A New Style of Education

by Karen Page

Part 69

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Part 69

Sunday 23rd April 2006

After lunch, I was asked to report to Mr Hobsons office. Ad hoc summonses were unusual, and for Helen not to be included, made me thing it wasn't something year related. If it was Beta related, then I'd be seeing Mr Taylor, not Mr Hobson, and probably Stacy would be there too. It was with slight trepidation that I went to see the headmaster. I couldn't think of anything I'd done wrong.

When I got to his office, his door was wide open, and I saw Rachel was there with him. They both looked up when they heard me give a discreet cough at the door.

"Come on in and join us," Mr Hobson called out jovially.

I sat down on the settee and waited. Mr Hobsons attitude seemed to indicate that I wasn't in trouble.

"An opportunity has arisen to test your specialist skills knowledge. A company situated in London has been approached for a week's 'Work Experience'. The head of IT Security is looking forward to you sitting with one of his teams to learn how they work."

He paused to see if I had any questions. I had many, but decided to wait for them to tell me more.

Rachel picked up the conversation. "If I drive you to the train station, would you feel comfortable going into London yourself?"

I thought about it and confirmed I was confident in traveling alone. I'd been to London with Helen, Andy and Stacy, and travelled on the underground by myself, so this wasn't much different. Yet, I'd not been outside of Hayfield alone since... The image of the abduction in Iran flashed through my mind, and I quickly pushed it back. I hoped the momentary mental shudder didn't show.

"This doesn't make sense. Using the train and underground won't be an issue. However, IT Security wouldn't want to discuss their setups with outsiders. Their security would be confidential. Why would you think they would want to show me?"

Rachel looked enquiringly at Mr Hobson, who have a small smile like he knew something that neither of us did.

"You are there to learn what it is like going to work. How to interact with others there. The content is less important, though if you pick up any tricks, I'm sure you will impart them to Ms Toms."

"What's the name of the company, and where abouts in London are they?"

"GWPP Services. They're about a fifteen-minute walk from Euston."

"And what do they do?"

"Why don't you do some research? If you have any more questions, you know where to find me. I'll send the address and your contact via email. Oh, and Ms Toms will have a laptop for you later this evening."

That was a signal to me that this chat was finished. I rose and said, "Thank you, sir."

I noticed that Rachel was beside me as we walked down the corridor. "When you mentioned about the train journey, I had a quick flashback on the abduction."

Rachel was silent, and we kept ambling along. After a few moments she eventually said, "Every event in life, good or bad, impacts us. I'd have been worried if what happened in Iran didn't have some impact."

Just mentioning the issue gave me some relief. I mentioned that.

"Sometimes that's all that is needed. Are you okay to do the journey alone or would you like some company?"

"Can I let you know later?"

"You know how to get hold of me if you need me."

I wandered back to my bedroom. Helen had said she was going to do some revision, so knew she would be in one of the small study rooms off the library. I liked to spread out when I was studying and found the tiny rooms too small.

Alone, I put on some music and switched on my computer. I was soon browsing the internet for this company. Like most companies, it had a website and this one was rather flashy. Yet what they did still eluded me. I started to look elsewhere and came across an article where the CEO had won an award in Italy.

I opened it up and skimmed the article about how a flood had washed away a bridge, which cut off a small town. The company brought in a team which managed a replacement in record time. There were no pictures of the people involved or any other glimpse into the company.

I leaned back in my chair and thought. It didn't make sense to me. Why did Mr Hobson suggest I look up the company if there wasn't anything there? How were they chosen if there wasn't anything about them?

Monday 17th April 2006

I'd thought about wearing a suit when I'd travelled with Ms Toms to Edinburgh but had thought better of it. Today I didn't really have a choice; the company I was going to expected males to wear a suit. Just like my trip to Scotland, I was leaving Hayfield long before breakfast was served, so helped myself to breakfast cereal that were already out.

When I was ready, I found Rachel waiting for me with a car parked outside the front door. "Do you have your travel PDA and your wallet?"

I tapped my pockets to make sure. "Yes."

"Great. Here is your train ticket. Keep it safe or you will have to purchase your ticket back."

I placed it in my jacket pocket and climbed into the car.

Travelling into London wasn't difficult. I'd done it before, but never at rush hour. When I'd gone previously the train was mostly empty and we'd had our pick of seats. Today the train was full, and I had to stand.

