Sleeper Cell (25 page)

‘Mark Ross. He’s CTC’s principal data analyst, does digital forensics, that kind of thing. Like Phillip, only legal.’

‘And not as good.’

‘And nowhere near as good.’

‘What’s he done?’

‘I think he’s the CTC leak. Black Eagle have known every move I’ve made, and he’s the reason.’

‘If you’re asking me to take out a cop, you’re going to have to do better than that.’

‘He’s not police. He’s a civilian IT expert, the main link between Cyber Crime and CTC, and the only person capable of doing the sort of covert snooping Phillip’s doing now. Phillip said someone else from CTC has been snooping around looking for our bomb suspect’s background. My boss knows nothing about it, says the Americans are blocking our attempts to get at their data. Which means Ross is running his own parallel investigation, feeding intel back to Black Eagle. I think he also tried to frame me by leaking forensic photographs to the media. With him in the picture, the further we advance this thing, the more danger we’re all in. That’s why I need him out of the way tonight.’

‘I guess he don’t live nowhere like this.’ Bones took another drag and let the smoke drift up out of his mouth. ‘A hit’s going to be tough in a nice white street.’

‘I told you, this is not a hit. If you’re not interested, tell me. I’m way past playing games.’

‘Tell me where we can find him.’

‘Out Greenwich way somewhere. I can get you the address if you can do something.’

‘I know people.’

‘I can’t pay you much.’ She took the roll of bank notes from her back pocket and flicked through them. ‘Two hundred pounds. Obviously I can’t put it through on expenses.’

‘There’s no charge,’ Bones said.

‘Really? Why would you want to help me? You’ve done more than you needed to already.’

‘I heard you on the phone.’ He snuffed out the joint. ‘You didn’t need to do anything for Phillip either, but you make sure he’s looked after, I’ll make sure you’re OK for tonight.’

Leila took the pile of notes and folded them.

‘I didn’t say I don’t want it,’ Bones said, placing his hand on hers. ‘I said I don’t need paying. Two ton’s going to be used for supplies.’

‘Do I want to know?’

‘No. But your man’ll be well out of the way for the next few days.’

‘Unharmed.’

‘Unharmed. We won’t even see him.’

‘Thank you. I’ll get the address.’

Leila sat on the edge of the bed behind Phillip. He’d got her Mark Ross’s home address from the police central server as if it had been on his own desktop. He assured her that no one, even Ross himself, would be able to tell.

‘Phillip, there’s one more thing I want to ask you, but this one could be almost impossible.’

‘You want me to get you into Mapleton House.’

She laughed. ‘Yes, that was what I had in mind.’

‘I can’t,’ he said. ‘I’ve already had a look. It’s good; the overlaps make it almost unhackable.’

‘Not a problem.’ Actually a very big problem, but there was always going to be a point beyond which even Phillip could not go.

‘This connection isn’t fast enough to fool the SHIELD switching,’ he said.

‘It’s OK. Like I said: not a problem.’

He continued to type. She couldn’t see his face but she could tell he was smiling. It was in his voice. Bones sauntered into the room and sat on the windowsill. The sun through his dreadlocks gave him a curiously messianic look.

‘What aren’t you telling me?’ she said.

‘I said I can’t get you in,’ Phillip said. ‘I didn’t say you can’t get in.

‘What’s the difference?’

‘Can you get me full access to the Police National Computer?’

‘I’ve got clearance. Why?’

‘The central server that houses HOLMES should be fast enough to let me get inside SHIELD. I can send commands from here, but the hard work is beyond this machine or this connection. I need your log-in and password. I can move more freely if I’m there legitimately.’

‘You can hack HOLMES to make it work for you? Really? Just like that?’

‘An eight-year-old could do it. HOLMES is based on Windows, so basically it’s crap. But the computer that runs it isn’t. Nor are its connections.’

‘This is the only way? Isn’t it going to leave my fingerprints all over it?’

‘It’s the only way if you’re in a hurry. If I can interrupt the SHIELD protocols as they switch, I could give you a few seconds of dead time.’

‘Long enough to get in?’

‘Let me take a look. What’s your access?’

Leila took her wallet out of her back pocket and pulled out a small piece of card. On it were hundreds of random characters: only she knew which constituted her password for the highest level of the Met’s central computer. She dictated her details and in seconds Phillip was inside the mainframe at the Hendon Data Centre. Full access this time; not just the researcher privileges granted by Lawrence.

