The Whitehall Syndicate: A time travel conspiracy thriller (18 page)

Jack tried his prints on the boxes anyway and as he expected, nothing happened. He walked over to one of his bags and got out a shoebox and a bundle of cables connected to a few electrical devices. Kim had heard the story, and knew exactly what was in the box.

Even so, she twitched as he opened it up, the image bringing back memories of when she first opened the red container. Jack began describing the DNA tester Anisha borrowed from work yesterday and straight away Kim suggested it might tell them whose eyeballs they were. With all that Jack had seen in the
last few days, the comment barely phased him.

He had brought the fingers so he could also test the blood in the eyes against those. Kim shuddered as she listened to how clinical he sounded. As he opened the shoebox he remembered the thumb that hadn't matched.

With the help of a tissue in the box, he pulled it out and took it over to the green boxes. While he got more tissue to carry it with, Kim backed away, something in her gut forcing her to keep her distance from the severed body part. Jack was also looking squeamish; though unknown to her he was calmer than the last time he did this.

Pressing the print on the first box nothing happened. He tried again on the second. Nothing. Pressing it on the third box the display flashed yellow for a second, and then there was a grating sound as the locking pins depressed. Kim came closer and waited for Jack. He dropped the thumb, wiped his clammy palms on his beige trousers and took a deep breath. Yanking off the lid, his eyes dilated and his expression filled with awe.

Yet again, Frank and Tony were at the station late. Tony sipped on a frappuccino while Frank held a black coffee, no sugar. It was a surprisingly simple drink for such a complicated man thought Tony, as he took another mouthful of icy cherry. After a few mind-numbingly boring hours of going over these records, neither of the men had found anything.

They were all expert thieves who were all caught only due to some extreme luck by the police department. All of them had also skipped parole and vanished somewhere, but again due to the limitations of surveillance compared to its demand, they had been classified as a low priority.

So far there seemed to be no connection to Green. As details flashed up on his screen, Tony noticed something. Just to check, he called Frank over to show him. On the monitor was a mean looking mug shot staring back at them.

Pointing to the computer screen he said, “This is a list of dated, compiled, phone line reports, and that's the date this guy last phoned the extension for his parole officer.” Flicking a switch he said, “This is the last date this guy did it. And here's this one. And this one.” He went through all five and all were at the same time on the same date: around twenty days ago. “That's got to be a cover for something.”

“Great work, Tony. Right, now let me think. The calls where all on the same day so that means it was a confirmation call.”

“I think I know where you're going with this. You're saying someone, possibly Green, leaked out word of a job-”

“And the phone call was a front. Whoever phoned for their parole officer on that date was confirming they wanted the job. Which means the employer had access to phone calls or a phone tap, or a contact at the parole office.”

“It’s likely Green would have access to that kind of thing,” he added ominously. “Okay so what do we do now?”

“We get the video logs and follow Green around on that date, and for the few days after it, and we might be able to work out what happened. Assuming the logs haven't been removed”

With that Frank immediately got on the phone and started shouting at the surveillance representative to get them the relevant video feeds for the area around Green's house, by tomorrow. Satisfied at having done some good police work, the pair went back to their homes.

As Tony slipped into the thin, soft white covers, his Latino girlfriend was already asleep. Within a few minutes he was too, and he was so tired that not even the turbulent weather woke him during the night.

Pete pulled the curtain back and slipped into the area where Bob lay. Gina was there waiting for him. It was barely half six and they had to be at work soon but the two of them had decided to go see Bob and check he was okay.

Even after the police had barged in that morning, Jack had only divulged the sparsest of details about the shooting and everyone got the sense that he wanted to handle the matter privately. Even so, Pete and Gina wanted to see him. They had all been attacked or threatened by the same people and in a strange way there was some sort of spiritual bond that linked them to him.

Bob's bed was quite large and Gina sat on the end, while Pete took the lone chair. Jack's brother just lay there, quietly breathing. He looked fast asleep; almost comfortable except for the tubes poking into his skin, pumping drugs into his body to keep him alive.

