***
Chapter 28
Reb gradually became aware of the stealth coloring Niland and Gabrielle’s activities. She observed surreptitiously as they gathered computer equipment and set it up in Gabrielle’s bedroom. They spent almost an hour whispering to each other, sometimes dashing out of the bedroom and down the stairs to the security room, rushing back after two or three minutes. All was quiet for another hour or so. She peeked in to see both working intently at computer keyboards, staring at the two monitors they had carried up the stairs.
“What are you doing?” she asked. She sat on a chair near the two industrious workers.
Niland didn’t hear her question, Reb was certain.
Gabrielle didn’t lift her head. She said, “Chopping some of Mark’s programming. Sometimes he’s far too long-winded with his code.”
“Got it!” Niland exclaimed.
“Show me.” Gabrielle leaned over to see the streaming lines of code on Niland’s monitor. “You’re right. That’s an hour of coding I owe you. Come on, load it now.”
The children worked for about another twenty minutes. Reb remained in the room but decided not to disturb their concentration; rather, she had realized she would be unable to penetrate their focus.
When they seemed to relax, she said, “Again, may I ask what you’re doing?”
Gabrielle spun around in her chair. “We’ve cracked the security system where your friends are living. They’re good programmers, though.”
“Why would you want to crack their system?”
“We were just being cautious,” Gabrielle explained. “When you visited their place, we recorded their cell phone details.”
Reb frowned. “But you weren’t there.”
“We, ah, placed a small bug in your handbag,” Niland confessed. “When you returned here after visiting your friends, we downloaded the numbers. We’ve been tracking them ever since”
“But why?”
“Intuition,” Niland said. “I felt we should keep an eye on your friends, in case they needed our help.”
Gabrielle continued. “So, we’ve been monitoring their phone movements. We’ve adapted some of Mark’s software that tracks cell phone via their registration signals—you know the towers? Your cell phone is registered by each one as you walk or drive around. They keep those records, whether you switch your phone off or not.”
Niland said, “This morning, their phones were removed from the building, all at the same time. We tracked them to their destination.”
“We found out this morning that the kids had set up a security system and we’ve worked out how to access their files. Now we can play the videos. Niland’s downloading the files now.” She turned to Niland. “Start about half an hour earlier so we can see what happened.”
Reb, Niland and Gabrielle watched entranced, as the video played. When Reb saw the Chairman she was filled with dread that worsened as the video continued. Gabrielle reached over and held her hand. They watched as the three teens were led from the room. They watched as the young man returned and shot Mrs. Grabski.
“Poor Mrs. Grabski,” Reb murmured.
“What’s happening?” Niland asked.
“The children were kidnapped,” Gabrielle replied. “See how passive they were when they left? They were drugged.” She had a wild imagination that occasionally proved to be accurate.
“More than likely, I’m afraid. That man—he’s dangerous. Very dangerous.”
“You know him?” Her intuition leapt. “He’s the Chairman?”
Reb almost was ill. She had hoped in her heart the Chairman had been killed when the pirates destroyed his motor yacht. Once she’d sought refuge with her brother and was under his protection, Reb had hoped the Chairman would cease to haunt her dreams. Now she shuddered.
“Yes,” she whispered.
The cameras switched to the street and as the vehicle pulled away, Reb went to stand up and Gabrielle pulled her back down. “Wait, there’s more. There’s a second file.” She kept her hand on Reb’s arm.
They watched as the displayed time moved about two hours ahead. Two men approached the building entrance and after trying unsuccessfully to get someone to open the door, one of the men picked the lock. They both entered the building. After a few seconds they both left the building.
“This is very odd,” Gabrielle said.
“There were two attempts to kidnap the kids,” Niland suggested.
“I—I don’t know,” Reb said. “You may be right. I’ve no idea who the other people are, though.”
“We need to rescue them,” Gabrielle said. “Niland, get the address we tracked for the cell phones. We’ll assume the phones and Reb’s friends are at the same place.” Niland busied himself at his computer. Gabrielle turned to Reb. “We can get one of the drivers to take us into London. Tell everyone we need to do some shopping. Perhaps we can persuade Anna to come with us.”
