Free Agent of the State by Roger Pearce

he shrugged, ‘no one about in London, and no time to push this up through the Vauxhall Cross duty officer.’
    ‘So no agreement from MI5 either,’ interjected Weatherall, ‘who have the lead, in case you’ve forgotten.’
    This was indisputable. As the Security Service, MI5 was responsible for protecting the UK against threats to national security, with the Yard its major partner. Every second Tuesday in the month, they would meet Kerr, Langton and Dodge to prioritise security targets. If the two sides disagreed over what they called their ‘subjects of highest value’, the MI5 lead trumped police partnership every time. Dodge’s agent runners and Langton’s watchers, the people who actually worked the streets, might rail against civil servants who rarely left the office, but MI5’s primacy was the working reality.
    Kerr held up his hands. ‘All right. I apologise for breaching the memorandum of bloody understanding, or whatever we call it these days, but we have to trust the man on the ground. Joe Allenby did the right thing to tip us off about Jibril and we proved he was clean. No doubt about it. It was a regular surveillance and people overreacted, simple as that. You gave the Trojans a green light to kill Jibril because you half thought he was a suicide bomber. Jack and I wanted to let him run because we knew he wasn’t. Now we’ll never find what he might have taken us to.’
    ‘And right now you need to back off again,’ interrupted Ritchie, as Weatherall shifted in her seat.
    ‘Like I should have done when I took out the guy on the Tube who might have led us to the 7/7 bombers? Go on, say it.’
    ‘We don’t need to go there.’
    ‘Yes, we do. Fair play, Bill. Tragic things can happen when you intervene too aggressively. No one knows that better than I do.’ He looked directly at Weatherall. ‘That was my fault, but at least I’ve learnt from it.’
    Kerr heard Ritchie clear his throat, as if he was gearing up to take charge. It gave him a pang of hope. With Ritchie at the helm things tended to work out all right.
    ‘Ma’am, let me propose a way forward,’ said Ritchie. ‘These are experienced officers of integrity and talent. The last security assessment estimated five Al Qaeda cells in and around London. The number of active targets has rarely been higher and we suspect at least one bomb factory ready to blow.’ He held up his hands, as if conceding a point. ‘And, yes, I accept John may have made an error of judgement.’
    Kerr stayed silent. He knew Ritchie was playing politics. But if a slice of criticism was enough to keep Weatherall off their backs, then Kerr was big enough to take the hit.
    ‘In total breach of our partnership with MI5.’ Weatherall glared.
    ‘But in good faith,’ said Ritchie. ‘I’m simply advising that suspension now will destroy the morale of the surveillance officers we ask to do this dangerous work for us.’
    Kerr smiled to himself. Ritchie had worked counter-terrorism operations for ever. It was the best guidance Weatherall would get.
    ‘I don’t remember asking for your advice.’
    ‘It’s my duty as head of operations to give it. I’m simply advising that you act with care. I need to study the Trojans’ report and establish a clear timeline from our own officers.’
    ‘You can have it right now,’ said Kerr.
    ‘We can rely on the Independent Police Complaints Commission to do that,’ Weatherall said.
    ‘And that’s my point,’ said Ritchie. ‘The IPCC are going to be all over us like a rash. We need a clear audit trail,’ he said, nodding at the folder, ‘and that email is exhibit one. I need to understand exactly what happened. This was a disrupted armed operation. Officers from different units fighting each other in the middle of the rush hour. Christ, it’s probably already on YouTube. The IPCC will look at the whole decision-making process, top down, so we need to get this right.’
    ‘And you need to realise we’re not dealing