"You do not need to know. Get the records ready, have the cadavers made ready for transport as well. I know the police are in charge there, we will sort things out with them. Now I have to talk with the husband, if you would excuse us."
The doctor left, somewhat upset at the summary dismissal. The man turned to Terry.
"Let me introduce myself again, Mr Durr. I am Stan Best, I represent Military Counterintelligence. We were monitoring the project your wife was consulting on. The police noticed our contacts on the deceased's phone and alerted us. I am going to have her moved to the best possible facility to try to save her life, and to find out what happened, but I have no doubt that this is an enemy attempt. They found something and were silenced. Every possible agency is looking for clues, but these are professionals. They made one mistake, and that was not an important one. I am going to need your help."
Terry felt something rise in him and clenched his fists. "You will find out who did this and I will..."
Bill took his arm, but Stan spoke. "I quite understand, and I agree. We need to find the person or persons responsible. We will only have success if we stay calm, if we work together, and if we do not make rash decisions."
"I have to be with her."
"My feeling is that you are right. If the doctors allow and are sure there is no risk of contagion I would prefer that. I am not sure what evacuation process is underway but if there is space on the helicopter you go with. Is your family safe for the moment? We will have to secure them too."
***
Agent Best knocked and came in. Sammy greeted him. "Hallo Mr Best, this is a funny place. Did you know there are men with guns out there? Real guns too. And they have funny clothes."
He nodded. "I know, sweetie, they are there to protect you, because bad people tried to hurt your mother, and we don't want them to hurt you. Is your daddy awake?"
She shook her head. "I'm not sweetie, my little sister is Sweetie. She is sleeping with him, but my little brother is in the other room. His name is Danny. Do you like ice cream? Aunty Sunitra brought a whole tub."
He shook his head, and she asked: "Could you get me a scoop then, please?"
He sat chatting with her until Terry appeared, bleary-eyed, dressed in a robe.
Sammy jumped up. "Dad, you can't dress like that when we have people. Get some clothes on!"
Terry gave a wan smile. "You are hen-pecking me, my love. Come and give me a hug, I am sure Stan won't mind me dressed like this."
Stan laid out the story as they knew it. "The group of companies that engaged your wife and her partner has, as you know, many subsidiaries in various parts of the defence industry. We have been suspecting leaks, loss of sensitive information, technology, that sort of thing, but we could never prove anything. However, the group started losing money and the Board called in consultants to try to identify the problem. We know they had a bit of a conflict with the CEO, Sondra Whales, but that is normal.
"We know a report was prepared, and we understand that John and Elizabeth would have submitted a draft to the CEO on the day of the... incident. The plan was to present the report formally to the board. The CEO claims they only discussed rough outlines, the formal presentation was to be made next week. She also claims that the problems identified were problems she had already identified, such as lack of capitalisation in certain areas, the need for more freedom to select researchers, the constraints caused by red tape around security issues.
"They left her office at 15h00 and went to a bistro to have coffee. What we know is that the waiter heard someone cry, saw that John had collapsed, and called the police. By the time he came out again all three of them were on the ground. The police and an ambulance were on the scene in seven minutes. Now, the waiter could not remember if they were alone. In his first verbal report to the police he thought they came there with another gentleman, but then when he was formally interviewed he stated that he could not remember, and that they only ordered three cups of coffee. The cups, by the way, were hardly touched, were removed for analysis, and nothing suspicious was found.
"Somewhere between the cry and the police arriving their phones, the secretary's tablet, which the waiter had seen her use, and the briefcase they had with them had vanished. Except for John's phone which was in an inside pocket, And, what is more, their office was entered, we think documents were removed, the company computer system was hacked and we are sure files were deleted. There is no report of their investigation, absolutely nothing. Of course there are lots of files on the system, almost all encrypted. It is possible to crash them with enough computing power, but that costs and I am not able to show cause although I believe there is something there."
Terry shook his head. "Who... what..."
Stan sat forward. "Mr Durr, in my business we rely very much on facts. But in the absence of facts we have to trust our instincts. I smell a rat, a big one. I sense that the consultants found something big and were eliminated and evidence removed. This is not a criminal gang, this has all the hallmarks of an intelligence operation. There is nothing to go on, we will need your wife to tell us where the bodies are buried."
Terry sighed and his head drooped. "I don't know if she will ever be able to help. She just lies there. As if she has left, and just the body remains."
Stan nodded. "That is what the doctors fear. The ECG does seem to show a trace of reaction when she is spoken to or touched. You need to help her, Terry, we need her."
***
