Part   Seventeen   "A Following Wind"

 
Thursday 27th April 2017
 

Tammy reached for the aspirin after waking.

Richard had shrugged off her inebriated state the previous evening but Joan was definitely not impressed. Tammy's sin was that the second bottle had morphed into three, or four and she hadn't had the will to stop.

It wasn't all her own fault, Frances had reached Tammy's table when compensating everyone for the earlier disruption and the third chilled bottle of Pinot Grigio was in his hands. Tammy suspected that a few of the customers were ready to leave after the police removed the thieves and Francis was determined to make it worth staying, even if it cost him a few free drinks. Sandy and Joanne had joined them, without knowing about the earlier incident, and that was when the fourth bottle arrived. It all got a little messy, but the girls had fun. Finally Tammy was able to ask Frances what had happened.

"We had a bag snatched last Wednesday afternoon and an attempted snatch the previous Wednesday, so we were being extra vigilant today. The police have two in custody so hopefully that's the end of our little trouble."

Tammy's car had been delivered home by the time the taxi dropped her at home but there was no way was fit to drive on Thursday morning. Fortunately she had outstanding coursework and opted to stay at home to work on that.

It was late morning when Pru had brought a couple of letters to her. One had been clearly posted in the UK but the return address was: P.O. Box 1142. Arlington, Virginia.

The envelope contained a single piece of paper with a printed eight character code. There were no instructions, nothing. Tammy put it down and went down to get a coffee. By the time she was back, her email had a new message that simply told her to follow a link. Under normal circumstances any message like that would be instantly confined to the spam box but the URL looked familiar. Tammy clicked and the nearly blank screen asked for an authorisation code, she entered the one received earlier and watched as her instructions appeared:

Wattisham? Tammy looked it up, 405 nautical miles South but that assumed a straight path, and that straight path was mostly over the North Sea. Her theoretical range was 515nm on a full tank but Tammy knew she shouldn't take chances and, most importantly, what if she couldn't refuel at her destination?

Tammy considered the options for a refuelling stop then remembered that Durham Tees Valley International Airport, where she'd flown a week earlier, had an easily accessible fuel point and she knew where it was. It also made sense to book her destination as Teeside Airport, the local name, even if it was just going to be a refuelling and wee stop.

She called Smart Aviation and spoke to Jim.

"I'll need my plane all weekend, is it fuelled?"

"You did that when you flew back last Sunday. Having said that, you should check your plane before every flight, where are you going?"

"Teeside again, maybe onwards from there."

"Okay, when are you leaving?"

"By seven thirty tomorrow morning."

"I'll be here at seven so it'll be ready."

"Thanks Jim."

"Oh, Tammy, the fitters have finished installing that safe box you requested."

"Brilliant, cheers Jim."

Tammy tore open the other letter that was personally addressed, this one was from Smith, Smith and Smith and even Tammy baulked at the cost of her legal advice over the past few weeks. She separated the charges, as best she could, between personal costs and business costs then reached for the two chequebooks.

Her phone pinged and Tammy unlocked it with her fingerprint to see what the alert was about. Her office security system had registered movement in the stairwell but the camera looking down the stairs showed everything was okay, although that day's mail was laying on the internal mat.

It seemed clear that the motion detector had caught the postman delivering. She watched for a while and saw a figure come to the outside door, then move away. She accessed the cameras outside the door but these had a limited view with several blindspots. She'd queried this months earlier but had been told that CCTV overkill would be counter-productive.

Clearly, whoever had been outside had either moved quickly or knew how to avoid the cameras.

After lunch, which she took in her room, Tammy was very aware that some of the applications could be spurious or even fake, given the hate campaign that had been going on. She already knew that Judith Travers had applied, as Judith McDonald and this had been an immediate 'no' but two other applications also seemed odd, with neither of the names appearing on any of the systems she checked. The 'no thankyou' emails also bounced, confirming her suspicions.For other applicants, an inability to complete the form or even write English, a stated requirement, had Tammy binning the vast majority of the applicants.

Tammy found two more job applications in her office inbox, one was from Suzie.

"Hi Sis, look, I've been silly. can I have my job back?"

