The guy at the end of the table had been in charge of security during my last visit, but not part of the negotiations. Secretary Carler had conducted those and I was wondering whether this was the new guy's way of letting us know he'd been promoted. That also made me wonder what had happened to Secretary Carler.
"Questions have been asked," said the Scot, "and denials have been issued."
Garvin folded his hands on the table and looked from one to the other. "As I understand it," he said, "our meetings are with Secretary Carler or his replacement. I don't have a remit to negotiate with anyone but the Secretary himself." He looked pointedly at the security guard at the door, the goatee bearded tech across the table, and then at the Scot.
"We're not here to negotiate," said the Scot.
"Then what's this about?" asked Garvin.
"Certain material has come into our possession which implicates certain other people in acts which may compromise the agreement between our respective principals. I have been tasked…" he paused for effect, "…with making certain that this does not become a security issue."
"What are you referring to?" asked Garvin.
"Show them," the Scot said to the tech, who sat with an expensive looking widescreen laptop computer open in front of him, positioned so we couldn't see the screen. The portable white screen which had been set up on a tripod stand at the end of the dais glowed blue and then white as it came to life.
"This is all pre-event," said the tech, "and I'll fast forward through it. It's really just to show that everything was working fine up until the incident."
The screen showed an array of tiled feeds in a composite grid view from cameras around a large building. I counted six rows of eight cameras. I was trying to think why the view was familiar, and then I caught sight of Tower Bridge in one of the views.
"This the the Tower of London," I said.
"Cut to the chase," said the Scot. "Show them why they're here."
The tech sighed and operated a control on the laptop so that the tiles flickered forwards in time and then paused.
"Nine twenty-seven, the gate guards are there to collect a party of visitors from the front gate. The visitors were checked and vetted before entry and there's no sign of collusion. They were as surprised as everyone else." The feed showed two soldiers in uniform marching up to the gate and allowing a small group of tourists inside.
"Nine thirty-four they arrive at the main gate. They're challenged and allowed through. They meet with the Yeoman Warder who is escorted to the keys. Now watch here," He used a laser pointer to circle on one of the tiled images. It was stepping through a single frame at a time. For a moment in one frame a shadow passed across the courtyard, but in the next frame it had gone.
"See it?" he asked.
"See what?" said Garvin. "Is this a ghost sighting? Is that what you brought us to see?"
The tech backed up a frame. There was a streak of darkness across the grass. "These cameras are taking twenty-four frames a second. Whatever it is, it appears to be moving very quickly."
"Or it's simply a trick of the light?" said Garvin. "It could be a moth close to the lens so that its relative movement appears fast?"
"No, it's not close to the lens and there's no point of origin for a shadow," said the tech.
"It's a glitch in the system," said Garvin, "You brought us here to show us this?"
"It gets more interesting," said the Scot. "Roll it forward."
"We're moving frame by frame now, so each one of these is a twenty-fourth of a second." The views of the walls and courtyards continued, as the frame count and time-stamp in the corner advanced. Then in ones and twos the images disappeared from the screen.
"What you're seeing here is a systemic attack. The cameras are being taken out one by one, very rapidly."
Progressively the pictures were blanking out. "Power failure?" I asked, earning a look from Garvin, but intrigued by this development.
"There was a power failure, four seconds after this, but these cameras have separate power supplies and battery backup. Also, if this were a power failure then they would all fail at once. These are going out one at a time." He continued until the screen was blank.
"Any comment?" said the Scot.
Garvin shrugged. The Scot looked at me.
"Some sort of software failure?" I suggested.
"Evidence says not," said the tech. "The systems returned to full working condition, but not until later. Fortunately we have a backup." The screen glowed white again and then showed a wide-screen monochrome view of the castle courtyard from the river side over the wall.
"This view is from the top of Tower Bridge, the only remote camera with this angle — consequently the resolution isn't brilliant, but it's apparently far enough away to be unaffected by whatever is causing the disruption."
He zoomed in on the courtyard and then started advancing frame by frame. "Three, two, one… now." The screen showed two indistinct blurry images entering the courtyard. They appeared to be in no rush, though the image was unstable, as if it was looking through intense heat-haze. He stepped through the images until they crossed out of sight.
"The internal cameras are time-matched so this is the same scene we saw before, but as you see, internally they're only recording a tiny fragment of the data coming from the high remote camera, which implies that some sort of editing has taken place, yet the integrity of the frames is valid — they have not been tampered with." He looked up, expecting some sort of response. Garvin and I stared back.
"The alarms start shortly after. There are generalised power failures, a number of incendiary devices were used though we have yet to identify the accelerant. It appears to be extremely volatile leaving little trace. The White Tower came under sustained assault, the building was accessed and a number of the secondary alarm systems were triggered, though as in the case of the outside cameras, the inside feeds were ineffective."
"The White Tower is where the Crown Jewels are kept," said the Scot.
"How much did they get away with?" asked Garvin.
"Nothing, at least not from there," the Scot said. "The jewels are separately secured overnight, and there's no ready access. It's not like the Queen phones up overnight and sends for the crown to be sent round to Buckingham Palace on a whim."
"So they left empty-handed?" I asked.
"Not quite," said the Scot. "You're going to love this bit."
The tech went back to the camera, zooming out to full field view. He let it run fast-forward for a few minutes and then slowed it to normal speed.
"There was a disturbance in the outer courtyard during the alarms — we assumed that this was a backup team or an exit strategy, but that isn't played out by what followed. The tourist party shadowing the ceremony of the keys was immediately detained, pending investigation. In the event it appears they were innocent bystanders. The gates to the courtyard were secured, though, and armed guards posted to the exits in accordance with security procedure. They were attacked by one or more assailants and physically assaulted. The gate was opened and there is a brief glimpse here…"
He panned the view to the corner of the screen where three shadows crossed open grounds and disappeared under some trees. "Injuries to the guards were not severe, though there is a disciplinary pending on how four armed soldiers can't defend one gate from what appear to be a group of unarmed teenagers."
He panned back again into full-field view.
"More interesting is just under six minutes later." He fastforwarded and then slowed. "Watch here."