An hour later, Anna, Reb, Gabrielle and Niland were on their way to Oxford Street in central London. They sat in the back seats of one of the small buses. After making sure the driver couldn’t hear her, Gabrielle whispered to Anna. “Reb’s in shock. We watched a security video this morning and someone kidnapped her friends. Reb thinks it was the Chairman. She thinks he isn’t dead. We’re going to rescue them.”
“You’re what?” Anna was shocked and almost shouted. “Why do you think you can do that? Why didn’t you—”
Gabrielle held her fingers to Anna’s lips. “Shh. Keep your voice down. We know what we’re doing. We’ve checked out the location. They’re being held in a house on the northern side of Kings Cross Station. It’s a small house, one of a block of five. There are three people there—the Chairman, a guard, and a nurse of some kind.”
“How are you—does Mark know?”
“No, we wanted to save Reb from having to tell Mark. She didn’t know what to do. She’s worried he’d be angry with her.”
Reb turned to Anna. “I’m so sorry,” she whispered.
“Reb’s just following our instructions,” Niland said.
Anna sat back and looked at each of the children in turn. “I don’t know what I should do with you two. How do you plan to do this?”
“Reb will knock on the door and ask for the Chairman,” Gabrielle explained. “Her presence should create some consternation and either the Chairman will come to the door, or they’ll drag her inside. When Reb enters the house, she needs to make sure the door doesn’t lock. We follow and take over. In the meantime, we’ll have phoned the police and told them there are three kidnap victims in the house. They should arrive after we’ve entered and will rescue us, if we need help.”
“Stop. Your plan has so many holes in it. There’ll be a security camera and the people inside the house will see Reb. The Chairman will recognize her and they won’t open the door. Or his guard might simply shoot her. If they allow her to enter, I don’t think she’ll have an opportunity to leave the door open. So she’ll be inside and we’ll be outside. How do we protect Reb?”
Gabrielle sat unmoving, in deep thought. “Why don’t we phone the police and say some children have been kidnapped and the victims are being held in the house? We’ll tell them about the video at the school house, it would help convince them. And the housekeeper was shot by the Chairman’s guard. Her body is evidence.”
“Okay. My suggestion. We’ll make an anonymous call and report a kidnapping and murder at the school. That will get the police involved. We can follow up with another call telling them the kidnap victims are at the address you discovered. By then the police will have seen the security files; we’ll tell them where to look. We’ll monitor the Chairman’s house until the police arrive. We should be able to rescue the children in the confusion. It’s the best I can think of.”
Gabrielle hugged Anna. “It’s a lot better than my plan and Reb’s not at risk. Niland, can you spoof my phone so the call can’t be traced? I’ll make the call now.”
Ten minutes late
r Gabrielle dialled 999. The call was answered in seconds. She said, with an Estuary English accent, “I-I want to report a crime. Two, actually. There’s been a murder and a kidnapping.” She gave the address of the old school building. “The housekeeper’s dead. She was shot. Three children—teenagers—were taken away, in a blue Mercedes. I have the license plate number.” She provided the details. “The house has a security system. You’ll be able to see files from the security cameras that show what happened.” She paused, listening. “No, I can’t give my name. No, I’m sorry. Please hurry.” She disconnected the call.
Anna said, “We need to check whether the police take action, but I’m sure they won’t ignore a call reporting both a murder and a kidnapping.”
“When the driver drops us off, we can catch one of the black cabs to the school house, and check if the police are present,” Niland suggested.
“This driver will take us there?” Anna said.
“No.” Gabrielle and Niland replied in urgent unison.
“I don’t think the driver should know,” Gabrielle added.
“Okay. Let’s hope this works. Maybe we can get the driver to drop us at Tower Bridge; it’ll be quicker. We can tell him we want to do some more sightseeing there.”
