by Ian Somers
‘There’s also a lot of controversy about one of the tests?’
‘There has been, yes. It would appear that one video, in which Ross destroys a large piece of metal, he is being given electric shocks. This is raising all sorts of questions about the nature of the tests themselves, and what the purpose of them really was.’
‘Very disturbing. And is it believed that he’s still at the hotel?’
‘It is yes, there have been reports, from a local shop and skateboard store, of Ross being around this area yesterday and he was accompanied by security personnel.’
‘I heard there was a strange report, that he was involved in an accident yesterday.’
‘Those are unconfirmed thus far, so I think we shouldn’t really get into that one just now.’
‘Is there anything known about him as yet?’
‘There’s very little information about him at this point, but it is believed he’s Irish. We can’t say much more at the moment.’
‘All right, Katie. We’ll check back in with you on the hour and do get in touch if the mysterious Ross Bentley makes an appearance.’
The live feed dissolved from the screen and the anchorman looked back at the camera and smiled. ‘Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s Ron Bentley. And now the weather with Martin…’ He put his finger to his ear and frowned. ‘Oh, it’s actually Ross Bentley. Sorry, guys. And now the weather with Martin.’
I scowled at the screen. ‘Amateur! Can’t even get my name right. Ross – Ron, they don’t even sound alike!’
I switched through all the news channels and every last one was featuring my story. Which meant the entire world knew my story.
My mobile phone started ringing and rolled my eyes. How was I going to explain this?
‘Hi Dad.’
‘You are dead when you get home! I can’t even leave the house!’
‘Why?’
‘There are five reporters from the newspapers sitting in the front garden. I’m not going out there. I don’t want my mug splattered across the front pages of the evening papers. “Here is the man who spawned the telekinetic.” I’ll never live it down.’
‘Relax, this will all die down in a few days.’
‘I don’t want to be a prisoner in my own home. I landed myself a few days of work for this week!’
‘Dad, I just earned more than you would in thirty years of working. I’ll give you some money to make up for it.’
‘I’ll remind you that you said that when you get back. By the way, when will you be home?’
‘I’m not sure.’ I peeked out the window and the crowd had swelled even more. ‘It could take longer than I thought. I don’t know what’s going to happen.’
All online and telephone conversations involving Golding Scientific staff are recorded and documented by Golding Scientific Security Division under the direction of Derek Shaw. The following discussion took place on the afternoon of 4 July. 10.18am - 10.32am and was remotely monitored by staff member Lisa Taylor.
TRANSCRIPT No. 184, 563 (Operation: White Dragon)
The content of this phone conversation relates to Operation: White Dragon, the ongoing operation being funded by Golding Scientific Security Division concerning employee S26, Marianne Dolloway.
The following is a transcript of a phone conversation between Derek Shaw and Paul Golding. This transcript is marked as top secret and can only be accessed by those with an A-7 security pass.
TRANSCRIPT No. 184,563:
Golding: How could this happen, Shaw? We have security checks for a reason.
Shaw: She slipped through. Nobody expected this to happen.
Golding: This was supposed to be the search for a new employee, not some sort of carnival for the press! After so many years keeping the gifted under wraps, keeping them out of the public eye, and now it’s ruined. The entire world has not only found out about the gifts, but they also know Bentley’s identity, and they know our method of testing.
Shaw: All’s not lost. I have set a team of people to work on alternative test videos.
Golding: Alternative videos?
Shaw: We are amending the test videos, so that the objects don’t move. We’ll release them later today and make an announcement that the whole thing was a hoax, and that Ross Bentley was just a fake who failed every test we gave him.
Golding: Do you think it will work?
Shaw: This story will go away once there’s any doubt in people’s minds. We’ll keep him confined to the hotel for two weeks and the whole thing will blow over.
Golding: And the violence test?
Shaw: We’ll have to delay that for a few weeks; it wouldn’t look good for us if his friend disappeared right now. I have all her details though, once the dust settles, we’ll take care of her.
Golding: We have another problem though.
Shaw: Marianne?
Golding: Yes. She’s certain to have watched these videos of Bentley, and she won’t be fooled by doctored versions of the tapes. Once she gets wind of this she’ll know we have a replacement. She’ll turn up here at the hotel soon after that.
Shaw: I expect she will. I know her well enough by now to predict her actions though. She’ll flex her muscles when she gets here. First, she’ll infiltrate the building then attack me as a show of force. After that, she’ll threaten you, thinking that you’ll give in to her demands. When she’s dealt with us, she’ll go after Bentley.
Golding: Predicting her actions is easy, Shaw. Stopping them is the hard part.
Shaw: I’m already working on that. We should leave Bentley here in the hotel, but double the amount of armed guards on the premises. You and I should move to the Laberinto across town. It’s a smaller building with fewer access points. It’ll be easy for me to set a trap up for her.
Golding: What if she moves against Bentley first?
Shaw: She won’t. Not while there are so many reporters around.
Golding: I wonder if the publicity will resurrect one of our longer standing problems.
Shaw: Marcus Romand?
