Chapter 54
‘Mischief makers?’ Poe said. ‘What the hell does that mean?’
‘Have you heard of the term “gaslighting”, Poe?’ Locke replied.
‘Tilly sometimes uses it,’ Poe admitted. ‘Usually after Edgar has tricked her into giving him a second dinner. It means psychological manipulation. The gaslighter attempts to sow self-doubt and confusion in their victim by distorting reality. It’s commonly used to obtain power and control in abusive or dysfunctional relationships.’
Locke nodded. ‘It’s a ghastly turn of phrase, I know,’ he said. ‘But, without giving you the entire megillah, Ezekiel Puck was a professional gaslighter.’
‘Well, youdidsay it was something bad,’ Poe said.
‘We call it psyops,’ Locke continued. ‘Psychological operations. Or black propaganda. Psyops isn’t new, of course. The Persians waged psychological warfare against the Egyptians as far back as the Battle of Pelusium in 525 bc. Churchill had whole departments dedicated to it during the war.’ Locke sighed. Removed his glasses and polished them with a monogrammed handkerchief. He was always doing that. Poe wondered if he had greasy eyeballs. ‘May I ask you something, Poe?’
‘You can.’
‘When it comes to black propaganda, whose name springs to mind?’
Poe didn’t hesitate. ‘Joseph Goebbels,’ he said. ‘His Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda deceived the Germans into believing that if it wasn’t for the Jews they’d all be living in a utopia.’
Locke nodded. ‘Goebbelswasa gifted narrator, and when it comes to scale, there is no doubt he’s the most infamous propagandist in the history of the world. But, in my small, and no doubt insular, world, it’s not Goebbels that springs to mind when we think about psychological warfare; it’s Ezekiel Puck. He had an extraordinary talent for winkling out his target’s hopes and dreams, their fears and their deepest darkest secrets, and then exploiting them. He would push their buttons and pull their levers until there was nothing left but despair.’
‘And which group of people did you designate as targets, Alastor? Trade union leaders?Guardianreaders? The French?’
Locke flicked through the documents in the file. He picked out one but shielded it from Poe. He said, ‘What do you know about Iran?’
‘Just what your Ministry of Enlightenment and Propaganda . . . sorry, I meant to say what your Foreign Office tells me.’
‘Very droll, Poe,’ Locke said. He tapped the document he was holding. ‘This British company found a loophole in the law when it came to exporting resource planning software. They were selling it as a way of coordinating humanitarian aid.’
‘But?’
‘But the company knew it could also be used to integrate industrial processes relating to Iran’s nuclear programme.’
‘Why not call them out on it? Or shut them down completely?’ Poe paused then answered his own question. ‘Because it would embarrass the government.’
‘It would. But there was more than that to consider. The company is a major employer. Shutting them down would mean job losses. The Treasury would lose tax revenue. Far better the problem went away. Quietly.’
‘Step in, Ezekiel Puck?’
Locke nodded. ‘A rogue senior executive was behind the sale of the software, but he was protected by the law and if it came down to it, his board would have had no choice but to stand behind him and denounce the crackdown as government overreach. Puck was given the task of bringing this man to order. The method was left to him.’
‘He murdered him?’
‘Good Lord, no,’ Locke said. ‘Despite what you might think, democide has never been in this country’s wheelhouse.’
‘Democide?’
‘State-sponsored killing.’
‘Well say that then,’ Poe snapped. ‘We didn’t all go to Cheltenham Ladies’ College.’
‘Yes, very good, Poe,’ Locke said. ‘We leave democide to the Russians and the Saudis. No, Puck’s methods were far more subtle. And by the time he withdrew, no one even knew that what had happened had happened by his design.’
‘What did he do?’
‘Nothing for three months. Nothing but study the senior executive. His current life, his previous life. Eventually he decided a failed romance from his university days was his Achilles heel. It was a short-lived love affair, but Puck’s research led him to believe the impact on the senior executive’s life had been profound. That everything since – his wife, his children, even his career – had been a compromise.’
Poe thought it through. Saw where Locke was going. ‘He rekindled it?’
