o0o
Chapter 2
Lucas stepped in the pods and closed his eyes for a moment, composing himself before he stepped into the MI5 offices. The prank call had been just that; a prank call. Some teenager boys messing around on the internet, testing their hacking skills on the local databases.
The pods beeped signalling that he was clean and could enter. Lucas opened his eyes as the doors opened and he stepped into the quieter the usual office. He turned towards Beth who had stepped out of the pod next to him, but his gaze travelled past her as a quick rap on the window caught his attention.
Harry motioned for Lucas to join him.
Lucas turned to Beth. "Write up your report and put on my desk. I'll be a moment."
Beth nodded. "Sure." She replied. Lucas nodded his thanks and then walked to Harry's office and disappeared inside. He slide the door shut behind him and tuned to face Harry who was standing in front of the desk.
Harry motioned to the chairs. "Have a seat."
Lucas sat and after a moment, Harry followed suit. Harry hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Does the name Julia Green mean anything to you?" He asked finally.
"Vaguely." Lucas replied. "Wasn't she responsible for the assassination of that CEO turned dealer a couple years back?"
Harry raised an eyebrow. "Someone's been catching up on past cases." He commented.
"Just trying to see if I missed anything." Lucas replied with a small smile.
Harry nodded. "Earlier this morning Julia Green contacted me and said that she is in possession of the disk."
Lucas leaned forward. "I assume we're talking about the disk that the JIC lost. How'd she get a hold of it?"
"That is the question of the day." Harry replied. "I want you to meet Julia and make the exchange; alone."
"Alone?" Lucas asked questioning.
"Those are the terms of our deal." Harry replied. "She might be a little miffed that I didn't show, but quite frankly after our last encounter, I'd rather error on the side of caution with this one."
"Consider it done, Harry." Lucas replied. "Anything else I should know?"
"You'll be travelling with ten thousand pounds." Harry replied. "Just make sure you don't lose it before the meeting, or we just might never see that disk ever again."
"I'll be careful." Lucas promised, rising to his feet and heading towards the door.
"Lucas." Harry called quietly. Lucas turned back towards Harry. "Go in armed. This isn't some punk with a conscious when the badge comes out; she's a trained killer who won't hesitate when it comes to a member of the security services."
Lucas nodded and then slipped out of the officer, sliding the door shut behind him. Harry stood up from the chair and went around to his desk. He glanced out the glass window and watched as Lucas grabbed his coat and stepped into the pods.
It was turning out just another normal day in Section D.
o0o
As with most cities, London traffic was terrible around lunch time, especially around the Parliament Buildings. Lucas managed to get to White Hall Park with a few minutes to spare. Ten thousand pounds fit quiet nicely in the backpack he was carrying and the money dug into his back as he walked along the park, waiting for Julia to make contact.
He had an old photo of hers from a few years ago, but had already taken in account the many different ways she could've changed her appearance: longer hair, different hair colour. His dark eyes scanned the park, but there was still no sign of her. He slowed to a stop and checked his watch; twelve o'clock right on the dot. She was late.
"I thought Harry might send you." A female voice said from behind him.
Lucas turned slowly to see Julia sitting on the bench behind him. She had her legs crossed and as his gaze settled on her, she pulled off the sunglasses. She motioned him to sit, and Lucas gave her the once over as he did as she suggested, sliding the pack off his shoulder and placing it on the ground next to his feet.
Julia's boots, jeans, and coat were all designer or knock-off designer clothing; and the way she sat told him she was comfortable with her body and knew what its limits were. Her hair was longer then in the photo and pulled back. She was fashionable, but still deadly and ready for anything.
"Where's the disc?" Lucas asked, glancing at a couple of politicians as they walked past in a tight group of three, talking loudly about someone named Loyd.
"Just like Harry; short and to the point." Julia replied with a smile. "Forgive me if I don't trust you right away though; I have issues." She stood up, slipping the sunglasses into a pocket. "Let's walk."
Lucas stood and followed her lead as she walked towards the street. He kept pace with her easily and suddenly, Julia slipped an arm around his waist. To anyone is would've looked like two lovers out for a stroll. Lucas stiffened at her touch, feeling the heavy weight of the gun press into the small of his back as Julia passed her hand over the weapon.
