Tammy:Deathtrap - Part 1 "Plausible Deniability"

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Part
 
One

 

"Plausible Deniability"

 

 
Friday 28th October 2016
 

"Ah, Miss Smart, please take a seat."

It was nearing lunchtime when Tammy was called into see Donald Templeton, lecturer in criminology at the University of the Highlands & Islands to receive her first assessment.

"I see you seem to have no difficulty with most of the work but it's the sections dealing with legislation that have caused you trouble?"

"Yes, it might be because I was working under English law."

"Scottish Law is not that different, Miss Smart."

"Even so, enough to throw me occasionally."

"I wish it were that easy, but you advocated ignoring the statutes entirely in one seminar. Care to explain?"

"At times the law is an ass, Sir."

"I quite agree, but that doesn't mean we can kick it out of the way whenever we don't like it?"

Tammy held her tongue, the seminar in question had been an open forum for new ideas around murder cases. She had got carried away, but was this fair?

"Your student record states that you did six months as an intern with the Met Police in London?"

"Yes."

"Can you elaborate?"

"Sorry, no."

"National Security?"

"Yes, it's a catch-all but it's true."

"That's hard to believe, you only finished sixth form last summer and yet you seem to have a good working knowledge of the inquest system in Scotland, you understand how the police operate both here and in England, you understand the links between agencies and your geographical knowledge of the Highlands is superb. How come?"

"I had a wonderful range of experiences, none of which I can recount unfortunately."

"I was concerned that your references were false so I took the liberty of calling New Scotland Yard and speaking to the DI who wrote a letter of support."

"Kevin?"

"Yes, DI Edmunds confirmed you worked with him, and told me that your actions have saved the lives of many, but wouldn't explain himself. I did, however, learn that he's in Counter Terrorism, so that alone would justify your reticence."

"It would, Sir."

"So I established. Now, Miss Smart, please don't think I was being critical, but I needed to be sure. Try not to give any of the tutors a heart attack by suggesting non-legal approaches."

"I won't, they don't need to know what you've learned, do they?"

"Not unless it affects your work. Good day."

Tammy sat in her car for a few minutes before she finally pulled onto the road, wondering what that had been about? Was he fishing for information or was he trying to mark his position above her - a statement that he's in charge. Had Kevin really told him anything, or had he guessed?

By the time she pulled into the paddock at home she had written a contact report in her head, ten minutes later she faxed a handwritten report to Kevin's office.

She hadn't heard from Kevin, or her MI5 boss Jenny Osborne, for a few weeks and was in no hurry to rejoin the usual melée of intelligence matters in London but knew that she had an obligation to report anything out of the ordinary.

The house was deserted, so Tammy made herself a sandwich and took it up to her room. Her intention, after lunch, had been to do some reading but she instead fell asleep.

"Tammy?"

"Err, yes Pru?"

"There was a call for you, can you ring Suzie?"

"Okay, did she say where she was?"

"She called on the secure phone so I guess she's still at work."

Tammy took a look in the mirror and didn't like the wreck looking back. She dived into the shower and arrived in the study twenty minutes later clad in joggers, her hair in a towel.

"Hi Sis, what's up?"

"Your contact report, Kevin's not happy and Jenny's just plain angry."

"What? Hang on, did I do something wrong?"

"No, it's just that Kevin did not have a telephone conversation with the guy, who just happens to be a class one Marxist with suspected Russian links."

"Oh."

"Oh, indeed. Jenny wants you debriefed but I said you couldn't spare the time to come South."

"There's no classes next week, it's half-term."

"Well most of England is on half-term this week so I suggest you don't say that Scotland's different."

"Yeah."

"Look, when she's calmed down you can expect a phone call, can you put your office mobile on charge and turn it on?"

"Okay, I'm not going to have to finish my course, am I?"

"No-one's said that."

"Good, I was enjoying it."

"Look, Jenny's just passed me a note. Can you go back to your report and write a more detailed piece on any contact you've had with Donald Templeton? Upload it marked for Jenny; she'll decide who sees it."

"When does she want this?"

"Probably an hour ago."

"Thanks. Look, Suzie, I shredded my original report, can you email me a copy?"

"Sure, Sis."

Tammy went back up to her room and into the back of a wardrobe where she found the steel box that had previously lived at her London apartment. It was bolted to the floor and difficult to access, given how full the rails were of long frocks. Tammy dialled the combination, remembering that she was supposed to change it by the end of the month.

Inside was her office laptop plus her firearms and a smaller container with spare ammunition. It was better that she was responsible for her own items, Joan knew the box was here but not its' contents. The previous arrangement, where Tammy had used the office safe, was not appropriate in the long term.

Of course the laptop battery was flat and numerous updates had to happen before it was usable. That gave enough time for Tammy to clean and oil her weapons, change the box's combination, dry her hair, switch on her official mobile and finally take a drink from the little fridge in her room.

