Danny Dempsey and the Unlikely Alliance (21 page)

‘Why, she'll be immediately released, Mr. Dawson,' Myles replied, pretending to be surprised at being asked such a question. ‘What on earth made you think otherwise?'

Matthew wasn't convinced by this assurance, earnest though it appeared to be. ‘She's an innocent child,' he said, fighting to keep the tears from springing to his eyes. ‘If you'd allow me to talk to her, I assure you she'll tell the authorities nothing whatsoever about her experience. She's a clever little girl, and once I've convinced her it's for her own safety - -'

‘Please, Mr. Dawson!' Myles interrupted, ‘No more talk of that kind, if you will. You've nothing to fear in that direction. Anyway, your granddaughter won't be capable of assisting the authorities even if she wished to. The necessary precautions to ensue that will be taken when the time to release her arrives.'

‘What do you mean?' Matthew blurted, beginning to think that his fears were correct in the first place. ‘You can do as you wish with me, but surely - -'.

‘Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear!' Myles once more cut him short. ‘What sort of person do you take me for, Mr Dawson?'

Matthew was too distraught to tell him exactly what sort of person he thought he was. The contradictions in the man's answers were confusing him, and he decided not to antagonise him if he could at all refrain from doing so. On the one hand he was saying that Lily would be released, yet on the other was maintaining she wouldn't be able to tell the police anything even if she wanted to.

What did he mean by that? Someone who'd done what he had was capable of anything, and terrifying memories of what had befallen innocent kidnap victims in cases he'd read about in the past flashed across Matthew's mind like unspeakable nightmares. Finally Matthew could bear it no longer. ‘For pity's sake tell me what you mean!' he heard himself shout, ‘What are you going to do to her!'

‘You're distressing yourself again, Mr. Dawson. Please, I beg you, calm yourself. I'm not a barbarian, as you so rightly pointed out earlier, but I can see you're not prepared to take my word at face value no matter how many assurances I give you. So be it. I suppose as your host, I'm obliged to convince you otherwise.' He smiled his warmest, most charming smile, at the same time taking a mobile out of his pocket and tapping in some numbers. ‘I'll arrange a demonstration to put your mind at rest.' He placed the phone to his ear. ‘Mr. Tattoo, please make your way to Mr. Dawson's room immediately. And bring your drinking straws with you.'

Matthew stared at him, more perplexed now than at the commencement of their conversation. He wouldn't help wondering if he was being held prisoner by a madman, however charismatic he might be. Heaven help both himself and Lily if he was right.

L
inda Ladybird certainly wasn't going to be upstaged by Madam Noseybeak on this occasion if she could help it. Two of her most reliable scouts, Laura and Lorraine, had reported back to her ten minutes after the conclusion of the meeting in the police station. She realised Danny hadn't snubbed her own airborne squadrons deliberately the last time he'd required assistance, but a reminder of their capabilities wouldn't go astray either. Ever since Aloysius had called the meeting outlining Danny's request that his woodland friends should keep their eyes and ears open for anything that might lead to rescuing the kidnap victims, Linda had put her entire force of winged commandos on red alert.

Laura and Lorraine had reported back to her most of the details of the meeting in the police station. They'd slipped in through a tiny crack at the base of the windowsill, and had memorised what they'd seen and heard. They'd been careful in maintaining vigilance where the parrot was concerned, hiding themselves in the angled recess where they couldn't be seen. Parrots being tropical birds, neither of them knew whether or not ladybirds formed part of their diet. Not being overanxious to discover their preference one way or the other, they'd ensured to keep well out of sight as they went about their business.

Linda commended them on their exploits. She was intrigued to learn of Mr. Pearson's recruitment. Neither Lorraine nor Laura were able to explain fully the mechanics of what had gone on during the experiment on Harrington, having never seen anything quite like it in their lives before. Laura said she though Mr. Pearson was some sort of hypnotist, while Lorraine said she wouldn't like to venture an opinion, being apprehensive at the time that she herself might possibly get caught in the beam's firing line. All they knew in relation to Mr. Pearson was that he
did
incredible things, but seemed reluctant to explain
how
he did them.

Linda dismissed them both, then studied the configurations of Aloysius's map they'd memorised and expertly reconstructed for her by flying in convoluted formations for five minutes until it was firmly embedded in her mind. All she had to do after they'd finished was close her eyes to project it from her brain onto the screen which all ladybirds carried inside their heads. It was so much easier to compute information in this manner, with no possibility of losing it or having it stolen. If, and here Linda couldn't resist a self-satisfied little smile, it was written down or recorded as per Madam Noseybeak's methods, it
could
be mislaid. Once inside a ladybird's brain, though, it was safer than being in Fort Knox.

Linda had lookouts posted at all vantage points leading to the woodlands. The second Danny was seen heading in its direction, she was to be instantly informed. This could be done by one unit of the squadron flying in close formation in the shape of the letter D past the bush under which her headquarters was situated. And it was to be carried out once and once only.

