http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/ Mon, 04 May 2026 05:24:11 +0000 MyBB http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-1096.html Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:23:49 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-1096.html [6th December 2005

We've been having a quiet month, a rarity in our line of work. A time for us to sift through the paperwork, and to sort ourselves out. Our latest recruit, Jo, is just finishing training at the moment - she will probably be in tomorrow. It's always nice to have new people join the team; they bring fresh ideas to the table.

Anyway, tomorrow will see the start of a planned terror campaign. Nazim Malek, who was linked with a planned bomb attack at Heathrow in 2003, is currently in prison. It seems that he is co-ordinating another attack in London, even from within prison. We need to find out how he is doing this, and to solve that particular mystery, we need to let him out of prison. A move which will open us up to the Human Rights Lobby, who have been angrily protesting that he is illegally detained. They have a point. No trial, but he was still imprisoned. I suppose MI5 would argue that they were infringed one human's right to save countless others.

The current plan is for Fiona to go undercover as a PR consultant for the Human Rights Lobby, Liberation, who are currently helping him. His house is being bugged, as is the office. There's nowhere for him to hide now.

[7th December 2005

Malek was released today, amid a media frenzy. Apparently Liberation want to sue the British Government. A lovely touch. Fiona is already undercover in Liberation. The head of Liberation, Rebecca Sinclair, wants as much media attention as possible, rather unsurprisingly. Slightly more surprising, however, was that Malek is refusing to be interviewed, or for his identity to be known, even though he is supporting the case.

Special Branch came for a visit today. Paul Seymour, from Special Branch came over to offer their support, whilst not so subtly hinting that Malek should be back behind bars. He doesn't get it; we're not releasing Malek because we feel like it, he currently poses a credible and serious risk to people within the UK. We need him out of prison, and we need him to lead us to the cell which will carry out the attack. Juliet has been putting pressure on Harry, acting like she never wanted Malek released. I wonder who's giving her the push. She made a career out of it, but she seemed fine with his release before.

It seems Malek is going to lead us to the cell. The Rebecca Sinclair left an envelope behind in the room where Malek is staying. It's now just a waiting game to see when he leads us to the bomb. We have no idea what's in the envelope; it's just waiting. It doesn't seem like we'll be waiting for long. DGSE in Paris say that they are picking up increased mobile activity around Gare du Nord, and at the Eurostar terminus in Lille. What we don't know is "is the tunnel how they're getting in, or is it the target?"

Jo arrived today. Bright, enthusiastic. I wonder how long it will take for that to change. That's what this job can do. All the lying, all the secrets. Sometimes I wonder how many of us survive. Tom couldn't make it through, and he was one of the best Spooks the Service had ever seen. Anyway, I've set Jo to work on writing the Liberation speech Fiona is meant to be giving to them. It's a good speech - she would have made an amazing journalist. Fiona was at the Liberation press conference this evening, listening to Jo's speech being delivered. As they spoke of the right not to be spied on, rather ironically, Jo, Malcolm and Adam were breaking into their offices, placing the bugs that we would use to check that Malek didn't try communicating with the cell that way.

[8th December 2005

We nearly dropped the operation today. There was nothing happening to Malek, the only odd thing was that he hasn't slept. So maybe he was waiting. We had 3 hours to prove that he's waiting, and that we can stop this attack.

Less than an hour later, and he left the hotel. Zaf was outside to tail him. It seemed like the end of the operation was in sight. We nearly lost him - he managed to leave the subway without us noticing, but it didn't take long to find him again. He was sitting on a bench with another man, then left his bag there. We didn't know what was in the bag, but Zaf tailed the man that the bag was given to. Rachid Medi, a member of Free Islam. Rachid's brother, Khaled, was in prison with Malek. That's how we think Malek was communicating with the outside world.

Zaf and Adam found the envelope Rebecca gave Malek, along with the edges of passport photos. Multiple passport photos. Malek was having forged passports made for more than one person. Why we're not entirely certain, but at a guess, it's to get the operatives out of the country afterwards.

Later, Malek met Rebecca Sinclair at the Liberation Headquarters. He's getting her to stop the legal case, and he's going to back in a few days to "pick them up," whoever them are. Whoever they are, it's clear it's not the same operatives used in the 2003 attempt. French Intelligence stormed a suspected terror cell near Gare du Nord, shooting dead two Algerians. One of the men is called Nazim Malek. The Nazim Malek we're following is the wrong one. There were two Nazim Maleks living in North Acton. We picked up the wrong one. The Nazim Malek studying computer science at a West London Poly, the terrorist leader, left as soon as he heard we'd arrested another Nazim Malek, thinking that we'd spot our mistake soon enough. We didn't.

So it turns out that Liberation were right - he did spend two years in prison as an innocent man. Now it seems he is not acting so innocently. He's meeting with known extremists, and the possibility of an imminent attack is present once again. He tried to kill himself by jumping from a multi-storey car park. Zaf managed to pull him in, and explain to him everything that had happened. Rather unsurprisingly, he was slow to trust us. We had just ruined his life, why would he trust us?

This Nazim Malek was an illegal immigrant from France. A former soldier, he had to escape from Algeria with his family when he refused to dress up as part of the enemy soldiers and kill a communist village. Whilst in prison, Khaled Medi spoke to him. If Malek shot a specific member of the Algerian Government, they would arrange for Malek's family to get passports. Malek is waiting for his 'job', in exchange for the passports.

Before we could get to his family the terrorists did. They kidnapped his wife and children, and killed Rebecca Sinclair. Malek fled, obviously disturbed. Juliet was getting itchy feet. Fortunately we found Malek before he could shoot, and rescued his family. It was very close though. His son was nearly shot dead. Malek has now left the country with his family. I dread to think the trauma he's gone through.

Paul Seymour lied to us about Malek. When he was arrested, he explained how he escaped Algeria because he deserted the army there to Special Branch, but they never mentioned it. Harry asked me to get the document to see if what Malek said was true. Rather unsurprisingly, it was. Mr Seymour's future now seems uncertain.]]> [6th December 2005

We've been having a quiet month, a rarity in our line of work. A time for us to sift through the paperwork, and to sort ourselves out. Our latest recruit, Jo, is just finishing training at the moment - she will probably be in tomorrow. It's always nice to have new people join the team; they bring fresh ideas to the table.

Anyway, tomorrow will see the start of a planned terror campaign. Nazim Malek, who was linked with a planned bomb attack at Heathrow in 2003, is currently in prison. It seems that he is co-ordinating another attack in London, even from within prison. We need to find out how he is doing this, and to solve that particular mystery, we need to let him out of prison. A move which will open us up to the Human Rights Lobby, who have been angrily protesting that he is illegally detained. They have a point. No trial, but he was still imprisoned. I suppose MI5 would argue that they were infringed one human's right to save countless others.

The current plan is for Fiona to go undercover as a PR consultant for the Human Rights Lobby, Liberation, who are currently helping him. His house is being bugged, as is the office. There's nowhere for him to hide now.

[7th December 2005

Malek was released today, amid a media frenzy. Apparently Liberation want to sue the British Government. A lovely touch. Fiona is already undercover in Liberation. The head of Liberation, Rebecca Sinclair, wants as much media attention as possible, rather unsurprisingly. Slightly more surprising, however, was that Malek is refusing to be interviewed, or for his identity to be known, even though he is supporting the case.

Special Branch came for a visit today. Paul Seymour, from Special Branch came over to offer their support, whilst not so subtly hinting that Malek should be back behind bars. He doesn't get it; we're not releasing Malek because we feel like it, he currently poses a credible and serious risk to people within the UK. We need him out of prison, and we need him to lead us to the cell which will carry out the attack. Juliet has been putting pressure on Harry, acting like she never wanted Malek released. I wonder who's giving her the push. She made a career out of it, but she seemed fine with his release before.

It seems Malek is going to lead us to the cell. The Rebecca Sinclair left an envelope behind in the room where Malek is staying. It's now just a waiting game to see when he leads us to the bomb. We have no idea what's in the envelope; it's just waiting. It doesn't seem like we'll be waiting for long. DGSE in Paris say that they are picking up increased mobile activity around Gare du Nord, and at the Eurostar terminus in Lille. What we don't know is "is the tunnel how they're getting in, or is it the target?"

Jo arrived today. Bright, enthusiastic. I wonder how long it will take for that to change. That's what this job can do. All the lying, all the secrets. Sometimes I wonder how many of us survive. Tom couldn't make it through, and he was one of the best Spooks the Service had ever seen. Anyway, I've set Jo to work on writing the Liberation speech Fiona is meant to be giving to them. It's a good speech - she would have made an amazing journalist. Fiona was at the Liberation press conference this evening, listening to Jo's speech being delivered. As they spoke of the right not to be spied on, rather ironically, Jo, Malcolm and Adam were breaking into their offices, placing the bugs that we would use to check that Malek didn't try communicating with the cell that way.

[8th December 2005

We nearly dropped the operation today. There was nothing happening to Malek, the only odd thing was that he hasn't slept. So maybe he was waiting. We had 3 hours to prove that he's waiting, and that we can stop this attack.

Less than an hour later, and he left the hotel. Zaf was outside to tail him. It seemed like the end of the operation was in sight. We nearly lost him - he managed to leave the subway without us noticing, but it didn't take long to find him again. He was sitting on a bench with another man, then left his bag there. We didn't know what was in the bag, but Zaf tailed the man that the bag was given to. Rachid Medi, a member of Free Islam. Rachid's brother, Khaled, was in prison with Malek. That's how we think Malek was communicating with the outside world.

Zaf and Adam found the envelope Rebecca gave Malek, along with the edges of passport photos. Multiple passport photos. Malek was having forged passports made for more than one person. Why we're not entirely certain, but at a guess, it's to get the operatives out of the country afterwards.

Later, Malek met Rebecca Sinclair at the Liberation Headquarters. He's getting her to stop the legal case, and he's going to back in a few days to "pick them up," whoever them are. Whoever they are, it's clear it's not the same operatives used in the 2003 attempt. French Intelligence stormed a suspected terror cell near Gare du Nord, shooting dead two Algerians. One of the men is called Nazim Malek. The Nazim Malek we're following is the wrong one. There were two Nazim Maleks living in North Acton. We picked up the wrong one. The Nazim Malek studying computer science at a West London Poly, the terrorist leader, left as soon as he heard we'd arrested another Nazim Malek, thinking that we'd spot our mistake soon enough. We didn't.

So it turns out that Liberation were right - he did spend two years in prison as an innocent man. Now it seems he is not acting so innocently. He's meeting with known extremists, and the possibility of an imminent attack is present once again. He tried to kill himself by jumping from a multi-storey car park. Zaf managed to pull him in, and explain to him everything that had happened. Rather unsurprisingly, he was slow to trust us. We had just ruined his life, why would he trust us?

This Nazim Malek was an illegal immigrant from France. A former soldier, he had to escape from Algeria with his family when he refused to dress up as part of the enemy soldiers and kill a communist village. Whilst in prison, Khaled Medi spoke to him. If Malek shot a specific member of the Algerian Government, they would arrange for Malek's family to get passports. Malek is waiting for his 'job', in exchange for the passports.

Before we could get to his family the terrorists did. They kidnapped his wife and children, and killed Rebecca Sinclair. Malek fled, obviously disturbed. Juliet was getting itchy feet. Fortunately we found Malek before he could shoot, and rescued his family. It was very close though. His son was nearly shot dead. Malek has now left the country with his family. I dread to think the trauma he's gone through.

Paul Seymour lied to us about Malek. When he was arrested, he explained how he escaped Algeria because he deserted the army there to Special Branch, but they never mentioned it. Harry asked me to get the document to see if what Malek said was true. Rather unsurprisingly, it was. Mr Seymour's future now seems uncertain.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-1090.html Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:45:39 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-1090.html
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[12th November 2005]

I’m at home, enjoying a cup of tea, trying to relax writing in my diary. It's been a hectic week.

It all began on Tuesday when I was coming back from work, late in the evening (I’ve been working on a list of candidates to join our team). I was opening my front door when I felt a hand on my mouth muffling my screams. It was bloody Gary Hicks, he scared me to death. In this job you never know whether someone is following you and whether this someone is up to no good. Or, I suppose I should notice, but I never seem to until it's too late.

He came to me because he had witnessed a murder, a murder which was made to look like a suicide. It had been all over the news the whole day; Clive McTaggart ex-MI5 officer was supposed to kill himself. (The death meant something big to Harry as well - Clive was his Harry, his head of the Section while he was working his way through the ranks.) According to Gary, McTaggart was writting his memoirs without caring about the the Official Secrets Act and was out to publish them. Somebody inside our circle must have thought that should be silenced in the strongest possible terms. God knows why they didn't just steal the damn thing.

I called Harry to come over to my place to tell him what was happening and to try and help us figure it out. Harry deduced that we were almost certainly being watched or listened to and packed us off to a safe house to stay while this matter wasn’t solved.

It turns out McTaggart was dying of bowel cancer and according to Gary he couldn’t stand where politics were going; with all the secrets and and using fear to gain votes; he called it “velvet fascism”. So he contacted Gary to publish the book as he owed him one (Gary didn’t publish a compromising story involving McTaggart many years ago).

In the end we discovered that Juliet Shaw was behind all this. She and Roy Woodring (an old foe of Harry's) found out what McTaggart was doing so he contacted her; she declared to Harry when she confronted her that she didn’t know he was going to kill him. I’m not sure I believe that, it was all very convenient for her. I don’t think Juliet would stop at something or someone that bothers her, she doesn't strike me as that sort of person. She said Woodring didn't leave her any choice. But that was all after Woodring sent a kill squad after Gary and all of us in the safe house. We barely got out alive.

Gary has changed so much. He was so brilliant and insightful back in the day, back in our day, I suppose. He now prefers to use his skills uncovering scandals which is more profitable... He took the easiest path. I don’t blame him, most people do that. Even Harry asked me how I ended up dating him - I suppose it does seem strange. He was curious, I guess. Although Gary and Harry may not be very different at heart, the decisions they took in life emphasise their differences. It all what shapes your personality is your acts. Harry is a principled man, he has what it takes to follow his beliefs, no matter what. I admire this, so much, it’s never easy to be consistent. (Not sure why I’m comparing both of them).

I offered my shoulder to Harry to cry on, although that expression makes no sense in this context, for him; he was obviously upset by McTaggart’s death. I know he was going through a hard time. I thought it would be nice to show him some sympathy - this was before we knew it wasn’t a suicide (that would have helped me if I was in his shoes) but he rejected my offer, he is a busy man and he doesn’t have time to mourn. When I called him to come to my house and hear what Gary had to say, at first I’m sure he was thinking I was inviting him over due to a personal matter. That was funny! I guess he jumped to that conclusion after my inviting him to a drink.

On the bright side, we have a brand new field officer. Her name is Joanna Portman. After a week dealing with Debra Langam, HR specialist, Adam thought the best officer wouldn’t be one of the candidates handed in by her, but this journalist who was looking for a job and helped us with all this McTaggart issue. It was her who helped us get away from Woodring's men and then to locate them. Surprisingly enough it was her who found us, she met Adam when we thought she was a suspect and afterwards (thanks to her journalist instincts) she got involved in the operation. She will be joining us after her training. I think she will a good addition to the team, she has certainly been recruited in a different way and her background is hardly commonplace.]]>
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[12th November 2005]

I’m at home, enjoying a cup of tea, trying to relax writing in my diary. It's been a hectic week.

It all began on Tuesday when I was coming back from work, late in the evening (I’ve been working on a list of candidates to join our team). I was opening my front door when I felt a hand on my mouth muffling my screams. It was bloody Gary Hicks, he scared me to death. In this job you never know whether someone is following you and whether this someone is up to no good. Or, I suppose I should notice, but I never seem to until it's too late.

He came to me because he had witnessed a murder, a murder which was made to look like a suicide. It had been all over the news the whole day; Clive McTaggart ex-MI5 officer was supposed to kill himself. (The death meant something big to Harry as well - Clive was his Harry, his head of the Section while he was working his way through the ranks.) According to Gary, McTaggart was writting his memoirs without caring about the the Official Secrets Act and was out to publish them. Somebody inside our circle must have thought that should be silenced in the strongest possible terms. God knows why they didn't just steal the damn thing.

I called Harry to come over to my place to tell him what was happening and to try and help us figure it out. Harry deduced that we were almost certainly being watched or listened to and packed us off to a safe house to stay while this matter wasn’t solved.

It turns out McTaggart was dying of bowel cancer and according to Gary he couldn’t stand where politics were going; with all the secrets and and using fear to gain votes; he called it “velvet fascism”. So he contacted Gary to publish the book as he owed him one (Gary didn’t publish a compromising story involving McTaggart many years ago).

In the end we discovered that Juliet Shaw was behind all this. She and Roy Woodring (an old foe of Harry's) found out what McTaggart was doing so he contacted her; she declared to Harry when she confronted her that she didn’t know he was going to kill him. I’m not sure I believe that, it was all very convenient for her. I don’t think Juliet would stop at something or someone that bothers her, she doesn't strike me as that sort of person. She said Woodring didn't leave her any choice. But that was all after Woodring sent a kill squad after Gary and all of us in the safe house. We barely got out alive.

Gary has changed so much. He was so brilliant and insightful back in the day, back in our day, I suppose. He now prefers to use his skills uncovering scandals which is more profitable... He took the easiest path. I don’t blame him, most people do that. Even Harry asked me how I ended up dating him - I suppose it does seem strange. He was curious, I guess. Although Gary and Harry may not be very different at heart, the decisions they took in life emphasise their differences. It all what shapes your personality is your acts. Harry is a principled man, he has what it takes to follow his beliefs, no matter what. I admire this, so much, it’s never easy to be consistent. (Not sure why I’m comparing both of them).

I offered my shoulder to Harry to cry on, although that expression makes no sense in this context, for him; he was obviously upset by McTaggart’s death. I know he was going through a hard time. I thought it would be nice to show him some sympathy - this was before we knew it wasn’t a suicide (that would have helped me if I was in his shoes) but he rejected my offer, he is a busy man and he doesn’t have time to mourn. When I called him to come to my house and hear what Gary had to say, at first I’m sure he was thinking I was inviting him over due to a personal matter. That was funny! I guess he jumped to that conclusion after my inviting him to a drink.

On the bright side, we have a brand new field officer. Her name is Joanna Portman. After a week dealing with Debra Langam, HR specialist, Adam thought the best officer wouldn’t be one of the candidates handed in by her, but this journalist who was looking for a job and helped us with all this McTaggart issue. It was her who helped us get away from Woodring's men and then to locate them. Surprisingly enough it was her who found us, she met Adam when we thought she was a suspect and afterwards (thanks to her journalist instincts) she got involved in the operation. She will be joining us after her training. I think she will a good addition to the team, she has certainly been recruited in a different way and her background is hardly commonplace.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-1059.html Fri, 30 Jul 2010 15:37:58 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-1059.html A shorter entry than usual about episode 4.4. Also includes Harry's 50th.

Please review!

**************************


[11th October 2005]

We all knew it was only a matter of time before Juliet really started throwing her weight around. We lured Mohammad Yazdi, a known Al Kahf bomber, to Britain in the hopes of turning him as a double agent for us and revealing the Al Kahf cell we believed did exist among us. But it was all a trap, an intricate trap, laid by Yazdi himself, so that he might be put in a room with Prince Hakim (the heir to the Behar throne), whom he claimed was masterminding the whole affair. But it was really so that Yazdi might have the means and opportunity to kill him.

Which is what happened, ruthlessly and in the most brutal way possible. Yazdi murdered the Prince with his own glasses, removed only for a moment. It was positively grotesque.

It was Juliet who ordered the Prince be interrogated by Yazdi, who we believed had been turned double agent for us. In fact it was Juliet who ordered us into the mission in the first place, one which surely stepped on the toes of Six while we were at it. The only really successful thing about the mission was the breaking open of an illegal immigration ring that was run by the Prince and that's not even within our purview.

Yazdi has fundamental Muslim objections to sheikhs who live one way at home and then another in Britain. Hakim was his sole target. It was as much a slap in the face of Britain's alliance with the regimes these men represent. We're now cleaning up the mess but this one wasn't easy to hide.

Adam was a huge part of this operation. He was the one who suggested going in undercover to try and turn Yazdi. It was a risk that we originally thought had paid dividends and for Harry the prospect of recruiting a double agent was too much to turn down. Adam can be very reckless but I think a big part of the reason he went in on this one was that he's an eternal optimist, despite everything he's seen and done in this line of work. That's really something to admire. I know Fiona worries about him terribly - he's always the one to take on the risky assignments, there's a real pride he gets from it. But Danny's fate makes me tremble.

The main thing that worries me from this last mission was what Yazdi would have done without us to bring him in it. His sole objective would surely have remained the Prince, I wonder how he would have gained access to him without us giving him a free pass into the interrogation room. We've had a look at security for all Arab dignitaries in the last 24 hours, I would hate to think there are more attacks like this one to come. We're not responsible for them, yet it will fall to us to safeguard them from men like Yazdi.


[21st October 2005]

I did some digging on Juliet today. Harry upgraded my security clearance for a few hours to do something completely different and after everything that happened a few weeks back I decided to be disingenuous and check out her history. I wanted to understand her better.

I wasn't prepared to discover that she and Harry had an affair more than 25 years ago. I wasn't prepared for that at all.

I gave Harry the intel he had asked me to look for and he was very pleased as it proved him right about something Mace is up to. I can't remember the last time he was so pleased about something and he had me come with him to brief Juliet and I couldn't look her in the eye. It's difficult enough to do that at regular times without finding out this stuff on her just beforehand.

Juliet's good looking and clever and ruthless and I suppose it's not really all that surprising. It all happened around a mission of dubious worth and origin and perhaps it was all just an escape for him.

But still. An affair. With Juliet.


[1st November 2005]

It was Harry's fiftieth birthday today and I gave him four bottles of Glenlivit with the letters of my name spelled out on the bottles. I would have liked to give him something more personal but perhaps that would be inappropriate. Well, more inappropriate than what it was. As well as the fact that Harry is difficult to get to know that closely.

He smiled his thanks to me in the conference room later on, in much the same way I thanked him for his gift back in April. It's a strange dynamic we have going for us, here at work. I never quite know what to think.]]> A shorter entry than usual about episode 4.4. Also includes Harry's 50th.

Please review!

**************************


[11th October 2005]

We all knew it was only a matter of time before Juliet really started throwing her weight around. We lured Mohammad Yazdi, a known Al Kahf bomber, to Britain in the hopes of turning him as a double agent for us and revealing the Al Kahf cell we believed did exist among us. But it was all a trap, an intricate trap, laid by Yazdi himself, so that he might be put in a room with Prince Hakim (the heir to the Behar throne), whom he claimed was masterminding the whole affair. But it was really so that Yazdi might have the means and opportunity to kill him.

