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Julie's story By Kyorii Chapter 1 - Jason Have you ever gotten that feeling that something was about to happen? Well I have and I've had it for some time now. It's strange, but for the last few days I keep having the feeling I was being watched or observed. It's quite creepy, as I'm not even a particularly interesting person, I'm just a cleaner. I've been to the shops on the way back from work and have just picked up my little niece and nephew from the childminders. Simon is happily walking by my side, guided by his walking reins as I push the buggy with a sleeping Carrie in towards the family home, I say family home but, at the moment, as I'm the only adult that is living there it is a little lonely. However with Carrie and Simon, I'm always kept busy. It only takes a few minutes before Simon tires of his walk so I pick him up and carry him whilst steering the buggy single handed as I walk along the high street towards home. As I walk I start to think about how my life has changed and start to think back to a time when I was still called Jason, and when I lived at home with Izzie, my twin sister and my mum and dad, Izzie wasn't her real name of course, her real name was Isabella, but Izzie thought that her Sunday name sounded very old lady-ish so she shortened it to Izzie. Mum, before she died, always told us that we were special twins and that she'd been worried through the later stages of her pregnancy about us because the doctors found on a routine scan that we both shared the same placenta; this is apparently quite unusual and can lead to complications, but we were both born very healthy and according to mum had very healthy lungs. My sister Izzie and I were best friends as we grew up and did everything together, until, that is, she started to develop in her early teens and discovered boys. I remember becoming quite upset at not having my sister as my friend anymore and for a while became quite lonely and withdrawn, until I finally made my own friends and started to drift even further from her. I didn't stay on at school like my teachers had expected and instead was accepted onto an apprenticeship scheme to become an instrument technician at a local engineering firm, this meant that I would be studying away from home at a technical college for several weeks at a time on block release from work, big mistake. I initially hated being away from home but soon got into the lifestyle and quickly discovered alcohol, closely followed by girls. Unfortunately the combination of still being emotionally immature, alcohol, girls and being away from home had a noticeable effect on my grades at college and soon my employer summoned me back home to face the music, my training officer gave me the first of many warnings over the next few months that culminated in me being dismissed. I didn't however go home in disgrace and admit to my father that I had failed I simply found cheaper digs and a job working for a delivery company and carried on my life as though nothing had changed, the irony being that as an apprentice I'd been paid far less than I was now earning wheeling large trolleys around loaded with packets and parcels. I quickly found out that if I gained a driving licence I would be allowed to do deliveries and would be able to apply for a higher- grade job with a subsequent pay increase, so I enrolled at a local driving school and was allocated an older woman called Mrs Brancepeth to teach me. Mrs Brancepeth was very patient with me and after only a couple of lessons asked me to call her Fee, I liked her as she reminded me a little of my Mum's sister, my auntie Florrie. After several lessons, Fee noticed the growing number of spots on my cheeks and chin and commented that my complexion was very similar to how her own son's had been at my age, and that if I didn't start to look after my skin better, I would end up with out of control acne and bad scarring. I asked her if her son had bad acne, but she just told me that her son had very delicate skin and that after being badgered by her for some time, he'd gone to the doctors to get medication to help it clear up. On my next driving lesson my face had, despite my best efforts, not cleared up and I had several angry red spots on my face and, worse still, now on my back. Fee suggested that I try and avoid junk food and wash more often and in the absence of other motherly advice that's exactly what I did. Unfortunately for me I found out very quickly that girls are turned off by young men with faces that resemble a cheese and tomato pizza and I stopped getting dates. My wonderful wit and fantastic personality it seemed was outweighed by my hideous complexion, so I did something completely against my nature and booked an appointment to see a doctor at my local health centre. Surprisingly the receptionist seemed sympathetic to my plight and I was given an appointment for the very next day, the doctor was very friendly and sympathetic and prescribed me with a steroid cream and antibiotics, which I had filled at the chemist next door, and started using immediately. The cream really stung as I applied it but seemed to help as did the antibiotics. On my next driving lesson Fee commented that my face was looking better and less inflamed, this made me feel much better about myself. My Dad finally found out that I'd been booted off my apprenticeship and drove down to visit me from home, he was waiting by the door to my bedsit when I arrived home from work one evening, he was standing with two large bags of shopping for me, I was expecting that he would be angry with me for being dismissed but he wasn't he just seemed more concerned that I was looking after myself okay, I assured him that I was and that I was learning to drive so that I could earn more money at my new job. Dad bought us a takeaway Chinese meal and we sat in my little bedsit and ate it. "Isabella is missing you terribly Jason I was hoping that you could come and visit soon, possibly for little Simon's christening?" I nodded but didn't commit myself, Simon was Izzie's son. Izzie had become pregnant about a year after leaving school and despite being asked on numerous occasions who the father was, she always refused to say. Chapter 2 - Home Again. I visited home three weeks later, in time for little Simon's Christening and the following party, my mum and dad fussed over me and seemed genuinely pleased to see me, but my Sister was quite stand offish at first and there was something about her that just didn't seem right and this puzzled me for most of the afternoon, until I finally realised she had no eyebrows! When I say no eyebrows she had eyebrows drawn on but there was no hair under the colouring. I really enjoyed being back home and socialising with some of Izzie's and my friends at the christening and at the small gathering at our home afterwards and spent most of the afternoon grazing on unhealthy snack foods at the buffet and catching up on everything I'd missed whilst being away. A little later, whilst sitting with Izzie in her room as she fed Simon away from the party still going on downstairs I asked her about her lack of eyebrows? She grabbed at her head and pulled at her hair and off it came; she was wearing a wig, a very good wig and apart from a couple of wisps of hair by her ears and above her forehead, she was completely bald. This didn't really surprise me that much however as it had happened a couple of times before when she was younger. "Your alopecia has returned?" I asked stupidly. "Duh yeah, but this time it's everywhere Jace, apart from a couple of straggly bits of hair here and there I'm now totally bald." "What even down there?" I said as I pointed at my own genitals. "Even there, I suppose at least I don't need to shave my legs or pits anymore." Izzie's problem brought my own mini fight with Acne into perspective, so I went over to her and hugged her tightly being careful not to crush Simon, who was still greedily feeding at Izzy's boob. My sister had lost her hair to varying degrees several times over the years. It was usually as a result of stress or worry, and frequently resolved itself within a couple of months; so I wasn't too worried about her latest outbreak of baldness. I decided to stay a little longer at home than I'd expected but when I returned to my own little bedsit a couple of days later, I found a letter from the leasing agency for my flat stating that my landlord was selling the building and that he was giving me and, I assumed, all of the other tenants notice to vacate the premises; so the very next day I started hunting for somewhere else to stay. It was sometime later probably a week or so, during one of my driving lessons with Fee, that she said, "Can you pull up on the left at your earliest opportunity and park the car for me please?" I pulled up on the quiet street opposite a row of shops and then turned the engine off. Fee then asked, "Your mind seems to be elsewhere today Jason, is everything okay?" "I'm sorry Fee but I have a few things going on at the moment, maybe we should just call it a day." Fee reached over and touched my hand. "Would it help to talk about it?" she asked with concern. I nodded and she pointed over the road. "There is a little coffee shop just over there Jason, I don't have anyone else booked for this afternoon so if you would like we can have a chat over a nice cuppa?" Fee and I went over to the coffee shop and after ordering I sat opposite her whilst I explained about my sister's condition and my housing woes. "I have a spare room you can use if it'll help, it used to be my son's." "That's very kind of you Fee, but won't he be needing it?" Fee looked me in the eyes. "No Jason he won't, I'm afraid that he died some time ago." I was horrified at my blunder and blustered out, "I, I'm so sorry Fee; I didn't know, please forgive me?" Fee smiled over the table at me. "You weren't to know Jason. It was quite a long time ago now, the inquest verdict said it was suicide." "I'm so sorry Fee, really I am." She brightened up a little and said, "Actually I think it would be nice to have a young person around the house again Jason, would you at least consider my offer?" I smiled at her and said I would. Fee and I sat for most of the rest of the afternoon and chatted. During that time, I learnt that Fee lived alone in a large pre-war house on the outskirts of town, she had been married, but following their son's suicide, she had divorced her husband; mostly as he had been having an affair behind her back, for several years, with his manager. Chapter 3 - The Injury A couple of things happened in quick succession after that. Firstly completely out of the blue my mum died of a massive heart attack whilst shopping for a new dress. Soon after, whilst at work one morning, I'd just been loading up a van with its cargo to go out on delivery, and was heading back to the office when the stupidest thing happened, despite wearing my protective high visibility jacket and steel toe capped boots my right foot came into contact with a patch of engine oil I'd not noticed on the painted concrete floor and my leg shot forward causing me to drop to the ground and land very painfully in an almost splits like position, my body, as with most young men's, was not really supple enough to do the splits so something inside me gave way causing me to scream out in agony as I felt a tearing sensation within me, I was helped up by two colleagues and half dragged half escorted to the rest room where I sat for nearly an hour before plucking up the courage to move again, fortunately apart from a little soreness in my balls; I felt well enough to continue my shift. this was a bad move as by four, the end of my shift, my entire groin area felt as though it were literally on fire. I took the next two days off work and after the weekend I returned, feeling a little better but still very sore. During my next driving lesson with Fee, just after finishing work for the day, she commented that I seemed to be shuffling about on the seat a lot. "I just don't seem to be able to get comfortable," I replied. "Oh?" she asked whilst raising an eyebrow. "I had an accident at work last week and am very bruised down there," I said gesturing with my eyes to my groin. "Take the next left turn and carry on to the next junction," she instructed. Fee navigated me, without telling me what she was doing, to the nearest NHS walk in centre where after a long wait I was seen first by a nurse practitioner and then a proper doctor who sent me immediately to the casualty department of the local hospital, Fee then took me to the hospital in her car and waited with me whilst I was seen by the triage nurse. By the time I was poked prodded and x-rayed I was in absolute agony and guzzling the provided gas and air into my lungs just to take the edge of the now searing pain in my groin, I didn't even see the needle go into my arm that made the world vanish and with it the pain. When I regained consciousness I assumed that I was alone, it was dark, my groin area still ached but nowhere as bad as it had been, I noticed in the dim light that I was connected to all sorts of pipes and wires and that my throat was really sore. "You're awake, hello there, may I call you Jason?" said a voice next to me, I turned to face the voice. "Hello," I said hoarsely to the nurse sitting at my bedside. "You're in recovery Jason, you needed emergency surgery I'm afraid, your surgeon will be here soon to explain," said the nurse as she poured a little water into a glass and then held it whilst I sipped from it. Within minutes I drifted back to sleep and when I next woke it was light outside and I was in a room off the ward and my dad was sitting next to me. "Hello Jason, you're looking much better today I must say." He smiled at me but his smile was weak and he looked very tired. My dad actually held my hand when my surgeon arrived to tell me what was wrong with me. I was propped up in bed as the surgeon started talking. I'm not sure if I was in shock, or if I was still under the influence of the anaesthetic but I laughed when he said "Epididymitis," as it just seemed to be really funny, but my dad's face and the words Testicular torsion, Necrosis and partial Orchidectomy soon got my attention. "So in essence young man, we have had to remove your left testicle and it's really touch and go at the moment whether we'll be able to save the right one," said the surgeon. "So you've chopped off one of my balls then?" I asked incredulously. "Yes young man, it was either that or allow the infection to spread and result in sepsis and your eventual death but, providing that we can save your other testicle, you'll still be able to lead a normal life." "Except that I'll be lopsided." "That won't be a problem as once you've healed we can insert a prosthetic testicle into your scrotum and you will look completely normal," said the surgeon now getting a little exasperated at me. "And over the next couple of days as a precaution we'll also be removing sperm from you and storing it so that if the worst should happen you will still be able to father a child." "Whoopee doo, that's just fucking great! I'll be a eunuch but will be able to have kids with the aid of a turkey baster," I replied angrily. "Crudely put, but essentially correct young man. But that is a worst- case scenario, we're still hopeful of a more positive outcome," continued the surgeon as he gathered together his notes before leaving me, my dad thanked him and he left me to my misery. Chapter 4 - Recuperation. I'm returned to the present by Carrie wriggling in my arms and fretting, I of course knew immediately what she was after so I quickly undid the top few of the front buttons of my nightshirt and released my right breast from the confines of my bra then offered my swollen nipple to her lips, Carrie latched on almost immediately and started to suck greedily pulling my nipple and a little of my darkened areola into her waiting mouth, I'd only recently started to lactate properly and Carrie already seemed to prefer the little milk I produced to the formula she'd had previously. So as I sit here with Simon huddled against me, Carrie feeding enthusiastically from me and the sounds of my family home being trashed downstairs my mind starts to think back once more to the reason I can now breastfeed and the circumstances that led to it. When I was released from hospital I left without either of my balls, an empty scrotum and a large paper bag containing pain medications, spare dressings and hormone replacement patches to start using as soon as I'd healed fully. Despite being visited by the hospital shrink several times, I really was not in a good place mentally as I got into the taxi to take me back to my bedsit. I wanted to go back to work immediately, but the hospital and my own doctor warned me not to, so armed with a sick note I stayed at home and watched daytime television. I had several visits during my recuperation, the first being Jack our local union rep who had me sign several forms he'd already filled in about my accident and told me that the union was taking up my case claiming an unsafe working environment due to the many untreated oil patches from the vehicles in the depot, my dad visited several times and brought supplies to keep me fed and also, surprisingly, Fee visited me too and kept me company several afternoons, I liked her company a lot and finally took her up on her offer of a room. So over the following days, she moved my few belongings over to her house and on her last trip moved me there too. Fee's house was a lovely old pre-war detached house on the edge of the suburbs looking out over rolling countryside and felt huge compared to my cramped little bedsit. "Please Jason treat this as your own home now, I'll show you up to your bedroom so you can settle in," Even though I was healing nicely I was still quite weak from inactivity and was still not allowed to carry anything heavy for the next couple of weeks, so Fee carried my bag into the house, she then guided me up the wide staircase along the landing and into my new room. The bedroom was not at all what I was expecting, as it certainly did not look like your average boy or young man's bedroom, Fee noticed my expression. "My son was quite troubled by his gender and leant more towards the feminine Jason," I actually understood what she was saying as there were a couple of lads at my old school who claimed to be non-binary and as such irritated the teachers by occasionally dressing femininely especially in the summer when they sometimes came to school wearing skirts instead of long sweaty trousers, I actually applauded their gall but would never have done it myself as at the time I was a bit of a conformist. "It's okay Fee, I don't mind really and it is a lovely room." It was and it appeared to have its own en-suite shower room and cupboard. "I've packed away his old clothes and put yours in the drawers; I hope that you don't mind Jason, but his clothes are now in the cupboard I just couldn't bring myself to throw them away, at least not just yet." I turned to my new landlady and, I'm not sure why, but I hugged her. Fee then left me to explore my new room and put away the rest of my belongings and after an hour or so called up the stairs to say that she'd made our evening meal so I made myself presentable and went downstairs into her dining room, Fee was wearing a dress. It was the first time I'd seen her dressed really femininely and it suited her, I actually felt a little guilty about not making more of an effort myself. we ate a wonderful home-made fish pie with all of the trimmings whilst she told me a little more about her life. I settled into my room quickly and found that I loved to stretch out on the built in seating in the large bay window of my room and just gaze out over the fields, Fee even restarted my driving lessons, but this time she said that they were part of my rent so I didn't pay for them, in return for her kindness I started to do chores around the house, as a thank you for her hospitality. I realised very early on that Fee was very financially secure and didn't need to work at all and that she only worked to stay busy and after a very short time she even revealed that she had been very lonely living alone in her house and that me moving in had been a godsend to her. It was three more weeks before my doctor agreed that I could return to work on light duties and in that time, I was visited by my Dad a couple of times at my new home, Dad got on really well with Fee, I was happy for him. Soon I returned to work on light duties and life returned to normal or as normal as it could for a young man with no balls. Chapter 5 - My Dilemma During my recuperation something very curious happened, as in my complexion cleared up, my spots vanished from my face and back, leaving me with almost blemish free skin. Unfortunately a few days after starting on my testosterone patches my skin became very greasy once more and the spots started to return, my doctor prescribed a lower dose of hormones initially and then when that had little effect on my condition he suggested that I alternate the patches on a day on day off basis. This resulted in my Acne improving, but not my mood one day I was fine and the next I wasn't, in fact every time I wore the testosterone patches I seemed to be irritable impatient and generally a pain in the arse, but on my off days, especially at the weekends when I sometimes just didn't bother to wear one at all, I became calmer and seemed to enjoy life more. This confused me as I'd been getting constant infusions of male hormones from my balls since early puberty and was never as bad as I was now; so I came to a decision and, without telling my doctor, I discontinued my patches to see what, if any, effect there would be on my health. I logged my moods in my diary for just over a month and decided that without the patches I was a much nicer and calmer person. Life then carried on much as it had done before my accident, except that I passed my driving test and started saving up money to buy a car of my own. It was a couple of months later that things started to get strange for me, as I started to get the strangest aches and pains in my joints and one morning after a lie in I was having a much-needed pee when I looked down into the toilet bowl and the water was stained a dirty red colour. I of course, panicked a lot and wondered if a stitch had come away in my groin or something, as it was Saturday and the start of a bank holiday weekend I didn't go and see my doctor but waited until Tuesday before making an appointment. By this time my pee had returned to its normal colour however, and when I finally was seen by my doctor on Friday afternoon he suggested that it may just have been part of the healing process from my groin injury, but asked me to make an appointment with the practice nurse to have some blood taken for tests just in case. Just as I was leaving the surgery my doctor mentioned that I hadn't renewed my prescription for male hormones recently so I had to admit that I hadn't been taking them for some time, he sighed and explained that although it wasn't an immediate priority that I should be on some form of HRT to prevent bone thinning and the risk of Osteoporosis in the future. I made an appointment with the stroppy teenage girl at the reception desk and returned to the surgery two weeks later to have blood taken and then got on with my life. Depending on my shifts at work I would sometimes do the washing for Fee and myself before I left for work, or a little housework, I didn't mind at all until the day of the washing machine attack! The day started much like any other, I was on late shift so I tidied and hoovered and changed the sheets on both Fee's and my beds, I then collected the dirty clothing from our respective baskets and sorted it, loaded up the washing machine placed a detergent tablet into its receptacle and turned the dial to eco wash I then went into the kitchen and started to the dishes from the previous evening whilst the washing machine got on with cleaning our smalls in the utility room. I was just putting the last of the plates away in the cupboards sometime later when I heard a loud ping followed by the floor starting to shake and a loud thumping sound, I rushed into the utility still wearing my marigolds to be confronted by the washing machine seemingly marching in my direction but barely being restrained by the water pipes and flex tethering it to the wall, something has obviously gone catastrophically wrong with the washing machine I noted, as it literally bounced up and down on the linoleum floor, I stood transfixed wondering what to do until the water pipe tore away from the wall and fractured causing water to spray everywhere. I got hold of the broom and used its shank to knock off the power to the washing machine and once it had stopped bouncing around I went over to the water stop cock and turned it off. I stood surveying the devastation in Fee's utility room and was overcome with the feeling that I'd somehow failed her I then burst into tears, I just stood staring at the water on the floor and the psychotic washing machine and cried my eyes out. When Fee returned at lunch time she found me still sitting on the floor of her damaged utility room still wearing marigolds and weeping to myself. Fee seemed to have immediately realised what had happened, helped me up off the floor and led me to the living room, where she gently hugged me for what seemed like ages, like my mum used to do, it was wonderful. Once I'd calmed down Fee called a friend of hers who owned an electrical appliance repair business. "Mr Bowlam says that one of the dampers has probably failed in the washing machine, Jason, and that it happens more often than I thought, he also said that you did exactly the right thing, well done." This made me feel a little better, but not much. After lunch I left for my shift at work, whilst Fee waited in for her friend to come and have a look at the washing machine, all through my shift I couldn't stop thinking about my emotional outburst, it just wasn't like me at all. Chapter 6 - Panties The washing machine was still under warranty and was actually taken away for repair with the promise that it would be returned soon by Mr Bowlam and his son, but within two days Fee found out that it was beyond economical repair and that it would take nearly a week for a replacement to arrive from the warehouse. Fee didn't seem the slightest bit worried about this so I didn't either, until Saturday morning when I found that I had no clean underpants. I decided to go into town and buy some more underpants and as it was raining outside I asked Fee if she would lend me her car so that I could go and buy some underwear. "Can't you just hand wash your smalls for a few days Jason?" she asked. "I suppose I could but I still need something to wear today as I don't really fancy going commando." "So what are you wearing now then?" asked Fee with a mischievous smile. "Um yesterday's I'm afraid." Fee gave me a disapproving look then went quiet for a few seconds before suggesting. "You could try looking through my sons old clothing Jason there may be some suitable underwear there, they're in the trunks in the cupboard in your room." I wasn't sure if Fee meant it though as these were the clothes of her late son! "Are you sure?" I asked. "Yes Jason I'm sure, they're all cleaned and laundered; help yourself." I kissed Fee on the cheek and went upstairs into my room and opened the cupboard, moved aside some of my rubbish and pulled out one of the trunks and opened it, the first trunk was very neatly packed on the top with tee shirts so I carefully lifted them out and placed them on my bed, I then found socks and underwear, I took out the pile of neatly stacked briefs, placed them onto my bed also and started to look through them for something suitable for me to wear. I wasn't too surprised to find that a majority the underwear was what could only be described as unisex and some was quite obviously female underwear as Fee had already told me of her son's preferences. I selected a couple of the more masculine briefs and after taking off my trousers and underwear tried the first pair on, unfortunately they didn't fit quite right and just felt wrong, this was the same for the next two pairs I tried, in desperation however I did try one of the more feminine pairs of briefs and they fit almost perfectly apart from being a little tight in the crotch area. "Oh well, just until I can get some more underwear," I said to myself as I looked into the mirror at myself wearing a pair of peach coloured panties. I quickly slipped back into my jeans and tidied the clothing back into the trunk. "Find anything suitable?" asked Fee a few minutes later when I re- entered the living room. "Um, yes but I think that your son must have been slimmer than I am as most of his underwear was very tight, I did find something that fitted however it's just a little more feminine than I'm used to wearing." "Is it comfortable?" she asked whilst glancing away from her magazine. "Very," I stated. "Well don't worry about it then, your jeans will cover you up." I shrugged my shoulders and went to put the kettle on. I had intended to go out shopping anyway later and buy myself some new underwear but instead just got on with doing things in the house and completely forgot that I was wearing ladies underwear, it wasn't until I undressed to shower that evening that I remembered about them as I noticed them in my reflection in the wardrobe mirror. I smiled as I watched myself twisting and turning whilst looking at my reflection, 'had my backside always been that big?' I wondered to myself as I stroked at the soft fine fabric of 'my' panties, I then reasoned that as I was still on light duties at work that I must have gained a few pounds due to lack of exercise, strange though that my extra weight hadn't gone onto my waist as usually happened. On Monday I dressed for work as usual except that I was wearing another pair of panties from the pile that I had transferred from the trunk to my underwear drawer, I'd decided that they just fitted me better at the moment and apart from a couple of days in male underwear after our washing machine had been replaced I've never worn male underwear since. Chapter 7 - Alerick the Mouth In almost every workplace there is someone who thinks that he or she has been hard done to by the world and vents it either by being obnoxious or loud-mouthed or bullying or indeed all three. Our workplace idiot was called Alerick, Al for short and he had a large chip on his shoulder about losing his job as union representative, I was warned when I started not to fall foul of him, so I did my best to avoid him. Unfortunately as I was working in the undelivered packets area I was now working with him all day and it was not a pleasant experience. Alerick resented me being there and took every opportunity to pick fault with my work, fortunately for me all it earned him was several verbal warnings from the supervisor over his conduct, Alerick then changed tack and started to spread untrue rumours about me. One morning as I was getting rid of some cardboard to the crusher Alerick shouted across the floor. "Hey Hugh, there's more rubbish over there when you've finished," I shouted back to him. "My name is Jason not Hugh." "Oh I thought you'd changed it to Hugh, Hugh Jarse." The four deliverymen with him burst out laughing all but one, the union rep, who stayed silent. When I reached the cardboard crusher I placed my load into it and as nobody had used it recently I decided to bail it, all the time thinking about Alerick and his comment. It was true my backside had expanded a little recently and I'd had to go a size up in pants to compensate but Alerick was just making these comments to get me to react, to get a reaction from me, it wasn't going to work so even though he'd upset me with his comments, I carried on with my work. Alerick was subdued throughout the rest of the day and I found out later that the union rep had 'Had words' with him. Two days later as I was leaving after my shift I was stopped by my manager with the Union rep in tow and was escorted into his office. "I need you to empty your bag," stated my manager tersely, so I did and found under my lunch box a packet not addressed to me. I was shocked and said simply, "That's not mine!" "Yes I know, care to explain how it got there?" asked my manager. "I, I don't know I didn't put it there honestly I didn't." At that point the union rep's phone pinged, he looked at it and said, "Before any of us say anything that we are going to regret later I think that we should wait for Mr Edwards from security to come down, I've also invited Alerick to join us. Alerick was the first to enter the room. "I knew that you were a thief from the moment I set eyes on you," he said as he entered the room. "That's enough," said my manager, "just sit over there as Mr Edwards may need you to make a statement." "No problem," stated Alerick smugly. It took nearly ten minutes for Mr Edwards to finally arrive, he just nodded to us and went over to the nearest PC and placed a small USB memory device into it and clicked the mouse a few times bringing up a short section of footage of from a hidden security camera showing Alerick placing the parcel into my bag. "What!!" he shouted, my manager turned to me. "Please accept my apologies Jason we had to be sure." He then turned to Alerick. "Mr Snyfold, I'm suspending you immediately without pay pending a disciplinary hearing, Mr Edwards he's all yours?" Mr Edwards took Alerick by the arm and escorted him out of the room. My union rep then took me to the rest room and made me a cup of tea. "I'm really sorry son, but ever since your accident he's had it in for you. Alerick has been going around spreading rumours about you saying that you'd injured yourself deliberately. "That's not true Jack I didn't." "I know son, he's certainly going to pay for his stupidity now though and there's not a thing I can do to help him either, the stupid bastard." "I just don't know why he took so badly to me Jack." "I do, I've known him since we were kids, he was married once and had a really good job but his marriage broke up after his son, his pride and joy committed suicide, he's been bitter and twisted ever since, I believe that the combination of your accident and your current state reminded you too much of his past and tipped him over the edge." "Suicide? I live with a lovely woman whose son committed suicide, that's a coincidence isn't it?" Jack seemed puzzled. "She isn't called Fee by any chance, is she?" he asked. "Yes, she taught me how to drive, I got her card off the wall over there," I said pointing at the noticeboard. "Ah, that goes a long way to explaining his resentment of you then, Fee is his ex-wife, he blames her for his son and she blames him for driving him to suicide." "I don't understand Jack," Jack sighed. "It's public knowledge, so I suppose I can tell you as it all came out at the inquest anyway. Fee and Alerick's son liked to dress up in female clothing in private, he always had done. I suppose that he would now be given one of those flashy new titles like transgendered, but at the time both his mum and dad were less than sympathetic to his feelings and in his fathers' case openly hostile." "But his room was decorated quite femininely Jack, somebody must have done that." "Dunno mate I just know that after several unhappy years he was found one morning hanging by the neck from a tree in the back garden dressed in women's clothing. Alerick and Fee split up just after the funeral, she even started to use her maiden name again," I couldn't believe it but I was starting to feel sorry for my tormentor. "He's had a tough time Jack, is there nothing that the union can do for him?" "I can try but as