I am not lonely [Mystrade]

CHAPTER 23 : Strawbridge

Mycroft was ordaining some old files in his private office when he came across a little purple box with no tag on it. Curious, he opened it and get rid of the lilac silk paper, uncoveringa stack of old yellowish pictures. With a fond smile at his discovery, he sat in his armchair.
The first picture of the pile depictured him aged 7, holding a tiny baby Sherlock, rolled in a thin blue blanket, probably when his parents had brought the infant back home. He had forgotten about this box, stowed in the back of one of is desk drawers and he wasn't even sure he had seen this pictures once in his life.
He looked at the second photograph, him in the uniform of Brambletye School, taken in the garden of the Holmes countryside cottage when he was around 7 or 8. Mycroft was depicted on most of the photographs, often with his brother but there was only one family portrait. Taken in the living room of Holmes Mansion in London it was the last picture on which Sherlock was featured. The auburn remembered really well the day the picture was taken. It was just before Christmas when he was 22, weeks before Sherlock would turn 15. Mrs Lestrade had decided to have a family portrait,something they weren't used to, and had forced her youngest son to wear a tie and to comb his hair back, what had caused a violent crisis between the consulting detective and Elizabeth Holmes and ended up by Sherlock making his most unpleasant face on the portrait.
The only other picture on which his parents appeared was a black and white photograph taken at Mycroft christening, the baby in a long white dress in his mother's arms, next to Mr Lestrade in front of Westminster Abbey.
Despite the fact that he was not sentimental about pictures and he actually got very few of them exposed around the house other than the picture of Gregory and Alden framed on his desk, he was feeling happy and soft about those photographs and when putting the stack back into the box, he couldn't help keeping one of him and Sherlock on the beach, his brother aged 5 or 6 climbed on his back and placing it near the portrait of his partner in his wallet.

"Bloody hell !" eructated Mycroft Holmes. "How can you be so bloody incompetent Malvert !". The official was boiling out of rage. He was standing behind his desk, gesturing widely with his free hand, his PA sat in a chair, facing him, an indecipherable expression on her face.
"Can't you just control your damn agents at least once you stupid idiot !" was still howling her boss. "Be sure that the PM will be personally advised of this busting failure of yours and don't count on me to save your ass this time !". He violently put the receiver down. "Can you believe that !" he squalled to Anthea, sitting down with a huge sigh.
"I don't even know how this ...feckless ... Malvert can have been placed where he is ..." he rolled his eyes. "It's already the fourth time in three years that one of our agent is killed because of him and he still has the guts to tell me that it's not his damn fault !". He was trying to keep his voice down, not willing to roast his assistant for something that she wasn't guilty of, but he was still angry. "I've helped him out of his problems the last times but I won't allow anyone else to be kill for his ambition ...". He run a hand in his hair. "Would you please collect the report the courier is going to deliver here ?"
"Shall I plan a meeting at the Cabinet Office this afternoon ?" she asked, her face still indecipherable.
"No. I will deal with this on my own thank you." retorted the auburn, grabbing his phone again.
"Right sir." added the PA, closing the door behind her.
"Praedonum." Mycroft introduced himself, through the speaker. "Put me through to the PM please." He waited a few seconds before the Prime Minister took the call.
"Mr Holmes.What can be worth a call from you ?" he asked, apparently occupied with other important matters according to the tone of hisvoice.
"Malvert. He got one agent killed in Afghanistan. Once again. It's the fourth one." snapped the elder Holmes.
"It's to the Parliament Intelligence and Security Committee that you haveto refer Holmes. They are in charge of the supervising of the SIS." retorted the PM, willing to go back to his own problems as quick as possible.
"Not when the man is asking me to cover his ass in front of the said committee. I'm not asking for you to enquire. I want a dismissal." said the official, playing with a pen.
"I can't just dismiss people like that because you can't work with them Holmes." responded the prime minister.
"You can. You just don't want. But keep in mind that Malvert was your nomination,against our will. If he is brought in front of your committee and convicted of carelessness you can prepare your valediction. Keep that in mind.". Mycroft hanged up the phone and laid back on his seat.

