by Alan G Boyes
“I am so sorry. I can use the excuse that I need to go away to find a job and that will satisfy her. She is not very bright.”
“That’s obvious. She has to be pretty thick to shack up with you!” quipped Khan, easing the growing tension. Fadyar looked intently at Bagheri.
“OK then, but you must inform me if there is any hint of a problem with her. I will not have your dick compromising our operation, you understand? You are both expendable.” Fadyar was asserting her authority and it was not only Bagheri that had a shiver running down his spine. They all knew now that Fadyar would be a ruthless leader.
The conversation moved onto more minor matters. None of the group asked Fadyar about the mission knowing from their training in Pakistan that they would be given information only when needed.
“Now, where am I to stay for a few days?” asked Fadyar. “I can use a hotel but would prefer a house we can use as a base.”
Khan offered Fadyar his flat. It had two bedrooms in which he had frequently entertained one or more of his own casual female friends overnight, or had offered a room to a male friend who, living at home with strict Muslim parents, needed somewhere overnight to take a girl. Fadyar would be largely ignored by any neighbours thinking she was just another of Khan’s many conquests. Although not overjoyed at the likelihood of being regarded as Khan’s latest bedtime companion, Fadyar had to admit to herself that it was probably an ideal place for her to stay as she would not arouse suspicion.
“Good, thank you. I cannot leave the car here so I suggest we go now. I will follow you and park it close to Nasra’s flat until you can find me a garage. One final thing, I shall meet you all together as little as possible. I shall pass instructions via Nasra, but it does not mean he is second-in-command. I shall inform you of whom I will choose as my deputy only when we go on our mission.”
* * *
Later that evening, she and Nasra were sat around his small dining table. He confirmed that he and his two friends had each been provided with a bank account to be used only for emergencies or for a mission. The accounts were not large, but each contained about £5,000. Fadyar started writing out a list of things she wanted done. It also served as an aide memoir and check list for her.
• Close two accounts and withdraw the cash.
• Book two medium-sized hire cars.
• Take two days to journey to Scotland, finding somewhere en route to stay.
• Ensure warm and waterproof clothes, boots – Scotland can be cold and wet
• Laptop computer, with internet access, 12v car adaptor, USB drive – NO details to be put onto hard drive
• Good digital camera. (She had brought her own, but hoped one of the three would possess a better one.)
• Hand held telescope, plus binoculars
• Passport, identity, insurance documents, driving licences etc
• Fadyar to obtain two copies of all the OS maps.
• New pay-as-you-go mobile phone for second car. Only used for assignment – NOTHING else.
• Weapons, explosives for September. Not needed on reconnaissance mission.
She also carefully reflected on the three men on whose actions her life may at some point depend. They were all now joined with her on the mission and the fate of them all depended on how well they could work together. She had been harsh on them, deliberately so, at the outset, but it was obvious they were true patriots, intelligent and could be trusted. Her assignment had got off to a good start, but it had a great deal further to go.
30
Gordon was true to his word. Within three weeks of returning from the villa, Cindy had located a reasonably sized two bedroom detached cottage on the outskirts of Grimley, a small Worcestershire village. It boasted a fully equipped interior, was beautifully decorated and had a large double garage. The latter was essential so that when Gordon visited he could park his vehicle away from prying eyes. She was sure that Alan would do all he could to find out where she had moved to, and was determined not to make it easy for him or his poodle, Donaldson. She sent Gordon the property particulars from the estate agents, and his company completed the purchase quickly and without complication. Using the money Gordon had placed in her account, Cindy began to thoroughly indulge herself buying everything she required to completely furnish the rooms and add to the already high level of fixtures and fittings. As she expected, Alan was dismayed when she rang him at their London apartment to say that she would be leaving him at the end of April, but after the initial shock he calmed and they agreed to meet at Red Gables to discuss any remaining issues between them before she left.
