Jonathan sat there in awe. This was like a make-believe story “So if you wanted to you can get into banks and credit card companies and do what you want?”
“Oh, I do that all the time,” said The Grey Man. “Banks and credit card companies hold masses of information about people. If we wanted to we could break into your university and give you a “first”. How does that feel?”
“Bloody hell,” said Jonathan.
“Exactly, which is another reason I am hunted. Now if I show you this garage you may be hunted as well. Do you want to go on?”
“I don’t have much choice,” said Jonathan.
“Okay. Power up.”
For the next eight hours, deep into the morning of the next day, they worked. The Grey Man lay back on the sofa with his eyes closed, Jonathan on the keyboard. First they went through the background and theory, then the procedure with The Grey Man dictating every move. Then Jonathan had a go. First he broke into a bank, then a telephone provider, a water board and then finally into a government database looking at taxes, a constant dialogue flowing both ways between each man, Jonathan describing the screen and The Grey Man telling him what to do next until Jonathan started to understand what he should be doing and began to find his own way.
Jonathan marveled at The Grey Man’s memory as he was able to memorize screen after screen and then explain what was needed to be done or be able to re-track to previous screens with perfect recall.
Finally at three thirty in the morning when both men were tired, The Grey Man declared, “We are ready. We are going to break into a part of The Firm that I control. I need to know if they are trying to break the system yet.”
Jonathan went through the process and finally a screen appeared that said ‘Welcome’. They were in. Then a message flashed up that two snoopers had been fired. The Grey Man look worried.
“What’s up?” said Jonathan.
“Snoopers are software I have put into the system,” explained The Grey Man. “Anyone trying to hack The Firm would find this virus unleashed into their system. Whatever computers were connected would be fried. Two going off either means they were expecting this and had isolated their computers from a full system, had one computer destroyed then immediately attacking with another, or I fried a complete system and they have enough back up to go over to another system straight away. Not good either way.”
“How long do you think it might take before they get through?”
“Well, I have a few other surprises so I would hope at least a week.”
“Is there anything we can do?”
“If I had my eyesight back I could screw them completely but unfortunately you would need a lot of training before I could show you what to do and any mistake would draw them directly to us. Let’s get what we came for and close out.”
Jonathan carried on. He went through a number of protocols which The Grey Man spewed out from his capacious memory bypassing all dangers. Finally they came to the database he wanted on The Firm. In plain view, on this database, everyone associated with The Firm was listed, every member, every past member and their specialty, from gun running to murder to false documentation and body recovery.
“Any doctor currently working for The Firm would be the obvious place for me to look and will be monitored so we need retired members,” said The Grey Man. “These disappear from the current Firms register and only I keep their details for my records.”
Jonathan clicked into a few more pages to search under ‘doctors, expertise eyes’. The database came up with three possibilities in the UK, all elderly men whose details Jonathan wrote down including their contact codeword.
He then shut down the link to The Firm and skimmed through various banks and credit card companies to get information on all three men. After this he hacked into the central National Health Service databanks and found out only one of the men was still working, albeit part time. He wrote down his details.
“Right,” said The Grey Man. “Time to sleep.”
“Do you want help upstairs?” asked Jonathan kindly.
“No thank you. I will sleep here. I have memorized most of the furniture today and I know how to get to the downstairs toilet. I do not want to be falling down the stairs at night.”
“Okay.”
“Bear with me. I am not used to any help and hate to be touched. I have survived a lifetime on my own. Your father and Surge know this and respect it. This blindness is just another obstacle to overcome and I will. Do you know why we had sandwiches tonight for dinner?”
“No,” said Jonathan.
“Because anything hot on a plate I would have had to be fed and your father knew I would have hated that. With sandwiches I can work out where the plate is and eat like everyone else. It shows the kind of man your father is and the thought he puts into everything.”
“In the future I will learn how to eat hot food without being able to see it, as I will learn how to navigate stairs and dress and undress myself and all the hundreds of other things blind people do. I just need a little time.”
“Thank you for explaining,” said Jonathan.
“You are a fine boy. I know how proud your father is of you. Now let’s get some sleep and continue the good fight in the morning.”
Jonathan walked through the dark house and upstairs into his bedroom. Today had been the most frightening, exciting day of his life. He wondered what tomorrow would bring.
Chapter 19
A Visit to the Doctors
The next day was glorious. The sun bounced off the sea and streamed through the windows. Even though the air was still a little cold, it buoyed up everyone’s spirits.
Surge made a light breakfast of tea, coffee, toast and cereal and then Collins got on the phone.
“Hello,” said a cultured voice. “Dr Alding here.”
“I am Falstaff,” said Collins, giving the code word.
“Oh, I am afraid I do not work with any Falstaff’s anymore,” said Dr Alding. “I am retired.”
“I know,” said Collins. “But we need you and this would be extremely lucrative. All I am after is a consultation.”
