Good question, thought Dan. Two bloody security guards, and he drowns himself?
‘According to police reports, Mr Heatherington dismissed his security detail and told them to wait by his official car while he went for a walk,’ said the reporter. ‘The men have told police that they argued the sense of this with Mr Heatherington, but he was adamant. He told them he’d only be ten minutes. He walked out of sight, away from them along the towpath. When he didn’t return after twenty minutes, they went to search for him.’
Dan spun the wheel, steered the car up an exit ramp and pulled over to the side of the road as soon as he was able.
Something isn’t right.
The female presenter had moved onto other news, and Dan switched the radio off so he could concentrate.
When he’d reached the car after his meeting with Heatherington, he’d looked across the car park to see the old politician being helped across the chain linked between the fence posts. He’d walked towards his car as if every step was an effort.
A man who struggled to walk a few paces from a park bench to a waiting car wouldn’t then decide to go for a stroll along a towpath on his own.
And his two security guards, who knew the man’s frailty better than most, simply let him.
‘Something about this stinks,’ he murmured.
He checked his blind spot and then swung the car back out into the traffic.
As he pointed the vehicle in the direction of the office, he couldn’t help but recall the politician’s parting words to him.
There are people willing to kill to make this split from the EU happen.
CHAPTER 38
Mel reached out and turned down the volume on her phone and then tore the earphones away and tossed them to one side.
She stared at the computer screen, her mouth dry. It was exactly as she’d expected.
She took a shaking breath, her hand hovering over the mouse before her forefinger depressed the button.
‘Oh my god,’ she whispered.
She checked over her shoulder. The conference room door remained shut, the red light on the electronic locking mechanism blinking at her.
She’d re-programmed it before she’d started work so that no-one could enter the room without her authorisation.
She was safe, for a while.
Dan had told her about his mission in Eastern Europe, skimming over the detail of his capture, but hell-bent on finding out who had betrayed his mission.
Mel had grown to like him in the short time they’d been working together. Sure, he could be infuriating, but he’d given her a chance when no-one else would work with her, so she owed him.
The least she could do was use her considerable computer skills to trace his movements, and those of others, in the lead-up to his orders being handed down.
With the stolen isotope taking precedence over their workload, though, she hadn’t had a chance to investigate.
Until now.
Her fingers stabbed at the keyboard as her eyes traced the flickering code across the screen. So far, she’d completed a systems check of all the people employed by the EPG. It was a small, specialised group, so the initial search hadn’t taken long. She’d become frustrated upon finding the records for David Ludlow and Mitch Frazer. Their profiles had been locked away from prying eyes, so she moved onto Dan’s, looking for clues.
There was nothing.
True to his word, Evans had even prohibited anyone from noting details of Dan’s rescue or the hospital where he’d been sent to recuperate, so their traitor was definitely an outsider.
Mel exhaled with relief.
She minimised the window and turned her attention to the next display, a familiar crest at the top of its page above a single word.
Password?
Her fingers hovered above the keyboard. Beyond the door, she heard muted voices in the corridor growing louder as the people approached the conference room.
She jumped in her seat, fighting down the urge to cry out as the door handle turned.
A muffled curse quickly followed and then footsteps retreated back along the corridor, and a door slammed shut.
Mel waited until her heartbeat had calmed a little and then turned back to her screen, her fingers a blur.
She began working through the system, using the programme she’d created, and was secretly pleased that it worked so well.
She slowed, her jaw slack as she read the text in front of her, and then stabbed the mouse key onto the next message.
She checked her watch and then, with a shaking hand, reached out for her mobile phone and pressed the speed dial for the only number saved to its memory.
As the ringtone began, she suddenly wondered if Dan Taylor was the only one that was in danger.
Or whether she should be worried as well.
CHAPTER 39
‘Okay, what’s wrong? What couldn’t wait until I finished interviewing the suspect?’
Mel rubbed at her eyes with a knuckle.
He noticed how she leaned against the windowsill, her hands gripping its surface to try to hide the way they trembled. Her face was strained, her shoulders slumped, and he realised she’d lost a lot of her normal swagger.
‘Mel? You’re starting to worry me. What’s going on?’
She took a shaking breath. ‘Remember how you asked me to look into how your mission was compromised?’
He nodded.
‘This afternoon was the first chance I’d had to do anything about it,’ she said. ‘I didn’t really know where to start, so I thought I’d check our systems, see if anything had been compromised there. It hadn’t,’ she added, holding up her hand to stop him from interrupting. ‘So, I figured I’d take a look at individual emails, see if anyone’s accounts had been compromised.’
‘You mean you hacked the accounts?’
‘Not ours. I’ve got administrative rights for those.’
Dan frowned. ‘But you did hack someone’s accounts.’
She nodded, her face miserable.
‘Whose accounts, Mel? What have you done?’
She looked away. ‘The House of Commons.’
‘What?’ Dan strode across the room towards her. ‘What the hell were you thinking?’
She turned to face him, a sneer on her face. ‘I was thinking I’d really like to catch whoever dropped you in the shit.’
