Dory's Avengers (57 page)

‘Already done, Father, but they appear and disappear at will. The Unsponsored, I mean; they're like rats. They pop up, do their damage, then vanish. They may even vanish into the sewers for all we can find them…'

‘The sewers are where they belong,' snarled Lord William. ‘Have security stepped up even more, Rose. I want this scum crushed before visitors arrive from all over the world for the Games.'

‘I'll do my best…'

‘You'll do as I ask, Rosanna. Succeed or get out of my sight! I have no place for weaklings.'

‘As you wish, Father,' replied Rosanna, indifferent to her father's criticism as she was totally numb apart from the constant pain over losing Adam. Never having believed herself to be sentimental, it had taken Rosanna by surprise to discover she loved Adam so much that, without him, every day seemed interminable.

‘Anything else to report?' asked Lord William, calling Rosanna's attention back from her pain for a second.

‘One more thing, Father,' she said. ‘The Unsponsored
network is all of a sudden very active again. It would seem that Maxwell Barrington isn't in Applethwaite; he's here in London…'

‘WHAT!' roared Lord William. ‘He was damn well in Applethwaite when we drove the scum back into The White Lion. He was with them; I saw him…Philip!'

Realisation dawned on Lord William as to how Max had escaped from The White Lion and re-launched the wretched Unsponsored network in London.

‘Rose, listen to me,' said His Lordship to his indifferent daughter. ‘Do what it takes to crush the Unsponsored; I don't want to hear that you've failed.'

Cutting off the visual link before Rosanna could reply, a furious Lord William went out into the street to face his security. Unable to find Lee Fellows, His Lordship instead cornered Stephen Dyer. While His Lordship roared that Dyer was a complete imbecile for allowing Philip Lorimer to leave the village without checking whether there were any stowaways in his car, Dory's Avengers watched in delight from The White Lion's garden. Lord William became more furious than ever when he spied his handsome son leaning on the inn's fence, sharing a laugh with the former head of Leisure and Fitness at Stephen Dyer's public dressing-down.

‘THEODORE,' screamed Lord William, purple with rage, ‘I suppose you think you've been very clever, getting Barrington out of the village?'

‘Not really, Your Lordshit,' replied Theo, smiling pleasantly at his father. ‘It wasn't difficult at all, given that Dyer and your other henchmen are very stupid…'

With a roar, Stephen Dyer launched himself towards Theo, freezing comically like a character in one of Theo's favourite cartoons when Lord William yelled his name.

‘Control yourself, Dyer!' shouted His Lordship, as Dory's Avengers laughed helplessly. Lord William pushed Dyer out of the way and faced his son over the fence.

‘You can't stay holed up in that pub for ever, Theodore,' he snarled. ‘We'll be waiting when you finally surrender. You can't win this battle, the Scheme will always prevail. As for you, Santiago,' added His Lordship, rounding on Alan without warning, ‘watch your step, faggot!'

Alan, who'd been standing quietly in the background with Dex, looked up in surprise as Lord William turned and stalked back to the Applethwaite Guesthouse.

‘Whatever have you done, honey?' asked Dex, genuinely confused and more than a little worried that Lord William had singled Alan out. Shrugging his shoulders, Alan looked helplessly back at Dex and the others.

‘I don't know. Really. His Lordshit's overdosed on homophobia maybe…'

‘No, it seemed more specific than that,' said Dex.

‘Faye, probably,' said Matilda. ‘Remember what that terrified bloke said? What's his name, Lysander? O'Reilly, that's it. Faye talks about Dad all the time, even though she's being porked by His Lordshit…'

‘Do you have to be so crude, Matty; she is your mother…'

‘She's an old slapper, Dad, and in case you haven't noticed she's sporting a black eye and a swollen lip. I think His Lordshit's a little jealous.'

‘Oh for God's sake,' said Alan, starting to laugh, but Dex wasn't so amused.

‘Please just be careful, Al! We know what His Lordshit's capable of, and if he's singled you out then I really don't see it as a laughing matter.'

