The Palindrome Cult: A gripping, page-turning, crime suspense thriller, its fast pace takes you from London to New York, via Dubai and the Virgin Islands. (Hedge & Cole Book 1)

by Kevin Bradley

  Hedge checked his watch. It was almost six o’clock in the evening Dubai time. He splashed some water on his face to freshen up. Then he pushed his bag under the bed - to reduce the likelihood of anyone snooping inside and finding the gun, and finally he headed down to the lobby.

  The three of them took a table in the hotel restaurant and ordered some food. Hedge was hungry and decided on a house steak with all the trimmings. He also requested a pot of English tea.

  Cole talked them through their objectives now that they had arrived in Dubai. He explained that they needed to try to track down the woman they knew as Anna. MI5 had advised him that they believed she had left the UK and was now somewhere in the Emirates. The Prime Minister had told them to trace any cash that had been transferred to bank accounts in Dubai and attempt to recover it. Most importantly though, they needed to keep a low profile as they didn’t want the gang to know they were on to them. Cole explained that this was highly embarrassing for the British government and they needed to act quickly. It all sounded quite logical to Hedge.

  ‘Just remember that twenty four hours ago I was a civilian doing normal everyday things. I am not used to this kind of stuff,’ Hedge said. He looked at Cole hoping he was at least a little sympathetic.

  ‘Yes, I know,’ Cole said. ‘But you can still be useful to us. We just need to ensure that you don’t get yourself hurt in the meantime.’

  Fuller laughed. ‘And we want to go back home with all our testicles intact. That means six of them between us’. He looked across the table expectantly at Cole.

  Cole said ‘Six? Well that’s my three and the rest from you guys. So which of you only has one ball?’ He laughed out loud. Fuller joined in with the laughter. It was clearly an old joke between the two of them.

  Hedge winced to himself at the reference to his near miss yesterday. He wondered how on earth he had managed to get himself mixed up with these two guys. He nervously moved his teacup to the left side of the table, and then placed the sugar bowl close to the cup. The teaspoon was annoying him as it was upside down. He turned it the right way up and faced it towards the sugar bowl. ‘Tidy’, he thought to himself, ‘much better’.

  They ate their food while Cole continued to tell them about the plan. He said he was familiar with the main bank which the group had been using to deposit their money. The idea was to watch it for a few days and see if they could spot any members of the gang.

  They all headed back upstairs after the meal and went to their separate bedrooms. It was agreed to meet for breakfast the following morning at seven o’clock.

  Straight after the morning meal they headed off to find the bank. It was the main Dubai branch of the United Emirates Bank and was located just a short drive from the city centre. Cole was driving and he parked in a small side street about a hundred yards down from their target. It was a high building, large and imposing. The stonework at the front looked like some kind of white marble, and it shone brightly as it reflected the morning sun. There were several rows of steps leading up to the front entrance to the bank. The main door was huge and was made of what appeared to be solid mahogany, stained dark brown.

  It was around nine in the morning and the area was quiet. Cole remained in the car while Fuller and Hedge took a stroll along the street. They were looking to see if there were any other entrances to the building. If there were none, then they could focus on watching this one front entrance. They had drawn straws in the car to see which of them should take a look inside the building, and Hedge had lost. He suspected that the other two had cheated somehow, but he couldn’t prove it. So he let Fuller walk on, while he headed for the front steps and the big wooden door.

  Once inside, he had a quick scan around. It was very opulent, with large tapestries hanging from the walls and huge, glass chandeliers swinging down from the high ceiling.

  Hedge didn’t want to attract any undue attention, and so he wandered over to a row of high tables where other customers were filling out forms. He picked up a deposit slip and a pen and pretended to write on the paper. He paused occasionally and took the opportunity to casually look around the bank. There were definitely no other entrances or exits visible on this floor. As he stole one final look around, he noticed a small sign on the far side of the room which read ‘Private Customers – Entrance.’ He wanted to report back to Cole and Fuller that he had thoroughly checked for all possible means of entry, so he decided to go and have a closer look at the sign. He picked up his deposit form and ambled slowly over to the other side of the room.

  As he got closer to the sign he realised it was pointing to a bank of elevators. There was a table immediately underneath the sign and he headed over to this and laid his deposit slip down. He didn’t need it any more. There was a small pile of folders on the table, along with a gold coloured Parker pen next to them. These items were of no interest to him, but the discarded security badge that lay next to them was. He picked it up quickly and stuffed it in his pocket.

  ‘Just in case,’ he said to himself.

  He approached the elevator door nearest the sign and waited, quickly trying to think what he should do next. The sign seemed to suggest that there was another customer entrance to the building. He needed to check it out. The red panel above the elevator was lit with the number five. As he watched, the number changed to four, then three, then two. Finally, the number one appeared and the elevator door opened.

