Danny Dempsey and the Unlikely Alliance (27 page)

‘They're ricochets, Harrington!' the Superintendent, from more or less the same position, hissed back. ‘Just keep down until the firing stops.'

‘Don't worry,' Harrington assured him, ‘I will. But where is it coming from?'

‘Rebounding from our two captives over there,' Mr. Pearson explained. ‘Someone's trying to kill them, but they're wasting their time. They could use an elephant gun and they still wouldn't be able to penetrate the invisible cocoons they're enveloped in.'

‘Invisible cocoons!' Harrington said incredulously. ‘What invisible cocoons?'

The shooting stopped just as abruptly as it had begun. Myles Moran, watching on his monitor, had issued the command that the snipers be withdrawn. He'd never seen anything quite like it in his life. Well, he had, taking Mr. Tattoo's many wondrous gifts into consideration, but this was certainly on a par with the best of them. Myles realised there were people out there who were very interesting indeed. He gazed at his monitor more closely. Yes, it was definitely Mr. Nelligan and Mr. Desmond, not two statues constructed in their likeness. And as far as he could make out, both were still very much alive, though rigid and unmoving, as though they'd somehow been solidified. And they certainly hadn't reached that state of suspended animation of their own accord. He turned on his sound to see if he could pick up on any information to explain this extraordinary phenomena. It would certainly be to his benefit in the future if he could learn how it had been accomplished. But what he heard wasn't at all helpful.

‘It's far too complicated to go into the details now,' Mr. Pearson was replying to Harrington's question. ‘And not being rude or anything, but I don't think you'd understand even if I had the time to tell you. You'd need to be an electronics expert to grasp the concept.'

‘At least the shooting's stopped,' the Superintendent said, relieved. ‘And thanks to Mr. Pearson's gadget, Desmond and Nelligan haven't been harmed.'

Myles picked up his ears. A gadget? Mr. Pearson? And someone who was well acquainted with Mr. Desmond and Mr. Nelligan? Miss Conway had been right. It had to be the forces of law and order out there, in whatever guise they may have arrived in. But he was still at a loss as to the boy's presence. Myles decided he'd very much like to capture these intruders alive. It would be positively wasteful to have them eliminated until he'd had them interrogated and discovered the workings of this more than useful
gadget
of Mr. Pearson's. He turned off the sound system, realising that he wasn't going to hear anything more of interest at the moment, seeing as Mr Pearson had already told one of his companions there was no point in talking to him about the gadget's workings. But he'll talk to
me,
Myles told himself. Just as soon they've all been lured into my clutches, he'll be only too pleased to tell me everything to satisfy my curiosity. I'm sure he'll reveal exactly what I wish to know, especially after considering some unpleasant alternatives I'll outline to him in detail should he be foolish enough to maintain his silence.

He contacted Anna and told her the visitors were to be allowed to approach the house without being shot at. He'd explain his reasons later.

‘What's going on, Boss?' Anna asked, awe in her voice. ‘Were you watching what's been happening out there?'

‘Indeed I was, Miss Conway, indeed I was. A remarkable performance, wouldn't you say? And something which we must most definitely investigate further. I want these people captured alive. I believe Mr. Tattoo is the gentleman for that particular task. Please have him contact me immediately. There are a few things I wish to inform him about regarding our guests. Even one as gifted as he may find it prudent to be cautious where they are concerned. After a word in his ear regarding what to expect, I'm certain Mr. Tattoo will relish the encounter.'

‘And the email, Boss?' Anna asked. ‘Has it arrived yet?'

‘I'm afraid not. But I'm quite confident it will before the deadline.'

‘And – and if not?' Anna all but whispered into her speaker. ‘What then?'

‘Why ask when you already know the answer, Miss Conway?' Myles replied softly. ‘Under no circumstances can we break our sacred promise.'

After she'd been cut off, Anna looked at her wristwatch. There was too little time left as far as she was concerned. She hoped she wouldn't be the one ordered to shoot Lily if it ran out completely.

