"Guv" came a voice from outside the hangar.
Macca was checking over the leg stability systems of the Fairfax, looking from where he was (kneeling by one of the leg joints) he could spy a group of people, mostly packed with people from his group with the rest from the Japanese techs. All though were scratching their heads.
"What is it?" Macca asked as he got up and walked outside into the frosty (if very cloudy) sunlight, the scene that greeted him brought him joy mixed with pure dismay.
The Gas Turbines had arrived. The problem was however that they had arrived in a large, blue shipping container and (more to the point) was dumped right in the middle of the wasteland separating the main buildings and the perimeter fence.
"Why in the bloody hell is this thing doing here? Macca shouted, blinking again and again at the crate as it sat there in the frozen mud.
"They delivered it during the night guv" replied one of the Engineers.
"Then why didn't you tell them to dump it in the Hangar like I told you to!"
"We thought that they were coming at two am, they didn't deliver it until six" continued the engineer, a sheepish look on his face "we kind of went to bed at four"
Macca rubbed his head frantically "I did not bloody well fly 3000 odd miles just to have a nervous breakdown" he shouted.
"Interesting taste" Sir Andrew mused on as he chewed on some pocky "do they have this in strawberry at all?"
The Embassy had calmed down since the events of the previous couple of days. The worry wasn't so trying to eliminate a possible threat to the Labour Expo rather to seek out two known IRA bomb makers.
"What we really needed to know is the situation between us and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police agreed between you and the Government?" Gallagher asked as they sat at the table of the main conference room.
"I take it your people at the Foreign Office did speak to our people yes?" Goto played with a packet of cigs "bad sign of mismanagement if nothing has happened"
"We agreed a framework, on which DCI Gallagher would do the investigation work while the Tokyo Police would make the arrests" Sir Andrew clarified after shuffling through a file.
"Which means me?"
"Your are Mr. Goto of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police are you not?"
There was a short silence, Sir Andrew looked through a file or two before looking back up, thinking that by some form of magic the pair had vanished "I'm due back in London in 48 Hours gentlemen, is there anything else I can do for you?"
"We need a person to help negotiate a couple of things with the City Council" Gallagher said uneasily.
"We would do it through my channels, but this looks too dirty"
"Way too dirty"
"Dirty?" Sir Andrew stared "so why did you automatically associate 'dirty' with myself?"
"We didn't, we felt you had the bigger clout here out of us three so."
"You could bypass myself and contact the City Officials through a private channel," Goto said, looking out of the window. Rain.
"But what do you want me to do? Invite them over for tea and cucumber sandwiches?" Sir Andrew was getting tired of this "why do you want me to contact the City Authorities?"
Gallagher pulled out a tatty map of Tokyo. It was covered in red and black marker dots and circles.
"Here" he pointed at a section of map "there is an intersection here, the traffic lights here need to be changed to red at a certain time to be determined"
"That's it?" Sir Andrew looked at Gallagher with a raised eyebrow "you want me to call out a van load of city engineers to change the traffic lights for five minutes"
"That's all I ask"
"There'd probably have to be a bit of investment in this idea, perhaps more consideration in the way UK and Japanese companies co-operate in Tokyo" Goto was still looking at the window.
"Could probably be a million or so riding on this, effects of this might change boost relations, perhaps economic fortunes" Gallagher smiled "all I need is you to get those lights turned red tomorrow, at least get me talking to them"
Sir Andrew thought for a moment, he knew they had blackmailed him into a corner. He knew of the contracts that British companies had in Tokyo and vice versa, the mutual investment in subsidising exports in cars and electronics between the two nations.
Sir Andrew rubbed his brow and sat back in the chair with a sigh "bloody rain" he muttered before sitting back up "right okay I'll get it done" he said, signing off a document "but you owe me one"
"Sure" nodded Gallagher, a grin on his face.
