Chapter 6

Three weeks earlier

'Freeman.'

There was no jovial tone to be heard in Colonel Freeman's voice, no Shakespearean quote, no slightly risqué comment for the Voice Print Identification system to analyse. Just his name. Bleak and concise. He had no heart for anything resembling good humour or cheerfulness.

There was not much to be cheerful about.

He had smiled despondently at Miss Ealand as he passed through the outer office and she had smiled sadly back at him. Unspoken words passed between them. Nothing was said, nothing needed to be said, but they both knew what the other was thinking.

Alec Freeman would have sat down behind the desk, but he couldn't face the thought of sitting in Straker's chair, even though it was only his studio chair. He had absolutely refused to sit behind Straker's Perspex desk in the SHADO HQ. That would have been too much like stepping into a dead man's shoes.

The office door opened and he walked out, into HQ. His HQ for the immediate future. He hated this, hated being in charge, even though he knew he was coping well with the responsibility. Freeman knew his failings though and was simply grateful that the aliens had not chosen this time to launch one of their random perplexing strategies. It took Straker, with his logical mind and devious thought processes to make sense of the sometimes bewildering tactics employed by the enemy. So far Straker had always managed to outwit the aliens. So far. But what would happen if Straker was not there? When Straker was not here?

SHADO Control was used to seeing Colonel Freeman in charge by now. It had been two weeks since Rachel Philips had left, abruptly, without any warning and no-one knew where she was. She had not reported for duty at the Oslo base and nothing had been heard of her.

That was not the case however with the Commander. Everyone knew where he was; at his apartment, drunk no doubt. He had not returned to HQ since throwing Alec Freeman out of the place several days ago and despite several attempts, no-one had been able to see him. Even Henderson had been refused entry.

The staff got on with their work, and it seemed as if shortly Straker would sort himself out and return like the prodigal son, or else suffer the consequences.

As a matter of standard security Alec Freeman had authorised Straker's computer usage and phone calls monitored. If Ed was that drunk, Alec needed to be sure that he was not going to pose a security risk, highly unlikely though that might be.

But no-one, least of all Alec Freeman or Paul Foster, could ever have imagined what would transpire in the days to come.