Lie of the Land Read Online Free PDF

studied the crease in his trousers.
    A few workspaces away, Caroline looked up from her invoices.
    â€˜Guy’s a prick,’ she called.
    Carl smiled, chewing his lip.
    â€˜Efforts to explore,’ he muttered, drumming his fingers on the desk. He looked up at Eric, ‘And what did the board say when you told them?’
    Eric stiffened. ‘I haven’t told the trustees yet.’
    â€˜Hang on,’ said Carl. ‘How will the Emergency Authority know if the calibration issues on CivCon’s new toy have been sorted?’
    Eric shrugged, lowered his voice. ‘Nigel . . . um, we didn’t go into that kind of detail.’
    â€˜Nice one,’ said Carl. He could see Eric trying not to look at the screen, at the image of a twelve-year-old girl with cheese on toast where the right side of her face should be.
    â€˜I’ll tell the family,’ Carl said, looking at the photo. ‘They didn’t really want the exposure anyway.’
    â€˜Piss off,’ Eric grumbled, with no real venom. He glanced over at Caroline, lowering his voice. ‘Do you fancy dinner tonight? Lesley’s cooking, she got hold of a real roast.’
    Carl raised his eyebrows. ‘Should I be worried? The last time you invited me round for dinner we sacked everyone and moved into this leaky shithole.’
    â€˜Nothing to worry about this time.’ Eric looked away. ‘Just thought you might fancy some decent food, that’s all.’
    â€˜What time?’
    â€˜Lesley said seven. That okay?’
    â€˜Fine by me. I’ll try and get hold of something drinkable.’
    Eric nodded and closed his office door. The need for privacy always meant a heated discussion with the board or the Press Liaison Committee was in the offing. Eric was up to something.
    Carl studied the week’s food briefing from the Emergency Authority. He’d introduce some coded ambiguity to leaven the official bullshit. There would be a place within the text where a mote of truth in heavy disguise could be inserted.
    His screen flashed. Carl opened the mail.
    It was Jeff from ScotNet, a low-level mole.
    The email read: ‘Hows trix? That gizmo you sent ovr ystrdy the custmr is a real screamr. Meet?’
    Time-check. The word ‘screamer’ meant a same-day meeting, 4 p.m. at the usual place. It also meant something big. He had two hours before he saw Jeff – the stupid prick. ‘That gizmo you sent over yesterday.’ Carl shook his head. Why even write that? Why give Sentinel anything to work with? Keep the exchange to a minimum, the bare bones, and don’t use any key words or phrases that might alert the system.
    Gizmo. For fuck’s sake. It was time to tell Eric.
    Carl opened a drawer and took out a postcard of a smiling cartoon Loch Ness Monster wearing a tartan hat. He rapped on Eric’s door and went in.
    â€˜I got this,’ Carl said, and handed the postcard to Eric.
    SCOPE
    Inverlair Hotel
    IV54
    Thursday
    There was no name or address.
    Eric handed back the postcard. ‘This a joke?’
    Carl shook his head. ‘The card came in an envelope with some kind of chipset. I’m meeting someone from ScotNet at four – an IT guy. He’s gonna give me the lowdown on it, thinks it’s something big, something that might be part of an upgraded version of SCOPE. He couldn’t tell me much more on the phone, but we have this code word. Anyway, there’s a new hydroelectricity scheme being opened in the area – it’s in the Highlands – so I could kill two birds – an on-the-spot colour piece, lots of crunchy figures and a good news story for the Emergency Authority.’ Carl smiled. ‘They’ll like that. Then I’ll swing by Inverlair Hotel and have a word with Deep Throat, or whoever the contact is. And on the way back down to Glasgow I’ll swing by and have a look at the Ardmonie Yard – KBS are the new tenants there