She hadn't expected this, how could she handle it? Tammy needed to sift the applications for interview but did she have to include Suzie? Over the next hour she'd eliminated all bar five of the applicants, four plus her sister. One of the interviewees was Fleur Younger, who Tammy knew from the University. Fleur had said that her coursework would take up two and a half days a week but she was happy to work Saturdays or later shifts to keep up her hours. In fairness, Suzie had only been there for twenty five hours in a typical week and had, when bothered, kept on top of the work. Tammy decided to contact all the interviewees and explain that although the job had been advertised for thirty five hours a week, it was now twenty five hours with the pay reduced pro-rata and did they wish to continue?

She had a reply almost straight away from Karen Smith, whose CV had looked impressive, possibly too good.

Sorry, but I can't live on that.
You should be ashamed of yourself!

Tammy didn't reply, but she realised that Karen's response showed that Tammy hadn't thought it through.

An email arrived from Fleur.

Hi Tammy
That suits me fine, and by my calculation I won't be paying any tax, or maybe just a little.
Thanks
Fleur

She decided to schedule the interviews for the following Friday, with two in the morning and two in the afternoon, leaving enough time so the applicants shouldn't meet each-other. She emailed the four remaining applicants: Suzie, Fleur, Michael Goss and Joey Cooper. Joey's CV showed that they had left school a year before and had most recently worked for an estates agency in Wick as maternity cover. What was unusual was that Joey had clicked the U option for gender. Tammy had searched social media but found no-one locally matching that name.

Michael Goss was the oldest applicant, in his sixties. His CV was extensive and he'd worked in aerospace for many years. In explaining why he had applied for the job he'd written that he was "bored".

She updated her calendar with the interview arrangements, but also booked Saturday morning as an overspill should anyone need it.

Suzie came to Tammy's room after dinner, having said nothing during the meal.

"Look, I'm having trouble getting a job right now, there's aren't many openings for accountants around here."

"Well, I'll interview you but don't assume you can walk back. It's less pay as well."

"Yeah, so I would have to find another job to make up the money."

"In which case, who was the stupid one?"

"I've already said I was. Isn't that enough?"

"No, you are one of four I have short-listed for interview, although I debated whether to even include you."

"Who are the others?"

"No, Suzie, I'm not telling you who else is being interviewed and you should know that."

"Whatever." She turned and walked out, closing the door loudly.

 
Friday 28th April 2017
 

Tammy was out of the door by six fifteen and drove down to the office to retrieve the mail from the previous day and checking that the place was secure. There were a couple of faxes but she left those for after the weekend.

She pulled up at the hanger at seven and parked her distinctive green Mini inside, out of sight. Her plane was outside and a fitter was checking it, even though Tammy was obliged to do the same checks herself. She walked into the office and checked the weather then called Wick Tower on the phone to lodge her flight plan. Jim was making a coffee.

"I don't suppose you want one?"

"It's difficult to find a loo when you're at fifteen thousand feet."

She went back into the fresh air and took the plane's clipboard from the fitter who told her there weren't any concerns. Regardless she walked around the plane then checked all the fluids, instrumentation and emergency kit. Satisfied, she started the engine then called the tower on the radio for permission to taxi. A few minutes later she was in the air flying south, a few minutes ahead of schedule.

She landed at Teeside at ten, helped by a following wind. Here she refuelled and was back in the air twenty five minutes later. She had lodged a new flight plan to Ipswich Airport, although this was just for subterfuge.

It was close to midday when she made radio contact with RAF Wattisham and requested permission to land. The controller initially refused permission before reversing that decision and granting permission, although a helicopter had priority. Tammy made her final approach a few minutes later and was on the ground by twelve fifteen. She hadn't used the loo at Teeside so her first concern was her bladder, but first she had to find out where to park her plane.

A military Jeep containing two men approached her and a large "Follow Me" sign was mounted on the rear, so she did as requested, ending up outside a hanger. She was told to cut the engine, she made a note of the fuel remaining before one of the guards told her to step down.

"Your ID and orders, please, madam?"

Tammy reached into her shoulder bag and retrieved her Security Service ID.

"Thank you. Are you armed?"

"Yes, it's in my plane in a locked box. I have two Glocks with me."

