between the betrayal of your team a few years ago and David’s shooting?”
“Or simply that the hacker is the same.”
He continued to stare at her. “Is someone supposed to think you are the connection? First Chad and now you?”
Livia had her hands clasped tightly around her cup. “That occurred to us. Amelia was on the phone half the night talking to the press about the pictures of Chad. We shared them in order to get ahead of any accusations, but the reporter she talked to already had the images. And once we found the link to Sarajevo, Chad took away my laptop.”
“He thinks you’re in on it?”
“He doesn’t want the investigation tainted.” She took in a breath. “This has been well thought out, Michael.”
He gritted his teeth. “You are not going down for someone else’s betrayal again.”
Livia appeared to be studying him. “I should drive back to London. Turn myself in to Five.”
“No.” His response came instinctively and immediately.
“I can’t jeopardize the rest of you.”
Michael shook his head. “That’s the wrong lesson to have learned from the Balkans. You took the fall for someone else’s betrayal. Mark hid your involvement in Anna’s disappearance so you could live to fight another day. Now is the time to fight, like Chad is doing.”
She swallowed hard. “I’m not sure I know how to do that.”
“Have you talked to your boss yet?”
“No.”
“What happens when you call him?”
“It rings and rings, until it goes to voicemail.”
“Did you try again this morning?”
“No.”
He studied her. “Are you going to tell me why not, especially with what you discovered?”
She pressed her lips together, and for a moment he thought she wasn’t going to answer, but then she said, “Because I don’t want to hear excuses.”
“Where’s your mobile?” Michael looked her up and down. Depending upon what she was wearing, half the time she held her phone in her hand. Most of the time, women’s pockets were inadequate for modern devices.
“I turned it off, and Chad put it in his lockbox.”
“Why? Do you think you’ve been hacked?”
“I don’t know what to think, quite frankly. I’m cut off, and if they have the same information I have, then I know why.”
“It’s too bad David isn’t here. He had a direct line to Director Philips.”
Now it was Livia’s turn to gape at him. “I know that number. I could call it.”
Michael reached into his pocket and pulled out his own Treadman Global phone, which he handed to Livia. “Try it.” He told her the passcode to unlock it.
She punched in the numbers and then glanced up at him, her expression showing she understood the extreme level of trust giving her his password represented. At the same time, it wasn’t his personal device, which was also in Chad’s lockbox, as it had been since Friday. He’d let his family know what he was doing, and how to reach him on his Treadman Global mobile phone, but he’d known from the start his own phone was a security risk.
Livia took in a breath, her finger hovering over the talk button. “It’s contrary to protocol.”
“Do we care? Aren’t we past that point?”
By way of an answer, she pressed the button and then gestured Michael to come closer, to sit beside her on her side of the corridor. He crawled the three feet and sat, putting his head close to hers so he could hear what was said without her having to put the mobile on speaker.
And as it turned out, Director Philips himself picked up on the third ring. “Hello? Is that David?” There was actually some breathless anticipation in his voice.
“Director Philips, this is Livia Cross.”
Fortunately, she’d remembered to dial back the volume, even without it being on speakerphone, and both she and Michael leaned closer so their heads were almost touching.
“Livia!”
“I’m sorry to be using this number, sir,” Livia said, though Michael didn’t think she had anything to apologize for. “I spent all last evening trying to reach Jack Stine, ever since David disappeared, but to no avail. I was told very clearly not to ring anyone else, and I called you now only because it had become critical that I do so.”
“An hour ago, Jack Stine was found unconscious in the shrubbery outside his house. We don’t know how long he’d been there, but possibly since early evening.” Philips cleared his throat. “Inquiries are proceeding.”
Michael knew enough about investigations to understand those words meant they didn’t have anything. That wasn’t to say they wouldn’t.
“He had security, surely,” Livia said.
“Of course, but the cameras outside his house had been disabled. There are few places a man is less secure than when he is unlocking his own front door.”
“The concern in your voice tells me you don’t think the attack on him was random.” Livia took in a breath. “Do you think it had anything to do with David’s disappearance?”
“It’s hard not to think so,” Philips said. “But if so, I am uncertain as to what the attacker hoped to accomplish. Jack oversaw Data Management. He wasn’t in the field.”
“That doesn’t mean he didn’t know something,” Livia said. “He was my contact.”
A hundred thoughts passed through Michael’s head in the two-second pause that followed, most of which were centered around the various ways and means by which Livia could have been separated from her agency—and why someone would want her to be.
“The thought had occurred to me.”
“Is anyone in his department also missing?” Livia asked.
Philips grunted. “You’re thinking that one of Jack’s people discovered something, told him, and he was taken out before he could communicate that information to me.”
