Author's Note
I've dedicated this chapter to Conni Byron, who has followed this and another novel of mine - A Dragon in Winter - to the end (well she shows every likelihood of finishing this one).
I would recommend reading her Stained White - a remarkably new take on a werewolf theme, and with acutel observations on humans faced wth the seemingly impossible.
CS
Liz, make-up free, hair drawn back and constrained in a ponytail, wearing jeans and a denim jacket, and with determination in her face looked formidable. She had a long trench-coat over her outfit as we went to the site.
Steve met us with a smile. "My God, it's the commandos. Boss if you don't tell me about this, I shall be really upset."
The helicopter phuttered down at precisely 9.30 am. Under the whistling blades Liz and I ran to the door, and climbed in.
We put on the headsets and seat belts, and exchanged greetings with Sir William.
"Clear to take off?"
"Yes," we both said.
The view of the site I had only seen as a computer simulation swung around and reduced in size. It was a crystal clear day.
A half hour later we were over Northallerton.
"Robert. Flyby number one, two miles east of target, running north. Check if all three Jaguars are in the car park."
We saw Railton House, yellow sunlit stone in a setting of dark trees.
"Damn," I said, "one missing. OK. Go to turn point one, Catterick, and then to the van layby."
As we approached the van I saw a slim gray-clad arm wave. "Ruth. Ready?" I said over the WT.
"I'm ready. 'Morning darling. Isn't it a brilliant day?"
"Ruth we're shy of one Jag. We'll return for you."
"Robert. Flyby two. West of target, going south."
Robert said, "If you're looking for a powder blue XJ it's coming in from Northallerton now."
"Jesus," said Liz, "Your eyesight's keen."
There was a pause ,then she said "Oh I see it."
Robert said, "It's experience. You see things differently from above. Turn point two approaching."
"Go for repeat of flyby one east of Railton running north."
As we passed closest to the house, "OK all Jags in." I said, "Pick up Ruth."
I tapped out Wendy's number at the office on the mobile. "Five minutes to go Wendy, keep this line open now."
As we passed over the landmark indicating we were in WT range of Ruth, I said, "Go Ruth Go."
"Confirmed"
Uncannily reproducing the dream, I saw the van start with a puff of black smoke, but now it was being driven sedately and accurately along the deserted narrow road.
"Approaching turn point one," said Robert,"How's the timing?"
I said, "Still good. Ruth has two minutes to go.
"OK. Turn now for Railton. Wendy, Ruth, thirty seconds. I'll count down from fifteen."
As we were approaching the house I saw the van stop beside the telephone pole, and the glitter of the axe, as Ruth readied herself.
I shouted the numbers into the intercom and the mobile phone.
" - one - zero."
I saw Ruth smack the axe into the telephone pole. Wriggle it out and smack it again, removing the cable cover and the cable in between the cuts.
"OK Robert, down as fast as you like."
The seat fell from beneath me and my viscera tried to climb up my gullet, then they all tried to flatten into my backside.
"Holy shit, " I squealed, "where did you learn to fly, the SAS?"
"Yes, actually," said Robert calmly, "You may remove seat belts."
Sir William Ogilvy walked casually towards the house some fifty yards away. I saw the BT van roll forward to block the exit.
Liz and I followed twenty yards behind Sir William, she hiding the shot gun in the folds of her coat.
I turned the camcorder on.
The blades of the helicopter whined to silence.
It was still. Sparrows chirrupped unconcernedly in the ivy. I heard the ring of the front door bell.
Liz and I waited at the corner of the house. I saw Ruth and the girls drop down on the far side of the van.
I heard the door unlatch and Eve's surprised, "Oh, Sir William. You weren't expected. Come in, Sir William."
Liz and I ran in behind Sir William.
"Wh-what's happening. Liz? Graham?" Eve snatched at a button by the door, and an indicator light flicked on.
"OK, Eve," I said, "Now take it easy, be calm, and quiet."