"We'll need your civilian licence and we'll have to impound them."

"Licence yes, impound no." Tammy was already removing the necessary paperwork from her bag, including her 'get out of jail free' warrant. "Now, if you could hurry up, I really need the loo."

Out of the corner of her eye she could see Captain Marcus Wade approaching.

"Hold on everyone, I think we can resolve whatever is keeping Tammy here?"

He was holding an envelope which contained an ID card and a single sheet of A4.

"I have your orders and this is going to be useful, it's a NATO military ID."

One of the guards examined the ID and declared it genuine, whilst the other examined the single page of orders that specified she would fly into RAF Wattisham for up to five days and was required to carry her weapons.

"That appears to be in order."

"Is that all? No, forget that and tell me how to find the nearest loo?"

Marcus pointed inside the hanger, "in there, on the left."

Tammy was back five minutes later having freshened herself. The guards and their Jeep had gone and Marcus was stood by her plane.

"It's not too bad, what's the maximum speed?"

"A hundred and thirty eight knots, but I think I was doing close to a hundred and fifty this morning, there's a strong wind coming off the Arctic and it gave me a bit of a push."

"Okay, but you're still behind schedule. Where's your case?"

"Behind the pilot's seat. I'll have to get it as my weapons are in a box set into the floor there."

"Okay, leave the plane unlocked, it's quite safe here."

Marcus led Tammy off to a building a few hundred metres away and had her sign in at the base reception. "I'll show you to your room for the next few days then it's lunch and your briefing."

"Who else is here?"

"You'll meet the crew at the briefing."

Tammy found a small safe in her room and put her Glock 26 in it, along with spare ammunition for both weapons. Her '19 stayed in her shoulder bag.

"Lunch?"

"Sure, lead on."

Tammy was full of questions but there were civilians as well as Army personnel on the base. Then she spotted a pair of police officers.

"What is this place used for?"

"Come on Tammy, didn't you do any research?"

"I've been busy since I received notice that I was supposed to come here."

"It wouldn't have taken a minute to have found the answer to your question."

"Okay, okay."

Marcus took her into a canteen that was adjacent to the main reception, she wasn't hungry so just grabbed a filled roll and a bottle of water. She looked around the room and spotted a face she vaguely recognised.

"I think I know that pilot?"

"Personally?"

"I'm not sure, I've just know that I've seen his face before."

"Considering that he's a ruddy Prince I should think you would recognise him?"

"Oh, what's he doing here?"

"He flies an air ambulance out of Cambridge but they can refuel here, rumour is that he's packing it in later in the year."

"Oh, who else is here?"

"The Army Air Corps, RAF, Suffolk Police's helicopters, two Air Ambulance and a gliding club. There's a museum as well, from when this was a fighter base and a USAAF base during the second world war."

"Before yesterday I'd never heard of the place."

"Ignorance is a luxury you can't afford, the key to any mission is being prepared and that means research."

"Not that I know what I'm doing here?"

"That will become clear, we're due in the briefing in ten minutes."

"Okay."

The briefing room was a bunker, several levels down, that was almost certainly EMP proof. Tammy's phone was displaying 'no signal' but several WiFi networks were available.

"Turn that off."

They reached a closed door with an adjacent display board, the board said the room was booked for Broadsword from 1pm to 7pm. Marcus opened the door an ushered Tammy inside, locking the door behind him. He took a sheet from a wall dispenser and wrote the date and time on the top before signing it.

"This session is classified Broadsword Top Secret. Please sign here."

Tammy scanned the simple sheet, it simply warned her not to disclose any information she might be privy to, on pain of prosecution.

"Okay, so what am I doing here?"

"You will be evaluated and so far I'm not impressed."

"So I'm wasting my time?"

"No, Tammy, you might be wasting my time, but let's see if you can recover from that?"

"Point taken."

"Good, now we'll put you through exercises, go over previous mission reports and see whether you're a good fit for the team."

"Talking of which, where are they?"

"They're here." Marcus picked up a remove control and pressed a button. A black wall was revealed to be a bank of monitors, the main central image was of a chair in a nondescript room. Tammy watched as a figure walked to the chair then sat down.

"Kerri!"

"Hello Tammy, what are we going to do with you?"