‘
They'll pick us off like sitting ducks if we so much as show our noses beyond that gate,' the Superintendent said grimly.

‘These peashooters we have are no match for the sort of firepower they've got in there.'

‘But we can't just do nothing, sir!' Harrington hissed in frustration.

‘Do you think I don't know that, Harrington? Eh? I'm every bit as anxious as you are to storm the barricades. But we're not going to achieve anything by getting ourselves killed, are we? They
know
we're here. The second one of us pops our head out, it's liable to be blown off.'

‘What we need is something unexpected,' Danny said, eyeing Charlie and going through the possibilities in his mind. ‘Something to make them sit up and take notice.'

‘Getting them to sit up and take notice is about the
last
thing we want them to do,' Harrington said irritably. ‘What we really need is to take them by surprise, not the other way around.'

‘Oh, they'll be surprised all right, don't worry about that.' Danny replied, glancing at the Superintendent questioningly for confirmation to be allowed to proceed.

The Superintendent arched his eyebrows in puzzlement before nodding his head in agreement. He'd no idea what Danny had in mind, but it wouldn't be the first time he'd come up with something special when it was desperately required.

*

Teddy Tattoo had been given his orders. Once issued to him by his master, his programmed mind didn't think any further about them one way or the other. They were imprinted on his brain, and failure was out of the question. What his master required to be done, Teddy took as his sacred duty to carry out to the letter. The intruders were to be captured alive, and under no circumstances were to receive any unnecessary injuries. Should force be unavoidable, then the minimum was to be applied. A broken arm or leg or suchlike would be acceptable if found to be absolutely imperative in the case of the two more formidable looking police officers, but beyond that, Myles had instructed, Mr. Tattoo should not venture. The thin rake of a man and the boy should present no problems whatsoever against the range of Mr. Tattoo's versatility. All four were to be conveyed back to the house in a suitably fit condition for interrogation. Teddy had listened in silence before setting off to fulfil his mission.

*

Matthew Dawson had been alarmed on hearing the gunfire coming from overhead. He wondered if the building was under siege. He sincerely hoped not. The thought of what might happen Lily if their captors thought they had been discovered was too horrible to dwell upon. Their leader had already made it abundantly clear what the outcome would be if anything other than a successful conclusion to his plans occurred. But the remarkable thing was, even though he could vaguely visualise his conversations with the man, he couldn't for the life of him remember what he looked like. He supposed he shouldn't find it all that remarkable. After all, it had been explained to him that the brainwashing he'd undergone would be responsible for his lack of recall, yet he still couldn't but be in awe at how it had been achieved. Even now, when the doctor or one of the waiters entered his bedroom to see to his needs, the second they'd left and locked the door behind them again, their faces completely disappeared from his memory bank, just as though he were suffering from instant amnesia. And he'd no doubt the same procedure had been carried out on Lily.

When the firing had ceased overhead, Matthew had felt an instant sense of relief. There hadn't appeared to be any gunfire returned. Perhaps those on the roof had been merely shooting at crows or something. Pressing continually on Matthew's mind was whether or not the ransom would ever be paid. From his knowledge of politicians in general, he knew that each and every one of them always did exactly what suited their own best interests. Nothing more, nothing less. With a national election not too far down the road, perhaps they'd deem it prudent to bow to public pressure and make the transfer. Matthew would have been horrified to learn that the Minister for Justice had received a phone call not too long ago to call off the payment. But then, neither was he aware that plans were afoot not all that far from his prison bedroom in an attempt to bring about his own and Lily's rescue. But had he seen the manner in which his potential rescuers were dressed, it's doubtful that Matthew would have given much for their chances.