you've already seen he's his own worst enemy." "Thanks Jack." Jack then turned to me and asked. "I'm not sure if you've noticed yourself lad but you're not really the same person that started here last year, since your accident you've changed." "Yes I've got no balls now remember." "I know, it's not just that though," He pointed at my hips "You've started to fill out in the wrong places for a lad, I mean your belt is quite tight but your arse is barely being contained by your pants." I admitted that I'd also noticed some changes in my body recently too, Jack suggested that I visit my doctor to try and find out if it was just exercise related or if I had an underlying problem related to my accident and as I promised that I would I then remembered that I hadn't heard back from them with my blood test results. That evening I told Fee about Alerick and what he'd done to me she was shocked and then annoyed at her ex-husband, then she started to open up about her son, Frank, this was the first time she'd mentioned him by name and she was very hesitant and obviously guarded as she talked but she was honest with me and openly admitted that she'd failed her son in his time of need. Chapter 8 - Subtle Changes I contacted my doctors surgery the next day and was told that my tests had all come back normal and that my bleeding was probably just a result of my recent surgery and not to worry about it but that I should make an appointment soon to discuss restarting testosterone therapy. I carried on wearing woman's underpants instead of men's ones as they felt so much nicer and without my balls they just felt better Fee accepted this and understood my reasoning she even bought me some extra ones on one of her weekly shops. One morning as I was sitting in the bay window of my room looking out over the fields doing a crossword Fee entered. "I'm just putting a small wash on do you have any in your basket?" "Err I think so Fee, just give me a moment," I said as I started to get up from my comfy position. "Don't worry I'll just get them for you it's no bother," as she started to rummage through the basket, she then stopped and said "Oh as she pulled out a pair of my newest and brightest panties and noticed the dark stains on the crotch fabric. "Oh Fee it's nothing to worry about, it's just a little blood from my surgery I've had it checked out at the doctors," Fee looked over at me and smiled. "You told me as much the other week Jason, it's more the stains I'm worried about these will need soaking first, I smiled back at Fee. "Just leave them I'll soak them later and do another wash." "Just a sec," she said as she left my room went into the bathroom and returned soon after carrying a brightly coloured box. "I know that it sounds odd Jason but if you slip one of these into your panties they'll stop you ruining them." I looked over at the offered box and read the front, they were panty liners! "I can't wear those Fee they're for girls." "And they'll stop you staining your underwear, just give them a try at least until the bleeding stops." I knew that she was just trying to be helpful and that what she said made complete sense but my pride was not happy about it. In the end I swallowed my pride and took the offered box and after Fee had gone took out one of the liners, removed it from its protective paper wrapper, peeled off the backing and slipped the pad down between my penis and my panties where it sat quietly and unobtrusively until I showered later that evening. I was glad that I'd used a panty liner as there was quite a lot of spotting on the liner when I examined it later, suffice it to say that I used another one after my shower to protect my underwear overnight. Within a few days my intermittent bleeding stopped so I stopped wearing the pads and resumed my semi normal life, I started to walk lots in order to try and lose weight and started with Fee's help to eat a healthier diet. Soon I started to feel the benefit of my new regimen and had lost a lot of the excess weigh I'd put on, so much so that I needed to go and buy new trousers. One weekend after a really wonderful lie in I got out of bed and decided to take a shower before braving the world so I undressed and headed into the shower, something caught my attention as I was showering and it was my chest, the shower spray was almost painful against my chest, especially the nipple area causing my nipples to stiffen alarmingly, I'd never seen them so big. I altered the jet setting on the shower head to give a less invigorating jet and brought my hand up to my left nipple, it felt huge between my fingers and something else, the surrounding area felt quite hard and tender to the touch almost as if there were something under the skin pushing and stretching the flesh. I foolishly convinced myself that it was just the result of the shower being on too high a level so I decided to ignore it. After my shower I found a nice baggy tee shirt to wear, quickly dressed and went downstairs to see if there had been anything left out for me for lunch as Fee was out with her new boyfriend today, my dad! He'd been calling on me more and more often recently but his real reason for visiting was to see Fee, as they got along very well, I didn't mind at all my dad deserved happiness so did Fee and I certainly didn't expect him to mourn my mum's death forever. As I entered the kitchen area I noticed a note on the breakfast bar saying that my lunch was in the fridge and that Fee would be back by five for our evening meal which tonight was the chilli that was now bubbling away gently in the slow cooker. I busied myself that afternoon tidying my room and doing a little hoovering and tidying around the house, I also used the opportunity to contact Izzie and have a long chat, something I'd been meaning to do for some time. Fee texted me saying that she'd just dropped my dad off at the station so I put a pan of water on and set it to boil, a few minutes later I poured a generous handful of dry rice into the water and started to cut up bread and set the table for our evening meal. Fee was in a very good mood when she arrived home and smiled all the way through our evening meal as we made idle conversation, I did however notice her looking at me a little strangely once or twice culminating with her asking. "What's going on with your Tee shirt Jason? Is it itchy or something as you keep scratching your chest?" I became quite self-conscious and started to zip my hoodie up when she then asked, "I've embarrassed you, haven't I. I'm sorry. It's just I was concerned as you looked a little uncomfortable," The look on Fee's face had turned from happy to concerned and I immediately felt guilty about spoiling her mood. "It's nothing really Fee, it's just my chest has been quite irritated all day ever since my shower this morning." "Oh was it too hot did you burn yourself?" "No it's not that the jets were a bit powerful that's all and I think they've irritated my chest, I don't think that the tee-shirt rubbing all afternoon has helped either. Fee smiled a little. "When I was a lot younger I trained to do a fun run and I found that my nipples became very sore with the constant rubbing of the fabric, even though I was wearing a bra so in the end I started to put sticking plasters over them before running." "Did it help?" I asked. "Yes, it then just hurt when I peeled the sticking plasters off," she laughed. "I may try that later and see if it works as it is actually my nipples that are mostly hurting." "Mostly?" Fee enquired. "Yes, there's a little pain and some swelling below my nipples too but I'm sure it will have settled down by tomorrow." "Do you have a lump Jason?" asked Fee, her face now showing real concern. "Yes but I'm sure it's nothing." "Men can get breast cancer too you know, has this lump only just appeared?" "Lumps." "Lumps, there are more than one?" "Yes Fee, one under each of my nipples." Fee got up from her chair and walked around the dining table until she was by my side. "May I see please?" "I, I." I really wasn't sure that I wanted fee looking at my chest. "Please Jason, I'm concerned about you," I got up from the chair and took off my baggy hoodie with Fee watching me constantly she even became slightly wide eyed when she saw the two tiny erect bumps in the fabric of my tee-shirt just before I removed it. I stood before Fee topless as she looked at my chest. "May I?" she asked as she brought her hand towards my chest, I just nodded and felt awkward and embarrassed as she gently pressed against the edges of my right and then left nipple. "The dark bit is really tender especially when you press on it Fee." "The dark bits are your areola Jason and you have two quite definite lumps under each almost as if..." Fee went really quiet for a second or two so I asked, "As If?" "Oh yes, as if you were budding but that can't happen to you as you are male." "Budding?" "Yes it'll have happened to your sister Izzie as puberty set in and her breasts started to develop." "But I'm a man I can't grow tits!" I exclaimed. "Hmm." Fee then went over to the sideboard and took out her tablet whilst I hurriedly put my tee-shirt back on, she sat in her comfy chair and then started to search the internet. "Aha yes here it is, Gynecomastia, it's a condition that can cause the growth of female like breasts in men during puberty, Oh and if there is a hormone imbalance or if you are obese." I immediately realised that my decision to discontinue using my testosterone may have been the cause of my latest problem. "Oh Fee, It's the hormones, I need to start using the patches again." I went upstairs and quickly applied one of my patches to my side and then returned to Fee. "Jason, I think that you should go and see your doctor to get checked out, something is obviously amiss with you, the bleeding, the weight gain around your hips and now your breasts. I think that there is something else happening," I tried to convince myself that it was only because I hadn't been taking my medicine and replied. "I will Fee, if it gets any worse I will I promise." Chapter 9 - Dr Trotter I stayed on the patches for exactly three days before my acne returned and my mood darkened so I stopped using them again and came up with another strategy, baggy clothes and a tight stretchy bandage around my chest whilst I was at work. After work I always took off the bandage as it was really uncomfortable. About a week after I stopped using the patches I started to find bloody spots in my panties again so I bought my own pads and started using them to protect my underwear. This time however the spotting was accompanied by occasional cramping in my stomach and roughly four days later the blood stopped and I returned to normal. My chest however continued to change at an alarming rate and now the entire disk that surrounded my nipple was raised from my flat chest. Since my accident my sex life had dropped to zero mostly as my confidence had been dented big time by my lack of testicles, I could still get an erection but it was nowhere near as spontaneous as before and I never woke with a morning erection anymore. When about a month later the spotting started again I finally did what I'd been putting off for some time and made an appointment with a random doctor at my local surgery as my usual doctor was away skiing somewhere. This time the doctor was female she had a nameplate on her desk that said, 'Dr Sandy Trotter'. The doctor was very friendly and even put me at my ease by asking me to refer to her by her first name, Dr Sandy listened carefully to my explanation of my symptoms and then asked me to take my top off and sit on an examination bench this I did hesitantly. "You have to bind your chest?" she enquired. "Yes I don't want to get comments off my workmates, it's a very blokey environment," I said as I unwrapped the bandage. Dr Sandy slipped on a pair of disposable gloves and started to examine the two prominent bumps on my chest. "This is quite significant development Jason are you still using the testosterone replacement prescribed for you?" "No I've tried but every time I use them I break out in spots within days and more recently started to get bad headaches and moodiness when on them." "And you are not taking any other hormone supplements at all?" she enquired. "No nothing Doctor." "Hmm, okay you can put your top on now, then I would like you to take your trousers and underwear off as I'd like to examine you down below, the doctor didn't even seem to notice as my panties were revealed. "Panties too," she simply said and as I removed them she noticed the stained pad stuck in the crotch area. "Oh I see what you mean Jason, could I just take a look please?" I nodded and she took my panties off me and examined the stains on my pad this embarrassed me immensely. On noticing my bright red face the doctor smiled. "I'm sorry I haven't quite mastered the niceties of civilian doctoring yet as I'm normally a military doctor and am on secondment with the NHS at the moment, please don't be embarrassed." "I can't really help it doctor; I feel really awkward," I replied, the doctor then examined my now quite shrivelled ball sack. "Hmm well it looks like you've completely healed now your scrotum has shrunken quite a lot, have you noticed any size changes in your penis?" "It's hard to tell doctor, I think it may have shrunk a little." "Erections?" "Eh?" "Erections do you still get spontaneous erections?" "Ah I see, not really," The doctor smiled at me. "Do you still get hard when you masturbate?" "I err, yes." "I can, if you wish, prescribe Viagra or rather Sildenafil to help you out with that but I'm afraid that the National Health Service is not very generous with their amounts." "I don't really have much of a sex life now doctor but if you think it will help," Dr Sandy had now returned to her computer and was typing on her keyboard. "Okay I'll give you a prescription and see if it sorts out your erection problems, as for your feminisation I think we'll need some blood work done as something weird is definitely going on inside you and I'd like to get to the bottom of it." "Shall I make an appointment to see a nurse then?" "What on earth for, I'm quite capable of taking a little blood." The doctor then started to look for something and a few seconds later gave up. "Back in a mo," she said as she opened the consulting room door and left. My doctor then returned a minute or two later and said, "Okay Jason it seems all of the blood work stuff is kept in the nurses' room," she then smiled and continued "and I've also found an ultrasound machine so follow me," I followed the doctor into the nurses' room past all of the patients who were probably having their own consultations delayed by me and entered the nurses' room, Dr Sandy then took my blood pressure, checked my weight and height and even sent me out to give a urine sample before taking several vials of blood from my arm. "I must say that you are being very thorough doctor," I commented as she placed bar codes on the vials of blood. "My uncle Harry would be disappointed with me if he thought I was being anything other than thorough Jason, miss one thing and it can skew a diagnosis completely, my uncle was the one that encouraged me into becoming a doctor, now are you allergic to Elastoplast?" "I don't think so." Dr sandy removed the small cotton wool wad that I had been pressing onto the site of her bloodletting and replaced it with a small Elastoplast "Good, hop onto the examining table and pull your top up, I want a little look inside to see what's going on in there." Once on the bench Dr Sandy then proceeded to coat my lower stomach with a cool gel and started to rub a smooth slightly curved probe around the gel. "See that there, that's your bladder." She then showed me a couple of other things then stopped and took some measurements before saying. "Okay Jason there is definitely something strange happening in there, just to reassure you I'm almost certain it's nothing life threatening but I am going to make an appointment for you to go to hospital next week so more tests can be run using less ancient equipment." "Do you know what's wrong with me?" "Let's say I have an inkling I'm just not ready to share it until I'm sure, but it's not life threatening I can assure you of that." I left the doctors surgery prescription in hand and with no idea what Dr Sandy had seen on my ultrasound scan. By the time I'd gotten home Fee told me that the doctors had just rung and that an appointment had been made for me the very next Tuesday at 09:00 and that I should expect to spend the entire day there. So on my next shift I booked a day's annual leave and on Tuesday I found myself sitting in a waiting room of the gynaecology department of my local hospital where after a little confusion with the woman at the reception desk I was taken to a small examining room where I was joined after a short wait by a consultant gynaecologist and to my surprise Dr Sandy. "I hope you don't mind Jason but I asked to assist on this diagnosis as yours is such an interesting case." I didn't mind at all as she just seemed to exude both confidence and competence. Initially I was given another ultrasound scan which seemed to pique the consultants interest and then I was taken by a nurse to several other departments for tests, including an ECG, x-rays and a high- resolution scan of some sort. After lunch I was escorted by a nurse to the consultants' office where I was given the news, Sandy sat by me and actually held my hand as I was given the diagnosis. "Well young man you are a very interesting case a very interesting case indeed, I am so glad that Dr Trotter spotted this as it could have gone undiagnosed for years." "So what's wrong with me and can it be cured?" The consultant looked over his glasses at me. "There is nothing strictly wrong with you, young man as you were born with the condition and had you not had your unfortunate accident you would probably have led a completely normal life unaware of what was lurking in your tummy." "So what's there and what's wrong with me?" I felt Dr Sandy gently squeeze my hand. "We both believe that you have a very rare condition called Persistent Mullerian duct syndrome or PMDS for short. It is a condition where you were actually born with both sets of sex organs, your male sex organs being originally dominant, and from what we have ascertained today you now have a fully functioning womb and ovaries within you." "No, I can't have! How come no one has ever noticed this before?" "I believe that your womb and ovaries have been dormant until recently Jason, probably suppressed by the testosterone in your body but following your accident and the rapid decrease in testosterone levels your dormant organs have awoken." "So the blood, was I actually having a period like a woman?" "Yes it seems so, we haven't quite figured how the discharge is getting into your urinary tract yet but essentially yes you certainly do appear to have been menstruating and theoretically with a little corrective surgery you could possibly even conceive" that information along with the fact I hadn't really eaten much for lunch made me feel very light headed and the edges of my vision started to grey out "I feel a little wier, wie, w-" I felt someone grab at me and hold me. "Oh no you don't," the voice said as I was gently guided somewhere and lain down. It took me a couple of minutes and several sips of water for me to return to some semblance of normality, the consultant had now gone but Dr Sandy was still in the room. "Sorry about that Dr Sandy I don't know what happened." "I do, you fainted probably caused by your diet and iron deficiency, you need to eat more Jason." "But if I do then I start to look fat in all the wrong places doctor." Dr Sandy looked at me. "Normally if this happened I would just prescribe a special diet for a few weeks and order my patient to adhere to it but unfortunately I can't just go around ordering civilians about so I'm advising you to eat a well-rounded diet with plenty of fruit especially oranges which are quite high in iron." "But what happens when the weight comes back on?" "Your fat will distribute itself in a more feminine manner and that is what I would like to discuss with you now," I looked in horror at Dr Sandy. "You're not turning me into a girl, I don't want to be a girl." "I'm not trying to do anything to you Jason I just want to discuss your options that's all. I liked Dr Sandy but, unfortunately, within weeks she would be gone, back to the army or navy or wherever she'd come from. Dr Sandy had obviously read all of my medical notes and had even told me that as a baby I'd had surgery for undescended testes, this came as somewhat of a surprise to me. She went on to explain that growing foetuses can potentially be either sex to begin with and it is only later on in pregnancy that the sexual organs develop, in my case however the Mullerian duct that is present in both male and female foetuses and that is normally reabsorbed in males didn't in my case and both sets of reproductive organs were created, my uterus and ovaries however must have been suppressed by the male hormones from my testicles until my accident when their long dormancy ended. I had already been told after my accident that none of my sperm had been viable so that my only option for fatherhood would be either sperm donation for any future partner or adoption, so to be told that I could possibly still have a son or daughter of my own came as a shock to me; the catch was that I would have to carry it in my own womb for 9 months! Chapter 10 - Choices. After my diagnosis I was shocked so most of the rest of the afternoon was spent with a councillor or psychiatrist, I forget, many options were discussed but I wasn't really in the mood for listening and wouldn't be for three or four weeks. I left the hospital numb and just sat on the bus looking out of the window not caring where it was going until it eventually reached the terminus and the driver asked me if I was okay, I assured him I was and stayed on the bus for the return journey getting off at the correct stop and walking the short distance to Fee's home. As I entered I heard fee shout from the kitchen. "Is that you Jason?" I confirmed it was indeed me. "I've made chicken tonight It'll be ready in about fifteen minutes if you want to go and freshen up, oh how did it go at hospital today?" I didn't answer, I couldn't answer at that point so I just kicked my trainers off and ran upstairs closing the bedroom door behind me before flopping down on the bed and lying motionless on my side staring at the wall. Fee came upstairs a few minutes later and knocked gently on the door to my room. "Are you okay Jason?" I didn't answer, Fee entered anyway and sat on the bed beside me and started to stroke my back. "If you need to talk I'm here for you." "Really?" I asked as I turned to face fee. "Yes really, I learned the hard way if I'd listened to Frank or Francine earlier, she may still be alive today, I was embarrassed by him and worried more about what the neighbours thought than my own son's feelings, I was such a snooty pious cow then. Oh you've been crying?" "Oh, yes I'm sorry Fee, but it's been a bit of a day today and the shrink that they sent me to see later on seemed to treat my condition so matter-of-factly that it just infuriated me." "Did you get a diagnosis then?" "Yes I did Fee." "Was it bad news?" she asked cautiously. "It's probably not going to kill me, but either way it is going to be life changing," Fee offered me her arms and I gratefully accepted her hug. "You don't need to tell me Jason, not if you don't want too." I really wanted to unburden myself, but was Fee the right person to tell? I wondered to myself. My mum used to hug both my sister and I lots as we grew up and since her death I hadn't had much in the way of affection from anyone apart from Izzie so Fee's hug was very welcome and I soon felt able to control my emotions enough to at least enquire about our evening meal. "Did you say it was chicken tonight?" I asked. "Yes it's ready are you feeling better?" "I am, thank you for the hug, I needed it." Fee smiled weakly at me and suggested. "Just have a quick wash Jason and I'll dish up," Fee left me in my room and I joined her a couple of minutes later after I'd freshened up. Fee was not the greatest cook in the world but she tried really hard and our evening meal was very tasty and I even agreed to have a pudding afterwards, something I'd been avoiding recently in order to try and lose weight, Fee seemed happy that my appetite had returned and commented to that effect. "I was told today that I was borderline anorexic and that I should stop trying to lose weight." "Oh?" "Yes it looks like my big bum is not going to go away any time soon." "So is this part of what's wrong with you then?" asked Fee, I decided to confide in her and tell her all about my condition, she listened to everything quietly without interrupting and as I ended she simply said, "I can see why you were upset when you first got back Jason, did the doctors offer you any solutions or treatments?" "Not really they just gave me options as to what I could do." "And those were?" "Firstly do nothing but that will cause complications and possibly lead to health problems in future, secondly have my uterus and ovaries removed." Fee frowned. "A hysterectomy, really?" "Yes then once recovered I would be given low doses of male hormones to keep me ticking over." "Were there any other options?" "It was suggested that if it became a problem that a small opening could be created in my empty scrotum below my penis to allow my, my menstrual fluid to discharge from my uterus but that would turn me into a freak wouldn't it?" Fee glared at me. "Not at all Jason and don't you ever think that, you are a lovely young man dealing with a complicated medical condition you are not a freak." "I'm sorry Fee, but the staff at the hospital with the exception of Dr Sandy all just seemed to treat me as an interesting curiosity." "I know that this may seem to be a stupid question but are your new bits capable of making a baby?" "The doctors seem to think so." Fee smiled at me. "I think that somehow your body has managed to give you a second chance at fatherhood." "What! To become a father by being a mother I don't think so, that's just sick." "Was it not an option you were offered?" "I..." "It was wasn't it?" "Yes but." "But?" "They said that it could be theoretically possible to take eggs from me fertilise them with donor sperm and then re implant them into me and then It would grow inside me into a baby and they would then remove it via a caesarean operation." "So you could still be a parent?" "I could but..." "But what? You could still have children Jason this is wonderful news." I could see the confusion in Fee's eyes she just couldn't understand why I wasn't ecstatic about my new condition. "But would I still be me if I did? Would I be a mum to the child or a dad? I'm so frustrated and confused I don't want to be like this but because of my accident I am and there's nothing it seems I can do to make things just like they were, I just want to be like I used to be Fee, I just want to be normal." Fee placed her desert spoon into its dish. "There's a saying my father used to use when things went wrong for me or I broke something, he used to say 'Let's just make the best of this bad job shall we?' and he almost always managed to make things better by working with me and helping, I'd like to help you to make the best of this Jason if you will let me," I could feel myself tearing up at Fee's offer, she looked really genuine and I believed that she was. "Firstly is there anyone apart from me that you can talk to about your condition that you think would understand?" I thought for a second or two then offered. "My sister I suppose, we used to be really close but she's back home." Fee smiled at me. "I think that I'd like to spend a long weekend with your father this weekend and it would be lovely if your sister and her son could come and stay here to keep you company whilst we are gone, don't you?" I frowned slightly. "You're not just trying to get a dirty weekend away with my dad, are you?" "Ha I suppose that would be one of the benefits, but no I think it would be good for you to be with your sister for a few days, does she know of your problems?" "Some but not all, I've only told you about what I found out today." "Would you like me to explain to your father about your condition?" "Would you mind? I'm not sure how he'll react to his only son growing tits and a womb," Fee frowned at my use of the word 'tits' but said nothing. I had been given one other choice that I hadn't mentioned to Fee and that was to undergo gender reassignment surgery, but that option would involve many hours talking with the shrink and was not something that I was even considering at the time. Chapter 11 - Big Sister (By Forty-Seven Seconds) I went to bed that evening feeling a little happier. Fee was a good listener and she almost seemed to understand my confusion, she'd also suggested that I should try and experiment a little in private and at least try being a little more feminine. she even said that I was welcome to any of her son's old clothes in the trunks, an offer that I didn't think I'd take up. On Friday I used a couple of days leave and Fee and I met my Dad and Sister at the station, Izzie was carrying Simon. Dad gave me a big hug then took Fee's hand. "We'll be off then, enjoy your weekend." "What! What do you mean?" I asked "Your father and I are going to London for the weekend, here's the keys to the car, don't dent it, have fun, cheerio," Fee then took a packed bag from the boot of the car and headed back into the station with Dad. "So come on then little brother show me where you live." we packed her bags and Simon's necessities into the boot got into the car and headed back to Fee's home. Once settled and with Simon asleep in his carry cot Izzie then said, "So come on then so what's the big secret? Are you dying or something?" I half-heartedly laughed, she'd always been the direct one. "I'm not dying Izzie It's just that..." I then proceeded to tell her the entire tale of my diagnosis. "So they're not Moobs then, they're actual real boobs growing on your chest?" she said as she pointed at my chest and the two lumps not being successfully hidden by my baggy sweatshirt. "Yes it seems so." "Cool, so are you going to become a girl?" "No no, I'm not, that's the last thing I want." "Why?" "What do you mean why, cos I'm a bloke that's why." "You'd probably make quite a pretty girl little brother." "No I wouldn't and I'm not your little brother," I replied indignantly. "Yes you are you were born after me," I sighed. "Only by forty-seven seconds Izzy." "I'm still older than you though." "Okay, okay you're older than me," she then looked at me as though she was formulating a plan then suddenly whipped off her long auburn wig and threw it at me exposing her semi bald head in the process. "Bet you would look like a girl with my wig on." "I'm not wearing your wig Izzy," I stated firmly. "Scaredy cat; scaredy cat; scaredy, scaredy, scaredy cat," Izzie knew exactly which buttons to press to get me to react and it was working. "I'm not scared, I just don't want to wear it that's all." Izzie then put her bottom lip out and gave me her doe eyed stare. "Oh for heaven's sake here look." I placed the wig over my short hair and then pulled it down firmly. "There look I bet I now look like some weird hippy or something?" Izzie didn't say anything she just stared at me. "What! Have I got it on wrong or something?" "No, no it's nothing like that it's just." "What?" "You look really feminine Jason." "Rubbish," I said as I got up to look at myself in the mirror over the mantelpiece. "Oh," I then said as I realised what Izzy had meant she wasn't kidding I looked just like a girl even with my pasty complexion and the sparse hairs on my chin I looked like a girl, I went to take the wig off only to hear Izzie say. "Don't you dare Jason or should I say Julie." "Izzie, I need to take the wig off, it's making me feel really uncomfortable," she was now standing by my side and looking at my reflection. "You suit that wig better than I do and it hasn't even been combed out yet, bastard," my face broke into a smile and then I burst out laughing at her comment, she then joined me, I think it was probably the first time I'd laughed properly in weeks and it felt good. My wonderful sister Izzie had broken my mood and it felt great. I didn't take my sisters wig off and even allowed her to run a brush it through as we sat on the sofa. "I've noticed that your hair is growing back again," I mentioned as she placed small metal clips into the hair. "It is but I've taken to keeping it really short, I don't want to grow it out all over again just for it to fall out again overnight, besides this way I can have lots of new hairstyles every week if I wanted too, I just use a different wig." "You called me Julie before, why?" "Don't you remember anything? It's what you were going to be called if you were a girl I just thought I'd take the name for a spin, it suits you," I frowned. "I don't want to be a girl Izzie." Izzie stopped playing with my hair, placed her hands on her hips. "Why the hell not? What's wrong with being a girl I'm a girl, do you think I'm inferior to you in some way is that it?" "No, no Izzie it not that it's just..." "Just what?" Izzie looked at me and her whole demeanour changed in an instant "Your scared aren't you, scared of what people might say, of what Dad would say?" "Yes," I squeaked. "Oh Jason, I think that somehow, through some weird freak of genetics you've been given a second chance why not at least try being a girl for a bit just to see if you like it or not?" her face brightened "Just like when we were kids and we played dress up." "I, I wouldn't know where to start Izzie." Izzie could tell she'd finally gotten to me and her face lit up. "Aha well lucky for you I just happen to be a professional at being a girl and have a lifetimes experience in the subject." Izzie then grabbed my hand "Follow me it'll be fun I promise." Izzie dragged me up to my room and sat me on my bed then carefully removed her wig from my head. "Arms up." I did as instructed and she pulled off my sweatshirt and then my tee-shirt. "Oh you poor things," she said to my bandage covered chest as she started to unwrap it. "Let your little puppies have some air Jason, it's just cruel keeping them locked up like that, oh my!" I was relieved at the pressure on my chest being released but my sister's reaction worried me as apart from doctors no one had seen my growing protrusions. "Oh god Jason you really need to be wearing a bra, you are going to ruin your lovely boobs keeping them bound like that," Izzie then ran her fingers gently over my protruding flesh and then cupped my tiny bumps in her hands. "Well you're definitely past the training bra stage, I'd say that you were an A cup now, just a mo." Izzie then left my room and went through to the guest room returning moments later with several boxes, I backed away from her when I noticed the pictures on the boxes however. "Bras? No way, no Izzie I'm not wearing a bra no." Her face went serious. "Jason you need support you can't keep them all squished up like that it's not healthy, please just try one I bought them specially for you." "You bought them?" "Yes I went into Marksies and bought a selection." "Why would you do that Izzie?" "Because little brother we are all concerned about you." "We?" "Yes we, Dad, Fee and me we are all worried about you and what's happening to your body, you really don't need to go through it alone you silly moo," I was now red-faced and covering my chest with my arms. Izzie came over to me with a dressmaker's tape measure and said simply, "Please," I dropped my arms and she started to measure me. "Hmm, you do need to