Ryan, Chris - Zero 22

‘Not in the least,’ said Stark. ‘It seems to me that you have precious little reason to trust politicians. But you can perhaps trust me?’

‘Don’t blame you for trying, buddy, but that’s not going to happen. How quickly can you get me to DC? No Homeland Security, obviously.’

‘In time for you to stop a terror attack that’s going to happen today? That’s going to be a challenge, even for us, but I’ll make some enquiries.’

‘Make them fast. With the time difference, today hasn’t started yet in the US. But if these guys can change their plans once, they can change them again. If we don’t publicise these deepfakes, the attack could happen any minute. We might even be too late as it is.’

Stark inclined his head and left the room. Nobody spoke. Alice sat silently, trying not to stare at any of this strange trio, without success. She was shocked by what she’d heard. Astonished by the dangers they had encountered in and around Amman. Faintly sickened by the idea that, but for her investigations into Poliakov, the General might now be dead. The silence in the room thickened. She found it almost unbearable. She jumped, but was relieved, when Stark entered again.

‘It’s in hand,’ he announced. ‘We’ll get you into DC at the earliest opportunity. But I have one or two conditions. The first is that we keep all knowledge of this operation from Number 10. They’re simply too compromised, too reliant on the approval of the American administration. I can’t guarantee that they wouldn’t put the brakes on the operation the moment they hear of it.’

‘Suits me,’ said the General. ‘What else?’

‘Danny Black and Bethany White will accompany you.’

As he said it, Alice happened to be looking at Bethany. She was standing behind Danny and the General, and Alice was certain she was the only person in the room to notice Bethany’s reaction to this news. It was quite brief. Barely a flicker before she regained her composure. But like all MI6 officers, Alice had been trained to observe, to read and interpret people’s responses. There was no doubt about Bethany’s response: shock, suspicion, the dawning realisation of something sinister that she forced herself to suppress. Then it was gone. She was expressionless again.

‘I see no reason for that,’ the General objected. ‘Once I’m in DC, I know what to do. This is my play, not yours.’

‘Forgive me, General,’ said Stark. ‘I don’t blame you not trusting us. But right now, we have only your word, and a forced confession from Mr Poliakov, about the matter in hand. You’ll allow me a little mistrust too, I hope. It seems to me that you work well with your new friends, and I’d feel much more comfortable if they were with you, just to make sure you do what you say you’re going to do.’

‘This is an American matter.’

‘No, General. You claim your president is planning a right-wing coup. You claim he is prepared to sacrifice innocent civilians in the process. You claim two of the world’s superpowers are intimately entwined in a conspiracy to subvert democracy and the rule of law. This is a matter for us all.’ He smiled. ‘You should be thanking us. I’m assigning one of our top SAS operatives for your protection, not to mention an extremely experienced MI6 officer should you need any intelligence expertise on the ground.’

‘Ex-MI6 officer,’ Bethany White said.

A beat.

‘My understanding,’ Stark said, ‘is that you have very good reasons for remaining on-message.’

The look of poison that Bethany White gave Stark was chilling. But there was no evidence of that poison in her voice when she said: ‘I suppose I do.’

‘And I might remind you, General O’Brien, that there is absolutely no possibility of you re-entering the United States without our help. Your face is well known after all. And if the Homeland Security officials fail to recognise you, their facial recognition systems most certainly will.’

The General didn’t immediately reply. Alice watched him intently as he stared into the middle distance. He was clearly thinking deeply. Eventually he nodded his agreement. ‘How do we do it?’ he said. ‘How do we get into the States without anybody knowing.’

‘May I say,’ Stark said, ‘that I admire what you’re doing. When you release the deepfake footage and expose the conspiracy, you will of course be—’

‘Laughed out of DC. Spare me the Oscar speech, will you?’

‘No Oscar speech, General O’Brien. Far from it. If you fail to locate the footage in time, questions will be asked as to whether you refused to tell us its location because you were too concerned about your own position.’

‘You saying I’m risking civilian lives?’

‘I’m saying questions will be asked. It won’t be a good look.’

‘I don’t care what it looks like. I’m just a soldier, end of the day. We do what needs to be done.’

‘How do we get into the US?’ Danny Black asked.

‘I’m a humble intelligence officer,’ Stark said. ‘Such matters are not my area of expertise. The military personnel in the next room will brief you.’ He raised one hand to indicate that they should go through to that room. ‘Good luck, gentlemen. And lady, of course.’

Danny Black, Bethany White and the General exited wordlessly. Stark watched them go, his eyes half closed, his face unreadable. Alice waited until the door was closed. Then she waited a moment longer. Then she asked a question that was perplexing her. ‘I understand why Danny Black needs to accompany the General,’ she said. ‘They need to make a covert border crossing, and the SAS are trained to do that. But why does Bethany White need to go? Surely her role in all this is over.’

At first she thought Stark hadn’t heard her. He was still staring after the others, as though he could see through the wall. Then he seemed to shake himself out of a reverie. ‘You’re a smart young lady, Alice,’ he said. ‘If they manage to stop this conspiracy, it will be in large part down to your efforts. But I’d advise you not to ask too many questions from here on in. There are some things you’re better off not knowing.’

He stared through the wall again. Alice remembered the fleeting expression on Bethany White’s face when she learned she was to be part of the insertion into DC, and a suspicion formed in her mind.

TWENTY-ONE

The briefing occurred on the move.

Danny, Bethany and the General strode across the tarmac to a waiting Land Rover, accompanied by a thin man with a thin moustache, whose camo gear seemed too big for him, but who was clearly in charge of the ops centre in the adjoining room where they’d met with the spooks. He’d introduced himself by his surname, Forshaw, and he spoke as they walked. ‘We’re in direct contact with Hereford. They’re fully aware of your projected movements.’

‘Great,’ Danny said. ‘Be good if we were too.’

Forshaw let the sarcasm pass. ‘We have a Royal Navy frigate currently heading into NS Norfolk.’

‘What’s that?’ Bethany asked.

‘Naval Station Norfolk,’ the General said. ‘Biggest naval station in the world. Three and a half thousand acres of Norfolk Virginia, home to a hundred and fifty thousand military personnel and their families. Hell of a place. Home for the US Atlantic Fleet.’

‘The frigate is scheduled to dock at Norfolk in about two hours. We’ve sent word to the captain to delay that for several hours. We have a C-17 incoming from Brize Norton as we speak. We’ll give her the chance to refuel and then we’ll get wheels up. She should be able to get you across the Atlantic in about eleven hours. You’ll board the frigate and then it’ll dock.’

‘This gives us hardly any time,’ Danny said. ‘What if the hit’s already happened by the time we get on to US soil.’