The Bridge

By Hylton Smith

It was a political decision taken to make a statement to the rest of the world. In fact, it did achieve phenominal notoriety. At first, a sequence of horrific murders seemed to be nothing more than mere coincidence, but were actually the beginning of a global nightmare. Apparently unrelated killings were finally linked to a highly complex terrorist plot.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hylton Smith
• Release date: Aug 8, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005480226

Hylton Smith

Born in the Northeast of England, I graduated from Newcastle University in Chemistry. My entire career has been in the manufacturing industry, first in research, then general management. After a number of years as the chief executive of a UK division of an American multinational corporation, I set up my own company, and in less than five years I was able to retire and turn to a boyhood yearning to write science fiction stories. This has gradually expanded to other genres such as alternate history and crime fiction.

Book preview

Chapter 1

April 1 2041

It was being heralded as the event of the century. Quite an accurate label, on whichever side of the divide anyone happened to be. Many detractors derided the individual who’d chosen the date as being an April fool themselves, illustrating total unawareness of predictable condemnation by judgement in hindsight.

A road bridge between the UK and France had long been the dream of a former Prime Minister, potentially offering the same lauded connectivity as the HS2 rail project which linked London to the Midlands and Northwest of England. The most vociferous critics dubbed the project a profligate vanity exercise, angered at the staggering cost of reducing a journey from London to Birmingham by a measly twenty minutes. The difficulty of accurate cost-benefit analysis played a significant role in muddying the rivers of decision over the bridge, the budget for which would totally eclipse that of the rail fiasco.

Using modifications on which the Oresund Bridge between Denmark and Sweden was constructed, the English Channel brainchild was a mind-warping thirty-five kilometres long compared to the sixteen kilometres of its Scandinavian ancestor.

*

At almost the same time as the symbolic cutting of the ribbon to officially announce the opening of such a prized feat of engineering, and the obligatory fireworks display, another landmark incident was unfolding in the rough waters around the mid-point of the channel. The contrast in numbers attending each location ran into thousands, but the consequences would become a stark and frightening pivot to approximate equality. The outward ripple effect began to penetrate the clandestine battlefield of cyber war, which had virtually replaced the conventional ‘boots on the ground’ conflicts. It incurred a fraction of the cost, yet was every bit as effective in changing people’s minds, at least in terms of preferred ideological beliefs. Another perfect example of the benefits of technology being obvious, while the downsides remain obscure to political leaders.

*

The dinghy was first spotted by a UK border force unit while on routine patrol. Initially, the various crew members were convinced there was no one in the drifting craft. As they got closer it became evident they were in error. Under a large tarpaulin, a black boot with a Velcro fastening came into view. The patrol boat was manoeuvred alongside the dinghy and one of the crew was lowered with extreme precision so as to avoid capsizing the tiny craft.

Pulling back the tarpaulin with building curiosity, Joseph Fenwick recoiled in horror. He swiftly pulled the tarpaulin back to its initial position and crackled a walkie-talkie message to his skipper. Sir, we’re going to need to tow the craft back to base as carefully as possible.

Really? What’s the problem?

It’s a body, sir. I…well, it was a body…it’s mostly…err, mostly… err mostly not there.

Sorry, what does that mean? Say again.

It’s been…he’s been disembowelled. I don’t think it could have been an undersea predator. He looks in good condition if I just cover his bloodied abdomen. I’m no expert but it looks quite recent. If this is a crime scene, sir, we should preserve any forensic evidence if we can. I’m guessing he is of Middle Eastern or Asian ethnic background. I’ve seen lots of migrant crossings which have ended badly, but if this was a solo attempt I would expect to see items of sustenance… a compass maybe, or some kind of rudimentary first aid kit and definitely proper protective clothing here. There’s nothing other than the dinghy, the tarpaulin and his hollowed out corpse. He’s dressed as if he was on his way to dinner where a dress code was required. There’s something seriously wrong, Skipper.

Ok, Fenwick, let’s have you back on board and get the dinghy secured, covered and ready to tow.

