by S G Read
He joined her on the blanket and picked up the field glasses to see what the view was like. He adjusted them so that he could see the front of the house. Anyone visiting had to walk down the front path to go to either door and that was why they were where they were.
They settled down to watch the house and made a note of anyone who came to call. Most of them were old and female. Some stayed for a few minutes and some for an hour or two but none were young and pretty and none of the men looked like the Lautrec triplets, disguised or not.
‘Partridge has called in Winfield. Fairchild went down the same alley and lost him but Chambers was already at the other side waiting and he is adamant that Fairchild did not come out the other end!’ Spearforth advised his boss.
‘Then he has a house in there that I do not know about! Tell them to find it but do nothing until I have looked at it.’ Winfield ordered. ‘He was still racing to the loo but just had the time to speak to Spearforth.
‘Yes Mr. Winfield.’ Spearforth replied.
The two men searched every fence for a way in and found nothing but while they were doing it Spearforth was researching the housing estate to see who lived where. He moved his search house by house but only the houses which backed onto the twitton. He found they were all inhabited by families or old ladies, which was a dead end and reported to Winfield.
‘What are their names, these old ladies?’ Winfield asked as he was kneeling by the toilet.
‘Miss Simpson, Mrs. Callow, Mrs. Patel and Miss Bouyate.’ Spearforth answered.
‘Do you do crosswords Spearforth?’
‘I do Mr. Winfield.’
‘Well make them anagrams and find a rude message for me or such the like and that will be the house.’ Winfield ordered. ‘He knows I don’t do crosswords.
John and Lorna took turns to watch the house and when Lorna was not watching she made tea for John and herself. When he needed to drink the tea Lorna took over the watch and the same happened when Lorna needed to drink her tea. When one was not watching the other one was watching, it meant there was no time when the house was not watched.
‘I have only made one into two words Mr. Winfield.’ Spearforth admitted later in the day.
‘And they are?’ Winfield asked.
‘Beat you, Mr. Winfield!’
‘That is the house, tell them I am on the way.’
It was getting dark when Winfield arrived at the house. His two operatives were waiting by the front door in plain view.
‘Are you trying to advertise our interest in the house?’ He asked, frustrated at their lack of vision.
‘There is no one in Sir.’ Partridge answered in their defense.
‘The neighbours might tell him you were here and then our advantage has gone. Go through the house with a fine toothed comb and make sure you leave no trace.’ Winfield ordered.
‘Do we have a search warrant?’ Chambers asked.
‘No we do not, that is why we are not going to leave any sign that we were here.’ Winfield answered. ‘And use the bugs that are harder to detect.’
‘Yes sir.’ Partridge replied looking at Chambers, daring him to speak again.
When darkness fell where John and Lorna were on watch the glasses changed to night vision glasses. The watch went on through the night and through the day relentlessly. They did not lose sight of the house for a minute. On the morning of the third day Lorna drove back to the hotel for a shower but she did not stay longer than necessary and drove back after buying more supplies.
John left her watching while he drove back for a shower. He too did not spend any more time than necessary but drove back as soon as he felt clean. It was a long time since he had done a stake out like this. He parked the car and walked in to where Lorna was watching and saw her wave at him.
He was by her side in seconds, looking through his own field glasses. A man was walking into the house. He was the right size and weight of one of the twins but sported a different disguise.
‘He is worth following.’ John declared. ‘I will plant a bug on his car.’
‘Just you be careful.’ Lorna ordered.
John slipped out of the barn and dropped into a drainage ditch. The irony made him smile, he had just had a shower and now he was going to crawl along a drainage ditch. He kept low and made his way along the ditch until he could reach the car unseen by anyone in the house, then he slipped on to the hard ground far enough to attach a bug underneath the car. When he was satisfied the bug would stay in place he dropped back into the ditch and made his way back to the barn.
Lorna took a second to look at him when he came in and laughed softly before returning to her vigil. John used the spare water to clean himself as much as possible while Lorna kept watch but he was soon beside her to watch when she whistled. They watched the man come back out and drive away, coming toward them. John walked out to the car but a sixth sense, one that had served him well in the pas,t jangled when he went to get into the car. Instead he dropped onto his knees and slowly looked round the underneath of the car, just in case.
On the side farthest from the barn he saw what he did not want to see, a bomb. He looked round the second car and found another bomb.
‘They are good!’ He exclaimed and walked back inside the barn.
‘Are you giving them a head start?’ Lorna asked when he re-entered the barn.
‘If I tried to follow in either car I am sure my head would have overtaken them!’ John answered.
‘They are quite good aren’t they?’
‘Quite good?’ John queried.
‘You’re still alive aren’t you?’ Lorna threw back.
‘Oh yes, I suppose that does make me better than them this time. Come on old girl we have an explosion to arrange.’
‘Not my car though.’ Lorna pleaded.
‘No my old heap is expendable, collect up our accessories and stick them in your car. Well best collect it up and wait until I have defused the bomb on your car.’
