UG2:Spying By Numbers Part 4 Rat Trap

First posted here in 2014/5, this story had only been available on Kindle since 2017. The third & fourth books are also now out.
 

It was after dinner, after the dishwasher had been loaded, that Helen suggested she and Heather had a chat in the office.

"Sophie tells me you've had an interesting weekend."

"If having a lousy time trying to buy a laptop counts, yes."

"I've had to warn Sophie not to get wound up, but you, young lady, are supposed to be keeping a low profile."

"That's not always as easy as it sounds, things do seem to happen around me."

"Well, hopefully things will settle down. Now, have you changed the encryption code?"

"Not yet, and I don't have your or Emily's secure landline numbers."

"Okay, can you get the encryptor kit out of the safe and we'll update your directory as well."

Helen showed Heather how to update the security equipment so that she could log into her Security Service account. Helen was impressed with Heather's method for tidying the safe although it was the first time she'd seen a Glock 26 in a food storage container.

"Just don't put it in the freezer by mistake!"

"I'll try." They laughed.

"Helen, what really happened with Anna?"

"The investigation is still ongoing but it seems she knew Fatima Hussaini-Davis, they were at college together. Apparently Anna hadn't long filled in the paperwork to renew her clearance when the job at the house came up, but her clearance hadn't expired at that point either. It was a few weeks later, after the incident at Kew, when a closer look was taken and the connection to Fatima was made."

"So her brother's involvement wasn't known about before then either?"

"No, but he had been Fatima's boyfriend last year for a few months."

"Oh, so was the Kew incident staged to make Anna look good?"

"No, it was to check for any extra surveillance and protection that she wasn't aware of."

"So what happens to her now?"

"There's psychiatric reporting plus long interviews to find out what she knows. Whether she ends up in a court depends alot on how useful her information is."

"Specifically?"

"Whether she knows if there's a mole in the organisation and, if so, who?"

"That's a biggie. Any ideas?"

"No, the Security Service is re-running background checks on everybody involved in this operation, that includes you and me."

"Now, what do I do about getting a Doctor and a dentist locally, I could do with some work done on my teeth plus I'll need repeat prescriptions soon."

"I'll make some enquiries and find a dentist who's good. So far as a doctor is concerned, I had to register you with a GP when I was creating your identity. The name's on your new NHS Medical Card."

Gail opened the safe and took out one of her plastic containers. This one had documents, inside was the card she was looking for. The surgery address was 99 Station Road, walking distance from the house if necessary. She knew she would have to make an appointment.

"I'm just wondering how I tell the Doctor?"

"Tell what to the Doctor?"

"That I'm still, still ......"

"Don't be silly, firstly there can't be a doctor in Redhill who hasn't dealt with a transgendered patient plus your medical record will have that information."

"Well, what if I want to have the surgery done?"

"Then you might need to see Hannah again, but she only knew you as Gail so that could become difficult."

"Thanks."

"That's alright Heather, you're doing just fine. Can you promise me something though?"

"What's that?"

"Can I have that report and your expenses claim pronto!"
Lost property

Heather was unsure which task to start first, her report covering two weeks or her expenses claim covering the same two weeks? She opted for the expenses claim but then spent some time wandering around the server's archives for a blank form. Of course the next task was to find all the receipts, although it wasn't as simple as that. Payments had been made initially as Abigail Adams, then as Gail Jones and more recently as Heather Young.

The next task was to organise the receipts into date order and try to remember what they were doing on that particular day. One other matter, was a haircut chargeable? By ten o'clock on Sunday night she'd had enough so locked the office door and headed for her room.

As soon as breakfast was complete on Monday morning she was back in the office, a new email dropped in whilst she was sifting the remaining receipts.

From: Dave Brown
To: Heather Young
Subject: Assignment pack

Heather,

One of our messengers is on his way to you with a package, it requires a signature and I'd be grateful for an email to confirm receipt as well. There's a key in the safe you'll need.

Regards, Dave

This confirmed what she'd read on Saturday, but what was in this package? She didn't have long to wait as a beep alerted her to the security monitor located in the office as a biker pulled up outside. The numberplate recognition system identified it as a Departmental vehicle, but the plate was on the wrong side for the cameras, meaning there had to be a camera across the road somewhere. The biker walked to wards the door, removing helmet on the way.

Sophie was obviously aware that a biker was approaching but Heather hadn't mentioned the planned delivery yet so treated this as an unwelcome visitor, unless they proved otherwise. Heather shouted down the stairs.

"It's a delivery for me."

