Harry Pearce had just finished outlining the task he’d received from the Minister.

“And you’re sure there’s going to be trouble?” Ros Myers asked. “It’s not just a paranoid minister.”

“Sadly not,” Harry replied.  “Those I can deal with.  This is more of a problem.  It could just be the regular hot heads, who the police could be left to deal with.  However, my fear is that it’s going to be incited either by people sent by the embassy itself, or by their opposition.  And if we’re really unlucky, both at the same time.”

“Can’t some of us just turn up and join the throng?” Adam Carter asked.

“No, we’d be spotted by one side or the other.”

“Or both,” Ros added with a sigh.

“I think it just might be possible,” Lucas North said.

“How?  It can’t be anything too complicated; we need to be there in just under four hours,” Harry said.

“You know the water board are working practically next door to the embassy and have got part of the road up.”

“That’s news to me,” Adam said.

“I saw it when I was on the bus yesterday afternoon.  There’s no way they’ll have finished by now.”

“Carry on,” Harry said.

“A few bright yellow hi-vis jackets and white hard hats and no-one will look at us twice.”

“It could work.”  Harry nodded.

“Won’t someone notice we don’t have the right logos or one of those from the water team ask us who we are?” Ros said.

“Lucas’ idea is that you slide in and slide out, so no-one really has time to look at you.  We have all the equipment, so unless anyone has another idea, I suggest we go with it.”

“We can incorporate radios in the kit as well,” Malcolm added.  “Again, no-one will think twice about it.”

“Perfect,” Harry said.  “Let’s get on with it then.”

***

The following morning, Harry reported that the Minister had been delighted with the outcome.  “Hardly any trouble,” he said.  “In fact, the police report said the demonstration had been suspiciously quiet, but that’s their problem not ours.  And I assured the Minister that the agitators had been dealt with, so I assume they were.”

“Oh yes,” Ros said cheerfully.  “Jo and I took the two embassy ladies back to the side entrance of the embassy and suggested it might be wiser if they stayed inside for the duration of the demonstration.  And no, we weren’t wearing hi-vis and helmets at the time.”

“And Lucas and I spotted two opposition agents,” Adam said, “who, when they saw us, took to their heels and collided with a couple of rather large water board employees who were shifting a heavy pipe.  The employees were only too happy when we said we’d remove the two dazed agents, leaving them to get on with replacing the leaking pipe.  Section C were delighted that we’d found them, as they’d been after them since the weekend.”

“Yes,” Lucas added, “you could say we took them from the leak to the sea.”

“I’d rather not!”