"See him squirm eh?" Gallagher chuckled as he drank from a bottle of water "I love making politicians squirm"
"So I saw" Goto rubbed his head as they walked out of the building "tell me are all British public servants this.well resistant to outside ideas"
"You ever watched 'Yes Minister'?"
"I have never heard of it"
"You should, it's an education"
The pair reached the car after a scramble and got inside, the rain was coming down quite hard.
"Heavy shower isn't it?" Gallagher remarked as Goto pulled the car out of the Embassy car park.
"Yeah"
"Looks like more on the horizon" he pointed "see, it's a cold front"
Goto smiled " I'm in awe"
"In awe?" Gallagher blinked "in awe of what?"
"Of any man's ability to make conversation out of the weather!"
"Oh cheers, a real bloody strong social trait that isn't it?"
"What's in the case he handed to you?"
"Oh this?" he opened it "this is the intelligence I needed on Aoi if I'm going to be able to predict his route tomorrow"
"You're going to have to be quick, the City is going to want to get the car out of the way and get traffic flowing very quickly after you get him"
"And I'll need one of your coppers to make the arrest for me" Gallagher stopped for a moment "hey you ever thought"
"About what?"
"Well think about it, we speak two different languages, we've both had two vastly different lives in different cultures and yet suddenly we're working together"
"True but isn't this meant to be a world of globalisation, joined up thinking in a joined up world?"
"Globalisation doesn't always bring joined up thinking, it sometimes bring social strife, political deadlock, possibly even violence on a regional, perhaps national scale"
"What's your point?"
"What we're doing, is the world exactly ready for police officers from one country making arrests in another?" Gallagher rubbed his head "ignoring extradition agreements, etc"
"Is the world ready for 'joined up thinking?'"
"It's a new experiment, we can't just be single nation states anymore, its not just because of multinational corporations gaining more power, its because everyone wants to join the party be it the war on drugs, the war on illegal immigration, the war on this, the war on that."
Goto paused for a moment then smiled "what if we threw a war and everybody came?"
"Yeah, what if?"
The rain, while forming part of the conversation for Gallagher and Goto, was forming part of the despair of Macca. The Engineer had begged an already sick Trenchard to get into the Fairfax to help.
"I can't even get out of my bloody futon without hitting the bucket" he groaned.
"You've got a case of the Delhi Belly( mate!" laughed Williams.
"Yeah or bloody bunk-a-litis2" seethed Macca as he walked out.
Attempts to pull out the container from the mire had been abandoned hours ago as the engineering teams decided that ping pong would be a better choice of game rather than the rugby or football on offer by the Brits.
"Hopeless eh?" it was Sakaki, having returned from a meeting to see the chaos on the field, he offered a cup of green tea "you drink tea?"
"Typhoo yea" Macca nodded "never tried that though, thought it was a girls drink," he said slowly, having had problems speaking to Sakaki when they first met.
Sakaki gave the cup to Macca and watched the container "we will have to wait for the rain to end, then we will give it another go"
"What about the ground sir?" Macca took a sip "its too wet, we won't be able to tow it or lift it out of there as it is"
"I've got the solution" Sakaki grinned as he adjusted his glasses.
"Hello?" Sir Andrew sat in his seat as the Embassy car rushed him to Narita "ah! Minister how is London?"
A pause. Sir Andrew peered outside at the rain.
"Yes, Minister things in Japan are well in hand, rest assured my colleagues are giving it their full attention, the pair should be back in London in a few days if all goes well"
The car sped up as it hit a motorway, passing a limousine bus as it went.
"I understand that they want something in return for co-operation, perhaps a well placed call to the DTI would be in order?"
He cringed slightly.
"Come now Minister, under the foreign development act 1985 and the DTI guidelines to entrepreneurship and investment, sustainable development inside the UK depends on all ministries co-operating on giving British Business the biggest help in expanding overseas!"
Sir Andrew's smile turned to a grin.
"We don't need to spend money, I say we simply issue a non interest loan to cover expenses, it won't cost as much as you think Minister, if it means that British companies will be building the next round of Tokyo Skyscrapers Minister I would call it a bargain!"
