The Place That Never Existed Page 21

  “Hey,” he said, tapping her on the shoulder and watching her jump out of her skin.

  “What the fook ya doin’?” she said in a broad Irish accent.

  “As a policeman, I would be well within my rights to be asking you the same thing.” He grinned, and she calmed down a bit.

  “Nearly shit me pants, so I did. You come from that place there?” She nodded towards the house.

  “Yes, but I’m nothing to do with what’s going on in there.”

  “You’re the police though?”

  “Yep, you want to see my Warrant Card?”

  “About as much as you want to see me fooking Dorothy Perkins card, I imagine. So where has me friend gone? He went in there almost twenty minutes ago, and I ain’t seen fookin’ nothin’ of him since!”

  “Your friend, is he the tall odd-looking fella?”

  “That be him. He looks like that fookin’ Star Wars guy.” She clicked her fingers.

  “Chewbacca?”

  “Fook no! A copper, you say, or a fookin’ half-wit!”

  “All right, I am not entirely familiar with all the characters of Star Wars.”

  “Well, he’s the actor…” She clicked her fingers again. “Adam Driver! He was also in that arty comedy Girls.”

  “No. I literally have no idea what you’re going on about.”

  “Anyway, what was he doing before you ran out?”

  “He went into the cellar looking for chocolate cake.”

  “You shittin’ me?”

  “I am definitely not shitting anyone. No, he was looking for someone. I couldn’t quite hear the whole conversation, but it suddenly got on to refreshments, and the next thing I know, he’s going down into the cellar for chocolate cake.”

  “There is cake in the cellar?”

  Bobby shook his head. “Not that I am aware of. I was as shocked as you are.”

  “And what were you doing?” she asked, suddenly looking at him suspiciously.

  “I was sat down with the lady that ran out…Look, I don’t want to get into the nuts and bolts of what’s going on here. But I would probably just get the hell—”

  A bright blue light shone from the top of the house and high up into the dark night sky.

  “What the fook is that?” the girl said in her own crass way.

  “I have no idea.”

  They then heard a noise and, looking down the road, saw it was the sound of someone pushing a pushchair. The wheels made a horrible squeaking sound like a mouse being stepped on.

  A woman was pushing it. She was smiling in a crazy way, and it sounded like she was singing.

  Surely it couldn’t get any more strange than this?

  THE PLACE THAT NEVER EXISTED

  Chapter Forty-Eight

  “T his is surreal,” Paul said. “Sat out here under a tree.”

  Debbie snuggled in to him. “What should we do? Should we go back and face her, or should we stay here for a while?” Then her face dropped and she turned. “Shit, that note! I’d almost forgotten. They threatened us!” They both looked out towards the house.

  “Look out over there,” he said, pointing. “There are a lot of cars. What do you think’s happening there?”

  “I don’t know, but it’s definitely not something good.”

  “Why warn us off? They know we went in the back door, which was left unlocked. There must be something bloody special in there to make them try to keep us out.”

  “Maybe we shouldn’t go back in there, Paul,” Debbie said. The energy she usually possessed was gone, drained though the events of the late afternoon and evening.

  “What about Dhara?” Paul said.

  “She was going to meet us at the house anyway.”

  Then they saw the light suddenly appear up into the sky. They looked at each other with wide eyes.

  “What’s that?” Paul said.

  “Some sort of laser light. Why would you do that?”

  “What if it’s a signal?”

  “What, like Batman’s when Commissioner Gordon can’t get him on the Batphone?”

  Ignoring the comment, Paul slowly got to his feet in an impulsive move. He automatically helped Debbie up too. “What if something is going on in there, and they’re signalling to someone? We know there’s no signal around here, so the best way to let someone know where they are is to send up a light.”

  “So, it might not be for an aircraft but for the roads? Or foot?” They suddenly felt exposed and looked all around them.

  Then in the distance they saw Christina and heard the death-squeak of the wheels of a pushchair.

