Blackout - By Tom Barber Page 0,41

performance of outstanding services, for achievement of a distinctly exceptional nature in a duty or responsibility. He must have got it on a covert operation. They don’t even hint in specifics at what he did to earn it.’

Archer nodded and turned, checking back. Through the glass he saw Cobb scribbling something on a piece of paper, drain a cup of coffee and head towards his door, Jackson following close behind.

‘Shit, I need to go,’ he said. ‘Looks like something’s happening.’

‘OK.’ Pause. ‘It was good to talk you.’

‘And you. It always is.’

He pictured her smile, the other end of the line.

‘Speak soon,’ she said.

He ended the call and slotted his phone back in its home on his vest, then walked quickly down the corridor, stepping past a forensics detective in white coming the other way. He saw Cobb and Jackson were over by Nikki in the tech area, who was back at her desk although still pretty shaken up. Cobb spoke to her in a low voice, passing her the paper, and she nodded, then turned to her computer and started working away at something, seemingly keen to be distracted and get back into the usual routine.

Archer re-joined the other three officers, who sensed him return and glanced his way.

‘Who was that?’ Chalky asked.

‘Wrong number,’ Archer said.

Beside him, Porter gave a grunt of I've had enough and walked forward, approaching Cobb who had turned and was walking back towards his office.

‘Everything OK, sir?’ he asked.

Cobb turned and looked at Porter and the three other officers. Archer could see him weighing up his options, wondering if he should involve them in whatever was going on. Behind him, Jackson checked the time on his watch, then pulled out a mobile phone from his pocket and started texting something.

'We want to help,' Porter added, reading the situation.

Cobb looked at him, then nodded. Very well.

‘My office,’ he said.

He walked in, Jackson just behind him, and the four task force officers followed swiftly, moving inside and taking up positions around the room.

Cobb looked over at Chalky, who was closest to the exit.

‘Shut the door, Chalk,’ he said.

Chalky did so as Cobb looked at Jackson, who was leaning with his back to the wall on Cobb’s right.

‘May I tell my men what this is all about?’ he asked.

Jackson nodded. 'Go for it. It's both our asses if you don't.’

So Cobb leaned back in his chair and he began to speak.

TWELVE

‘It was 1999,' Cobb said. 'I was twenty six, and was working on a six-month transfer detail at MI6. The war in Serbia was really taking off, and things in Kosovo were going from deep shit to worse. NATO had just got involved, As you may recall, there were two sides, the Serbs and the Albanians, the Christians versus the Muslims as the press liked to portray it, dubbing it a modern holy war. But to the rest of us, it was just a real damn mess. It was already a bad situation, but then NATO stepped in and started shelling Belgrade like it would fix all the problems.’

He paused.

‘I’m sure you know the history. They’ve been fighting over that land for centuries, as far back as 1389. A conference right here in London just over a hundred years ago officially stated that the Kosovo lands from then on would belong to Serbia and Serbia alone. But during the last century, the population in the area gradually became more and more Albanian. Serbia ended all self-government in Kosovo in 1989, and the police force became all Serbian. The Albanians in the region were pissed. They had lost jobs, political rights and dignity. And soon enough, as the 90’s ticked by, they started to demand their independence, saying that the land wasn’t Serbia’s but theirs.’

‘But the Serbs disagreed,’ Fox said. Cobb nodded.

‘And in 1998, the exact same as in 1389, the fight was breaking out all over the country again, across the plains and in the valleys, two sides going at each other just as they had six hundred years ago.'

He paused.

'Like all wars, some really bad stuff happened. Houses and villages were torched, women raped, villagers and civilians executed, entire towns razed and burned to the ground. Stuff that the BBC and CNN didn’t show in their reports.’

The room was silent as each man listened closely.

‘Anyway, I got called into my boss's office in March 1999, just before the NATO bombing of Belgrade had begun,’ Cobb continued. ‘To my surprise, there was a covert operation that he wanted