Which is what happened, ruthlessly and in the most brutal way possible. Yazdi murdered the Prince with his own glasses, removed only for a moment. It was positively grotesque.

It was Juliet who ordered the Prince be interrogated by Yazdi, who we believed had been turned double agent for us. In fact it was Juliet who ordered us into the mission in the first place, one which surely stepped on the toes of Six while we were at it. The only really successful thing about the mission was the breaking open of an illegal immigration ring that was run by the Prince and that's not even within our purview.

Yazdi has fundamental Muslim objections to sheikhs who live one way at home and then another in Britain. Hakim was his sole target. It was as much a slap in the face of Britain's alliance with the regimes these men represent. We're now cleaning up the mess but this one wasn't easy to hide.

Adam was a huge part of this operation. He was the one who suggested going in undercover to try and turn Yazdi. It was a risk that we originally thought had paid dividends and for Harry the prospect of recruiting a double agent was too much to turn down. Adam can be very reckless but I think a big part of the reason he went in on this one was that he's an eternal optimist, despite everything he's seen and done in this line of work. That's really something to admire. I know Fiona worries about him terribly - he's always the one to take on the risky assignments, there's a real pride he gets from it. But Danny's fate makes me tremble.

The main thing that worries me from this last mission was what Yazdi would have done without us to bring him in it. His sole objective would surely have remained the Prince, I wonder how he would have gained access to him without us giving him a free pass into the interrogation room. We've had a look at security for all Arab dignitaries in the last 24 hours, I would hate to think there are more attacks like this one to come. We're not responsible for them, yet it will fall to us to safeguard them from men like Yazdi.


[21st October 2005]

I did some digging on Juliet today. Harry upgraded my security clearance for a few hours to do something completely different and after everything that happened a few weeks back I decided to be disingenuous and check out her history. I wanted to understand her better.

I wasn't prepared to discover that she and Harry had an affair more than 25 years ago. I wasn't prepared for that at all.

I gave Harry the intel he had asked me to look for and he was very pleased as it proved him right about something Mace is up to. I can't remember the last time he was so pleased about something and he had me come with him to brief Juliet and I couldn't look her in the eye. It's difficult enough to do that at regular times without finding out this stuff on her just beforehand.

Juliet's good looking and clever and ruthless and I suppose it's not really all that surprising. It all happened around a mission of dubious worth and origin and perhaps it was all just an escape for him.

But still. An affair. With Juliet.


[1st November 2005]

It was Harry's fiftieth birthday today and I gave him four bottles of Glenlivit with the letters of my name spelled out on the bottles. I would have liked to give him something more personal but perhaps that would be inappropriate. Well, more inappropriate than what it was. As well as the fact that Harry is difficult to get to know that closely.

He smiled his thanks to me in the conference room later on, in much the same way I thanked him for his gift back in April. It's a strange dynamic we have going for us, here at work. I never quite know what to think.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-1030.html Sat, 17 Jul 2010 20:31:11 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-1030.html
[14th September 2005]

British Way, our local pain-in-the-back racist party have started getting more active again. Six councillors in East London defected to the British Way today, so now they have control of the housing committee. They are using that control to prevent immigrants in the area from getting houses, a whites first policy called "Families United." It has got to be illegal, in no part of the British Laws can racial prejudice really be allowed. The British Way are inciting racial hatred, and in a country as diverse as England, this hardly fits in.

To make matters worse, local residents in the area have decided to start attacking both the non-British residents and their homes, destroying whatever life they had in that area. Some of those they are attacking are probably asylum seekers, seeking a life without war, but those attacking them don't see that. They hear all the rumours about immigrants being bad for the country and take that as an opportunity to inflict violence on others. Five policemen were hurt, that's how violent the residents became. Adam went down to see if the attacks were being supported by the British Way and, surprise surprise, members of the British Way were there. Not actively taking part, but still stoking the flames. Fiona was undercover at a British Way rally, to see how it went. We can't let William Sampson, the man in charge of the British Way, convert other MPs towards this racist, violent, viewpoint that he seems to think is right.

[15th September 2005]

The backlash has already started. Adam told us that "families are taking refuge in the local schools." How can this be right? They are basically taking part in ethnic cleansing in this region of East London. If a government in another country went to segregate one race from another there would be international condemnation, but here? Who is really listening to the people here? The British Way seem to have control of this area.

[16th September 2005]

Harry had the unfortunate task of meeting Juliet today. From his mood when he returned, I imagine he got grilled pretty badly. I can't imagine how annoyed she would be that we only found out about Sampson's plan at the same time as the British public. She'd probably go on about it being a "significant intelligence failure" knowing her. So, to prevent the British Way getting in power, we're going to play dirty tricks, make the party eat themselves. This piece of news seemed to please Zaf - he is the ultimate mastermind of dirty tricks, if he is to be believed. I can't wait to see him at work.

To destroy the British Way we're going to "destroy the democratic process in order to save it," rather than let them "use the democratic process in order to destroy it". It's times like these when you really realise that our job is not that dissimilar of that of the people we fight against.

Adam is going to be working undercover to turn Moran against Sampson, so his legend is a disillusioned British Way supporter. Fiona is working to turn Sampson against Moran, using a British MP that I have dug up. Peregrine Howell-Davis, an MP thinking of defecting to the British Way. Unfortunately for him, he's gay, which will be somewhat of an issue if he wishes to join the British Way. Fiona is going to exploit that to get him to help us destroy British Way.

[19th September 2005]

The first day of Fiona and Adam being undercover. Fiona met with Sampson, pretending to be Emily Glover, a lobbyist for Portman-Bright. Hopefully she'll be able to get close to Sampson. She also met Peregrine, and together with Harry it should be relatively easy to turn him.

Adam had his first meeting with Moran today. He hasn't yet made contact with his Isis, his pretend Aunt, who sends us his in depth status reports, but he did phone last night to briefly confirm he was ok.

[20th September 2005]

A school girl, Melanie Roberts has gone missing. Her poor mother.

Adam had to leave with Moran, but before he left he turned on the CCTV in the house. Moran's men were doing a search of his house, checking that he wasn't an undercover journalist. I dread to think what would have happened to him if they discovered he was working for MI5.

Harry and Fiona had another meeting with Peregrine. Rather unsurprisingly he agreed to help us. He is going to pretend to be a possible defector to the British Way. Meanwhile, Zaf's dirty tricks campaign has started. He's made some fake British Way leaflets, criticising one of the other candidate's disabled child, to make the British Way loose some sympathy. He's also got their list of speaking venues, and is making sure that they are double-booked for Gambler's Anonymous meetings. He's got data from a highly respectable polling company, who polled on all the issues people want Sampson to talk about, then he fiddled the findings to keep him off-message. He really is good at this sort of thing.

[21st September 2005]

I've got to get back to GCHQ. Temporarily, but still! I'm going to be going undercover as a cousin of Adam, giving Moran recordings of Sampson saying that Moran will be dropped from the party, recordings that I supposedly got from GCHQ. I still wish I didn't have to go back there.

[22nd September 2005]

Poor Melanie Roberts' body was found today. Ammunition for the British Way to use, of course, to swing voters their way as her murderer was a non-British citizen. They probably got that man to kill her, he was being treated for psychological illness, spent his whole time reading extremist websites, after he was severely tortured in his own country. Sampson went up to take flowers to where her body was found, shedding crocodile tears at the scene of the crime. Her poor mother was filmed on tv standing next to Sampson. She just looked devastated, she barely managed to move at all, probably still in shock. I don't know how any mother could go through that pain, of loosing their child.

People have been using her death to stir up even more violence. There are reports from across the UK of related violence, race-related violence. I have to meet Moran tomorrow. I'm terrified, this is my first big thing undercover.

[23rd September 2005]

I think it went well today. I hope it did anyway. We had lunch together, I got the files to Moran, I don't think it went horribly wrong.

[26th September 2005]

The last day and it nearly ended in disaster. It started well, we pretty much destroyed Sampson on National TV, Moran attacked Sampson, the party pretty much split up. But then Sampson realised what had been going on - we obviously didn't give him enough credit. Anyway, he realised that this was an op to destroy the British Way, and told Moran. Moran kidnapped Adam and I, and tried to shoot at us with a crossbow. We only survived because Adam distracted him so I could knock him unconscious with a large branch. This has been one of the most terrifying ops I've ever been on. I told Tom when he find out I was a mole for GCHQ that I wanted to be a real spy. Now I'm not so sure.]]>
[14th September 2005]

British Way, our local pain-in-the-back racist party have started getting more active again. Six councillors in East London defected to the British Way today, so now they have control of the housing committee. They are using that control to prevent immigrants in the area from getting houses, a whites first policy called "Families United." It has got to be illegal, in no part of the British Laws can racial prejudice really be allowed. The British Way are inciting racial hatred, and in a country as diverse as England, this hardly fits in.

To make matters worse, local residents in the area have decided to start attacking both the non-British residents and their homes, destroying whatever life they had in that area. Some of those they are attacking are probably asylum seekers, seeking a life without war, but those attacking them don't see that. They hear all the rumours about immigrants being bad for the country and take that as an opportunity to inflict violence on others. Five policemen were hurt, that's how violent the residents became. Adam went down to see if the attacks were being supported by the British Way and, surprise surprise, members of the British Way were there. Not actively taking part, but still stoking the flames. Fiona was undercover at a British Way rally, to see how it went. We can't let William Sampson, the man in charge of the British Way, convert other MPs towards this racist, violent, viewpoint that he seems to think is right.

[15th September 2005]

The backlash has already started. Adam told us that "families are taking refuge in the local schools." How can this be right? They are basically taking part in ethnic cleansing in this region of East London. If a government in another country went to segregate one race from another there would be international condemnation, but here? Who is really listening to the people here? The British Way seem to have control of this area.

[16th September 2005]

Harry had the unfortunate task of meeting Juliet today. From his mood when he returned, I imagine he got grilled pretty badly. I can't imagine how annoyed she would be that we only found out about Sampson's plan at the same time as the British public. She'd probably go on about it being a "significant intelligence failure" knowing her. So, to prevent the British Way getting in power, we're going to play dirty tricks, make the party eat themselves. This piece of news seemed to please Zaf - he is the ultimate mastermind of dirty tricks, if he is to be believed. I can't wait to see him at work.

To destroy the British Way we're going to "destroy the democratic process in order to save it," rather than let them "use the democratic process in order to destroy it". It's times like these when you really realise that our job is not that dissimilar of that of the people we fight against.

Adam is going to be working undercover to turn Moran against Sampson, so his legend is a disillusioned British Way supporter. Fiona is working to turn Sampson against Moran, using a British MP that I have dug up. Peregrine Howell-Davis, an MP thinking of defecting to the British Way. Unfortunately for him, he's gay, which will be somewhat of an issue if he wishes to join the British Way. Fiona is going to exploit that to get him to help us destroy British Way.

[19th September 2005]

The first day of Fiona and Adam being undercover. Fiona met with Sampson, pretending to be Emily Glover, a lobbyist for Portman-Bright. Hopefully she'll be able to get close to Sampson. She also met Peregrine, and together with Harry it should be relatively easy to turn him.

Adam had his first meeting with Moran today. He hasn't yet made contact with his Isis, his pretend Aunt, who sends us his in depth status reports, but he did phone last night to briefly confirm he was ok.

[20th September 2005]

A school girl, Melanie Roberts has gone missing. Her poor mother.

Adam had to leave with Moran, but before he left he turned on the CCTV in the house. Moran's men were doing a search of his house, checking that he wasn't an undercover journalist. I dread to think what would have happened to him if they discovered he was working for MI5.

Harry and Fiona had another meeting with Peregrine. Rather unsurprisingly he agreed to help us. He is going to pretend to be a possible defector to the British Way. Meanwhile, Zaf's dirty tricks campaign has started. He's made some fake British Way leaflets, criticising one of the other candidate's disabled child, to make the British Way loose some sympathy. He's also got their list of speaking venues, and is making sure that they are double-booked for Gambler's Anonymous meetings. He's got data from a highly respectable polling company, who polled on all the issues people want Sampson to talk about, then he fiddled the findings to keep him off-message. He really is good at this sort of thing.

[21st September 2005]

I've got to get back to GCHQ. Temporarily, but still! I'm going to be going undercover as a cousin of Adam, giving Moran recordings of Sampson saying that Moran will be dropped from the party, recordings that I supposedly got from GCHQ. I still wish I didn't have to go back there.

[22nd September 2005]

Poor Melanie Roberts' body was found today. Ammunition for the British Way to use, of course, to swing voters their way as her murderer was a non-British citizen. They probably got that man to kill her, he was being treated for psychological illness, spent his whole time reading extremist websites, after he was severely tortured in his own country. Sampson went up to take flowers to where her body was found, shedding crocodile tears at the scene of the crime. Her poor mother was filmed on tv standing next to Sampson. She just looked devastated, she barely managed to move at all, probably still in shock. I don't know how any mother could go through that pain, of loosing their child.

People have been using her death to stir up even more violence. There are reports from across the UK of related violence, race-related violence. I have to meet Moran tomorrow. I'm terrified, this is my first big thing undercover.

[23rd September 2005]

I think it went well today. I hope it did anyway. We had lunch together, I got the files to Moran, I don't think it went horribly wrong.

[26th September 2005]

The last day and it nearly ended in disaster. It started well, we pretty much destroyed Sampson on National TV, Moran attacked Sampson, the party pretty much split up. But then Sampson realised what had been going on - we obviously didn't give him enough credit. Anyway, he realised that this was an op to destroy the British Way, and told Moran. Moran kidnapped Adam and I, and tried to shoot at us with a crossbow. We only survived because Adam distracted him so I could knock him unconscious with a large branch. This has been one of the most terrifying ops I've ever been on. I told Tom when he find out I was a mole for GCHQ that I wanted to be a real spy. Now I'm not so sure.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-977.html Sat, 03 Jul 2010 09:36:40 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-977.html JHyde for all her help and advise.

[9th July 2005]

I’m exhausted. A big operation finished today, one in which we captured operatives for Shining Dawn. Hitherto, Shining Dawn has been only US based until now, but two days ago they bombed London with the promise of a further bombing every ten hours until their leader, Michael Munro, was released. (He has been imprisoned here in England for some time.) Of course, there was no way we would release Munro, especially with the Americans all over the scene - they obviously had a vested interest given that Shining Dawn has bombed several US cities over the last few years. Shining Dawn tried to bomb again, another 3 times, all unsuccessfully. But it was a close thing every time. We stopped three bombs. But more than 50 people died in the first explosion, so we can hardly call ourselves successful. I have a feeling (and so does Harry) that the Home Secretary won't be lasting much longer after the last few days.

It all started at Danny’s memorial service. Harry had promised there would be time to grieve and it had arrived, albeit later than we thought. We were all there but Fiona, who couldn't manage to come inside. It's not just how close she came to dying herself, it's guilt over Danny.

However, the world didn't stop for his funeral. Terrorists were out bombing London. We were in the church when we felt a violent explosion, in a matter of seconds our pagers began to go off. All the members of the Grid rushed to the door, but me. At first, I didn’t care what had happened, I needed to say goodbye properly. Danny deserved that. In the end, Harry came back for me and only convinced me to go with him because he argued more people would die without my help.

The Grid was designated Command and Control Centre with Harry as Gold Commander (flashy title!) and we had Special Branch and some Americans buzzing around to help us with the situation. Harry and Adam tolerated them, as they did Juliet Shaw, a ruthless woman I know by reputation who is set to take over Guy Facer's old job.

Adam sent me to Oxfordshire to question Professor Curtis, a man who spawned some of the views of this group. In fact the ideas behind Shining Dawn were based on some of his books, such as “The Future Does Not Need Us”, which was a huge inspiration to Munro. They believe the human kind is a stain on this planet, humans are out of control and are destroying the Earth. We are a plague and we need to be culled. In order to get what I needed from him I had to pretend to be much less than I am - it was both reprehensible and exciting at the same time.

After an hour or so of talking with him, I saw a man carrying a gun through the window so we fled the house through the back door and discovered Roy, my driver, dead. I couldn’t find the keys to start the car so we ran to the meadows to get phone coverage and ask for help. Curtis eventually told me where he had met Munro but he tried to tell me in the most snide way possible. Little did he know that references to Homer are easy pickings for me.

We went to a safe house, Curtis continued acting as all this was a game, now that he knew I wasn’t as ignorant as I wanted to appear, he tried to get to me. He is despicable so I didn't let him. Adam wanted Professor Curtis to convice Munro to talk his followers out of continuing this bombing plan. The team had managed to stop two bombs so far, not without difficulty, and they were making progress on finding the next one.

While waiting for a driver to take us to The Grid, I made a huge mistake, I was so tired after a sleepless night babysitting Curtis and since I haven’t been sleeping much since Danny died, I fell asleep on watch. Curtis took his chance to escape. Thankfully Colin was monitoring him and he woke me up. Curtis almost got himself killed by Munro's men who were keeping watch on the Professor; thankfully Zaf and Adam appeared and we managed to get to the Grid.

As soon as Curtis and I entered the Grid, he told me he had just seen somebody in the building he recognised from the meeting with Munro. He identified Richard Boyd, the leader of the American team involved in the operation. Our mole was as high up on the chain as they come.

Zaf and Adam caught Boyd. He had an agreement with the man (Foster) who was planting the bombs all around London; he would give him passports to flee from this country. We made Boyd to try and get where the next bomb was located. No luck with this move, Boyd was murdered by an unknown shooter, at least Foster gave away that the next bomb was in a hospital.

The Royal Eastern was the nearest hospital to the tower block where we found this morning's bomb. Luckily enough (in fact, with all the luck in the world), that was the hospital where they set the bomb. We evacuated the whole hospital and searched for the bomb. It was Adam who found the device and a girl strapped to it. Her name was Tash and according to Malcolm, this was the girl who helped us indentify Foster.

Curtis and I went into the interrogation room. It didn't take a genius to know that they disliked each other but Curtis came good for us in the end. He managed to work out that he and Foster had spoken online and hazarded a guess at which code could defuse the bomb. He got it on the second try - Foster had called himself Kronos 2, the son of Gaia (the spirit of the Earth, for whom Shining Dawn believe they are agents). The 2 was to differentiate himself in the chat room.

Adam had stayed with the girl and the bomb and disobeyed Harry. They were lucky that the interrogation came good or they both would have died.

We got very lucky on this operation. Adam and Zaf and I and the Professor all came very close to getting killed, as did Tash a couple of times over. I start shaking every time I think of Danny, I don't want any of us to go that way too.

Trying to be positive now. Zaf is a wonderful man - quick, funny, charming. He is kind and good and Adam had decided to throw his weight around and draft him into Section D. It's hard not to feel uncertain with everything that has happened this last month but Zaf's cheeky smile does make things a little better, I'll acknowledge. Fiona's still on compassionate leave but she's expected back soon.

I had a phone message waiting for me from Sam when I eventually got home. Harry moved her sideways into GCHQ, a department in London so she doesn't have to move and with one of the better people he knows in the Service. She's still on medication and really struggling and wants to have lunch sometime soon.

We will have lunch one day, I don't know how soon though. I'm pleased for Sam that she's out of this madness but I'm reluctant to be close to anyone right now. And the Section will be recovering from this attack for weeks to come. I can quite legitimately claim work is keeping me busy.

I think I've written myself out sufficiently for now. Perhaps now sleep might be forthcoming.]]> JHyde for all her help and advise.

[9th July 2005]

I’m exhausted. A big operation finished today, one in which we captured operatives for Shining Dawn. Hitherto, Shining Dawn has been only US based until now, but two days ago they bombed London with the promise of a further bombing every ten hours until their leader, Michael Munro, was released. (He has been imprisoned here in England for some time.) Of course, there was no way we would release Munro, especially with the Americans all over the scene - they obviously had a vested interest given that Shining Dawn has bombed several US cities over the last few years. Shining Dawn tried to bomb again, another 3 times, all unsuccessfully. But it was a close thing every time. We stopped three bombs. But more than 50 people died in the first explosion, so we can hardly call ourselves successful. I have a feeling (and so does Harry) that the Home Secretary won't be lasting much longer after the last few days.

It all started at Danny’s memorial service. Harry had promised there would be time to grieve and it had arrived, albeit later than we thought. We were all there but Fiona, who couldn't manage to come inside. It's not just how close she came to dying herself, it's guilt over Danny.

However, the world didn't stop for his funeral. Terrorists were out bombing London. We were in the church when we felt a violent explosion, in a matter of seconds our pagers began to go off. All the members of the Grid rushed to the door, but me. At first, I didn’t care what had happened, I needed to say goodbye properly. Danny deserved that. In the end, Harry came back for me and only convinced me to go with him because he argued more people would die without my help.

The Grid was designated Command and Control Centre with Harry as Gold Commander (flashy title!) and we had Special Branch and some Americans buzzing around to help us with the situation. Harry and Adam tolerated them, as they did Juliet Shaw, a ruthless woman I know by reputation who is set to take over Guy Facer's old job.

Adam sent me to Oxfordshire to question Professor Curtis, a man who spawned some of the views of this group. In fact the ideas behind Shining Dawn were based on some of his books, such as “The Future Does Not Need Us”, which was a huge inspiration to Munro. They believe the human kind is a stain on this planet, humans are out of control and are destroying the Earth. We are a plague and we need to be culled. In order to get what I needed from him I had to pretend to be much less than I am - it was both reprehensible and exciting at the same time.

After an hour or so of talking with him, I saw a man carrying a gun through the window so we fled the house through the back door and discovered Roy, my driver, dead. I couldn’t find the keys to start the car so we ran to the meadows to get phone coverage and ask for help. Curtis eventually told me where he had met Munro but he tried to tell me in the most snide way possible. Little did he know that references to Homer are easy pickings for me.

We went to a safe house, Curtis continued acting as all this was a game, now that he knew I wasn’t as ignorant as I wanted to appear, he tried to get to me. He is despicable so I didn't let him. Adam wanted Professor Curtis to convice Munro to talk his followers out of continuing this bombing plan. The team had managed to stop two bombs so far, not without difficulty, and they were making progress on finding the next one.

While waiting for a driver to take us to The Grid, I made a huge mistake, I was so tired after a sleepless night babysitting Curtis and since I haven’t been sleeping much since Danny died, I fell asleep on watch. Curtis took his chance to escape. Thankfully Colin was monitoring him and he woke me up. Curtis almost got himself killed by Munro's men who were keeping watch on the Professor; thankfully Zaf and Adam appeared and we managed to get to the Grid.

As soon as Curtis and I entered the Grid, he told me he had just seen somebody in the building he recognised from the meeting with Munro. He identified Richard Boyd, the leader of the American team involved in the operation. Our mole was as high up on the chain as they come.

Zaf and Adam caught Boyd. He had an agreement with the man (Foster) who was planting the bombs all around London; he would give him passports to flee from this country. We made Boyd to try and get where the next bomb was located. No luck with this move, Boyd was murdered by an unknown shooter, at least Foster gave away that the next bomb was in a hospital.