"Coming armed is usually a sign that you don't trust the other party." Julia said quietly, looking up at him; dark eyes searching his face. Her arm -however- stayed around his waist.
"Trust goes both ways." Lucas replied. "I don't imagine that your boots came with the deadly accessory that you carry."
"Someone's been reading up on me. I'm impressed." Julia replied with a grin. "Here." She motioned to him to stop and dropped her arm before taking a quick glance over her shoulder. They were now standing at the edge of the park with the street at Lucas's back.
"The disc?" Lucas reminded her, taking a quick glance at the park in front of him before looking Julia in the eye.
"You might want to take a look in that window first." Julia suggested, handing him a small spy-glass from her pocket as she continued to pretend to look out at the street behind him.
Frowning, Lucas took the glass and held up to his eye, focusing on the window several meters across the park from where they stood. It was an office -which wasn't surprising considering where they were- but what was surprising was that it was occupied at this time of day. Most people would've been out at lunch by now.
"The office belongs to Tom Neil; a junior member for the Secretary of National Defence." Julia told him as Lucas continued to watch the office. "You're probably wondering why he isn't out for lunch today; he's waiting for a package to arrive. Officially, the package is from another government office; I forget which. Un-officially, the package holds your missing disc which he intends to sell on the black market or the Russians; whoever pays the most."
"What?" Lucas asked in surprise, lowering the spy-glass to look at her. "I thought you said you had the disc."
"I do." Julia replied. "It's just not in my hands."
Lucas roughly grabbed her arm and dragged her behind one of the tall oaks that had been planted alongside the street end of the park; out of sight of the rest of the park, the people. "You better not be playing games with me." He told her darkly.
Julia glared at him. "I'm not. She replied hotly. "You were the one who filled in the blanks, not me. Look, the carrier was murdered; multiple gunshots to the torso, yeah? Looked like a gang hit? Well, it wasn't." She tried to yank her arm away.
"How did you know that?" Lucas asked, gripping her arm tighter. "We never released those details."
"You didn't have too." Julia replied. "Apparently, the newer additions in my line of work don't keep their mouths shut when they've had a couple pints too many." She yanked her arm out of his grip. "Check out Tom Neil. I'm sure that MI-5 can find something that was missed in his many background checks." She motioned towards the bag.
Lucas slung the backpack over his shoulder again. "No." He replied firmly. "You didn't deliver on your promise."
"I gave you the disc." Julia protested quietly. "We had a deal."
"You were supposed to hand me to disc." Lucas shot back. "Not a spy ring. When I have the disc, then we'll talk."
"Alright." Julia conceded. "I'll contact you with a more discreet meeting place. Then you have time to talk to Harry; figure out your next move."
"Why are you doing this?" Lucas asked. "The disc is worth much more then the ten thousand that you asked for. You could live comfortably for the rest of your life."
"Yes, but then I would also be bored." Julia replied dryly. "Besides I owe Harry one. It was nice to meet you, Lucas North." She smiled, then turned around and walked onto the sidewalk, hailing a taxi that was idling nearby.
o0o
"The disc was stolen by someone in our own government?" Harry asked incredulously as he walked around his desk.
"That's what she said." Lucas replied.
"Well, this changes things." Harry muttered quietly.
"She could be lying." Lucas suggested. "Everything I've read about Julia Green suggests that running us around in circles isn't beneath her."
"Yes, but why?" Harry asked softly, speaking more to himself then Lucas. "What does she have to gain by giving us Tom Neil? What else did she say?" He asked aloud.
"Just that she would contact me with another meeting place." Lucas replied. "I assumed she meant you."
"Check your pockets." Harry ordered quietly, the hint of a smile ghosting at the corners of his lips.
With a frown, Lucas did. When he had come back to the Grid, he hadn't even stopped to drop off his coat at his desk, he'd wanted Harry to hear about Tom Neil. His frown deepened as his hand encountered a hard object in his left hand pocket. Lucas pulled out a small cell phone. He flipped it over in his hands; it was a burn phone with a wireless jammer, plugged into the charging port. The little device was cleverly concealing the phone's wireless signal.
