Ted Tayler
The Olympus Project
About The Author
Ted Tayler was born in Corsham, Wiltshire in 1945 and moved to Melksham in 1950. He began singing with local bands in 1963 and managed to combine travelling around the country with holding down a full time job. His love of all types of music spans over fifty years.
Ted is now semi retired and lives with Lynne, his wife of over forty years. They have three children in their thirties and four grandchildren. His book of memories from those years singing with bands 'We'd Like to do a Number Now' (Aug 2011) sold moderately well and reunited the members of the last group he sang with. It also led to a reunion gig (Nov 2012) which due to the others musical and work commitments proved to be a ‘one-off.’ One month later, Ted decided to occupy his mind elsewhere and wondered whether he could write fiction, as well as a good yarn about the old days!
His first novel 'The Final Straw' contained murders, music, sex and comedy and explored the dilemma — could YOU love a serial killer? 'The Final Straw' was voted 'Quality Reads UK — Best Book Ever' (Sept 2013) and Ted was inducted into the Hall of Fame by Orangeberry Book Tours.
While his first book was ‘on tour’ during that summer Ted produced a collection of a dozen short stories entitled 'A Sting in the Tale' (Nov 2013) and which included stories from different genres, all with a twist in the final pages.
As his first work of fiction received such a positive response, the sequel to ‘The Final Straw’ just had to be written and ‘Unfinished Business' duly arrived (Mar 2014). This continued the story of Colin Bailey the stone cold killer as he returned to the UK with more scores to settle.
Ted started on two new series this autumn (Oct 2014). ‘The Olympus Project’ is the first book in a series where the main character will be 'The Phoenix' whose adventures cover the activities of a secret organisation which sends its operatives across the world removing anyone who poses a threat to political or economic stability.
‘The Phoenix’ has been identified as having the perfect skill set for the organisation and when he is pulled barely alive from a watery grave, his rescuers provide him with a new identity and purpose in life.
The second series will feature the main male & female police officers from 'Unfinished Business'; Phil Hounsell and Zara Wheeler will be working in the West Country under the banner 'Cat and Mouse'. Their first case will be available early in 2015 and is called “Odd Woman Out”.
Acknowledgements
The love and support of my family; without them this would have been impossible.
CHAPTER 1
On the far bank of the river everything was bathed in late evening sunshine. The man in the water was barely breathing; his right arm was hooked over a lower branch of one of many overgrown bushes and trees scattered along the waterline.
He could see a thinning group of people peering across the water, shading their eyes; they were blinded by the glare of the sunlight as it was almost disappearing behind the roofs of the nearby buildings. Although they continued to gaze across to the opposite bank, searching and searching for a glimpse of their quarry, they saw nothing. He was too tired to move. The bushes and tethered barges strung along that stretch of water below the Pulteney Weir provided the perfect shelter.
The man rested; in safety for now, letting his mind drift back over the events of the previous hours. All his plans had gone out of the window when that stupid female copper had recognised him and started shouting! A bullet had shut her up but an old bag, probably her mother, had chased after him and started lashing out at him with her handbag. He remembered running down the steps to the towpath in a blind panic; trying to calm his nerves and gather his thoughts.
He had thought that he could make it back to the Land Rover and get the hell out of this city, but then he had spotted a uniformed policeman running towards him. He had had no choice but to turn and sprint back towards the steps. He remembered running alongside the weir and being only a few strides from the spiral steps which would have led him up to the street again and at least a chance of escaping among the city crowds.
Suddenly he had heard a shout, just feet away. As he glanced over his shoulder, he spotted his nemesis. That meddling policeman, who had pursued him relentlessly the length and breadth of the country, had been at his heels and had suddenly launched himself towards him and they had both fallen headlong over the railings and into the murky waters of the river. Both men surfaced, gasping for the air that had been knocked from both of them because of the force of the impact.
He struck out towards the opposite bank, confidently at first, despite his lack of experience and the policeman followed. He soon realised his adversary was a much stronger swimmer and any thoughts of a quick escape were futile. The two men had grappled and while both were concentrating on gaining the upper hand they were drawn inexorably towards the weir and the lethal foaming waters below it. The nature of the water around them as they fought suddenly changed and both men realised the danger they were in; they disappeared under the water and were tossed around under the weir like a pair of socks in a washing machine.
The water had seemed to clutch at the man’s legs, dragging him further down and down. He cracked his knees and elbows on the concrete buttresses of the weir. He continued to punch and kick at the policeman as they both tried to swim back towards the surface. When they did, the respite was brief. A second to take in an invaluable lungful of air, then the water snatched them back under the churning waters. They immediately resumed their battle but as their struggle took its toll their actions grew more and more laboured. Both men were soon at the end of their tether, neither man knew which way was up any longer and battered and winded, each having swallowed large quantities of water, the man felt the policeman suddenly let go and watched as he slowly drifted away from him.
The man had no idea whether his nemesis was sinking to the river bed or escaping to the surface and to safety. He was just happy that he no longer had to fight; he was almost prepared to resign himself to his fate. He sensed his lungs must finally be giving up the ghost as an excruciating pain began to grow within his chest. He broke through the surface and desperately breathed in. The pain increased! There was little relief with successive breaths but he willed himself to press forward, away from the direction the policeman had gone.
As he briefly surfaced again he realised that he was close to the far bank. He drifted silently behind a barge and forced himself against all his instincts, to swim under the nearside of the hull of the barge, keeping the river wall at his fingertips. When he surfaced once more, he continued to breathe; each breath becoming a little easier but he was exhausted.
With a supreme effort he got his right arm over a branch and rested; he had to stay focussed though, because if he slipped under the water again he knew there was no chance of him saving himself.
From his place of sanctuary the man could see people running to and fro on the towpath; he could hear sirens blaring somewhere nearby. He tried to check himself over. His knees and elbows were bloodied but he didn’t appear to have any broken bones. He was bitterly cold. He was probably suffering from shock as well, but he had no time to worry about that. He heard the sound of a helicopter throbbing overhead; he knew that as night fell a searchlight would probably be probing the little nooks and crannies trying to find him. If only he could evade capture long enough for them to believe he had drowned in the weir and his body had been carried downstream, maybe, just maybe he would be able to get out of this mess.