by steve higgs
‘Okay.’ she replied with an exasperated face. ‘Are you going to be this pernickety about everything?’
I ignored the question, grabbed her hand and pulled her across the distance between the two buildings at a jog.
The radio crackled to life again as Poison reported that she and Jagjit had got to their position. We settled into the recess a doorway provided and allowed the dark to envelope us. Swinging my head back and forth, I could not see a way that Owen would be able to approach without us seeing him and if he was already here, he could not leave without showing himself. So, my only hope was that he did not decide to disobey Brett and fail to show tonight.
Time began to stretch out. Anyone that has performed a task that involves little movement and little talking and where you have almost nothing to watch will understand just how slow the clock hands move. As a soldier, I had performed guard duty in the middle of the night, by myself and with nothing to watch on several occasions. One gets practiced at ignoring the boredom.
‘How long will this take do you think?’ asked my mother. I checked my watch; three minutes had elapsed. I had expected her to crack sooner.
‘Movement. Stand by.’ The radio squawked quietly. It was Big Ben. I had positioned Big Ben on the opposite side of the main Mill building to us. At a run, which would be a walk if my mother was involved, it would take at least two minutes to reach him. There was no reason to go anywhere yet though. I waited for him to confirm what he was seeing.
‘I have a figure wearing a black cloak. Moving north in front of the Mill. Do we pursue or observe?’
‘Observe for now. Let me know if he goes inside.’ I replied.
‘It just vanished!' Frank exclaimed with utter glee. I ignored him, waiting for Big Ben to report again.
‘Erm, Frank is right. I don’t see him now. He went into a shadow cast by a lamppost and did not come out the other side.’ Big Ben said, whispering quietly into his microphone.
‘I can see someone. I think.' Jagjit announced. I waited again for him to update us all. ‘Okay, we have a cloaked figure moving away from the Mill towards reception.'
I worked the map in my head. It could not be right. The two points where the Phantom had been sighted were at least three hundred metres apart, but the reports had come in mere seconds from each other. ‘Jagjit, what are you seeing?’ I asked.
‘Hard to tell.’ he answered. ‘It is definitely a person and I think they are wearing a long cloak, but they are a good two hundred metres from us and mostly in the shadow. I only saw it because I sneezed and when the figure turned to look in our direction light caught on something it is carrying.’
‘Where is it now?’
‘I…. don’t know.’ There was a pause.
‘We are moving position, Tempest.’ Poison answered. ‘It may have gone into a building.’
‘Or, it may have vanished.’ said Frank in a happy voice. Frank would like nothing more than to find a real supernatural creature that defied any explanation I could give.
‘Urh, Tempest?’ the new voice was Basic. ‘Urh, there is something here as well.’
‘Hilary, what do you see?' I asked, knowing that I would get a better description from him than I would from Basic.
‘Well, I would say I was looking at a Phantom.' On my mental map of the Mill grounds, the apparition had now been spotted at three different sites that were separated by hundreds of metres all within the space of thirty seconds.
‘Tempest, this is a free forming phantasm.' said Frank. There was utter conviction and a touch of terror in his voice. ‘Tempest, these things attach themselves to a specific place or object and they never leave. It is always a tragedy that anchors them, and they can be dangerously protective. No wonder there have been injuries.'
‘Frank, I think it more likely that we are chasing shadows.’ Frank would always believe a completely nuts explanation over one that made sense. ‘Let’s not get spooked, everyone. Who is seeing what now?’
‘I just saw something move past a window. It is inside the Mill. I’m going in.’ announced Big Ben. ‘Frank and your dad can stay here to observe in case anything else comes along.’
‘No, Ben. Observe only for now.’ I didn’t want him inside in the dark by himself. Better to wait until Owen came out and we could corner him as a team. This would be difficult though if everyone was seeing something different.
‘He’s gone.’ said Frank meaning Big Ben.
‘Let’s go.’ said mum as she left the darkness that kept us hidden and headed back towards the front of the Mill.
