Going Viral

by Andrew Puckett

  ‘I’m in the multi-storey,’ she said to Craig when they were outside.

  The rain was turning to sleet and the pavements were slick in the streetlights. The street was narrow and the crowds, tall buildings, and orangey glow above gave it a claustrophobic feel and made it difficult to talk. She waited until they’d turned into a quieter street before saying, ‘You were going to tell me about your boss…?’

  ‘Oh, yes… Well, like the hospital, we’re not recruiting at the moment, but there’s someone due to retire before long, and that might be a way of getting you in. Anyway, he’d like to talk to you informally – he suggested tomorrow morning, if you can manage it.’

  ‘That’s amazing,’ she said. ‘Thanks,’

  They reached the multi-storey and started up the hollow grey stairway. She said, ‘We’ve got plenty of monstrosities like this in London, but I’m surprised they allow them in a place like Exeter.’

  He shrugged. ‘Needs must. And at least it doesn’t go above the skyline.’

  They found the car, strapped themselves in and squealed their way round the shiny slippery surfaces.

  ‘So what’s your boss looking for?’ she asked once they were out and on their way.

  Craig explained between giving her directions, then they were in his street. Grade Three terraces, she noticed.

  Would he invite her in? She thought probably not. She wouldn’t have gone anyway, although she’d have liked to talk for a bit longer. She said,

  ‘D’you think someone put that woman, Shirley, up to it?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I don’t think Hannah would. Maybe, as she said, Shirley did it off her own bat.’

  ‘But you don’t believe that, do you?’ she said, looking at him. He didn’t answer and she went on, ‘It was lucky that Malcolm spoke when he did.’

  ‘Oh, luck had nothing to do with it, I put him up to that.’

  She laughed. ‘I guessed someone had, but I thought it was Marc.’

  ‘He and I cooked it up between us, although I did the deed.’

  ‘How did you know it would be coming up?’

  He shrugged. ‘Knowing Open Door, we just thought it was likely. It’s their style.’

  She said, ‘What is it you’ve got against Open Door? Oh, I can see their aims are different, but I get a sense it’s more than that…’

  Craig took a moment, then, ‘Open Door’s agenda is completely different from ours. They say they’re providing refuge for asylum seekers and so on, but their real aim is the creation of a multi-cultural society.’

  ‘We already have that, don’t we?’

  ‘We have a multi-racial society, which isn’t the same thing. It’s not just that multi-culturalism has been completely discredited now, it’s also a huge turn-off for the kind of people whose support we want.’

  ‘Why should that matter? You’re two completely different charities…’

  ‘Because people like Shirley – and Hannah, for that matter – would like us get much closer, even amalgamate. It’s my belief we’re incompatible.’

  ‘But –’

  ‘They want to create a perfect society, as they see it, here in Britain. We want to help people in their own countries.’

  Rebecca looked at him and nodded slowly. ‘I see what you mean… I think… Doesn’t that make Marc and Hannah rather strange bedfellows?’

  Craig laughed. ‘It should, but somehow it doesn’t. Maybe because they don’t live in each other’s pockets. They compartmentalise.’

  Interesting… She said, ‘I thought when I first met them that Hannah wore the trousers; now, I’m not so sure.’

  ‘Oh, she does at home, but Marc’s a very clever operator.’

  ‘Mm. I saw that tonight. What does he do?’

  ‘Teaches in a secondary school.’

  She nodded as though expecting it… ‘Yes, he’s got that toughness …’

  She smiled. ‘I also saw what you meant about Ron…’ She continued – ‘That seems rather an unlikely friendship…’

  ‘What does?’

  ‘Ron and Malcolm – Alan too, for that matter. I can’t see what they’ve got in common.’

  ‘Ron’s nothing like as weird as he looks – I’d have thought you’d have worked that out.’

  ‘He’s eloquent, if that’s what you mean,’ she said slowly, ‘but I’m not sure he convinced me… About having to kowtow to nasty dictators, I mean.’

  ‘That’s Ron being pragmatic. You have to work with them if you want to help their people.’

