Free The Cloud Collector by Brian Freemantle

claim.’
    â€˜What precedence?’
    â€˜The Germans are suggesting Becker might have killed Roger Bennett. Those the police did catch and arrest after the Hamburg atrocity describe Becker as someone who enjoys killing.’
    â€˜What about the indistinct photograph on the first porn movie?’ demanded Sally.
    Monkton allowed a bleak smile at the persistence. ‘Forensic came back an hour ago. They’re putting the possibility that it’s Bennett at seventy percent.’
    â€˜And the e-mails?’
    â€˜Still being assessed.’
    â€˜Why Bennett?’ reflected Sally, helping herself at last to a croissant. ‘And why kill him so publicly? If he hadn’t been murdered and his body dumped so publicly the terrorists could easily have got to Sellafield.’
    â€˜They almost did,’ reminded Monkton. ‘And it’s only speculation that Becker or anyone else in the group was involved in the killing. I’m equally curious at how and why a petty criminal like Bennett—which is what he was, certainly not someone with any political ideology—came to be with these people in the first place.’
    Was this breakfast and this conversation—and not letting her complete the case, which was the normal procedure right up to a prosecution—some kind of test? wondered Sally. ‘Let’s keep in mind that forensic are stopping short of a positive identification, but run with the hypothesis that it is Bennett. The only reason for his inclusion has surely to be that he was disposable: brought in to serve some purpose but to be discarded after that purpose was achieved.’
    â€˜You’ve already flawed your argument,’ insisted the Director-General. ‘Disposable, sure; but why would professional terrorists leave the body so publicly? Wouldn’t they sink it in a reservoir, bury it in a landfill, anything to avoid attracting attention until after the attack?’
    â€˜He did something wrong, and he needed to be made an example of.’
    Monkton nodded cautiously. ‘Still leaves unanswered why he was involved in the first place.’
    â€˜Identification,’ Sally continued to speculate. ‘Becker came from Germany, maybe with others. Let’s surmise that Bennett, who must have had a passport that we haven’t yet traced, was a link man between a terrorist group here and Becker and maybe others from Germany.’
    â€˜That has possibilities. But there are still some gaping holes.’
    This had to be a bizarre test, Sally determined. ‘But then Bennett did something wrong.’
    Jeremy Dodson’s arrival stopped Monkton’s response, although the operations director did not immediately speak, clearly as surprised as Sally at the breakfast preparations. After several moments Dodson said, ‘None of our in-house specialists can make anything that’s relevant from the gambling messages. I’ve gone back to GCHQ for help and—’
    â€˜I did that already,’ interrupted Sally. ‘They described these sorts of exchanges as kids’ stuff; they couldn’t determine significance.’
    â€˜Kids don’t attack nuclear installations,’ rejected Dodson, not bothering to conceal the resentment.
    â€˜Which is why it’s so clever: everything is done or phrased to be dismissed,’ retorted Sally, contemptuous of the man’s attitude. ‘What about the particular e-mails that I drew attention to?’
    Dodson coloured. ‘I marked them for specific attention by GCHQ.’
    â€˜That wasn’t my question. Did they come from the same Cologne Internet café as the NSA intercepts!’
    â€˜Those IP addresses without sender identification did come from the Cologne Internet café,’ pedantically confirmed Dodson, stone-faced.
    â€˜That gives me something to work on if I’m not going to Sellafield,’ said Sally. In addition to constantly watching her back