Carolyn sat fuming in her office; the smell of silicone used in the replacement windows was everywhere and made her feel light-headed. She’d paid over the odds to get the work done quickly, which she hated. But, with every window smashed what else could she do?
The mess the workmen had created in her normally tidy and well-organised house had driven her out and down to the local shops in an attempt to get away from them. It also meant shed escaped the reporters who had splashed details of her ordeal in the local daily and were buzzing around again for follow up stories.
When the tall man with the knitted hat smiled at her at the bottom of the lane, she smiled grimly back and passed him by without thinking. But the black windowed minibus made her jump when it drew up besides her and in seconds, strong hands had pulled her into the mini bus, sandwiching her between several large men in black jeans and pullovers with masks over their faces.
“We are not here to hurt you,” said one of them, “We heard about your bad time and we’re here to deal with the person who did it.”
“Let me go, I don’t know what you mean.”
“You are quite safe. You can get your own back on the man that attacked you - youll find revenge is sweet.”
The voice behind the mask was slightly foreign but also clipped and military.
“I’d like to see him dead, and that also applies to whoever sent him, but what do you know about it?”
“We’re not going to kill him but he over stepped his instructions when he threatened you personally. So you can come and watch him being roughed up a bit - or even help if you want to.”
“You’re mad! This is a civilised country. You can’t just go beating people up.”
“It happens every day,” said the man, indifferently, “Do you want him to get away with nearly raping you? Even if the police found him, he’d probably squirm out of it.”
Carolyn saw that there were three other men in the vehicle, all masked. Escape was out of the question and after they had driven for a short distance, she was given a mask too.
“Wear this. By being there, you’ll still be treated as an accomplice.”
She still couldn’t believe how she’d joined in. The boy looked young in the dark. It was definitely the same one. Hed lost his Irish accent but his large build, voice and mannerisms were the same. The thought of the smelly, large, pimply youth touching her and defiling her beautiful home sickened her and made her furious. She had grasped the stick she had been given tighter and tighter until her hands had whitened in the dark and then with an animal cry had jumped forward to hit and hit again.
They had to pull her off in the end. She’d still been shaking when they dropped her safely by the woods behind her house.
“I wouldn’t tell the police if I was you,” the man with the accent said, “they’d arrest you and what good would that do?”
She hadn’t told the police and as the day wore on, was surprised when she started to feel quite a lot better. It had been cathartic. But her mind seethed with questions. Even if he’d gone too far, his job was still to coerce her. It was still blackmail. People didn’t give in to blackmail. Or did they? What was best for her? To give them what they wanted or stand up to this … gang? When their request was first put, she had said ‘no’ immediately and finally. Then all this had happened. How much further would these people go?
She was still undecided the next day when she logged onto the Internet. She sat patiently. Experience told her she didn’t need to do any more. She wondered who or what was at the other end of the connection.
As she expected, a dialogue box appeared after only a few minutes.
“Hi,” the little man on the screen said breezily.
“What do your victims normally say,” she typed. “Mission accomplished… Or what?”
“I see you’re still upset,” the dialogue box typed back. “Sometimes people are enthusiastic and tell me they had a great time. By the way, click on the voice button and you won’t have to type.”
Carolyn clicked and then spoke into the microphone and headphone she suddenly found by the computer. She didn’t like the way the headphones flattened her hair or even the way they had suddenly appeared on her computer table. But with the number of people that had been in and out of her house recently, anyone could have left them.
“I’ve had my windows smashed and forced to strip. I’ve been kidnapped, taken to a dingy boathouse and then lowered myself to beating a smelly yob up in the company of your roughnecks. And all of this just because I refused your illegal demands on my business.” Carolyn’s voice was shaking.
“Running a small business, even a dating agency, is not easy and you make it ten times more difficult. I’ve got no time to get involved with your ridiculous demands.”
