Closed Horizon by Peter Lantos

Author:Peter Lantos [Peter Lantons]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780957330429
Publisher: Arcadia Books Limited
Published: 2012-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

14

Next morning, unfortunately, he was not allowed to take his car to central London and had to use public transport. He left his house early, but Catherine was already in her office.

‘I am sorry I called you yesterday afternoon but I thought you wanted to hear the news from the Research Council.’

‘You did absolutely the right thing.’ Before he could reach his office, she called him back.

‘By the way Professor Blakemore asked for you to see him at ten.’

On his desk he checked the screen: apart from this unscheduled appointment the morning was free until his clinic started at two o’clock. Sharp at ten o’clock, he knocked on the Director’s door. Brushing formalities aside Blakemore had started even before he could sit down.

‘Bad news. Certainly a setback. The Council contacted me yesterday afternoon. Apparently they’ve run out of money. This informal communication may not be the last word from them, but I have my doubts. We have no guarantee that they would support your programme in their June meeting.’

Meddling in his colleagues’ professional life was not normally Blakemore’s personal style, but he followed and discreetly supervised the progress of each of his senior staff. He paused, and then asked:

‘Do you think that Dufresne might have played a role in the Council’s decision? Of course your project isn’t the only one being deferred, and they might genuinely be short of funds but they had assured us that this programme was a priority for them.’

Mark simply nodded his head in agreement, adding:

‘It’s too much of a coincidence.’ He felt that Blakemore had not put all his cards on the table and was holding back some information. Neither was he sure whether Blakemore’s question about Dufresne’s interference was a mere formality to gauge his opinion or an introduction to a new revelation. But he was not left in suspense for long since his boss answered his own question.

‘I don’t know whether he or one of his minions took the trouble to talk to the Council but he did telephone me this morning.’ Blakemore paused for effect, waiting for a response from Mark. This revelation was not a surprise: Mark was certain that Dufresne would try to exert further pressure on him through Blakemore. The only uncertainty was how the Director would react. Blakemore continued:

‘He was polite to the point of finely honed diplomatic smoothness. He took considerable care to avoid the impression that they wanted to interfere with our work in any way – indeed they would be able to provide considerable support. Directly from the Research and Development budget of Home Security. I must admit that he had done his homework and was amazingly well briefed about our research.’

Mark could not help interjecting: ‘Not surprising. By now Home Security must have scanned all our activities. As I am sure you know, they have access not only to our published work but they can also monitor our daily routines if they wish. They got a copy of the BBC documentary before its public screening.

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