Part   Twenty One   "Interviews"

 
Friday 5th May 2017
 

Tammy had been back at the University on Tuesday and Wednesday, followed by a day of coursework at home; she was actually happy to be back in that stable and predictable environment after her weird weekend. The end of year exams were approaching and that certainly focussed everyone's mind, or at least the one who wanted to succeed, regardless of her career options she still wanted a meaningful qualification. By midweek Tammy had stopped contemplating on the previous weekend.

She'd made it into the office a few times to deal with urgent matters but Friday was the first time she could spent the whole day there, given that she needed to find the right employee to handle the day to day work. Her first interview was at ten and that was Fleur, she had an hour so wasn't rushing, she'd read Fleur's CV nearer the time so it was fresh in her mind. She'd only just managed to put the kettle on when her mobile rang. Tammy answered, seeing the caller was the Mill Theatre. "Hello?"

"Ah. There you are, Tammy." Stephen McIntosh returned the greeting. "This may seem odd, but there is a large package for you at the theatre. Might I ask why you would have that delivered here? I was under the impression you had offices of your own."

Tammy replied. "I do Sir, er, Stephen, and I wasn't expecting anything. Could you tell me whom the package is from?"

"Certainly. It's marked as coming from Amazon in the States." Stephen replied. "The return address is P.O. Box 1142. Arlington, Virginia."

Tammy wanted to laugh into the phone, but managed to contain to only sound amused. "My apologies for the confusion, someone obviously got their wires crossed. I'll come right down and collect it."

"As I said, it's quite large, I hope you're not on foot as even the courier complained!"

It only took a few minutes to drive to the theatre but it had been a while since her last trip along Mill Lane and it now looked as if the businesses near the theatre weren't doing as well as she remembered, with various signs of vacant premises. Stephen seemed to be on his own and had the package on a trolley, to make it easier to handle.

Tammy felt she was fighting the traffic on the way back, even though it was barely ten minutes since she'd left the office. When she did get back even her parking spot had been grabbed and she ended some distance from her office. Her former headmaster's warning was very apt as she struggled up the stairs with the package. "Okay Kerri, what have you sent me this time?" She took the package into her secure room and dropped it on the desk.

Inside looked to be some type of backpack, although Tammy didn't recognise the brand. She carefully opened the catches, making mental notes as she went.

The logo stated it was made by Osprey and was the Tempest 30 model, Tammy didn't know the brand but it seemed to be specifically for women that day-hike. When she opened it, however, increasingly curious as she lifted each item out of the bag. In separate pockets she found a satellite phone with a 220V charger and a handheld GPS unit. In the main compartment; a laptop in a padded weather-proof bag with charger, what looked like cellular stick and a cord that could connect to the satellite phone. A rolled up object turned out to be a flexible solar panel that had ports to charge via USB cables.

Tammy lifted the backpack out of the packaging and found another bag underneath. Things came into shocking reality when she opened this bag to find a women's bullet-resistant vest; accordingly to attached tag it was the kind worn under clothing as a last resort. She dug further, under that were four hard-cases: two black, one orange and one white. One contained boxes of .40 calibre ammunition called Black Talon by Winchester. The other box contained a pistol and loaded magazines. The white held generic medical supplies and the orange held survival equipment. Hidden at the bottom was a packet of money of various countries and several credit cards in the name of Theresa Robbins. Tammy checked the shipping label, it had been sent the previous Friday so Kerri must have been told Tammy's alias before the weekend.

The door buzzer sounded. Tammy went to the CCTV monitor and spotted Fleur outside, fifteen minutes early. She pressed the door release. "Come on up." She quickly looked around the office, closed the secure room's door and made certain she had nothing untoward on show just as Fleur reached the top of the stairs.

"Come in." Tammy finally put the kettle back on.

"I'm a bit early, but did you get my message?"

"No? I've been busy." Tammy reached for her phone, there was a missed call and two text messages. Fleur was withdrawing her application.

"Oh, sorry, I've been pre-occupied, but you didn't need to come round here."

