by S G Read
‘I told him there was evidence in the safe from Marion’s abduction and he does not have the combination, only I have that. He asked me for it so I told him the old combination, if he tries to get in he won’t. It is also supposed to be impossible to break in to, unless you use enough plastic to blow it out of the building. Even then the evidence would still be safe inside albeit a little shook up!’
She walked out of the office and John watched her go. She was as angry as Lorna used to get.
Spearforth reported the conversation to Winfield as he sat in his office, overseeing his latest project which was rallying troops in an African country to keep the war going.
‘She reckons we can’t get into it, you say.’ Winfield said carefully as he watched the screen on his wall. ‘Could mean anything. It could also mean there is nothing inside and it is some sort of trap but traps can be counterproductive. Send Babbage in tonight to have a look but make sure we know where everyone is before he goes in.’
‘Yes Mr. Winfield.’ Spearforth answered. ‘Why are we keeping that war going again?’
‘Economics Spearforth. One of our allies wants to sell some more guns to both sides, as the munitions market is low at the moment so we are just helping them out.’
‘I did wonder sir.’
Spearforth walked out and closed the door but did not return to his desk, instead he went to his locker, put in a package and took out a can of cola. Peter was waiting for him by the time he returned to his desk.
‘That stuff is bad for you.’ Peter warned when he saw the cola.
‘If you listen to everything that is said, everything has been bad for you at one time or another Peter.’ Spearforth retorted and sat down. ‘Did you want something?’
‘No just killing time between jobs Speary.’
‘I suppose it is marginally better than killing someone between jobs.’ Spearforth retorted. ‘It would be like a busman’s holiday.’
‘It would wouldn’t it.’
‘Peter get in here.’ Winfield yelled over the intercom in front of Spearforth.
Peter wasted no time in going in to where Winfield waited. Spearforth drank his cola as he watched him go. They called Babbage on the secure line to tell him what Winfield had ordered.
The day passed slowly for John and he was pleased to go home when it was time. He stopped at a pay phone and called Lana on the way home, just to make it hard for Winfield to find out who he called.
‘It is John Lana, I am back at work so you can come it for an interview tomorrow, that is if you can make it.’ He said when Lana answered.
‘I’ll be in for nine?’ Lana speculated.
‘Make it ten, I am not at my best in the morning.’
‘Ten it is then John, I will see you in the morning.’
John put the phone down and nodded to the man sitting in the car following him, before he drove home. On his doormat was his post and one hand written letter, which made compelling reading.
‘You should come and see me I think. It is important.’
He recognised the address as in the street where he had hit the skip while on his bicycle. It sounded intriguing and he decided to visit there to find out what it was about, and alone! How he was going to manage that without a bicycle he did not know but he had been around a long time and knew some tricks, tricks he had not used on the people tailing him up to now.
He put the note in his pocket and settled down to make his dinner. It was a ready meal, well two ready meals, to make the meal worth eating. It was not the best meal he had eaten and he was pleased when it was gone.
Now he planned. He drove away from his house to a restaurant he knew well, not for a meal but to lose the man following him. He parked in the restaurant car park and locked the car up, to make it hard for anyone to steal it. He looked at the man in the car that was following him, before he walked into the restaurant, giving him a smile as he did so. He walked in and walked straight through to the rear and sought out the owner who was cooking in the kitchen.
‘Hello Luigi, I need a favour.’ He announced when Luigi looked up.
‘For you Mr. Fairchild, anything, let us go into the back and talk, Giuseppe take over here and make sure it is not burnt this time!’ Luigi answered.
‘Yes Mr. Carlotti.’
The two men walked into the back room and Luigi closed the door.
‘I need to go and visit someone. You remember what we talked about when you needed my help Luigi?’ John asked.
‘I do John, you need the car, maybe?’
‘I do Luigi and I need the man who has probably followed me into your restaurant to think I am in here talking to you, all the time I am gone.’
‘Then I hope you are not gone long as it means I will be in here talking to myself all the time you are gone.’
‘You understand exactly what I need Luigi and I will be as quick as possible.’
‘Here are the keys to my car and I await your return with more impatience than you can ever imagine.’
John took the keys.
‘I think I can imagine your impatience Luigi my friend and I will be as quick as possible.’
John walked out and drove away in Luigi’s car while the man who was watching him, remained watching the office door. He drove to the address after making sure he did not pick up a tail. He walked up to the door and looked for the bell but when he could not find one he knocked the door. He stood and he waited for the woman inside to walk to the door.
‘Can I help?’ She asked when she finally opened the door.
‘I was the idiot who managed to ride into the skip outside your house.’ John answered.
‘Oh, come inside please.’ She replied and stood to one side.
John walked inside.
‘Go right through into the lounge.’ The woman ordered and John followed her directions.
John waited until she was seated and then sat himself, waiting for her to speak.
