Mayflower thought about the previous night’s events. ‘Have you ever heard of Albert Spearman?’
‘Can’t say that I have, who is he?’
‘He’s someone who I encountered last night when I was supposed to be starting the final round of Brexit Talks. He seemed to be very much in control.’
Hardy got to his feet. ‘You have to make a decision soon Tessa. It doesn’t matter how much chaos Dystopia are causing. The people of this country need a stable government.’ He turned and headed towards the door.
Chapter 50
10:00am
We are Dystopia. London is in chaos. Businesses across this diseased city are unable to trade. Its citizens have been cut off from their financial holdings. The shining beacon you call a city is now paralysed.
We have been monitoring your social media feeds, news feeds and radio broadcasts. There are those who want to see our destruction. We have disrupted your lives and are hurting you through our actions. The simple truth is that the people don’t want change. They are content to be led like sheep through life. Given no choice with work and education. Citizens of Great Britain listen to what we have to say. You live in a Dystopian society plagued by issues that have been written about for decades. Orwell’s works of fiction are fast becoming fact. The people of this country want nothing more than to be dominated by those who want to subject you to meaningless lives.
Society is being fed a lie. There are no choices anymore. The government claims that hard work pays off, it doesn’t. There are millions of poorer class in low paid jobs who work ten hours plus a day but still struggle to meet even the basic needs of their families. Every new Prime Minister that takes office pledges to help the poor of this country. In her first speech Tessa Mayflower pledged to help the working classes of this country. She stated that if you are just managing and you are working around the clock then the government will do its best to help you. She claimed the government she will lead will not be driven by the privileged few but will be driven by law to give the poorer classes more control over their lives. This is a lie, nothing has changed. People still struggle with basic every day needs. The need to run their vehicles and to feed their families. The government have done nothing to help the poor.
We merely want the people of this country to sit up and take notice of what is really going on around them. People of London, you have a choice. You can either go on blindly living your lives or you can open your eyes and take action.
We will now take further measures against the government. Although all bank accounts have been frozen there are still those who use cash. You have half an hour to make a cash transaction. At 10:30 precisely we will shut down every cash register which rely on a network. Supermarkets and other main retailers across London will not be able to operate their cash registers. All cash registers linked up to a network will be shut down. Everyone in the London area has just half an hour to make a transaction. At eleven o’clock we will deliver a new message.
We are not your enemy, we are your salvation. We are Dystopia.
Chapter 51
Highgrove House nursing home – Surrey – 10:12am
‘Jesus Christ, London will be in flames by the end of the day.’ Tyler said staring at his smartphone. ‘I need to text Claire and tell her to head to her parent’s house.’
Alan looked up at the Victorian building. ‘Well looks like this is the place. Let’s get this over with as quickly as possible.’
‘You sound like you don’t want to be here.’
‘There are more important things happening in London right now.’ Alan stared at his smartphone. Bastards have frozen me out of my account.’
‘Who?’
‘Who do you think? Dystopia that’s who.’
‘If you need to do any shopping then I’d do it in this area. In less than twenty minutes London will be totally closed for business. I have just received a text from a colleague at the London Stock Exchange. The markets are tanking. They say if this continues any longer London will go bankrupt.’
‘The government will have to negotiate with these bastards if they want to restore some order.’ Alan said.
‘Let’s see what this Angus Walker has to say.’ Tyler said heading towards the main entrance.
Both men stood at a reception desk for a few moments before being spotted by a nursing assistant.
‘Can I help you?’
‘Hello.’ Alan said politely. ‘We are here to see a Mr Angus Walker.’
‘Old Angus is very popular lately.’ The nurse remarked. ‘Two gentlemen were here to see him yesterday.’
‘Really.’ Tyler said.
‘Yes, I believe that one of them was American.’
Alan and Tyler exchanged glances.
‘You’ll have to sign the register then I’ll take you to the lounge where he likes to sit all day long.’
After signing their names, Alan and Tyler followed the nurse through a series of corridors.
‘How long has Mr Walker been a resident here?’ Alan asked.
‘I’d say about twenty years now. He first came here with his wife. But she died about fifteen years now. Poor bugger has been on his own since. He gets the occasional visitor. There is a woman that comes to see him once a year. She is no spring chicken herself. Besides you two and the two men yesterday you are the first to have visited him in over eight months. Don’t expect a friendly reception. Angus is frosty with most people who visit him. He was none too pleased when those two men showed up yesterday.’
Eventually they reached some double doors that opened into a spacious lounge. The Nurse pointed towards a bay window. ‘That’s Angus over there sat in the armchair.’
The nurse walked into the room and headed towards where Walker sat. ‘Good morning Angus how are you this morning dear.’
‘Piss off woman, you are always bothering me.’ Walker snarled staring out of the bay window into the garden beyond.
‘Angus remember what the good doctor said. You have to be on your best behaviour at all times.’
‘I don’t have to do anything you or that bastard doctor tell me.’
The nurse smiled at him before looking at Alan and Tyler. ‘He gets like this sometimes. We don’t mind though do we Angus.’
