“My god Wyre looks awful!” said one voice.
“Well we never heard anything from him or Oliver for a week or two and then we were told by one of his friends, Andy I think his name was that Susan had been killed in a tragic accident. Terrible just terrible” said another.
Wyre watched as the coffin was lowered into the ready prepared plot as the vicar threw dirt onto the top of it. Oliver watched with intrigue as more crying could be heard but Wyre remained unfazed by it knowing Susan had already left this world and according to Richards had already been cremated in the most unceremonious way. As soon as tears surfaced, anger pushed them to one side at the thought of a murderer like Bostock getting away with anything he wanted to and destroying his family on the pretence of protecting the country. The dark clouds above seemed more impressive as the sun shone into them making them seem mountainous and like they were alive and breathing as they bellowed larger into different shapes. For a few seconds Wyre seemed mesmerised by them as they crept nearer and lower almost like they were trying to take him or something dark and terrible was hiding behind them. The fact he wasn’t watching the coffin being lowered drew some strange looks from family members forcing them to frown at his disrespect. He didn’t care as long as he could feel Oliver’s hand in his, as a few of them threw flowers into the grave and onto the coffin.
“Wyre………Wyre we’re leaving now!” said a voice quietly.
The voice was Alex’s and various members of the group stared at the stranger whose hand was on Wyre’s shoulder. Oliver’s hand was gripped even harder as they walked back towards the car park as people started to leave.
“Will you come back to the house with us please Alex?” asked Wyre.
“What about the wake at the hotel?”
“I just want to go home” replied a confused Wyre.
“Ok pick Oliver up and put him in the car…….he doesn’t look too good if you know what I mean” suggested Richards looking around hoping he had been heard.
Wyre paused for a second then scooped up Oliver and put him in the car.
“Shall we see you at the hotel Wyre?” said a voice approaching the car.
“Hi Jill, no I think I’m going to get Oliver back home he’s feeling the effects of the day” said a concerned Wyre.
Alex watched as Wyre’s cousin Jill seemed suspicious and tried to catch a glimpse of Oliver sitting in the back of the car. As Wyre climbed into the driver’s seat Jill pushed her face up against the window and seemed unconvinced at Wyre’s explanation at why they wouldn’t be coming to the wake.
“Is everything ok madam?” asked Richards standing behind her and her husband both about forty years of age.
The husband was just over six feet tall and looked the bodybuilder type. His brown hair was slicked back and he glared at Alex whilst puffing out his chest.
“Who are you?” asked the woman with an air of aggressiveness that had Alex smiling inwardly to himself. She was obviously the one in charge and it was clear she had bullied her husband into being a bully himself.
“Oh I’m just a friend of Wyre’s!”
“Wyre everyone is worried about you and this is wrong. Everyone is expecting you to be at the wake, she was your wife for god sake!” said the woman called Jill now banging the window of the car and making Oliver feel uneasy.
“Madam please I think it’s better if you let them go it’s all a bit much for them at the moment” pleaded Richards once again.
Wyre had already put his seatbelt on but was unbuckling it as he see Jill’s husband Brian place his hand on Alex’s shoulder, gripping it in a threatening manner. Wyre walked around the car as Brian was in the process of pushing Alex up against the car.
“Listen Dr Richards maybe we should go to the wake” said Wyre.
“Well I think Oliver should go home straight away” replied Alex placing his hands up defensively and cowering from the bully called Brian.
Brian released his grip of ”Dr Richards” and placed his hands up apologetically.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know you were a doctor”
Jill also retreated and let them get in the car and drive away.
“I’ve been around you too long” said Wyre shaking his head as they made their way to the house realising he too was becoming good at deceiving people.
On entering the house Richards seemed uneasy as he glanced around checking things, as Wyre let Oliver go to his bedroom and play with things his mother had bought him.
“How often have you been here since you got Oliver back?” asked Richards.
“Only once” replied Wyre. “I found it more comfortable moving from hotel to hotel….safer I suppose……and I couldn’t bare coming here and treating it like a home, surely you must have known that as you were listening in” said Wyre sarcastically.
“It’s a listening device not a camera” smiled Richards as he drifted into the garden taking in the view of the fields behind the house.