Neither of the pair really knew Bob, so they couldn't say much about him or too him. Instead, Gina was chatting nervously about everything so far, while Pete listened to her patiently. She was afraid for her life and about getting caught by the police, and also feeling low because she had yet to produce anything useful for their plan.

Pete couldn't find the words to console her. He had already served his most useful purpose and he felt like a hypocrite telling her it was all right. Instead he just walked over to her and hugged her, rocking her gently to try and sooth her.

Both friends felt as if Jack had distanced himself from them recently. He was spending most of his time planning with Green senior and when he wasn't doing that, he always had some errand to run. Like yesterday when he had said he was going with Anisha to test out some of the equipment in the dark. Once again he and Gina had been excluded.

As Pete heard Gina's concerns, he personally felt it puerile to complain, although he knew Gina had a valid point. They were risking their lives and their livelihoods, for a mess that Jack had dragged them into. It was their choice to help him and so far he had barely stopped to thank them. The pair sat now, sharing bitter silence.

Another day, and as usual, everyone had left to work. Green senior was also out, meeting one of his old contacts from years ago much the same way as he had with the pharmaceutical worker. He was trying to work out how to avoid being caught on camera when the group went in on Monday.

That left Jack all alone in the house, so he had invited Kim over to brainstorm. As he waited for her he felt like a nervous teenager again, inviting over a girl his parents didn't know about. Only this time it was his friends that were in the dark.

Finally he heard the doorbell ring and was greeted by Kim wearing a white summer dress with pink flowers and a thin smile. She looked around and felt slightly jealous of Anisha. A gorgeous figure, a job she was great at, and now this stunning apartment.

She entered into the living room and saw the stack of papers she had heard about. In her hands were carrier bags filled with the six boxes. Just in case they could do something with them. Jack offered her a seat on the soft blue couch and something to drink. It was early so she just had a coffee. As the two of them sat there discussing how things were going, Jack was plugging in a more sophisticated fingerprint scanner that Anisha had collected from work.

It looked simple enough to work but even though all the wires were connected properly, it wouldn't turn on. As he fiddled and doubled-checked everything, Jack began to get slightly flustered and then Kim giggled, realising he hadn't turned the mains power on.

Sheepishly smiling to cover his embarrassment, he flicked the switch and managed to set up the rest of the machine. It looked like a spruced up photocopier, but smaller and thinner, and with a small black plate separated from the machine but attached by a trailing wire. Kim passed him the boxes and one by one he scanned in the fingerprint pads using the removable plate.

Having tried their own prints and the thumb, already, it didn't seem likely that they would get much else, but according to Anisha the machine could extrapolate fingerprints from smeared partials. So the fingerprints of the person who the box was for may still be on the panel.

The box they opened yesterday had contained a small, translucent cyan, octagonal disc. It looked like some sort of crystal but neither Kim nor Anisha were sure what it was for or how it could be used. They hoped that the other boxes had more clues in them. If Jack could get names off of these prints then maybe that might lead them somewhere.

Anything was better than this, thought Jack. Having to blindly follow orders and break the law just to stay alive. Jack's spirits fell as he remembered Anisha. If she got caught she would face a lifelong prison sentence for breaking surveillance procedures.

Kim asked him what was wrong and he explained that she had been helping them to avoid big brother's cameras. That way, the people watching them wouldn't know about the plan to fake the chancellor's death. They had to think it was real.

As he sat there, Kim could see genuine worry in his eyes. She had noticed how every time she mentioned Anisha his face would brighten up, and she wondered if there was more there than just friendship. Her musings were cut short by a shrill tone from the scanner telling them the prints had been processed. Jack scrolled through the menu and saw three or four sets had been found on every pad. He ran them through the list that Anisha had given him and almost instantly came up with four hits.

Two of them were his and hers of course but the remaining pair were known criminals, released on probation. Jack's stomach sank and
he turning to Kim, he could see the worry in her eyes. He turned off the scanner and looked across at the boxes, deciding, “We should see if we can cut them open”

“I already tried. I used knives and even a hammer and saw. They barely made a scratch. I think the boxes are made of Hawkinian steel.”