On no account were they to continue with the exercise after the flyby. They were to disintegrate into single specks and return to base to await further orders. Her subordinates didn't have to be told the necessity for such caution. They already knew that Linda was worried that if Madam Noseybeak saw the D flying round and round the woods, it wouldn't be long before she'd be on the lookout for Danny herself. This time, Linda wasn't taking any chances at being left out of the action.

*

Of course, Linda wasn't to know that Madam Noseybeak had already sought out Ferdinand to pry everything she could from him as soon as she discovered he'd been the source of the original bulletin. Why Mrs Vixen hadn't summoned
her
instead of Aloysius she'd never understand. Not in a million years!

Ever since Aloysius had called the meeting, she'd had a giant bee in her bonnet. Not because of the meeting itself, but that she hadn't been the one prevailed upon to arrange it. After all, she
was
the most influential member of the woodland fraternity by a mile! And being held in such high regard by everyone
,
with the exception of the cats, she thought Aloysius might at least have had the good manners to choose her to announce Danny's request to all the other creatures.

But no! Oh, no! He had to make that announcement himself, if you don't mind! And the manner in which he did wasn't at all in keeping with the low-key way someone like herself would have done so. Looking for notice more than anything else, Madam Noseybeak had thought to herself at the time. Trotting into the clearing with his head aloof, those artificial antlers of his newly polished for the occasion, so full of his own self-importance that it would make you wish he'd trip over something to take him down a peg or two. Then planting his forelegs on a tree-stump and gazing around importantly before addressing the assemblage, instead of getting on with it as any normal individual would do. Only
thrilled
with himself that Danny had approached him to do the honours.

Of course, the reason Danny did so was pretty simple in Madam Noseybeak's eyes. Danny had obviously come looking for her, but had been waylaid by Aloysius on the way. That had to be it. Had Danny encountered her first, the listening animals wouldn't have had to put up with all that pompous showboating and attention-seeking Aloysius carried on with, instead of getting straight to the point. Heaven knows what he'd be like if he possessed even one tenth of
her
competence and common sense.

*

The keen competition to be the first to greet Danny when he arrived resulted in the fact that there wasn't a single woodland creature who didn't know exactly what was going on now. Word of Ferdinand's discovery spread like wildfire. Aloysius wasn't at all pleased about this leaking of information. Naturally, once Madam Noseybeak had descended on Mrs. Vixen's den and interrogated the world's most famous future explorer, that was it. Aloysius wasn't the only one put out to have his thunder commandeered by that – that interfering bundle of feathers.

Linda Ladybird could hardly contain her annoyance either. She'd a good mind to order her squadrons to dive-bomb Madam Noseybeak's headquarters with acorns in the dead of night in reprisal.

Danny had no small task in settling everybody down when he finally arrived. Time was at a premium, and Charlie had been ordered to transform into the role he loved above all others, the famous flying goat, whom lots of people talked about, but only a few, Mrs. Pearson included, claimed to have actually seen. The goat was by far the fastest mode of transport at Danny's disposal, and was now drawing glances of admiration from all and sundry. Even Aloysius, though he'd seen Charlie in that form the night he'd been under the weather and had his antlers shorn, was every bit as impressed now as when he'd first laid eyes on him.

Danny dismounted amid a cacophony of bleats, coos, bellows and flapping. Some of his friends, he sensed immediately, were far from happy. He told Charlie to take a stroll amongst the trees and chomp on some grass if he felt like it.

‘All right,' Danny said, after holding up his hands for hush. ‘What's the matter? I don't have a lot of time today. All I did was come to thank everyone for their help, but unless I'm mistaken, I seem to have come at the wrong time.'

‘Well, it's just not fair!' a voice piped in his ear. He hadn't even realised Linda had landed on his shoulder. ‘Just because we're small, we're overlooked all the time.'

‘What are you talking about, Linda?' Danny asked, twisting his neck to look at her properly. ‘Every time I need a bit of luck, ladybirds are the first ones I turn to.'

‘But we could do so much more!' Linda insisted. ‘There are millions of us. We could swarm that hideout before they knew what hit them.'

‘It's not that simple, Linda,' Danny replied. ‘I - -'.

‘It's obvious you haven't given any
proper
thought to this campaign, Linda!' Madam Noseybeak interrupted from where she was perched on the lower branch of a tree. ‘Now, the way it
should
be approached -

Then everyone chipped in, drowning out everyone else. Aloysius was trying to put forward his proposal for a specialised darts team to lead the assault, but his voice was lost in the general babble. Ollie the otter, having dragged himself from his sick bed, was hopping up and down, trying to restore order so that he could put forward his own plan. Which nobody would have heard anyway, even if he did get round to offering it, due to the fact that he was coughing and sneezing so much.