“All I wanted to do is to take part in a little mutual enterprise.” The small figure was now walking backwards and forwards across the screen. It looked like an American lawyer pleading his case. He turned and faced her the palms of his hands open in front of him.
“Look the deal is great, you get more business, you get more money from your business, and you get somebody to help you with your business. Then you’d have time to do everything. What more could you want.” He summed his case up with a gracious smile.
“I don’t want any help with my business, I’m happy as I am. All I need is short term help with cash flow, which is what I advertised for, I don’t need employees or partners.”
The little man changed tack and stabbed a finger threateningly at her.
“Look, you’re in this now, whether you like it or not, and it’s time to stop messing around and start cooperating. Agree to what we want and your cash flow problems will be a distant memory. Itll be Paradise, believe me. Mess us about and what you’ve seen so far is a walk in the park. Also, going to the police would be a gamble that won’t pay off. Now what do you say?”
Carolyn already knew what she was going to say. She would give in but she really hated being blackmailed.
The little figure on the screen in front of her strutted backwards and forwards checking its watch.
“Ok, I will do as you want,” she said, grudgingly. “What happens now?”
“Very sensible,” the little man replied, ” later today you’ll be contacted by a person who will work with you in your business. This person has the necessary imaginative skills that will complement your business efficiency. Details of exactly what you will do together are contained in the file that I’m downloading now. You may find that this person is somewhat upset. Give him the address on the screen and tell him he can find his wife there, safe and sound. That should cheer him up. You can start work with him tomorrow. That’s all!”
The little man disappeared leaving Caroline to stare at a blank screen wondering where it would lead to and what had been inflicted on this poor man she was supposed to work with.
The man, when he arrived, was practically distraught. He introduced himself as Mike, listened to what little she could tell him, grabbed the address from her and disappeared saying he had to search for his wife.
The next day, he was back knocked on her door in the early afternoon. Carolyn met him dressed in a green trouser suit. She led him into her office a large sunny room next to the lounge. An informal meeting area took up most of the room. A desk and PC occupied the corner looking out over the garden. A coffee percolating machine was bubbling in the corner, making the room smell welcoming. Carolyn was not so welcoming.
“I don’t want you here, you should know that,” she said.
“I guess we’re both unwilling participants in this matter,” Mike said. “Unfortunately it seems the consequences of not going along with these people are extremely unpleasant. They’re very well organised and willing to do anything for what they want … as I now know.”
He accepted the cup of coffee from Caroline and leaned back in the settee. He had hunched nervous appearance and the distress showed clearly in his voice as he told her what had happened after he’d left her the previous day.
The lock-up garage where I found Denise, my wife, really stank. Denise must have had an awful time. Of course we had to call the Police. It seemed that, returning home from work as she drove besides the Thames, shed been forced off the road. Then, at the point of a gun, shed been forced to drive to the lock-up garage and bound and gagged until I freed her. She thought it was strange that I had known where to find her but the police seemed to think that the whole thing was more likely to do with her employment with the bank. I told the Police that Id got the address put through my front door anonymously. It seemed better not to involve you.
Carolyn nodded “Thanks for that.”
She sat neatly down opposite Mike and crossed her legs and looked weary. She had not slept well and was not happy feeling out of control.
“I suppose I had better explain how all this started for me,” she said.
“I run a dating agency,” she said. “It specialises in of the well-to-do of Central London and the West of London. I have 10,000 clients and a better than average mix of male to females. This whole thing started when I advertised in the evening newspaper for a backer to help me with my cash flow. I have been pushing the business quite hard recently and my advertising expenditure has been very high. It’s important for a business like mine to achieve a critical mass. Clients need to have sufficient numbers of people to choose from or they will be dissatisfied and leave. Also, I’ve started to build a web site to enable my activities to cover a wider area. It was through the Web site that these people contacted me. They didn’t want to offer any money but said they would pay me for the use of my database and provide somebody to work with me. I told them that using my database like that was contrary to all sorts of legal and moral rules. They said no was not an option and that I would be hearing from them. What happened then was horrendous. A virus started to play mayhem with my computer records. Somebody broke in while I was in the house, threatened me with a knife, forced me to strip in front of them and then broke all my windows. As soon as I’d got my windows fixed, some others from this organisation came and kidnapped me to take part in beating up the person who had broken my windows. That was enough for me. I was scared stiff so I gave in. I’m not a volunteer.”