“Okay,” said Dr Alding. “I am working tomorrow at a small private hospital just outside Basingstoke. Can you be there at 10.00 am?”
“Sure,” said Collins. “I hope I do not have to tell you to keep this highly confidential?”
“Of course,” said Dr Alding. “Not even my secretary will know. Be there exactly at 10.00 am and walk straight in. I will be waiting for you and by the way I would prefer cash.”
“Of course,” said Collins and took the address from Dr Alding. “See you there.”
“Right,” said Collins once he had put down the phone. “We got it. Jonathan you are to drive and stay with the car. I will go in with The Grey Man. Surge you need to secure the perimeter and run interference.”
“No problem,” said Surge. “I would be delighted.”
Surge turned to Jonathan, “There could be some rough stuff tomorrow and I may need your help. Get your sports stuff on and meet me in the garage in ten minutes.” Jonathan ran upstairs.
“What do you have planned?” said Collins.
“Not a lot,” said Surge. “Just a few tricks that might keep him awake and alert. I don’t want him involved but if he is this may just keep him alive.”
“Fine,” said Collins smiling to soften his words. “Just don’t break him before tomorrow.”
Surge reversed the Range Rover out of the garage onto the drive, angling it so the number plate could not be seen from over the wall. The garage was a large rectangle around twelve feet high and very deep. It had more than enough room for his needs.
Jonathan came through the inner door dressed in his new shorts and trainers. Surge started by putting them both through a set up of warm-up exercises to stretch and condition the muscles. Once they were warm, he turned to Jonathan and said, “Now hit me.”
Jonathan had seen what Surge could do. He was a martial arts specia
list and reasoned that he knew what he was doing, so he attacked, throwing a right then a left punch which Surge blocked easily without moving his feet. Jonathan attacked again. Same result. Now he was getting frustrated. He was a strong, tall boy and even though he had never had a fight, he thought he could handle himself. To be treated so casually was an insult, so he attacked again, this time faster and more viciously.
“Good,” said Surge, now finally having to move his feet a little as well as his arms. “Keep going.”
Jonathan pounded in, throwing everything he had until after just a few minutes he was exhausted. His face was red and his chest heaving, not one punch had got through, not even close. Surge had hardly moved and was standing there completely composed.
“This is what would happen to you if you ever try to attack someone without any idea of what you are doing,” said Surge. “Let’s examine what happened. You put no thought whatsoever into your attack. All you wanted to do was punch me in the face and even though I repeatedly stopped you, you did not have the sense to vary your punches or attack anywhere else. Your head came down, your adrenalin went up and you kept pounding away. In the real world you would have lasted less than ten seconds.”
“You have a good mind. You must engage if you get into a combat situation. So let’s start from the beginning and go through the basics. The main lesson to learn is to use your major areas of strength against your opponent’s weakest, so your bone against their nerves, your major muscles against their minor muscles and joints. Got it?” Jonathan nodded.
“So punching someone in the jaw using your bone against their bone rarely works,” continued Surge. “Now punching them in the throat or groin, much more effective. Got it?”
“Yes,” said Jonathan just beginning to recover.
“Now,” said Surge. “Let’s discuss where to hit. Stand up.”
Surge squatted down on his haunches and grabbed Jonathan’s foot.
“The feet hold some of the most delicate bones in the body. If you stamp down with your heel on another person’s foot with shoes on you will almost certainly break a bone, normally this one and this one,” said Surge pointing at different parts of the foot. “Destabilizing your opponent.”
He then grabbed Jonathan’s ankle. “A kick here or here will crack the joint and is really painful.”
Pointing at Jonathan’s shin he said, “This is designed to protect the muscles in the calf. Always attack them from behind where it is soft.” He squeezed Jonathan’s calf muscle causing him to jump from the pain. “Above the shin and before the knee cap is a soft spot, a void. You can attack it in a number of ways which will drop a man. The knee cap, when the leg is straight, takes approximately sixteen pounds of pressure to shatter. It can be dislocated by hitting it here and here.”
Surge went on for the next twenty minutes pointing out the main attack points in the body from destroying the spleen, stopping the heart, through to disrupting the blood flow by attacking the lymphatic glands.
“So is this why they call you The Surgeon, because you know so much about the body and how it works?” said Jonathan, mesmerized.
“No. It’s because everytime I hit someone I cut them!”
They sparred through the rest of the morning. Jonathan attacking some of the lethal areas that Surge had pointed out and Surge defending. For anyone less skilled than Surge it would have been highly dangerous but not once did Jonathan land a telling blow or even look like he would, but his repertoire of moves improved as did his accuracy and speed.
