Miss Take - Chapter 2 (4011)

Chapter 2 (4011)

Kelly Take, or Kelly Kane as she styled herself these days always ate her lunch at a coffee shop ten minutes walk from the school. She always ate alone and never invited any of the other teachers along. There were some that had suggested she was actively trying not to make friends, and this was precisely true. She sat away from the window, in one of the cubicles if she could get one, or at one of the small tables tucked away at the back, out of sight of the street. When she was working she dressed every inch the teacher. Her afro hair was done up in a large, tight bun and she wore glasses, although there was nothing wrong with her eyesight. The frames contained nothing more than clear glass and she wore them solely to look more the part. Today she had on a tight A-line skirt and matching suit jacket, one of four similar outfits that hung in her wardrobe at home. As always she had padded her bra to give herself more of a figure. At the weekend she mostly dressed in jeans and a hooded top and could easily be mistaken for a twelve year old boy. Dressing how children imagined a teacher should look, she found, helped her a lot in her job. With other teachers too, when it came to it. She was not old, and had been born in South London to parents that had come over the UK from Guyana in the sixties. She wore heals. While wearing them she could just about manage the walk back to the school from the cafe. There only purpose was to give her just enough height to edge over five feet. She was not a big woman, without them on she was four foot eight.

Kelly was a supply teacher, and had been teaching History at Jesmond Academy for six months. The woman she had replaced, Mrs McKinney, was off long term sick with a malady so mysterious Kelly had yet to learn what it was. She was not particularly interested in any regard, and did not gossip with the other teachers, generally having as little to do with them as possible. Avoiding the staff room, she went straight to her classroom and did some marking while waiting for the next troop of children to come in and take their seats for the lesson. She was diligent in her work, she kept strictly to the syllabus, but she was not overly concerned about how much the children picked up. They learned or they did not. No one so far had guessed at her indifference to the advancement of her pupils as she was a good teacher and perhaps even better than some of the teachers at the Academy that took the children’s improvement seriously or at least professed to. Kelly had a lot on her mind, it was Friday and usually she had a big weekend planned, but what with the way things had been going lately in her life she was starting to think she might lay low in her small Duddingston Mills flat and watch Friends re-runs until Monday morning.

The first year pupils all came into the room, rowdy and boisterous. She smiled as they entered, they were like a big litter of puppies, fresh from primary school, but already acting like seasoned veterans after having survived their first term. Kelly tapped her pen on the desk to get their attention and once they had more-or-less settled down, started them on the Highland Clearances. A subject that she thought must be dry and alien to these kids, who had mainly grown up on housing estates around the east-end of Edinburgh. Some of the children from the rougher areas had never left the city, let alone gone north into the mountains. She could command the attention of the class though, and put in just enough effort to keep them as interested as they were ever likely to get. They day wore on, the first year class left and then one of the fourth year classes entered in their place. This was a tougher crowd, and she had to put on a really convincing teacher act to stop them being disruptive. She had a reputation for quick wit and could hold her own when dealing with hecklers and trouble-makers.

After the first fifteen minutes, the deputy head, Mrs Hunter, quietly tapped on the door and put one foot over the threshold.

‘A quick word, Miss Kane?’ gasped the red-faced spinster.

Kelly followed her out of the class and shut the door behind them and they talked in the otherwise deserted corridor.

‘I’ll take your next class dear,’ fussed Mrs Hunter. ‘The polis have just arrived and the head wants you. It’s about Paul Bevy again.’

‘What’s happened now?’

‘Och, it’s an awfy business, just awfy, much worse than last time.’

There was a crash and a laugh from the other side of the door. ‘You’d better run along dear, they are already causing trouble in there.’

Kelly nodded and with clicking heals made her way down the corridor to the Academy administration wing. She hadn’t been expecting the police to turn up at the school today, no one had told her. She wondered why not.

The headmaster’s office was on the other side of the large wooden panelled entrance hall of the Academy. It was an old building and in various stages of disrepair, but the hall floor was kept well polished and smelled of disinfectant. The huge coat of arms, carved from oak, that hung over the rear of the hall was regularly dusted, but not painted, the lion and unicorn on either side of the blue shield were now rather formless and sinister in appearance.

Kelly opened one of the double doors across the hall and entered the administration corridor, an area that smelled ever more like a hospital as the cleaners mopped the floors more regularly.

She knocked on the headmaster’s door and after a curt “Enter” was called from the other side she quietly opened the it just enough to get inside, then shut it behind her.

The Headmaster’s study was large and gloomy, with tall windows that rarely had their curtains opened more than a few inches. The single light bulb, high on the tall ceiling provided scant illumination. The Headmaster, David Carrie was there, an unimposing man considering the size of the chamber he inhabited, short, bald and fat, but much friendlier than the stern expression on his face advertised. The others present were Paul’s social worker, a middle-aged woman wearing a bright scarf and with her red winter jacket still worn, but unzipped. The other two people in the room were plain clothes police officers, she could tell that straight away just by looking at them. Paul himself was not there and Kelly presumed he was in the care of one of the Guidance teachers. Of the police officers, one was a young man, tall, with rather longer hair than might be expected for CID, and the other was a black woman of medium height, slim, with short straightened hair. Kelly judged her to be African rather than West Indian.

They had all be talking, but stopped as she entered.

‘Ah yes, here is our Miss Kane,’ chirped Carrie. ‘One our finest supply teachers. Come ye, come ye, why don't ye, Miss Kane. Take a seat, take a seat.’

Kelly sat in one of the armchairs beside the headmaster’s desk.

‘This is a dreadful business, just dreadful,’ said Carrie in his plummy Morningside accent, nearly repeating word for word what Kelly had just heard Mrs Hunter say. ‘Another burglary and now murder too? I just can’t grasp that such a thing could be done by a Jesmond boy. Paul Bevy again, Miss Kane, and this time there is a dead body involved if you can believe it!’

Kelly remained perfectly still in her chair.

'Well,' continued Carrie, getting rather flustered. 'I dare say you'll get the whole story soon enough Kelly dear, but what we want you to do now, is just tell Detectives Lavius and er... well, about the argument you had with Paul a few weeks ago, before the first...'

Carrie came to a stammering stop, having been put off by failing to remember the female officer's name, and running out of steam. The female detective, who was sat across from Kelly, raised her hand in greeting and gave her a reassuring smile.

‘Hello Miss Kane, my name is Detective Constable Yoyuwevuto. You can call me Mable, though. I realise it is a bit of a mouthful. We just need you to tell us about your incident with Paul, Miss Kane. The headmaster told us that he threatened you?’

Kelly was slightly annoyed to be dragged into whatever was going on, but she was not surprised. There had only been once incident that they could be referring to, something that had happened over a month ago and that she had told Carrie that she could handle herself.

‘Oh well, it was nothing really,’ Kelly stuttered. ‘I had to talk to him about... well, bothering some of the girls. When I confronted him, he was rather nasty.’

'I see,' said Yoyuwevuto. 'It's just that we did not know about this incident. It happened a week before the Orlando break-in I understand.'

'Well, yes,' said Kelly calmly. 'It wasn't a secret or anything, it was just one of those things we teachers deal with every day. I had told Mr Carrie that I would deal with it.'

'So what happened exactly?'

Kelly took a moment to arrange her thoughts, then said, 'I learned of him being somewhat lewd with some of the girls. I talked to him after class and he became a little aggressive, that was all there was to it really. He said some things to me, that were meant to hurt me, just the usual juvenile stuff. Sometimes we take these things to the headmaster, but I decided to handle it myself.'

'And how did you handle it?' asked Yoyuwevuto.

'Well, then Orlando happened, and it seemed rather pointless to hand out a detention or two after he'd been arrested.'

'I see, of course,' said Yoyuwevuto. She looked over at Detective Lavius who was gazing up at some of the portraits hung up on the walls of headmasters gone by. He turned to her and shrugged.

‘Thank you, Miss Kane. That’s been very helpful, we'll be in touch through the school if we have any more questions.'

Kelly smiled and nodded, then got up from her chair and left the room. She couldn't help but notice that the male officer had never spoken. He’d almost looked bored.

Instead of going back to her class and letting Mrs Hunter get back to her snug office next door to the head’s, she went to the staff room to get a cup of coffee. She could barely hold it, her hands were shaking so badly. She loathed the police, they filled her with terror and had done since she was a child.

As she slowly calmed down, she went over what she had told them, checking her story for anything that might have given her away. The only people that knew what had gone on between her and Paul Bevy, were her and Paul themselves, and he, undoubtedly, had more important matters on his mind than an argument he'd had with his teacher over a month ago.

There had been certainly more to the incident than she had told them, or old Carrie come to that. Not even the girls that had been the cause of the encounter knew anything about it. It had all happened, really, due to her illicit habit of using the girls toilets in the afternoons. By the afternoon her feet were tired from the heals and the girls toilets were much closer than the nearest staff ones, which were up two flights of stairs. They were usually quiet at afternoon break time so she would often sneak in to relieve herself before the bell went. On that day though, three girls came in just as she was sitting down in the cubicle. One of them was crying.

