Dark Tidings

Chapter 46 - Bad News and Good News

Buckingham finished outlining progress to date to the Council, oblivious to the fact that they were being watched by the very people they were trying to catch. Anxiety prickled the air as nerves jangled.

"You've lost them," said one member.

"There's been no progress since fugitives left Phillip's flat," said another.

A thin smile tightened Buckingham's lips. He'd held back one piece of information which would settle their frayed nerves. He'd kept the most important and positive news until the end, until now.

BEEP BEEP chirped his phone. Damn, how annoying was this?

"Sorry gentlemen, I need to take this."

He didn't even look at the display or say 'hello'. He knew who it was. Only one person would breach his 'no calls' instruction and they wouldn't disturb him unless there was something critical to report. He held the phone to his ear and waited to hear what was so important.

He listened carefully to the voice on the other end of the line. His face drained of colour just before it reddened with anger. He hung up without uttering a single word.

"I have some bad news gentlemen," he said addressing the meeting. "It appears that our secure teleconferencing system was not as secure as we were led to believe. The system was compromised, by Michael Phillips, so the fugitives have probably heard everything we've said up to this point. On the plus side, I'm told that the system had been totally sterilised and safeguarded so we can now talk candidly."

Bedlam followed as the implications of the revelation sunk in. The fugitives knew every detail of how they planned to catch them. Disaster. Worse still, these people now knew about the Occultus Populous and could identify the inner Council. Not only could they identify them, it was possible they'd recorded the meetings which meant they had absolute proof of their existence. Would they leak it to the world? Individually they were horrified by the potential personal consequences, collectively they were totally incensed.

This was the most serious threat to the organisation's anonymity since it was founded nearly a thousand years earlier. Their secret, which had been treasured and protected for a millennium, was in jeopardy. To make matters even more galling, it wasn't a major government or a popular global movement which threatened their very being. The threat came from a small band, three to be precise, of rogue thieves.

For at least ten minutes mayhem reigned and not even Buckingham could bring order to the proceedings. However, when the commotion died down a little, he took his chance to restore some semblance of control.

"Gentlemen, gentlemen, please let me speak. I have some very important news for you. I was about to tell you something extremely positive before we were so rudely interrupted. Please listen carefully because things may not be as bad as you think."

The cacophony of noise faded as the members turned their attention to Buckingham. Things were still edgy but everyone seemed willing to listen to what Buckingham had to offer. Each member was praying for something to lift the gloom.

"Before we found outabout the security breach, I was going to share some good news with you," heannounced. "We have something which will help us capture our enemies very soonindeed. And once we have them we'll ensure they talk to nobody... ever."