put on weight, you're all skin and bones, It's not a good look." "Every time I do Izzie the fat goes to the wrong places." "Not any more Jason, it's going to the right places now, ha just as I thought an 'A' cup, padded 'A' cup I think." Izzie went over to the pile of flimsy cardboard boxes on the bed and opened one. "Oh this feels lovely Jason, sooo soft and it's padded," Izzie then said, "Arms out," And I dumbly complied, she then slipped the hoops of the shoulder straps past my hands and up my arms, then coming behind me she located the straps on my shoulders and expertly fastened the 'bra' behind me she then slipped her hand down each cup and adjusted the flesh until it was cradled in the soft padding of each cup, finally Izzie adjusted the straps until they fitted comfortably and offered some support to my chest. My feelings however were anything but normal as the bra was fitted to me as I suddenly realised firstly that for the first time in weeks my chest felt comfortable and secondly that barring some form of corrective surgery I would probably be wearing bras or other support underwear for the rest of my life and in my confused and weakened state, I broke down. Izzie, to her credit, guided me over to my bed and held me whilst I wept into the shoulder of her tee shirt. After several minutes and three or four tissues I finally calmed down enough to apologise for my outburst. "There's absolutely no need Jason, you weren't there at the time but I cried when mum took me to get fitted for my first bra too, I hated the whole experience as I thought it meant that my final link with childhood was being severed and that I would have to be a woman from then on, it turned out I was wrong big time as I think you would agree I was just as big a pain in the arse post bra as I was pre bra." I remembered back and could only remember when she stopped being my close friend after she'd discovered boys. "I think it was when you started going out with boys that I missed you the most Izzie I just thought that I'd lost my best friend." "Well she's back now my little brother needs me and I am going to be there for you whatever happens." "Thank you Izzie I appreciate it," I went to put on my tee-shirt but Izzie said, "Walk this way Jason whilst you're being brave I'd like you to try something a little different," she led me into her room and soon I was sporting one of her own tee-shirts it was plain but cut differently from mine and seemed to hug my body. "Well?" "It feels so soft Izzie but you can see my, my bumps." "Breasts Jason, breasts. Stop beating around the bush, they are breasts and they look sooo cute, as do you," she said as she passed me a glass of pop "you don't even need to go girly if you don't want to Jason but I hope that you'll agree you feel a lot more comfortable now?" she was right I did. "So do you fancy a trip out later to the park or shopping once I've fed Simon, we could have ice cream or a lolly." "I'm not sure Izzie. I'm honestly not sure if I'm brave enough to go out." "Just pretend we're trick or treating, like we used to remember?" I remembered that when I was a lot younger before puberty had hit I did go out at Halloween dressed as a witch with Izzie and once even dressed as a female ghost but that was just for fun and not a lifestyle choice I really wasn't sure if I was ready to commit to Izzie's suggestion or not but I was warming to the idea if only to see if anyone noticed. Chapter 12 - The Long Walk. Simon woke mid-afternoon and as my sister fed him, I couldn't help but watch her as Simon initially snuffled and snorted and struggled to get himself latched on to her nipple, Izzie seemed almost serene as Simon finally started to feed in earnest from her swollen breasts. "They'll go back down to their normal size once Simon's weaned, Jason maybe even a cup size smaller." "Does it hurt, breastfeeding does it hurt?" "No not really as long as you take care of your nipples and keep everything clean, I'm a little worried about when he starts teething in case he starts to use my nipples as a chew toy but at the moment It just feels right and it saves a fortune on formula milk," Curiously, watching my sister feed her son was causing my own nipples to pucker up within the confines of the well-padded cup of my Bra. It was quite disconcerting. We left the house together almost an hour later very hesitantly in my case, Izzie had ripped out some of my straggly eyebrow hairs and used one of her razors on my 'chin fluff' as she called it she'd also lined the bottom lid of each eye with a tiny little paintbrush and used a brush on my eyelashes which made them feel odd and strangely heavy. Izzie changed out of her casual clothing and returned a few minutes later wearing a pale blue sun dress and sandals, she was now wearing a shorter wig that framed her face perfectly. "Do you like my new wig Jason, it's my shortest one yet?" she then went on to tell me that it was a bob cut, I wondered why a hairstyle was named after a man, but decided to keep quiet as Izzie had now busied herself tying my hair back and adding a couple of clips to keep the hair from my eyes. It took Izzie a minute or two to coax me out onto the front path but once I was out of the house and the sky hadn't fallen in on me I started to relax especially as she let me push Simon's buggy. "Your hair looks wonderful tied back like that Jas." Izzie stopped herself and then continued. "Julie, I think for now I'll call you Julie." I just nodded and concentrated on the road ahead of me wondering at what point a trip bus of people who knew me would appear and start laughing. As we entered the local park Izzie stopped by the 'Mr Whippy' ice cream van to buy us both cones whilst I found a bench to sit at and I'd only just sat down when an old woman who was walking by with a man who I assumed to be her husband gave me a shock by asking, "Oh what a cute little baby, how old is he?" "Oh, just over five months." "Just look at him, fast asleep not a care in the world, he looks like an angel. Does he sleep through the night yet?" I thought back to my conversations with Izzie. "Yes mostly but sometimes he needs changing and feeding around four or five." "Are you breastfeeding him or does he have the bottle?" "Oh, I'm not his mum, I'm just his mum's." I couldn't believe it this old woman thought I was Simon's mother. I thought quickly and for the first time ever I said, "Sister I'm little Simon's Auntie." The old man then piped up, "Look over there Mildred I'll bet that's her with the ice creams." "Oh yes dear, so you're twins then?" she asked. "Yes we're twins that's my sister Izzie and I'm Julie." "It was nice to meet you Julie, come on Randolph we still have shopping to do," with that the lovely old woman and her husband left with her husband pulling a little wheeled shopping bag along behind him. Izzie reached me and passed me an ice cream. "Who was that you were talking too Julie?" "Dunno just a lovely old couple," I paused before saying "They thought I was Simon's mum." Izzie licked her ice cream and smiled. Simon slept for most of out walk and then after waking started to look around at the scenery and burble to himself happily and suck his fingers as Izzie and I walked together. "Is your wig making your head sweat Julie?" I asked. "No not really is yours?" "No I don't really sweat much at all I just wondered if you were still comfortable?" I smiled at myself and realised that I hadn't even thought about how I appeared to others for some time now. "I'm not dressed that femininely though, I mean these are still my jeans and trainers." "That's my point Julie, as a man you can really only wear men's clothing but I can wear what the hell I want, whenever I want too, if I want to dress as a boy I can and if I want to tart myself up and wear a long flowing dress, heels and a tiara I can do that too and nobody would really bat an eyelid." "You've made your point Izzie but I really don't think I want to become a girl full time." "Even if you could at some point have a child of your own?" I felt my hand almost involuntarily moving over my stomach and briefly thought about what it might be like to have a tiny new life growing within me and then just as quickly thought about how babies were made and was not ready for the thoughts that followed. Izzie and I stopped by the playground and found a patch of grass, Izzie then spread out an old tartan blanket on the ground and we sat in the shade of a large old conker tree with Simon being supported by Izzie. Simon could just about sit up by himself now but Izzie supported him nevertheless and as I watched my sister sitting comfortably on the rug interacting with her son I started to wonder a little if it would really hurt for me to at least give her idea a chance if only for a day or so. Sometime later I heard, "Fancy doing some shopping Julie?" For a second as I lay on my back looking up at the branches of the tree I wondered who Izzie was talking too and then realised it was me. "Uh, oh I don't know, what if someone..." "Lots of people will see you Julie but I doubt that anyone will see Jason as Jason is having a day off today." I turned to Izzie only to see that the front of her dress was now open and Simon was sucking greedily having another feed. "He certainly drinks a lot," I commented. "It's the only food he gets Julie, although I may start to introduce him to solids shortly," Once Simon had finished his afternoon snack Izzie passed me a towel and told me to place it over my shoulder and then passed me Simon, I almost instinctively placed him so that his head rested over my shoulder. "You're a natural Julie now gently rub his back in case he has some wind waiting to escape" I did as instructed and was rewarded with a little burped up milk that the towel didn't entirely catch, Izzie quickly took out a baby wipe from her changing bag and quickly cleaned the back of my tee shirt as I held Simon before putting him back into his chariot. Our shopping trip was not nearly as traumatic as I imagined it would have been and I even enjoyed some of it, Izzie of course kept trying to get me to buy more feminine clothing but I resisted only making one concession and buying a pair of jeans that looked to be made for me and fitted perfectly Izzie of course pointed out that they were girls jeans but I didn't care as they were just so soft, comfortable and light compared to my usual jeans. As our shopping trip progressed I started to feel more and more at ease and even chose a shade of lipstick from the three or four streaks of lipstick she'd drawn on the back of my hand. "Good choice," she added before saying "but a little too dark for you, this one I think," Izzie then took the lipstick and several other items to the till and before I realised what had happened, I was carrying a small carrier bag containing 'The essentials' from the shop. 'Sucker' I thought to myself as I walked alongside my devious sister and sleeping nephew as we headed back to Fee's house via the nearest Pizza place. Chapter 13 - Gardening Leave That weekend I indulged Izzie a little more and let her experiment with my look slightly by making my face up a little more with the addition of the lipstick she'd bought for me and a little concealer which I did agree hid the red marks left by my recent bout of acne. I refused, however, to wear anything overtly feminine with the exception of my new bra that I had now realised I needed to wear. On Monday evening just after our evening meal I received a text form work informing me that on Tuesday morning I was to attend a disciplinary meeting with my manager at 09:00 and that I could bring a work colleague with me if I wished. "I wonder what this is about?" I said to Izzie as we both sat comfortably on the settee with our feet up sharing a bowl of popcorn, she just shrugged. On Tuesday morning I bound my chest and dressed in my uniform as usual and clocked in at my normal time only to be escorted by one of the assistant managers to an empty training room where I waited with him in silence until my manager came in and sat opposite me then said, "There have been some serious allegations levelled against you Jason this is just a preliminary chat to try and find your side of the story." "Allegations? About what?" Just at that point Jack the union rep burst through the door, breathlessly he apologised. "Sorry I'm late would you believe it there was a scheduling mix up and I was being sent to Manchester for the day but I've gotten Dave to cover for me so I can attend Jason's interview," my managers face went from smug and official to flustered and red in seconds and I got the impression that I'd narrowly avoided some kind of employment kangaroo court. Jack sat down beside me and said, "You all right?" I just nodded but I wasn't The meeting then started and my manager came straight to the point by saying that there had been allegations and witnesses that had stated that my accident was staged by me in order to gain compensation from the company and that as a result I was being suspended without pay until an investigation was carried out. Whilst I just sat there saying nothing, Jack was anything but quiet however and within seconds I knew why he was a union rep. "These allegations are bullshit Ron and you well know it, Jason's accident was witnessed by several drivers and two members of the cleaning staff, I'm almost prepared to put money on the fact that your new witnesses are Alerick's friends, Are they?" "You well know that we can't discuss that with you Jack." "Okay then at the very least I want Jason placed on gardening leave until this whole sorry mess is sorted out." "My decision stands." Jack immediately picked up his mobile phone and dialled a number. "I'm not pissing about any more Mr Tranter I've already discussed Jason's case with the regional rep so I'm passing it over to him now." There was a pause whilst the phone connected and then Jack said "Jock, you were right they did exactly what you said they would," at the word 'Jock' my managers face went visibly paler Jack then said, "Our regional rep would like a word." He then passed the phone over to my manager and sat back with his arms folded and a smug look on his face. My manager said many partial words and several but's over the next minute or two but didn't really add to the conversation whilst in the background a loud Glaswegian voice could clearly be heard. Jack and I just sat there quietly whilst our manager tried unsuccessfully to argue with the man I only knew as Jock. Eventually my manager passed the phone back to Jack and turned to me. "Until this is sorted out Jason you will be on gardening leave with full pay, leave entitlement, shift allowances and all other benefits," Jack then added. "Before we leave could I have two written copies of that statement please, one for the union solicitor and one for Jason." My manager seemed really irritated at this. "Of course I'll get it done now." Jack and I left the interview room only to see several drivers congregated by the canteen door looking my way, Jack shouted over to them. "Hey Lads, can you tell your mate Alerick that because of him Jason here is getting gardening leave on full pay," They Immediately started talking amongst themselves, Jack led me past the drivers and into the rest room. Jack then proceeded to make two mugs of coffee and placed one on the table in front of me before sitting opposite me. "Twat's, the stupid bastards have no idea what trouble they're getting themselves into, the irony is that when they are found out to be lying they'll be straight over asking for the unions help." I just sat sipping from the mug numb as to what had just happened. "Okay Jason you're probably a little numb from what's just happened but once you've finished your coffee you need to collect your belongings from your locker and I then will escort you from the premises, you are not to return here unless you get a request from management do you understand." "Yes but why, I've done nothing wrong." "I know that Jason, but that shit Alerick has been stirring it with the lads and one of them has obviously made a false accusation and the manager and or HR has latched onto it using it as an excuse to either get rid of you or weaken your claim for compensation." "But Jack I didn't stage my own accident why the hell would I? Its repercussions are destroying my life." "I know son but I have something they don't and I'm not going to let them in on my secret until I absolutely have too." "Oh?" "I have the footage of your accident, I asked for it from security on the day of your accident roughly three days before the system was upgraded and it would have been lost, Management didn't get their arse into gear to ask for nearly a week so they don't have it and think it's been lost." "So why didn't you just tell them in the office Jack?" I was now irritated. "That's easy Son, it's pretty plain to see that your days here are numbered, Alerick and his friends will see to that, but I'm going to make sure that you don't lose out and get the compensation that you deserve," he then smiled and added "Of course if I were still in the Para's I would have sorted this out entirely differently." "So what do I do now?" I asked. "Are you any good at gardening?" "No not really." Jack then looked at me as though appraising me and said, "In that case as you could be off for months I would use the time to find out who you really are, you might actually surprise yourself." Jack was one wise old bird he obviously knew I was in turmoil over my identity, I thanked him and once I'd finished my drink he escorted me from the building, his final words as we parted were. "I know that you are going through some heavy-duty changes kid, but just in case the next time I meet you, you and you aren't Jason, who might you be?" I smiled weakly at him. "I err, Julie as that's what I would have been called if I were born a girl." "Okay then, see ya and don't let those bastards grind you down, the union will be in touch." Chapter 14 - The Experiment I arrived home to find my dad had arrived back from his long weekend with Fee, Izzie was standing with her cases ready to leave and go back home with him. "Why are you home Jason?" asked Fee with concern. I started to explain what had happened at work that morning but eventually just broke down in floods of tears. It took some time but eventually Fee, Izzie and Dad managed to tease out all of the details, Dad was furious, but Fee, she was incandescent with rage over what her ex had orchestrated. Izzie just sat, listened and held my hand. It took a while but once we had all calmed down Fee and Dad started to tell me all about their holiday together and the great time they'd had and over a soft drink later dad asked. "Are you uncomfortable Jason?" "I," he'd noticed me trying to surreptitiously adjust my binding bandages I immediately went bright red but he just smiled and said, "I know what's happening Jason. Take it off if it's uncomfortable." "I," I didn't answer but Izzie grabbed my arm saying "I think you should come with me and we'll get you out of those work clothes, don't you?" I followed Izzie blindly upstairs and into my room. "I'm just going to get changed Jason I'll leave you to decide for yourself what to wear." I sat down on the bed for a minute or two before taking off my top and then my shirt I then unwound my chest bandage allowing my tiny breasts their freedom then almost instinctively went over to the seat I'd left my bra hanging on and quickly fastened it to my chest I then went over to the dresser and whilst looking into the mirror gently brushed my eyelashes with mascara and lightly lined my eyes I didn't however put any other makeup on, removing my work trousers and boots I slid my new jeans up my legs and laced myself into a pair of cheapie converse copies finishing off with one of my old black tee shirts. As I looked into the mirror It was obviously me but a softer version of me that I was becoming increasingly comfortable with, I just hoped that my dad and Fee would be okay with my look too. Izzie entered my room several minutes later she was wearing a short skirt tights and a tee shirt and looked very pretty I thought. "What no wig?" she asked. "No not yet Izzie." "Okay then you ready?" She took my hand and we walked down stairs together. As we reached the living room it was empty but we heard sounds from the dining room where we found my dad on the floor with Simon, Simon just looked confused as my dad eagerly built shapes using large plastic blocks. When Dad noticed me he got up and seemed to stare at me for a moment or two before pulling me toward him and hugging me tightly and just as Dad released me Fee entered the room wearing an apron and said, "Oh my! you're really pretty Jason," she also came over and hugged me, nothing else was said about how I was dressed until we were eating our evening meal and my dad asked, "So are you going to let your hair grow out or are you going to be borrowing your sister's wigs then?" "I don't know dad I'm not sure what I want I'm just sort of experimenting at the moment," I answered honestly. "You look good Jason." "Dad," said Izzie "You can't keep calling him Jason especially when he's dressed femininely I've been calling him Julie." "Her, calling her Julie," my dad corrected, Fee then turned to me. "You are most welcome to use any of the clothing in the trunks Julie, the fashions may be a little out of date but they'll be okay to practice with I would have thought." I smiled and nodded at Fee knowing that it was probably hard for her to offer her son's clothing to me. It was as I was dressing for bed later that I realised my dad, Izzie and Simon hadn't gone home and had stayed on, something else I realised as I washed was that the makeup I'd applied earlier didn't come off with soap and water so I wandered through and after knocking on Izzie's door asked her if she had any makeup remover I could use. "What on earth are you wearing?" she asked instead of answering my question. "Pyjamas why?" "Because you look silly, why not try a nightshirt or a nightie or even some girls Pyjamas." I just shrugged but Izzie slid off her bed and said, "Show me these chests that Fee mentioned." I followed Izzie through to my room and soon Izzie had located the two wooden chests and located two very feminine nighties and a pair of silk pyjamas. "You want to choose, or shall I?" "Err the pyjamas I think," So I took the pyjamas and whilst Izzie watched over me I undressed to my panties and put the pyjamas on, Izzie appraised me and smiled. "Just a couple of things, firstly your hairy legs look ridiculous as do your pits you can shave them tomorrow morning during your bath." "And secondly?" "You look gorgeous, far too cute to stay as a boy," Izzie then hugged me and left me in my room my myself. I must have stared at myself for nearly ten minutes in the mirror and at one point even dug out a pair of heels I'd noticed as Izzie unpacked the trunks. unfortunately my feet were a couple of sizes too small for the heels but it did give me an unusual feeling looking at myself, not a sexual feeling but a feeling of something like pride in how I looked this worried me and I took off the heels and put them back before slipping between the covers of my own bed and falling quickly asleep. I was woken by Izzie the next morning and as I stretched I felt the loose silky material of my new pyjamas slip down my arms it was not an unpleasant feeling. "I've run your bath here's a couple of razors, have fun," I got out of bed and picked up my bra and a new pair of panties then headed obediently off to the bathroom whilst Izzy started to rummage and unpack the chests with Fee's sons clothing in it. I don't know if Izzie did it as a joke but when I entered the bathroom there were several lit tea-lights dotted around and the bath was full of bubbles I slipped out of my pyjamas and removed my panties before dipping my toe into the froth coloured water it was perfect so I lowered myself into the bath and audibly sighed as the warm water covered my body. Shaving my legs was nowhere near as difficult as I thought it might be although I did find my armpits to be a lot trickier until I snipped away at the longish hairs with a handy pair of nail scissors. Had I really agreed to dress more femininely? I couldn't remember agreeing to it but there I was shaving myself, Izzie came in after a while with a robe she'd found and examined my attempt at shaving. "Not bad for a newbie, still a couple of prickly bits though, here let me." And to my surprise and mild embarrassment my sister finished off the job I'd started. "Use the shower head to rinse yourself off Julie, then wash your hair and I'll see you back in your room in a few minutes." I just nodded as she left the bathroom to attend to Simon who had woken and started to cry for attention. Once finished I dried myself off and put on my one and only bra then my panties and covered my body with the robe and went through to my bedroom where I found Izzie just finishing changing Simon. "Don't get dressed yet Julie I want to try and do something with your nails first so I just sat on my bed looking in trepidation at the clothing that was spread across the bed next to me. "You're not expecting me to wear that are you?" I said whilst pointing at a short skirt on the bed. "Well yes," she replied casually, "unless you actually want everyone to see your lovely bottom and your little bulge through the thin fabric of your leggings that is." "Leggings?" "Yes those things that look like thin stretchy trousers beside the skirt." "Oh I thought they were tights," I replied not realising I'd fallen into her trap. "Put em on then," she said cheerily and that is exactly what I did I pulled the patterned stretchy trousers up my legs. "Now the socks and then give the skirt a go." "They're too short, the leggings, look you can see my ankles." "Ooh the scandal, 'Young woman exposes ankles in public, Pope calls for calm' I can see the headlines now, they're supposed to be like that you pillock." "Oh." "Now put the skirt on and look after Simon whilst I dispose of his nappy," Simon lay on his changing mat happily chewing his hand whilst I stepped into my first skirt and tried to figure out where the zip went, not at the front but at the back, this whole dressing as a girl lark just seemed to be such a faff I thought to myself as I slipped the tee shirt over my head. Fortunately the shoes that Izzie had chosen were a pair of her own trainers, they were a little tight but still comfortable and very light compared to mine. In fact my entire outfit felt very comfortable, Simon by this time had rolled onto his front and was trying to move about so I gently helped him into the sitting position and he smiled at me a huge toothless smile. I'd never seen him smile before and it really lifted my spirits, so I smiled back at him and he actually started to giggle so I started to tickle his toes, initially he had a look of shock on his face and then he started giggling all the more, it was wonderful. When Izzie came back she got down on the floor too and joined in but all too soon Simon became tired and Izzie picked him up for a cuddle then within seconds he was asleep. Izzie took little Simon out of the room and returned soon after. "He really likes you, he only usually giggles with me, your honoured." I really didn't want to admit it but I really enjoyed the few minutes with him I'd had, Izzie, however, was straight to business. "Nails and makeup, over here chop-chop." Izzie then attacked my short nails with a nail file and explained nail care to me. "Most people think that this is the cuticle," she said pointing to the little overgrowing piece of skin at the base of my nail "but that's not right it's actually called the proximal fold of the eponychium or nail fold for short, this bit of skin is a sort of seal and prevents nastiness getting into the bit that creates the nails, never cut it but you can push it gently back like so." Izzy then gently pushed the thin fold of skin back up my nail and then continued filing followed by painting in quite a neutral colour. "You're not ready for shocking red yet," she stated as I sat with my fingers in the air quite enjoying the smell of pear drops coming from my drying nails. Izzie then started on my make-up for the day and repeated everything from the previous weekend with the addition of a little blush and powder, she then produced a thin skull cap and placed it on my head tucking all of my own hair into it as she did. Izzie followed this with the wig which she then pinned to my head for extra stability before plaiting it in one single plait. "You are looking better every day Julie." I looked into the mirror and started to feel self-conscious as now my hair was pulled back into a plait more of my face could be seen, I also looked almost nothing like my normal self but then I started to smile as if I didn't recognise myself I really didn't think that anyone else would. Maybe this experiment in cross dressing would be fun after all. Izzie and I both went down stairs a little later with me carrying Simon. Dad was in the living room with Fee and as I entered he asked, "Jason?" "Not at the minute Dad, currently I'm Julie." "I must say that your sister has done a remarkable job on you," But Izzie then added. "I didn't do that much at all Daddy, Julie is just naturally pretty." "Hmm I suppose I don't really mind having two daughters." "So what is with the bags?" asked Izzy as she'd noticed three large suitcases by the door. "Oh those, Fee and I have booked ourselves on a cruise so you can stay here and Tutor your new sister for a few weeks if you wish, I'm sure she'll appreciate it." Izzie's face brightened I knew that she was still on maternity leave from her job. Both Fee and my dad hugged us as they left and I had the feeling that I would soon have a new mum something that I would once have been unhappy about but after seeing my dad and Fee together and their almost constant smiles I was not going to spoil. Chapter 15 - Being a Girl My dad left us with a pre-loaded credit card for food and bills, but he didn't really need too as I was still getting paid, as was Izzie and almost the second they left Fee's home in the taxi, we went shopping, not my idea of course but I did understand the necessity for more underwear especially bras. It also gave Izzie the chance to take back all of the different Bra's she'd bought me when she had guessed what size I was. Izzie controlled our shopping trip and I even started to enjoy myself a little and found myself letting Izzie offer up the occasional dress to me to see how it would look culminating in me actually trying on my first dress in the changing rooms. It was a simple lilac shift dress that hung wonderfully on my body and when I looked at my image in the mirror it made me smile. The hem was quite high exposing even more of my legs than my skirt did but still I smiled. Izzie on seeing my expression also sneaked a sheath dress into my basket, I actually reluctantly changed out of the dress and put my skirt back on and on the way to the tills Izzie picked up a selection of tights from the hosiery section. "Do you need tights?" I asked stupidly. "No but you will, your legs are far too pale to be seen out in polite society." There was no way I would ever be seen wearing tights I thought to myself as we walked to the till. We paid for our purchases and then Izzie asked, "Food or shoes?" "Eh?" "Do you want to eat first or buy shoes?" "Oh, I think food would be nice." "Okay then food it is," We hung our bags on the luggage hook of Simon's buggy and headed off to find somewhere to eat and soon found a small cafe near to the tennis grounds. Izzie asked the woman that greeted us for a table in the corner after checking if it would be all right for her to breastfeed Simon if necessary, and we sat down and looked through the menu on the table. Izzie ordered a ploughman's lunch and I decided to copy her and as the waitress left us she asked. "So how you coping? how do you feel?" I looked around nervously but everyone was busy with their business. The workmen, who I assumed were from the building site across the road, were laughing and telling jokes and two older men dressed in dark suits appeared to be discussing their work, whilst others were either reading or availing themselves of the free Wi-Fi. I then turned to Izzie and admitted quietly. "To be honest I'm having a great time, I can't believe how easy this is," Izzie frowned a little and touched my hand. "It's not that easy Julie, you look like a girl yes, but your actions and mannerisms are all wrong at the moment you're even sitting like a man." "Am not." Izzie sighed. "Look around you look at all of the women in here and then think about how you are sitting," I looked around and almost instantly realised that she was right all of the women either had their legs crossed or together not like me with my legs wide apart under the table, I quickly moved my legs together and felt myself blush. "That was cruel I know, but you will need to learn a whole new set of mannerisms until they have become second nature to you but don't worry you have me to help you, just remember to cross your legs at the ankles for now." Our food and Cokes arrived quickly and I enjoyed our lunch and kept looking around to see if anyone had noticed that I wasn't as I seemed but the other customers were just getting on with their own meals until that is Simon stirred from his nap and became fretful. Izzie picked Simon up and cradled him for a little while but it was soon apparent that he was hungry so she took out a towel opened a slit in her blouse and bra and started to feed him the towel prevented anyone from seeing Izzie's breast but one of the two men in suits was not happy about her using the cafe to feed Simon and could easily be heard complaining to his friend about it, I started to shuffle nervously in my seat feeling embarrassed for Izzie but she just continued as if nothing were amiss. "Just ignore him Julie he'll probably go soon," But the man didn't, he actually got up and came over to our table. "Excuse me do you have to do that here; couldn't you go into the toilets or something?" he said to Izzie, but before she could react and answer one of the workmen shouted over, he had a Northern accent. "Do your kids eat in the toilet mate?" "Well no, but this I mean it's not decent It can't be hygienic." The workman got out of his seat and came over to the man in the suit. "Look mate this young lass is doing what mothers have done since the start of time; she's feeding her Bairn, your interrupting her and pissing me off now why don't you just finish your meal and bugger off back to the nineteenth century or wherever it is you came from before you become an issue for me and the lads." "Well really!" The man in the suit left us gathered his belongings and tried to leave the cafe before being stopped by the waitress to pay his bill. His friend or colleague looked to be mortified at what had just happened, the workman turned to Izzie and smiled. "Enjoy the rest of your lunch miss." He then re-joined his colleagues and they continued their boisterous banter "Wow does that happen often Izzie." "Not really, I usually just move." This annoyed me. Simon finished his feed in his own time, totally unconcerned at the trouble his meal had caused and whilst sitting on Izzie's lap afterwards, started to burble happily to himself whilst we finished off our own meals. We paid the waitress who apologised for the commotion and we left the cafe noticing that the workmen had returned to the construction site over the road, I noticed as we passed the giant hoarding stating that it was a Stevenson Construction safe site and wondered what that meant. Izzy and I and Simon then went to a local discount shoe shop and both Izzie and I chose suitable shoes for me. I chose sensible ones like trainers and moccasins but