The commuter's behaviour was something I hadn't experienced before. The train was packed but was almost silent. There were people reading books or newspapers, some reading emails on their Blackberry. But nobody talked to each other. Nobody struck up a conversation. A train full of strangers, all going to London but nobody caring about each other.

I felt slightly overwhelmed. When we pulled into Euston, I followed the stream of passengers down the platform, through the open barriers into the train station. It was there that the nerves started. I'd got my exams in a month, and yet I was not studying but going on work experience. Why now? Why me? Why this company?

Finding the building wasn't an issue. Yesterday evening, I'd looked at the London A-Z that we had in the school library and seen the route was straightforward. What I did miss though was Andy. Walking along the streets in London invoked thoughts of the time I'd done this with Andy after the Russian trip. Now I was alone.

I walked up to the door, and they slid open. Initially, this felt like a total first and felt lost. Looking around, though, I spied a desk with some people behind it. A reception, just like we had when I went to a hotel. Rachel once said to me "Use what I'd learnt and adapt to new situations". It never felt so true.

"I'm here to see Robert Spencer," I said, hoping I sounded confident.

"And your name?"

"David Grant."

Her fingers tapped on her keyboard. "Yes, I found you. You're here for a week. Please look at the end of the desk."

I did as she instructed and saw a camera. I quickly smiled before I got a "Thank you."

"Here is a security pass," she said, attaching it to the end of a lanyard before passing it to me. "As a visitor, it should be on display all the time while you are in the office. You will need this for passing through the security barriers, and through doors inside the office."

I slipped the lanyard over my head and peeked at the picture. It wasn't very good.

"Please don't lose it," the receptionist continued. "If you do, then please let security know. You will need to hand it back when you leave on Friday. Now, if you take a seat, I will let Mr Spencer know you have arrived."

Waiting is one thing I hated. Waiting when you didn't know what was happening was worse. It reminded me of the wait to hear the punishment after the London trip. Yet today wasn't a punishment, it was the unknown. It was the waiting.

People who worked there coming and going from the building. I saw them go up to a gate and using their security pass it opened to let them through. It reminded me of the gates on the tube. Once they were through, they disappeared round a corner. What was beyond that corner, hidden from view? Only a worker would know.

Time passed, and I waited. What if they'd forgotten about me? What if they didn't want me after all and were just leaving me here? What if I'd not done things correctly? Had I got the correct date? I took a deep breath and pulled myself together. The receptionist had said I was expected. I checked my watch, thinking I'd waited at least an hour, but I saw it had only been fifteen minutes. I had been early and was still before the time I was due there.

I eventually spied a man who appeared to be in his late twenties, or early thirties come towards me instead of towards the security barriers.

"Are you David Grant?" he enquired.

"Yes," I said, standing up.

"Rob Spencer." He offered his hand, and I tentatively shook it. "Let's go up. We have a team meeting first thing, so it's good you're here for that. I believe you're then visiting various departments to get a rough overview of what makes this company tick. Then for the rest of the week you will get a deeper taste of Infrastructure Security."

I followed his lead by pressing the badge reception had given me to the top of the gate. A small sign flashed green, and the Perspex panel swung open to let me in.

"Do you get claustrophobic?" Rob asked as we walked around the corner into the area I couldn't see from reception.

"No."

"Good, as some hate this."

There was a door which slid open as we approached. There was a small area, with another sliding door which remained shut. After a few seconds, with nobody else joining us, the door leading from the entrance lobby slid shut.

It was a few seconds before there was a beep and the inner door slid open.

Quite effective. If someone had jumped over the first security barrier, they wouldn't get through this secure area.

On the way, Rob pointed out where the toilets were, and where the onsite café was. All important things.

"Do you get many school children in for work experience?" I asked as we headed towards the meeting room where I'd meet his colleagues and boss.

"You are the first that I've ever seen," he responded. "There might have been to other departments, but certainly never in IT and I've worked here five years."

I didn't get chance to ask anything else, as we arrived at the meeting room. It was much larger than I expected, with just a few people there, but as I took a seat next to Rob more arrived.

"Hi David, I'm Paul Harrington the head of IT Security."

I looked across at Rob, who smiled at my inquisitive face. "I'm just in charge of the Infrastructure Security. Paul is my boss."

