[Novo]

Very good sticks

[Judas]

Originally Posted by Novo

Very good sticks

"Don't be silly"

No, I read abit of this just then, it looks like alot of work has gone into it sticks! I didn't realise there was a creative writing area! Has anyone else read it? Would you reccomend putting some time aside for it?

[Sticks]

Episode VI – In the Name of National Security

Spoiler:

We always like to think we have our finger on the pulse of life; that we know everything that is going on, but that is not always the case. Sometimes there are dark forces that work against us in secret, biding their time before they strike without warning.

This is no less true for the teenager Sarah Bentley from Lancashire. It has been just two days since she came home and found her brother murdered and herself being accused of involvement in his death, and then that of a serving police officer. She has hooked up with her brother’s best friend in more ways than one and have travelled in search of answers to London to meet another acquaintance of her dead brother who inhabits is world of conspiracy theories and paranoia. Now the three of them are heading out to a place in Kent, unaware they are now being followed by those involved in her brother’s death, including the detective inspector from her own area who first accused her of being involved in her brother’s death

+ + +

Again Sarah was relegated to the back of the Mini while Shaun got to ride next to Derek who was driving. Again it felt like she was being ignored.

“Are we going via Bromley?” Shaun asked Derek
“No” Derek replied, “The most optimum route according to Google is down the A217 via Sutton and then along the M25 and M26. It did offer the Bromley route as an alternative, but that would mean more driving through South London”

“I would have thought you were going to take more back road’s Derek” Shaun replied, “It would make it harder to tail us”
“But this way Shaun” It should make them easier to spot, “Derek countered “And hopefully less likely to try something on a main road”

“That didn’t stop them when they attacked the police car I was in on the Bury Road” Sarah interjected.

It seemed like she needn’t have bothered to open her mouth as her voice did not seem to carry or was not heard by the two guys up front.

Sarah hated being in the back of a car

The mini passed down through Merton and on the way to Sutton.

Derek switched on the radio to a local news station, there was a news broadcast coming up

It was not good!

The news was now reporting that Sarah, now almost classed as Britain’s most wanted criminal, had been sighted getting on a coach to London, and police were investigating sighting s in the nation’s capital.

“That must have been someone from the coach station tipping them off” Shaun remarked.

There was a clip of a police spokesman saying how they had to follow any lead they had, but they were convinced that Sarah was still hiding out in the Greater Manchester Area, and obviously part of a vicious gang feud as just that morning not a few hours previous, two known members of a notorious Moss Side drug gang had been gunned down by assailants matching a similar descriptions to those that had attacked the police car with Sarah in and those who had carried out the murders in Ramsbottom of Shaun’s family.

“Sounds like the powers that be really want to hide what they are doing as a gang feud” Derek spoke up
“Takes hiding in plain sight to a new level” Shaun added.

Again Sarah felt she might as well not be there they way she seemed to be ignored

“I never did drugs” Sarah called out from the back

“We know that Sarah” Shaun replied, “Like I said to Derek, if they knock off a couple of drug dealers to make it look like a drug war, nobody is going to ask awkward questions”

Sarah wanted to ask why they did not just give the powers that be, as Derek put it, the memory stick. Even though the latest people to be murdered were reported to be drug dealers up in Manchester did not make things any easier. Sarah however kept quiet because she expected the answer would be that the powers would not stop until she was dead, after all they tried to kill her twice and possibly a third time with that American who knew who she was.

Derek was driving past the outskirts of Sutton when he announced that he thought they were being tailed and that who ever was doing it was a “real pro”

“Are you sure?” Shaun asked as he turned his head to try and look through the back windscreen.
“Two vehicles seem to have been behind us for some time” Derek replied, “I studied about how to spot tails on a specialised website”
“It could be a coincidence” Shaun suggested, “I mean we are heading towards the M25”
“Maybe” Derek muttered, “But I thought I saw the red one back in Wandsworth, but as you say it could be a coincidence”

”Suppose they are following us Derek, how would they have found us” Shaun asked, “You took out the tracker in Sarah’s mobile before you drove back to the flat, any chance it was still working?”
“No chance” Derek retorted, “the bag I put it in was designed to block transmissions and I did not examine it outside my Faraday cage, which I regularly check. If it is a tail maybe they have been watching me all along” Derek suggested, “After all we all had dealings with Trevor”

“Sorry” Sarah piped up, ashamed at how her own brother had through his obsessions had caused so much death.

“It’s not your fault Sarah” Shaun reassured her, “Assuming they are following us. Trevor was just trying to expose something our government was trying to hide from us. We can’t let them win”

“They’re going to kill us aren’t the” Sarah said nervously, “Derek are they on motor cycles?”

“No Sarah, they seem to be in cars” Derek answered, “one red and another one several car length back from that one which seems to be a black mini like this one”

To Sarah, the description of a black mini sounded familiar but was unable to place it.

Derek drove passed a junction with another road which was the turn off for Sutton and then through a tree lined patch of road towards some bridge.

