Terror Illusion

by James R Conway

When Jonathan came back down to the Great Hall, it was already dark outside and the Great Hall was beautifully lit. Once again, a bright log fire was burning in the huge fireplace. Karen was sitting in one of the enormous armchairs near the fire, a glass of white wine in her hand. Jonathan sat down opposite her.

  “Did you have a good rest?” said Karen.

  “Very good, thank you. I slept for a couple of hours. How was your walk in the garden?”

  “The gardens are beautiful. I should think Mac has a professional gardener to look after them. They must be spectacular in the summer.”

  Jonathan noticed an elderly lady wearing an apron, standing in the shadows.

  “Jonathan, this is Mrs. Johnson.”

  “Good evening, Mr. Long,” said Mrs. Johnson, in a soft Scottish accent. “Can I get you something to drink?”

  “Thank you. I would like a glass of beer, please.”

  Mrs. Johnson walked off towards the kitchen. She returned with Jonathan’s drink just as Mac walked in.

  “I see Mrs. Johnson is looking after you,” said Mac. “My usual, please, Mrs. Johnson.”

  Mac sat down in the third armchair. “Well, Jonathan, have you thought any more about our conversation this morning?”

  “Yes, sir, I have. I certainly share your sentiments about the way that British democracy is being eroded and for a long time I have felt powerless to do anything about it. I would like to see if I can contribute something.”

  “From what I have seen of your party tricks so far I am sure you will be a key player in our efforts.”

  “There is one thing I would like to ask,” said Jonathan.

  “What would that be?” said Mac.

  “That I can keep Karen involved, just to have someone to bounce ideas off.”

  “Well,” said Mac, “for obvious reasons our work must be kept very secret but Karen and I have been working together for quite a long time now so I’m happy for her to be involved.”

  “Very well,” said Jonathan, “I’m in.”

  “Good! Good!” said Mac. “Let’s shake hands on it.” Karen, Mac and Jonathan did a three way handshake. Mac picked up the malt scotch that Mrs. Johnson had placed on the table beside his chair.

  “Let’s drink to that!” said Mac, raising his glass and Jonathan and Karen raised theirs in response.

  Mac’s attention was distracted as the doors of the Great Hall swung open and a Scottish piper in traditional dress appeared at the door and started to play.

  Mac looked towards Jonathan and Jonathan smiled. The piper continued to play as he walked slowly up the length of the hall. He stopped a few feet short of Mac, who was looking thoroughly confused. The piper finished his tune then faded away to nothing.

  Mac sat down and exhaled loudly. Jonathan and Karen also sat down.

  “All right,” said Mac. “What the hell was all that about?”

  “It’s known as an induced hallucination,” said Jonathan.

  “You did that?” said Mac.

  “Actually, it was a joint effort,” said Jonathan. “I imagined the piper then transferred the mental picture over to your mind. It then appeared to you as a waking dream.”

  “But he was there. I could see him. I could hear him.”

  “Have you ever had a very vivid dream?” said Jonathan.

  “Of course! Everyone has dreams.”

  “Well, an hallucination is simply a dream you have when you are awake.”

  “Is this another one of your tricks?”

  “Yes, it is. It’s probably one of the most difficult ones to do. Sometimes I simply can’t make the connection but having been in fairly close contact with you over the last twenty four hours I was able to make the connection with you.”

  “So let me get this straight. If you can make the connection you can freeze people’s minds or see inside their heads or make them imagine things that don’t exist?”

  “That’s about it, yes.”

  “Do you have to be right next to the person to make it work?”

  “Yes, I’m afraid I do have to be within eye contact, so as long as I can see them I could do the connection across the room.”

  Mac leaned back in his chair and made a soft whistling sound. “This is quite amazing. Are you sure no-one else knows about this ability of yours?”

  “No-one. I’ve been keeping it rather secret, to be honest. I was afraid people might think I was crazy.”

  “If we use these abilities wisely, it will totally change the playing field between us and MI5 Black Ops. For once, we will be able to stay a few steps ahead of them.”

  “It will give me a sense of purpose,” said Jonathan.

  Mrs. Johnson appeared alongside Mac. “Dinner is ready, sir.”

