by Susan Lewis
Allbringer swallowed. ‘So what action are you proposing?’ he asked, feeling certain he already knew the answer.
‘Pre-emptive, of course,’ she responded. ‘It’s what we’re all about, so we shall instruct the Washington Post to run with their exclusive on Tom Chambers in the morning.’
It was exactly what Allbringer had expected, and the last thing he wanted to hear.
‘I’d like you to take charge of that,’ she told him, smiling at a colleague who was passing.
Allbringer’s shock stiffened his gait. She was going to trust him to trigger the case against Chambers, when he knew very well she suspected him of being behind the leaks? What was she expecting? Him to hang himself completely?
She started to speed up. ‘I’ve a meeting in ten minutes,’ she told him, ‘so I’ll leave that with you. If there’s anything you need, you know where to find me.’
As she walked on she was smiling blandly to herself, for she knew very well that it didn’t matter what the hell the Washington Post printed now, Tom Chambers was going to win this, because there was simply no way he couldn’t. The P2OG and its covert tactics were about to be royally exposed, careers and reputations would be left in ruins, and the neo-conservative chokehold on power would be blasted apart.
With a light spring in her step she trotted up to a side door of the building and pressed in a code to enter. The fact that she’d never met Tom Chambers appealed greatly to her sense of the sublime, though it was a pity, she was thinking, because in spite of their political differences she was certain they’d get along. Still, she had the great satisfaction of knowing she’d chosen well when she’d been approached by the Director of Intelligence, his British equivalent known only as M, and two prominent members of her own government to select a journalist to play this game with her, for Chambers had achieved everything she’d intended him to, and perhaps even more. Actually he’d surprised her a few times, and had impressed her a lot, but most of all he’d instilled in her a sense of how determined he, and reporters like him, were to expose the covert actions being taken by certain factions within their own governments in the name of profit, power and political gain.
So now all that remained was for her to disband the Special Operations Executive, rejoin Special Operations Command and set up a strategy for withdrawing the P2OG, while dealing with the blowback for their part in its existence. It was going to be a busy time, with more pressure on the US government than it could probably withstand, and not much opportunity to sit back and enjoy the neo-con disintegration. However, she’d be sure to make a space in her calendar for the transmission of Laurie Forbes’s programme that should set it all in motion. The tech guys in Q-Tel would send a live feed from London through to her office, or maybe the Director was going to want it piped into his. Whichever, it was going to make extremely interesting viewing for all the invisible architects of its basis, including Nancy Goodman, who, in time-honoured CIA tradition, was about to receive a large financial settlement in exchange for her services, and her silence.
It was almost impossible, Katie was finding, not to be swept along in all the excitement of the programme, for everything was really hotting up now, especially over there in Washington, where, Tom had informed them, several high-level resignations had already been offered and accepted – and that was merely in anticipation of what was about to hit. Just imagine what the reaction was going to be when it finally did. In many ways Katie wished she could be over there, for she’d get such a kick out of watching the spectacular downfall at close quarters. However, this wasn’t the kind of sensation that would fizzle out in a matter of days, or even weeks, it was going to take months for the full impact to be felt, and the ensuing hearings and commissions were likely to rumble on for years. So she’d have to content herself with the slightly lesser thrill of knowing she’d at least played a part in it all, which was enough. Despite all the excitement, she couldn’t deny a certain relief that between them Tom, Elliot and Laurie were organizing everything so that she wouldn’t have to deal with any of the immediate aftermath herself, for it was inevitably going to be huge.
It was always fascinating, she was thinking now, as she drove Michelle and Molly out of the village towards the main road, how perspectives changed with circumstance. What had seemed so vitally important to her a week ago, or even yesterday, wasn’t ringing all the same bells now. Not that world issues ever ceased to matter, heavens, she’d be the last person ever to say that, but a sense of achievement on a global scale wasn’t necessarily more satisfying than a little triumph on the personal front, even if it was only driving a car. Indeed, in their small world it meant a great deal for her to be at the wheel, since it was reassuring all three of them that she wasn’t about to go floating off to paradise yet, though she had to admit the prospect of a world with no pain or exhaustion, no failures or fear, no earthly torments at all, was definitely starting to have an appeal.