*

The recovered dinghy and corpse were whisked away to the waiting forensic laboratory in a sealed sea transport container. Policing in the overwhelming majority of western countries had, over the previous decade, gradually been morphed into more discrete functions. Cyber war, and to a slightly lesser extent Brexit, demanded separation of domestic and global forces. The last twenty years had seen a worrying decline in investigation of burglaries, domestic violence, drug cartels and many other enforcement tasks, such as protest-march legal and behavioural compliance. The new Law and Order Commission was essentially a meld of the remaining armed forces and Metropolitan police. Consequently, the reception committee for the arriving dinghy had a chequered makeup.

One of the first steps was to update Downing Street and then the Elysee Palace to consult on jurisdiction issues.

Pragmatism had to take its turn in the protocol sequence. There was a first forensic sweep, followed by an autopsy, which would be authorised after clearance between the respective French and UK national security organisations.

Meanwhile, the celebrations of the grand opening of the bridge, which had taken just over nineteen years to build, were coming to a close. The crowds were dispersing in an orderly fashion until the P.A. system asked all attendees to vacate the site rather than enjoy a picnic in the car parks or generally wander around waiting for the first vehicles to begin the inaugural crossing. This was apparently triggered by the posting of a video on the web just prior to the Border Patrol boat docking with the dinghy in tow. It had gone viral in a matter of minutes, reaching the mobile devices of a significant number of people attending the opening ceremony. All efforts to shut this transmission down failed. Not simply because of weak regulatory requirements of social platforms, but one of inability to get through the structure of an extremely robust inbuilt firewall.

The cat was out of the bag, if the message with the video was to be taken seriously. Either way, the investigation would now become even more complex. Anglo-French cooperation was critical, together with a tightly-knit team selected from the UK Cabinet, the National Security Division, and the most recently formed Law and Order Commission. The Prime Minister would be advised by this team but needed distance for purposes of deniability, or to put it another way deflection of culpability.

*

The video was a compelling, if harrowing watch. The individual who filmed it was lit up from behind, garbed in a black body suit and balaclava, rendering only a dark shape for the viewer. In this way, his or her height was distorted, resulting in a lengthened shadow. The victim was seemingly sedated and yet he wasn’t shackled in any way. He had a very close likeness to the body found in the boat but never uttered a sound while the perpetrator got across the message using artificial voice technology. A rubber tube had already been attached to the victim and the countdown began, accompanied by a message from the perpetrator.

‘The world is under siege from Homo Sapiens in many ways. The latest monstrosity is a bridge, normally meaning bringing things together. We have to learn that some things need to be kept apart. The cost of this bridge in terms of human suffering will be immense. It cannot be tolerated. This individual will become a beacon for changing the current political agenda to one of restoration of identity. Separation from the pursuit of worship at the altar of global blandness has become an urgent necessity. A man named George Orwell tried to convey this warning. It has always been ignored. This is also a warning. It will not be ignored and it will not fail.’

All of a sudden some kind of machinery clicked into gear. The abdomen of the victim immediately began to swell. Within the space of thirty seconds he was grotesquely inflated as if he was about to give birth to multiple children. The process abruptly ended with an explosion of the man’s abdomen, which splattered body tissue all over the room, including the camera lens and the perpetrator. The screen went black.

*

The team charged with investigating the incident needed a degree of anonymity on the operational side and this meant that all direction and briefings would be conducted by only three representatives, Michael James in his capacity as Home Secretary, Hilary Spencer – Director General of the National Security Division, and Colonel Dwight Patterson from the Law and Order Commission.

Before they’d settled down to sculpture the overarching remit of the investigation they received news that altered their thinking dramatically.

The initial sweep by forensics at their secret location was extremely thorough, but without yielding irrefutable evidence. The victim had I.D. conveniently placed in the inside pocket of his expensive jacket, which was surprising given the tone of the artificial voice on the video. A passport and application document for refugee status were also found in his wallet. Both indicated that he was Ibrahim Farouk, an Iraqi national aged thirty-four. However, when this data had been checked by both the passport office and border control files there was no such match. Other effects discovered were not particularly informative but were to be tested with additional samples of potential DNA-bearing tissue. The pathologist confirmed that the mortality was consistent with being inflated and succumbing to extreme internal pressure leading to destroyed tissue and organ breaches.