‘I told you to piss off.’
‘Now Angus you have to be nice. You have two visitors today. You are popular lately, two nice men came to visit you yesterday.’
‘It better not be the same two idiots. If it is, tell them to bugger off.’
The nurse turned to Alan and Tyler. ‘You’ll have to excuse his manners he can be a bit rude.’ She looked back at Walker. ‘I’ll leave you to talk to these nice gentlemen.’
Walker continued to stare out of the window.
‘Mr Walker my name is Alan Manning. Is it ok if we have a little chat?’ Alan asked politely.
Walker didn’t even look up. ‘I don’t want to talk. Bugger off and leave me alone. Bloody hooligans coming round here.’
‘Mr Walker, we really need to talk to you about the attacks in London this week.’
‘Piss off will you, I’m busy.’
‘Busy looking out of the window all day long.’ Tyler said.
‘Mr Walker we only want five minutes of your time. Please, can you answer a few questions we have?’
Walker continued to ignore the two men.
Alan stared at him for a few moments. ‘Come on, this is a complete waste of time. I need to get back to the Examiner. There are more important things to deal with.’ Alan started to walk away.
‘The Examiner.’ Walker said. ‘The London Evening Examiner?’ He finally looked up at Alan. A smile stretched across his aging face. ‘George.’ He said getting out of the armchair.
Alan glanced at Tyler who was already shrugging.
‘George Rayman.’ Walker said excitedly.
Alan remembered the previous night in St James’ Park. The mysterious stranger who claimed he looked just like his grandfather.
‘My god George, it is you.’ Walker grabbed Alan’s hand shaking it. ‘It’s good to see you old boy. How have you been?’
‘I’ve been very well thank you Mr Walker.’
Walker chuckled. ‘Since when did you start being so formal?’ Walker looked at Tyler before offering his hand. ‘Doctor Angus Walker at your service young man. Please sit down.’ He offered. ‘Can I make you some tea?’
‘No thank you Angus.’ Alan replied getting into character.
Walker sunk back into his armchair. ‘She said you would come.’
‘Who?’
‘Susan of course.’
‘I’m sorry Angus my memory is slipping a little, Susan who?’
Walker thought for a moment. ‘Susan.’ He stroked his chin. ‘You know, I can’t remember either.’ He chuckled again. ‘We’re both getting old dear boy.’
‘Angus we need to talk to you about what’s been happening in London.’
‘Oh yes a most dreadful affair. Have you seen the news broadcasts? Those poor people.’
‘Angus we think it may be related to something you were part of. Can you remember something called Trojan Horse?’
‘Trojan Horse.’ Walker gasped. ‘Why would you want to know about that?’
‘We think the attacks in London are connected with the project you worked on.’
Walker shook his head. ‘No, there’s no way it could be connected. I locked that information away a long time ago.’
‘We think someone has found information about the project you worked on and is using the technology.’
‘Impossible.’ Walker stated. ‘Trojan Horse was classified above top secret.’
‘Could you just talk a little about what Trojan Horse was about?’ Alan coaxed.
‘I shouldn’t, I am bound by the official secrets act. I cannot betray her Majesty’s government.’
‘Please Angus, it would mean a lot to me if you were to tell us something.’
‘Are you going to write about it in your newspaper?’
‘Not if you don’t want me to.’
‘Please you cannot tell anyone what I am about to reveal.’
‘We promise we won’t say a word.’ Alan pledged.
Walker thought for a moment. ‘It was never supposed to have worked. They called me the Frankenstein scientist. I don’t blame them.’
‘What wasn’t supposed to have worked Angus?’
‘The technology was incredible. I had never seen anything like it before. A small piece of machinery less than a centimetre in width capable of attaching itself to the brainstem.’ ‘Walker smiled. ‘We were gods back then. We were allowed to do anything we wanted.’ Walker glanced out of the window. ‘We unleashed a genie we couldn’t put back in the bottle.’
‘A genie?’
‘It was supposed to give our agents an edge over the Russians. Finally we were able to infiltrate the Soviet Union without being detected. The things we discovered were beyond anything we could have imagined. The vast facilities they have in the Siberian wastelands. Tens of thousands of slave labourers. Working to perfect the Russian War machine. We kidnapped a Soviet bio chemist and implanted him with the machine. It worked perfectly. We were able to see everything he was seeing. The technology was beyond what we imagined.’
‘How did you develop this technology?’
‘We didn’t develop it. The technology was given to us. I didn’t think it was compatible with anything we had at the time. But it worked perfectly or at least some of the time.’
‘Who gave you the technology?’ Alan asked.
Walker hesitated. ‘I can’t remember it was so long ago. What we didn’t realise that someone else could control the machine. The consequences were terrible.’ A tear trickled down Walker’s cheek.
‘What happened Doctor Walker?’ Tyler asked.
‘We were using the machine to infiltrate the Soviet military. One of our top spies offered to go under the knife and have one of these machines implanted. I oversaw the operation myself along with another doctor.’
Alan produced his notebook. ‘Who was this colleague?’