“What's that mean?”

“It means they're made of the strongest steel available. The same thing they make space gliders with. It's impossible to cut without a special cutting saw.”

Jack smiled and said, “Then it's a good thing I know someone who works in an auto shop full of cutting tools.”

Frank scratched his head and blinked rapidly a few times. He was sitting in a small room, which was near pitch black, with monitors projecting video all one hundred and eighty degrees ahead of him. His large leather chair was fitted with all manner of buttons and consoles.

After Tony had painstakingly showed him how to use the system, he was looking over the last twelve hours of video on the day of the phone calls, while Tony looked at the next twenty-four. Normally video following an MP required high level clearance but as usual, Frank and Tony had worked the system. And watching a hundred different screens at once was their reward.

It was fairly easy while Green was in one place, and they could speed up the film, but then when he began moving they had to watch the whole hive of monitors and call up random camera feeds until they saw him again.

It was taking a long time, especially since they weren't professionals at this sort of thing. Their lunch hour had long gone but the voyeuristic glow from the myriad of screens had them both transfixed. The audio was switched off for now because if they played it for every monitor simultaneously, the result would be a garbled mess.

Frank asked Tony if he had anything yet and Tony shook his head. He was just fast-forwarding Green asleep. Then suddenly the man got up and Frank yanked on a lever to slow the film down. He mumbled to Tony that he might be onto something. Tony pulled off his videos now, and began helping Frank out.

As they followed Green driving to an abandoned shack in the middle of a park, they switched on the zoom to check inside his car and saw pitch black. Whoever was in there with him, he was connected to Bob Winchester's shooting. Or possibly something even more sinister.

Tony got off of his chair and headed over to the help desk to see if he could find somebody to adjust the brightness of the video. He came back in a few minutes, with the button sequence written on his hand while Frank turned the audio back on for the single camera in the park.

Tony pushed a few buttons and as the screen gradually tinged green, the detectives saw the faces of the five thieves, all being given a dossier. They could hear Green clearly outlining what he wanted each of them to steal. Frank couldn't believe his eyes. He was watching a tape of one of England's most respected MPs organising a major felony.

Jack trudged up to the auto repair shop holding a carrier bag. It was a grubby little place on an otherwise quiet road. Jack breathed in a lungful of oxygen and motor oil as he walked up to the entranced.

There was a small desk next to a dark garage full of complicated machine arms and blades, and Gina was sat reading a magazine on her electronic Multibook. It was a standard device now; a book made of microcircuits embedded into liquid fibre and cotton weaved sheets. It allowed ebooks to be read just like paper books, and was a much better alternative to the eyestrain of computer monitors.

Jack knew he had to tell Gina about Kim and what was going on at the lab. If he wanted to open up these boxes he didn't really have a choice. It was nearly one o'clock and Jack knew that the mechanic's store would soon be closed for an hour.

Gina was twirling her hair and staring forwards like a zombie now; business seemed to be slow today. As Jack walked up to the desk, Gina heard footprints and turned around, surprised to see her friend at work. They traded hellos, then Jack ushered Kim to come over and he introduced her.

Gina's remained expressionless as he quickly whispered his predicament to her. Even so, Jack could tell that she was a little
concerned about the situation. Maybe she didn't trust Kim or maybe he was just imagining it, he wasn't sure.

He looked over at the inside of the garage and saw a few men walk out saying they were off to lunch, and asking her to lock up. The trio watched the men casually walk off and when Jack was sure they had gone he turned back to Gina. “We need your help. We have to use those tools to cut open these boxes.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Gina with shrill confused. “You have no idea how to use the equipment.”

“Then you help me do it.” He shone a sneaky smile, knowing full well that she liked to feel useful. It worked and with a quiet nod she got up and went into the back.

Kim began studying one of the boxes from Jack's bag and looking for the easiest way to break it open. She compared a locked one to the one they had managed to open and she could see three main metal clasps. That meant three things to cut on each of four boxes. She hurried in to join the others, aware that time was slowly slipping away from them.