The next day, Monday, was New Year’s Eve. Jonathan had breakfast, unpacked from his trip and then went up to his study in the signal box. The last couple of days had been rather intense for him and he needed to have some quiet time to reflect on what had happened and what he had to do over the next few days.
It was a cold but clear day and as he sat at his workbench, Jonathan could see the sun reflecting off the waters of Morecambe Bay, twenty miles to the west. What a wonderful place for quiet reflection, Jonathan thought, and a great place to come home to after a couple of days out in the world.
Jonathan was in the habit of keeping a daily journal. It was rather more than a diary and he tried to record not only what he was doing each day but also what was in his mind and what his plans were. Ever since the car crash he had had problems with focus and concentration and he had found that writing things down was a very good way of keeping himself organized and on track.
He wrote of the last two days and his visit with Sir Fergus and how he had developed more confidence about his mental powers. He realized that he had probably isolated himself from the world too much in the last couple of years and his chance meeting with Karen was going to lead him into some interesting adventures. He wasn’t sure what these adventures would be yet, but that just made it more interesting.
He closed his journal and put it back on the shelf and started up his computer. He got onto the BBC Parliament web site and quickly found several references to Lord Mendellson. As Mac had said, Mendellson’s main job was as a “fixer” for the Prime Minister and his cabinet. Jonathan found dozens of video clips showing Mendellson being interviewed in news bulletins and late night news magazine shows. He was often defending some unpopular government policy or arguing with a politician from an opposing party.
The more that Jonathan found out about Mendellson the less he liked him. Politicians were not Jonathan’s favourite species in any case but Mendellson seemed to be a particularly sleazy example. He was a politician straight from central casting: overweight, grey hair, red faced and wearing a pin striped three piece suit. Jonathan felt very motivated to be working against this character.
Jonathan decided to brew a fresh pot of coffee. With a cup of coffee steaming on his workbench, he researched Mendellson on the web and found a biography of him. The more that Jonathan knew about a person the easier it was to make a connection.
Mendellson was a typical establishment stooge. Educated at Eton and Oxford, then into the City of London, a rising star in banks and other financial institutions, seats on boards all over British industry. Eventually he had come into politics, elected as a member for a constituency somewhere in Yorkshire. He had climbed the ladder of his party when it was still an opposition party. He had developed a reputation for a ruthless pursuit of power and had made many enemies on his way up. Eventually, when his party had gained a majority and formed a government, the Prime Minister had brought him into his cabinet as some kind of personal assistant. Mendellson had soon acquired a reputation as something of a ‘fixer’, sorting out problems for his boss, the Prime Minister and protecting the boss from political embarrassment.
What a piece of work, Jonathan thought.
There was not much that Jonathan could do until after the New Year’s holiday. It would be Wednesday before everyone was back at work. He would call Mac then and discuss what they were going to do to get into Mendellson’s mind. At the moment, Jonathan was quite baffled by the problem of getting close to Mendellson. He would need to rely on Mac’s high level contacts to arrange it.
Jonathan was not really a New Year reveller. He decided that a few drinks with friends at the Ravensgill Arms and into bed by one o’clock in the morning would be adequate celebrations. Probably an afternoon nap would help prepare him for the evening.