I looked back at Paul and said, "Pleased to meet you. Sorry, this is all new to me."

"It is for us too," Paul said reassuring me. "This is the first time we've had someone for work experience in this department and thought that a wider appreciation of where Infrastructure Security fits in with the broader department would be a worthy start. I believe you are visiting other areas of the business and then back with us later. It looks like everyone's here now, so let me get things started and we will have chance to have a chat over the next few days."

I looked around and saw everybody had laptops in front of them, so I quickly got mine out. I didn't want to look the odd one out.

"Nice laptop," muttered Rob.

It seemed strange making notes on it. I normally used my PDA, but I didn't even want to show my travel PDA. It was too bespoke to show a company like this.

* * *

Rachel picked me up from the station, but the chat was non-existent as I fell asleep on the journey home. I got in just as everyone was going to eat. I'd missed orchestra practice.

"So," asked Helen as we waited for the bell to collect the food. "What was it like?"

The rest of the conversations at the table quickly ended and everybody listened to what I said.

"Interesting. I was quite nervous at the beginning, but I was well looked after. The people going to work on the train are weird though. They don't talk to each other."

"Huh?" came out of Erika's mouth.

"I know, right?" I responded. "They just sat there reading a book or a newspaper. I'm sure I'd have heard if someone had farted."

"Keep it clean," instructed Dan with a slight frown.

I didn't think that farted was unclean but gave a slight nod of acceptance.

"And the company?" Helen asked. "How was that?"

"Interesting. I sat in a few meetings and went to a few different departments to get a picture of what different roles do what. The IT stuff I got on with fine. The finance department was just plain weird."

"Weird?"

"It's probably something I just don't understand. They 'posted' things and setup things called accruals. Perhaps we will learn about things like that when we're older."

"You'll cover things like that in Business Studies next year," promised Dan. "I'm sure then things like that will be a lot clearer."

"So, what did I miss today?" I enquired and the conversation moved away from what I'd been doing.

That night, when we were getting ready for bed, Helen asked about my work experience. "What does the company you're visiting do?"

"I visited three different departments and discussed what each of them do; yet I've still no idea what the company does."

"Perhaps things will be clearer tomorrow?"

"I'm not sure. I'm back in the infrastructure security area tomorrow learning one of the mundane jobs. I'm helping someone analyse log files for intrusion patterns."

"I thought there would be computer programs that did that."

"There are, but there are only so much they can do. There's nothing like scanning them manually. Computer algorithms are being more sophisticated, but until AI gets more advanced boring tasks will still have to be done. So how was your day?"

"Quiet. With only two classes and the rest just revision. You didn't miss anything. Oh, and I've got a meeting tomorrow evening with Andy."

"How's the handover going?"

"Great. Almost finished, which is good because-"

Helen trailed off and I saw she was trying to hold back tears. I moved across and we embraced and sobbed on each other shoulders. Stacy and Andy leaving wasn't something we discussed, as we knew it was painful to both of us.

Tuesday 18th April 2006

Day two of my work experience started just like the first. The train journey was the same, and the people just as uncommunicative. It was less busy, so I got a seat. However, when I tried to talk to the man sat next to me, he looked at me like I was an alien. He muttered a monosyllabic response and that was the end of it.

I'd been instructed that when I got there, to go to the IT department. I was surprised to not be escorted but did as I'd been instructed. Well almost. I stopped by at the staff café and picked up a coffee to take with me. They didn't have as big a range as a proper coffee shop, but it gave me chance to try a different type.

"Morning, David," called out Rob as I walked into his section's office.

"Hi," I responded, suddenly feeling nervous.

"Let me introduce you to Charlie. He is the one who is going to show you the logs. I'd like you to go through them. I hope you have questions after you've finished. Jot down any findings or queries and we will talk after.

We walked across to the back of the area, and a young man in his early twenties was tapping away at a computer.

"Charlie, this is David."

"Hi David," said Charlie, getting out of his chair. "I'm told you know how to read these logs. Let's see how you get on with a big corporate log, rather than your school log. I have a computer setup with access to raw logs, the syslog server, and our custom analyser."

"Come and see me in ninety minutes," said Rob, turning to go back to his desk.

I started looking at the logs, and Charlie sat next to me as I started shifting through the headline details.