Izzie chose more feminine styles, wedge heeled shoes and a couple of pairs with small heels and a pair of 3" court shoes I knew I'd never wear without breaking my ankle. By this time even with the help of Simon's buggy we were overloaded with goods so we headed back to Fee's home. That evening as I was washing the dishes from our evening meal I found myself thinking about our day out together and realised that 'd actually really enjoyed it, would becoming a girl really be that bad? I thought to myself as I wiped the plates dry, I knew that I found the clothing comfortable to wear and I knew that I really did need to wear a bra now as with it my little boobs no longer hurt like they did when bound, my wig was the only problem as my head was now feeling both itchy and sweaty. Once finished I made two cups of tea and brought them through to Izzy who had finished bathing Simon and had put him to bed. "Thanks Julie." "Back in a sec I think I spotted some chocolate digestives before," I said as I went back into the kitchen. When I returned with biscuits the TV was on and there was a news programme on. "Look Julie they are speculating that The Angel has been involved in some drug bust up north, the Policeman being interviewed looks really shifty about the whole thing though." "The Angel? isn't that who attacked that cult in America a few years back Remember Dad went on about it for weeks afterwards," Izzie then smiled. "Oh yes and then he was glued to the television for days after that foiled terror attack that hotel in Turkey or somewhere." "I wonder if he's watching the telly now on his cruise?" I asked "Naa they are probably still in London tonight," said Izzie. I thought to myself they would probably be out taking in a show or dining out and good luck to them. My resolution not to wear tights lasted two whole days, as that was how long it took me to pluck up the courage to wear my shift dress again, I'd just showered and shaved one morning and after choosing my underwear for the for the day I noticed the dress hanging off the wardrobe door with the other one that Izzie had purchased for me. I slipped the dress over my head and with some difficulty zipped it up and whilst looking into the wardrobe mirror noticed my white pasty legs and sighed, Izzie had been right my legs had no colour and looked terrible in contrast to the rest of my body they just looked so wrong so I went over to the drawers and took out a pair of tights and reluctantly opened them. Ten minutes later and two pairs of ruined tights I finally admitted defeat and shouted for Izzie. Izzie who must have been downstairs came into my room and slightly out of breath asked, "What Is it Julie are you unwell?" "No I can't work tights I just ruin them, I'm useless," I couldn't believe it I was tearing up over an item of clothing. Izzie came over to me. "Oh Julie you can't just pull tights on like a pair of socks or trousers, you need to ease them up carefully so as to avoid getting them snagged or laddering them, Look just like this," Whilst Izzie had been talking she'd balled up one leg from an undamaged pair of tights and was easing them up my right leg, she stopped at the knee and said, "Now you try with the other leg." I followed Izzie's instructions and soon had the waistband of the tights over my hips and was gently smoothing a couple of wrinkles out of the fine mesh. I really liked tights I decided, as I pulled the hem of the skirt up and looked at my entire leg in the mirror. "You're probably going to need a slip with that dress as the fabric is really thin," I didn't argue with Izzie as she was the expert and just stepped into the offered slip when she produced it a few seconds later and pulled it up over my waist. As I'd dressed femininely today I also wore a pair of wedge heeled sandals, they only had a small heel and didn't take long to get used to but did cause me to walk a little differently. As a treat Izzie did my makeup for me and this time added a little eyeshadow to my daytime makeup she also plucked my brows a little more and then coloured them in with a dark pencil. The result was stunning, I just couldn't believe that I was looking at myself; I looked so different. I was a babe or at least I thought I was. "Couple more months' dear sister, and you won't want to go anywhere without at least some makeup on." I knew that she was right but wasn't quite ready to give up on my manhood just yet. Chapter 16 - Life as A Young Woman. Izzie was wrong, it didn't take me a couple of months, it only took three weeks. It was weird but, around the house I wasn't really bothered about makeup, but when going out even to the shops I wanted to look my best and I would spend ages making sure that I looked good, Izzie was, of course, overjoyed and stepped up my training as she called it. Heels were a stumbling block for me of course as I was used to wearing trainers or work boots all of the time but starting with the wedges I slowly worked my way up until I could walk semi confidently in the court shoes that Izzie had bought for me. I still wasn't too comfortable in such high heels, but in the house doing the housework that is what I wore for over a week until they stopped feeling alien to me and started to feel just like shoes. Izzie was impressed at my dedication and encouraged me constantly whilst offering me tips on walking, standing and gestures all to make me less obvious to the casual observer. It really didn't take long for me to need to visit the lingerie department again and buy new bra's as now I was no longer binding and my diet had returned to a normal healthy one, my boobies had filled out and I was able to fill out a padded B cup easily. I continued with my visits to hospital, the shrink seemed a little confused at my new mode of dress until I explained that I was just trying out living as a female for a while. Of course this led to many, many questions about how I felt dressed? and did I find males attractive? I did admit that I was getting used to dressing femininely and that apart from the heels preferred it in some ways, he smiled and pointed at my feet with his pen. "You say that heels are uncomfortable and yet you came all of the way here in quite high ones, why would you say that is?" It was strange as I was normally so cautious when talking to the Dr, but without even putting my mind into gear I just blurted out. "Because they make my legs look good, it's obvious isn't it?" I said as I raised one of my legs a little causing my skirt to rise further up my hosiery covered legs. My Consultant advised me that the day was getting closer to when I would need to make a decision, he explained that currently my body was managing to mostly absorb my menstrual discharge but as the months went on the probability of infection or other complication would become greater and when I asked him what options were available he explained that I could have my uterus removed and then my breasts removed by surgery thus returning me to a sterile slightly more feminine version of what I used to be. I could have an operation to create an opening below my penis where my cervix would be connected via a tube to the outside of my body allowing my periods to discharge in the normal way. The third option however was for my penis to be converted into a vagina and for me to have my sex reassigned as female. I said I would sleep on it thinking that it would probably be months before I needed to make the decision. That evening over our evening meal I discussed what the Consultant told me with Izzie. "So your choices are Eunuch, hermaphrodite or woman?" asked Izzie. "Essentially yes," I stated as I sucked spaghetti in a most un-lady like way into my mouth. "Did he ask you what option you would prefer?" "I just told him that I just wanted to go back to how I was before the accident, but," Why on earth had I added that but? I lowered my eyes and put the fork down on the table noticing my lovely polished nails as I did. "But?" I said nothing so Izzie repeated her question louder. "But what?" "But now I'm not so sure." "I knew it!" said Izzie loudly "I just knew that you'd love being a girl It's the clothes isn't it?" "No, no Izzie it's not, well not entirely the clothes are nice and everything but more a feeling, a feeling I've been getting more and more recently a feeling of rightness." Izzie nodded as though she understood, she then smiled and added. "It's the clothes too though. Isn't it?" "Yes Izzie." I think that I was now in what could be called a 'honeymoon' period of dressing and being female I rarely left the house any more before putting my makeup on and trousers had now been virtually relegated to their drawer opting instead for shorts, dresses or skirts. I loved going out wearing heels but did heed Izzie's warning about not wearing them too often. I loved taking Simon out for walks pushing him proudly in his buggy almost as though he were my own child. Izzie didn't mind as it gave her a chance to relax. I even bought a bikini or three and spent a long time basting myself with decreasing factor sun creams and lying on a large towel in the back garden on sunny days until my pale white skin took on a healthier glow. One thing I didn't enjoy however was the cramps that sometimes arrived with my period and would sometimes sit for hours curled up hugging a warm hot water bottle to my tummy until they subsided. It was early autumn when I was visited at home by Jack the union rep from work and he didn't appear to be the least bit surprised when I greeted him at the front door entirely dressed femininely. "Is it still Jason or do you have a new name now?" he asked as he entered the hallway." "Oh, Err Julie I'm Using Julie at the moment." "That suits you, you look really well by the way." Jack laid out some documents on the coffee table in the living room whilst I made him a beverage and, on my return, he got straight to business "Okay Julie I have some good news for you and some not so good." "Good news first please if you wouldn't mind Jack." "Well the original reason that they tried to dismiss you has now almost been cleared up and there is only one of the drivers persisting with allegations but the management's case has all but collapsed." "And the bad news?" "They don't want you back." "Oh," Jack smiled at me. "Management has via the union made you a no blame offer however of 12,000 pounds as long as you sign a non-disclosure agreement and leave the business," I'd now been paid the entire summer and not done a single hour' work, so the offer of twelve thousand pounds was quite enticing. "Of course I told them to fuck right off on your behalf," stated Jack "You did?" "Yes Julie I did. I told them that we'd see them in court which incidentally will be just before Christmas so expect further offers before then, Oh and do not agree to anything that they offer you before contacting me or the union office first, as those bastards will take you to the cleaners given half a chance." He then placed several documents back into a folder and asked. "I see you've made some changes since we last met are they as a direct result of your condition?" I explained to him about how my accident had led to my dormant medical condition being revealed accounting for my current state of feminisation and he nodded throughout seeming to understand what I was saying. "So this condition was dormant and would probably have remained so if you hadn't had your accident?" "Yes, basically I even started to bind my chest to hide my growing breasts." "At work?" he asked. "Yes especially at work Jack I didn't want to be seen as a freak." "Oh I wish you'd come to me sooner about your problems." "Why, would it have made a difference?" "Of course it would have, the union has a very robust LGBT policy." "But I'm not LGBT, am I?" Jack almost laughed. "I think that you qualify as Transgendered at the moment, don't you?" I thought for a second and considering how I was dressed I couldn't disagree. "I suppose I am, I hadn't really thought about it." "So are you going to have an operation then, if you don't mind me asking?" "I don't know Jack I really don't." "I think that you would make a very pretty woman." Jack and I talked all the way through until Izzie came home with Simon and then left, but instead of a handshake he gave me a gentle hug and left with the words. "Any problems with management give me a ring," closely followed by his usual catchphrase "And remember. Don't let those bastards grind you down." I closed the front door and was immediately interrogated by Izzie she agreed with Jack that I should hold out for a more suitable payment and from then on almost on a weekly basis I was offered increasing sums always followed by veiled threats that this was the final offer and that if it went to court I could stand to lose everything. Chapter 17 - How Much? As time slowly crept by, I became more and more comfortable wearing what the hell I liked, sometimes I wore jeans and tee-shirts and sometimes I dressed as femininely as I could and sometimes I was somewhere in-between. Izzie started calling this my teenage tomboy phase and commented that she'd been like that too when puberty hit, I couldn't honestly remember her like that as I just remember resenting her for not being my friend anymore. I stopped using Izzie's wig in November, when my hair started to touch my shoulders, and had it cut into an easy maintainable bob cut without a fringe, as I wanted my hair to grow, my breasts at this stage had increased in size and I was currently between sizes as depending on the time of month I went between an unpadded B cup to a very padded C cup and I won't deny it I absolutely loved the newest additions to my body, yes they did get in the way sometimes but the advantages of having soft tender and very sensitive breasts certainly outweighed the disadvantages especially as my penis was now little more than a semi directional pee delivery system and even with Viagra I got more pleasure from my breasts than my penis had to offer now in fact my penis had shrunk so much now it was actually easier just to sit and pee than stand the conventional way. Today was to be my day at court and I'd gotten up early especially in order to be on time for the taxi, I'd already showered and had just finished towelling myself when I noticed myself in my new dressing mirror gone was the straight up and down profile that I'd had my entire life replaced with a softly curving body with narrow waist gently expanding onto my hips and then slowly tapering down my thighs, I watched as I cupped one of my firm slightly upturned breasts noticing as I did my nipple starting to become erect, my areola had now darkened and expanded, I now looked almost perfect apart from the one small anomaly between my legs, I smiled to myself as I was the only one that currently knew that it's days were numbered. As today was a special day I slipped into one of my newest bras and panties, they were made of a wonderful silk like material and decorated with a pretty lace pattern and were very comfortable. I put on a pair of fine barely black tights then stepped into my full slip and slipped on my cream blouse before adding the tailored skirt of my dark suit. For the next forty-five minutes I did my hair and applied my makeup then slipped into my three-inch court shoes thinking that they would be most appropriate for court! I then finally as I was leaving put on the suit's jacket took my small black leather shoulder bag and left for the waiting taxi. It was a strange thing, but I'd been constantly been told by the union that my case would not make it to court and even on one of the pre court meetings where I met the man who would make the judgement I was told it would not make court and yet there I was in a taxi just about to pull up outside the court building looking at the legal team employed by the union waiting for me. I exited the taxi and joined the union solicitor and the barrister that would be arguing my case. As we approached the main building to book in we were approached by my employers legal team and a heated discussion broke out with the final result that it was recommended that I accepted my employers new offer that was now over twice the previous offered amount, I can still remember saying "How Much?" when I read the figure on the document I was asked to sign. I now had over 180,000 pounds compensation in the bank in time for Christmas in return for me leaving the company and my silence over bullying, harassment, two counts of false accusation and my dropping of my claim for compensation over my accident. Dad and Fee finally returned from their greatly extended trip around the world just before Christmas and after an awkward moment when Dad didn't recognise his newest daughter and asked if I or Izzie were at home he hugged me tightly and with tears in his eyes held me at arm's length and surveyed my new body before saying. "Wow never in a million years did I think you'd look so good oh god, you're gorgeous wow." Fee hugged me too and we all went into the living room where Izzie was playing with Simon. It was an evening of surprises and revelations as my Dad told Izzie and I that Fee and he were to be married in the new year. Izzie immediately volunteered our services as bridesmaids which they immediately accepted. Dad said that he would be moving into Fee's house following their marriage as he didn't want to spoil the memory of my Mum by continuing to live there but he did give Izzie and I our old family home to live in should we want too. I then shared my news with my family that I was going in for surgery early in the new year to hopefully become a complete woman. "When did you finally decide?" asked Izzie. "On my last visit to see the shrink, I have an appointment to see a surgeon in January but my surgery is already being scheduled as a priority," I didn't want to say, 'Because my periods were now becoming a problem and it was taking longer each month for the swelling in my groin area to subside as my body absorbed my uterus's monthly discharge.' That evening we ordered a Chinese takeaway and the very next morning we all started to get ready for Christmas. The next few days were taken up with everyone getting Fee's house ready for Christmas and Simon, who was now able to sit and move around on the floor, now just sat and watched us with a bemused look on his face as we decorated the house. I wondered at one point what he was making of it all. When Dad brought the tree into the house it looked enormous and it took Izzie and I hours to decorate and as a final touch I held Simon on my shoulders as Izzie helped him place an old glass star on the very top. That evening my Dad asked if anyone wanted to go to the pub for a drink as we all sat watching the TV. Fee said that she was tired and Izzie apologised saying that she was going for a bath and then to bed, poor dad he really looked like he wanted to go so I said with as much enthusiasm as I could muster. "If you'll give me a few minutes I'll go with you Dad." It wasn't quite a few minutes but I got ready as quickly as I could, gone were the days where I would just pull on the least smelly tee shirt, comb my hair and head out to the pub, I quickly found a pale blue blouse and a pair of stretch jeans and slipped my feet into a pair of low heels I then quickly brushed my hair out and held my loose fringe back with a couple of grips before modifying my makeup with a little eye shadow lipstick and powder, my nails could have probably done with a little touch up but I decided not to keep dad waiting too long finishing off with a dab or two of powder to lessen the shininess of my skin. Dad was waiting by the front door in the hall as I came down stairs he smiled at me and offered me my coat off the hanger by the door. As we left Fee's house he linked arms with me and we walked together down to the local pub. Once in the Pub we found a table and Dad went to the bar to get the drinks I opted for a sweet white wine instead of the pint of bitter I would have usually had several months earlier. Dad sat opposite me when he returned and passed me my glass. "There you go Julie are you sure you didn't want crisps or nuts?" "No thanks Dad the wine is fine thank you." I picked up the tall wine glass and took a little sip from it and as I returned it to the table noticed I had stained the rim of the glass with my freshly applied lipstick this then caused me to notice my own painted nails and the several thin silver bangles on my wrist, it then hit me that I was now becoming a completely different person from who I'd been up until my accident and I was actually comfortable with my new state mostly thanks to my wonderful big sister and her constant training. "You look really pretty tonight Julie," said my Dad breaking my mind from its own thoughts. "Thanks Dad, Izzie has been training me all summer." "She's done a good job I can't believe how good you look." "She taught me all I know," I said proudly, there was a pause of a few seconds whilst dad drank from his pint and then another pause before he finally asked, "So do you feel different now? If you don't mind me asking." "In what way?" I asked. "From how you used to feel, I mean do you think differently or is the old you in there wondering what is happening as you change?" I thought for second. "Dad I'm still who I was there isn't a Jason stuck inside me somewhere feeling trapped or anything like that, it's just that Jason has slowly transformed and learned as his body changed until Jason became Julie, I'm still the same person I think I'm just in the process of reconfiguring myself." "Oh." I smiled at my Dad and for the first time realised that he was unsure about my transition. "Dad try and imagine that I'd always been a girl and what it would have been like to have two daughters and that Jason had never existed." My Dad took another long drink from his pint and looked firstly at my face and then down at my chest and then back up and looked directly into my eyes and smiled, I could see that his own eyes were glistening. "I think you are going to make a wonderful young lady and if I dare say another beautiful daughter." I smiled and nodded at his lovely comment. "If everything goes well with the surgery I may even be able to give you a grandson or daughter of my own in future, the far distant future." "Really?" "Yes but I'm not sure how it'll happen because at the moment the traditional way is not something I would ever contemplate," Dad smiled and said quietly. "I've heard that a turkey baster can be used in some circumstances." "Eww Dad, gross," I said before bursting out laughing. "Just saying that's all." He smiled and that seemed to break the ice our conversation became more natural after that. "I was reading the paper today and they've been saying that 'The Angel' was responsible for the freeing of those hostages on that train in France Julie did you read about it?" My father was constantly going on about some soldier called 'The Angel' who usually left a crudely drawn pair of angel wings behind after his missions, he always seemed to work with British special forces and seemed to pop up all over the place. "Has anyone figured out who he is yet Dad?" "To be honest Julie I was under the impression that 'The Angel' was a she, but now you come to mention it I think that is just speculation." "It's a good gimmick for our special forces though isn't it?" "I don't think that he or she is a gimmick Julie they must be really good at what they do otherwise they wouldn't be allowed to work with special forces." "I suppose," I said as I took another sip of wine. After the second glass of wine I became quite tipsy. I didn't revert to type however, I remained feminine throughout. Izzie had ingrained in me very well how to behave and I was not going to let her down. After dad's third pint we left the pub and headed back home My dad had his arm around me as we walked back through the estate back to Fee's and I was close enough to feel the warmth from his body through his coat I then felt something strange. I felt protected by him. I also noticed as we walked that his footsteps were almost silent whereas mine sort of clicked as the hard heels of my shoes made contact with the pavement I think that was the first time I had ever felt truly feminine as I walked being protected by my wonderful father who was treating me as a young woman and I was loving the attention. When we arrived home I kissed my dad on the cheek and went up to my room whilst he went into the living room where Fee was watching a late-night movie on the telly. That evening in my cheery alcohol induced condition I managed to eventually bring my dying penis to life and when I eventually did orgasm it was whilst trying to imagine actually having sex as a woman with a man. Chapter 18 - Gone Forever Christmas was wonderful at Fee's home and although poor Simon seemed to be confused by the entire occasion he did appear to enjoy unwrapping his presents although he was more interested in the packaging than the gifts. The holidays passed quickly Izzie and Simon went back to our old family home whilst my dad started to move his stuff into Fee's home. All too soon it was time for me to have my operation, surprisingly I was given a pill to take every day to stop my periods (why hadn't the doctors just prescribed this for me at the start?) The operation wasn't to be carried out at our local hospital and I had to travel up North to a hospital near Newcastle to have it done as a surgeon up there had expressed an interest in my case and offered his services. So Daddy travelled with me and stayed by my side all the way until the syringe of milky white liquid was injected into the tube in the back of my hand and everything went dark. I woke to someone gently tapping my cheek. "Julie, Julie, can you hear me?" I groaned. "Julie It's all over now you're in recovery," There was a pause and the male voice then said, "She's still not quite with us, I think we'll give it another half an hour before she goes up to her room." The next time I woke I saw the face of a man in scrubs he was smiling at me. "Hello there welcome back how are you feeling?" I then realised that I couldn't feel anything below my waist had something gone wrong with my operation was I now paralysed? "I can't feel anything down there," I croaked panicking but the Doctor just smiled at me. "That's because we're temporarily blocking the nerve signals from down there to your brain so that you don't feel any pain young lady, it's nothing to be worried about, your operation went very well by the way and apart from a little plumbing work we didn't need to do that much as your body had already done most of the work for us." "Thank you, Doctor," I replied the Surgeon then patted me on the hand and said, "For the next few days I want you to get lots of rest and do everything that the medical team tell you, okay?" "Yes," I croaked finding it increasingly hard to keep my eyes open. "Oh there she goes she's off again," said the voice followed by a female voice in the distance. "Don't worry Dr Simmons I'll watch her." "Thank you, nurse." The next time I woke it was light and the blinds of my room were being opened by a nurse. "Hello there, are you feeling hungry?" My throat was both dry and sore as I spoke but I did manage to croak. "May I have a drink please?" "Of course I'll get you a little iced water and if you're okay with that then we'll try you on toast." The nurse then swept out of the room and returned quickly with a large clear plastic jug with ice cubes bobbing around on the surface and a small glass. "Here try a few sips of this," she offered the glass to my lips and allowed me to sip at the water, the water was cool as it went down my throat and seemed to instantly relieve the raspy feeling in my throat. "Better?" she asked, I nodded. "Much, thank you." The nurse then went to the base of my bed and looked at a clipboard then came back to me. "Time to get you sitting up I think," The nurse then pressed a button in the side of my bed and my back started to rise until I was almost sitting she then adjusted my pillows until I was more comfortable. "My legs are tingling." "Oh that'll be the nerve block wearing off, let me know if you start to feel a lot of discomfort and I'll give you an analgesic, Toast?" "Yes please." "Oh you can drink as much as you like if you want as you are catheterised, back in a mo," the cheery nurse then left me, returning later with two slices of well-done buttered toast and a cup of tea. I was reading a magazine a little later when my Dad turned up with a large bunch of flowers. He kissed me on the cheek and gave me the flowers. "Oh Daddy thank you they are beautiful," I heard myself saying, calling him Dad just didn't seem to feel right anymore and I'd recently found myself drifting into saying Daddy whenever referring to him or when I was in his company, it just seemed right somehow. "I thought that they would cheer my youngest and newest daughter up." It did as until he'd arrived I was trying to ignore the gnawing dragging pain that had been building up in my groin. "So how do you feel?" "Sore," he winced. "Izzie sends her love and is hoping to come up at the weekend if she can, oh and Simon has his first tooth." Dad rummaged around in his pocket for his phone and then showed me a picture of Simon smiling, I could just see the tooth that had only just broken through his gum. "Oh he looks so cute," I replied. "He does now, but according to Izzie he was turning into a little monster before it broke through." Poor Dad, he was ushered out of my room and into the day lounge a few minutes later when the physiotherapist called to see me but he was allowed back afterwards, the nurses even made him a cup of tea whilst he waited. Dad left after an hour or two promising to return the very next day I was relieved as I by that time was very tired and just wanted to lie back and close my eyes which is exactly what I did. My father visited me every single day until I was released, Izzie travelled up at the weekend and visited me virtually all day on Saturday and on Sunday morning giving my poor father a rest before getting the bus back home. I was released towards the end of the next week after several test runs of my plumbing and a very thorough and painful introduction to dilating and feminine hygiene. Daddy took me back to my old home to complete my recuperation as he'd gifted Izzie and I the old family home, his new life was with Fee so he'd moved in with her. It was strange going into my old bedroom which hadn't changed at all since I'd left home and was full of reminders of my old self, a person I no longer was and could never be again. "She's all yours now Isabella," said Daddy as he helped me into my old bed, Izzie rushed to my side and hugged me tightly. "Oh we are going to have so much fun Jules; can I get you a drink or something to eat or..." I stopped her. "A glass of water please as I'm due to take my medicine about now." I had actually been aching for the last half an hour of the journey back and was now in quite a lot of pain." "Oh, yes, yes of course," Izzie dashed out of the room and returned with a glass of water, I was waiting pills in hand when she returned and quickly took them. My father stayed for his evening meal and then just before lunchtime the next day gave me a long lingering hug before leaving to go to his new home and life with Fee. Chapter 19 - A New Friend Over the next month I followed the hospitals instructions to the letter cleaning myself regularly and douching along with dilating and as I slowly became mobile Izzie and I started to transform my old male teenage bedroom into one more fitting of a young woman. She did all of the heavy work of course but it was great fun and soon I had a bright new bedroom decorated in pastel colours with all of the necessities I would need including a wonderful old dressing table that Izzie found in a charity shop. As I regained my strength and became more mobile I started to pay more attention to my looks once more, this was initially spurred on by me noticing my now out of control brows one morning as I blearily looked into the bathroom mirror, that evening after mentioning my brows to Izzie we spent the next couple of hours watching telly drinking wine and pampering ourselves including a much needed plucking session on my rogue eyebrows. One of my first trips out of the house was to the local hairdressers where I had my split ends done and a little tidying up of my growing locks. I noticed as I was there that they offered a waxing service so I booked an appointment for the next day to have my legs waxed. "When was the last time you shaved them dear as the wax will need something to grab onto you see," asked the woman at the counter. "I've been in hospital and haven't shaved them for some time I was going to do them today when I noticed your offer on waxing," she smiled at me and said, "Your nails look like they would benefit from a little TLC too if you don't mind me saying." I looked at my nails and she was right, I then had a thought. "Actually yes could you do them too and if I bring my Cousin too could you do her as well?" I very nearly said sister but Izzie and I had already agreed that I should present myself as my imaginary cousin Julie if anyone enquired who I was. "Of course dear the beautician is in tomorrow and she's currently free shall I book you in for the full pamper experience?" I smiled and nodded hoping that Izzie would be happy about my treat, she was. The next afternoon was not necessarily the most pleasurable afternoon I'd ever spent anywhere and I really did not like being waxed although the final effect was worth it, but when I left the salon I felt like a different person and looked like one too I was wearing more makeup than I ever had and my face looked flawless, Izzie looked much the same as me and on our walk home I felt wonderful. "Feels good doesn't it?" asked Izzie. "What?" I asked being a little unsure of what she was getting at. "The makeup, the nails the hair." "It feels different, a little artificial but nice yes." "This look isn't really for everyday Julie, but every now and then it's good to get tarted up it makes you feel special and it shows people that you care about your appearance." I held up my newly painted and shaped nails. "Not sure how long it'll take me to get used to these though I'm frightened I'll put my eye out." "You'll manage." Izzie paused before asking, "If I can get a sitter tonight do you fancy a night out?" "Out where." "Oh I don't know to a pub maybe take in a club?" "I'm not sure, I mean I'm only just getting my strength back." I could see the disappointment in Izzie's face as I spoke I then realised that Izzie now rarely went out because of her commitment to Simon and that she'd been looking after me too so I said, "Why not we both probably need a treat." At around eight in the evening Izzie and I teetered out of our home and straight into a waiting taxi, It was a night of firsts for me As it was the first time I would go out clubbing as a woman I was wearing the highest heels I'd worn to date and a dress that barely covered anything and exposed a lot including a quite impressive wonder bra enhanced cleavage, the skirt section barely covered my bottom I felt almost naked under my coat but also quite excited. Our first port of call was to a popular bar in town where we sat together and sipped at cocktails for a while before moving on to a Club a little later; where things got really interesting and I really started to let my hair down. After a while Izzie recognised two other girls that had just entered and she gestured them over to us and before I knew it I was on the dance floor copying the other girls' gyrations in time with the music It was then that I realised that my lack of clothing was an absolute bonus as most of the young men on the dance floor looked very warm and a couple were perspiring badly. Somehow