"Three years ago Julia did the same thing to me." Harry told Lucas as the younger man looked up in concern. "The incident prompted me to add 'skilled pick-pocket' to her list of talents."
"She's good." Lucas admitted grudgingly.
"But we're better." Harry replied. He motioned to the phone in Lucas's hand. "Get Tariq to place a trace on any incoming calls; just in case."
Lucas nodded in agreement. "What now?" He asked, slipping the phone back into his pocket.
"Now we bring the entire team in on this." Harry replied. "I have a feeling that we've bitten off more then we can chew here. Get Ruth to run a background check on this Tom Neil while you're at it."
Lucas nodded and started for the door.
"Lucas." Harry called him back. Lucas was already halfway out of the office and stepped back in, looking expectantly at Harry. "Good work." Harry congratulated his team leader. Lucas ducked his head slightly in acknowledgement and then disappeared back onto the Grid.
o0o
"Tariq, I need you to put a trace on a phone." Lucas ordered as he walked into the cave of the Grid's current technical genius. He stopped abruptly as he realized that Tariq wasn't sitting at his desk. "Tariq?" He asked into the seemly empty room.
"Here!" Tariq called and Lucas looked down to see Tariq sitting on the floor, completely hidden under his desk.
"What are you doing down there?" Lucas asked bending down so he could see Tariq better.
"Harry wants me to finish those maintenance reports ASAP." Tariq replied glancing at him momentarily before looking back up at the cord he was fiddling with. "I just have to reconnect these LAN cables so that both my CPU's will be able to communicate with each other more efficiently."
"For once I actually understood that." Lucas replied, a small smile slipping onto his face.
"Done." Tariq said a moment later. He slipped out from under the desk and stood. Lucas followed suit. "You were saying something about putting a trace on a phone?" Tariq asked.
"Yeah." Lucas replied. "I need to record and tract any incoming calls to this phone." He said holding out the phone.
Tariq took the small phone before slipping back in his chair and spinning around to face the desk. "This is a burn phone." He said in surprise turning to look at Lucas who had come up beside him.
"Is that a problem?" Lucas asked, leaning one hand on the desk.
"No, no problem." Tariq replied quickly. "It's just we don't usually put taps on burn phones. Usually, it's a personal phone with an actual plan and person attached to it." He explained.
"Yeah, well. Julia Green isn't exactly a personal phone type of person." Lucas replied quietly turning to look at the screen as Tariq started tapping on the keyboard to bring his system up.
"Most assassins aren't." Tariq commented. He looked up as he sensed Lucas's gaze. "Or so I've heard." He said sheepishly, turning back to the computer. "It'll take me a few minutes to set up the tap." He told Lucas.
"Don't take too long." Lucas warned him, straightening up. "Harry wants to see us in the conference room in a few minutes."
o0o
"We have a little bit of a situation on our hands." Harry said, starting out the meeting. He glanced around at the faces at the table. Ruth, Beth, Tariq and Lucas; all people he trusted with his life, and more importantly, with the secrets that been intrusted to them as MI-5 officers.
"I suppose you all have heard about the security breech we had a few days ago. A messenger who was carrying an important computer disk to the JIC was shot and killed a few days ago. Up until now, we had assumed that it was a gang shooting and have been taking steps to recover the intelligence. This morning, I received a call from Julia Green. She seems to think that Tom Neil was behind the shooting and now has the intelligence."
Beth was the first to speak. "Who's Julia Green?" She asked looking around at the other members of the team for answers.
"Assassin, thief, gun for hire. She'll do anything for a price." Ruth was the one to answer the question. "And that includes stealing classified documents." She asked.
Beth shook her head. "Never heard of her."
"There's no reason you would've." Lucas replied leaning forward and looking towards Harry. "It's not something we openly talk about. Harry likes to keep a tight lid on this sort of thing."
"By a tight lid I assume you are referring to the fact that the Julia Green file has been classified as top secret and eyes only." Tariq chimed in.
Everyone looked at him causing the younger man to look flustered.
Harry raised an eyebrow."Someone's been doing some snooping." He commented dryly.
"Sorry." Tariq apologized, looking sheepish as he glanced down at the tabletop.