“My story is much the same,” said Mike. “I downloaded freeware program to publish my Web Site to hundreds of search engines. The instructions said ‘Download it, unzip it and run’. T Rogan wrote the program. I should have guessed but hindsight is a wonderful thing. The Trojan virus within the program waited days until it had infiltrated all my backups and the first I knew of it was when the computer speakers started screaming. When it had got my attention, the voice changed to the matter of fact tone of a public announcement in a department store.” He paused.
Carolyn gave him at a reassuring smile. Mike noticed she had enormous blue eyes and a heart shaped face. They would be quite breathtaking under different circumstances, he thought.
The smile lit up her face and she seemed to be thawing a little. “Just tell the story in your own way,” she said.
Mike smiled a shy hesitant smile and continued.
“The computer,” he said, “seemed to be going crazy.”
“Attention please, attention please,” it said, ” your computer has been infected . Failure to follow instructions will cause the loss of all data. Attention please, attention please your virus detector has been deactivated. All your backups for the last two weeks have also been infected. Resistance will cause the loss of all programs and data.”
“Follow these simple instructions and your computer will be restored to you without any harm done and the virus will be permanently removed from your computer. Attention please attention please. There now follows a small demonstration of what will happen if you don’t co-operate ”
The screen darkened and the face of a wolf appeared with a howl that echoed round the small garage extension that’s my office and writing room. The matter of fact voice returned.
“Your computer will now be disabled until you types in the word accept.
“Three hours later the computer was still completely dead. In complete frustration I entered the word at the keyboard. At least I could find out what it wanted. The alternative was virtually to dump the computer and all its consents in a skip.”
“The metallic voice resumed immediately.”
“Shortly on the screen you will see an account number and the name of a Bank. Note the details down and deposit 20 in the account within 48 hours. You will receive a code through your letterbox to enter that will unlock your computer. The virus will be erased from your computer and you will be troubled no more.”
“The last words were finished in a mock monk like chant.”
“Like you, I hated the idea of giving in to blackmail but I also couldn’t afford to lose the data. It seemed the best thing. It was the price of a night out against thousands of hours work on my novel - the choice was too easy.”
“The voice ground out its threat.”
“Failure to enter the code within 76 hours will cause the complete destruction of all your data and programs”.
“It was the price of a cheap night out, I typed ‘I accept’, and sat looking at the screen wondering what would happen next. Would it deliver back my files on the promise? I pressed enter and held my breath.”
“The screen lit up with the familiar icons. Rapidly I checked my directories and heaved a huge sigh of relief. My book was back and intact. I reached for a floppy and to switch on the printer to make a hard copy - neither worked. It seemed I would have to pay the money to regain permanent access.”
“I collected 20 from my Bank account and deposited the money in the other account as instructed. The code came the next day through my letterbox. Entering the code got my printer and floppy drive back. The world seemed a better place again.
A week passed and my book was coming along very well. A ghost story set in medieval times with screaming heroines and handsome knights, it was aiming at the market that longed for a return to more rural, gentler times. Nice people like gardeners and housewives and ordinary people everywhere that liked a bit of blood and gore on the side as long as it happened to the baddy.”
“It was my second book and the publisher had conceded a series of advances. This let me write full time without instantly being hurled into complete destitution.”
“A week went past and my book was getting on well. Another advance came through. It would keep me going for next couple of months. Things were back to normal.”
“I was just finishing a particularly long session.”