The Royal Eastern was the nearest hospital to the tower block where we found this morning's bomb. Luckily enough (in fact, with all the luck in the world), that was the hospital where they set the bomb. We evacuated the whole hospital and searched for the bomb. It was Adam who found the device and a girl strapped to it. Her name was Tash and according to Malcolm, this was the girl who helped us indentify Foster.

Curtis and I went into the interrogation room. It didn't take a genius to know that they disliked each other but Curtis came good for us in the end. He managed to work out that he and Foster had spoken online and hazarded a guess at which code could defuse the bomb. He got it on the second try - Foster had called himself Kronos 2, the son of Gaia (the spirit of the Earth, for whom Shining Dawn believe they are agents). The 2 was to differentiate himself in the chat room.

Adam had stayed with the girl and the bomb and disobeyed Harry. They were lucky that the interrogation came good or they both would have died.

We got very lucky on this operation. Adam and Zaf and I and the Professor all came very close to getting killed, as did Tash a couple of times over. I start shaking every time I think of Danny, I don't want any of us to go that way too.

Trying to be positive now. Zaf is a wonderful man - quick, funny, charming. He is kind and good and Adam had decided to throw his weight around and draft him into Section D. It's hard not to feel uncertain with everything that has happened this last month but Zaf's cheeky smile does make things a little better, I'll acknowledge. Fiona's still on compassionate leave but she's expected back soon.

I had a phone message waiting for me from Sam when I eventually got home. Harry moved her sideways into GCHQ, a department in London so she doesn't have to move and with one of the better people he knows in the Service. She's still on medication and really struggling and wants to have lunch sometime soon.

We will have lunch one day, I don't know how soon though. I'm pleased for Sam that she's out of this madness but I'm reluctant to be close to anyone right now. And the Section will be recovering from this attack for weeks to come. I can quite legitimately claim work is keeping me busy.

I think I've written myself out sufficiently for now. Perhaps now sleep might be forthcoming.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-969.html Tue, 29 Jun 2010 07:13:25 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-969.html Thanks to almh and Beatriz for their suggestions on this one.

***************************************

[Early in the morning, July 4th 2005]

On Dad's last birthday before he died, he took me up to London to the the Herne Hill velodrome to cycle around for a few hours. It was a lengthy trip but it what he really wanted to do that day, with me. He'd spent the last few months riding his bike with me around the neighbourhood and I suppose he thought I was confident enough to cope with a velodrome. Dad had high hopes. It was one of the few things he ever forced me into doing.

I was terrified. Herne Hill isn't even as steep as regular velodromes, far from it. But he tried to get me to ride around on the top part, where it was steepest, and I was afraid that I would slip and bring him down with me, crashing all the way to the bottom. It didn't help that a man about my father's age had a horrible crash while we were there. I watched him ride around and around and I just knew it was an accident waiting to happen. It was just a matter of when and how many people came down with him.

Of course, Dad didn't die in a crash in the Herne Hill velodrome. He had a heart attack and I went to boarding school instead. Different sort of crash altogether.

I'm talking about cycling and velodromes and Dad all in an attempt to avoid writing down the few words that will make it so final, so real. Ever since coming to Five, it's been as though I've been racing on the steepest part with these people I work with, these people I love. And today, we all came tumbling down.

Danny is dead. My closest friend in this job, gone forever. And Fiona barely escaped alive. It was her birthday.

A few days ago, Special Forces raided a flat in Dollis Hill which led them to believe that an attack was imminent. Fiona spoke to an asset codenamed Butterfly, who it turned out was a decoy planted by an Iraqi insurgent cell. They deliberately targeted Adam and Fiona after bugging their house - it was all a plant. Fiona and Danny went to look at what they thought was a statistical safe house (as indicated by Butterfly) but instead they were captured by the cell. Then they had Fiona lure Adam to the South Bank where a member of the cell met him and threatened him, revealing that they had Danny and Fiona.

Adam had the presence of mind to phone in his necessary status report and try and tip his hand to me. Earlier in the day he had been telling me all about Fiona and how they met. (I've hardly known two people more in love.) Harry had said yesterday, in all seriousness, that he should get her chocolates and Adam and I sniggered about it. Just one of those silly things Harry says.

So Adam told me on the phone that he had bought her chocolates and my heart went cold. I knew it was a lie - and why would Adam lie unless he was in danger? I ran to Harry and begged him to take me seriously. And twenty five minutes later I was showing Harry CCTV footage of Adam with the woman who had been sent to threaten him.

It was Adam's friend, Zaf, who figured out a way to get close to Adam, close enough to place a tracker and give him an earpiece. Which was how we knew what happened next.

Danny and Fiona managed to stage a break out after killing a guard but were caught before they could escape. Which their chief captor used as an excuse to execute one of them. He told Adam it was his choice.

But Danny. He was so brave and I could hear how frightened he was. And he essentially provoked the man so much that he didn't wait for Adam, didn't force him to choose. Danny chose himself. To die so that Fiona might live.

And we all listened. We heard it all happen. Sam lost it altogether and had to be sedated and I tried to speak with Adam but he ditched the ear piece and the tracker and slipped through the net around the hotel where he was with Katera, the woman. She insisted Adam take her to the Iranian embassy where the PM was due to speak. The kidnappers' manifesto was that the PM was not to go, but it was Zaf (again) who saw the flaw. They WANTED the PM to go to the embassy.

Which was where Adam was with Katera as she showed him that she was being used as a bomb. Even more grotesque than those who strap bombs to their bodies, there were chemicals and a small amount of explosives implanted in her body. With Fiona's captor holding the default trigger.

Adam hadn't actually ditched the ear piece, he still had it. It was with that he was able to tell us where Fiona was. And only just in time too. Fiona had been doused in petrol and about to be burned when Special Forces stormed the building.

I went with Harry to the scene. I wanted to be with Danny. He was all alone when he died, even with Fiona in the same room, all alone. So I stood by his body on the guerney and and stroked his head. I am so angry - no matter how good, how brave Danny's death, it doesn't compensate for the fact that he died so young. Tom and Zoe left under circumstances that were less than good, but they are still out there - talking, interacting with people. They're still warm and breathing and with people they love. And Danny is downstairs at Thames House, cold in the morgue and alone.

I worry that this job leaves us all alone, at the end. But we all die alone anyway. I just worry about what happens when we get up again, start riding the track again. Another crash can't be far away.

Danny is dead. And somewhere in Chile, sometime today, Zoe will think of her best friend and smile.

*************

Please review! ]]> Thanks to almh and Beatriz for their suggestions on this one.

***************************************

[Early in the morning, July 4th 2005]

On Dad's last birthday before he died, he took me up to London to the the Herne Hill velodrome to cycle around for a few hours. It was a lengthy trip but it what he really wanted to do that day, with me. He'd spent the last few months riding his bike with me around the neighbourhood and I suppose he thought I was confident enough to cope with a velodrome. Dad had high hopes. It was one of the few things he ever forced me into doing.

I was terrified. Herne Hill isn't even as steep as regular velodromes, far from it. But he tried to get me to ride around on the top part, where it was steepest, and I was afraid that I would slip and bring him down with me, crashing all the way to the bottom. It didn't help that a man about my father's age had a horrible crash while we were there. I watched him ride around and around and I just knew it was an accident waiting to happen. It was just a matter of when and how many people came down with him.

Of course, Dad didn't die in a crash in the Herne Hill velodrome. He had a heart attack and I went to boarding school instead. Different sort of crash altogether.

I'm talking about cycling and velodromes and Dad all in an attempt to avoid writing down the few words that will make it so final, so real. Ever since coming to Five, it's been as though I've been racing on the steepest part with these people I work with, these people I love. And today, we all came tumbling down.

Danny is dead. My closest friend in this job, gone forever. And Fiona barely escaped alive. It was her birthday.

A few days ago, Special Forces raided a flat in Dollis Hill which led them to believe that an attack was imminent. Fiona spoke to an asset codenamed Butterfly, who it turned out was a decoy planted by an Iraqi insurgent cell. They deliberately targeted Adam and Fiona after bugging their house - it was all a plant. Fiona and Danny went to look at what they thought was a statistical safe house (as indicated by Butterfly) but instead they were captured by the cell. Then they had Fiona lure Adam to the South Bank where a member of the cell met him and threatened him, revealing that they had Danny and Fiona.

Adam had the presence of mind to phone in his necessary status report and try and tip his hand to me. Earlier in the day he had been telling me all about Fiona and how they met. (I've hardly known two people more in love.) Harry had said yesterday, in all seriousness, that he should get her chocolates and Adam and I sniggered about it. Just one of those silly things Harry says.

So Adam told me on the phone that he had bought her chocolates and my heart went cold. I knew it was a lie - and why would Adam lie unless he was in danger? I ran to Harry and begged him to take me seriously. And twenty five minutes later I was showing Harry CCTV footage of Adam with the woman who had been sent to threaten him.

It was Adam's friend, Zaf, who figured out a way to get close to Adam, close enough to place a tracker and give him an earpiece. Which was how we knew what happened next.

Danny and Fiona managed to stage a break out after killing a guard but were caught before they could escape. Which their chief captor used as an excuse to execute one of them. He told Adam it was his choice.

But Danny. He was so brave and I could hear how frightened he was. And he essentially provoked the man so much that he didn't wait for Adam, didn't force him to choose. Danny chose himself. To die so that Fiona might live.

And we all listened. We heard it all happen. Sam lost it altogether and had to be sedated and I tried to speak with Adam but he ditched the ear piece and the tracker and slipped through the net around the hotel where he was with Katera, the woman. She insisted Adam take her to the Iranian embassy where the PM was due to speak. The kidnappers' manifesto was that the PM was not to go, but it was Zaf (again) who saw the flaw. They WANTED the PM to go to the embassy.

Which was where Adam was with Katera as she showed him that she was being used as a bomb. Even more grotesque than those who strap bombs to their bodies, there were chemicals and a small amount of explosives implanted in her body. With Fiona's captor holding the default trigger.

Adam hadn't actually ditched the ear piece, he still had it. It was with that he was able to tell us where Fiona was. And only just in time too. Fiona had been doused in petrol and about to be burned when Special Forces stormed the building.

I went with Harry to the scene. I wanted to be with Danny. He was all alone when he died, even with Fiona in the same room, all alone. So I stood by his body on the guerney and and stroked his head. I am so angry - no matter how good, how brave Danny's death, it doesn't compensate for the fact that he died so young. Tom and Zoe left under circumstances that were less than good, but they are still out there - talking, interacting with people. They're still warm and breathing and with people they love. And Danny is downstairs at Thames House, cold in the morgue and alone.

I worry that this job leaves us all alone, at the end. But we all die alone anyway. I just worry about what happens when we get up again, start riding the track again. Another crash can't be far away.

Danny is dead. And somewhere in Chile, sometime today, Zoe will think of her best friend and smile.

*************

Please review! ]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-953.html Sun, 20 Jun 2010 14:43:07 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-953.html

[31st May 2005]

I was meant to be going out last night, had Robert Morgan not decided to go visit a disused RAF base. He's a known trafficker, illegal arms dealer and civilian "contractor" (read: mercenary) who was under close surveillance. Everything was going like clockwork. I was ready to leave and heading to the pods when Sam called me. Morgan had decided to get off the highway a junction early, and there were my plans for the evening gone.

One of the police weapons team on watch shot and arrested him. Since the police would have released him, Adam suggested to bring him in for interrogation, that way we could find out what he was up to, digging up on site that was a Soviet weapons dump, not just an RAF base. He will spend all the night awake, interrogation techniques.

I'm not under interrogation, but I can't sleep either. I suppose this entry should have a different date on it, given the time.

I really wanted to go out tonight. Last night. Whenever it was!

[1st June 2005]

Harry asked me to help him prepare for an interview for the post of Director General of MI5; the current DG is retiring this summer. He confessed that he doesn't want to get the job, he wants to be part of the game “not lolly gagging on the 7th floor”; he’s not a man of politics. I also hope he doesn't get it. He's a good boss, one of the better ones. If he did go, I think I would miss him, miss his presence on the Grid. I'm not surprised they want him, but we want him too. And I think Harry wouldn't be happy doing that job. Well, he wouldn't be satisfied.

The operation against Morgan is still ongoing. Finance, friends, family. The three Fs, everyone has a weakness in one of those areas. Put enough pressure on them, and eventually they'll break. One of the more difficult aspects of this job is how far do we apply the pressure, at what point does it become torture? Or rather, unacceptable torture. We're treading a very fine line at the moment: too little pressure and we lose our hopes of stopping whatever he's planning, too much and we become like him, we become just as bad as him.

We now have some idea what's going on, at least. Malcolm and Colin treated it "like a three-dimensional jigsaw", and saw that a laser-targeted designator was missing. It can be used to target missiles without the operator being there but somewhere else miles away, by getting the operator to set a target and automatically fire. The operators then can be far away, practically impossible to find.

This piece of information fit perfectly well with last week’s report from Section E. They detected an untraceable flash which must have been this laser designator been taken on a trial run.

We can conclude the attack is imminent; we think we have a maximum of three days to stop this attack - that's how long Morgan's information will keep for. After then, his group will have had time to change their plans and either bring the attack forward or change their plans. That's why we had to do it, put the siren in. Some call it torture, in fact, most people would call it torture. I'm not sure whether we should have used the siren, whether that is too far, but we've got to get that information, otherwise other people will die.

[2nd June 2005]

Danny and Adam don't really talk about what is going on in the interrogation room. I'm not sure I even want to know. Danny seems to be taking this harder than Adam, he's not comfortable with how this is going. If Danny is worried then things must be going badly.

Morgan has a daughter, who needs a liver transplant. He calls her frequently and he has paid for all her treatment, evidently he is very close to her. We haven’t found her before because she keeps her mother’s surname. In terms of information to break Morgan it's dynamite, but I don't know, I’d rather not have found this information. It’s as useful as information could possibly be but honestly I don't trust how far Adam could go with this kind of information. I trust his motivation, but the outcome could be frightening as all get out.

[3rd June 2005]

Adam and Harry took Morgan down the river, to show him his daughter on the top of the building he was targeting. It was our last resort. Thankfully she was unaware of what was going on. They broke him. This operation has been an ethical minefield, we've gone to the line of what constitutes reasonable pressure, and somewhere along the way I think we might have stepped over it. We could easily become the people we're fighting against, and I think that we saw that today. But then I think of that building and all the people who could have died and I'm very glad I wasn't Danny or Adam. It’s a difficult matter, where to draw the line when millions of lives are at stake but playing with a little girl’s life... was it right? I hope she gets her transplant, although how long Morgan stays alive is up for betting upon.

Harry had his interview today. It obviously went well - he got down to the final two, but then they tossed in a late contender, 'parachuted' them in, as Harry put it. (I always love his turn of phrase, at least when it doesn't concern me!) I'm glad that he's staying with us, I can't really imagine him being anywhere else. I must admit I have enjoyed helping Harry in preparing for this interview. It was interesting to get to know him better, he’s a man of principles, I can tell. I mean, I knew it already - but it's quite another thing to have him articulate such points only to you.

I was finally able to keep my date from the other night.]]>

[31st May 2005]

I was meant to be going out last night, had Robert Morgan not decided to go visit a disused RAF base. He's a known trafficker, illegal arms dealer and civilian "contractor" (read: mercenary) who was under close surveillance. Everything was going like clockwork. I was ready to leave and heading to the pods when Sam called me. Morgan had decided to get off the highway a junction early, and there were my plans for the evening gone.

One of the police weapons team on watch shot and arrested him. Since the police would have released him, Adam suggested to bring him in for interrogation, that way we could find out what he was up to, digging up on site that was a Soviet weapons dump, not just an RAF base. He will spend all the night awake, interrogation techniques.

I'm not under interrogation, but I can't sleep either. I suppose this entry should have a different date on it, given the time.

I really wanted to go out tonight. Last night. Whenever it was!

[1st June 2005]

Harry asked me to help him prepare for an interview for the post of Director General of MI5; the current DG is retiring this summer. He confessed that he doesn't want to get the job, he wants to be part of the game “not lolly gagging on the 7th floor”; he’s not a man of politics. I also hope he doesn't get it. He's a good boss, one of the better ones. If he did go, I think I would miss him, miss his presence on the Grid. I'm not surprised they want him, but we want him too. And I think Harry wouldn't be happy doing that job. Well, he wouldn't be satisfied.

The operation against Morgan is still ongoing. Finance, friends, family. The three Fs, everyone has a weakness in one of those areas. Put enough pressure on them, and eventually they'll break. One of the more difficult aspects of this job is how far do we apply the pressure, at what point does it become torture? Or rather, unacceptable torture. We're treading a very fine line at the moment: too little pressure and we lose our hopes of stopping whatever he's planning, too much and we become like him, we become just as bad as him.

We now have some idea what's going on, at least. Malcolm and Colin treated it "like a three-dimensional jigsaw", and saw that a laser-targeted designator was missing. It can be used to target missiles without the operator being there but somewhere else miles away, by getting the operator to set a target and automatically fire. The operators then can be far away, practically impossible to find.

This piece of information fit perfectly well with last week’s report from Section E. They detected an untraceable flash which must have been this laser designator been taken on a trial run.

We can conclude the attack is imminent; we think we have a maximum of three days to stop this attack - that's how long Morgan's information will keep for. After then, his group will have had time to change their plans and either bring the attack forward or change their plans. That's why we had to do it, put the siren in. Some call it torture, in fact, most people would call it torture. I'm not sure whether we should have used the siren, whether that is too far, but we've got to get that information, otherwise other people will die.

[2nd June 2005]

Danny and Adam don't really talk about what is going on in the interrogation room. I'm not sure I even want to know. Danny seems to be taking this harder than Adam, he's not comfortable with how this is going. If Danny is worried then things must be going badly.

Morgan has a daughter, who needs a liver transplant. He calls her frequently and he has paid for all her treatment, evidently he is very close to her. We haven’t found her before because she keeps her mother’s surname. In terms of information to break Morgan it's dynamite, but I don't know, I’d rather not have found this information. It’s as useful as information could possibly be but honestly I don't trust how far Adam could go with this kind of information. I trust his motivation, but the outcome could be frightening as all get out.

[3rd June 2005]

Adam and Harry took Morgan down the river, to show him his daughter on the top of the building he was targeting. It was our last resort. Thankfully she was unaware of what was going on. They broke him. This operation has been an ethical minefield, we've gone to the line of what constitutes reasonable pressure, and somewhere along the way I think we might have stepped over it. We could easily become the people we're fighting against, and I think that we saw that today. But then I think of that building and all the people who could have died and I'm very glad I wasn't Danny or Adam. It’s a difficult matter, where to draw the line when millions of lives are at stake but playing with a little girl’s life... was it right? I hope she gets her transplant, although how long Morgan stays alive is up for betting upon.

Harry had his interview today. It obviously went well - he got down to the final two, but then they tossed in a late contender, 'parachuted' them in, as Harry put it. (I always love his turn of phrase, at least when it doesn't concern me!) I'm glad that he's staying with us, I can't really imagine him being anywhere else. I must admit I have enjoyed helping Harry in preparing for this interview. It was interesting to get to know him better, he’s a man of principles, I can tell. I mean, I knew it already - but it's quite another thing to have him articulate such points only to you.

I was finally able to keep my date from the other night.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-917.html Tue, 01 Jun 2010 07:55:27 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-917.html Ruth's thoughts on 3.08 episode, so spoilers for this one.

Not a big entry this time as it isn't a big episode for Ruth. It isn't even mentioned on Harry's Diary

Thanks to JHyde

**********************

[18th May 2005]

Our new investigation deals with the kidnap of the baby son of a very well-known couple. Riff is a rock star and his wife B is a super model. It all happened last night when the couple were celebrating the knighthood bestowed upon him just yesterday. The kidnappers took advantage of the rowdy party scene at their house and scaled the wall then retreated, taking the baby with them.

I still can’t understand why we are running this investigation, it's a job for the police. Harry was so funny this morning. Danny asked him why on earth we were handling this and Harry replied that politics, like quantum physics, is incomprehensible. He confided later what I already knew, that we were passed the jhob so that when everything turns out well, Five gets great press.

If only it were always so. They never learn. do they?

Fiona's going in undercover. Several people unhappy with that, not least of all Adam.

There's also something else at play The Government Minister John Sylvester has called Harry to ask for help. (Apparently Harry owed him one.) He told Harry that he had 'accidentally' beaten up a woman he had on the side and had pictures on his phone of her that needed to be dealt with and that she was planning to kiss and tell with one of the rattiest tabloids going. You can imagine Harry's disgust. He passed it on to me and later in the afternoon, one of my acquaintances working at the Greater London Murder Squad sent me some photos of a crime scene. The girl had been more than 'accidentally' beaten up, for certain. She was Sylvester's girl.

Jen is an I.T. girl with whom I chat from time to time, she’s very nice. The thing is that she wants to work for GCHQ. I said I’ll put a word in for her if she sends along things from time to time, in this case passing along the pictures without her superiors knowing. Harry asked if there was any institution safe from me and I really liked to think not.

I can't fathom how Sylvester ended up how he has. Bright young man, future of the party, young family, everything to live for. And yet here he is, a murderer. His poor family, those children don't deserve what's about to happen.

Harry's dealing with him.


[23rd May 2005]

Sooner or later, the truth always comes to light. The police found the dead body of the baby in a shallow grave just a few yards away from Riff and B’s house. B finally confessed to Fiona under all the pressure. It turns out she had planned the kidnapping for the sake of publicity as her husband’s music career was languishing and hers as a model wasn’t at its best either. She contacted Rudolphino Ponti, who runs a heroin trail as well as being Riff’s former road manager and made an arrangement. Endless publicity and Ponti kept three hundred grand of the ransom.

It couldn’t have ended worse, Riff wasn’t involved so after he learned what actually happened, he stabbed Ponti and B and then shot himself in the head. It all went down in ‘The Hole’, the bar where he started out as chance would have it. The press headlines ran with the fabricated story that Riff and B killed themselves in a suicide pact after losing their baby. Ponti managed to survive his wounds and is a critical but stable condition. We'll be passing him onto Section Q once he recovers.

On the other hand, we're sure Mace intercepted Sylvester's letter to the PM as Sylvester made a big show of stepping down from parliament, offering the old herring of 'spending time with his young family'. It was all obviously timed so that it was buried under the Riff and B rubbish.

Adam and Harry couldn’t let this go, so Adam did a deal with the editor of the same sort of tatty mag that the girl planned to sell her story to. He handed over pictures and other evidence that would damn Sylvester at a date still to be decided. Possibly around election time, although that's some time off now.]]> Ruth's thoughts on 3.08 episode, so spoilers for this one.