‘He’s a wee bastard. We should get him, I can tell my brother,’ said a voice that Kelly judged to be Jennifer Knight, a solidly build third year girl.

‘No!’, screamed the crying girl between sobs.

‘Well what?’ said another voice that evidently didn't have time for this shit. ‘Are you just going to let him away with it?’

To Kelly's ears it had sounded like Hannah Paterson. Not normally a girl that hung about with Jenny.

‘Just!...’ said the tearful one. ‘Just no! I Dinnae...’

She was then cut off by her sobbing. Eventually Hannah spoke.

‘Well, what did he do to you?’ she said impatiently.

‘I saw it, he put his hand right up Helen's...’ Whatever Jenny was about to say was cut off by more sobs. 'Oh, don't Helen,' said Jenny plaintively, seeming to be enjoying her role as a consoler.

So it was Helen Clark, the pretty third year girl, Kelly had realised. Divorced parents, lived with her dad. Good looking and sweet natured, but not very bright.

‘I don’t want to tell anyone, I just want to forget it ever happened.’

‘Paul should pay for what he did,’ hissed Hannah.

There was a pregnant pause, then in a loud whisper Jenny said, 'Oh? Is there someone in that cubicle?’

Kelly in that moment didn’t know what to do. As a teacher she should be taking control of the situation, but on the other hand, her using the pupil's toilets would be quite a scandal and probably lead to a verbal warning as their were strict school guideline about that sort of thing.

She hesitated. And in that time the girls left silently, to most likely take their conversation elsewhere, much to Kelly's relief.

For the rest of the next class she had thought over what to do. Telling the headmaster would escalate it all much higher than Kelly suspected that a shy girl like Helen could take. In addition, Kelly would have to be circumspect about how she had found out, and if she initially lied about how she knew about Paul and then was found out in her lie she would be sacked on the spot.

Was she even sure who they had been speaking about? There were two Pauls in third year, but neither of them were capable of sexual assault. Paul Bevy in fourth year though. He was a nasty piece of work and no mistake. There had actually been a similar incident the year before, or so she had half-overheard in the staff room a few months back.

She was really working herself up into a state of high anxiety by the time her next class came in. Fourth years, and a class that contained none other than Paul Bevy himself. She had watched him all the way through the class. He was a smug, evil looking brat, who was liked by the popular kids because his parents were wealthy. Fifteen, but small for his age, and good looking in a sullen sort of way. Not the sort of boy that would have difficulty getting a girlfriend she thought, as he was considered a bad boy by anyone that knew him and almost certain to get a decent car when he was old enough to drive. Just the type, in short, that the idiotic teenage girls that attended Jesmond went for. She'd just about made up her mind to forget about it, but when the class was leaving, the last class of the day in fact, she blurted out, ‘stay behind a moment Paul.’

He turned to looked her in the eye. They were the same height.

‘What is it Miss?’ he asked insolently.

She remembered vividly the expression he had had in that moment, and how much she wanted to wipe it off his face.

'Paul. Have you been bothering the girls?'

Paul smirked, then said, 'what have you heard?'

'Never mind what I've heard. I'll just say this, you'd better put a stop to it. Behaviour like that can land boys like you in big trouble.'

Again the infuriating boy had smiled. ‘You should mind your own business, Miss.’

‘I could take this to the headmaster Paul,' hissed Kelly, feeling that she was about to lose her composure.

‘And what? What evidence do you have? You want to put Helen through all of that?’

Kelly had realised then, when he had said Helen's name, that there was no doubt at all that it had been him that had assaulted her. He already had his excuses lined up, he knew exactly what he was being accused of.

‘No. I don't. That’s why I’m talking to you about this privately.’

He remained silent, looking her directly in the eyes, trying to stare her out. She'd dealt with plenty of little horrors like Paul before, but all she could mange was a limp, ‘I know it was you.’

‘Well, knowing and proving are two different things, aren't they Miss?'

'You think you're so clever don't you Paul?' she growled, now very much loosing her cool. 'Well, let me tell you, you can't win this one. You don't feel the slightest bit of empathy or compassion for that poor girl do you? She's just thirteen. She's still a child. You should be ashamed of yourself.'

She could tell she was hitting the mark with trying to shame him, as he was flushing red with anger. But then he calmed down and smiled again.

‘You know what, Miss?' he said as he moved his face closer to hers. 'I think you’re mum deserved what she got.’

‘What do you know about my mother?’

‘The police shot her didn’t they? She must have deserved it.’

By now Kelly was digging her fingernails into the palms of her hands.

‘Get out,’ she hissed.

‘Bleed a lot did she? You saw it didn’t you? Must have left a mark, you just a wee bairn and all.’

Kelly wanted no more of this, knowing that any more talk was pointless, she walked out of the classroom.

‘Aye, yer maw should have walked away too!’ called out Paul after her. She left the door open and walked as fast as she could to the staff room to calm down, not caring what the wretched boy was doing behind her. The next morning Carrie had come to talk to her. Someone, probably Mrs Rogers in the classroom next door had told him about the incident.

‘It’s nothing I can’t handle David,’ she had said.

‘Bethany said she heard raised voices. You walked out of the classroom?’

Bethany Rogers was a terrible eavesdropper and tattle-tale. A woman that had no love for supply teachers and always went running to the headmaster with every rumour or piece of gossip she could lay her hands on.

‘It was just me and Paul. The others had gone.’

‘So what was it about?’

Kelly sighed, feeling rather put on the spot. ‘Well, he knows about my mother. It’s not a secret, but I don't go around advertising it.'

‘I’ll call him in.’

‘No, not yet David. I’ll handle him.’

The headmaster gave her a long concerned look, but then smiled sweetly. 'As long as you're sure then dear,' he said. He had put his hand out to pat her on the shoulder, but then thought better of it and put it back in his pocket before smiling once more and walking away.

Kelly remembered being fairly upset about the whole situation for the rest of the day, until she'd come up with a plan for dealing with Paul that in hindsight now appeared utterly stupid.

Once she had calmed down enough to take on a classroom of teenagers again, she washed out her cup and put it in the dishwasher, then went back to her class and let Mrs Hunter get back to whatever it was she did in that overheated office of hers. As she taught the class she kept an eye out of the window that overlooked the car park, watching for when the police left. The exited together, not speaking. The male officer got in at the drivers side, she had already forgotten both their names, and the female threw some papers in the back before getting in at the passenger side. They then drove away and that was that. Kelly let out the breath she had been holding and looked down at her desk. She could handle police being in the building, at a school like Jesmond's it was not so uncommon, but when they wanted to talk to her, that was a whole other matter.

***

Mable Yoyuwevuto had just settled down for the night to watch a film with her husband , there daughters having not long been put to bed, when her phone went.

'Oh my lord,' she exclaimed mildly. 'It's my boss.'

Her husband kissed his teeth, got up and went into the kitchen.

'Hey Yoyo,' said Lavius once she'd answered her mobile. 'Up to much? I've been thinking. Well reading reports and thinking. Paul Bevy? It doesn't add up. The first robbery, it was a skilful cat burglar. I mean, hat’s off to them. Edinburgh has got a proper Raffles going on, like Harvey says. Down at HBU they call this guy “the Squirrel” right? At least ten robberies with an MO that matches the Squirrels in the last four years.'

Lavius paused, she could hear papers rustling at the other end of the line.

'I am gratified to hear you have been reading my reports, Sergeant.'

'Loving it, Mable. So, he’s a climber, this squirrel, he gets in through blind spots in the security. Finds a top floor window usually and jimmies it open. He goes in with a shopping list and gets out again the same way. What he does not do, is fuck about with cameras, or alarms. He doesn’t cut phone lines or any of that James Bond shit. And most of all, he doesn’t kill big time drug dealers. There were two separate people there that night I think, besides Big Mack, and that kid is neither of them. He’s a wee bully, but that’s it. You still there?'

'I'm still here, Sergeant,' replied Yoyuwevuto without any hint of the slight weariness she was feeling.

'There is enough there to charge him I suppose, but what's the point, when we know he didn't do it right?' Lavius didn't wait for an answer and carried on. 'I mean, we can make a case, the same case that was made for Orlando, and we'd probably get him, even with him being a minor. If we don't get him, the Hamiltons will - that's Mack's family by the way.'

'Are you so sure Paul Bevy did not do it, Sergeant?'

'I was just looking at some of the private CCTV that came through tonight. There is another man on the scene. Unknown, but I'm putting him through the system now.'

'Are you still at work?'

'Aye, aye,' replied Lavius with a laugh. 'Oh here's another thing. Any idea at all about Paul's teacher Miss Kane?'

'Well, other than the fact that there was no love of the lost between her and Paul, no Sergeant.'

'Love of the lost? Oh, I get you. Aye, and I should imagine she has no love lost on us either.'

‘I don’t understand Sergeant.’

‘You know who she is right? She’s Kelly Take. Going by her mother’s maiden name now, though. Maybe to hide her past.’

‘Still not with you.'

‘Kelly Take, daughter of Veronica Take. Spelt T-A-K-E, but pronounced Tak-ay. The woman that was shot in the stomach by Metropolitan Armed CID back in the nineties.’