  He waited while a small man in a dark grey suit strode out into the main lobby of the bank. Hedge walked into the elevator, hoping he wouldn’t be joined by anyone. He wasn’t. He was sure no one had seen him go into the elevator. He looked at the panel next to the door. The floors were labelled from one to forty two, but there was no indication that any of them had any kind of building entrance. He glanced at the panel again and this time he noticed that the label for floor twenty eight had a dark line around it. Underneath this was written in small letters ‘Private Customers – Entrance.’ Did that mean that this was the way in and out for private customers, or did it mean that this was just an entrance and the exit was by another route?

  Hedge wasn’t sure, but he thought he would investigate anyway. He felt a little nervous, but if he got caught by any bank staff he would just say he was looking for the customer toilets. He selected the button next to the number twenty eight and the door closed.

  The elevator travelled silently and quickly, or so it felt, and after about three or four seconds it came to a stop. Hedge waited for the usual ‘ping’ as it stopped, but there was no sound. Instead the doors just opened quietly and he stepped out into a small hallway. There was only one door leading from this hall and it was directly in front of him. The door had no handle, but he spotted a small silver pad to the right of it. He pulled the security card from his pocket and swiped it close to the pad. To his surprise, the door opened with a gentle hum and he stepped inside. He wasn’t really sure what he was looking for but he flicked the light switch down and peered around to see what was in the room.

  The first thing he noticed was that down both sides were rows of what looked like safety deposit boxes. He assumed this was what they were as they all had individual locks on the front. In fact each drawer had two locks. He guessed one was kept by the owner of the deposit box and the other would be kept by one of the banks security staff.

  The room was hot and humid so he decided to have a quick look around and then get back out.

  He walked further into the room, and as he did so the door he had just come through closed with a smooth, gentle hum. He turned to look at the door and quickly realised that there was no handle this side either. This time though there was also no swipe pad on the wall. He walked slowly back towards the sealed opening he had just come through, trying to work out how he was supposed to get back out. He felt around the outside of the door frame to see if there were any hidden switches, but he found nothing. Next he tried to push against the door, but it was solid and unmoving. It appeared that he was not getting out that
way. He looked further into the room but could see no other doors. Perhaps there was one off to the side somewhere.

  The room was about sixty feet long and twenty feet wide. He started to walk down the middle, between the rows of deposit boxes. It was soon clear to him that there were no other entrances or exits feeding into the room. Apart from the door he had come in, there was no other obvious way out.

  He appeared to be trapped.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  He could sense himself beginning to panic. Coming up in the lift had clearly been a big mistake. There were no other entrances up here, and he realised that this was simply a secure area for private customers to review their safety deposit boxes. He needed to get out as quickly as possible and report back to Cole and Fuller.

  But how was he going to escape?

  He went back to the door he first came in through, and tried once more to work out if there was any possible way for it to be opened. He waved the stolen security card around the edges of the door, but nothing happened. He tried pushing against it again, and finally he banged on the door with his hands, but it didn’t budge.

  It appeared that there was no way it was going to open.

  What he didn’t realise at the time was that the door worked on a simple timer. Customers who came into the room to review their deposit boxes would enter with their security card and then would have exactly thirty minutes before the door opened again to let them out. He had only been in the room around five minutes and so the door was locked shut.

  He walked back down the centre of the room, once more checking either side for any other ways in or out. He saw none, until directly in front of him, at exactly the opposite side of room from the main door, he saw a small metal panel set high into the wall. He carried on walking towards it, hoping it might offer him some means of escape.

  Hedge stopped in front of the panel. It was about two feet by two feet square. It was cut into the wall at around the height of his shoulders and opened with a catch at the top. He pulled the catch and the upper part of the panel opened downwards about ten inches. It was hinged at the bottom and so the top swung back towards him.

  He stood back and took one more look around the room, and then approached the metal panel once more. He thought that if he pulled himself up by placing his hands on top of a nearby stack of deposit boxes, then he could drop himself feet first through the top of the panel. He tried three times unsuccessfully to do this, but on his fourth attempt he managed to swing his legs up and over the top of the panel. He dropped slowly through the opening, turning his body as he did, so that he was facing back towards the inside of the room as he lowered himself down. He held onto the panel with both hands as he tried to find somewhere to place his feet. He couldn’t feel the floor, but he assumed he must be quite close to it.

  His hands holding the panel had started to hurt as the edge of the metal began to dig into his skin. He needed to let go. Although he managed to turn his head to one side, he couldn’t see anything clearly. His fingers were starting to become numb, so he decided to let go.

  He dropped about six inches and he seemed to have landed on a hard surface.

  He looked down.

  To his horror, he realised that the surface his feet were resting on was not a floor, but a ledge. The ledge was only around twelve inches wide.

  He gasped a quick breath and pushed himself back towards the wall. He searched desperately for something for his hands to hold on to, but there was nothing. He rested them against the face of the wall and tried not to lean back. The surface was grainy and his hands rasped against it. It felt to him like he was touching some kind of brickwork.