Dan took a step back and forced his anger down. ‘Did you get caught?’
‘No.’
‘Will anyone know you were poking around in there?’
‘No.’ She jutted her chin at him, her eyes defiant. ‘I’m good, Dan. Really good. It’s what David’s been paying me for.’
He narrowed his eyes. ‘What did you find?’
She sighed. ‘It’s easier if I explain how email works, first,’ she said. ‘You understand that every internet connection is assigned an Internet Protocol address, yeah?’
‘Uh-huh. That’s what gives your location, right?’
‘Right. So if you try ordering a book online from here but the site is in the USA, the retailer’s website will probably have a pop-up message that tells you to buy from your country’s own specialised site for that service, got that?’
‘Yes.’
‘Okay. This is where it gets interesting. A lot of organisations, governments included, will introduce a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, to protect those IP addresses. A VPN hides your location from nosey people.’ A faint smile crossed her lips. ‘After all, we don’t need to know what the Minister for Agriculture is buying his wife for her birthday, right?’
‘Right.’
‘So, a lot of people take the whole VPN theory on face value. They think it protects their emails. They see their own organisations put it into practice, so they think ‘I know – I’ll do that for my personal emails, too’, are you still with me?’
‘Yes.’
‘What they don’t realise is that all website browsers have a fatal flaw. That’s why IT departments in large
organisations program the VPN alongside the router, not the web browser. It’s safer. If you link it straight to the web browser, the flaw means that anyone with a bit of coding knowledge can bypass the VPN and access the IP address’s true location.’
Dan leaned against the windowsill next to Mel and rolled his neck, frowning. ‘That all sounds fine, but how does it help us?’ His eyes met Mel’s. ‘And what does it have to do with you hacking into the House of Commons’s network?’
He noticed her shoulders sag a bit further.
‘I just wanted to make sure that anyone associated with the Energy Protection Group hadn’t been compromised,’ she explained. ‘So once I eliminated the computers in that network, I knew it had to be someone linked to you. I know a lot of your missions are covert, and they don’t get discussed outside of the ops centre, but there was no other explanation as to why your mission failed. You were acting alone. Only a select group of people knew about it, right? There’s not even a written record.’
Dan nodded. ‘It was put together fast. I got called into the office at nineteen hundred hours on the Thursday, and only David and a handful of other people were there—’
‘Don’t tell me,’ Mel snapped.
Dan cocked an eyebrow at her.
She closed her eyes and took a wavering breath. ‘Hear me out. I want to test my theory. Don’t tell me who was there until I’ve finished.’ She opened her eyes and held his gaze. ‘Okay?’
‘Go on.’
‘I’ve got a rough idea of the government officials who’ve been dealing with EPG from time to time,’ she said, ‘so I started with their IP addresses. I accessed their emails and took a look at what had been going on for about a month leading up to your mission being activated and for a week after. Starting with the Prime Minister.’
‘You hacked the Prime Minister’s email?’ Dan exploded. ‘Are you fucking crazy?’
‘Hey!’ she said, backing away, her hands held up. ‘Do you want me to tell you what I found or not?’
Dan’s nostrils flared as he fought to keep his temper under control. Images of Mel and him being found out and disappearing for good flashed through his mind; at the same time, he worked out the different ways he could strangle her and make it look like an accident.
‘Go on,’ he said through gritted teeth.
She shrugged. ‘It wasn’t him.’
‘Get on with it.’
She swallowed. Her voice shook when she spoke. ‘Three hours after you were given your operational orders, an IP address located at the House of Commons received an email, confirming orders had been received and that all necessary steps would be taken to ensure the disappearance of a covert operative by the name of Dan Taylor.’
The hairs on the back of Dan’s neck prickled, and a chill carved a path down his spine as Mel’s words sunk in.
He rubbed his hand over his face and looked out the window, contemplating his next question. ‘And you think the IP address belongs to someone associated with the EPG?’
Mel shook her head, her eyes downcast. ‘No, Dan. I know the IP address belongs to someone involved with the EPG.’ She raised her head slightly until she could look him in the eye. ‘I just want to corroborate what I’ve seen. I need to know if he was sitting in that room with you the night you received your mission orders.’
Dan exhaled and steeled himself for her answer. ‘Okay, who was it?’
‘Hugh Porchester.’
CHAPTER 40
Dan blinked. ‘Are you sure?’
Mel nodded, her face miserable. ‘It’s him.’
‘You’re absolutely sure? How did you manage to do this, anyway?’
‘The USB stick you gave to him had a virus on it.’
‘What? What sort of virus?’
‘A worm,’ said Mel. ‘I wrote it. It enables the user to access other people’s computers. I just had to wait until he put the USB stick in his personal computer and connected to the internet.’
‘Why didn’t you tell me this at the time?’ demanded Dan.
Mel withered under his glare. ‘Because you wouldn’t have done it,’ she whispered. ‘Would you?’
Dan hissed through his teeth and turned to face the window. He leaned his forehead against the cool glass and closed his eyes.