"We'll talk about it later." Harry told Tariq. He directed his attention to the rest of the team. "The Julia Green file has been classified top secret for obvious security reasons. The JIC doesn't want to broadcast that fact that we have a unknown assassin running around the streets of London to anyone."
"Or the fact that she seems to be infatuated with you." Ruth remarked flatly.
"What?" That mirthful remark came from Beth who quickly smothered her reaction as everyone looked towards her.
Harry cast a disappointed look towards Ruth. "That fact is irreverent." He quietly reprimanded Ruth before turning back to the rest of the team. "What is relevant is the fact that we have a serious problem on our hands. Ruth, what did you find out about our would-be spymaster Tom Neil?"
"Not much." Ruth replied briskly. "He's young -well if you can call thirty-seven young. What I mean is he's the youngest member of security council and the only one not to have been appointed to a higher position." She flipped through the papers in front of her. "All his friends have already made a name for themselves in the government while Neil is still a junior member."
"There's our motive." Beth said. "He's been passed up for promotion. It's got to make anyone pissed off."
"Yes, but enough to steal highly classified documents?" Ruth asked. "He's never been in trouble with the police; not even as a teenager. He's clean." She dropped the papers in her hand back onto the table.
"There must be something that we're missing here." Harry said slowly as he thought things over. "It makes no since for Julia to have given us false information."
"Unless she wanted to throw us off the trail." Lucas suggested. "But I'm more concerned with what she wants. Besides the obvious need to toy with us." He added darkly remembering the meeting he'd had at the park.
"Ten thousand pounds for starters." Harry replied. "The rest after that is anyone's guess. I've long give up trying to deduce her methods of operation."
"That may be because she has no methods of operation." Ruth remarked. "Frankly, Harry I think that you've made a mountain out of a molehill here. Julia Green is not a big of threat as you think she is. She's not the first conscious-less assassin to be around and she's not going to be the last."
"Not a threat?" Harry asked slowly. Everyone fell quiet as the tension in the room doubled tenfold. "Half of Julia's targets have been men and women that we have failed to get close to and protect. That means she's better then us; she knows how we operate and what our security measures are. And you don't think she's dangerous?" He asked incredulously.
"Not as dangerous as some of the other people we've faced." Ruth replied evenly. "Then we were up against a unknown number of potential threats. Here, we know how many there is. She's just one woman, Harry."
"She's an unknown element for sure." Lucas said jumping back into the discussion, glancing at Ruth and Harry.
"But the question we need to be asking is how did she know that the disc was in that office? And how did that government official get a hold of it?" He asked steering the conversation back on track. "I thought we and the JIC took all the necessary security precautions to make sure that something like this didn't happen."
"Obviously, we overlooked something." Harry remarked, finally breaking his gaze with Ruth. "Tariq, since you seem to be intimately familiar with the Julia Green file, I want you to go over every inch of it again."
"What exactly am I looking for?" Tariq asked.
"I don't know." Harry replied. "Something that could give us a more clearer picture of who she really is. Names, addresses, anything."
"That won't be easy." Tariq replied. "There isn't too much to find in terms of a paper trail. I never seen anyone more off the radar and on it at the same time. She has half a dozen aliases and those are the only ones we know about. We're not even sure that Julia Green is her real name."
"Just try." Harry ordered quietly. "Ruth, I want you and Beth to review the security measures that were taken when we handed the disk over to the JIC. Look for any holes in our security, extra personal that had no business being there. And while you're at it, run another background check on Mr. Neil. Lucas," Harry nodded to his number one. "You're with me."
Harry stood and everyone followed suit, pushing back their chairs and then leaving to complete their given tasks. Harry caught Ruth by the elbow, before she could leave. "I'd like to see you in my office if I may?"
"Sure." Ruth nodded. "Five minutes?" She asked glancing at Lucas.
"Five minutes." Harry agreed.
Lucas turned to Harry after Ruth left the conference room. "Was Ruth right?" He asked quietly. "Are you making a mountain out of a molehill here?"
"You met Julia Green." Harry replied briskly. "What do you think?"
"I think that she's dangerous." Lucas replied honestly. "I also think that she isn't giving us the entire picture."
Harry nodded and then started walking towards the doors. "My sediments exactly." He agreed.