Wyre wandered through the house casually poking his head around doors and looking into the rooms still not believing Susan was gone. Whatever the circumstances surrounding her death, nothing could change the fact she was no longer there. His eyes moved around the spare bedroom at the pictures on the wall of all three of them posing for the camera on holiday somewhere tropical, the white sand and the crystal blue sea bringing back fond memories. Some of her belongings were scattered on the floor next to some of his. They had succumbed to using this room as a dumping ground for things that they used regularly as well as some of Oliver’s toys he hardly ever played with. Wyre closed the door and made his way to the next room which was Oliver’s bedroom. It was hard not to reminisce about the times he had kissed Oliver goodnight in this room before leaving to catch a flight to a country embroiled in bitter conflict. Not before him and Susan had made mad passionate love either in the room next door or usually downstairs. Susan had been a devoted and affectionate mother as well as a professional woman and they had both met whilst travelling to and from the Middle East. Their mutual attitude towards life was what attracted them to each other and it grew stronger when Susan fell pregnant with Oliver. Even though they had only been together 2 years the prospect of a child coming into their lives filled them both with joy. Wanting to be slightly traditional they got married when Susan was three months pregnant and knew they would spend the rest of their lives together. Wyre now watched as Oliver remained unaware he was there as he played with toys his mother had bought him. Perhaps it was his way of keeping her close and not yet being ready to let her go completely although as far as Oliver was concerned and after what he had been through she could come back anytime. As Wyre quietly closed the door on the most important person in the world to him he made his way to the main bedroom which was his and Susan’s. The smell of her perfume lingering on the furniture had images flashing before him of her struggling and fighting the people who had come to take her. It was like she was still in the room refusing to give in and defending her-self to the last. He shook his head to try and shake off the images but it was hard. Items of her clothing still lay on the floor as he sat on the bed and picked them up. They were clothes she had worn including a pair of jeans, a shirt, her underwear and a bra. Clutching them in a pile he buried his face in them taking in all the smells. Placing the clothes back on the floor he sat for a while just staring and thinking of a previous life they once had. The picture on the large white wooden dressing table was of five years ago when Oliver had come into this world. Even though Susan had been in labour for nine hours giving birth, she looked exhausted but still maintained her attractive smile and to Wyre the dishevelled hair made her look even more seductive. Wyre remembered the career woman becoming the doting mother and both wondered whether they would have more children. Plucking up the courage he reached for the box of personal belongings sitting on the shelf of the wardrobe peeking out through the crack in the door. They used to joke to each other that the only chance Wyre would ever get to see what was in the box was
over Susan’s dead body. It forced him to shake his head at the irony of the statement now. Delicately he undid the ribbons that were tied around the soft leather A4 size box and lifted the lid. Struggling to hold back the wave of emotion he picked up cards and letters he had written to her whilst he had been away on trips. He wasn’t ready to read them yet so he placed them onto the bed and proceeded to randomly pick various objects out. One was a bracelet he had brought back from Iraq that was given to him by a young girl because he had saved her mother after her leg had been blown off in an explosion. She had made the bracelet with goat’s wool as she sat in the hospital watching over her mother. Other objects revealed themselves in the box like Oliver’s identity bracelet from the hospital from when he was born. Even the airline tickets from their trip to Italy where both of them were convinced it was where they conceived Oliver were in there. Numerous other airline tickets were in there from when Susan travelled with her work as a financial advisor to everywhere including Asia, the Middle East and sometimes Europe. They were tied up with letters from various clients including one from a member of the Dubai government thanking her for her services. A solid gold broach accompanied the letter and Wyre laughed at Susan threatening to sell it and run away. It was as this thought crossed his mind that something caught Wyre’s eye. A letter with the Tunisian Government crest stamped at the top became visible as he shuffled the contents of the folder. He recognised the date as just a few weeks before the Tunisian uprising. The letter was a receipt confirming payment of services to Susan from The Tunisian treasury. His interest would not have been aroused if it wasn’t for the next letter underneath. A gold stamp with Egypt’s flag and the family emblem of President Mubarak adorned the envelope. Another letter with the Bahrain stamp revealed itself forcing Wyre to take a deep breath.
“That’s why they never killed Oliver!”
He quickly made his way down stairs to where he knew Susan normally kept her work folder.
“Is everything ok?” asked Richards being brushed aside by Wyre as he re-entered the lounge.
“How could I have been so stupid? It’s normally here!” muttered Wyre dropping to his knees and searching through the bags and folders on the floor under the coats in the hallway. “Here….. it’s normally here and now it’s gone…..it all makes sense”
Richards watched with intrigue the determination growing on Wyre’s face as he checked every bag on the floor confirming his suspicions.
“They didn’t want Oliver. That’s why he is still alive……….”
“You think they wanted Susan?”
“It’s so obvious don’t you think?”
Alex never answered but just stared at Wyre intently almost admiring the fact that he wasn’t lying down and he hadn’t given up. As much as Richards wanted to support Wyre’s theory there was no obvious reason why Bostock had taken her and then killed her in such a gruesome way.
“It had crossed my mind Wyre but unless you have found something that connects Bostock to Susan then it just doesn’t make sense. We have to find a reason he took her and then find an even better reason why he killed her. I know Bostock well enough to know that for him this seemed pretty low ball and yet he has gone to great lengths to go ahead with whatever plan he has up his sleeve. When he spoke to me at the office’s where we found Oliver he tried to persuade me the taking of your family wasn’t lowball but it was also something I would regret getting involved in”
Wyre stood up and handed Alex the papers he had discovered.
“Where did you get these?” asked Richards flicking through the pages.
