A New Style of Education - Year Five

by Karen Page

Part 13

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Part 13
Friday 19th March 2010

With less than three months before they left school, ad hoc shopping visits during school time for leaving preparations were allowed. Under the cover of those leaving preparations, David and Helen were in London visiting the British Library. They'd used the British Library online request system to reserve the items and make sure they would be there. A lot of the items they'd requested were in storage, so wouldn't have been available if they'd requested it when they'd got there.

The third map they examined was the one. Each covered the small village in Switzerland and was from the year of first contact. They'd taken it out of the protective cover to find a single sheet of paper that wasn't part of the map.

"This is it," whispered Helen, excitedly.

David quickly glanced around to see if anybody else in the reading room was paying them attention. They weren't. They were all busy looking through books, making notes or putting found bits of wisdom onto their laptops.

They looked at the paper. There was some type of code.

"That's no help," sighed Helen.

"It's more than we had earlier," said David, leafing carefully through the artifact. There was no other clue.

Helen started to gather the maps together. "Let's go grab a drink and discuss it somewhere quieter."

David wanted to laugh. They were in a library and had been discussing things in hushed voices. It was probably the quietest place in London, but he knew that wasn't what Helen meant.

"It's a never-ending trail of clues," sighed Helen as they made their way towards the exit. "Why couldn't he have just said, 'This is your baddy'."

"I suppose it couldn't be too obvious. What if someone had inadvertently got that map out?"

"So, it must be something that makes sense for someone in the know, but not for the general public."

"Did you notice that it had been last checked out just over five years ago?" said David. "This is something that he'd had prepared for a long time. Therefore, it's not going to be something that changes much."

"What it points to doesn't change, but perhaps the content is kept up to date. Something online? He would be able to update that from France."

"Yes, that makes sense. Let's go. I have an idea."

"And?" Helen enquired, as they battled their way through the blustery weather.

"An internet café. They aren't very secure, but it gives us the anonymity we need. They might also have hot chocolate."

"And cake," agreed Helen. "Let's go."

They walked along the road towards The British Museum, and soon came across a dingy internet café.

"I'm not having cake in there," stated Helen with a tinge of disgust in her voice. "But it will certainly not attract attention."

"Two coffees and an hour of internet," said David when he saw they didn't do hot chocolate.

The man behind the desk grunted and gave them a code. "I'll bring the drink across in a minute. Take computer four."

Only one other computer was taken, and the rest of the place was empty. They sat in front of an ancient computer and put in the code that they'd been given. David took a USB stick out of his pocket.

"You'll get it infected!" hissed Helen in horror, not believing that David would do such a thing.

"It's a read-only drive, and I'll be destroying it afterwards. It has a program on it that will keep what we do hidden from prying eyes."

David moved the monitor slightly, so it wasn't in the direct gaze of a CCTV camera. Helen saw what he was doing, and raised her chair and moved it, so it added to the blockade.

The man brought across the drinks and glared at them as he sat them down. It wasn't a wonder that the café wasn't busy. The coffee was awful, and the room was so badly lit.

"Tut tut," said David as his fingers danced over the keyboard. "One key logger disabled. Okay what do we have?"

"We have a number followed by an X, two sets of numbers then HH and CEO"

David put the first number, 100023336956, into the search engine.

"Top result, a UPRN. What's that?"

David delved in. "A unique reference to a building. Do we have to go there?"

"I doubt it. Look where it is!"

"Oh. Yes, I doubt we would be going to Downing Street. Let me do the next numbers."

Nothing came up in the search engine.

"What if the first one was an example," mused Helen. "It's famous and came up. Is there a UPRN search?"

David found a site that specialised in UPRNs. The searches were successful.

"Heathrow Airport and Cambridge railway station," noted Helen. "A rather eclectic collection of places. The next things are letters. HH and CEO which are both very specific knowledge. I presume we draw two lines and where they cross, X marks the spot."

"But what spot? What will it give us? A set of coordinates?"

"Who knows. We didn't know what we would find in that map. There's also the last line of the first clue. 'Join the dots to find my domain but step carefully as it's guarded by both the antagonist and protagonist'. I think we've been lucky today."

"Yes. We have. I'm not impressed though. He said he didn't know where HH was. He obviously does."

Helen paused for a moment trying to remember the conversation from a few months ago. "No, he didn't say that. We assumed he did. He said that his contact never revealed the location. He also stated that his boss thought we might be near where he was arrested and searched. LJ never said anything about searching himself."

"Damn. I'll have to listen more carefully. Okay, let me clean up."