The leather felt oh so much more comfortable now.
"Very good Minister, I will arrange the details on the flight back, I take it British Airways have on board telephones these days?"
The rain had stopped finally; the evening shift was always the quietest strangely. Good time to extricate a container from the mud.
"What do you think is in there?" Asuma, bored, looked out of the window at the group of engineers and a truck easing the container out of the field.
"The last time I heard it was the new Engines for their Labour" Noa shrugged.
There was a cheer as the container finally was lifted out and onto the back of the truck, which promptly got stuck in the mud itself from the combined weight of the truck and the container.
"They don't seem to be doing well?"
"Not really"
Elsewhere in the place, Goto sipped some tea while Gallagher warmed his hands by the kettle. Also in the room was an Engineer from the City council.
"Never knew I'd have to do this someday" the old man scratched his head "who is he again?"
"He's a British Policeman" Goto said.
"And why does he want the traffic lights turned red"
"He wants to arrest someone"
"Here?! I never knew they had the power to do that here?"
"They don't, he's just going to find our man so we can arrest him"
"Oh! Oh now I see" the man chuckled "well in that case, when do you want me to do it?"
Goto looked at Gallagher "when do you want them to turn the lights?"
"Oh sorry I thought you'd forgotten bloody English there for a moment" smiled Gallagher sarcastically.
"So that's what you call it!" Goto grinned.
"Very funny. I can't really tell him when to turn them, I just need him on standby" Gallagher rubbed his hands "all I know is that he goes through that intersection on the way home from work"
Goto turned back to the old man "sorry he doesn't know, he wants you to stay there the whole day"
"What do you mean the whole day?" the old man reacted quite angrily to the suggestion that he'd have to stand around all day "I've got a cat to look after you know!"
"I understand, I understand!" Goto hushed "but we really do need this, we really would appreciate this help, we really would"
The old man looked at the scruffy, grizzled look of the pair and smiled "okay"
Macca was checking over the leg stability systems of the Fairfax, looking from where he was (kneeling by one of the leg joints) he could spy a group of people, mostly packed with people from his group with the rest from the Japanese techs. All though were scratching their heads.
"What is it?" Macca asked as he got up and walked outside into the frosty (if very cloudy) sunlight, the scene that greeted him brought him joy mixed with pure dismay.
The Gas Turbines had arrived. The problem was however that they had arrived in a large, blue shipping container and (more to the point) was dumped right in the middle of the wasteland separating the main buildings and the perimeter fence.
"Why in the bloody hell is this thing doing here? Macca shouted, blinking again and again at the crate as it sat there in the frozen mud.
"They delivered it during the night guv" replied one of the Engineers.
"Then why didn't you tell them to dump it in the Hangar like I told you to!"
"We thought that they were coming at two am, they didn't deliver it until six" continued the engineer, a sheepish look on his face "we kind of went to bed at four"
Macca rubbed his head frantically "I did not bloody well fly 3000 odd miles just to have a nervous breakdown" he shouted.
"Interesting taste" Sir Andrew mused on as he chewed on some pocky "do they have this in strawberry at all?"
The Embassy had calmed down since the events of the previous couple of days. The worry wasn't so trying to eliminate a possible threat to the Labour Expo rather to seek out two known IRA bomb makers.
"What we really needed to know is the situation between us and the Tokyo Metropolitan Police agreed between you and the Government?" Gallagher asked as they sat at the table of the main conference room.
"I take it your people at the Foreign Office did speak to our people yes?" Goto played with a packet of cigs "bad sign of mismanagement if nothing has happened"
"We agreed a framework, on which DCI Gallagher would do the investigation work while the Tokyo Police would make the arrests" Sir Andrew clarified after shuffling through a file.
"Which means me?"
"Your are Mr. Goto of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police are you not?"