Cindy had poured herself a large whisky and soda whilst waiting for him and, as she expected, Alan arrived on time. She had prepared a meal for them both and afterwards sat in the lounge on separate sofas facing each other. The conversation started amicably enough but Alan’s initial pleasant demeanour changed to acrimony when she refused to say where she would be living – yet Cindy detected there was something about Alan’s anger that was not quite as she had anticipated. It subsided much sooner than she believed it would. In a restrained, measured voice Alan enquired what he should do with any of Cindy’s mail that got delivered.
“I have arranged with the post office to have it redirected to my friend Mary in the village. She will forward it to me. Alan, please do not embarrass yourself by asking her where I live as she will not tell you. I have also printed off from the computer some adhesive labels with Mary’s name and address on them and, if you are agreeable, Mrs Crookes will forward any mail that slips through. Assuming of course you will be keeping her on here. If not, perhaps you could do it? That would be kind.”
Alan agreed. An hour later they had finished their discussion which after the early exchanges had remained totally amiable and constructive, quite different from what she feared. Cindy was quite astounded when, remarkably, it was Alan who rose first from his chair, bade her a pleasant “goodnight” and smartly walked out of the lounge, leaving her wondering what had brought about his unexpected change of attitude.
It did not take Donaldson long to find out where Cindy was moving to. Acting under Alan’s instructions, he had kept a discreet watch on her movements and as, almost daily, Cindy was making the trip to Grimley to oversee the arrival of furniture or tradesmen, the task of ascertaining her future whereabouts was an easy one. Armed with the cottage address, Alan charged Donaldson to trace its ownership as it was clear from his driver’s description that it was unlikely his wife could afford to purchase it outright. Alan was certain that there was a new man in Cindy’s life and perhaps the cottage might disclose who it was, but he was disappointed to learn that it was in fact owned by a private investment company called ‘Lochside Fund Management’. He had tried to make enquiries of that but it was unknown to Companies House; investigations he made through Hannet-Mar’s own banking systems had also produced no result. More in desperation than hope he and Donaldson accessed the internet one afternoon and typed the name into the search engine. There was little, except for a small news item in a past copy of The Financial Times.
Mr Gordon Truscott, the entrepreneur and self-made multi-millionaire from computer software and, later, property investment, has today completed the sale of virtually the entire portfolio of Truscott Enterprise Holdings for a sum reputed to be in excess of £200M to an unknown buyer, but which is believed to be the Kuwait Investment Corporation. Truscott Enterprise Holdings still retain Truscott’s private, offshore, property company Lochside Fund Management and it is unclear what his intentions are with regard to this company.
Alan was disappointed. Out of curiosity he followed the link to articles about Gordon Truscott but they did not interest him overmuch. He switched of his computer and turned to Donaldson. “She’s obviously renting it. There is no way she could have met this Truscott chap, beside which he is clearly way out of Cindy’s league.” He paused then chuckled, “Anyway, he certainly wouldn’t be interested in her. A man with at least £200 mil
lion or more in spare cash could afford a bit better than a thirty-six year-old married woman – no need of that when he could be spending his time on exotic islands surrounded by numerous women half her age!”
“Too bloody right. With that kind of money I know I would,” said Donaldson enviously.
As Alan Crossland was deceiving himself over Gordon Truscott, Fadyar, Nasra, Sharid and Mawdud were sat in Nasra’s flat, several Ordnance Survey maps scattered on the table before them. Fadyar took a slip of paper from her pocket and looked at the reference she had written upon it: NH0701502488.
The British Grid Referencing System is based on the Ordnance Survey Great Britain 1936 (OSGBTM) datum and can be used to accurately pinpoint any location in Great Britain and its outlying islands. To provide a unique map reference, Great Britain is first divided into a series of 500km squares starting at the southwest corner of the country. Each of these 500km squares is allocated a single reference letter; either S, T N, H or O. Each 500km square is then subdivided into 25 squares, 100km by 100km. Every 100km square is allocated a reference letter A to Z, omitting I, starting with A in the north-west corner of the parent 500km square. In this way, each 100km square can be referred to by a unique two letter reference, with the first letter referring to the parent 500km square, and the second letter referring to a particular 100km square within it. After the two unique grid letters, a further two sets of figures of three or more numerals (up to six can be used) are given for the east and then the north directions, further and further refining the small squared area. In this way, even a particular building can be pinpointed on a sufficiently detailed map.