  And then they heard branches snap, and they both whipped their heads around to see the approaching figure.

  “Surprise!” Dhara stood with her GoPro camera.

  “Lara!”

  “You’re doing it on purpose now.”

  “Busted! You got any thoughts on this?” Paul asked her.

  She shook her head. “No idea whatsoever. Some sort of signal or a shit laser show.” She winked.

  “It’s a daft question, I know, but has anyone got any sort of mobile signal?” They all fumbled in pockets, retrieving their phones and searching for any sign of bars, but alas without success.

  “This really is a blackspot, isn’t it?” Debbie said.

  Then Dhara pointed. “Who’s the chick with the kid?”

  “His ex-girlfriend and child,” Debbie said with a half smile that said more about the half that didn’t move.

  “You’re shittin’ me? You’re on your honeymoon and your ex has joined you?”

  “Not by invitation,” Paul added.

  “Are you sure you’re not swingers?”

  Debbie took a deep breath and let out a sigh. “She’s followed us. She wants old Romeo here. Doesn’t want him to run off with ugly old me!”

  “You’re gorgeous, babe,” Dhara said sincerely. “She nutso or something?”

  Paul nodded. “I think that describes her pretty well.”

  “And what about those two?” Dhara said, pointing off to the far right where they could make out a man and woman standing by the wall.

  Paul suddenly couldn’t believe he’d not noticed them before.

  “No idea. Maybe they think it’s a light display?”

  “Is it me or does this all seem a bit strange to you?” Dhara commented. “We were going to go and break in, and now there are a host of cars, a couple of onlookers, and your ex with her child—which I can’t get my head around, if I’m completely honest…” She stopped as a low rumbling sound got louder and louder.

  They looked at the road, but there were no headlights. The sound suggested they should be able to see a vehicle by now, but there was nothing.

  “What’s that sound?” Debbie was the first to say.

  They looked behind them out to where the woods went on for a mile or so, but nothing was there. The other way, looking out behind the house, was a few trees and then the clifftop, but there was nothing there.

  The sound got louder and louder.

  “Is it a plane?” Paul said. “Or perhaps a helicopter?”

  “It’s loud enough for a helicopter, but I don’t see any flashing lights.”

  And then above them, they saw lights…

  THE PLACE THAT NEVER EXISTED

  Chapter Forty-Nine

  W hen the strange tall guy had disappeared into the cellar, and Alfred had closed and locked the door, a silence had fallen upon them all.

  Then Deirdre had broken down and ran out of the place, and Bobby was quick to follow. Even though he had said he would be back, Alfred was beginning to wonder. The truth of the matter was he was not the strong leader he’d hoped to be. Of course, he’d never envisaged any of this; it had all sort of happened.

  He’d been mayor for a long time now, and slowly as the straight-laced others retired, he was able to replace each one with like-minded people. Those that shared his vision of making a little money on the side.

  Don was incredibly
important by being the strong arm of the law, and he also had a friend who worked for the Cattlewater Harbour Commissioners. This meant that a vessel that appeared to be in trouble could be safely guided in before being let loose again—not before either unloading or loading up with black-market cargo.

  Rupert was also a key player, brimming with charm and an ability to get things in motion with a little financial persuasion. He really was invaluable.

  Rupert now stood perched against the wall under a landscape painting that looked as old as the building. Don sat on the old sofa, lounging, his arms spread out along the back. The other two councillors, George Mellor and Justin Payne, sat opposite sipping from tumblers with a healthy finger of rum inside.