‘Oh, I see. I remember that, yes. A dark day for the CID.' Mable paused then said, 'Does it mean anything though?’

‘Probably not, but it’s interesting. I wonder how she ended up here? All I know is what I’ve just been reading in Wikipedia. Her mum was completely innocent. The Met had the wrong address, they were looking for her brother, our Miss Kane’s uncle. He, on the other hand was a real baddie. Guns, drugs, gangland murder. You name it.’

‘So you think... I give up Sergeant. What do you think?’

‘Nothing at all. Just a weird thing, I suppose. Well anyway, I'll let you get back to it. See you in the morning Yoyo.’

Yoyuwevuto said goodbye, but he had already hung up.

Miss Take - Chapter 1 (3356)

Chapter 1 (3356)

Wraithston Manse, an Edwardian three story house in the rich suburbs of Edinburgh, sat back from the main road, along about sixty yards of driveway behind a tall wall, a thick leylandi hedge and cultivated gardens. It was always quiet during the daytime, there was generally no one in evidence except the gardener that worked in the afternoons of the summer months and the cleaner that came in the mornings on an irregular schedule. The house was often empty at night, the owner's business taking him into the city where he had the choice of three flats to reside in. He would stay away for days at a time if need be, only returning once all his affairs in the capital had been concluded. The Manse was where he stored all his treasure, which accounted for the large amount of money that had been spent on its security and why, at three in the morning on a bleak January evening, it was being robbed.    

On this night, the owner was in residence, but asleep in his room. The alarms were on, but their security only covered the front and back doors, the main gate and the entrance to the walled garden at the rear of the house. None of the windows were alarmed as they were all barred with strong wrought iron grilles. Despite these protections, there was a small dark clad figure prowling around on the second floor, occasionally lighting their way with a headlamp attached to the balaclava they were wearing under their hood. The thief moved from room to room, calmly and quietly opening drawers and scanning shelves. They carried a backpack in their left hand, held low to the floor. The bag was unusually long and narrow, the type that a runner might use, designed to be worn close to the body and anything that the thief liked the look of went into it. In went a gold figurine of a horse, carefully picked up by a latex-gloved hand, then a silver letter opener with an emerald set in the handle, taken from a drawer. Next in was a framed cameo taken from a top shelf, evidently un-dusted for several years. Each item that was stolen was wrapped in a thick black cotton cloth taken from the thief’s figure-hugging jacket pocket, and then secured with an elastic band before being place gently in the pack.

The burglar seemed to know where to find what they were looking for. Most of the time they appeared to know which drawer to look in and which to ignore, as if having prior knowledge. Occasionally they came across something that they had perhaps not seen before and stopped to consider its value in terms of how much it could be sold for versus how much space it would take up in the pack. A large ivory pipe stand was considered, but ultimately passed over, while a set of diamond cuff-links, found almost as if they had been discarded on a dressing table were quickly wrapped and deposited in the pack.

The thief moved silently through a dining room, ignoring everything, and into the library. This room was rarely used, obviously designed with the vanity of the owner in mind. The owner was not a reader and the books had no other purpose than to impress the occasional visitor. As if know exactly what they were after, the thief pulled some first additions from the shelves and wrapping them too, put them in their pack. They stood by the desk and checked the weight of the bag. It was almost full now. The thief let out a little sigh and sat down at the desk. They twirled around a couple of times on the swivel chair. Then, almost idly, they started to check through the drawers.

The desk mainly contained papers, nothing much more exciting than utility bills and bank statements. The burglar switched on their headlamp to read a few, then tossed them on the floor. Next they pulled out a few of the drawers and laid them on top of the desk. Leaning down they looked in and with a cheerful little whistle took out a small, but thick, Manila envelope. It contained photos, holiday pictures, and the dark eyes of the thief seemed to smile as they flipped through them. They were of a young woman, in her early twenties at the most, happy as if on holiday. Somewhere that had canals and in the winter judging by her woollen hat and scarf. Here was one of her by the side of a canal, her hands up in a zany kind of pose. Here was one of her in a restaurant, offering a glass of wine to whoever was taking the photo. Next, a photo of her standing in profile, a thoughtful expression on her face as she gazed out of a window. The room she was in was not decorated and the walls were bare wood. The thief paused over one that showed how beautiful the woman was. She had short blonde hair, a pixie cut, a smooth complexion and a stunning smile. Her eyes were green and seemed to speak of a pure soul. The thief rubbed the girls face, as if lovingly, before moving on to the next photo, putting it at the back of pile as they shuffled through them.

More holiday snaps, but then the photos suddenly changed. Crime scene pictures. It was the same girl, but she was lying dead, in a cluttered and disturbed living room, in a pool of blood, her dead eyes gazing up at the ceiling. She was wearing blue pyjamas and only one pink sock. The thief flicked through more of the photos, it was the same scene but from different angles, and then threw them all down on the desk in revulsion. They stood up to go, but then seemed to reconsider. The thief then gently swept up the photos and returned them to their envelope. Without wrapping them, they then put them into a side pocket of the pack.

After checking how much space was left in their bag, the thief crept down to the ground floor and into the central hall. Soundlessly they opened a door that lead into the kitchen, and in the pale moonlight coming through the un-shuttered windows, walked around the large table too look up at a painting that was hanging on the wall above a glass-fronted cupboard full of fine china.

The thief put their bag down on the table then in a single bound leapt up onto the counter beside the cupboard landings as lightly as a cat. They then pulled themselves up onto the top of the double-door fridge. From there they walked to the cupboard, the thief was not tall and ceiling was high. When the picture was taken from the wall, the thief then returned they way they had came, just as lightly and just as silently.

By the light of the moon, the thief examined the picture. It was under glass so had to be angled just right to see. It was an unremarkable pastoral scene, but if the viewer cared to look it up, it was worth considerably more than might be expected for picture hung up in a kitchen. They undid the catches on the back of the frame and removed the painting. They then rolled it up and place it into a cardboard tube of just the right size taken from the pack. With the painting stowed away, they then opened up some of the drawers, almost idly, holding up any utensil of unusual shape that caught their interest to the light. None made it into the pack though and were left lying around on top of the counter.

The thief gently opened the fridge and looked inside. Just as they were reaching for a can of beer there was a sudden crash from upstairs, so loud it seemed to shake the whole house. The thief froze, not even daring to shut the refrigerator door. They waited, seeming to strain to hear any other sound, for a full minute, before slowly closing the door and returning the kitchen to darkness.

Silently they crept into a small gap between two worktops and eyes wide in the darkness pulled the bag in with them. They waited a while longer, but there were no more sounds, no lights went on, no footsteps or shouting. Nothing at all. The thief slowly uncurled from their bolt-hole and stood in the darkness, unmoving, as if doubting they had heard the sound at all. It had been so loud though, like a sack of cement hitting a wooden floor. Eventually they crept to the foot of the stairs and looked up. There was nothing but silence and darkness. Slowly, eyes wide in apprehension they sidled up to the landing and looked up at the next set of stairs. Light filtered in from a stained glass skylight. Moonlight, coloured red, green and blue fell across the thief’s masked face. Hesitating, full of doubt, the thief could not bring themselves to go up any further. The noise had come from the top floor and that was where they had come in, through a tiny window in the high sided west wall of the Manse.

There was no other way out for the thief, the doors were locked and the windows were barred. The small window in an unused attic room that looked out over the annex had a single bar across it and there was just enough space for a small-framed person to squeeze through if they dared to make the climb and had the means to open the narrow sash window. With no other option, the thief crept up to the third floor of the Manse.

They padded across the landing to the room they had entered the house from, but paused when they noticed that the door to the master bedroom was ajar. The thief edged closer to the door until they were near enough to peer around it. The curtains were open and the light of the full moon shone down through the tall windows illuminating the room faintly with a ghostly light. In a pool of light by the windows, lying on a thick rug was the body of man dressed in a unicorn-headed onesie. It was a ridiculous outfit for a grown man, complete with a pink main and fluffy tail, presumably worn ironically. Either way, the wearer was past caring, as he was lying in a thickening pool of blood that had departed his body via a deep cut in his throat.

The thief stood motionlessly for several moments, then sniffed and looked around the room. They rubbed their face through the mask then sighed deeply, whistling through their teeth at the end of the sigh. They made to leave, but the stopped and looked at the body again, as if drawn to the graveness of the occasion and seeking to think out all the ramifications of breaking into a house where the owner had been murdered.

Eventually they moved, leaving the bedroom and crossed the landing, then creeping down a long narrow passage to the room they had entered from. It was closed, but not locked. The room was disused, full of furniture and cardboard boxes left by the previous owners. The room's only narrow window was set into the gable roof on the opposite side from the door. The thief lowered the pack from their back as they walked through the maze of dusty furniture, then gently leant it against the wall when they got to it. Before opening the window they paused to look out, trying to take in as much as they could in the widest range of view the window afforded them. The thief was about to slide it open, when they saw movement down on the driveway. A dark figure had just left the annex and was now heading across the grass to the gates. A security light went on, but they ignored it. The thief got a good look at him, a man in his late forties with chiselled features and a sour expression, wearing a Barbour jacket and a flat cap, looking for all the world like an angry gamekeeper off to shout at some kids for trespassing on his master’s property. The man was not leaving by the gate though, he walked right through the flowerbeds and into the hedge where he was lost from view.

