12 Minutes (#2 in Military series)

Chapter 37

Chapter 37

One week later . . .

London, just like the entire country, was still reeling from the terrorist attacks that claimed the lives of over two hundred people and left more injured. A memorial service had been held that morning with almost all of London turning out to the streets to honour the victims and show any fanatics that may be watching that they would survive anything they threw at them.
Witnessing that type of solidarity reminded McAndrew of a phrase used during the Blitz; London could take it. And she could. Seeing her strength and the way the communities came together after the attacks warmed her chest with pride, but it also worried her. This was her city and she would defend it.

There may still be more yet unidentified bodies as the missing persons list grew by the day but despite this a clean-up operation was already underway across the capital as the top brass believed that all the immediate threats had been eliminated. Tech analysts had managed to crack through all the puzzles that Langdale and his team found in the field and were able to locate further targets and direct responders immediately. Those that didn't blow themselves up first were found en-route to their targets and eliminated before they could do any further damage, but Samantha was sure that half a dozen arrests were already being conducted abroad as the masterminds behind the attacks were unearthed with greater ferocity and determination.

The head of the snake however was confirmed dead, for real this time. Although Muhammad Abbas's date of death would not be changed on the agency's file as the entire episode in the Middle East was swept under the rug. It was an easy thing to do amongst the current chaos; it was nothing more than a single piece of a jigsaw puzzle that no one was going to put back together anytime soon.

Samantha wasn't sure how to feel about it as she thought about the people that could have been killed, including herself. Would they have been swept her under the carpet as well? Would they have told her parents and friends that she died in a car accident or just say that she was 'serving her country'? As she thought this the elevator door pinged open and she stared down the grey painted corridor towards the Director of MI5's office door. Clutching the file in her hand she stepped out of the elevator and down the corridor, her heels sinking in the soft carpet as she did so.

There was still one thing about this entire case that didn't sit right with Samantha, warranting her to pay Patricia Wallace a visit. If Ridgeway's special task force was scrapped when Evan and Jackson died then why had Ridgeway been in the field with, in her opinion, a brand new squad? She was one hundred percent certain that his project wasn't over and, in fact, was just getting started. Maybe Reynolds and the others were the tester group.
There weren't a lot of people who had the security level clearance needed for Samantha to talk to them about it so she decided to go straight to the one person she knew would have the right clearance and the answers she wanted – Patricia Wallace.

The end of the corridor opened into a wide waiting area in front of Patricia's glass office which was set in the north-east corner of the building. Samantha stopped in front of the director's PA, holding the folder behind her back.

"Is she free?" Samantha asked the brunette PA. A few grey fabric chairs were placed along the far wall with a small black table resting between each piece of furniture. When Samantha looked there now she saw a man in a military uniform sitting with a black leather briefcase resting on his lap and he appeared to have been waiting a while the way he looked at her apprehensively. He was worried he would have to wait longer than he already had.

He appeared important with the decorations on his front jacket and his stiff jaw but he obviously wasn't important enough yet or else he wouldn't be sat outside waiting as if he was in a dentist's waiting room and not the intelligence agency.