told you the CIAâs got al Aswamy in a box. He canât make a move we donât know about it.â
âDonât you think you should give Langley the heads-up about this?â suggested the woman, behind her desk now.
âThis isnât three hours old yet,â protested Irvine.
âWe know from the phone call after the Anacostia ambush that thereâs an operation going down somewhere. And weâve intercepted an encrypted message, as yet unbroken, from an electronic address of the Iranian intelligence service from which al Aswamy takes his orders,â argued Singleton. âThatâs enough for Langley to move.â
âWeâve got time!â insisted Irvine.
âThis isnât what weâve been formed to do; we canât sit on this,â came in Marian.
âWeâre not going to sit on it!â insisted Irvine, refusing to recognize the weakness of his not reacting immediately. âWeâre going to give Shab and Akram time on the computers. If it defeats themâand us, because weâre all going to work on it, tooâthen weâll alert Langley.â
âBy the end of this day if we donât crack it,â persisted Singleton.
The man was right, Irvine knew. âBy the end of the day,â he capitulated.
*Â Â Â *Â Â Â *
âYouâve upset a lot of people,â complained Jeremy Dodson the moment the secure telephone connection was established.
âWho?â sharply demanded Sally, irritated at having to wait over an hour for a temporary desk and telephone.
âI had the GCHQ security director on, querying your authority for what you wanted.â
âThey had my official accreditation and authority ahead of my arrival here!â
âItâs not the sort of request theyâre accustomed to, and theyâre nervous after all the whistle-blowing exposure in 2013,â said the MI5 operations director. âAnd a Detective Superintendent Pritchardâs claiming you left with official police evidence.â
The complaints were being set out as accusations, Sally recognized, wondering if Dodson was trying to generate a personally protective smoke screen against the mistakes sheâd already isolated. âThe computer?â
âYes.â
Sheâd obviously unsettled the arrogant bastard more than sheâd imagined. âThey hadnât discovered its existence to make it part of any police evidence! And Pritchard told me I could have whatever I wanted of Bennettâs property. Heâll have to do a damned sight better than this to save himself from a disciplinary enquiry. Did you confirm that I had it and where I was with it?â
âOf course I didnât. I said we hadnât been in contact, didnât know where you were, and that Iâd get back to him when you made contact. He said he was taking it up with his chief constable.â
That risked creating the publicity of MI5 involvement the Director-General had forbidden, Sally immediately recognized. âIâm following a disastrous catalog of professional mistakes and cock-ups that could end as precisely that, a very real disaster that should and could have been prevented. I want you to have several things done for me as quickly as possible while Iâm stuck here. And Iâd appreciate you, personally, getting back to Pritchard to tell him what Iâve just told you, using those precise words. Heâs to do nothing whatsoever, something heâs very good at, until he hears from me.â
Dodson didnât respond at once, and when he did, the uncertainty was obvious. âAre you seriously suggesting thereâs a terrorism danger here!â
There wasnât sufficient justification for that, Sally acknowledged. âI believe thereâs every indication.â
Once more there was initial silence. Then Dodson said, âWhat else do you want done?â
Sally had compiled her list to fill