As soon as he was gone, the thief opened the window and lowered their pack down to the ground on a length of thin rope. Once the pack was down they dropped the rope after it. Next they squeezed out of the window, between the frame and the single bar and scaled the side of the house, from the third floor down to the flowerbeds, choosing their handholds carefully, but quickly. There was no hesitation as they went, they appeared to know where every hand and foot hold was. On the ground they wound up the rope and put it in the pack, then ran towards the hedge, following the killer, keeping to the shadows.

***

‘I told you the Cowgate would take ages,’ said Corum Lavius sternly and sighed. He was joking, he was in no hurry.

‘I am sorry, Sergeant,’ replied Mable Yoyuwevuto, choosing to take him seriously.

‘Doesn’t matter, we’ve time. As your punishment though, I’m going to smoke,’ he said as he pushed the button that wound down the window of the care they were in. He then lit a rolled-up cigarette with a Zippo lighter he grabbed from the dashboard and inhaled deeply before blowing it vaguely out of the window.

‘We’re just asking questions, just asking questions. Feels weird though, him being just a kid,’ said Lavius as he pulled a flake of tobacco from his teeth. ‘You arrested him the first time right, Yoyo?’

‘That is correct, Sergeant. Myself and Detective Constable Yang.’

‘What was that like?’

‘It is all in the report, Sergeant.’

‘Call me Sergeant one more time and I’ll thump you Mable, just tell me,’ said Lavius who was not famed for his love of reading reports.

‘He was upset as you might expect. There was a social worker and his form tutor present. It took a long time to calm him down and make him understand what was going on. His parents were called, it seemed best. They came to St Leonards with him.’

‘This kid then, he’s got all this treasure in his bag and in his locker. All from that house, the...’

‘Orlando House, Sergeant,’ said Yoyuwevuto trying to help.

Lavius, who was driving, gave her a light punch of the arm.

‘Right, and no one at HBU thought it might not be a fit up?’

‘A what, sorry, Serg... Um.’

Lavius flicked the ash of his cigarette out of the window, then manoeuvred the car a few more feet down the Cowgate towards Holyrood Palace. ‘You know - someone put it there to make it look like he did it.’

‘There was the CCTV as well, his lack of an alibi, and three of his fellow students made statements to the effect that he had been bragging about breaking into Orlando after the event. Usually we will arrest on a lot less evidence than that.’

‘Far be it from me to cast any doubt on the House Breaking Unit then,’ mused Lavius. ‘Is there a “but”? I sense a “but” in your tone.’

Mable gave a small musical laugh. ‘Yes, Sergeant. I must confess I am not entirely convinced of his guilt. We have a solid case and it goes to trial next month. But now this. I interviewed him for the Orlando break in. He is an arrogant and rather mean-spirited boy and quite capable of breaking and entering. However, the break-in in question matched the MO of a personage at the HBU we have come to know as the “Squirrel”, who in the words of my Inspector is a “genuine Raffles, who really takes pride in his work, a climber of some skill and a consummate professional of the old school”.’

‘Sounds like Harvey admires him.’

‘I think he does,’ continued Yoyuwevuto. ‘The Squirrel has been attributed to seventeen break-ins, spanning four years. This would mean that Paul Bevy would have started at eleven years old.’

Lavius snorted, then choked out a laugh as he blew out smoke. ‘Aye, fair enough. This isn’t Dundee after all. You don’t think he did it then? Killed the Mack?’

‘I cannot think it. And yet if he is guilty of Orlando, it follows that he is also guilty of Wraithston.’

‘Baws of steel then, that lad, to be out on bail for one job, to then commit a... Oh here we go.’

The lights changed and they joined the queue of traffic through a long set of roadworks down to the lights beside the Lifehouse where they then stopped.

‘Aye well, he’ll know you, Mable, and how lovely you are. You can do the talking. I’m just here because of Mack,' Lavius blew out a cloud of smoke then continued. 'Jesus, someone did-in Mack the Knife. Biggest drug dealer in Edinburgh and we’ve no idea who could have done it.’

‘I heard Romanians, Sergeant.’

‘Bollocks,’ sighed Lavius as they cruised down into the park. ‘What a bunch of gossips my squad are. I’m going to give up thumping you Mable, if Harvey sees bruises he’ll not let me play with you again.’

Mable laughed her musical laugh again out of politeness.

‘Me and Mable, the dream team,’ said Lavius. ‘HBU and Major Crime together in perfect harmony. No film footage from the Manse, right? You're not holding out on me?’

‘None, they have cameras, but they were not set to record.’

‘And poor old Mack? He was alone that night?’ interrupted Lavius

‘He wasn’t even meant to be in, from what I understand, Sergeant. He was due in Glasgow, there was a car waiting for him, but he changed his mind and went home. He was alone in the house.’

‘So, for now, despite everything, from the point of view of HBU, it looks like a robbery gone wrong? I’ll say it again, you’d need baws of steel to rob the Mack.’

‘And yet someone did. The place had been burgled, there is no question of that. We were at the Manse yesterday. Your Mr Mack kept a clean house, very spotless, much hygienic. I should say, Sergeant, in regards to CCTV, Paul was caught on a safety camera walking all the way down Skene Road. We are also waiting for some private stuff from the other houses.'

‘Show me what you've got.’

Mable dug around in the files she had on her lap and pulled out some black and white stills.

‘No facial ID,’ mumbled Lavius. ‘Just some wee bastard in a hoodie.’

‘Same build, same height. We measured the fence he walked along and estimated his height to be five feet. That is Paul Bevy’s height.’

‘You guys are real Sherlock Holmes’s aren’t you?’ said Lavius with a smile. ‘It wasn’t him though.’

‘Who then?’

‘Mr A. N. Other. Dunno. Mack was stabbed in the throat. And someone marked him. It was pure gangland. Anyway, we’re at the school now, better get our game faces on Yoyo old girl. Leg-breakers and drug dealers I can handle. Kids, I haven’t a clue, sorry.’

‘Do not worry, Sergeant,’ said Yoyuwevuto who had two young daughters of her own. ‘I know what to expect.’

They pulled into the school car park and Lavius pulled up in a disabled space. Just as they were walking up to the double doors their attention was drawn to a small figure dressed in black school-uniform running as fast as he could across the playing fields towards a distant housing estate.

Lavius sighed. ‘That’s him, isn’t it?’

‘I fear so, Sergeant.’

Lavius, who had a reputation as a chaser, ran off down the hill, after the fleeing figure.

The Journal of Elvis Leroy McBastard

The Journal of Elvis Leroy McBastard
- circa 1992
(Written up 05/05/2009)


--- INTRO ---

Well, this is me and this is how I got here. I was a street bum, going nowhere and achieving nothing. I started out as a small time solo, a hit here, a job there. Nothing heavy.

One time I was hired to infiltrate a group of PC's, a group for hire, y'know the type. But soon I was part of them - a good crowd too, I learned a lot. Dave, a solo like me, quiet and sombre mad as well. Ace, the medi-tech, a few others. Most are gone now although I still see Ace. Anyhow we'd neen hired to track down a psychic girl kidnapped by some cult. Lots of stuff was going down then, in San Fan. we found a cool hide out in the CZ, and blow away a cultist ritual, lotsa stuff. We had a few false starts we tracked down the girl to a warehouse. What a firefight, man I got shot to fuck, but we made it. It was after that I took them drugs which made me a telepath. Man, fast paced times.

After that, some down time. Shit, then the group wanted to go to Europe, so I followed, not having much else to do, guess it worked out ok.

--- POINT EXTRACTION ---

We got based in a shalley in Austria and got hired by the usual corp assholes to 'extract' some geezer from a base. It seemed eazy, but it all turned to shit. We blew away the guards, but the chopper we put the geezer in go offed. Then we got split up in the snow. I was hitching back to the shalley when I got picked up by some babe, or so I thought, but she drugged me and took me back to her mad professor boyfriend who wanted to carry out vivisection experiments on me.

Well I wasn't having that! I settled their hash and stole their car into the bargain. The mad prof was still after me for killing his girl, but it wasn't me anyway, it was some 8 year old lass with a lethal handgun. What a world.

After I got back to the shalley, it all gets a bit hazy, people faces move so fast. Most of my group go off and raws keep turning up to take their place. This guy, Teleo turns up telling this sorry story involving a military chip holding secrets, so we take him in, but get nailed by the Italian military who infect us with a slow working, but deadly posion. Its all hazy.

Next thing, us lot are guarding a nomad camp, trying to remember what the fuck had happened to us.
More new faces, more death. We're attacked by the big 'C', a huge fight ensues, what a day that was, the biggest firefight I've ever been in.

So we leg it back to Celeste compound but we're being chased by the miltary, the government, big 'C'
and god knows who else.

By this time, theirs me, Greendog, hes sound, a netrunner, ugly bugger though. Nightstalker, he's cool as well, as long as you don't mind mad folk. John the fixer, from this city, but he's been roped into our group. The cybernetic priest, Conner, and another solo called Eddy Metal. Ace is around occasionally as well.

