“Hello Andrew.  I expected you to call a lot sooner than this. Call me back on my other phone after two minutes.”  He gave Harvey the new number and broke the connection.  Too many people knew this number, or knew how to get it, and he didn’t want interruptions all day long.  He switched SIM cards and put the old one in his pocket.  Ninety seconds later the phone rang again.

“So, what’s this all about, Mr Gray?”

Harvey handed the Post-It note containing the new number to Farsi, who nodded and took it over to Lane’s desk so that she could contact her liaison at GCHQ.  Their communications capabilities far outstripped those of Thames House, and it wouldn’t be long before they could get a location from the number.

“Call me Tom.  And what it’s about is justice for British people, doing what the government have been promising for twenty years now: protecting the innocent and punishing criminals.”

“We have a judicial system to take care of that, Tom.  What you are doing is not going to change anything.”

“Yes it will,” Gray told him.  “The government have a duty to listen to the people.  I am just making sure they hear what is being said.”

“Tom, people have tried for years to change things using terror tactics and it hasn’t worked.  You should know, you used to be on our side of the fight.”

“Yes, I noticed it didn’t take long to brand me a terrorist, but what options did I have?  I could have let it go and accepted the fact that my wife and son are dead and that Stuart Boyle had been punished, but that would mean living a lie, because he hasn’t been punished.  Did you know that he has been arrested three times since my son’s death, each time for driving a stolen vehicle?”

“No, I didn’t know that, I haven’t seen his file yet.”  Harvey admitted.

“Does it sound like he has learnt his lesson?  I don’t think so.  He can’t claim to have ‘accidentally’ stolen three more cars, because that’s something you choose to do.”

“I agree that he deserves a more severe punishment, but that is not for us to decide, Tom.  If everyone took the law into their own hands there would be anarchy, you know that.  We have to let the courts decide, that’s what they are there for.  If you feel badly enough, start a legitimate campaign to get the law changed.  It has worked for others in the past, and with your record in the services, people would listen.”

“People are listening now, Andrew, and I don’t have to spend years fighting an uphill battle while every day reliving the pain of their passing.”

There was silence for a moment, and Harvey sensed Gray was once again thinking of his family.  He waited for him to continue rather than interrupt his private moment.