David executed a program from the USB stick, resetting the desktop. He then removed it, and they went out, leaving the man behind the desk grumbling that nobody was coming in.

"We better do our shopping," said Helen. "We don't want to go back empty handed."

"It's pointless getting too many things. If we're going to America, we will only have to ship it. Get a few clothes here, and the rest there. We need our non-school phone and basics. That's it."

"Travel light."

"I'm so looking forward to our fortnight away. We will need clothes for that. I'm looking forward to seeing you in a bikini."

"I'm looking forward to seeing you in one too," responded Helen wiggling her eyebrows at her boyfriend.

David laughed. "Not on this holiday. A nice bit of time just as David."

"I'm looking forward to it and I bet Stacy is too."

"Have you been scheming with her about the holiday? "

"Of course. I'm sure you've been talking with Andy about things too."

"That would be telling."

"I think we should get some Christopher and Jayne clothing, just in case."

David shrugged.

"Not beach things," said Helen rapidly. "I don't think I could pull that off."

David laughed at the thought. "Why don't we do it tomorrow? We could do a small trip to MK dressed appropriately."

"Sounds a plan."

While they were on the train back David got a message. It had two padlocks next to it. Beta messages had a single padlock. It was from Stacy. "You were being followed." There was a picture of a man with the café in the background.

Andy and Stacy were undercover. David knew he wouldn't be able to ring them. Yet it seemed Stacy knew they were going to London and had spotted their tail. Helen and David had not spotted that man, nor Stacy.

* * *

Back at the school, they put their purchases into the outbuilding that Christmas items were placed. Each pupil in the top year had their own area for items being stored for them leaving. For those staying in the UK, they might store items temporarily before making a trip to where they were going to live. For David and Helen, it was going to be what they needed for holiday, and they would get the rest when they went to America.

When they went to store their purchases, they found Paula and Emma in there.

"How did it go?" asked Paula.

"We got some of what we needed. We're going to go shopping as Christopher and Jayne another day. What about you?"

"We're just packing up for tomorrow. We're getting our apartment keys then, so we are going to take our first lot of things across. It'll be about a two hour journey each way, so if we're not back until late, don't panic," said Emma.

"Good to know."

David and Helen finished storing their purchases and went outside. Emma and Paula were waiting for them.

"Is it safe to talk?" asked Emma.

"We're outside, so should be."

"We wanted to make an offer. Our plan is to run a small rural farm. In the future, if you need a place to hide, we would be honoured to have you stay."

"Thanks," said Helen, tears coming to her eyes. "You've no idea how much that means."

"I think I do by your response," said Paula. "We mean it. That also covers Stacy and Andy, so please let them know when you see them in person."

"Will do."

"I'm surprised Anna and Jill aren't carrying on. They always seemed so into what they do. Jill is such a natural at her oboe playing, but since she joined your team her and Anna have had so much more zest."

"This is an opportunity for them to do what they want," said Helen and then added quietly. "In more ways than one."

"Huh?" said Emma, but Helen and David had walked away.

"I wonder how they knew we were there. I never spotted anybody," said Helen as they walked back to the main building. "There was no sign of us being followed. Yet you got that message."

"We were wearing our school clothes. They have trackers in them, so if someone was watching, they would have spotted we were in London and where we went. Perhaps they didn't think they needed to be close by. Find out afterwards what we'd been looking at."

"They're going to be very disappointed if they go to that internet café," continued David. "All the searches were protected and if they get out the maps we got out at the British Library, it isn't going to tell them anything either."

"That might frustrate them. If we do Milton Keynes tomorrow, that might spark more movement. If we mention our trip tomorrow up front, it will be put in the system for security. It might give them time to be there."

"Do we really want them following us?"

Helen mused, "If tomorrow is just clothes shopping, it is going to be a really boring time for anybody watching us. Plus, we then know there is something. Do we have time to go to the library and look where those points cross?"

"Let's do it later. However, remember your geography. Earth is curved. He might have done it based on a map, or he might have done it correctly based on the curve."

"Damn, I forgot about that. It could be either. One could be a trap and the other correct. How will we know?"

"We don't have to," reassured David. "We calculate both. We try the curve route first. If that comes up with nothing, we go with the other. Mind you, we have no idea what to do with it yet anyway. We can calculate the coordinates on our tablets and can use an online map to see where they point to."

Helen put in the request for Jayne and Christopher visit to Milton Keynes. It quickly came back authorised. Their plan was in motion.

After their meal, David sat next to Jill in the Lounge. "How did it go?" asked Jill.