"When I didn't get an answer, I thought it was better that I told you as soon as possible."

"Why don't you want to do it?"

"Stephen's got an arts council grant and he can afford to employ me for sixteen hours a week, that suits me."

"Oh, I didn't know about the grant?"

"It's not been announced, but I've been told I'll get paid until April next year."

"That's excellent news."

"Yeah, apparently Stephen's been itching to tell me for the past fortnight but he finally phoned me this morning, I've just come from the theatre."

"Oh, okay."

"Apparently you had a package delivered there?"

"Some mix up with an American distributor, still not sure how it happened."

Tammy started to make her coffee. "Drink?"

"No thanks, I've got a few things to do."

Fleur left so Tammy decided to read up the next candidate's CV. Her eleven o'clock appointment was with Michael Goss, the oldest of the applicants. He certainly had claimed to have had the most experience, although it would have been difficult to verify his educational certificates from nearly fifty years earlier, Tammy also suspected the companies he'd worked for had gone out of business or subsumed into global conglomerates.

By eleven no-one had arrived and by ten past the hour Tammy was pretty sure he wouldn't be coming. She put the kettle back on and pulled out Joey Cooper's CV for later that afternoon. When the buzzer did sound, at eleven twenty, Tammy looked at the monitor but couldn't see anything. The buzzer sounded again so she answered.

"Hello, can I help you?"

"It that Smart Properties?"

"Yes, just as the sign says over the door. I can't see you on my camera, apologies."

"You're bloody difficult to find!"

"I have a unique postcode, you just google it and your phone tells you were to go."

"Google?"

Tammy opted to walk down to the street level, outside was a four wheeled mobility buggy and a gent was astride, his walking stick behind him.

"Well, help me out and tell the manager that I'm here, young lady."

"I am the manager, in fact I own the company and the building, Mr Goss." She offered him an arm, although that was causing her some issues.

Michael Goss grabbed his stick roughly and walked towards the door, which had swung shut. Tammy used her pass to unlock it.

"Stairs?"

"It's a first floor office. I do have a stair lift fitted, however, so I'm fully compliant."

"I can't stand stairlifts, got a bungalow so I don't need to go up."

"All this information was in the email."

"My daughter handled that for me, I don't want to touch any technology, why is life so complicated, tell me?"

"I can't argue", replied Tammy, "but a necessary evil these days."

"Bah! Fiddlesticks! The kids in school don't even know how to use a sliderule or log tables, what would they do if their calculators stopped working?"

"Would you like to come up? I did just boil the kettle."

"With the best will, this doesn't sound like my cup of tea, I told my daughter I was bored, not that I wanted to go climbing!"

Tammy felt a few drops of Highland rain and guessed that much more of the wet stuff was imminent, the sixty year old felt the same.

"Give me a hand, dear, I'm going home. The rain cover is in the box at the back."

Ten minutes later Michael Goss was trundling along the road whilst Tammy was trying to dry out. So far, her day had been a literal washout.

She went back into her secure room plugged in the devices in order to charge them up. She opened the laptop but found a note instructing her to go to an area out of cellular range before turning on, and to turn nothing on until it was needed. That would have to wait.

The rain was easing so she grabbed an umbrella then locked the office, and walked around to the bakery.

By two she was nearly dry, although the streets outside were still very wet with continuing drizzle. It wasn't a great surprise when Suzie messaged to say she didn't have a lift so couldn't get down to the office, from wherever she was. Tammy decided to do nothing, not even to reply, Suzie had had a week to make her arrangements and there was no special favours because she was family.

Back in the secure room Tammy repacked all the equipment, although the hard shell cases wouldn't all fit in the backpack and she would have to come up with another solution. Getting the weapon and the ammunition out of sight was, however, paramount.

The buzzer sounded bang on three, Tammy could see a teenager on the monitor and pressed the release.

"Hi, are you Miss Smart?"

"Call me Tammy, you're Joey?"

"Yes, err, can I hang this somewhere?"

