LONDON ALERT (23 page)

‘I myself thought the
same, but not everyone in government, certainly not the PM, agrees.’

‘The distortion of his
voice, fluctuating from deeply male to shrill effeminacy with the intercalation
of computer-generated phrases, was very off putting and made it difficult to
assess him. However, after a time I thought I could pick out the computer-generated
words, as most were rather simple interjections – such as “like”, “well”, “actually”,
“come to think of it”, “to put that into perspective” – obviously intercalated to
prevent me noting mannerisms. He was certainly a highly educated individual.’

‘You said he had a list
of demands, so we shall have to wait for them, to get a proper idea as regards
what he wants. Have you any idea what they might be?’

‘All I know is that he
was very concerned about the state of the country. He wanted to make England
great again. He had me attend a Rethinking Democracy seminar on a mega-yacht
called the
Vessos
, moored
near Monaco. Many important people were there.’

‘What did they mean by
that?’

Holt explained the seminar’s
keynote speaker’s suggestion that voting in democracies needed tweaking to give
more weight to merit and intelligence. He had admitted the problem was how to allot
full votes to people whose contribution to society could not be measured in
monetary terms, such as intellectuals, writers, carers, voluntary workers and some
housewives and single mothers.

‘Do you think the Owl
would like to apply that to Great Britain?’

‘He might,’ replied
Holt, ‘be seeking that in the long term but gave the impression that might be a
bridge too far at the moment. I think he wants to push some pet policies. Of
course, there is the possibility, as you mentioned when you asked me to work
undercover, that all this might be a red herring, with the real aim being to
make a financial killing on currency speculation.’

‘Sounds a bit like super-UKIP
to me,’ commented Sir Charles.

‘I actually suggested
that to him, and he replied that UKIP were much too simplistic, though the fact
that Farage sometimes stated obvious truths that the PM and others were afraid
to mention or could not comprehend was refreshing. He said Farage was right in
saying that the brouhaha with Russia was unnecessary in that the European Union
in befriending Ukraine and trying to pull them into their orbit had provoked
Russia stupidly.’

 ‘From what you say, the
only thing I think we can be sure of is that his – we assume it is a man – intention
is to cause as little harm to people as possible. Probably our greatest problem
will be preventing the government escalating it into a tragedy.’

‘You may think I am
suffering from Stockholm syndrome, in that I ended up sympathizing with the Owl
– or rather, with some of his ideas regarding what the UK needs.’

‘You are being frank with
me, and I in turn will be frank with you. This is a unique, unexpected chance
for Giraffe to be at the centre of things, and I recognize you are now the lynchpin.
Jeremy, from now on I shall regard you as one of my protégés. In consequence,
you will have the highest security clearance possible in Giraffe.’

Sir
Charles
had
to
ld Holt that in keeping with that
security
clearance he would have access to
masses
of material, even from the CIA, that other departments, let
alone the
prime minister
,
could
never s
et
eyes on
.

‘Please do not abuse
my trust in you,’ he had said before telling him to return to Sackville Street at
ten the following morning so they could continue their talk.

 
In
trying to
ensure
he would not be late, Holt
arrived
at Sackville Street
much too early
and to kill tim
e decided to drop into
a
very
well-known
jeweller
’
s in nearby Bond Street to see
whether the bracelet
Consuela had given him
as an afterthought on their
parting
was
of any
significant
valu
e
–
he knew rich people very often wore imitation
s in public out of
fear of being robbed.

‘I was given this
by a wealthy American friend,’ he said, addressing the clerk, ‘but cannot
believe it is as valuable as it looks. It must be an imitation – though if it
is, it’s so good it’s great to have. Plus it has great emotional value.’

The clerk examined
it closely and raised his eyebrows. ‘Please wait a moment, sir. I’ll run it by
our expert just to make quite sure.’

So saying, he
disappeared into an office at the back of the shop, leaving Holt behind under
the suspicious gaze of a well-built man in a morning coat standing at the door.

The clerk
finally came out of the office and returned the item to Holt.

‘Three hundred and
fifty,’ he said in an unfazed voice.

‘Pounds?’

‘No, thousand pounds
– more than half a million US dollars.’

‘I can’t believe
it.’

‘According to
our man, it’s a unique piece. Of course that is the price he would recommend
we
try
to sell it for. He said that because it’s unique, there’s no knowing what it
would fetch at an auction. If you ever do want to part with it that might be
the better option, though I should not really be telling you this. You could
always set a reserve.’

