The Third Seal by Sean Deville

Author:Sean Deville [Deville, Sean]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-08-10T22:00:00+00:00

18.

London, UK

“I’m not sure which of us has had the weirdest day.” The bar of the private member’s club was unusually quiet, an after effect of the terrorist attack. Hargreaves didn’t mind, he preferred it like this. It had more of a feel of exclusivity when there were more staff than patrons. The residents of London were scared, and when fear owned their hearts, most people ran and hid, locking their doors, hoping the dangers of the world wouldn’t intrude on them. Those who could had left the city, the threat of being consumed in nuclear fire far from an appealing prospect.

The rich always had options not open to those who had to work for a living.

“I think you get the prize on that,” Cooke said. They both shared a corner booth, their conversation unheard by anyone else. Cooke wasn’t a member of the club, but Hargreaves often signed him in. They had been friends for nearly two decades, the kind of friendship that could weather virtually anything.

“You’re probably right.”

“How dangerous is this character who escaped?” Cooke was referring to Damien. Prior to the nuke going off, the serial killer with the split personality was at the top of the Metropolitan Police gossip tree.

“He ploughed through those guards like they weren’t there. I’ve never seen anything like it.” Hargreaves was still amazed he hadn’t been harmed. Well, his neck was still slightly bruised from where he had been grabbed in a choke hold, but that had only been to knock him out. When he’d come to, Hargreaves had been locked in the room with the dead and the dying.

“Sorry about your sergeant.”

“Thanks. I feel partly responsible for that.”

“Well that’s only natural,” reassured Cooke. “He was part of your team, and it always hits us hard when we lose one of our own.”

“No, it’s more than that. Black shouldn’t have been there. He wasn’t the right fit. I made the mistake of giving him time rather than transferring him out and replacing him.” If Hargreaves had been given his way, he would have taken men and women from the rank and file to build his own team. The problem with building a team from veteran detective constables was the bad habits many of them had acquired over the years.

“Still, the end result would have been the same. If not Black, it would have been someone else.” Cooke took a sip of his beer. It was foreign, with a name he couldn’t pronounce.

“I guess you’re right. This is still going to haunt me, mate.”

“I’m here for you,” Cooke promised. “At least you haven’t been handed a poisoned chalice.”

“Do you think the Home Secretary did it?”

“I know he did. Shouldn’t be too hard to prove insanity either.”

“That should please the commissioner.” Hargreaves knew his friend would be getting pressure from on high. Most of the top brass in the Met were political appointees, there to massage the whims of politicians. There had once been a time when competence got you the job, but when that happened nowadays it was more by pure luck than actual strategic planning.

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