There was a short silence, Sir Andrew looked through a file or two before looking back up, thinking that by some form of magic the pair had vanished "I'm due back in London in 48 Hours gentlemen, is there anything else I can do for you?"
"We need a person to help negotiate a couple of things with the City Council" Gallagher said uneasily.
"We would do it through my channels, but this looks too dirty"
"Way too dirty"
"Dirty?" Sir Andrew stared "so why did you automatically associate 'dirty' with myself?"
"We didn't, we felt you had the bigger clout here out of us three so."
"You could bypass myself and contact the City Officials through a private channel," Goto said, looking out of the window. Rain.
"But what do you want me to do? Invite them over for tea and cucumber sandwiches?" Sir Andrew was getting tired of this "why do you want me to contact the City Authorities?"
Gallagher pulled out a tatty map of Tokyo. It was covered in red and black marker dots and circles.
"Here" he pointed at a section of map "there is an intersection here, the traffic lights here need to be changed to red at a certain time to be determined"
"That's it?" Sir Andrew looked at Gallagher with a raised eyebrow "you want me to call out a van load of city engineers to change the traffic lights for five minutes"
"That's all I ask"
"There'd probably have to be a bit of investment in this idea, perhaps more consideration in the way UK and Japanese companies co-operate in Tokyo" Goto was still looking at the window.
"Could probably be a million or so riding on this, effects of this might change boost relations, perhaps economic fortunes" Gallagher smiled "all I need is you to get those lights turned red tomorrow, at least get me talking to them"
Sir Andrew thought for a moment, he knew they had blackmailed him into a corner. He knew of the contracts that British companies had in Tokyo and vice versa, the mutual investment in subsidising exports in cars and electronics between the two nations.
Sir Andrew rubbed his brow and sat back in the chair with a sigh "bloody rain" he muttered before sitting back up "right okay I'll get it done" he said, signing off a document "but you owe me one"
"Sure" nodded Gallagher, a grin on his face.
"See him squirm eh?" Gallagher chuckled as he drank from a bottle of water "I love making politicians squirm"
"So I saw" Goto rubbed his head as they walked out of the building "tell me are all British public servants this.well resistant to outside ideas"
"You ever watched 'Yes Minister'?"
"I have never heard of it"
"You should, it's an education"
The pair reached the car after a scramble and got inside, the rain was coming down quite hard.
"Heavy shower isn't it?" Gallagher remarked as Goto pulled the car out of the Embassy car park.
"Yeah"
"Looks like more on the horizon" he pointed "see, it's a cold front"
Goto smiled " I'm in awe"
"In awe?" Gallagher blinked "in awe of what?"
"Of any man's ability to make conversation out of the weather!"
"Oh cheers, a real bloody strong social trait that isn't it?"
"What's in the case he handed to you?"
"Oh this?" he opened it "this is the intelligence I needed on Aoi if I'm going to be able to predict his route tomorrow"
"You're going to have to be quick, the City is going to want to get the car out of the way and get traffic flowing very quickly after you get him"
"And I'll need one of your coppers to make the arrest for me" Gallagher stopped for a moment "hey you ever thought"
"About what?"
"Well think about it, we speak two different languages, we've both had two vastly different lives in different cultures and yet suddenly we're working together"
"True but isn't this meant to be a world of globalisation, joined up thinking in a joined up world?"
"Globalisation doesn't always bring joined up thinking, it sometimes bring social strife, political deadlock, possibly even violence on a regional, perhaps national scale"
"What's your point?"
"What we're doing, is the world exactly ready for police officers from one country making arrests in another?" Gallagher rubbed his head "ignoring extradition agreements, etc"
"Is the world ready for 'joined up thinking?'"
"It's a new experiment, we can't just be single nation states anymore, its not just because of multinational corporations gaining more power, its because everyone wants to join the party be it the war on drugs, the war on illegal immigration, the war on this, the war on that."
Goto paused for a moment then smiled "what if we threw a war and everybody came?"
"Yeah, what if?"