  ‘Do you, though?’

  ‘Well, what do you suggest? Bumping them off? I’ve got a feeling that’s against our rules somewhere…’

  ‘It seems just… wrong to keep such people in power.’

  He smiled wanly. ‘Yes, it does. But that’s where humility comes in.’

  She looked at him. ‘Have you done VSO?’

  He gave a brief, almost reluctant, nod. ‘Yes.’

  And she could sense that, like Alan, he didn’t want to talk about it. She said, ‘Will I see you tomorrow?’

  ‘If you want to, after you’ve seen my boss. It’s Room 214, same corridor.’ He opened the door. ‘Best of luck with him. And thanks for the lift.’ He waited by his door until she was moving off before giving a wave.

  Chapter 14

  Wednesday morning. County Hall was a pleasant Art Deco building with a sharply modernist extension tacked on behind. She was directed to the modern bit, where Frank Weller, Craig’s boss, came down to collect her himself.

  The words ‘Old School’ screamed at her. He was wearing an old fashioned suit and had severely parted greying hair with wings over the ears. He smiled gravely as he shook her hand and took her up to his office. He’d managed to make that look old fashioned too, no mean feat in that building. He sat behind his desk, putting a formal distance between them.

  ‘Craig’s told me you worked for the NHS in London, but whereabouts exactly?’ He was pleasantly spoken with a slight Devonian accent.

  St. Stephen’s, she told him. She described her fictitious job, glad she’d boned up on it. He listened carefully, then fired some fairly searching questions at her. She felt glad that she’d worn a skirt and matching jacket, not casual… then realised with a slight shock that she was taking this seriously, as though she really wanted the job…

  ‘What made you leave?’ he asked.

  She told him about the messy relationship. He asked about her qualifications, then whether he could phone her department head.

  ‘Of course,’ she said. She took out notebook and pen and wrote down the prearranged number. ‘That’s her direct line,’ she said.

  He took it, said, ‘Miss Hale, it’s my impression that you would fit in here very well, although as I’m sure Craig told you, there is no specific post as yet. If you’ll leave your address, I’ll be in contact with you.’

  He stood up, shook hands with her again and showed her to the door. ‘I expect you’d like to see Craig. He’s three doors down.’

  She thanked him and went to look for Craig. His name was on the third door, which was open, so she tapped on it and went in.

  He looked up from his desk and grinned. A woman of around forty eyed her curiously from the other desk. Craig introduced her as Tina, then suggested they go for a coffee.

  He waited until they were in the lift before asking, ‘So how did it go?’

  ‘Well, I thin… although I’d have appreciated some warning about his idea of informal.’ She told him how rigorous it had been.

  ‘That’s good,’ he said. ‘It means he’s taking you seriously.’

  The lift opened and he took her along to the refectory. ‘Did he ask about where you were before?’

  ‘Quite a bit.’

  He bought her a coffee and they sat down. He took a sip, said, ‘Look, if you did get it, could you cope with that much work – a new job, remember – as well as all the BTA stuff?’

  ‘I don’t see why not…’ She looke
d at him curiously… ‘Why – d’you really think there’s a chance?’

  He nodded vigorously. ‘I do, yes. And it might be sooner than you think. I know he’d like to get someone in and trained up.’

  ‘Can he do that?’

  ‘He’ll find a way.’

  There was a slight pause. He looked at her speculatively and she had the sudden feeling that he was going to ask her out, but all he said was,

  ‘Haven’t you got an interview at the hospital tomorrow?’

  She nodded. ‘Nothing like as good as this, though. Clerical assistant.’

  ‘What’ll you do if you’re offered it?’

  She grinned. ‘Well, I’d rather have too many offers than too few… I’ll worry about it if it happens. Oh,’ she said, ‘I know what I was going to ask you – does Hannah work there? At the hospital, I mean. Only, she said she saw me there last week…’

  ‘She’s a Health Visitor, so I suppose she would be there sometimes.’ He paused. ‘What time were you there?’

  ‘Around midday.’