Not a big entry this time as it isn't a big episode for Ruth. It isn't even mentioned on Harry's Diary

Thanks to JHyde

**********************

[18th May 2005]

Our new investigation deals with the kidnap of the baby son of a very well-known couple. Riff is a rock star and his wife B is a super model. It all happened last night when the couple were celebrating the knighthood bestowed upon him just yesterday. The kidnappers took advantage of the rowdy party scene at their house and scaled the wall then retreated, taking the baby with them.

I still can’t understand why we are running this investigation, it's a job for the police. Harry was so funny this morning. Danny asked him why on earth we were handling this and Harry replied that politics, like quantum physics, is incomprehensible. He confided later what I already knew, that we were passed the jhob so that when everything turns out well, Five gets great press.

If only it were always so. They never learn. do they?

Fiona's going in undercover. Several people unhappy with that, not least of all Adam.

There's also something else at play The Government Minister John Sylvester has called Harry to ask for help. (Apparently Harry owed him one.) He told Harry that he had 'accidentally' beaten up a woman he had on the side and had pictures on his phone of her that needed to be dealt with and that she was planning to kiss and tell with one of the rattiest tabloids going. You can imagine Harry's disgust. He passed it on to me and later in the afternoon, one of my acquaintances working at the Greater London Murder Squad sent me some photos of a crime scene. The girl had been more than 'accidentally' beaten up, for certain. She was Sylvester's girl.

Jen is an I.T. girl with whom I chat from time to time, she’s very nice. The thing is that she wants to work for GCHQ. I said I’ll put a word in for her if she sends along things from time to time, in this case passing along the pictures without her superiors knowing. Harry asked if there was any institution safe from me and I really liked to think not.

I can't fathom how Sylvester ended up how he has. Bright young man, future of the party, young family, everything to live for. And yet here he is, a murderer. His poor family, those children don't deserve what's about to happen.

Harry's dealing with him.


[23rd May 2005]

Sooner or later, the truth always comes to light. The police found the dead body of the baby in a shallow grave just a few yards away from Riff and B’s house. B finally confessed to Fiona under all the pressure. It turns out she had planned the kidnapping for the sake of publicity as her husband’s music career was languishing and hers as a model wasn’t at its best either. She contacted Rudolphino Ponti, who runs a heroin trail as well as being Riff’s former road manager and made an arrangement. Endless publicity and Ponti kept three hundred grand of the ransom.

It couldn’t have ended worse, Riff wasn’t involved so after he learned what actually happened, he stabbed Ponti and B and then shot himself in the head. It all went down in ‘The Hole’, the bar where he started out as chance would have it. The press headlines ran with the fabricated story that Riff and B killed themselves in a suicide pact after losing their baby. Ponti managed to survive his wounds and is a critical but stable condition. We'll be passing him onto Section Q once he recovers.

On the other hand, we're sure Mace intercepted Sylvester's letter to the PM as Sylvester made a big show of stepping down from parliament, offering the old herring of 'spending time with his young family'. It was all obviously timed so that it was buried under the Riff and B rubbish.

Adam and Harry couldn’t let this go, so Adam did a deal with the editor of the same sort of tatty mag that the girl planned to sell her story to. He handed over pictures and other evidence that would damn Sylvester at a date still to be decided. Possibly around election time, although that's some time off now.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-899.html Mon, 24 May 2010 14:23:32 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-899.html Long entry that includes 3.7, but also has Ruth's birthday and sets up events to follow in late Season 4.

**********************

[29th April 2005]

Today is my 35th birthday. I would have been happy to let it pass in silence but lo and behold, someone noticed. Harry noticed. Of all people! He had arrived at work before me and hidden a gift in my desk. There was a book about cats (which has lots of sweet pictures in it, but apart from that I'm not sure what else to do with it) and an album which seems to be based on The Red Shoes. The crafty bugger! I'm sure the only two people who know my love for that film are Malcolm and Sam. He probably got it out of Sam while he was interrogating her during that whole business with Fortescue. Come to think of it, that's probably why he made the gift of it. He probably felt embarrassed over the whole business.

Still, I blushed upon finding them in my desk. And then smiled at Harry later in the meeting room. I didn't tell anyone about them, why would I? But it's also nice to have a *good* secret to hug to your chest, for a change.


[2nd May 2005]

Oh God. Mother and I broke our months long silence today. She called with the news that my step-brother Peter shot himself in the head. She managed to tuck a 'happy birthday' into the same shell shocked phone-call.

Peter is so entangled with a part of my life I despise. One of the most difficult and most traumatic. But I'm trying not to think too much about what he must have been like when Angela, his ex girlfriend, found him. I'm slightly terrified of Angela (she used to work in Section D!) but you don't wish this misery on anyone, even someone you almost hate.

And much as I despised Peter in the end, I can't help feeling dreadfully sorry for him.

Harry found out a matter of hours after I did and insisted I take time off for the funeral. But I suspect he dug a little deeper in the files (both mine and Peter's) because then he reneged on that and said that I didn't have to. With all the work in the lead-up to the election, I have an excellent excuse to not get up to Cheltenham. I just can't do it, not for anyone.

I really do have my hands full with the election, anyway. It seems to tickle the funny bone of most of us in this department - everyone has been in fine form, jokes wise, with the election. Harry especially seems to get really humorous at this time.

Except for Danny. He's a ghost since Zoe left.



[4th May 2005]

Speaking of Zoe, Harry gave me good news today. She's safe in Chile and made contact. It's been a long month here without her and I miss her terribly. I hope she manages to build a good life for herself, but I am sure she misses Danny. And Will. Poor Will.


[5th May 2005]

Blair re-elected today, his majority reduced by 47 seats.

I always make an effort to vote, even when the choice is as miserable as it was this time around. At least I am able to vote. And whatever jokes we make at work, a big part of the status quo we defend is our right to vote.

For whomever the fool is that we pick amongst fools. Utterly uninspiring, the whole business this year. The Devil and the deep blue sea.

I posted my card to Angela today. I had been putting it off but I knew if I didn't write it today on my lunch break I never would. I struggled to come up with platitudes, but barely scraped by. I felt a bit like Cicero trying to say nice things about Sulla and ultimately failing. I really don't want to ever have to say anything nice about Peter ever again.


[7th May 2005]

It's managed to slip under the national radar so far, but in the last four days 7 people have died taking paracetamol from previously opened packets. 11 more are in serious condition. And from all over the country! They're all from the same supplier, Pharmavor and it turns out the pills have been laced with menazorphine, which was essentially like drinking acid for the victims.

The calling card on the fax sent to the manufacturer troubles me greatly, it implies they're not done. They signed it Al Saa’iqa which translates as Thunderclap and there has been no mention of them ever, not even on any chatter. What I eventually pulled for them was from an old book on the Crusades. They were like the Sultan's SAS. The thing is, their leader, a man named Ali Hassan Al-Mazboudi, was a brilliant war strategist who would twist the best of his enemies' inventions and use them against them. In this case, both Adam and I think it's medicine. Our culprit is using our best inventions to defeat us.

Guy Facer is putting pressure on Harry, I'm not sure how yet. He usually becomes transparent about political pressure sooner or later with me, in this case I'm guessing sooner. He's still spitting chips after the election.

Mind you, my work after the election still isn't done either. I'm barely scraping by this week and working the most insane hours.

I'm also still terribly worried about Danny. I tried to speak with him in earnest today but he wasn't having a bar of it. It doesn't help we've been working through weekends. Sometimes this job asks all too much of us. I wish I could convince Danny that it's not just him who questions this life of ours.


[10th May 2005]

Harry forced me to take today off. That, in itself, is a mark of how bad yesterday was. It is also a mark of how bad it was that I actually took today off sick. I am still sore.

Our culprit turned out to be someone I once knew a little, Andrew Forrestal. He was a real tech head - even better than Colin and probably on par with Malcolm, but different. He specialised in algorithms and code breaking, even back at Cambridge. I knew him at GCHQ and he wandered in yesterday on loan with the National High Tech Crimes Unit. I remember Andrew as being a cut well above the average techie and it seems that this was the basis for his discontent.

Sunday morning we discovered that it was more than hacking into Pharmavor's system. The bank accounts at National Municipal were drained. Initially, the boys (one of whom was Andrew) were able to trace it back to a West London mosque, but it was all a ruse, further destroying relations between the government and English Muslims. Immediately after the raid, all emergency calls were re-routed to sex chat lines and it was all one man with a laptop and a phoneline. Andrew and a laptop and a phoneline.

Colin was convinced this was someone who had cracked the one perfect algorithm, the G and J key. This is something I have only heard tell of, but let's just say that it is has been at the top of any decent hacker's list to crack for more than 13 years. It is the lynch-pin of internet security.

And thanks to Andrew it very nearly got out to the general public. It would have brought the world to its metaphorical knees. It turns out he was at uni with Joukowsky and was an integral part of the work and writing the algorithm. He was justifiably angry, but so many people died from his bitterness.

I ended up being caught in the firing line thanks to my damn curiosity. Andrew and I had been chatting for most of Sunday, intermittently. Mostly about what we miss while working in this job. All through Sunday I was working on where the hacker was getting his information from, especially after discovering there was no way they wrote Arabic. I had Andrew cross reference historical background with searches online for Arabic writers. He was probably filtering the results all day, especially as the last thing we talked about at work was my being convinced that certain searches would result in us finding him.

But at the end of the night Andrew invited me to have dinner with him. I was tired, I've been working so hard - the idea of having someone cook me dinner and talking about the same intellectual interests was too much for me to turn down. So we had dinner, which was brilliant. And I asked Andrew why he was still in such a low level job despite his brilliance. He should have been a superstar! He gave me something that sounded like the manifesto of an anarchist university student, but one that I can identify with from time to time in this job. He told me he was leaving the Service, going somewhere warm and slow...and suddenly he was quoting The Prophet, and the details fell into place.

And then he had me pinned on the floor. He wasn't going back to the NHTCU the following day, no-one would miss me. He sent a message to Sam from my phone saying I was sick. So then no-one would miss me either. (I find myself crying again while I write.)

It was Danny who figured it out. He came looking for me after they figured out it was Andrew, who was already dead. They had tried to pay him off, although Andrew was planning to double cross them. It turned out Malcolm had done his own bit of lacing, by coating the diamonds with some chemical that would induce a heart attack in under a minute. Normally I would find out what said chemical was, but it was enough to watch Andrew die in front of me. It was almost worse being there by myself. True, no Andrew to do anything to me. But there I was, praying that the diamonds were far enough from me, that someone would find me before I died of thirst. It was the most terrifying 24 hours of my life. It puts the rest of my life into perspective, certainly. I found myself quoting The Prophet again to myself, only this time it was from much later on.

"Now therefore disclose us to ourselves and tell us all that has been shown to you of that which is between birth and death."

I have so much more to do, with or without this job.

The worst part is, Andrew and I were so alike. I made Danny promise me that we would never end up that bad, that sad. I envy him that bond he had with Zoe, knowing they could count on one another so perfectly. He was the last person I saw before I left with Andrew the night before and I tried to reason with him then. I know he misses her, but at least he has felt that way for someone who was worthy of it. I can only hope I might some day too.

[29th May 2005]

Danny mentioned to me on that awful Sunday that Will North was still hassling him about Zoe. I asked him today if Will was still an issue and he just smiled and wouldn't say anything, no matter how many questions I asked. I did some digging - it turns out Will is now working in Chile, mainly doing wedding photography. I'll try and keep that information from Harry, should it ever cross his mind to look.

***************

Please review! No, really, please. ]]> Long entry that includes 3.7, but also has Ruth's birthday and sets up events to follow in late Season 4.

**********************

[29th April 2005]

Today is my 35th birthday. I would have been happy to let it pass in silence but lo and behold, someone noticed. Harry noticed. Of all people! He had arrived at work before me and hidden a gift in my desk. There was a book about cats (which has lots of sweet pictures in it, but apart from that I'm not sure what else to do with it) and an album which seems to be based on The Red Shoes. The crafty bugger! I'm sure the only two people who know my love for that film are Malcolm and Sam. He probably got it out of Sam while he was interrogating her during that whole business with Fortescue. Come to think of it, that's probably why he made the gift of it. He probably felt embarrassed over the whole business.

Still, I blushed upon finding them in my desk. And then smiled at Harry later in the meeting room. I didn't tell anyone about them, why would I? But it's also nice to have a *good* secret to hug to your chest, for a change.


[2nd May 2005]

Oh God. Mother and I broke our months long silence today. She called with the news that my step-brother Peter shot himself in the head. She managed to tuck a 'happy birthday' into the same shell shocked phone-call.

Peter is so entangled with a part of my life I despise. One of the most difficult and most traumatic. But I'm trying not to think too much about what he must have been like when Angela, his ex girlfriend, found him. I'm slightly terrified of Angela (she used to work in Section D!) but you don't wish this misery on anyone, even someone you almost hate.

And much as I despised Peter in the end, I can't help feeling dreadfully sorry for him.

Harry found out a matter of hours after I did and insisted I take time off for the funeral. But I suspect he dug a little deeper in the files (both mine and Peter's) because then he reneged on that and said that I didn't have to. With all the work in the lead-up to the election, I have an excellent excuse to not get up to Cheltenham. I just can't do it, not for anyone.

I really do have my hands full with the election, anyway. It seems to tickle the funny bone of most of us in this department - everyone has been in fine form, jokes wise, with the election. Harry especially seems to get really humorous at this time.

Except for Danny. He's a ghost since Zoe left.



[4th May 2005]

Speaking of Zoe, Harry gave me good news today. She's safe in Chile and made contact. It's been a long month here without her and I miss her terribly. I hope she manages to build a good life for herself, but I am sure she misses Danny. And Will. Poor Will.


[5th May 2005]

Blair re-elected today, his majority reduced by 47 seats.

I always make an effort to vote, even when the choice is as miserable as it was this time around. At least I am able to vote. And whatever jokes we make at work, a big part of the status quo we defend is our right to vote.

For whomever the fool is that we pick amongst fools. Utterly uninspiring, the whole business this year. The Devil and the deep blue sea.

I posted my card to Angela today. I had been putting it off but I knew if I didn't write it today on my lunch break I never would. I struggled to come up with platitudes, but barely scraped by. I felt a bit like Cicero trying to say nice things about Sulla and ultimately failing. I really don't want to ever have to say anything nice about Peter ever again.


[7th May 2005]

It's managed to slip under the national radar so far, but in the last four days 7 people have died taking paracetamol from previously opened packets. 11 more are in serious condition. And from all over the country! They're all from the same supplier, Pharmavor and it turns out the pills have been laced with menazorphine, which was essentially like drinking acid for the victims.

The calling card on the fax sent to the manufacturer troubles me greatly, it implies they're not done. They signed it Al Saa’iqa which translates as Thunderclap and there has been no mention of them ever, not even on any chatter. What I eventually pulled for them was from an old book on the Crusades. They were like the Sultan's SAS. The thing is, their leader, a man named Ali Hassan Al-Mazboudi, was a brilliant war strategist who would twist the best of his enemies' inventions and use them against them. In this case, both Adam and I think it's medicine. Our culprit is using our best inventions to defeat us.

Guy Facer is putting pressure on Harry, I'm not sure how yet. He usually becomes transparent about political pressure sooner or later with me, in this case I'm guessing sooner. He's still spitting chips after the election.

Mind you, my work after the election still isn't done either. I'm barely scraping by this week and working the most insane hours.

I'm also still terribly worried about Danny. I tried to speak with him in earnest today but he wasn't having a bar of it. It doesn't help we've been working through weekends. Sometimes this job asks all too much of us. I wish I could convince Danny that it's not just him who questions this life of ours.


[10th May 2005]

Harry forced me to take today off. That, in itself, is a mark of how bad yesterday was. It is also a mark of how bad it was that I actually took today off sick. I am still sore.

Our culprit turned out to be someone I once knew a little, Andrew Forrestal. He was a real tech head - even better than Colin and probably on par with Malcolm, but different. He specialised in algorithms and code breaking, even back at Cambridge. I knew him at GCHQ and he wandered in yesterday on loan with the National High Tech Crimes Unit. I remember Andrew as being a cut well above the average techie and it seems that this was the basis for his discontent.

Sunday morning we discovered that it was more than hacking into Pharmavor's system. The bank accounts at National Municipal were drained. Initially, the boys (one of whom was Andrew) were able to trace it back to a West London mosque, but it was all a ruse, further destroying relations between the government and English Muslims. Immediately after the raid, all emergency calls were re-routed to sex chat lines and it was all one man with a laptop and a phoneline. Andrew and a laptop and a phoneline.

Colin was convinced this was someone who had cracked the one perfect algorithm, the G and J key. This is something I have only heard tell of, but let's just say that it is has been at the top of any decent hacker's list to crack for more than 13 years. It is the lynch-pin of internet security.

And thanks to Andrew it very nearly got out to the general public. It would have brought the world to its metaphorical knees. It turns out he was at uni with Joukowsky and was an integral part of the work and writing the algorithm. He was justifiably angry, but so many people died from his bitterness.

I ended up being caught in the firing line thanks to my damn curiosity. Andrew and I had been chatting for most of Sunday, intermittently. Mostly about what we miss while working in this job. All through Sunday I was working on where the hacker was getting his information from, especially after discovering there was no way they wrote Arabic. I had Andrew cross reference historical background with searches online for Arabic writers. He was probably filtering the results all day, especially as the last thing we talked about at work was my being convinced that certain searches would result in us finding him.

But at the end of the night Andrew invited me to have dinner with him. I was tired, I've been working so hard - the idea of having someone cook me dinner and talking about the same intellectual interests was too much for me to turn down. So we had dinner, which was brilliant. And I asked Andrew why he was still in such a low level job despite his brilliance. He should have been a superstar! He gave me something that sounded like the manifesto of an anarchist university student, but one that I can identify with from time to time in this job. He told me he was leaving the Service, going somewhere warm and slow...and suddenly he was quoting The Prophet, and the details fell into place.

And then he had me pinned on the floor. He wasn't going back to the NHTCU the following day, no-one would miss me. He sent a message to Sam from my phone saying I was sick. So then no-one would miss me either. (I find myself crying again while I write.)

It was Danny who figured it out. He came looking for me after they figured out it was Andrew, who was already dead. They had tried to pay him off, although Andrew was planning to double cross them. It turned out Malcolm had done his own bit of lacing, by coating the diamonds with some chemical that would induce a heart attack in under a minute. Normally I would find out what said chemical was, but it was enough to watch Andrew die in front of me. It was almost worse being there by myself. True, no Andrew to do anything to me. But there I was, praying that the diamonds were far enough from me, that someone would find me before I died of thirst. It was the most terrifying 24 hours of my life. It puts the rest of my life into perspective, certainly. I found myself quoting The Prophet again to myself, only this time it was from much later on.

"Now therefore disclose us to ourselves and tell us all that has been shown to you of that which is between birth and death."

I have so much more to do, with or without this job.

The worst part is, Andrew and I were so alike. I made Danny promise me that we would never end up that bad, that sad. I envy him that bond he had with Zoe, knowing they could count on one another so perfectly. He was the last person I saw before I left with Andrew the night before and I tried to reason with him then. I know he misses her, but at least he has felt that way for someone who was worthy of it. I can only hope I might some day too.

[29th May 2005]

Danny mentioned to me on that awful Sunday that Will North was still hassling him about Zoe. I asked him today if Will was still an issue and he just smiled and wouldn't say anything, no matter how many questions I asked. I did some digging - it turns out Will is now working in Chile, mainly doing wedding photography. I'll try and keep that information from Harry, should it ever cross his mind to look.

***************

Please review! No, really, please. ]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-877.html Sat, 15 May 2010 20:48:49 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-877.html Spoilers for Series 3

I apologise for this entry but my AS exams start on Monday, and this is the last possible chance I really will have to edit/upload it, so I'm afraid you're stuck with this version.

[31st March 2005]

We're nearing the end of our current operation - to infiltrate the Turkish mafia. It's been chaos to organise, making sure that Zoe's legend is fully back-stopped, that she hadn't been blown, let alone trying to make sure that MI6 kept their noses out of it. It was going so well, we'd nearly finished and suddenly everything seems to have gone wrong. She had befriended a person called Sevelin Ozal, and was using him to get to Emre Celenk, an Al Qaeda mastermind. Now Celenk is dead, along with two other men, shot by Ozal. I don't know what's happened, no one is saying anything. I think the only people that know the whole story are Zoe, Harry and Adam, but they all seem to be keeping quiet about the whole thing.

[1st April 2005]

Zoe spent part of the day at the Specialist Crime Division with Harry, trying to sort it all out. I hope she'll get off fine... she will get off fine, I'm sure. But it looks bad - a police man was one of the ones shot. Hasan Doyan, an undercover police officer also in with the Turkish Mafia. We never knew he was there though, like usual they didn't mention it to us. Ruddy police men.

[3rd April 2005]

Zoe has been charged with conspiracy to murder and manslaughter. I can't believe this, she mustn't have done it on purpose, she just isn't like that. It was all probably an accident. She'll be found innocent, I'm certain. Harry went to see Lord Young, trying to make sure that Zoe would be fine, whatever happens, and he appears to have got those assurances. Whatever happens, Zoe will be fine, it'll all be nothing more than a slapped wrist, a bit of PR for the government.

[4th April 2005]

It was the first day of the trial today, and I've never felt more nervous. Poor Danny must have been terrified. Ozal gave his evidence for the trial, and to be honest, it really doesn't look good for Zoe. However, Harry did get his assurances that nothing will happen to Zoe, so it will all be fine. It'll just be fine.

[5th April 2005]

Second day. They're still giving evidence. It's so nerve wrecking.

Mrs Doyan spoke to Danny today, before the start of the session. Fortunately Adam was on hand to neutralise her, and get Danny out of the way. I feel so sorry for her, but really there's nothing we could have done. But hearing the audio of her husband's last moments must have been dreadful. I can't imagine what it must be like.

Speaking of Danny, he's barely holding on. Zoe getting engaged was one thing, but the risk of her going to prison is really tipping him over the edge.

[6th April 2005]

The third day, and Zoe's turn to be questioned. It started well, at least I hope it did. It went really badly towards he end, where the opposition started to really get going. I'm so worried for her. Danny barely spoke as he left, and Harry and Adam just looked nervous. I've never seen Harry look so nervous before. That scared me more than anything else did.

[7th April 2005]

I can't believe it, I can't believe it. They found Zoe guilty, and the slapped wrist turned out to be a ten year prison sentence. A slapped wrist! Harry appears to have sorted something out though, but no one is saying what. Maybe it's better not knowing, better, and safer, but still part of my mind wonders where she is, if she's alright.