Outside the biker held an ID card up to the obvious door camera, there was more than one, so Sophie could see it, only then did she unlock the door.

"Delivery for Miss Young, I need a signature."

The parcel was an internal mail pouch bearing the royal crest but not the name of any government department. Sophie took the pouch and signed his receipt book, the pouch was sealed with a padlock. Sophie closed the front door.

"Heather, do you know anything about this?"

"Can you bring it up?"

Sophie wasn't impressed but walked up the stairs with the pouch. She found Heather at her desk, the safe was open, the laptop logged in and receipts everywhere.

"To have come down I would have had to locked everything away and log off, then reverse process when I returned here."

"Okay, what's in the pouch?"

"Stuff from Thames House, I had an email today." No point mentioning the email she'd read on Saturday. "I might have an assignment but until I read what's in there," she pointed, "I don't know where, when or what." Again she was being vague, but out of necessity.

"Let me know if we need to go anywhere, I might need to check the area out first."

"I will."

Heather had already located the small padlock key in the safe, she'd seen it on Saturday but at the time hadn't known what it was for. She unlocked the pouch then pulled the inner envelope out, it was simply marked with her name. Inside that, however was a further envelope stamped "Top Secret". She looked up, Sophie was still stood there.

"I'm sorry Sophie but I'm told I have to open this privately, but I promise to let you know about anything relevant, I hope you understand."

Sophie turned and closed the door as she walked slowly downstairs. Heather didn't know if that was through respect for her words or because of disgruntlement.

Heather first wrote a swift email to Dave Brown and confirmed receipt. She then opened the inner package onto her desk and inspected the contents. Firstly there was a new identity card for the Security Service in her Heather Young identity, then there was a letter of accreditation from UK Banking PLC appointing Heather as an administrative receiver in respect of a secured debt against Syrrah Imports Ltd of Elephant & Castle.

Heather took the special key out of her safe and inserted it into the secure phone before calling Dave Brown.

"Hello Dave."

"Hi Heather, I've seen your email so I understand you're calling about the package."

"Yes, I thought I was going in as a court appointed receiver?"

"That was the original case but it turned out that the building's mortgage was taken out with UK Banking PLC whereas the business loan was with Arab Commercial Bank, it was a question of us finding the best way to get you into the building with the correct paperwork."

"So I take it the arrangement with UK Banking is genuine and can be checked?"

"Yes."

"Will Arab Commercial Bank try to appoint anyone?"

"Someone from the bank may well contact you but I understand it was an unsecured short term loan so has less priority than the mortgage, which is secured on the building."

"Right, has anyone called a creditors meeting yet?"

"No, that's for you to arrange when you get to site tomorrow, you're expected at nine thirty."

"Standard practice then, now what about Sophie?"

"Ah, she'll have to be your PA then."

"But I have no business cards for her, nor me for that matter. I'll also have to organise a business mobile for her."

"Leave that all with me."

"Okay, speak later?"

"Sure. Bye."

Heather logged out, closed the safe and locked the door before heading down to the kitchen; she was in desperate need of a heavy duty caffeine infusion. Sophie was in the kitchen having just made a mug for herself.

"Coffee?"

"Please."

"Can you now tell me what's going on?"

"Yes, I've been appointed as a receiver for to a firm that's dealt with the Fourani family and some of the factions in Germany."

"You're kidding?"

"No."

"But that puts you back in the firing line."

"There's a risk, but this is work, it's what I get paid for."

"But I still don't think the risk is worth it. Where's the place we've got to go?"

"Elephant & Castle."

"Just great, can you give me the exact address so I can scope it? I might even go over there today to have a look, are you planning to stay here?"

"I've got loads to do, but I need you home to cook dinner!"

"Oh, I need to print my reports."

"The printer's on and it's networked so your laptop should be able to see it."

"I'll do that in a moment, fancy a biccy?"

"Oooh, Hob Nobs."

***

They'd taken an early lunch then Sophie had caught a train towards London Bridge Station, which was only two stops on the tube from the famous Elephant & Castle roundabout, close to the River Thames. The location was named after a pub that apparently existed during the English middle ages, long since destroyed and rebuilt, several times.

Heather returned to her office and logged back in. Her secure phone rang.

"Heather?"

"It's Helen, can you put the key in?"

Heather reached down to the safe where she'd locked away the security key for the secure phone, then inserted it.

"Still there?"

"Yes Helen, we're secure."

"Now, I had Dave Brown onto me about business cards and a mobile, it seems that you need some for tomorrow?"

"Yes."

"Can't Sophie go out for some?"

"No, she's checking something out near London Bridge for me." No need to be too precise, London Bridge was a mile from Elephant & Castle.