  ‘She was probably visiting one of her patients. What time’s your interview tomorrow?’

  ‘Half nine. And then I’m meeting Ron at his place in the afternoon.’

  ‘Well, I wish you joy of that.’

  ‘Thanks,’ she said drily. ‘Anyway –’ She finished her coffee – ‘I’d better be going. Thanks for fixing this up, Craig –’ spoken this time with more sincerity.

  ‘My pleasure.’ He finished his own coffee. ‘And I’d better get back before Tina throws a wobbly.’ He stood up. ‘Tell me what happens tomorrow, won’t you? And I’ll let you know if I hear anything here.’

  She nodded. ‘All right.’

  They walked to the door. ‘Can you find your way out?’

  ‘Sure – just down there, isn’t it? Thanks, Craig.’

  She smiled and walked away. She had the feeling he was watching her go, but didn’t turn round to check.

  *

  Back in the flat, she phoned Herry and asked if she could come to his office in the morning, to cover the time of her supposed interview, in case Hannah was there again. ‘We need to talk, anyway,’ she said.

  He agreed. He sounded rather subdued, she thought.

  Next, she tried ringing round the rest of the team. She only got through to two, and only one had made much progress. Dan in Plymouth had joined the BTA branch and been to a meeting. He gave her what names he could, but hadn’t made any solid contacts.

  ‘Not for lack of trying,’ he told her, ‘but all they’d offer me was helping out in the charity shop.’

  ‘Take it,’ she said.

  ‘Oh, I did, and had a good look round. Nothing there, so I’m going to phone the Membership Secretary tomorrow and ask if I can do any leafleting.’

  Josh in Bristol however, had, like her, managed to get onto the committee – in his case of the Anti-Slavery League. He gave her all their names and those of the other members he’d spoken to.

  ‘I have to say they seem a pretty harmless bunch,’ he said. ‘Complete fruitcakes, most of them, but in a nice kind of way.’

  She told him to keep digging, then, after ringing off, compared the names to Herry’s list. No matches.

  Her phone went and she thought it must be one of the people she’d been trying to phone, but to her surprise, it was Marc.

  ‘We were wondering if you’d like to come and have dinner with us,’ he said, ‘on Saturday. Sorry about the short notice.’

  ‘That’s very kind of you,’ she said. ‘I’d love to. Is it just the three of us?’

  ‘Four – Craig’s coming.’

  Aha… To react or not to react? She wanted to go, must go, but her persona would say something, wouldn’t she?

  ‘That’s very nice,’ she said slowly… ‘It’s not a set-up, is it?’ ‘Course it is… ‘Because I’m not sure I’m in the mood just now…’

  Marc laughed. ‘Of course not. We wanted to welcome you, four’s a better number than three and Craig’s my closest friend on the committee.’

  ‘Then I’d love to come,’ she said. ‘Sorry to sound suspicious, but… you know…’

  He assured her that he did know, and they fixed a time.

  She put the phone down, made herself a coffee and thought about it...

  Had Craig asked Marc to set it up? She was sure she’d felt coming-on vibes from him the last couple of times they’d met – although he wouldn’t be so crass as to expect a payback for trying to get her a job, would he? She didn’t think so.

  Maybe Marc was behind it – she’d seen for herself what a slick operator he was… Or maybe Hannah had floated the idea to Marc because she wanted a better look at her, after all, it had been she who’d been the most suspicious and hostile…

  Did she really think it was Hannah? She was very committed, both to BTA, and some kind of link-up with Open Door… How did that fit in… ?

  Or could it be Craig, pretending to come on to her because he wanted to keep tabs on her… too far-fetched?