The trio charged with defining and eliminating any further threat to society chewed over these revelations and struggled to find an accord as how to make their first move.

As Hilary Spencer had most experience of dealing with such events she wanted to draft in another contributor.

At this stage we have all the hallmarks of a terrorist motive. I need my best counter-terrorism officer to look over all emerging evidence.

The Home Secretary was not overly receptive to extending the group until more solid evidence was available. It’s too early to make knee-jerk decisions which might compromise the entire operation.

It isn’t a hasty recommendation. Look at all the information we have right now. This perpetrator couldn’t realistically have acted alone in taking a corpse out into the channel in a tiny open dinghy without risking his own death. How did he get back? And if he towed the dinghy with another craft he’d have to get clearance from the border force for that day. I can tell you now that it would not have been granted, precisely because of security concerns. My counter-terrorist officer will be able to check all of this without alerting the public.

I think she has a point, Home Secretary, said Colonel Patterson, Why would the perpetrator give us this I.D? If it proves to be false we still need to know who the victim was. In my opinion the person we’re looking for wanted the dinghy and its contents to be found on the same day the bridge was to come into official use. It’s supposition that the video victim is the same person as the Channel victim, but we have to investigate the facial likeness.

Michael James squirmed in his chair, and took a very long pause while staring at the ceiling. I will have to speak with my opposite number in France before we make an irreversible decision. In the meantime, I suggest you go to the forensics lab, Hilary, and make live assessments of whatever they unearth. In fact another pair of eyes might help, so you should go with Hilary, Dwight. And I have to return to my office, as I can’t speak with Antoine Deloitte on an unsecured line. Ok, let’s get to it folks. I’ll contact you both when we can reconvene.

*

When they arrived at the secret lab and checked they hadn’t been followed, Hilary Spencer introduced Colonel Patterson and herself. We’re only here to see the evidence as it is found. The Home Secretary has other stuff to organise, but don’t worry, we won’t get in your way. Just keep us up to date as you find any relevant results.

The head of forensics shrugged her shoulders and led them to an empty office. I’m Helen Vasey, let me get you a coffee after your long journey. I think you might want to sit down and take in some caffeine. It might be a long night. We’ve already stumbled on a bit of a logic impasse.

In that case, replied Dwight Patterson, I’d like a strong black coffee.

When Helen Vasey returned with the drinks, Hilary Spencer noted she seemed to be forcing a smile, and looking decidedly nervous. Please don’t keep us on tenterhooks, Helen, let’s hear it.

Yes. But I must ask you not to rush to conclusions until we finish a repeat check. I’d rather be sure than proceed on a false positive.

Chapter 2

Helen Vasey seemed extremely nervous as she cleared her throat. We found evidence of two different DNA profiles on the victim, and…

Well, that’s promising isn’t it? said Hilary Spencer, feeling certain this would be a major step forward in identifying the perpetrator, it’s likely to be the maniac who committed this atrocity.

Not necessarily. As I said, we need to make sure we haven’t overlooked something. It wasn’t simply trace evidence of a second DNA profile, it was everywhere.

Dwight Patterson felt he had to intervene. Hilary, I think we should allow Professor Vasey to finish her disclosure before debating theories as to what we should do next.

Of course, but… I’m merely saying…

Exactly, please continue Professor Vasey, we need to hear you out. I already detected that you were a little confused yourself.

Thank you, Colonel. The most pressing aspect of our investigation right now is to prioritise re-testing scenarios with the highest probability coefficients of being correct. The really baffling indicator of the second DNA tissue is that it is composed of not only skin transferrable samples but actual organ fragments from someone other than the victim.

Dwight Patterson could hardly contain his rising frustration when Hilary Spencer intervened yet again.

Excuse me, Helen, but how is that possible, other than the victim being a cannibal? I mean, surely it’s a mistake.

Just continue your presentation of the test results, Professor, we need every possible explanation for such an extraordinary result before diving into ad hoc judgements. Just ignore any further interruptions.