So, we get this chip to a dude called Frank Lesbit, to try and trade it for an antidote yeah?

After a lot of shooting and car chases we get in contact with him.

Christine, thats my car has been a mixed blessing, she's saved my bacon lotsa times, but she can be a real pain sometimes. I've also found the time to meet an Italian babe called Samantha.

Anyroad, this is the upshot. (oh yeah,man we stole somecyber stuff, me and Greendog, my drinking companion, good money too.)

--- WORKING FOR MINIX ---

So, Frankey says we have to work for MINIX, an italian government organisation or else we get no antidote. He's got us over a barrel, we tried to fight it, but they had us ok.. We were kept in some underground base then eventually they gave us a mission to do and lotsa guns and stuff.
Nightstalkers eyes lit up.

I don't like being in some expendible assassin team, but we've no choice, none at all.

Our section chief, some old guy called Gary Watson gave us the breifing (being a telepath is cool, I've got him worried about where I get my info - how do I know his name?)

So we do it, me, Nightstalker, the cybernetic priest and some new guy called Eddy Metal, I don't know him but I guess he's in the same boat as us. We're parachuted into this research compound and start shooting up the guards and shit. Nailing them left, right and centre. Steel core and frag grenades. We get inside and start getting the files we're ment to steal and kidnap some old professor guy. The priest has wired the place and an airstrike is expected soon, so we have to move fast. If my mother could see me now.

Well, I cover the corridor and Eddy and Nightstalker wait for the lift. Of coarse there's some guy in armour with a big gun in the dam thing and of course he opens up. They jump on him, he just about nails Eddy who takes near 30 bullets. Eventually  I go over and shoot the guy in the head until he's quiet.

Strange terminator dudes start getting up from their hospital beds, but by that time, we're scarce.

So up we go to ground level, I scan the area, there's guards everywhere in the foyer of the building so as soon as the doors open we let rip with everything we've got. frag grenades launched from the rifle and steel core. We get a lot in return, but we can take it. This one guy keeps lobbing grenades in the lift and Conner keeps hoofing them down a hole in the floor. Twice he does this and for the hat trick he grabs the grenade in mid hair, runs over to the guy (cyber legs) and shoves it down his fucking throat. Nice one. He runs off at high speed leaving us three to go up to the next floor, prof still being carried and passed about. There's a helicopter in the air when we hit the roof so Nightstalker took it out with a stinger rocket launcher.
We blow the joint, the party getting dull at that time, I put away a couple of trucks for good messure with RPG's and we're outa there. We wandered around outside in the waste for a while until we get picked up by a chopper.

The airstrike goes in and the place is eradicated from the map. All we see is a big red glow on the horizon and the shadows of the planes flitting over.

So Watson gives us a pat on the back for a job well done at the breifing and we get some down time. Me and Conner even get to go outside the base. (Nightstalker isn't bothered, I think he likes it in there) Conner tries to get some gen from an 'Information Retrival' Agency about our dilema. I doubt he'll have much luck. Greendog appears to be using his netrunning abilities to steal a helicopter. Good one.

Yeah, so I just cruise around in Christine and hang round with Sam and try not to think what our next mission will be like.

--- JUNGLE ASSAULT ---

So, despite Connors moralistic misgivings, another mission. Destroy a gurella encampment in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest. Why? Don't know. Who? We're not told. Its me, Conner and Greendog and Knightstalker, both in power armour. Semi-robotic armoured suits, bristling with weapons. GD has a 75mm cannon. We parachute down and spend one night waiting for a supply convoy to pass on this road. A jeep comes along and we waste the occupants and drive along a bit.

We find the convoy, just two trucks. All went well until a guy in the back of one shoots GD in the head with a bazooka. He survives, but his helmet is fucked. We take cover and I waste the trucks with rifle grenades. Big bangs. Its night time, but people arn't long in arriving. We leg it through the jungle, heading for the camp.

Stalker and Greendog pressed on while me and the padre layed tripwires and grenades for the goons following us.
I shot one of them, by luck more than anything else. through the trees. As we got to the camp we heard some of the traps go off. So, in went the P.A's , blasting buildings. Rockets, missiles, shells. Up go cars, trucks, sheds, people. I popped a few goons and cleanse a building. All the main stuff is done by the PAs. Things got dicey when a tank rumbles into the frey, but Conner saw to that by jumping on its turret and bending its cannon out of shape. Bang! Up it went! Not before it injured NS in the leg though. Later NS in the leg lets off a bio toxin in grenade, offing a big group of people. GD puts his minigun to good use, 100 rounds an action, he hoses down his target zones. I kept  myself busy, taking people out methodicaly one by one. At one point GD shoot a fuel tanker a huge mushroom cloud results and alot of fiery petrol rains down.

NS is then badly injured in a multi-grenade blast and me and Conner have to drag him out his PA. GD is in search of an escape vehicle but all he got is a re-run of his unfortunate catching of a rocket in the head! He survived (but only just) and repremands the culprit, (with his minigun)

Man, it just never stops. Me and Conner went off to find the jeep, while the other two blew up the ammo dump, another huge explosion. We found two jeeps and a wounded bloke who Connor took back to the base. So off we trundled, me driving the first jeep. Some one had layed mines on the road, but it didn't take long to get rid of them.

We had to reach the pick up zone by the next day, dawn was just breaking. We got to a bridge over this ravine in the jungle. There was an armoured van and I scanned 8 bodies. We had the drop on them.
NS gave them a couple of stingers and I picked them off one by one. It all got a bit confusing, running around in the jungle. We all got shot at one point, usually in the back. Poor NS, he really got it, he was like a meat counter at Safeway, in real dire straits, badly shot up and his fucking right leg was blown off. By some miracle he made it though. I took out the last git with a stinger fired over the bridge - you can run, but can't hide from a psychic!

So, we drive on to the drop zone, and settle down for some zee's. Or so we thought, we didn't reckon on a little shit sniper, who persistently tried to shoot us in the head. At first we couldn't see him and our missiles and bullets and grenades ripped into the area we thought he was in, the bugger was up a tree of course so it wasn't until NS did this amazing thing. What he did was, sitting down like, was lob an incendary grenade practiacaly into the guys shirt pocket. That was the end of him anyway and in the morning a chopper came and picked up our poor mutilated bodies. We all survived, only just, NS spent 12 days in super-healing hospital. We had some down time after debreifing. Conner and GD learned heavy weapons, I learned first aid (hmm, am I turning soft?) Spent some time with my girls too, Samantha and Christine.

--- DRAGON AND THE SISTERS AFFAIR ---

Towards the end of downtime me, Conner, GD and Eddy went out, we got into a bar fight, a few folk got killed, so we legged it. Me and Eddy ran straight into a gang of Inquisitors, I killed three of them - but I didn't have a helmet on so they KO'd me. Eddy lost an eye. So, I was in hospital for a bit, but it wasn't long before we got our next mission. Me, GD, NS and Conner, we had to deliver this box to a place in the Inferno (Celeste Compound CZ). Me in Christine, Conner on his bike, NS + GD in a van.

As we're cruising into the CZ we see a drive by shooting, me and Conner take care of the casualties and Chrstine zooms off to claim the car that did it. NS took 3 victims back in the van. So, we're standing there, waiting for someone to answer the door to this place we're ment to be delivering to and along comes this dragon guy who bombs us, gases us and nicks the box. We hunt for him and question bystanders but to no avail.

This guy called Edvard (some corp dude) came along and hassled us. After reporting back to MINIX we decide to get in contact with one of the areas gangs - 'The Sisters'. As we approach their haunt/bar there's a fight between 1/2 doz of them and 1/2 a doz of their rivals 'The Klash' - we make short work of them, I shoot three of them in the head before anyone has time to think.

GD and Conner bag one each and I pope the last guy trying to escape. The Sisters are a bit wary of us, but decide to tell us where the HQ is, so we can enquire after the mysterious 'dragon'.

Conner goes to speak to Oreo, the head honcho woman, the rest of us go to a bar. Two new guys turn up, sent from MINIX - 'Stone' and a huge hulking chinese bloke, the biggest guy I've ever seen, he appears to be quiet mad, probably cyperpsycotic. The other oen is a small Jap called Harry, he seem to be a martial arts expert.

Anyway, the trail takes us to Tokyo Roses brothel in the same area, we talk to her and she puts us onto a fence called 'Le Fez' who deals with the Dragon - whose a woman! She's on a crusade to get rid of drugs from the Inferno. Meanwhile NS + GD have been mucking about. NS accidently hypnotised himself and GD convinced him he was a pig, so he was grunting about outside attracting a crowd. Eventually we got the silly sod and tried to convince him he was human. What a fruit cake.

So, me GD, and NS, after a while of standing outside when we're attacked by 6 rastas on motorbikes. I take out 4 wuth head shots, Christine takes out another. NS got badly shot in the chest (as usual) and had to be carted off to MINIX in an ambulance AV.

Me and GD go to Le Fez and inquire after the Dragon, he puts us on to 'the Doctor' a supposed friend of the Dragons. We then flog the bodies of the rastas to a ripperdoc's $7000 for both of us. This weird solo called Scorp is tagging around with us, saying he wants to join our group coz he's bored. I read his mind - he's probably after the price on our heads.