Michael pointed to himself, asking if he could say something. After a pause, Livia said, “I have one of Chad Treadman’s people here, Michael Dawar. He was David’s bodyguard.”
“The army medic?”
“Yes, sir,” Michael said. “If I may ask, when did you last speak to Jack Stine?”
“Not since before the interview.” He cleared his throat. “He left a voicemail for me around half past nine, one I did not receive until this morning.”
“May I ask what he wanted?” Michael said.
“To meet with me. Urgently.”
“Could it be, sir,” Michael said, “that he was attacked on the way out of his house rather than on the way into it?”
A sigh came from Philips. “It is disturbingly likely.”
“We need to know what he knows,” Livia said.
“Believe me, we will bend every resource to discover the answer to that question, beginning with who spoke to him before he rang me.”
“Sir, last night we discovered information that indicates the hacker of the warehouse’s security system originated i
n the Balkans. We fear Livia is being set up.” Michael paused. “Again.”
“It might not just be me, sir,” Livia added. “There is some evidence an attempt has been made or will be made to implicate Chad Treadman in the shooting, but the attack on Jack indicates there’s a traitor within the Security Service. Sir, we know who that might be, don’t we?”
“You mean Amanda Crichton? I’ve spoken with her, Livia. My people have kept an eye on her since Friday. She flew to Delhi yesterday.”
Amanda Crichton, the head of Internal Affairs for MI-5, had been sacked right in front of Livia at a meeting on Friday. According to Livia, her animosity towards David and his family had been a little frightening.
“Excuse me, sir, but a plane ride to Delhi is a perfect alibi,” Michael said. “Are we certain she was on the plane?”
“Amanda Crichton was angry. She was adequate at her job, but she’s neither this ruthless nor this efficient.”
Livia pressed her lips together and didn’t add to Michael’s argument.
With the nature of the internet and mobile phones, anything and everything could be organized from Delhi nearly as easily as from London. Admittedly, oversight might be a bit more difficult, as would the erasure of a digital footprint. Even Michael knew it was safer to meet in person these days than communicate remotely. Calls were recorded, as were keystrokes, IP addresses, and movement. The head of Internal Affairs at Five would know the danger more than most.
Michael did a quick canter around the conversation so far, accepting that if someone was listening on Philips’ end, they would know Livia and Philips had connected, Livia was with Michael, and they feared Five’s involvement with David’s disappearance and the mugging of Jack Stine. What happened at the warehouse was common knowledge by now, so Michael couldn’t see how discussing it could be harmful.
“I assume you heard what happened to my men?” Livia asked, switching gears.
“Yes. Were you present when the shooting started?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Livia and I were first on scene, sir.”
Michael could feel Philips’ nod on the other end of the line. “Is there anything else I should know?”
“Not that I can think of, sir,” Livia said. “What do you want me to do?”
Michael looked down at the bold-faced lie, glad the call wasn’t on video.
“Keep to your task,” Philips said. “You remain our liaison to Treadman Global. I want you to call in every three hours to this number.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you, sir.”
Philips disconnected the call.
Livia looked at the phone. “That was weird.”
“I don’t think we have time for weird right now.” Michael paused. “In what way was it weird?”
“Did you notice what he didn’t talk about?”
“For starters, he didn’t mention the flash. Either he genuinely doesn’t know about it, which is frightening enough, or he doesn’t want you to know about it.” Michael thought more. “He didn’t ask where you were. He didn’t ask why we left the warehouse for two hours last night. He didn’t give you any indication of your role—or anyone’s role—in the investigation. He didn’t discuss the way you may or may not be being set up. He didn’t instruct you to liaise with Grant Dempsey or WECTU’s commander when they arrive.”
“If they arrive.” Livia leaned her shoulder into his. “I thought speaking to him would bolster my confidence and help me choose the next direction to take, but it hasn’t.”
“What are you going to do?”
She didn’t answer immediately, instead tapping the edge of Michael’s mobile to her lip as she thought. Then, with a dark look at Michael, she took the casing off the back of the phone and removed the battery and SIM card from it.
Then she popped the lid off her half-drunk cup of coffee and dropped the pieces of the phone into it. “What are we going to do?”
Chapter Twenty
4 April 2022
Livia
Michael had to laugh at the sight of his phone submerged in her coffee cup. “I’m glad that wasn’t my personal mobile. What exactly did you do that for?”
Livia almost couldn’t believe her own impulsiveness. “Whether or not Director Philips sees it yet, by attacking Jack, the EM ensured he and I were cut off from one another. I think Jack discovered something, or one of his people discovered something the EM didn’t want him to know. And this EM is very good. He or she disabled the cameras at Jack’s house and hacked the ones at the warehouse, enough to ensure those pictures of Chad came to light. If the EM is tapped into the director’s phone, they could get to us through your mobile.”
