"I feel like I'm a kid going to the seaside," mumbled John as they bounced around in the back of a seven seater people carrier.
"Next you'll be asking if we're there yet," said Jennifer, looking up from her notes. "Anyway, how are we going to play this? Are we going to blatantly say why we're there and hope somebody looks guilty, or go in undercover? You could pass muster as belonging in this place but I wouldn't have a hope."
"Officially we're 'checking out their security procedures'," said John, "which is what we are doing. But in addition we'll also be ferreting around to see if they've already been breached. I'll also be familiarising myself with their latest advances and assessing which, if any, the CIA would be most interested in."
"So you deal with the boffin side of things and the rest of us will look for any potential breaches. Okay. And we can't take any weapons in?"
"No, the equipment is too sensitive: one stray gunshot could ruin several million quids worth of equipment. All employees are thoroughly searched and scanned before they enter, there's no way anybody could smuggle a weapon in."
"But there are bound to be things in there that could be used as weapons. There's a canteen with cutlery and there must be a few blunt instruments here and there."
"Yes, of course," said John, "but that shouldn't worry you."
"No, it doesn't, I'm just thinking long term - a potential mutiny from inside when we're not there to stop it."
"You mean like a terrorist hijacking a plane with nail clippers?" grinned John.
Jennifer merely stuck out her tongue.
"We can't guard against every possible eventuality," continued John, "we're just here to give White and the PM a report on whether we think the CIA are likely to have a go at this place and what steps we can take to prevent that."
"I assume the highest possible vetting was carried out?"
"Naturally," said John, "but somebody could have got to them since."
"A plant?"
"It's a possibility we have to consider. Everyone has a price or a skeleton in the closet."
"There's nobody new been employed here for two years. We've no reason to believe the CIA knew about Arthur's implant before they got to Peterson, so we can assume they haven't installed anyone themselves."
"No, it would have to somebody they'd nobbled fairly recently. It's far more likely they'll try some sort of electronic surveillance or breaking in during the night."
"They don't even know what's being worked on here, do they?"
"I hope not."
An hour later they arrived and began a tour of the premises.
"It's not a very secure building," said Jennifer.
"What do you mean?" said Simon Parker, director of research. "All inner doors have locks that can be only opened by iris recognition."
He had worked there for seventeen years and the idea that there was anything wrong with his establishment was unthinkable.
"The exterior of the building could be opened with a pen knife. Or a couple of grenades at most."
"Grenades? Here? That's ridiculous."
"You do know why we're here?" said John.
"Yes, but I really think..."
Jennifer's phone rang.
"White," she said, answering it. "Fuck," she said shortly afterwards. A few minutes later she said "Okay," and put her phone away.
"Well?" asked John.
"Location D1," she said, pausing to let the significance sink in. "Three heavily armed agents keeping watch. They had a grenade launcher, the works."
John sighed. He had been hoping that 4 hadn't been compromised, but it was useless denying it now.
"What happened?"
"Two of them dead, the other in custody."
"Dead?" said Parker. "What on earth are you talking about?"
"One of the other research establishments we were keeping our eye on: the foreign power we don't want to give away our technology to has also been watching it."
"Grenade launcher," repeated Jennifer, "that would get you in here, no problem."
Parker looked around uneasily, his certainties unravelling like string in a tsunami.
"That establishment was..." she chose her words carefully, "bottom of our list. You are top, in terms of how interested we believe these interlopers may be in your work."
"But nobody should know about our work?" he protested.
"A lot of people shouldn't know a lot of things, but they do."
"Are you suggesting that we have a leak?" he asked indignantly.
"That is one of the things we are here to establish," said John.
Parker looked as if his whole universe had suddenly collapsed into a black hole.
"But..." he stuttered.
"They probably don't know any details," added Jennifer, "just the general gist. You are the top research facility in your field."
He beamed proudly.
"So you're an obvious target for anyone wishing to infiltrate that field."
"I suppose so," he conceded reluctantly.
"We believe that this foreign interest has arisen since the arrival of your last new employee, so it's highly unlikely that you have a mole here."
"A mole? Everyone here is strictly vetted."
"Not by us," said John, "we have different levels of strict."
Again, Parker struggled to take this in.
Jennifer patted him on the shoulder, trying to reassure him, but he flinched and seemed even more uncomfortable so she suggested they get some coffee.