I had only just finished the department meeting when Jen phoned. Jen had been recruited straight out of Oxford university, in her mid 20s, slim and red-haired. She was bright, focused and had the makings of a capable operative. Currently attached to Harry's office on a promise that it was guaranteed fast track promotion. Jen was seriously pissed at being used as secretary and gopher for Harry and James and not yet trusted in the field.
There was only one reason for her phoning and after a couple of minutes social chat I asked, "What time am I meeting Harry, James or both?"
"Oh, so you were expecting the call? Now."
"Now?"
"Yeah, get on your bike and get your arse in here. Bye."
Jen hung up. The apartment was within walking distance to head office if you did not mind the exercise. Jen knew this fine, the 'on your bike' was just a turn of phrase. There were times when I really liked to be in the mountains with as few people around me as possible. Yet, I also liked walking through the crowded streets of London, with all the activity around and the noise from trains and busses and people. Today I tried hard to enjoy the experience yet the urgent summons seemed a little odd, even for a level 1 case assignment. I thought Jen was quieter than her usual self on the phone. What if they'd found out about Marie and me?
After entering headquarters and passing though security and placing my phone in one of the special lockers, I went to the Command floor. This was in point of fact a small area of a floor based in the lower centre of the building well away from bombs, microwaves and other eavesdropping techniques. I saw Jen, who told me to go straight to H's office.
I knocked and entered. I paused briefly mid-stride after seeing Marie sat there with James and Harry. I was only surprised there weren't two gents with Heckler & Kochs, cocked and pointing at me. Shit, shit, shit! Give nothing away. Admit nothing. Don't send me to some secret prison, please! It kinda happened. We didn't mean no harm, honest, were some of the thoughts racing though my head
Harriet's gaze bore into me. "Rab, I believe you know Marie? There is an operation that requires two operatives working together, and I thought of you two - or do you have a problem with that?"
Harry switched her gaze back and forth between Marie and myself.
"No". I said quickly. "No problem at all," Marie added.
Harry still staring hard said, "Rab, your body language spoke otherwise when you saw Marie here. If you two have 'issues' I need to know this now. What I have in mind requires you both to work together - intimately. I can't have this fucked up because you two had some falling out or bruised egos."
I cut in, "I heard Marie had been stabbed and that it was pretty serious, I did not know she was back."
Marie then assured me that it was a minor scratch - which I knew not to be the case. She was 3 days in hospital and nearly 2 months until full recovery after. However, Marie, not missing a beat, was saying what someone was expected to say to a relative stranger asking about an injury.
Harry was not totally convinced, "I say again, if you have a problem working together I can find other operatives. Don't say anything now and mess this up and you both have a major problem with me. I cannot be clearer."
"We're cool, really, truly," Marie responded. I nodded.
"If you're certain, I will continue the briefing." Harry responded. During the interaction James had sat and observed. He was by nature a man of few words, but no fool.
The briefing started with detail on target number one : Bethany Greenaway nรฉe Szabรณ, 31 and currently living in Greenwich. Her parents were Hungarian. Her father had been a professor of physics at Oxford before retiring and her mother a chemist. They had held research positions in Hungary during the '80s and then fallen foul of the Communist regime, perhaps because they also had been part of a group working for a democratic revolution. Luckily they were successfully smuggled out to Britain. Bethany had been born after their move to England. Her parents had chosen to live a quiet life in Oxford but not so her daughter. Beth was smart, educated, and liked thrills. Her original reason for moving to London was art school and she continued to produce some sculpture and paintings. She married Alistair Greenaway, second son of Lord Greenaway when she was 22. Alistair is bisexual, a swinger and into mild BDSM. Beth was a fast learner and the marriage broadened Beth's sexual knowledge and experience greatly. They had many lovers, together and separately. Beth soon was moving in all the high circles and they had a large apartment in Chelsea Harbour. Alistair is unkindly described as imaginative in bed but boring when out of it. He was the hunting - shooting - fishing type always going off to the family estates in Yorkshire or Scotland to kill some living thing. The two parted, apparently amicably, after less than 2 years married. She had apparently accepted a modest divorce settlement. Whether this was a pre-nup, an artist's disdain for money or that she wanted to keep moving in certain circles and did not want to be thought of as a 'gold digger' is unknown. Beth moved to a somewhat smaller and older apartment, but still in Chelsea, unfortunately with no harbour view. Beth is a known user of cannabis and cocaine, but is not thought a heavy user of any drugs.
The briefing continued with photographs passed around of a tall girl, thick blonde shoulder length hair, quite striking high boned facial features, broad shouldered, big tits, looked fit. Not the most objectionable target to get familiar with by any means I thought. There were many photos of Beth in different situations. In some she was dressed up as if for Covent Garden opera, and the opposite extreme were photos of her working on a sculpture. For the opera Beth had full makeup, hair up, lots of expensive jewellery and a red tight long dress with matching red elbow length gloves. In some she was standing next to an older man, grey hair and who looked familiar but I could not recall his name. In contrast the sculpting photo had her in dusty denim overalls cut off at the knee with only a t shirt visible beneath. She was wiping dust from her face and this photo looked by far the most sexy. There again, I always had a weakness for big sweaty women!
I refocused on the briefing. Harry was speaking.
"The first thing that caused her to register on our radar was a lot of encrypted chat between her and others - and I'm not talking about iMessage and Whats Ap. The second is that her friendship circles have graduated and now include a number of ministers and other senior politicians.
I'm sure from the photos you can imagine why politicians might be interested in knowing her better. One of those friends is our other target of interest."
Harriet paused and took a breath, "The other is Sir William Silversmith. My new boss."
So, the plot thickens! That's why the personal briefing.