‘He was German.’ Walker recalled. ‘I didn’t like him. Should have hung on the end of a rope after what he did to those poor souls in that camp.’
‘Can you remember his name?’
Walker pondered Alan’s question. ‘His name was Herbert Fritz. A horrid little man, smoked a lot as I recall. He had no qualms about cutting these men open. I suppose for the kind of work we were doing we needed monsters like him.’
‘The man that you implanted the machine with, what happened to him?’
‘He went crazy one day. He killed his entire family, those poor souls. It was horrific how they died.’
‘How did they die?’
‘He tried to eat them?’
Alan and Tyler glanced at each other.
‘The government didn’t care, neither did Fritz. He operated on ten other men. Brave young men who simply wanted to serve their country. Sometimes the machine he implanted would work perfectly. Other times it would have catastrophic results. The Russians accused us of barbarism.’ Walker paused. ‘I suppose it was in many ways. But no more barbaric than what the Americans and the Russians were doing to gain secrets off each other.’
‘Doctor Walker what happened to the project. Why was Trojan Horse shut down?’ Tyler asked.
‘There were all kinds of side effects to having the machine implanted. The man who murdered his family was just the start. There were others who gave themselves up to the Russians. They told them everything. That’s when we learned that the machine was being controlled by another group.’
‘Who?’ Alan asked.
Walker struggled with his memory. ‘They were dark times you know. Our country was on the brink of war with the Russians. We had to do something to try to prevent armageddon.’
‘What happened to the project, why was Trojan Horse shut down?’ Tyler asked.
‘There was another group who had access to the machine. They wanted to use it to control British politicians.’
‘What other group?’
Walker shook his head. ‘I can’t say, they will find me. They will come after me and kill me, they are everywhere.’
Alan got up from his chair and approached Walker. He knelt down in front of the old man smiling at him. ‘Angus, I promise nothing is going to happen to you.’
Walker stared back at Alan. ‘They never lost the war, they just changed their agenda.’
‘They?’
Walker hesitated. ‘The Fourth Reich.’
Alan looked back at Tyler.
‘Doctor Walker what happened to Trojan Horse?’ Tyler repeated his question.
‘It was shelved. The technology involved was too dangerous. But it was too late. The Russians and the American were using it. Our group felt that more time was needed to study the technology. So we shut the project down, hid it away.’
‘Hid it away where?’ Tyler asked.
‘Rudloe Manor.’ Walker replied.
Tyler’s eyes widened at Walker’s answer. ‘Did you say Rudloe Manor?’
Walker nodded.
‘What’s Rudloe Manor.’
‘It’s a facility in Wiltshire used by the government to house information regarding top secret projects. Conspiracy theorists have been going on about it for years.’ Tyler focused his attention on Walker. ‘Doctor Walker, one of the side effects from Trojan Horse, is it white eyes?’
Walker stared back at Tyler. ‘It was never supposed to be like that. We were told that the machine would work perfectly. There would be no side effects. But when I saw what it did to certain individuals eyes I recommended that the project be terminated. Test subjects would be fine at first. But when we sent them out into the field they would become mindless wretches. It was only later when we found out that another group was controlling them. We discovered the machine we implanted into test subjects gave off a signal that could be intercepted.’
&nb
sp; ‘That’s what your coroner friend speculated about the London attackers.’ Tyler said looking at Alan.
Alan nodded.
Walker stared at Alan. ‘George, you must not look into this any further. You know they will come after you. You must go into hiding.’
‘I will.’ Alan promised.
‘Doctor Walker, I have just one more question.’ Tyler said. ‘Have you ever heard of the maddening death?’
A look of terror appeared on Walker’s face. ‘No, you must not get involved, it is too dangerous.’
‘Why?’
‘The machine we implanted in our agents contained a genetic sample. It was the only way the machine could latch on to the brainstem.’
‘Where did the genetic sample come from?’
Walker struggled to find an answer.
The nurse who had met them at the main entrance to the nursing home entered the room.
‘How are we doing? Has he been a good boy?’
Alan stood. ‘He’s been behaving himself. Mr Walker has been very gracious.’
‘That’s a change.’ The nurse said. ‘He’s usually very grumpy with everyone. Well I’m afraid Angus is due for his monthly check up.’
‘Get away from me woman!’ Walker snapped.
‘It’s ok, we better head back to London. Thank you for speaking to us Angus.’
As Alan walked away Walker grabbed his arm. ‘George listen to me, you must not pursue this. You must walk away it is too dangerous. If you get in too deep you will end up like Dorothy.’
Alan looked up at him for a moment before breaking out into a smile. ‘I promise I’ll stay out of trouble.’
Walker smiled back. ‘Good chap, when you next get the chance please say hello to your friend.’
‘My friend?’ Alan said.
Walker searched his memory. ‘I can’t recall his name. He’s a Cambridge man or at least I think he is.’
‘I think Angus is too tired to remember.’ The nurse interrupted. ‘Perhaps you can come back again.’
Walker nodded. ‘Yes, I look forward to it, please come and visit. We have so much more to discuss.’
10:26am
Dystopia Page 28
