Three days later Henry Mason rushed into Garside’s office. ‘Tony, I’ve got some good news at last. We now believe we know what they were doing in the Ladbroke Grove Gardens area.’ Mason paused ‘we are certain they were contacting Gregory Harper one of your Minister’s or should I say ex Minister’s.’ Mason waited for a response from his boss.
‘Why would they want to contact Harper, we effectively produced enough dirt on him and the others who dared question my strategy to take this nation forward to completely neutralise them. I understand that was completely successful.’
‘It was successful in that he could not oppose you in a political way, but we believe that this group is a serious threat and not just a well organised criminal gang Tony. If we are correct, their strategy will certainly be to start gathering political support for an alternative government. While Harper may not have any political power he will have sufficient knowledge to guide and advise.’
Garside pensively stroked his chin and spent some time considering what Mason had proposed. He paced his office weighing up options, thinking about what this might mean. ‘Then we must stop Mr Harper and his friends from being of any use. I would expect you to use our “special resources” to eliminate this threat, Henry. Has Harper been picked up yet?’
‘I’m sorry to say we think he has disappeared. We visited his apartment and there was no sign of him. We know he has not taken any personal clothes or possessions, but no one has seen him for at least two days. As he was reclusive and only left the apartment in the evenings neighbours would have seen some sign of him in that time. We have a covert watch on his place just in case he returns.’
‘So, the rebels are likely to have him then?’
‘That seems to be the most probable Tony.’
‘Ok, what about the others? His fellow Cabinet members? Remind me of who they were and what they are doing now.’ Garside was uncharacteristically calm.
Mason knew just about as much as John Judge had been able to find out from Greg Harper and briefed Garside on the details of each ex-Minister. ‘We have arrest squads on their way now to all of them with the exception of Edward Grainger, who is believed to be overseas. We will be able to take them out of service fairly soon.’
‘I do not want Bill Boyce picked up Henry, he is very helpful to me and his contacts in the financial sector are extremely important. Leave him to carry on with his banking activity. I will let you know if I think he needs any special treatment. In the meantime make sure you get the others out of action quickly and let me know when it is done.’
Mason left Garside’s office unaware that John Judge had already moved Alex Carrington and Timothy Harcourt underground two days earlier to join up with Greg Harper. He quickly needed to stop the arrest of William Boyce whom he gathered was Garside’s tame banker and so phoned Mark Slattery. The Commissioner protested strongly and Mason needed to convince him. ‘Trust me, we have some intelligence on the guy and believe he is not a threat Mark so we can leave him for the moment.’
Mark Slattery wanted to carry out the task he had been given and although he was genuinely concerned about arresting a prominent banker he was relieved that now he didn’t have to. And so, he made a token gesture of a protest.