Joey was slipping out an anorak and Tammy wasn't surprised to see it was wet. Joey's t-shirt and jeans looked fine, everything was a neutral colour.

"Hang it over that chair." Tammy pointed across the office.

Joey returned and sat in a chair Tammy had made ready. "So, you left school last year?"

"Yes, I'm not ready to go to the college."

"So you did a gap year?"

"Sort of, I've been mum's office administrator full-time since last summer, she owned Cooper's Estate Agency. I've been working in that office since I was twelve."

"So how are you with the usual software packages?"

"I do have certificates from online tests, but I can promise you I can build a relational database with my eyes closed."

"Okay, so why are you after work with me?"

"Mum's sold out to a national chain, she's decided to retire."

"I don't remember Coopers?"

"Mum's business was in Dundee, I needed to get out of there and I chose Caithness as I had heard it was a safe area."

"Problems?"

"Yeah."

"Clean break?"

"Yes."

"I did look for you on social media, but couldn't find you."

"I closed my accounts down, it was getting too much."

"Is there anything that you want to tell me? Convictions, trouble with authorities?"

"No, none of that, unless you count teachers bullying me."

"Ah, that I can relate to. So, your only reference was your mother, wasn't there anyone else?"

"There's my father, but he's working away and I rarely see him. Mum and Dad separated a few years back."

Tammy grabbed a pen. "Name?"

"Lieutenant Colonel John Cooper, he's in the army in Suffolk. Mum's paying him off from the business and the next stage is to finalise the divorce, in my opinion he's a bit of a bigot and a chauvinist. Once I'm eighteen I don't have to see him, if I don't want to."

"Oh."

"I went down to see him a few months ago, visiting rights and all that, place called Wattisham. I'm not doing that again."

"Oh, damn."

"Eh?"

"I remembered something, need to go somewhere before it gets too late."

Joey wasn't convinced, "Okay."

"Is there anything you'd like to ask me?"

"How much travelling is there?"

"An occasional property inspection, or letting people in. Most of the properties are commercial, not residential."

"That sounds good, do you get personal callers coming here?"

"Not as a rule, I get emails, calls and a few faxes."

"Fair enough. Are there any other employees?"

"Strictly speaking no, but I have a PA back at home who does the payroll, pension scheme etc. When can you start?"

"I'm still moving my things here, how about a week from now?"

"That suits me, welcome on board."

"Thanks, by the way my Dad doesn't know where I am."

"Okay, but I will have to do some background checks, by the way, but unless something comes up I'll see you at nine on the fifteenth." Tammy held out her hand, which Joey gently shook.

"Oh, do you have a driving licence or passport with you? I also need your national insurance number."

"I have my provisional licence, only had it a few weeks. I'll have to email my NI number to you." The plastic card came out of a jeans pocket, Tammy copied both sides and handed it back. "Okay, See you in a week."

Once Joey had left the building, Tammy made a call on her secure landline.

"Personnel Security."

"It's Tamara Smart, I need a few checks done, please."

"I'm sorry, you're not authorised." The call was ended.

A minute later the secure phone rang.

"Miss Smart?"

"Yes?"

"I'm Lorna, I look after any odd requests from staff and former staff. Apologies, but I understand you needed a few checks done?"

"I do, and I wouldn't call unless it was relevant."

"I see, as far as I can see you're still on a sabbatical?"

"I am, but I am still employed by the Service?"

"You are, but you're not operational and that is where the confusion is."

"Right, look, I'm about to employ a new member of staff and I need a basic counter terrorism check done."

"I see. Name?"

Tammy read from the driving licence. "Joey Cooper, no middle name, born 31 August 1999 in Dundee."

"Male or female?"

"I don't know, driving licence doesn't say."

"Yes it does, tell me the long driver number."

Tammy read it out.

"Okay, that was issued to a female. I can see she has an address in Dundee, but you're in Thurso?"

"Joey has just relocated. Her father's in the army, by the way."

"Yes, the army cleared her for access, basic only. What's your connection?"

"Joey will be my new office administrator."