Bugger. This was getting to be bothersome.
‘I just caught sight of it again, Tempest.’ Poison’s voice told us through the radio. ‘It is heading for the office block, I think.’
‘She is right, Tempest. There is definitely someone or something here.’ I quickened my pace. Everything was happening on the other side of the building. ‘We are following.’ Jagjit said and I imagined he and Poison sneaking along behind whoever it was they were now tailing.
‘Don’t get too close.’ warned Frank.
‘What do we do?’ asked Hilary.
‘Stay where you are for now.’
‘But… I mean, what do we do about the Phantom we have here? It is walking right towards us.’ Hilary sounded quite nervous.
This was getting ridiculous. Suddenly, everyone was seeing shadows. I was seeing nothing. I had no way of knowing if anyone of them had seen anything or if they were all seeing something. The team was spread out, starting to sound scared and I could not get to any of them quickly without abandoning mother and running, which was not an option. My anger was rising, I could feel it beginning to wilt my calm, attacking my ability to control the situation evolving around me. I had not felt this since operations in Iraq. It is desperately helpless feeling for a commander. You have multiple reports to filter and assess with only seconds to make a decision that may determine whether people - your people, get hurt or not.
I forced the helpless feeling back down, crushing it with my determination to seize back the initiative. ‘Guys, this is what we are going to do.’ I was nearing the front of the Mill now. My pensionable aged mother beginning to puff beside me, but it meant I would be able to see Poison and Jagjit soon and, if necessary, leave mum behind without losing sight of her. ‘The Phantom is not… whatever Frank said it was.’
‘A free-forming phantasm. Not to be underestimated.’ he chipped in helpfully.
‘Yes. Thank you, Frank. It is just a man. His name is Owen Larkin and he is not a threat. I cannot tell what each of you is seeing but it is time to put an end to this sham. Hilary, Basic, I want you to approach whatever it is you are seeing and confront it verbally. Issue a challenge. Tell it to stop. If it runs, tell us then chase it. Poison, Jagjit, same for you. I am moving towards your position now so will come to you. Dad, Frank, go to the building entrance that Ben went in through and call for him. Do not go further into the Mill looking for him. Everyone got that?’
I got a round of acknowledgements and yesses back. Then I hit the corner of the Mill and emerged from the darker side into the better-lit front area. The car park, reception, and main office building were all now visible.
I turned to face my mother. ‘I am going to catch up with Poison and Jagjit, I think they may actually have something. Just keep coming back towards the car park and stay in the light where others can see you please.’
‘Okay, Tempest.' she replied. Whether she would do it or not remained to be seen. I needed to get to where the Phantom was though, so I broke into a run. I could see Jagjit and Poison ahead of me as they moved between buildings and were illuminated by the overhead lights.
Then there was an explosion of noise over the radio which carried Big Ben’s voice. The sentence we heard was somewhat unbalanced in favour of words starting with an F or a C. For brevity I shall record that he said ‘Argh. Man down.’
‘Tempest, it ran. We are chasing it.’ said Hilary between laboured brea
ths.
‘Son, I’m going in to find Benjamin.’ My dad informed me.
‘Tempest, it went into the office building.’ reported Jagjit.
‘Ben, talk to me.’ I had a man hurt, he had to take priority.
‘The little git kicked me in the nuts.' he managed between breaths that carried the sound of his pain.
I had stopped my run towards Jagjit and Poison, indecision ruling my motions. I needed to be three places simultaneously. I could not achieve that, so I just had to trust the team and hope that no one else got hurt. I thought better of that plan instantly, not the trusting part, but the bit where I used hope as a strategy to avoid injury for my team.
‘Right. Jagjit and Poison, abandon your Phantom and head towards the Mill. Pick up my mother on the way and meet me where Big Ben’s team was located. Stay in the light. Hilary, same for you. Come to us. This situation is now too dangerous, so we are going to regroup and abort.’
I started running to where Frank and my dad should be. Jagjit and Poison should be behind me and Hilary with Basic should be coming at me from the other end of the Mill. Perhaps twenty seconds and one hundred metres later I was closing in on Frank and my dad.