The camcorder was on a neck sling so I let it hang, and took pliers from my pocket, grabbed the chain visible in the vee of her blouse neck, pulled the key to the drugs cabinet out, and cut the chain. Eve yanked her head down and bit my hand. I yelped and dropped the pliers, but I still held the warm key tightly.
Liz swung the shotgun up and thrust the barrels into Eve's stomach. Eve paled and stood still.
"Just calm down and shut up, Eve." Liz said with icy precision.
Ruth crunched up the gravel drive with the girls.
"Sorry Eve, but you took the first bite," I said.
I zipped her hands behind her back with a cable tie, and then kicking her feet together, tied her legs. Blood from my hand dripped onto her shoes. I pushed her to lie on the floor.
"Keep an eye on her, Mandy and Pat. Just thump her with the flat of the axe, if she's naughty."
"This is the board room," I said leading the rest forward.
I opened the door quickly, Sir William strode in, followed by Ruth with her shotgun, who stood in the far corner of the room. Liz shut the door covering the assembly with her gun.
Four portable phones lay on the table, two whining with the tone from the York office, the others switched off. I switched off the live two, and put all four on the window sill.
I took out my portable, and said into it, "OK Wendy, mission accomplished," and switched it to standby.
"It's with you, Sir William."
Sir William declared, "Gentlemen, I know that this house is being run for corrupt purposes, and that you are all deeply involved in its activities. We can do this sensibly and agree that you will resign quietly, or I can get the police from London, not the local force which I know you to have suborned, to deal with you for your criminal acts."
"You have no proof," said John Herrigan the MD.
"If you intend to argue I will have to shackle you. Graham please oblige."
I tied their hands behind their backs, and then linked them together.
I said, "Ruth, keep an eye on this lot with Sir William. We must run down the rest of the staff. I 'll leave this key here so no one says we planted the evidence."
In the hall I said to Pat and Mandy, "Get Eve in here with the rest."
I shut them in.
Liz and I followed our noses to the kitchen.
The little maid looked startled but recognised Liz. "Hello, madam. Is there something I can do for you?"
"You must be Maggie Stenson"
"Yes."
"And you Phillipe Lancombe," She said to the man in a chef's outfit stirring a saucepan from which an appetising aroma wafted.
"That is so," he said in a French accent.
"This is a raid by the holding company. You must have some idea that what goes on here is not straight?"
"I ain't done nothing wrong", said Maggie with a whine. "Only what I were told."
The chef sniffed disdainfully. "I cook, that is all."
I locked the back door and pocketed the key.
Liz ordered, "Both of you change and go home, and come back tomorrow at eleven o'clock. Just make everything safe in here Lancombe. Oh, and put a tray of champagne glasses out for seven, and two bottles in the fridge. Are Steven Rampling and Ellen Potts about?"
"No," said Lancombe, "Ellen is the cleaning woman and arrives at six and goes at ten, Steven comes in Thursday and Tuesday for maintenance and the garden."
I went into the corridor. All seemed serene.
I waited for the chef and maid to change. They came out of the kitchen in civilian clothes, and I escorted them down the drive and past the BT van.
I said, "Come back tomorrow, we have no problem with you."
I ran back to the house.
In the boardroom I snipped Eve's feet free, and separated the men.
"Right, let's get this lot into the first floor lounge."
Awkwardly we made our way up the stairs.
I opened the cabinet with Eve's key to reveal the drugs. I pointed to each in turn, reading what it was and recording it on the camera. I then pointed the camera to each of our four captives in turn and read out their names. I relocked the cabinet and pocketed the key. I stated the witness of Sir William and Liz, took frames of them and declared myself as camera operator.
I then led the way to the study and took out the pornographic material, treating it the same way.
Sir William said to Herrigan, "Now, do we have evidence?"
"What possessed you, Eve, to show Liz and Wisheart these things?" shouted Herrigan.
"You told me to tempt them," she screamed.
"Yes, you bitch, but not expose us."
I hadn't seen film crews capture this sort of thing, presumably they cut film from two cameras, but I only had the one. I swung it slowly between the two during this exchange.
"Well if we didn't have evidence before we have it now," I said.