“It looks like the red car has turned off” Derek announced.
“What about the black car?” Shaun asked.
“It looks like it has turned off as well” Derek replied, “going down the same turning”
“Maybe the black car was tailing the red car” Shaun suggested
“Or possibly a coincidence” Derek added, “but given what has happened in the last two days”

“What about Motor bikes?” Sarah asked, “It was motor bikes that attacked the police car I was in”

“None that I can spot” Derek replied

“Just to be on the safe side Derek, how about stopping somewhere and doing another bug scan” Shaun suggested

“We can’t do that Shaun” Derek replied, “We’re on a red route at the moment, but the bug detector is in the glove compartment if you want to get it out and give a quick scan. If there is anything planted, it should detect it”

Shaun reached for the glove compartment and opened it. Inside with a whole load of maps was the device looking like a transistor radio that had detected the doctored SIM card that had been in Sarah’s mobile

Shaun pulled out the aerial and switched the device on. The indicator light remained green and there was no warning sound indicating that it found no signal indicating any bug or tracking device within the car.

“Nada” Shaun commented
“What if they put a bug on the outside of the car” Sarah asked
“It should still pick it up” Derek called out, “I built that and tested it myself”

Sarah shut up at that point, it seemed to her she had asked a stupid question. Of course Derek would know what he was doing.

“It has to be a coincidence then” Shaun said as he collapsed the aerial and replaced the detector in the glove compartment.
“They do happen” Derek agreed

“Of course they could track us using CCTV” Shaun said in what Sarah thought was a flippant tone
“That depends if the cameras at the junctions are programmed with number plate recognition software” Derek responded
“They don’t need to be” Shaun replied, “They just take the images and someone elsewhere runs the software”
“Assuming the camera has the resolution” Derek countered, “Some of the older cameras were just for monitoring traffic flows. They aren’t even in colour”
“What about speed cameras?” Sarah asked from the back, not believing she was entering into this conversation.

“Those that are still working use film still rather than digital technology Sarah” Derek answered, “And even for those that may be online, I set my number plates at an angle so the face points at the road. Hopefully if they snap them they can’t be read, but to someone in a police car, they won’t see anything wrong with them”

“Satellite tracking?” Shaun asked

“Not likely” Derek replied peering up briefly at the sky as he drove along, “especially on an overcast day like today? I suspect even infrared would find it hard”

Sarah still felt wary, even with Derek’s scepticism that whoever the killers were, that they could track them remotely, and she still had an uneasy feeling. After all, she could not get her head around the fact that one of them had managed to pass himself off as a police surgeon back in Bury.

Sarah gazed out of the window as the mini drove on the road through the suburbia of south London. The red markings along the kerb which according to Derek indicated that stopping was forbidden seemed to go on and on forever. That was until they came to a small roundabout that fed onto a duel carriageway

There was the occasional motorcyclist, but they were either passing, or did not look anything like the motorcycle assassins she had seen two nights ago on the Road out of Tottington or at the hospital near Bury. Even so, their presence did make Sarah’s heart skip a beat.

The traffic started to increase as the morning wore on, mainly due to it being the main time for commuting. A lot of the road seemed to pass through residential areas and more suburbs, but as they pressed on the houses gave way to fields, but still there a lot of traffic.

Derek went on about how with the amount of cars on the road it was unlikely that anyone would try anything. When Sarah was able to get herself heard from the back and pointed out how they were attacked on a main road into the town of Bury, Derek pointed out that at that time the road was probably more devoid of traffic.

Still Sarah felt uneasy.

The news on the radio still kept mentioning how she was wanted for involvement in gangland drug running and the death of her brother, and possibly that of two police officers, her friend Vicky and her family and that of her other friend Jessica. Worse of all they were now confirming that they were looking into reports of a woman possibly matching her description who had been seen near the Victoria coach station with an unidentified male. For some reason, they chose not to name Shaun. The reports even went on to say how they suspected Sarah was also into prostitution because of a number of pornographic images that had come to light.

The killers had obviously leaked the contents of her memory stick to the press to further blacken her name

Sarah did not feel like talking. She just wanted to grieve quietly for her brother and the friends who had been killed, all because they were associated with her.

Sarah switched her gaze to inside the car and noticed a metallic glint near her feet just under the car seat in front; she had not really registered seeing them before. She used her foot to slide it along so she could pick it up; it was an old pair of scissors.

Sarah could not help thinking of all the lives that had been destroyed because of her and her brother. She also wondered if there would be any further lives lost just because of her. Maybe everyone else would be better off if she did not exist

Idly as she contemplated this she opened them and held them in her right hand whilst show pulled the sleeve down on her other wrist and moved the blade of the scissors towards the ready wrist, shaking her head as a tear trickled down her cheek.

“SARAH WHAT ARE YOU DOING” Shaun shouted

Sarah snapped out of the daze she had drifted into, realising what she was doing she threw the scissors to the other side of the rear car seat from her.

“Sorry” Sarah mumbled, “I just keep feeling that it’s my fault they’re dead” she sniffed and then broke down again.

“What’s she doing” Derek asked

“Just keep driving Derek” Shaun snapped, “I’ll sort it” he added before twisting round and reaching with one of his hands towards Sarah.

Sarah gently took his hand

“I promise you Sarah” Shaun reassured her, “We will get to the bottom of this and get those b*****ds. Just don’t give them the satisfaction Sarah please”

Sarah leaned over and retrieved the scissors and then handed them to Shaun. Shaun took them and put them in the glove compartment out of harms way.

Derek kept silent, although it seemed obvious he had guessed at what Sarah had been contemplating.

The mini finally came to the turn off for the M25 East bound, and like the rest of the road there were major traffic queues by now.

After all the M25 did have a reputation of being a three lane car park

Still no sign of a tail or the motor cycle assassins that had attacked Sarah and apparently Shaun’s family back in Lancashire.

After what seemed like an agonising time, the mini finally got on to the M25 motorway and joined the heavy morning traffic.