The promised email was there as well as a message from Jenny formally asking for a detailed summary of all contact between Tammy and Donald Templeton, along with hundreds of 'team', policy and informational emails that she was supposed to read.

Tammy sipped her tea as she considered her recollections; she'd only met the guy a few times and one of those was in a lecture theatre - him at the front and her at the back. The other time had been in the first week of her course, four weeks earlier, when he'd individually spoken to each student. Tammy struggled to remember what he'd said, and whether she'd been treated differently to the other students, but there was nothing.

Half an hour later she'd written five hundred words but there was little additional content compared to her handwritten report of a few hours earlier, even it did look better. She uploaded it, marked it for Jenny and sent it on its way. A minute later the system acknowledged that Jennifer Osborne had seen and approved the report, Tammy waited a few more minutes but nothing else happened.

She left the laptop charging, albeit switched off, and went downstairs in search of coffee.

 
Saturday 29th October 2016
 

"Good morning everyone."

Tammy surveyed the five actors, plus a number of understudies who had joined the theatre company a week earlier. The understudies were still using scripts but the five main actors for Deathtrap were now off script.

This was the B Cast, on Wednesday Tammy had spent a few hours with the A Cast and the same understudies. The play was booked for seven performances so far, originally starting on Thursday 8th December but she'd been asked to bring it forward a week to the first, fortunately none of the publicity had gone out.

"As you'll know, we have lost a week, I think the Pantomime stage crew need more time to prepare this year, so we start on December 1st with a press night. There's a schools performance on Friday afternoon followed by a Friday evening performance. There's also two shows on each of the weekend days."

"What about our scenery?"

"There's only one set and I'm told that's in hand, I believe the college is helping? Right, from the top?"

The rehearsal went well and very soon they would have to move to dress rehearsals. Tammy did wonder about getting a vocal coach in, given that the play was set in New York, but realised this would only further complicate the production.

Tammy just made it out of the stage door, locking it behind hr when her official mobile rang.

"Hello?"

"It's Dave, where are you, Tammy?"

"Oh, your name didn't come up?"

"It's a new phone number, where are you?"

"Mill Theatre carpark, in Thurso."

"Right, can I see you at Miss McPherson's house, I'm staying there tonight?"

"Sure, when?"

"As soon as possible, I'll organise some lunch for you."

This was her first call on her official mobile for a month, Jenny hadn't called back the day before but Tammy had carried the phone today as a precaution.

She parked around the back of the McPherson house and entered the building through the rear door, although Thomas was waiting there for her. "Can I take your jacket, Miss Smart? Mr Brown is waiting in the study."

"Thank you Thomas."

Dave Brown was sat in one of the armchairs, he indicated to Tammy she should sit in the other after closing the door. A tray with a cafetière, two china cups and a cream jug was sat on the low table between the chairs.

"Coffee?"

"Of course." Dave poured and Tammy made herself comfortable. Once they had both managed a sip of the stuff, Dave made it clear why he was there.

"To put it bluntly Tammy, it was either a lucky guess, heavy research or, worst case, the result of a leak."

"And Kevin's certain he didn't get a phone call?"

"Absolutely. His letter of reference was sent via the HR unit and had their phone number on it. There was no mention of the unit he worked for or any other information that might link you to Counter Terrorism or an Intelligence role."

"I see."

"Now, take me back to when you met him first."

"It was very brief, he did a welcome to all twenty of us and then went around the room and shook each of our hands."

"Did he say anything, ask anything?"

"Not that I recall, although everyone was giving their names so I did likewise."

"Okay, when did you see him next?"

"I've passed him in the corridors a few times, but it was two weeks later when I attended a lecture on financial crime which he gave for all 4 years of my course. He asked a question about pecuniary advantage and I was the only one to give a full answer."

"Did he address you directly?"

"Only to confirm I had the correct answer."

"When was the next time you saw him?"

"Yesterday morning when he gave everyone their end of module assessment, I hadn't even seen him in the corridors for the previous week."

"So how did yesterday go?"

"I was almost the last one to be called in and he hadn't spoken to me before I went into his office. He handed me my assessment sheet and that's when he commented on my apparent disregard for legislation."

"So I read, how verbatim was your original contact report?"

"Word for word, Dave, I wrote it barely fifteen minutes after that conversation."

"Good, because semantics might be important, whether he stated he knew some information about you, or whether he hinted and you filled in the blanks."

"I see, but my report was accurate."

"In which case you did fill in a blank, supply information he possibly didn't already have; that was unfortunate."

"I did?"

"The reference letter was from DI K. Edmunds. You supplied that his name was Kevin."

"Damn."

"Look, you should have been given a full briefing before you started that course, but you were signed off sick at the time. What you needed to know was how to swerve questions, plausible deniability if you wish."

"That would have been useful, but I guess my sabbatical happened too quickly for the usual planning?"

"Indeed, we'll have time later today, unless you had something else in mind?"

"No, although I was going to see Sarah. Now, what about Templeton?"