"We got some clothes. Helen thought it would be a good idea to get some 'other' appropriate clothing. So, we're doing a trip to Milton Keynes tomorrow as Christopher and Jayne."

"Sounds a sensible idea. Jayne is a large part of you. Don't neglect her."

"I know and I won't. I just thought we were just getting clothes for the holiday. And as Helen said, she can't really be Christopher on the beach."

Jill burst out laughing at that. "Yes, there might be major comments if she tries to do that! But I'm sure there might be some girl's nights out."

"I'm sure Brenda won't care. How are your preparations going?"

"It's a lot easier for me. Anna and I are only moving to London. We've got an apartment for six months which gives us time to find something more stable. They are desperate for an oboist, so I'll be starting rehearsals almost straight away. Anna's training as the orchestra librarian doesn't start for a month."

"What are you doing about an instrument?"

"Oh, that was one of the most fun times. I went to Howarth of London who are a professional shop. I must have tried half a dozen oboes and then cor anglais. They aren't cheap though. Almost 10K each."

"How on Earth are you going to afford them?"

"The school is giving me a grant. You get your university paid for. They sorted this."

"Good. I hope one day to be able to see one of your concerts rather than sitting a row behind you."

"That'll be really special," said Jill, a slight croak in her voice. "Oh, a bit of news. Beth's got a new job. She starts next week working at a fancy hotel in Birmingham. She's still a commis chef, but there is much more room to grow there."

"That's fantastic. How's the rest of her life going?"

"She's torn. The move to Birmingham is good for her career, but her boyfriend didn't get a job there. She's taking the job and is seeing how the long-distance thing works out. Working in a kitchen isn't good for a love life. She is in the kitchen until late at night and when she gets home, she just wants to sleep."

"You're not going to be much better. Concerts aren't nine to five. Concerts I've seen listed start about seven and finish between nine and ten."

"True, but I'm not looking for someone else. Anna has a job with the same orchestra, so I hope that helps us have time together."

"Real life is going to be a shock," mused David.

"Your type of reality is going to be very different from others," said Jill gravely. "Well, perhaps you might get normal reality while you are at uni. But afterwards, it will be–." Jill broke off and shuddered. "I'm happy to just keep my ears open while taking part in concerts."

"Just like you brought something new to the Beta team, you are bringing something new to after. I think it's great."

There was a huge roar from the television area. "What are they watching?" David asked raising his voice so others nearby would hear.

"Flash Gordon."

"Gordon's alive!" shouted someone, mimicking the tone of Brian Blessed.

"They're watching it without you?!" said Jill in mock horror, knowing it was one of David's favourite cheesy films. "Go!"

Helen joined David and went to watch the film. There were a few seats left at the back and the pair snuggled on one of the two-seat love sofas.

* * *

Saturday 20th March 2010

Saturday was a day that a lot of students went out. There was a rotating set of towns to visit. Once a month an organised trip to somewhere would be arranged. During the summer, there were trips to the seaside, during the winter months it was more likely to be somewhere indoors. Today was a general trip to Watford. However, some of the top year would catch the train into London or go elsewhere.

Milton Keynes, or MK as most of the students referred to it as, was the nearest decent town. Even though it had a population of over two hundred thousand, it wasn't classified as a city. This was the destination for Jayne and Christopher to get clothes for their 'other selves'.

"Where first?" asked Christopher as he locked the parked car.

"The library first. Then we aren't carting clothes around. Do the searches, which shouldn't take long and then we get the clothes," responded Jayne.

The library in central Milton Keynes was near the shopping centre, so it wasn't an inconvenience to drop in. It wasn't the first time there, so they knew where things were. After settling down at one of the library computers, Jayne secured their connection. Jayne set searching the maps with the coordinates Christopher had calculated. The first set of coordinates were for the middle of a field. The second set was in the middle of a school.

"That must be it," said Christopher getting excited. Several people nearby turned to him and hushed. Christopher continued a lot quieter. " Join the dots to find my domain. Is the primary school his domain?"

"No, but what if the school's UPRN is."

Jayne tried putting .com or .org but there was no domain registered.

"He's in France," pointed out Christopher. "Try .fr"

"Bingo. There is something registered. Now what is behind it."

Jayne started a port scanning tool to discover what was open. "Protagonist and antagonist?" she queried as she opened the relevant application.

"The other way round," reminded Christopher.

Jayne tapped away and after several attempts stopped. "The issue is I'm not sure of the spelling."

"Can you bypass the security?"

Jayne frowned. "Possibly. Hang on. Let's see how up to date this is."

Christopher looked around as Jayne's fingers skimmed over the keyboard. He gasped as he spotted Poppy come into the room and sit at a computer at the end of the row.

