by Paul Blake
‘What do you know about geotagging?’
‘Not much more than I just told you. I heard of it from somewhere, and somehow it stuck.’ Alec tapped his forehead with the side of the pen.
‘I’m amazed, especially after the password. He might not have social media accounts; they are frowned upon in the service. Partly for the reason, you said. But he’s quite new compared to us, barely into his thirties. He may have something, or his wife will.’
‘He’s married?’
‘About ten years ago to Alison, his childhood sweetheart. Weren’t you invited to the wedding? Roger and I went. It was a sweet occasion; they looked very much in love.’
‘I may have been on a mission.’ Or in a bar somewhere with Makary and Brigette.
‘Ok, anything else?’
‘What’s in it for him? What’s the motive?’
They both paused and thought for a minute. Alec spoke first:
‘A terrorist attack on the PM. That would increase his purview exponentially, would put his department top of the pile, globally. Increased funding, being able to take the cream of the current officers and first dibs on the top recruits.’
‘Don’t they get that already? Counter-terrorism already gets tons of funding.’
‘They do, however, in terms of status, Counter-Terrorism has an equal footing with the Middle-East and Africa department and the “friendly-countries” department. They’re above War Crimes, Global Issues and the Technology departments, but below us, Asia, Nuclear Proliferation and Counter-Narcotics. A terrorist attack on the PM, especially if successful, would propel them to the forefront.’
‘Is that motive enough?’
‘The quest for power is a strong motivator for some. I don’t know, I can’t think of any other reason unless it’s personal and the PM shagged his wife or something.’
‘Our PM? Maybe, Berlusconi, that is far more likely. I can’t picture our PM ever having sex, even if only with themself.’
Alec laughed, ‘It was just a theory.’
‘I can just see you going to Arthur with it. “Arthur, Richard Harper is going to assassinate the PM because the PM can’t keep out of his wife’s knickers.”’ She mimicked Alec’s voice. ‘He’d laugh you out of the building and hand you over to the Russians.’
‘If I did that I’d probably walk out and give myself to them without Arthur’s help.’
‘Ok, we’ve got something to get working on, at least.’
‘I think if we start by looking over the last two months on the calendar and see if there is anything there, to try to narrow down the search.’ Alec said.
‘Good idea. I’ll bring up the Harper’s calendar.’ She opened Microsoft Outlook and went to the shared calendar’s feature. She selected Harper and started scrolling through the dates. There were a lot of entries. Mostly internal meetings though.
‘What’s that one?’ Alec pointed at a particular entry.
Claudia double-clicked on it to open it. ‘Annual leave, started 21st November through to 28th November.’ Alec wrote the dates on the pad.
‘That was just over two weeks ago. Who starts their annual leave on a Tuesday?’
‘It is unusual, most people, if they are having a week off will take the Monday to Friday off maximising the weekends. Here’s another, two days, 13th and 14th November, not marked as annual leave, just blocked out.’
‘Ok I’ve got that,’ said Alec. ‘Anymore?’
‘Another week in October, at the beginning. The 3rd to the 10th. Tuesdays again, and a single day, Friday 22nd September, whole day blocked out.’
‘Right, now let’s bring up the emails to see if we can see any explanation for these dates.’
Claudia returned to the laptop’s desktop and double-clicked on an icon, labelled ‘Tracker’. A dialogue box came up asking for Username and Password.
‘This is where I put in your details. Username?’
‘AF1, password—’
‘—I’ve got it.’ Claudia interjected, shaking her head. ‘Okay, now I put in the user’s name we want to look at and the date range.’
‘Make the dates a couple of days before the ones I’ve got written down, he may have explained where he was going to be.’
‘Good idea, shall we start with the earliest one?’
‘Sure.’ Alec read out the first date. Claudia entered the information. A list of email subject headings appeared in chronological order. Claudia started reading the headings out.
‘Pay special attention to any replies he makes as he may tell the sender where he is going to be.’
‘Yes, Boss.’ Claudia smiled.
