“Might?”

“If he has checks in place to ensure we don’t tamper with the site he will spot us messing with the results, but my team are confident that they can intercept negative votes before they hit his system.”

“How confident?”

“There are no guarantees, if that's what you mean, but the alternative is to just let the votes come in and hope the people of Britain have utter faith in the justice system.”

Wells stared at him for a moment, then said “Do it.”

Chapter 5

Hamad Farsi placed two thick files on Andrew Harvey’s desk and waited for him to finish his phone call.

“Gray?”  Harvey asked after hanging up.

Farsi nodded.  “The top one’s his M.O.D jacket and the other is what we have on him.  Nothing much until six months ago, then it all kicks off.  Sells his business for just over a million, cash, when it was worth twice as much.  He also sold his house for fifty grand under the asking price, obviously looking for a quick sale.  Again, it was a cash transaction.  After that he went on a spending spree.”

Farsi flicked through the file and pointed out Gray’s current account balance.

“Only three thousand left?  What the hell did he spend it on?”

“Good question.”  Farsi said.  “We have payments to his web hosting company for a dedicated web server and email exchange server, plus a wire transfer for fifty thousand to a software company in South Africa.  There’s a hundred and eighty grand to a security firm in Hounslow, and apart from twenty thousand to a software contractor here in London, the rest of the withdrawals were in cash.”

“Have you managed to track down the contractor?”  Harvey asked.

“He contacted us.  Or should I say, he called the police.  He recognised his website and apparently didn’t know what he was signing up for.  I’m going over there in ten minutes.  What do you think Gray did with the rest of the cash?”

“Well, a million quid will get you a nice amount of C4, if you know the right people.  And in his line of work, he will probably know the right people.  Speaking of which, where’s the list of acquaintances?”

“Towards the front of the file.  We have a list of the people he recruited through his company and Diane is compiling a condensed version based on his phone and email records over the last sixty days.”

Harvey skimmed through the file until he came across the mobile phone records.  He dialled the number of Gray’s phone and he got a response after two rings.  “Hello?”

“Is this Tom Gray?”  He asked.

“Speaking...”

Harvey put his hand over the receiver and mouthed: “It’s him.”

“My name is Andrew Harvey, calling from Thames House.”