Sarah had by now at Shaun’s insistence put on the woollen hat and dark glasses, just to make sure no passing motorist spotted her and decided to call the police.

As for police cars themselves, for the moment they seemed absent

Derek continued to drive, with all three of them now looking out, should anyone try and intercept them. Derek had now turned off the car radio as it was obvious that the news had been upsetting Sarah, and they travelled along in a tense silence.

They passed yet another junction

Sarah half expected someone to come onto the motorway at this junction, but again nothing, just more traffic.

What Sarah was now more aware of though were the number of CCTV cameras on the various information road signs and lamp posts around the junction.

Could they be tracking them in spite of Derek’s scepticism?

After a while Derek started indicating to turn left off of the motorway as they were approaching Clacket Lane Services.

“I need to top up the car” Derek announced
“And we could probably do with a toilet break” Shaun chipped in

This was something Sarah had been trying not to think about.

Derek drove into the service station area and parked as near as he could the main area that housed the toilets and other shops.

Sarah was released from the back of the mini and the three of them walked into the main section.

Sarah found the ladies and went in to use it.

After about five minutes she emerged and for several seconds could not see either Shaun or Derek.

For a few seconds panic set in.

Could the others have been abducted or worse?

Could they have even abandoned her?

“Shaun will be out in a moment” a voice said behind her

Sarah almost jumped with fright

Sarah turned around, it was Derek

“You ok?” Derek asked

“I don’t know” Sarah whined, “I should be going into Bury College about now Derek. I should be meeting with my friends Vicky and Jessica”

“I know” Derek replied, “We will get who ever is behind what is going on”

“How?” Sarah challenged, “Shaun said they were using what he called the implements of the state against us”

“But we/re white hat hackers” Derek responded

“What do you mean white hat hackers?” Sarah asked
“We test systems” Derek explained, “To make sure they are secure. I tend to make sure certain groups can not be hacked by the state. Your brother was also into the same sort of thing”

“He should have been trying to find a job so we could keep the house” Sarah said accusingly

“He went of the rails a bit” Derek replied defensively, “We warned him to be careful, but he was convinced he was onto something”

“What?” Sarah asked

“Trevor wouldn’t say” Derek replied, “Not until he was face to face in a secure location. He did not trust electronic media to be secure as the state monitors everything that goes through cyber space. If you mention certain key words or phrases in a tweet or email Sarah, GCHQ will be onto you. I hear that some people deliberately use those phrases to try and swamp them”

“Hi” another voice came from behind. It was Shaun

“I was just explaining about GCHQ” Derek said to Shaun, “And about certain phrases”

“There’s a lot that goes on Sarah” Shaun said in agreement, “How the state is snooping on our lives that the general public is not aware of”

“Well I never cared if they knew I was doing” Sarah said angrily, “Why me?”

“Hopefully at Leeds Castle we will find out” Derek interjected
“And if we don’t?” Sarah asked

“We keep looking” Shaun replied, “We find something, we go to the press”
“Assuming they haven’t been got at” Derek chipped in

“Thanks Derek” Shaun sneered
“Sorry” Derek apologised, “Shall we go and get the car filled up?” he then asked

The three of them headed back to the car, and again Derek insisted on using his device to start the car up remotely

He was not taking any chances

After giving the all clear his next task was to use the bug scanner, and again it registered clean, so then it was time to all pile back in.

Derek drove round the roads leading to exit as if heading back on to the motorway, but just as the road was merging with the motorway he turned left into the petrol station and drove up to one of the pumps.

“Do you have cash?” Shaun asked

“A bit?” Derek replied
“We don’t want them tracking us through credit or debit cards Derek” Shaun warned

“I’m not that stupid” Derek retorted and got out of the car and got hold of the petrol pump and started filling the tank

“Will we really find this Doctor H person?” Sarah asked Shaun
“I don’t know Sarah” Shaun replied, “but I suppose we have to do something”
“Trevor mentioned that there was a world war two in Kent that had been torched” Sarah went on.
“I think that’s the same one he mentioned to Derek and I” Shaun answered back
“Well if it’s been torched Shaun, what’s the point going there?” Sarah asked

“We may find something” Shaun replied, “If we don’t, we just find a place with a decent Wi-fi and we hack into the company that makes Iron Keys and get the back door for your brother’s memory stick”

Derek finished filling up and headed into the shop part to pay for the petrol.

“Hurry up Derek” Shaun muttered, “We’re sitting ducks here”

Nervously, Sarah strained to look around as much as she could, but her view was obscured by the petrol pumps.

After what seemed like an eternity Derek emerged and headed back to the car.

“I wish I could have used my nectar card here” he complained, “I could have got quite a few points here”
“They would have been onto us like a shot Derek” Shaun responded

Derek started the car and pulled out of the petrol station and back on to the M25 Motor way.

What none of them spotted was a black mini that had been waiting on the slip road hiding out of sight from the petrol station.

The driver of the black mini, a man in his late fifties with cropped grey hair, finished a conversation on a mobile phone and after the car with Derek, Shaun and Sarah in drove on to the motorway, it followed them at a distance.

+ + +

Derek drove on amongst the increasing traffic which started to lighten as they switched on to the M26 again following the route that Google had given them.

Sarah eyed all the other cars as best she could, looking for motorcycles in particular and then after that any police vehicle that might be in the area, afraid that they might intercept her and have her arrested.

As they merged on to the M20, Derek announced that that was the last bit of motorway on the route and they were nearing Leeds Castle.

