Conspiracy Theory Pt. 02

"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting Mister Crossman," Anita said as she closed the door and sat down in a chair on the opposite side of the desk. "Now, how can I help you?"

"Well, first of all can I just say thanks for taking the time to talk to me," Dan said as he switched on the Dictaphone and placed it on the desk. "I appreciate that you're a busy person and it's a hectic time for you. I'm looking into the death of Donald Close – I understand that you knew him a few years ago?"

"Donald? Why, yes – I read about his death in the paper yesterday – very tragic," She said. "We were on Inter Departmental Committee for the Evaluation of Software together for awhile – I was the clerical help. I took the minutes and typed them up."

"Was there anything particularly interesting or sensitive about that particular committee?" Dan asked. Anita shook her head.

"Not particularly - mind you there wasn't anything much to remember. A cross-departmental database project I think. Very lofty goals from what I can recall, but a couple of Departments already had projects on the go so it was never really going to get off the ground." She said as she looked over her schedule in her diary. "It was canned."

"That was it? A cross departmental database?" Dan asked. Anita nodded.

"Although, I recall one of the presentations was quite groundbreaking," Anita added. "And, of course, there was Denby, that's Sir Lucas Denby. He was a racist and sexist bastard but he knew how to play the game all right. He made sure control stayed with the Home Office and I was with them at the time."

"What was so memorable about that particular presentation?" Dan asked, suddenly finding something to pique his interest.

"It was called Oracle," Anita said, a wistful smile crossing her face for a second. "The author wasn't one of the regular suppliers. He never had a chance." She paused for a second. "I do remember one thing though. Denby had a look about him. Something about Oracle was a big turn on for him."

"Couldn't it have just been something else on his mind? A mistress perhaps?"

"For a lot of people you might be right. But not him. Only one thing turned Denby on. Power! Trust me on that. It's the one thing we had in common. When I was a typist at the Home Office I had two degrees and spoke five languages. But I was an Indian from Goa and so I typed letters and minutes while he enjoyed the power and enjoyed patronizing wogs like me." She sat back in her chair. "So after a while I used my contacts to get a job as a researcher for an MP. I paid my dues and now I'm the candidate here. I've got the Asian vote and the woman's vote pretty well sewn up while my Labour opponent's haemorrhaging votes to the BNP. I'm twice as bright and work three times as hard as him. And I only need a 2.7% swing to take the seat. Next year I'll be the MP and the parliament after that I'll be a junior minister in the department where I once worked. Then Sir Lucas Denby will find out a bit about power!" The determination was clear in her voice as Dan listened to her – he could see how her forceful nature could win over the voters in this area.

"So Oracle meant power to Denby?" he rationalised, more to himself than anyone else.

"Nothing else fits." Anita answered. The rapping on the door signified that Dan's time with the prospective Member of Parliament was now up. He said his goodbyes and departed her office, leaving almost as unclear on what he was getting into as when he arrived nearly an hour ago.

The Voice, Ludgate Circus

4:35 pm

The shrill tone of the mobile phone rang twice before Amy picked it up. She looked at the display for a moment before flipping the lid.

"I hope you're ringing with some good news for me." She said into the mouthpiece and dispensing with the normal pleasantries.

"Yeah – I've just spent an hour talking to Miss Rodriguez. She seemed fixated on something called Oracle on a software board that she and Close worked on a few years ago…"

"The Inter Departmental Committee for the Evaluation of Software, right?" Amy interrupted.

"Yeah," Dan said.

"Look, before you go any further," Amy said as her fingers danced over the keyboard. "Two more members of that committee turned up dead this morning."

"What?" the shock was evident in his voice even over the static filled connection.

"Sally Williams and Brenda Jameson – looks like some sort of murder/suicide thing." Amy added. "I'm just about to fire off an official request for the minutes of their meetings to see if there's anything in them."

"Good – I'll be back down there in a couple of hours, dependent upon the traffic." Dan said as he reached his car. "I'll see you when I'm back."

