“Exactly” said Erebus “but not until the weekend; I have another task for you between now and then. Athena is travelling to London to spend a couple of days with her folks. I want you to keep an eye on her while she’s in Belgravia; for God’s sake don’t let her know she’s being watched! I’m concerned about her. The imminent terrorist attack is too close to home for her, losing her partner in the manner she did. I fear she may try to exact some degree of revenge. The Olympus Project can’t allow her to endanger our secret organisation with a vigilante attack on any cell members she tracks down and clearly, as my designated successor, we can ill afford to lose her.
“I understand” said Colin, wondering what clothing he needed to wear in Belgravia. He wasn’t sure he had the right stuff in his wardrobe.
“You will have a dossier on Donald MacDonald to look through when you get back to your quarters; everything you will require is in there. I’ll get you some more cash to cover your expenses while in London too. I could give you the name of a good tailor but we haven’t got time for something to be made to measure. Just try not to stick out like a sore thumb won’t you old chap! The details of Athena’s trip will be with you later today.
Erebus gave notice that the meeting was over by getting up and walking out. Colin went back to his quarters. Sure enough; there was the promised dossier. Colin lay on his bed and started to read through it.
He glossed over the preliminary stuff he was already aware of. The surveillance team and an agent on the spot had added a few interesting items in the past week. Donald MacDonald’s internet connection had mysteriously gone down and he had contacted his provider. An Olympus agent had arrived within half an hour and had sorted the ‘problem’; at the same time he had downloaded a copy of everything on the crafty copper’s computer. He noted that the invalid father was no longer on the premises.
A couple of possible scenarios had been planned for to deal with the arrival of the engineer from the real internet provider, but sometimes you just get lucky. The policeman had suddenly gone out for an hour or two after the bogus repair guy had left; the real engineer arrived and finding nobody in, he left a card. When Donald returned he threw it in the bin thinking that a second van must have turned up by mistake. He was none the wiser about what had happened.
It didn’t come as a great surprise to the computer ‘techie’ who carried out a forensic analysis of the policeman’s hard drive, to find around fifteen hundred images of girls and almost one hundred hours of video footage. About 95 per cent of the images depicted girls under 14 of age; more than 400 of the images fell into the most severe category, Category A. The analysis also revealed some of the video footage had been watched the evening before it had been retrieved by the Olympus agent.
Colin knew that if this material was to magically find its way into the hands of the Fife constabulary that Donald MacDonald would be banged up for less than a year and would be signing the Register; but that wouldn’t stop him offending again. To save any more young women in Dunfermline being targeted by this pervert, direct action was essential. He started to formulate the most appropriate exit strategy for his next target.
It only took Colin an hour to put the details into his laptop; he printed off the itinerary to pass to Erebus for approval and sent an equipment list to the stores for collection on Friday. This babysitting duty in Belgravia with Athena was scheduled to be over by Thursday night. Erebus wanted her back in the fold at Larcombe by then.
Colin lay on his bed for a while thinking about Athena and the prospect of keeping an eye on her for a couple of days.
“It’s a dirty job” he thought “but someone has to do it!”
His thoughts drifted to the morning when they had been in the pool together.
“This isn’t doing me any favours” he muttered “I’d better get off this bed and either have a cold shower or maybe go to the pool and cool off for an hour.”
Colin spent the next few hours exercising; firstly in the gym, then in the pool. He had a light lunch and returned to his quarters. The promised cash had arrived and his email inbox had a positive response from the stores. Everything he needed would be ready on Friday. The details of Athena’s trip were there too, but they were a little sketchy. He might need to be adaptable. If she stuck by her parents for most of the time it would be okay, if she suddenly went off piste, he might be in trouble.
He delivered the proposed itinerary for the Dunfermline job to Erebus in the main building.
“Ingenious, dear boy” he chuckled “that shouldn’t raise too many suspicions, well done. Good hunting at the weekend. It’s a long trip, so if you get home late from London, you can catch up some sleep on the train on Friday morning.”
Colin was about to leave when the old man added:-
“Try to remember what this London job is about won’t you Phoenix? The bright lights of London and the beautiful people it attracts can be beguiling; you must be on your guard throughout; there must be no, shall we say, distractions.”
“Absolutely” agreed Colin “I’ll be on my best behaviour.”
He was almost through the door and was closing it behind him when he heard the old man say, quietly:-
“Ah, but will she dear boy, will she?”
CHAPTER 19
Meanwhile down it deepest Devon it was Tuesday afternoon. The lousy weather of the weekend had cleared and a worker from a nearby farm had passed the Range Rover for the fourth time. Alarm bells started to ring; literally.
Later that afternoon the local newspaper carried a brief statement in the ‘Latest’ column on its website.
‘The naked body of a man, believed to be in his seventies, was discovered in a tent near Crazy Well Pool, Princeton earlier this afternoon; clothing and other camping equipment were found at the rear of the tent. Police are not seeking anyone else in connection with this incident. Next of kin are being informed. More news in our next update.’
A copy of the extract was delivered to Colin by the surveillance section. He asked them to pass the information on to Erebus and to make sure the boss saw the future updates too; Colin explained that he would be away for the next seventy two hours. Maybe Erebus wouldn’t need to feed the police any misinformation about Sir Godfrey after all; but better safe than sorry, the next updates might be a bit different if the police can’t find plausible answers to all their questions.
Colin had trawled through his wardrobe and found a few things that would fit the bill. He had asked around the others in the stable block to see if they had anything to spare without much luck. He discovered that the ‘dressing up’ box wasn’t a lot of use for this job either; most agents were trying to blend in with the lowlifes of the world, not rub shoulders with the high rollers.
In the end he settled for a minimum of choice for his shirts and trousers, but selected a variety of jackets and coats. He might as well be comfortable and warm on this stakeout at least! He wanted to get to London and find a place to stay tonight and thereby avoid bumping into Athena on the train up to town in the morning. He was also conscious of the fact that he needed a hotel that was suitable. Erebus might baulk at paying three hundred quid for two nights bed and breakfast!
Colin Bailey knew his comfort zone; he could rough it in a band wagon or sleep in a field if he had to, but if he had the chance to spend a couple of days in the ‘smoke’ he had to stay true to his roots, even if someone else was paying! There would be no five star accommodations for him. He’d be just as happy to find the closest budget price hotel to Athena’s parents gaff and use that as his base.
He arrived at Paddington Station at about a quarter to six that evening. A ten minute trip took him to Kensington Road and his wish was granted. He soon settled into his forty nine pounds a night room and felt at home. Well, maybe not at home, but not out of place anyway.