‘I’m getting thirsty; shall I open a bottle of wine for us?’ He didn’t wait for a response. ‘They still kept in the kitchen?’
‘There’s a white in the fridge, unopened, and some reds and whites in the utility room in one of the cupboards above the washing machine.’
‘White still your preference?’ Alec said, remembering.
‘Yes.’ Claudia had already gone back to concentrating at the screen.
Alec left her to it and went to the kitchen. He opened the fridge and took out a bottle of Barth Hallgartener Riesling Kabinett Trocken. The Trocken on the label indicates that’s a dry wine, are you supposed to have this with food? Alec shrugged to himself; wines weren’t really his drink of choice. Should I put another in the fridge as a replacement? Alec decided to do so and went into the utility room; he opened the first cupboard and was greeted by cleaning products. He tried the second, towels? He opened the third and final cupboard, and there were seven bottles, four red and three white. He took a white and closed the cupboard. He checked himself and opened the cupboard again and removed a red also. He returned to the kitchen and put the warm wine in the fridge and the red on the side. He went to the glass cupboard, still in the same place I see, and took out two wine glasses; they were a little dusty, so he looked around the kitchen for some kitchen paper. Over there next to the kettle. He tore off a couple of sheets and rubbed the inside of each glass, holding them up to the light to be sure they were cleaned enough. He threw the paper sheets in the waste bin and opened the screw-top on the bottle. The aroma of the wine caught in his throat as it was released. He coughed. Must be good, he smiled. He poured a generous amount into each glass and replaced the screw-cap.
‘Alec, I’ve got something.’ Claudia called from the living room, her voice sounded excited.
Alec put the bottle back on the counter and took the two glasses and returned to the living room.
‘What have you found?’ He asked.
‘Come and sit down.’
He handed Claudia her glass and sat down beside her. She angled the laptop so he could see more clearly.
‘There was nothing I could find about the dates we wrote down, so I went back another month. Harper took four days off in September, the 12th to the 15th. In this email from Arthur to him on the 5th, Arthur is giving him permission.’
‘Permission to do what?’ Alec asked.
‘In an email earlier that day Harper sent Arthur a proposal to meet to with some ex-Bulgarian, Georgian and Uzbek KGB officers to discuss potential terrorists entering Europe and Russia through those countries from Turkey, Iran and Afghanistan.’
‘We should have been consulted on that.’
‘I know, Arthur does suggest it to Harper, but Harper dismisses the idea. He states “Foster will only get in the way, try to take over. You know what he’s like when it comes to his turf.”’
‘And Arthur just lets him?’ Alec didn’t sound happy to be kept out of the loop.
‘Yes. It appears so. I don’t know if they had a face-to-face discussing it before permission was granted or not.’
Alec took a gulp of his wine and made a sour face, ‘What was the result of the meeting with the ex-KGB?’
‘There is no follow-up from Arthur or any emails from Harper to say what was discussed or any further proposals.’
‘That’s unusual, can yo
u check the contact log to see if Harper had entered anything in there about the meeting?’
‘I already have done. There’s nothing around the dates he left.’
‘It’s not a smoking gun, but persuasive. I’m surprised Arthur didn’t follow up. Wait, this was in September? That was when the PM visit was announced, Arthur was like a bull making sure of the details of the visit. He didn’t want to be embarrassed on his patch. Did you know he is looking at leaving the service in the next year or so and taking on a cosy and well paid ambassadorial role in some friendly country?’ Claudia shook her head. Alec continued ‘That would partly explain why he was so frantic yesterday when he heard about Jaromir. Normally he’d trust me to do my job and return when it was safe. He’s hoping Julia would come back to him once he’s away from the stress of running the Berlin office.’
‘I’m not sure she’ll do that. She seems quite happy in her new life.’
‘You see her still?’
