sThe Quiet Wart (24 page)

‘He's leaving now, using the stairs. Get ready,' Clive noted.

Sean tensed and flicked his tongue around his dry mouth. Accosting a Prime Minister wasn't something that he should take lightly, even if he was leaving a clandestine sex rendezvous. He studied Dorsch. So far, after only a few days as part of the team, the German billionaire had shown little respect for the law.

‘We can't assault him,' Sean whispered.

‘Then how will we stop him?' Dorsch replied.

‘If he doesn't stop of his own accord, we have to let him go. Assaulting a Prime Minister is going too far.' Even though he was whispering, Sean made sure his point was firm.

‘Okay,' Dorsch agreed, pointing in the direction of the door, as the shadowy figure emerged into the darkened yard.

As soon as Halliday was clear of the entrance, Sean sprung to his feet. ‘Did you have a good time in there, Prime Minister?' Sean asked.

Clearly stunned by the approach, Halliday stopped and looked around, looking for an alternative route, but there was only one way out of the yard and that meant he would have to walk past Sean and Dorsch. When he saw that there were two of them, he turned and started to fumble for the key in his pocket, trying to head back into the building. But Sean ran forward to a spot only two metres away from him.

‘Can I ask you a few questions?' Sean asked.

Ignoring Sean and looking away, Halliday continued to search for his keys. When Dorsch joined them, Sean could see the panic growing in the Prime Minister's face.

‘We're not going to hurt you Prime Minister. We just want to ask you a few questions,' Sean said, blocking Dorsch's advance with his body.

Suddenly stopping his key search, Halliday turned to face Sean. ‘Who are you and what do you want with me? I can have my security here in seconds and you'll spend a long time in prison,' he said aggressively.

‘For what? Asking questions? I didn't think that had been criminalised yet. But since you ask, my name is Sean McManus, and I'm a British journalist.'

‘The journalist from the BW affair?' Halliday said.

‘Yes, that's right,' Sean acknowledged, knowing that it would help Halliday understand that he was in no physical danger.

‘Look, I was just visiting a friend in this building, and I didn't think it was fair to bring half of the world's media with me,' Halliday said, regaining his composure.

‘Oh, that's nice of you. Who's your friend?' Sean asked.

‘It's an elderly lady: an old friend of my mother.'

‘Really? That'll make a very nice personal interest piece on you. Would you mind if we interviewed her?'

‘I'm afraid that she's quite frail and I wouldn't want to disturb her again.'

Dorsch made a loud tutting sound and Sean again moved to block him out.

‘That's funny, I've never considered Anna Faustein old or frail.' Sean lifted his eyebrows, making the point.

Halliday bowed his head like a schoolboy caught lying. ‘Okay, you've caught me. I came here to continue my argument with her on behalf of the British people. I wanted to make sure I got my point across.'

‘Ha!' Dorsch exclaimed in frustration.

Even Sean would have to admit that the Prime Minister was a convincing liar. His face showed no signs of false statements: his eyes were open and made contact with Sean's, even though that was the second blatant lie he'd told. Sean quickly switched approach. ‘Why are you lying to me?' he asked.

‘I'm not lying to you, and quite frankly, I'm offended by that comment.'

This time Sean laughed at the fake indignation displayed by Halliday. He'd seen the same face on TV thousands of times, telling lies to millions of people, in the deluded belief that they trusted him.

‘Why are you laughing?' Halliday said, the tone in his voice sharpening. ‘Now, if you don't mind, I've got to get back to my hotel,' he added.

Sean thought quickly. He had to stop him from leaving, but the only way was to incriminate himself. ‘I'm laughing because I have video footage of you partaking in some rather interesting activities with Ms Faustein. I doubt many people will see it as continuing the argument, although it was apparently quite aggressive.'

The comments made Halliday freeze and turn around to face Sean. ‘What do you want, Mr McManus? To break up my family, ruin my life? I have some interests that I share with Ms Faustein. Should I be persecuted for that?'

‘Tell him to ask his wife,' Liz's voice popped up over the earpiece.

The speed of Halliday's transition from denial, to lying, to pleading forgiveness was unbelievable. Sean pressed further. ‘I'm not a tabloid muck-raker, Prime Minister, so if it was just the sex I could probably overlook it. But the problem I have is that it's more than that, isn't it? You conspired with a German MEP to deceive the British people, in order to get votes.'

‘And how do you know that?' Halliday said.

‘Surprise surprise! We were listening, as well as watching. Now get to the point,' Dorsch interrupted.

