Renton agreed and took Gibson to visit Vivienne at Bio-Cure. On the way he received a call from Parrish. “Inspector, I’ve made several enquiries about Manor Limousines and it’s a bit of a disappointment. The people I contacted know of the vehicle, and many others which the guy runs with various logos, such as Emir, Presidential, and Concord. They’re all targeted at high earners from all over the world. He changes them regularly as they are these removable decals I mentioned. The drivers are casual labour and change as quickly as the logos. They don’t pursue it too strenuously because they think it’s bankrolled by the Colony. I can try to find out more the next time I have a fare to London, but I’m not sure my colleagues want to talk about it again.”
“Ok, just leave it with me. Thanks for trying anyway.”
Before they arrived Vivienne took a call from Cologne. The C.E. was still hedging and was cut off by her.
“Have you seen the stock market this morning? My purchase of shares has helped turn Bio-Cure’s price around and I see that yours has begun to slide again. I suppose it may have something to do with my correction of the market’s perception of the rumours of my interest. I told several city analysts that I wasn’t at an advanced stage of discussions with you, and in any case if the interest was maintained it could take months to progress to mutual agreement. They were interested in the difference between my valuation and the independent one which they had from somewhere. I do hope that in correcting their misunderstanding I have not unintentionally started a run on your share price.”
“If we were to accept your offer it would have to be concluded in weeks rather than months. We have had detailed exchanges with your husband and don’t see the point of revisiting all of that. It took a hell of a lot of man-hours to compile and nothing has really changed.”
“In that case you can send me written confirmation of your acceptance of my offer price and I will reciprocate by agreement to a finalisation date. Then we can make a joint statement to the stock exchange.” He agreed. She then asked her finance director to come to the office. She hit Enfield with the bad news first. “I understand you received a request from Alistair to make a payment of £200,000 to someone for something.”
“Er, well it was handed over to Mr Banks as cash and I was asked to make provision for it in a creative way.”
“Please give me chapter and verse on the issue before I leave tonight, and don’t worry, I have another request of you. Speak to Richard Doyle, as I’ve just received confirmation that Bio-Synth has accepted the offer of £58 million. He is known by their legal people. I want you to instruct a more trustworthy legal firm, and then tell Doyle that he didn’t measure up. Make sure we don’t have any unnecessary complications like the merger agreement – keep it straightforward. I will inform Hepworth.” He breathed a sigh of relief and congratulated her. She felt good about firing Doyle.
Chapter 24
“Come in Inspector. I hope this isn’t about my father again.”
“No it’s about the briefcase.”
“You’ve found it!!”
“No such luck. This is Detective Sergeant Sam Gibson, and he has a question for you.”
She asked them to sit and Gibson said, “Mrs Banks, I understand you weren’t at home when your husband left for London. You also showed D.S. Adams a spare briefcase of the same design when he came to question you.” She nodded on both counts, and he continued.
“Well, we were also told that sometimes Harry Bowman used such a case when Alistair sent him on tasks he could not attend himself. I just wondered whether you knew about this arrangement.”
“Of course I did. When I spoke to Adams I said we had two of them, one being a spare for Alistair. Bowman had his own case.”
“I see. I suppose, as you weren’t here when they left, you wouldn’t know whether Bowman took his case to London too.”
“I can’t know for certain, but I would be prepared to bet that he did.”
“Why is that?”
“Because although I thought Alistair was going to London purely for the football, I had known for some time about the merger plan. We argued about it, and even fought about it. He told me virtually everything he thought I needed to know, but not when he was going to leave the country to finalise it. When he was killed and I found out more facts from the police, such as the intended flight to Cologne, I knew that was why he went. So, it is almost certain that Bowman took his briefcase as well.”
“Why, do you think that was an essential part of the deal?”