West Jesmond, Newcastle-upon-Tyne

7:22 pm

He couldn't believe that Rachel wanted to see him again. To him MI5 was glamorous and to have a MI5 agent round to ask him about his work was an exciting change. To have any woman spending time with him was noteworthy, but an intelligence officer was really…He didn't have a word for it. For Stuart Boyd, life had taken quite a dramatic turn for the better.

She'd originally come to question him about some boring committee he'd subbed on a couple of times. Then they'd got talking about computer systems and she'd been really interesting and perceptive, listening to his explanations and asking the odd intelligent question. And when she'd had to leave she'd asked if she could return, so he could explain some more over a drink. He didn't really frequent pubs so she had suggested one down the road where they could have a meal as well.

As soon as she'd gone he'd leapt into action. He'd found a clean shirt and tie. He'd had a bath and changed into clean underwear and socks. Like the Navy did before they went into action. He'd picked that up on a role-playing forum somewhere. He was supposed to be joining a 'World of Warcraft' boss hunt with a group of online gamers, but he'd just have to take the penalty, and he could catch up on that over the course of the next two weeks annual leave he was about to take. Dinner with a spy just didn't happen. There was no way he was going to blow this off. He even remembered to use the body spray his sister had sent him for a Christmas present about eighteen months ago.

Driving off for the pub meal Rachel had to have her window open. Boyd had rather overdone the Lynx! Still she was pleased. Everything was going well again. She confirmed her assessment when she removed her coat and he could see her carefully chosen outfit. She'd picked a satin blouse with a low neck and Lycra to make it cling properly, above a knee length black leather skirt and three inch black patent high heels. She'd added a faint fragrance, which shouldn't be too distinctive by the time she got him back to his bed. Her lipstick was a darker red than normal and she'd mascara'd her eyes. She'd added big earrings and a velvet choker to complete the look. Stuart had looked gob smacked.

Throughout the evening his eyes had regularly been drawn back to the swell of her breasts as she leaned forward to listen to something he said. Her eyes had been less mesmerizing than she'd hoped, but appeared wide and attentive to his conversation. She'd laughed at his jokes. For once he hadn't wanted to talk about computers. But his social chat was lacking so he just spent a lot of time looking at Rachel. She'd told him a few amusing stories about her work but as the evening wore on it became more and more a matter of looks between them.

"Can I come in?" said Rachel quietly as she pulled up outside.

"Sure," said Stuart nervously. She put her arm through his as they walked up the path to his front door. He fumbled for the key and she squeezed his arm gently. He almost dropped it, but eventually managed to get them both inside.

'Has anyone told you that you have sensitive eyes,' asked Rachel. Then she kissed him. After a moment her tongue pressed forward against his lips.

When they parted she looked him directly in the eyes. "Take me to your bed," she said, her voice husky. "I want you to make love to me!"

"It's a bit messy upstairs," he offered weakly.

"I don't care," she responded, loosening his appalling tie. "I want you. Now!"

It wasn't that messy. The worst part was the miasma of stale and unwashed clothes. But the thought of what she was going to do to him was enough to keep her aroused. She slowly unbuttoned his shirt and knelt to release his jeans, kissing his body as she did so. He had problems getting the jeans off over his erection so she stood and let her skirt slither to the floor. She stepped over it still in her stilettos and started to unbutton her sleeves at the wrist before lifting the shirt over her head.

"Do you like what you see?" she enquired, taking a pose.

"Oh yes!" he almost stammered. His underpants were bulging. She walked forward and pushed him to the bed. Then she sat stride him and leant forward.

"Why don't you kiss my breasts?" she invited.

****

It had been better than she'd expected, as she eased out of the bed beside his sleeping form. In underwear and her laddered hold ups she grabbed her bag and slipped down stairs. Substituting the 3-amp fuse and fraying the wires took less than five minutes. She had a quick glass of water in the kitchen before returning in case he stirred, but he was sleeping the sleep of the satiated and just grunted as she got back into bed.