As the summer progressed and the Games drew ever closer, the Unsponsored in London became more and more defiant despite Lady Rosanna's attempts to step up security. Watching the news in the Applethwaite Guesthouse, Lord William looked on in horror as yet another bulletin covered Sponsored security guards, backed up by the police, trying
to beat back protests by the Unsponsored converging on the capital from all over Britain. Maxwell Barrington seemed to constantly be in evidence, more than once managing to get himself interviewed by unwitting Sponsored reporters. Backed by placards carrying the messages of the Unsponsored – ‘Free Applethwaite', ‘Sponsorship or Freedom?', ‘Say No to St Benedict Oppression' – Max used the medium of television to full advantage.

‘As you can see,' he told a Sponsored reporter as yet another microphone was shoved in his face, ‘the Unsponsored have nowhere left to go, now Lord William has seen fit to destroy their homes. Men, women and children displaced in their thousands, thrown onto the streets as their homes are destroyed by St Benedict Constructions. With the Games coming up, I don't think Lord William thought this one through very carefully…'

Cutting Max off hastily, the shaken Sponsored reporter apologised profusely as His Lordship himself watched in fury.

‘My sincere apologies for any offence caused by that young man,' said the reporter. ‘We attempt to bring you both sides of the story, but the Unsponsored take advantage to spread their lies…'

The Unsponsored try to give their side of the story, which you then censor, thought Faye Maloney, also watching the news bulletin with interest. Since Lord William's brutal attack on her, Faye had moved back into her own room, much to His Lordship's dismay. However, he was not the sort of person who would either apologise or beg, believing himself thoroughly entitled to have taught Faye a lesson, so his bed remained empty. The other Sponsors, particularly Fiona, were very glad that the brief affair had come to an end.

‘What were you thinking of, you silly girl?' Fiona said to Faye in a quiet moment, having first done a thorough check to make sure no one was eavesdropping. ‘It's an unspoken
rule that we Sponsors keep our relationship with His Lordship strictly professional.'

‘Well, if it's unspoken, how was I supposed to know about it?' Faye replied resentfully. ‘Anyway, I've learnt my lesson,' she added, stroking her fading bruises ruefully.

Meanwhile, Max kept popping up on the evening news.

‘Your Lordship, I'm sure you're listening. Stop destroying lives! Stop oppressing the Sponsored! Stop imprisoning my friends in Applethwaite! It's all going wrong…'

Once again an alarmed Sponsored reporter cut Max off, but not before he'd succeeded in sowing the seeds of doubt in Sponsored minds up and down the land. As the Unsponsored once again rapidly dispersed, Lord William was dismayed to catch sight of Simone and Catherine Lorimer among their numbers. His Lordship decided there and then that he needed to be back in London; Rosanna clearly wasn't up to the job. He needed to persuade the Lorimer family back onto the side of the Sponsors. More urgently than that, he needed to gag Max Barrington and quell the Unsponsored rebellion before the Games began. Travelling back to London in his luxury limousine, Lord William came to a decision which would hurt a number of his adversaries in one fell swoop. Smiling as the idea took hold in his mind, His Lordship was positively beaming by the time the car drew up outside his home.

The occupants of The White Lion had noticed that the number of thugs around the village was starting to diminish. Not having access to any form of media they obviously hadn't seen the news bulletins, but with the Games getting ever closer they guessed that added security was probably required in London. There were still a few guards surrounding The White Lion and blocking access to Applethwaite, but there'd been no sign of the hated Dyer for a few days.

However, Dyer's absence was too good to last. Looking
out of the window the morning after Lord William's return to London, Dex's expression turned to one of outrage as a van drew up in front of the pub and His Lordship's thugs, led by Dyer, started getting out.

‘I don't think so,' said Dex furiously, making for the door before anyone else could react. ‘Get the hell out of here,' he yelled, storming out of the pub.

‘He's the one,' said Dyer, smirking. ‘Grab him, lads!'

The rest of Dory's Avengers started to surge out of the pub, but the thugs were too quick. They grabbed Dex and bundled him roughly into the back of the van as Alan flew into their midst, trying to pull Dex out again. Kicking Alan squarely in the chest, Dyer yelled at the driver to move as Alan fell to the ground. Fast as lightning, working on pure adrenalin, Alan was back on his feet again, trying to wrench the van door open even as Dyer was slamming it shut. Still hanging on to the door handle, screaming Dex's name at the top of his voice, Alan started getting dragged along the road as his friends yelled at him to let go. Eventually, unable to hang on any longer, Alan fell face first into the road. Once again he sprang to his feet immediately, oblivious to the raw patches on his arms and legs where the skin had scraped off, and sprinted after the van carrying his beloved Dex and a gang of violent thugs out of the village. As the van accelerated out of sight, Alan sank to his knees in the middle of the road, still crying Dex's name. Matilda and Louis were the first to reach him.