The atmosphere was fracturing between Spencer and Patterson, and that made Helen Vasey even more apprehensive. The analysis of the second DNA has been repeated already and I can confirm that the necrotic coefficient of that tissue predates that of the victim.

There was a slight pause before the next bombshell was delivered.

We checked for elevated levels of commonly retained gasses in the victim and found none. So, if the second complete DNA scan of the remains of the victim doesn’t vary from the first, we have to entertain the possibility of the victim having been inflated by blended flesh from another person who’d been dead for a considerable time. There may be other explanations with regard to the distribution of blood vessels, muscle and organ tissue, but the question this really provokes is where and how was this carried out? It certainly wasn’t likely to be achieved in a tiny dinghy floating around in the Channel, because of what we know from the video - which indicated a complex setup of equipment as this poor person exploded in plain sight. However, I haven’t ruled out the possibility that the video may have depicted a victim you haven’t actually found or identified yet. In other words the facial likeness could be a distraction. Now, I really must get back to work on confirming our initial findings.

*

On the way back to London Dwight Patterson wanted to get something off his chest. Hilary, just to be clear, there is no seniority difference between us. The Home Secretary heads up the team and we are equally subordinate to the objective of exposing the perpetrator of this homicide or these homicides.

Yeah, so what?

Well, you kept interrupting Professor Vasey when she was trying to explain a very complicated set of results to us. We’re going to need people we interview to be as open as possible with us.

Oh, I see. That’s a bit unexpected from a military man. In security we need to blitz possibilities and take our time on implementing action. I think you’re going to have to get used to that.

Mm… I suppose that’s all very well with issues solely to do with security, but I’m a person who’s been involved in logistically driven strategy in deploying assets to achieve the most impact on an adversary.

I get that, so perhaps this confirms our objective is predominantly security loaded. Going down blind alleys is anathema to us.

That’s my concern, speculating on multiple fronts is likely to be expensive and quite a blunt instrument. I’m afraid we’re going to have to agree to disagree, we have to follow evidence, and at this stage that is mostly science related. I’d have thought you would be wanting to track down data about that video and let the scientists do their stuff.

Yeah, good point. So on that we can agree to agree. Your people also have means of zoning in on certain aspects of the video, which may only be the first of many.

True, so let’s discuss who does what about the video.

Fine.

*

Arriving in London they were met with further news from the Home Secretary. Take a seat. I’ve had a longdiscussion with the French equivalent of my own remit and there’s a complication. It’s not a big deal but we may have to include the Foreign Secretary in our investigation on a regular basis. It appears that The French border control guys spotted the dinghy earlier than we did and it was closer to their coastline than ours but they thought it was empty and left it to sink. They have tracking data to back this up. Antoine Deloitte is meeting with the French President as we speak. Ok, what did you find out from forensics and pathology tests?

Hilary Spencer wanted to get her take in first but was thwarted by the Home Secretary’s phone vibrating and moving across the desk. This frustrated her as she cast a glance around the dark ornate office. Finally, she smiled as she equated the décor to her perceived ‘crusty’ nature of Michael James’ personality.

Yes, Elsa…..yes of course, he’s here. Just put the call through…Dwight it’s for you.

Hello, Colonel Paterson here.

Right, it’s Douglas Middleton, the pathologist. Professor Vasey asked me to pass on my latest report directly to you.

Fine, that’s quicker than expected, please go ahead.

I understand you’ve already been informed that there isn’t any doubt about the cause of death of the man in the dinghy, however I became curious about when he died. Although Prof Vasey mentioned that the person whose organs we found on the Channel victim died some time ago, it seems strange that the man who exploded actually died less than forty-eight hours ago. It doesn’t leave much time for someone to pump him full of human tissue and end up in the middle of the Channel at the time Border Control found him.

Indeed. So do you have any further refinement on when the unfortunate liquefied person passed away?

That’s proving to be a challenge. Not just because that tissue truly seems to have been blended with something to make it difficult to separate. The best estimate I can give you at present is a month or more. But don’t hold me to that.

No problem. Look forward to hearing from you if you find anything else of interest.

