"The Widow" Bertha

In the British version of House of Cards paro, there may be a considerable degree of character OOC and background settings that do not conform to realistic common sense.

Intermission episode 01

Bertha Thames received an encrypted email this morning.

The source of the email could not be found, and it was not signed. The text contained only a few words: "To a media practitioner with political aspirations", and then attached a rather exaggerated file attachment.

Bertha didn't take it seriously at first: it's an anonymous revelation, and her email address is not a secret, just Google it, so receiving such emails is not new, and most of them are useless.

However, when Bertha took the black coffee handed over by the Starbucks clerk and opened the file attachment, she trembled and almost splashed the hot coffee directly on the clerk's face.

——"High-level personnel seized power and manipulated personnel transfers", "a certain degree of internal strife within a certain party" and "important congressmen have made statements contrary to the current government's views in the past", etc.

Every single piece of information in the document that was made public could turn the face of the big man in Downing Street on the spot.This is definitely not something that Bertha's informant and the resource network she possesses can gather!

Bertha Thames' first reaction was that she was being targeted.

Then her second reaction was to close the mailbox, dig out the address book, and dial her brother's number.

"Thomas," she said quickly as soon as the phone was on the street, "help me check the source of the email, I may be in trouble."

"you--"

The young man on the other end of the phone paused, and suddenly raised his voice: "What are you?!"

Five minutes later, Bertha, who walked out of Starbucks, finally explained the ins and outs. Thomas Thames on the other end of the phone was completely incoherent: "You actually called me from Starbucks to say that you have government secrets, are you not afraid of being shot by snipers? !"

Bertha rolled her eyes: "Don't watch popcorn chips, others will think I'm a lunatic if they hear it."

Thomas: "It's not much better...No, Bertha, you know the danger when you send such information to you, and you still want me to check it?"

Bertha: "Otherwise? Do you want me to just hand it over to the editor-in-chief of the newspaper?"

Thomas: "Why not?"

Bertha: "Are you stupid or not? I don't know who sent it to me. Even if I use me as a knife, I have to know who is holding the handle behind my back."

"You are a reporter, you have the right to let the public know the truth!"

"But I'm still your older sister. I have the obligation to protect my own life so that I can save enough for your college tuition for the next school year."

"I borrowed your money."

"Of course, the future Jobs," Bertha twitched her lips, "Can you check the source of the email for your dear sister?"

"Give me a day."

Facts have proved that Thomas's major is not in vain.

That night, he sent the source of the email to Bertha. As Bertha expected, there was no such address in her resource network at all.

Bertha struggled for a long time, and finally chose to send a reply letter to this email address.

[I need to meet your boss. ]

——To be reasonable, this e-mail must have been sent by someone, and the person who sent the e-mail is probably just a wage earner like himself.

Bertha is not a fool, she can indeed directly compile these materials into news without asking the source, and her career will definitely be more open after a few exclusive headlines are published, but the problem is that there is no such thing as a pie in this world, just like As Bertha told Thomas, she had to know who had chosen her.

Otherwise, today she could help this big man ruin someone else's life, and the other party could easily ruin his own life.

After sending this email, Bertha has not received a reply for a long time.

In the afternoon of the next day, when she was packing up her things and preparing to go home on time, which was rare without working overtime, an equally short email came to this mailbox.

Her heart skipped a beat, and she picked up her phone to check. There was no nonsense in the email, it just stated an address and a meeting time that was an hour away from now.

Bertha's first reaction was: Could it be that the other party wanted to kill someone to silence her?

Even though she knew it was unlikely, Bertha couldn't help but think about the popcorn movie she had seen with Thomas - it was all his fault!

In the end, she chose to transfer the documents to her computer for backup, then reported the itinerary to Thomas, and resolutely went to the appointment.

London is a big, bustling city, but it's not too difficult to find an area that's sparsely populated and unsurveilled.

Bertha walked through the park and stopped at a corner of an empty square. She waited for a while, and then a man with an ordinary face came over: "Miss Thames?"

"Yes you are?"

"plz follow me."

Fine.

She had to follow.

Fortunately, they didn't go very far, just took a detour, and Bertha saw the person she wanted to see.