‘Ben? Are you going to live?’ I asked as I ran.
‘Yeah. My nuts hurt, that’s all. It is nothing a face full of boobs wouldn’t fix. The guy caught me by surprise.’
‘Who is talking about boobs? Is that you, Benjamin?’ my mother asked, her tone chiding.
I elected to ignore her. I spotted Frank and slowed my pace. He was holding a door open, presumably to allow some light to penetrate the gloom inside. He had seen me coming and spoken to my dad who now emerged with Big Ben. He was cupping his testicles and was slightly bent over, still feeling the deeply imbedded pain is his abdomen no doubt.
Beyond them came the sound of someone running. The others heard it at the same time, I saw their heads snap around as one towards the noise. From the gloom came a fluttering black cloak running full tilt between the buildings. Air drag from running had pulled the hood back to reveal the out-of-breath face of Owen Larkin.
Gotcha.
Behind Owen, both Basic and Hilary were chasing but did not seem to be making up any ground. I calmly strolled to the middle of the narrow path that ran between the buildings and extended my arm for him to halt. I saw no reason to make a fight of this. He was outnumbered and surrounded and caught in the act. I was sure he would surrender.
Sure enough, he spotted me and began to slow his pace. Then, from my right, my father ran along a raised walkway, probably put there for off-loading trucks and threw himself off to perform a flying tackle. He crashed into Owen, who had the barest moment to react. The two of them crashed to the ground.
‘Oh God, my hip!' my dad yelled, rolling on the ground. ‘Oh, bollocks.'
‘Are you alright, Dear?’ my mother asked, just arriving.
Owen was getting up ‘Are you quite done?’ he asked at a shout.
‘Language, young man.’ said my mother.
‘I might argue that this is, in fact, the correct time for the use of expletives.' I ventured. My right eye twitched again.
Hilary and Basic arrived to join us all crowded around Owen. They were both out of breath. I wondered when Hilary had last had to run anywhere.
‘Hey, guys. How are you both doing?' I asked them.
I got a thumbs-up from Basic. Hilary was inspecting his trousers though. ‘I tore my trousers on something. My wife is going to do her nut.' There wasn't much I could say to that. I chose to ignore it. I could hear Big Ben humming again. I knew the tune but could not name it.
‘Tempest.' Jagjit's voice came over the radio. ‘We still have someone at the offices.' I thought they were on their way to me.
‘Who are all these people?' Owen asked, looking around at the assembled team.
I held up my index finger. ‘One moment please?' Then into the radio, ‘Jagjit, what have you got? We have the Phantom here.'
‘I haven’t managed to get close enough yet, but we followed a person in a black cloak into the office building. I don’t know where they went but we searched downstairs and found nothing, so we are heading upstairs now.’
‘Be careful, okay? Owen Larkin is the Phantom and we have him here.’
‘Yes, well done.’ Owen said in response. It seemed like an odd answer to give in his situation. I looked at his face. It held no fear, no concern that he was in any kind of trouble. I did not like how calm he seemed.
I continued talking to Jagjit and Poison. ‘Just don’t scare anyone that might just be working late. Okay?’
‘Okay.’ They both answered together.
On the ground, my dad was pulling himself together. No lasting damage then. Around him, Hilary and Basic were still heaving ragged breaths in and Big Ben was rubbing his groin.
I focused on Owen. ‘Owen you know who I am and that I have been employed by Mrs. Barker to investigate the circumstances of her husband's death. I have also been engaged to investigate the Phantom and its recent spate of activities by Brett Barker.' I watched, expecting his face to colour, but it did not. He continued to look serenely calm as if he was the one in charge of this situation.
‘I have no authority to arrest you though and you are free to go now that I have a number of witnesses that will testify to seeing you here after work hours, trespassing on Mill property and dressed as the Phantom.’
‘I might be free to go, but I would not be so sure that you are.’ He leered at me, his face a smile and then we all heard the sirens.
