The Samsara Project by David Burgess (ebook reader screen .txt) 📖

said John, “see you soon.”
John went straight back to his car, put the samples back in the boot and then making sure he had the results safely in his pocket headed back to London.
 
Chapter 9

John’s mind was full of all sorts of possibilities as he was driving back to London and he was finding it difficult to concentrate on driving. If John had been giving his driving the usual full attention he may have noticed the green Vauxhall Astra that had been following him ever since he left the Liverpool University School of Forensic and Scientific Medicine. The tail was not obvious; they were far too well trained and professional to allow that. They sat three of four cars back from the Jaguar but always keeping him in visual range.
The HSS agents had arrived in the University School car park twenty minutes before John had left. In the first instance their orders were to keep the car and target under observation and wait for further instructions. At fifty five minutes into the journey the HSS agents received a call on the secure, portable satellite phones. The stakes had now just been raised. The three men and one woman in the car were given new orders. The surveillance on the target had been upgraded to Code Orange. Visual observation was no longer good enough; from now on they would also use electronic tracking. HSS were not taking any chances that John may slip away from them.
The agents had no idea who John Reynolds was or why he had been assigned as their target. They did not need to know and, to them, it made no difference. They had been given their assignment and would carry it through regardless. As soon as the surveillance upgrade had been authorised, agent three, punched John’s car registration number into their PDA. In less than three seconds John’s life was on the screen. Electronic cross checking via GCHQ databases has brought up John’s address; land line and mobile numbers, also available to the agents were his ISP account details including every web site he had visited over the past three years; his e-Mail address and password; all contact details regarding work, all foreign travel within the past five years, banking and credit card details were also available, if required along with a list of his fifty most frequently dialled numbers over the past two years. Agent three updated the others.
John felt the start of a headache coming on so decided to stop at the next service station. He was feeling slightly hungry anyway so the combination of food, a hot drink and time to clear his head should do the trick. Six minutes late John turned off into Keel Services, parked up the Jaguar and went inside. Less than fifteen seconds later the green Astra also parked up.
John ordered a steak pie, chips, peas, gravy and a large coffee. He paid for his food, picked a seat overlooking the motorway and started to eat. Watching him from the door agent two activated the microphone on her miniature digital radio. “Agent two, target in sight, you’re clear.”
Agent one acknowledged by clicking his microphone twice. He turned to agent four in the rear of the Astra. “You’re cleared, go”
Agent four got out of the Astra, made a quick visual scan of the area then walked towards the Jaguar, when he had almost reached the car he stopped and started to make out he had dropped some money on the ground. He got down on his hands and knees and looked under the car next to the Jaguar. Not finding anything he then looked under the John’s car. He then lay on the ground, his head and arms underneath the boot. Agent four then secured a miniature tracking device in place. Making out he could not reach what he was looking for he then went to the drivers’ side of the car, crawled underneath again and fixed a second device directly under the driver’s seat. This device would enable the agents to listen to every conversation inside the car providing they were within a half mile radius. Happy with his work agent four went back to the Astra. Agent one then called agent three, “Clear, RTU.”
Agent three returned to the Astra where they sat and waited.
The tracking device fitted to the underside of John’s X-Type was a very small military specification GPS locator and transmitter. The unit was self contained and was powered by a sophisticated lithium ion battery that would only need to be changed every two months. In order to extend the battery life the unit was motion sensitive. If the car remained stationary for more than fifteen minutes it would automatically go into ‘nap’ mode. This meant only one location signals per minute would be transmitted until the car started to move and ‘wake up’ the device. With the GPS in place the squad of HSS agents could stay further back than they had. Visual contact with their target was no longer essential. The technology would take care of that for them.
John was completely unaware that he was now officially listed as an HSS target. He had no idea at all that he was being followed or that his car had been bugged, not once but twice. Once John had been confirmed as a target the agency acted quickly and expertly. As soon as his mobile network and number had been confirmed, a signal was sent to his handset to activate the built in GPS locator. It is not generally known but all mobile phones are fitted with GPS locators. This is what the police and other emergency services use to pin point the position of an emergency call when made from a mobile. The AA and RAC use a civilian version of the technology to locate drivers of cars that have broken down ‘in the middle of nowhere’ and the driver has no idea of their location. The two technologies are very similar and the only real difference is the accuracy of the location. One square foot for the emergency services, six square feet for civilians. So long as John has his mobile switched on his was whereabouts were traceable and logged. If need be a printout of every step he made during any given twenty four hour period could be printed out after a few keystrokes.
Outside John’s house in London HSS agents, disguised as BT engineers, placed an electronic tap on his phone line. This would also give the agency piggy back access to John’s Internet activity. A keystroke logger ensured that all of his usernames and passwords were no longer as secure as he would have wanted. Minute laser voice transmitters were hidden in both his front and back garden. These devises, about the size of a matchbox shone an ultra violet laser beam on the house windows. Any speech inside the house would make the window act as a microphone. Minute vibrations would be detected by the lasers, encoded then broadcast to a van parked five hundred yards down the road. Here the signal would be de-coded and recorded onto a computer hard disc.
HSS agents were busy that night as John was not the only person who was getting their full attention. Unbeknown to him, Pat, was also now an official HSS target and until deemed otherwise, by people Pat would never know or see, he would no longer be able to live without his every movement and every word being logged and recorded.

