On the M1 Brad and his team were heading home. They were dropped off in Milton Keynes and then they disappeared to their own home town or city. As Olympus agents they were on standby twenty four seven, waiting for the call to do what they had been trained to do; deal with the bad guys. Brad had one more place to check out; the maisonette.
He parked a distance down the road and took a pair of binoculars out of the glove compartment. There was no sign of anyone in or around the building.
“Neighbourhood Watch my arse!” he said “looks like I’ll have to do it then.”
He rang the local police and reported a possible break-in, he supplied the address and when he was asked for his name he hung up. He sat in the car for about twenty minutes before a police car arrived. Twenty minutes after that first responder, the place was swarming with people in high viz jackets and paper suits.
Brad drove back to his house on the outskirts of MK; not a bad result today, he thought, we took the bombers out and lined up the rest of the cell for the authorities to pick up. All without a scratch; he would sleep well tonight.
When Brad was sat in front of his TV checking whether the news carried anything about the Oxford Circus furore, Colin was sat outside the Fox residence waiting for Athena.
The sound of the red door slamming shut warned him of her arrival; he leapt out of the car and opened the boot. He stood with his hand on the rear driver’s side door handle, in case she was still mad at him and wanted to ride in the back; she glowered at him and left her case on the floor by his feet and walked around to the front passenger door and got in.
“Hurry up!” she shouted and Colin put her case in the boot alongside his own kit and did as he was told.
“Pat?” she said quizzically.
“Yes ma’am?” asked Colin, keeping a straight face with some difficulty.
“No, you stupid man, why Pat for heaven’s sake?” she insisted.
“They’re never as funny when you have to explain them Athena” he said with a laugh “let’s just leave it at that.” He whistled a few bars of the ‘Coronation Street’ theme tune as he negotiated the A4 traffic.
The further they travelled away from London the easier the conversation flowed; they seemed in tune regarding the topics that were off the agenda. There was no mention of terrorists; her mother’s operation, her late partner or Colin’s past life before Pulteney Weir. In fact Colin found that Athena was excellent company. When he turned the nose of the car into the driveway of Larcombe Manor, he sighed.
“I imagine you must be tired Phoenix” said Athena.
“A bit” replied Colin “but actually I’m just sorry that we’ve arrived back already; it’s been fun chatting to you.”
“We don’t have to stop talking if you don’t want to” said Athena.
Colin stopped the car outside the main building. He turned towards her.
“If you’re not too tired; how about I go and slip into something more comfortable?” she whispered.
“If you’re sure” Colin said.
“Great” said Athena “I’ll see you in the pool in fifteen minutes.”
With that she got out of the car, retrieved her case from the boot and left Colin sat in the driver’s seat all hot and bothered.
“Bloody hell” he said as he drove to his quarters “she is so going to be worth it when she finally stops pissing me about. Still, beggars can’t be choosers, at least she’ll be in that costume again and that’s something I suppose!”
Colin should have remembered the well known phrase about ‘the best laid plans’ because when he got to his room he found the dreaded ‘post it’ note from Erebus.
‘Need to speak. Urgent.’
Colin groaned. He changed his clothes and looked longingly at his swimming trunks in the drawer; not tonight!
He found Erebus in the drawing room; he was alone.
“Ah Phoenix, there you are. Sit down. This isn’t something I’m familiar with but, let me see… what is it they say? Do you want the good news or the bad news?”
“I’m sorry…” said Colin, but Erebus held up a hand.
“The good news first I think; the Devon police are viewing the demise of Sir Godfrey Penrose as an ‘accidental death’. Our view is that the material you left at the scene provided a glimpse into his murky past that some people would prefer didn’t surface. We think the coroner will find it difficult to come to any other conclusion under the circumstances.
On Sunday you will travel north to complete the Dunfermline mission; you will have the items you require ready for you by tomorrow evening.”
Colin shuffled his feet; he was glad to hear the good news, but what was coming next?
“You will recall your first few days here at Larcombe Manor; it was made crystal clear that the authorities should be given not one scintilla of a suspicion about our activities. You were sent to London to prevent Athena from exacting revenge on Al Qaeda, the umbrella organisation that controlled both the bombers who killed her partner and those you met today.
By drawing attention to yourself at the station, you risked being identified as your true self, Colin Bailey; a killer that everyone believed was dead. By calling out to warn Athena, using the name she is known by here at Larcombe and not in the outside world, you risked exposing all of us to closer examination. I’m very disappointed Phoenix.”
“Things could have gone very differently at the station” said Colin “we were fortunate. The first three bombers were taken out of the game in text book fashion. Rusty had to take a risk though to take Rehman down and the Jaffri girl could easily have had her own or his phone number on her mobile. If she had, Rusty and I would be in body bags, plus quite a few innocent bystanders.
More important than that, Athena would have been blown to pieces too; your second in command walked right into the middle of the kill zone. I had to protect her if the Olympus Project is to carry on after you’ve gone.”
“I see your point Phoenix and it is well argued. The surveillance section will be reviewing their procedures to see if we could have prevented these gaps in our knowledge. It was a risk sending the teams into the station and surrounding area without knowing that all five cell members were carrying bombs. That cannot happen again; remember the lessons learned today Phoenix and be on your guard.
Because we were able to knock out most of the CCTV equipment in the area and since generally, the teams kept things under the radar, the authorities don’t have a lot to go on. There were no bodies left lying around. We have a cleaning crew based in London for such eventualities; they were summoned to the scene minutes after you dashed out of the concourse with the girl on the stretcher. Some of her hair, skull, and brain etcetera are in the sewer system and heading out to sea by now.
When you and Rusty performed your heroics, the panic among the crowds meant that very few of the witnesses the police have tracked down can provide credible statements. We’re doing all we can to keep fogging the mirror, if you like, so they never see the full picture. There has been so sign as yet of them using crime scene people to comb the area for forensic detail. It will need a close eye for another forty eight hours, but we should be able to breathe easily by Monday.”
“Once again sir, I’m sorry to have been so careless; it won’t happen again. Do we have any news from Brad in Milton Keynes?”
“Of course, there was one more piece of good news old chap! The police were tipped off about a possible burglary and bless the locals they called in the security guys once they found the data we had left. Brad has people standing by to let us know when any of the other links in the chain are arrested. There will almost certainly be a series of dawn raids in the Midlands in the morning. It’s nice to be able to throw a bun to the official arm of the law every now and then.”