“It was merely the way Alistair did things. He told me long before that weekend that he was going to split the information he was taking. I suppose you know from Doyle that he had been threatened by various people who represented different interested parties. Alistair decided that he would carry the merger agreement and bond for the cash injection, and Harry Bowman would take the relevant intellectual property documents. He thought about things like that to the point of obsession. His idea was that if he was stopped by any suspicious person, he could surrender his briefcase, and Bowman could still get to Germany and protect the secret techniques. They were much more valuable to him than the other stuff, the bond and the merger agreement; he said they were only to be signed in Germany. As long as they were not signed they weren’t too much of a risk. Doyle tried to tell me that Alistair may have signed them already, and just to be certain I asked him to get the bank to stop the bond after Alistair died. I thought you must have been told of the Bowman arrangement by Doyle, otherwise I would have told you myself. I could have saved you some time, but you never asked me about Bowman. Now I’m curious, how does this help you?”
“It may explain a discrepancy in some of the testimony we have, and that opens up another line of enquiry. We may want to speak to Bowman’s wife.”
“Well good luck. I went to see her while I was in Germany a few days ago and she’s understandably scared to death that if she says anything about her husband she is risking her daughter’s life. The man who flew in Bowman’s place threatened her with such repercussions.”
Renton and Gibson looked at each other and decided to call proceedings to a halt. “Thank you for clearing that up for us Mrs Banks. We’ll keep you informed of any new developments.”
“Like hell you will. Just do your job Inspector and we’ll both be happy.” They left, and when they got to the car they shook their heads in disbelief.
*
Bradstock had believed Baumann had gone to Cologne and had him followed when he came back to Manchester. Renton smiled and glanced at Sam again.
“It looks like old Nige was led a merry dance. It is odds-on that he was shadowing someone from the Colony.” Gibson agreed but was more interested in re-examining the evidence with the two briefcases in the mix, then try to figure out about how it affected the chances of Baumann being alive.
“Sir, let’s get back to the office and get started.”
“Sam, haven’t you forgotten about the Fuhrer’s introduction of the new profiler? You were invited too. He’ll be terribly disappointed if you prefer to indulge in evidence rather than his Ouija board lady.”
“Arse! You know I’m just getting my teeth into this case. Will you cover for me and say I have a bad infection?”
“Nope. I want to be in on what your little grey cells come up with.”
Bradstock strutted into the gathering ahead of Eva Roberts and a surprise guest, D.C.I. Forster made up the triumvirate.
“Please listen up. I would like to introduce Professor Roberts.” Renton’s heart sank and he fixed his eyes on Forster. He was at least glad that his stare was met with a display of facial expression of intense frustration.
“She is quite reticent to talk of her glowing success in assisting the police in many countries, most recently in Holland. Her work is centred on serial killers and she has written several papers on that subject. Now although we cannot yet be certain that we are dealing with serial murders here, we can’t rule it out. To that end I ask
ed D.C.I. Forster to bring Professor Roberts up to date with the London killings last night. He will remain here until she feels she has all of the information she needs. We must also be alert for more incidents, and I want her to avail of absolutely anything which may spark her interest in the existing cases or future ones. One last thing on this, I do feel that there has been too much leaning toward the Banks murder here in the northeast, compared to the other victims. I can see that it is a high profile situation, but unless Professor Roberts can definitely link it to the others, we have to be more objective in the investigation. Do not take this as a critical comment, because I am getting the same kind of pressure about my own attitude to finding the man who gunned down two of our officers. I don’t like it but I have to accept that we must be even-handed. Professor Roberts will begin with Forster and Renton. Finally, the shift system for this incident room has been drafted by C.C. Cousins with my input. It is not carved in stone. It will begin in earnest on Monday, so if you have any queries direct them through normal command to C.C. Cousins.”