"Eve, where's your handbag?" I asked.
"Bloody find it yourself."
"Oh dear. We seem to have reverted to the language of the streets."
I pushed Eve down onto the floor, and retied her feet, and removed her shoes.
"Pat, give me the axe."
"Now Eve, I'm just going to let this axe swing a little harder each time on the sole of your foot. Eventually it will cut through the nylon and the skin, and it will be excruciatingly painful, and you'll not be able to walk for weeks. Where is your handbag?"
I swung the axe in synchrony with its natural frequency, hitting the sole of her foot.
Eve rolled away.
"Oh dear," I sighed. "Pat, sit on her shins."
Eve couldn't see me now, so I kicked her sole with my shoe. She screamed, "In reception."
"Find it please, Pat."
She came back with a handbag, and I emptied the contents onto the table.
I took the larger of two bunches of keys.
"Right," I said, "Mandy take the men's keyrings and detach the Jaguar keys and take their wallets. Ruth, you stay on guard with Mandy and Pat. Pat you take Liz's shotgun."
"Come, Sir William, it's your property, let's make a preliminary inventory."
In the reception office I looked at the diary for that day. Fortunately as the board meeting had been originally called at London, we weren't due any visitors.
I looked at the next few days. There was a deal of telephoning to do.
The first floor held no surprises for Liz and I. We showed Sir William the dining room and the exquisite bedroom and bathroom.
The second floor gave us a shock. We found a room with a bed in the middle, and whips, swords, knives, and thongs of silk and leather hung on the walls, no windows and heavy sound insulation. Adjacent to the room, there was a locked, small unwindowed room with a well equipped bar, a big colour TV screen, pan, tilt, zoom and focus controls for cameras located in the previous room and the main bedroom suite and a VCR. A shelf of tapes labelled neatly, ran along one wall.
Eve's quarters were clean and neat, and apparently unremarkable.
"Ahh," I said, "This is where we want, I bet," as I encountered another locked door.
The fifth key opened the door into a little study lit by one dormer window over a desk. There were photographs of Eve on the walls, in various pin up poses, as a younger and strikingly beautiful woman.
A filing cabinet whose lock submitted to a key in the bunch, was by the desk. I lifted a few files out at random. They were files on those in the house and its visitors, written in Eve's bold hand. Liz also looked at several files.
"This will tie most of it together for you Sir William." Liz said. The four drawer cabinet was almost full.
"A task for a PI?"
"No," I said skimming through some more files, "the drug evidence is here. One of us will have to edit it before it gets to a PI. The same goes for the tapes. That doesn't fill me with enthusiasm."
Sir William said, "Sometimes I feel grief and loathing for my fellow men and or women. I try to run an ethical business. Yes, we strive for efficiency and profit. But this. I'm frankly appalled, both at the venality and the waste. The thing that I'm worried about is what's on those tapes or in these files. If there's children involved, I'm going to have to go for criminal proceedings. Adults who involve children must be brought to law."
I said, "We'll have to tell that lot downstairs that the jury's out until this information is reviewed. Ruth won't co-operate unless we do."
There was the crash of a shotgun and another noise like falling stones.
I took the stairs two at a time and slammed through the door into the study.
I saw Peter Armstrong, with his legs locked around Amanda's neck. Amanda was gasping and retching. Both were covered in plaster from exposed laths in the ceiling. Ruth's shotgun coiled smoke from one barrel. The room was filled with cartridge smoke, and fine dust from the plaster twinkled in the sunlight. Ruth's face was pale, tense and slit eyed. She held the gun aimed at Armstrong's head, transfixed by her own tension.
"What happened?" I asked.
Ruth said between clenched teeth, "This bastard kicked Amanda in the stomach and locked on her. I fired at the ceiling."
"Now you listen, Wisheart. You let us go or I'll break her neck. You haven't had military training. You couldn't run an operation like this. Bound to fail. So you let us go or I break this little tart's neck. Simple really."
I looked at him pityingly and shook my head.
"Ruth," I said, "You're using the wrong weapon.