"Damn, so you can't go anywhere?"

"Not really, not without endangering the local population."

"Okay, I'll see what I can do."

"Bye."

Heather knew there was probably a printing firm nearby who could make 50 or 100 cards very quickly. Now, hadn't Helen mentioned a business domain? She called Helen back.

"Another thought, you said last week you'd registered a domain name for me, I need a legitimate business email address and a website, they have to be included on the cards."

"OK."

It was now one in the afternoon and it didn't look as if Heather would be ready for the morning. She was running through a mental check-list when she realised that she didn't have a briefcase or a suitable bag for her paperwork and supplies. She sent a text to Sophie's phone using her official mobile, then put both phones on charge.

She felt thirst during the afternoon and wished she had a mini fridge in her office, something else on a lengthening list of 'must-haves'. Breaking protocol she went to the kitchen to fetch a glass and was half way up the stairs when the office's alarm panel started flashing, she entered the code and it settled down. Next, her secure phone rang.

"Hello?"

"Miss Young?"

"Speaking, who is this?"

"Thames House security, we just had an alarm activation for your property."

"I was on my way back into my office when the panel flashed, I entered the code and it's fine again."

"So you were out of the office?"

"Only for a minute."

"The proximity alarm will activate in 45 seconds if no-one is in the room when it's unlocked."

"Oh, so what if I need the toilet?"

"Pull the door closed when you leave the room, it will enable the alarm, you only have to enter the code to go back in."

"Okay, thanks."

"No trouble."

Great, so now they could tell when she wasn't in the office. Heather returned to finalising her expenses claim, but not including any of this week's purchases, or perhaps attempted purchases. She also created a spreadsheet for the current assignment and a master spreadsheet, then scanned the accreditation letter and added it to the relevant folder.

Now she could start work on her report. Sat in the printer was Sophie's expenses claim but there was no sign of her report, not that she was supposed to copy it, of course. Where to start? The first few words seemed to take ages but then they started to flow, the expenses claim was a help as it showed where the two girls had been on any given day, especially using Sophie's expenses to confirm and fix any errors in her own reports.

By 5pm her draft report was finished, she'd go back through it later, or even the following day, but the worst was over. There was a noise downstairs and she could hear the door opening.

"Heather?"

"Yes?"

"Could you come down?"

"On my way."

Heather closed the safe but left everything else out, ready to restart work. She shut the office door before heading for Sophie's location, who now was sat in the kitchen, a bag of shopping and a new briefcase next to her.

"We have a problem."

"What sort?"

"The property doesn't exist, the firm doesn't exist."

Sophie suggested silently that the pair head down the garden, away from the house.

"You can't have looked in the right place."

"Don't even try that approach, of course I looked in the correct place."

"So what's there?"

"I checked the address and the postcode on Google Maps, what was there was a derelict warehouse, it had been empty for several years judging by the decay."

"Come on Sophie, what do you think is going on?"

"We were due to go there in the morning, just the two of us, so it would be a trap. We'd be sitting ducks without any support."

"Shit."

"Quite.

"What do we do?"

"Let's go out for a walk."

"Why, oh, I could do with stretching my legs."

They walked back inside and made small talk about shopping whilst Heather tidied her office, disabled all the electronics and secured everything, although felt it necessary to remove her handgun and a spare magazine first. Both of her phones had been on charge in the office so she left them there. Finally, with a cardigan and her bag she met Sophie in the hallway. Sophie had her phone but had turned it off.

They walked, as calmly as they could, taking first a lane that would lead towards the town, but then turning in the opposite direction. They were walking up onto heathland above the town which commanded a view all around. Once she was satisfied they were alone, Sophie switched on her phone and called Emily.

"We have a vermin problem."

"Understood."

"Proceeding to rendezvous alpha."

"Received."

Sophie turned off her phone and beckoned Heather to follow her, she was using her extensive counter-surveillance training whereby you trusted the very minimum and rebuilt trust on stage by stage basis. Right now, DI Emily Keane of the Counter Terrorism Unit was the only person Sophie, and by definition, Heather, could trust. Sophie had obviously pre-arranged a separate set of protocols with Emily.

They came out onto a road, by a bus stop that had services to Croydon. It didn't take long for a bus, route number 405, to arrive; they boarded and quickly found seats. Again, conversation was kept to an absolute minimum.
The journey was forty five minutes long but Heather had no idea where they were going. They finally alighted outside the Whitgift Centre on Wellesley Road in Croydon.