“The voice was preceded with the sort of chimes you get at airports before a public announcement. The voice of a lady used to giving announcements; cool, calm, reassuring.”
“Attention please attention please, your computer virus has been reactivated attention please, and attention please failure to co-operate will cause complete loss of data log onto the Internet immediately to receive detailed instructions. Or else ”
“The brown furry face of the wolf appeared again, it’s teeth bared back in a snarl. My reaction was instant, unreasoned and violent.”
“Get *!*ing stuffed I mouthed at the image on the screen and switched off the computer without even bothering to back out of the windows program. Its raucous howl died away into the distance.”
“My daughters computer was in the house and I loaded the backup floppy disk to reassure myself that my book was OK and found it was encrypted. What’s more, now my daughters computer was talking to me.”
“You are advised to think again,” the lazy drawling American accents commented through her multimedia speakers. The image on the screen changed to the benign face of an old man puffing on a pipe. He shifted in his rocking chair and reassured me between puffs.
“Relax, don’t worry, its true we want you to do something for us. But sometimes what we want you to do for us can be very nice. This is one of those occasions. Youll enjoy it.”
“I wanted to shout and scream and argue. My daughters computer had a microphone and was wired for voice recognition but the virus was clearly not set up for dialogue and continued talking away blandly to me.”
“So I just fumed quietly to myself, and returned to my office in the garage resolving that I would have a hard copy as soon as I could and, if necessary, finish the book by hand. At least paper can’t order you about. For now I keyed in the word that was becoming all too familiar ‘accept’.”
“The modem clicked and the modem tone dialler rapidly logged on to my Internet Service Provider. The computer then took on a mind of its own and the screen rapidly changed to a new Web Site with the URL concealed.”
“Go to the address given below in Fulham, London at 1pm tomorrow and collect 1,000 to be delivered to the address below. Use the code words ‘medical delivery’ to achieve identification with your contact.”
“Your computer will be returned to full working order and you will be rewarded for the time you spend carrying out this task.”
“It was really inconvenient, my wife had left me instructions about shopping to be collected for the evening meal. I wanted to get on with trying to earn a living. Slamming the door I left on foot for the station that linked to the underground train system that would take me to Fulham in the West of London.”
“The house in Fulham was in the middle of a Victorian terrace. Its window bays were small and separated by brick columns that gave them a stately appearance. The sound of a child playing filtered through from the back garden as I walked up to the door.”
“A young woman opened the door with long raven black hair, waif like figure and an olive skin. I said, hesitantly.
“I’m here about the ‘medical delivery’.”
“She just nodded and opened the door wide to let me through. The hall was huge. Its high ceiling and the thick carpet underfoot gave a feeling of splendour.”
“The parcel is in the kitchen”. Her voice was high and musical she looked possibly Central Europe in origin.”
“Follow me please ”
“She led the way into the lounge walking with neat, precise steps as if she knew exactly what to do and had rehearsed her actions in advance. There was not a trace of uncertainty. Almost, she seemed disinterested, a common place event - going through the motions, nothing to shout about.”
“Her offhand attitude contrasted with mine. My mind seethed with questions. What was I doing here? Should I be getting involved? What exactly was I getting involved with?”
“Please take a seat. She pointed to the single piece of furniture - a tan sofa in the centre of the room facing the bay window.”
“Her voice had echoed against the walls of the nearly empty room as she disappeared rapidly in the direction of what appeared to be the kitchen. Returning shortly, she thrust a brown envelope into my hand. I inspected it dubiously. It was open at the end. I angled it to look inside. It was stuffed with notes.”
“I looked at her and then the parcel. What was I supposed to say? It was the feeling of not being in control that I hated most. There was no map, no plan for the future, no knowledge of where all this was leading to.”
“Do you want a receipt? I queried, for want of anything better to say.”