‘Of course, unlike someone, I didn’t pick sides when they split. She’s got a job in a florist making the most fabulous displays. She hinted at meeting someone new a couple of months ago but was very cagey about the details. I’m due to see her next week; hopefully, she’ll tell me more.’ She looked at Alec, her face set, ‘You mustn’t tell Arthur any of this.’ Alec made the sign of the cross on his heart with his fingers and mimed zipping his mouth closed. ‘You can trust me, I can keep secrets.’
‘That’s true enough I suppose.’ She conceded. ‘I’ve never known you to break a confidence. Anyway, do you think we have enough to take to Arthur?’
Alec took another gulp of wine, emptying the glass. ‘We could look at his social media see if there’s anything on there. I doubt it though.’
‘Worth a try I suppose.’ She brought up the internet browser on the laptop and typed in Facebook in the search bar. She clicked on the link and the page loaded.
‘Do you have a log in?’
‘No, it’s frowned upon, do you? Of course not.’
‘Never found the appeal to be honest. Sara is on somethings called Snapgram and Instachat all the time.’
‘Snapchat and Instagram, you technophobe.’
‘Whatever, can we still find him or… Alison? Without logins.’
‘Possibly, we wouldn’t be able to see what they had posted though.’
‘Oh, that’s a bust then. When we take it to Arthur, he’ll be able to get Technology to look into it.’ His stomach growled alarmingly.
Claudia looked at the clock on the mantelpiece. ‘You must be starving; you’ve only had part of a bacon sandwich and probably not much yesterday if I know you. Shall I fix us something for dinner?’
Alec looked at his watch, just past eleven. ‘We could always go out; Goldhorn’s is just on the corner. I haven’t been there since Roger took us that one time.’
‘Aren’t you wanted by the whole of Berlin?’
‘Not the whole of Berlin, only by the Police, the Russians, and the service, of course. It’s a calculated risk; the restaurant is literally one minute away. The windows are darkened so no one on the street can see in. If anyone were watching here, they would have been alerted by you looking at the log and come knocking. The food is lovely too.’
‘I remember. Roger and I used to go there quite often. I haven’t been since…’ Claudia frowned.
‘Oh, don’t worry about it. It was a silly idea.’
‘No… it’ll be nice. Who knows it could be your final meal as a free man,’ she said, her expression brightened.
‘That’s cheery, thanks.’
‘You’re welcome. You used to have to be a member to go there, Roger’s membership ran out, but they did a day membership. I’ll go on their site and see if they still do. While I’m there, I’ll get their number so you can call them to book a table. You’re paying by the way.’
‘I wouldn’t dream otherwise, it’ll be just like the olden days,’ he grinned.
Claudia punched his arm, ‘I seem to remember you always taking me on dates and then paying me back on payday.’ She typed in the restaurant name into the search engine and clicked on the relevant link, ‘Yes, they still do the day membership.’ She gave him the number of the restaurant and started looking at the menu.
‘Are you drooling?’ Alec asked as he looked at her.
She quickly wiped her chin, ‘No, go on call them. The phone is over there.’ She pointed to the bureau desk in the corner. Alec noticed her surreptitiously wipe her chin again as he turned his head to look in the direction she indicated. He smiled as he stood up and went to the bureau. He dialled the restaurant and spoke to them in German. He hung up and replaced the phone in its cradle.
‘All sorted, made a booking for two in thirty minutes.’ He said.
‘I better get ready then,’ she looked at him, ‘you’ll do I suppose, luckily Berlin is hot on shabby smart.’
‘Why do you think I’ve lived here all this time? In London, I’d be lucky to get served in McDonalds.’
‘That’s for sure.’ She placed the laptop on the sofa next to her, closing the screen. She stood up and said, ‘I won’t be too long. Put on the television or something while you wait. The remote is next to the phone.’
Alec stood up and picked up the remote and sat back on the sofa. He shifted the laptop onto Claudia’s seat. He pressed the ‘on’ button and started flicking through the channels.
15
Alec saw his face on the television as he was flicking through. He went back to the channel to see what was being said.