Her fellow conspirators looked at her expectantly. She picked up two sharp pencils and placed one in each hand. Slowly and deliberately, her left hand started to map the east co-ordinate whilst at the same time her right hand followed the north co-ordinate until both pencil points met.
“There it is! There it is! Look, it’s called Mealag Lodge. That is where we will carry out our glorious mission!” she could barely contain her excitement. Her heart pounded, the palms of her hands became suddenly damp with sweat and her brow perspired. The others stared, open-mouthed, looking at her in anguished astonishment. It was Mawdud that spoke first.
“Fadyar, are you sure, really sure? This is in the middle of nowhere, what possible value can it be to attack it?”
“That is where you are wrong, my brothers. This place will be receiving a very important visitor in September. You do not need to know who that is yet, but our mission is to capture him and hold him hostage. Only as an absolute last resort, if our mission is certain of failure, are we to kill him. Whatever, the outcome will be glorious and we will have done our duty and caused our enemies in the West immeasurable harm.”
Sharid still could not believe Fadyar had correctly identified the location.
“Fadyar, my dear sister in arms, I do not want to appear difficult especially as I know I have already angered you but there are no roads to this place. Would it not be wise to recheck the location? Are you certain there has been no mistake because this place is so remote I’m wondering if it has been abandoned long ago?”
“Sharid, you have no need to keep apologising over the girl. Your contribution to us will be vital, but I will do as you ask.”
Fadyar bent over the spread-eagled map, again using the pencils as long, slender pointers.
“There, you see, no mistake. Mealag Lodge it is. I suspected something like this when I realised from the NH part of the map reference that the location would be somewhere in the north of Scotland – that is why next week we are all going on a very busy trip, to learn how we can accomplish our task. It will clearly not be easy, but there has to be a way, there always is. All we have to do is find it.”
31
Alan Crossland returned to his office after a discussion with his solicitor, Avril Hennington. Cindy was apparently seeking a divorce on the grounds of his alleged unreasonable behaviour. This had made Crossland furious.
“I will not agree to that, it’s absolutely outrageous. The unreasonable behaviour is not mine, but hers.”
The solicitor carefully explained to Crossland his options, whilst stressing that he did not have to agree to anything in the proceedings he felt was inaccurate.
“The issues could get complicated, Mr Crossland. We could cross petition, but you have no evidence that your wife has committed adultery so any cross petition would be on similar grounds to hers. You could both mutually say you can no longer live together and so on. The law may insist on a cooling-off period, but as you are both mature people and the marriage is a relatively long one compared to some these days, that may not happen. However, if both parties fail to agree, the proceedings will become expensive and protracted.”
“But she has left home, surely that means something.” Crossland pleaded.
“Certainly that is evidence that you both cannot live together, but the proceedings are so far couched in the briefest of terms. It is open to your wife to change or modify those. She might, for example, retort that she has been forced to leave home because of your unreasonable behaviour. I have known cases where a wife has argued successfully that her husband’s anger made her fear for her future safety. The courts are very sympathetic to women who allege such things and unreasonable behaviour is a vague term that frankly can be applied to almost anything, for example like frequent changing of the television channels or insisting on staying up until the early hours.”
“This is utterly, utterly wrong. I would say it’s bloody barmy. What you are telling me is that having treated me like shit for God knows how long, refusing me anything physical, she can suddenly take herself off, do as she wants, lie if she wants to and she will get away with it.”
“Not quite, but a lot of men feel that the divorce laws are unfairly biased in the woman’s favour and in many respects I agree with that assessment. All that you have just said, and the way you put it, confirms to me that the two of you can no longer harmoniously live together. However, I suggest we return to the main issues. It appears that the marriage is over, do you agree?”