And still the occupants seemed oblivious, to the black mini which was still following them, several cat lengths behind as it switched between lanes. Finally it over took them and headed off into the distance

After another prolonged period of driving Derek left the motorway altogether and they came to a roundabout and then drove down a main trunk road along a wooded dual carriageway. Derek turned off the main road passed two square gate houses and started driving along a road past a large set of car parks. There were signs referencing the tourist attraction of Leeds Castle and a golf course

“What’s going on?” Shaun asked “Doesn’t look like an abandoned RAF base to me”
“Well this is what Google gave me” Derek replied looking hurt “Maybe someone knows about it at this Leeds Castle place?” Derek suggested as he pulled into a parking space and stopped

“I wonder if Trevor got the location wrong” Shaun suggested, “This is a place for tourists, not some secret military base”

“I don’t know” Sarah piped up from the back, “All I know was that he was wanting to go to some place in Kent”
“Do we want to try this Leeds Castle then?” Derek asked
“How much is it to go in?” Shaun asked, “The places can cost an absolute fortune just to park”
“No idea” Came Derek’s reply.

“What about looking for this Doctor H at cyber Café” Sarah called out, only to be ignored. Again, to Sarah it seemed that she might as well not exist as she sat in the back of the car

None of them noticed the black mini as it sat parked behind some larger cars out of sight while the driver looked at Derek’s mini through binoculars and spoke to someone on a cell phone.

“I can try and find a pub” Derek proposed, “Maybe someone might know something” “They might have Wi-Fi” Shaun replied, “As Sarah has just said there is always that idea”

Wow! Someone actually taking notice of Sarah? And it was Shaun, handsome wonderful Shaun!

“In a rural place like this Shaun?” Derek questioned, “I would be surprised if they even had broadband in this part of the world, let alone WiFi”
“Well at least Derek they might know the location of this old RAF base which is supposed to be in or around Leeds Castle” Shaun countered
“Ok” Derek relented, “We could try that village of Langley, but I bet it won’t be open this early unlike some city pubs I know”

“Yeah” Sarah called out from the back, “There is this pub on the Rock in Bury that opens up in the morning doing breakfasts. I think it may be a Weatherspoons”
“Yeah” Derek agreed, “I like that chain, especially on Thursday when they have Curry club”

Derek started the car and pulled out of the parking space and slowly turned round to go out the exit

Then they saw a sight that stunned all them

Coming into the entrance were two black clad figures on two motorbikes

Derek stopped the car. Suddenly ne of them started riding towards them. Sarah could see he was carrying a machine pistol and was pointing it at them.

So this is how it would end, shot to death with two other people for a reason she did not know and passed off as part of some feud among warring drug gangs.

Suddenly out of nowhere a small black car smashed into the attacking motor cycle, knocking him over as the car crushed him beneath but that was not before at least one shot left the motorcyclist’s gun and shattered the windscreen in front of them

Then there were sounds of gun shots coming from the black car.

“He’s shooting at us” Sarah Screamed

But something was wrong, Derek was not doing anything and had slumped in his seat

“Derek” Shaun called out in a concerned tone.

There was no answer.

Quickly Shaun undid his seat belt and leaned over and pressed his fingers to Derek’s neck and then swore.

“Stay in the back” Shaun shouted at Sarah and reached across Derek and unlatched the driver side door and then undid Derek’s seat belt.

Shaun opened his door and scrambled out going around the back of the car as shots continued to ring out from the black mini.

Sarah just sat there transfixed as she stared at the still body of Derek shaking her head and mouthing the word “No”, tears running down her face.

Shaun opened the driver side door and pulled Derek from the car and got into the driving seat and slammed the door shut

“What’s happened to Derek” Sarah just managed to force out

“Derek’s dead” Shaun shouted, “That b*****d shot him in the head”

Shaun started the car and lurched backwards leaving Derek’s body behind and then Shaun turned the car around and started heading through the Leeds Castle grounds at speed, scattering people as he drove past.

Sarah could not believe it, yet another person had been killed in front of her, by assassins on motorbikes who were after her! How many more would die? Sarah wanted to hand herself in and let them kill her as she could not stomach anymore people dying because of her, but she held her tongue. She did not want to upset her Shaun anymore than he must be with her already.

Sarah had just lost a brother and two best friends, but Shaun had lost his sister, mother and now his best friend, all because of some mess her brother had got into. Shaun was more fixated on bringing those who did this to justice than she was it seemed, but when you are up against a faceless enemy who can manipulate such things as databases, CCTV and mobile phones, how could you fight that?

Shaun had referred to all the things that were used in the wired up modern society as the implements of the state, a state they were now on the run from and one that was out to kill them.

But who was that black car that took out one of the assassins?

Shaun drove the car in a fury as they passed the castle itself, situated with a moat around it

Again Sarah continued to maintain a silence, for a brief moment she selfishly, so she thought, wondered how Shaun would feel about her now. He had been unbelievably forgiving when he heard about the deaths of his mother and sister, but Derek was murdered right in front of them, he must hate her now, surely.

Sarah thought back to the look on the face of the female police officer back at the hospital in Bury when that man posing as a police surgeon shot her dead. It was ghastly and would haunt her for the rest of her life, now she would be haunted by the death of Derek right in front of her as well.

Shaun drove around the moat, still scattering people as he continued. He came across a wooded road, driving as fast as he dared and came to another main gate with two buildings on either side. Shaun turned left driving to a main road, and then along a road underneath a bridge carrying the M20 Motorway which they had left to come to Leeds Castle.