* * * *

Approximately one hour from home John called Pat on his car phone, after three rings Pat answered, “John, I’ve been waiting for your call. How was your trip? Worthwhile I hope?”
“Depends on what you think of as successful Pat, I can’t figure out if I’ve got good or bad news for you.”
“Why not let me be the judge of that then, John. You know I’ve been waiting since yesterday for this call, just put me out of my misery.”
“No misery Pat, the samples came back as a perfect match. As close a match as two samples can be.”
Pat was elated, “We were right then John, my boy. By God, we were right. We’re not cracking up yet then.”
“We need to talk Pat, and not over the phone. I’ll give you a call in the morning and we’ll meet up later tomorrow.”
“Any ideas what we do now?” asked Pat.
“That’s something we need to talk about. We can’t keep this to ourselves but I’m not sure how we can possibly go to the police to tell them they have a hundred and fifty year old plus serial killer on the loose.”
“Just now John, I have no idea either. But the truth is there is. Leave it with me, I’ll sleep on it.”
”OK Pat, see you tomorrow.”
“John,”
“Yes Pat,”
“You know we might just have created some form of criminal history. In the future students could write their dissertations on how we solved this case.”
“Let’s solve it first then Pat, then we’ll see.”
“Drive safely John, see you tomorrow.”
“I will Pat, till tomorrow.”
John ended the call. For the first time since hearing the test results John managed a smile as he recalled what Pat had just said, “In the future students could write their dissertations on how we solved this case.” That would be something.
As soon had John had activated his car phone a transmitting warning light had glowed red in the HSS Vauxhall Astra following half a mile behind. Agent two, who was sat in the back of the car, placed his finger on the ‘record’ icon on the PDA’s five inch touch screen. Agent two was listening to the conversation via a Bluetooth earpiece, at the same time; the PDA captured and stored the entire conversation.
John arrived home feeling tired and in need of a long hot shower. He noticed the ‘calls received’ light was blinking on his answering machine but decided to leave listening to his messages until later. He went into the kitchen and made a strong cup of his favourite coffee. Sitting down in the living room he took out his mobile, selected ‘new message’ from the menu options and wrote a text to Tracy, ‘Hi Tracy, just got back. Are you free tomorrow evening? Pick you up at seven. John.’ He pressed send on his phone. Almost instantly two phones beeped indicating an inbound message had been received. Tracy picked up her phone, read the message and replied ‘Glad you’re back, I have cleared my diary for tomorrow night can’t wait to see you. Seven will be fine. Tracy’. She then pressed send as for no apparent reason her heart rate increased and her stomach felt a little strange.

* * * *

Agent two read out aloud John’s text, “Looks like he’s after a date for tomorrow night.” His PDA beeped a second time. “He’s going.”
“Anyone we know?” asked agent one.
“We have the number but it’s very low down on the frequency called list. Maybe he’s only just met her.”
“Agent four looks like you and I are going out for a nice romantic evening tomorrow. Wear something nice.”
“My, you certainly know how to sweep a girl off her feet.”
As far as most people in the country, and ninety nine percent of MP’s the HSS agency did not exist. It was an ‘above top secret’ organisation whose main function was to protect the institution of the ‘Government and the Monarchy’. They ensured that any threat, real or perceived against any member of HM Government or the Royal Family was investigated and, if required, dealt with pro-actively and not, as was the usual case re-actively. Whether they like the