I managed to get separated from the rest of the group and ended up dancing opposite a man who looked to be about my age with lovely blue eyes and an endearing smile and after a few minutes at the end of the current tune he made a drinking gesture to me and to my surprise I found myself smiling and nodding as I started to follow him off the dance floor to the bar area. Five minutes later we were both sitting in a quieter area of the club with a white wine in front of me whilst he chugged down his pint of lager and with him edging closer to me with every passing second, this I did not like as at the time I had no idea how to deal with the amorous advances of men even though until recently I'd been one myself. He attempted to put his arm around me fortunately I quickly remembered how some of my own clumsy failed attempts at wooing a girl had been thwarted in the past and directed his arm back down to his side with a resigned smile, he then pulled back a little and tried to engage me in conversation whilst his eyes constantly darted to my breasts legs and very occasionally my face. I on the other hand had noticed that he had quite a significant bulge in his pants and couldn't actually help myself smiling inwardly as I realised that I was turning him on he was actually attracted to me as a woman I on the other hand felt no attraction to him at all. This didn't seem to deter my would-be suitor and he renewed his attempted conquest of me by placing his hand on the bare tanned flesh of my leg just below the hem of my dress, I of course removed his hand but undaunted he continued trying his luck until one of my sisters' friends called Souma came over and looked at my would-be suitor. "Back soon," she said to him as she clasped my hand and pulled me up and then guided me away from the disappointed lad, Souma or Su as I found out later that she liked to be called, then led me out into the reception and cloakroom area where we went into the ladies toilets and ultimately a cubicle I stood In the cubicle unsure what to do whilst Su pulled her skirt up, her panties and tights down and then sat to pee. "You looked like you needed rescuing Julie." I just nodded dumbly. "Ha I was right then you did." "He was all hands I didn't know what to do?" Su furrowed her brow and looked confused. "But surely a pretty girl like you has had plenty of practice... Oh how on earth did I miss the signs me of all people you're gay aren't you?" "I, no I don't think so," Su used a little tissue then got up and after easing her panties and tights back up her legs smoothed her skirt back down and flushed the toilet. "You need to go?" she asked I nodded and self-consciously eased my own skirt up before pulling my own panties down Su's expression changed a little and she turned away. "I'm sorry I've just realised you are shy, aren't you?" I sighed. "Around men yes, I have no experience of them." "That's why you were so awkward back there Julie, you are the exact opposite of your cousin, where have you been? a convent or something?" I stayed quiet as I didn't want to give my secret away. Su then confided. "If my family knew my secret it would bring shame on them all." "Oh?" "Yes so I hide it every day and try to be a good little Pakistani girl for my parents I mean how would I tell them that I prefer women to men it would break their hearts." "So do I?" I admitted "I knew it," she said with a smile "No I'm not gay I just wish I could go back to how I was." "I don't understand how can you like women, but not be gay?" "I don't really want to talk about it Su." Su's beautiful dark- skinned face then formed the most endearing smile and she said, "The night is still young why don't we leave the club find somewhere nice and quiet to chat." "But what about Izzie?" "Oh she's up to her usual tricks, last I saw she had her tongue down some poor lads throat, if you don't mind me saying your cousin is a bit of a tart, you won't see her for the rest of the night." I finished my business and Su and I left the cubicle and went over to the washbasins and after washing our hands both stood in front of the mirror touching up our makeup before leaving picking our coats up from the cloakroom and heading off into the night. It was only a short walk to the quiet bar that we next entered there was no loud music and several secluded cubicle-like areas called snugs, I sat in one whilst Su went to get the drinks and as I looked around I noticed that there were almost no men and the ones that were here were quite obviously gay. Su returned with two dark drinks in tall glasses. "It's just diet coke Julie I promise, oh and yes this is a gay bar." I took the offered drink and took a sip. "Thank you Su I really was getting out of my depth back there." "I noticed." "Was it really that obvious?" "Yes it was, it's actually refreshing to find someone like you, pretty and yet still quite innocent." "I'm not innocent really I'm not." "Maybe not with women but you are as far as men go and now I look at you I think I may know why," 'Oh god I'm busted' I thought Su brought her hand over and touched mine ever so gently and almost whispered. "You haven't always been a girl, have you?" "No," I squeaked. "You make a very pretty one though, and from what I witnessed earlier you had a very skilled plastic surgeon." "So how did you know?" "I didn't, I just had a hunch you are pretty in the extreme and your movements are almost perfect but you are also a little awkward and you seem a little immature almost as though you'd been on a crash course in femininity." I looked Su in the eyes. "I didn't want to become a girl Su, but I had an accident that uncovered a couple of pre-existing anomalies." "Anomalies?" "Yes I was born with a dormant uterus and ovaries, they became active after my accident," I continued with my story to Su, a girl I'd only just met and she held my hand on the table throughout. "So you are now a full and complete woman?" "Yes that's basically it." "And your sexuality?" I smiled. "Confused would best describe it." "You poor thing, so do you still find girls attractive?" "Yes and no, I still find women attractive but I have also found myself looking at men and wondering what it would be like to have sex with them." "You are a confused mixed up little bunny, aren't you?" "I suppose I am Su." She smiled at me. "I won't pretend I don't find you attractive Julie but I'm also not going to confuse you further by making a pass at you but maybe you should consider experimenting with both women and men, you don't even need to jump straight into sex just try some cuddling and a bit of kissing to start with," Su looked at her watch. "Oh look at the time c'mon I'll walk with you back to Izzie's place," and that is exactly what Su did she walked with me back to our house and as she stood outside on the pavement just outside the gate to our garden she said, "I've known your sister Izzie since school Julie, she's a lovely girl but sometimes in my opinion a little too free with her body, please don't just jump into relationship because you think it's what you should do." I looked into Su's dark eyes and could sense real concern in her voice. "Thank you for looking after me tonight Su, would you like to come in? I'll call you a taxi if you like." "No I'll be fine I only live two streets away." I reached out and touched one of her hands. "You've given me a lot to think about Su, I'm so glad you rescued me from that lad tonight." I leaned forward as if to kiss her on the cheek but at the very last second moved my head and our soft lips touched, I immediately pulled back from her shocked as to what I'd just done, my heart instantly started to beat faster and my breathing became laboured as I squeaked. "I'm so sorry." I quickly turned and headed up our front path as fast as I could walk in my heels, I assume Su just went home after that and after entering our house I fell back against the front door breathing heavily suffering very conflicted emotions both scared and extremely aroused at the same time as I traced my finger around lips that were still tingling from the tiniest of kisses, was I a lesbian? I just didn't know. "Oh hello miss," said a sleepy voice standing in the doorway to the living room I wasn't expecting you back so early, I'll give my dad a ring to pick me up now if that's okay?" I nodded at the babysitter. "Simon has been quiet all night, I fed him at eight and changed him before I put him in his cot." I thanked the baby sitter and made us both a cup of tea and then twenty minutes later her dad picked her up in his Volvo. After dressing for bed I took out one of my dilators and lubricated it and then scratched an itch that had been building ever since my tiny peck on Su's lips I finally fell asleep completely naked hugging one of my pillows. Izzie did not come home until mid-morning the next day I was mildly irritated at her for leaving Simon alone for so long but I did enjoy looking after him and even giving him his morning feed using some of Izzie's expressed milk that had been stored in the fridge and warmed by me. Izzie had obviously had a very good evening and looked quite the worse for wear. "Did you have a good evening?" I asked Izzie just smiled dreamily and said, "Mmmmm, I'm off for a bath," And with that she vanished for over an hour. Chapter 20 - Souma A couple of days later as I was loading the washing machine I heard the doorbell and when I answered it Su was standing there, she was dressed in a nurse's uniform and looked so much shorter without her heels on. "Hiya I just called round to see how you were after the other night?" I invited Su in and led her into our kitchen where I put the kettle on and attempted to apologise for kissing her, but Su just smiled. "No apologies necessary Julie, you must be one massive tangle of confused emotions and hormones at the moment, I've known I was a lesbian since my early teens but you you're different, you started off as a boy liking girls and then turned into a girl who through inexperience no longer knows what she wants," I dried a couple of recently washed cups and put them onto saucers before getting the milk from the fridge. "Well you're right about me being confused Su, I'm not sure what I want at the moment, I'm sort of attracted to men because I'm curious what it'll feel like but I'm still attracted to girls, it's infuriating." Su carried on looking at me smiling all of the time. "You know you could just be bisexual in which case you can have the best of both worlds or at least try before you decide." "What, you mean like take my sexual preferences for a test drive?" "I suppose yes." "Milk?" "Not for me thanks, just black," I led Su through to the front room whilst I carried the two cups of tea through and with Su sitting on the sofa and me curled up on dad's old recliner we continued our conversation. "So what's being a girl like compared to being a boy then?" "Time consuming best describes it Su, not that I mind that much at the moment as it's all relatively new to me and I have to admit I do love the clothes, Boy clothes are rubbish in comparison." "What about toilets Julie?" "Oh yes queuing, I don't like queuing and waiting for a cubicle to become free, when I still had my little friend there was no queuing, zip down pee quick shake zip up and wash hands and then straight back to business." We talked for quite a while before I plucked up the courage to mention my stolen kiss. "I'm sorry about the other night Su, I was just going to peck you on the cheek but something inside me wanted me to kiss you on the lips." "You liked it though didn't you," Su said mischievously, I could feel myself becoming red and knew that as I was wearing virtually no makeup that it would be obvious to Su so I just nodded. "Yes I liked it immensely I thought that my heart was going to beat through my chest afterwards." "I liked it too Julie it was a lovely kiss but that doesn't mean that you are a lesbian it just means that we had a nice kiss nothing more," this reassured me although I was still unsure about my feelings either way. Su stayed for a little longer and finished her tea before saying that she had to leave as she was due at work soon I offered her a lift in my little car as I was going grocery shopping and she accepted. We talked all of the way to the hospital Su had a bubbly personality that was quite infectious and by the time we'd gotten to hospital my mood had lifted significantly I pulled the car up by one of the many service entrances at the rear of the building near to the morgue and stopped the engine. "Here is wonderful Julie, thank you," Su turned to me and brushed her fingers up my neck causing me to shiver and then gently placing her hand behind me guided my head over towards hers where her open lips touched mine, The feeling was electric and I soon found myself tasting her sweet tongue as I my own hands started to explore their way up the back of Su's crisp uniform, I cupped the back of her head and brought us even closer as our lips merged into one. Su broke off our kiss abruptly after a few seconds leaving me confused and shocked, she also looked a little shocked as she said breathlessly. "Oh that was nice." She then kissed two of her fingers and placed them on my lips and said, "Later." As she took her bag from the back seat and left me sitting alone and very frustrated in my car. I had never been so aroused in my life and I had so wanted Su to go further with me but she just disappeared through two large automatic doors not even looking back once. It took me a couple of minutes to compose myself before I restarted my journey to the shops and as I drove I listened to the end of pop master on the radio and even managed to get a couple of questions correct and as I came into the carpark the news started, the headlines being about the massacre of a lot of illegal immigrants somewhere near the Swiss border I turned off the ignition, took out a couple of shopping bags and headed to the shops noting as I did that I felt damp down below as the cool early spring breeze whistled up my skirt causing it to billow a little. Chapter 21 - Daddy's Wedding Su called and asked me if I wanted to go out with her the very next weekend and I agreed and said that I would pick her up in the Polo, but she said that she would meet me at the bus station in town and when I arrived she got quickly into the car and greeted me with a kiss on the lips, I then pulled way and headed back out of town to somewhere I used to love as a child. "So where are we going then?" "It's an old reservoir Su, but they've landscaped it and it now has lovely walks." "How did you know I liked walking Julie?" she enquired. "I asked my sister, I thought it might be fun," I could almost sense Su smiling at me and when I turned to look she was, I smiled back. On the trip Su explained that she was currently having problems at home and that her parents were starting to pressurise her about getting a husband and had suggested that she go abroad to visit relatives. "I'm not falling into that trap do they think I'm stupid?" she asked without waiting for an answer. Apparently one of her uncles was quite old fashioned and was pressurising her mother into getting her married off. Once at the country park Su and I took one of the strolls by the reservoir and within minutes were walking holding hands It wasn't a particularly nice day but I didn't care as I was enjoying myself and so I hoped was Su. Once we'd walked to the dam end of the reservoir we stopped by a snack van and enjoyed a very unhealthy but extremely tasty lunch, this is where I asked Su if she would be my 'plus one' to Fee and Daddy's wedding. On the run up to Daddy's wedding Izzie and I went with Fee to get measured for our bridesmaids' gowns. I was both unsure and excited at the same time, the dresses that Fee had chosen were not what I would have chosen and what Izzie commented in private "Horrid" being made of a silken peach material gathered into many ruffles, the skirt was very restrictive and as we found out and required some quite industrial control underwear to give us the correct shape. Fee however, loved our outfits even though the style looked to be many years out of date but this was her wedding so we didn't complain. When I told Su about our outfits she laughed out loud and asked about shoes. "Will you be wearing high heels too then?" I nodded. "Four-inch ones, I think Fee must be punishing us for something." "I think she just wants you to look the part Julie, do you have any four-inch heels?" "Yes I think so, why do you ask." "Well you are going to be wearing them all day probably for the wedding so it may be an idea to acclimatise yourself to them properly so that you don't end up in agony on the day," So that is exactly what I did I wore my 4" heels every day whilst doing the housework and suffered aching calves and sore ankles until they started to feel just like any other shoe. I soon discovered that I loved wearing heels and also loved the sneaky looks I'd get from men as I pushed my trolley around the local supermarket whilst shopping in them. My relationship with Su was not really sexual although we did have several quite heated petting sessions which I enjoyed immensely, she wanted me to decide whether I preferred women or men or a bit of both first. On the day before Fee's wedding Izzie, Su and I booked into a local hotel, Izzie in a room with Simon and Su and I sharing a room together. It was a miserable afternoon as the weather was foul with wind and driving rain and an equally bad evening not really helped by my nervous dad. Su and I did go swimming in the hotels pool however, and I got the opportunity to wear my newest bathing suit which had been a must-have spur of the moment purchase the weekend before. We, Izzie, Su and I, spent most of the evening trying to make sure that Dad didn't drink too much, Su and I and finally managed to pack him off to his room just after midnight. As I was undressing for bed I noticed that Su was watching me closely. And as I slipped under the sheets of my bed she went into the en suite to get ready for bed herself. I must have fallen asleep before Su returned, but did wake to find Su spooning me. She was naked and I could feel her warm breasts against my back and her right hand was gently cupping my right boob, it felt wonderful and so natural, I gently placed my hand on hers and started to doze once more. We woke the next morning and, after a relaxed breakfast, things became quite hectic as we started to get ready for our duties. Izzie and I, after showering, wriggled into our underwear and just dressed in robes waited around for the hairstylist and then the lady Fee had employed to do our makeup, Izzie's hair was simple and came already pre-done in a box but mine took longer as several hairpieces were added to my growing hair until I almost matched my sisters wig. The makeup was thickly applied and I thought gave me the look of an ageing Air stewardess but I was happy to go along with it as it was what Fee wanted. Just before lunch Izzie and I stepped into our gowns and were zipped tightly into them before we fastened many little pearl buttons up the back to conceal the zipper. The final touch was stepping into our matching shoes. The final effect was the furthest away from the male I once was as I thought I'd ever get as I stood in front of the mirror in my room looking from ground up at myself standing in heels with my legs looking trim and healthy due to the fine mesh of the tights encasing them, my control underwear was doing a valiant job of giving me a most enticing female shape and adding a little precious extra to my bust My dress felt wonderful as it hugged my enhanced curves and somehow managed to stay in place even though I had bare shoulders I was standing with a small bouquet of flowers and when Izzie joined me we looked like twins, the only real difference being that she was slightly shorter than me. Izzie Su and I left the hotel with Dad when our car arrived, he was very nervous but as soon as we reached the registry office he calmed down and started to smile as soon as he noticed Fee entering. Within minutes Fee was my new Mum and my hair was covered in confetti by enthusiastic guests ignoring the 'No confetti' signs outside the town hall. My new Mum and Dad and the rest of our guests then adjourned to a small hotel just out of town with large gardens and spectacular views of the distant hills where many photographs were taken by a very bossy photographer. Lunch was lovely but I didn't really eat that much for fear of bursting out of my gown, the afternoon was relaxed Izzie and I circulated through the guests Su was wonderful and entertained Simon throughout, Simon was more than happy with his new friend and even fell asleep for a couple of hours later on. That evening we had a disco and buffet and then at around midnight my new Mum and Dad retired to their room shortly followed by Su and I and the instant the door closed behind us our lips locked. "You've been driving me nuts all day," said Su between kisses and as she fumbled with the tiny pearl buttons of my dress. Very quickly the dress was just a crumpled mass of fabric and petticoats on the floor and I had just removed my tights and was sitting on the bed with Su expertly undoing the many hooks and eyes in my underwear as we both continued to lock lips and then I felt Su's finger trace the lips of my pussy I shuddered and moaned as I felt the tip of her finger gently stroke the very tip of my clitoris. I woke the next morning to very gentle vibrations and a stuffed feeling down below, I slipped my hand down to find a small vibrator still within me and vibrating gently, Su was asleep lying on her back and looked so innocent and peaceful, I however was not having innocent thoughts and started to slowly move down the bed and positioned myself so that my head was between her legs I gasped a little as the silicon intruder slid out of me assisted by gravity and fell onto the sheets. I looked down on Su's sweet pussy and started to gently peck at its slightly swollen outer lips until I heard an involuntary whimper from Su in her sleep, I then used my fingers to gently part her lips and ran my tongue inside until I located my target, her clit. I'd done this a few times before to girls when I was still male but this felt different as whilst licking Su's Clit I was also gently tickling my own with my other hand as I was feeling very horny indeed. Su woke fully just before she orgasmed and as soon as she'd recovered we started another round of passionate kissing. Later that morning after we'd both finally showered and I'd finally removed the remnants of the ridiculous amounts of makeup I'd been covered with the day before Su and I left our room quite sheepishly. "You should have removed your makeup last night Julie, it's covered the sheets and pillows and everything." "I wasn't thinking straight Su as you had your tongue down my throat and your finger up my puss," she smiled. "Oh yes, oh well." Chapter 22 - Short Lived Happiness Dad and Fee went away on their honeymoon to Austria but instead of returning home sent Izzie and I a message sometime later to say that they had decided to stay as one of my dad's old friends had offered him a contract to help him sort out a problem at one of his production facilities. Su and I became an item for very nearly three months until she literally vanished. A few days later we were visited by Su's uncle and two quite intimidating men asking where she was, Izzie and I of course had no idea, we were then told that Su had gone missing three days before she was due to get married, it was of course an arranged marriage and it looked like she'd run away to avoid it. Nearly a month later I got a phone call from a refuge charity to say that Su was well and under their protection, that was the last I heard of her and the end of my brief foray into lesbianism. I was taken off the medicine that prevented me having my periods after a routine check-up and a few days later I had my first proper monthly visitor as a woman. To me my Sister was lovely however it became obvious that she was very promiscuous and did like men which she brought home and enjoyed on a regular basis. I even went out with her on some occasions, this helped me to feel more at ease in company with my former sex but was still unable to commit to anything sexual. It was towards the end of summer that I finally gave my virginity away and it was totally unexpected and it happened at the back of the carpark at our local pub! Izzie and I had gone out for a quiet drink one evening Simon was with Claire our babysitter when we were joined by two men roughly our age Izzie knew one of them from school but the other a young man with piercing blue eyes neither of us had seen before, he was called Bradley and was Northern. Bradley was very attentive and after a few drinks we were sitting together drinking and chatting like two old friends. I didn't even notice Izzie wandering off with the other lad. Very quickly I found myself cuddling up to Bradley and felt his hand rubbing my thigh through the thin fabric of my sun dress, I just couldn't believe how turned on I was getting, I excused myself a couple of minutes later as I had to answer a call of nature Bradley got up with me saying. "I'll have a quick smoke outside whilst you freshen yourself up then," He then held my hand and we left our seat together, I going into the ladies and Bradley going out into the night air. Once finished I looked at myself in the mirror applying a fresh coat of lipstick rubbing my lips together and smiling, I left the Ladies room and headed out into the carpark with impure thoughts. I found Bradley sitting under a canopy a little away from the main building half way through smoking his cigarette, hitching my skirt up I straddled him and kissed him full on the lips getting a little of his cigarette smoke in my mouth in the process. Bradley responded by flicking his cigarette away and with one hand cradling my head and with the other gently rubbing my back whilst his mouth opened to accept my naughty tongue. As we kissed I could feel his manhood engorge through his pants as I gently ground my own genitals into it, the feelings I was experiencing from both my own crotch and my lovely boobies were nothing like when I were still male, it was as though I was no longer in control but was just along for the ride. Bradley then stood with us still kissing and me with my legs locked around his waist he moved further back into the darkness of car park I felt my back against something it was a tree, then I felt the crotch of my panties being moved to one side and something a finger being rubbed against my very moist folds and my clit and then something else parting my well lubricated lips. I gasped as Bradley entered me and felt my fingernails digging into his back. "Are you okay, I thought you wanted this?" he asked with concern. "Don't stop, don't fuckin stop," I gasped, his cock entered little further and then pulled almost out and then re-entered even deeper, My nipples felt as hard as rocks now and as Bradley increased his pace he started to nibble at my neck and ears pounding my pussy as he did until I heard myself scream followed a few thrusts later by Bradley's cock tensing a grunt and then a sigh followed by a warmth within me, Bradley had cum in me and it felt wonderful. It wasn't until the next morning when I finally came to my senses and felt the remnants of the previous evening sticking my pubic hair to my panties I realised that he could actually have made me pregnant. At breakfast Izzie said nothing to me as she was rather hung over, she did however pass me a small box. "What's this?" I asked. "Morning after pill, you might as well use it I crapped out last night, the dick fell asleep after I gave him a blow job." I sheepishly reached over and took the offered box it contained one pill. "So did you enjoy it then?" I stared blankly at Izzie. "Being screwed did you enjoy it." This was something I really did not want to admit to Izzie but I had no one else to confide in so I nodded. Izzie then smiled. "I know it's like a drug isn't it? Was he big?" "I don't really know Izzie he was larger than I used to be," I admitted "Did you cum?" I nodded Izzie smiled "Did he?" I nodded once more. "I felt it Izzie I felt as it squirted in me and I wasn't disgusted like I thought I would be." "Good but next time wear a rubber if it's just casual sex, I don't want to have to show you where the GUM clinic is because you've caught an STI now take that pill unless you want a little Bradley in nine months that is?" I duly took the pill and was feeling quite out of sorts when Bradley called around later with a large bunch of flowers and apologised for his lack of self-control. Bradley and I became an item soon after that but warned me that he was trying to join the army or navy and if he was accepted he would be away for long periods. By the time Bradley left to join the Marines I'd fully embraced my own femininity and was on the contraceptive pill as I hated condoms. I missed Bradley greatly for several weeks but due to the fact I now loved having sex and that he dumped me via text I started going out with Izzie again, I also got a part time job working as a cleaner in a store on the high street for two hours a day, I didn't need the money but it got me out of the house and gave me some much needed exercise as I'd noticed one evening I was starting to develop a small belly and a tiny double chin, these both vanished soon after I started working. Izzie had also started work back at the solicitors but within a couple of months she found out that she was pregnant once more. Chapter 23 - Izzie's Decline Izzie Simon and I had a wonderful Christmas and we continued our relatively uneventful lives but as time went on and Izzie started to blossom as her belly increased in size I started to notice other worrying changes in her, she'd become frustrated sometimes for no reason and would occasionally drop things, her memory would fail her sometimes and finally one afternoon in the park as we were playing a game with Simon her eyes rolled back in her head she fell to one side and she started to twitch. One of the old men playing bowls noticed this and came over and assisted me who by this time was panicking. "Your friend is having a seizure young lady, has she had them before?" I shook my head. "No she's my sister this is the first." "Just hold her hand I'll call for a paramedic," the old man used his phone and then sat with Simon and I until firstly a paramedic on a motorbike appeared and then the ambulance turned up, two paramedics rushed across the field and joined us, the old man however didn't step back he seemed to be in complete control of the situation and actually started issuing orders to the paramedics. "Young woman previously in good health no history of seizures, is currently pregnant and in the..." He continued for several seconds with the paramedics listening intently he then suggested that they give her a drug to stop the seizure the paramedics suggested an alternative. "As she's pregnant I'd rather you didn't use that?" the other paramedic then said, "I think we may actually have some in the other pack in the van back in a jiffy." He then sprinted back to the ambulance, the old man turned to me who was now holding Simon. "Seizures usually stop after a minute or two, your sisters have been going on for far too long, the paramedics are going to give her some medicine to stop the seizure in a moment or two, once she's stable we'll take her to hospital." I just nodded dumbly. "Your sister is in good hands I promise." The paramedic returned a few seconds later and whilst the two paramedics held her arm stable the old man injected Izzie with the medicine she stopped shaking less than a minute later. "I thought you'd retired professor Daniels," said one of the paramedics "No I don't think I'll ever really retire, I only do three days a week now, it placates my wife enough, looks like my bowls is finished for the day though." The old man still in his bowls whites joined us in the ambulance and supervised a very confused Izzie through the A and E department straight into a neurology ward whilst I comforted Simon. "Unusual growth," were the two words that kept ringing in my head as I took Simon home that evening, Izzie was still in hospital and was in a confused state and had just returned from a scan when Simon and I had to leave. Professor Daniels was wonderful throughout and explained everything to me Izzie had a growth in her brain and as it grew it was pressing against brain tissue causing unusual electrical activity and thus her Seizure. he was dressed in scrubs as he told me this as he was about to take a biopsy of the foreign tissue in Izzie's head. "No young person should have to suffer this Julie and for this to happen to someone with their life still to live is cruel in the extreme unfortunately we may not be able to do that much until your sister's child is born." "And then?" I asked. "Powerful drugs, possibly surgery and chemotherapy but initially until we know what we are dealing with steroids to keep the swelling at a minimum." That evening as Simon sat in his high chair playing happily with his food I contacted our Dad and told him the news, he offered to get the first flight back but I said that I would try and deal with everything, he reluctantly agreed. That evening with Izzy still in hospital and once I'd bathed Simon and got him ready for bed he nuzzled into my chest as though trying to feed and became upset when all he got was my blouse and bra so I reluctantly let him nuzzle against my bare breast as he normally did with Izzie, he was sleeping peacefully within minutes. It was confirmed the very next morning that Izzie had a slow growing tumour on her brain, she refused surgery when she'd been told of the risk to her unborn Baby. Professor Daniels agreed with her and stated that until her baby was delivered no drugs that could harm her unborn child should be used one problem however was that after the birth Izzie would not be able to breastfeed as her milk could transfer drugs to the baby. Izzie found a solution to the feeding problem however and after a long discussion with her I agreed to start taking medication to fool my body into thinking I was pregnant this would hopefully have the effect of encouraging me to lactate. So on the weeks leading up to the birth of Izzie's baby and under medical supervision I gained a new routine every morning, firstly I would take my medicine mostly hormones to encourage my milk ducts to develop further and hopefully fill, I would then hold a motorised breast pump to each breast for fifteen minutes, the pumps sucked in a similar way to a baby to encourage increased milk production but usually just left my nipples swollen and sore. the pumping I repeated at least six times a day. After my early morning pumping session I made breakfast for us all and if Izzie was having a bad day I would change and dress Simon before giving him his breakfast and taking him to the nursery, I'd then go to my job on the high street and clean before they opened and before leaving I'd pump again in the toilets. I'd then get shopping in and do our lunch before pumping again, my life became quite routine with the occasional visit to hospital for Izzie and doctors for Simon to check on his progression and by the time that Izzie was almost due to deliver I was doing almost everything in the house as partly because of her pregnancy and partly due to her brain tumour Izzie had great difficulty moving about and when she did it was just a slow shuffle with the aid of a frame. My breasts did grow quite considerably over the next few weeks and amongst the more noticeable changes being that my areola darkened and grew quite significantly as did my nipples. but apart from the occasional drip on the tip of my nipples I hadn't