I can't stop thinking about Will and Danny, and all the pain they're going through just because the government need a hit before the next general election. Our world relies on truth being an elastic concept, one that we can shape to suit our needs. It may be wrong but that's how the intelligence service has to work, if we never lied we could never get people undercover, people getting intelligence, and we could never protect our country, because the people we're fighting against don't have these moral qualms, they don't care about the lives they put at risk, so we have to make truth elastic. It appears that our elastic truth has been used against us by those seeking political power. Whilst the grey areas in our job may change, one thing that never will is politicians spinning everything that we do.]]> Spoilers for Series 3

I apologise for this entry but my AS exams start on Monday, and this is the last possible chance I really will have to edit/upload it, so I'm afraid you're stuck with this version.

[31st March 2005]

We're nearing the end of our current operation - to infiltrate the Turkish mafia. It's been chaos to organise, making sure that Zoe's legend is fully back-stopped, that she hadn't been blown, let alone trying to make sure that MI6 kept their noses out of it. It was going so well, we'd nearly finished and suddenly everything seems to have gone wrong. She had befriended a person called Sevelin Ozal, and was using him to get to Emre Celenk, an Al Qaeda mastermind. Now Celenk is dead, along with two other men, shot by Ozal. I don't know what's happened, no one is saying anything. I think the only people that know the whole story are Zoe, Harry and Adam, but they all seem to be keeping quiet about the whole thing.

[1st April 2005]

Zoe spent part of the day at the Specialist Crime Division with Harry, trying to sort it all out. I hope she'll get off fine... she will get off fine, I'm sure. But it looks bad - a police man was one of the ones shot. Hasan Doyan, an undercover police officer also in with the Turkish Mafia. We never knew he was there though, like usual they didn't mention it to us. Ruddy police men.

[3rd April 2005]

Zoe has been charged with conspiracy to murder and manslaughter. I can't believe this, she mustn't have done it on purpose, she just isn't like that. It was all probably an accident. She'll be found innocent, I'm certain. Harry went to see Lord Young, trying to make sure that Zoe would be fine, whatever happens, and he appears to have got those assurances. Whatever happens, Zoe will be fine, it'll all be nothing more than a slapped wrist, a bit of PR for the government.

[4th April 2005]

It was the first day of the trial today, and I've never felt more nervous. Poor Danny must have been terrified. Ozal gave his evidence for the trial, and to be honest, it really doesn't look good for Zoe. However, Harry did get his assurances that nothing will happen to Zoe, so it will all be fine. It'll just be fine.

[5th April 2005]

Second day. They're still giving evidence. It's so nerve wrecking.

Mrs Doyan spoke to Danny today, before the start of the session. Fortunately Adam was on hand to neutralise her, and get Danny out of the way. I feel so sorry for her, but really there's nothing we could have done. But hearing the audio of her husband's last moments must have been dreadful. I can't imagine what it must be like.

Speaking of Danny, he's barely holding on. Zoe getting engaged was one thing, but the risk of her going to prison is really tipping him over the edge.

[6th April 2005]

The third day, and Zoe's turn to be questioned. It started well, at least I hope it did. It went really badly towards he end, where the opposition started to really get going. I'm so worried for her. Danny barely spoke as he left, and Harry and Adam just looked nervous. I've never seen Harry look so nervous before. That scared me more than anything else did.

[7th April 2005]

I can't believe it, I can't believe it. They found Zoe guilty, and the slapped wrist turned out to be a ten year prison sentence. A slapped wrist! Harry appears to have sorted something out though, but no one is saying what. Maybe it's better not knowing, better, and safer, but still part of my mind wonders where she is, if she's alright.

I can't stop thinking about Will and Danny, and all the pain they're going through just because the government need a hit before the next general election. Our world relies on truth being an elastic concept, one that we can shape to suit our needs. It may be wrong but that's how the intelligence service has to work, if we never lied we could never get people undercover, people getting intelligence, and we could never protect our country, because the people we're fighting against don't have these moral qualms, they don't care about the lives they put at risk, so we have to make truth elastic. It appears that our elastic truth has been used against us by those seeking political power. Whilst the grey areas in our job may change, one thing that never will is politicians spinning everything that we do.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-870.html Thu, 13 May 2010 12:38:18 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-870.html
And thanks, as always, to JHyde who kindly helps me with my entries


**************************
*Spoilers for 3.05*


[9th January 2005]

There's a man I find myself thinking a great deal about of late. His name is John Fortescue and we're keeping an eye on him. Not for anything he has done but rather because we fear others doing something to him. I found myself listening to those static surveillance tapes more times than necessary, time goes by quickly when you're doing something wrong. I must admit I have fantasized about meeting him...but of course that would be unprofessional and out of the question.

I was having tea and watching one of my all-time favourite films, when Malcolm popped by to give me more surveillance tapes of this man, I hardly looked at him as I was so engrossed by one of the best scenes of 'The Red Shoes’. I had Malcolm sign the tapes out lest I get caught. I know there's something wrong with what I'm doing if I'm asking Malcolm to sign stuff out for me but still....

[11th January 2004]

Harry, Adam and I were discussing the scientist Dr Newland yesterday. GCHQ has sent us some intel about him that he has a contact in Norway who will support his research into pneumonic plague, a huge step to biochemical warfare if he is successful. Adam wants Danny and Zoe to work together on this operation. I suggested it wasn’t a good idea (they're going away on an overnight ferry to Narwich together!) with all the unresolved issues between them, but my words went unheard.

I don’t think Danny has told Zoe what happened with Will’s brother. I approached him this morning but he didn’t seem too eager to talk about it. Meanwhile she seems so excited and utterly full of happiness making wedding plans...

I must admit not to envy, but certainly some wistfulness over Zoe's plans. I'm very, very happy for her, with no reservations. But sometimes it does feel like I'm here by myself, the odd one out on the Grid. This job can be very lonely and not just sometimes. It feels like all the time.

[12th January 2005]

Danny and Zoe are away, trying to talk sense into Newland. I suspect that mission won't go exactly as planned. There is too much involved and the money trail I found today suggests a greater commitment than first we thought on Newland's part. If he's already been paid by the North Koreans then he is in too deep. This is one of those times I am grateful that I am not a field officer.

Here, my life is on its own, strange, wrong course.

This morning I was listening to some new recordings (of John) and Sam interrupted me with questions and I ended up telling her all about him. I also found myself praying she can keep a secret.

So then I listened to the tapes. And found out that he was having lunch at Julie's, which is so close to work here at Thames House. And suddenly I was making a booking. And I wasn't Ruth anymore, just for a bit. Despite the thought of not going, I decided to go and have lunch there, only to see him. I had to EAT, after all. I sat at the table next to him (making a complete loon of myself with the waiter) and then, there he was. Unfeasibly handsome. We shared a few words, he dropped a knife and we both made for it. His hand brushed mine and, I'm ashamed to admit, my heart skipped a beat, I think I even blushed. Inmediately after, his friend arrived and it was all over. During their conversation I fell privy to the information that he was to be singing in a 'scratch requiem'. Who knew such things existed and in such an exquisite venue as St Martin's Fields?

This was going to be it, but Sam convinced me otherwise, to go for it... what could I lose? So I tried to tell myself I was just going to sing in a beautiful venue, singing an amazing piece of music, flexing my sight reading muscles (yes, I really did say that to myself!). And then suddenly (more suddenlys!) I was wearing a pretty dress and make-up and then Malcolm was at the door! (Somehow Malcolm became involved and decided he would come as my brother, which is really a little bit funny if you think about it too much.) He was so lovely and gentle throughout the evening, I''m glad he was there. I was as nervous as if it were my first date... and with him, I suppose it was. We introduced ourselves afterwards, drank and laughed and chatted and then...(outside the church, beside the fountain, dim lights...) the perfect moment came and...nothing. Nothing was said and nothing happened, only a cold ‘goodbye’.

What did I expect?

Fool's errand in every possible way. My shame was such that this morning at work I just tried to get on with things and Harry said something to me which made me think he knows about the whole silly business. I got on with things, as I always do. I know my place.


[20th February 2005]

This morning Harry held a disciplinary hearing with me about John Fortescue. It turns out he did know all about it as Sam was sent to spy on me. I'm not quite sure of Malcolm's involvement and am equal parts too angry and too ashamed to talk to him about it. God only knows why Harry waited so long to confront me about it.

Honestly, the most exciting part of the whole miserable affair is that it was, well, exciting. I signed up with Five for an intellectual challenge and it is most days. Most weeks. But everything has been so dull these last few months, really. The thrill of the chase for me is over quite quickly, a little like a good piece of chocolate.

I told him it won’t happen again. (I swear to God it won’t happen again, I keep repeating this to myself) Our job is to protect; to serve, to maintain the status quo; and I was doing none of those things. Harry was harsh, I understand why (although truthfully I think anyone else would not have gone through the whole rigmarole of a disciplinary hearing), but still he needn’t have done it quite so intensely. The thought flashed across my mind that he might have a conflict of interest, but that's rubbish, surely.

Surely.]]>
And thanks, as always, to JHyde who kindly helps me with my entries


**************************
*Spoilers for 3.05*


[9th January 2005]

There's a man I find myself thinking a great deal about of late. His name is John Fortescue and we're keeping an eye on him. Not for anything he has done but rather because we fear others doing something to him. I found myself listening to those static surveillance tapes more times than necessary, time goes by quickly when you're doing something wrong. I must admit I have fantasized about meeting him...but of course that would be unprofessional and out of the question.

I was having tea and watching one of my all-time favourite films, when Malcolm popped by to give me more surveillance tapes of this man, I hardly looked at him as I was so engrossed by one of the best scenes of 'The Red Shoes’. I had Malcolm sign the tapes out lest I get caught. I know there's something wrong with what I'm doing if I'm asking Malcolm to sign stuff out for me but still....

[11th January 2004]

Harry, Adam and I were discussing the scientist Dr Newland yesterday. GCHQ has sent us some intel about him that he has a contact in Norway who will support his research into pneumonic plague, a huge step to biochemical warfare if he is successful. Adam wants Danny and Zoe to work together on this operation. I suggested it wasn’t a good idea (they're going away on an overnight ferry to Narwich together!) with all the unresolved issues between them, but my words went unheard.

I don’t think Danny has told Zoe what happened with Will’s brother. I approached him this morning but he didn’t seem too eager to talk about it. Meanwhile she seems so excited and utterly full of happiness making wedding plans...

I must admit not to envy, but certainly some wistfulness over Zoe's plans. I'm very, very happy for her, with no reservations. But sometimes it does feel like I'm here by myself, the odd one out on the Grid. This job can be very lonely and not just sometimes. It feels like all the time.

[12th January 2005]

Danny and Zoe are away, trying to talk sense into Newland. I suspect that mission won't go exactly as planned. There is too much involved and the money trail I found today suggests a greater commitment than first we thought on Newland's part. If he's already been paid by the North Koreans then he is in too deep. This is one of those times I am grateful that I am not a field officer.

Here, my life is on its own, strange, wrong course.

This morning I was listening to some new recordings (of John) and Sam interrupted me with questions and I ended up telling her all about him. I also found myself praying she can keep a secret.

So then I listened to the tapes. And found out that he was having lunch at Julie's, which is so close to work here at Thames House. And suddenly I was making a booking. And I wasn't Ruth anymore, just for a bit. Despite the thought of not going, I decided to go and have lunch there, only to see him. I had to EAT, after all. I sat at the table next to him (making a complete loon of myself with the waiter) and then, there he was. Unfeasibly handsome. We shared a few words, he dropped a knife and we both made for it. His hand brushed mine and, I'm ashamed to admit, my heart skipped a beat, I think I even blushed. Inmediately after, his friend arrived and it was all over. During their conversation I fell privy to the information that he was to be singing in a 'scratch requiem'. Who knew such things existed and in such an exquisite venue as St Martin's Fields?

This was going to be it, but Sam convinced me otherwise, to go for it... what could I lose? So I tried to tell myself I was just going to sing in a beautiful venue, singing an amazing piece of music, flexing my sight reading muscles (yes, I really did say that to myself!). And then suddenly (more suddenlys!) I was wearing a pretty dress and make-up and then Malcolm was at the door! (Somehow Malcolm became involved and decided he would come as my brother, which is really a little bit funny if you think about it too much.) He was so lovely and gentle throughout the evening, I''m glad he was there. I was as nervous as if it were my first date... and with him, I suppose it was. We introduced ourselves afterwards, drank and laughed and chatted and then...(outside the church, beside the fountain, dim lights...) the perfect moment came and...nothing. Nothing was said and nothing happened, only a cold ‘goodbye’.

What did I expect?

Fool's errand in every possible way. My shame was such that this morning at work I just tried to get on with things and Harry said something to me which made me think he knows about the whole silly business. I got on with things, as I always do. I know my place.


[20th February 2005]

This morning Harry held a disciplinary hearing with me about John Fortescue. It turns out he did know all about it as Sam was sent to spy on me. I'm not quite sure of Malcolm's involvement and am equal parts too angry and too ashamed to talk to him about it. God only knows why Harry waited so long to confront me about it.

Honestly, the most exciting part of the whole miserable affair is that it was, well, exciting. I signed up with Five for an intellectual challenge and it is most days. Most weeks. But everything has been so dull these last few months, really. The thrill of the chase for me is over quite quickly, a little like a good piece of chocolate.

I told him it won’t happen again. (I swear to God it won’t happen again, I keep repeating this to myself) Our job is to protect; to serve, to maintain the status quo; and I was doing none of those things. Harry was harsh, I understand why (although truthfully I think anyone else would not have gone through the whole rigmarole of a disciplinary hearing), but still he needn’t have done it quite so intensely. The thought flashed across my mind that he might have a conflict of interest, but that's rubbish, surely.

Surely.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-840.html Sun, 25 Apr 2010 13:43:12 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-840.html Sorry it's slightly late and a long one at that. 3.4 is a hard episode to write up and explain these two seemingly unrelated missions that later connect. I've also tossed in what happened to Ruth's taxi programme, for those of us who don't own the Personnel Files. Thanks again to almh, who typed up Ruth's entry in that book all those months ago when we first decided to tackle this project.


[18th November 2004]

Sad news to report on 'Operation Meter' or my cab project, as it has been known around the office. Harry ended up being called upon an MP to explain what the hell was going on when numerous cab drivers were caught speeding and were then fool enough to tell the police exactly what they were doing. The MP found out because he was in the back of one of the taxis when the driver started racing away from his fare's destination and rather headed towards somewhere we wanted him to be!

Essentially, I think the project simply became too big and had too much expected of it. The scale I had it working on a few months was pretty much perfect. Typical Whitehall outsourcing messed it up well and truly.

Harry assures me that the original plan was a very good one and that I am not respoinsible for its failure. I do know that, but it still feels like a pretty big one after all that I went through to try and make it work. And it was, after all, my first born project.


[2nd December 2004]

It's been a nasty few days here. We have had Danny and Zoe involved in a joint operation monitoring Nicholas Ashworth, the far left MP and a member of the Palestinian Freedom Campaign. He's well meaning enough, but unfortunately his manifesto can attract the wrong type of people to work for him and it fuels the right wing extremists here at home. Sad to say that Palestine and its politics is still responsible for attacks here on a local level. It's bad enough that they happen on the West Bank without the possibility of them here too.

In any case, Danny went along to a meeting last night at the HQ of this organization and inadvertently met Harry's daughter. She was there showing a film she made in Palestine amongst the volunteers. It was as much news to Harry as the rest of us and he looked wrecked while her face was up there on the screen as part of our surveillance of Ashworth. Only Adam was fool enough to ask the obvious question of why Harry didn't know. He clearly wasn't looking at Harry's face and I suppose his son, Wes, is young enough so that he doesn't know that sometimes families don't end up happy and bright.

But sweetness and family love were far from his mind a few minutes later. There was yet another round of peace talks scheduled between the various representatives for Palestine and Israel (we already had the hotel bugged), but they were postponed after the chief negotiator was kidnapped. She is a woman that Adam and Fiona seem to know well, presumably from old operations together. They chatted as recently as last night and Patricia Noughton (the woman in danger) tipped Adam off about an extremist Israeli nationalist organization called The November Committee. David Swift, the media magnate, is meant to be a member and Noughton warned Adam about him. And then disappeared.

Adam had already tasked me with looking into any Israeli nationalist organizations here in Britain and now he's pressing me hard for them. Especially given Ashworth's known hatred for Swift....there's just too much we don't know.

So now we have two major operations going on. The search to uncover The November Committee [henceforth referred to as NC] and the surveillance of Ashworth and the Palestinian Freedom Campaign [PFC]. None of it's easy though - Harry's daughter and Patricia Noughton don't make any of this easy.

[8th December 2004]

They found Patricia Noughton dead in a field with a suicide note citing an extramarital affair. Supposedly she had shot herself. Of course, it wasn't so. We suspect that she was threatened once they had her in the field and said either she did it herself or her husband and children would go the same way. That poor woman. She must have been so frightened. It's not something you want to think about too much, how awful those last moments of her life must have been.

The plot is thickening with the NC. As hard right and nationalist as they come, they even bandy about the phrase 'Greater Israel', if you can believe it. The painful legacy of '67 lives on. Adam broke into Swift's office and once Malcolm de-encrypted what was on his computer's hard drive we found a list of people we believe are targets for NC - there's no doubt that Swift is involved. Now it appears that Ashworth is a target to be killed after all pertinent intelligence is gathered.

This means there is a spy in the PFC offices, someone we know to be code named Phoebe (something else we gleaned from the results of Adam's thievery). You can imagine how Harry is livid at the thought of Catherine being in any danger while she's still a strong presence in the same place.

I don't like this at all. Adam and Harry are both far too personally involved in this case. It's true that there's some comfort to be found in seeing them both softening over people involved, but I'm not sure it's the best thing for the missions we have running. (Adam quoted King Lear when speaking of Harry's behaviour on this mission and I can't say he's wrong.) I like Adam very much but he is too inclined to 'live dangerously', as he himself puts it. I worry about this approach, although there's no doubt it works for him as an officer. He has too much to lose to be so reckless.

For the moment, Adam has me listening in on everything from the PFC offices. My plate is already more than full but needs must, I suppose.


10th December 2004

I intercepted a phonecall made to Swift from the PFC offices today, requesting a meeting. This could very well be from the NC spy planted there and we're anxious to get our hands on them.

The trouble is that the call was made by Catherine, Harry's daughter.

When we confronted Harry with this intercept, he was terribly angry and sarcastic, as anything we have is all circumstantial. The trouble is that we also had to tell him that Catherine has previously dated a man in Israeli military intelligence. A man who may have recruited her to the same nationalist cause espoused by the NC.

I was ready for Harry to be upset and so I didn't jump the way the others did when he snapped at me. God, I hope it's not true and that she's innocent of this. Leaving aside the fact that her life would be shot to pieces, it would break Harry, I am sure.

I did some scratching around this afternoon and discovered that when she went to Iraq early in 2003 (just as the war was breaking out), Harry sent Tom to be on the bus with her and make sure she was safe. He eventually pulled her out of there under circumstances that, had she stayed, may well have proved fatal, but Tom smuggled her out in the boot of his car.

No wonder that when Danny spoke with her wearing a wire she described Harry as being dead to her.

It's all horribly sad. But sometimes good men can be bad fathers. Harry seems to have ben a disintersted and uninvolved father but who did care and didn't know what to say. Adam says he nearly gatecrashed the meeting Catherine had with Swift.

On that front, in order to find out what happened at the meeting, we can only put Danny on the case. He has built quite the rapport with Catherine so we're hoping he can gain her trust sufficiently.

Danny really drew the short straw on this mission. Not only was he playing the young activist so that he could troll through the computers and find a money trail that might lead back to the NC (it was originally to look into PFC finances), but he's also playing games with Catherine.

I don't envy him this one at all. On the plus side, Zoe has a pair of knee high boots I really like. It's so hard to find the ones that are just the right height.



[15th December 2004]

The good news is that Catherine is innocent. She had been alerted to the existence of the NC by her old boyfriend, Gillad Laska, and was on a mission to expose them. Danny found out late last night and spent the night with her (!) before letting me know this morning. Unfortunately, as soon as he left her, an agent of Swift's attacked her in her home.

Terrifying though it was for her, at least she is safe and isn't involved in criminal activities that would see her locked away. Harry's reaction was relieved and typical but now that Catherine's safe, he and Adam seem to be working together. They've decided to set up Swift for another crime to trap him and we're still out to catch the spy in the PFC offices.

Worrying me though is the fact that Zoe's boyfriend may not be trustworthy. His brother was caught trying to sell photos of the MP and his lover to a newspaper chain. Luckily we had a stringer catch it. I left it with Danny. For all his bias in this situation, he knows Zoe better than I do and will hopefully tell her the right way. This is one of those times you hope there's just been a terrible mistake.


[17th December 2004]

The spy for the NC turned out to be Ashworth's boyfriend, Richard Hollins. He lost a sister in Palestine - she was called Phoebe. Thanks to a bug that Adam's wife Fiona was able to get on him, we found out the truth as Swift called him for a meeting. Zoe and Danny got there just in time.

Fiona set up Swift really well, arranging (with Adam's help) some false evidence of rape that made Swift want to leave the country almost immediately. It's too lenient a punishment for him by a long shot, but it was the best we could do.

Catherine packed up and left to go back to the West Bank. Harry is terrified for her. Danny says they have a ridiculous amount in common and being in different countries may well help their relationship long term. I do hope they manage to talk sometimes. Lucky Catherine still has a father to talk with, whatever his faults.

One final piece of happy news. Zoe told us she's engaged today! Malcolm and I had a quiet chat at the end of the day that was more about what we didn't say - we're both worried about Danny and I hope that whole business about the brother and the photos has been dealt with. In any case, I am very happy for her. But very sad for Danny. This can't be easy for him.


*******************]]> Sorry it's slightly late and a long one at that. 3.4 is a hard episode to write up and explain these two seemingly unrelated missions that later connect. I've also tossed in what happened to Ruth's taxi programme, for those of us who don't own the Personnel Files. Thanks again to almh, who typed up Ruth's entry in that book all those months ago when we first decided to tackle this project.


[18th November 2004]

Sad news to report on 'Operation Meter' or my cab project, as it has been known around the office. Harry ended up being called upon an MP to explain what the hell was going on when numerous cab drivers were caught speeding and were then fool enough to tell the police exactly what they were doing. The MP found out because he was in the back of one of the taxis when the driver started racing away from his fare's destination and rather headed towards somewhere we wanted him to be!

Essentially, I think the project simply became too big and had too much expected of it. The scale I had it working on a few months was pretty much perfect. Typical Whitehall outsourcing messed it up well and truly.

Harry assures me that the original plan was a very good one and that I am not respoinsible for its failure. I do know that, but it still feels like a pretty big one after all that I went through to try and make it work. And it was, after all, my first born project.


[2nd December 2004]

It's been a nasty few days here. We have had Danny and Zoe involved in a joint operation monitoring Nicholas Ashworth, the far left MP and a member of the Palestinian Freedom Campaign. He's well meaning enough, but unfortunately his manifesto can attract the wrong type of people to work for him and it fuels the right wing extremists here at home. Sad to say that Palestine and its politics is still responsible for attacks here on a local level. It's bad enough that they happen on the West Bank without the possibility of them here too.