Derek drove fast along the road for quite away and slowed down as he passed a place on the left called the The Taste of Bengal.

Shaun took the next turning on the left by what, to Sarah looked like a village sign and followed the road around to the left. It was as Shaun quickly explained an attempt to shake off any tale should one be following. Then Shaun drove quickly into the car park of a pub just around the corner and swore.

Shaun turned off the engine and shook his head

Sarah did not know what to say. Anything would just come out wrong. For a brief moment she was frightened of Shaun, would he hit her for what she had caused to happen to his best friend, and if he did, she was not sure if she deserved it or not.

Shaun slowly got out of the car and then pulled the seat forward and helped Sarah get out. Sarah continued to be silent, afraid of angering Shaun more than he must be with her already.

Suddenly a feeling of nausea overcame Sarah and she just wanted to be sick and her legs started to give way.

Shaun spotted Sarah start to go down and grabbed her arm.

“Breathe” Shaun told Sarah in what seemed to her like an unconvincing tone

Sarah was just able to stop herself from being sick just then “I’m so sorry, I can’t go on with this Shaun” Sarah sobbed, “All those” she tried to get out.

Shaun held her in his arms, “It’s not your fault Sarah” Shaun told her and then repeated, after which he kissed the top of her head, “Those b*****ds are going to pay for this” he said angrily.

“How did they find us?” Sarah whined.
“No idea” Shaun answered, “I suspect Derek’s scanner was not a good as he thought it was or they must have been using the CCTV cameras to track us”

The pub looked like it was starting to open, so Shaun led Sarah to the door, “We can’t continue in that car for much longer” he told her, “A broken windscreen like that will attract attention”

As they walked through the door of the pub they saw an elderly lady clearing up. “Sorry, the bar’s not open until twelve” she told Sarah and Shaun. Then the woman stopped and looked at Sarah, “Are you ok? You look as white as a sheet”

“We had a bit of a scare” Shaun interrupted before Sarah could speak, “Our car was hit by some sort of bird. It shattered our windscreen” he lied

“I suppose you can sit down” the lady replied, “Do you need to phone the AA or RAC or something like that then”

“I don’t have cover with any organisation like that” Shaun replied, “I never seemed to be able to get around to it”

“Oh dear, that’s not good” the lady replied as she got Sarah to sit down at a table, “Never mind, I think I can get the number of the local garage for you, they are just along this road in the village, they should be able to sort you out”

“We haven’t got any money on us” Sarah found herself objecting.
“That’s ok” the lady responded, “I’m sure he takes all main credit cards”

“That will be fine” Shaun told the lady, “We put everything on cards these days”

The lady then stopped and looked at Shaun and Sarah, “You’re not from here are you. You sound like you’re from Manchester”

“Tottington” Sarah instinctively replied
“It’s a village north of Manchester” Shaun quickly explained

The lady grunted and turned to leave.
“Do you have Wi-Fi?” Shaun asked
“I don’t know. We never used to have one, but I’ve been off for a while so I’ll go and check” The lady replied, “But if we have I would suspect it will only be for paying guests. What did you need it for?”
“I need to send an email to let someone know we are going to be late because of the accident” Shaun continued to lie

“I’ll go and see if anything is available” the woman replied and then left
“Ok I’ll just go and get my notebook from the car just in case” Shaun said and went outside, leaving Sarah sitting in the pub alone.

“Why Trevor?” Sarah called out in despair. As well as finding the dead body of her brother, she had now seen three people killed in front of her and the body count just kept on rising.

Sarah took out her brother’s memory stick, “What the hell did you do Trevor” she sobbed as she broke down, “Why could you not have just tried looking for a job instead of playing on that stupid computer?”

“Are you ok?” The lady asked her as she came back into the main part of the pub.

“May I use the toilet?” Sarah quickly asked

The woman pointed in the direction, and so Sarah headed off for the toilets with her hand bag. She needed to use them and also she needed to fix her face.

As Sarah got into one of the stalls, an overwhelming feeling of nausea overcame her and she found herself trying to be sick again into the toilet.

This time she was lucky to reach the toilet as she did vomit this time

Obviously the delayed shock at seeing Derek gunned down in front of her

Sarah finished being sick and flushed the chain and then used the toilet. After that, she came out and tried to fix her make up. For some reason, it did not seem that important. If she were trying to please Shaun, what would be the point? His best friend in London was now dead, all because of something her brother Trevor had got mixed up in. She would understand if he wanted to drive away and leave her to her fate.

Maybe he had and saying he was getting his note book from the car was a ruse to give her the elbow

Sarah left the toilets and saw that Shaun had not run out on her after all, even though he had every right to. Sarah then in a daze headed over to where Shaun was, sitting with his notebook and quietly sat down. She did not feel like talking, she did not know what to say plus she was still feeling terrible from being sick.

“That so didn’t work” Shaun grunted and then he looked up at Sarah, “Are you feeling ok?”

Sarah shook her head and broke down into tears, saying how sorry she was about Derek and that he must really hate her now.

Shaun got up from his seat and sat down and put an arm around Sarah and held her to him reassuring her that that he did not blame her for what had happened, that he still loved her and always would

“Anything wrong?” the lady from the pub asked
“Her brother was killed in action recently and they were close” Shaun spoke up, “We were trying to get down to meet his body off of a flight when the windscreen was hit by that bird”

“Oh dear I am sorry to hear that” the lady said sympathetically, “They didn’t fly it to Manchester then?”