Holt stepped
outside in a state of disbelief and walked the short distance to Sackville
Street thinking how lucky it was that he had been too preoccupied to mention
the bracelet to anyone at Giraffe. Doing so would have made people jealous. Also
there might be some regulation that significant items received in the course of
duty had to be forfeited. Perhaps he had meant more to Consuela than he
realized. He regretted not having something to give her to show how much she
had meant to him. But then there was nothing of equal value that he could have
given her.

On arriving at 45 Sackville
Street and entering through the double doors, Holt was as usual about to go straight
ahead to the stairs on the left, only to find the elderly tailor blocking his
path.

‘It’s your uniform, sir.’

‘What uniform?’

‘Your captain’s uniform.’

‘How come? I’ve never
even been in the army or any of the armed forces for that matter!’

 ‘You are now. At this
rate of promotion, you’ll soon be back here for your colonel’s or brigadier’s clogs.’

‘I doubt that. The steps
get steeper after the rank of captain. What is the old joke?
“
The higher they get, the
thicker they get,” meaning it’s not only the stripes but the people inside the
uniforms that are thicker, stupider. I’m not stupid enough.’

 ‘You must,’ said the
tailor, ‘at least try it on – though I am sure it will fit perfectly – just to
see how my creation looks. You see, I had to invent it.’

Taken aback, Holt went
into the tailor’s just as he had done on that first day. The youngish assistant
again took his jacket, but with less disdain than before, and hung it up in the
cupboard as the tailor picked up a snazzy uniform with a captain’s insignia
from the bench.

 The tailor insisted he
put on the trousers as well.

‘Not bad, eh? Sir
Charles wants to see how you look in it too, so keep it on and leave your suit here
with me. If you’re too embarrassed to go out all dolled up, put it back on when
you leave.’

‘It does look great, I admit,’
said Holt. ‘What regiment is it?’

‘Apparently, you are
attached to, but not part of – whatever that means – the Special Reconnaissance
Regiment, the SRR, which is based up in Hereford with the SAS. No one knows
much about them.’

Holt was pleased to see
how good he looked. He could have been playing an officer in a World War II film.
Going upstairs with a spring in his stride, he even seemed to impress Cut-Glass.
The words of the major came to mind: ‘
A great suit
gives one a lift and makes one feel someone. Of course, a military uniform with
several pips would be even better.’

How he wished the major
were around so he could show it off, with three pips indicating he was a
captain!

Sir Charles came out on
the landing on hearing him talking to Cut-Glass.

‘Don’t you think he
looks great,’ said Cut-Glass to Sir Charles.

‘Yes, Sandra, I certainly
do,’ he replied, pausing for a moment and then adding, ‘You had better wear it in.
You do not want to look like a tailor’s dummy. Prince Charles has some flunky
his size wear in his new suits and uniforms. Wear it around your flat, even
sleep in it for a few hours. If it looks too new, you will not only look silly
but risk those generals and top officials cottoning on to what we’ve done.
Another thing…don’t go around saluting people indoors. Pity there’s not time to
send you to Sandhurst for a couple of days. Then you could say you had been
there without lying, just like Jeffrey Archer said he went to Oxford when he
just went to some school there and not the university.’

‘I’m worried l will ham
it up, pretending to be Michael Caine.’

‘Don’t worry too much.
They won’t be seeing you face to face, at least for now. You will be at
Farringdon, and we will be seeing you from the Cobra room via a video link on a
smallish screen, so there will be no need for hamming. The reason I am making
you a captain is that “Captain” will be more impressive than “Holt” in the presence
of the prime minister, senior officials, and top brass. Pompous officials always
put people into slots so they know how relate to them according to an
established pecking order. Given time, we could establish your position in the
hierarchy as a recognized expert, an intellectual James Bond. However, time is something
we don’t have, and by giving you a military rank we can slot you in and ensure
you are respected.’

‘I get it.’

‘
“
Captain” gives the feeling
of the go-ahead bright chap.
“
Major” sounds too staid, and
anyway you are a bit young for that. This fits in well with the fact that you
are now an “
officer” in Giraffe,
 
whereas before you were
either a technician or undercover operative.’

‘That’s nice to know.’

‘By the way, you are
attached to the Special Reconnaissance Regiment, the SRR, who are even more
secretive than the SAS, with whom they work, so it won’t seem strange that no
one has heard or even read about you. They will realize they can find even less
about you in that you are only attached to them. Come into my room so we can
review the situation.’

Holt followed Sir
Charles into his room, while Cut-Glass went off to deal with other matters.