"These got mentioned in yesterday's meeting," I mentioned. "Though you weren't there."

"Yesterday I was ill. So, Nicola sat in for me. Anyway, that’s just the high level from the perimeter firewall. Keep digging."

As I trawled through the data, I found internal firewall logs and that data was many times larger than the perimeter. After a few minutes of trawling, I was having trouble visualising the network structure. I started to draw a diagram based on the different subnets I'd found, but after a while I put my pen down and looked across at Charlie. He had a grin on his face.

"Do you have a network diagram?" I asked.

He leaned across and saw my scribble. "Not a bad attempt. I'm sure you would have refined it more if you were on your own, but I like that you asked. Go and see Rob and ask him."

"A setup?"

"You are here to gain experience in work. Rob thought this would be a nice way to show that nobody knows everything, and it is okay to ask. I think he'll be impressed that you did."

I went to see Rob, who looked away from his monitor as I approached. "How's it going?"

"I think I need a better understanding of the network to appreciate the data."

"I agree. Is there anything else that would help?"

"An overview of the company. I've spoken with a few departments, but without an overview the network structure won't make sense. Things like why the network is segmented the way it is."

"Nicely thought out."

Rob picked up his phone and dialled a number. "Are you okay to see David now? ... Yes, he asked ... Okay, I will bring him up."

When he'd hung up, Rob turned to me. "You can leave your coat here but take your laptop and briefcase with you. You will continue looking at the data tomorrow. The rest of today is you learning about the company structure and how the network is designed to meet that vision."

Instead of going up in the lift, we went out of a door, and up the stairs. Where the office was well laid out and smart, the stairs were just painted concreate. I supposed that if there was a fire, you wanted something that wouldn't burn.

When we exited the stairwell, we went into a different world. Where my description of the IT area was smart, this was plush. This wasn't carpet tiles, but a carpet with pile.

"Wow," I uttered.

"This is where big customers come to meet with the company directors. The only person who has an office on this floor is the CEO, Yvonne. She is also the owner."

At the end of the corridor, we went through a door into an office. I was introduced. "Sue, this is David Grant. David, Sue is Yvonne's personal assistant."

"Thanks Rob. I'll make sure that David gets to the infrastructure team after lunch."

After lunch? It wasn't even half-ten. How long did they expect me to be in with the CEO?

Rob disappeared. Sue turned to me and said, "Go straight into the office. Yvonne is expecting you. Close the door behind."

I went in and when I saw Yvonne my brain went into overdrive. So, the CEO of this company is also the Chair of Governors at the school. I closed the door behind me and took out my phone and placed it in bug sweep mode. I didn't want anything I say in here to be overheard.

"Thank you for having me in your company for work experience," I said, moving into the room.

Yvonne saw what I was doing and raised her eyebrows a bit but said in a neutral way. "It's good to see exceptional children early. We can get them interested in working here before they get nabbed by other companies."

My quick scan revealed nothing, and I put my phone away. I sat down on the offered chair opposite her desk.

"Do you often do that when you come into a room?"

I became a bit nervous but thought it would be good to justify myself. "The only reason I did today was because I presumed you would want this chat confidential. I wouldn't have done it with someone that I didn't know."

"How many times have we met?"

"Three times that I know about. The BAFTAs, when we came back from the last concert and today. You might have been at the school concert before we went to Paris, but I don't remember seeing you."

"I kept out of sight at the BAFTA party. So, when did you link me to that?"

"The meeting after the last concert. Your voice sounded familiar, but I couldn't place it. I worked it out that night."

Yvonne didn't say anything more on that but moved back to our planned conversation.

"You wanted to know about this company. We have two areas we deal with. First the main part of the company is we design and construct buildings. Our second area is we deal with is crisis situations. As a public example, we assisted in getting a bridge rebuilt in Italy when the old one got washed away in a flood."

"Why the high level of security?"

"We have offices in several countries, and some of our customers are governments. They tend to have a high demand for security."

"How does your work at the school relate to your work here."

"It doesn't. That would be unethical. Your school expansion wasn't done by us, but one of our competitors. Anyway, you are here for work experience, not my relationship with the school."