"I'm in," whispered Jayne.

"Damn. I was going to suggest asking Poppy how it's spelt."

Jayne glanced across where Helen pointed. "I thought you were kidding," said Jayne.

"So, what do you have?"

"A lot of information. Let me download it."

"You can't connect that drive back at school," hissed Helen.

"I have a special partition on my computer," said Jayne. "It's not connected to the network, and I can analyse things. It's what I used when I looked at that USB drive back in November. If I'd put that drive on the main network, Julia would have been very upset with me. I don't know which computer has more viruses on it. This one or the one yesterday."

"So, are we out of here?" asked Christopher seeing Jayne finish copying.

"Not quite. I have my secure connection and it's quite busy in here. I'm leaving a note on the site, so LJ knows we've visited. I also want to have an electronic chat with Poppy."

"Why?"

"Because I think she is a scapegoat who doesn't realise how lucky she is. If I can find out more information, the more knowledge we'll have."

"Okay. But be careful."

"Well duh!" Jayne tapped away and sent a message to Poppy's open MSN live messenger chat. She used the handle 'Guy you followed'.

"I have her messenger id," said Jayne. "If nothing else, that might be useful."

Jayne: Hi Poppy. I'm the guy you followed four years ago. I thought you should be aware how lucky you were that nobody got wind that I spotted you. I hear the two that lost me weren't so lucky.

Jayne paused, waiting to see if Poppy bit. She so wanted to look across at Poppy, but that would have been a giveaway. It had been a strange feeling referring to herself as a 'guy' in the message. Jayne was unsure what to think of that as they were the same person.

Poppy: How did you find me? How do I know you are who you claim to be?

Jayne: An accident. Just like it was an accident that I spotted you a few months ago in London. How are you getting on with Julian? As for knowing who I am, see the following image.

Jayne attached a copy of the image she'd sent to Mr Hobson of Poppy at Euston. The gasp of shock filtered through the normally quiet library room.

Poppy: I think I'm doing better than my task four years ago. I think I'm making a difference, which is all I've ever wanted to do.

Jayne: Make a difference in what way?

Poppy: Things are stagnating. There has always been leaps in knowledge at certain times. At times of conflict or disaster, money is spent in research. The strong get stronger and the weak wilt away. Natural Selection.

Christopher and Jayne glanced at each other. Unsure what to make of that.

Jayne: Would you say that the two colleagues of yours that died were weak?

Poppy: They failed. I didn't. You might have spotted me, but I was still able to give the information and survive.

Jayne: So why did you follow me? What had I done wrong?

Poppy: You were working at a company where the CEO was suspected of being involved with the wrong people. Why they wanted you followed though I've no idea. I just did as asked.

Seeing a young man put a pad of paper away, Jayne assumed he was leaving. This was an opportunity.

Jayne: I'll see you around. Ping me a message at some point. I'd like to keep in touch. Just you and me.

Jayne quickly shut down her connection on messenger.

"What are you doing?" asked Christopher. He'd patiently followed Jayne's chat, but didn't want to interrupt.

"Just watch," said Jayne.

The young man had finished, just as Jayne had suspected. He'd logged out of the PC and got up. Poppy quickly logged out and followed him out of the library.

"So, what was in those files?" asked Christopher, in no rush to leave.

Jayne pulled them up. They detailed his investigation in France. There were lists of people, what they did, who they reported to. Then there were lists of payments.

"Let's go," said Jayne suddenly, dragging out the USB drive.

Jayne rushed out of the library, with Christopher rushing to keep up. Jayne stopped by The Whisper statue, leaning against the railing.

"What's wrong?" asked Christopher, concerned for his lover.

Jayne held up her hands to signal that she'd talk in a few minutes. Eventually, she said, "Just a shock, that's all. One of the names was someone I worked with when I did my work experience at the end of year one. Sheesh, I'd not thought about them in four years and now, just seeing that name."

"Are you sure it's the same person?"

"I suppose there might be more than one Charlie Shoesmith, but it would be an amazing coincidence for two to be at the same company."

Christopher put his arm around Jayne, and she put her head against Christopher's.

"I feel duped," continued Jayne. "I didn't think he was involved, but the document showed payments before and then increasing after the event four years ago."

"This is a list of payments from The Supplier. Not from the people Poppy work for, though I suppose he could be making them on their behalf. Are any of the Taylor's on the list?"

Jayne shrugged. "I didn't finish going through them all."

"How about this. Firstly, we go and get the clothes we said we'd get. The we can pop into John Lewis and get a laptop ready for The Leaving. I can drive back to the school, and you can look at the data."

