Dory's Avengers (33 page)

‘Looking for someone, Dyer? Not my son, I hope.'

‘No, Your Lordship…'

‘Is my son in the family room, Dyer?'

‘Yes, Your Lordship.'

‘Alone?'

‘No, Your Lordship.'

‘Well don't be shy, who's he with? Young Catherine? That's nice, isn't it? It is Christmas after all, which is why I'm prepared to overlook you helping yourself to a little festive treat this morning.'

Dyer predictably coloured up with embarrassment, and Lord William smiled without warmth.

‘My son does not want your attentions again, Dyer. Ever.'

‘Lord William, I thought you said…'

‘Ever. I thought I had made that clear. Stay away from Lord Theodore, or the consequences will be grave for you, Dyer! Now, off you go! Merry Christmas!'

Smiling at Dyer's insincere return of his festive greeting, Lord William opened the door of the family room. His son and Catherine Lorimer were wrapped tightly around each other, kissing passionately and oblivious once again to the door opening until His Lordship called Theo's name.

‘Put the young lady down now, please, Theodore! Catherine my dear, your parents are ready to go home. Finish up here, then join us in the drawing room, please!'

As the door closed behind his father, Theo calmed the panicking Catherine.

‘We'd better do as we're told,' he said, running his fingers through her hair. ‘But I'll see you again soon. His Lordship always hosts a Boxing Day drinks party; I'm hoping you and your parents will be among the guests. Come on now, Cathie. Let's go.'

Pausing to kiss her one more time, Theo grabbed Catherine's hand and led her back to the company at the front of the house. To his relief, her parents didn't look at
all put out to see their daughter emerge from the shadows hand in hand with Lord Theodore. Both adored their only child, and to see the painfully shy girl glowing with happiness made their Christmas.

Having seen their guests out, the St Benedict family, with the addition of Adam, made their way back upstairs. Lord William seemed to be full of the Christmas spirit, and was very affable as he chatted to Rosanna's boyfriend.

‘Your parents coming to dinner tomorrow, young Foster?' he said, Adam being the son of the Sports Sponsorship Directors. ‘I shall look forward to that. Theodore; you played a blinder tonight, son. Catherine would jump through hoops if you asked her to. Well done; I think I'll be seeing a lot more of the head of Europe Logistics UK!'

‘Actually, Your Lordship, I genuinely like-'

‘Tomorrow, Theodore. I'm tired now, and Santa won't visit if I'm not asleep like a good boy. Sponsored Santa, naturally! Goodnight, all.'

Chuckling at his own wit, Lord William made his way up to bed. Turning to Marina in the hope of a chat about Catherine before they called it a night, Theo was taken aback by the hostility in his little sister's eyes.

‘I'm tired too,' she said. ‘Tired and disillusioned. Goodnight.'

‘Mari…'

‘NO, Theo! I thought you really liked Catherine; now I find it's just a ruse to help Father and the Scheme. She's already in love with you, Theo, and you're just going to break her heart…'

Fighting tears, Marina ran up to her room, so disappointed in her brother.

‘Nice one, Theodore,' said Rosanna smugly, taking Adam's hand and heading for the stairs. ‘Ads and I have better things to do than chat to Father's latest lapdog. Sweet dreams, little bro.' Left alone on the second floor, his high
spirits dampened by Marina's stinging words, Theo almost found himself longing for the uncomplicated Christmas Eves spent locked in his room.

Many miles north, a very different evening was being enjoyed in the defiantly Unsponsored White Lion Inn. As usual, the entertainment was provided by Dory's Avengers, who were still euphoric about having a potential Olympic gymnast in their midst, and were deaf to Gideon's sporadic attempts to put things into perspective.

‘Even His Lordshit doesn't have control over the Olympics,' he'd say every so often. ‘Despite the fact he thinks he rules the world.'