  George and Justin, were foot soldiers to the cause. Good, solid workers—and mild arse-kissers—that believed in the cause, asked no questions, and did exactly what they were told. The same could be said of Rupert, if his sex-addiction could be curbed. Alfred didn’t pretend to understand the issue. He liked sex as much as the next man, but there was a time and a place. The problem with Rupert was he rarely seemed satisfied, which was a dangerous complication to an addiction. His was unable to think straight when there was a new woman on the scene, no matter what she looked like—and he had been with some real uglies. But if she was at all attractive, he was permanently in a trance, barely functioning until he had his fix. After a few dates, he became possessive and at times aggressive, which on occasion had required more money to change hands or Don to get involved with a false arrest—another pantomime purely for show. Alfred’s patience with Rupert and his sexual appetite was wearing thin. It was distracting, and financially draining to them. This was another reason why he had brought them all here. They were all incredibly important, but they had to understand that they had more to lose than gain should they not all remain focused. This wasn’t a hobby or a game. This was even bigger than a business. This was about whether or not they were arrested, or even if they lived to see another day. This wasn’t him just being overly dramatic, he knew. God, did he know.

  “Crazy” Keith was here as a favour. Having helped the known criminal out of a couple of situations, he had agreed to show up and stay in the shadows, providing a silent threat. He wanted to show them up close exactly what it was they were dealing with. He was a little worried that one or two of them might think it some sort of psychological cover for some other operation—which to a point was true. There were a number of bags of cocaine in the cellar that came in a few days ago and would be split down and sent to dealers in Plymouth, Exeter, Bristol, and Cardiff before the month ended with a price tag of almost ten times the purchase price. Only Don and Rupert knew this, which made the recent issues with them both harder to deal with. The others were told of what was in the cellar, and they had taken the news as truth, but how could you really believe without seeing it with your very own eyes. And this was the point of the little “party”.

  Alfred looked around, surveying the situation. For the first time a little doubt crept in to what was going on, and he suddenly wondered whether this whole project would, and could, live past tonight. There were some worried eyes, and he was unsure where their loyalties lay.

  “What is going on, Alfred?” Don said calmly. “Is this not getting out of hand?”

  Alfred looked at him for a second, then glanced over to “Crazy” Keith before saying, “This was always going to be the worry, Don. But let’s not forget the weak areas in the room that have led to this, huh?”

  He looked over to Rupert who looked guilty. “Rupert, d’you understand what happened here?”

  Rupert looked a little crestfallen but nodded. Sam was a girl he had really been enjoying. It was hard to know whether what he was feeling was down to the loss of a sexual partner or the certain death sentence he had handed her. He honestly thought it was the former. She had been brilliant. He suddenly said, “There were other ways though.” He dropped his glance to the floor. A montage of her naked best bits flashed before him, making him feel incredibly sad and lost.

  “Is that right? You made the decision to compromise this whole project by bringing one of your little slags here!” He worked himself back up to that of a leader again. “I know of the hotel liaisons, the back of the car fumbles, the police station after hours, and even the time you let yourself into the council offices with that redhead, but why here?

  “What you choose to do with your marriage, or even outside of your marriage, is of little concern to me until you start fucking around with my plans! Our plans! All of us have talked at great length about this, of what we are trying to achieve. We have something special down there. We have the opportunity to make ourselves rich and powerful. But that is just the tip of the iceberg, people! If we do not handle it right then, it will be taken away from us. By order of National Security, London’s brass will make a few calls, and some black-suited pricks will come waltzing in and pull the carpet out from beneath out feet.”

  “We don’t know that,” Don said defiantly.

  “But we cannot take that chance. And where is your boy wonder, hey?”

  Don looked at the door Bobby had run through. “He’ll be back. He knows what to do.”

  “He’d better be, or you have a problem.”

  “I am still the police around here!” Don spat back. “You can’t ship me out.”

  Alfred gulped down the rage inside him. Don was flying a little close to the sun now. “You are not worth shit to us! You don’t think we can have you booted out of the force with one phone call? You’re lucky you’re still here at all. You said you would train him to think like us. You got him sent here for that purpose. Don’t let us down!”

  “He sounds like a fuckin’ liabili’y,” “Crazy” Keith added in.