In any case, Danny went along to a meeting last night at the HQ of this organization and inadvertently met Harry's daughter. She was there showing a film she made in Palestine amongst the volunteers. It was as much news to Harry as the rest of us and he looked wrecked while her face was up there on the screen as part of our surveillance of Ashworth. Only Adam was fool enough to ask the obvious question of why Harry didn't know. He clearly wasn't looking at Harry's face and I suppose his son, Wes, is young enough so that he doesn't know that sometimes families don't end up happy and bright.

But sweetness and family love were far from his mind a few minutes later. There was yet another round of peace talks scheduled between the various representatives for Palestine and Israel (we already had the hotel bugged), but they were postponed after the chief negotiator was kidnapped. She is a woman that Adam and Fiona seem to know well, presumably from old operations together. They chatted as recently as last night and Patricia Noughton (the woman in danger) tipped Adam off about an extremist Israeli nationalist organization called The November Committee. David Swift, the media magnate, is meant to be a member and Noughton warned Adam about him. And then disappeared.

Adam had already tasked me with looking into any Israeli nationalist organizations here in Britain and now he's pressing me hard for them. Especially given Ashworth's known hatred for Swift....there's just too much we don't know.

So now we have two major operations going on. The search to uncover The November Committee [henceforth referred to as NC] and the surveillance of Ashworth and the Palestinian Freedom Campaign [PFC]. None of it's easy though - Harry's daughter and Patricia Noughton don't make any of this easy.

[8th December 2004]

They found Patricia Noughton dead in a field with a suicide note citing an extramarital affair. Supposedly she had shot herself. Of course, it wasn't so. We suspect that she was threatened once they had her in the field and said either she did it herself or her husband and children would go the same way. That poor woman. She must have been so frightened. It's not something you want to think about too much, how awful those last moments of her life must have been.

The plot is thickening with the NC. As hard right and nationalist as they come, they even bandy about the phrase 'Greater Israel', if you can believe it. The painful legacy of '67 lives on. Adam broke into Swift's office and once Malcolm de-encrypted what was on his computer's hard drive we found a list of people we believe are targets for NC - there's no doubt that Swift is involved. Now it appears that Ashworth is a target to be killed after all pertinent intelligence is gathered.

This means there is a spy in the PFC offices, someone we know to be code named Phoebe (something else we gleaned from the results of Adam's thievery). You can imagine how Harry is livid at the thought of Catherine being in any danger while she's still a strong presence in the same place.

I don't like this at all. Adam and Harry are both far too personally involved in this case. It's true that there's some comfort to be found in seeing them both softening over people involved, but I'm not sure it's the best thing for the missions we have running. (Adam quoted King Lear when speaking of Harry's behaviour on this mission and I can't say he's wrong.) I like Adam very much but he is too inclined to 'live dangerously', as he himself puts it. I worry about this approach, although there's no doubt it works for him as an officer. He has too much to lose to be so reckless.

For the moment, Adam has me listening in on everything from the PFC offices. My plate is already more than full but needs must, I suppose.


10th December 2004

I intercepted a phonecall made to Swift from the PFC offices today, requesting a meeting. This could very well be from the NC spy planted there and we're anxious to get our hands on them.

The trouble is that the call was made by Catherine, Harry's daughter.

When we confronted Harry with this intercept, he was terribly angry and sarcastic, as anything we have is all circumstantial. The trouble is that we also had to tell him that Catherine has previously dated a man in Israeli military intelligence. A man who may have recruited her to the same nationalist cause espoused by the NC.

I was ready for Harry to be upset and so I didn't jump the way the others did when he snapped at me. God, I hope it's not true and that she's innocent of this. Leaving aside the fact that her life would be shot to pieces, it would break Harry, I am sure.

I did some scratching around this afternoon and discovered that when she went to Iraq early in 2003 (just as the war was breaking out), Harry sent Tom to be on the bus with her and make sure she was safe. He eventually pulled her out of there under circumstances that, had she stayed, may well have proved fatal, but Tom smuggled her out in the boot of his car.

No wonder that when Danny spoke with her wearing a wire she described Harry as being dead to her.

It's all horribly sad. But sometimes good men can be bad fathers. Harry seems to have ben a disintersted and uninvolved father but who did care and didn't know what to say. Adam says he nearly gatecrashed the meeting Catherine had with Swift.

On that front, in order to find out what happened at the meeting, we can only put Danny on the case. He has built quite the rapport with Catherine so we're hoping he can gain her trust sufficiently.

Danny really drew the short straw on this mission. Not only was he playing the young activist so that he could troll through the computers and find a money trail that might lead back to the NC (it was originally to look into PFC finances), but he's also playing games with Catherine.

I don't envy him this one at all. On the plus side, Zoe has a pair of knee high boots I really like. It's so hard to find the ones that are just the right height.



[15th December 2004]

The good news is that Catherine is innocent. She had been alerted to the existence of the NC by her old boyfriend, Gillad Laska, and was on a mission to expose them. Danny found out late last night and spent the night with her (!) before letting me know this morning. Unfortunately, as soon as he left her, an agent of Swift's attacked her in her home.

Terrifying though it was for her, at least she is safe and isn't involved in criminal activities that would see her locked away. Harry's reaction was relieved and typical but now that Catherine's safe, he and Adam seem to be working together. They've decided to set up Swift for another crime to trap him and we're still out to catch the spy in the PFC offices.

Worrying me though is the fact that Zoe's boyfriend may not be trustworthy. His brother was caught trying to sell photos of the MP and his lover to a newspaper chain. Luckily we had a stringer catch it. I left it with Danny. For all his bias in this situation, he knows Zoe better than I do and will hopefully tell her the right way. This is one of those times you hope there's just been a terrible mistake.


[17th December 2004]

The spy for the NC turned out to be Ashworth's boyfriend, Richard Hollins. He lost a sister in Palestine - she was called Phoebe. Thanks to a bug that Adam's wife Fiona was able to get on him, we found out the truth as Swift called him for a meeting. Zoe and Danny got there just in time.

Fiona set up Swift really well, arranging (with Adam's help) some false evidence of rape that made Swift want to leave the country almost immediately. It's too lenient a punishment for him by a long shot, but it was the best we could do.

Catherine packed up and left to go back to the West Bank. Harry is terrified for her. Danny says they have a ridiculous amount in common and being in different countries may well help their relationship long term. I do hope they manage to talk sometimes. Lucky Catherine still has a father to talk with, whatever his faults.

One final piece of happy news. Zoe told us she's engaged today! Malcolm and I had a quiet chat at the end of the day that was more about what we didn't say - we're both worried about Danny and I hope that whole business about the brother and the photos has been dealt with. In any case, I am very happy for her. But very sad for Danny. This can't be easy for him.


*******************]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-822.html Mon, 19 Apr 2010 11:33:39 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-822.html
[18th October 2004]

It was strange today, seeing Tom's desk empty. He was a good leader, but towards the end his morality was fighting against MI5. I suppose that's what this job can do to you. It can change your life for worse, as well as better. Now Adam is Section Chief, replacing Tom. I'm not sure how accurate a word replacing really is, they're two completely different people, with different styles of working (Adam's style seems to be letting "everything flow"). I don't know if Adam can replace Tom, in terms of both as the team leader as well as as a friend, but I think I'm ready to give him a chance.

Operation Meter seems to be going smoothly at the moment, more taxi drivers have come forward, but I haven't had much time on it recently. We started planning for a new op today - protection for one of the most irritating men on the planet. Zuli, an author who seems to do nothing except irritate, needs protecting and it seems we have to do it. Well, more specifically Danny has to be part of the close protection team, fortunately I'm not a field officer, and so don't have to come in contact with him. I don't envy him that at all.

[1st November 2004]

It's Harry's birthday today. Last year Sam attempted to plan a surprise birthday party for him, but this year we've all been too busy for keeping Zuli alive, and he seems to be celebrating this year instead by doing paperwork. I doubt he really enjoyed the party last year, he probably would have preferred an evening with a good bottle of malt.

[10th November 2004]

There was an attempt on Zuli's life today at a bookshop. He was meeting his friend, and there was an attempted assassination. The only casualty was his friend, Harakat, who's currently in hospital. Zuli, has decided he doesn't need our help any more, and he'll protect himself. Thank goodness we've got rid of him! Danny in particular is certainly pleased. Instead of Zuli he is now on close protection for Harakat, the bookseller. There's something going on, the gunman had every chance to shoot Zuli, but he didn't. From where Danny said the gunmen were standing, it seems like they were aiming for Harakat rather than Zuli. But why? Who is Harakat to them? I checked over his application for UK citizenship, but it seems too perfect, like an application written by 6.

I called Adam Tom by mistake today. I don't know why I did it, but I feel like such an idiot now. Adam took it quite well, but I wish I hadn't said it. I suppose I just miss him, his presence on the Grid.

[12th November 2004]

Mace, rather unsurprisingly, denied everything with regards to Harakat's application. Then again, he is quite a slimy individual, I doubt he was telling the truth. We did, however, receive a photograph yesterday that showed Mace talking to Muhammed Khordad, the head of a Pakistani terror group. An anonymous source within the government met with Adam (after we successfully helped him to lose his tails,) and explained all - Harakat wasn't telling the truth, he's not really called Harakat. He made a deal with 6 for a new identity, and now they've turned their backs on him, so that they can make friends with Khordad of all people! We didn't find this out in time though - Harakat was shot as he left Lords with Danny.

Poor Danny was devastated, after all, he had got on really well with him. I suppose that's the cruel, harsh nature of this job. Sometimes we succeed, but other times we fail and other people have to suffer the consequences. It just shows the political nature of the security services, trading off one life in order to perhaps save a couple of other lives. We are all just pawns in the views of the security service. Harakat was a pawn that they sacrificed in the giant chess game against the terrorists of this world.]]>
[18th October 2004]

It was strange today, seeing Tom's desk empty. He was a good leader, but towards the end his morality was fighting against MI5. I suppose that's what this job can do to you. It can change your life for worse, as well as better. Now Adam is Section Chief, replacing Tom. I'm not sure how accurate a word replacing really is, they're two completely different people, with different styles of working (Adam's style seems to be letting "everything flow"). I don't know if Adam can replace Tom, in terms of both as the team leader as well as as a friend, but I think I'm ready to give him a chance.

Operation Meter seems to be going smoothly at the moment, more taxi drivers have come forward, but I haven't had much time on it recently. We started planning for a new op today - protection for one of the most irritating men on the planet. Zuli, an author who seems to do nothing except irritate, needs protecting and it seems we have to do it. Well, more specifically Danny has to be part of the close protection team, fortunately I'm not a field officer, and so don't have to come in contact with him. I don't envy him that at all.

[1st November 2004]

It's Harry's birthday today. Last year Sam attempted to plan a surprise birthday party for him, but this year we've all been too busy for keeping Zuli alive, and he seems to be celebrating this year instead by doing paperwork. I doubt he really enjoyed the party last year, he probably would have preferred an evening with a good bottle of malt.

[10th November 2004]

There was an attempt on Zuli's life today at a bookshop. He was meeting his friend, and there was an attempted assassination. The only casualty was his friend, Harakat, who's currently in hospital. Zuli, has decided he doesn't need our help any more, and he'll protect himself. Thank goodness we've got rid of him! Danny in particular is certainly pleased. Instead of Zuli he is now on close protection for Harakat, the bookseller. There's something going on, the gunman had every chance to shoot Zuli, but he didn't. From where Danny said the gunmen were standing, it seems like they were aiming for Harakat rather than Zuli. But why? Who is Harakat to them? I checked over his application for UK citizenship, but it seems too perfect, like an application written by 6.

I called Adam Tom by mistake today. I don't know why I did it, but I feel like such an idiot now. Adam took it quite well, but I wish I hadn't said it. I suppose I just miss him, his presence on the Grid.

[12th November 2004]

Mace, rather unsurprisingly, denied everything with regards to Harakat's application. Then again, he is quite a slimy individual, I doubt he was telling the truth. We did, however, receive a photograph yesterday that showed Mace talking to Muhammed Khordad, the head of a Pakistani terror group. An anonymous source within the government met with Adam (after we successfully helped him to lose his tails,) and explained all - Harakat wasn't telling the truth, he's not really called Harakat. He made a deal with 6 for a new identity, and now they've turned their backs on him, so that they can make friends with Khordad of all people! We didn't find this out in time though - Harakat was shot as he left Lords with Danny.

Poor Danny was devastated, after all, he had got on really well with him. I suppose that's the cruel, harsh nature of this job. Sometimes we succeed, but other times we fail and other people have to suffer the consequences. It just shows the political nature of the security services, trading off one life in order to perhaps save a couple of other lives. We are all just pawns in the views of the security service. Harakat was a pawn that they sacrificed in the giant chess game against the terrorists of this world.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-815.html Thu, 15 Apr 2010 09:02:59 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-815.html

Thanks to JHyde for all her help with the entries, very much appreciated.

**********Spoilers for 3.02 ***********

[23rd August 2004]

I've just come back from a few days off. Harry practically had to push me out the door (I am still wondering what he wanted to do so urgently that needed me out from under his feet). So I went to Cornwall and spent some time with Sall from uni. We were both classics tutors while I was doing my Masters. It was so lovely to chat about nothing. I know it wasn't really about nothing., it was all sorts of things that are important to both of us, but they seem insignificant when contrasted with the things I usually talk about at work.

It was hot and sunny while I was there and I took lots of walks down by the beach, where the water still managed to be chilly. The sand massaged my feet and the children played and it was though the world of the Grid was far away....

When I came back, everyone said how rested I looked. I know this is something people always say to those who have been on holiday but it really sounded like they were being genuine. Maybe I was frothing at the mouth before they sent me. I returned to a strange request: the BBC (via Oxford) invited me to take part in a special edition of University Challenge. I wasn't wild at the prospect anyway, and fortunately for me Harry knocked it back almost immediately. Backstage hand though I am, there's a visibility that goes with such an appearance that could cause trouble for me, not to mention that awkward questions would be raised. I don't mean, of course, the questions on the show, but rather questions about what I do for a living these days. When I bumbled my way through the sentence I've just written verbally, Danny made a joke about being disappointed that he wouldn't get to see me stumped for a change. I think we'll have to make a night of it when it airs just so I can prove him wrong! Dear Danny, he's having a rough time of it with Zoe playing oblivious to his feelings. Not that I blame her - what else is she meant to do if she doesn't feel the same way?

I don't think it mattered so much that some of us having been ducking away for long weekends. The Grid is pretty light on the work at the moment. We're mostly worried about illegals and suspicious looking tourists.


[5th October 2004]

Tom has just returned from Maine, where Lisa Joyce lives in a catatonic state after all she suffered. Harry sent him to see her, although what he hoped to achieve by doing so I have no idea. Tom seems different since he came back. More emotionally fragile than ever.

Operation Meter (otherwise known as my recruitment of London taxi drivers) has been expanded into a proper program, with discreet advertisements planted in various publications. I have some misgivings about the size of such a program, but I'm excited to see where this op might go. It can only be a greater success than my turning spy for Five against GCHQ once Tom found about my being a plant.

[8th October 2004]

This last week has been all about Operation Flytrap, in response to evidence that an unknown terrorist group is attempting to make an atomic bomb but having difficulty with a trigger. Because all of the groups we monitor have no access to nuclear material right about now, we're somewhat blind on this one. We plan to draw them out by putting it about that Red Mercury has been made and available for sale.

The first step was easy enough to accomplish, with Harry and Tom blowing a hole in the side of an apartment block. I think they rather enjoyed it actually. The story fed to the press was that two bombers made a mess of things after playing about with our magic potion - although we didn't spell it out quite so clearly.

The second step was Harry awakening a sleeper he recruited twenty years or so ago, a chemical engineer with great promise and of great ambition. Since Fred Roberts was adopted by the Service he has had his path smoothed and doors opened, all unbeknownst to him. But now his Mephistopheles is calling in his Faustian debt and Roberts is to pretend that he is rogue and capable of creating Red Mercury. Roberts wasn't mad about the idea (he strikes me as the vain type who agreed in his twenties for a bit of fun and excitement) but he agreed lest the Service destroy his life as easily as they helped him build it.

We have painted Roberts as a problem gambler, temporarily draining his bank accounts and falsifying records everywhere. Tom tested him early on (making him lie to his wife about their finances, a test which he passed) but perversely seemed to take pleasure in his distress and that of Helen Roberts too. I'm concerned about Tom. He swings between over-concern for assets and completely the opposite the next minute. I don't know where his head is at right now. But what would I say that Harry and others haven't already noticed for themselves?

[10th October 2004]

Five million dollars for five grams. That's what Roberts was offered today by Lawrence Sayle, a grad student at the college. We're now convinced he's not just a grad student but also a Syrian Intelligence asset. We were lucky Roberts remembered the salient details of the meet as he was severely rattled and he's drinking himself into oblivion now that his wife and daughters are holed up in Leeds. It doesn't help that Mr Sayle let on none too subtly that the family is under threat and will be harmed should the chemical engineer not come good on his promise.

Tom told him we were watching the family, but we can't risk the surveillance at this stage of the operation. On the night of the handover we're expecting something different and we'll make sure they're taken care of. But for now.....

[15th October 2004]

Operation Flytrap was a success, the terrorists specifically of concern captured, Roberts' family safe. But at a great cost. Tom Quinn is no longer a member of Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Tom got cold feet regarding the operation. Tired of lying to Roberts about his family being safe, he made a dash for it last night, bare hours before the takeover. He tried to convince Roberts that it was wrong, all wrong - and only a tip off from Danny and an intuitive Harry meant that the operation was salvaged. So close. It was also close for the family. We placed surveillance on them just prior to the takeover as we had planned of old and that paid off as the handover went slightly wrong and shots were fired on the wife and daughters. Scared but not hurt.

Harry decommissioned Tom at the side of the road. That sentence sounds so wrong and final and it is. He is not the Tom who turned me double agent and helped me stay in Section D. He is not the Tom on whom we have all depended for so long. If I am sad about this, I can only imagine how Zoe and Danny must feel. It must be like a part of them has been wrenched apart, never to be put back together.

We watched him, all of us, not saying goodbye as he packed what little of his personal life was on his desk into a small box. He sealed parts of his Service identities into other small boxes and tossed them into the bag the guard waited with. Boxes. It's all we are in this job, just bits and pieces packed up and sealed away. Tom understood that well, better than I do. So far.

I can't believe he won't be there tomorrow. Adam doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but I'm reluctant to think of Tom's job being done by anyone else. At least for tonight.]]>

Thanks to JHyde for all her help with the entries, very much appreciated.

**********Spoilers for 3.02 ***********

[23rd August 2004]

I've just come back from a few days off. Harry practically had to push me out the door (I am still wondering what he wanted to do so urgently that needed me out from under his feet). So I went to Cornwall and spent some time with Sall from uni. We were both classics tutors while I was doing my Masters. It was so lovely to chat about nothing. I know it wasn't really about nothing., it was all sorts of things that are important to both of us, but they seem insignificant when contrasted with the things I usually talk about at work.

It was hot and sunny while I was there and I took lots of walks down by the beach, where the water still managed to be chilly. The sand massaged my feet and the children played and it was though the world of the Grid was far away....

When I came back, everyone said how rested I looked. I know this is something people always say to those who have been on holiday but it really sounded like they were being genuine. Maybe I was frothing at the mouth before they sent me. I returned to a strange request: the BBC (via Oxford) invited me to take part in a special edition of University Challenge. I wasn't wild at the prospect anyway, and fortunately for me Harry knocked it back almost immediately. Backstage hand though I am, there's a visibility that goes with such an appearance that could cause trouble for me, not to mention that awkward questions would be raised. I don't mean, of course, the questions on the show, but rather questions about what I do for a living these days. When I bumbled my way through the sentence I've just written verbally, Danny made a joke about being disappointed that he wouldn't get to see me stumped for a change. I think we'll have to make a night of it when it airs just so I can prove him wrong! Dear Danny, he's having a rough time of it with Zoe playing oblivious to his feelings. Not that I blame her - what else is she meant to do if she doesn't feel the same way?

I don't think it mattered so much that some of us having been ducking away for long weekends. The Grid is pretty light on the work at the moment. We're mostly worried about illegals and suspicious looking tourists.


[5th October 2004]

Tom has just returned from Maine, where Lisa Joyce lives in a catatonic state after all she suffered. Harry sent him to see her, although what he hoped to achieve by doing so I have no idea. Tom seems different since he came back. More emotionally fragile than ever.

Operation Meter (otherwise known as my recruitment of London taxi drivers) has been expanded into a proper program, with discreet advertisements planted in various publications. I have some misgivings about the size of such a program, but I'm excited to see where this op might go. It can only be a greater success than my turning spy for Five against GCHQ once Tom found about my being a plant.

[8th October 2004]

This last week has been all about Operation Flytrap, in response to evidence that an unknown terrorist group is attempting to make an atomic bomb but having difficulty with a trigger. Because all of the groups we monitor have no access to nuclear material right about now, we're somewhat blind on this one. We plan to draw them out by putting it about that Red Mercury has been made and available for sale.

The first step was easy enough to accomplish, with Harry and Tom blowing a hole in the side of an apartment block. I think they rather enjoyed it actually. The story fed to the press was that two bombers made a mess of things after playing about with our magic potion - although we didn't spell it out quite so clearly.

The second step was Harry awakening a sleeper he recruited twenty years or so ago, a chemical engineer with great promise and of great ambition. Since Fred Roberts was adopted by the Service he has had his path smoothed and doors opened, all unbeknownst to him. But now his Mephistopheles is calling in his Faustian debt and Roberts is to pretend that he is rogue and capable of creating Red Mercury. Roberts wasn't mad about the idea (he strikes me as the vain type who agreed in his twenties for a bit of fun and excitement) but he agreed lest the Service destroy his life as easily as they helped him build it.

We have painted Roberts as a problem gambler, temporarily draining his bank accounts and falsifying records everywhere. Tom tested him early on (making him lie to his wife about their finances, a test which he passed) but perversely seemed to take pleasure in his distress and that of Helen Roberts too. I'm concerned about Tom. He swings between over-concern for assets and completely the opposite the next minute. I don't know where his head is at right now. But what would I say that Harry and others haven't already noticed for themselves?

[10th October 2004]

Five million dollars for five grams. That's what Roberts was offered today by Lawrence Sayle, a grad student at the college. We're now convinced he's not just a grad student but also a Syrian Intelligence asset. We were lucky Roberts remembered the salient details of the meet as he was severely rattled and he's drinking himself into oblivion now that his wife and daughters are holed up in Leeds. It doesn't help that Mr Sayle let on none too subtly that the family is under threat and will be harmed should the chemical engineer not come good on his promise.