“They were in Susan’s personal belongings in the wardrobe”
Alex’s expression grew darker as he stared back at Wyre.
“Jesus Christ everyone is here apart from Gaddafi himself. There is even one in here from President Assad of Syria. This changes everything Wyre”
“So they took Oliver in the hope of exchanging him for Susan?” said Wyre rubbing his hand through his thick black hair.
“Ok but answer me this. Why didn’t they just take her? Why bother with Oliver when they knew they could come here and take her whenever they please which is what they did anyway?”
Wyre realised his theory had flaws but knew it was too much of a coincidence that Susan had worked in these countries just before the Governments witnessed uprisings and even some overthrown, or at least challenged resulting in chaos on the streets.
“I do think you’re onto something Wyre but this only makes sense if…….”
Alex paused before finishing his comment because what he was about to say would most likely anger Wyre.
“If what!?” Wyre replied waiting for Alex to finish.
“If Susan had been a threat to this country”
Wyre frowned at what Alex was suggesting. As much as Wyre didn’t want to comprehend what both of them were thinking it was something he had to consider much to his disgust and disbelief.
“No! No! Susan wasn’t working against this government, she wasn’t a spy or anything like that Alex no way, that is one thing I’m certain of”
“Listen Wyre we have to consider every possibility and Susan committing treason is one of them……”
“Bullshit!!” shouted Wyre.
“I’m not saying she wanted to be, she might have been forced into doing something to protect Oliver and yourself. Remember what I told you before, he uses people and will lull them into thinking they are helping him and the country with promises then he uses it against them. Maybe she did Bostock a favour under false pretences not knowing who he was, then paid the ultimate sacrifice”
“But like you said before why take Oliver?”
“As a guarantee in case she decided to go back on a deal”
The room went silent as Wyre and Alex took on board the discoveries that had maybe given them an insight into why all this had happened to him and his family. Wyre felt sick to the pit of his stomach at the thought of his family being literally being torn apart by some sick bastard who was a law unto himself and thought he could destroy people’s lives at his own leisure to get what he wanted. As much as it was hard to swallow Wyre now realised leaving Oliver in the library was perhaps irrelevant to what had happened to them although he still felt responsible. It made sense that even if he had not witnessed the brutal murder in the court house at some point Oliver would have been taken. If Susan had been involved in something whether it had been voluntary or involuntary it could be assumed the kidnappings were synchronised. The reason was still blurred but Wyre had to face the fact that Susan had been advising every Government that was now on the verge of being overthrown. Alex could see what Wyre was thinking and felt for him.
“I’ll make a coffee” said Alex leaving Wyre to ponder on the revelations.
Alex placed the coffee’s down on the table as Wyre flicked through various other pieces of paper he had found. There was no further evidence to support their theory and Wyre sat pondering whilst studying the detective.
“What about your job Alex?” asked Wyre almost thinking aloud.
“What about it?”
“Do you still have a job?”
Alex smiled and shook his head at Wyre’s suggestion.
“That is now a previous life Wyre. Just like Andy, I can never go back to my life as long as Bostock remains in the position he is in now”
Again Wyre seemed to shake his head in dis-belief.
“Don’t place the burden on yourself though Wyre. Remember it is not you or the events we are involved in that has created this. I chose to do this for me and because that bastard is still pulling the strings. Like you said at the hospital he has created this, not us”
Wyre stared at Alex solemnly.
“You won’t stop until you kill him will you?”
Once again the detective didn’t respond as Wyre paused on his previous comment.
“No, no because of what they made you do and the crimes you have committed you’re not going to stop until you des
troy all of them are you?”
A wry smile and a cold stare was all Wyre received from Alex Richards because only he knew the truth. Bostock had never really forced him to commit the crimes from his past, he had wanted to commit them.
Chapter 17
Bashar al-Assad sat with his wife Asma Assad on the luxurious leather corner sofa watching the broadcast of his interview on state television. The interviewer was kind and Assad already knew what questions he was going to be asked. This was nothing new as nowadays nearly everyone from David Beckham to David Cameron always knew the questions so as to not be caught out. Only brave hosts dare ask questions to surprise and possibly make a fool of someone. Assad’s wife of English origin watched adoringly as her husband gave a brave, respectful but merciless interview condemning the interference being shown from the western world. Never aggressive in his answers was the president, only ruthless and honest in declaring that his people would not bow down to terrorists, particularly Al-Qaeda, who were trying to undermine his and their country and were being allowed to gather force unwittingly by the western governments. By now other presidents and leaders in the Middle East were showing signs of giving in and making a run for it but not Bashar Assad. Although evidence was now being shown of his own soldiers firing on their own people and the massacring innocent civilians, he remained defiant. Images of buildings being blown apart by weapons supplied by Russia were a regular occurrence on worldwide news channels as children were carried into hospitals covered in blood. “Rebel and terrorist propaganda” declared Assad.
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