“Yes.”
“Then, bearing in mind the possible expense of contested proceedings, do you want the divorce as quickly as possible?”
“Yes.”
“Is it important to you to be awarded the divorce or not? There is little shame these days in adultery cases, so think carefully. Does it matter if your wife obtains the divorce if we cannot get anything through quickly on grounds of mutual consent?”
“Put that way, I suppose not,” Crossland reluctantly answered.
“Turning to the finances, I have explained before that in my opinion your joint net assets will be divided whoever obtains the divorce on whatever grounds. We can make an offer, of course I will negotiate as best I can, but your wife has employed an experienced solicitor who can be rather feisty and I am sure she will not be advised to agree to anything that is less than reasonable.”
“Yes, yes. I know. This is a load of bollocks you know. I end up paying for her having an early mid-life crisis and going on a good time frolic.”
Avril Hennington ignored the outburst. She had heard far worse many times previously.
“Then we are agreed? I will do my best to minimise costs, the divorce will proceed and we will not contest it. I will try and wrap up the finances as soon as practicable.”
“Agreed.”
“Good.” Leaning across the table the solicitor held out a typed piece of paper. “In that case, here is a list of all the financial information I shall need and a form for your completion. I know it is extensive, but it is needed. Also, please ensure that original supporting documentation, by way of bank statements and so on, as mentioned on the paper, are not destroyed in case they are required.”
Seated in his office chair, Crossland read the paper thoroughly. He was not amused, but he was no longer in the mood to care overmuch. Cindy was ceasing to be part of his life and, in any event, he wa
s now enjoying his friendship with Chloe. He had not told his solicitor of that, deliberately, but Chloe was another reason why Crossland wanted the divorce and financial settlement agreed without further delay.
A little over a week later, Cindy received a letter and enclosure from her solicitor and could hardly believe what she was reading. As a result of a telephone discussion instigated by Avril Hennington and made to Mapley Townsend, the outstanding aspects had been discussed and the enclosed note from Alan’s solicitor confirmed in summary the terms of an outline agreement. Alan would not contest the divorce and subject to satisfactory disclosure, he would make an offer to Cindy of £750,000 plus half the sale proceeds of the London flat provided he could keep Red Gables and the rest of his capital assets. Cindy could retain all her capital assets. Personal pension provision was to be the sole responsibility of each party. Cindy’s own solicitor pointed out that this was an initial offer and that his recommendation was to explore further as negotiation might bring forth improved terms especially in regard to the pension disparity that there would undoubtedly be when they had both retired. However, he carefully pointed out that the proposals did provide a not ungenerous settlement in the circumstances. He also pointed out to Cindy that if the offer was not acceptable, Alan had reserved the right to cross petition and to raise other procedural points, all of which would delay matters and significantly escalate costs.
Cindy didn’t need to think carefully. The offer was a good one and any “further negotiation” – as her solicitor had put it – would almost certainly antagonise Alan, and lead to endless protracted and bitter arguments, with the main beneficiaries being the lawyers. She would accept straightaway, but wondered what had made Alan so conciliatory. For a long time, he had been distraught, angry and upset, though just lately he had not got quite so uptight. Now, apparently, was his sudden acceptance of the divorce and a reasonable settlement, which intrigued her. Maybe Alan had finally accepted the marriage was over, or possibly he had more money than she knew of. Perhaps, even, he had found another woman! Cindy decided not to spend any more time on idle speculation. She didn’t really care what had brought about Alan’s change of attitude, she would have enough money to live quite comfortably for the rest of her life and even if things didn’t work out with Gordon, she had her writing to fall back on. Above all, she was relieved that Alan was apparently not complicating matters. She could now look forward to improving her cottage, and to what she hoped would be a glorious summer with Gordon. The proposed settlement terms also confirmed to her one important thing – Alan had to be unaware of Gordon, as if Alan ever got close to the truth about her relationship she knew he would then get very irate and difficult.
