Chapter 42 Together
It was the best thing for them both to slip away to some exotic paradise where they could relax after the traumas they both had endured. Martin had arranged everything from passports to spending money, hotel accommodation and clothes. Roland had virtually nothing left from his wardrobe, what with his flat being vandalized and his car exploding and Joanna could not go back to Luigi’s house for obvious reasons. What with Goodall’s men on the lookout for her, it was going to be dangerous for her to be in England.
It would have been absolute paradise for them both excepting the two Secret Service men who had to accompany them wherever they went. Maybe Martin was paranoid or had a sixth sense about things, but in his line of work, caution was one of their by-words which had to be taken seriously.
Jo and Roland decided to tie the knot while they were on the island. It was a quiet affair. No Photographers. The best man was agent number one and the witness was agent number two. They were going to do it all over again when they got back to England, when it was safe to do so.
‘Do you know we have been here ten glorious days?’ Roland said as they were having breakfast.
‘I know!’ said Jo,’ and what a lovely ten days they’ve been. ‘We’ve got another five days, Roland.’
‘Yes I know, but what’s going to happen when we get back?’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Well I can’t go back to the flat, it’s still being assessed and you have no home at all to go back to.’
‘Yes, I see what you mean. I’m sure Martin will come up with a solution.’
‘I hope.’
Roland said he had to do some shopping and asked if Jo wanted to come with him.
She said, ‘I’ll laze here for awhile and catch up on some reading and I might go for a swim. You won’t be that long will you?’
‘No my darling girl, I won’t be long, just a few toiletries I have run out of.’
He bent down and kissed Jo passionately. They were always kissing and Jo said, ‘I feel different inside.’ and she patted her bare tummy to be sure Roland understood her meaning.
‘Just as well you married me, Roland.’
‘It can’t be that quick, surely.’
‘Remember the house that was demolished? That evening, I felt sure we clicked the first time we made love.’
Roland went off bewildered but happy.
* * *
Roland and his bodyguard didn’t mean to be that long, as it was a very short car journey into the nearest town consisting of a Chemist, Bata’s shoe shop, Woolworths and a Cafeteria. Most of the essentials you could buy. If you wanted to buy something big, you had to go further afield.
Roland’s vehicle got a puncture and it took some time to get it replaced and for some reason there seemed to be a lot of traffic on the road back to their secret cottage.
On the approach road to the cottage everything seemed perfectly normal but as they got nearer they saw that windows were broken and curtains were flapping in the wind. Roland shouted Jo’s name as he entered the cottage. There was no answer. There were signs of a struggle as clothes were strewn everywhere. A knife was found with blood on it. Muffled sounds came from a cupboard and there was Jo, tied up and gagged. Roland was expecting the Secret Service Agent to be in the cupboard, but he was nowhere to be found.
Jo sobbed as Roland untied her and removed the gag carefully from her mouth and she hugged him tightly. She blurted out,
‘It was terrible. He told me not to phone you, but I tried and he lost his temper and placed me in the cupboard. I’m sorry darling it’s a trap.’
‘What is?’
The Secret Service Agent was one of Goodall’s men – he made a telephone call and I caught him saying that we were here and he tied me up and gagged me.’
Graham Goodall’s voice came as clear as a bell.
‘Well – what have we got here, two love-birds together – I’m sorry for you Roland, you just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘This!’
Goodall took out his revolver and fired twice at Roland point blank. Jo screamed, tears running down her cheeks. ‘Call yourself a man, shooting someone who is unable to defend themselves, you bastard, bastard, bastard!’
‘Shut that stupid bitch up.’
One of the men walked forward and hit her with his fist and everything went black for Jo.
Goodall turned round and spoke to the agent and said, ‘You did well.’
He shot the agent and then shot the other one who had said nothing. He wiped the gun clean of his fingerprints and slung the gun near where Roland was laying.
He hadn’t really killed Roland. He had shot him in the arm and grazed his temple which made him black-out.
‘When the local police get here, they will think that Roland lost it and shot these two. We better be on our way. Somebody pick her up and if she becomes a nuisance, kill her.’
* * *
When the local police arrived after getting an anonymous phone call from the cottage, one of the agents was still alive and he was able to clear Roland’s name. The local police contacted Interpol, Martin Church informing him of what had happened. Martin was going to be extra vigilant and would make every effort in his power to find Jo.
Chapter 43 The Cobalt Exercise
The Cobalt Exercise began at 7am on the Monday and Martin was going to split his team into two sections. Ten agents who were computer buffs would be checking all email messages between the Prime Minister’s office and messages that had been sent abroad to all the Embassies and where possible even those countries that were at present in the throes of civil war or uprising. The other half under Martin’s authority were going to sift through all the paperwork that had been sent in the past five years. It was a tall order but it had to be done because there had been more leaks from this department than the House of Commons the department had been awarded the “Golden Sieve.”
Martin knew where all the leaks had come from; Graham Goodall Section’s, but it was trying to prove it and of course that is why Martin had decided to go back five years, instead of the current year and part of last year. As long as it had 365 days in the equation, it was okay. But this operation was 1,825 days in 7 days, when on average forty odd messages were sent in one day. Anyway they would do the best they could in the days afforded to them.
The volume of messages sent in one of the years they tried to examine was so heavy that the five years was reduced to three years. It was on the sixth day they had completed the computer exercise and the reams of paper produced was phenomenal. Martin assigned those men who were not going to be on the battlefield to play war games, to take home a bundle of messages and anything if they found suspect, they were to send them to Martin at home. On no account were they be placed on Martin’s desk.
During the week that Martin was doing his checking of emails and other paperwork that needed to be tidied up, Graham Goodall checked on the security of each department and the surrounding grounds. They had to check every window, door, attic flap and staircase. A sweep was made with a machine to root out unauthorized hidden bugging devices and cameras. The departmental cameras and burglar alarms were checked to see that they were functional.
Goodall reported no hidden bug devices or hidden cameras, but noted that the burglar alarm in Martin’s office malfunctioned. It was what Martin suspected all along and he had quite forgotten that on entering the office, not once did he have to switch off the security device as it he who used to be in first. It is so easy to take things for granted when they don’t happen for more than five weeks and really he couldn’t remember how long ago it was since the bells had rung in the office and he to run to the box on the wall furthest away from the door to punch those six numbers in and punch in the enter button.
Getting ready for the war games on the following Sunday evening ready for Monday morning made Martin feel a bit apprehensive, for he was sure that Goodall had made arrangements for an accident to happen to him.
As Goodall was in charge of Section one and Martin in charge of section two, each had the responsibility of acquainting their men with the rules of the war game, to abide by the rules and to be responsible for their own actions and to obey the referees. If they received a blob of paint on their person, they were dead and must retire to the headquarters they started out from and wait to be briefed on their achievements.
Preparation had been made in the first week of the Cobalt Exercise to fence off an area of the countryside with a covering of trees for the Agents to have their war games.
Goodall felt positive about Monday. He was going to make a clean sweep of Martin’s group and at the same time he was going to get rid of Martin Church for good. He already had his excuse for Martin’s unexpected demise.
On Sunday evening Martin made a short telephone call from a remote “Call Box.” His instructions were brief and if anyone was listening his last words were. ‘Be there by five am – I shall be there to see you in the grounds and you must avoid being seen by the referees or Army MP’s, there will be quite a few of them around.’
