‘How did you know we were here?’ said Malik. ‘We didn’t talk to anyone at reception. We came right up.’
‘I got a call when you walked into the hotel,’ said Shepherd. ‘And I was told that you were walking here.’
‘We were followed from the station?’ said Chaudhry.
‘Every step of the way,’ said Shepherd, ushering them inside and closing the door. ‘They were on your tail from the moment you left the flat. Though they were surprised that you took a cab to Paddington.’
Malik looked around the hotel room. ‘You haven’t got cameras in here, have you?’ he asked. Shepherd laughed. ‘I’m serious, man. You spooked us with that sandwich thing. There was someone in the restaurant car when I was buying them, right?’ He took off his parka jacket and tossed it on to the bed.
‘It was our man behind the counter,’ said Shepherd.
‘The old guy?’ said Malik. ‘How did you manage that?’
‘We knew you’d be on a train to Reading, which was a bit of a cheat, so he had the uniform and was ready to go. Whichever train you got on, he’d get on.’
‘You can do that?’ asked Chaudhry.
‘It’s MI5, Raj, they can do pretty much what they want. We had a British Transport Police guy primed to go and he arranged it. He flashes his ID and tells the staff to do as our guy says.’ There was a small sofa by the window and he waved at it. ‘You guys take the weight off your feet. We’re going to be here for a while.’
Chaudhry and Malik sat down.
‘Do you want room service? Coffee? Water?’
‘Coffee would good,’ said Chaudhry. Malik nodded. Shepherd picked up the phone and ordered three pots of coffee.
It was a large room with a double bed and a working area where a whiteboard had been placed on an easel. There was a connecting door to the adjoining room and as Shepherd put down the phone there was a soft knock on it. Shepherd opened the door and took a handful of photographs from a man in the next room.
‘Who’s that?’ asked Chaudhry as Shepherd closed the door.
‘One of the guys who followed you,’ said Shepherd. He handed the photographs to them and the two men started looking through them. There were pictures of them leaving their building, getting into the minicab, and walking through the station. There was a photograph of them buying their tickets, and another of them getting on to the train. One photograph of them sitting on their train even appeared to have been taken on a mobile phone.
Chaudhry looked up in amazement. ‘How many did you have following us?’ he asked.
‘There were two on the pavement outside your flat. We had two motorbikes just in case you went by bus or cab, which was lucky.’
‘Was one a courier?’
‘They were both couriers,’ said Shepherd. He gathered up the photographs and put them on the desk.
‘I think I saw one following the cab.’
‘Well done,’ said Shepherd. ‘I hope he wasn’t too obvious. We had four at the station, plus the BTP officer and the guy ready to go in the restaurant car. And I cheated a little by having three at Reading station so that even if they missed you completely in London they could pick you up there.’
‘How come we didn’t spot them?’ asked Malik.
‘Because they’re professionals,’ said Shepherd. ‘They look totally normal. They blend in and they do absolutely nothing to attract attention to themselves. No one was going to get close enough to see what ticket you were buying, but that’s not an issue. If they’re professional then as soon as they know you’re heading for the station they’ll just buy tickets for all the main lines anyway. And our guys have British Transport IDs so they can just flash them to a ticket inspector.’ He showed them the picture of them boarding the train. ‘It’s always best to board a train at the last moment. It gives anyone following less time to get sorted. You made it too easy.’
‘The guy in the suit,’ said Malik. ‘There was a businessman at Paddington. He kept looking at us.’
‘He was probably looking at you and wondering why you were staring at him. He wasn’t one of ours. Our people would never look directly at you. And they’d never make eye contact with you. In fact that’s one of the ways you can spot a close-up tail — they’ll be avoiding eye contact even when you’d expect them to be looking at you.’
‘How do we spot them, then?’ asked Malik.
‘If they’re doing their job properly you shouldn’t be able to,’ said Shepherd.
‘I looked at everyone in our carriage and I didn’t think anyone was following us.’
‘There’s a good chance that they wouldn’t be in your carriage,’ said Shepherd. ‘That’s the beauty of a train. There’s no getting off anywhere other than at a station, so while the train’s moving they don’t even need to have you in sight. All that matters is that they see when you get off.’
‘So you check who gets off with you?’ said Chaudhry.
‘Not necessarily,’ said Shepherd. ‘If they’re pros there’ll be at least two on the train. One will stay put while you get off and radio or phone the other to say that you’re on the move. So your tail could actually be ahead of you.’
‘It’s impossible to tell you’re being followed, is that what you’re saying?’
Shepherd shook his head. ‘It’s not impossible, but it takes practice. That’s why we’re here. This isn’t about us showing off. It’s about demonstrating what a good surveillance operation is like. What I want to do is to run a few exercises with you. And give you a few tips about what to look out for and what to do if you think you are being followed.’
‘Is something wrong, John?’ asked Malik. ‘Has something happened?’
Shepherd smiled and shook his head. ‘Everything’s fine,’ he said. ‘This is just a training exercise.’
‘Do you think someone might be following us?’
‘No, this is just a precaution,’ said Shepherd. ‘But the closer we get to the operation, the more likely it is that they’ll run a check on you. I don’t want a panicky phone call from either of you in a week or so saying that you think you’re being followed.’
‘Khalid, you mean?’ asked Chaudhry.
Shepherd nodded. ‘There’s every possibility that he’ll have you checked out, just to see what you’re up to. It might be nothing more than him getting someone to follow you for a day or two, but if it happens I want you to know it’s happening and to act in the right way.’ He could see that both men were tense so he smiled, trying to put them at ease. ‘The good news is that today at least you were clean. We’re sure that no one was following you today, other than our people. And in future, if at any time you are worried that someone is following you, you can call me and I’ll get you checked out.’
There was a loud knock at the door and both men jumped.
Shepherd grinned. ‘Relax, guys. It’s our coffee.’
‘Okay, there’s one of ours now, within a hundred feet,’ said Shepherd. ‘See if you can spot him.’ He smiled. ‘Or her.’
They were sitting on a bench in Forbury Gardens, close to Reading Town Hall. It was lunchtime and a lot of office workers were strolling around, many of them either smoking or eating sandwiches.
Chaudhry and Malik looked around.
‘Try to be casual,’ said Shepherd. ‘Don’t stare and try to avoid eye contact, but if you do make eye contact with anyone make it as natural as possible. If it’s a pretty girl it’s okay to say hello. The key is for every interaction to be exactly as it would normally be. So you’d normally want a prop like a newspaper or your mobile, something that you can keep looking at. Especially in a static situation like this. A guy sitting on his own doing nothing looks suspicious. Give him a newspaper and he’s just a guy taking a break. Better still give him a pen so that he can do the Sudoku and no one will give him a second look.’ He held up the copy of the Telegraph that he was holding. ‘Also, just like in the movies, you can open it up and peer over the top of it.’
‘The woman with the pram has walked by us three times,’ said Malik.
‘Yes, but the baby’s crying. It’s very rare for a watcher to bring family. Especially kids. If something goes wrong and a kid gets hurt there’d be hell to pay.’