****

"Good morning, Stuart," she smiled, as his eyes opened. He looked shocked for a moment and then remembered. A slightly smug smile flicked across his face. Rachel rolled against him. "Thank you for last night," she said and leaned over and kissed him. He should have made the effort to clean his teeth last night she thought. She sat up. "Busy day?" she enquired as she slipped out of bed.

"The usual," he replied staring at her breasts as she replaced the bra. She eased her breasts in the cups.

"So what are you doing tonight?" she asked. "Can I come and see you again?"

"I…oh er, yes," he said as she slipped the hold-ups down her legs and took out a pair of fresh tan ones from her bag. "Look, I'm off for the next two weeks…"

"Good," she said. "Can I be first to use the bathroom?"

"Please," he replied. He quickly slipped into his everyday wear and headed down stairs. He switched on the computer and went to put the kettle on. Then he returned and started checking his voice mail. After a moment the computer flickered and the voice stopped for a moment. By reflex he leaned over and pushed the plug to make sure it was fully in the socket. There was a bright flash.

Upstairs the shower pump suddenly stopped. Rachel smiled. She was just about finished. She dried herself off and resumed her clothes. She left the ruined hold ups from the previous night on the floor. She had no links to this area.

When she got downstairs there was a smell of burnt electrics. Carefully avoiding contact she watched Stuart until she could confirm that his chest was still. Then she collected her coat and left. When she got out of town she stopped in an empty lay-by and removed the false number plates. As she tossed them aside she looked up at the early morning sky. Today had started pretty well, she thought, especially for a Thursday.

Home Improvement

Room 207, Highgate House, London

January 2002

Five years before

The morning hadn't started well and had gone downhill from there, he thought. Ned had been missing again, this time apparently with gout. Ned might be a pompous bore on occasions but Sir Nathaniel Parry was brilliant at chopping his way through the deadwood. Had he been in the chair they would have already knocked at least half-an-hour from the proceedings. Although the last time they had met up at his club he'd actually looked pretty ghastly. Rumours were going the rounds that he'd be offered early retirement. Anyway he supposed he'd better drag himself back to the presentations.

The pen had begun to bore a hole in the notepad. His doodles were becoming progressively more ornate as the day wore on. This was the third presentation he had sat through and he had progressed from simple squiggles to depictions of a fiery phoenix and a particularly vicious looking lion.

"Thank you for your presentation Mister Simpson," Darren Priest said as the projector switched off and the lights in the room rose once more. He could see several people in the committee who looked like they had been rudely awakened from a pleasant sleep. "It was very…complete." Simpson – a balding, overweight man – nodded as he packed away his laptop and departed the room. Once he had left, the committee members exchanged glances.

"That was pointless," Sally Williams, the representative of the Department of Work and Pensions, muttered as she made some notes on her pad. "I mean, the system looked like something from the eighties." There was a general murmur of agreement around the room.

"I know," Stuart Boyd, the representative from Electronic Data Systems snorted. "It wasn't even Windows based." Despite his awkward and clumsy nature, his remark prompted several chuckles.

"Okay people," Priest tried to pull things back on track. "So, before we see our next presentation – actually, our only presentation from an external provider – I just wanted to get a general impression of how folks think things are going." He paused for a moment. "Who wants to go first?"

"There's one issue I want to raise." Rebecca Nash, the representative from the Ministry of Defence, took the opportunity to speak. "That's the connectivity between the departments. While I'm all for joined-up government, there are some things that I'd be reluctant to let other departments have access to." She looked around the assembled members and instantly realised that her comment could have caused some to take offence to. "I mean, from a security perspective."

"I agree," Sally added. "I can't see what information you have within your department that's relevant to us within DWP – except for our existing access to the War Pensions system." Rebecca found herself feeling relieved at this comment, thinking that she could use Sally's position to further her own.

"I do feel that there's something to be said by linking up our two departments," Priest directed his point to Rebecca. "Certainly there's information within the Foreign Office systems that could be beneficial to the Ministry and vice versa." Rebecca nodded, reluctantly admitting the truth behind Darren Priest's comment.

