Carolyn tossed the newspaper onto the kitchen table and brushed a tear from the corner of her eye. The headlines screamed:
“Life-long collection worth millions stolen and owner attacked in vicious raid at remote mansion.”
The article described in graphic detail the events of the previous night. How the owner of the collection had lain for hours injured and was even now still unable to be interviewed by the police. In the absence of any description of the raid, the article focussed on background and the importance of his unique collection. It also emphasised how the police had been surprised at the ease of which the thieves had gained access to the premises that were heavily fortified with the latest alarms.
“It’s Gerald,” Carolyn sniffed. “The mobile phone must have somehow recorded the burglar alarm codes. What have I done to him?”
“It’s not just you,” said Mike, “it’s both of us.”
“But I never thought it would lead to anything like this,” said Carolyn.
“We should have expected it,” said Mike. “If only because of the size of the payments to us. A lot of money had to come from somewhere.”
“But we only got thousands of pounds, this raid has netted millions.”
“Whoever is running this show is bound to make a profit. But, anyway, the amount is fairly irrelevant,” said Mike. “All that matters is whether we can do anything about it and the direction we want to choose. At least now we have an idea of what we are dealing with, unpleasant though it is.”
Carolyn pushed the newspaper into the centre of the kitchen table distastefully away from where she was seated. Mike, who was at the other end of the table, put his head in his hands, wearily. He had first seen the headlines when he had passed the newsstand on his way over to Carolyn’s. He knew what Carolyn must have been going through because the same thoughts had gone through his mind an hour ago. But, whichever way he looked at it, there were more questions and no solutions to their dilemma.
“The trouble is,” continued Mike, “I don’t think it changes anything. It just adds to the list of unpleasant activities this organisation is capable of. You remember the explosion the other day?”
Carolyn nodded.
“I checked the address, it was the company that Bill and I went to when we were making our enquiries right to the beginning.”
Carolyn stared at Mike as she tried to make sense of what he had said.
“So you’re saying that the explosion was an attempt to cut off a line of inquiry,” she said. “But what about your friend. Won’t he be in danger too?”
“There is little doubt that he is,” said Mike. “In fact, last week he was the victim of a hit-and-run incident which put him into hospital. He thought that the attack on him was connected with our research but I pretended to disagree because I didn’t want him involved. As soon as I saw this article, I phoned him this morning at the hospital but it seems he has discharged himself. I phoned him at home but got no reply. I think he’s in hiding.”
“But why didn’t he warn you?” said Carolyn.
“Warn me of what? Hes probably already worked out that I have given into their threats and am now involved in the organisation.”
“And it’s true,” said Carolyn, miserably, “we are.”
Mike pursed his lips. “If we go to the police now, what do you tell them. If we say that we helped with the break-in and the theft of that man’s property, it doesn’t put us in the clear; quite the reverse. The police will have somebody they can prosecute and we won’t be able to tell them how to get the others. We’ll probably end up in prison and the real people who are involved won’t be touched.”
“It’s like a web,” said Carolyn, “it just keeps drawing us in. If we resist, we are intimidated. If we go to the police, we get prosecuted and put in gaol. And what about the possibility that your friend could go to the Police - are we supposed to take steps to silence him? How on earth we ever got involved in this and the first place.”
“Somebody, somewhere, decided to involve us and laid their plans carefully,” said Mike. “It could be a powerful international criminal syndicate. It could be a local gang wanting to expand their activities. It could even be somebodys kitchen table business. Even more horrifyingly, it could be some twelve-year-old teenager working from his bedroom somewhere. Whoever it is, they know the power of leverage. They find a small lever that moves more than its weight. They then use the outcome of that leveraged position as a further lever to achieve even greater consequences. The beauty of it is that, if the other participants are like us, none of them will be known to the Police. They are all probably perfectly innocent individuals who would normally go about their law-abiding business. Yet this force is corrupting them and it all results in damage to property, injury to people and terrorism.”
“Can I just put this on record,” said Carolyn, leaning forward fiercely, “that if I ever find you are behind all this, I will personally cut your balls off with the bluntest knife I can find.”
She slumped back and sighed, as if the effort of the anger had taken all her strength, and continued:
“On a note of detail, I received Gerald’s mobile phone through the letter box this morning. Obviously, it was taken to avoid it being analysed. This system thinks of everything. And it’s sitting in there in my office, listening to everything we say when we go in that room and we can’t do a thing about it.”
“In a way,” said Mike, musingly, “it’s like a chess game. Perhaps we could use similar strategies. Sometimes in chess you have to fall back and regroup until an opportunity comes to move forward again.”