‘You know that spying like that is illegal? If you try to use it against me in any way, I'll make sure you spend a long time in prison,' Halliday said.

Sean knew that it was coming; the point when Halliday stopped playing games and started to make threats. The problem he had was that Halliday was right. Any attempt by Sean to use the information would automatically incriminate him, and given that the target was the British Prime Minister, it wouldn't take a great leap of imagination for the prosecution to manipulate the charge into one of espionage.

‘It seems we're at somewhat of an impasse, Mr McManus. You have information that I don't want published, and you
can't
publish it. So, please, get out of my way. You may be able to destroy my life, but you'll be destroying your own in the process.' Halliday moved to push past Sean, but Dorsch put his arm out and stopped him.

‘What about me, you arrogant pig? How are you going to stop me publishing it?' Dorsch said, looking even more threatening than normal in the dim light. Sean could see that Halliday was scared by the sudden outburst and the sight of Dorsch blocking his way.

‘The same will go for you: a long term in prison,' Halliday said, less confidently than before.

Sean was going to stop Dorsch, but maybe he had it right.

‘First, you don't even know who I am; and second, I'll just put it on YouTube anonymously. I don't need to publish it like a journalist. By the time you get out of your bed in the morning, it'll be all over the world, and if your wife doesn't put a hatchet in your head, the British people will put one in your career. You think anybody will give a shit where the video came from?'

Impressed and a little intimidated at the same time, Sean realised that Dorsch hadn't become a billionaire by mistake.

Suddenly, Halliday looked like a deer caught in the headlights. Sean could tell that he wanted to go on the counter-attack and make some threats, but each time he went to speak, he stopped, obviously realizing that he was cornered, with no realistic way out.

‘You bastard!' He looked at Sean, finally with real sincerity in his eyes. ‘It was just a little spin; something to boost my votes for the election. It was Anna's idea and I thought it was brilliant. There's no real harm done. We'll get back in, once the election's over, and everything will be back to normal.'

‘Back to normal?' Sean shook his head. ‘You do know that she suspended you so that she can change the voting structure? So, when you get back in, you'll have no power to block anything. She played you so that you wouldn't take it too far. She's probably done the same to all the others, so that they think it's just a political game, rather than a real threat to sovereignty.'

‘What? No, that's impossible,' Halliday said.

‘No, it's not. Think about it,' Sean replied.

After a few moments of silence, Halliday put his hands over his face. ‘Fuck! What've I done?' he said. ‘If they change the voting structure, we'll have to leave. We can't be part of a Union that we have no say in.' Halliday was talking to himself and didn't expect input, as the implications of his actions hit home.

‘You do know that Anna Faustein's a neo-Nazi?' Sean said.

His earpiece suddenly exploded with Liz's voice. ‘Sean, I thought you said you weren't going to mention that! What if he's the leader of the bloody Fourth Reich?' she exclaimed.

Aware that he'd taken a gamble, Sean wanted to see Halliday's reaction when he was down, when he wasn't thinking as quickly as normal.

‘What?' he looked at Sean, removing his hands from his face. ‘But she's the head of an EU party. They're not Nazis.' He shook his head.

‘They're not, but she is. We think she's secretly trying to manipulate EU legislation to make the environment right for a Nazi resurgence across Europe,' Sean said.

‘It wouldn't take much,' Halliday admitted, clearly without thinking.

‘What?' Sean replied quickly.

‘I shouldn't have said that. Sorry.'

‘What did you mean by it?' Dorsch said angrily.

Halliday looked at the angry Dorsch and then faced Sean. ‘Our intelligence services are reporting massive growth in neo-Nazi organisations. They're presenting a more moderate image, attracting more respectable voters. They play very heavily on the issues created by the financial crisis, and it's working. It's only a matter of time before a far-right party wins a general election in a European country. Then god help us, because pretty much all of them are just fronts for neo-Nazi groups.'

‘Doesn't it seem odd to you that they'd use the EU as their vehicle? Most nationalist parties are completely against the EU and would scrap it,' Sean said, genuinely looking for Halliday's experienced political opinion on a question that had been troubling him throughout the investigation.

‘It depends what they see as their nation. If they conform to Hitler's ideal of one Europe under Nazi control, then it makes perfect sense.'

Nobody spoke for a little while as the reality of Halliday's words sunk in. Throughout the investigation Sean had never thought there was any real risk of the Nazis actually taking over the EU; he'd just thought they were positioning themselves to influence it. Halliday obviously thought differently, and Sean had to bow to his superior knowledge.

‘What are you going to do?' Sean asked.