I paused for a moment and looked past Yvonne at the collection of photographs she had on a sideboard. A picture of a young woman caught my eye, who I presumed was Yvonne's daughter, but then I spotted a picture of Mr Taylor. It was several years old, but in my mind, there was no mistaking who it was.

I almost asked if they were family, but I didn't feel it was appropriate. "What type of work experience is this? Generic or future employment?"

"That is a really good question."

Yvonne paused but didn't respond any more to my question. Instead, she reached into a folder and pulled out a sheet of A3 and passed it across the desk. "That is the current company structure. Let me explain the different departments and how they relate."

I listened and made a few notes on my laptop. But for the majority, I just listened and took it in.

* * *

"I've been accepted," said Stacy with glee.

I glanced across at Helen, but she didn't have any more details than I did.

"Accepted?"

"At university. Imperial College has given me an unconditional offer."

I looked across at Andy and saw he was grinning. "I'm also off to Imperial College."

"I bet that's a relief, going to the same university."

"What do you mean, an unconditional offer?" Helen asked.

"Most pupils get conditional offers. They must get so many A levels at certain grades. Such as ABB. It depends on the university and the type of course. Since we already have our A level results, since we did them early, they issued an unconditional offer."

"I thought you would have applied to more than one?"

"We did. We got offers from Leeds and Manchester. But we really wanted Imperial."

"I know it's somewhere in London. But where abouts?"

"You remember that Proms concert we went to? It's just by there."

Thursday 19th April 2006

Yesterday had been tedious. With my knowledge gained on Tuesday of the company and network structure I'd gone through the analysis. It married up with what Charlie had done. So, brownie points for getting it correct, but something nagged at me. It wasn't until the journey in today that I suddenly realised what was wrong.

Rob was running late, an incident at the station his train came into had caused trains to terminate the station before, and the underground from there was now overcrowded. Charlie had signed onto the computer I'd been using, and I started checking the data, while he did the important duty of getting two drinks.

Charlie returned with the coffee, and when he saw the data that I was looking at he exclaimed, "That's from four months ago!"

I nodded and continued to filter and extract to feed into the analysis tool.

"But that's not on your PC. It's also not on the server."

"I grabbed it from your hot backup. What happened three weeks ago?"

He gave me a nervous look. "What do you mean?"

"Three weeks ago, the logging was turned up. That's not something you do on just a whim."

Charlie looked around and whispered. "One of our factory designs turned up in a competitor quote."

That was when I thought I understood why I'd been asked to do work experience. But why me? Why not June? Why not any other commercial security contractor? They would be better than I was!

"Are they sure it is a network breach? Couldn't one of the people here have spilled the beans to the competitor?"

"It's possible, but there have been a few other things which I don't know the details on. You seem very confident. Are you sure you're still at school?"

"I'm still at school," I reassured. "Why don't you get on with your work while I look through the data. See if a separate pair of eyes spots something."

"Please don't access any other servers. If you need something, ask."

For an hour, I tracked through the local data, and didn't find anything strange. There was still no sign of Rob.

"Still no Rob?" I enquired as I passed Charlie while coming back from the toilets.

"There was a crush at the tube station. Too many people off the mainline train trying to get through the ticket hall. He's in hospital."

Rob wouldn't be here to give me different work, so I continued with the logs. It was by chance that I stumbled on my first clue. I'd made a mistake with my query, and instead of excluding the server-to-server data, that's all that was shown. I was about to rerun the correct query when I spotted something strange. There was a lot of access between two servers that I didn't expect.

I sat back and staired at the screen. It didn't change what I saw, but how did it work? I tried to remember back to the conversations I'd had with the infrastructure team, but nothing came to mind. I looked through my notes but saw nothing of relevance.

"How's it going?" asked Charlie, reappearing from wherever he'd been.

"I still can't find anything," I lied, hoping he couldn't hear my heart pounding. I had no idea who might be involved with the data leak and didn't want to tip anybody off. Some work experience this was. "I was wondering, with Rob not around, if you could introduce me to the server team?"

"That was supposed to be tomorrow. Let me see Paul. I'm too junior, but to me it makes sense. "

I quickly removed the evidence of my analysis, just in case.

After finishing with the server team, there was nothing for me to do, so was let out early. The good news was that Rob had been released from hospital and would be back tomorrow.