Then it seemed like Shaun had an idea, “We were told it was supposed to be coming to an RAF base near Leeds Castle, but we couldn’t find it”

The lady sighed, “There hasn’t been one near there for a good few years”

“But we were told?” Shaun insisted

“There was an RAF signalling station during World War Two nearby, I recall, but it was just some large Nissen Huts and a large transmitter mast, but after the war it got taken over and became a public health laboratory so we were told. I think in later years it was used as some kind of storage facility. I remember there used to be two charming men and an oriental looking girl who used to work there. They used to refer to it as The Annex when ever they came to eat here”

“Do you know where it is?” Shaun asked

“I might be able to give a rough location of where it used to be” The lady offered, “But for some reason it was never shown on the map. No idea why. Would that help?”

“Yeah” Shaun said as Sarah sat up with Shaun resting his arm around her shoulders

“Mind you” The lady went on, “Whoever told you to go down there obviously got all their facts wrong”

“Because it wasn’t actually an airfield?” Shaun asked
“Well that as well, but two or three years ago it got raised to the ground in a fire” The lady sighed, “I think those three people who used to work there may have been killed in it, because after the fire I never saw or heard from them again. It’s a shame, they were very nice people”

“Is there anything left there?” Shaun asked

“I think it was finally demolished last year by the council on safety grounds. I don’t think there’s anything there any more” the lady explained further. “Sorry about the internet” she apologised and then asked, “Did you manage to find a stray signal?”

Shaun shook his head, “There is one low power Wifi signal” he explained, “But where ever it is they have secured it so I can’t log on to it”

“Maybe you might have luck with this” the lady then suggested as she pulled from her pocket a small electronic device.

Even Sarah knew what this was, it was an android phone

“My grandson gave me this when my old mobile packed in” the lady explained, “But I have no idea how you use them. I just prefer a simple phone you can make calls on, none of all this fancy stuff. My grandson says he uses his for email and Facebook all the time, I never even got the hang of this text messaging business. I hope it’s not too complicated”

“That’s ok I have seen them before” Shaun told her as he took the phone out of politeness, “I have an idea how to work these things.

“My grandson wants me to join something called Twitter as well” the lady said in passing as she sat down at another table, “It a complete mystery to me.”

“I’ve been an idiot!” Shaun exclaimed
“What?” Sarah asked, even more confused

“This is a long shot Sarah” Shaun whispered, “But when you saw that note with Doctor Aitch written on it on it, how was it written?”
“What do you mean” Sarah asked, confused by the question

Shaun took on a serious tone, “Sarah, how did he write down doctor aitch?” and then for clarification he asked, “Did Trevor write it down as one word?”

Sarah closed her eyes and tried desperately to visualise how Trevor had written the name down on the notepad before he had hidden it from Sarah’s view. Then she was just able to remember how he had written it. She never thought about it at the time, but it did seem odd how he had written it. “It was one word” Sarah replied, “It was written with a capital Dee for Doctor and a capital aitch all as one word. Why is that significant Shaun”

Shaun nodded and opened up the browser on the android phone and found the twitter home page and then tapped a few further keys on the mobile. Shaun then surreptitiously showed Sarah the phone.

It was Trevor’s Twitter page

“My guess is that this Doctor Aitch is someone Trevor was following on Twitter” Shaun said softly to Sarah, so as not to be heard by the lady who owned the phone. Shaun took the phone away and tapped a few more times on the phone’s flat surface.

“Got him” Shaun announced and then showed Sarah the screen on the phone. On it was a list of names and icons associated with each name, and sure enough way down on the list was a DoctorH.

Again Shaun tapped on the mobile and showed Sarah the result. This mysterious Doctor Aitch was also a twitter follower but the icon they had chosen was just a graphic of some strange symbol and the word CERN on it

Shaun tapped the icon and it opened up a new page on the android phone.

Then Shaun silently swore and showed Sarah the result. On the small screen of the Android Phone was a small biography, which read “A Senior theoretical physicist working with the LHC at CERN”

“What’s CERN?” Sarah asked, “I heard that name somewhere”
“They bill themselves as the European Organization for Nuclear Research and they claim to be have the biggest particle physics laboratory in the world.”

“What?” Sarah said incredulously, “Are they into top secret weapons or something?”
Shaun shook his head, “It’s supposed to be a civilian organisation. It’s located on the Swiss Franco border. They say that the world wide web which we use today for websites was invented there”
“So what is so secret that they’re killing people for” Sarah asked
“No idea” Sun replied, “We have to go there and find this Doctor Aitch” Shaun announced
“To this CERN place?” Sarah asked
“YES” Shaun whispered emphatically, “This Doctor Aitch appears to be working there. Don’t you see that this makes perfect sense Sarah? Trevor was not planning a trip to Leeds Castle, he must have been planning to make a trip to Ashford, but he did not want to say that over what might have been an unsecured line, otherwise this Doctor Aitch may have been tipped off”

“But why Ashford Shaun if this CERN place is on the Swiss Franco border?”
“Because Sarah Asford is where the Eurostar stops before it goes through the Channel Tunnel. He must have thought it would have been easier to get on it there instead of in London for some reason. We have to get on it and get to CERN as soon as we can”
“How?” Sarah whispered, “We don’t have any money and I don’t have a passport and the police are looking for us?”

“Is everything alright?” the lady asked from the table.

