Chapter 15
“Did your men find the crystal?”
“Unfortunately, Lord Tisch… It seems to have already been removed from the Warrens Family’s possession.”
“My dear Secretary, you do realize how important that crystal is my new operation? If you ever want to climb that last rung of the ladder to Number 10… You’re going to have to work a little harder, my friend.”
“It was removed by SHIELD, my lord. They have it. The Warren family’s eldest grandchild, the American, is a SHIELD agent.”
“Well, that complicates things.” Tisch told him. “did you know that the Inhuman agent you borrowed from MI-6 just so happens to be related to the American?”
“No…, my Lord, I was unaware.”
“Pity… you could have used him to our advantage.”
“I was going to try to recruit him to the security service, but the Foreign Secretary has taken a shine to him and won’t let him go. I’m also aware that SHIELD has a ‘Take first, questions never’ policy when it comes to the items they confiscate.”
“The crystal was in the hands of a British subject…”
“and taken with his permission by a family member. My Lord, maybe if you spin whatever your plans are in a positive light… maybe they’ll just give you one.”
Tisch just gave the other man a look.
“Yes, I should have realized what I was saying before I said it.”
“This was so much easier when Wandsworth was still around.” Tisch said, wistfully “Him and that daughter of his made for a one stop shop for people like me. I had five of those crystals on order and then they both go dark, leaving me out a half million Pound down payment.”
“Baron Wandsworth? The former MI-6 executive member?”
“Of course. They were ‘R1’, the arms merchants, didn’t you know that?”
“No, my Lord.”
“Remind me, Fredrick,” Tisch said, with resting his hand near his face “how long have you been Home Secretary?”
“Eighteen months… Since the last major shuffle.”
“And in that time have you read a single one of the Black Papers?”
“The… what?”
“Are you telling me you’ve had this job for over a year and don’t know what a Black Paper is?”
The other man shifted in his seat.
“Fred, you’re an idiot.” Tisch groaned “Go back to your office, pick up your desk phone… and hold on, I’ll do you a favor.”
Tisch pulled out a pad of paper and wrote it down.
“Hold down the star button on the phone and enter this number. Tell the person who answers you want to see every Black Paper you are cleared to read.”