‘When I heard the crash as you ran into the skip, I was upstairs. As you can tell, I do not move as fast as I used to, so when I looked out a car was there and a man walked over to where you lay. He seemed to retrieve something from your bicycle. When he returned to the car work, he was sent back out to see if you were alive or not. He did that and then walked away’
‘He didn’t do anything to help then?’
‘No. Just retrieved something from your bicycle and found out if you were dead or alive.’
‘Can you describe the car?’
‘Yes, it was a black car with tinted windows. The window on my side was wound down so that the man who walked to the bicycle could talk through it.’
‘Could you describe the men?’
‘Not the one who walked to the car but I did see the man inside the car as he had the interior light on.’
‘I will arrange a for a sketch artist to call so that you can try to produce likeness of him. Thank you Mrs. Tinker for your help in this matter.’
‘I just thought it was a bit odd, that is all. The way he did not try to help you, neither did he finish you off.’ Mrs. Tinker replied theatrically.
‘That I am grateful for.’ John answered with a smile and saw himself out.
Now he drove to the garage where his bicycle was laying, waiting for John to give the go ahead to scrap it. He walked straight to it and examined it all over. He saw the tell tale marks where the tape had been removed and knew they had found his back exit. He drove back to the restaurant and allowed Luigi to return to his cooking. John walked out, followed by the man tailing him.
He drove back to his house and parked the car. He resisted the urge to smile at the man following him, as the man was parking opposite and walked inside. So now they knew how he left the house unobserved, it was just lucky; and he smiled at the thought, that he hit the skip instead of making it to Lorna’s aunt’s house. Now he had to find a new way to get there, as going to Luigi’s was a now and again. It would take some working out how to get out of his house and over to
the other house. With Lorna dead it was up to him now, unless Lana proved just as able as Lorna and theoretically, she had an axe to grind in a big way!
He sat in the lounge and turned his music on. There was no point in going into his shed to listen to his music as it was more comfortable in the lounge. The room’s sound quality was certainly worse inside as John had spent a lot of money to make the music in the shed worth listening to but it did lack comfort.
As he sat there listing to music, he let his mind sort through all the possibilities. The rear door in the shed and the opening in the fence had taken time to work out and so would a new method, but what? As he thought through each scenario in turn and dismissed it, his eyes closed and he slept.
It was early in the morning when he woke to a cold, dark lounge. He carefully made his way through the room as far as the stairs. Then steadily up them to his bedroom, ending up in his bed in his underclothes. Now he lay there thinking and sleep would not come, he was thinking of Lorna and what had happened to her.
Morning found him asleep but tired, as he had not been asleep long enough. He showered and changed before driving to work, ready for his meeting with Lana. He opened the post and dealt with it as he had not let another secretary in to do it.
At ten fifteen an escort brought Lana up to his office. John signed the book and the escort left her with him. John filled the kettle and switched it on. He now had the makings for his tea and coffee in his office, even though it was frowned upon.
‘Nice to meet you Lana, isn’t it?’ He said as he led her into his office.
Lana smiled and took an object out of her bag. She stood it on the desk and attached the lead to it, before plugging it in.
‘Now we can talk earnestly.’ She said when the light on it came on. ‘One thing having a paranoid sister does to you is to make you paranoid as well. The last thing Lorna bought me was this, it renders bugs useless and allows us to talk normally without anyone overhearing us.’
‘Now that makes a change. I will invest it a few of them and only turn them on when what we have to say is private.’ John exclaimed. ‘Now what can you tell me?’
‘I have the things from one PO box, either with me, or in a safe place. Unfortunately the second box had been robbed of its contents, which means Lorna must have either talked or been tricked into telling someone.’
‘That is a shame, so what have we left?’ John asked.
‘A lot of petty cash details I think but it is all gobbledygook to me.’
‘If you are going to be my secretary you will have to understand what it all means, in the mean time I will get this all together and go and see the PM.’ John declared, smiling for once. It had been a long time since he felt like smiling.
‘Can you just hire someone like that? I have no experience at this type of work and certainly no qualifications, apart from GCSEs.’
‘They will do. I have cart blanch on such matters and I often use it. Your sister had less qualifications than she should have had but she suited me down to the ground.’ John explained. ‘All I have to do is to fill out the correct form and it is done.’
‘It must be good to wield such power Mr. Fairchild.’
‘It is and call me John, Mr. Fairchild seems so formal.’
‘Okay John, when do I start?’
‘Now.’ John answered.
‘As you wish boss.’ Lana replied. ‘Just remember that this thing only works this close to the bugs, out there they will hear everything we say.’
‘I will bear that in mind when I am talking to you out there and anywhere else, come to think of it, is a shame they don’t do a portable one of them which runs on batteries!’
‘My first task as your secretary will be to find whatever there is out there and buy what is suitable.’ Lana declared and walked out to her new desk.
There was a different feeling in the office from that day. John sat finishing the petty cash report to present to the PM all day and Lana booked the long awaited appointment with the PM for when it was complete. His impatience meant that he left an opening late in the day for John and John was going to be ready for it.