Sophie led Heather into Block B of the Whitgift estate and to an innocuous door labelled "Croydon Enterprises". There was a security lock, Sophie used her police identity card to open it. Once inside Sophie made certain the door was shut then tapped a code into a keypad before relaxing.

"Right, you haven't told me a thing since we left the house an hour ago."

"Sorry Heather but we don't yet know what we're dealing with. Did you know in advance there was a mole?

"No, but Helen mentioned there was a suspicion when she came over on Sunday, nothing definite."

"Well, we do indeed have a mole problem."

"What is this place?"

"It's a Met Police command centre."

"Why in Croydon?"

"Didn't you notice those buildings across the road? That's the immigration headquarters for the whole of the UK."

"Never needed to know that before."

"Right, let's get the phone sorted." She accessed a small key safe and located the secure plastic key for the special telephone that was on the desk, then inserted it and dialled Emily's number.

"We're secure?"

"Yes Sophie, is Heather with you?"

"Yes." She handed the phone to Heather.

"Hello Emily? It looks like we have a problem."

"I know very little so you'd better explain."

Heather told Emily what she could, right now the secrecy status didn't seem to be relevant. Heather than passed the phone to Sophie so she could explain her activities of the day. Then the phone passed back to Heather.

"So the package came direct from Dave Brown?"

"Yes."

"Did it have your address on it?"

"No, I thought that was curious."

"No sensible, only the messengers need to know the address and they're part of the security department."

"Does that mean that the house hasn't been compromised?"

"No, but it reduces the risk. Where do you think the mole is?"

"Given that only a few people in the Security Service, yourself and Helen knew my change of identity, that restricts the mole to that group."

"Right, I've worked with Helen for years and trust her, but let's first look at the Security Service personnel. Who do you deal with?"

"Dave Brown, and that guy who does the security briefings."

"John Smith. Both of them are long term officers, not far from retirement, who else?"

"No-one directly."

"That doesn't help."

"Sorry."

"Okay, we've two issues, maybe three, this is what we'll do ....."

***

The two of them locked the police office and walked to the underpass before crossing Wellesley Road, sitting next to one of the immigration buildings was a Jury's Inn Hotel, Sophie booked a twin room in her name. They then headed back across the road and into the shopping centre, an overnight kit and change of clothes for the morning was needed before the shops closed at seven. They followed one of the tram lines as it wound down the steep Church Street then turned into Surrey St, Sophie seemed to know where she was going.

They entered the Dog & Bull Public House and found a seat towards the rear.

"It was your turn to cook."

"No, my turn to get dinner so I'll order the food, what do you want to drink?"

"I'll have a Youngs Special, a pint."

"A pint? I thought you were a lady and drank halves?"

"Ladies can drink pints plus it'll save you an extra trip to the bar!"

They discussed very little over their meal, the subject matter wasn't appropriate for a pub but at least they had anonymity. By nine they were in their hotel room, only four nights since they'd last shared a room.

***

They caught a train at seven in the morning to London Bridge station and walked into Borough Market, next to Shakespeare's reconstructed Globe Theatre. They settled outside a café and ordered breakfast. Emily met them in there a few minutes later, she wasn't alone.

"Heather, Sophie, this is Commander Bond."

"You're kidding. James?"

"No, and I guess it's not 'Basildon' either." Sophie was enjoying this.

"If you don't mind, I'm Kenneth Bond."

"Good morning." echoed Sophie and Heather.

"Now, ladies, once we've had some breakfast I would like to go to our command vehicle."

Their food, the standard artery brittling foodstuff, arrived just then, complete with industrial sized coffee mugs. That silenced the proceedings for a while. Once the post-breakfast requisite toilet visits had been made they walked out of the Northern side of the market and climbed into the back of a plain van. Now Emily explained the plan.

"We haven't had much time but I had to bring Commander Bond into the group given the seriousness of the accusation."

"I understand Emily, but I'm losing count of the number of attempts on my life."

"That's unfortunate Heather, but we don't know the extent of the damage yet."

"Okay, what's the plan?"

"We have two volunteer officers dressed much as you would, in smart business wear, and they will approach the site from Elephant & Castle underground station before visibly checking paperwork as if they're lost. Nearby we have an armed response team. You can watch it on that monitor."

Ken Bond took over, "plainly this is not a small undertaking and I was somewhat surprised at the value DI Keane puts on you Miss Young."

"I appear to have helped in a few cases."

Emily interceded, "helped take out virtually an entire terrorist organisation, don't play yourself down."

"It's a job."

"Yes, anyway this is now a major operation considering we could be dealing with an administrative error."