The walk back to the station was quieter than it was the last few days. In the evening, there is always a bustle of people heading home. But at three in the afternoon, it was quiet. Well quiet for pedestrians. The amount of traffic never diminished.

As I was walking towards the station, I noticed my left shoelace was becoming undone, so stopped to refasten. As I was doing that, I noticed a woman on the opposite side of the road slowed down and glanced in an estate agents window. Coincidence? I remembered something Stacy had once said, "Keep calm. Don't let on that you know you're being followed."

My heartbeat picked up as I stood. I carried on walking at the same speed as I did before. I didn't know if they were following me, or not. I could just be imagining things. And if they were following me, why? A white van approached, and I altered my direction slightly to move further away from the curb. I didn't think I'd be snatched in London, but the white van was a reminder that these things happen.

A Starbucks gave me a chance to test the situation; as well as a chance to try a different coffee. Ten minutes later I was out carrying a caramel macchiato. There was no obvious sign of my tail.

At Euston, seeing only the slow train on the board, I took a seat in the open arena to wait for the fast train. I was just having a sip of coffee and I saw her coming in. Unsure what to do, I decided to call the school. But I was unsure who to ring. I thought about Stacy, but even though she was head student, she was just a student. Mr Taylor was my main beta contact, but this wasn't anything to do with the beta team. That left Rachel and Mr Hobson.

I knew that even if I rang Rachel, Mr Hobson would need to be advised. It would be best to talk direct. I took out my phone, and while going through the contacts, I realised I could take a picture of the woman without it looking like I was. With the picture taken, I sent it to Mr Hobson and immediately dialled him.

"Hi David."

"Sir, I've just sent you an email. I've finished early for the day."

"Hang on. I've not ... scrub that, it's just arrived. I presume you're not taking pictures of pretty women because you want to get into publishing?"

I smiled a bit at his banter. "She was with me from the office to the station, even after I stopped for coffee. It might just be coincidence."

"Get the train to Hemel Hempstead. You will need to get a new ticket. Rachel will be there to meet you. If there is one that leaves in the next ten minutes, miss it. It will give her time to get there. Please be careful."

"Thank you. I'll try."

I sauntered to the ticket office to buy a ticket and went via the toilets to the platform. Since Euston was a terminus, the trains were often sitting there waiting for people to board. So even though my train wasn't leaving for fifteen minutes, the train was waiting. I was seated, and waiting for the train to leave, when I saw the mysterious woman walk past my window. The window reflection showed her getting on at the next carriage door, just behind where I was sat.

The trip to Hemel only had one stop and it didn't seem long before the train was slowing down for my destination. As I got off, I was surprised that the woman didn't follow. Perhaps I was wrong. I felt worried that I'd caused issues unnecessarily. Was I getting paranoid?

Since it was the middle of the afternoon, the train had been mostly empty, and I was the only one that had got off the train. As I went through the gates, I saw Rachel waiting.

"Are you okay?" she asked when I got close.

"Yes, thank you. The woman stayed on the train. I must have been mistaken. Sorry."

"Don't be sorry. It was no hardship for me to come here. It made a nice change. Let's get you back."

When we got to the car, I was surprised it wasn't empty. In the driver's seat was Mr Taylor. I got into the back, and I was surprised when Rachel joined me. I'd expected her to get into the front passenger seat.

I was about to apologise to Mr Taylor, but Rachel indicated I should keep quiet, and we were soon underway. It was my first experience of the Magic Roundabout, but even that experience didn't cheer me up. The silent journey made me feel that I was in trouble.

We'd been on the M1 for about five minutes when Mr Taylor got a call. I was surprised when it came out of the car speaker. "You have a tail. Black Ford Mondeo."

"Don't look around," urgently whispered Rachel.

I did as she asked but wondered how did she know I was going to look? Perhaps it is a standard human reaction.

"I'll use route 3."

"Acknowledged."

And that was that. The call was terminated.

"It looks like your instincts were correct," called out Mr Taylor from the front.

I sighed. This wasn't what I wanted. After we got back from the last concert and the abduction, it appeared that Mr Hobson wanted to wrap me in cottonwool. I was pleased that he didn't seem to have an issue with me going to London; and now this. Would he get nervous about me going out again? I knew I wouldn't be going back tomorrow.

"It seems it is more complete work experience than I initially expected," I responded.