"Which is why two separate systems would be the better way to go," Donald Close made his first comment on the issue. "I can only see a crossover on two fronts. I can see the benefits of HM Revenue and Customs sharing our information with DWP – particularly access to the Departmental Central Index and the TIDO records," He said. "And there's a definite case to be made for a shared system between the MoD and FCO. Are we in agreement with that?" Everyone nodded and agreed with Close. "Very well, it's been a long day so we'll take a look at the final proposal from Mister…Hamilton, then we can reconvene in the morning."

The Thistle Hotel, Piccadilly Circus

The corridor was quiet as they made their way along it, which was to be expected for mid afternoon. Part of their plan was to blend in as best as possible, and appearing to be two Japanese tourists wouldn't arouse too much suspicion in the crowded capital. As they counted off the room numbers they came to a stop at room 412.

"Shosa, are you sure this is the one?" The male "tourist" asked. The language he spoke seemed almost alien in his surroundings. His female counterpart nodded as she produced a key card from her jacket pocket. She swiped it through the electronic lock, prompting the led to turn from red to green. He fidgeted with the delivery bag that was held across his body with a thick nylon strap. "This thing is really heavy…"

"Quickly, inside." She cut him off as she opened the door to the room. He did as she said. Before she entered the room she took another quick glance up and down the corridor to confirm that they hadn't been observed entering. Once inside the standard room the room was still for a moment as she secured the door. She turned to her accomplice. "You have the camera?"

"Oh, yes." He said, opening the bag and passing the Polaroid camera to her. She checked it and began to snap pictures of the room from various angles. "Wh…why are you doing that again?" He asked. She sighed.

"Do you ever listen to me Togusa?" She asked out of frustration.

"Hey, I'm a diagnostic engineer not a burglar." He shot back, stung by her criticism. "This might be normal for you SDF types but this is all new to me."

"I'm sorry Togusa, I shouldn't have criticised," She said, remembering the difference in their backgrounds. "These," she indicated to the photographs. "Are to ensure we get the room back in the same way as we found it." She took one more picture from the window. As she picked the picture out from the small slit at the front of the camera she looked at it for a moment before placing it in her pocket. "Okay – Pryke said that there would be a portable hard drive in here somewhere."

"Right," Togusa replied as he looked across at her. "Where do you think that might be?"

"I don't know," she replied. "So that's why we have to look for it."

"Oh, right! Sure thing Yuriko." Togusa said as the light came on inside his head. "You take the wardrobes, I'll look under the bed."

"Under the bed?" Yuriko sounded surprised. Togusa shrugged his shoulders.

"That's where I hide my hard drives at home." He said as he got down on his hands and knees to search under the two double beds that were in the centre of the room.

"Programmers," Yuriko muttered as she stepped around Togusa. "I'll never understand them."

Highgate House

The room was silent. Everyone had sat through Hamilton's presentation with due deference and nodded at the right points when they were expected to, however they were all busy thinking about other things. They had thanked Hamilton for his time and for the delightfully innovative way that he had put together his little idea and implemented it, however everyone in the room had privately dismissed the "Oracle" program as it was dubbed as being simply too fanciful for their needs.

Everyone that was apart from Sir Lucas Denby.

He had watched Hamilton's presentation and found himself enraptured by it – the simplicity of the operating system was almost childlike yet the scope of the system was truly staggering. He had watched from his chair and found himself extrapolating the outcomes of such a piece of software if he could get his hands on it.

As he leaned back in his chair he noticed that Rodriguez – the minute taker from some minor department associated to this particular inter-departmental panel – seemed to be looking at him. He dismissed it as he got up out of his seat, leaving the room and the others to discuss whatever pitiful inconsequential plans that they had in mind. Upon exiting the stuffy meeting room, Denby removed is cell phone from his jacket pocket. Several key presses later the device was pressed up against his ear.

"Mitchell…I need you to acquire something for me," He said. His eyes scanned the agenda of the meeting that was held in his left hand. "It's from a computer engineer called Hamilton – meet me in my quarters tonight and we'll discuss strategy."

Room 412, The Thistle Hotel

"How long is this going to take?" Yuriko asked as she looked at her watch. Togusa waved her away with his hand.