  Maybe, but it did beg another question – what was she going to do if Craig did try to take it further, asked her into his house, for instance? Well, she wouldn’t go, her recent unhappy break-up would provide cover for that – although she didn’t want to put him off altogether. No, keep him interested, see what emerged from this dinner…

  She gave it up and went out to get a few things from the mini-market, then tried to phone the rest of her team again when she got back. This time she had better luck. And so had they…

  Mike in Gloucester had got himself onto the BTA branch committee, while Stella in Bristol had been asked out, by one of the BTA committee, no less. Not entirely surprising, since she was a BEBAG (Blue Eyes Blonde And Gorgeous). She’d accepted, and her new beau had been most forthcoming about his fellow members. Apparently, one of them, who’d always been outspoken about Britain’s responsibility to Africa, had become withdrawn and ‘a bit funny’ lately. Rebecca told her to follow it up for all she was worth, and liaise with Josh.

  Greg, who was trying to penetrate Open Door in Bath was not having much luck, although he had managed to get some names. Penetrate was perhaps an unfortunate word, since the entire committee of Open Door was female, as was virtually all the membership. And as she thought about it, it had been Hannah, Sophie and Shirley who’d been so strongly for the link-up…

  It was too late to swap Greg and Stella, especially as Stella was doing so well in Bristol… maybe she could ask Brigg to send one of the other women down, Naomi, perhaps…

  Yeah, and Greg could make himself useful here checking the gardens and sheds she hadn’t got round to yet… she told him to come to Exeter while she arranged for Naomi to take his place.

  Then she compared all the names they’d given her with Herry’s list, and this time did get a hit – Mary Broomstock, an Open Door member, was also a virologist at the lab in Bath General Infirmary…

  She phoned Brigg.

  ‘I’ll get onto Naomi now,’ he said, ‘and she can contact Open Door this afternoon.’ He said he’d get back to her and rang off.

  She wondered if they should have realised that they were a female orientated group, but when she checked their website again, she could find no reference to it.

  But they’d have to have at least one male if they were involved – however bad the CCTV picture in the London post office had been, it was definitely a man. Unless he really was an innocent bystander…

  Brigg rang back and said Naomi was phoning Open Door now.

  ‘What’s your gut feeling about it?’ he asked.

  ‘I still think it’s here, although as I said before, it might be through a link-up with Open Door.’ She told him about the meeting last night.

  ‘If there were a link-up,’ Brigg said, ‘then the hidden lab could be anywhere…’

  ‘Why not in the one Broomstock’s working in?’

  ‘Why not indeed? You’d better get Dr Smith onto it.’

  ‘I
’m seeing him in the morning, is that soon enough?’

  ‘I think so, yes.’ He went on, ‘I’d also like to know how you think he’s coping…’ He’d told her about the recent putsch against Herry.

  ‘I haven’t seen him since Saturday,’ she said. ‘He did sound pretty fed up on the phone earlier, though.’

  Brigg said, ‘OK, tell him about Mary Broomstock and the Bath lab – but could you also assess how he is, whether he’s up to the job? I still think he’s the best person – this Wade-Stokes sounds a complete shit –’

  ‘Not to mention his father-in-law,’ Rebecca interrupted, ‘Herry’s, I mean.’

  ‘If it was him behind it, we don’t know that. The thing is, Rebecca, we can’t risk him going flaky on us if there is an outbreak. If that’s at all likely, it might be better to change horses now rather than later. That’s what I want you to assess.’

  ‘I’m not sure I’m the best person…’

  ‘You’re the person on the spot.’

  Chapter 15

  Herry was waiting for her in reception the next morning and took her to his office. He did look strained, she thought.

  ‘Is Tim around?’ she asked. ‘We need him for this.’

  Herry called him in. They hadn’t actually met before, so Herry introduced them, then they sat down and she told them about Mary Broomstock and Open Door – ‘Can you go up to Bath tomorrow and check it out?’

  ‘What, both of us?’ Herry asked.

  Tim said, ‘I did do all the other labs on my own.’

  ‘Those were Uni. labs and you were checking them for security. Here, we’ve got a virology lab and a specific suspect. I want to know if the virus could be grown there – equipment and security wise – whether she could do it, and whether you think she is. That’ll need both –’

  ‘How’re we supposed to do that?’ Herry interrupted.

  ‘Do a Health and Safety check like before, ask her about her work, put her under a bit of pressure and see how she reacts. Just your impressions, that’s all I’m asking for.’