Shaun closed down the android phone and handed it back to the lady, “Thanks, we managed to find out where her body has been taken to” he lied

“Where’s that?” the lady enquired
“Somewhere in Ashford” Shaun replied, “This garage you mentioned”

“Yes” The lady replied, “Could it look after our car until we come back to collect it. It’s not in a condition to drive down to Ashford and if he has to track down a new windscreen, that would take ages and we have to get moving so I thought we ought to take the train. We can settle up the bill after the funeral”

“I’m sure that would be fine” the lady replied, “I can get my daughter to run you over to the Harrietsham Railway station”

“That would be great” Shaun told her.

The lady went back into another part of the pub, so Shaun turned to Sarah, “We’ll abandon the car here and travel down to Ashford on the train.”

“But I don’t have a passport” Sarah objected, “you still need one to go to France, let alone Switzerland”
“Did Trevor have a passport?”

Sarah shook her head

“Either he had one he never told you about or he must have found a way around that” Shaun insisted, “Once we get to Ashford, we can find a WiFi outlet and I know a few tricks myself. I can hack into the Eurostar booking system and book us tickets”

“Passports?” Sarah asked again

“I’ll fix it Sarah, trust me” Shaun insisted

Sarah was sceptical that her Shaun could magic passports out of thin air, but being wanted for murder, she did not have too many options. If travelling outside of the UK was the only way to clear her name then it had to be that way.

The lady came back with a younger woman and they all went outside into the pub car park. Shaun took all the cases from the car and handed the keys over to the elderly lady. Then Sarah and Shaun got into a brown range rover and the younger woman drove through the village of Harrietsham to the railway station.

Shaun just had enough cash to pay for two day return tickets to Ashford, singles would have raised suspicion and the two of them got onto the platform.

With in a couple of minutes a train passing through Ashford arrived.

“That’s lucky” Shaun commented, “I was expecting to wait a lot longer than this”

The two of them boarded the train and found a table that they could sit at.

+ + +

The Roebuck Inn
Harrietsham, Kent
(One hour later)

The elderly lady was just about to open up when three large police officers came in accompanied by a plain clothes detective.

“Can I help you?” the lady asked

“Yes” Replied the detective, “I’m Chief Inspector Halsall on loan from the Greater Manchester Police Force and we have reason to believe that a young woman wanted in connection with a number of homicides and involvement with hard drugs and gang activity in that area, was here today”

The elderly lady did a double take “What?”

“We tracked certain activity from them on an internet site and according to the service providers they were accessing the internet from this establishment, in fact from a mobile device owned by your good self” the detective explained,

The elderly lady continued to say “what” in a state of disbelief at what was happening

“Maybe this will enlighten you” the detective sneered, and handed over a photograph to the elderly lady.

“Yes she was here officer” the elderly lady admitted, “She was here with a nice young man, but they said they were heading down to a funeral or something like that when their car got hit by a bird. It’s outside in the car park; the garage was going to look at it and the couple said they were going to collect it when they returned”

“Probably ditched it to do a runner” grunted one of the police officers
“But they seemed so genuine” protested the elderly lady

“Do you have the car keys?” the inspector asked in an irritated manner

The elderly woman hastily grabbed them from behind the bar and handed them over to the detective

The detective turned to one of the other police officers and handed him the keys. The police officer seemed to instinctively know what to do and left the pub for the car park.

“So” the detective sneered again, “Do you know where they went?”

“My daughter dropped them off at the railway station officer” The lady replied, “They were taking the train to Ashford”

“Did they say anything else?” The detective asked
“Only that they were looking for an old RAF base near here”
“Oh really?” the detective intoned, “And which one would that be?”

“I don’t know what it was called but from what I could gather officer they were looking for the one that used to be a public health laboratory, but that was demolished a while back by the council after a fire destroyed it a few years ago”

“That sound like them” the detective sneered, “Where is this mobile device they used while they were here?”

The lady pulled out her android phone, “I lent them this officer. My grandson gave it to me but I have no idea how you use them”

The detective picked up the phone and pulled out a plastic bag from his pocket. “I’m afraid we will have to confiscate this as evidence in an ongoing inquiry. I have to go now, but these officers will take you to the local police station as we need a statement. Plus we will need to speak with your daughter as well. Is she here?”

The elderly lady answered in the affirmative pointing to the back, at which point one of the officers went in to fetch her

“Ok” the elderly lady said nervously as the detective walked out of the pub. The elderly lady came out from behind the bar. At that point the remaining police officer pulled out a pair of handcuffs.

“I don’t understand” she protested, “I haven’t done anything wrong
“You are under arrest on suspicion of harbouring a known criminal and giving aid and comfort to a suspected terrorist” the police office replied as he handcuffed her hands behind her back.

“You do not have to say anything, but it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. anything you do say may be given in evidence” the officer told the old lady

Just then the other officer came out with the younger woman, also in handcuffs and protesting her innocence

The two police officers frogmarched the two women out of the pub. A moment later, from outside there was the sound of two gunshots…

+ + +

A Railway station Café
Ashford International Railway Station

“Well that’s the Eurostar tickets sorted” Shaun announced as he closed his notebook and drank his tea up.

