Revenger

52

Cameron Young was a very modern Chief of Staff. He didn’t just have flat-screen TVs tuned to the BBC, Sky News, CNN and Al Jazeera, he followed Twitter and a slew of blogs and news-feeds, too. Social media, after all, were frequently faster and more accurate than any other source of information. And they had already begun speculating on who had caused the explosion at the Lion Market, and asking whether one of the people responsible had got away from the scene of the crime. In fact, #whowasthesecondman was the top trending topic among London Twitter users. Young’s latest piece of information, however, had come to him the official old-fashioned way: from the Metropolitan Police Gold Command that had been set up to deal with the disaster under Commander Mary Stamford, a Scotland Yard high-flyer tipped as a future commissioner of the Met.

‘Intriguing information from Netherton Street…’ he said to Jack Grantham, whose mouth was full of bacon sandwich. ‘The police found a body they think belongs to one of the men who were helping the occupants of the Lion Market defend themselves against the mob. There was no wallet on his body and no other form of identification except for a Royal Marines crest tattooed on to his left shoulder. Apparently he began the night in a local pub. The barmaid says he called himself “Snoopy” when he was chatting her up.’

Grantham’s full mouth made it hard for him to say anything in reply, and he was extremely grateful for that, because that name was one with which he was very familiar. His tongue played around his teeth, extracting bits of sandwich, while he waited to see whether Young would make the connection.

Evidently he hadn’t, because he continued, ‘It’s good news in the short-term, of course. Kills that Adams speech stone-dead. But he’s bound to want to use this going forward. I mean, it’s perfect for his whole law-and-order agenda. We need to have answers when people start asking why the police weren’t able to prevent it. Should we be alarmed, do you think, that an ex-Marine was involved?’

‘Why?’ Grantham replied. ‘From what you say, it sounds as though he died a hero’s death.’

‘I suppose so, though it also makes it sound, somehow, as though military personnel were involved. You know… deliberately.’

‘I don’t see that,’ Grantham reassured him. ‘And Adams is hardly likely to pursue that line of attack. He’s ex-military himself. He’s never going to say anything that criticizes our brave boys and girls in uniform.’

‘I suppose not. But I think we’ll have to get a COBRA committee together, first thing in the morning. We need to be seen to be taking this very seriously. Do you want to sit on it?’

‘No, I don’t think so… It’s a purely domestic affair. If I turn up, people are going to ask why. And I don’t think either of us wants too many questions at the moment.’

‘Mmm… good point. The less said the better, you’re quite right,’ Young agreed. ‘So… would you like a drop more coffee? I’ll be mother.’

Grantham nodded and stuck out his mug for Young to pour into. As he did so he thought about Carver telling him he was planning to have a drink with Schultz while Alix was at the O2. There was no reason for him not to have kept the appointment, in which case it was all but certain that Carver was the Second Man. So now things were about to become a lot more complicated. No one wanted Carver ending up in a police interrogation room. And that meant that Grantham would have to deal with the situation — fast.