Chapter Text
“Alright, Nicky-boy?”
Nick sighs and affectionately rolls his eyes, lips fighting a smile, as his friend and coworker, Darcy, practically skips into the briefing room and takes her seat.
Darcy is quickly followed by the rest of the team; Farouk, the head of Nick’s department, Ajayi, the tech expert, and Tara, a behavioural scientist who helps MI5 Officers understand their role. Nick watches as they take their seats, but then notices two more people enter the room. They both look a little nervous, yet somewhat determined.
“Good morning, team,” Farouk’s loud voice cuts through the room. Everyone looks to the front to see Farouk standing next to the screen that’s connected to his laptop. “Today, we will be going through your next mission that has been given to me by the Director, who made sure to state how important this one is.”
The screen flickers to show CCTV pictures of two young men, who look close to Nick’s age, with the information underneath them.
“Harry Greene and Benjamin Hope. These two men have recently been flagged by the police within the UK and other countries for leading a cyber terrorist group who hack bank accounts and drain them dry, accumulating millions of pounds stolen. Their targets are usually super rich, sometimes even millionaires, who attend auctions, private members clubs and various other events that aren't well known to the public.”
“I don’t see an issue with robbing the rich, personally,” Darcy mumbles behind her coffee mug.
Nick stifles a snort behind a closed fist as he sees Farouk glare at Darcy. Darcy merely shrugs and raises her arms in surrender.
“Whilst we are allowed to have our opinions, Olsson, it just so happens that these targets invest in a lot of things that keep the country afloat, to say the least. So please, try and keep your thoughts to yourself for now,” Farouk explains sternly.
“As I was saying,” Farouk continues, his gaze going back to the screen. “We don’t know what they do with the money. They are most likely keeping it to themselves, or they could be investing it into something that we don’t know about. Undercover officers have been tracking them for the past few months, most recently discovering their plan of action for when they find a new target, but we still have no information regarding what they do after they hack into the accounts.”
The next slide appears, showing a picture of another man walking in the street with headphones over his head, dressed casually as if he’s on his daily trip to the shops, obviously unaware of being photographed.
“This is Charlie Spring. Our agents have discovered that he works with Greene and Hope, his role appears to be the person who makes contact with their targets and somehow finds a way into their accounts.”
The screen flickers again, showing Charlie Spring in a suit this time, in a very different setting. He appears to be laughing with an older man as they stand at a bar. The screen continues to move, showing a few photos taken in succession. Farouk pauses to allow everyone to take in the pictures. Unsure of what to focus on, Nick finds himself looking at Charlie’s face, how his expression subtly changes with every new picture provided.
Farouk’s voice interrupts his trance as he resumes the briefing. “Recently, Agents have seen Mr Spring at a few auctions they’ve attended. If you look closely, we managed to capture the moment Spring swipes something against the pocket of the target.”
The series of photographs repeat, and this time, Nick forces himself to look at Charlie’s arm stretching out when the target isn’t looking. It’s obviously a perfected skill, since the photos show no suspicion from the target.
“So, the mission is quite simple.” Farouk turns to look directly at Nick. “Nelson, tomorrow, you will be going to an auction for music and art memorabilia at The Ritz. Your mission is to find a way to intercept Spring so that he can’t swipe anyone.”
Nick nods once in understanding. “Any pointers?” he asks.
“All of the official information is in here,” Ajayi says, sliding a brown folder across the table to Nick. “I couldn’t find many things that would help you. It’s very vague. It’s as if he has no life other than the photographs we have of him, and snippets of information from his childhood.”
Nick opens the folder and quickly scans the documents. Sure enough, there’s not a lot to go off of. At a first glance, Nick can’t seem to pick out anything he could use to his advantage.
“However,” Ajayi continues. “The small amount of information we do have, led us to two of his childhood friends, Tao and Isaac, who have agreed to help us on the case.” Ajayi gestures to the two men Nick didn’t recognise. “Gentlemen, please.”
The one with the beanie on sits up properly and clears his throat. “So, I’m Tao, that’s Isaac, obviously,” Tao begins, a nervous shake to his voice. “We used to go to school with Charlie. We all had plans to go to university together, share a flat together, but once we finished secondary school, it’s like Charlie disappeared. We couldn’t find him anywhere, and he rarely responded to our texts and calls. He was always very vague and never answered our questions. Then one day, he just stopped. We haven’t spoken to him in years. I guess now we know why.”
Nick’s heart breaks for the pair, the anxiety and hurt evident in their faces. “Did he give any indication about what he was involved in before he disappeared?” Nick asks.
“No, none at all,” Tao replies.
The other friend, Isaac, gives Tao a look.
“What?” Nick looks between them.
“The last couple of months before he left, he started to act differently, became quiet and withdrawn. But we didn’t think anything of it. Charlie has always struggled with his mental health. He got bullied in school. We saw a lot of it, but he never told us anything. I think a lot more happened than he let on,” Isaac explains slowly.
“So there’s a chance that he was… forced to disappear?” Nick suggests carefully.
“We didn’t think so at first,” Tao replies. “But it would make sense.”
“That is another aspect to your mission,” Farouk interrupts. “If possible, we would like you to try and figure out if Spring has been forced to do these missions for Greene and Hope, or if he’s a willing participant. Tao and Isaac will give you information that will help you approach Spring and connect to him on a personal level. Tara will also help you create a plan of action on how to use this information efficiently. Clear?”
“Yes, sir,” Nick confirms.
“Good, I’ll leave you to gather all the information and then I will be back to confirm the mission and your roles.”
Farouk leaves and the team look at each other with raised eyebrows, reading their notebooks and pens.
“Right,” Ajayi pipes up. “Let’s note down what we already know.”
Six hours later, one of which is for lunch, the team has a solid base for the plan. Ajayi has shown all the technical equipment he believes Nick will need for the mission and Farouk has secured a room in the hotel for Nick to stay in or retreat to if things don’t go the way they want.
Darcy helped formulate their plan of action regarding keeping all forms of communication with Nick and keeping an eye on him through the hotel CCTV.
Nick, Tara, Tao and Isaac discussed everything to do with Charlie and made a list of the best tactics he should follow when he’s at the auction.
The plan is pretty solid. On paper, it’s not even that complicated. But Nick knows that it’s usually the simplest missions that have the most variables, and if one thing goes wrong, the whole thing could go haywire. He has to stay alert and diligent, ready for anything. He has the skills and knowledge, as well as a great team behind him who know each other really well.
Nick spends the rest of his evening at home, looking over the documents one last time before he goes to sleep. By his side is his four year old dog, Nellie, a loyal and loving border collie. He got Nellie when he was struggling with a case that caused him to spend a few months away from the field. He had to recover at home, doing mindless admin tasks and he hated it. He loved being where the action was. During that time, his mother had suggested the idea of adopting a dog, knowing his love for animals. He was hesitant at first, but then found Nellie, a little puppy who had been abandoned and immediately folded. He was worried because he wasn’t sure how he was going to look after her if he had longer missions, but his mum promised him that she would look after Nellie, and that seems to settle any worries.
So far, getting Nellie has been the best decision he’s ever made in his life.
“Should be a relatively simple one tomorrow, Nels,” he mumbles as he scratches her head.