Tom told him we were watching the family, but we can't risk the surveillance at this stage of the operation. On the night of the handover we're expecting something different and we'll make sure they're taken care of. But for now.....

[15th October 2004]

Operation Flytrap was a success, the terrorists specifically of concern captured, Roberts' family safe. But at a great cost. Tom Quinn is no longer a member of Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Tom got cold feet regarding the operation. Tired of lying to Roberts about his family being safe, he made a dash for it last night, bare hours before the takeover. He tried to convince Roberts that it was wrong, all wrong - and only a tip off from Danny and an intuitive Harry meant that the operation was salvaged. So close. It was also close for the family. We placed surveillance on them just prior to the takeover as we had planned of old and that paid off as the handover went slightly wrong and shots were fired on the wife and daughters. Scared but not hurt.

Harry decommissioned Tom at the side of the road. That sentence sounds so wrong and final and it is. He is not the Tom who turned me double agent and helped me stay in Section D. He is not the Tom on whom we have all depended for so long. If I am sad about this, I can only imagine how Zoe and Danny must feel. It must be like a part of them has been wrenched apart, never to be put back together.

We watched him, all of us, not saying goodbye as he packed what little of his personal life was on his desk into a small box. He sealed parts of his Service identities into other small boxes and tossed them into the bag the guard waited with. Boxes. It's all we are in this job, just bits and pieces packed up and sealed away. Tom understood that well, better than I do. So far.

I can't believe he won't be there tomorrow. Adam doesn't seem to be going anywhere, but I'm reluctant to think of Tom's job being done by anyone else. At least for tonight.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-802.html Thu, 08 Apr 2010 18:31:06 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-802.html
*******************************

[9th July 2004]

The last thing Zoe told me yesterday before Mace hung up my phone was to tell Harry. Of course, I knew this needed to be done, but he was in Surrey and in hospital, so I wanted to give him the extra day to recover. Mace couldn't do anything more yesterday anyway. I went in early this morning and the door was locked with a man of Mace's outside - Harry looked terrible. It was a serious trauma surgery he had to undergo and according to the one doctor I was permitted to speak with, he is recovering remarkably well for his age and health. But I couldn't get in to see him.

So I turned to tradecraft and looked for a pretty, young nurse who might be susceptible to a bit of bribery and a sweet tale of office romance. I convinced her that Harry and I were lovers and that I needed to get a note to him. Two spies in love at the office and fifty quid didn't quite do the trick. So, surprising even myself, I lied further. 'I'm having his child,' I said! It worked and Harry received a note scrawled in Morse code instead of badly scrambled powdered eggs for breakfast. I didn't want a code I could mess up in a hurry and he might misread in his drugged stupor.

Once I got back to London, Danny called me and said to meet at the stomping ground. We managed to grab some time together, on the sly though it was. I went by changing taxis a few times and there we all were - Zoe, Danny, Malcolm, Sam and I. Our problem is that Mace is a man of considerable power and influence and no doubt has Downing St in his pocket. I heard nasty stories about him even back at GCHQ - some four years ago in Kosovo, 3 Serb agents died in detention and it was covered up. He's also a little too keen on torture for my liking.

We were interrupted by a spook disguised as a tramp (someone sent by Harry?) letting us know that Sam was bugged and goons were on the way. Whoever he was, he was our guardian angel and we managed to get away in time. That left Zoe and Danny to see what they could convince Christine Dale to give up. We had barely managed to decide that our best option in this mess was to clear Tom of any wrong-doing when our friendly tramp rolled over and broke us up.

I'm still curious as to who our mystery man was.


[10th July 2004]


My little charade at the hospital worked. Harry had to sign all sorts of forms and get checked out by all sorts of doctors, as he was leaving against medical advice. But then there he was, kicking Mace out of his assumed office and arguing violently for us, for our Service while in pain and half dressed. The whole Section (and most of E as well) stood ranged around the office staring in at Harry's fishbowl of an office while they bellowed at each other. We're lucky to have a lion like Harry brawling on our side.


After Mace was ignominiously kicked out by Harry, Malcolm and I started to tell Harry about our tramp with the blessed timing from yesterday afternoon. Speak of the tramp and he doth appear - it turns out that our tramp is a man from Six called Adam Carter. Harry managed to contact him yesterday afternoon and had him watch the watchers so that we weren't disciplined to being in contact while suspended. Adam's an interesting man who couldn't be more different from Tom. Laidback, with an insouciant charm that really suits him, Adam thinks our best chance of fighting Mace is to prove Tom innocent. Unsurprisingly, this plan of attack is very attractive to most of us and it's an attitude Mace and his cronies would do well to adopt.

Harry looked like he was in a dreadful amount of pain and was a total misery guts all day. Not that any of us blame him. Until this matter is dealt with, he's threatening no sleep for any of us. We all know him well enough to know that's it not a hollow cry.

[20th July 2004]

Late last night Hermann Joyce was dropped off outside Thames House, by Tom we presume. But he wasn't telling us anything, not just because he has a grudge against Five, but also because he was dead. This time for real.

Tom's claim that it was a set-up is looking more and more likely. I spent some time investigating Tom's history with the Joyces and it is horribly sad. The daughter, Lisa, was recruited by Tom to infiltrate an anarchist cell and she was tortured. To the degree that she now exists in a catatonic state in a home in Maine.

Ugly, awful truths today about this job I do.

[21st July 2004]

Tom casually dropped in on Zoe and Danny last night. Apart from smelling and looking terrible in his current disguise as a tramp, he also handed over Hermann Joyce's mobile. Thanks to Malcolm, we had decoded messages between Joyce and his wife Carmen that confirm she was part of it all. So we're getting the wife to London (by texting her, pretending to be Hermann) to try and find the truth that might save Tom and our Section. And possibly the Service too.

Adam and Harry have this begrudging but very real respect for the Joyces. Real, old school spies. But rogue spies aren't anyone's idea of a good thing and these two have managed to destroy quite a few lives in the process of them turning bad.

[22nd July 2004]

We managed to lure Carmen Joyce to London and she arrived today, taking various routes to her eventual destination, the Portman Hotel. Unfortunately, Mace had his band all over the Hotel so the best we could do was to make sure that neither he or us were able to pull her in.

The good news was that once Mrs Joyce left the hotel (for their very own safe house, it turns out!) she stepped into one of the spook taxis I've set up over the last few months. Harry was wretchedly confused when I told him in the heat of the moment and I suppose it is a bit unorthodox but it's so much cheaper than hiring cars. He dismissed it as inititative and we were able to follow her to Peckham, where her hidey-hole was.

We had the flat surrounded by Special Forces but that wasn't going to secure Tom's bill of freedom. So Adam went in and managed to coax Carmen into revealing all the master plan as it ran to digital recording. Adam is very impressive, very direct with his lies and he's not easy to wrongfoot. It wasn't quite as simple as telling Carmen that both Hermann and Tom were dead, but that was the gist of it. So simple, and yet it was a ploy that saved us all, especially Tom. Joyce knew the only way out was to take her own life or else face an American jail for the rest of her life. So suicide it was.

Harry was livid Mace had managed to get hold of her location. We still don't know how he managed that one.

[24th July 2004]

It turns out that it was Christine Dale who tipped Mace of about the location. Tom saw her a few days ago and she must have been wearing a wire after all. Poor Tom.

Harry is interested in how I recruited the 'spook taxis' and wants to see how far we can go with them. There are rumours of a bigger program, whatever that means.

Reading back on the entries of these last few weeks makes me realise how many synonyms for 'goons' I really need in this job. That is surely not something they tell you in basic training.

*****************************************]]>
*******************************

[9th July 2004]

The last thing Zoe told me yesterday before Mace hung up my phone was to tell Harry. Of course, I knew this needed to be done, but he was in Surrey and in hospital, so I wanted to give him the extra day to recover. Mace couldn't do anything more yesterday anyway. I went in early this morning and the door was locked with a man of Mace's outside - Harry looked terrible. It was a serious trauma surgery he had to undergo and according to the one doctor I was permitted to speak with, he is recovering remarkably well for his age and health. But I couldn't get in to see him.

So I turned to tradecraft and looked for a pretty, young nurse who might be susceptible to a bit of bribery and a sweet tale of office romance. I convinced her that Harry and I were lovers and that I needed to get a note to him. Two spies in love at the office and fifty quid didn't quite do the trick. So, surprising even myself, I lied further. 'I'm having his child,' I said! It worked and Harry received a note scrawled in Morse code instead of badly scrambled powdered eggs for breakfast. I didn't want a code I could mess up in a hurry and he might misread in his drugged stupor.

Once I got back to London, Danny called me and said to meet at the stomping ground. We managed to grab some time together, on the sly though it was. I went by changing taxis a few times and there we all were - Zoe, Danny, Malcolm, Sam and I. Our problem is that Mace is a man of considerable power and influence and no doubt has Downing St in his pocket. I heard nasty stories about him even back at GCHQ - some four years ago in Kosovo, 3 Serb agents died in detention and it was covered up. He's also a little too keen on torture for my liking.

We were interrupted by a spook disguised as a tramp (someone sent by Harry?) letting us know that Sam was bugged and goons were on the way. Whoever he was, he was our guardian angel and we managed to get away in time. That left Zoe and Danny to see what they could convince Christine Dale to give up. We had barely managed to decide that our best option in this mess was to clear Tom of any wrong-doing when our friendly tramp rolled over and broke us up.

I'm still curious as to who our mystery man was.


[10th July 2004]


My little charade at the hospital worked. Harry had to sign all sorts of forms and get checked out by all sorts of doctors, as he was leaving against medical advice. But then there he was, kicking Mace out of his assumed office and arguing violently for us, for our Service while in pain and half dressed. The whole Section (and most of E as well) stood ranged around the office staring in at Harry's fishbowl of an office while they bellowed at each other. We're lucky to have a lion like Harry brawling on our side.


After Mace was ignominiously kicked out by Harry, Malcolm and I started to tell Harry about our tramp with the blessed timing from yesterday afternoon. Speak of the tramp and he doth appear - it turns out that our tramp is a man from Six called Adam Carter. Harry managed to contact him yesterday afternoon and had him watch the watchers so that we weren't disciplined to being in contact while suspended. Adam's an interesting man who couldn't be more different from Tom. Laidback, with an insouciant charm that really suits him, Adam thinks our best chance of fighting Mace is to prove Tom innocent. Unsurprisingly, this plan of attack is very attractive to most of us and it's an attitude Mace and his cronies would do well to adopt.

Harry looked like he was in a dreadful amount of pain and was a total misery guts all day. Not that any of us blame him. Until this matter is dealt with, he's threatening no sleep for any of us. We all know him well enough to know that's it not a hollow cry.

[20th July 2004]

Late last night Hermann Joyce was dropped off outside Thames House, by Tom we presume. But he wasn't telling us anything, not just because he has a grudge against Five, but also because he was dead. This time for real.

Tom's claim that it was a set-up is looking more and more likely. I spent some time investigating Tom's history with the Joyces and it is horribly sad. The daughter, Lisa, was recruited by Tom to infiltrate an anarchist cell and she was tortured. To the degree that she now exists in a catatonic state in a home in Maine.

Ugly, awful truths today about this job I do.

[21st July 2004]

Tom casually dropped in on Zoe and Danny last night. Apart from smelling and looking terrible in his current disguise as a tramp, he also handed over Hermann Joyce's mobile. Thanks to Malcolm, we had decoded messages between Joyce and his wife Carmen that confirm she was part of it all. So we're getting the wife to London (by texting her, pretending to be Hermann) to try and find the truth that might save Tom and our Section. And possibly the Service too.

Adam and Harry have this begrudging but very real respect for the Joyces. Real, old school spies. But rogue spies aren't anyone's idea of a good thing and these two have managed to destroy quite a few lives in the process of them turning bad.

[22nd July 2004]

We managed to lure Carmen Joyce to London and she arrived today, taking various routes to her eventual destination, the Portman Hotel. Unfortunately, Mace had his band all over the Hotel so the best we could do was to make sure that neither he or us were able to pull her in.

The good news was that once Mrs Joyce left the hotel (for their very own safe house, it turns out!) she stepped into one of the spook taxis I've set up over the last few months. Harry was wretchedly confused when I told him in the heat of the moment and I suppose it is a bit unorthodox but it's so much cheaper than hiring cars. He dismissed it as inititative and we were able to follow her to Peckham, where her hidey-hole was.

We had the flat surrounded by Special Forces but that wasn't going to secure Tom's bill of freedom. So Adam went in and managed to coax Carmen into revealing all the master plan as it ran to digital recording. Adam is very impressive, very direct with his lies and he's not easy to wrongfoot. It wasn't quite as simple as telling Carmen that both Hermann and Tom were dead, but that was the gist of it. So simple, and yet it was a ploy that saved us all, especially Tom. Joyce knew the only way out was to take her own life or else face an American jail for the rest of her life. So suicide it was.

Harry was livid Mace had managed to get hold of her location. We still don't know how he managed that one.

[24th July 2004]

It turns out that it was Christine Dale who tipped Mace of about the location. Tom saw her a few days ago and she must have been wearing a wire after all. Poor Tom.

Harry is interested in how I recruited the 'spook taxis' and wants to see how far we can go with them. There are rumours of a bigger program, whatever that means.

Reading back on the entries of these last few weeks makes me realise how many synonyms for 'goons' I really need in this job. That is surely not something they tell you in basic training.

*****************************************]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-780.html Sun, 28 Mar 2010 07:27:28 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-780.html [3rd July 2004]

Today was a bit of a strange day. In terms of work, it was a typical quiet day with the usual amount of paperwork to be completed, but there was something different in the atmosphere on the Grid. It felt like there was a dense fog of secrecy and tension that was not normally there. Tom kept having private conversations with Danny and Zoe throughout the day. It didn't feel like they were having a normal conversation though, like they normally did. It looked like Tom was telling Zoe and Danny something that they were uncomfortable hearing about, but I have no idea what.

[5th July 2004]

Tom, Zoe and Danny have been disappearing off the Grid for the last two days, for no obvious reason. I don't get it - Harry hasn't asked them to go, and from the frequent queries by Harry into their absences, I don't think he knows where they are either. It just doesn't make any sense. He pulled Zoe and Danny into his office this afternoon, but neither of them would say what for.

Malcolm got a new gadget, spent most of the morning meeting enthusing about it. It's a miniscule tracking device, borrowed from the CIA. As far as he's concerned, the best thing since sliced bread. It went missing later today, after he showed it to Tom. There's something major going down, but I have no idea what. For all I know it could be a sensitive operation, one which they don't want to involve a former GCHQ mole. Equally, it could be a clandestine operation, one where they are working against MI5. I have no idea what to think.

[6th July 2004]

Tom, Zoe and Danny have all gone missing, and it seems to be connected to this Micky Karharias, an American criminal found dead recently at his home in Miami. Harry and I went outside, off the Grid and he said something that I never expected to here. "I think Tom Quinn's on the blink." I couldn't understand it, how could Tom be on the blink? I still don't really understand. There are some agents, agents like Tom, who are at the top of their game, and you never really expect to see them fall. Then when they do the reality hits you - we spend most of our time at work relying on the Toms and Harrys of the security services, trusting your life and your beliefs to them and believing that they'll never make a wrong decision. Then they fall, and suddenly you realise, they're only human, just like us.

[7th July 2004]

Zoe and Danny are back on the Grid, thankfully. Tom's still missing though. It still doesn't make any sense. Harry asked me to research Paul Conners, the legend on a false passport we found made up for Tom. We found a bank account for him, which recently had $4 billion dollars deposited in it. Money is a weakness of many people, but I don't know that I can accept that Tom betrayed his country and his friends for money. It appears that the money was payment for an assassination. The question is, whose assassination?


I can't believe this, I can't believe everything that's going on, it doesn't make any sense. Tom shot Harry? He could have killed him, he could have killed Harry. I don't see how this can be a misunderstanding any more, why would he have shot Harry if he was innocent??? I don't know Tom any more. Before I would have considered him a friend, or at the very least as just a colleague. Now I no longer recognise him, I don't recognise the man who I would place my trust in on a daily basis. I half hope he did drown. Then I remember the memories of my time on the Grid with him, of how he gave me a second chance, and I just wish he was back, and everything was normal again. I wish he hadn't shot Harry.

The Grid has been invaded by the JIC, lead by Oliver Mace, supposedly to investigate the Tom Quinn affair, but I can smell the stench of politics. I've had to call Zoe and Danny back to London as fast as possible. Section D is under attack, and it's all the fault of Tom Quinn.]]> [3rd July 2004]

Today was a bit of a strange day. In terms of work, it was a typical quiet day with the usual amount of paperwork to be completed, but there was something different in the atmosphere on the Grid. It felt like there was a dense fog of secrecy and tension that was not normally there. Tom kept having private conversations with Danny and Zoe throughout the day. It didn't feel like they were having a normal conversation though, like they normally did. It looked like Tom was telling Zoe and Danny something that they were uncomfortable hearing about, but I have no idea what.

[5th July 2004]

Tom, Zoe and Danny have been disappearing off the Grid for the last two days, for no obvious reason. I don't get it - Harry hasn't asked them to go, and from the frequent queries by Harry into their absences, I don't think he knows where they are either. It just doesn't make any sense. He pulled Zoe and Danny into his office this afternoon, but neither of them would say what for.

Malcolm got a new gadget, spent most of the morning meeting enthusing about it. It's a miniscule tracking device, borrowed from the CIA. As far as he's concerned, the best thing since sliced bread. It went missing later today, after he showed it to Tom. There's something major going down, but I have no idea what. For all I know it could be a sensitive operation, one which they don't want to involve a former GCHQ mole. Equally, it could be a clandestine operation, one where they are working against MI5. I have no idea what to think.

[6th July 2004]

Tom, Zoe and Danny have all gone missing, and it seems to be connected to this Micky Karharias, an American criminal found dead recently at his home in Miami. Harry and I went outside, off the Grid and he said something that I never expected to here. "I think Tom Quinn's on the blink." I couldn't understand it, how could Tom be on the blink? I still don't really understand. There are some agents, agents like Tom, who are at the top of their game, and you never really expect to see them fall. Then when they do the reality hits you - we spend most of our time at work relying on the Toms and Harrys of the security services, trusting your life and your beliefs to them and believing that they'll never make a wrong decision. Then they fall, and suddenly you realise, they're only human, just like us.

[7th July 2004]

Zoe and Danny are back on the Grid, thankfully. Tom's still missing though. It still doesn't make any sense. Harry asked me to research Paul Conners, the legend on a false passport we found made up for Tom. We found a bank account for him, which recently had $4 billion dollars deposited in it. Money is a weakness of many people, but I don't know that I can accept that Tom betrayed his country and his friends for money. It appears that the money was payment for an assassination. The question is, whose assassination?


I can't believe this, I can't believe everything that's going on, it doesn't make any sense. Tom shot Harry? He could have killed him, he could have killed Harry. I don't see how this can be a misunderstanding any more, why would he have shot Harry if he was innocent??? I don't know Tom any more. Before I would have considered him a friend, or at the very least as just a colleague. Now I no longer recognise him, I don't recognise the man who I would place my trust in on a daily basis. I half hope he did drown. Then I remember the memories of my time on the Grid with him, of how he gave me a second chance, and I just wish he was back, and everything was normal again. I wish he hadn't shot Harry.

The Grid has been invaded by the JIC, lead by Oliver Mace, supposedly to investigate the Tom Quinn affair, but I can smell the stench of politics. I've had to call Zoe and Danny back to London as fast as possible. Section D is under attack, and it's all the fault of Tom Quinn.]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-749.html Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:14:50 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-749.html
Hope you can all hang out until then.

Thanks so much for reading and reviewing so far!]]>
Hope you can all hang out until then.

Thanks so much for reading and reviewing so far!]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-748.html Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:49:05 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-748.html
*****Spoilers for 2.09*****

[21st May 2004]

This week we’ve been investigating the Chala Cartel. The Colombian biggest drug traffickers are thought to be bringing air missiles into the country.
Last night Tom was in a Customs and Excise surveillance van awaiting the Chala Cartel shipment in the coastline of Kent. It was a quiet night so far, Tom left the van to report his status and when he came back, he found out his collegues fate, they were all slaughtered.

Early this morning we discussed all the implications in the meeting room. The Spanish liaison officer from the CESID had warned Zoe about the Chala Cartel. Three months ago they set a bomb in Madrid which killed 30 youngsters in a disco.

We have to be very careful, these people do whatever they think it’s necessary to get their goal. If they have fire power in Spain they’ll have it here, as London has the biggest community of Colombians outside Madrid.

We have intelligence that Rafael Morientes, one of the leaders of the Chala Cartel, is in London and moreover, he is dealing with Ross Vaughan, leader of Petcal (one of the main oil industries in the UK), through Rafa’s girlfriend Mariella.

Chala is a lawless region where a great amount of drug dealers, left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, etc. coexist. A nightmare of a place. That must have thought Vaughan in the 1980s, when his company had oil interests in that place. He must have bought protection from the Chala Cartel and now he’s returning Rafa the favour; a classic qui pro quo relationship.


[24th May 2004]

The Chala Cartel are having their meetings in Petcal headquarters, where Danny managed to bug the cleaning room where those take place.

This morning, I listened to these recordings (as well as refreshing my Spanish), I was beginning to think they would say nothing important when I realised they had the intention of swapping a shipment of drugs for Surface to Air missiles. I told Harry as soon as I learnt all the details.
I get too excited the moment I discovered something vital in an operation, that I completely forget to knock before entering Harry's office. Hope he understands my motives.

Later in the meeting room, given that the Chala Cartel and other Carteles carried out attacks in planes during the 1990s, I expressed my concern about bothering people of their kind. No sooner had I finished my first sentence, than Tom began to yell at me, he even said I might as well go back to GCHQ! It was an awkward moment, everybody fell silent. He apologised afterwards. I don’t blame him, I know he’s upset, high-strung he’s going through a hard time in his life. First Ellie, then the EERIE exercise, and now he nearly got killed in an op. He’s being too emotional at the moment (I can understand his feelings though).


In the afternoon, I went to Harry’s office to brief him about the documents Mariella was carrying in her briefcase aimed to Vaughan, thanks to Zoe and Tom being undercover.
Vaughan is using the huge PETCAL apparatus to help bring the drugs in and then make the money vanish. If all this information were filtered... Harry said it had to be smothered... It’s astonishing the things we discover in this job, heads of leading industries making deals with mafia and drug dealers, laundering money... and what we have to do is to turn a blind eye.


[27th May 2004]

The whole Chala Cartel operation ended. Rafa was killed and it was all over. Apparently somebody high up in the goverment was protecting Vaughan. It will appear in the news that all this was a Colombian matter, no British people implicated. So wrong, so unfair. That is how it works, I reckon, I don’t feel comfortable at all, though. I don’t have a clear concious and less when an inocent was killed, Mariella, stabbed by her boyfriend.

