A fear of dark water

Chapter Six

The man behind the desk sat with his back to the view. The wall behind him was completely made of toughened glass strengthened with pale steel: an edgeless window looking out across an edgeless expanse of sodium-grey water beneath a sodium-grey sky. It created the impression that the office was unconnected to anything; just suspended, untouched by gravity and removed from the environment around it.

In his late forties, with a stocky build and powerful shoulders, the man behind the desk was shaven-headed but his jaw was framed by a dark, trimmed-close goatee beard. He wore rimless glasses and a black suit with a dark grey, Nehru-collared shirt beneath. There was an unnatural neatness to him, to the order of his desk, to the layout of his office. Even his movements seemed unnaturally methodical, as he inserted the memory stick into the laptop computer and clicked his way through the images stored on it.

‘There is no doubt about this, then?’ He spoke to the tall, thin, grey-suited man, pale-faced under short but starkly black hair, who stood in front of the desk.

‘I’m afraid not, Herr Director.’

‘How the hell could we have missed this? How could an outsider uncover all this… this chaos, and our own Consolidation and Compliance Office be totally unaware of what was going on?’

‘I’m sorry, sir. Obviously, this is beyond anything we could have imagined. I mean, this behaviour is so extreme, particularly from one of our own members. I know it’s no excuse, Herr Director, but we weren’t looking for something like this, whereas the woman infiltrated the Project specifically to find something she could use against us. I’m guessing that even she didn’t expect to uncover something of this magnitude. But I can assure you that the instant this came to light… when I realised who it was in the file, and knowing his position in the organisation, I put my best security and surveillance officers onto tracking his every move, twenty-four hours a day. Ever since then we have been monitoring all his internet, email and cellphone activity, as well as tracking his movements and contacts. Our surveillance confirms what is in the USB stick we found on the woman.’

‘And there is no way she could have communicated any of this to someone on the outside?’

‘I cannot say with certainty, Herr Director, but I believe not. It’s my opinion that she intended to sell this information to the press, or to expose it on a website. She would not have told anyone who might have compromised her scoop. And she would be aware of our reach, so she would not risk exposing herself until publication.’

‘She was a journalist, you think?’

‘I can’t say. And she wouldn’t say. She was unresponsive to questioning. However, there is, we believe, a cellphone unaccounted for.’

‘What do you mean, “unaccounted for”?’

‘Simply that we can’t find her cellphone. A Nokia 5800. But we’ve got a tracker on it. It’ll be found, Herr Director.’

‘I sincerely hope so. I don’t need to tell you how much data can be stored on a hand-held.’ The man behind the desk paused meditatively, then nodded towards the image on his laptop screen. ‘What about him?’ Does he know he’s been found out?’

‘Absolutely not, Herr Director. I get the feeling that he believes he is immune from detection. His actions suggest a certain arrogance. And my Consolidators are expert at covert surveillance. He doesn’t know he’s being watched, that I’m sure of.’

‘Have you heard of the Observer Effect, Badorf?’

‘I can’t say I have, Herr Director.’

‘It comes from quantum mechanics, from the observation of subatomic particles. The act of observation itself changes the behaviour of the observed particle.’ The Director examined the image on the screen for a long time. ‘It is imperative that he does not know we are onto him. And no one outside your immediate team must know about this. You realise the danger his actions have placed us in, don’t you, Badorf? The danger they have placed the entire Project in?’

‘Of course. I have told the Consolidators involved to destroy all records of the surveillance, other than those you now have. But I do believe we got to the woman before she could pass on any of this information. And we could deal with… with our problem… before he does anything else to compromise the Project. What are your instructions?’

Wiegand stared at the images again, clicking through them. ‘Nothing rash. This takes planning. He has to be stopped, all right, but not in a way that links with us.’

‘If I may suggest, Herr Director: perhaps Mister Korn should be advised.’

‘You are talking to me, Badorf. It’s the same thing. What I want you to do is to come up with something discreet and effective. Something innovative. Can you manage that?’

‘Of course, Herr Director. We have various resources at our disposal that cannot be linked directly to us. I will examine our options and report back to you.’

After Badorf left the office, the Director swung his chair around to face the glass wall. The sky’s colour had shifted subtly to a more glaucous grey and now hinted at turbulence. Perhaps there was another storm coming.