Golding: Yes.
Shaw: I wouldn’t worry about him. He’s never had the bottle to take us on. He won’t show his face around here, he’s too frightened that we’ll catch him. Marianne is the dangerous one, let’s concentrate on her for the moment.
Golding: I have a bad feeling about all this, Shaw.
The crowds surrounding the hotel grew during the course of the afternoon and I figured there were thousands now filling the street out front. I didn’t need to look out the window anymore because there were over twenty news channels airing non-stop coverage. Shaw had been right about the religious nuts, they were there in abundance. Many had placards. Some read, He has returned! Others weren’t so worshipful; He is the devil’s boy!
There was a new group of people who had started arriving though, the girls. There were hundreds and hundreds of them gathered, looking at the windows for me to appear. This was not such a bad thing in my opinion. Female attention is never a bad thing.
The whole atmosphere changed at 5pm though, Golding’s people had released doctored tapes and they appeared on all the news channels. The coverage became thinner after that and they started to feature regular news again. The crowd outside shrank too, and as night fell there were only a few stragglers and a couple of news vans. It seemed Shaw’s plan had worked and I would still have a chance at a life without fame.
I left the window open as the night went on and occasionally popped my head around the curtain to see if there was any sign of Romand. He was nowhere to be seen though.
At midnight, after I’d climbed into bed to get some sleep, a post-it note hovered past my face and rested on the pillow.
IT IS TOO RISKY FOR US TO TALK THIS EVENING.
I WILL RETURN TOMORROW WHEN THESE PEOPLE HAVE GONE.
It was early morning and I stirred in my bed, I opened one eye then licked my lips. I hadn’t quite woken up yet and wrapped the pillow around my head. I couldn’t drown out t
he sounds though.
‘What’s with all this noise?’ I moaned.
I flung the pillow aside and sat up. There was an almighty racket coming though the open window. It was people chanting, ‘Ross! Ross! Ross!’
‘What the hell is going on now?’
I jumped from the bed and glanced out the window. The crowd was ten times bigger than it had been at any time on the previous day. There were hundreds upon hundreds of news vans and thousands of screaming girls.
‘How did this happen?’
Suddenly the door was kicked in and Shaw stormed into the room. ‘What do you know about Gotcha365?’ he shouted.
‘Crap,’ I sighed. ‘Only that he’s a really good skateboarder … no?’
CHAPTER THIRTEEN -
A Skeleton in the Closet
‘We’ll never live this down now!’ Shaw hissed. He walked through the room to the window and inspected the sea of faces below. ‘How am I meant to sort this out? Every news channel in the world is giving this round-the-clock coverage. You’re the most famous person on the planet now.’
‘Why are you so bothered, Shaw? I can walk out of here in a couple of days and it’s no longer got anything to do with you.’
‘We had hoped you’d come and work for us, remember?’
‘Why would this stop me from working with you?’
Shaw came close to me and lowered his voice. ‘Because we deal with very sensitive matters, Bentley, and we can’t have you dealing with them if there’s a hundred reporters following you around.’
‘Sensitive matters?’
‘I’ll explain it for you some other time. Now, gather your things, we’re moving you to the penthouse. It’s not for your added comfort. It’s for security reasons only.’
‘Guys,’ Shaw turned to the broken doorway where a team of security men were waiting. Victor was among them and sporting a white bandage on his head. ‘Escort him to the penthouse suite. I want all elevators shut down and the stairwells manned. Nobody moves between floors of this hotel unless I’ve given them personal clearance. Is that understood?’
‘Do I get an iron mask?’ I asked.
‘You’ve got a real smart mouth and you’re ungrateful, you know that? I had such high hopes for you, but you seem intent on ruining those hopes.’
‘Sorry to disappoint you.’
‘I’ve got a meeting to attend. I’ll speak to you later, and don’t go doing anything foolish.’
I was in no doubt about Shaw now. He was a villain and it was starting to show. I guessed there were more than ten burly security guys, led by the small, muscular woman with the lemon sucking face, and they surrounded me on all sides as we made our way to the top floor of the hotel. I was shown inside a magnificent penthouse suite, which I figured was bigger than my house, and was left alone. They bolted the door from the outside, which made me extremely uncomfortable.
I really was a prisoner now. Romand had been right about it all. Why hadn’t I listened to him? Entering the competition was one big disaster. I traded being under Reynold’s thumb to being under Shaw’s. There had to be a way of escaping though.
I switched on the TV and turned to a news channel. I was shocked by what was on the screen: it wasn’t just the street outside that was packed; every street for two blocks was crammed with people. The heavy whirr of a helicopter thumped past the window and I shot to my feet.
There were three helicopters circling the building, sirens wailed from below, police officers with hi-vis coats lined the streets and the people just kept coming. What had I gotten myself into?
I went back to the TV and they were showing my old skate-boarding and free running videos. There was an interview with one of the world’s top ranking skateboarders, and he was full of praise for me.
‘Personally I think he’s the best thing since sliced bread. I’m currently number one in the rankings but I’d love to meet Ross Bentley so he can teach me some new moves!’