He walked back out and dropped onto the ground, first choosing to study the bomb very carefully before he actually did anything. By the time he was ready to begin Lorna was standing next to the car, ready to load it.
‘Very trusting old girl.’
‘You know bombs inside out John. The day you can’t defuse a bomb is the day we both die!’ Lorna exclaimed.
‘Need a piece of paper old girl.’
Lorna tore of a piece of paper from the note book and passed it to him.
‘Needs to be a bit stiffer.’ He said apologetically when the paper would not slide in where he wanted it to.
Lorna tore of the corner of the notepad cover and passed it to him. She waited patiently next to the car, not only in trust but it was her way of giving him more confidence, just in case he needed it.
‘There you are, all done and dusted.’ He declared and laid the bomb on the floor next to the car. ‘Best wait until I have done the rounds old girl, just in case that was the easy to find bomb which is supposed to lull me into a false sense of security.’
He started to go through the car methodically to make sure there were no other bombs while Lorna waited patiently, she knew that to hurry this, was potentially suicide. John worked his way under the car looking and feeling where he could not look until a partial knee print by the car caught his interest. He looked where the knee print was and saw another bomb neatly tucked next to the petrol tank.
‘First they want to blow us up and then barbeque us.’ He muttered and disarmed the second bomb, laying that beside the car. ‘I just need to pop the bonnet and the boot, just in case.’ He added as he climbed to his feet.
Lorna gave him the keys and he opened the door carefully, looking for a triggering device.
‘Hells bells, how did they do all this while we were in there?’ He cried when he saw a fine wire.
It took him a little while to defuse that bomb and then he checked the boot the same way. As a final check he looked down the length of the exhaust pipe to make
sure there was no bomb there, designed to go off when it was hot enough. Finally he stood up.
‘All clear old girl.’ He declared, acknowledging her wait without complaint.
Lorna opened the back door and threw the things she was holding on to the back seat. While she did that and reversed the car to safety, John was looking for something to set off the bombs on the other car. He found a tall pole which took both of them to stand up ready to drop onto the old Citroen. When they had it in the right place, John having paced the length of the pole and then paced away from the car to make sure it would hit the car, they let it fall, steering it towards the car as they did so. They ran behind the barn and kept running.
The explosion was huge and they both threw themselves onto the ground when they heard it. The car lifted into the air and the side of the barn disintegrated with the strength of the blast. A second and third explosion followed almost immediately as the other two bombs went off. The petrol tank burst asunder and there was a fireball which engulfed the side of the barn.
‘Time to go I think.’ Lorna suggested as the flame leapt higher. ‘It was a good job no one was in there!’
They ran to the car and drove away, sticking to the side road they were parked on so that no one in or near the house saw them. As Lorna drove John turned on the tracking device. A rhythmic beat echoed round the car and he muted it to just a flashing light.
‘Need a left turn fairly soon old girl.’ John said earnestly.
‘If you old girl me one more time you will be walking.’ Lorna answered and took the next left turn.
‘Sorry Lorna, I was a bit engrossed.’
‘You were so I let it go but now you are not engrossed enough for me to let it go!’ Lorna exclaimed.
‘I smell a rat Lorna, take this right turn.’
‘Aren’t we going away from the car?’ Lorna asked.
‘Probably not, there is nothing but open land ahead and I suspect a lamppost of some kind. I think my bug is attached to the lamppost and one of those lovely triplets is watching with a sniper’s rifle, waiting for us to drive up to it, should we escape the bombs.’
‘Tricky little buggers aren’t they!’
‘No wonder they have been getting away with it. They are that good that I am beginning to wonder how long they have been doing this sort of thing!’ John replied.
‘Do we try to spot him?’
‘Not much chance of that but there is a long shot I want to try, drive back to the hotel.’ John answered.
Lorna drove back to the hotel and parked the car where they could see it from their hotel room in case they had been followed back to the hotel.
‘So what is this long shot?’ She asked as they walked into John’s room.
‘I brought Ralf with me.’
‘What the computer?’
‘Yes Lorna, not a male companion.’
‘Oh very droll. So what is the plan?’
‘I am going to look at the area round their mother’s house but using a live map. I know they aren’t up to date but I might just see the car parked somewhere.’
‘Well you did say it was a long shot.’ Lorna retorted and took up a position to be able watch the car.
John set up his computer and used an adaptor to plug it in then connected to the web. Using a mapping site which showed an actual picture of the area, trees, cars and all. He searched, starting from the mother’s house and moved back the way the visitor had come from to visit the house. He only had the car to look for but he knew what it looked like and with his memory he remembered it just as it was. He knew the map was not from today and it was probably a few days old but unless they had just bought the car it might have been parked outside the house then. They might also have a garage or be parked in an underground car park but it was all he had to try.
The search went on through the night with john finding a house to look at and zooming in on it. Then he zoomed back out when he did not see the car parked outside. Each time he moved on and then zoomed in on another house, looking for the car. Not find it and zoom out again, then move on.