‘I'm going to play Ms Faustein at her own game. I'll play along like everything's going as planned, then I'll put a vote to the British people and with the right push, they'll vote to leave the EU. It's our only option if we want to remain a sovereign nation.'

‘What about the Nazis?' Sean asked.

‘That's for you to deal with. If I say anything it'll just look like sour grapes and I'll look like a crank. You have to get firm proof and then publish. It's the only way.' Halliday looked into Sean's eyes: he was the politician again, negotiating his way out of a difficult corner. But this approach suited Sean. He still wanted to get his story, even if he didn't mention Halliday's involvement.

‘Can I rely upon you for help if I need it?' Sean asked.

Halliday considered the question briefly. ‘Yes, as long as you destroy everything you have on that tape and promise me that you'll never try to publish any of the events of tonight.'

It was Sean's turn to think. Halliday would have no way of knowing if the information had been destroyed, or whether Sean would stick to his word about not including him in his piece. But Sean still believed in honour and if he made a promise, he'd keep it… as long as Halliday kept his side of the same bargain. ‘Okay, it's a deal. How do I get hold of you if I need you?' Sean asked.

‘Contrary to common belief, I actually have a mobile phone. Very few people have the number and it's often with my private secretary, but I do have one.'

Sean took out his iPhone and keyed in the Prime Minister's private number.

‘Gentlemen, I trust we have an accord?' Halliday questioned both Sean and Dorsch.

‘Yes,' they said in unison, although Sean could sense Dorsch's reluctance.

‘Okay. Then I really do need to go.' Halliday walked past Sean and around the corner, disappearing into the dimly lit park.

The conversation around the large, oak dining table was vibrant as each discussed the events of the evening.

‘We still don't know much. Anna could be either the leader or the number two,' Sean said.

‘Stefan's info said that the number two was high up in the EU, so that would make it likely that it's her,' Liz added.

‘But Wagner also said that the person they call the
Führer
is also in some way related to Hitler, so she could be either,' Dorsch countered.

‘Yep,' Sean agreed. ‘Either way, we don't have a shred of evidence that we can use against anybody.'

‘We do know three of the four, assuming that we're right about Grossi, that is. We should put round-the-clock surveillance on all of them,' Clive said.

‘We're already watching Faustein and Grossi, but I can have men on Wagner by the morning,' Dorsch said.

‘Good, then let's pick it up tomorrow. I don't know about you, but I'm exhausted,' Sean said.

When Sean climbed into bed, Liz was sitting up waiting for him, clearly not in the mood to sleep.

‘I can't believe you just let Halliday off the hook like that,' she said.

‘Do you think I should have hung him out to dry?'

‘Well, yes, but that's not actually my point. You'd caught the British Prime Minister — a married man with two children — indulging in kinky sex with a German MEP whom he'd publically rebuked just hours earlier. Then he admitted that it was all a sham to fool the voters.'

‘Yes,' Sean nodded.

Liz shook her head. ‘By anybody's measure, that would be the scoop of a lifetime. Given that it'd be your
second
scoop of a lifetime, it would propel you from a guy that might have got lucky once, to a global rock star; you'd be a journalistic legend.'

‘Yes,' Sean nodded again.

‘Look, I know the Nazi and EU story is probably more politically important, but as far as readability and public outrage, the Halliday story would trump it every time. I know you'll say that there are legal issues etc., but we could get around those.'

‘You're probably right,' Sean admitted.

‘Then why did you let him off?' Liz asked, her face contorted. ‘I thought that's what you wanted: recognition; career success. I always thought you were really ambitious.'

‘I am, and you're right,' Sean agreed.

Sean's apathy was getting Liz frustrated. Her face wracked with confusion. ‘Then why? I don't understand,' she said, quietly, almost despondently.

‘I did it for Praew,' Sean said.

‘What? What do you mean? What's Praew got to do with it?' Liz said, her tone picking up, but her confusion increasing.

Sean smiled. ‘From now until the general election, I have the British Prime Minister in my pocket. When the time's right, I'm going to give Mr Halliday a call on the mobile number he gave me, and ask him to put pressure on the Home Secretary to approve Praew's residence application.'

The words hit Liz like a train crash and her face suddenly lit up. ‘Oh my god, Sean, you're a genius! He'll never be able to refuse.' Then she stopped smiling and looked at him seriously. ‘Are you sure? I mean, this is it — everything that you've ever dreamed of, right there in your hands — and you're going to give it away for Praew?'

Sean lowered his head and stared into Liz's eyes. ‘There's nothing in the world I wouldn't give away for you and Praew. So yes, I'm certain.'