“She looked at me, her big brown eyes widened. She flicked back her hair and looked me up and down as if she was dealing with an amateur. My ignorance of procedure seemed to irritate her. Her voice rose and fell rapidly and her foreign accent became stronger, even more melodic.”
“A receipt? Pah if only it was so easy. There never is a receipt - and you don’t make it up as you go along. Everything must be done as instructed. If you are new to this, you will learn that very quickly. I tried to avoid instructions once. The consequences were very unpleasant. You will learn. You just do not go against this thing. It is insane, mad completely without feeling. It doesn’t care how much it hurts you or anybody else for that matter.”
“There was a passion and an intensity in her voice that was very convincing.”
“She disappeared again for a minute and returned with a laptop computer with video camera attachment. This she placed on the window ledge angling the camera towards the sofa.”
“It will give evidence of the transaction, she explained, curtly.”
“Who are you? How did you get involved in this? I need to know what is going on.”
“I needed some sense of normality, to talk and to feel the world was not completely insane.”
“Are you the owner of the virus - because if you are I have a few words for you?”
“We are all owners of the virus and owned by it - there is no escape! Show the camera the money. Count it out.”
“I opened the package and laboriously counted out the notes that were inside, as instructed. The amount was correct and there was a note in a sealed envelope. She stood in front of me her beautiful face inscrutable.”
“You are satisfied about the money. This was again for the benefit of the camera I was sure.”
“Yes.”
“I have been told to warn you that if you do not deliver it as instructed or open the sealed note your wife will have a very nasty accident. She said the words without emotion but her eyes were now liquid pools. She obviously didn’t like making the threat.”
“Please do as they instruct they mean what they say, she pleaded. The words were spoken flatly but with conviction. Her chin then fell and she hung her head as if now her burden had been passed on, shared.”
“I slapped the bundle of money, decisively and hard down on the sofa. A few bank notes spilled out.”
“That’s it, I said, I’m going to call the police, I’m not having threats like that. If they lay a finger on her, I’ll have them”
“Her response was immediate and uncompromising.”
“You fool! Her head was up again and her eyes were flashing with anger. “Don’t you think that they will have thought of that? It won’t be one of them who do it. It will be someone like you or me who has been hooked into the system and who has no choice. The result will be the same. They told me to show you this.”
“She pressed a button on the small computer and the screen filled with a high definition picture. I wished I hadn’t looked. The features were unrecognisable. Curled into a foetal position, it was difficult to see if the figure was man or woman. Blood was everywhere with deep wheals in the raw flesh. I looked away feeling sick.”
“Her anger evaporated suddenly.”
“Look there is more. It isn’t so bad for you. The deal is, if I don’t convince you to keep to the plan, I am in big trouble and your wife gets hurt. If you go along with the deal, I stay OK, your wife stays OK and you get your reward”.
“My reward? I gave her a quizzical glance full of doubt.”
“Yes, your reward. Your reward is me, on the couch, now I’m yours. It’s the deal - hopefully you will enjoy it, I won’t but I’ll try to make it good for you because if I don’t then I’m in trouble. They say men will take any opportunity. Well I am yours no recriminations, no comeback.”
“She made half an attempt at an alluring smile, it was a brave try that didn’t quite succeed.”
“Are you some sort of prostitute,” I said, I needed to understand.
“Her eyes flashed again.”
“I am not - as you so elegantly put it - a prostitute, you stupid man. Doesn’t my accent give you an idea of the hold they have on me. Back at home, the rest of my family are dead. If I return, I will be dead too. I came to this country tied in tarpaulin under a lorry. I knew nobody. I used the Internet to find a way of earning money without a work permit. They discovered me and sucked me into their system. They gave me opportunities I never dreamed of and life can be good for with them as long as I do what they want.
I had stood up by now. She approached me and pressed herself against me, her hand reaching for the buckle of my belt. I placed my hands over hers. They were small and delicate. I knew I wasnt ready for this. It was totally unplanned but what choice did I have “