produced any milk to speak of, this frustrated me. On our next visit to see Professor Daniels he asked me if he could have a word privately so we left Izzie and went into a small room just over the corridor, he came straight to the point. "Your sister needs to have her baby soon Julie as the mass has started to grow once more." I thought for a second. "It's due in a week can she wait that long?" He smiled warmly. "Yes but no longer," He then paused and hesitated for what seemed like seconds before saying "There is a treatment that may be able to help your sister but unfortunately it is not available on the NHS yet, I'm actually going over to Germany next week as part of an evaluation team." "Oh?" "Yes it's a treatment where a small portion of the tumour is removed and special immune cells are then cultured and reintroduced into or near to the tumour these cells then create an immune response and encourages the body's immune system to attack the offending tissue there have been great strides in Immuno-oncology in the last couple of years and I believe that I could get your sister onto the trial, unfortunately she would have to travel to Germany and it is expensive," I looked up at the professor. "I have savings and my father is living near professor." "I'll contact the clinic and pass your number on to them." That evening as I was making our evening meal I was contacted by the clinic, they offered to do one cycle of treatment for 15000 Euros to see if it would be effective I of course agreed but not before thoroughly checking that I wasn't being scammed. Chapter 24 - A New Life Izzie's waters broke on Monday morning the very next week I dashed back from shopping only to arrive at our house to see Izzie being wheeled into an ambulance, I joined her and on the way to hospital contacted the childminder and explained the situation to her. Izzie at this point was not a healthy girl, her speech was slow and laboured, she'd lost a lot of strength on her left side and was almost blind in one eye. This combined with the rigours of late pregnancy had taken their toll on her and she looked like she had really had enough. "Not long now Izzie as soon as your baby is born they can start getting rid of that horrible tumour in your head." Izzie turned to me and looking at my chest asked. "Millkkk?" "Not much yet Izzie I'm afraid but I'm sure it'll come any day now," I clasped her hand firmly and fought back the tears, how on earth could I say that I'd failed my sister and that her baby would probably end up on formula milk? Izzie was wheeled directly into the hospitals birthing suite and after being seen by a midwife was found to be fully dilated. "Looks like baby is ready to come out Isabella," said the nurse. "Ssarian," said Izzie. I added, "It was decided that my sister would be getting a caesarean as her consultant thought she may not be strong enough because of her tumour." "Hmm I'll page the team, we'll see who arrives first," said the midwife as Izzie started to scream due to the very strong contraction she was suffering, the midwife immediately went to the business end of Izzie. "If only someone had told baby that she was coming out a different way, Isabella you're starting to crown, next time you feel the need to push give it everything you've got for me." I held Izzie's hand as she somehow found the energy to push her child inch by inch out of her body and just as the surgical team arrived I was given the privilege of disconnecting a new and fresh human from her mother as I was allowed to cut the umbilical cord. The midwife immediately took the baby and cleaned its airways then there was a whimper followed by a tiny little cry as its lungs took their first breaths in the bright cold and noisy world. The midwife then opened up Izzie's gown and placed the scared little mite onto Izzie's bare chest, it immediately calmed down sensing warmth and safety. "Congratulations Isabella you have a beautiful baby girl." I opened my purse and took out two large white pills, went over to the sink and poured myself a glass of water then took both pills the medicine was I had been assured going to cause a rapid drop in oestrogen and progesterone and an increase in prolactin in my body and would encourage my pituitary gland to send signals to start lactation or at least that was the theory. I stayed with Izzie and was given her little girl to hold whilst the midwife delivered the placenta this was a life changing moment for me as I instantly fell in love with my sisters little girl. Later in the afternoon as I was trying to calm Izzie's daughter the midwife came in and addressed me. "I believe that you will be feeding baby Julie?" "I, yes but I don't have milk yet." "I think that your blouse would disagree with that," said the midwife with a smug look, I turned and noticed my reflection in the long mirror by the toilet door and noticed with shock two damp patches on my blouse, I was leaking milk! "Okay do you want to try this sitting or lying down?" "Err." "Just try it sitting for now, undo your Blouse and bra and we'll get baby onto the milk bar." I did as instructed and soon found myself sitting in a high-backed chair half out of my blouse with the midwife showing me how to get Izzie's little baby to latch on. "Yes that's right support her head, don't worry she'll soon get the hang of it," Enthused the midwife but it really hurt as the baby sucked and I felt tears rising. "I can't... It's not working, it hurts ohhh!" The midwife smiled at me. "Better?" I smiled back at her I still had tears in my eyes but these were no longer of pain Izzie's baby was feeding from me I could actually feel it I could actually feel a drawing sensation in my boob and was overcome with an immense feeling of satisfaction and love for the little bundle of life in my arms. "Your initial milk is called colostrum It's very high in nutrients and antibodies Julie, after a few days as your milk production steps up it will change and become a little more watery but by that time it'll be exactly what baby needs." I just nodded dumbly as I didn't really care I just wanted the midwife to go away and leave me and baby together to enjoy our moment. Chapter 25 - Life Goes on I suppose Izzie named her baby Carrie and after registering the birth and ensuring that I was registered as Simon and Carries temporary legal guardian she left me to go to the clinic in Germany It nearly broke my heart to see her face as she said goodbye to Simon and Carrie and I cried myself to sleep for several nights after she'd gone. Simon missed his mummy badly and became very clingy but Carrie didn't care as long as she could feed. I loved looking after Carrie and very quickly my breasts were providing more than enough sustenance for her I even expressed enough milk for her to have my milk at the nursery when I went back to work. I quickly realised that I would have to earn more money to keep the house running in Izzie's absence as I had ring fenced my compensation for her continued treatment so I got another job at a large company called Markham and Sproggit's working as a cleaner until mid- afternoon, this was ideal for me as I could still spend plenty of time with Simon and Carrie and also enabled me to keep up with health visitor appointments and doctors' appointments. I was not sure what they did at Markham's but certain sections were out of bounds to me unless accompanied by a member of that department, one of the departments I had trouble entering was procurement until a very nice man called Robert gave me his extension number, he would let me in and supervise me as I cleaned the office and emptied the bins. One morning I asked about the paper by the photocopier. "Is this paper just scrap Mr Biddlestone?" "Why do you ask Julie?" "It's just that my nephew has recently discovered crayons, he's not ready for colouring books yet as he just scribbles so I was wondering if I could use scrap paper from here to save my wallpaper." Robert laughed. "Yes, I see your problem but you can't really use that as it could be sensitive waste, I'll tell you what though I'll leave paper in my own waste bin for you that will be okay for you to use Just ask before you take it okay?" "Thank you, Mr Biddlestone," he then wrote a small chit for me to use stating that the paper he'd given me was scrap. And that's exactly what happened, every few days I took scrap paper from Robert's bin and stockpiled it in the nursery at my house and also kept some in Carries changing bag in case Simon got bored when we were out. Carrie was a wonderful baby and I dearly loved her she slept for the first couple of weeks in a cot by my bed so that I had easy access to her for her night time feeds before I moved her to the recently redecorated nursery. One morning just after finishing my early morning job at Buddies on the high street I went into the local newsagents to buy a packet of mints, I stood patiently in the queue whilst the shopkeeper and the guy in front of me talked about some plane that had crashed the previous day. "Well if you ask me it's Europe, they sabotaged the Vulcan II so that we would still have to buy that Eurofighter plane." "No no, I think that it must have been the Russians as the new plane was faster than anything that they've got." The first man then said, "Or the Americans, Trump can't abide anyone having anything better than he has." This conversation went on for nearly a minute whilst my blood peppermint level dropped to dangerous levels. Eventually I was served and left the shop with a packet of mints and the morning paper whose entire front page was dedicated to the plane crash with the headline RAF super plane prototype crashes on landing after record breaking test flight. The headlines were of little interest to me as I was only collecting coupons for day trips out. What happened the day before... It was early morning around 07:00 local time when the pre-production prototype was wheeled onto the tarmac of the long runway that almost straddled the entire bottom corner of a tiny inhospitable lump of volcanic rock that jutted out of the south Atlantic Ocean just south of the equator, this island goes by the name of Ascension Island and is not somewhere you would ever want to go for your holidays. Technicians busied themselves locking off service hatches and doing last minute checks via their laptops and tablets on the many control circuits of Britain's latest and most cutting-edge military plane the Vulcan II. Vulcan II was not the actual designation of this new aircraft but once the press had gotten hold of leaked pictures of the aircraft they immediately renamed it due to its resemblance to the cold war bomber and the fact that it made a similar howl as its two hybrid scramjet engines burst into life. The Vulcan II actually had three engines the third being a conventional but heavily modified Rolls Royce Pegasus engine that provided thrust during take-off and initial flight. Vulcan II was quite a unique aircraft in that the engineers had given free rein to try out several new ideas, the fuselage and wings were made of titanium carbon fibre and carbon carbon, the wings being of a delta shape who's surface profile and thickness changed constantly during flight to accommodate different flying modes, at lower speeds the wing was thicker and was shaped to create lift for take-off but at higher speeds the wings became thinner enabling faster flight. This miracle was achieved by the selective pumping under hydraulic pressure of a ferrofluid material into special voids in the wings, once the voids were filled the ferrofluid was made solid by the application of a stabilising voltage the wing shape was constantly adjusted by onboard computers during flight to ensure the most efficient wing geometry at all times. One problem with scramjet technology had always been that they only worked correctly at supersonic speeds but the engineers managed to get the hybrid engines working at subsonic speeds by forcing compressed exhaust gasses from the Pegasus engine along with air from the atmosphere into each scramjet intake via the use of some old technology previously used on the Hawker Harrier's vectored thrust system. The Scramjet's also had variable geometry combustion chambers monitored by their own computers to give correct combustion and thrust at all super and hypersonic speeds. One thing that neither prototype currently had however was a pilot and the entire flight was controlled remotely from the control room at the airfield. The cockpit area being utilised by the computers monitoring and logging flight data and stress gauges. At 07:15 local time the heavily modified Pegasus engine of Vulcan II was wound up until it became self-sustaining and the ground crew removed the umbilical and the two large hardwood chocks wedging the undercarriage wheels, the ground crew then withdrew into their shelter. The engines thrust increased constantly until the pilot released the brakes and the aircraft accelerated along the runway, within seconds it was airborne and banked to the left before heading North. In the control room to the side of the runway the pilot sat in full flight suit wearing a VR headset and controlled the flight of the aircraft as it transitioned from subsonic to supersonic. "Main engine shutdown operating on ramjets Mach 1.3" stated one of the engineers unnecessarily as other engineers were concentrating on the constant stream of telemetry coming from the prototype. There was a large screen at the front of the control room showing live pictures from several cameras mounted within the aircraft and selected essential data. "Mach 4.8, transitioning combustion mode to Scramjets," said the technician as the Mach indicator on the screen increased slowly. 4.82...4.83... 4.91... 5.1... 5.5 ...6.7... 8! "Mach eight, that's the best yet," the pilot was then given the order to slow down to a more sedate Mach 5.5 and head back, the pilot then throttled down a little and banked into a slow turn. It only took 6 minutes for the aircraft to overfly the runway at 75000 feet doing Mach 5.75. the aircraft then transitioned to subsonic and just before going subsonic the Pegasus engine was spooled up to speed to take over when the ramjets shut down. It had so far been a perfect flight. "We have a temperature fluctuation and over current warning on control module AE35 on bank 7," stated one of the technicians monitoring the constant stream of telemetry coming back via satellite, the flight supervisor immediately said "Switch to redundant module and shut down bank 7." "Okay done," the supervisor smiled at himself as he commented. "Who the hell called that particular unit the AE35 unit? that was just asking for trouble!" His comments were lost on his younger colleagues. The aircraft then started to pitch violently as both the pilot and the flight computers fought to stabilise the aircraft, the supervisor noticed that as the aircraft decelerated it was becoming more unstable. "Roger take a look at the ferrofluid compressors, looks like there is not enough lift being generated by the wings." His answer was swift. "Pumps have gone into overload condition as the polarisation voltage is still on." "Well knock it off then or we'll lose the pumps, you can't pump a frigging solid!" "The polarisation modulators have locked up, I can't." The supervising engineer wandered over to the wall and looked over the power distribution schematic and started tracing with his fingers. "Breaker B101 and 105 can you trip them?" "Yes but then we'll have no undercarriage for the landing," said one of his staff, the supervisor then unnecessarily turned to the pilot and using the mic on his headset. "If I can get the aircraft stable can you belly land it on the runway?" "I'll land it on your car for you if you like sir?" "That won't be necessary I'm sure," the supervisor turned to his waiting technicians. "Trip breakers B105 and B101 simultaneously in Three, two, one, now" there was a long pause and then. "Pumps running." And a second or two later. "That's better come on old girl let's get you home," from the pilot. The tower was contacted and told to prepare for an emergency landing. Fifteen minutes later Vulcan II landed on its belly and skidded for several hundred yards on the foam-covered runway before coming to a stop just off the edge. That evening in the main hanger technicians Trevor Wallace chief avionics engineer of the Vulcan II project looked on at the damaged prototype, he felt sick to the stomach at the apparent damage to his baby but also grudging respect for the pilot who had managed to get it back on the ground in almost one piece he shouted over to one of the technicians. "Don take some petty cash and get a few of those caffeinated energy drinks I think it's going to be a long night. Don didn't even answer he just left the hangar as Trevor took out several large A1 sheets of paper containing flow charts and module schematics and started to spread them around the floor of the large stuffy hanger. Chapter 26 - A Cleaners Life My life continued as normal, Izzie was now showing some signs of improvement according to Daddy and was starting to regain a little use of her arm, on hearing this I immediately transferred another 50,000 Euros into his account to pay for her continued treatment, Simon missed his mummy terribly and became very clingy Carrie on the other hand was thriving the only thing that saddened me was that Izzie was not here to see her beautiful daughters first smile. Today was a little strange for me as I was told that Robert had moved on to another job, I was a little surprised as he hadn't mentioned it yesterday when I'd been chatting to him whilst cleaning the office. I now had to contact the security office and get a member of the security team to escort me into any restricted areas now and also in the canteen there seemed to be several new members of the security staff who looked quite menacing. On Tuesday night our usual babysitter contacted me and asked if she could come over and babysit, she usually did this if she'd had an argument with her step dad I wasn't planning on an evening out but the lure of an evening out with a couple of Izzie's friends was just too much and after expressing extra milk into sterilised bottles for Carries feeds I eagerly prepared for an evening's relaxation. I think Su had awakened my need for companionship and intimacy because I loved being in company now especially Izzie's friends who were all keen to know how she was doing and how little Carrie was as we loaded up on alcohol at the local pub before going on to a club for some serious dancing and drinking. At around ten I found myself somehow in the disabled toilets of the club with my mouth wrapped around some random lad's dick and by eleven I was at his home on my back with my legs wrapped around him whilst he pistoned into me, he was wearing a condom as he pummelled my wet pussy and groped my puppies and I was in heaven, sex as a girl I'd discovered was addictive and I absolutely loved it, within minutes I came to a crashing climax followed almost instantly by my unknown lover and soon after we were lying on our backs, he with a cigarette dangling from his lips and me with sore hips, pussy and a dreamy smile on my face as I took the occasional drag from his cigarette, he fell into a deep sleep soon after so I extricated myself from his bed and left his room, I quickly dressed on the landing and left his house soon after. I finally got home at three in the morning and crept up to my own bed only to be woken at four by Carrie who was wet, needed a feed and a cuddle. On Thursday I was half way through my shift and was refreshing my trolley in the cleaners' room when one of the under managers entered with a woman, she was called Olfa, Olfa Swan the manager told me. "She's just started this morning on the cleaning staff so could you show her the ropes please err." "Julie." "Ah yes Julie, thank you." He then left me with the new cleaner. "Hello there I'm Julie," I offered her my hand and she shook it, she was wearing a lot of makeup. "Olfa," she smiled but her eyes were piercing this disconcerted me I turned around and picked up a spare tabard and pair of marigolds and passed them to her. "Here you'll need these, the tabard will protect your clothing and the marigolds will protect your hands from unpleasantness," Olfa took the offered work wear and slipped the tabard over her blouse and fastened the waist straps, I noticed a single silver ring on her hand where a wedding ring would normally be. "Oh you can't wear jewellery whilst working I'm afraid. Just put it over there on the shelf next to mine." Olfa frowned and reluctantly removed her ring and bangles and placed them on the shelf under the mirror near to the large porcelain bucket sink. I then spent the next hour going through all of the cleaning products and when to use them and also gave her a health and safety talk and suggested that she read the COSSH warnings for the more toxic products like bleach. After a while Olfa opened up and became more talkative, I found out that she had four daughters and that one of them was at university, this surprised me as she really didn't look that old but then she was wearing a lot of makeup so it was a little difficult to really tell. "The paper in these bins goes into the confidential waste bags Olfa and in those bins they go into the normal bags for recycling." "Where does the confidential waste go Julie?" "Oh it goes down to the basement where it's shredded and then turned into a sort of gloopy paste a bit like papier Mache before being sent away for recycling. "I see," she said. By half one Olfa and I had completed my days' work she was a really hard worker I asked her if she'd like to sample the delights of the works canteen, she looked at her watch and agreed. During our late lunch I asked where she was originally from as her accent sounded quite northern. "Originally I'm from Newcastle but I normally live in Yorkshire," she said as she tucked into a large lunch, she paused for a second before asking. "So do you normally get escorted around by the security people or is this a new thing?" "Oh it's a new thing, until recently I used to just get someone to let me into the higher security areas and the staff would watch over me whilst I did my work but recently people have gotten a lot more security conscious." "Oh?" "Now we have to call security and get chaperoned whilst we are in restricted areas." "I'm not sure I'm too keen on working in an environment like that Julie, I might try this job for a week or two and if it gets too much for me I may move on." "I think that's what may have happened to my friend Mr Biddlestone I think he must have had enough, he was here one day and then my boss said he'd left the next I miss him he was nice." After lunch Olfa and I left the canteen stopped off at the cleaners room to pick up our jewellery and leave our tabards then signed out at reception and after a short walk were checked through the inner perimeter fence to the car park, I left Olfa to get her car whilst I walked to the outer gatehouse where mark the security guard waved me through on my way to the bus stop. As I was approaching the bus stop I heard a toot behind me and as I turned a very old car pulled up alongside me and its window wound down. "Sure I can't give you a lift It's no trouble." It was Olfa I smiled. "It's okay I'm going to do a little shopping before I pick up the kids." "Maybe tomorrow then." Olfa then headed off in the direction of town. Chapter 27 - The Curious Case of The Misbehaving Power FET. The day after the Vulcan II crash landing... Trevor Wallis the chief engineer of the Vulcan II project now had dangerous levels of caffeine in his blood stream and had been awake over 28 hours and in his hands was a sealed cast aluminium Alloy box with metal fins at its rear and three circular multiway connectors at its front, the Ae62/3 unit Trevor had only recently removed it from the wreckage this unit he was convinced had overloaded the comms bus but on the test jig it showed to be in perfect working order. This however was not his problem anymore and he would send it back to the manufacturers on the next flight, his priority was now to redesign the power distribution system to give the landing gear controllers their own independent power supply and hopefully avoid a repeat of the previous days incident. The Ae62/3 unit left the island later that day on a scheduled C-130 transport plane flight and two days later arrived on the desk of Robert Biddlestone who immediately sent it to their research department for analysis. Almost exactly two weeks later the same unit arrived back on his desk with a long technical document stating that it had passed all of its tests and that no fault had been found, normally Robert would have been happy with this state of affairs but he'd been doing some digging of his own and had noticed a couple of irregularities in the audit trail of some of the power switching semiconductors, Robert had a suspicion that somehow counterfeit components may have been substituted during board assembly but needed more evidence to be sure but when he mentioned this to senior management he was told that everything had already been audited and found to be satisfactory. That afternoon he went down onto the production line and took several of the power semiconductors used in the production of the Ae62/3 module parcelled them up and, on his way, home posted them at his local post office to someone he had once very badly let down but who's opinion he valued highly. As Robert walked along the high street towards the home he shared with a cat called Colin he took out his mobile phone and dialled, after a few seconds. "Ah hello there, I wonder if I could speak to Joy Stevenson please, oh she's gone home for the day, I'll try her home phone," and after dialling another number. "Hello, my name is Robert Biddlestone, if possible could I speak to Joy Stevenson please? Yes, yes I'll wait," Robert crossed the road and entered a small grassed area and sat on one of the benches then put his phone on speaker. "Joy Stevenson here, Robert?" "Yes Mrs Stevenson," Robert hoped that Joy had forgiven him for his past mistakes or at least wasn't quite as angry with him anymore, (The River part 4) "Hello Robert, are you still working at Markhams?" "Yes Mrs Stevenson but it's not the same since Mr Stevenson pulled out of the joint venture." "What can I do for you?" "I need an independent evaluation on some semiconductor devices and I trust your opinion." "Devices?" "Yes they are a type of power Mosfet I have a suspicion that they may be counterfeit." "What are they used for?" "I can't tell you, I'm sorry but it is imperative that these devices perform flawlessly." "It's okay Robert I think I may already have an idea what they're for, send them over and I'll have a look." "Actually I've already posted them Mrs Stevenson they should be with you tomorrow morning." "I'll let you know what I find." "Thank you Mrs Stevenson." "Oh Robert." "Yes?" "So how are you nowadays?" "Plodding on Mrs Stevenson, oh and I have a cat now he's called Colin." "I'll be in touch if I find anything," And with that the line went dead. "Suppose that could have gone worse," said Robert to himself as he headed to the paper shop/mini market to get a frozen meal for one and some cat food for Colin. The very next morning at 09:15 a bright red Royal Mail van parked outside Stevenson controls (Joy and Alice Stevenson's tiny part of the Stevenson empire) the postman got out and carried into the building four pouches of mail and a packet. "Hello Bill, you're early this morning?" said the receptionist as he entered through the automatic doors "Nice weather, couldn't get out of the office fast enough, got the usual here and a special delivery for Joy Stevenson." "I'll sign for it Bill she'll be along shortly It's her turn to do the school run today." It was nearly half an hour later when Joy and Alice Stevenson entered the building, they were holding hands. Both Joy and Alice were handed their mail including the packet from Robert, they entered the main building together and after a kiss Alice went up to her office and Joy headed over to the research department. Joy... I was in a very upbeat mood today as Alice Terry Susan and I had been SCUBA diving the previous evening just off the North Yorkshire coast. Susan has just passed her Open water qualification so we took out a rigid raider from Staithes and spent the evening in the shallows and kelp forests exploring just off the shore. I suppose I'm upbeat because Susan seems to have finally put the nastiness of earlier on in the year behind her and seems almost to be back to her old self once more with one exception, she can be very protective of Terri our youngest daughter. Martin notices me as I enter and places a Jelly baby on the corner of his workbench as I approach him. I pick up the Jelly baby as I pass and pop it into my mouth noticing three others lined up directly in front of him. 'Hmm a three Jelly baby job, best not to disturb him until he's down to one.' I thought to myself as I removed my heels and slipped into my work plimsolls. After sitting down at my own desk/workbench I sifted through my mail before opening the packet sent by Robert and tipping it out, several semiconductor devices fell onto the table and I started to sort them into type. After looking at their surface for identification numbers I quickly realised that these were in house manufacturers numbers so I did a quick google search and downloaded the respective data sheets for each device. The smaller devices checked out using my test equipment but when I applied power to one of the large power Mosfets the Rf sniffer on Martin's bench started to squeal very quietly to itself. I disconnected the power to the Mosfet and immediately the noise stopped so I went over to the component racks and picked up a selection of small capacitors and brought them back to my desk. Martin's head raised and he said, "Parasitic oscillations at D.C strange." I nodded in agreement. "Yes Martin really strange, nothing is showing up on the DC tests though." I placed a 100nF capacitor between the gate of the transistor and ground and then turned the power on once more, the noise on Martins sniffer immediately returned so I connected the probes of my oscilloscope to the device but nothing but DC and a tiny bit of noise showed on any of the pins of the Mosfet. By this time Martin had become curious and come around to my side of the bench, he picked up the data sheet and started to study it whilst I borrowed a spectrum analyser from another bench and started to set it up. "Do you think that the internal diode between the drain and the source could be working like a cat's whisker Joy?" asked Martin. "Possibly, let me just connect the Rf sniffer probe to the spectrum analyser and see what we get." Martin stood by whilst I connected everything up and then watched as we homed in on the fundamental frequency of the signal being emitted from the small three-legged power device that was behaving most peculiarly. "4.43362Mhz that's a strange frequency Joy." "Strange, precise and worryingly familiar as it just happens to be the frequency of the colour subcarrier on the old PAL TV system," I actually noticed the glimmer of a smile from Martin as he started to place Jelly babies along the top of the spectrum analyser nine in all! "A nine Jelly baby job Martin?" "I think it may warrant nine," Martin and I worked all morning on the same transistor and it worked perfectly in every way except for the still detectable constant frequency Martin was invaluable as he made many suggestions as to what could be happening within the device until just before lunch when he suggested. "Why don't we just have a look inside?" Why hadn't I thought of that? So we took one of the transistors down to materials testing and asked Max the foreman for his advice, he immediately suggested the use of a milling machine to mill a pocket into the epoxy case and then the use of nitric acid to melt away the epoxy until the actual die that is bonded to the heat sink backplate was exposed (Apparently he'd seen it done on YouTube!) Martin went back to his desk to have his sarnies and I went for lunch with Alice. After lunch I found Martin sitting in my chair, my bench now sported a microscope and Martin was looking intently into the eyepiece, I noticed that he had also been making sketches on my notepad. "So have you found anything interesting Martin?" "This is not an ordinary Power Mosfet, Look." Martin moved over a little and I pulled my hair out of the way and tucked it behind my ear I then looked through the eyepiece at the recently unveiled device. "I can see the Drain, Gate and Source leads going to the die Martin but what is the other die to the left of it," I adjusted the focus on the microscope to better see the other die mounted on the heatsink. "Good lord it looks like a processor of some sort but what is the section at the top of the chip?" "I think it may be a rudimentary power supply, it seems to have been added to the die after its initial design." "Well I know one thing Martin. It shouldn't be there. I think Robert may actually be on to something," The rest of the afternoon went increasingly frustratedly until Martin and I started to modulate the power rail with low level digital signals. Martin had tried sending eight-bit words through the power rail into what looked like a decoupling circuit mounted on the processor to no avail and we'd just started sending sixteen-bit words when the entire device expired in a puff of acrid black smoke. "It didn't like that did it?" said Martin casually as he passed me a Jelly Baby. "Hmm It didn't, I think I may need to make a call now Martin." "Okay then. It's Spaghetti Bolognaise for tea." He then started to tidy his desk and put on his duffel coat. "See you tomorrow Martin," I said as he wandered out the door with his lunch box. I went over to my satchel and took out my mobile phone, selected Hillary and pressed send. "Simpson, oh sorry it's you Joy, everything is okay I trust?" "Not sure Hillary..." I then went on to explain Robert's phone call, the unusual device and its untimely demise. "I'm so glad it was you that this Robert chappie confided in Joy; do you still have the devices with you?" "Yes, I have several still, do you have people that can reverse engineer them?" "Yes. I'll alert one of our specialist defence research labs to expect a delivery Joy. I'll get the devices picked up within the hour if that is okay?" "No problem Hillary I'll send a file of what we've found and the pictures we've taken too if they'll be useful." "Once again thank you Joy, may I call upon the services of yourself and Captain Percy if required?" "Of course." "Thank you, oh and has little Theresa recovered from her cold? She was looking very sorry for herself the last time I visited." "Yes Hillary she has, most of the kids at her nursery caught the same lurgy at the start of term, but she's back to her normal self now." "Oh good I really didn't like to see her so sad, I must be getting soft in my old age." A military Land Rover picked up the components and our research 45 minutes later just as Alice came looking for me to go home for the evening; so I slipped on my heels took my satchel and coat and passed over the pouch with the components to the military policeman as we left the building. "Do those men have anything to do with what you were talking about over lunch?" asked Alice as we got into the car, I sat in the passenger seat and she in the driver's seat; but before I'd even fastened my seatbelt Alice was gently stroking my thigh and her lips mated with mine. Alice's lips were soft and inviting and within seconds we were in each other's arms only to be disturbed by a text notification from my phone a couple of minutes later. My breathing was laboured as I said, "Oh Alice I needed