There was little official appetite for deep-cover ops, she’d reminded him; software was replacing human agency as the cornerstone of intelligence work. Hundreds of hours of recorded conversation; miles of emails – that was how they were measured, in actual miles – and gallons, bathtubs, reservoirs of pixellated flow: all of these, gathered at a distance, were the fruits of Spook Street. And even once they were harvested, human agency remained at a remove, the intelligence pored over instead by algorithms whose acronyms were increasingly twee, but which were at least as open to subversion as the most disenchanted joe. You didn’t have to buy an algorithm a drink, or set it up with an easy lay. You just had to work out what made it dance, and once that was done – once you had its number – it was your creature, and would do whatever you wanted. And that was how vulnerable everything was these days: you were only one hack away from open government.
‘We need bigger firewalls, Oliver. Bigger ones, better ones. The kind you can see from space.’
‘Ha, like the Great Wall of—’
‘Precisely.’
‘Not unironic, in the circs.’
She let him chuckle over that, accurately gauging the moment at which mirth would deflate into a sigh.
‘Diana, I am on your side in this.’
‘Why does that phrase drain me of confidence?’
‘But you can’t be unaware of the bigger picture.’
‘There is no bigger picture. We’re talking about national security, about protecting our virtual borders. For God’s sake, look at the self-harm we’ve inflicted in the name of national sovereignty. You’d have thought there’d be few lengths we’d not be willing to go in pursuit of that particular grail.’
‘Leaving aside your jaundiced view of recent history, you’re overstating the case. Besides, and don’t imagine I’m unaware of this, the last such restructuring was completed not twenty-four months back. After a significant, not to say unprecedented, budgetary dispensation.’
‘Two years is a long time in cyberspace.’
‘Be that as it may, this is not a case you’re going to find it easy to pursue in front of Limitations. Claude Whelan had friends Down the Corridor, remember. Forgive me if I’m treading on your
‘I’m not in this business to make nice, and I don’t like having to make do, either. Nor am I looking to Whitehall for friends or playmates. I just expect support from that direction when I’m looking to repel our common enemies.’
‘As witness the Kazan episode.’
‘Which received an ovation from the committee. In case you’d forgotten.’
‘It tickled the right erogenous zones, yes, but in the cold light of day, wiser opinion holds that now is not the time to pour oil on troubled wildfires. And some who’ve gone to the bother of examining the minutes have pointed out that at no time were you given carte blanche to perform the, ah, procedure in question. You were simply asked to examine the viability of such an operation.’
‘Well, I think I did that with exceptional clarity.’
‘And besides, there are other needs than yours, many of them equally pressing. I’m not saying there isn’t a case to be made for the upscaling you have in mind, but that’s what you have to do – make a case. Not simply assert your demands.’
‘And what if I told you that I won’t be making demands? That all I’m looking for is approval to refocus existing resources?’ She uncrossed her legs, then crossed them again. ‘All I require can be met through internal rebudgeting.’
This gave him pause.
‘I’m serious, Oliver. I’ve identified a saving.’
‘I thought you were cut to the bone.’
‘We are. But I can prioritise.’
‘Enlighten me further,’ said Nash. ‘Please.’
‘There’s a project called Chimera.’
‘Oh, very on-message. How come I’ve not heard of it?’
‘Because I run a tight ship. Chimera’s not appeared on any agenda within the last few years because it’s been doing precisely what it ought to do, when it ought to do it, within budget.’
‘Good lord. Are you sure you want to close it down? We could have it mounted and put on a plinth.’ He shifted in his chair. ‘All right, all right. A little levity never did any harm. Remind me, what’s the precise nature of this, ah, Chimera?’
‘Probably best if we don’t emphasise what we’re losing, and focus on the gains to be made.’
‘Of course. And I’m sure you’re right, and there’s no need to blind the committee with technical detail, but for my own peace of mind, I really do need a glimpse of precisely what we’re deciding we can live without.’
‘Very well,’ said Diana. ‘Chimera was set up in the mid nineties and involved long-term, real-time analysis of the psychological effects of operating under deep cover in domestic pressure groups.’
‘Ah. Animal Liberation Front kind of thing?’
‘I can neither confirm nor deny.’
‘All very … surreptitious. Subterfuguous?’
‘I don’t want to hammer home the obvious, but we are the Secret Service.’
‘Is there an adjective from subterfuge?’