*

Lily hadn't spoken to Anna once since the fateful night she'd been recaptured. She refused all Anna's efforts to communicate with her. When Anna tried to coax her to talk, Lilly's covered both her ears with her hands and stared at anything and everything but Anna, determined that no matter what was put to her, she wasn't going to speak. At first, Anna was under the impression that she'd been so badly traumatised after Teddy had plucked her from the oak tree, her mind had subconsciously cut itself off from reality. Anna had done the same thing herself, without realising it until years afterwards, when her beloved Father had deserted her. After an initial period of grief, her brain automatically shut down in relation to his leaving. It went into a special compartment of her mind, locked behind a great big sturdy door with a sign on it declaring:
No Entry.

But Lily was an extremely brave and stubborn little girl, and had made up her mind the second she'd woken from her recapturing ordeal, that no matter what, she wasn't going to have anything more to do with Anna ever again. When she thought of the horrid lies she'd been told from the moment she'd been abducted from school that day, it filled her with nothing but contempt for Anna. Certainly she'd been frightened very badly on seeing the huge arm covered in snakes and blood and stuff which had encircled her waist after she'd tried to escape. She hadn't heard a single rustling leaf beforehand to warn her of what was coming, so it was little wonder she'd fainted straight away. But that was over now. She hadn't been mistreated since. She was being held for ransom, she now knew, and hadn't the slightest doubt that her Daddy would pay them whatever they'd demanded. Of course, she
was
worried that it was taking so long, but consoled herself by telling herself that it was probably taking her Daddy time to get all the ransom money together.

Lily had read enough children's adventure books to be aware of the way kidnappers demanded to be paid. It would have to be in small, untraceable banknotes. Loads and loads and loads of them. So they were going to take a long time to count and stack and wrap in that special banded paper that banks used. Sometimes the police tried to insist that dye be put on some of the money so that they could try and trace it afterwards and catch the kidnappers. But Lily knew that her Daddy wouldn't allow that. Sometimes when that happened in books, the kidnappers got very angry when they discovered the dye, and did terrible things to the hostages. Lily wasn't worried about that at all. Her Daddy loved her so much he wouldn't risk anything happening to her. There'd be no dye on
her
ransom money and, when it finally arrived, she'd be back home with her parents in no time. Lily firmly believed that was exactly what was going to happen.

She didn't even pretend she was frightened a few days ago when Anna brought that huge man with all those scary tattoos on him into the room she was sitting in. She was scared, though. Anyone would have been. But Lily tried not to show it. At first it hadn't been easy, but, and she hated to admit it, there was something actually
nice
about him, and she found pretty soon that she wasn't scared of him any more. It was funny. Anna must have brought him to try and amuse her or to get her to talk or something. Because he suddenly began to do tricks with candles. Then stood on his head and stared into her eyes. After that, Lily didn't remember an awful lot. His eyes seemed to radiate a green light, but she probably only imagined that. Then he vanished altogether, and she didn't know whether she'd been dreaming or not. And now she couldn't even remember what he looked like. How silly was that? She was even beginning to forget what Anna looked like when she wasn't actually in the room with her. And a good job too as far as Lily was concerned. She never wanted to see her ever again, either, once her Daddy had paid these awful people.

*

‘Give me fifteen minutes,' Danny said. ‘And don't any of you try to be heroes. Stay behind the gate until I get back.' He knelt down beside Charlie.

The Superintendent sighed, then started talking to no one in particular. ‘It never fails. I just wish he'd give us some inkling what he's up to, that's all.' He addressed the back of the gate earnestly, as Danny was whispering into Charlie's ear. ‘Surely that's not too much to ask, is it? Eh?' But the gate didn't pass comment on whether or not it agreed with him.

Harrington was thinking along similar lines, though not in relation to Danny. He was recalling the number of times the Superintendent had sprung surprises on him, especially on the very first day he'd walked into his office unannounced. Between being inspected for
knuckle dust
and invited to instruct the Superintendent how to putt properly, Harrington hadn't known whether he was on his head or his heels. And now here he was himself, champing on the bit to do something useful, but was being ordered by
Danny
to cool his heels for another fifteen minutes. If he didn't explode from sheer frustration, it would be a miracle. As a matter of fact, he doubted if he could stand the tension for that length of time. The Superintendent and Mr. Pearson had their backs turned to him, both watching Danny whispering into the mangy mongrel's ear.