that." She giggled. "I thought you might; Martin told me that your afternoon turned into an eight Jelly baby affair." "It did, initially we just thought that the components were just counterfeit but, in the end, it turned out to be something more sinister." "And of all the people Robert could have called upon he chose you?" "Yes." "And how is Robert these days, haven't really heard much from him since we sent him into exile." I pulled the sun visor down so I could access the small vanity mirror and as I took my lipstick from my satchel I said, "He has a cat called Clive apparently." "Oh, that bad." I re-coated my lips and smiled at myself. "Can we go for a walk before home please? The seafront at Redcar might be nice." "Of course we can, I'd love that too." It didn't take Alice and I long to reach the seafront at Redcar and soon we were walking along its promenade together Taking in the cool offshore breeze, Redcar was once quite a bustling little seaside town but a combination of local government complacency, changing holiday tastes two recessions and the recent closure of the local steelworks have all contributed to its decline, the seafront however is controlled by nature so it always remains roughly the same. Alice and I had both left our heels on as we walked hand in hand down the paved promenade. "I see that Pc Thompson pulled Susan up again on her way back from Uni, this time for alleged broken brake light, he really doesn't know when to let go does he?" "Would you like me to have a word with him?" I offered. "No need, Daddy has already had a word with the Chief Constable If he passes his sergeants exam next month he'll probably be transferred out of the area, in the meantime however he has been warned off Susan," said Alice, I'd never gotten to the bottom of why our eldest daughter Susan had suddenly broken off her relationship with Pc Thompson as she refused point blank to engage us about the subject. "Oh I'll leave well alone then, I'm feeling naughty, fancy an ice lolly?" Five minutes later Alice and I were sitting facing the sea iced lollies in hand and leaning together the breeze was slowly easing my skirt up my legs in an apparent attempt to get a glimpse of my stocking tops, I was making little attempt to stop it as I was enjoying the cool air as it flowed and ebbed around me cooling me as it did. "I was talking to Chris the other morning Alice, she was telling me that Silvia was once friends with her mother." "Really, I didn't know that, when did they meet?" "Apparently Silvia stayed with the Simpsons for several months when Hillary was in his late teens. "They became good friends then, Sylvia was telling Chris that she was just like her mum in both manner and looks." "Silvia really likes both Chris and Trish," Added Alice. "Yes and they really enjoyed their trip to Hillary's home Trish especially, I think she likes having a reliable parent, one she can look up too." Alice shivered so I placed my free arm around her and pulled her even closer, after a moment or two Alice asked, "Joy is something praying on your mind?" I smiled I just couldn't hide anything from Alice. "Yes, those devices that Robert sent they are worrying me greatly, as if my theory is correct the implications could be huge." "But Hillary is dealing with it now, isn't he?" "Well yes but." "Well stop being such a worry-puss; Hillary will contact you if your talents are needed again." "I suppose." I wasn't convinced. "Time to get back Joy, as I happen to know of a little girl who'll probably need hugs off both her mummies at least till bedtime," This made me smile. Chapter 28 - A Morning Disturbed. Joy. A week and three days after I'd received the package containing the components, I received a call from Alice whilst I'd popped out of the office to buy Terri a pair of dungarees, saying that the police had just arrived at our premises and that they had a search warrant, I told her to cooperate fully with the search, but not to allow them to take anything away before I contacted Hillary. Terry and I arrived just over ten minutes later giving me enough time to contact Hillary. As we entered our building I noticed that the secure door to the production area was now hanging from its hinges I was surprised at this wanton destruction as I'd said to cooperate, two gentlemen in suits stepped in our way barring out entry into the building. "You can't enter here turn around and leave now," said one of the men to Terry "Show me some ID now or I'll assume that you are a criminal and treat you as such," Stated Terry with more than a hint of menace in his voice. one of the men smiled opened his jacket revealing a shoulder holster. "That enough ID for you? Now get lost," ordered the man, these guys were obviously special branch or similar I thought to myself. Terry turned to me. I could see that he hadn't taken to the man before him and I knew exactly what he was about to do. Ten seconds later both men were quite surprised to find themselves with their faces buried in our welcome mat as Terry and I bound their wrists and legs with cable ties. "Glock 43 aren't they just for ladies?" said Terry as he removed the weapon from the holster of his target. "You'll both do time for this," said the man Terry was binding. "Oh stop Blubbing Shirley or your mascara will run," said Terry, I decided to try and defuse the situation. "I'm terribly sorry about this, but we have a strict no gun rule at our factory and I do believe that it is illegal to carry one without very good reason in the UK." "You've made a big mistake," said the man I'd just bound. "Actually I think it's you that may have made the mistake sir," said a uniformed officer who had just entered the building through the broken door he was holding a phone and held it to the restrained man's ear "Who is this?" he said, followed by. "Trainer and Dimchurch Sir from the Manchester office, yes sir but we..." the one-sided conversation went on for nearly a minute before he then said, "He'd like to speak with you Ma'am," I took the phone "Okay Hillary what the hell is going on?" "I'm terribly sorry about this Joy there appears to have been a monumental interdepartmental cock up, I'm trying to get to the bottom of it right now, I'll contact you later this afternoon on a secure line, but if you wouldn't mind releasing your captives for me please, they will of course arrange repairs and pay for all damages incurred." "Okay then speak to you soon." I cancelled the call, pulled out one of my boot knives from my satchel and slit the ties binding my prisoner. "Terry could you release yours too please, oh and return his weapon to him, sans clip." "Okay then, you're the boss," Terry released his prisoner and presented the indignant man with his pistol. "There you go Shirley, maybe you should keep that in your purse in future." The suited man dusted himself down turned to Terry and said, "You are a very strange man." I however wasn't interested in Terry's humour I was interested in where Alice was. "My wife Alice Stevenson, where is she?" "I believe she's in conference room Ma'am," said the man Terry kept calling Shirley. I broke off from the two suited men and quickly started up the stairs, I bounded up the stairs and into the admin corridor and along to the conference room. As I entered Alice was sitting on a metal chair and had a cup of tea in front of her. "Are you okay Alice did they hurt you?" Alice looked a little shocked. "I'm okay Joy, really I am, the police became a lot more civil once Hillary had spoken to them though. "So what was this all about?" "They didn't say they just said it was a National Security issue." "Are you sure you're okay Alice?" I asked again. "Yes I'm sure, oh did you get Terri's Dungarees?" "Yes and they have a unicorn on the bib just like she showed me." "Ahem." I turned around to see Terry in the door with the two suited men. "I've just been chatting with Shirley about their visit." "Randall my name is Randall," said the now indignant man. "Whatever, anyway it appears that all of this unnecessary grief is due to a security breach at one of your dad's old plants," I knew where this was going. "Would that be Markham's by any chance?" Both men nodded. "And would you like to let me in on what has been happening?" Terry spoke. "A chap called Robert Biddlestone has gone missing and has apparently taken some sensitive information with him," Alice then piped in. "Robert, he used to work here as a manager until we had a disagreement." "Disagreement?" asked Randall. "Yes he tried to steal our company off us, but that's all in the past now." "So he has previous, that's interesting." "I wouldn't jump to conclusions just yet Shirley, have you considered that he may have been abducted?" "That seems more likely Randall, as he was worried about something and he did send a package of components here for analysis." "That is why we are here Ma'am to retrieve those components, do you still have them?" "No we don't, they were taken by military police to a research facility for further analysis, all you had to do was show us some ID and ask and we would have put you in contact with Hillary Simpson, now tell me what agency are you two with?" "We're attached to MI5 Ma'am." "More like MFI." Terry's comment was ignored by the two men. "Could I see some ID now please." Both men took out their wallets and showed their Id's. "You're not even field agents?" "No Ma'am we work in data acquisition, we were just in the right place when the call came in," These two clowns were quite obviously out of their depth and I knew that there would be serious repercussions for their actions but that wasn't my problem, I was more concerned about Robert. Chapter 29 - The Invitation. Joy. The rest of the day went without incident and, later that afternoon, as Alice, Terri and I were walking by the lake my phone went off, it was Hillary, I selected speaker and just before swiping answer I said to Terri. "It's Uncle Hillary would you like to say hello?" Terri nodded. "Hello Joy?" "Hello Uncle Hillary, It's Terri here." "Hello there Terri and how is my favourite little girl?" "I've got new dungarees and they have a yoonicorn on them," said Terri proudly as she pointed to the little embroidered unicorn on the Bib, Hillary continued to talk with Terri for a surprising amount of time about her new nursery school before finally asking, "Would it be okay if I spoke to mummy Joy for a little while please." Terri nodded and said, "Bye bye uncle Hillary." "Bye bye Princess," said Hillary I smiled thinking how much he'd changed and grown as a person since I'd first met him. Terri passed me the phone. "Hillary." "Ah yes Joy, straight down to bushiness I'm afraid. I've been reading the dossier your good lady wife sent me on Robert Biddlestone, why on earth did you not just sack him after he and Marvin Withers orchestrated that coup?" (River part 4) "He was a friend Hillary and I really believe he was fooled by Withers, who was a nasty manipulative man." "I suppose; he's managed to keep his nose clean since and it was him that alerted you to those suspect components so I'm prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt at the moment. As for Markham's, they are sticking to their story that he has run off with sensitive documentation and schematics thus your visit earlier today." "And your thoughts on the matter Hillary?" "I'm inclined to give him the benefit of the doubt at the moment, due mostly to the fact that I had Taff hack Markham's CCTV system this morning." "And." "Well initially all seemed to be normal with footage going back over a month until Taff ran a S.M.A.R.T check on the system's hard drives and found that although they had over a month's footage on them, the drives themselves had only been operating 37 hours so obviously the data had been streamed from one set of hard drives to another and manipulated." "Hillary that's not easy to do." "That's exactly what Taff said Joy." Hillary paused. "So I was wondering if you would consider coming down to Brunsfields for a few days as my guest. I know that Silvanus would appreciate it as she's been rattling around in the old house since Trish, Chris and Leah returned to your estate." "May I bring Alice?" "Of course and Terri too, or does she have nursery to attend?" I smiled. "Yes during the week she does Hillary but she could come down with Susan at the weekend if you don't mind?" "I would like that; shall I see you on Wednesday then?" "Okay We'll start packing now." "Oh Joy, bring Olfa Swann with you too please." "See you then Hillary," I cancelled the call and Alice who had been entertaining Terri asked. "Holiday or busman's holiday?" "A bit of both I think, Hillary has invited us down to Brunsfields for a few days I think he may have a little infiltration planned though as he asked me to bring Olfa." That evening at dinner Alice and I explained to the twins Susan and Terri that we were going away for a few days to stay with Hillary but that they had all been invited to visit at the weekend this seemed to cheer them up as we could hopefully go and explore historic Bath at the weekend. After our evening meal I changed and went down into my basement workshop to catch up on a little work, I'd only been down ten minutes or so when I heard a gentle knock on the door, I knew immediately who it would be so I asked, "Who is it?" There was a little giggle and then a reply. "It's Terri mummy." "Which one?" "It's the T.E.R.R.I one mummy." "Oh that's okay then come in," I smiled at our little daughter as she used both hands to push the door to my workshop open she then padded across the floor in her pj's and clambered up onto the seat next to me. "What you doing Mummy?" she asked. "I was just wiring up this circuit board to test it Terri, want to help me?" "Pleeze," she said with a big cheesy grin. "Okay then take this red wire and plug it into the power supply, can you remember what that is?" "Yes mummy it's the one with currents in it." She pointed at my power supply and connected the red wire to the positive terminal "That's right, very clever now can you remember where the black wire goes?" "Yes mummy it goes there," she said pointing at the negative black terminal. "You'll soon be cleverer than me, now can you set the voltage for me please?" Terri looked at me for a second and scrunched her face up than said, "How many voltses do you want Mummy?" "Oh silly me I didn't tell you did I. Can I have five of them please?" Terri turned the dial on the power supply until the little LED readout said 5.00V. "All done, do you need some currents too?" I knew that Terri was still far too young to really understand what she was doing but she seemed to really enjoy sitting with me and twiddling knobs so I asked, "Could you set it to number one for me please?" Terri then set the current limiter to 1 Amp as I connected the power wires and the circuit burst into life with many coloured LED's lighting and extinguishing as the circuit went through its start-up routine. "The blue ones are really pretty mummy." "They are aren't they," I replied as I leaned over and turned my oscilloscope on, I passed Terri the probe and asked. "Can you connect the black clip to this little hook here for me please?" Terri took the ground lead and connected it to the common point on the circuit. "And now push the pointy bit of the probe into here for me princess." "Like this mummy?" "Yes just like that, okay now on my oscilloscope turn the big knob until we get a picture." Terri leant over and turned the time base control until an unstable unlocked waveform appeared, Terri then pointed to the trigger knob and grinned hopefully. "Yes now turn the trigger until the picture locks." She turned the control and soon the waveform stabilised. "I like your sillyscope mummy, it's funny." I reached over and picked Terri up then placed her on my knees and together we explored my project for a while before Terri asked. "Can you make funny pictures on the sillyscope before bedtime for me mummy." I disconnected the circuit from the scope and turned it to x- y mode and then fed two identical sine waves into each channel from my signal generator with the only exception being that the first sine wave was 90 degrees out of phase to the second one this resulted in a circle being drawn on the screen Terri loved it when I created Lissajous figures, she took control of the signal generator and started to change the frequency so that new patterns emerged, but all too soon she started to yawn and I knew that she was ready for bed. "Bedtime?" I asked, Terri nodded and cuddled into me so I slipped off my chair holding her as I did so and headed out of my workshop and up to the house. Terri is a very inquisitive little girl and she really did seem to love coming into my workshop and asking questions, I don't really think she understood too much of what I was telling her at the moment but I loved spending time with her. I took Terri into the living area so that she could give Alice a goodnight kiss and hug then we continued our journey up to her rooms. Placing Terri into her bed she sat cross legged as I found her teddy and just before she slipped under the covers we touched noses and she kissed me on the lips. "Night night mummy," she said as I tucked her in. Later as I was in the library with Alice Matt entered. "Joy do you have a moment please?" "Of course Daddy," I said as I slipped into my moccasins and got up Alice looked up as her father left the library and frowned. "He's not happy with something Joy." I'd already figured that out but I nodded to Alice anyway. As I entered Matt's office he closed the door behind me. "I've been speaking with Hillary." "Oh and?" "He's told me about Robert and the components he sent you." "Oh," Matt walked over to his desk and sat on it whilst I made myself comfortable on one of his seats. "Since I pulled the plug on our joint venture with Markhams, I've been hearing some rather alarming rumours about it." "Can you be a little more specific please Matt?" "Well can you remember what they do there?" "Yes they make modules for the aviation industry and some automotive control units too." "That's right but they have also been contracted as one of the principle suppliers of modules for the XAI 230-lr." "Oh you mean the Vulcan II?" "Yes, I heard some rumours recently that one of the modules supplied by Markhams was being blamed for its crash landing a while back, but that Markhams could find no issue with the recovered unit." "Did you report your suspicions to anyone Daddy?" "Yes, your friend Hillary. He said he'd look into it, but now I've heard that Robert has gone missing and you are going to be staying at Brunsfields, Hillary's place is only thirty miles from Markhams," I smiled at Matt "Something is happening at Markhams Daddy. We're not sure what yet, so I think I'll be combining a little investigation with a holiday." "Who's going with you?" "Aliza and Terry will join me soon and hopefully Dix when he returns from Glasgow with Leah Trish and Chris." "And Silvanus?" asked Matt "Yes Silvanus too, she's living at Brunsfields now," Matt got up from his desk and came over to me with his arms out I got up and he embraced me. "Be careful Joy, unlike what the papers seem to think, you are not indestructible." "I will and I will keep Alice safe too I promise." "Thank you Joy." Chapter 30 - Brunsfields Early the next morning Joy went for her jog as usual, followed by a very punishing workout with Aliza and her daughter Susan in the old barn they used for a Gym. Over breakfast Susan and her mum discussed the impending road worthiness test on the old SAAB 900 that had been a project for almost the entire family for just over a year now and although the car had previously been registered, Matt Stevenson had insisted on an independent evaluation of all the changes and modifications that had been done to the vehicle since it had been fished out of the harbour in Staithes. After a family breakfast Joy went to their rooms for a shower and to dress for their journey down south whilst Alice supervised their final packing. Once ready to leave Susan, Lucy, Dawn and Little Terri were hugged by their mums before leaving with Terry in Joy's SAAB 99 to catch their train, Alice's mum and Dad would be looking after the children for the next few days, a prospect that they both relished. As Alice and Joy reached the station Terry turned to the back seat. "I'll see you both on Thursday girls, oh and Joy be careful." "I will Terry I promise." With that both women left the old car and took their overnight bags with them, their suitcases would arrive tomorrow by courier. Joy and Alice sat together for the first portion of the journey to Darlington station they held hands the entire time, Joy relishing spending time with her wife and Alice the same. At Darlington Station they transferred to a less rural train and sat opposite each other for the next portion of the journey. "Do you remember our first train journey together Joy?" Joy smiled widely at Alice. "I was absolutely terrified Alice, but you were wonderful," said Joy whilst remembering the train journey to Grosmont and then the steam train to Pickering. "That was the day I agreed to become your tomboy girlfriend." "You remember?" "Oh yes Alice I remember everything about that day, I especially remember going to get teas from the buffet car and worrying I'd break an ankle in those heels I was wearing." Alice giggled. "But they were only kitten heels weren't they, they couldn't have been more than an inch." Joy lifted her right leg up and wiggled her foot so that Alice could see it. "And now look at me wearing 4" heels as though they were training shoes," Alice reached over and clasped Joy's hands "I think we were fated to meet Joy, if not when we did, I honestly think we would have been brought together some other way." Joy nodded in agreement. "I think I agree with you." As the train sped south a trolley appeared in their carriage with sandwiches and tea, so Alice and Joy bought a selection of the British rail networks finest cuisine and as the train sped through countryside heading south they enjoyed their lunch. Both Joy and Alice enjoyed their train journey immensely, it wasn't often that they could spend an entire day together just the two of them and they took advantage of every single minute of the long journey. At London Kings cross the two girls took a short underground journey to Paddington station where they irritated the barista in an overpriced coffee house by asking for two cups of earl grey tea. The last leg of their journey was very busy as rush hour was approaching and even though they had reserved their seats in advance when they came to sit in them they found their seats to be occupied by two men in their twenties wearing dark suits and smug expressions. "Excuse me, you appear to be in our seats," explained Alice politely showing the closest man the reservation slips. "And?" he replied simply. "Well we paid money for those seats and we'd like to sit in them please." "I think that you'll find that these are our seats now," said the closest man, Joy just stood holding her case as the train lurched forward and started its journey 'Alice Is dealing with this,' she kept reminding herself 'Don't get involved.' "If you don't give up your seats I'll have no option to go and find the guard," Alice threatened, the man laughed at her and said, "Good luck with that." Alice passed her case to Joy and asked, "Would you look after this for me please?" "Of course dear." Alice turned and headed down the carriage whilst Joy just stood by the two arrogant men. As Joy waited patiently she noticed an old couple standing just outside the first-class carriage the man was standing but the woman was sitting on a suitcase and looked to be in some discomfort, Joy turned to the closest man occupying their seats. "I've just noticed an old couple over there would you give up your seat for them if not us?" "What? No, no way." Joy sighed she turned as though to leave and almost as though she'd planned it caught the can of fizzy pop on the table in front of the closest man with her satchel causing it to topple and spill some of its contents into his lap. "You, you stupid cow this is an Armani suit." Joy looked horrified almost as though she'd not done it deliberately, she pulled several tissues from her Satchel. "Oh I'm so sorry sir here let me mop that up for you." Joy plunged her hand tissues and all into the man's crotch grabbed his testicles and dug her nails in then squeezed. "I think you may need to go to the toilet and dry off sir I'm terribly sorry for my clumsiness," The man's eyes started to bulge as he squeaked. "Y, yes I think I will." Joy released her grip a little. "And do you think your friend should go too?" "Y, yes." With that Joy released her grip and passed the now damp tissues to the now bright red man. The two men left the seats quickly, Joy however just left their bags in the isle and went to the end of the carriage where the old couple were. "Excuse me would you like to use our seats." The old man smiled. "We can't we're not first class." Joy took out her and Alice's tickets and smiled. "Swaps?" Alice returned five minutes later alone and noticed Joy standing at the end of the carriage. "Looks like those two creeps are going to be able to keep the..." She then noticed that there was an old couple now sitting in their seats. "Joy?" "Um that lovely old couple were sitting out here, they didn't have a seat so I offered them ours." "And what happened to the seats former occupants?" "We came to an understanding." Alice smiled at her wife. "Hmmm," The rest of the journey went without any further excitement and at the spa town of bath when Joy and Alice got off the train Alice was the first to notice their newest friend waving enthusiastically behind the barrier. "Oh look Joy, it's Silvia." Joy and Alice then quickly headed out to see their friend who was now waiting patiently with a fixed smile on her face, she was wearing a blue and green patterned peasant dress and was barefoot. "Joy, Alice welcome to the Spa town of Bath." She then first gave Alice a huge hug followed by Joy. "I've missed you all so much, how are your children?" Silvanus hardly stopped for breath all the way out of the station and across the carpark she was genuinely happy to be in Joy and Alice's company once more. "Oh a see you're using the Citroen today Silvia?" asked Joy. "Oh yes, since Susan and you upgraded it it's even more fun to drive." Alice hesitantly got into the old car. Silvanus's Citroen had only recently been returned to Silvanus after having its original engine replaced with a more powerful 1100cc flat four engine. Its brakes upgraded, suspension stiffened and a considerable amount of remedial welding. The trip to Brunsfields took about thirty-five minutes and to Alice it was about thirty minutes too long due to Silvanus's flamboyant driving style that at some points reminded her of the cartoon character Cruella DeVil's driving style in A 101 Dalmatians, her style however didn't seem to bother Joy at all and she chatted happily with Silvanus whilst holding tightly to her seat for the entire trip. As they neared Hillary's home Sylvanus pointed it out through the trees. "Over there just through that gap in the trees, that's Brunsfields, it's not as large as Stevenson Towers, but it has fifteen acres of land and seven ponds," she paused for a second before adding "And a bloody awful glass and steel extension. Silvanus parked up soon after, much to Alice's relief and retrieved Alice's bag before heading straight over to the entrance porch and unlocking the large heavily varnished front door. "Come in, come in," enthused Silvanus as she entered the main hallway and on entry both women were impressed at their first impression of Hillary's home. "Hillary fought to keep his home following the death of his father. I'm so glad he kept it, as I have so many memories here," said Silvanus, Alice noticed a picture on one of the walls it was a picture of Hillary as a young man in uniform and standing with him was a young woman who bore an uncanny resemblance to Chris. "Oh gosh is that Linda, Hillary's sister?" asked Alice. "Yes and Chris's mother, the resemblance is uncanny is it not?" commented Silvanus. "It is, I never really realised." "I knew Linda from when my daughter and I stayed with the Simpson's after leaving my husband." "I didn't know that you'd been married Silvia," commented Joy. "It was a marriage of convenience for my parents to avoid the inevitable scandal but you don't want to talk about me, let me show you to your room." With that Silvanus clammed up about her past once more. Hillary was not at home as during the week he stayed in government accommodation in London but he was due back on Friday night and would spend the weekend back at Brunsfields. Chapter 31 - Evening Meal. After an entire day wearing heels Joy's left leg was complaining so as the two women dressed only in their underwear readied themselves to go out to a local restaurant for their evening meal with Silvanus. she allowed Alice to massage her thigh muscle as she'd been shown by the physiotherapy staff at 'The Centre' Joy had incurred ligament damage recently whilst on a business trip to Lithuania when she landed badly on a car roof after jumping out of the second-floor window of an office complex, the roof of the car she'd landed on had broken her fall, but one of its inner support spars hadn't given way as much as she had hoped it would, causing severe bruising and a torn ligament. Fortunately for Joy Terry and Jonesy quickly drove past and Joy managed to dive through the open rear window of their passing car making good her escape. Joy sighed as the tightness in the muscle receded. "How's that?" asked Alice, Joy's face beamed at her wife. "You, my love, have magic hands." Joy leaned forwards and kissed Alice on the lips. Within seconds Alice was on top of Joy on the bed and they were caressing each other's bodies whilst franticly kissing and relieving each other of the rest of their underwear. Alice and Joy were a few minutes late meeting Silvanus in the large living room. Silvanus was not in the least upset however because, as the two women entered the room holding hands in their almost identical sleeveless summer dresses, it was quite obvious from the look on their faces what they'd been up to in the guest room. "It's about a ten-minute walk to the restaurant girls would you like to walk or would you like me to drive us?" "Walk," said both Joy and Alice simultaneously. Silvanus who had also now changed into a very pretty dress leaned down and slipped a pair of wedge-heeled shoes onto her feet, she smiled. "Ready then?" Joy and Alice both nodded, Joy took her, almost trademark, school satchel off a hook in the hallway and wore it like a shoulder bag. "You won't really need that Joy, Hillary has an account at the restaurant," commented Silvanus. "It has a couple of pairs of roll up flats in just in case Silvia." "No Glock though?" asked Silvanus. "No, not today." Although it would normally have been a 10-minute walk to the restaurant, Silvanus stopped frequently and pointed out local landmarks and flowers in the hedgerows, Alice noticed a new softness in her friend as she enthusiastically and animatedly described some of the more obscure plant life in the hedgerows as she walked with them in the cooling evening air, 'Life with Hillary obviously agreed with her' Alice thought to herself as they walked. The restaurant was also the local pub, Silvanus guided her friends through to the back room where they we met by a young man who completed their journey to their table. The three women quickly settled into the secluded corner of the restaurant, ordered drinks and their meals from the very attentive waiter and as they waited Silvanus said, "We can talk about anything here, it's safe." Alice didn't want to talk shop however and immediately asked with a wry smile. "Are you and Hillary an item now Silvia?" Silvanus uncharacteristically became a little coy and started to blush, Alice noticed her features soften considerably as she did she reached over to her friend and placed her hand on top of Silvanus's. "Oh Silvia that is wonderful news we're so pleased for you," Both Joy and Alice smiled and nodded at their friend who started to open up to them. "Oh girls, I'd spent so long trying not to become emotionally attached to anyone I think I'd become quite heartless and then with what happened with my daughter I virtually cut myself off from anyone that had ever cared for me, I have a lot to thank Leah for, as I believe she caused the first chink in my emotional armour closely followed by your beautiful daughter Susan who even after I'd beaten her and could have killed her showed me kindness and forgiveness I'd not seen for many years." Alice and Joy continued to nod thinking fondly of Susan as they did, they wouldn't have expected any less of her. Drinks arrived at the table closely followed by starters and as Silvanus took the first spoonful of her soup she continued to talk. "May I ask you a question?" Both Joy and Alice nodded and Joy said, "Of course Silvia." "So when did Hillary start to change? I mean I knew him when he was a teenager before he joined the Marines." Silvanus's head dropped and she almost whispered. "I think I was his first love and because I was such an arrogant ungrateful bitch at the time I probably broke his heart, once he'd joined the Marines however he changed completely and hardly even seemed to notice me anymore, even after his injury when his father got him a job in Government he was a pretty cold fish but now he's completely changed and I have a feeling that meeting your family may have something to do with it." Joy broke a little of the crusty bread and dipped it into her soup before popping the sodden bread into her mouth. "Actually Silvia I think Hillary has always cared greatly but learned to hide it, when his nephew went missing he spent almost every single day of his leave entitlement trying to find him even though her own father hadn't bothered." "That's Christine isn't it?" "Yes and when he was eventually contacted by Trish and he realised her life was in danger he dropped what he was doing at work and travelled up to Teesside to see her." "Yes but that was just a means to an end wasn't it?" "Possibly to start with Silvia. but as he learned Trish's story I think he started to admire her courage, he also realised how much Chris had meant to her," Alice added. "Oh yes I can still remember when he came and asked you for help Joy." "Hillary asked you for help, that must have been quite a thing to see." "He was very uncomfortable and nervous Silvia wasn't he Joy?" "Yes but you have to remember what he was asking for was a favour and I don't think he'd ever been in that position before and when we heard Trish's story it didn't take a lot of convincing for us to offer our help as Terry and Aliza were already on board," Silvanus looked over to Joy and Alice. "I'm so glad you did girls." During the main course Joy asked Sylvanus, "I was surprised to be asked to help with this one Silvia as you live close by." Silvanus placed her fork down on her plate. "Ah, well that's sort of my fault I suggested that along with me someone with a technical background should be involved also, Oh and you hadn't visited us down here yet?" Alice interrupted hastily. "We were going to come and visit honest Silvia but what with Joy's injury and..." "It's okay Alice I'm just messing with you, we really do need someone with Joy's unique abilities." Sylvanus changed the subject again. "Susan has she fully recovered?" "Yes Bob is confident she's over the worst now, she's even resumed her training again and has overcome her shyness with Trish they're best friends again." Silvanus thought back to earlier that year when Trish had nearly died after deliberately sacrificing herself to save her friend Susan. "And the