"Just the one laptop?" asked Jayne, perking up a bit.

"I was thinking you'd want to get one that's more special than what we find in John Lewis. It might be cheaper to get that in America. We won't need such a special one on holiday and we aren't working for a bit."

Shopping for clothes became rather utilitarian. They got a few things, but there wasn't any thrill or excitement. They were both more occupied thinking about the data. There was one name on the list, but what worried them was there anybody else they knew. Could anybody at Hayfield be on the list?

"I've not seen anybody following us," said Christopher, as they put their shopping bags in the car.

"Nor me," Jayne confirmed. "Let's go find a laptop. I think we should just get a small cheap one that we can dispose of. This type of data isn't something you should have on a laptop that we will normally use. I will set yours up to be clean and mostly secure."

"Mostly?"

"You can never tell what someone is going to try to do. Once it is connected to the internet it can never be fully trusted. You know this, as Julia mentioned that enough times."

"And you've mentioned it too," laughed Christopher.

There wasn't a big range of laptops available, but Jayne made sure it would do what they wanted. They also got another, which was more expensive for Christopher. Jayne thought they would be ecstatic selling two laptops, but they seemed rather blase and rang up the sale with a grunt. This made a small hole in their transition funds, but it was things they would need.

"Do you think we'll be able to claim back for the small laptop?" Christopher thought aloud as they made their way out of the shop.

"It would be nice," agreed Jayne. "Perhaps when this is over. Julia could use the laptop as a sample for students to analyse viruses on. Add it to her collection."

"You think the library machine had a virus on it?"

"I'm going to assume so. It's best to assume that. Why don't we have a drink here. They have Wi-Fi. I can start setting up the laptop while you get a drink."

"Are you sure it's okay to do that?" asked Christopher nervously.

"I've seen people on laptops in coffee shops before. I'm sure I've seen people in John Lewis coffee shops too."

"Yes, but it's a Saturday. They're going to be a lot busier."

The queue for drinks took ages, but by the time Christopher reappeared, Jayne was still waiting for the operating system to install. A cheap laptop meant a slow laptop.

"Ooh, cake too," approved Jayne, moving the laptop to her knee, therefore giving Christopher room to place the tray onto the table

"How's it going?" asked Christopher.

"Slowly. I hope this bit doesn't take too long."

They enjoyed some easy conversation while waiting for the laptop to finish the laborious install routine. Holiday and university were the main points of discussion. There wasn't one mention of school or future work.

"Done," said Jayne while they were on their second drink. "Scooch across. We can look at things together."

They poured over the files. There were files on what had been happening in France, and his investigation on how The Supplier was linked to The Reginadde. The only name that Jayne recognised on the payments that The Supplier had made was Charlie.

"I don't know if Charlie was the one that Christian was worried about," mused Jayne. "There might be more, but no way to call them out. When I did my work experience in year one, it was mentioned that the school was kept separate from the company. If Charlie still works where he did, then he might not have access to the investigation team information."

"We could ask our school mentor," suggested Christopher. "Not tell him anything but enquire on the structure. That might make things easier, so we know what risk there is. What I don't get is, why is there a relationship between Charlie and The Supplier. Sue worked for The Reginaddes not The Supplier."

"No idea. Unless it was something to do with knowing what work the company was doing. Perhaps he was looking for information on what Governments were getting constructed or had been built. If the Supplier knew how to get into buildings, he might be trying to steel things."

"The trouble is, we don't know how to get a message into the investigation team to see if we're followed. If we're correct, and the school, WIPP and the investigation team are separate then there is a big black hole we don't know how to get word in. We were followed yesterday, but by who."

"Then why did—" Jayne tailed off and said even quieter than previously, "Why did Mrs T think that an investigation into the company was a good idea?"

"Perhaps that is where she thinks the link is. It was the previous leak. Perhaps she has full trust in the investigation branch."

"Possibly, but that is doubtful. They are the main group investigating wrongdoing. They are often in contact with people doing work for The Reginaddes and I'm sure they are constantly concerned if one of them turns. We can find out from Mr T?"

"If we ask that, it might set off his alarm bells," mused Helen

"I know, but who else can we trust."

"Should we let Mrs T know about Charlie?"

David thought. "Not yet. Charlie just monitored security. His job would be to hide a breach, not cause it."

They made their way back to the car. Still, nobody followed them, which gave Christopher concern. They'd left clues yet nobody was there. That either meant there wasn't a leak at Hayfield, or they were being very cautious. They hadn't seen the person yesterday either, but it seems they had been followed.