"Do you think there might be anything to this?" asked Maguire.
"Oh yeah, can you not see all the hidden references to all our state secrets? This is obviously the work of some kind of seriously dangerous outfit who would stop at nothing to get what they want. I bet they have Ryan stashed in a Fritzl cellar somewhere".
"Mmmm. I like the photos".
"Why, do you have a thing for blurry shots of hairy rockers?"
"Hairy rockers, nom nom nom. Let's read a bit more". So they did.
"We also liked hairy Dublin rockers Wizards of Firetop Mountain and were fascinated by the pixie rock of Circulus. Circulus also became an object of fascination to the people I work with, after I had mentioned the name of the festival I was going to… on my return Circulus were the only band they asked me about, not because they had previously heard of them but because their Wikipedia page made them sound like escapees from a 1970s episode of the Old Grey Whistle Test. And I suppose in a way that is what they were like, with their funny instruments, talk of odd tunings, and Mr Circulus' between song chat suggesting that he was channelling Whispering Bob Harris. I think I would like to explore their music further.
"We missed almost all of local psyche-folk-rock-improv-etc. band United Bible Studies, in fact just catching their last song, an extended cover of the Planxty tune ' "P" Stands For Paddy I Suppose', done here as a demented rock out tune about love gone wrong and the like. I thought it was amazing, the frenetic music suiting really well the lyrics of obsession and failure, with the look of the band (they were dressed in Halloweeny costume as a variety of ghosts, zombies, vampires and liches) adding to its doomy vibe. But trad purist Irene thought it was rubbish.
"Like GNOD, United Bible Studies seemed to have most of the festival's funny characters in their line-up, including harpist Aine O'Dwyer, who had played a charmingly minimalist set in the church on the previous day. Her write-up in the programme seemed to have been written by a deranged stalker fan; the barring order is still in place. UBS featured so many other random festival weirdoes that I started imagining that maybe I would see myself playing with them up on stage. Dude".
"I really don't think we need worry about these people being a threat to national security", said Hackett. "Unless they are planning to undermine the state with shite avant garde music".
"You're probably right", said Maguire.
"I am right", said Hackett. "And you know it". She threw the document back into the cupboard. "Enough of this shite".
Just then a figure approached them, a look of concern spreading across his wide face.
"Hello there girls", said Lyon, for it was he. "What are you up to at Barry Ryan's desk".
"Lyon", said Hackett. "Do you know what the minimum age for starting work here is? In case you don't, it's eighteen. Not fourteen or nine, eighteen. So I don't think we have any girls working here. I myself haven't been a girl for quite some time. Now, I have to take all this girl and cailín crap from the Chief and Kearney, but I don't have to take it from you, so shut it".
Ryan rolled his eyes and tutted as though he was dealing with some kind of prima donna (a turn of phrase which itself involves the gender-based stereotyping of leading women performers in the opera) and then continued, "well whatever, I was just wondering what you were doing at Ryan's desk. There hasn't been any… news about him, has there?"
"Look Lyon", said Maguire. "What is this I have here? Why, it is an official pass key and we are using it to check the contents of Ryan's cupboard".
"And why do you think we are doing that?" said Hackett. "Because we've been asked to by the Chief. But beyond that we really can't say. You've been here long enough, so I think you get the idea".
"Well it is most unusual", Lyon answered. "He's been away a while on his mission. He's not under investigation, is he?"
"Would I tell you if he was?" asked Maguire. That shut him up. Lyon slinked away.
They poked around a bit more, not really finding anything of interest. Eventually Maguire said: "So Lexa, it must be interesting for you having to track down Barry Ryan. Word is you are a bit sweet on him".
"I beg your pardon?"
"Well, you know, people have been saying that you have a bit of a thing for him".
"Have people really been saying that? I don't know where they've been getting that idea".
"Well it is what they say".
"I think they've got the wrong end of the stick there. He is not my type at all, though I think he was being a bit over-familiar at the last Christmas Party. Maybe people drew the wrong conclusion?"
"Maybe".
After deciding that there was nothing in Ryan's files worth pursuing, Hackett and Maguire did not really have any reason not to travel to London at the earliest possible opportunity. The longer they waited, the colder the trail would be. So they spent the rest of the day learning off their temporary names, memorising code words, and studying Ryan's report and Kearney's notes on the debriefing session. And the next morning they were off. This time round the higher ups decided that the roundabout route was out, as the risk of it being compromised was too high. Kearney had explained earlier that the Chief had considered flying them to Denmark and then having them take a ferry to England, but that was dismissed as being so outlandish that it could not but set off alarm bells along the way. So instead they were going to try a double bluff, flying straight into Gatwick in the hope that it would be the last thing anyone would suspect (and flying to Gatwick because flying to Heathrow would just be ridiculous). Thus they found themselves making their way through the airport concourse to the train station that would bring them to central London.
"Hey, look at that", said Maguire, pointing to a newsagent where every newspaper seemed to be running the single headline "VICTORY".
"Well, that's that then", said Hackett. "The other lot must have finally thrown in the towel".
"Look's like no one is going to be reversing the Transition any time soon", said Maguire, before adding the following in for the benefit of anyone listening in, "which is a good thing, obviously".
14/11/2011 – 15/11/2011
An inuit panda production
0 comments:
Post a Comment