So after a very eventful day, me and GD go back to get some kip, we arranged to mee Scorp in the morning at Apocolypse. We meet him and he now has to do the initiation we've set him. Join us in a hunt to kill some Inquisitors. We cruised around for a while until we found some - well they looked like Inquistors anyway. They wern't, they were crop black ops in purple cloaks the buggers.

Bang-bang-bang, we leg it. I'm injured and have to lie low for a while - In the mean time the others track down the Dragon, whos a top class solo on a crusade against drugs. We decide to join her and the Sisters on a raid on the Jamacian Drugs Cartel headquarters. Also, Maximillian calls off the dogs when we threaten to expose his slum kid roots! So, with all that we - me, Greendog, Skorp and his flat mate Kurt go to werehouse 42 to play lasertag, we're waiting for the Sisters to find where the Jamacians are.

Who should turn up in the middle of the game but Ace! Good to see that babe again, especially since she's got the cure to the virus we've got as well.

Me, Greendog + Skorp go off to see the Sisters, Dragon and a new girl - Kayko, a real babe. They've found the Jamaicans hide out so we decide to hit it today. Its a bit of a cock-up. Scorp went up on the roof to put biotoxin in the air intakes, but they wern't on so that scuppered that idea.

Christine blew the door and we all piled in. Its some kind of warehouse. Theres lots of guys with guns. I drop 4 of them before the Sisters even turn up. Kayko runs at one and deals with him using
Ti Kwon Do. Greendog shots someones arm off then kicks anothers head off. There's alot of incoming but mostly it bounces off our armour. It seems ok so far.

One by one the Jamacians are nailed. We search the building and find a safe. While we try to open it the bosses escape in an armoured car - and the bloody safe is empty! Some Klash turn up in a car - we kill them.

So shambles in all. We go back to MINIX, then after doing this and that go to 'Deaths Door' to get wrecked. Me, Scorp, GD and the new lass Kayko. Sam and Kingfisher turn up and we all get drunk.

--- ANOTHER MISSION - GOYA HEIST ---

The next day Gary calls us in and we get a new mission. Its G.O.Y.A again. We have to find and help "Team 2" who are in trouble with it apparently.

In the meantime, I get fitted out for a new gun and then GD takes me for a flight in his new helicopter. He wont let me have a shot yet.

After a bit of detective work we track down Team 1 to Malaga. Unfortunetly Spain has just errupted into civil war so we have some trouble at the border post. Me and Scorp get rocketed when we get out of Christine, I'm fried and totaly fucked, taken straight to hospital, while my spirit astral projects! GD in heli, take me back to France. Scorp (+ the vicar turns up!) and Conner bike south (Scorp has lost an arm) Scorp riding in a very peculiar trailer.

Scorp and Conner carry on getting into trouble in Spain, a couple of gun fights, which go badly. Meanwhile, Ace picks me up from Hospital, which I'm out of thanks to my regeneration. After 4 days travel we reach Malaga and meet up with Scorp + Conner (GD is flying around doing Netrunner type things) in a hotel.

Scorp has done something horrendous with his hair. Theres lots of media here, covering the war and the airport seige. We make a few enquiries. I pull a black camera woman called Maria - I'm in love! Conners lucky too, the dog! In the morning we go to the Raven Mycrocyb building to try and find a lead on GOYA.

Just as we're considering our options, a little girl runs out an alleyway. Conner runs after her and I have a look down the alley. Two Millitech toughs start taking potshots at me so I drill their heads full of holes. One guy - I hit with a whole clip!

Some weirdo called Angus Man was involved with all this but doesnt let on much. Scorp has a fist fight with him, then seems to accept him. A. Man joins us in searching the Raven buidling. The girl Katleena helps get us up the lift shaft to the upper floors, by reaching for a key hole.

Me and Skoprt do the rest of the sweep, Conner sods off with the girl. After a lot of buggering about we come to the conclusion the building has been used for GOYA but its been deserted for a while. There's lots of labs, airlock, tables with straps on etc.

After that,we rest up for a couple of days. Scorp gets a new arm, and lo-and-behold Nightstalker turns up! So, its us psykos from here on, we've done a bit of research and found a Raven building out in the country. We got into a firefight with some gang or other on the way there. We scope this place out - its definetly occupied. So we go into the small town to look for supplies and ammo.

By chance 2 trucks roll by and everyone decides to hijack them. Greendog sits on Scorps shoulders as he 'speeding bullets' after them. I follow in the car. We slaughter 3 of the crew but one gets away with one of the trucks. A helicopter from the same corp as the trucks comes to investigate but I take out the pilot with a pretty lucky head shot - CRASH!

It takes awhile to get in the truck but eventually GD gets through the roof. He's in hog heavan now coz the truck is communications, and there's practiacly an AI on board.

However we didn't have much good luck after that. That night Greendog and Skorp went on a recon to the camp in the helicopter. They get spotted and shot doen with a SAM - Blat!

Both lept out and plummeted to the ground, luckily surviving. I drove the truck, Ace on her bike, NS in a car. Coarse, as soon as the truck gets out into the open, up comes an airstrike, 3 jets streek in, I leap out the truck as it errupts into flame, a victim to missiles.

The car gets it too, and Ace gave me a lift on her bike. After lots of shooting we get GD and Scorp out. I do a fair bit of sniping - headshots. Scorp got shot in the head so Ace got him to her van to try and repair his brains.

Meanwhile, me, NS and GD limp back to the village - all wounded. I get a bit edgy and think I've seen a threat - its just a couple shagging in a field! The GD sees a car going into town and decides to attack it - the foo! He leaps at it with his 2 mono knives but only succeeds in bouncing off it.

A cyber-dog leaps out and attacks him, but I hit it then shoot it dead (eventually - it bites my head first, lucky for helmets). NS shoots the big guy in the car in the head a few times but that doesn't phase him. NS reaches the car, only to have the guy torch him with a flame thrower.

I shot the flamethrower sending its dangerous fluid everywhere. He returns fire with a pistol, but his numbers up - I nail him 3 times in the right eye - no chance, he's gone.

The everything goes up, the man, the flamethrower, the car. Me and NS goet knocked down by the explosion, but poor GD gets a terrible wound. The car bonnet lands on his butt and cuts into him like a blade. The poor guy lost his nads and alot of lower intestine. Ace has to use a blow torch on it to get him into the van.

Jeez, so he's out of the action for a few weeks. Another fiasco.

Gary calls and we arrange for two more operatives to join us and bring our anti-virus drugs (which we don't need, but we're keeping up the pretence). We'll meet them on the coast.

The next night I tru astral projection. I load up on drugs, meditate and - it works! I roam around outside the van!

So next evening Ace drives me and NS to the rondezvous. We hack our way through a minefield to a cliff to see 3 motorboats. The first holds the new operatives - both female - the other 2 are chasing them. NS starts taking shots at the enemy with his 20mm Barreta. There's a 3 man rocket team on the cliff further up so I have to take them out. Its a bit hairy when they start blowing the cliff out from under our feet, but for once we do fine and its not long before we see the women coming up their grapple line.

So we get back to the village and take a few days rest. The two girls are Robin - a bodyguard Solo and Salata, a liason , spokesperson. I get to 'know' Robin - she's nice.

I spend one evening practasing my Astral Projection. I can leave my body and travel about 10m.

--- THE KLAUS CAPER ---

There's been this guy called Klaus trailing us in a black sports car, obviously watching us. So we decide to lay a trap for him in the cafe he's been frequenting. But the plan backfires and we're all drugged and carted off to the north of Spain, a villa.

Klaus is the No 4 top solo in Europe, a real big player. Team one is here too, Tonic, Tacadon, Babe, Melody and Klaus wants us to raid a MINIX base and grab back the professor we origionally snatched from GOYA for MINIX. Ha! not as if we have much choice, but its funny that we'll be seeing that poor professor again.

We spend about 5 days at this villa getting to know the others. Then the day arrive and we get tooled up and get going. There'll be us - including Robin and Salata, team 1, Klaus and a band of nomad hirelings. We go in. Robin and Salata get the basement garage doors open and GD starts disabeling the security systems. Me and NS go to take out the guards on the 1st floor, Klaus and team one go to the tenth. So, me and NS enter this busy office and shoot two guards. We hear the nomads slaughtering innocent civilains below us. Us two lads take out a room full of
guards then go up the stairs to level 3 in the hope of finding the prof. The place is diserted, we begin to smell a set up.

Kane, the leader of the nomads arrives and then - we're under attack. But from where? The attacker, I can't get a fox on it with my mental powers - so is it human? Or just very cyber. Its virtualy invisible which sujests a cameoleon suit, its weaponary is nasty too. NS and Kane are wounded and leg it back to the basement leaving me to duke it out.

NS finds Tonic dead in our get away vam and a bomb in the back - 5 minutes and counting. Also - a call goes up - Max Tac on the roof! I try to TSM team 1, but no reply - are they dead, where is Klaus? I run for it too, I've expended a lot of ammo, but for all I know I never even hit the unseen enemy.