Gabrielle and Niland nodded. Anna looked at Reb who also nodded. “Good. Gabrielle, tell the driver. Let’s hope this all comes together.”
There was a coffee shop fifty yards or so from the teenagers’ home and Anna and Reb sat at an outdoor table while Gabrielle and Niland went inside to order their coffees. A police vehicle was at the house, so Anna assumed someone had decided to investigate Gabrielle’s report. As the children brought out the drinks, an ambulance arrived. Within minutes, two more police cars arrived.
“Part one is working,” Anna said as she sipped her coffee. “When we finish our drinks, we should go straight to the other address. Gabrielle can make the second call when we get there. We’ll find somewhere to wait without calling attention to ourselves. Drink up.”
They found a nearby park that allowed them to sit and watch the house where they suspected Reb’s friends were being held. London’s fickle weather was cooperating for once and the day continued to be warm and sunny.
Gabrielle made her second call. “This is connected to the murder and kidnapping you’re investigating at the old Bible study school. The kidnap victims are being held at a house north of Kings Cross Station.” She gave the address. “You’ll see the Mercedes they used, parked outside. No, I can’t give you my name. No, it’s not a hoax. I called you before, about the murder and kidnapping. No, I can’t tell you how I know. Please rescue the children.” She disconnected.
Everyone waited, their anxiety levels increasing as the minutes dragged past. At last three unmarked sedans and a larger police vehicle, a small van, stopped in front of the Chairman’s house. An ambulance followed. “I’ve counted ten policemen,” Gabrielle said. The police did not waste time. Two men carried a heavy battering ram, painted bright red, to the front of the house and within seconds had smashed open the front door. Shortly afterwards, three people in handcuffs were led out of the building and driven off in separate vehicles. Police officers and the ambulance crew accompanied the three teenagers to the ambulance.
“Well,” Anna said. “I think the worst is over. Reb, you and I should see if we can talk to the children, don’t you think? They’ll recognize you and once we’ve convinced the police we’re all friends, we’ll arrange to take them to the manor house.”
The police were at first reluctant to believe Anna had any right to ask about the welfare of Reb’s friends. Anna signaled Gabrielle and then, as a result of her silent influence, the police agreed to let them follow the ambulance to the hospital.
“We want to ensure the victims have recovered from whatever drug their kidnappers used,” the police officer—a sergeant—explained to Anna. “After the doctors give us the all-clear and we have the victims’ statements, we’ll see if they know you. If they confirm you’re friends, we’ll be a lot happier about allowing you to talk to them. Alright?”
Anna said, “Yes, officer. We understand. We’ll get a taxi and follow. When we get the okay, we’ll take them home with us.”
The sergeant nodded and left to talk to the ambulance driver, who waited in his vehicle until Anna had hailed a cab. She and the others got into the cab and the sergeant gave the cab driver the hospital address. The police sergeant and his driver also followed the ambulance to the hospital.
~~~
Mark was furious when everyone, including Reb’s friends, returned to the manor house. It was almost evening and Anna had phoned him with brief details. He had dispatched one of the small buses to collect them all. Mark had blasted Reb and Anna, and told Gabrielle and Niland they were grounded for a year.
“Anyone would think he was our father,” complained Gabrielle afterwards. “I don’t know why he’s so upset. We’re old enough to do things.”
Later, Mark met with Anna and Reb, out of hearing of all the children. “Reb, you of all people should have known better,” Mark said. “You’re aware of the danger posed by the Chairman. Both of you knew the risk. But you allowed those two kids to lead you by the nose into a deadly situation, for them, for yourself.”
Reb burst into tears and ran for her room. Anna made to follow and Mark held her back. “Leave her,” he said. “I want her, and you, to understand the risks you both took.”
“You’re being far too cruel. She’s had a horrible day. You’ve no idea what her reaction was when she saw the Chairman on the video. Gabrielle told me Reb was physically ill. And to find out her friends had fallen into that evil man’s hands—it was too much. You need to show more sympathy toward your sister.” She stalked off, leaving Mark alone with his worries.