That got a chuckle from Mr Taylor and a frown from Dr Ruiz. I thought that Mr Taylor would put his foot down and try to lose the person following us. He didn't. He kept at a steady speed as if nothing was happening.

"I thought you would have sped up?" I enquired, taking this as a time to learn.

"We want to lose them, but make it look like they lost us by accident. It we went fast, it would put us all in danger, and Mr Hobson would be most displeased."

I smiled at the phrasing. Displeased indeed.

Mr Taylor made it seem simple. The road from the motorway to Dunstable was littered with traffic lights. It wasn't long before the car following us got held up. No danger to us, no danger to others. Just thoughtful driving and we got away. It certainly wasn't like in the movies.

With our tail gone, we turned for home and it was with relief that the gates swung majestically open. When we'd passed through, I called "Can we stop please."

"Sure," responded Mr Taylor, sounding slightly puzzled.

I turned around and watched the gates close. I felt a sense of relief. I was home. The gates were closed. I was safe.

Mr Taylor was watching me and gave a small smile when he saw me relax. He didn't need to be told and drove on to the building.

"Let's go and see Mr Hobson," suggested Rachel when we got out of the car. Well, it wasn't really a suggestion. It might have sounded like one, but it was really an order.

After a quick diversion to the toilet, I was sat in Mr Hobson's office, with the door firmly shut.

"First thing, are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes. I felt a bit wobbly when I got out of the car, and I have a bit of a headache."

"It's good you are being honest with us. I was more thinking about you being followed and if what happened in Iran had caused you any issues."

"It did come into my thoughts when I realised that I was being followed. I moved so I wasn't as close to the road and did keep my eyes on vans, but they were all going the same speed as other traffic."

"Do you know why someone followed you?"

"I think so."

Both Mr Hobson and Dr Ruiz leaned forward. Obviously eager to hear what I had to say.

After a moment of silence where they gathered that I wasn't saying any more. "And?"

"Sorry, Sir. It is something confidential to that company. I had a meeting with their CEO last Tuesday. I think that would be the best person to give that information."

"And do you know how to contact them?"

"I tried to ring their office earlier, but their personal assistant said they were in a meeting all afternoon. I was hoping, since you setup the work experience, that you would have a direct route."

"Now on to the thorny subject of tomorrow. I'm worried for your safety and am inclined for you not to go."

"WHAT?!" I yelled. "You can't do that!"

Mr Hobson scowled and said indignantly. "Excuse me?"

I closed my eyes and took several deep breaths. When I felt more under control, I opened them to see Mr Hobson still staring at me.

"I'm sorry for my outburst."

"I know its frustrating, but I'm responsible for your safety."

I paused to formulate a reasonable argument. "I know you are, but there are always dangers. There are street gangs stabbing each other, there are car accidents. Heck, look at the terrorist attack last year. We have to learn to live in the world, or we won't be prepared when we leave school."

I sighed and continued, "It must be hard to balance the risks versus the rewards. When is the danger too much?"

Rachel spoke for the first time since we'd started the discussion. I thought she was there just so she knew what was discussed. "How about David being driven there and dropped off outside the front door? He can ring us when he knows when he will be leaving, so he can also be collected. That gives David the opportunity the work experience gives, without this new threat. He's been on the train for four days, so going a different way won't impact the 'commute' experience."

I looked across at Rachel and gave her a grateful smile. I kept forgetting she didn't just keep us in line or help our mental health. She also represented me to the school.

"I think that sounds a fair compromise," mused Mr Hobson. "Are you okay with that David?"

"Yes, thank you for letting me finish. I'm sorry I was impertinent."

He gave me a curt nod of acknowledgement. I knew it wouldn't be something he would forget in a hurry.

"David, why don't you come and see me after tonight's meal. I'm sure I should be able to get hold of the CEO, and you can explain the issue you found."

"Thank you, sir."

As I walked out, Rachel steered me down the corridor and out of the emergency fire door. "We can have a private chat as we walk. Now, what brought on that outburst. I've never seen you so out of control."

I thought about it. "It wasn't really anger. I think it was more frustration and disappointment. I've worked hard this week, and I was worried that it was all for nothing."

"Rarely are things, 'just for nothing'. A bit of homework for you. Think about what you have learnt this week that you didn't know before. Not just in the office, and how an office works. Think about what you wear, how you get there and dealing with people you don't know."