‘Do you think your number one status maybe under threat from him?’
‘Hey, if he ever decides to join the circuit we’re all going to be in serious trouble. I don’t think he will though. I just want to wish him the best and hopefully shake his hand.’
After the interview, pictures from Maybrook Avenue appeared on the screen. There were reporters all over the place and gangs of young girls with home-made ‘Ross Bentley’ posters. There were a lot of people in my front garden and the morning’s highlight was when Dad stuck his head out of an upstairs window and shouted down, ‘Get off my lawn! I don’t want to talk to you people!’
This was followed by, what the news channel classed as a shocking revelation: It was Reynolds standing outside his supermarket.
‘I believe he’s unstable. He has serious psychological problems, possibly as a result of his freakish powers. I would go so far as to say he’s dangerous. My advice for the London metropolitan police would be to lock him up and throw away the key.’
I sat on the bed and the most dangerous feeling imaginable took me: boredom! It just came on me out of nowhere. I scanned the room but there was nothing to occupy me. Suddenly I couldn’t draw my gaze from the window the balcony beyond it…
All official meetings involving Golding Scientific staff are recorded and documented by Golding Scientific Security Division under the direction of Derek Shaw. The following meeting took place on the afternoon of 5 July. 1.02pm - 1.41pm and was monitored by staff member Julia Smith.
TRANSCRIPT No. 183, 237
The content of this meeting relates to the ongoing investigation into Ross Bentley and Operation: White Dragon.
In attendance:
Paul Golding, owner of Golding Scientific (All divisions).
Derek Shaw, director of Golding Scientific Security Division.
Helen Greene, director of Golding Scientific Communications Division.
TRANSCRIPT No. 183,201:
Golding: We are being put under immense pressure to make a public statement regarding Bentley and the contest. We’ll probably have to make an announcement of some description within the next twenty-four hours.
Shaw: Bad idea. We should remain silent, it’s the best course of action. As long as we keep him hidden and quiet, they’ll lose interest. The media are fickle, they’ll move onto something else soon enough.
Greene: Are you nuts? Honey, this isn’t some scandal about a B-list celebrity who slept with the nanny! This is big news! Ross Bentley is the first person to have superpowers, the press will hound us relentlessly until they get an interview with him. There has never, ever been a story like this before. It won’t go away even if we stick our heads in the sand.
Golding: But it doesn’t serve our interests to make it public, Helen. We wanted him to work for us, the more exposure he gets the less use he is to us.
Greene: It’s already public. His face has been seen all over the world, Paul.
Golding: Is there any way to salvage the situation?
Greene: Salvage it? You should be taking advantage of it. Announce it now, make it public and cash in. Sign him up to deals and control his image rights, you could make billions from this.
Golding: Perhaps this will not be a total loss. We could actually make a lot of money out of him.
Greene: More than a lot. We should do it as soon as possible though, strike while the iron is hot. And before anyone else gets to him.
Shaw: We have a few separate matters to deal with before we can do all this.
Greene: What? What could be more important than this?
Shaw: It’s none of your business, Helen. Let’s just slow everything down for a while. I’d like a couple of days without any new revelations, so we can draw up a definite strategy to … What? I got something on my face?
Golding and Greene were looking over Shaw’s shoulder at a small muted TV that was mounted on the wall behind him.
Shaw: I’m gonna kill him.
The news channel was broadcasting live pictures from the Golding Plaza hotel. Ro
ss Bentley was standing on the penthouse balcony waving to the crowds of people on the streets below. The crowd chanted his name.
Shaw: That little muppet. We were better off with Marianne. She’s dangerous, but at least she has a brain.
Incoming call (Derek Shaw’s mobile).
Inaudible conversation lasting 32 seconds.
Shaw: That package has just arrived at the airport, Mr Golding.
Golding: We should get moving then. Immediately. Helen, a very pressing matter has just come up and I’m not going to be around for a day or two. I would like you to deal with Bentley for the moment.
Greene: Leave it with me, Paul. I’ll have Bentley sign all of his rights and even his soul over to you by the end of the day.
Golding: Just sort this mess out. I can’t deal with Bentley anymore, he’s become a disaster zone.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN -
Marianne Dolloway
All official meetings involving Golding Scientific staff are recorded and documented by Golding Scientific Security Division under the direction of Derek Shaw. The following meeting took place on the afternoon of 5 July. 3.07pm - 3.29pm and was monitored by staff member, James Brent.
TRANSCRIPT No. 183, 252
The content of this meeting relates to the ongoing investigation into Ross Bentley and Operation: White Dragon.
In attendance:
Paul Golding, owner of Golding Scientific (All divisions).
Derek Shaw, director of Golding Scientific Security Division.
Thomas Cameron, Security Chief of the Laberinto, London.
TRANSCRIPT No. 183,252:
Cameron: I have put in place all the measures you requested, Mr Shaw. The building is totally secure.
Shaw: Good. Just make sure your men are ready, they’ll need to be on their toes when this kicks off.