  Mac put his hand on Mrs. Johnson’s shoulder and said, “Are you real?”

  “I beg your pardon, sir?”

  “Never mind,” said Mac, “my little joke!” and he laughed. “Let’s eat, guys.”

  They walked over to the dining table and sat down as Mrs. Johnson walked back to the kitchen.

  “Fish tonight,” said Mac, “so white wine I think?” and he poured three glasses. Mrs. Johnson arrived with three bowls of Lobster Bisque and placed one in front of each person.

  “When we have finished dinner, Jonathan, I would like to show you the people we are dealing with. The top guy at MI5 Black Ops is called Grendan West and the main go-between in the government is a guy called Lord Mendellson. He communicates between West and the Prime Minister ”

  “Do you have any recordings of them?”

  “Mendellson is on news sites all over the web and it’s easy to get information about him but West stays in the shadows and avoids publicity. However, I do have a DVD of him at an MI5 conference that I attended just before I retired. I managed to liberate some materials when I left.”

  Mrs. Johnson cleared away the empty soup bowls and returned with three plates of Baked Sea Bass in a lemon sauce.

  “Can you explain something to me?” said Mac, between mouthfuls of fish. “If you can connect with my mind, how do you disconnect? Or do you stay connected twenty four hours a day?”

  “It takes a great deal of concentration to make and keep the connection. It is really quite easy to turn it off or even lose it accidentally and then I would have to deliberately focus on the person again to try to re-establish the connection.”

  “So you are not likely to see me in the shower, or in bed?”

  Karen sniggered quietly.

  “It’s not very likely,” said Jonathan with a smile, “and if I do I promise I’ll look away.”

  All three laughed heartily.

  “I suppose you will be heading home in the morning?” said Mac.

  “Yes,” said Karen, “we will need to be at the station by about seven-thirty so we need to get a fairly early start.”

  “Well, if you can make do with coffee and toast first thing I will buy you proper cooked breakfast at the café next to the station. We should be ready to leave here about six in the morning.”

  When they had finished eating, Mrs. Johnson cleared their plates and Mac said, “Would you like to come into the study and take a look at West and Mendellson? You too, Karen?”

  They all stood up from the dining table and Jonathan and Karen followed Mac out of the Great Hall. They turned left, past the bottom of the staircase and Mac opened the door to his study. There was a large cherry wood desk with a matching dark red leather executive chair, a tall window and shelves filled with rows of books. There was also a workbench with various computers, printers, fax machines and DVD and VCR machines.

  “Take a seat,” said Mac, pointing towards the workbench where there were three office chairs. Meanwhile, Mac started looking on one of his bookcases. Eventually he pulled out a DVD case. “Here we are! I think this will do the job.”

  Mac sat down at the workbench next to Jonathan, turned on the television and the DVD player and put the disk into the player. The image that appeared on
the screen showed a conference room with rows of chairs occupied by people. Someone in a suit was standing at the front of the room, a chart of some description on the screen behind him and he was talking to the people in the room.

  “The guy standing up at the front of the room is Grendan West. He is now the Director of MI5 Black Ops,” said Mac. “When this recording was made he was in charge of some MI5 section or other. Counter terrorism I think.”

  Mac turned up the volume on the television. Jonathan concentrated intently. The recording lasted for about fifteen minutes then the television screen went black.

  “What do you think, Jonathan?” said Mac.

  “Since Mendellson is the more public of the two, I think I can get to West through him.”

  “My thinking exactly.”

  “I’ll do some research on the web when I get back to Ravensgill Bridge. Is it possible to get a copy of that DVD to take back home with me?”

  “You can take that one. I have a copy. Just let me have it back when you have finished with it.”

  Mac took the DVD out of the player, placed it back in its plastic case and handed the case to Jonathan. “West and Mendellson could be cooking up some new project. We need to keep an eye on them and find out what they are up to.”

  “I’ll do my best,” said Jonathan.

  Mac stood up. “An excellent evening’s work! How about we go back into the Great Hall and have a nightcap before we turn in for the night?”

  “Great idea!” said Jonathan and Karen in unison and they stood up and followed Mac out of the study.

  Chapter 15