The Secret

‘Difficult,’ began Macmillan. ‘We’re short of friends. The involvement of MI6, the CIA, Pakistani intelligence and God knows who else means that we can’t look for help in either working out what’s going on or in seeking justice for your friend. The only vulnerable point would appear to be Dr Hausman. Before Jean’s painstaking work there was a chance that he might just have sent on the samples on to Porton because he’d been told to, but in the light of Jean’s findings about him and the supposed pharmaceutical company sponsoring him that must be deemed unlikely. He must know what’s going on.’

Steven couldn’t fault Macmillan’s logic. ‘Unfortunately, we don’t have a pretext for arresting or even questioning him. He’s done nothing wrong.’

Macmillan went into thoughtful mode again before coming up with, ‘If what you say is true about there being a two-tier cover-up... perhaps we could jolt the well-meaning cover-upper into asking some embarrassing questions of their colleagues.’

‘What do you have in mind?’

‘Exposing Dr Hausman’s Fort Detrick background and CIA connections along with the questionable credentials of his sponsor pharmaceutical company, Reeman Losch. People might then start to wonder what else the CIA have been up to.’

‘Divide and conquer.’

‘I can’t see us doing much conquering,’ countered Macmillan. ‘But a bit of a rift might be a start.’

‘How will you do it?’ asked Steven.

Macmillan glanced at his watch. ‘I’m having lunch with the director of MI5 today. I’ll ask openly about Hausman and Reeman Losch. No doubt he’ll... mention our interest.’

‘Light blue touch paper and retire immediately,’ said Steven, remembering the old firework warning.

‘In the meantime,’ said Macmillan, looking thoughtful, ‘I’m going to take you off the ME thing and pass it over to one of your colleagues. If what you’ve worked out about this two-tier cover-up business proves correct, you’ve got enough on your plate. All right with you?’

‘Absolutely. Who’s the lucky boy?’

‘I think I’ll give it to Scott Jamieson. He’s done a good job in uncovering the hospital supplies scam up in Manchester. It’s time to hand that one over to the police. He’ll welcome a new challenge.’

‘He’s a good bloke,’ said Steven.

‘All right to brief him with your thoughts on the subject?’

‘Of course.’

Steven returned to his office, pausing to thank Jean Roberts for the excellent work she’d done on screening the people at the Prague meeting.

‘You look tired,’ she said. ‘Can I get you some coffee?’

Steven was sipping his coffee and thinking about Tally when his phone went. It was Philippe Le Grice in Paris.

‘I have some news for you.’

‘Anything interesting?’

‘Very. You were right in your suspicions. Dr Khan did not return to Pakistan immediately after the Prague meeting. He was a passenger on board a flight from Prague to Paris the day before Simone Ricard’s funeral.’

‘So he was in Paris when Aline was killed?’

‘There’s no doubt about it. He left France the morning after Aline Lagarde’s murder.’

‘He’s your man, Philippe.’

‘Thank you, Steven. I only hope we can prove it and restore Dr Lagarde’s reputation, but I suspect it won’t be that easy. A DNA match might do it, but as you might expect from a hotel room, we have DNA profiles for a number of unidentified individuals. I just hope we get the chance to compare them with Khan’s.’

‘It might be a good idea to make sure the samples you have are kept in a secure place considering third party involvement in the case,’ suggested Steven.

‘Quite so.’

Steven thanked Le Grice for his valuable help. Now that he had proof that Andrews had been lying about Khan, not only about knowing him but about his movements after the Prague meeting, he was certain in his own mind that Andrews and Khan were responsible for the murders of Simone and Aline Lagarde. Or should that be the CIA and Pakistani intelligence?

‘There’s one more thing,’ said Le Grice. ‘When Khan left France he didn’t fly to Pakistan.’

‘No?’

‘He boarded a flight to London.’

Eighteen

Steven hadn’t seen that coming. When he could think clearly again his initial thought was to put Khan at the top of the suspect list for the death of Tom North, but he reined in his imagination. It just wasn’t possible to believe that the combined intelligence services of the UK, the US, France and Pakistan had colluded in the murders of two French medics and a prominent English scientist. That’s what it looked like, but there had to be another explanation. Please God there was.