Holt and Sir Charles then
discussed what would be likely to happen when the Owl contacted them after the
weekend, and how they might handle the situation as it evolved.

‘The top brass,’ said
Sir Charles, ‘would very likely want to have the OwlPhone in the Cobra room,
but apart from the fact that switched-on mobile phones are forbidden in there, I
will be able to dissuade them from that by saying it almost certainly contains
enough explosive to kill them all.

‘I’m afraid, Holt, you
will again be putting yourself at risk for the cause. If it blows up, it will
be you who will be nearby. However, as the Owl has said that you personally
should remain in charge of it, I don’t think you are at any risk, as the Owl
would gain nothing by killing someone, if I may say so, as low in the food
chain as you, and would have a lot to lose thereby.’

Although calls from the
Owl via the OwlPhone would be patched through to Sir Charles at the Cobra room,
there would be a twenty-second delay to allow Holt to filter them if either he
thought it necessary or the Owl insisted on confidentiality. That would give Sir
Charles in particular considerable power.

Betting against the pound
was continuing in the money markets and Sir Charles was certain that some form
of attack on London instigated by the Owl was imminent. They both felt that the
care the Owl had taken to see no one was killed, let alone injured, in the
toppling of Nelson meant that  he would endeavour to avoid loss of life, and
nothing as deadly as 9/11 was in the offing. However, the government was
working itself up into a lather on the assumption that they were dealing with someone
sinister or an al-Qaeda-related group.

‘Of course, as I have
said before,’ said Sir Charles, ‘all this political stuff may just be a smoke screen
to hide the fact that the Owl and his associates are in it for the money they
can make speculating against the pound.’

‘Quite possible. His
demands do seem rather outlandish,’ commented Holt.

‘Anyway, I’m officially
putting it on record by notifying all the concerned departments, including Downing
Street, that we at Giraffe think significant – a weasel word – loss of life is most
unlikely.’

 Giraffe’s HQ at
Farringdon would have feeds from the various news services and ability to see
the same images from video cameras as those available to the government. They
would also have the CIA feeds.

Here, Sir Charles let Holt
into a little secret. Thanks to personal relationships built up when – like Kim
Philby – he had been MI6’s liaison man in Washington, he could access
ultra-secret satellite images and intercepts from assets that the US did not
want to share with the British security services at large. They even sent
someone over to install equipment at Farringdon to ensure Britain’s GCHQ could
not spy on or even detect those communications.

‘How many people know
about that?’

‘Just a couple at
Giraffe. My let-out is that if I did not keep it from the government, the CIA
would not let us have it anyway.’

‘You seem to think of
everything!’

‘Not only that, I even have
access to the memos and briefing material that the CIA prepare for US
presidents before they receive foreign dignitaries. You’d be surprised at the titillating
information they contain, such as that a French president was called
“
three-minute or five-minute
X” because that was the time it took for consummation of his sexual conquests
with party activists and secretaries in his younger days, and that allegedly
included the shower afterwards! The CIA drafter’s idea was that the US president
should mention it to the French president to break the ice, as in France having
sexual conquests is something of which to be proud and increases support amongst
female voters.’

‘Makes sense.’

‘I told our prime
minister at the time that I had a copy of a memo concerning him in particular,
recommending the president build up his vain ego with the usual ceremonies on
the White House lawn and trips on Air Force One, and then knock it back down in
the course of prayers in the Oval Office.’

‘Really?’

‘Yes, and just like J. Edgar
Hoover would do with senators and the like, I told the PM not worry, as my copy
of the memo, which, although in the computer system and undeletable, was in
safe hands with me. I would take good care to protect it.’

‘That must have worried
him.’

‘Not only that, I said the
memo detailed the procedure whereby the president could use prayer to show who
was top dog by positioning himself so when they kneeled he would be gazing upwards
towards the Almighty, and the British PM would have his view of God obscured by
the presidential posterior. There were, I said, further unmentionable details regarding
how the president could humiliate the PM even more that would make him a
laughing stock should the press get hold of them.

‘Though it started off
as a joke, it gave me a free hand in setting up Giraffe with myself in charge!
If you ever mention that to anyone, your life will not be worth living – not
that anyone would believe you. Whistle blowers rarely come out of these things
well. Usually, they are shunned by colleagues and suffer a fate worse than
witnesses on witness-protection programmes.’

With these confidences having,
as intended, tightened the bonds between the two of them, Holt thought it a
propitious moment to ask something that had been troubling him almost from the
very moment he joined Giraffe.