‘Come on, Dad,' said Matilda gently, wrapping her arms around her distraught father and trying to encourage him to his feet. ‘You can't stay here.'

‘Dex…' whimpered Alan.

‘Come on, Dad,' said Matilda again, snarling at the remaining thugs in the street to stay back as she and Louis helped Alan to his feet. ‘Come back to The Lion. We'll talk there.'

Watching from the Applethwaite Guesthouse, Faye couldn't take her eyes away from the scene unfolding outside. Staring at the man she still loved as their daughter led him back to The White Lion, Faye realised miserably that she had to take some of the blame. She had turned His Lordship's anger onto Alan, and His Lordship had clearly come to the conclusion that there was no surer way of hurting Alan than to hurt Dexter.

Matilda and Louis managed to get Alan back to the pub, where he began to quite literally bounce off the walls. Screaming hysterically that it was all his fault, he should never have let Dex go out to face the thugs alone, Alan ran round like a maniac; crashing into walls, doors, furniture and anything else that got in his way. Finally, Matilda caught up with her father and slapped his face, shocking him out of his hysteria.

‘Sorry, Dad,' she said, just managing to keep them both upright as all the fight seemed to leave Alan and his legs started to buckle, ‘but we need to talk.'

Sitting Alan down on the stage, which was the nearest seat of any kind, Matilda watched sadly as he reached up and took Dex's shirt from the top of the keyboard where Dex had casually chucked it not fifteen minutes earlier. Crawling over to the far corner of the stage, Alan buried his face in Dex's shirt and didn't move while his friends discussed the latest downturn in their fortunes.

‘For what it's worth,' began Chris, ‘I got the registration number…'

‘It's not worth the paper it's written on,' snapped Georgie, shocked and devastated at the kidnap of her brother. ‘We know who's taken Dex; and besides, who's going to take on His Lordshit's henchmen?' Seeing Chris's face fall, Georgie immediately regretted her unkindness.

‘I'm sorry, babe,' she said, putting her arms around her
husband. ‘It was an instinctive and good thing to do; thanks for trying.'

‘I think we've all got to try and rein in our feelings,' said Gideon. ‘Squabbling amongst ourselves won't help Dex…'

‘I've said I'm sorry,' snapped Georgie, losing her temper again. ‘But it's a bit difficult to rein in my feelings when my brother's just been dragged off by a van load of violent scumbags.' In response to a whimper from Alan, Georgie continued furiously, ‘Are you going to tell Alan to rein in his feelings, Gideon? Are you? We're HURTING!' Gideon lowered his head, and straight away Sarah came to his defence.

‘Georgie; of course you're hurting, but remember we all care about Dex too. Gideon wants to help here. We all want to help, so we need to stop arguing.'

‘I know, Sarah. I'm so sorry Gideon; I know you care. I'm so sorry…' Tears overwhelmed Georgie, and she sobbed quietly in Chris's arms as the conversation carried on around her.

‘Right,' said Gideon, patting Georgie gently on the arm to let her know there were no hard feelings. ‘Chris, thank you for trying, but in the absence of anyone to report the kidnapping to the registration isn't much use.'

Chris held on to his distraught wife and nodded sadly.

‘We're on our own here,' continued Gideon, his face grim as the reality of Applethwaite's isolation became starker in the light of Dex's capture.

‘Where do you think they'll take Dex?' asked Sarah, perching on the arm of Gideon's chair and taking his hand.

‘I'd hazard a guess at Kensington,' replied Theo. ‘His Lordshit's not been in evidence around here since yesterday, so I think we can assume he's in his London lair.'

‘Right,' said Gideon, his voice a little firmer than it had been, ‘do we try and contact His Lordshit or do we wait for him to contact us?'

‘How exactly are we supposed to contact His Lordshit?' asked Matilda bitterly. ‘We're holed up in here with no phone network, remember?'

‘Well, the thugs are quite a few men down now, including the Dyer scum,' said Louis. ‘We could take advantage of that, I could maybe make a break for the guesthouse and appeal to the better nature of the Sponsors…'