"So Armstrong, what makes you think I care two farts about this little scrap? I just point my camera at you while you kill her and what was merely procuring drugs and porno becomes murder one. I'm easy. I just want you out of the company. So I can have a Jaguar and a nice fat salary. I don't fancy this set up. I like my sex in my own setting, but that doesn't mean I'm not ruthless."
I walked towards him, the camera focused on him. But he was mesmerised by Ruth who had now opened her eyes wide.
As I reached arm's length I dropped the camera and jabbed at his nose, which squelched with a spurt of blood. Amanda gasped and broke free, coughing and clutching her belly. Armstrong fell.
"Pat, tie their legs. Give me the gun."
"It will be a real pleasure."
She started with Armstrong, and strapped him so tight that both he and I winced.
"Less enthusiasm, Pat, and wipe his nose."
I knelt by Amanda. "How're you doing, love?"
Hoarsely she said, "OK. Just sick and sore."
I helped her to an armchair, and gave her a mineral water from the bar.
"Right," I said, "let's get them on chairs."
Pat and I manhandled them with Liz and Ruth guarding.
"OK, Sir William, Liz, this is your part of the show."
The four sat one end of the table, Ruth, and I stood either side. Ruth broke her gun, withdrew the spent cartridge, and replaced it with a fresh one from her pocket, and closed the breech.
"Wait a minute," shouted Eve, "you won't get away with this. I pressed the security alarm. The police will come and they'll see this and you'll get taken in. Assault and damage and shooting."
"Eve," I said, "Shut up. The telephone lines were cut long before you saw Sir William. The only police that will come will be those brought in by Sir William. And he will get them from London."
I saw they had been relying on the police summoned by Eve.
Sir William said, "I view this whole set up with horror and loathing. I cannot allow it to continue, or you to be part of the company. I will discharge you. You will get your pension rights which will be converted to an early retirement plan on certain conditions.
"The first is that you do not reveal anything of what you have done or seen in these premises.
"The second is that you never attempt to become directors or senior managers in any corporation. If you do, I will see you are fired.
"You surrender the phones and the cars, and go straight to your homes. We will provide taxis.
"On that basis you will go free.
"However the deal is off if we find in the material in this house anything to do with child abuse. I cannot countenance that.
"Am I likely to find anything of that nature Ms Tarrant? You are the creator of this operation?"
"No," she said sullenly, "No, I drew a line at that. It was all adults over eighteen."
. "Thank God for that," breathed Ruth.
"We still have to check," said Sir William, "so you are all on Probation. Liz read them the agreement."
"My feet," grizzled Armstrong, tears in his eyes.
I handed Pat the pliers. "Release and retie him. You did it hellish tight the first time."
Liz cleared her throat, "Now listen. I'm not going to repeat this."
The agreement put into legal language what Sir William had said.
Ruth listened intently.
She relaxed as Liz said, "Paragraph twenty one. In order that the Company may be assured of your compliance with the content and spirit of this agreement, you will be under the surveillance of a Private Investigator employed by the Company and will be required to reveal to them any information they seek, and co-operate in pursuit of their enquiries from time to time. Failure to co-operate with the Private Investigator, will be deemed as failure to comply with the agreement as a whole, in which case you will be discharged with ignominy from the company from the date of signing, and thereby immediately lose entitlement to pension rights."
Liz looked up at Ruth at this point.
"OK Ruth?"
Ruth smiled and nodded.
Liz read the final paragraph which said that the signatures had been appended with full understanding of the agreement and not under duress.
"Supposing we don't sign?" asked Herrigan, with a residue of arrogance.
"You'd be a fool," snapped Liz, "We'd fire you for this lot, without privileges, and get the London police involved."
"A lot of people come here. There'd be a scandal."
"Simple," said Sir William, "I'd instantly close and disown the Foot company. Wolfenden would do the work. The scandle might lose us some sales, but maybe I don't want that sort of client."
"There isn't any other kind," sneered Eve.
Liz said, "Wolfenden manage quite happily."
"Only by being cheapskates," said Heymann.