After five minutes he turned to her.

‘Got it. The programmer wasn’t very good, but the software is. I’m holding a door open that will give me access to the system running the fence, but once I activate it we’ve got very little time before I’m discovered.’

‘How long?’

‘About ten seconds at seven or thirty-seven minutes past the hour. Maybe best to say five. I don’t really know.’

‘Well that really makes me feel better. Seven or thirty-seven minutes past the hour? I’ve got to choose?’

‘I can only do it once. I use the PNC to send out an interrupt while the protocols are switching. It’ll cause a glitch. The master machine at Mapleton will reconfigure, sending new protocols out to the three slaves. It’s their weak-spot. I guess whoever designed it knew that only top-end proprietory machines would be fast enough to make the hack.’ Phillip grinned at her. ‘Good job you had one.’

‘Are you sure about this?’

‘Do you want me to explain it all?’

‘Not really. Question is: will anyone know the system’s been tampered with from outside?’

‘I won’t have been. The down command will appear to have come from within SHIELD itself. Even if anyone looks at the screen at that exact moment, they can’t do anything until the reconfigure has completed, and by then I’ll be out. All they’ll see is a glitch that the computer sorted out itself. They happen all the time. The operators don’t look for them; they only look for the results of them, and in this case, there won’t be any.’

‘And that’s when I move…’

‘You’ve got five seconds before the system resets. No way back in through the same door, and I can’t see another one.’

‘OK.’ Leila adjusted her watch to the time on the screen.

‘Five seconds,’ she said.

‘Five seconds, max. But you’ll need to figure out where the doppler fence is. I can’t tell you that from here.’

‘Can’t SHIELD tell you?’

‘It could, but if I get out of the system that’s running the alarms now I probably won’t be able to get back in. I can tell you where the fence is, or I can turn it off. Your choice.’

‘Turn it off. I’ll figure the rest out.’

‘That ain’t gonna work, you know?’ Bones said.

‘I trust Phillip. Even if there isn’t much hope, it’s the only hope I’ve got.’

‘Then you’re screwed. I know something about breaking into posh people’s houses, and I bet they’re nothing compared to this place. You can get into the grounds, but how you gonna get into the house? Your man said everyone on the security roster’s been background checked for weeks.’

‘Damn it. ’

‘Just get on the roster,’ Phillip said.

‘I can’t, there’s no time. And technically I’ve been kicked off the investigation anyway.’

‘Then I’ll get you on it. Are the police running the operation?’

‘No. MI5 are in charge on the ground. Uniformed officers and some CTC are working it, but we’re not in charge.’

‘Any police in the house?’

‘I don’t know. I don’t think so, but as long as they’ve got the right clearance, it’s perfectly possible.’

‘I’ll get you on the roster and log your biometrics with the internal security system.’

‘I don’t have any biometric data on me.’

‘I do. I had a look at you in the central database. Your current dental records, showing the recent loss of your upper-16 molar, are lodged with Myson Partners in Highgate, you have a tattoo of a blue butterfly on your upper left thigh, you…’

‘OK, enough. That’s just visual ID, anyway. The biometrics are…’

‘Computerised. Of course. I downloaded those too.’

‘Bloody hell, Phillip, I’m so glad you’re on our side. Yes, OK, log me in, but do it after you’ve opened SHIELD. I don’t want to show up on any last-minute checks.’

‘I’ll open a port. Don’t talk to anyone for two minutes after you’re into the grounds.’

He returned to his screen and Bones stood up.

‘If Phillip can get you on the roster,’ he said, ‘why not do it five minutes earlier so you won’t have to risk going over the fence?’

‘Wouldn’t work,’ Leila said. ‘Inside and outside are isolated from each other, for security. Standard procedure. It means no one outside the perimeter knows who’s working inside. No chance of corruption or extortion, unless you can bribe the Home Secretary. Plus, gate security is being run by the Met, so if I show up there, with or without being on Phillip’s roster, I am, as you so poetically put it, screwed.’

Bones nodded. ‘Is there anything else you need?’ he said. Leila thought for a moment.

‘Mark Ross is taken care of?’ she said.

‘You won’t be seeing him for a while. But he’s still got all his teeth.’