‘… you see this man, please contact the Police immediately, do not approach he is considered to be dangerous,’ said the middle-aged news presenter on the ARD Tagesschau channel. She stood beside a grainy CCTV photo of Alec. Her aquamarine business jacket clashed with the blue studio backdrop. The presenter continued as the picture next to her changed to video footage of a film premiere at the Zoo Palast cinema. ‘The stars were out in force at the premiere of Star Wars…’ Alec tuned her out.
That’s not a very clear picture of me; the Police mustn’t have identified me yet. That’s a bonus. I’ll still have to be careful though, they may have clearer pictures they haven’t shared with the media yet. It’ll be twenty minutes or so before they repeat the headlines, I wonder if the other channels are running the story? He resumed his channel surfing, skipping past a number of phone-sex adverts. Doesn’t Claudia have satellite television? German television is awful. He managed to circumnavigate the roster of channels on the television and returned to ARD, now showing highlights of the previous night’s Bundesliga football games. Hertha were playing at home last night? I hope that affected the journey of the goons following those two girls. He laughed with a sense of schadenfreude as he pictured the waiter and the driver standing at a U-bahn station platform packed with the blue and white stripes of the Herta Berlin supporters.
‘What are you laughing about?’ Claudia asked as she came into the room, behind him.
‘Oh nothing,’ Alec said, ‘something amusing from last night just came to mind.’
‘I’m glad you can find humour in being chased across Berlin on a winter’s night by hired assassins and Russian Special Forces.’
Alec turned and looked at her, and his mouth dropped open. She was wearing a black sequined evening dress, low cut at the front and with a long slash in the skirt displaying one of Claudia’s perfectly toned and tanned legs.
‘That’s exactly the reaction I was hoping for,’ she said.
‘Claude, wow, I mean… wow.’
‘Come on we’ll be late for the booking.’
Alec stood up and walked over to her, unable to take his eyes off her. He said, ‘You look beautiful.’
‘Thanks, Casanova, go and get your jacket and shoes on. I’ll be at the door.’ She smacked him on the arm as he went past. ‘Hurry! I’m starving.’
Alec went into Chris’s room and put on his suit jacket and shoes. The shoes looked scuffed, and the polish was dulled
on them. He breathed on them and with the inside sleeve of his jacket buffed them up. That’s a little better. He put them on and did up the laces. He looked at the blue outer jacket on the chair and took his wallet from the pocket; he thought for a moment and decided to wear the outer jacket also. Better to have the gun and the phone with me than to regret it like I did last night. He left the room and went to the door where Claudia was tapping the jewel-encrusted watch on her wrist. She had put on a glittering black shawl to protect her from the cold.
‘Finally, he emerges. Is Your Highness ready? Are you wearing the ‘going-out’ tiara?’ She mocked.
‘Ha ha, come on then let’s go,’ he said, the laughter spoken rather than expelled.
Claudia opened the door for him and bowed deeply as he passed. His laughter this time was genuine. He left the flat and started down the stairs. He paused and turned to admire her figure as Claudia locked the door above him. She turned, caught him looking and smiled.
‘One foot after the other, Alec, it’s called walking. If we miss the booking I won’t make you anything.’
Alec started down the stairs, Claudia followed.
‘You could have got an apartment with a lift,’ Alec grumbled. ‘This is killing my blisters.’
‘Shut up. Just be thankful I’m not making you run down them.’
They reached the bottom; Alec opened the main door of the block and held it open for Claudia. ‘After you dear lady.’
‘Thank you, kind sir.’ She stepped out. Her head slowly turned from left to right, looking for Police cars, or suspicious people loitering in the area. When she was satisfied, she turned back to Alec and whispered, ‘it’s all clear.’
‘Why are you whispering?’ Alec whispered back as he exited the building.
‘I thought it was fitting, especially as you were skulking back in there.’
‘Skulking?’
‘Very shady behaviour. Like a criminal. I’m not sure I should associate with the likes of you, what would the ladies at the bridge club say?’ Her eyelids fluttered innocently at him.