"No, by being efficient."
Sir William thundered, "I am not sitting here to listen to bickering. You have been made an offer which is more than generous, and you have been given the alternative. Either you accept jointly and severally, or I call the London police. You have thirty seconds."
"OK," said Herrigan. "I'll sign."
"Buggered if I will," said Armstrong.
"Don't be a fool Pete. We've no alternative."
"They can't fire us without our pension."
Liz, fished a piece of paper from her file, examined it briefly, turned it round to face Armstrong. "Is that your signature."
"So?"
"Read paragraph thirteen."
In his bubbly military voice which started robustly and trailed off at the end we heard, "If the director shall be discharged for a criminal, civil or venal offence which brings the company into disrepute he shall forfeit all rights to remuneration including pension and other ...."
I said, "You were probably so keen to get your nose in the trough you didn't read what you were signing."
"I didn't sign an agreement like that," snapped Eve.
"No," said Liz, "but you signed on your employment that you could do shorthand, and you can't. And as a result of a false declaration your terms of employment can be withdrawn. So I'd keep your mouth buttoned if I were you."
Eve subsided.
Sir William barked, "Come, no further prevarication, I want a yes from all of you now, or Graham can lend me his portable phone."
They all nodded.
I gave Pat the pliers, and she snipped them free. Armstrong spat at her. She clipped him firmly with the flat of her hand which set his nose bleeding again.
Ruth said, "No more violence. It will achieve nothing."
I passed Armstrong my handkerchief.
Liz wrote a short text in each agreement relating to the findings of the search at Railton House not revealing evidence of child abuse.
She put the agreement in front of each one in turn and they signed, at the end, and at Liz's written text. She brought the eight agreements to Sir William, who said, "Give me the pen Liz, I use this one," indicating the gold Parker in his top pocket," for dealing with decent people. My wife gave it to me."
Liz handed the four their agreements.
I put the things from Eve's handbag back, checking the credit cards, and removing company ones. Mandy had been ambushed before she had detached the car keys from the bunches. I did this, and removed a yale key with an RH stamped on it from each bunch.
I went through the wallets removing company credit cards and business cards.
I looked up a taxi firm in Yellow Pages.
"Right, who goes home?"
In turn they each gave an address, which I wrote down. "What about our things in the offices?"
"They will be sent by courier to the address you have just given me in one week's time."
"Ruth, time to move the van, sweetheart." I took the gun.
"OK, nice and easy to the board room. You can stay here Mandy."
"No, hell not. I want to see them go. This is us winning."
Pat found Eve's suit jacket in the reception office, and gave it to her.
Ruth brought the BT van into the car park.
The taxis arrived, Eve being the last to go. She looked back at the house as she walked to the taxi. She wiped her eyes and bit her lip, and got into the car.
"Well done, all of you," said Sir William, as we stood with a sense of anti-climax around the boardroom table. Liz and Pat came with the champagne and glasses.
Liz said, "Pat, do me a favour and get the helicopter pilot in, he's done us proud."
Sir William came to Ruth and me, attending to Amanda, and said as he shook their hands. "What a very able trio you make with Pat and Amanda, Ruth."
Ruth linked her arm with mine, "It was a full team effort with Liz and all."
"Graham, you said I would be able to thank the person whose idea this was."
"It was Ruth's."
"Then I do thank you, most sincerely."
Liz and Pat passed champagne around.
Robert said, "I gather it went off OK. I must admit when I heard the shot I was worried, but you said on no account to leave the ship, until I was summoned by someone in a grey overall."
I said, "Casualties were light, a bruised turn and neck, a nosebleed, and a bitten hand."
Sir William raised his glass, "I drink a toast to you all. A well organised piece of teamwork, and a worthwhile objective achieved."
I laughed, perhaps with sudden relief that we had won through with no significant casualties, "Tell me Liz, how could you possibly know Eve didn't have shorthand?"
"I didn't, but secretaries trained in shorthand invariably use the odd outline in their personal files. There wasn't even one in Eve's. It seemed a reasonable finesse."