It wasn't in his habits to threaten a Prime Minister but this was special circumstances. In the last 10 years, the SIS had lost 4 agents during a mission, and 3 because of Malvert's incompetence. Sir Simon Malvert was a politician in his forties, seeking for power and influence, a school comrade of the PM who had been placed at the head of MI6 despite the protestation of the Parliament Intelligence and Security Committee, the Cabinet Office's officials such as Mycroft and a huge part of the SIS employees. Since his nomination three years ago the British Secret Service had their lowest rates of success since World War I but the government and the PM wouldn't listen to the advises to remove Malvert from his positionand despite all his respect for the hierarchy and the democracy, the elder Holmes was determined to put down Malvert, feeling that the national security was now compromised.

Anthea stood back in the office a report in her hand, followed by one of the Diogene Club's employee carrying a tray filled with a tea pot, cups and biscuits. He poured two cups and disappeared while the young woman was sitting down and opening the file on the desk, between her and her boss. "James Strawbridge, 32, unmarried, in service for 5 years. Apparently killed by two bullets in the neck in a coffee in Mazari Sharif by two men he was supposed to met." she advised the auburn.
"Assassination then. Who were his contacts ? Are they known by our services ?" enquired the elder Holmes.
"Aarash and Lajward Bin Hassam, 26 and 29. They've been noticed exiting the coffee a few seconds after the killing carrying Strawbridge's backpack.". She showed him a CCTV screenshot of a street were the two men were depicted. "Unknown of the Afghan police and of anyone in the house. An agent has been sent on location to try to localize them."
"Abort the mission." intervened the auburn. "There is no use in finding them, we need to understand why Strawbridge was in contact with them and why they killed him. Finding them won't help, it will just put another agent life at risk. Call him back."
"Right sir.". She resumed. "Strawbridge was in Afghanistan for 2 years, first at the Kabul office, then on the field in the north. Apparently he had arrived in Mazari Sharif 6 days before he was killed, on a trail of one of Bin Laden lieutenant. His last contact with his coordinator was a couple of hours before his death." She took a piece of paper in the file and handle it to the official. "That's the transcript of his last phone conversation with the Kabul Office.".
Mycroft read silently during a couple of minutes the report of a quite banal conversation, advising the agent's superior of his appointment, nothing that could have raised any kind of suspicions. "Any idea of what had happened between this banal conversation and the death of the agent ? What happen during this last two hours ?" he muttered, more to himself than to anyone else.
"As he say, he had an appointment with those men, he apparently already had met them a couple of time which can only mean two things : or something went badly during the meeting and they killed him, or they had planned to kill him and it was a trap. After reading the depositions of the other customers of the coffee I would say that the second option is more likely." answered Anthea, gesturing toward a stack of paper.
"So two men have been put in contact with Strawbridge and after a couple of meeting, killed him.That means that they do not need him any more, which also mean that he probably had given them informations, valuable informations, possibly on security matters. Who put those men in contact with our agent ? Is it one of ours, another agent ?" commented the official,rather preoccupied.
"We are working on this at the moment."advised him the PA.
"We need all of our agents in Afghanistan to be called home, as well as the Kabul Office and the employees of ou rembassy. Arrange the evacuation, I'm calling the ambassador." ordered Mycroft, grabbing his phone.
"Sir Williams ? Mycroft Holmes, Home Office Cabinet." he introduced himself.
"Home Office Cabinet ?" repeated the ambassador, wondering what he had to expect.
"We are evacuating the embassy. Recent events may compromise your security and the security of your employees."Mycroft advised him, tipping at the same moment an email to the Kabul SIS Office to advise them of their own evacutation.
"Wait, what had happened ?" asked Sir Williams.
"I don't have time to go throught the details, but their might have been an important leak on our security systems. We aren't sure yet, but we won't take the risk." responded the official. "Our service will be in touch with you soon to advise you of the evacuation procedure. You shall start advising your employees and ask them to pack.". The auburn hanged up the phone and raised to his feet. He joined his assistant in her office, finding her on the phone. He took a seat in front of her desk and waited until she had ended her phonecall.
"When you will be done, please plan an hearing at the Intelligence and Security Committee as soon as possible. I want them to hear me before Malvert." he asked.