He found a little drive leading into some trees and followed it to where there was a house partly hidden by the trees. He zoomed in and saw a car which was a possible match. Not able to rule it out he zoomed in further and started to gain interest. He zoomed down as far as he could go and matched parts of the car to his memory of the car. He could not see the number but he was sure it was the car.
‘Oh ye of little faith.’ He exclaimed but Lorna was asleep where she lay watching their car.
John covered her with a blanket and settled down on the bed for a sleep. He would have to check the car in the morning to see if any more bombs had been planted on it.
Lorna woke to find the blanket over her and saw John asleep on the bed. She struggled to her feet and stretched before filling the kettle and making some tea. She woke John when she made the second pot of tea and they sat up on the bed drinking it.
‘Any luck?’ She asked, not expecting a positive answer.
‘Of course. I know where the car was parked when the map was last updated.’ John answered with a smug grin.
‘Never!’
‘Oh yes. It is not the first time I have used this method since they brought in these street views. It has worked more than it has failed. People are staid in their ways. They park their car and walk indoors, get up, go out and drive off again. So the car is there for some time every day in daylight hours.’
‘I am suitably impressed and I will remember that one.’ Lorna replied. ‘If we can find out what car Clementine has I could design a search to find it, if it is parked in the open.’
‘If she is still alive! I will find out today, one way or the other.’
‘How? You are not going out there? I refuse to let you, I am too old to break in a new boss!’ Lorna spluttered.
‘I will have my get out of jail free card with me.’ John placated.
‘Which is?’
John picked up one of the bombs.
‘After I have worked on these little babies and attached the piece of cardboard to my finger they will have to be a little careful.’
‘What if they shoot your finger off?’
‘Then I will throw the one in my other hand and I will have one round my neck so that it will go off if they shoot me anywhere but in the head. Then the one in my left hand will go off when I am no longer pushing the button in.’ John answered. ‘If they shoot me they die as well!’
‘And I am left looking for a new boss!’ Lorna complained.
‘There is always Winfield.’ John joked.
‘I think I would rather shoot him and go to prison!’ Lorna declared.
John went down and ate a Belgian breakfast before preparing his new apparel, a bomb waistcoat. He walked round the car as though he thought it had some sort of defect, then dropped to his knees to look underneath. He did this until he was sure no one had attached any more bombs, then he checked the oil to look under the bonnet. When he drove away Lorna went down to eat some breakfast.
John drove to the little drive and stopped at the top of it for a few seconds, plucked up the courage and drove down to where he had seen the car parked. It was nowhere to be seen but he still stopped in front of the house and armed with his get out of jail free cards in his hands and his new bomb waistcoat on, he walked up to the front door. He used the bomb in his left hand to knock the door.
‘Any of the Lautrec triplets at home?’ He called loudly.
One of the triplets, armed with a pistol opened the door and pointed the pistol at him.
‘The answer is yes.’ Pierre Lautrec answered.
‘I am glad of that, I brought back your bombs.’ John answered.
‘Thank you. You can leave them by the door.’ Pierre answered.
‘No; I don’t think so!’ John answered. ‘I need answers.’
‘And do you think you will get them?’ Charles Lautrec asked from behind him.
‘Well yes
actually or we will all be dead very soon.’ John answered, holding up the bomb in his left hand.
‘And I suppose the other one is round your neck.’ Pierre asked.
‘It is.’ John answered.
‘You should have let me shoot him as he drove up!’ Charles said accusingly.
‘You are right Charles. I was interested in what he expected to achieve by coming here and how he found us!’ Pierre answered.
‘Which is what I hoped for.’ John replied. ‘Now can we go in and talk like normal people?’
‘Hard to do as none of those present is one of them!’ Charles exclaimed. ‘Come, we have an impasse so it calls for a wine.’
‘A good wine I hope?’ John replied.
‘We can afford good wine Mr. Fairchild.’ Pierre answered and put the pistol he carried into its holster. ‘If we can’t kill you we will wine and dine you.’
‘You don’t mind if I keep my little trinkets with me?’ John asked.
‘Of course but we would like them not to go off.’ Charles answered.
‘All three of us would like that but I still need information.’
‘About Clementine?’ Charles asked, he was obviously the leader of the two.
‘Who else?’ John answered.
‘We gave her our word that we would not tell anyone about our deal.’ Charles explained.
‘Then I might as well relax my grip.’ John declared. ‘My hand is getting tired.’
‘You seem to have us over a barrel. We took over from Clementine when she wanted out. She told us there was no leaving her job while Alexander Winfield was her boss. We would have killed him before now but he does pay well and the work keeps coming.’
‘I think it is me who will end up killing him!’ John exclaimed. ‘If I get out of here alive.’
Pierre laughed.
‘At least you have your English sense of humour.’ He declared.
‘I am hoping I am in with friends rather than enemies. I like Clementine and if I thought you had killed her, I would have had you killed without coming to see you. Clementine would never tell you all the protocols, even if you tortured her.’ John replied.