Porchester?
But the man had been so concerned when he’d returned from the army hospital; he’d been the first to offer the PM’s condolences on the man’s behalf, apologising that they hadn’t been able to organise the rescue operation sooner. Surely it couldn’t be true?
Or had the PM somehow found out about the betrayal and organised the rescue mission?
If his life was on the line, then what about Mitch and David? Where were they?
And who exactly could he trust?
He felt sick as his mind returned to the confines of the dark, dank prison cell, and the thought he’d been betrayed by someone who was supposed to be on his side.
Someone he’d almost grown to respect since his return. Someone who was as desperate as he to find out where David and Mitch were.
He opened his eyes and tilted his head towards Mel.
‘Did you find anything else?’
She shook her head. ‘Just that email. Whether he was in a rush and forgot to use a safe channel of communication or…’ she broke off and then shrugged.
‘Or he knew I wouldn’t be coming back and therefore didn’t have to worry about it,’ Dan finished for her. He slammed the windowsill with the palm of his hand. ‘The arrogant little prick.’
‘I don’t understand, Dan. If he tried to have you killed, why would he be so nice to you once you were rescued?’
Dan scratched his chin and frowned. He’d been wondering the same thing. Unless —
‘He’s using me to find out where David and Mitch are,’ he said. ‘I don’t know what’s going on, but they’re in trouble, too.’ He swore under his breath. ‘How could I have been so stupid?’
He glared out the window at the mist lifting off the river, a steady flow of traffic beginning to build up in both directions across the bridge that spanned the water course below him.
‘Dan?’ Mel moved beside him, her hand on his arm. ‘What are we going to do?’
‘Have you got somewhere you can go? Somewhere safe?’
He turned to face her. She looked petrified.
‘What do you mean?’
‘With your computer skills, can you disappear?’
Her eyes widened. ‘You mean off the grid?’
He nodded.
‘I – I don’t know. I’ve never really thought about it.’
‘Think about it now.’
‘You think we’ll have to?’
He raised an eyebrow.
‘Shit.’ She turned away from him, pulled out one of the chairs that had been tucked under the meeting table, and sank into it. ‘Shit.’
‘Sorry, Mel.’ His voice softened. ‘I had no idea it’d come to this.’
She shook her head. ‘Blimey, neither did I.’ She snorted. ‘I was just trying to keep my head down, keep out of trouble.’
‘Yeah. You were probably doing quite a good job of it, too.’
She took a deep breath and tipped her head back, stretching her neck muscles, before her gaze found his once more. Her eyes narrowed. ‘If I’m supposed to disappear, what are you going to do?’
‘I have to find David and Mitch somehow. They’re either in hiding or in trouble.’ Dan glanced towards her. ‘You’ve heard nothing?’
She shook her head. ‘Not recently.’
‘Okay. I’ll have a dig around. Check some of our old haunts. See if anyone’s seen them.’
‘What else?’
‘We can’t use the email you found as evidence.’
‘Why not?’
‘Because we obtained it illegally.’ He drummed his fingers on the table. ‘We have to find another way to prove it.’
Mel wound an end of her hair around her finger and stared out the wind
ow for a moment. ‘There might be a way.’
‘Go on.’
She leaned forward. ‘All government mobile phones are supplied by the same company. Those phones are obviously loaded with the best encryption codes the manufacturers have got up their sleeves.’
‘That doesn’t help us.’
A faint smile crossed Mel’s lips. ‘Actually, it does. The manufacturer makes the SIM cards to GCHQ specifications. The same specs that the NSA likes to use.’
Dan scratched the stubble that grazed his jaw. ‘You’re going to tell me something else I wish I didn’t know, aren’t you?’
She grinned. ‘Yes. But it’ll work to our advantage.’
‘Explain.’
‘If you know the GCHQ SIM card codes, you can trace the user’s phone calls and text messages.’
‘Can you do that without being seen in the system? I mean, will you be able to look at Porchester’s records without leaving a trace?’
‘If you’ve got the codes, yes.’
‘Have you got the codes?’
Her gaze dropped to her hands. ‘Not right at this moment.’ Her eyes met his. ‘But I can get them.’
‘How risky is it?’
She shrugged. ‘Not too bad.’
He reached across the table and stabbed his finger on the surface. ‘You promise me now, if you have any suspicion you’re going to get caught, you pull the plug, understand?’
She nodded. ‘Understood.’
‘Can you still do this and stay in hiding somewhere?’
‘Yes. I’ve got some equipment of my own that’ll do the job. And there’s a room I can use; it’s pretty basic but it’ll do.’
Dan held up his hand. ‘Don’t tell me where it is.’
She frowned.
‘Just in case,’ he explained.
‘Okay,’ she said, her voice wavering. ‘What are you going to do?’
‘I think I’d better go over to Portcullis House and have a word with the Right Honourable Hugh Porchester, don’t you?’
CHAPTER 41
‘Dan, good to see you.’
Three Lives Down (A Dan Taylor thriller) Page 17