‘The vandal?’ asked Steven sounding surprised.
‘Yep, he says he knows you.’
Steven’s face registered disbelief as he was led indoors and into a room where a man was secured to a chair with rope bindings. ‘We appear to have a conflict of interests,’ Jamieson announced.
Steven couldn’t believe his eyes. ‘Ricksen!’ he exclaimed. ‘MI5.’
‘Then you two do know each other,’ said Scott. ‘He wouldn’t tell me anything, said he’d only speak to you. I saw him slashing the tyres of a car belonging to a research microbiologist who lives about twenty miles from here so I tailed him, hoping he’d lead me to the organisers of the Popular Front for the Liberation of ME Sufferers. Instead I end up holding an MI5 officer in one of their own safe houses. I was going to ask John what the hell I should do with him but chummy here kept insisting he knew you and you’d want to hear his side of things.
‘Wow,’ said Steven. ‘I think we can do away with the bindings.’
‘How are you, John?’
‘I’ve had better days,’ replied Ricksen, appearing more than a little crestfallen.
‘Has Five been behind all the attacks on ME researchers?’
Ricksen nodded, adding, ‘Christ, what a mess.’
‘It’ll make a cracking story for the Sun,’ said Jamieson.
‘D notices will fall like confetti,’ snapped Ricksen.
‘So what’s it all about, John?’ asked Steven. ‘And what’s the hole you’re now in to do with me?
‘C’mon Steven, we’ve known each other a long time,’ said Ricksen. ‘We’ve even looked out for each other on occasion. Okay, there’s a bit of rivalry between Five and Sci-Med but when push comes to shove we know we can call on each other for a bit of help.’
Steven nodded. ‘True,’ he conceded, ‘but everyone’s been snubbing Sci-Med lately and this is quite a hole you’ve dug for yourself… and Five. I’m getting dizzy just looking down into it.’
‘Look, there’s a lot of strange stuff going on; I hoped we might come to an arrangement… exchange what we know… pool our resources?’
Steven and Jamieson exchanged doubtful glances.
‘There’s a big secret…’ said Ricksen, immediately capturing Steven’s attention.
‘Go on.’
‘That’s the thing, only people at the very top know what it is and they are going to enormous lengths to keep it that way. The Americans are involved and I get the impression that Pakistani Intelligence are in the mix too.’
‘They are,’ said Steven. ‘One of their agents, a guy called Ranjit Khan has gone rogue. He’s killed five people so far, trying to get his hands on this secret. He killed my friend, Simone Ricard and it was him who was responsible for the deaths in the North lab, including the two the other night.’
‘Shit, we knew Khan was in the country. We thought he was working with Six.’
‘So presumably does MI6,’ said Steven. ‘Apparently he’s decided to become self-employed: he wants the secret for himself.’
‘That’s worth knowing.’
‘Perhaps you’ll return the favour. Why have you been targeting ME researchers?’
‘HMG wants research on ME to stop but no one’s saying why. It’s connected to this damned secret. Our brief is to do what we can to stop current research on ME and discourage anyone from entering the field.’
‘By pushing them under a bus?’ said Jamieson.
‘I swear to God that was just a terrible accident: it was never meant to happen. He was just meant to appear foolish.’
‘And he ends up appearing dead,’ said Jamieson.
‘Christ, I don’t like it any more than you guys.’
‘Yeah, shit happens,’ said Jamieson without a trace of sympathy.
‘This is getting us nowhere,’ Steven interrupted. ‘Okay, cards on the table, we’ve been thinking along the lines of Porton and the Americans developing a new bio-weapon and testing it illegally in the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan. The Americans have already been caught out putting fake aid teams into the region to help in their hunt for Bin Laden but there’s definitely more to it than that.’
Ricksen seemed taken aback and Steven thought it seemed genuine. ‘We knew about the fake team that got DNA evidence proving Bin Laden was in the compound at Abbottabad, but the rest is news to me.’
‘There has to be a link between a new bio-weapon and the government stopping research on ME,’ said Jamieson.
‘If HMG want to stop research on ME, it suggests they already know what causes it,’ suggested Steven.
‘And they’re developing it as a new weapon,’ said Ricksen.
All three thought about this for a few moments.
Steven shook his head. ‘Sounds all wrong,’ he murmured.
‘I agree,’ said Jamieson. ‘If scientists had discovered the cause of ME they wouldn’t have kept it secret — even if it was a government lab that made the breakthrough. They would have taken the enormous credit on offer and set about finding a cure. None of that would have prevented them from developing their discovery as a weapon in the usual way in the usual places if they’d wanted to. There would have been no need for a huge cloak of secrecy. Steven’s right; it sounds all wrong.’
‘Doesn’t sound like much of a weapon either,’ said Ricksen. ‘Oh, I can’t fight today ‘cause I’m just too tired…’
Steven ignored the yuppie ‘flu sneer and asked, ‘So where does that leave us, gentlemen?
‘We still don’t know the secret,’ said Jamieson.
No one disagreed.
‘There is one more thing you should know,’ said Ricksen, looking at Steven. ‘Two days ago, someone put in a request to see your file.’
‘What file?’ asked Steven.
‘Ours… on you.’
Steven took a few moments to digest this before murmuring, ‘Just one big happy family, aren’t we. Who wanted it?’
‘A CIA guy, Bill Andrews.’
‘And you just gave him it?’
‘Personally, I didn’t give him anything,’ said Ricksen defensively. ‘I just pricked up my ears when I heard your name come up although it has to be said, you’re not exactly in the running for employee of the month right now in the corridors of power. You’re being seen as a bit of a thorn in the side if not a complete pain in another part of the anatomy…’
‘It was ever thus…’ joked Jamieson. ‘He’s mad, bad and dangerous to know.’
Steven was in no mood for humour. The hollow feeling in the pit of his stomach at hearing of his file being given to Andrews was not going to go away.
‘What are we going to do about him?’ Jamieson asked with a nod in Ricksen’s direction.
‘Did you get photographic evidence of him vandalising the car?’ asked Steven.
‘Certainly did.’
Ricksen looked anxious. ‘Oh, come on, guys. You’re not going to hang me out to dry…’
‘Maybe another couple of him standing in the doorway of an MI5 safe house?’ suggested Steven. ‘And your investigation will have reached a satisfactory conclusion.’
‘Sounds good to me,’ said Jamieson.
‘You can’t be serious about giving this to the papers?’ said Ricksen, coming close to pleading.
Steven decided the man had had enough. ‘Of course not,’ he said. ‘But you make sure to tell your boss that Sci-Med knows who’s been behind the ME attacks and has proof should they need to use it.’
‘Understood,’ said Ricksen, relieved that the prospect of him becoming national news had receded but not looking forward to explaining his capture to his superiors.
‘And open season should be declared on Ranjit Khan forthwith. He’s not a colleague; he’s a dangerous psycho.’
‘How about Andrews, the guy who pulled your file?’
‘For the moment, the jury’s out.’