by Glenn Carter
‘Yes.’
Suddenly Sharav understood. His eyes grew wide. ‘Surely not now! You said it wouldn’t come to this!’
‘I was wrong,’ Conor said, with a slight tremor in his voice.
‘No. This isn’t happening.’
The man was looking confused as they conversed but was still recovering from the kick.
‘Dis is happening,’ said Conor. ‘And it is my job. Him or me. Remember?’
Sharav looked down and took a deep breath. Conor’s back was now touching the railing. Sharav looked up and shouted at the man, ‘Hey you!’ The man looked around, shifting his aim to Sharav. Conor quickly grabbed him from behind, pinning his hands down so the gun pointed towards the deck and then Conor shouted, ‘NOW!’
Sharav rushed forward and shoulder charged them hard into the railings. The momentum knocked Conor and the man over the railings of the ship. As they fell towards the sea two shots rang out. Paul shouted Conor’s name as he watched them land in the sea and disappear under the water.
15
Headquarters
Rob and Natalie approached the group who were sitting quietly in one of the ship’s lounges. It was 9am and the Oscar Wilde was docked in Plymouth. Rob gently put his hand on Paul’s shoulder and asked, ‘So how is everyone today?’ Paul looked up and smiled at hearing a familiar Scottish accent. No-one spoke. ‘It’s been a tough night I hear,’ continued Rob. Again silence.
It had been a tough night. The alarm had been raised at 2.15am. The ship turned starboard 180 degrees and its engines were turned off. The staff on board lowered the rescue vessels and a request went out to all ships within 30 nautical miles to support the search and rescue. The RNLI had also been informed. Man overboard. No one was found. Eventually the captain made the decision to continue on their way as planned. The unknown attacker had not been on the ship’s passenger list, so there were many questions about exactly what had happened.
Rachel was the first to speak. ‘The Captain said we had to wait here to speak to the police.’
Rob smiled reassuringly, ‘It’s okay, I’ve sorted that. The police are happy to release you into our care. Come on, get your bags, and we’ll get you off this ship. Have you had anything to eat?’
Darragh looked at his bag of M&Ms.
‘Is that all you’ve eaten?’ Natalie asked. ‘We have food in the car.’ Since they had heard that Conor was missing, Darragh had become totally withdrawn. He had simply sat on the floor and kept his head down. His face was covered by his black cap and his knees were drawn towards his chest.
Rob looked at him. ‘Darragh are you happy to go back on the next sailing? I think they might let you drive the Mini on the other side.’ This piece of information had no impact. Darragh simply nodded his head and stayed where he was. Rob patted him on the shoulder. ‘Okay, well take care. Good to see you and thanks for looking after this lot.’
Paul crouched down beside Darragh, ‘Thanks for all your help Darragh, you’ve been amazing. Hopefully we’ll see you again some time.’
Natalie and Rob led the remaining group members off the ship to where three Land Rovers were waiting. ‘You can have one each!’ Rob joked. No one laughed. ‘No, not really. Listen the plan is for you all to go in the middle one.’ There were two agents in each car. Rob opened the rear door of the middle car and let them in.
Natalie jumped in the driver’s seat and drove off after the leading car. ‘It normally takes four hours to get from Plymouth to London,’ she said. ‘We’ll get there in three.’
True to Natalie’s word, they were in London three hours later.
‘Just a few more minutes and we’ll be there,’ Rob said. ‘Sorry I can’t promise to show you the best sites in London. In fact, MI2 is based in Hackney. It’s the second most deprived area in England. However, on the plus side there are loads of young people and it is really up and coming. We like it in Hackney because no one expects that a security service would be based here, and everyone just leaves us to get on with it. No questions from the locals. But just to be safe we will be swapping cars before getting to HQ.’