Catching Michelle’s eye in the rear-view mirror she winked, and pressed her foot down a little harder. Unlike Molly, Michelle was perfectly aware of where they were going, and though Katie knew she approved, it was also clear that she was finding it hard to cope with. Which was why Katie wanted to keep it all as upbeat as she could, because the last thing she wanted was for this to turn into a morbid memory for Molly, when it was supposed to be quite the reverse.
‘So you two have finally finished whispering, have you?’ she said, glancing in the mirror again. ‘I feel like a chauffeur who can’t keep secrets up in front here.’
‘Yeah, but we’ve got a lot to talk about,’ Molly told her, ‘because it’s only two weeks to your birthday and there’s still a lot to organize – and don’t start going off trying to guess what we’re doing again, because you just show yourself up saying really dumb things.’
Katie chuckled.
‘Did you speak to Tom last night?’ Michelle asked Molly.
‘Yeah, and he’s totally cool about, you know, but it was his idea so he’d be a bit weird if he wasn’t.’
Michelle had to laugh, while loving Tom for being so attentive to Molly and her plans when he had so much else going on. ‘Laurie’s sending down a rough cut of the programme at the weekend, did she tell you?’ she asked Katie.
‘I can hardly wait. Are we allowed to give notes?’
‘You can always try,’ Michelle laughed.
Inside her waxen skin Katie was twinkling. ‘As Tom’s getting a copy too, I guess we’ll leave the editorial input to him,’ she said. ‘When’s Elliot coming back, do you know?’
‘I’m told in time for transmission, so Laurie’s not left on her own in London dealing with the fallout here.’
Katie frowned. ‘So it’ll be just us three watching it in Membury Hempton?’ she said. ‘Seems a bit damp-squibbish. Maybe we should whoop it up and invite Judy and Dave round?’
‘Oh yeah, like really, out there,’ Molly declared.
‘Rusty can come too,’ Katie offered.
‘Very funny. Anyway, where are we going, because we’re like, heading in the direction of nowhere.’
‘I think we’re like, here,’ Katie said, indicating to pull into a layby.
Molly looked around. ‘I know you’re not serious,’ she said, ‘because I mean, like, there’s nothing here.’
‘Yes there is,’ Katie assured her. ‘Can’t you see the trees? Come on, get out, I’ve got something to show you.’
‘You go on ahead,’ Michelle said. ‘I’ll catch you up.’
As she watched them trudge into the little woodland, she remained in the back of the car, trying not to see the starkly naked branches against the backdrop of a colourless sky, for their symbolism was simply too harsh an indicator of what she already knew they were about to face. The time was drawing close for Katie to leave now, and though she was trying hard to keep cheerful and strong, Michelle understood very well that bringing Molly here today was probably one of the last trips out she would make.
Inside the barren
little copse the air was perfectly still. The ground was covered in sodden leaves, the brush netted in silvery cobwebs. Branches dripped randomly into the gloom. As Katie looked around at the skeletal trees whose limbs twisted sharply, yet somehow comfortingly around each other, she wondered if, without its glorious summer or autumn foliage, she’d recognize her own. However, once she saw it there was no doubt in her mind, for though it was as naked and enmeshed as the others, to her it appeared as a gleaming white beacon on the darkest night.
‘Do you see it?’ she said to Molly.
Molly screwed up her nose. ‘What?’ she asked.
Katie smiled, and linking her arm tighter took her right up to the tree. ‘It’s a hornbeam,’ she told her. ‘It has all kinds of healing qualities that I’ll tell you about later, but it’s a very special kind of tree, and this one here is ours, because we pay two pounds fifty every month to keep it alive.’
