'Hello? Who is this?'
The response seemed to be a recorded message. 'Priti Patel, for crimes against human decency, you will be punished.'
'I'm calling the police, whoever this is.'
The voice continues, even as Priti continues. 'We know what you really did with those people you supposedly sent to Rwanda. The world thinks you are a bully, but it's time you were bullied back. We will text you instructions throughout the day. Do not try and trace the numbers. They will be destroyed immediately. Do not tell anybody. If you comply, the very secret documents we have will remain secret and this will end today. If not, well...' Click. The message ended abruptly.
Still reeling from the initial shock of what she has just heard, Priti felt her phone buzz immediately upon the call ending. "A sneak preview of what we have," the text read. Attached was a screenshot of a computer folder that she recognised all too well. The recognition turned her veins to ice. It could have been fake, but the names of the documents in the folder were exactly the same as the ones she would never want getting out.
The phone buzzed in her hand again. A text from another unrecognised number. "Make sure you drink a LOT of coffee this morning. You're not going to like where this is going, but you will like it even less if we show everyone what those documents contain. Drink up."
Priti's hands were shaking. Famously, she wasn't the type to get easily rattled -- she rattled others, whether they were fellow politicians or desperate children fleeing warzones -- but this couldn't be a wind-up. It had to be real. Nobody had access to that folder but her. She had been hacked, and it had much more potential to ruin her career than anyone's taste in porn.