The Secret

Steven felt a little better. His conclusion fitted well with what Liam had told him about Tom North’s being in on what was going on — something he’d been unsure about. It also made sense because he would have had to agree at some point to taking Hausman into his lab, although perhaps he’d been under some government pressure to do so.

Unfortunately, according to Liam North’s office had been cleared out so any carelessness an academic might have shown in record keeping or file storage couldn’t be exploited. Hausman was a different kettle of fish. He was CIA; it would be second nature for him to cover his tracks.

Steven cursed under his breath as he seemed to be back where he started... but he wasn’t. Hausman might be rock solid but the lab and its resources weren’t. Hausman would have had to use — and still be using — the university computer system, its servers and IT provisions. Could this be the Achilles heel he was looking for?

Next day Steven talked things through with John Macmillan. ‘With a bit of luck we might still be able to access some of Tom North’s stuff on the university computer system as well as have a go at accessing stuff from Hausman.’

‘You mean on their servers and back-up systems?’

‘Precisely.’

Macmillan nodded. ‘So how do we go about doing it? It’ll require a high degree of computer expertise... which gives us a bit of a dilemma. Under normal circumstances we’d just call in expert assistance from one or more of our consultants...’

‘But in this case we can’t because we’d be soliciting their help in committing an illegal act,’ Steven completed.

‘An illegal act against our own government. Difficult.’

Both men sat in silence with the distant sounds of London traffic appearing to become louder because of the quiet in the room. Eventually, Macmillan posed a question. ‘We’ve been assuming that all the authorities are in on this secret. Can you think of one that isn’t?’

Steven thought back to the meeting they’d had with the Foreign Secretary and heads of the security services. Who was present... and who wasn’t. ‘The police?’ he ventured.

‘The police,’ Macmillan repeated with a smile. ‘It’s my guess that someone decided that London’s boys in blue didn’t need to know what was going on.’

‘Maybe time for a lunch with Charlie?’ Steven suggested. He was referring to Chief Superintendent Charles Malloy, a friend of Macmillan’s who had been helpful to Sci-Med in the past. Steven knew and liked him too. He was his own man and didn’t always go by the book — maybe something that had denied him access to the very top of the career pole.

Macmillan nodded. ‘We’ll have to be very clear about what we’re asking of him. It could be his head on the block as well as ours.’

Steven agreed.

‘So what are we asking?’

‘Supposing the police had some reason to enter City College and confiscate computer equipment... lots of it,’ suggested Steven.

‘What reason did you have in mind?’

‘Porn,’

Macmillan raised his eyebrows.

‘As bad as it gets. We find a way to plant the stuff on their system and tip off the police. Once we have the gear, Charlie lets our experts examine everything only it won’t be porn we’ll be looking for.’

‘The “planting” bit makes me nervous,’ said Macmillan. ‘Charlie would have to agree to it from the outset.’

‘Of course,’ Steven said. ‘In fact, I was thinking, maybe he might come up with the material we need. You know, stuff confiscated by the police? I mean, I don’t think I could convince Tally I was working at home without sustaining grievous bodily harm.’

‘Lady Macmillan might not be too amused either,’ said Macmillan. ‘I’ll ask Jean.’

‘For porn?’

‘To set up lunch as soon as possible.’

Steven decided to say nothing to Liam about the proposal until Macmillan had approached Charlie: he now knew that would be on Thursday. It promised to be a big day for more than one reason, as Tally would be interviewed for the Great Ormond Street job then. She was taking two days’ leave and would travel to London on Wednesday, staying overnight at with him at Marlborough Court before returning to Leicester after the interview to be on duty first thing on Friday morning.

That left Wednesday as a bit of a limbo day. Steven passed the morning cleaning and tidying the flat and thinking about how they might ‘infect’ the City College computer system, assuming Charlie Malloy agreed to the plan — and the more he thought about that the less likely it seemed. He hadn’t come to any conclusion by the time Tally arrived and admired his efforts.

Steven found her looking out of the window when he brought coffee through from the small kitchen. ‘Penny for them,’ he said.

‘I was wondering what it would be like to live here,’ she replied.

‘And?’

‘I think it would be just fine.’

They set off for lunch ‘somewhere in the country’ in accordance Tally’s request when he’d spoken to her the night before — ‘Somewhere where I can take in great breaths of clean, fresh air without the remotest suggestion of hospital smells.’