"I suppose."

"Finally, in the work you want to do, there is often segmentation or compartmentalisation. Think about what happened in Russia. The data that was needed was gained by one team, and then it was passed to another team to analyse and deal with. You may never find out what happens to it; you just have to trust that the next in the chain do their job."

We ambled on in silence for a few moments. Rachel continued, "So what are you doing since you are back here in very good time?"

"Update Helen, Stacy and Andy. That's one frustrating thing about the school layout."

"What do you mean?"

"All the years have their own common room. We do things like language lessons and orchestra as a whole school. Yet apart from the library and the sports areas there isn't any way to hang out with friends in other years."

"Oh?"

"Take Kevin. I play next to him in orchestra. The only time we get to hang out is when he's been teaching me how to play squash. If you look, the sports centre is used mostly in the weekend and in holidays. After lessons and homework, all you want to do is relax. We do that in the common room."

"Isn't that what it was like at your old school? Each year had its own area where you were during breaks?"

"Sure, but when school had finished, we had the opportunity to meetup with who we wanted. I didn't, I just hid in my room. If you look out back, during the warmth, you often see us mixing out back. That isn't possible during winter."

"Do you think the year lounges should stay or just be merged into one?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "No idea. Perhaps keep them to see how things go. They would be a quiet area away from the hullabaloo. Perhaps year common rooms encouraged for homework, rather than been done in the whole school lounge."

"A lot to consider. Let me discuss it with the other support staff. This might already have been tried and didn't work, or it might have never been thought about."

After the evening meal, I waited a few minutes and wondered down to Mr Hobsons office. There was an unknown person standing outside the door. The word 'bodyguard' flashed through my head.

"Mr Grant, Mrs Taylor is expecting you. Go right in."

I opened the door and saw Yvonne. So, her surname is Taylor, and she has a picture of Mr Taylor in her office. Interesting.

"Come in and shut the door. Quentin thought this was best the two of us. He went to a meeting regarding pupil cohesion. Someone made a well thought out use of school funds."

With the door closed, I took a seat opposite her. "Justin contacted me earlier, he said you had some unwelcome company for the journey back here."

"Justin?"

She smiled. "Mr Taylor to you. My brother-in-law if you are interested. I saw you noticed his photograph in my office. I was surprised you didn't ask then."

"It didn't seem appropriate."

"I suppose it wasn't germane to the conversation we were having. So, what did you find?"

"You have a leak, though I think you already know that. I need to confirm the data set to see when it started, but you have a compromised server. Servers are allowed to talk to each other without being blocked by the internal firewalls. Someone is using that to be able to get information they normally wouldn't be allowed to access."

"I see. Do you know who is doing this?"

"I don't think it is just one person. The software could have got on the box via a trojan. But there have been many opportunities to spot the unexpected data traffic. I spotted in the logs, but then I wasn't conditioned about what to look for or not look for. Internal people might ignore inter server data because they expect the servers to be secure. Sue, your personal assistant, said you were unavailable. Were you?"

"No, I was in my office. I had no calls or meetings."

"But she doesn't have access to the server that handles external contractors. That is the compromised server. Hence why multiple people must be involved."

Yvonne pulled out her phone and made a call. "George its Yvonne Taylor. I need a team immediately. I have one confirmed compromised server, and I need to know that the network and firewalls are secure ... Yes, I'm sure … Okay, see you in two hours."

She then turned to me. "David, you aren't to come to the office tomorrow. In essence there will be no office for anybody there tomorrow. A specialist team will come in and audit my IT."

"So why did you get me to come in, under the guise of work experience, if there was a company that specialise in this type of work?"

"The company that is coming in are like a sledgehammer to crack a nut. My whole company will be paralysed while the heart is ripped out, verified, and if needed, replaced. I didn't want to do that if there wasn't a verified problem. It could have been someone writing down details and passing it on. You found a verifiable issue that they can now fix. Thank you."

I smiled. "Thank you for having faith in me. It makes me feel worthy."

As I walked back to the year common room, Rachel's words came back to me. "You may never find out what happens to it; you just have to trust that the next in the chain do their job.

I might never know who was involved. Were any of the people I worked with involved? Could I live without knowing?

I sighed. This work experience had been much more comprehensive than I first thought.

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