Walter had already phoned his section head in Paris by the time that the receptionist turned up with two policemen, accompanied by a representative from the mayor’s office – the latter’s presence not being explained.
CHAPTER THREE
“Oh great. What has the idiot done now?” Victor, the British PM, was sitting in his upstairs lounge at Number Ten Downing Street, being briefed by a man from the FCO, a woman from MI6, the Chief Whip and the head of public relations (PR). It was a hastily assembled meeting.
“He’s been found dead in a French hotel having apparently overdosed on cocaine and God knows what.” Dennis, the FCO man, was standing there in his crumpled suit, his brown eyes slightly recessed under a large forehead.
“Has it got out yet?” the PM asked.
“No, not yet, but we have only a matter of minutes until it does.” The head of PR had a concerned look.
“Have we got something ready for when it hits the fan?”
“Yes, we have a couple of hours in which we can play the ‘respect for the dead and his family’ card. I’ll prepare the follow-ups when we know a bit more about what’s happening.”
“Just what we need.” The PM paused. “Johnny is, was, an accident waiting to happen. But why did he have to do it in France? And why now?”
“He never got to his meeting with his French counterpart in Colmar,” added the MI6 woman with the tied-back white hair and lined face.
“Terry, tell me he hasn’t been up to anything else that is going to come out when the press start digging over this?” demanded Victor.
“There are enough rumours to fill the tabloids until the year after next, but nothing concrete. He was just, well, a bit … maverick.” Sir Terry Kimber, the Chief Whip and keeper of the party secrets, had spent the last half hour ringing his contacts to check the situation.
“Unfortunately, his laptop, mobile and wallet haven’t been found. They weren’t in his room or in his car. One of our Paris embassy staff, who was looking after Mr Musselwhite, has been trying to locate them to keep them out of French hands,” Dennis said, looking slightly concerned.
“God knows what was on them,” pondered Lorna, the MI6 woman.
“Isn’t all this covered by diplomatic immunity?” The PM was not in the happiest of moods.
“Well, on the surface of it, he appears to have driven down there alone, on his way to a holiday along the Mediterranean, using a second passport.” Lorna looked across towards Dennis and Terry, who were nodding gently.
“But he’s still covered by diplomatic immunity or whatever, isn’t he?
“Well … that’s a bit debatable.” Dennis was treading on eggshells.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake! Remind me, what was he down there for?” Victor asked.
“Using rehabilitated potash mine sites for renewable energy. It was a French initiative.”
“Off on another free holiday, was he?” the PM asked rhetorically. “We don’t have potash mining, do we?”
“Only one, but it can be applied to coal mines and the like.” Dennis had a mild Yorkshire accent.
“What about his body?” The PM’s mind was darting all over the place. “What about the autopsy? I suppose there’ll be one. I don’t want this hanging over the G20 summit in Marrakech in a week’s time.”
“It’s all being taken care of. The relevant protocols have kicked in.” Dennis sounded at his most professional.
“Terry, you had better stay behind.”
With that, the others left, and the conversation moved on to who should replace Johnny, and whoever that was, he or she preferably needed to be a boring, safe pair of hands.
Mike Kingdom was walking down the hill, through the conifers, to her favourite pond in a marshy area near her cabin. She wouldn’t be away too long, but she needed a break from staring at her screen.
She had woken early to the sound of rain on the roof above her bed. From the moment she had opened her eyes, she had been trying to work out what was relevant to Randy and what was just background noise.
A few things had caught her attention.
Firstly, there was a newspaper article that touched on Algeria’s gas industry and Secretary of State Blinken’s visit. A few paragraphs seemed important:
In November 2021, Algeria cut off the gas flowing through its pipeline running through Morocco and across the sea near Gibraltar, to supply Spain and Portugal; Algeria has left two of the other main routes, one via Sicily and one to Almería, pumping at full capacity. Algeria used to provide twelve per cent of all the EU’s gas supplies via its three pipelines under the Mediterranean Sea.
Morocco and Algeria are uncomfortable neighbours, but most worrying is that there has now been the closure of borders and airspace, plus the recalling of ambassadors.
Morocco had received its natural gas from Algeria. In addition, it was paid circa $400 million a year for allowing the pipeline across its land. This has now been lost, probably permanently.
If Secretary of State Blinken had been asking for an increase in gas exports, what had the US offered Algeria? And what might Algeria have wanted in return? Had the US administration been asked to retreat on the US recognition of Moroccan sovereignty over the Western Sahara? This would create huge regional tensions and test a relationship going back to the very first days of the USA when Morocco was the first country to formally recognise the thirteen states in 1786.
According to sources, the Western Sahara and gas supplies hadn’t been discussed. It wasn’t credible that Blinken and Sherman were there to buy sand or visit the archaeological remains of the Roman colonial town in Timgad. The real purpose of the visit had not been revealed.
So, of the three gas pipelines to Europe, one had been shut down by the Algerians. Was Randy working to reopen the pipeline via Morocco and Spain? And did the USA want Algerian gas – whether it came via Spain, Italy or anywhere else – so it didn’t care about Morocco and Western Sahara?
Secondly, she had read about Macron’s visit and concluded that he was most definitely after natural gas. This was not rocket science. President Macron was pressing for a huge increase in France’s natural gas, which Algeria typically provided, to replace the seventeen per cent that used to come from Russia before the continued fighting in Ukraine. Once Putin had invaded Ukraine, oil and gas prices rocketed. He gradually turned down the supply, especially through the Nord Stream pipelines. Putin was waiting until the EU broke ranks and came begging for the energy to see them through the winter. For France, it did not take long for Macron and his ministers to realise that Algeria was the quick-and-easy way to replace the balance.
Was Randy working with the French? Was he working for a French energy company? There must have been a huge commercial opportunity while the pipeline via Morocco to Spain was shut down.
Thirdly, she read about a potential new pipeline:
