Writing It

Jake watched as two other people entered the room. 

 A blonde man, early thirties, well-tailored, carrying a slim computer. A woman, similar age, bright coloured outfit and Jake guessed she was of a Caribbean origin.

 “Hello, my name is Richard, Richard Brookfield and this is my associate Harriett Delancey. We both work for the The National Counter Terrorism Security Office.”

Jake recognised the route from Hoxton down towards the Embankment and then along to Vauxhall Bridge, where they turned left. He assumed they were heading for the SI6 building on the south side of the Thames and, sure enough, they took another left and then down a slope into an underground area.

 Jake noticed that the route had been continuously moving which implied he had received some priority treatment based on being part of a cavalcade of police cars. He thought this was a new record to cross this area of London.

There was a sudden noise as the office security phone bleeped. Jake flickered back from his reverie. A visitor to the office? He looked at the entry phone picture.

 A dark-haired smart-looking woman dressed for business looked into the camera. Jake thought she had piercing eyes.

In London, Jake continued to review the various web sites and contact names they had given him. The work related to what he assumed was Project Esther was available. The technology had moved along and that the Esther project had been parked.

 He had also tried further searches for Tony Capaldi and found him listed for both his work at the University but also some other work related to radiofrequency spectrum.

They arrived at the Los Alamos site and followed the plan with Chuck changing into the uniform and then using the access pass to gain entry to the building. It worked well, and it surprised both Bigsy and Clare that there had been so little effort required to gain access.

  Chuck looked the part wearing the uniform and knew the best things to say at the entrance. He'd arrived by taxi and used the pretence of meeting a particular person to get through to the cafe area within the building. Because he had an access pass, there was no problem for him to do this and he was not treated as someone that needed to be escorted around the site.

It was 7 pm, and they were all sitting together in one of the small booths in the hotel. This time the booth looked middle eastern.

"It's more like something out of Scheherazade or Aladdin than something that I'd expect to see in the middle east nowadays," said Chuck. 

Jake saw whether he could piece together anything from what he had been told. He started by checking out the names they had given him. He found the same contact in Columbus University. Also, some papers by him related to electronic surveillance systems. 

  He tried typing in 'Esther', but found nothing related to the project. Then he tried the leading Los Cabos site and soon found quite a range of topics related to shooting things at one another.

Chucking it down

Clare rang Jake again. This time it was from Chuck’s room and on the hotel phone system

“Hey Jake” said Clare

“Hey - I’ve been wondering, you know” replied Jake, “so what has been happening”

“Plenty - Bigsy ran into Chuck. 

The next morning Bigsy could hardly contain himself. They had breakfast and then waited until after 9 o’clock when they will be sure that there would be people present in the administration block in the University in Columbus, Ohio.

 They decided that it would be best if Clare made the call which she did with a straightforward message. It was to explain that Tony Capaldi was to receive an important legal document that had to be signed for personally. It would be delivered later that day, and could we be sure that Mr Capaldi would be available to receive it. 

Chuck slowly drove them back towards the main road. It took about 30 minutes to get onto a normal road surface and then another 20 minutes before they were back on the highway. 

 “What’s just happened back there” said Bigsy, “One minute I was watching the flames around the fire and the next minute it was dawn.”