We ride out on the backs of the nomad bikes. Our options are limited, Klaus has shafted us (has he?) So, we decide to try to get to France, Kane and his 40 odd road gang decide to join us, reconing one country is as good as another.

--- HANGING WITH THE NOMADS ---

So, lots of down time, but we never make it to France. We camped near a village where the nomads all got jobs as grape pickers. I used my psi powers to take some of their wages at poker. During this time we all get re-supplied and since Ace was around, bought lots of lovely new cyberware. Nanosurgeons and enhanced antibodies all round!

Conner Walker came back, he'd found a good home for Kareena and decided to look us up again.

Over the next month or so the nomads started disappearing.Every so often one or two won't report back and everyone starts getting paranoid. A speckled blue sports car has been seen around too. So Conner when he's out on his bike see's the car and tails it to a mansion in the country.

He calls out us lads, including Ace and we scope it out. For lack of a better plan we jump over the wall and sneek up to the house. Ace trys to climb the side of the house without much success then goes home.

Conner and NS climb up into a bed room window. I try the less subtle approach - a grenade through the parcel box. We hunt the house high and low, I go into the cellar and find the bodies of the nomads in a meat locker.

NS and Conner find signs of habitation. I find the car in the garage and throw a grenade under it - no effect. The car talks and realization dawns - 'Is that you Crsitine?' I ask.

Meanwhile, NS and Conner are suddenly under attack. A grenade disc (similair to the one used at the encounter with the invisible thing. Are Klaus and it, one and the same?) comes flying up the stairs at them.

It all gets rather hazy, explosions, gun fire, smoke, confusion and chaos, NS and Conner fight it out, but I set a trap with grenades for Klaus and bang! up he goes! Unfortunetly it brings the garage down on Christine, ruining her. Oh no - poor Cristine, I've found her only to lose her again.

I've hired some nomads to take her to safety in France where maybe she can be fixed. Kain goes on a recruiting campaign for his pack so all sorts of scum are crawling out of the woodwork. Solo's, cyberpsychos, techs, the whole lot.

Kain practacly orders is all to get to the nearby city to do away with a rival gang - bloodycocky nomad, but we've nothing else to do. So with 6 new blokes we charge in , on bikes and in cars. Neadless to say it imeidiately errupts into chaos and a gun fight with the cops ensues.

Lots of crashing around in cars and shooting. A news chopper comes in, but is soon delt with.
We drive on, splitting up slightly in the confusion. Me and Skorp go off while the others take off in cars and jeeps. Carnage insues.

The mad solo in a jeep piles into a whole load of pedestrains and causes a pile up. They're all very blood thirsty. We slowly make progress towards the 'cross hairs' hide out (or whatever the stupid mission objective is.)

However C-SWAT turn up and the shit hits the fan. Some folk scatter, others are arrested. Me and Greendog hide in an abandoned building. GD organised a hired car which Skorp picked up and drove to us.

Meanwhile, some of the others, a netrunner and one of the nutty solo's hide in a womans appartment but get taken out by C-SWAT.

So, me, GD and Skorp decide to get to a bar and to fuck with the lot of them that night. We go to the most dangerous bar in town, a corp accidently starts a fight, but we dont join in. Later we go to a night club and beat up goths.

--- CHASING CHRISTINE ---

We got back to the camp and have a bit of down time. We notice some geezers hanging around and discover a bug on the wreckage of Christine. Me and Skorp accidently destroy a model helicopter trying to trace the electronic bug! I hire the guy who's chopper we killed to make a jammer.

Conner grabs one of the spys and I 'scan' him and find he's been hired by folk unknown to look for Christine (maybe?). Conner straps him up with explosives and we go into town to lie in wait for the guys contact. He arrives in the alley and we start pouring lead into the guy - but to no effect! This chap is hard!

No amount of ordanance can bring him down. Lights start hitting the roof and the alley fills up with smoke. Confusion reigns, no one can penetrate this strange fog, IR, UV, Low-lite etc will not penetrate.

All I can hear is bangs and crashes. Skoprt clashes with something in the car and blows its head off with micro-missiles - but it still attacks!

The smoke desperses and the car takes off. We follow in a truck, a bike, a trike, and a spacewagon. We get tailed by four AVs with spot lights.

Then, we all get a message on our TSM, 'go to 13 St Michael Bllvd'

Hmm, strange, but we all go along to this mansion in the city. I scan the area. Tow guards inside, folk inside. We get ourselves together. Me and Alexandrow Krakov, a net, in the van, Klaus (not THE Klaus!) on his trike, Greendog, Skorp, Lawson (a nasty solo) and Wilson (a wimpy media-corp) in the truck, Conner on his bike. We seem to have picked up a few more hangers on recently.

We are ushered into the mansion and meet 'Mr Smith' the big cheese, who offers to hire us for 10,000 a week each as a black-op team. There's another team here too, who've been here a year. I suspect one of them is psykic.

--- MR SMITH AND THE CRUISE CAPER ---

We have a few weeks downtime for training. We all have plush rooms in the house, the place is brilliant. The techie Klaus may be able to fix Christine in the sophisticated garage they have.

Our first job is to extract two scientists on board a cruiser in the Med. For two days we are trainied as either a cook or a waiter. I'm a cook, so's Skorp! We join the ship when it pulls in for supplys and we spend 3 days in our roles. We develop a cunning plan. There's a trip to a Greek island so we'' drug the bodyguards and kidnap our quarry.

The bodyguards - a big sumo chinky canadian bloke, a green beret type, an arab, and indain woman (weapons spesh) a butch woman, a smarmy italian. Me , Skorp, Lawson, GD and Alex steal a motor boat and go over to the island at night. I have to kill a crew member.

Lawson and me go to steal the two buses that the passangers are travelling in. No problems.

Skorp and crew go to bribe a road side resteraunt to use their premises. We pick up the 160 or so folk and drive off. Lawson goes further on to the town where the passangers are ment to be going, once they're off the police are waiting for him. He cuts ones head with a mono katana and a fire fight ensues.

I drive the bus (and scientist) to our prepared resteraunt - where Skorp waits with the ex-lax.

So, in they go, to be fed and to receive our specially prepared lemonade. When all but 2 bodyguards are in the toilet we strike. Skoprt grabs the male scientist and legs it, closely followed by the cyber arab. I come round the front in the bus and shoot at him. No damage.

Then I fight it out with the green berry. I shoot both his eyes out but he wounds me badly in the head. Roddy (GD?) chops the head off the italian bodyguard. Alex grabs the female scientist. The other standers by hit the deck. Rody swaps mono-katana blows with the butch woman, they both lose arms!

Wilson is in the toliet but comes out in time to shoot the indian woman who hides under the bus, I wounded her too. Meanwhile, after a speeding bullet chase Skorp in the lead, the arab, then Conner. Skorp lobs the prof in a bush and fights the arab who suddendly sprouts spikes and spines which are coated with strange drugs. Skorp defeats him though, but he's lost the prof!

Also - Lawson kills off the rest of the police and starts off back to where we are in his bus.

Meanwhile, I've vacated the bus just in time for it to blow up. There's more shooting and Alex gives me the tied up girl. I rifle grenade the indain woman, she's still alive, but out of the action.

(Also - when the bus goes up, so does the petrol station over the road - big bangs!)

We steal a car, and make for the runway to meet our pick up AV. Mission over.

--- THE DESERT BASE ---

Mr Smith is not happy, it was ment to be a low key op, but we turned it into a warzone. We try to blame it on the media guy who died during the mission. We have some down time, I go see Ace for some new cyberware - I finaly get the Neural Processer I'd been thinking about.

Our next mission is more suited to our tastes for destruction. There's this base in Nevada were three world class Nets are operating from. Mr Smith wants to take it out.

But we're already dogged by disaster. This new solo guy - a real arse, killed the pilot of the gyro we'd hired, the I flick the fuel release switch while cleaning up the blood, so we have to stop at London to refuel.

But we made it to Las Vegas in the end, and get into a hotel then start looking for cool guns. Skorp makes a good contact so we're lucky for once.

We arranged to get a huge truck, Net stuff suit that out. I turn up in over alls to collect it, then we all load up and head for the base. I do most of the driving during the night. We see this jeep with a large american flag wizz by but we ignore it.

In the morning we it in the hazy distance, but we spot something else - dam, that jeep again, it must be an advanced scout or something. Conner runs towards it, but is thrown off as the guy driving skids about.

Eventually Conner jumps back on and breaks the guys neck. The jeep is full of tech and net stuff, he's wired in, Mona (the new solo-medic) reveals he has a plague virus - oh shit.

A count down on one of the read outs make us run for cover, but its a false alarm.

So we reach the base. All that is visible from above is a concrete bunker and two large rows of solar panels. Me, Conner, Mona and Alexi try one door, Green-Dog, Skorp, Lawson and the fixer go to another. (first there are two camera/lasers)

For a laugh we use det-cord in the shape of me to form an Elvis cut out on the door. Conner does a good job!

There are traps and lasers in the corridor, so I throw in some grenades and Alexi uses his Stinger Rocket Launcher.

The next door opens out onto a left-right corridor, there is a grid 50x10 holes in the wall opposite.