After lunch Surge showed Jonathan a series of moves or ‘tricks’ as he called them. “Look,” he said. “Most men are right handed. If they have had no training they will try to hit you in the face with that right hand as you did with me this morning. I am going to try to do that to you. I want you to block my right arm. Step in close so I cannot swing my left and use the same elbow of the blocking arm in a tight circle to hit me on the side of the face. They faced off. Surge threw a lazy right and Jonathan blocked then stepped in swinging his elbow, stopping just before Surge’s cheek.
“Good,” said Surge. “Now faster. Now again.”
For the next hour then went over and over this move until Jonathan stopped thinking and just reacted. At that point Surge stepped back, bowed formally and then he took Jonathan through a different trick.
By 7.00 pm that evening when Collins called them in for dinner, Jonathan was worn out. He ate in silence and went to bed, dropping instantly into a deep sleep.
“How did he do?” asked Collins.
“Not bad,” said Surge. “He is fast and strong but a gentle boy. Let’s hope all this does not come to anything.”
The next morning they loaded up the Range Rover and set off for Basingstoke along the M27 and up the M3 turning off onto a duel carriageway that led to the town centre. Basingstoke is renowned for its roundabouts and after three in quick succession, Jonathan pulled off on a slip road and drove down a small country lane towards Old Basing. He then turned right up a single road and stopped.
Surge and Collins jumped out and dropped the tailgate. They lifted the floor and by the side of the spare wheel there was a hidden catch. Collins slipped it sideways and a long section of the floor slid to the right. Inside was a long, slim leather bag. Collins lifted it out and opened the flap. Inside were sets of license plates with numbers that had been copied from genuine Range Rovers based in other parts of the UK. Surge took the front one and Collins the rear. The number plates had strong, thin magnets attached and it only took seconds to swap them with the ones on their vehicle. Once done, Surge took off, running into the trees, circling the building. Collins gave him five minutes and then told Jonathan to drive on. The small hospital had only one single lane road in and out and it opened into a large car park. The building was two stories high, smart and new with a neatly cut lawn out front. Collins jumped out and walked into reception where he picked a wheelchair from a line of them stacked by the reception. He wheeled it back and carefully helped The Grey Man get in. Both men wore caps which they pulled down to cover their faces a little. Then they waited.
Surge had run all round the building and was now out front. He took an already tied bandage from his pocket and pulled it over his head. It covered one eye and disguised his features. He walked into reception then turned right to enter the toilets. From there he phoned Collins.
“There are two of them,” he said. “One in a grey c class Mercedes parked across from the front door and one sitting in the waiting room, a small ratty looking man you cannot miss. They haven’t seen me yet.”
“Okay,” said Collins and started forward with The Grey Man. Jonathan sat rigid at the wheel. He knew to stay alert at his post no matter what happened. He was their only getaway.
Surge slipped into the waiting room directly behind the watcher who was pretending to read a newspaper. Surge could see his ear piece and microphone obviously connected to the man in the car.
Collins and The Grey Man came through the double doors and kept walking straight. The watcher immediately noticed the two ageing men, one obviously with eyesight problems and he whispered into the mike, “Got them.”
Surge lent forward and hit the man hard just behind the ear, a short punch where his fist moved no more than two inches. The man slumped forward and Surge called out for a nurse. “Can you help this man, Nurse? I think he has fainted,” he said.
As the nurse came forward a small group gathered around the man, blood had started to stream from his nose and his breathing was shallow. Surge edged to the wall away from the group and started for the door. He grabbed a wheelchair from the same stack that Collins had and wheeled it forward.
As he came out the front door he saw the watcher from the car coming directly towards him obviously worried why transmission from his colleague had stopped so abruptly. He ignored Surge and just powered on. As they got level Surge rammed the wheelchair into the man’s legs knocking him forward and off balance. Surge hit him hard targeting the nerv
e under the chin and then spun the unconscious body round so it fell into the chair perfectly. Surge pushed the man back to his car, got the keys from his pocket, opened the front door using that as a shield for prying eyes and quickly manhandled the man into the driving seat. Then Surge walked round and got into the passenger seat. If the man woke up, Surge would simply knock him out again.
Collins pushed The Grey Man through the door marked ‘Dr Alding’. Sitting at a desk was a slim, elderly man, with a warm comforting smile. He was smartly dressed in a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie. He could have been anywhere between fifty and seventy years old. He looked fit but had a craggy, sagging well-worn face. His balding head had a few strands combed over the top that looked to be growing from near his ear, in a style named affectionately after an English footballer, a Bobby Charlton.
Without any preamble he got The Grey Man into an opticians chair complete with all sorts of eye gadgets on a stand to the right of it. Collins phone rang and he answered it as the doctor went to work examining The Grey Man’s eyes.
“We have been seen,” said Surge. “I have neutralized both men.”
“Dead?” said Collins.
“No,” said Surge. “But you have ten minutes at best.”
“Okay,” said Collins and rang off. “We have ten minutes,” he said to the doctor, who grunted by way of reply.
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