Sarah sat quietly opposite him at the table, she found it hard to get out of her mind the scene just after Derek had been shot dead, and here they were, sitting at a café at the railway station in Ashford, Kent

“What about passports?” Sarah asked quietly, afraid she might anger Shaun, especially when he had every right to be angry with her for all the death she and her brother had brought upon him, his family and friends, even though Shaun said he did not hold it against her.
Shaun produced a passport from his jacket. “I always carry mine, just in case”

“But I don’t have one” Sarah insisted

Shaun appeared to sigh “I looked at the architecture plans for this station Sarah and I believe I have found a hole in their security” Shaun told Sarah, “I think we can get passed passport control Sarah. As a back up I have managed to hack into their CCTV system which will just keep looping pictures of empty corridors for about fifteen minutes”
“What about in France?” Sarah asked
“I have created you a virtual passport” Shaun whispered, “We say your passport has been reported as stolen and that it is in the middle of being replaced. If they ask for proof I give them this number and if they check up they will see details of the virtual passport”

Shaun showed Sarah a set of numbers he had written down on a scrap of paper, “The train is almost due and that loop I set up is not going to last much longer so let’s go”

Shaun approached the ticket office and went up to the window and recited some numbers from a piece of paper,

The man at the ticket office wrote them down, tapped them into his computer and handed over two tickets.

Shaun ushered Sarah over towards the security section where they were checking passports and then stopped her as a group of other travellers arrived, Shaun allowed the group to head for the security section, then while they were busy herded Sarah up a small corridor marked staff only, and then quickly led her through a brief maze of corridors before they came out onto a platform as the Eurostar train approached.

“What about crossing into Switzerland? What about money?” Sarah asked
“There’s an entrance to CERN from the French side” Shaun told her, “And as for the money thing, as soon as we are on the train I have a look at that”

Sarah just could not believe what was happening, because of her brother’s hacking activities he had been murdered and she had been framed, but not only that she had had to leave her home in Lancashire, now she had to leave England.

Could things get any worse?

+ + +

Outside the Ashford International Railway Station

A red car pulled up outside the station entrance, driven by an elderly man in his late fifties, with a man in his forties in the front passenger seat.

Together they watched as the Eurostar train left the station on its way to the Channel Tunnel and on to France

“I believe we are a bit too late” said the man in his late fifties, in his Eton accent.
“You don’t say” complained the younger of the two in his Manchester accent, a man in his forties, “I thought your major Eff was going to sort them out” he sneered, “And now we still have two rabbits off and running over to France.

“Yes” the elderly man replied after a long pause, “This is a bit disappointing”
“Disappointing! That’s an understatement Mr Reed” the younger man snapped back.
“Well according to the major” the elderly man went on, “They ran into a little complication and the good major had to deep clean one of his own men to ensure the integrity of the mission”
“In other words Mr Reed he had to kill one of his own men to prevent him talking” the younger man replied, “Anyway I thought they were going down to that old Annexe place you used to run, how come they ended up at Leeds Castle?”

The elderly man frowned for a moment, the only sign of emotion that the younger man had ever seen in this figure that seemed to come out of a cold war spy novel. “We had found a way to monitor Mr Johnson’s browsing activity, and his route planner sent him there. That was why I stopped following him and directed the team to meet them there”

“I thought you wanted this job down out of the public glare Mr Reed” the younger man said sarcastically, “A bl**dy tourist attraction is hardly out of the public gaze”
“It was not at the peak of the season for one thing my dear chap” the elderly man replied, “There were not that many civilians around anyway, and one of Major Ef’s team was a bit quick off the mark. It was most unprofessional of him”

“Well they must of taken out someone” the younger man went on, “The barmaid and her daughter I had deep cleaned as you put it, by the team you leant me said there were only two at the Roebuck, the girl and some other guy.”

“Probably Mr Chapman” the elderly man interrupted, “And by the way, why did you need to deep clean those two, they would not have had much information to disseminate to the wider world? It was so unnecessary”
“I thought that was how we operated Mr Reed” the younger man said in a hurt manner, “Remove all possible security breaches by whatever means in the name of national security. Mind you Mr Reed, those guys you leant me to play coppers were very convincing. They could have fooled me and easily have passed off as members of my own force”

The elderly man tut-tutted, “Well I suppose it was your call inspector, I would not have done that myself”

“If you are worried Mr Reed, there is no way they can trace it back to us” the younger man assured the elder man, “I know what coppers look for so I made sure they left nothing”

“That’s not the point my dear chap” the elderly man remonstrated, “two deaths in that small village will be bound to attract unwelcome attention” the elderly man rebuked the younger man, “You must learn discretion as well as patience”

“Well, sorry I’m just not used to this cloak and dagger stuff, it’s new to me” the younger man retorted, “I’ve seen lags who beat up old grannies walk away scot free because the poor old dears were found too confused to testify. This is the first time I have been able to take direct action to keep us all safe against the scum that knows how to beat the system. This is the first time”

“And there by hangs your problem” the elderly man interrupted, “You have a lot of anger still in you inspector. You need to let it go. In our world we have shifting allegiances; your enemy today can be an ally tomorrow”
“And visa versa I suppose” the younger man snapped back
“Quite” the elder man agreed.
“So now what?” the younger man asked

The elderly man started the car up and pulled back out into traffic. “We head to the nearest airfield and get over to France to intercept that train” the elderly man answered, “Our employer has access to a fast jet will suffice and is on friendly terms with elements in the French government who will give us full co-operation”

“And then we find them and terminate them with extreme prejudice as they say” the younger man growled
“Well the man yes” the elderly man replied, “There has been a change of plan. The girl we need to take alive.”
“If we can!” the younger man sneered
The elderly man ignored this insubordinate interruption, “Our employer” he went on emphatically “has plans for her”

To be continued