Gray Salvation by Alan McDermott Page B

minutes until the alarm on her phone told her it was three in the afternoon. Time to get up, shower and return to the office to resume the search for the man she loved.
    Half an hour later, she climbed into her car and stopped off at a garage on the way to top up with fuel and grab a couple of sandwiches to keep her going. She had no intention of leaving the office for at least the next twelve hours, longer if they found no leads.
    Thompson arrived at the office after four and was disappointed not to see a hive of activity. Her new teammates were sitting quietly, looking at satellite images and making notes.
    ‘Anything new?’ she asked Elaine Solomon.
    In response she got a look of utter sorrow and knew immediately that something had gone dreadfully wrong.
    ‘Ellis said to send you in as soon as you arrive,’ Solomon said, looking over to the boss’s office.
    ‘What is it?’ Thompson asked.
    ‘It’s best if Veronica explains.’
    Thompson strode over to the glass door and opened it. Ellis had seen her approach and was already walking around to the front of her desk.
    ‘Something’s wrong, isn’t it?’
    ‘Sit down, please.’
    ‘I prefer to stand,’ Thompson said, her hands on her hips. ‘Where’s Andrew?’
    ‘Tagrilistan.’
    Thompson walked unsteadily to the chair and flopped into it. ‘How the hell did he get there?’
    ‘We don’t know. Our focus right now is on getting him back.’
    Ellis picked up a remote control and played the video that Cooper had sent up that morning, now dubbed in English.
    ‘What did Milenko say?’ Thompson asked. ‘Is he going to trade?’
    ‘We’re still waiting to hear,’ Ellis said. ‘I was told—’
    Ellis’s mobile phone chirped, and after checking the caller ID, she put a hand up and pressed the Connect button.
    Thompson watched on, ears straining to hear the incoming voice, but Ellis was already walking back to her side of the desk.
    ‘Okay, I understand,’ Ellis said. ‘What about a military response? My people have found three possible—’
    Thompson was desperate to know what was being said. Ellis’s face didn’t exactly convey optimism, and seeing her cut off suggested it wasn’t an argument she was winning. A sense of dread began to overwhelm her.
    Ellis listened a little longer, then snapped off the phone and threw it on the desk.
    ‘That was the home secretary. Milenko won’t trade,’ Ellis said. ‘He flat-out refuses to negotiate. The PM summoned the Russian ambassador to Downing Street and warned him of the consequences if anything happened to Andrew, but he just reiterated the usual line about Moscow having no control or interaction with the rebels.’
    ‘They’re arming them, for God’s sake! Everyone on the planet knows that!’
    ‘I realise that,’ Ellis said, ‘but that’s their stance and they’re not budging.’
    ‘So what about sending a team in to get Andrew back? Did he at least agree to that?’
    ‘Military intervention has been ruled out.’ Ellis sighed. ‘They fear Russia will respond by mounting a full invasion and things could quickly escalate into all-out war.’
    Tears welled in Thompson’s eyes. ‘So we just let him die? Our government has abandoned him and we’re supposed to just sit and wait for confirmation of his death? Is that it?’
    Ellis stared at her for a few moments, and Sarah spotted rare signs of anger creep onto the director general’s face.
    ‘The hell it is,’ Ellis said, and picked up her desk phone.

Chapter 14
    22 January 2016
    Richard Notley swiped his Oyster card against the terminal and took a seat at the rear of the bus. He dug out his phone and checked his emails, then went to the BBC News website to see what had been happening to the world while he’d toiled for eight hours at the office.
    Fresh fighting in Tagrilistan stole the headlines, with another strike planned by the fire brigade over pay and pensions. He selected the politics section, where the latest figures showed that