The rain, while forming part of the conversation for Gallagher and Goto, was forming part of the despair of Macca. The Engineer had begged an already sick Trenchard to get into the Fairfax to help.
"I can't even get out of my bloody futon without hitting the bucket" he groaned.
"You've got a case of the Delhi Belly( mate!" laughed Williams.
"Yeah or bloody bunk-a-litis2" seethed Macca as he walked out.
Attempts to pull out the container from the mire had been abandoned hours ago as the engineering teams decided that ping pong would be a better choice of game rather than the rugby or football on offer by the Brits.
"Hopeless eh?" it was Sakaki, having returned from a meeting to see the chaos on the field, he offered a cup of green tea "you drink tea?"
"Typhoo yea" Macca nodded "never tried that though, thought it was a girls drink," he said slowly, having had problems speaking to Sakaki when they first met.
Sakaki gave the cup to Macca and watched the container "we will have to wait for the rain to end, then we will give it another go"
"What about the ground sir?" Macca took a sip "its too wet, we won't be able to tow it or lift it out of there as it is"
"I've got the solution" Sakaki grinned as he adjusted his glasses.
"Hello?" Sir Andrew sat in his seat as the Embassy car rushed him to Narita "ah! Minister how is London?"
A pause. Sir Andrew peered outside at the rain.
"Yes, Minister things in Japan are well in hand, rest assured my colleagues are giving it their full attention, the pair should be back in London in a few days if all goes well"
The car sped up as it hit a motorway, passing a limousine bus as it went.
"I understand that they want something in return for co-operation, perhaps a well placed call to the DTI would be in order?"
He cringed slightly.
"Come now Minister, under the foreign development act 1985 and the DTI guidelines to entrepreneurship and investment, sustainable development inside the UK depends on all ministries co-operating on giving British Business the biggest help in expanding overseas!"
Sir Andrew's smile turned to a grin.
"We don't need to spend money, I say we simply issue a non interest loan to cover expenses, it won't cost as much as you think Minister, if it means that British companies will be building the next round of Tokyo Skyscrapers Minister I would call it a bargain!"
The leather felt oh so much more comfortable now.
"Very good Minister, I will arrange the details on the flight back, I take it British Airways have on board telephones these days?"
The rain had stopped finally; the evening shift was always the quietest strangely. Good time to extricate a container from the mud.
"What do you think is in there?" Asuma, bored, looked out of the window at the group of engineers and a truck easing the container out of the field.
"The last time I heard it was the new Engines for their Labour" Noa shrugged.
There was a cheer as the container finally was lifted out and onto the back of the truck, which promptly got stuck in the mud itself from the combined weight of the truck and the container.
"They don't seem to be doing well?"
"Not really"
Elsewhere in the place, Goto sipped some tea while Gallagher warmed his hands by the kettle. Also in the room was an Engineer from the City council.
"Never knew I'd have to do this someday" the old man scratched his head "who is he again?"
"He's a British Policeman" Goto said.
"And why does he want the traffic lights turned red"
"He wants to arrest someone"
"Here?! I never knew they had the power to do that here?"
"They don't, he's just going to find our man so we can arrest him"
"Oh! Oh now I see" the man chuckled "well in that case, when do you want me to do it?"
Goto looked at Gallagher "when do you want them to turn the lights?"
"Oh sorry I thought you'd forgotten bloody English there for a moment" smiled Gallagher sarcastically.
"So that's what you call it!" Goto grinned.
"Very funny. I can't really tell him when to turn them, I just need him on standby" Gallagher rubbed his hands "all I know is that he goes through that intersection on the way home from work"
Goto turned back to the old man "sorry he doesn't know, he wants you to stay there the whole day"
"What do you mean the whole day?" the old man reacted quite angrily to the suggestion that he'd have to stand around all day "I've got a cat to look after you know!"
"I understand, I understand!" Goto hushed "but we really do need this, we really would appreciate this help, we really would"
The old man looked at the scruffy, grizzled look of the pair and smiled "okay"