by Roger Pearce
And it named names, identifying Theo Canning as the agent Harold, the rapist who had made everything possible, and exposing Claire Grant as the government traitor addicted to sex and protector of Ahmed Jibril. Finally, it laid out the abuse of the girls smuggled into London by Canning’s corrupt police officer. Attached to the main document were the dreadful photographs and video.
They absorbed the content in less than five minutes.
‘Looks good to me,’ said Langton.
‘What do we do with it?’ said Melanie.
Fargo gestured them to his workstation. They huddled behind him and saw that the report was attached to an email ready to go. The title read: ‘Blackmail, Terrorism and Betrayal: Moscow and the Great British Cover-up’.
‘We blow this thing sky high,’ said Fargo slowly. ‘Provided we all agree?’
‘You’re sure this is untraceable?’ asked Langton, when he saw the recipient address.
‘Everything sender protected.’
‘What would John want us to do?’ asked Langton, speaking their minds.
‘He’d want us to add a sign-off,’ said Melanie.
‘Fair enough.’ Fargo opened the document again and scrolled to the last page of text. ‘Go.’
‘For Joe, a loyal friend who loved his country,’ said Melanie. ‘And Kestrel, who led us to the truth. In memoriam.’
‘Check.’
When he had finished, Fargo swung round in his chair to look them in the eye. ‘You sure?’
He was going to ask each of them by name, as if taking a vote, but the voices came in unison: ‘Send it.’
In Sydney, Australia, Toni Miller, chief investigative reporter of the illustrious Sydney Morning Herald, saw the envelope pop up on her screen as she sat down with her coffee. She skimmed the text with growing astonishment, then opened the video of Theo Canning raping Tania. She grabbed the phone and dialled without taking her eyes from the screen.
‘Harry? You need to get down here now.’