*
The Enigma parade had gone surprisingly peacefully until the diversion, which had been insisted upon by the police. They had not wanted the march to pass through a narrow alley between two shopping areas as it was a long stretch and effectively precluded mounted units. The alternative was a detour through a park. Circling around the small lake concentrated the marchers into an arc which provided an easy target and outward escape route for the antagonists. The Molotov cocktails rained down on the lake periphery with uncanny accuracy. The flames, smoke and screams garnered the attention of the police, but as the projectiles were time-coordinated the officers were attracted toward the victims rather than the assailants. The use of mobiles for this was quite clever, as almost all of the marchers were using theirs to keep friends updated on how it had gone up until then, many by text and others with their phone cameras. This allowed Graham’s contracted Muslims to initially blend in as moderates, and when fleeing, reveal the insignia of the Muslim Shield. Once again there were fatalities and the police were in the crosshairs of the media. In this modern era, it was not only wars which were fought on TV, but riots and vicarious murders. This afternoon’s carnage was nothing compared to what it fuelled that evening throughout urban Britain. The deaths ran into hundreds and were distributed fairly evenly between Enigma, the Muslim Shield and the police. The P.M. did not want to declare a state of emergency but had to deliver a quick and effective alternative. He rang Simon Halliwell-Jones.
“I know I said I would call you in a couple of weeks, but as you can see things have got ugly. The cabinet has had an emergency meeting and we are pretty certain that just like the riots of previous years, there are various elements to consider. There are the genuine, if misguided partisans, ‘career hooligans’ looking for trouble anywhere they can find it, and organised violence. The latter has a different pattern with these demonstrations, as there is good evidence from the police that it is being sponsored by the same people for both sides of the divide. I know your activities reach into such subversion and I would like to meet urgently to compare perspective. Can we do this tonight?”
“If you insist, but the timing is rather unfortunate. We are on the verge of a breakthrough. However I do accept that your predicament over these outbreaks is just as worrying in terms of national security. I am relieved that you have not capitulated to those who advocate a state of emergency, as that would not only be bad for the government, but prejudicial to our cause by pushing key figures under the radar. When do you want to meet? Please consider a different venue to Downing Street; this needs no more fanning of the firestorm by the merchants of doom.”
“Very well, I believe you have a helicopter and pilot you trust. I will announce to the media that I am going to tour the black spots of unrest by air, and we can talk in the chopper. It will help people understand we are taking this extremely seriously but still short of a state of emergency. It will buy us a couple of hours in the air. I get into the helicopter and you are suitably disguised as a co-pilot, and fly off into the sunset after dropping me back at base.”
“That sounds like a plan. I will make the transport ready and call you back.”
*
Eva Roberts’ first pronouncement was not earth-shattering but nonetheless interesting.
“I will take my time in poring through the data you have provided, however, one thing stands out already. As I’m primarily looking for reasons to suggest or refute the involvement of a serial killer, I won’t be concentrating much effort on Purdil Pitafi. He may well be connected to the Banks investigation in several ways, but a serial killer who sent this note would not be involved in a murder which they knew would be captured on CCTV. Furthermore, the method of ending his life conveys no obscure message. The author of the note wants challenge and not simple carnage, and at the same time to be apprehended. I will therefore leave Pitafi entirely to you.” Renton and Forster glanced at each other once more and seemed to telepathically nod in acknowledgement of great wisdom.
*
Once airborne, Halliwell-Jones discarded his cap and dark lenses. Patrick Carlyle got straight down to business.
“There are certain understandings which we try not to refer to, and yet sometimes it cannot be avoided. The organised nature of the sparks which have ignited violence in both the Newcastle protest and that of today have similar fingerprints, according to the police. This belief admittedly comes from a small number of arrests of individuals in the thick of the action, and their subsequent match with their ‘red star’ history on the database. Porting such information around the regional forces has enabled the police to recognise some as known minions of the Colony. You perhaps have a different approach to monitoring potential links to organised groups, but what could be common to both of our methods of intelligence, is indeed national security. If the scenes of today are accelerated due to such manipulation, it is potentially more dangerous than either external or internal terrorism. I would like to hear if you have intelligence which intersects with mine.”
