Page 64 of Traitors Gate

‘But there’s still the problem of the password,’ Booth Watson reminded them. ‘Which even Warwick won’t know until the dice are thrown.’

Once again Harris was prepared. ‘They never told me the password until the last possible moment. However, one person who’s always among the first to be let in on the secret is the Resident Governor’s wife, because every morning she drives her two young children to the City of London school which is less than a mile away, and she wouldn’t be able to get back into the grounds if she didn’t know the password.’

‘That doesn’t solve the problem of how we find out what it is,’ said Miles.

‘For the past month,’ said Lamont, ‘one of my team has been working as a ticket collector on the main gate, so when the Governor’s wife leaves for the school run that morning, she’ll ask her if she knows what the password is. Thirty seconds later it will appear on my mobile.’

‘That’s hardly foolproof,’ said Miles. ‘Make sure we have a back-up plan in case something goes wrong on the day.’

‘Like what?’ asked Lamont.

‘The Governor’s wife just says yes when asked if she knows the password.’

Lamont accepted the rebuke and made a mental note thathe would have to speak to the girl again and make sure she had a back-up plan should that fail.

‘Who will be taking Inspector Hogan’s place as Warwick’s partner?’ asked Booth Watson, moving on. ‘Because it won’t be Hogan as, I can assure you, he’ll be otherwise engaged.’

‘Sergeant Paul Adaja would be my bet,’ said Lamont. ‘And don’t forget, it will also be his first outing. But I’ll get our man at St James’s Park station to brief me on who it is sitting next to Warwick the moment the police Land Rover leaves the Yard.’

‘Are all the other specialists now fully briefed and on board?’ was Faulkner’s next question.

‘Summers, Atkins and Ellwood, who all had to resign because of Warwick, were only too happy to act as our elite police outriders.’

‘How will they get hold of the three SEG motorbikes?’ asked Booth Watson.

‘I’ve arranged for them to go missing from a police depot in Wandsworth that morning. They’ll be returned the same afternoon,’ said Lamont. ‘The daily rental didn’t come cheap.’

‘Do they know why we need them?’ asked Booth Watson.

‘They didn’t ask.’

‘What about mothers and their prams?’ asked Miles.

‘Strollers, chief, are the latest thing. We’ll have three of them in place with mothers waiting to discover which route the Lord Chamberlain is taking, even though only one of them will be required on the day.’

‘And remember, no children; a breed we can’t control.’

‘Agreed,’ said Lamont.

‘Will we have a uniformed constable ready and waiting for Warwick when he’s about a mile away from the Tower?’

‘Already covered. I’ve hired an actor who thinks he’sauditioning for a commercial. I watched him performing his part the other day and he was word-perfect. What’s more, he only expects to be paid Equity rates.’

‘Make sure he doesn’t overact,’ said The Understudy, speaking for the first time.

‘May I ask why you have a Scottish accent?’ asked Miles.

‘The current Lord Chamberlain is the thirteenth Earl of Airlie, an hereditary Scottish peer with a distinctive Edinburgh twang. I’ve been working on it for the past month.’

Miles gave the man – whose real name he still didn’t know – a nod, the nearest he ever got to showing respect for anyone. He switched his attention back to Lamont. ‘Outriders, mechanics, number plates, strollers, taxi drivers and a lone uniformed constable. What have I missed?’

‘Pedestrians,’ said Lamont, ‘who will be standing at every crossing along the chosen route waiting to move.’

‘And what’s the point of them?’

‘Half a dozen members of my team will be posted at every zebra crossing along the way. The moment the Lord Chamberlain’s car comes into sight, they will take their time crossing the road. When we did a dry run last week, it gave us an extra four minutes and twenty-two seconds while they held up the traffic.’

‘They also serve who only stand and wait,’ remarked Booth Watson.

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