"I'm afraid you're going to need to go to his room as soon as possible."

"Bug?"

"Yes, you have the access."

"I'll have to come up with a good reason."

"You'll manage."

"Do you think he has any link to Martin Gore?"

"That has been considered, we're checking who has visited Gore in prison. They did both work at the University though."

"True, where is Gore?"

"HMP Addiewell, south of Edinburgh but I understand there are plans to move him to Belmarsh."

"That's in London, isn't it? When is he due for trial?"

"Next year, but there's no date yet."

"I'm not looking forward to that trial."

"I don't suppose you are, I suspect he has every intention of exposing you to the public."

"No!"

"That's a risk, Tammy, for anyone involved in intelligence."

"But me?"

"For everyone. Look, your managers will do their best to manage the situation, not that we know how it's going to play out yet. We still have more questions than answers."

"Oh, by the way, I've tried googling myself and some things are no longer available online."

"You can thank your sister for pointing out the news reports that might cause you trouble."

"I see."

There was a knock on the study door. "I think, Tammy, that's our call for lunch."

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Comments

Welcome back!

It's good to see the next adventure or our heroine, Tammy. I'm looking forward to this serial.

Red MacDonald

*DIVES*

Alecia Snowfall's picture

*Dives down the Scottish rabbit hole* NEW TAMMY! WOOOHOOOOO!

quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall

Tammy's Back, Let the Mayhem Commence!

Scotland has to have been a dull place while Tammy's been at Uni.
Thanks Shiraz for bringing our favourite Scottish lass back.

Best wishes & happy Christmas to you and your lass.
Sophie

Good To See Tammy Again

joannebarbarella's picture

And already up to her eyeballs in potential skulduggery. She's definitely a trouble magnet.

yay! Tammy's back!

(does a happy dance)

DogSig.png

Really good to see Tammy back

Really good to see Tammy back in action, however I am faulting the Agency for using her for missions, without fully training her in advance. She has had several times where she has given information without realizing it and now once more again. This is a mistake that could very easily cause her serious harm or god forbid get her or another with her very dead. I foresee her becoming an excellent Agent, however full training is required for her to become such.

TAMMY'S BACK!!!

My5InchFMHeels's picture

I guess Thurso's no longer safe!?

New Tammy, yay!

I seem to have missed the ending of the previous Tammy ...

Tammy! Tammy! Tammy!

I have only just got over my withdrawal from binge reading all the Tammy books earlier in the year. Now I get to go though it all again on an episode by episode basis. Am I happy? You can bet I am........Will

Yay! Tammy is back.

WillowD's picture

When I first stumbled across a Tammy story I went and read pretty well every thing written in Tammyverse, plus most everything else written by these three great authors. I was binge reading for weeks. I am absolutely ecstatic that Shiraz has started another Tammy story as she is my favourite character in this universe. Thank you Shiraz.

Welcome back Shiraz

Podracer's picture

I see that Miss Smart has found a potential villain to trip over. He seems dark and cunning, if so he should have researched Tammy's past record and realised that she is no innocent, helpless teen. A certain arrogance then, to take her on and assume his interrogation was safe and unquestioned. Even if he managed to pry successfully on this occasion.

"Reach for the sun."

Kevin ...

Mouth before mind again ... loose tongues cost lives and all that ... then again, Tammy is what - 19?
A grizzled and scarred veteran of shitstorm a plenty, true, but still a foolish kid ...

Tammy's age

shiraz's picture

She was 20 last birthday (1st September)

Shiraz

- - - -

Paperback cover Boat That Frocked.png

20 going 21

Thanks!

Speaking of age ...

Shouldn't Angela be looking towards the snippy?
Angela began "living the dream" some two years previously, no?

I missed it!

Just caught up with our girl Tammy - great is all I can say, that University is a hotbed of crime and political activists! wondering when our own reds in the bed will feature?(comedy Corbyn and Mcdonald) Nobody got shot, that's unusual, giggle

Huzzah you’re back with

Huzzah you’re back with another great episode of our favorite Young secret agent i wonder what missadventures will Tammy find in this installment I can’t wait

Knowledge helps prevent trouble

Jamie Lee's picture

Over time Tammy has had training in some things but not others. So if she gives away information without knowing so, then blame falls on her handlers and the company.

Being outed at trial will mean the end of her usefulness to the company, unless she stays strictly behind the scenes.

Needing someone on an important mission does not include an agent not fully trained, and with field experience. Not only does this put the team in danger but increases the likely hood of the company being exposed.

Others have feelings too.

Another course, another suspect lecturer...

Never mind not briefing Tammy on OpSec, you would have thought they'd have vetted the staff on her course before agreeing to sponsor it. While "Kevin" was potentially a slip, given Donald already knew his surname and area of expertise, it wouldn't have been hard to research him in more detail.

Hopefully, this time they'll be better prepared for handling the new case and won't let it deteriorate to the levels of Martin Gore...


As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!