The three Land Rovers swept into a secure car park on the outskirts of Hackney and the group got into an old rusty Volvo and a beaten-up Nissan. Soon Rob was pointing out a large, odd looking, orange and cream building. ‘There’s good old HQ. It used to be a cinema’. On ground level there was a hairdresser, tattoo parlour and snooker club. Rob continued, ‘So apparently a hundred years ago there were about seventeen cinemas in Hackney. This one in particular could hold up to 3000 punters! Amazing really. Anyway, I know it doesn’t look great from the outside but inside is a different story.’ They parked on a side street and walked up to what looked like the old exit from the cinema. When they got into the hall there was a camera pointing down at them. They heard a buzz and the black door opened. They were welcomed by William, the man who had recruited them. ‘Welcome to MI2, it’s great to see you all in one piece. Now would you like a bit of time to rest or would you like me to show you around?’
Rachel piped up, ‘I could really do with a lie down if that’s okay?’ Paul and Sharav nodded their agreement.
‘Totally understand,’ smiled William. ‘In that case let me take you back out of the building to the sleeping quarters.’ William walked them to a separate building where Paul and Sharav were shown to a spacious, basic room with two sets of bunk beds. Rachel had a room with two single beds. Within ten minutes of being shown their rooms all three were fast asleep. It was 3pm.
Paul woke up with a start. He looked at his watch and saw that it was 9am. ‘Ugh, that can’t be right. I just went to sleep for a nap. Hugo have I been asleep for long?’
‘Good morning Paul,’ his watch replied. ‘Yes, you have been asleep for eighteen hours in total. Oh, and happy new year. Today is the 1st of January.’
‘Oh, I missed Hogmanay.’ Paul said, rubbing his eyes.
A feeling of dread filled his stomach as he remembered what had happened on the ship. He lay there for 10 minutes before deciding to waken Sharav, who was snoring quietly.
Soon both boys were dressed and Sharav said, ‘I’m starving!’
Something suddenly occurred to Paul. ‘Hey Sharav, remember on the boat, just before Conor went overboard?’
‘Yea.’
‘Well Conor said something. He said, ‘Protect the package… something about me or him.’
‘Yeah I do.’
‘What did he mean? It was an odd thing to say.’
‘Hmm not sure… Shouldn’t we get something to eat first?’ He looked hopefully at Paul. Paul held his gaze and Sharav slowly sat back on his bed.
‘I’m pretty sure that I’m not supposed to tell you,’ said Sharav looking down at the floor.
‘Listen Sharav. Conor is missing, presumed dead and my Dad has been kidnapped. I think it’s okay to talk about what happened.’
‘I suppose you’re right. I don’t really know all the details, but Conor had a talk with me at the safe house.’
Paul thought back to the safe house, ‘Oh yeah I saw you both outside in the garden having what looked like an intense conversation.’
‘Yeah, em, we thought you were asleep. Conor said he needed to have a chat. He said he couldn’t explain everything but that I would need to trust him. He told me that his mission was to “protect the package” and that you and Rachel were the package.’
Sharav looked up at Paul and continued, ‘He said that he would have to protect the package no matter what and that it was a matter of national security that he did so. He had been instructed not to tell you because it might compromise the mission and would raise your anxiety. Anyway, he asked me whether I would be willing to help protect you both. I said of course and agreed not to say anything about it. Conor told me that if he needed my help, he would use the phrase ‘protect the package’. When he said those words on the boat, I couldn’t actually believe it was happening, but I soon realised that the only option was to charge into the man with
the gun. I was hoping that Conor wouldn’t get hurt.’ At this point Sharav’s voice cracked and he was silent.
Paul’s mind raced trying to join the dots. ‘Are you sure he said that we were the package?’ Sharav nodded.
Paul remembered his conversation with his father, and it began to dawn on him. ‘These people who have Dad want to get Rachel or me as well. Why is that? Anyway, this is all ridiculous. I need answers. We need to find out who Sabre is so we can save my Dad. Come on. Let’s go and find someone.’
16
The Tour
Soon after, the boys arrived at the canteen. They spotted Rachel sitting beside someone having breakfast.
‘Hi,’ said Rachel as they approached her.
‘Good morning,’ said a cheery male voice. Paul and Sharav turned and recognised Rob who was smiling up at them. ‘Happy New Year by the way.’
Sharav looked confused. ‘Is it the 1st of January?’
Rob laughed. ‘Yep, time flies when you are having fun.’
All three of them glowered at Rob who looked sheepish and said, ‘sorry.’
