I am not lonely [Mystrade] - BOOK 2

CHAPTER 205 : The power of a Holmes

Sun hasn't yet arise to warm up this February chilly morning when Mycroft disembarked from the black Jaguar parked in front of one of Buckingham Palace's side door. He strided to the door and through the numerous corridors to a small sitting room on the North aisle of the palace.

Guest would usually have to escorted by a page boy then would be seated in a waiting room for anything from a few minutes to a couple of hours, depending on who they were and what their business was but the elder Holmes wasn't anyone and he wasn't there for anything. Albeit he would usually respect the Palace's etiquette even if not forced too, he had other things on his mind at the moment.

The Queen herself quickly appeared in the sitting room, closely followed by Ruth Alaghni, her private secretary and Joseph Burlington, the head of Buckingham's staff. The sovereign looked tired and preoccupied, knowing that if the politician had asked for an urgent meeting that early in the morning to be held, he must have had intelligence over something very important and potentially threatening for national security.

The red eyes and pale face of the official only confirmed the Queen's inkling and she urged him to speak as she and her accompagnateur were taking a seat on the couches.

"May I know why is bothering you to this extend Mycroft ?" she asked as the tall man was pacing before the windows, unable to calm down and take a seat.

"Would you prefer me to explain the context or should I go straight to the point ?" the elder Holmes questioned, stoping in front of the sovereign.

"As you think is the best." the lady retorted, trusting his good judgment.

"You have a mole within your walls mam'." the official simply exposed straight away.

"Great Scott !" Burlington exclaimed, unable to keep it to himself.

As the head of staff, he was the one responsible enrolment of everyone at the Queen's service as well as for anything that could happen because of one of the said members of staff. If the politician's affirmation was true, and it must be or he wouldn't have told it to the Queen herself  so blankly, it would mean that he and his adjuncts had been careless enough to enrol someone who was gaining intelligence for the enemy.

Anyone who was willing to work at the Queen's service would have to go through a thorough process where their past would be searched through by detectives, including their online activities, their family, their friends, in order to make sure that no enemy of the state or dangerous and psychopathic person would ever get close to the Queen or be able to gather information compromising the Royal Family's security or Great-Britain's security. But apparently this process had failed, at least once.

"Haven't we have process in place so that doesn't happen ?" the Queen wonder, knowing perfectly well that they did.

"It seems like we have been out powered this time." Mycroft nodded seeming concerned. "Our process that we thought were effective enough apparently leave quite a lot of things in the shadow. They haven't really been modified since 1967 and frankly I don't know how anyone ever took advantages of those poor process to target us before."

The words were harsh but no one minded because they spiked the truth. Monarchy was suffering from its old age and the pathetic attempt to patch the hole left by a world in constant change seemed quite useless to restore it to its golden age. Time was calling for an ambitious reform of pretty much everything concerning the monarchy but politicians were more concerned about petty battles over subjects far to important to be decided over by people fighting to keep their seats in the commons without even understanding everything that their decision could involve.

"We've already got the mole remove don't worry. He is in custody at the MI5 headquarter." the official reassured the other people. "I would suggest keeping a low profile and trying not to have this story displayed in the press."