The Daily Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 2609 by Angharad Copyright© 2015 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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The next morning I came down to breakfast and Mrs Jenkins insisted I eat some eggs or bacon, plus some fruit and toast or cereal. “It’s the most important meal of the day,” she declared, and I would have agreed with her except I wasn’t that hungry, that early. It was half past seven and Allie came in having been out running on the heath. I wished I’d known, I’d have gone with her, though I remembered that Henry had a gym in the basement which was next to the indoor pool. I drank a cup of tea, told Mrs Jenkins I’d have some scrambled eggs on toast in an hour and ran off to the pool. I found a swimsuit to fit and swam circuits for half an hour then went into the gym and used the rowing machine for ten minutes and the exercise bike for ten after which I dashed up to my room and showered before dressing in jeans and TdF tee shirt.

Henry came in as Mrs Jenkins brought my scrambled eggs complete with a slice of smoked salmon—it was lovely so I did nothing but sit and eat it and drink a pot of tea. As I finished my filling meal my father in law sat opposite and drank the coffee his housekeeper brought him.

“I’ve just come from a meeting with the minister of state at the Home Office.” I nodded sipping my tea. “They know whose car hit Sammi.” I felt my eyes grow wider. “He’s an attaché at the Russian embassy—so big surprise.”

“How do they know it was him?” I asked putting the cup down, my hands were shaking.

“Some witnesses and he took the car to a repair shop who informed the police. They found threads of her clothing and some of her DNA on the damaged wing.”

“I suppose he has diplomatic immunity.”

“Not anymore.”

“Oh?”

“He was found floating in the Thames early this morning.” He saw the look I gave him. “Nothing to do with me; I’d have wanted him brought to trial so these bastards could be exposed.”

“So why did they kill him?”

“Presumably because he gave us evidence of their involvement. Now it will look as if we had him killed; or that will be the story they’ll go for, so a little birdy tells me.”

“The attack was deliberate, not just some dangerous driving?”

“Yes, the plod found an old couple in some flats who saw the car turn round and come back at her. Apparently she tried to dive out of the way and he caught her as she was jumping over a wall.”

“I’m glad he’s dead, all we need to know is who gave the order and bring him to justice.”

Henry shook his head. “They all have diplomatic immunity.”

“D’you know who gave the order—via your little birdy?”

“They say it was high up.”

“The ambassador?”

“Possibly or a senior secretary or attaché, I’m still trying to find out, but the ambassador has been summoned to the Foreign Office again.”

“Pity we can’t shoot him while he’s there, calling him in and dressing him down achieves very little.”

“I don’t know, he could be recalled or expelled.”

“He’ll just say the driver acted alone and that someone here killed him, and try to blame us for it.”

“Pity we don’t know any Chechens.”

“Who said we don’t, but we’ll wait. We Scots hae lang memories, hen.”

“Wait for what?”

“Until he returns to Russia.”

“Then attack him?”

“Perhaps enable someone with a bigger grudge to meet with him.”

“That’s murder, Henry.”

“I prefer to see it as empowering the underdog and besides you were talking about shooting him a moment ago.”

“I’m not sure I believe in assassinations in cold blood.”

“Revenge is a dish best taken cold, my dear, and no one tries to kill one of my granddaughters and gets away with it.”

“If they find out, or provide evidence, your reputation could be compromised.”

“They won’t find out, that I can guarantee.”

“Changing the subject, Si is looking much better, Julie and Danielle have been going to see him every evening and helping him along.”

“Can all you girls do the blue stuff—the healing I mean?” he added on seeing my incredulous look. I knew what he meant but it could quite easily have been a referral to pornography.

“I believe everyone can do it, it just takes time and patience.”

“And belief, perhaps?” he added.

“I don’t believe half of it, so I doubt it.”

“Yes but you’re an established angel, so in your case it probably doesn’t matter.”

“I have to get to see Sammi, where’s Trish?” I suddenly remembered she’d come with me.

“That child is amazing, she was talking with the guy who assists Sammi and showed him a few mistakes in his programming.”

“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”

“I mean one minute she’s watching a children’s video and the next she’s testing his firewall.”

“She used to spend hours with Sammi on those computers, she was the only one who knew what Sammi was on about half the time.”

“We’ve got some help from the military, they spend half their lives trying to keep the Russians and Chinese out of their systems. They tell me the Russians have equipment that makes ours look like rubbish, but we still have the edge on computing.”

“Like they said about the planes they’re going to put on our carriers if they ever finish them?”

“There is a story that the Yanks sent a new hi-tech destroyer up to the Baltic to show a presence and a Russian bomber flew round it a couple of times and disabled all the electronics.”

“So it couldn’t defend itself?” I gasped.

“It couldn’t move, so they could have sunk it at will.”

“And that’s supposed to be true?”

“According to a retired rear admiral I know, yes.”

“Perhaps we’d better not start a war with Russia, then.”

“Cathy, the way this lot have depleted the armed services, we couldn’t fight a war against the Argentine again—and they’ve just found oil and gas off the Falkland Islands. Typical isn’t it?”

“Gosh, that would be difficult to extract—it’s so cold down there and stormy.”

“If they want it badly enough, they’ll manage it.”

“You wouldn’t finance it would you?”

“Not without working out the risks, why?”

“As your environmental adviser, it would be better to be moving away from fossil fuels.”

“We have investments in green energy too, you know. We try to keep a balanced portfolio.”

“Where the greatest return is involved no doubt.”

“Not entirely. We try to act ethically, so have minimal moneys in armaments and chemicals used to make ordinance, but we have shares in aerospace because they are cutting edge industries; like we do in electronics and information technology companies. My first responsibility is protecting the integrity of the bank, so I try to keep us clean and respectable—our reputation is very important.”

“The cyber companies wouldn’t be into defence against internet attacks would they?”

“We have quite a broad spectrum interest in the cyber field, so some of it would, yes. Why?”

“Was Sammi involved?”

“A couple used her as a consultant, why?”

“I just wondered, that’s all. I have to go and see her, where’s Allie?”