Terry Bayliss laid out his plan on how he would disable or rather destroy the CIO data store. John agreed the plan and started to identify who would be in the battle group. He was still employed as a security guard at the CIO and could not be the lead on this occasion; his voice would be recognised by the other security men so, Terry would lead the team. John would lead a second team to the backup location once it was established where it was. If there were a third back-up system, then Derek Farson would take that on. It was essential that all systems that were being used for the centralised data integration were neutralised at the same time. John gave Terry chapter and verse on the layout of the Central Information Office; best entry and exit points; escape routes, alarm systems and how many guards they would face. Fortunately, the State had chosen not to arm the security, team. The security layout process was gone over in minute detail
John waited patiently at Waterloo underground for Graham to provide the information he needed to complete the plan. He watched him approach with more caution than he would normally take. He emerged from the shadows and greeted his friend. ‘Hi Graham, are you alright?’
‘Yes I’m fine John but getting here was difficult, I think I was followed but managed to lose them. I need to leave by a different entrance. Ok, if I use Lambeth North?’
‘No problem, we’ll go there together now and you can tell me what you’ve managed to find out on the way.’
They started their walk through the dimly lit tunnel that connected Waterloo to Lambeth North. Graham was clearly apprehensive about the possibility that he may have been discovered. His mind raced with questions, ‘were the Stapo undercover men following him because they had discovered his connection to John or was it just part of the general purge that put everyone under suspicion?’ John sensed his friend’s discomfort and said ‘have you considered that you may not have been followed at all Graham?’
‘Yes, I suppose I could be being a bit paranoid. Since Reynolds’s death and the new Commissioner being appointed everyone is a tad jumpy.’ They walked on briskly. Graham began his summary of what he had found. ‘There is only one backup system for the Central database. Ordinarily there would be at least three and I am told there would be storage in a specially developed “cloud”. Don’t ask me what that means I’m no techie and I guess it doesn’t matter anyway. More importantly, the general expert opinion was that it would take at least two years to fully integrate the data and ensure backup capability. Garside was adamant that it had to be done in one year and so shortcuts were forced to the scope of the project. What that meant was only one backup storage and fairly flaky data integrity. If their plans continue to completion they will have some capability of the sought we feared but there will be a lot of mistakes and lots of innocent people will be targeted due to the bad data.’
‘We can’t let that happen Graham. Where is this backup system and what sort of security does it have?’
‘It’s in a large area underneath the Crown Court at Southwark. Holding cells and storage rooms have apparently been cleared out to make way for the backup computer equipment. It has been double skinned because it is below the Thames water line and was at risk of flooding. Millions of pounds of computer hardware have been installed and it currently has a copy of everything that the CIO has written on to its system. All the work though is done by the CIO main office. They just pipe down their updates each day. The system under the Crown Court just carries on whirring away without any need for intervention. There is a small team of geeks who ensure that the machine is well oiled and running ok. Presently, the data is uncoordinated so the machines are just sucking in information as it’s received. The integration process is yet to be tackled and is what will take time.’
‘Do you know how far away they are from bringing it all together? What do they have to work with at the moment?’
‘At the moment, almost everything John. If you have ever entered your details into a computer or filled in a form, which could be transcribed into a computer, then they have it. They are waiting for military records to be input, which is a massive task and thankfully, they are a long way off welding this all together. Even the estimate of two years was optimistic so achieving this in one year is almost impossible. But they will have something even if it is a bit rough around the edges.’
‘We will need to do a thorough search of the Crown Court building and its surroundings before I give the green light. But I intend to put a stop to this within the next four days.’
They reached Lambeth North and Graham made his way to the surface. John bade him farewell, ‘keep your head down and be seen as much as possible in your workplace, especially when we hit the targets.’
‘Sure will John, good luck.’ Graham disappeared into the over ground.