The Gang of Four

‘Yes!’

  ‘Prime Minister, Sir Neville Stonehatch and Mrs. Collier are waiting.’

  ‘Send them in!’

  ‘Sir, you are also due for a working luncheon with the Chancellor at Number Eleven.’

  ‘Cancel it.’

  ‘Yes, Prime Minister. There is also–’

  ‘That will be all.’

  The PM eyed his security personnel as they briskly entered his office.

  ‘I’ve had to cancel a meeting with the Chancellor because of this, so I hope it’s worth it!’

  ‘Yes, Prime Minister,’ replied both Mrs. Collier and Sir Neville in unison. ‘It is,’ added Mrs. Collier on her own.

  ‘Shoot.’

  Mrs. Collier opened a laptop and placed it on the PM’s desk.

  ‘One of our boffins has put together this, sir. It shows the status of every surveillance camera in the capital. They are represented by these camera icons. Green for on-line, red for off-line. You see?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘We can type in a date and time and then fast-forward to observe the changes that occur.’

  The PM viewed a graphic showing the locations, status and serial numbers of every camera in London. Most were green, but some turned briefly red.

  ‘Most of the suspicious behaviour is concentrated over central London, so if we zoom in..,’ said Mrs. Collier, leaning over to press some keys, ‘…and remove all the cameras that remain functional throughout this time sequence… there!’

  The PM studied the sequence: On Monday afternoon a series of ‘breakdowns’ swept along the map from just south of the river, through to Victoria Embankment on the north bank, and then on to Whitehall. At a time corresponding precisely with the destruction of the USO everything went down, but minutes later all the cameras were back again and stayed that way until the following day. Tuesday’s sequence showed a new set of breakdowns that snaked all over central London taking in Vauxhall Cross along the way.

  ‘Where’s that!?’ asked the PM, pointing at the map.

  ‘Bermondsey, sir, part of the borough of Southwark,’ replied Sir Neville.

  ‘It always starts there!’ remarked the PM. ‘Could this be their base of operations?’

  ‘Could be, sir. We’ve sent some agents over there to quietly look around, but they’re reporting nothing erroneous.’

  ‘Obviously not if they can hide a dog-sized tarantula in plain sight!’

  ‘No, sir. We will be commencing door-to-door enquiries shortly to ascertain if anyone recognizes the male or the female from the Vauxhall Cross photo.’

  The PM nodded and the room fell silent for a moment… ‘Have you got the camera data for today?’ he eventually enquired.

  ‘It’s not a real-time feed, sir, not yet, anyway. This is still just a rough beta programme,’ replied Mrs. Collier.

  ‘Check to see if today’s data can be added yet,’ said Sir Neville to Mrs. Collier.

  ‘Yes, sir, just a minute…’

  The Prime Minister and Sir Neville waited while Mrs. Collier made a phone call. She then clicked her phone shut and studied the laptop.

  ‘The data is ready and is being uploaded now, sir. It’ll just take a moment...’

  The Prime Minister and his security personnel studied the new camera data:

  ‘Starts at Bermondsey again!’ remarked the PM.

  ‘And it ends at Saint James’s Park,’ added Sir Neville, preparing to make a phone call:

  ‘Give me the current status of surveillance cameras ds3-k509 through ds3-k543.’

  He nodded at his phone and terminated the call:

  ‘The cameras covering Saint James’s Park are currently down, Prime Minister.’

  It took a few seconds for the PM to realize the significance: ‘This is a bit close for comfort! It’s just beyond the end of Downing Street! Do you think they are planning an attack here!’

  ‘Downing Street’s cameras are functioning normally, sir,’ said Sir Neville, ‘it’s just St James’s Park that’s down, but those cameras have been down for some time now,’ he shook his head vigorously: ‘I really don’t like this, sir. We should send a squad over there. Now!’

  ‘Do it!!’

  ***