***
Chapter 29
It was early evening and Scott was about to hand over his security monitoring duties to Sera. He was watching small groups of people enter the grounds, three or four at a time. He counted: twenty individuals, male and female. He guessed these were the young soldiers who had taken leave without official approval. The intruders were easily avoiding the patrolling guards but not the cameras. A thought occurred to him. Maybe they could avoid the cameras but wanted to inform Mark they were coming in. Scott asked Sera to alert Mark.
She returned with Mark as the first group was almost at the front of the house. Scott decided to take a major risk. “Sera, open the front door and make sure Anna and Reb know I said to leave it open. Turn off all lights except those leading here. When you come back, leave this door open. We’ll see what these guys are up to.”
“What the hell are you doing?” Mark said, as he watched the intruders moving closer. The guards had not reacted to the intruders.
“Intuition or a completely wild guess. I think these are the twenty missing Cerberus soldiers. They’ve come to visit. I’m making make it easy for them. You’ve got your Glock, in case?” All their weapons were now in good working order.
Mark nodded, his eyes focused on the monitors. “You’d better be right or it’ll be a bloodbath in here.”
The first group made its way to the security room, recorded all the way by the internal cameras. They entered the room, hands raised, with apprehensive expressions. There were three young men and two young women, their ages ranging probably from nineteen to twenty-one. They were dressed in unbadged military clothing and wore their hair short. As they entered the room, they focused their attention on Mark.
“Mark Midway?” asked one.
“Yes?”
“Sir, we’re here to assist you.”
“Tell me more.”
“We’re Cerberus.”
“Yes, I know.”
“We’re army and we’re AWOL.”
“I know that, too.”
The young man did not show any surprise and he continued. “We have information you probably don’t know, which is why we’re here. The management of Cerberus UK, at leas
t some of the post-process members, is corrupt. There is a group, mostly senior members, planning to take over the operations. We believe they’re working with the Chairman. He wasn’t killed when his yacht was blown up.”
“Really?” Mark raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, sir. We have evidence. Can the rest of us come in before one of those security wankers decides to shoot us?”
“Yes, we’ll use one of the front rooms; it has more space. Scott, you and Sera maintain your watch. Pipe sound and video in here so you both can listen.”
While Mark was directing Scott, the young spokesman raced to the front door and turned the outside light on and off. He rejoined the group as Mark led them into the larger sitting room. It would be crowded, Mark realized, but it was the best room available. He waited as another fifteen young people streamed into the house. Anna joined the meeting. Mark suspected Gabrielle and Niland were in the room as well, cloaked. He was still angry with them and didn’t check for their presence.
When everyone found places to sit and settled down, Mark said, “We’re aware you are all AWOL. Colonel Hudson visited us. She’s concerned at your behavior.” He focused on the young man who had led the small group into the security room. “I’m Mark Midway. Scott and Sera are monitoring on an internal voice and video system. This is Anna. There are others you might meet later. You’re the spokesman?”
“Yes, sir. Me and Laura. My name’s Thomas. We’re all pre-Cerberus.”
“And what’s your problem?”
“Two things. A lot of us don’t fit in the army. They grabbed us as recruits when they thought we were at the right maturity level. They ignored any personal aptitudes or requests to do other things. They see us as fodder for their expansion plans. We want our CO to consider a review. The other thing—as I said, we believe the Chairman is plotting with Cerberus UK management to take control.”
“Why do you think there’s some plot to take over Cerberus UK?”
“We heard you had accepted the chief executive role, but at least four of the senior management team are in contact with the Chairman. We have tapes of their meetings. These people intend to raid this property; the security goons here are scheduled to withdraw before the raid. The Chairman and the others want access to the Cerberus bank accounts you control, and all your research papers. We’ve heard you want to focus research on our futures. They only want to keep breeding genetically engineered soldiers.”
Mark Midway Box Set: Mark One, Mark Two, Mark Three, and Mark Four Page 61