“But we are not the players,” said Carolyn, “we are the pieces.”
“Only if we want to be,” said Mike, quietly. “We are what we choose to be and the methods we use are of our own choice.”
“Are you suggesting that we should use the same methods as are being used against us?”
“Set a thief to catch a thief - set the strength of the organisation against its master. It’s all we have and it’s probably all we can do apart from just giving in.”
“So you’re saying that our policy so far of doing as we are told but also to look for opportunities should be continued,” said Carolyn, despite all we now know.
“It’s more than that,” said Mike, “we now know we’re looking for a lever that, instead of acting for this organisation, will act against it. In the meantime, if we can throw a spanner in the works that would also be helpful.”
“Not forgetting,” said Carolyn, “we have to get busy distributing more of these mobile telephones or our lord and master will be complaining.”
Mike grimaced: “what clothes you think I should wear to meet this character, pink trousers or just a flowery shirt.”
“I should think a chastity belt might be a good start,” said Carolyn. She grinned mischievously as she saw the discomfort Mike obviously felt over his date with this man. But she sought to reassure him. “Look, it’s only a date - just because you spend the evening together doesn’t mean you’re going to spend your lifes together or romp in the hay. Just be a good girly, keep your legs together, smile at his jokes and make him feel important. Don’t forget to flutter your eyes and he’ll be putty in your hands.”
Carolyn was, with difficulty, trying to keep a straight face. Then a wild, almost hysterical gale of laughter burst from her. And she couldn’t stop. It was as if all the tension needed to be released somehow. She ended up mopping her eyes with some kitchen tissue.
“The look on your face,” she spluttered. “It was priceless.”
“Well at least it’s cheered you up a bit,” said Mike, not looking at all amused. “But it’s difficult for us men. We’re used to being the predators not the prey.”
“Well perhaps you’ll just have to find your strength in your vulnerability as we ladies’ have throughout the ages,” said Carolyn, still mopping up and trying not to start laughing again.
“Maybe that needs to be our watchword for this whole dreadful escapade,” said Mike.
Suddenly from the office came a sound like a wailing banshee. It was a cross between the scream of a woman and the cry of a baby and the wail of an old man the in his death throes.
“I think Baby is trying to attract our attention,” said Mike, “do you think it’s feeling neglected?”
“Let’s go and find out,” said Carolyn leading the way out of the kitchen.
The computer had calmed down by the time they got to it. Mike had been fully expecting that the ferocious wolf face that he had first experienced on his machine would have returned but instead there was an officious looking lady with tightly curled blonde hair. She spoke calmly and precisely:
“As you can see, for a change, I have crossed the gender gap. I thought it might be encouraging for you, Mike.” She smiled sweetly.
Caroline glanced across at Mike who was looking rather flushed. Carolyn could make out whether it was anger or embarrassment.
The computer woman continued:
“It seems that your wife, Mike, is being enterprising. I cannot stress strongly enough how dangerous that is to her.”
“What has she been doing?” Said Mike.
“She has been helping that foolish friend of yours. You may be interested to know, Mike, that they were last seen together heading off in the direction of the West Country together. Hardly the behaviour you would expect from your wife.”
“We had a perfectly good marriage before you came along,” snarled Mike. “She’s been kidnapped, threatened with a gun and tied up. She had every right to be terrified. You got me running around on dates with strange women and unable to account for my time. If she starts behaving strangely, it’s hardly surprising.”
Mike’s words were brave but inside he felt he had been kicked in the stomach. Bill hadn’t looked in good shape when he’d last seen him. To leave the hospital so soon must have been a dreadful decision. But the fact that he had invited Denise to help him created a huge well of doubt and jealousy inside Mike. It all started coming back. Memories of small glances, smiles that could be interpreted as intimate, the Christmas kiss that was more in the corner of the mouth than on her cheek came flooding back. Visions engulfed him of his round bespectacled friend in bed alone with his wife playing the nurse. It made him feel like yelling.
“Goodness knows what they are now getting up to together,” the woman said, unsympathetically. “I am sure that you have a good idea of where she might have taken him. Old love haunts, relatives, you know the sort of place that people go when they want to be together.”
Mike felt Carolyn’s hand slipping into his. She squeezed it gently, it was a warning and Mike understood. The computer woman was trying to goad him into making a mistake and revealing Denise and Bill’s likely whereabouts through making him angry.
“I’ll make it easier for you,” the computer woman said. “They aren’t at your house and they aren’t at your mother-in-law’s. I had somebody go round and check. Delightful neighbours your mother-in-law has, they were very helpful. Apparently your mother-in-law left yesterday for a surprise holiday. Won a prize in a timeshare competition I understand.”