"An administrative error that involves MI5 and UK Banking PLC?"

"Entirely possible, just unlikely. Given that the original accreditation is locked in your safe we can't even check you read it correctly."

"Thank you for your vote of support, I am being setup, prepared for the slaughter. If it weren't for Sophie's insistence to come down here yesterday afternoon we wouldn't have known in advance and you'd be scraping my bits off the pavement."

"You know that in 75% of these operations nothing happens."

"I know that every credible attack on me could have been deadly, after the last one I was evacuated by the SAS. They were not impressed that I was armed inside their base."

"Armed?"

"Yes."

"Now?"

"Yes, both of us."

"Who agreed that?"

Emily responded. "I submitted the request but it was the Assistant Commissioner who approved, with the support of the Chair of the Joint Intelligence Committee."

"That's outside my pay scale."

Heather giggled, "that's what the armourer said."

"Everyone, it's nine fifteen and the decoys should be just getting out at Elephant and Castle. If you put the headphones on you can hear the radio traffic."

Heather could see a live feed from the response vehicle and was following the decoys as they approached the site. They went through their rehearsed routine and looked at a mock up of the accreditation letter then shrugged and started to walk back towards the tube. The Commander was becoming irate, muttering about a waste of resources, but had the support vehicle move up and past the girls.

As it parked, two men in suits came out of a doorway and intercepted the undercover officers.

"Which one of you is Heather, or Gail?"

"Don't know who you mean?"

There was a quick exchange of Farsi and the two men went to restrain the decoys, which did not go as planned. Whilst the officers responded with force frustrating their attackers, the support team were released. They had also identified a third man who was stood holding a door open and targeted him at the same time.

The female decoy officers were shaken but uninjured and went to the support vehicle whilst waiting for their own transport. The radio reported that three males had been detained and one premises was being searched.

"Commander Bond, will you now accept that this was a credible threat against me?"

"Well, yes."

"Emily, we do indeed have a problem."

"Yes Sophie. We now need to interview these males, assuming that they'll tell us anything of course."

"But Emily, can I go back to the house?"

"Not right now, we have plenty of work to do first and we need to get started straight away."

"How about I pay a visit to Dave Brown?"

"Go to Thames House?"

"Yes."

"Sophie doesn't have a pass, do you?"

"No, perhaps Heather could sign me in?"

"I have a better plan, he can come to my office and meet us there."

They were on their second coffee when Dave Brown appeared in Emily Keane's office.

"This had better be good, oh hello Heather."

"Good morning, although when you hear what we have to say it probably won't be a good morning."

The door was shut and Emily made the introductions.

"Heather Young who you know, DS Sophie Grieve and Commander Ken Bond."

"Who else is aware of this meeting?"

"Only my PA."

"How much does Commander Bond know?"

"None of the background, Dave."

"Then I'm sorry but we'll have to exclude you, Commander Bond."

"I'll be at Paddington Green dealing with our latest guests."

He left, and then there were four.

"What's the problem?"

"We have a mole."

"Evidence?"

Emily recounted what she'd been told, aided by Heather, starting with Dave's first email of the previous week. She finished with the morning's arrests.

"So, Dave, how do you explain that?"

"One of my team didn't show this morning, he was the one who did the research and prepared the package."

"So he had Heather's name, what else did he have?"

"He didn't have access to Heather's staff record which would include all her aliases, nor her home address."

"How did the messengers deliver it then?" Heather decided she needed answers.

"They have an index of delivery points, your home address is the main delivery point for your name."

"You just put my name on it?"

"Yes."

"Okay, but how did he connect Heather to anyone else? The Abigail identity was burned by Anna, who also knew Gail and presumably David, but she didn't know Heather."

"But she did know you were a part of my team, and so did the rest of my team."

"Bugger."

Emily intervened, "what's the name of the lad who didn't turn up?"

"Jeremy Davis."

"Davis? Related to Fatima Husseini Davis? She dated Anna's nephew for a while."

"I don't have his bio information, I'll have it sent here Emily."

He borrowed Emily's secure phone but had his own key attached on a chain, which he now inserted. He then dialled a number.

"John, it's Dave, I'm over at SO15 and we have a problem. Could you pull Jeremy Davis' records and fax them to this number? I need all his computer records and his clearance needs to be suspended pending an enquiry. Can you also check for any alarm activations at Heather Young's house. Cheers."

He rang off but stayed plugged into the phone. Separately Emily used her own terminal to run some searches.

"Anna's been bailed!"

-----------------------------------------------------------
To be continued

Unaccounted Gains Books 3 & 4 are also available on Kindle