Molly’s green eyes moved up over the bark to the spiky grey limbs above.
‘I could have asked Michelle to do this,’ Katie said softly after a while, ‘but it’s you I need to tell really, because you’re growing up now, and because you’re my daughter, and because no-one else in the world matters more to me than you.’ She swallowed and forced a smile. ‘When the time comes, Molly, I’d like you to bring my ashes here.’
Molly’s eyes immediately came to hers and flooded with tears. ‘No, Mum, no,’ she gasped.
Katie smiled again, and pulled her into her arms.
‘I don’t want you to go, Mum,’ Molly said, clinging to her.
‘I know,’ Katie whispered, ‘but I’ll never really leave you, my love, not completely. We’ll always be a part of each other, and nothing’s ever going to change that, but we both have to face the fact that it’s coming time for me to let you go on with your life now, which is why I’ve brought you here. I’d like this to be our special place, Molly, somewhere just for us, where you can come if you need to talk to me, or simply to feel me close. I’ll always be with you anyway, but sometimes life gets all fraught and crowded, and you might need to feel a bit more private. This hornbeam will let you do that. You just have to put your hands on it, or your cheek, and … Come on, try … You’ll see what I mean.’
From where she was standing Michelle could see them beside the tree, arms around each other, cheeks resting on the bark, and she doubted anything would ever touch her more deeply. She remained where she was, watching as they talked and even laughed once or twice, and when finally she sensed the time was right she began walking across the clearing to join them.
‘Come and listen to Molly’s poem,’ Katie said, as she reached them.
Michelle turned to Molly and was surprised by the humour shining through her teary eyes.
‘We came here, my mum and I,’ Molly began, ‘and through the trees we could see the sky, she said to me this will be our very special place, and I said, couldn’t you pick somewhere a bit warmer?’
Michelle laughed and then cried and held them both tight. ‘That’s the worst poem I ever heard,’ she declared.
‘She has a gift,’ Katie said proudly.
As their laughter eventually faded they placed their cheeks on the bark again and held onto each other. Katie wasn’t sure if they were feeling the same stirring of energy that she was, but all that really mattered was that they’d claimed this big old hornbeam as theirs now. Any time they felt like it they could come here and know that somehow, in its own special way, it would link them. She smiled privately to herself, for, just as she’d hoped, this one last fix on the tree was giving her the strength to stay long enough to let Molly make one last dream come true.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
IT WAS FOUR o’clock on the day of transmission. After working flat out for a full three weeks, with virtually no time to eat, sleep, or even think about anything else, Laurie finally delivered the edited master tape to the transmission centre in person, then called Elliot to let him know she was on her way home. By the time the taxi reached Butler’s Wharf the driver had to come and prod her awake, before helping to pick up everything that had spilled from her bag at a sudden stop.
Elliot was waiting with a drink, food and the strong arms she needed to carry her up to bed, where he left her until an hour before the programme was due to air, by which time several friends and colleagues were already starting to arrive.
Laurie showered quickly, threw on a pair of black trousers and white lacy top, called Michelle and Katie from the bedside phone, then feeling strangely remote from the building excitement, as though it were happening on some other kind of plain that she ought to be on, but couldn’t quite get to, she tripped downstairs to mingle with their guests. There were many more than she’d expected, so it took a while to work her way over to Elliot who was in the kitchen making cocktails.
‘Still tired?’ he murmured, as she slipped her arms around him and rested her cheek on his back.
‘Mm,’ she responded, loving the smell of him and tightening her arms. ‘But you did right to wake me, I don’t want to miss the show, even though I know how it ends. Katie and Michelle are having a little party too, they just told me. It’s a shame Tom’s not with us. Have you spoken to him?’