  Don puffed his chest out. “And when did he become part of this?”

  Alfred stepped towards him. “When you failed to keep the leash on your boy, and he”—he pointed at Rupert—“couldn’t keep control of his cock!”

  “Look, what’s done is done,” Rupert muttered.

  “I hope so. Who knew that you were meeting her today?”

  “No one,” Rupert said.

  “What about her housemate?” Alfred asked.

  “We never discussed it.”

  Don held up his hands. “I’ll sort it. I saw her crying after you told her it was over. She wandered out onto the side of the cliff, and we later found her on the rocks. Usual spiel. Okay?”

  “Come on, we can’t have cliff again,” Justin said. “Unless we unearth some legend of it being a suicide spot.”

  “Okay, that might work,” Alfred said finally with a smile. It looked like his men were back on duty, just the young Bobby and the old woman to sort out.

  It was at that point they could hear the rumbling sound.

  “What’s that?” Alfred said. “Sounds like a lorry or something.”

  And then it got louder, and the walls began to shake…

  THE PLACE THAT NEVER EXISTED

  Chapter Fifty

  G inny had been walking up the side of the cliff path when she had suddenly seen the large vertical light illuminating the sky, and as she got to the top, she saw it was coming from the old Dudley House.

  Bolan barked a couple of times, as if to say he’d seen it too, and then headed off quite uncharacteristically across the field and towards the house.

  A familiar character was stood at the gatepost smoking a cigarette.

  “What’s going on?” Ginny said to him.

  He grinned and smoothed his beard. “This is what we want, and yet we don’t know what to do with it.”

  “What? What’s with the light?”

  “The boy. He fixed that up. Young Benji.”

  “Really? Why? What’s the point of it?”

  “Probably the most important point of all. You’ll see.”

  She nodded, patted his shoulder in a friendly way, and started off to look for Bolan. Sometimes the old man talked in riddles like he wa
s a fishier version of Obi-Wan Kenobi. She had no doubt he was just as wise.

  Ginny broke into what could be deemed a jog, but it was a slightly more advanced fast walk if truth be told. Her hips were hurting by the time she made it closer to the house.

  And then she also heard the sound from above. It was like a loud hum. It was motorised—not like a combustion engine sound but more electric.

  Ahead of her, Bolan was walking towards a pretty lady with a pushchair, certainly an unexpected sight here in the dark.

  She stopped and looked up. The sky was clear, and above, there were faint lights slowly becoming brighter. It wasn’t a plane, and it certainly wasn’t a helicopter.

  What the hell was it?

  Around the other side of the house and a little further out, Paul and Debbie felt themselves backing away again. Dhara had her camera pointing up at the sky, but even she was reluctant to go any nearer or she’d be directly below the lights.

  Six large lights and a multitude of multi-coloured flashing lights were now visible. The sound was louder, and the trees began to shake. The air began to swirl around them, but it was warmer than you would’ve expected.

  “We should get back to the cabin,” Paul said but felt drawn to look at what was above.

  “I don’t want to say out loud what I think I’m seeing here,” Debbie said. “It has got to be something else, hasn’t it?”

  “It has to be an elaborate hoax, right?” Dhara said, but the question seemed almost rhetorical. “It cannot be coincidental that there are so many people here, when this place is meant to be abandoned. Clearly this was planned, right?” But not one of them truly believed it.

  And then something shot out of the sky towards the house.

  The three of them turned and ran, also beginning to feel apprehensive as to what was going on. They were heading towards Bobby’s car when they saw the thing shoot out of the sky, and they bolted past the cars and took cover in the grass. Suddenly, the car seemed too restrictive.

  The object landed, looking like a bullet-shaped capsule right next to the side of the house. A mechanical arm unfolded from the side and sprayed liquid next to where the bricks and ground met. Then through smoke that looked like a sudden explosion of dry ice, a high-pitched drill sound could be heard.