The chances of his mother-in-law, like Denise, a very cautious and careful woman, getting involved in that sort of the competition seemed very remote to Mike. Inwardly he congratulated Denise on putting her mother in a place of safety and on removing a potentially very powerful lever from the game.
“You would had used her against me, wouldn’t you,” said Mike, bitterly.
“Why would I do that? We are working together, we are on the same side and there are lots of goodies in line for you as you successfully complete each project. However, your wife is a different matter. She has quite unnecessarily got herself involved and is working against us. Shes not only working against but is betraying you and putting the whole project in jeopardy.”
“Anyway all this is irrelevant,” said Mike, “because I haven’t really got the faintest idea where she is. Also, she is intelligent enough to make sure that she doesn’t go anywhere that I could think of so I don’t think I can help you.”
There was a pause. Mike felt that he was being scrutinised carefully through the web camera. It seemed he passed muster as the computer woman merely replied:
“Well if you do you think of anywhere and would like to put an end to their … elopement, let me know. Perhaps you should have a word with her. Show her how much you care in a manly way. Perhaps a firm hand would stop her going astray again. But first we have to find her - and of course the man she has run off with. They shouldn’t get very far. He has no money. His software sales business got a very nasty virus yesterday. By now I should think it has been completely dumped from the Internet by his web space providers. The search engines will have dropped him within a couple of weeks when they find his site closed down and his Internet’s bank account is no devoid of any funds. I suppose there might be some insurance to claim in respect of his house and car that went up in flames last night. Its very sad. But of course to make a claim, he will have to become visible. Your wifes backing a loser. Such a shame when she could be backing you.”
“You know,” said Mike, quietly. “Bill is a very nice man. He likes helping people; he’s decent and hard working. It’s hard for me to say but if my wife has to go off with somebody else, she could do worse. What you have done today is a sad reflection not on him but on yourself and on me for supporting you.”
“I trust…” said the computer woman, “that in time you will take a more sensible attitude. Remember you are but a step away from his fate. You can stay alive, reap the rewards, or suffer the consequences. It’s your life, and your choice. In the meantime, I suggest that you get on with the project in hand and I would remind you that you have a mobile phone to deliver.”
The officious lady smiled sweetly and dissolved from the screen.
“Time for a cup of tea, I think,” said Carolyn.
“If you can set up the appointment,” said Mike, through gritted teeth, “I would like to get on with my date tomorrow.”
In the kitchen, Carolyn queried his sudden enthusiasm.
“I don’t exactly know how to explain it,” said Mike, “but in a chess game, when you’re dealing with a particularly vicious opponent who likes destroyed pieces at will, the more pieces you have in play, even if they have to be hostages to fortune, the better.”
“I’ll get on the phone and set you up,” said Carolyn, thoughtfully. “It’s my guess that your house has probably been trashed. It’s just the way they think,” she said defensively. ” I have a spare bedroom and perhaps it would be better if you move into it.”
Mike’s eyes met hers, searching for a hidden agenda.
“I did say the spare bedroom,” emphasised Carolyn, firmly, “and that is what I meant.”
“Perhaps there’s something in your chess analogy. I certainly haven’t any better idea.”
“What is absolutely certain,” said Mike, “is the position of Bill and my wife is grave. If they so much as use a credit card, or go near the Internet, this will be detected in a flash. If they stay undercover, theyll have to live in a cash economy.”
“Do you think your wife understands this?” Said Carolyn.
“She’s a banker. She knows all about tracing people. Its one of the biggest industries in the world, mainly for debt, but I’m sure that our geek friend in there will try every disreputable technique there is a tracking them down. It wouldn’t surprise me if a bounty had already been put on both their heads, for sizeable imaginary debts. The debt bounty hunters are probably right at this moment already crawling all over their records and phoning relatives and business contacts with made up stories designed to elicit information. What my wife doesn’t know, particularly on the Internet front, Bill will certainly be aware of. He’ll know that as soon as either of them uses an email account that they previously owned or does anything on the Internet which makes their identity known, they can be traced and their cover blown.”
“You make chances of staying out of sight sound very remote,” said Carolyn. “Surely this will force them to go to the police.”
“I think it normally would,” said Mike, “but they both know that I am as much a hostage as they are and for that reason that I think they will hold off. I also think Cheeky Geeky knows that and this provides us with some sort of protection.
“It was certainly a good move to remove your mother-in-law from the action,” said Carolyn.
“Yes, it was smart thinking,” said Mike. “It shows Denise understands what is going on. It prevented matters being very much worse. Now, are you going to arrange this wretched date?”
