confirmed Daniel from the side. ‘We’ve checked the whole spectrum, other agencies, everything. Absolutely nothing on the joint watch net. Intel are running a box at the moment, tracking everything at home and office. Maybe they’ll come up with something.’
Somebody snorted.
‘We don’t know if they’re foreign or home-grown,’ I added. ‘But from what I saw and heard in Aidan’s office, my money’s on home-grown.’ I caught some angry looks at that. If the bad guys were so competent, they could only have come from within the intelligence or law enforcement communities.
‘Gods, this is a blind one,’ said Atria.
‘Totally.’ Just that word unsettled my audience. None of us was used to this. We practised scenarios concentrating on the fundamentals, banking the experience so that when the tactical situation fell apart, as it did on occasion, and you didn’t have time to think about what to do, the training clicked in automatically. We trained hard to make drills mirror operations to the extent that live operations ran like drills, but with added intensity, sometimes regrettably with blood. We knew how each other thought, so could adapt fluently when the situation was different from the intel to hand before the start of an operation. Here, the problem was that we had nothing to hand apart from the plan of Hirenses Associates’ offices.
‘Right,’ I said, ‘let’s pull this together. Firstly, no breath of this operation to anybody outside this room. We act as if we are running a training session. Although we have a go from the legate, this operation does not exist.’ No reaction.
‘Next, I’ve drawn up a plan with allotted tasks.’ I messaged their el-pads. The puzzlement in their eyes changed to concentration as they read and absorbed their instructions.
‘So, Phase I must be completed by tomorrow afternoon; reports by 16.00, please. Those not already in the field meet outside the back practice room tomorrow at 17.00 when we will appear to go for a run in the woods with suitably filled backpacks. If there are no other questions, we’ll break until tomorrow.’ I turned to Novius. ‘Nov, I’d like you to stay, please.’
They pulled themselves out of their seats and left. I smiled my thanks at Daniel, and he went off to find out if Intel had uncovered anything.
‘Right, Nov, how do you see this working? Tell me what you need.’
‘Well, you know this instant cut-off you want, we can—’
A knock at the door. I grabbed the pyramid and shoved it in my pocket.
‘...so that’s how I see the new equipment for the team,’ he concluded in a slightly tense voice as the quaestor strode in.
‘Sorry to interrupt, Captain, you seem to have an outage. I’ve been trying to contact you for the past thirty minutes.’ He didn’t look at all sorry and glared when I didn’t react. ‘I need to test your comms unit,’ he growled. ‘Now.’
‘Quaestor, we are in the middle of a meeting here.’
‘The quicker I test it then the quicker you can resume your meeting.’
‘Of course, I would be delighted to cooperate and support your efficient approach,’ I said. ‘Will my equipment requisition be treated with equal dispatch?’
‘Humph!’
He scanned my ear and mouth units. He grunted and left with the same grace as when he’d arrived, not quite closing the door. I just hoped he didn’t need to scan anybody else who’d been at our meeting and see the same outage: using a pyramid within the Praetorian building was forbidden. I pushed the door closed and jammed a folded wedge of flipchart paper under the lower edge.
‘Right, Nov, let’s have a look at your ideas,’ I resumed, pyramid back on the table.
VIII
Everything was in place. I hoped Aidan could hold out. I thought about calling by as Amaelia the jogger, but she wasn’t due for another couple of days (and with the infamous Decima). I could go back to the old stand-bys: pizza delivery, neighbour seeking help, courier
Somebody snorted.
‘We don’t know if they’re foreign or home-grown,’ I added. ‘But from what I saw and heard in Aidan’s office, my money’s on home-grown.’ I caught some angry looks at that. If the bad guys were so competent, they could only have come from within the intelligence or law enforcement communities.
‘Gods, this is a blind one,’ said Atria.
‘Totally.’ Just that word unsettled my audience. None of us was used to this. We practised scenarios concentrating on the fundamentals, banking the experience so that when the tactical situation fell apart, as it did on occasion, and you didn’t have time to think about what to do, the training clicked in automatically. We trained hard to make drills mirror operations to the extent that live operations ran like drills, but with added intensity, sometimes regrettably with blood. We knew how each other thought, so could adapt fluently when the situation was different from the intel to hand before the start of an operation. Here, the problem was that we had nothing to hand apart from the plan of Hirenses Associates’ offices.
‘Right,’ I said, ‘let’s pull this together. Firstly, no breath of this operation to anybody outside this room. We act as if we are running a training session. Although we have a go from the legate, this operation does not exist.’ No reaction.
‘Next, I’ve drawn up a plan with allotted tasks.’ I messaged their el-pads. The puzzlement in their eyes changed to concentration as they read and absorbed their instructions.
‘So, Phase I must be completed by tomorrow afternoon; reports by 16.00, please. Those not already in the field meet outside the back practice room tomorrow at 17.00 when we will appear to go for a run in the woods with suitably filled backpacks. If there are no other questions, we’ll break until tomorrow.’ I turned to Novius. ‘Nov, I’d like you to stay, please.’
They pulled themselves out of their seats and left. I smiled my thanks at Daniel, and he went off to find out if Intel had uncovered anything.
‘Right, Nov, how do you see this working? Tell me what you need.’
‘Well, you know this instant cut-off you want, we can—’
A knock at the door. I grabbed the pyramid and shoved it in my pocket.
‘...so that’s how I see the new equipment for the team,’ he concluded in a slightly tense voice as the quaestor strode in.
‘Sorry to interrupt, Captain, you seem to have an outage. I’ve been trying to contact you for the past thirty minutes.’ He didn’t look at all sorry and glared when I didn’t react. ‘I need to test your comms unit,’ he growled. ‘Now.’
‘Quaestor, we are in the middle of a meeting here.’
‘The quicker I test it then the quicker you can resume your meeting.’
‘Of course, I would be delighted to cooperate and support your efficient approach,’ I said. ‘Will my equipment requisition be treated with equal dispatch?’
‘Humph!’
He scanned my ear and mouth units. He grunted and left with the same grace as when he’d arrived, not quite closing the door. I just hoped he didn’t need to scan anybody else who’d been at our meeting and see the same outage: using a pyramid within the Praetorian building was forbidden. I pushed the door closed and jammed a folded wedge of flipchart paper under the lower edge.
‘Right, Nov, let’s have a look at your ideas,’ I resumed, pyramid back on the table.
VIII
Everything was in place. I hoped Aidan could hold out. I thought about calling by as Amaelia the jogger, but she wasn’t due for another couple of days (and with the infamous Decima). I could go back to the old stand-bys: pizza delivery, neighbour seeking help, courier
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