Ignoring Gideon, Louis's friends would haul their gymnast up on stage and present him with a gold medal while Alan struck up ‘God Save the Queen' on the guitar. The medal had been hastily made for Louis by Jenny as soon as she'd grasped the significance of her brother's encounter with Lord William. A large disc of cardboard, painted yellow and strung with a length of Jenny's hair ribbon, did the job nicely until Louis could bring home the real thing in the summer. Louis found himself smiling and waving through medal ceremony after medal ceremony while his friends celebrated wildly. Although Louis secretly shared Gideon's doubts about Lord William's ability to include him in British gymnastics team on a whim, he didn't want to be the one to curb his friends' enthusiasm. His Lordship's whim had already furnished Gideon's studio with brand new, state of the art gymnastic equipment, which had even delighted the eternally cynical Gideon. The old equipment, bought many years before by Elliot Farrell and used by Louis from the moment he'd grown tall enough, was now stored in The White Lion's huge cellar. It had so much sentimental value for Louis, and for all the people who had loved Elliot, that Dex had promised to keep it safe for posterity.

At first, a lot of Dory's Avengers had shared Abi and Gideon's concerns about the idea of tackling the Sponsors very publicly at the Games, but by Christmas Eve everyone had decided it would be the perfect opportunity. Abi still had nightmares about Dyer dealing with Louis as he'd dealt with her father, but at least this time she wouldn't be around to have to cope with the pain of loss. If Lord William's thugs were going to take her boyfriend down, they'd have to tear her apart to get to him!

Matilda, unsurprisingly, embraced what Gideon had called Louis's wild notion with her usual enthusiasm. Shrieking her delight when she'd heard Louis's news, she immediately recognised the chance it gave them.

‘We'll expose His Lordshit and his bastards, and the whole world will be there to watch!'

By Christmas Eve, her spirits weren't dampened one jot by the caution of some of her friends. Every so often she'd halt the band and announce what she was going to do to various high-ranking Sponsors.

‘O'Reilly's gonna get his crystal ball wrapped round his head. Bet he won't see that coming!'

‘I'm going to tie His Lordshit and Bitch Rose back to back and float them off down the river on a burning boat!'

‘Abi, Cam; I know Dyer's yours to finish, but can I give him a kick in the bollocks for my dad…'

‘I'll do that myself, with pleasure,' said Alan. ‘Nice and hard – make sure he'll never be able to reproduce!'

‘Yeah, he can have some sore nuts from me too while we're about it,' added Dex.

‘Well, that's settled,' said Matilda, laughing her wild laugh. ‘I'm sure no one's going to mind if Dyer ends up with very sore genitals?'

‘Not at all, Matty,' replied Abi with a grin, ‘you won't find me arguing!'

Lysander took everything in as he sat with Nicola,
enjoying the informal company of the Unsponsored more and more each time he came home. Just as he was feeling surprised that Dory's Avengers talked so freely in front of him, Max turned and said, ‘Guys, remember there's a Sponsor in our midst!'

‘Yes,' replied Matilda, shrieking with laughter again. ‘You, Maxwell!'

‘I meant…'

‘I know, Moronis Maximus. Just remember we let you in. Lysander's got to have his chance too.'

Walking over to Lysander, Matilda clinked her bottle of beer against his pint glass and kissed him soundly on the head.

‘Good job I'm not the jealous type, Matty,' said Nicola, laughing along with the impetuous young woman.

‘Saving myself for Dory, Nik; don't you fret. Besides, your husband's too Sponsor-endorsed for me, not to mention the fact he's older than my dad.' Dodging playful swipes from both Nicola and her husband, Matilda sprang back onto the stage and led the band in a high-speed version of Madonna's ‘Papa Don't Preach'.

Lifting a sleeping Jenny in his arms a little later on, Lysander took his leave of the company.

‘Big day for little girls tomorrow,' he said, kissing his daughter lightly on the head. ‘Best get her home so Father Christmas can do his thing!'

‘I'll take her…' Sarah began, but Lysander interrupted.

‘You stay, Sarah! I want to be the one to take her home; God knows, I've got some catching up to do with my kids.'

‘I'll come too,' said Nicola to her husband's delight. ‘Merry Christmas all; see you for lunchtime beers tomorrow. DORY'S AVENGERS FOR EVER!'

‘DORY'S AVENGERS! MERRY CHRISTMAS!' yelled everyone in return. Lurking outside, a couple of Lord William's spies wondered what the hell Dory's Avengers meant,
before wishing once again that they could get back to the warmth of the Applethwaite Guesthouse. The Unsponsored who frequented The White Lion were well aware that spies were in constant attendance in their village, and these particular Sponsor spies had been barred very politely but very firmly by Dexter Montfiore.