I’m not quite finished yet. The Channel victim didn’t have long to live. He was riddled with cancer. The primary tumours were in the stomach and spread to the lung, and I estimate he only had days to go. It occurred to me that my findings fit with him appearing to be sedated during the video, maybe he was already on morphine, which I found in what was left of his own tissue, that which had not been contaminated by the liquefied person.

Great work, Douglas. Speak to you soon.

Sounds like progress, Dwight. Why don’t you give me a quick summary of what data you both got from the lab? I need to brief the P.M. later today.

This patently irritated Hilary Spencer even more and caused a provocative response. If that’s what you want I don’t need to hear what Colonel Patterson is going to precis for you, so I respectfully ask you to consider my previous recommendation to deploy my best counter-terrorism officer right now. I’d be surprised if what you hear doesn’t convince you that the situation is becoming time-critical. We don’t want to fall further behind the curve of events. Subject to your approval, the two of us agree that we should get on with in-depth analysis of the video while forensics confirm their findings. We can’t wait for all of the irrefutable scientific data to emerge before tackling that video victim crime scene. Would you agree, Dwight?

I would, broadly speaking. With the caveat that we still treat the forensic and pathology side as being more reliable in amassing hard evidence for any future court proceedings. What we may uncover on the video is just as important but decidedly more prone to reasonable doubt.

Michael James pondered this while drumming his retro propelling pencil against the walnut desk top. Ok, Hilary, go and pick up your counter-terrorist man, bring him here while I hear what Dwight has to say and we’ll then expedite who will do what next.

This wasn’t as much autonomy as she wanted, nevertheless it was a step in the right direction. She gathered her files and left the building.

*

On hearing the full detail of what Dwight had to say Michael James realised he had to change gear to keep up with the situation. What might have been a cheap publicity stunt was rapidly looking more like a dedicated campaign.

Mm…yes, what they have discovered at the lab is hinting at a complex, well-prepared and executed method of espousing some serious social message to the public. That in itself is going to increase pressure on us to be more open with what information we officially release. The bunker mentality conferred to me by the P.M. is going to be very difficult to maintain. I’m going to have to be clinical with respect to what he should know and what he must be kept at a distance from.

Dwight Patterson could barely contain the need to laugh out loud. You mean he has to know everything but has to have the wriggle room to ‘un-know’ certain things as deemed necessary.

Exactly. And that’s what concerns me about Hilary. Maybe it’s premature for me to say so, but she doesn’t appear to dip her toe into the water before jumping in. I have difficulty in fitting that together with accepted security protocol observance.

"I have similar first impressions, however these are first impressions, and she has a truly impressive record since being appointed. Perhaps you and I have been nurtured on flow chart logic, but winkling out cyber evidence is a process we can’t quite embrace. She certainly embraces casting a wide net as a starting point. My own reaction is that her methodology will make more sense to us as things develop, because to use one of her phrases ‘the situation seems to be security loaded’.

*

When she picked up Matthew Gosling silence prevailed for most of the journey. They both seemed at ease with not talking, then suddenly with less than five minutes to go before arrival, she stopped the car and switched off the engine. I’m going to give you a chance to strut your stuff, so don’t blow it. Doing that will be your finale not your opening scene. What you’re going to hear in the next hour will seem like double Dutch to you. I told you more than I was cleared to share. Forget all that, you’ve heard nothing, just act dumb and concentrate on how we’d do this if we were calling the shots. You can sound off to me when we get back to our world. Ok?

Whatever.

There you go, that wasn’t so difficult. I see our biggest challenge being how we work around an indecisive Home Secretary. He’s already been told to liaise with the Foreign Secretary before every daily dump he has to take. Fingers crossed that they aren’t identical twins.

Sure.

Chapter 3

As Dwight Patterson waited for his as yet unnamed back-up group to arrive in his office, he scanned the few electronic reports which had arrived from the lab. His scrutiny threw up a puzzling item. The box which was headed ‘ethnicity’ contained the single word ‘unknown’.

He made a quick call to Douglas Middleton to query this. Hello, Douglas, I just wanted to ask why your report states the ethnicity of the liquefied person is unknown. It could be important when we have to consider motive.

"Yes, I thought that might