“Not directly in terms of the lower echelons of the Colony, but possibly with respect to agenda. It is perhaps better that I enlarge upon the brief chat we had a few days ago. The credible evidence we have is through an individual who we ‘turned.’ He was a disillusioned extremist who confided in one of our undercover units already within the organisation we were monitoring. Unlike our man he was in a significant position in the hierarchy. This gave us an opportunity to test his veracity. Suffice it to say he passed, otherwise I would not be telling you this. After we were sure of him, we set him a level 3 test and he came through. The test involved a programme in which we suspected the Muslim Shield had received sponsorship. In fact the original information which opened the gate to the technology came from the Shield. It concerns the company run by this chap Banks who was murdered recently.
“After several government administrations had ploughed funding and research grants into this cutting edge technology, he became frustrated that the assistance did not extend to fast track approval by clinical authorities. His reaction, as you know was to move the entire knowhow abroad. At this time we discovered, from our ‘turned extremist’ that the Muslim Shield had managed to extract some of the highly-prized technology, through an internal conduit. I cannot quote you the verbatim detail of the mechanism but it is very worrying. One of the cures which Banks’ company had great hopes for, but not submitted for clinical approval, had other potential uses. His decision not to submit is understood to be because he normally waits years during which some of his competitors somehow manage to acquire access to the techniques. The Muslim Shield passed this to their source in Iran and this resulted in a frightening possibility. Please forgive me if I don’t get this scientifically correct, but Banks’ product apparently interferes with genetic structure by a process known in his company as ‘hinge-ing.’ It involves the way in which adjacent units in the double helix relate to one another. The communication and
passage of information within the structure can be altered to mimic correction of a defect which would, if left untreated, lead to a terminal condition.
“While playing around with this the Iranian scientist discovered something else. Certain conditions depend on the body’s production of enzymes. Some are necessary, excess of others is bad. This Iranian found that Banks’ product could be altered in its properties, so that under different conditions which may be encountered in various individuals it would behave in a totally different way. One of these conditions was in the presence of fluoridated water. His experiments with this new derivative showed that it was not acting in the predicted manner anymore, or indeed having a temporary effect, like taking a painkiller, it was progressive. In a nutshell, adding the product to fluoridated water before it was consumed allows an alteration which throws the balance of the ‘produced enzyme’ into a fog, and instead of pursuing the intended purpose, it creates amnesia. The sinister part is the progressive element. By continually ingesting the mutated product via drinking water, the patient will progress rapidly towards Dementia. This is bad enough for a single patient, but the entire population would become vulnerable, albeit at different rates, as there is a scale of reaction. However, it is estimated that ultimately the only ones safe from inheriting the condition would be those drinking imported, fluoride-free water. Our man has confirmed that his Mosque is aware of active Iranian plans in preparing for manufacture, exportation and dispensing of the product into reservoirs and other water supplies. He also states that bottled water is being stockpiled in old warehouses and underground abandoned mines. The Mosque is in Birmingham. We are awaiting an opportunity to get all of those involved in the programme in one shot, otherwise we risk earlier implementation. Our man has to give the signal.
“Now, your suspicions about the Colony seem accurate. Another arm of our intelligence is tracking this because there is some evidence that the Colony feels that one long push will get extremists to leave the country. We do not want to interfere at this level because it may prematurely abort the threat and scupper our years of preparation to amputate their entire apparatus in the UK, which we don’t want the Colony or anyone else to know about. As long as this is a ‘racist’ conflict it keeps the lid on the real threat. Also, the work of Pitafi in the north has ensured his martyrdom and worries the Muslim Shield. We would advise no action to be taken against the Colony at present. It is a ball-breaker Mr Carlyle – we need time – you don’t have much. It is a question of which is the greater threat? I am afraid your political leaning loses out to allowing the entire nation succumbing to the Genetic horse of Banks.”