‘Sorry, guys,' he'd said when they'd tried to enter the bar a few days earlier. ‘We're not endorsed. Unsponsored only, I'm afraid.' Unused to the discrimination usually only levelled at the Unsponsored, the spies tried to argue, but Dex carried on. ‘I'm real sorry here, guys; Sponsor rules, not mine.'

Realising that he was right, the spies had to content themselves with cold nights crouching outside the pub trying to make out conversations over the constant noise of the band. That was where they were on Christmas Eve; freezing in the fresh night air while the Unsponsored enjoyed a joyful party in the warmth of the inn. Nudging his mate, one of the spies jerked his head at a couple leaving the pub and said, ‘Trevelyans! Do you want to follow them?'

Watching Lysander and Nicola walking off chatting happily, the sleeping Jenny held safely in her father's arms, the other spy realised how much he was missing his own small children.

‘No, mate,' he said, ‘it's Christmas. Santa's got to visit the little 'un…'

Unable to continue, so acute was his longing to be home, the Sponsor spy felt the first seeds of doubt in his mind. Being Sponsored meant good prospects, good homes, happy families? No, actually; at that moment in time being Sponsored meant being in the freezing cold on Christmas Eve, miles from his family, while the Unsponsored got drunk in the warm.

Inside the pub, the exuberance reached new levels after Lysander had departed and more beer flowed. Despite Louis and Nicola's constant assurances that Lysander
wouldn't betray Dory's Avengers as that would mean betraying his own family, a lot of the Avengers still found themselves deeply suspicious of the Director of Leisure and Fitness. Louis won gold at the Games at least three more times before the night was out; and Max's hastily written
Unsponsored News
, carrying word of His Lordship's inclusion of Louis in Team GB and asking for feedback, was to be found on every surface. By the time the party broke up, and Louis headed for home with Abi in his arms, while a very drunk Sarah wheeled Gideon's chair on a slalom down the main street, the spies had long given up watching. Seeing the group pass, laughing, singing and playfully jostling each other as they went, the doubt-filled Sponsored spy silently wished them all a merry Christmas from his lonely room.

Back at the Trevelyan home, Gideon was settled on a comfortable mattress in the family room and supplied with an alarm to call Sarah if he needed anything. Brushing away his indignant protests that he didn't want a woman seeing him piss, Sarah argued that they'd known each other long enough for it not to matter.

‘I won't take advantage of you, Gideon,' she slurred, giggling and making Gideon wonder out loud whether she'd even hear the alarm. Louis made his way up to bed with Abi, laughing at Gideon's feigned horror when Louis kissed him goodnight.

‘Good God, Trevelyan; you're getting camper than Alan!'

Louis knew full well that Gideon was delighted to be spending Christmas with the Trevelyans, so he just grinned at his mentor's unconvincing grumbles. Looking in on Jenny, the young couple both kissed the sleeping child gently on the head and noted that Father Christmas had already paid a visit.

‘What a relief for Mum and Dad,' said Louis, grinning towards his parents darkened bedroom. ‘Santa turned up early so they could get to bed!'

Giggling again, they made their own way to bed. In between increasingly passionate kisses, Louis said, ‘Happy Christmas, Abi darling. I got you this; I hope you like it,' before covering her body with his.

While Louis and Abi were having rather drunken sex in Louis's bedroom up north, Theo was sitting disconsolately watching the fire in his father's drawing room slowly die. Tired though he was, Theo knew there was far too much going on in his mind for him to sleep. Besides that, he'd already spent too much of his life in his bedroom. Going over the events of the evening, particularly Marina's accusation, Theo was having a fierce battle with his conscience.

‘Do you really like Cathie, or are you just using her?' asked the conscience.

‘I think I like her. Really!'

‘Why?'

‘She's pretty, and sweet.'

‘Sweet?'

‘You heard.'

‘You're not helping the Sponsors?'

‘ABSOLUTELY NOT!'

‘Not even for an easy life?'

‘Oh come on, remember where I've been for the last ten years? Remember why?'

‘OK, OK. Not for the Scheme's sake. That's something, but are you sure it's not just because you want to get laid?'

‘Umm; no, it's because I like her.'

‘Sure? What about Matilda?'

‘Matilda isn't here.'

‘She's a goddess in your head…'

‘That's in my head; she might be a munter in real life. Cathie's real. I can touch her. She's pretty. She smells nice…'

‘She gives you a hard-on.'