"Do you leave restricted items on show in your office?"

"Not as a rule, but I don't want to be watching my back all the time."

"Understandable. Right now there's no flags, but if you want any real security clearance then she'll have to submit a security questionnaire."

"That probably wouldn't be desirable right now."

"Indeed."

Tammy finished the call, then dropped Pru Campbell an email with Joey's personal details, although her NINo would have to wait. An out of office reply reminded Tammy that Pru was on holiday and wouldn't be back until the end of the following week, at least that still gave enough time to process the end of month payroll.

She looked out of a window and spotted a parking space close to the street door. She hurried to her green Mini Cooper to move it closer.

Her new toys were loaded into the well by the passenger seat and she drove out of town, initially towards Scrabster but turned onto the A836 which headed away from the coast. After a few miles she pulled over and checked her mobile, seeing that she was out of range; it didn't even offer 'Emergency Calls only'.

She pulled the newly charged laptop out of the backpack and turned it on, a moment later the boot-up screen came on and she heard an automated voice.

"State Full Name." The Laptop ordered.

Tammy spoke clearly. "Tamara Smart."

"Voice Print confirmed. Access Authorized. Network test initiated, no network found."

The main screen came up and she saw a small dolphin icon in the middle of the desktop. Tammy clicked on it.

A video window opened and the image of Kerri smiled at her. Tammy's eyebrows shot upward to see her acquaintance wearing a form-fitting black outfit and loaded with weapons for an assault on some fortress.

"Hey there Tammy." Kerri greeted.

Tammy gawked. "Jesus, Kerri; you're all tooled up!"

Kerri smirked. "Gotcha! This is a recording, not a live feed."

Tammy rolled her eyes, but continued to listen.

"I sent you a Bail-out bag. It has all you need if you have to get out Dodge, fast. The electronics have been modified. Only you can use the laptop. The Sat-phone has encryption feature. Not NSA, CIA or any other alphabet agency you know, but it can adapt to any network you connect to." Kerri explained.

Tammy smiled and said to herself. "That's helpful."

Kerri went on. "The survival and medical gear come from all over the world through civilian vendors and untraceable. The pistol and ammo come from...uh, you don't want to know. The laptop and phone as well. Let's just say that I was able to get them and can't be traced back to me."

A young voice from off-screen commented with a giggle. "Since we don't exist."

"Call it a 'bureaucratic deniable absence of existence'. We're around, but we're not anywhere. We don't have a black budget, no-one knows what color our budget is! Your situation isn't much different. You'll do things, you just won't be operational for anybody, fully deniable, even between sister intelligence agencies.

"Now, you're wondering where to keep the bag. Answer: do not store it in a place people would know you keep things. You have to hide it in a place easily accessible to you, but nobody will find it. Examples of places not to; any of your properties, neighbours, the theatre, your old school or that local hotel. Put it somewhere that has no connection to you at all, but you know very well and check without being noticed as checking on it." Kerri instructed.

Tammy sighed. "My brain is going to melt sorting that out."

Kerri continued. "Despite what you might think, there's some room left in the pack that's for you to add personal items, change of clothes and some shoes. Go casual. A pair of running or hiking shoes and the clothes should be what you don't care if you get dirty in. Jeans and shirt. Also a lightweight jacket to keep off wind and rain. Basically, this is to get you to your bolt-hole. A safe location to initiate your own exfiltration plan. Sorry, couldn't get you a ghost-passport."

"Wrap it up. I need to get in the air." A male voice said off-screen.

"Aye, Sir." Kerri nodded to the speaker the turned back. "Okay Tammy. That's it. Good luck. Buy Marcus and the Colonel a drink for me. Just say it's from your 'American Cousin'. Head on a swivel, girl. You're aren't paranoid, people ARE out to get you. OUT."

The video stopped then disappeared, as did the icon for it.

"How am I going to sort that out?" Tammy asked, knowing that she wouldn't get a response. She started the car and turned it around, heading back into town and straight past home. There was one sensible option, but Kerri might not like it.