The Trusted by Michelle Medhat

Author:Michelle Medhat [Medhat, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781999373740
Publisher: Mindblowing Books Ltd
Published: 2019-04-16T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 52

Richard Ashton took in his assembled colleagues. Dudley Gibbs looked tired. Paul Weaver looked stunned. Sir Justin Maide looked pensive. Quentin Ludlow looked smug. Dr. Sam Noor looked deeply pissed off. Something was clearly up.

“Good afternoon, gentlemen. What do we have today?”

Ashton glanced through the agenda.

“Al Nadir, and it’s not good,” replied Maide with solid force, jumping ahead of Gibbs, who scowled.

Ashton glared, his eyes screaming ‘When is it ever?’

“Our operations in Oslo proved positive,” continued Maide. “Two items of note. The package taken from Rikard by Dr. Noor has been analyzed to be some kind of Ribonucleic Acid (RNA) synaptic inhibitor. Analysis is still on-going. We’ve also discovered unequivocally that Al Nadir have established a new cell in the UK.”

Weaver stared, horrified. “Another one? Oh, good God. Can’t we keep our damn borders protected?”

“These are Brits, Home Secretary. No illegal immigrants here,” said Gibbs.

Ashton scowled at the comment. He hated that the terrorists were British.

“Gibbs, what the hell is happening with your people?” asked Ashton.

Maide shuffled but knew he couldn’t take the lead. This was Five’s jurisdiction.

“Prime Minister, we have confirmed a convergence of activity, meetings, money movements, acquisitions and, of course, the usual chatter. Looks like there’s a storm brewing. With the summit approaching, we need to be proactive.”

Maide leapt in. “Right now, our people are pouring through transcripts of Rikard’s diatribe before he blew.”

“Have you identified the cell’s location?” Ashton directed the question to Gibbs, who shook his head.

“No, Prime Minister, not exactly. However, we know it’s somewhere in Cambridgeshire.”

Ashton turned his head sharply to Maide.

“Didn’t you learn anything more concrete from Rikard?” shouted the PM.

“Sir, with due respect, Al Nadir operative Rikard Allan was loaded with the nano-bomb. We only had a short interrogation window before the nano-bots in his system sent back his biometric data to Al Nadir confirming his captured status. The signal from them to detonate was sent sooner after, and we had to handle Rikard’s demise through a controlled explosion.”

Ashton listened and got more irate. “For fuck’s sake! Aren’t you managing to counter the nano-bomb at all?”

“Of course we are, Prime Minister,” responded Gibbs.

But Maide jumped in to finish off the address. “It’s just that the complexity of the nano-bomb and the constantly evolving nature of the threat has made progress much slower than we anticipated. Dr. Noor, perhaps you would like to explain further on this.”

Sam moved forward with expectancy. Ashton recognized the agent understood his role, and it wasn’t to make up the numbers. He had the inside track on Al Nadir’s nano-bomb. Ashton stared at Sam as he made a wide scan across the faces at the table. He seemed to be centering himself, but Ashton could discern a pulling of tension at the sides of his lips. The tension increased as his gaze fell upon Quentin and Maide. Ashton took in Quentin’s expression. A supercilious mouth up-turned into a condescending sneer. Maide’s stance was professional as always, but he could discern a slither of mocking directed at Sam within his intense brown eyes.

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