Paul, who was still standing said, ‘Rachel, we need to find some answers.’ He turned to Rob, ‘Who can I speak to about everything that is going on?’
‘Whoa there cowboy,’ smiled Rob. ‘You’ll get some answers soon enough. Listen you’ve been asleep for a long time. I suggest you have some breakfast. William has asked me to show you around the premises. You’ll meet the big boss at lunch time. He has asked to speak to you directly.’
‘You mean William?’ asked Rachel.
Rob smiled, ‘No the biggest boss.’
Paul was just about to complain, but his stomach let out a huge rumble. This broke the tension, and everyone laughed. ‘Your stomach agrees with me,’ laughed Rob. ‘Have a seat’.
After breakfast Rob led them back to the main door of MI2. He showed them around with his usual good-natured manner. The ground floor looked like a typical office. There was a reception desk near the front with a receptionist called Ralph, who welcomed them warmly. Behind Ralph, there were sixteen desks arranged in groups of four. Each desk was occupied by a well-dressed young adult working on a sleek white computer.
‘So, this is where we can bring visitors,’ Rob said. ‘There is a meeting room in the corner and these desks are fully manned 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. The majority of the people here are intelligence and data analysts.
Rob led them up a sweeping staircase to the next level. He turned to the group, ‘this building is a bit of an experiment. They have spent a lot of money designing and kitting out the interior on the hypothesis that it will improve people’s productivity and ultimately keep the UK safer. I hope you are ready for this.’ Rob turned and stooped down to allow the panel to scan his eye.
‘This is the green level,’ Rob said as he stood aside and opened the door. Immediately they were hit with a wall of heat and humidity. The walls were covered with ivy and moss and there were plants of all shapes and sizes, including bonsai trees that were placed on the natural wooden desks. All the workers were wearing t-shirts and shorts. The floor appeared to be made out of real tree bark. Most surprisingly, there was a shallow river that flowed from one end of the office around a large tree trunk and disappeared at the far wall. Sharav ducked to avoid a small yellow bird that flew past him. It was busily building a nest above the door.
‘They are golden weavers,’ said Rob. ‘They are great to watch this time of year!’
‘This place is beautiful,’ Rachel said.
‘Yep,’ said Rob as he led them to the middle of the floor. The river was narrow enough for them to jump over with a small-run up. ‘The employees can decide which level they would like to work on,’ continued Rob. ‘If they prefer this environment they can spend most of their time here. On this floor we have a range of staff such as mobile surveillance officers, language specialists, intelligence officers and more specialist roles such as protective security and explosive specialists. Just to name a few. You will be matched to a role when you complete your training. Mr A prefers us to mix as much as possible. He says it’s healthier and makes for a better security service.’
‘Mr A?’ queried Paul.
‘Ah yeah, he’s the main man. Mr A or ‘A’ for short. He’s the Director General of MI5 and MI2 and will be talking to you later. Let’s go up a level.’
Soon they found themselves in the cool, quiet environment of the blue level. Sharav was the first to speak, ‘Oh wow, this is amazing!’ The blue level was spacious, had individual desks, blue lighting and people appeared to be moving slower than on the green level.
‘You’ll notice how quiet this level is.’ Rob whispered. ‘It was designed to be a peaceful space, where people can take time to think. The architects cleverly designed it so the sound is dampened. You can get a sense of how relaxing it is.’ He pointed out a series of hammocks where people were lying or sitting with laptops and there were also some work pods that looked like huge minimalist pineapples.
In place of the tree trunk on the blue level was a very large grey office with no windows. Rob told them, ‘that is A’s office space, but we will come back to that later.’
Up on the red floor Paul felt right at home. It was a hive of activity and everyone seemed to be smiling. There were paper lanterns hanging from the ceiling, hundreds of balloons and colourful toys sitting on desks. A small, square robot sped past them. They watched in wonder as the robot delivered a can of coke to a handsome worker on the far side. In each corner there were novelty offices made out of transport vehicles. Paul’s favourite was an office made out of an aeroplane’s cockpit. But there was also the front of a London bus, a black cab and an old steam locomotive. Rob brought them over to a games area where a number of game stations were set up.
