Unity: Peace for All, Freedom for None by Mike Bodnar

Author:Mike Bodnar
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub
Published: 2023-04-05T22:00:00+00:00

37

Battersea Park, London

Symes sat on a park bench, The Guardian newspaper in front of him. It was open at the finance section, but he wasn’t reading it, merely waiting.

Hopeful pigeons hopped near the bench on the off chance of a morsel, except Symes didn’t have any sandwiches with him even though it was nearly lunchtime. The birds quickly lost interest and flew off.

A slightly portly man in his 40s came into view along the path. Well-dressed in a three-piece pin-stripe suit, bowler hat and jauntily swinging a tightly-furled umbrella as he walked, Barnaby Carrington-Hall seemed to make a last-minute decision to stop and rest for a while. He pulled out a pocket watch from his waistcoat, glanced at it, and then aimed for the vacant space on the bench beside Symes.

Carrington-Hall unfolded the newspaper he’d also brought, The Times, and held it out in front of him, just as Symes was doing.

‘You know how obvious we look, don’t you?’ grumped Carrington-Hall. ‘This is what they do in those dreadful spy programmes on the television.’

Symes chuckled. ‘Terribly nice to see you too Barney.’

Carrington-Hall swiftly turned a page. ‘This had better be worthwhile Symes. I have things to do, meetings to convene, reports to write, people to influence, agendas to keep.’

‘Sounds like you need a holiday old bean. Maybe somewhere by the sea, some charming coastal village perhaps, with little cobbled streets and pastel-coloured buildings. A beach, fresh sea air. Do you the world of good.’

There was silence for a moment from behind The Times, although Symes noted his fists tightened slightly on the pages he held. Carrington-Hall flicked his paper out to straighten a crease and turned another page.

‘So you know I’m rostered to go to the retirement village. No surprises there. What do you want?’

‘I – we – need your help. What do you know about the facility?’

Carrington-Hall sighed audibly. ‘Symes, it’s all hush-hush as you know. I’m not sure I’m at liberty to discuss it with you, despite your position in the organisation.’

Symes chuckled. ‘All right, I’ll do the talking. And then you can decide whether you think it’s safe to discuss it with me. Are you sitting comfortably?’

And so Symes précised the recent developments from the moment their top operative had resigned, through his being taken to the village, the various attempts at interrogation to find out why he’d quit, and the oversight of the whole operation by Olivia Wilson. He explained about his, Walker’s and Riley’s observation roles, and how they were increasingly concerned about how the village residents – and the recent arrival – were being manipulated and used for experimental purposes. He revealed what they knew so far about Unity. He left nothing out, and even included Judith Tench’s involvement.

At last Carrington-Hall’s interest was piqued. ‘Tench? MI5? I know her. Top drawer. All right, let’s talk. But I have to say a lot of what you’ve told me so far I already know, and the rest sounds like conjecture.’

‘Which is why we need you to get us what we want: hard evidence.

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