Chapter 8: On Special Assignment

Monday soon came and Sergeant Cline and Aiden were ready to leave. They were travelling together to report to Major Edward. They had both had a phone call from the Major that morning as they were about to set off. ‘Change of meeting place,’ he told them. ‘I have my operation set up nearer to you in a disused shop, you may as well come straight here.’ He gave them the address.

That was only five minutes from where they were. When they arrived, the whole place looked totally deserted. They did as they had been told and parked a street away. Walking back to the shop they knocked on the door.

It opened immediately and a young man invited them in. Closing the door behind them, he asked them for their warrant cards. When they produced them, he checked the details against his clipboard and their cards and their faces against the head and shoulders photos he had of each of them.

‘Welcome, gentlemen,’ he said, ‘Go on through, the Major is waiting for you.’

They went through to the back room. This was totally different. The floor had new carpet on it, there was a desk and comfy chairs around. An older man stood up as they came in. He had a definite military bearing.

‘Sergeant Cline?’ he asked shaking his hand. ‘Yes, sir.’ the sergeant replied. ‘So, you must be Aiden,’ he said turning and shaking his hand. ‘Do either of you have any objections to signing the official secrets act?’ he asked. ‘No sir,’ they both said together. ‘Good,’ he said. ‘Go and sit at the desk and sign them. Sergeant, you go that side, Constable you go this side.’

They read it through, and both signed it. Major Edward countersigned them both. They each noticed he added Major, MI5. after his signature.

‘Now that’s out of the way we can get down to business,’ he said. ‘First, I can tell you that you have to be something special to be recommended to assist me. Secondly that you have been so selected will appear on your record and help your future progress in the service. A good report at the end will boost that even more.’

‘There’s not a lot for you to do today, so I want you to make yourselves comfy in here, help yourself to coffee and read through all the information we have on our suspect. I’ll talk to you again later. But just in case there is any doubt whatsoever, nothing, that you learn this week is to ever be repeated to anyone. To do so would end your careers instantly and possibly put you in prison.’

‘Sorry to sound threatening,’ he said with a grin, ‘But I have to be sure you know what you’re doing.’ He handed them a file and left the room. As he went out, he said, ‘My adjutant who you met at the door will be around if you have any problems.’

As they sat down, Aiden looked at Sergeant Cline and said, ‘Wow, perhaps we should have stayed with the paperwork after all.’ he laughed. ‘Let’s see what this can tell us.’ he said indicating the folder.

They sat quietly reading through it all. It took them well over an hour to read it. Aiden finished first. He let out a long breath of relief. ‘Do you think they have a folder like this on every member of the government?’ he asked. ‘Probably,’ the sergeant said. He kept reading for another ten minutes before he was through.

The file that had been given to them was on the local member of parliament. He had been an MP for a number of years and had recently been tipped as most likely to become a government minister in the next reshuffle. The ministerial post considered most likely was Minister of Defence.

Some of the suspicions raised in the folder would clearly leave him open to blackmail if they were true. As part of his original election strategy some years ago, the then prospective MP had become involved in helping with the running of a local children’s home.

He had spoken out about the government of the days cuts in funding to the home and as a result funding had been increased soon after, making him very popular locally. He had maintained a close involvement with the home ever since.

At the time he had been single, and the usual questions were asked, and checks made. There was nothing to show that he was anything other than what he seemed. An MP trying to do his best for his constituents.

During his first term of office, he had met and married a local lady. She was an heiress to a family fortune. They now lived in her family home in the constituency with their two children. A boy aged five and a girl aged three.

No alarm bells had rung even gently until the prospect of him becoming such a highly important minister loomed. As always in such cases, a fresh check was made on everything connected to him. Only one possible problem had shown.

He and his wife lived in a large country house in its own grounds. It included four small cottages which members of the staff resided in. The gardener in one, the chauffeur in another, the cook housekeeper in the third and a general handyman in the fourth. All four were married and all four had one teenage son.

That in itself would not have raised any queries except that one member of staff had left every year when their sons had been around the age of sixteen. Then when it was noticed that all their replacements had a son around twelve at the time of their appointment, things began to look very unusual.

It all seemed too much of a coincidence and a closer look was necessary. But of course, you can’t go round accusing important people without evidence. Nor can you go charging in interviewing their staff without showing your hand.

So as often was the case, sorting it out was dropped into Major Edward’s lap. He hadn’t a clue how he was going to handle it at this stage, but when he met Lewis and unexpectedly was presented with two trustworthy local policemen, he knew he stood a better chance having some local involvement.

The Major had left them to digest all the information and planned on returning later that afternoon. In the meantime, he had gone back to the local hotel where he was staying and tried to come up with a plan as he always did.

Having had no success, he returned to the temporary office in the shop. ‘You can see the problem we are up against,’ he said. ‘I can’t go charging in demanding to interview the sons of his staff. Indeed, despite the obvious, it’s still even possible it’s all a coincidence.’

‘Do you know where all the sons of the staff who have left are now?’ Sergeant Cline asked. ‘Not off the top of my head,’ the Major said, ‘But we will have the information somewhere.’ He nodded to his adjutant who left the room. ‘What are you thinking?’ ‘The sons whose parents have left might be more likely to divulge something now they’re away from the place.’ the sergeant said.

‘Yes,’ Aiden added, ‘If there is anything in it, there could have been pressure so as not to affect their parent’s jobs, and therefore their living accommodation.’

‘Speaking to those boys wouldn’t get back to the MP if we were careful about it,’ Aiden said, ‘And at least it might confirm if there is anything in it or not.’

The adjutant returned and handed Major Edward a sheath of papers. He looked through them then passed them over. ‘It looks like you’ve found something,’ he said. ‘All of the last four who left are on various courses at a nearby university.’

‘All four have had their university fees paid for by your local MP.’ ‘So they’re not going to want to risk jeopardising that, by talking to us.’ Aiden said.

‘Ok, that’s a good step forward,’ the Major told them. ‘Let’s call it a day. See if you can come up with any bright ideas overnight and I’ll see you back here in the morning.’

When he picked Aiden up the following morning, Sergeant Cline asked ‘Had any bright ideas?’ ‘No,’ Aiden replied, ‘I couldn’t think of anything other than setting Lewis on them.’

Sergeant Cline grinned, ‘Must admit it crossed my mind too,’ he said. ‘We couldn’t, could we?’ ‘Probably not,’ Aiden said, ‘But let’s not dismiss the idea completely.’

Over a coffee when they arrived, they discussed what they had all come up with. The answer was a resounding zero all around. ‘Ok,’ Edward said, ‘Why don’t you two go and visit the university and have a nose around. See if you can at least identify any of the boys. You never know you might come up with something.’

They picked up the papers with the boy’s photos, details, and the university address on. So, after an hour and a half drive, they found themselves on campus.

On the way over Aiden had been quite quiet. When they parked, Sergeant Cline said, ‘I could almost hear the wheels turning on the way. What have you come up with?’ ‘I don’t know if this is workable,’ Aiden said, ‘I’m working on the assumption that most university students would be hard up. So, how about if we offered a group of students a hundred pounds cash in return for some sort of interview?’