A man stood in the dim light. Because of the backlight, Bertha couldn't see his face clearly. The only thing he could see was the strict three-piece suit and clothes that outlined his tall and straight figure.She raised her eyebrows secretly, and took a step forward to see the impeccable polite smile on the man's face.

Meeting Bertha's gaze, he nodded slightly: "Miss Thames."

Bertha: "Thank you for the information, sir."

The strange man heard the words and said: "It's too polite, ma'am. I think if you were sincerely grateful, you wouldn't send the meeting address to your younger brother Thomas Thames, who is still studying computer science."

Bertha laughed.

Man: "Excuse me, miss?"

Bertha: "It's nothing, I was just thinking, according to my brother's favorite spy movies, should you, like every big devil behind the scenes, report my information files from birth to employment, so that I can establish Dismount?"

Her witty words fell to the ground, in exchange for the same laughter from the man.

"Spy war movies are wonderful, but they are somewhat exaggerated," the man replied with a smile. "Besides, we live in the information age. If you want to find out, you don't need to do any research. I just use my fingers to search on Google."

"This is new."

"how do I say this?"

"Someone like you," Bertha began, "gossips about people on Google."

After some probing jokes landed, the tense atmosphere between the two was reduced a lot.

This made Bertha secretly relieved: at least this proves two points, one is that he really does not want to kill people to silence his story, and the other is that this gentleman is indeed a big shot.

He was even so old that he didn't need to put on an air of prestige, and he was conceited that he could control the situation with such an easy-going and kind gesture.

"Thank you, miss." The man neither denied Bertha's words, but he did not admit it either. "Forgive me for taking the liberty of acting. Anyone who receives such an anonymous email will be wary."

"of course."

Bertha admitted this openly: "I guess it's because of this that you are willing to come forward."

"One reason, yes," the man admitted, "and the second reason is that what you are asked to do is very important."

"You mean leaking information about these senior officials?"

"Yes."

"I don't know."

Bertha raised her eyebrows: "What does this have to do with you, sir?"

"Please do these things have nothing to do with my personal likes and dislikes, ma'am," the man replied, "it has to do with national security."

"Then trouble you to explain."

"In short, there is an incident involving domestic officials," he said. "As for which officials, I believe you are already familiar with the contents of the email."

Bertha understood now.

She had thought that this was the man behind some government official—although, as far as Bertha knew the officials, she had never seen such a face—she did not expect that she had underestimated the person who came.

He is the man behind the government.

"It's hard for you to tell what happened," Bertha considered, "so choose a method that is more acceptable to the public, right?"

Now that the general election is imminent, any negative news about the prime minister and his wingmen can affect the final outcome of the battle.It was everyone who did not vote for him that led to the failure. This has no apparent connection with anyone or any event.

"Yes." The man responded.

"Why me?" asked Bertha again.

"This is not a question that a reporter should ask, miss," the man sighed. "Opportunities and risks often go hand in hand. Now that it hits your head, do you still have to ask why you were chosen?"

"It's a good chance, Thames."

he said again.

"It's just a simple mutual benefit. You help me complete this matter. No matter what you gain or lose, it will not go beyond your career plan. Other than that, I don't need you to do anything for me .”

Good ones don't need to do anything.

The tone seemed as if after Bertha refused, he would go to the next person—on the premise that she had to delete all the information that had entered her mind.

but……

She didn't mind either.

If there is no risk in this matter, it is meaningless, isn't it?If Bertha had been someone who liked ease and stability, she would not have chosen to be a reporter.

"You're right, sir."

The dim light elongated the shadows of the two, and Bertha turned her head to the side, looked at the mysterious gentleman a few steps away, and smiled brightly: "But since you said it is mutual benefit, does it mean that you and I are in a cooperative relationship right now? ?”

"So to speak, miss."

"Then, at least I need to know, which kind-hearted person gave me the opportunity and chose to cooperate with me?"

The man laughed: "You ask for my name."

Bertha pretended to be surprised: "Do you mind? I thought you would like to talk to me in person, and you don't mind that."

After all, the person who wants to use the knife has already exposed his face to the blade.

"Of course I don't mind," the man said slowly, "but miss, if you don't know the name, there is a way to cooperate without knowing the name. Once you know the name, things may not be so simple in the future."

"Mycroft."

He said: "Mycroft Holmes, Miss Thames, that is my name."