Conner goes in, sets off the grid which fires a whole load of bullets at us. Ouch! No one seriously hurt but we're all knocked flat. I think a mirror would be a good idea so I send Mona back to the truck to get one. She gets there to report a gang of nomads ransacking it - jeez.

I run back to help her out, past the big solo stranger - who he?

Conner steps down the left hand corridor only to be hit by a microwaver field.

Alexi trys to throw him a rope which Conner can only grab in his teeth! Meanwhile Conners robo-mut meets this solo-dude and blows his nose off. The solo returns fire and blows away the dogs head, then shoots Alexi in the head, but his helmet protects. After a few apologies it turns out this guy was with the nomads after a failed mission and heard of our raid and came down to have a butchers.

As this happens I reach the truck to see Mona underneath a hairy nomad. I see red and start shooting, They're gonna pay!

I shoot a few and gather together the rest, but too many bits have disappeared from the truck. Still, theres a couple of vehicles left behind. I go back to the bunker.

We gather together and try to get in the garage doors. Det cord (in the shape of Mr Blobby) opens it up and a fire fight ensues. Alexi and the fixer go down.

Conner lobs in a whole heap of C-6. Ka-bloowie! We go in, bodies lie everywhere and there's a hole in the floor. Skorp and Lawson go down the hole and start playing with a toilet roll in the store room.

Lawson goes into the areas below - rooms for the guards mainly, and starts getting shot up by security lasers. Me and Skorp go up in a lift (two life signs Ive scanned) and find a couple shagging. We scare them then go down and cut the lift cables - Whee!

We climb down 4 floors - but here we go what a bastard. Mona Lisa decides to follow us down, but fumbles with her torch, falls from the ladder, also she's carrying a rocket launcher and five rockets. Ka-blam.

Skorps ok, but I'm mincemeat. Both my legs are seriously fucked. Time to call the Trauma Team! Me, Alexi and the fixer are flown off.

From what I heard of the rest of the mission it went like this -

Skorp et al go further down, shot up a few solo's and a guy in a PA. Skorp and Conner find two of the nets in cryogenic chambers and decide to switch then off. A count down starts.

Conner wisely runs for it, but Skorp stands there to see what happens.

(Now Alistair burns 4 points of luck!)

Conner reaches the exit and finds a safe place, then the whole bunker goes up in a huge explosion.He thinks Skorp finaly baught it, but his tattered figure emerges from the smoking ruins. Lucky bastard.

So - its back to base for a nice cup of tea and de-breifing. Time to heal, then its back to the next mission.

--- PROJECT SWEDEN ---

Our team this time is me, Skorp, Conner, Franklin James IV (a medic), 99 - a female solo, Pat Magroin - solo, Marrie Piper - solo , female and Lawson.

Our mission is to go to Oslo and protect a research base. I've made a robo-ferret and com and launcher, very useful!

The base is going to be attacked by a team (similair to ours)
Callos Moran - solo/male
Seeara Johnson - solo/female
Canina Angela - solo/medi/tech/female
Larsmeer Freeman - net/tech, male
Smiley - a hired cyber psyko.

So we turn up at the base, and start throwing our weight around. Using my mind sweep I discovered the security cheifs porno collection!

We spend a few days farting around. Conner goes into town and finds the van the attackers are in and lobs some C6 under it (me and Skorp turn up too) and just makes it through the decending carpark blast doors.

A couple of days later the base is attacked. An AV flys in, me and Pat on the roof blow it out the sky - exellent!

A truck comes barrelling up to the gates, but Conner has wired the place with C6, so its roller over
on the compound.

The biggest problem is from the fence. Smiley blasts through and Lawson lets rip with the twin FN-RALs on his truck. Evem hundreds of DPU hits don't stop the guy.

Skorp and Conner and Lawson all have robo-mutts who go for Smiley, but he's on the truck and smashing through the windscreen. 3 armoured figures climb out of the wreckage of the truck and head for the building. Luckily Pat and Marrie can intercept them. Pat grabs one. Just then a big buggy rolls up to the fence - I can see it from my point on the building.

This thing crashes through the fence, its got big buzz saw arms on it. I shot it up a bit, but it bursts in through the fire door. Luckily its trapped later on by some quick thinking by Pat.

Some of the baddies made it into the building but we get them. One of them gives me, Skorp and Conner a bit of trouble. He leaves a bomb and I unluckily get both my legs blown off. Bummer. Again.

Well, the missions a success anyway, mostly. The building and staff are more or less intact. We're shipped back to Paris and get a week to heal up - which I do super fast due to my regeneration powers!

--- THE FOUR HITS ---

Our next mission is fairly straight forward, we've a week to assasinate four folk - a tech, a net, a media and a corp.
First we go for the tech, wo loves on a house boat on the Sienne. We wait for him and he eventually turns up, but bolts for his boat. Cutney gets in too and blows his brains out, scratch one.

Me and Skorp head over to the CZ, to look out the nets haunt. Christine os operational, but theres no AI. The net is reported to be in a gang hideout of The Trojans. We pile in, Skorp falls in a pit trap and gets hit on the head by a slab of concrete. We waste a couple with Bio Tox, but the others leg it, and we're left chasing them round the streets.

Skorp blows one away. Meanwhile, the others - Marrie and 99 are trying to get passes for the corp bubble the media and corp are in.

Me and Skorp go to a coffee shop and find the gangs other hideout. This time we don't give them a chance. We come from both directions and blow them all away and set free a couple of prisoners.
We get the Net too.

Next me, Skorp and Martin Sheene (he keeps umpteen things clean!) enter the corp area with our dodgey passes. We try to get into this female medias room, but are kicked out by security. We also discover she's flown to Japan anyway.

So we get more dodgey passes and decide to go after the corp. But first, we get tarted up then go get smart suits and go to the bext night club in town. I pull a class bird. So does Martin.

We get a bit of info too. Next day we go into where the corp works and deposit Chutney, Skorp has a problem with security and gets the rubber glove up the jacksie treatment. We depart, Chuts goes in.

The corp is lecturing a room of folk. Chuts shoots his leg off then skuttles up and blows his head off, then runs down an air vent, leaving the room in chaos.

We wait for him, and try to get dodgey flights to Japan.

So we get a group of us together to fly over. Me, Skorp, Conner, Pat, Marrie, 99, some other guy. We get through the airport ok and book into hotels.

Some of us go to a brothel. Conner goes to the zoo. We find a fixer type and get dodgey corp passes which get us into where the media is working.

(G402 11/01/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR11

(G402 11/01/2020 via Roll20 - AP(GM), JF) LR11

[Sorry for all the jumping about, dear reader, but here are some more journal entries from my  adventures concerning Mid Point island]

DAY 461 (7th Kythorn)(June)

I'd been thinking about it for some days, but today I decided to go see if my eldest brother, Nissa was out in the Waterdavian fleet somewhere. He was a captain in the navy and his ship was called 'The Shaggy Beast'.

I flew out over the ships and saw the vessel in question. I landed and greeted my brother once I had turned back into a man. He has lost a leg! In some sea battle or other. Hopefully he will be able to get some magical help to grow it back some time soon.

Oh, I should mention, some idiot in the crew shot me with a crossbow in the wing as I came down. It went  into my feathers and caused me a minor injury. When I changed back I handed the bolt back to him with a look and said, 'I believe this is yours.' He had the decency to be shame-faced. It just goes to show, and I've often said this to people, always be kind to animals - you never know when one of them might be a druid!

I was very good to see my biggest brother after not seeing him -- for what? Over a year certainly.
He is a big fellow and of a rough complexion after many years at sea. He teased me that I needed a 'proper job', something that would 'toughen me' up.
'You have the hands of a lady!' he declared with a laugh. 'You have a woman's hand, milord! I'll wager these dainty pinkies never weighed anchor in a storm.'
I suspect he was quoting some nautical banter at that point, but even so, as we ate lunch together in his cabin and I told him of my adventures in the Plane of Shadows et al, he admitted that I was  probably tough enough these days.

We talked of our family for a while, then when decency dictated I got onto the matter in hand and told him of the Xebec know as 'Anubis', Molly, the island and all my problems.

He revealed to me that the Waterdeep Navy had means by which they could detect invisible ships. (He talked at length about everburning lanterns, lenses, beams of light and things. I don't think any of it was true, some sort of Naval deception perhaps? To keep the secret of what they were actually doing, perhaps.)

Well anyway, he assured me that he would be able to let me know right away when that accursed vessel showed up and after I'd given my thanks and drank a glass or two of rum with him I flew back to Waterdeep.

It was evening when I landed. As I'd been flying, and thinking as I flew, I decided one more thing I could do was perhaps make contact with Mystra again, as I had been learning they had ways of holding the blue stuff at bay for a while.

Rather than going to one of the irritating fools I had already met I asked about a bit for the name of someone who was a bit more sensible and approachable.
I was given the name of a Cleric of Mystra known as 'Reasonable' Bob and I found him having supper by himself in tavern close to the temple.

He was indeed a 'reasonable' fellow and offered to help me if I was to perform for him a certain task...
'Do tell,' I enquired, leaning forward. I scented adventure!