  He looked carefully over his shoulders to try and take in his situation. Behind him was a gap of around a hundred feet or so, before the other side of the building loomed into his view. He appeared to be in a courtyard area with four internal brick walls all around him. The actual courtyard surface was far below, about twenty eight floors beneath him in fact. Hedge estimated that number of floors would be around two hundred and eighty feet, allowing ten feet per floor. It was a long way down, and he tried not to look. He managed to twist his head both ways so that he could make out all four walls of the courtyard.

  Hedge started to feel the panic rising up within him. He hated heights and had a morbid fear of them ever since he was a child. He closed his eyes for a few seconds and tried to calm his breathing. He was acutely aware that there was very little for his feet to stand on and even less for his hands to hold on to. He needed to get off this ledge quickly. He felt a little unsteady and was not sure he could trust himself to move very far. The easiest way off the ledge would be back through the metal plate above him, but as he looked up he realised there was no way he could reach up to it. He certainly wasn’t going to jump. He looked left and right again to see if there were any other obvious escape routes. There were windows along the wall he was leaning against and these seemed to be about every fifteen feet. He looked to his left but noticed that all the windows in this direction were closed.

  He turned his head slowly right and looked along the wall. Again all windows were closed, except one. It looked like it was open wide enough for him to climb into. But there were two problems with that. Firstly it was the third window along from him, so it was around forty five feet away. Secondly, between him and that window was a concrete pillar running down the wall. The pillar was around two feet wide and at least twelve inches deep. It protruded out as far as the ledge that he was standing on. So if he wanted to get past it, he would have to do so without standing on the ledge. All this had to be accomplished at nearly three hundred feet above the ground. He couldn’t do it.

  He felt himself starting to faint.

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  Hedge shook himself back to reality. He couldn’t afford to let himself pass out, as that would result in a three hundred foot plunge to the courtyard below.

  He looked up again at the position of the metal plate. It was definitely impossible to reach, so he had to think of another plan. He glanced once more to his right and wondered if he could walk forty five feet along the ledge. Even without the pillar it would have been difficult. He wasn’t sure he could move at all in fact. He was terrified and kept telling himself not to look down. He moved his feet slowly just to make sure they were securely on the ledge. He wished there was something for his hands to hold on to, but there wasn’t. He closed his eyes for a full minute and tried to regulate his breathing. He needed to think clearly. What did he have to do?

  He decided to see if anyone could hear him. ‘Help, help,’ he shouted.

  He repeated this several times, but the proximity of the wall to his face muffled his voice and reduced the effective volume.

  No one answered. He didn’t think they would. He would be too high up for anyone to hear.

  He realised he had no choice. His only option was to try and get to the open window. That seemed like an impossible task though. Just the thought of moving either of his feet even a few inches absolutely horrified him. He had nothing to hold on to. He just wanted to close his eyes and stay where he was. Perhaps someone would see him and come to his rescue. More likely though, was that he would eventually tire, or pass out, and then fall off the building.

  He had to somehow drum up the courage to move along the ledge. He knew it, but even so his feet didn’t seem to want to respond.

  As he stood there, forcing himself as close to the wall as he could, he thought he heard a familiar noise like that of an electric door opening. The noise seemed to come from the other side of the metal plate above him. Was it the door to the deposit box room opening? He wasn’t sure. He estimated that it was about half an hour ago that he had come up in the elevator. Had someone else come into the room? He tried to call out to anyone who might hear him, but he quickly gave up as the movement of his chest caused him to be pushed away from the wall.

  He tried to relax himself as much as he could. A few deep breaths seemed to help a littl
e, as he once more looked to his right and prepared himself for movement.

  He edged his right foot about six inches and then followed gradually with his left. It wasn’t too bad. ‘Just don’t look down.’

  He carried on moving his feet a few inches at a time. He had his eyes closed mostly, but opened them periodically to see how far away the pillar was. He could feel his heart beating in his chest, and his breath was slow and heavy. He continued to move slowly along the ledge.

  He passed the first window, but it was firmly shut and completely dark inside. He tried banging on the glass, but he heard and saw nothing from within, so he carried on inching his way along the ledge.

  He was now only a few feet away from the pillar that ran down the building. It wasn’t quite as wide as he had first thought, but to get around it still looked like an impossible task. At last, he stopped next to the pillar. He reached out with his right hand to the other side and found he could feel around it. The surface was quite rough, like it had been rendered but left unpainted. He stopped and took a few breaths. This was the tricky part.

  Reaching around the pillar, he placed his hand on its far side. He tried to hook his right leg over it, but he could only move it so far before he felt unsteady and had to bring his foot back. He had to get his leg around the pillar somehow. He felt along the pillar with his right hand and found near the front of it, about at the height of his stomach, there was a rim that protruded enough for him to get a grip with his fingers. He checked with his left hand and found that the rim also occurred on his side of the pillar. He grabbed hold of the rim either side of the pillar with his hands, and with a sudden, bold movement he flicked his right leg across the void and onto the ledge on the other side.

  He was now straddling the pillar in a very dangerous position. His feet were on the ledge either side of it, and he was holding on to the rims he had discovered with both hands, as tight as he could.