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sir.’
    ‘Do you? Do you indeed? Then how is it, I wonder, that half the nation seems to know your name, Commander? How is it that I have received fifty press inquiries on the subject of no one but yourself this morning alone?’
    ‘I’ve been investigating corruption in the Drug Squad, sir.’
    ‘You have been washing the Met’s dirty linen in public, Commander.’
    ‘No, sir. I’ve named no names and I’ve made no specific allegations and won’t do so until I have proof, something which I’m aware I may never get. All I have done is state the self-evident fact that a small minority of police officers have been corrupted by the enormous profits to be made in the drug trade.
    ‘You say you have no proof. How can anything be self-evident without proof?’
    ‘I have no proof that an invisible force anchors me to the ground, sir. Nonetheless I consider the existence of gravity self evident or else I’d float away.’ Leman knew that it was madness to offer up such cheek, but he had never in his life been able to stomach those in authority using their position to be pompous.
    ‘You are blackening the name of the Metropolitan Police. What is more, you are giving your personal opinions on matters of politics to anyone who will listen.’
    ‘I’m responding to the inquiries of my constituency MP on a subject of national urgency. How should I reply other than with the truth?’
    ‘Your opinions are not necessarily the truth, Commander.’
    ‘Do you deny that there is corruption within the Drug Squad, sir?’
    The Chief Constable did not reply. He fixed his gaze as if absorbed by some matter or other in the minutes that lay before him.
    Leman pursued his advantage. ‘Sir! The current situation is insane. The police must speak out on the subject. If we don’t, who will? We’re on the front line. If the government decided tomorrow to declare war on the whole world I’m sure that professional soldiers would feel it within their right to speak up on the utter impracticality of the policy. Well, we are being asked to pursue the whole population, and I consider this to be no less ridiculous. Britain is an outlaw society! A criminal nation! Every country is.’
    ‘You don’t need to employ your sensationalist rhetoric with me, Commander. I have read your internet site.’
    ‘Then surely you must agree, sir, that we in the police are entirely impotent in the face of our sworn duty to uphold the law. We can’t do it! The only police officers who are winning in the drugs war are the bent ones.’
    ‘You have no proof of that!’
    ‘I have the proof of common sense and human nature, sir! All power corrupts. If history teaches us nothing else it teaches us that — ’
    ‘I will not be lectured to in my own office, Commander!’ Tm sorry, sir, but all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Well, there’s no greater power than to live beyond the law. The rule of law is at the heart of a civilized society and yet on every street in the country the law is in disrepute! The illegal economy is awash with trillions of pounds of easy money and it’s madness to suppose that this does not have a cancerous effect on the police. We have to sit and watch evil people who we are powerless to touch grow richer and richer and richer. We have to sit and watch as guns flood the streets and gangs take control of estates. Is it any wonder that some officers are corrupted? In the long run if your side has lost the war a practical man considers joining the victors.’
    There was a silence. The Chief Constable did not like being harangued. On the other hand, he was a reasonable man. ‘I will protect you for as long as I can, Commander, but whatever your private convictions I would advise you to temper your rhetoric in public. Being right does not usually make a man popular and it certainly hasn’t done so in your case. You’re not popular, Leman. Not with the media and not within the police. Both are powerful