‘Look, this is cool!’ beamed Rob. ‘Mr A allows video games but they have to be pre-2000 consoles. So in this area you’ll find a Commodore 64, Atari Jaguar, Nintendo 64, a PlayStation and a Sega Saturn. All produced well before you were born. The games are surprisingly addictive.’ Paul’s eyes lit up as he ran his hands over the antique consoles. ‘Can’t wait to play these boys!’ Paul said.
‘Okay’, said Rob. ‘Final level is the yellow level. Let’s go up.’
Rob led them to the upper level that was on the roof. They shielded their eyes against the sunlight. To their amazement they saw a large group of staff enjoying themselves in a range of activities. Nearest them was an outdoor swimming pool. They looked over the edge and got a surprise when they saw several staff members swimming with three sharks and dozens of tropical fish.
‘Don’t worry, they aren’t actually swimming with sharks. There is a glass bottom to the pool. The sharks and the fish are housed in a tank below the swimming pool. Cool feature though isn’t it?’
Emerging from the centre of the roof, like a graceful hand, was the oak tree.
‘How did they do that?’ Rachel asked.
‘I have no idea, but the tree grows up through the centre of the building and comes out here,’ explained Rob. ‘Look, there are table tennis tables on each side of the tree. There is also a running track around the edge and of course a pro skateboarding half pipe on the far side. As they reached the half pipe Rob pointed out a death slide in the corner that could be used to reach the ground floor in a couple of seconds. ‘Much quicker than a lift!’
‘I’ve skateboarded before,’ smiled Paul. ‘Could I have a go?’
‘Sure,’ said Rob.
‘I don’t know Paul, it looks pretty advanced if you ask me,’ said Sharav nervously.
‘I’ll be fine!’
Soon Paul had a helmet and pads on and was managing to skate slowly in the middle of the pipe. He shouted to the onlookers that he was going to try a 360 but would need a bit more speed. He made his way up to the edge.
‘This is a terrible idea,’ shouted Rachel, but Paul waved away her concerns. He dropped off the far edge of the ramp and the group gasped at how fast he was
going. Paul’s smile turned to terror. He hit the far edge of the ramp and caught some serious air. He left the ramp far behind. The spectators shouted ‘noooooo!’, as they saw Paul reaching 30 feet in the air. Paul’s heart leapt into his mouth as he could now see right over the edge of the building. Then he was falling. Falling down away from the ramp and Rob shouted, ‘death slide!’ Sure enough, Paul fell towards the death slide and disappeared into it. Sharav, Rachel and Rob ran to the edge of the slide and looked in. Silence.
17
The Moonstone
Rob spoke into his watch, ‘Get me reception.’
‘Calling.’
Ralph, the ground floor receptionist picked up. ‘Hello Rob, how can I assist you?’
‘Eh, did a young man just come down he death slide and crash into the landing pit?’
‘Yes Rob.’
‘Tell me he’s alive.’
‘Yes Rob. He is alive. We are just checking him now. He appears to be unconscious, but he is breathing’.
Thirty minutes later they were all in the canteen again and Paul was leaning over a hot cup of tea. Rachel sat beside him with her arm around him. Rob had managed not to make any inappropriate jokes about Paul nearly dying on the skateboard and instead and was being uncharacteristically sensitive.
Sharav used the opportunity to ask Rob more about the training. Rob enthusiastically enlightened them. ‘Your training will occur over two to three years. Phase one will take place during the month of January and is when most trainees drop out. You will then return to school until Easter when you will return to HQ for further training. The most intensive training will take place during the summer holidays and will last approximately two months. You will eventually get the chance to shadow agents engaged in real operations. The fun stuff!’ Rob beamed. He looked at his watch, ‘Okay it’s almost 12:15. Time to go and meet A.’
Soon they were on the blue level and were walking towards the large grey cube in the middle of the room. Paul was looking forward to getting some answers. As they approached the cube Rob pushed a section of the wall to reveal a door. He looked around at Rachel and Sharav. ‘Listen you two, Mr A will speak to you soon, but he wants to talk to you one at a time. Paul will go first. Is that okay?’