He collected up all the paperwork and walked out to the waiting taxi. His car was parked in the garage but he did not want anything stopping him from delivering the petty cash overview which looked damning for Winfield, which he had to admit, was the whole idea of the undertaking. The fact that it had been a direct request from the PM had not bothered him too much until he saw how damning it was for Winfield, then it became imperative to finish it. He wondered if Winfield realized how much they had worked out of his operation through the petty cash receipts.
The taxi stopped in front of number ten and John walked up to the front door. At any moment he expected a shot from an invisible assailant to hit him but the door opened and he walked inside.
‘The PM is in the drawing room.’ The flunkey who opened the door advised him.
‘Thank you David, how is the wife?’
‘Going steadily downhill John.’ David answered.
‘Sorry to hear that David.’
‘Only to be expected John, it is a wicked illness.’
‘So I understand.’
David opened the door to the drawing room and John walked in. David closed the door behind him.
‘Hello John, do you have it all?’ The PM asked.
‘I do prime minister and it makes good reading for the tabloid press.’ John answered.
‘The less they find out the better, well as long as I am PM anyway.’ The PM declared.
John presented the paperwork with its overview, to save the Pm looking at every piece of paper. The overview told it all and was slightly embellished by John to make Winfield look even worse. The PM took his time and read about each petty cash claim. The notes told him who was making a mockery of the system and who the worst offenders were. The PM pressed the intercom.
‘Get Alex Winfield in here now!’ He ordered.
There was just time to hear ‘Yes prime minister’ before it clicked off again.
‘Do you want tea while you wait John?’ The PM asked.
‘Thank you prime minister, I could do with a cup of tea.’ John answered loquaciously.
They sat and waited, drinking the tea and then watched the tray being carried out again. John was thinking about nipping to the toilet but David showed Winfield into the room. He stayed in his seat and waited. He was going to enjoy this, it was just sad that Lorna was not alive for him to tell her about it in the morning. Still he could tell Lana.
‘I have here the petty cash vouchers for everyone in front of me and your petty cash vouchers make spectacular reading.’ The PM announced.
Before Winfield could answer the PM held his hand up to stop him speaking.
‘This will be a matter of public record from today and then with the data protection act it will be accessible by the public as a matter of law. When that day comes, your hold on the present position you hold will be as loose as it is at this moment in time. It is obvious from the reports I have had previously and by the petty cash overlay that you have overstepped you authority. Do I sack you and hand the reins to John or do I give you a chance to make amends?’
Winfield went to speak but the PM held his hand up again.
‘A rhetorical question Alex as I have already made up my mind. There will be sweeps of all offices by a body I have inaugurated, who will advise me of their findings. Your operatives will stay out of the rest of the building you share until arrangements have been made to re house you on your own. You will not put listening of filming devices into any building that has not been previously sanctioned. You will no longer do any favours for our neighbours that contravene your contract. You will leave the clearing of listening devices to the team I have already put in place, I have used them to make sure you are no longer listening in on anything I say in private. The items removed will be given to John to research and he will report to me what he finds out. The disappearance of Marion has lef
t a big hole in our forensics team and she is sorely missed. If I find one shred of proof that you were in any way involved, you will go to prison. Until then you will go about your duty in the new premises and keep to what you are supposed to do. You are dismissed!’
John said nothing but he had hoped the ‘you are dismissed’ would mean that he was out, instead he had had his wrist slapped.
‘Thank you for your good work John and keep an eye on Winfield, if he steps out of line again deal with it in any way you see fit!’ The PM added after Winfield had gone.
‘Yes prime minister.’
Soon after that John was on his way home. He smiled at the thought that they had found a way round Winfield’s snooping just before his teeth were pulled. Although there was no reason to believe he would not continue as he was but far more discreetly. He took a taxi home, leaving his car in the car park to give Winfield a chance to remove any explosive device that might be attached to it.
A car was waiting for him outside his house and as soon as he walked up his drive three men followed him.
‘Mr. Fairchild?’ Their leader called.
‘Yes?’
The leader flashed his badge.
‘We are here to make sure all bugs are removed sir.’
John pushed his front door open.
‘Go to it lads, do you want tea?’
‘One tea and two coffees if that is alright sir, no sugar.’ The leader answered.
‘Coming right up.’ John replied. ‘Oh and the shed is bugged as well.’
‘We will add it to the list sir.’
When the three men left, John had all the bugs in a box, ready for him to investigate and as they walked up the drive Lana walked down. John saw her coming and waited for her.
‘How did it go?’ She asked. ‘Is Winfield out?’
‘A slap on the wrist, a heavy one but still a slap on the wrist.’ John answered.
‘Damn.’ Lana declared vehemently.
‘Do you want tea?’
‘Got anything stronger?’ Lana asked pointedly. ‘I need a reason to smile inanely.’
‘Wine or spirit?’
Lana thought about it for a second.