In the middle of this operation, Sam was fooled by Tessa Philips, a former MI5 officer with no morality and no qualms. Without knowing what she was doing, actually, Sam filtered some important information about the Chala Cartel, and Tessa used it to tip off Vaughan in order take her personal revenge on Harry and that was Mariela’s end, in Tom’s arms.

In this job you walk over the line most of the times, and sometimes, you cross it, does the aim justify the means? Today is one of those days you question your work... Another sleepless night awaits for me...]]>
*****Spoilers for 2.09*****

[21st May 2004]

This week we’ve been investigating the Chala Cartel. The Colombian biggest drug traffickers are thought to be bringing air missiles into the country.
Last night Tom was in a Customs and Excise surveillance van awaiting the Chala Cartel shipment in the coastline of Kent. It was a quiet night so far, Tom left the van to report his status and when he came back, he found out his collegues fate, they were all slaughtered.

Early this morning we discussed all the implications in the meeting room. The Spanish liaison officer from the CESID had warned Zoe about the Chala Cartel. Three months ago they set a bomb in Madrid which killed 30 youngsters in a disco.

We have to be very careful, these people do whatever they think it’s necessary to get their goal. If they have fire power in Spain they’ll have it here, as London has the biggest community of Colombians outside Madrid.

We have intelligence that Rafael Morientes, one of the leaders of the Chala Cartel, is in London and moreover, he is dealing with Ross Vaughan, leader of Petcal (one of the main oil industries in the UK), through Rafa’s girlfriend Mariella.

Chala is a lawless region where a great amount of drug dealers, left-wing guerrillas, right-wing paramilitaries, etc. coexist. A nightmare of a place. That must have thought Vaughan in the 1980s, when his company had oil interests in that place. He must have bought protection from the Chala Cartel and now he’s returning Rafa the favour; a classic qui pro quo relationship.


[24th May 2004]

The Chala Cartel are having their meetings in Petcal headquarters, where Danny managed to bug the cleaning room where those take place.

This morning, I listened to these recordings (as well as refreshing my Spanish), I was beginning to think they would say nothing important when I realised they had the intention of swapping a shipment of drugs for Surface to Air missiles. I told Harry as soon as I learnt all the details.
I get too excited the moment I discovered something vital in an operation, that I completely forget to knock before entering Harry's office. Hope he understands my motives.

Later in the meeting room, given that the Chala Cartel and other Carteles carried out attacks in planes during the 1990s, I expressed my concern about bothering people of their kind. No sooner had I finished my first sentence, than Tom began to yell at me, he even said I might as well go back to GCHQ! It was an awkward moment, everybody fell silent. He apologised afterwards. I don’t blame him, I know he’s upset, high-strung he’s going through a hard time in his life. First Ellie, then the EERIE exercise, and now he nearly got killed in an op. He’s being too emotional at the moment (I can understand his feelings though).


In the afternoon, I went to Harry’s office to brief him about the documents Mariella was carrying in her briefcase aimed to Vaughan, thanks to Zoe and Tom being undercover.
Vaughan is using the huge PETCAL apparatus to help bring the drugs in and then make the money vanish. If all this information were filtered... Harry said it had to be smothered... It’s astonishing the things we discover in this job, heads of leading industries making deals with mafia and drug dealers, laundering money... and what we have to do is to turn a blind eye.


[27th May 2004]

The whole Chala Cartel operation ended. Rafa was killed and it was all over. Apparently somebody high up in the goverment was protecting Vaughan. It will appear in the news that all this was a Colombian matter, no British people implicated. So wrong, so unfair. That is how it works, I reckon, I don’t feel comfortable at all, though. I don’t have a clear concious and less when an inocent was killed, Mariella, stabbed by her boyfriend.

In the middle of this operation, Sam was fooled by Tessa Philips, a former MI5 officer with no morality and no qualms. Without knowing what she was doing, actually, Sam filtered some important information about the Chala Cartel, and Tessa used it to tip off Vaughan in order take her personal revenge on Harry and that was Mariela’s end, in Tom’s arms.

In this job you walk over the line most of the times, and sometimes, you cross it, does the aim justify the means? Today is one of those days you question your work... Another sleepless night awaits for me...]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-721.html Sat, 27 Feb 2010 07:33:56 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-721.html This entry needs a preface, I'm afraid.

I have omitted discussion of Harry's birthday, even though it is a major point of 2.8's action, as it is completely out with the continuity established in both the personnel files and Harry's Diary and we will want to talk about Harry's birthday elsewhere in this project at a later date.

I have, moreover, tinkered slightly with the dates used in both those publications, either because they didn't fit in with the timelines used on the show, or because they had weekday events happening on weekends. (Yes, I am little tinkering Tom.)

Hope you'll excuse me showing you a little of how the sausage was made this once, but I didn't want to incur the wrath of anyone who wanted Ruth's take on Harry's birthday or who quibbles with continuity.

Big thanks to almh, without whom I couldn't have written this entry. Some months ago when we were planning this project, she typed up Ruth's entry in the personnel files. It has proved invaluable in writing Ruth's Diary. 'Fanks almh!

Enjoy!
***************************

[19th April 2004]

A truly horrible day at work. This morning I was greeted with an email from GCHQ control telling me that my "secondment is under review" and that I "may be returned to GCHQ".

To add insult to injury, the damn thing wasn't even put together properly. Proper nouns, split infinitives and misused apostrophes all over the place.

It's petty, I know. But if they want me back so very much, I would hope that they could at least format a standard reply letter properly.

[20th April 2004]

I confronted Harry today about the GCHQ missive. He protested that "no final decision has been made", but I know Harry when he's stonewalling by now. He forgets that I've seen him lie to his own staff too many times. It's not just his loss if I go - I'm getting through an obscene amount of work as it is; without me I don't know what they would do in Section D. They need a full time analyst in each counter terrorist unit and I gave it to Harry in as many words and in writing too. I'm too good to go back, arrogant though it is to admit it. Even in my diary.

I told Zoe that I might be leaving. She was very kind and tried to convince me that Harry would keep me on. She's really come into her own this last week or so with Tom doing his annual stint with the SAS. She's a slightly louder leader than Tom with his quiet, authoritative manner, but perhaps she needs to be a little. She's young and pretty and filling in. She's been my champion though - in her words, she wants me to use this mission to "show Harry how indispensable [ I ] really [am]". I fully intend to do so.

With the union and industrial strikes, the news from Tom that his army Major might be planning a coup was frightening news. Operation Stick began, in which we needed to make sure a containment of nuclear waste reaches its drop off point in the south of England safely before industrial action begins in earnest.

The Major in question, Sam Curtis, is a hero amongst the rank and file and has a history of trying to get the establishment to listen to his complaints regarding military pay, arms and service equipment. It remains to be seen how much of a threat he really is. I'm not really involved with Tom's reports or the inner workings of this particular mission, but my assessment is that the young soldier who complained about him smell a rather like an MOD mole. I know that my appraisal could be seen as my being a very black pot pointing at the kettle, but perhaps that's why I am able to see it for what it is. However, I'm not really involved and hardly in the mood to pander to Harry right now. It's just a hunch anyway, and regardless of why Nightingale (the informant) is in there, it doesn't change what Curtis may or may not be up to.

There's been some interesting talk about the office of late about what would happen if we, at Five, went on strike, My main memories of strikes and unions revolve around Brixton and the early 80s around the time when Dad died. Zoe joked several times to different people that nobody would really notice if we went on strike (she must have thought it funny because she said to me, to Danny and to Malcolm!) Harry has mumbled a few things about understanding their complaints, but being uncomfortable with the action of striking. Angry though I am with him, I like that Harry is the same when we or anyone else is on the other side of the coin too. Our mistakes too often end up splashed on the front pages, but our successes are usually hidden. He likes to say we don't take curtain calls.

I shouldn't be thinking about what Harry says. Unless he approves my application I don't stand a chance.

[22nd April 2004]

Things rather came to a head yesterday quite spectacularly. Tom missed his scheduled call-in and Danny was sent to the barracks as part of the contingency plan. In the end both of them were kidnapped by Curtis and his merry men, who really were planning industrial action on a grand, violent scale. The hijacked nuclear waste (driven by one of Curtis' old cronies from his Desert Storm days) was parked next to huge barrels of oil, which was potentially catastrophic. In the end, Harry ordered Special Forces to take the kill shot for Curtis, rather to Tom's chagrin. They seemed to have an unpleasant confrontation in Harry's office later.


After the mission was completed and before Tom came back, Harry pulled me aside into his office and gave me some exciting news. He has approved my full time secondment to MI-5. Needless to say I'm thrilled and this early birthday present makes me inclined to find myself a better place here in London. I'm not keen on the flat I'm currently rattling around in, it's a little too suitable for a woman approaching middle age with two cats.

[23rd April 2004]

I have to undergo a barrage of tests as part of my official acceptance onto Five's payroll. I'm off from work the rest of this week to get a crash course in the physical requirements of my job and then to sit for the subsequent tests in early May. It all seems a little odd given I'm a desk officer, but although I'm unlikely to do terribly well on any of them, I relish the challenge.

[9th May 2004]

I did brilliantly on the intellectual side of things for my final tests this last day or two. The practical...not so much. Let's just say that if I took Jeremy Clarkson's celebrity driving challenge I would sit well my myself at the bottom of the board. Surveillance, shooting, physical endurance - I'm not built for any of them, although I do rather think I could learn how to use a firearm properly if I really trained well. I was also assessed on other 'Core Competencies' and did better on those than above average, although I was disappointed with my 1.3 out of 5 possible points for being 'calm under pressure'. This is something I must improve upon, as it really is something I need to master in what I do. A legitimate aim, I think.

Something interesting though. While I was in HR signing off on bits of my file, I was left alone for a few minutes. (Bit silly leaving a spook alone in an HR office, but ah well, my practical skills weren't brilliantly rated, after all.....) I had a quick look through at some of the new additions to my file since my formal application....and found something very interesting.

Harry approved my full time secondment on April 20th. The same day I confronted him about it. I'm angry that he didn't tell me sooner but....it's nice to know I got through on some level. It's nice being needed in Section D and doing something that matters.

I need to be careful though. My working hours are getting longer and longer and I'll have no time to make my new place look more respectable. The cats like the garden, although I wish they'd come inside promptly. I hate chasing after them in the dark and damp.


****************************

Please review! ]]> This entry needs a preface, I'm afraid.

I have omitted discussion of Harry's birthday, even though it is a major point of 2.8's action, as it is completely out with the continuity established in both the personnel files and Harry's Diary and we will want to talk about Harry's birthday elsewhere in this project at a later date.

I have, moreover, tinkered slightly with the dates used in both those publications, either because they didn't fit in with the timelines used on the show, or because they had weekday events happening on weekends. (Yes, I am little tinkering Tom.)

Hope you'll excuse me showing you a little of how the sausage was made this once, but I didn't want to incur the wrath of anyone who wanted Ruth's take on Harry's birthday or who quibbles with continuity.

Big thanks to almh, without whom I couldn't have written this entry. Some months ago when we were planning this project, she typed up Ruth's entry in the personnel files. It has proved invaluable in writing Ruth's Diary. 'Fanks almh!

Enjoy!
***************************

[19th April 2004]

A truly horrible day at work. This morning I was greeted with an email from GCHQ control telling me that my "secondment is under review" and that I "may be returned to GCHQ".

To add insult to injury, the damn thing wasn't even put together properly. Proper nouns, split infinitives and misused apostrophes all over the place.

It's petty, I know. But if they want me back so very much, I would hope that they could at least format a standard reply letter properly.

[20th April 2004]

I confronted Harry today about the GCHQ missive. He protested that "no final decision has been made", but I know Harry when he's stonewalling by now. He forgets that I've seen him lie to his own staff too many times. It's not just his loss if I go - I'm getting through an obscene amount of work as it is; without me I don't know what they would do in Section D. They need a full time analyst in each counter terrorist unit and I gave it to Harry in as many words and in writing too. I'm too good to go back, arrogant though it is to admit it. Even in my diary.

I told Zoe that I might be leaving. She was very kind and tried to convince me that Harry would keep me on. She's really come into her own this last week or so with Tom doing his annual stint with the SAS. She's a slightly louder leader than Tom with his quiet, authoritative manner, but perhaps she needs to be a little. She's young and pretty and filling in. She's been my champion though - in her words, she wants me to use this mission to "show Harry how indispensable [ I ] really [am]". I fully intend to do so.

With the union and industrial strikes, the news from Tom that his army Major might be planning a coup was frightening news. Operation Stick began, in which we needed to make sure a containment of nuclear waste reaches its drop off point in the south of England safely before industrial action begins in earnest.

The Major in question, Sam Curtis, is a hero amongst the rank and file and has a history of trying to get the establishment to listen to his complaints regarding military pay, arms and service equipment. It remains to be seen how much of a threat he really is. I'm not really involved with Tom's reports or the inner workings of this particular mission, but my assessment is that the young soldier who complained about him smell a rather like an MOD mole. I know that my appraisal could be seen as my being a very black pot pointing at the kettle, but perhaps that's why I am able to see it for what it is. However, I'm not really involved and hardly in the mood to pander to Harry right now. It's just a hunch anyway, and regardless of why Nightingale (the informant) is in there, it doesn't change what Curtis may or may not be up to.

There's been some interesting talk about the office of late about what would happen if we, at Five, went on strike, My main memories of strikes and unions revolve around Brixton and the early 80s around the time when Dad died. Zoe joked several times to different people that nobody would really notice if we went on strike (she must have thought it funny because she said to me, to Danny and to Malcolm!) Harry has mumbled a few things about understanding their complaints, but being uncomfortable with the action of striking. Angry though I am with him, I like that Harry is the same when we or anyone else is on the other side of the coin too. Our mistakes too often end up splashed on the front pages, but our successes are usually hidden. He likes to say we don't take curtain calls.

I shouldn't be thinking about what Harry says. Unless he approves my application I don't stand a chance.

[22nd April 2004]

Things rather came to a head yesterday quite spectacularly. Tom missed his scheduled call-in and Danny was sent to the barracks as part of the contingency plan. In the end both of them were kidnapped by Curtis and his merry men, who really were planning industrial action on a grand, violent scale. The hijacked nuclear waste (driven by one of Curtis' old cronies from his Desert Storm days) was parked next to huge barrels of oil, which was potentially catastrophic. In the end, Harry ordered Special Forces to take the kill shot for Curtis, rather to Tom's chagrin. They seemed to have an unpleasant confrontation in Harry's office later.


After the mission was completed and before Tom came back, Harry pulled me aside into his office and gave me some exciting news. He has approved my full time secondment to MI-5. Needless to say I'm thrilled and this early birthday present makes me inclined to find myself a better place here in London. I'm not keen on the flat I'm currently rattling around in, it's a little too suitable for a woman approaching middle age with two cats.

[23rd April 2004]

I have to undergo a barrage of tests as part of my official acceptance onto Five's payroll. I'm off from work the rest of this week to get a crash course in the physical requirements of my job and then to sit for the subsequent tests in early May. It all seems a little odd given I'm a desk officer, but although I'm unlikely to do terribly well on any of them, I relish the challenge.

[9th May 2004]

I did brilliantly on the intellectual side of things for my final tests this last day or two. The practical...not so much. Let's just say that if I took Jeremy Clarkson's celebrity driving challenge I would sit well my myself at the bottom of the board. Surveillance, shooting, physical endurance - I'm not built for any of them, although I do rather think I could learn how to use a firearm properly if I really trained well. I was also assessed on other 'Core Competencies' and did better on those than above average, although I was disappointed with my 1.3 out of 5 possible points for being 'calm under pressure'. This is something I must improve upon, as it really is something I need to master in what I do. A legitimate aim, I think.

Something interesting though. While I was in HR signing off on bits of my file, I was left alone for a few minutes. (Bit silly leaving a spook alone in an HR office, but ah well, my practical skills weren't brilliantly rated, after all.....) I had a quick look through at some of the new additions to my file since my formal application....and found something very interesting.

Harry approved my full time secondment on April 20th. The same day I confronted him about it. I'm angry that he didn't tell me sooner but....it's nice to know I got through on some level. It's nice being needed in Section D and doing something that matters.

I need to be careful though. My working hours are getting longer and longer and I'll have no time to make my new place look more respectable. The cats like the garden, although I wish they'd come inside promptly. I hate chasing after them in the dark and damp.


****************************

Please review! ]]> http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-709.html Sun, 21 Feb 2010 20:25:03 +0000 http://www.spooksforum.co.uk/thread-709.html And warning for minor swearing.

***Spoilers for Series 2****

[9th April 2004]

Another nightmare day. Tom was briefing us about a potential threat, Jerome Durand, who has created an air burst EMP missile that has the potential to destroy parts of London without a single casualty. This technology, code-named Firestorm, seems to be up for sale, to whom we don't know. We do, however, know his backing agent. Frank Hastings, a middle-weight arms dealer. We were tasked with delivering this technology into our own safe hands. Technically stealing it from him. I'm certain it's illegal, but it seems we have no choice.

We now need to find a clean skin, someone from outside the service who we've never used before, to get into Durand's building and steal Firestorm. As if that wasn't hard enough to do, they also have to remember ten number codes. Six gave Harry the codes this morning, so we were waiting for him to arrive into work with them. I doubt we're going to find anyone who can remember such a long sequence of numbers, let alone someone who's a clean skin as well who we can persuade to do such a dangerous operation.

Then, it got even worse. The DGSE (the French secret service,) know that Durand is over here, so have sent over one of their agents. Jean-Luc, infamously a flirt, though this did not bother either Sam or Zoe. To their disappointment, as well as Danny's, he was paired up with Danny. Less than forty minutes later, Harry says he's been burgled and the codes have been stolen. We now have to play catch up, with Zoe and I set the unenviable job of finding a clean skin to get inside the building. There was no one, no one we could find who was not involved with the service who fitted our needs, and Harry was expecting us to work miracles and magic someone out of thin air. It was ridiculous.

[10th April 2004]

This operation is failing, and it could drag us all down with it. Not only did we receive intelligence that Durand was planning to sell the EMP missile to the Chinese (who hardly need any more weapons anyway), but we also heard of Jean-Luc setting a kill-team on Durand, and Harry also deciding that we were going to use the 14 year-old boy (JJ Franks) who broke into his house to steal Firestorm. He is only a child, and MI5 are going to manipulate him to do their will, to make him break into one of the most secure buildings in Britain, steal a computer program and leave him stranded there with no way out. It's morally questionable, and damn near illegal. I can't believe Harry suggested that we used him to get the program, let alone believe that this operation is going ahead. His justification for allowing this to go ahead was "Terrorists aren’t the only ones to manipulate youth. It’s all
part of the game." Just because terrorists do it doesn't mean it's right, in fact it's the opposite. We should not sink down to their level.


[11th April 2004]

It's all over now. The operation failed, JJ Franks escaped the building, as far as we know, but we don't have Firestorm. We don't even know where he is. We've spent two days preparing for this, trying to make this operation work and it didn't. We were up against the odds from the beginning. It's just so irritating that we got so close, we got him in, he got into the room containing Firestorm, but he didn't manage to send it back to us. Didn't manage, or chose not to. A bloody disaster on all accounts.

[13th April 2004.]

They found JJ Franks, or rather JJ Franks found Tom. We now have Firestorm under our protection, with JJ Franks given one and a half thousand pounds as well as not getting prosecuted for burglary. Even though we have now get Firestorm, this entire mission has been a failure. A senior intelligence officer took his work home, and it could have cost us all our jobs. It wasn't his fault, though, I suppose. Sometimes we make mistakes, we're only human. We all just need to be careful, particularly in our line of work.]]> And warning for minor swearing.

***Spoilers for Series 2****

[9th April 2004]

Another nightmare day. Tom was briefing us about a potential threat, Jerome Durand, who has created an air burst EMP missile that has the potential to destroy parts of London without a single casualty. This technology, code-named Firestorm, seems to be up for sale, to whom we don't know. We do, however, know his backing agent. Frank Hastings, a middle-weight arms dealer. We were tasked with delivering this technology into our own safe hands. Technically stealing it from him. I'm certain it's illegal, but it seems we have no choice.

We now need to find a clean skin, someone from outside the service who we've never used before, to get into Durand's building and steal Firestorm. As if that wasn't hard enough to do, they also have to remember ten number codes. Six gave Harry the codes this morning, so we were waiting for him to arrive into work with them. I doubt we're going to find anyone who can remember such a long sequence of numbers, let alone someone who's a clean skin as well who we can persuade to do such a dangerous operation.

Then, it got even worse. The DGSE (the French secret service,) know that Durand is over here, so have sent over one of their agents. Jean-Luc, infamously a flirt, though this did not bother either Sam or Zoe. To their disappointment, as well as Danny's, he was paired up with Danny. Less than forty minutes later, Harry says he's been burgled and the codes have been stolen. We now have to play catch up, with Zoe and I set the unenviable job of finding a clean skin to get inside the building. There was no one, no one we could find who was not involved with the service who fitted our needs, and Harry was expecting us to work miracles and magic someone out of thin air. It was ridiculous.

[10th April 2004]

This operation is failing, and it could drag us all down with it. Not only did we receive intelligence that Durand was planning to sell the EMP missile to the Chinese (who hardly need any more weapons anyway), but we also heard of Jean-Luc setting a kill-team on Durand, and Harry also deciding that we were going to use the 14 year-old boy (JJ Franks) who broke into his house to steal Firestorm. He is only a child, and MI5 are going to manipulate him to do their will, to make him break into one of the most secure buildings in Britain, steal a computer program and leave him stranded there with no way out. It's morally questionable, and damn near illegal. I can't believe Harry suggested that we used him to get the program, let alone believe that this operation is going ahead. His justification for allowing this to go ahead was "Terrorists aren’t the only ones to manipulate youth. It’s all
part of the game." Just because terrorists do it doesn't mean it's right, in fact it's the opposite. We should not sink down to their level.


[11th April 2004]

It's all over now. The operation failed, JJ Franks escaped the building, as far as we know, but we don't have Firestorm. We don't even know where he is. We've spent two days preparing for this, trying to make this operation work and it didn't. We were up against the odds from the beginning. It's just so irritating that we got so close, we got him in, he got into the room containing Firestorm, but he didn't manage to send it back to us. Didn't manage, or chose not to. A bloody disaster on all accounts.

[13th April 2004.]

They found JJ Franks, or rather JJ Franks found Tom. We now have Firestorm under our protection, with JJ Franks given one and a half thousand pounds as well as not getting prosecuted for burglary. Even though we have now get Firestorm, this entire mission has been a failure. A senior intelligence officer took his work home, and it could have cost us all our jobs. It wasn't his fault, though, I suppose. Sometimes we make mistakes, we're only human. We all just need to be careful, particularly in our line of work.]]>