Turning to kiss her, he said, ‘Yep. He’s got a live transmission feed set up at the St Regis in Washington with a stellar guest list, apparently, ranging from three actual secretaries of state, to senators and congressmen from both sides of the House, to editors, broadcasters, political commentators … Frankly, if you haven’t made that list, you just haven’t made it.’
Laurie chuckled. ‘Then let’s hope he found good caterers,’ she quipped, ‘because there’s a lot to digest.’
Smiling and kissing her again, he shook the cocktail and began filling the glasses.
Wishing they were alone so she could kiss him the way she really wanted to, she settled for a drink and was about to start mingling again when Elliot said, ‘Nick’s here, have you seen him?’
Her heart immediately jumped, but her expression remained neutral as she looked across the bar.
‘Over by the window,’ he directed her, while handing a couple of glasses to the closest guests.
Finally spotting him, Laurie felt her insides tightening, and wondered how difficult she was going to find it to come face to face with him with all these people around, many of whom knew they’d been involved, even if they didn’t have all the details. She had to admire Elliot for inviting him, though he’d been right to, not only because Nick had played an integral part in the story, but because they moved in the same world, so needed to get used to running into each other.
‘Do you recognize the woman he’s with?’ Elliot asked, slipping an arm round her.
‘I feel as though I should,’ she responded, looking curiously at the strikingly attractive blonde who seemed, even without the silicone and collagen enhancements, to be oozing a similarly brazen appeal as spilled from Andraya. ‘Who is she?’
‘Her name’s Sandy Paull. Theatrical agent?’
‘Oh yes, I recognize her now,’ Laurie murmured. ‘Did they come together?’
‘Yes. Apparently she’s an old friend of Tom and Michelle’s.’
‘Really?’ Laurie commented, making a mental note to ask Michelle about her, but then on second thoughts, maybe she wouldn’t, because she really wasn’t that interested in Sandy Paull, in spite of Nick’s apparent fascination with her. In fact, she just felt happy for him that he’d met someone else already, and more certain than ever that she was exactly where she wanted to be.
When finally it came time for the programme to start, she sat down on the floor in front of Elliot, with a third Cosmopolitan and slightly blurred vision that allowed her to see only the flaws that lack of time had made inevitable. However, the message seemed to come across loud and clear that the US power merchants were out of control, for everyone gave her a rousing ovation when the final credits rolled, and almost instantly the phone started to ring.
&nbs
p; The next few hours were crazy, just as they’d known they would be, as were the next days, right through to the weekend and into the following week. They’d already worked out how to handle it, with Laurie taking on the endless round of TV interviews, while Elliot handled radio and print, for he preferred to keep a much lower profile. Nick, Rose and several other members of the team did their share of live links, panel discussions and phone-ins too, as did Michelle, though in her case it was all by phone.
They spoke to Tom daily in Washington, whose schedule was even crazier than theirs. Immediately after the airing of the programme in Britain, two American papers had run his and Elliot’s full accounts of the story, complete with copies of the documents that had set it all in motion. However, nothing, but nothing, was going to prevent Tom from jetting over at the weekend to take part in Katie’s grand birthday surprise. His ticket was booked, the schedule had been kept clear, so, right on time, he flew into Heathrow early on Friday afternoon where Laurie was waiting to pick him up and drive him down to Wiltshire.
‘Elliot’s already there,’ she told him, as they drove out of the car park heading towards the M4. ‘He’s checked you into the same hotel as us, where you stayed with Michelle, she tells me.’
‘I know and love it,’ he confirmed. ‘So how are all my girls?’
‘Under the firm command of Molly, I believe, who’s absolutely thrilled to bits that she’s got all us adults dancing to her tune, which is Michelle’s way of putting it. Katie’s is to say that Molly’s sprouting a tufty little black moustache that she’d better wax off before the big event, because it’s not very becoming.’
Grinning, Tom said, ‘I take it Katie still doesn’t know what it’s all about?’
‘At the moment she thinks Molly’s got her a glittery little thong and a shiny pole to gyrate around.’