Agent of the State (53 page)

‘So what happens now?’ said Langton.

‘We wait and see.’

‘But what are you going to do?’

‘I just told you.’

Epilogue

The Great British Hypocrisy

Friday, 28 September, 20.42, the Fishbowl

Back at the Yard they took Gabi to the Fishbowl and brewed the decent coffee Kerr kept in his middle drawer. Jack Langton was already stepping up to the plate in Kerr’s absence, briefing Ritchie to set things up for the surveillance and arrest of Samir Khan and his associates near Brent Cross. Melanie called home and asked her husband, Rob, to make up a spare bed for Gabi. Langton tried to send them home, but Fargo led everyone back into 1830.

While Gabi waited in the reading room, Fargo sat them down at two workstations and opened a Word document. ‘John and I have been working on this for ten days,’ he said, as they looked at each other in surprise. ‘It covers every detail.’

‘Great, Al,’ said Justin. ‘And?’

‘We did it because John anticipated they’d try and conceal everything. Which is exactly what’s happened.’

Now they were all concentrating on Fargo in astonishment. ‘And?’ said Justin again.

‘I want you to read it now and tell me if I need to add anything. And if you agree with it.’

‘What are you going to do with it?’

‘Just read.’

It was a distillation of their investigation into a classic Special Branch comprehensive report headed simply: ‘Moscow’s Hostile Operation against the UK’. It ran to fourteen pages, together with an assessment, beginning with the hatred of Abdul Malik and his manipulation by Syrian secret-service agent Rashid Hussain. It described how Moscow had subcontracted their British spy to the Syrians and controlled the whole operation from day one through Anatoli Rigov.

And it named names, identifying Theo Canning as the agent Harold, the rapist who had made everything possible, and exposing Claire Grant as the government traitor addicted to sex and protector of Ahmed Jibril. Finally, it laid out the abuse of the girls smuggled into London by Canning’s corrupt police officer. Attached to the main document were the dreadful photographs and video.

They absorbed the content in less than five minutes.

‘Looks good to me,’ said Langton.

‘What do we do with it?’ said Melanie.

Fargo gestured them to his workstation. They huddled behind him and saw that the report was attached to an email ready to go. The title read: ‘Blackmail, Terrorism and Betrayal: Moscow and the Great British Cover-up’.

‘We blow this thing sky high,’ said Fargo slowly. ‘Provided we all agree?’

‘You’re sure this is untraceable?’ asked Langton, when he saw the recipient address.

‘Everything sender protected.’

‘What would John want us to do?’ asked Langton, speaking their minds.

‘He’d want us to add a sign-off,’ said Melanie.

‘Fair enough.’ Fargo opened the document again and scrolled to the last page of text. ‘Go.’

‘For Joe, a loyal friend who loved his country,’ said Melanie. ‘And Kestrel, who led us to the truth.
In memoriam
.’

‘Check.’

When he had finished, Fargo swung round in his chair to look them in the eye. ‘You sure?’

He was going to ask each of them by name, as if taking a vote, but the voices came in unison: ‘Send it.’

In Sydney, Australia, Toni Miller, chief investigative reporter of the illustrious
Sydney Morning Herald,
saw the envelope pop up on her screen as she sat down with her coffee. She skimmed the text with growing astonishment, then opened the video of Theo Canning raping Tania. She grabbed the phone and dialled without taking her eyes from the screen.

‘Harry? You need to get down here now.’