‘Good. I will need an untraceable phone and a car,’ she said. ‘Something mid-range, anonymous but credible.’

‘What happened to yours?’

‘Fuck knows. I left it somewhere. It’ll be in the police lock-up by now.’

‘We got a Beemer,’ Bones said, ‘six-year-old 3-series.’

‘Pimped?’

‘No. Tinted windows, small reg plates, all legal.’

‘No good. There’ll be road-blocks. No traffic police would believe a fellow officer would drive something even that modded. Especially the windows.’

‘Then you’re on the bus.’

‘Come on, there must be something else. At a push I could even drive a stolen car in there. No one’s going to report a vehicle missing on a night like this.’

‘You giving us permission to jack a car for you?’

‘I’m saying this is important. Greater good and all that. If I can’t get a car, I can’t get to Mapleton. If I can’t get there, I can’t stop whatever’s about to happen.’

‘Give me five minutes.’

Bones left the flat and double-locked the door behind him. Phillip continued to type in silence, the soft click of the keys interrupted for a few seconds now and then as he read incoming messages on the screen.

‘You sure you want to do this?’ Leila said quietly.

Still with his back to her, Phillip said, ‘I’ve got nothing else to do. I can’t go home. My family is dead. Steven says I’ll be safe here; they’ll look after me.’

‘Steven?’

‘You call him Scaz Bones. His name is Steven.’

‘We can take you into protective custody. There are things we can do to help you.’

‘There are things I can do to help you. But I have to be here.’

‘OK, when this is over, I’ll make sure you’re looked after. And we will get whoever hurt your mum and sister.’

Phillip stopped typing for a moment. ‘Did he hurt them?’ he said.

‘No, I think they were killed very quickly. They didn’t suffer. It was a figure of speech.’

Phillip nodded without much conviction.

The locks in the front door clicked. Bones walked into the bedroom a few seconds later and held a phone and a key out to Leila.

‘Phone’s pre-paid. Never been used. Car’s under Martlesham; dark red Mazda 3. Bucket of shit, but it’ll get you in and out unnoticed.’

‘Bucket of shit,’ Phillip whispered. His shoulders hitched a little as if he was laughing, then his attention was once more absorbed by what he was doing.

‘I take it you didn’t steal it.’ Leila waved the key in the air.

‘Friend of a friend. It’s not red flagged on the ANPR Database so your friends won’t notice it. All legal. But you break it, you buy us another one.’

‘It’ll come back just fine. Thanks.’ She glanced at her watch. ‘It’s a little after six thirty now. I should be at Mapleton in about an hour and a half, allowing for roadblocks and finding a suitable place to cross the fence. Let’s aim to get the fence off at 8.37.’

‘How will I know you’re there?’ Phillip said.

‘Send a blank text message,’ Bones said. ‘Just a full stop. The fence will be off at the next switch after we get your message.’ He took the phone back and added his own number to the directory. ‘You get picked up, you lose the phone. Nothing traces back to me. You get stopped in the car, we’ll swear it was stolen this afternoon. Phillip can falsify the crime report log. Got it?’

‘Fine. All I ask is you get the fence turned off. Then you’re out of this.’

There were police vehicle checks at three and two miles out from Mapleton House. There had been a high-profile presence on the motorway bridges and A-road laybys too. At the three mile checkpoint Leila was waved through. By two miles out security was tighter. She was flagged down and came to a stop behind an elderly couple in a Nissan Micra.

It had taken her almost an hour and a half to drive from Phillip’s hide-out at Broadwater Farm due south to Mapleton. Already the streets were busy and she had been forced to take numerous detours around gangs of people – youths mostly, but plenty of older people who should have known better too – out waiting for the balloon to go up and the night’s festivities to start.

The traffic officer waved her forwards as the Micra continued its slow and halting journey up the narrow lane.

Before he could speak, Leila showed her ID.

‘You expecting trouble?’ the officer said.

‘No. Just relieving a colleague. Gone down with food poisoning. Can I get straight in through the front gates?’

‘You not been briefed?’

‘Of course, but I was told to confirm with outer perimeter security before I got there.’

He looked at her for a long moment.

‘You can drive through the concrete chicanes, but stop at least twenty metres from the main gate. They’ve got some high-tech invisible fence up there, runs right along the front wall, but it’s twitchy. Keep your distance until they’ve checked you out.’