Two second later, Danny was astride the winged goat and speeding on his way up the rutted track, keeping a mere two feet from the ground in an attempt to conceal his departure from those inside the house. If they did have him under observation, so be it. It couldn't be helped. Then he was gone. And when The Superintendent and Mr. Pearson turned around, Harrington had also disappeared. They looked at each other, Mr Person expressing trepidation, the Superintendent annoyance. ‘He just couldn't wait, could he? Eh?' he declared. ‘Though what he thinks he's going to achieve on his own is anybody's guess.' He sighed and shook his head. ‘Harrington's problem is that he's far too brave for his own good.'

‘What now?' Mr. Pearson asked quietly. ‘We can't very well leave him to face them on his own. We'll have to go in after him, Superintendent.'

The Superintendent was having mixed feelings about Harrington. He was torn between admiration for his courage and anger at his impulsiveness. ‘Do you know anything about firearms, Mr. Pearson?' he asked.

‘I'm afraid not, Superintendent.'

‘Then you stay here and wait for Danny. I suppose I'd better take your advice, even if it is against my better judgement. That was high-powered rifle fire we were being subjected to earlier. Wish me luck.'

‘Why don't you call for back-up, Superintendent? ‘Mr. Pearson asked helpfully, hoping he'd used the proper police term for reinforcements. ‘I really think that would be the most sensible thing to do.'

‘But not in this case, I'm afraid. It's too risky. It would only put the hostages lives at risk. These types of criminals would have no compunction about killing them at the first sign of a SWAT team.

‘Tell Danny we're gone on ahead.'

‘I really think I should be going in there with - -'.

‘I said stay here, Mr. Pearson! And that's not a request, it's an order!' came the brusque reply.

Then, before Mr. Pearson could make any further protest, the Superintendent, Dapper's Glock at the ready, slipped through the steel gate, thinking to himself of the dressing-down he'd batter Harrington's ears with if either of them were lucky enough to come out of this alive.

*

Harrington was surveying the building from about a hundred yards distance. He'd crawled every inch of the way from the gate to reach the cover of a cluster of bushes facing the house. He lay on his stomach and peered out through the latticed foliage. They'd certainly gone to enormous lengths to camouflage it so brilliantly. Only for Ferdinand's expedition that night, it was more than likely the house would never have been discovered. Even from where he lay, Harrington couldn't make out where the entrance was. He'd have to get closer before deciding on his plan of action. If he could get inside, he was sure he'd be capable of dealing with whatever came his way. Or die in the attempt. He was a bit surprised that there were no guards in evidence. But then, they could be concealed anywhere in all that tangled vegetation. There were two huge old oak trees standing at the bottom of a slight incline another sixty yards ahead. Harrington peered in all directions before easing himself from his cover and rolling bodily down towards the trees. He made it safely, then knelt behind one of the oaks, cautiously surveying the house in an effort to locate the entrance. His heart beat a little faster when his eyes finally found it, and faster yet when he saw that the door appeared to be slightly ajar. His luck was in, and he'd no doubt the element of surprise the gods of justice had seen fit to favour him with was an omen which boded well towards the success of his mission.

He slid his hand into his dirty tramp's jacket pocket, closing his fingers comfortingly around the butt of his gun. He took it out, ensured the magazine was full, then released the safety catch. As he stood up, Harrington felt the faintest tingle in the area at the back of his neck. It was as though he'd been touched briefly by a gentle breeze. Teddy Tattoo had been stalking him ever since he'd taken his first step inside the gate. Harrington heard nothing as Teddy crept up behind him and rendered him unconscious, his thumbs exerting no more pressure than that of a butterfly's wing.