23rd April
‘It’s not surprising that Helen could tell the difference,’ said Joan, ‘although we have had partners and spouses who were fooled for a while.’
‘It’s a bit disconcerting,’ said Helen as she looked at me and then looked at MI5 agent Paul Maple, who was still wearing the latex, skin-textured mask in my exact likeness. ‘It looks so real,’ Helen continued. ‘If I didn’t know Swan very well, I wouldn’t have thought there was anything odd.’
‘Do the intelligence agencies do this a lot?’ I asked.
‘Since the technology was developed to easily produce those masks by 3D printing, they’ve had a lot of use – not just by us, but also by those we’re pursuing,’ Joan explained. ‘It’s quite possible that the face of Arkangel you saw by videolink, and in Walt Cooper’s photographs, was produced that way. That would certainly explain why we couldn’t find a match to it anywhere.’
‘The masks can be put on or taken off in about two minutes,’ Paul Maple added.
‘So, you’re going to Washington in my place with Robin Marsh,’ I said to Paul.
‘It makes sense at this stage,’ said Etienne. ‘We need to have discussions with the White House to try to clarify what they understand about ARK, Arkangel, the asteroid and the missile plan – and what they intend to do about them. We also suspect that Walt Cooper intended to kill Swan on the instructions of some high level, covert, US group – hence Cooper’s diplomatic immunity – so we really need a trained agent in your place, Swan, to manage that risk.’
‘That leaves Swan and me here,’ said Helen, looking at Joan.
‘I’d like you two to go to Norfolk,’ said Joan to Helen and me. ‘I think what Helen said to me earlier is correct,’ Joan added. ‘We’re working under very strange circumstances, time is not on our side, and we need to best use the skills of the people we have. Jenny and Duck, for example, are checking out bishops Summerland and Forrester.’
‘Duck,’ I said in surprise.
‘Events are moving quite quickly at the moment,’ Joan replied. ‘Duck has temporarily abandoned sheep farming in favour of MI5.’
‘You want Swan and me to go to Norfolk to interview Adrian Holland,’ said Helen.
‘Yes please,’ said Joan, ‘although I want Etienne to go with you to provide backup and some, on the job, spook training.’
‘There’s one problem,’ I noted. ‘Anyone associated with ARK will probably recognise Helen and me.’
Joan looked over to the corner of the room, where laser scanning equipment stood that could record an exact profile of a face in under a minute. Beside it was a 3D printer that could not only produce a latex mask, identical in every detail to a scanned face, but also provide it with a backing that flawlessly fitted the real facial features of the wearer. ‘True,’ said Joan in answer to my concern. ‘Who would you like to be?’
~*~*~*~*~
‘You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?’ I said to Helen as we returned to our quarters.
‘I always felt that life in Waterford lacked something,’ she said in a serious tone.
‘Like mad religious groups, international plots and asteroid collisions,’ I said.
‘Now you come to mention it,’ she replied, smiling. She held my arm. ‘There was something else it lacked, too.’
‘What was that?’ I asked.
‘With all these realistic disguises about,’ Helen answered, ‘we spies can’t be too careful. I mean, before I say any more, how do I know you’re really who you appear to be?’ She turned the key and opened the door to our quarters. ‘There’s only one way I can be sure you’re who you say you are,’ she continued, looking into my eyes. ‘I want to spend the rest of the afternoon in bed with you.’