Michael poked at the exposed edge of his former phone. “Is that really possible?”
She looked at him in a way she hoped wasn’t too condescending. “For once, what you’ve seen in movies is accurate. Yes, it’s possible.”
“Okay. So given that the EM—I can’t believe we’re calling him that—has access and influence that reaches into the heart of MI-5 itself, why is he so opposed to killing people?”
“Let’s say she for now, and I think it’s very smart. Murder is a crime you can’t walk back. Computer hacking and discharging firearms in a public place can both be negotiated away. Really, if David doesn’t return any time soon, and we don’t get some serious leads within a fortnight, outside of MI-5, the entire event will turn into a cold case.”
“And inside, everyone will blame you.”
Livia’s enthusiasm waned slightly, and she nodded.
“You told the director you think the answer lies with Amanda Crichton. Do you still think so?”
“I don’t know. The whole thing with the flash is mad. I didn’t mention it, but he didn’t either. Does he really not know about it? If true, how terrifying is that?”
“Do you trust Director Philips?” Michael asked.
“He’s a politician and a survivor, so no, I don’t. But at the same time, he is intelligent and crafty. I’ve got him thinking of suspects other than me.”
“How do we discover who’s responsible?”
“I suspect we don’t, not from here.”
Michael was incredulous. “We can’t leave this to anyone else, not with your life on the line!”
“I’m not sure where my obligations lie. I do think we should tell Chad about this, which I can’t believe I’m saying.”
Michael laughed under his breath. “What a difference six hours makes.”
“Just as well, probably. The only reason you and I were playing detective last night in the first place was because nobody else was available. WECTU is composed of police forces, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the next step is for Five to muscle them out too. They should include them but, good intentions or not, Philips will want to hush up any conspiracy.”
“Maybe that’s what’s happening. Maybe that’s why Philips didn’t tell you much,” Michael said. “Maybe they already know something we don’t. Maybe they’ve already decided to hang you.”
“They.” Livia made a humming sound. “That usually means me. MI-5. I’m not sure what it means today.”
Then a rustling sound came from behind the open door to Cade’s room. In an instant, both Michael and Livia were on their feet. Livia carefully carried her coffee cup into the room and set it on the bureau. Cade was sitting up in bed.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hi.” He blinked back sleep. “You’re Livia, right?”
“I am. And this is Michael.”
“Hey buddy,” Michael said in pretty good American. “How are you doing?”
“Can I go home yet?”
“How about some breakfast first?” Livia said. “You don’t want to time travel on an empty stomach.”
“It’s early, but maybe we can rustle up some food,” Michael said.
After a somewhat lengthy exploration on Cade’s part of the en-suite bathroom, they trooped down to the breakfast room. Even though it was still before first ligh
t, the house had woken up—if it had ever gone to sleep. Livia glanced towards the picture window. Michael had closed the curtains last night, but someone had pulled them wide again this morning, and the garden beyond was gray with the coming dawn.
Chad sat at the head of the table, Sophie on his right. Amelia was piling eggs on her plate for a full English (or rather, Welsh) breakfast. Candy appeared from the kitchen, yawning hugely, and took a sausage from a serving dish. Livia handed Cade a plate and urged him towards the sideboard where a full array of breakfast items had been laid out. “Help yourself.”
Cade turned the plate over and around. “Do you want me to put food on this?”
“That’s the general idea,” Michael said, forking three pieces of bacon onto his own plate.
Livia hadn’t ever given any thought to how long porcelain had been in existence, but she supposed it wasn’t seven hundred years. “What do you normally eat off of?”
“We have wooden bowls or trenchers.”
“A trencher is a flat piece of bread that acts as a plate,” Sophie said, spooning eggs into her mouth as if she hadn’t eaten in weeks. “You can eat it afterwards or it’s given to the pigs, who eat anything.”
Cade raised a tentative hand to Sophie. “Hi, Sophie.”
She patted the adjacent seat. “Sit next to me. I’ll translate if you need it.”
Cade set to his food with a will, just like Sophie, and Livia brought her mostly empty plate to the space next to Chad. She wasn’t a breakfast person, and though she’d always been told food made up for lack of sleep, all she really wanted was fruit and bacon.
Michael took the seat on the other side of Livia, and when he sat, she met his eyes, and they both smiled. That he would choose to sit next to her felt like the most natural thing in the world and marked a transition from her not really being sure about what kind of friends they were to realizing she didn’t have to worry any longer about whether or not he wanted to sit next to her.
Then she turned to Chad and gained his attention instantly by saying, “I talked to Director Philips.” For the next few minutes, she related the gist of the conversation, and then Michael added his concern that Livia was being set up by MI-5 to take the fall for everything.
Refuge in Time Page 17