God's Crusade

Part Thirty-One

"Christopher, good of you to come so far to see me," Kieran Radcliffe held out his hand to his guest, smiling warmly, and Chris Slade was flattered, as always. He felt appreciated, and included, and the trip to London was no particular hardship. His father needed to visit the old house in Reigate, and oversee the packing of his belongings for the move to Meadvale, which they could do on the way back, and Miss Scott was more than happy to visit with Mrs Munroe, along with Hermione. It had turned into something of a family outing. His father was getting a tour of Downing Street as the Prime Minister spoke.

"Good to see you to, sir."

"I hear you are well settled in Meadvale...although I was sorry to hear the news about your mother?"

"She had reached her time...it was more of a blessing in the end...but we are very happy in Meadvale. I am very grateful for everything you and Mr Munroe have done for me." Chris replied, taking his seat, all smiles.

"Oh the arrangement is mutually beneficial...I am afraid that our computer expertise was sadly lacking before your arrival and I am very grateful for the work you are doing for me Christopher...away from the madding crowd as it were."

"Special projects..." Slade said modestly but the truth was that he was not that special. He had to think that there were British kids studying the sort of things he knew. But he was a known quantity, a man with an edge, even a grudge. And he dimly recognised that his new employers recognised and appreciated that quality. He also knew how things worked in the States, in Silicon Valley, and that did give him an advantage. He had left his scruples in the cloakroom decades ago.

"Special projects indeed...and that is what I wanted to see you about, Christopher." Kieran grinned again, before ploughing ahead, reasonably confident that he had the right man in Slade. In truth, the British counter intelligence resource was not as backward as he made out but it was also an arm of the state. Christopher Slade's rather smaller operation was an arm of the party and most specifically Kieran Radcliffe and Alistair Forbes, although Peter Munroe held the ultimate responsibility for it, an unholy alliance in some respects but a necessary one. Slade could look at smaller, more specific issues in a more proactive way than GCHQ ever could, and keep it all rather more private. "I need you to look at these eight people for me. I want to know everything there is to know about them, big or small, interesting or mundane. Especially the man at the top of the list...Robin Sullivan...I need to know if he washes after he defecates, if you know what I mean...leave no stone left unturned?"

Robin Sullivan was the biggest threat, Radcliffe believed, after taking soundings within the party. That in itself was something of a surprise, because he was only a junior minister and his career had been fairly unremarkable. But people were saying that Rob Sullivan was a leading light in a small group of MP's, mostly ex-Conservatives, who believed that Charles Buckingham and his friends, Kieran foremost amongst them, had gone too far. Not politically necessarily, because as far as he could make out Sullivan had no intention of changing the notorious family voting system that had delivered unprecedented electoral success for the party, but ideologically in terms of the amount of pressure being put on the people to follow the Reformist doctrine.

Radcliffe was not particularly offended by the opinion, although his faith was important to him after twenty years of allegiance, but he was concerned about the size of the opposition, as it was estimated a third of the CDP MP's might already agree with Robin Sullivan. Peter Munroe was worried the leadership debate would polarise support, and that the idea of giving some freedom back to the people might resonate with a larger number of party members than the leadership had ever anticipated. Reformism in its purest form could be harsh on some individuals, albeit for the greater good. The issue Kieran most wanted to address was that of people resisting the changes necessary to live according to the doctrine, but these young fools were on the side of those who wanted to dodge and cheat the Reformist system for their own benefit. So, it was quite natural to wonder if Sullivan and his little gang of malcontents were cutting some corners themselves. He rather hoped they were. It would make everything so much easier.