Fortress

73

Mandler was perched on the edge of the sofa, half folded over as if he had a stitch.

‘You look like a man who’s painted himself into a corner.’

He shrugged dejectedly. The comment had hit home, as Garvey’s comments usually did.

‘So, let me see if I’ve got this right. You’ve got Rolt being funded by people in the US who do surveillance software and private security. And you’ve got an Invicta man whose house you want to turn over without tipping off the Met.’

‘All I’m doing, Sarah, is keeping you in the loop.’

And possibly looking for somewhere else to lay the blame, once it came to it, which it usually did. ‘Thank you, Stephen, that’s most considerate. What is it you actually want?’

‘Leave to keep going, but without involving the police. We may need to lift a few people and question them without sending any shockwaves that might alert Rolt’s friends.’

‘Are you saying Rolt is somehow complicit in the bombing of his own hostel?’

‘Not in so many words — but you’re aware of what we know about the supposed “bomber” and that’s still under wraps for now. But if we take the two incidents together, the shooting in Walthamstow and the bombing, what do they have in common? It would now seem that both were planned specifically to deceive us about who was responsible. The first outraged the Muslim community because it appeared that the police had shot an innocent man, and the second got the rest of the population very worked up — not just over Syrian returnees, but just about everybody with a Koran in the house. If anyone wanted to split the public and turn the two communities against each other this has done it, and Rolt has stepped into that divide. It’s extremely bad news.’

‘But apart from your belief that trouble always comes in threes, and a nasty feeling about Rolt, this doesn’t amount to much.’

‘Look, can I just say, re the location for the summit—’

‘Stephen, there’s no way that’s going to change. The PM has staked his reputation and, indeed, his political future on pulling off a deal with the US that should put the economy back on the rails. What’s more, moving it away from Downing Street will, he thinks, make him look weak. I don’t like you going behind the backs of the police. As it is, there’s too much friction between you lot.’

She held his gaze. They both knew what she was talking about. 9/11 might have been averted had there been better communication between the US security services. 7/7 had caught them unawares here, yet the perpetrators were found afterwards to have been on the watch lists. And with Al Qaeda urging returnees from Syria to make lone-wolf attacks on any significant targets this was no time to be fomenting disunity between MI5 and the Met.

‘How’s your man inside Invicta? Has he made any headway?’

‘It’s a little early to say, but he’s certainly got stuck in. He’s the reason I’m here basically.’

‘His name wouldn’t be Tom Buckingham, would it, by any chance?’

The blood drained from Mandler’s face. ‘Wherever did you get that idea?’

She gave him a wry look. ‘You’re aware that our mutually esteemed cabinet secretary has a soft spot for Rolt. Turns out they dined at Clements’s club and Rolt was waxing lyrical about an ex-SAS man of that name. If he’s your man, and Clements is aware of him, I fear his number may be up pretty soon.’