Bartholomew the badger was all for tunnelling under the hideout and taking them by surprise by breaking up through the floorboards. He had hundreds of relations who'd be only be too happy to make a concerted attack from all points of the compass. Those heartless kidnappers wouldn't know a thing about it until the moment they were pounced on.

Of course, this scheme, sensible though it was, went unheard in the overall bedlam. Snippets of ingenuity were flying in all directions, clashing into each other and being dashed to pieces.

Danny, from the few intermittent words he could pick out, was perfectly aware that everything was being brought to his attention out of the goodness of his friend's hearts. He was also aware that should he select one of their options, that's if could hear what it was, further bickering would ensue. No matter what he did, there was bound to be serious sulking to contend with. And he didn't want that. As far as he was concerned, it was a case of too many cooks, etc, etc, etc. So, not for the first time, he had to call on all his diplomatic skills to try and keep everyone happy.

‘You've done more than enough already,' he declared, after he'd somehow managed to restore order by cupping his hands into a makeshift megaphone and called for silence. ‘The Superintendent asked me to tell you how grateful he is to everyone. He thinks an entire team of detectives wouldn't have been as successful as you have. When I told him how everybody had chipped in and cooperated so unselfishly with each other, he couldn't believe it. If he could only get the same level of commitment from humans, he said his job would be made an awful lot easier.'

Muted murmurs of agreement greeted this pronouncement, accompanied with a great deal of satisfied head-nodding. Madam Noseybeak all but nodded hers off altogether, so enthusiastic was she to be seen to concur with those very sentiments. She had a low opinion of the capabilities of humans at the best of times, and having it confirmed by one of their own nearly caused her to break the branch she was perched on, she was bobbing up and down so much.

‘But the thing is,' Danny continued ‘We can't take any chances on this operation. If too many of us converge on them together, heaven knows what might happen if they saw us coming. You do all understand that, don't you?'

There were sighs of disappointment all round. Madam Noseybeak gave a few extra, long drawn-out ones to let everyone know she was much more disappointed than the rest of them. Bartholomew was also considering if he should point out that nobody would see
his
battalion coming, but thought better of it. One or two or his impatient cousins could possibly surface too soon and gave the game away. He'd never be able to face Danny again if anything like that happened.

‘Of course we understand, Danny,' Linda squeaked into his ear, giving Madam Noseybeak a look which a suspicious individual might possibly have construed as smug. ‘But don't forget to call again if you need me. I'll keep my forces on red alert just in case. And on behalf of the
entire
community, may I wish you the best of ladybird luck.'

‘Why, thank you, Linda!' Danny replied, as Madam Noseybeak sought to keep herself from simmering with indignation at this turn of events. ‘And thank you all for your time and support. You've been simply wonderful, each and every one of you.'

Which went a long way to mollifying even Madam Noseybeak. Like the rest of the woodland creatures, hearing praise from Danny was like music to her ears. She wasn't even harbouring any ungracious thoughts about Linda as she watched Charlie emerge from the trees on Danny's whistle of command. She was as fascinated as everyone else seeing him leap aboard the winged goat's back and been borne away to face the most dangerous mission of his life.

*

Teddy Tattoo entered the room not thirty seconds after receiving his Boss's instructions. He was bare-chested, barefooted, and wore tracksuit bottoms. Teddy had been pumping iron in the gym when he'd received the summons, yet there wasn't a bead of perspiration in evidence of the fact. He was breathing evenly, the snakes, dragons and blood-dripping daggers in which his skin was covered undulating gently with his movements.

He carried four drinking-straws, two held lightly in either hand. Matthew was reminded of a strongman in a circus he'd once brought Lily to as a special treat for one of her birthdays, the only difference being that the circus strongman carried steel bars into the ring with him, which he bent into various shapes as his act progressed. Matthew couldn't help thinking drinking-straws looked very much out of place in the hands of this particular performer. He wondered what they were for.

‘Ah, Mr. Tattoo!' Moran greeted his
special
employee pleasantly. ‘Prompt and punctual as usual, I see. Allow me to introduce you to our guest. I don't believe you two gentlemen have encountered each other before.' He smiled broadly, nodding from Matthew to Teddy, then reversing the procedure. ‘Mr. Dawson, Mr. Tattoo. Mr Tattoo, Mr. Dawson.'

Teddy bowed his head reverentially in Matthew's direction as though in the presence of royalty. Matthew ignored the introduction, despite the imposing presence Teddy represented. Matthew stood there, grim-faced and unsmiling, not even bothering to so much as acknowledge that another person had entered the room. At the back of his mind, though, he couldn't help but wonder what was coming next. Drinking-straws? If they were somehow intended to intimidate him, he couldn't begin to imagine how. He also wondered if there was any significance in the fact that they were they were all of different colours, green, blue, red and yellow.