‘Tempest, we have a problem.' Jagjit said over the radio. ‘There is a lady here. She says she is working late and that we are trespassing. Also, I can see lots of police arriving at the gates.'
Just then an alarm sounded inside the Mill. Big Ben was closest, so without prompting he crossed to the building and pushed open the door to peek inside. ‘There is a fire.' he announced cheerfully.
‘What have you done?’ I demanded of Owen.
‘I have no idea what you are talking about. I am here legitimately. You are the ones trespassing. Maybe you did something.’ he was still grinning and it was beginning to unnerve me.
The police were now entering the grounds of the Mill, we could hear them approaching, their sirens bouncing off the walls as they came between the buildings.
‘What do we do?’ asked Poison over the radio.
‘Come to us.’ I replied. ‘Comply with any instructions the police may give you.’ I was getting a sinking feeling deep in the pit of my stomach. Owen seemed all too confident.
‘Tempest, what is happening?’ asked my mother. I thought I knew the answer, but I was afraid to say it in case I was right. My brain was telling me that I had been set up, that Brett and Owen had played me, and we were all about to get arrested. I looked around at the team. They were all here voluntarily, I had made no promises to them about what would happen this evening or how events might turn out. However, I had not warned them that my ego might lead them into a trap or that the great Tempest Michaels might get them all arrested again.
Behind me, cars screeched to a halt and armed police officers spilled out shouting instructions.
The eyes of my team were all swinging from the police to me and back to the police. ‘Everyone do as they say.’ It was the only advice I could give.
Owen knelt on the ground next to me obeying the same instructions, but where we all looked sick or stunned or frightened, he was still grinning.
As the police approached us, weapons trained at our bodies, I heard the whump of a small explosion from within the Mill.
Super.
‘Oh, God. My wife is going to kill me.' wailed Hilary. Behind me, Big Ben was humming again, and I finally worked out what the tune was - 99 Problems by Jay-Zee.
99 problems, but a bitch ain't one.
A Night in the Cells. Monday, October 11th 2115hrs
Having offered no resistance, the process of arresting us, cuffing us and loading us i
nto a van had taken no time at all. Poison and Jagjit were brought out to join us. Owen however, was released once he had identified himself to them. It was clear that he had been the one that had contacted the police. He must have done so some time ago as it was an armed response unit that had arrived to deal with us. The first realisation led to the second, which was that the whole thing had been a trap. A trap laid by Brett and Owen and sprung by my own stupidity.
As the police had shouted orders and rounded us up, I had tried protesting that we were there on behalf of Mrs. Barker. It was a futile effort though as they were going to take us away to sort it out regardless of what I said. For that matter though I had not alerted any Mill staff or Mrs. Barker that we were going to be on the property, we had gained entry by using a pin code that I should not have, we were dressed like a paramilitary group and the Mill was now on fire.
Just before they closed the back doors of the van, I saw a fireman emerge from the Mill and overheard him telling the police that the fire was out. How significant it had been I did not know. Owen had set it though. I was certain of that.
Mum was crying gently on my dad’s shoulder. He was quietly consoling her. I felt miserable, but when he caught my eye dad gave me a cheeky grin and a wink.
During the ride to the police station, I had a few minutes to role-play different scenarios in my head. I kept coming back to the inescapable conclusion that Brett and Owen had known I was outside Owen's house and they had staged the argument so that I would hear it and fall into their trap. It might have been a hastily ventured idea on their part when I was spotted in my car near Owen's property. They had relied on my gullibility and were now probably doing high-fives and toasting themselves. We would be cleared of the charges; I was fairly certain of that. Fairly certain. Mrs. Barker would get involved, but I would struggle to prove that it was not my team that had set the fire.
I was now more certain than ever that Brett was guilty of sabotaging the Mill. I knew not why yet, but whatever the reason was, it seemed likely to be the same reason for causing the death of his Grandfather. My position was greatly weakened, my resolve was not. I was going to get Brett Barker.