Invisible Armies

Part 4: London - Chapter 22

Danielle has not been to London for years. After two months in Paris it seems ugly, dirty, dark, unfriendly. They walk from Waterloo Station across the muddy Thames. Even at night the Circle Line is overcrowded and running late. They have to push their way through a crowd to get themselves and their luggage on board, and are rewarded with glares from other passengers that simultaneously condemn and look right through them, as if they are both evil incarnate and do not exist. Estelle has booked a short-term two-bedroom flat just south of Euston Station. The flat is small, the furnishings wilted and impersonal, the beds lumpy and creaky. Danielle wishes they could have stayed in Paris.

They meet the foundation's representative the next morning in a temporary office near Green Park, gray-blue carpet and fake wood panelling and a conference phone in the middle of the oak conference table. It reminds Danielle of the office in Bangalore where she worked, once upon a time. The foundation is personified by a lean, wolfish white-haired man named Philip. Faded tattoos are visible beneath the sleeves of Philip's blue button-down shirt. His business-casual dress is entirely at odds with his taut body language and alert expression. Danielle gets the same kind of impression she did from Laurent at first, that he is constantly holding himself back from physical action.

"You've done excellent work," he assures them. "Bloody excellent. Don't let anyone tell you different. And don't get cold feet. I can see that you might. Don't let it happen. You're saving lives. You're making the world a better place. The worst thing the money bastards who run the world have done is set things up so this is the only way they can be overthrown. They figure, people who aren't willing to do the hard things can't touch them, and the people who are willing, they are them. We have to be the third way. We have to be hard men with hearts of gold. I don't like it any more than you. But that's the way the game is rigged. It's the only way to possibly win."

"Spare us the inspiration," Angus says. "Motivation is not our problem. Our problem is we stuck our necks out and didn't find anything."

"Of course you did. You broke their system wide open. If this Campbell doesn't say anything – and you say you don't think he will?"

"I think we put the fear of God into him," Laurent says. "Or at least the fear of us." He actually sounds amused. Danielle looks at him and wonders where yesterday's remorseful, self-doubting Laurent went.

"He promised to say nothing and to resign next month," Angus says.

"And you believe him?" Philip asks.

"He was passionately convincing," Laurent says.

"He might change his mind."

Angus says, "He seemed impressed by our detailed knowledge of where his sisters and his sainted mother live."

"We wouldn't," Estelle says quickly, seeing Danielle's expression. "It's a bluff. But he doesn't know that. He's got good reason to take our threats seriously."

Philip looks at Danielle with a concerned expression. "Danielle Leaf, yes? You're the recent volunteer?"

Danielle nods. Philip looks at Angus.

"We trust her completely," Angus says firmly.

"Well," Philip says. "Of course we trust your judgement. And you are Laurent Cinq-Mars of Justice International?"

"I am."

"You and your organization have impressive CVs."

"We try," Laurent says. "And who are you?"

Philip pauses. "How much do you know about the foundation?"

"Almost nothing."

"That's the way we prefer it. I'm sure you understand. We don't even have a name. Security through obscurity. But in broad strokes, we are a group of activists who have come together, aided by a number of wealthy supporters who believe in our cause but feel that their role is to support rather than take the risks that we take, in order to be a counter-balance to some of the world's more egregious examples of corporate exploitation."