Policeman, is he still pestering your daughter?" "Not as much Silvia but he did pull her over on her way back from a shopping trip a while back saying that she'd gone through a red light." "And?" "She took the ticket he'd given her the next day along with time stamped footage from her dash-cam to the local police station, the sergeant had one look at the footage and cancelled the ticket immediately, he mentioned that Constable Thompson was being reassigned to Leeds soon so hopefully she won't get any more hassle." "Good, I did not like that man at all. Hillary mentioned that Trish was up in Scotland at the moment, does that mean she's finally attempting to build bridges with her father?" Alice fielded this question. "Oh yes and we were so pleased, Bob thinks that making peace with her father over her past will help her to move forward with her life, she's attempted in the past without success but since the death of her grandfather Bob thinks the chances of reconciliation are better." "And Dix is with her?" "Yes he insisted, Bob and Peggy are also nearby staying in a lovely hotel on the north shore of Loch Lomond just in case but mostly as a treat from Joy and I." "I know that Hillary was a little concerned when Trish mentioned visiting her birth father as he's become very fond of her." "I don't think he has anything to worry about Silvia, Trish refers to Hillary as Daddy constantly back at Stevenson towers and to her own father as simply 'my father'." Silvanus smiled at Alice's comment as she alone knew how much Trish, Chris and now Leah meant to him he'd absolutely loved it when they'd recently come to stay at Brunsfields and how sad he'd become on their leaving. The three women talked constantly throughout their meal Silvanus enjoying the company of her newest friends immensely. It was as they were enjoying their pudding at the end of the meal when Joy asked. "So what's the plan for the next few days Silvia?" "I wondered when you'd get onto that Joy, Recon and intelligence gathering, but first thing tomorrow morning shopping for work clothing." "Work clothing?" "Yes Hillary has managed to find us a couple of glamorous jobs at Markham's." She paused. "As agency cleaners I'm to work in large plant one and you are to work in production design and admin." "Ooh that is glamorous," said Joy sarcastically. "So tomorrow we'll be buying clothing suitable for our position, oh and buy a couple of sizes too big so we can add extra padding. Security on site is very tight so we will have to leave our phones at either the front gatehouse or reception, I'll leave mine in the gatehouse and you leave yours in the reception area so that Taff can utilise them to eavesdrop on what's happening. We won't be able to use earbuds but Hillary's tech chaps have come up with hearing aids with a build in receiver, we may just about get away with them. We'll both be allocated Henry style vacuum cleaners they are already on site and inside the false bottom of each is a Glock 17 and four spare clips just in case." "Are you expecting trouble Silvia?" asked Alice with concern. "No but security has been stepped up significantly since Robert Biddlestone's disappearance with random searches of staff carried out every day." "It was never like this when Daddy was involved with the business Silvia, I wonder what has changed?" asked Alice. "That's what Joy and I hope to find out Alice along with whatever happened to Robert Biddlestone." Alice woke the next morning to an unfamiliar and empty bed, she wasn't concerned however as she could hear Joy talking to Sylvia outside her window, Alice got up stretched slipped on her silken gown and headed over to the window and on opening the curtains a little noticed that the lawns were cloaked in thick morning mist with Joy and Sylvanus both standing opposite each other in the middle of the dew covered lawn they were both doing Tai chi as a warm up Alice watched as Joy mimicked Silvanus until Silvanus noticed Alice watching through the upstairs window, she smiled at Alice and gestured for her to join them. Two minutes later Alice found herself replacing Joy and copying Silvanus whilst Joy went for a jog. Alice really enjoyed the gentle flowing motions of the exercises and completely lost track of time as slowly around them the mist burned away revealing the surrounding countryside. Joy returned after a while breathing heavily. "Do you have somewhere to go to spar Silvia?" asked Joy. "Yes there's a community gym in the village I've taken to using grab your kit bag and I'll drive us there." The three women then went to the gym fortunately for Alice it was only a short drive. The gym was basic but had a mat and punch bags along with several standard gym items that were largely ignored by the women. Sylvanus asked Alice if she would spar with her to help her warm up whilst Joy attacked one of the bags suspended from a steel frame Alice agreed readily, Sylvanus was more than a little surprised at the improvement in both her skill and speed compared to earlier on in the year. Alice left Joy and Silvanus to their sparring whilst she went for a shower. As Joy walked to the showers with her friend after what Joy found to be very satisfying session Silvanus mentioned. "Your wife has improved considerably Joy." "She has, she asked Aliza and I to increase her skill and fitness level following the incident at the school, Alice's training has been tailored almost entirely for defence with a couple of non-lethal take downs to assist in her escape from threatening situations." "I understand Joy, oh how are your mischievous twins and are they still doing their 'Ninja training'?" "Yes they are nearly every day with Aliza and sometimes me. Oh they are growing up fast Silvia but I'm really happy to say that they are just as adventurous. Leah has been such a good influence on them." Silvanus felt her chest swell with pride at hearing Joys last comment. Alice was just leaving the shower as Sylvanus and Joy entered the changing room. They both immediately undressed and went into the communal shower and ten minutes late re-emerged pinker and cleaner. The three women then spent the rest of the morning at a large out of town retail park buying clothing suitable for their temporary careers as members of the Markham's cleaning staff. As the trio were heading out of the retail park car park Joy asked. "Do you know where Robert was living Silvia?" "Yes I have his address on my tablet in the bag, Password is periwinkle capital w." Alice reached into Silvanus's bag and passed a small tablet computer to Joy. "Cricklade that's near here isn't it?" "Yes It's actually on our way back, are you thinking of having a look around?" "Can't hurt can it?" "Okay then but we'll do a couple of passes first." "What In this, we're sure to be noticed," commented Alice "Yes but people only tend to see the car not its occupants." "Oh." Soon Silvanus had parked up her car and with Joy they left to walk down the street towards Robert Biddlestone's house, leaving Alice behind to car sit. Robert's house had a bright blue painted door and as the pair walked up his drive they noticed one of the neighbours watching them suspiciously as she gardened. They rang the bell and knocked on the door but there was no answer. "He's away on holiday apparently," said the woman watching them. Joy turned and whilst covering what Silvanus was doing said, "I'm sorry we must look quite odd, we're friends of Bobby he rang us last night apparently Clive has gone missing from the cattery we were hoping he might be here." "Oh the poor thing. I hope he's okay." Silvanus meanwhile had taken out from her purse a simple lock pick and lever, she tensioned the locking mechanism of the front door, quickly found receptive pins within the lock and within seconds the lock gave and the door opened, Silvanus immediately hid her picks and now with her own door keys in hand said, "We have Bobby's spare keys; the lock must be worn took a bit of wiggling to open his door," Joy added. "You're welcome to come in with us if you like?" she offered to the neighbour. "No it's okay but if you find Colin let me know and I'll feed him if you like until Mr Biddlestone gets back from his holidays." Joy laughed and asked, "That's the strangest thing, he didn't even tell us last night where he was, I hope that it's sunny." "Mr Biddlestone didn't tell me he was going away either and I usually look after his house for him, two of his colleagues that visited here yesterday told me he was on holiday and that they were picking up some paperwork he'd accidentally left behind." Joy glanced at Silvanus momentarily and asked, "Were they here long?" "A while, they left that mess on the drive look at it, Mr Biddlestone will be furious when he sees that." Joy looked at the dark patch of oil on the driveway, just then the neighbour said, "I think that's my phone," she turned and headed back into her house taking her gardening cloves off as she did. "Something is off here Joy." "I agree let's be careful." The pair opened the front door Just enough to peer down the hallway, it seemed clear so they entered. "Ughh what's that smell?" asked Joy. "It's like rotting meat?" asked Joy absent-mindedly before saying, "Oh, you don't think that it's?" There was a bump to their right in the living room. Joy reached into her satchel and pulled out her Glock, Silvanus followed suit, Joy prepared to kick open the living room door whilst Silvanus waited by the side of the door, Joy kicked and immediately dropped to the floor whilst Silvanus appeared at the door pistol in hand only to drop it a second later as she observed a small cat dart behind the sofa startled by the noise. "Clear," she said as she made her weapon safe and returned it to her own shoulder bag. It was in the kitchen to Robert's home that Joy made a gruesome discovery. "Silv, kitchen," she whispered urgently as she noticed a body lying on its side on the linoleum near to the cooker, Joy leant down and was just about to turn the body dressed in a dark suit over when she noticed something very wrong and only just stopped herself moving the body. Joy held her hand up and gestured for Silvanus who'd only just entered the kitchen to leave. Joy had noticed a fine strand of clear mono filament wrapped around the body's wrist she gently eased a small doormat away that was mostly concealing the wire and followed it around the back of the cooker where it was tied to a jack plug that was plugged into to a small green control unit and ultimately to a small explosive charge moulded around the cooker's gas hose. "Silvia, can you check the gas meter for me please? be careful." There was no initial reply but after a few seconds the answer came. "It looks like an Eastern European remote detonator connected to a charge on the gas meter's incomer it also has a timer counting down It has twenty seven hours left, just easing detonator out now and..." Joy heard a dull thump in the hallway she figured that Silvanus had thrown the explosive charge there to keep it out of the way. "Plasticised RDX safe, now let me just cut the wire to the detonator... and there we are, my end is safe." Joy then eased the cooker away from the wall and using her nail scissors cut the feed to the charge attached to the flexible gas pipe. "Safe here too." Silvanus entered seconds later. "Is that Robert?" she asked. "No it looks like a vagrant that's been dressed to look like him though." "Hmm this is getting more interesting by the moment," said Silvanus as she took her phone out of the large front pocket of her skirt. "Clean up team to my location, gas leak, text to follow." Silvanus cancelled the call and then typed the address of Robert's house. Over the next few minutes Joy and Silvanus searched the house but the premises had already been professionally swept. Twenty-five minutes later Joy and Sylvanus emerged from Roberts house Joy carrying a small bowl and a carrier bag containing cat food and Silvanus a small black and white slightly traumatised cat called Colin. "I see he was there," commented the neighbour who had returned to her roses. "Yes he was we've taken him from the house as there is a strong smell of gas in there, we've turned it off at the mains and called the gas board, could you look after the cat for us?" asked Joy. "Oh no, no, no not with my carpets I would have looked after him in Mr Biddlestone's house but not mine I'm afraid." "No matter we'll look after him until Robert's return," stated Silvanus who was now stroking Colin gently. As Joy and Silvanus walked away from Robert's house a large gas board van passed them and reversed into Robert's driveway. Upon arriving back at the old Citroen Alice was not there but Joy noticed her just along the road at an ice cream van and on seeing her wife shouted across, "Want one?" minutes later Joy Alice and Silvanus were standing outside the Citroen polishing off their ices as though just having a naughty treat following a shopping trip. "There's a street camera down there just by the shops," said Joy as she took out her own phone and sent a text to Taff. Chapter 32 - First Day at A New Job. At just after two the next morning as Alice and Joy slept comfortably in each other's arms and Silvanus slept quietly with a small black and white cat sleeping contentedly by her side a tiny sensor within Robert Biddlestone's house detected that the correct air/gas mixture had been obtained, the sensor sent a signal to a spark generator this was followed by a large ignition spark and then a fireball causing every single one of the recently weakened windows in his house to blow out creating an impressive fireball and lots of noise but little damage to the fabric of the house, the subsequent fire brigade report would show the cause as being a gas leak caused by a corroded incoming steel gas main. On Thursday morning Alice watched with some sorrow as Joy prepared for her first day at Markhams and applied her makeup, she was wearing a wig cap that held her dark silken hair in check and had started with a thick foundation that she'd applied with a sponge and had then worked on her eyes blending and mixing until she'd managed to artificially create the impression of crow's feet and several other wrinkles, Alice did not like Joy's look at all. An hour later as Joy was finishing pinning her wig into place grey roots and all she asked. "So do I look good then?" "If you mean do you look fifteen years older and like a reject from a nineties soap then yes, I hate it Joy it reminds me of when you were Ill," Joy looked into her wife's eyes and noticed them glistening, she went over to her wife and gently embraced her. "I'm still here under the makeup Alice I promise it'll be gone as soon as I return this afternoon." "I know Joy I'm just being silly that's all." Alice held Joy for several minutes more though not wanting to let go but eventually she did to allow her wife to add padding around her waist giving the impression of added weight. Alice hadn't liked Joy's makeup and disguise but was shocked at Silvanus's transformation she looked like an old lady and even stooped as she walked "Hello dear are you ready?" she asked in character, both Joy and Alice's noses twitched as they smelled the unmistakeable scent of body odour. Silvanus smiled as she'd left her new clothing with her homeless woman disguise the previous evening in order to gain a little of its scent. As Alice, Silvanus and Joy exited Hillary's home Joy noticed a familiar car coming up the driveway It was her SAAB 99 being driven by Terry with Aliza following behind in their Range Rover, this made joy feel happier as it meant firstly that Alice would now have company for the day and secondly that she hopefully wouldn't have to be driven by Silvanus anymore. The two vehicles parked alongside the old Citroen, Terry got out first he threw Joy the keys to her SAAB which she caught in her right hand. "I see why you like that old tank now Joy It's an absolute pleasure to drive." Terry resisted the urge to comment on his friends' disguises. "Alice will brief you and Aliza on what we've been up to Terry, we'll see you this afternoon." And with that Joy and Silvia left for their first day as cleaners at the Markham's complex. Joy... Silvanus and I arrived at Markham's main gate at 07:25, twenty minutes early and as is usual practice in these establishments no one had informed the Security staff of our arrival so we were told to pull into a small lay by and enter the gate house whilst the security staff made several phone calls to members of management to confirm our identity. Eventually one of the production staff appeared and escorted Silvanus and her car into the inner perimeter car park and then fifteen minutes later a young manager escorted me into the main admin reception area after parking my car. "You'll need to hand in your phone here Mrs Swann I passed over my mobile phone and received a receipt from the woman at the desk. "Do you have any other electronic devices on your body MP3 music players iPod's?" asked the manager. "Oh err I have this," I said as I pulled what looked like a hearing aid from my ear." "Oh I'm not sure if you're allowed them I'll have to check." "Sorry what was that?" I asked feigning a little deafness he raised his voice. "I said I'm not sure if." He then seemed to give up and pointed at the 'hearing aid' and then my ear. "Oh that's better," I said. "Is your hearing bad without your aid Mrs Swann?" "I'm afraid so, too many loud rock concerts in my youth I think." "I see, if you would like to follow me through to the meeting room I'll do your induction, just a couple of videos' and a short questionnaire." "Okay then lead the way dear." It was just after 10:00 when I was escorted down to a small room on the ground floor where I met with a young woman called Julie, she was quite friendly and shook hands with me. I may have looked her in the eyes a little too long as I think I've unnerved her, the manager quickly left after that and Julie found me a blue tabard and a new pair of marigolds to protect my hands. I found Julie to be a very open and helpful young woman she was obviously intelligent and seemed happy doing what she did, as we worked together as she showed me the ropes of my new job I discovered that Julie actually knew Robert and was surprised that he had left at such short notice. Something Julie didn't notice however was my observations of security cameras and locked doors as we went about our rounds, it never failed to amaze me also as I cleaned the floor and emptied the bins the amount of information just lying on the desks in open view or the post it notes on monitors with passwords written on them. I dined with Julie in the staff canteen and we chatted for nearly an hour even though our shift had ended Julie talked more than once about having to pick up the kids who I found out were called Simon and Carrie, Simon was an adventurous toddler whereas Carrie was only three or four months old. When we finally left the building Julie headed straight out to get the bus as I headed to the car park to get my car, once out of the complex I noticed Julie by a bus stop and tooted at her in the hope that she would accept a lift from me but she declined saying that she was going home. I then headed off in the rough direction of town and a few streets later doubled back on myself until I could see Julie waiting at the bus stop. Julie knew Robert so she was my only, if very tenuous, connection to him at the moment, there was also something else about Julie something I couldn't quite put my finger on, I needed to know more about her. I contacted Aliza and asked her to try and find out a little more about Julie fortunately I'd noticed her second name at the clocking in station 'Ludworth'. Julie got onto the bus so I followed it at a discrete distance until she got off on the high street, she then went into a couple of shops to get groceries followed by a short walk into a housing estate where she picked up a toddler and a sleeping baby already in its pushchair, the toddler was wearing walking reins. By this time I had left the car behind and was walking discretely behind Julie whilst she wrestled with the reins restraining the toddler preventing him from running into the constant danger of the busy road. After a few minutes the baby in the push chair began to cry Julie continued for a little while before turning into what looked like a small walled park where she found a seat took the baby out of the push chair and whilst the toddler clambered around the seat she opened her blouse and exposed her left breast the baby immediately latched on and started to hungrily feed. 'This poor girl shouldn't be working, she should be on maternity leave bonding with her child,' I thought to myself. It was a warm day and Julie seemed to relax in the shade of a large old oak as she fed her baby. I moved to get closer without being observed and managed to hear Julie talking to the little baby who was now contentedly feeding. "Oh Carrie that's it you're doing really well," she encouraged as she stroked the baby's head, by now the toddler had tired of climbing on the seat and was now leaning against Julie resting his head on her side and sucking his thumb. After a while Julie swapped sides and her baby started to suckle from the other breast I smiled at myself whilst watching Julie serenely sitting without an apparent care in the world and started to feel a little uncomfortable about invading her privacy so I move back and left her to her children. I arrived back at Brunsfields soon after and as I exited the car Alice appeared, she was wearing a silk robe covering a bikini, she took me by the hand and led me through the house and up to our room where she proceeded to remove my wig and using several cotton pads soaked in makeup remover removed the thick makeup disguise I'd worn all day. "I'm really sorry Joy but I just can't stand that look on you, I've lain out a bikini for you I thought we could take in a little sun before our evening meal." "I'd love that Alice let me just grab a quick shower first and then I'll join you." Alice wasn't for leaving me so she just sat on the edge of the bed whilst I took off my blouse undid my padding and removed the rest of my work clothing I unhooked my bra letting it and the extra padding in the cups drop to the bed and headed into the shower where I finally removed my panties. I'd just finished washing my hair when I felt hands sliding up my sides then gently cupping my breasts. "I thought you may like me to soap you up?" whispered Alice in my ear. "Mmmmm," I heard come from my mouth as Alice started to massage shower gel into me, Alice was pretty much the expert at seducing me and I was always a willing participant, pretty soon we both stood facing each other with our breasts pressed together and the warm water of the shower cascading down her back as we kissed deeply. By the time Alice and I finally got down to the pool it was getting late but the sun was still strong and warm Aliza was sitting with her laptop whilst Terry was on the lawn with Silvanus, she was lying on a large bath towel apparently sleeping whilst Terry was lying on the grass itself reading a comic! After about half an hour in the sun I decided to take a dip into Hillary's pool and after a minute or two started to swim lengths and after sixty or seventy I gasped in agony as my thigh muscle went into sudden spasm. I quickly made my way back to the side of the pool and pulled myself up out of the water then started to massage the muscle that was now rock hard and absolute agony. "Here let me?" said Silvia who seemed to have appeared from nowhere, she immediately pressed the knuckles of both thumbs into the lower part of the muscle causing me to squeak loudly in pain followed by the tension within my muscle releasing very quickly and with it the pain, Silvia continued to massage the muscle in increasingly wide circles until the pain had gone completely. "How long has this been troubling you Joy?" she asked me. "Couple of months I thought it was getting better though." "There is scar tissue forming, it's impeding the smooth movement of your muscles; it needs breaking down, take hold of something Joy this may smart a bit." I grabbed the edge of the pool just as Silvia did something, I had no idea what as my vision went grey for a second or two, what I did know however was that it bloody hurt! "There that should help, I will make you a poultice to strap to the muscle whilst you sleep it will remove the swelling and help with healing." "Wouldn't a steroid injection help better Silvia." "Phah you talk like Harry." She then turned to me and her face softened considerably "Please just give the poultice a try, I promise it will help you," I started to rub my muscle and realised that the pain had all but vanished, I nodded to Silvanus and said I would. "Good girl there is hope for you yet, now join your beautiful wife and I will see you for our evening meal," I got up off the ground fully expecting to have to limp back to the house but found that bar a little residual soreness I could walk normally Silvanus was very gifted in whatever she'd just done to me. I re-joined Alice back in our room she was lying on the bed on her front with her laptop and was doing paperwork, she was naked. "Oh hello there I was just catching up on paperwork, did you enjoy your swim?" "Yes, all the way till my leg went into spasm, it was agony." Alice's face started to look concerned. "Are you still in pain, is there anything I can do?" "No, Silvia came to my aid she did something with her knuckles and it took the pain away, she wants me to put some kind of poultice on it tonight though." "She's very knowledgeable about wild flowers and herbs Joy are you going to give her treatment a try?" "Yes as I don't really fancy another set of steroid injections." "Good for you," said Alice as she unclipped my bikini top and dropped it to the floor. That evening I dressed casually in a thin cotton dress that left my arms and a lot of shoulder exposed and as the evening was warm Alice, Aliza and Silvanus dressed similarly Terry however went for extreme casual and wore a tee shirt and shorts. We ordered food using an app on Alice's phone and within the hour our meals were delivered by a man in a little blue car, I took the bags of food straight through to the dining room where Silvia and Alice had set the table. We decided to treat the various dishes like a buffet and placed the various piping hot foil and plastic cartons in the middle of the table before we all 'dived in' as Terry called it. The food was Chinese and was excellent, as we sat and ate around Hillary's dining table we started to discuss the days' events as Colin the cat snuggled into Silvanus's lap. Silvanus had not noted much out of the ordinary in her section apart from the increased security bordering on paranoia on the production line and that at least two of the extra security men appeared to have been armed, she also mentioned that the staff and technicians did not seem happy with their lot at all. I reported much the same thing and talked about the young woman called Julie that knew Robert and had befriended him, Aliza then added. "I've looked into Julie's past Joy I was discussing it with Silvia before you and Alice came down. She has quite an interesting background." "I'm hoping she's not got a criminal past Aliza as I quite liked her." "No nothing like that, it's just that she started life as a male." Silvanus smiled at Aliza and commented. "Still think it's a coincidence?" asked Silvanus with a smile, Aliza continued "She was born Jason Ludworth and has a twin sister called Isabella, there's not much to tell about either of their early lives apart from Isabella has intermittently suffered bouts of alopecia. From time to time. After school Jason joined an apprenticeship scheme, unfortunately he did not perform well at college and after a few warnings lost his job, he almost immediately found a new job where he worked until he had a work-related accident." "What kind of accident, was it serious?" asked Alice. "He slipped on an oil patch on the floor of a warehouse left by one of the delivery vehicles and ended up doing the splits, unfortunately he landed with such force that he damaged his testicles badly with the result that they both eventually had to be removed," I looked over and noticed that Terry was looking uncomfortable and was squirming somewhat. "Okay Aliza I understand he lost his testicles but I don't understand how he is now a very pretty woman who apparently has two children." Aliza continued to go through Julies history as we ate I smiled when I heard that she'd been attended to by my friend Sandy, Harry's niece and that Harry himself had assisted in her gender realignment surgery. Fortunately the meal had ended and we were all sitting with the exception of Terry in Hillary's living room when I heard about Julies sister Isabella's illness and finally understood why she was looking after two small children and trying to hold down two jobs, fortunately Alice was on hand with tissues. When Aliza had finished her very thorough report Alice asked, "Julie is not in any danger at the moment, is she?" "We have no reason to believe so Alice," answered Aliza. "And whatever happens we are going to help her, aren't we?" she added. I looked around at Aliza she nodded and then at Silvia she also nodded. I turned to Alice. "Alice tomorrow morning would you contact either Major Simmons or Dr Mike and ask about this immunotherapy treatment that Julie's sister Isabella is undergoing and find out if it has any basis in fact, I'd hate to think that Julie was spending all of her money on a modern snake oil treatment," Alice smiled at me and then hugged me tightly. "I love you," she whispered in my ear. Alice and I then left the living room for a while for a walk together around the grounds of Hillary's home. Hillary's garden was large and at its southern- most perimeter there was a river Alice and I walked for several minutes hand in hand along the banks in silence. "Joy?" "Yes Alice?" "The girl Julie, do you think that she's involved in this affair at all?" "If she is Alice I don't think she's aware of it, but she had sparked up a friendship with Robert so there is a chance she'd be seen by some as being involved." "Watch out for her at work for me Joy please." I turned and hugged her "I will I promise." Chapter 33 - Inquisition Joy. The very next morning and my second morning in my new career as a cleaner I woke up bright and early to the smell of leaves and assorted herbs, then remembered that I had one of Silvanus's herbal concoctions bandaged to my leg. "May I join you?" asked Alice sleepily as I got up from bed and slipped into loose exercise clothing. "Of course you can, I'll wait for you." Alice and I met with Silvanus and Aliza out on the back lawn of the old house and stood barefoot on the dew-covered grass doing warm up exercises, this was not our usual way of morning exercise but this was Silvanus's home and it made a nice change. Alice really enjoyed Silvanus's exercises and even participated in a little sparring before she went for a shower. Silvanus kept me back however and in the kitchen area unwrapped my bandages from last evening and proceeded to massage the area in a similar way to the previous day. "It won't take too many of these Joy to return your muscles to normal." I believed her as I could no longer feel the lingering pulling within my leg that had plagued me so much since my injury, Silvanus finished off and I went for my shower before getting ready for work. On arrival at work today I met with Julie once more and we headed off to the admin area together and with our ever-present escorts in the secure areas we did our work. "It's such a shame that Robert has now gone Olfa, I really miss his sense of humour and his stories." "Was he a cheery sort then?" I asked. "He liked to chat with me whilst I cleaned but I think he may have been quite lonely," said Julie whilst our minder stood bored and looking out of the window I moved several chairs to one side to assist with my hoovering and looking to see if anyone had left passwords for their computers lying about on post it notes or written on stickers under their keyboards, they had! "So what did you and your friend talk about then?" "Oh he used to tell me about when he was younger just after getting married and how much fun he'd had before he and his wife drifted apart," Julie then started to empty the paper from the waste bins into the bag suspended from her trolley. "I think Robert may have done something wrong at a previous company though as he sometimes mentioned that he'd been given a second chance by someone and he wasn't about to blow it." "I wonder what he meant by that?" I asked knowing exactly what he'd been talking about. Just before lunch as Julie and I were using the waste paper crusher in one of the several service yards a man in a shirt and tie came out and over to us. "Swann, Ludworth, you're both wanted for interview room 100 admin block now." I shrugged my shoulders at Julie, she shrugged at me and we both headed back to the admin block via our cleaning station where we stowed our trolleys. Outside room 100 there had been set up several chairs along the wall and as we arrived there was no one sitting in the chairs. "I hope that this is quick Olfa as I finish soon and have an appointment at the baby clinic at three and I can't really afford to be late," said Julie. We sat down and after a minute or two Silvanus appeared, she looked even more dishevelled than when I'd seen her earlier. "So what's 'appening 'ear then?" she asked. "Some kind of interview I think," and just as I'd finished speaking one of the cleaners that until recently had been doing my new job came out of the room she was visibly shaking and appeared to be upset, she was followed by a heavily built man in a grey suit. "Swann." I got up and replied, "Yea that's me." "In the room you're next." "No not until you say the magic word Hin." "In you go PLEASE." "Thanks, cost's nowt to be polite does it?" I said adding a little more northern to my accent. As I entered the room it had been darkened and was quite bare, with the exception of a table, upon the table was an angle poise lamp that was focussed on the seat in front of the table where I assumed I was supposed to sit, behind the lamp was the shadow of a man who I assumed to be my interviewer and in two of the room corners were CCTV camera's. "Oh this is good I'd heard that Markhams was now run by Nazi's but this is a new low even for them," I stated sarcastically, a softly spoken voice from behind the light said simply "Ms Swann please sit down," I sat. "Thank you, now I have a few questions I'd like you to answer for me and then you can go." "Can't I just get up and go now then?" I asked. "Ms Swann let me ask the questions." "Okay as soon as you answer mine, can I leave anytime I want?" It was then that my hearing aid burst into life very quietly and I heard a very familiar voice it was Taff, 'have you up on CCTV Ma'am can't id your interviewer.' "Ms Swann as soon as you start to cooperate with me the sooner you can leave." "Okay then," I quickly leant over and before either the suited man or my interviewer could react I turned the lamp causing it to illuminate my interviewers face and dazzling him. "There you twat, don't feel so superior now do you?" I asked taunting my interviewer. "Ms Swann please this is intolerable." "I'll say, now turn off that stupid bloody light and put the room lights back on or I'm walking," The interviewer nodded to the suited man and the main light came onto the room. "Okay Skippy that's better, now ask away?" I said using one of Terry's tactics to irritate my interviewer. Another voice appeared in my earpiece it was Bob. "Careful Joy, this man may be a trained interrogator." "Can you confirm for me please that your name is Olfa Swann?" "Are you fucking kidding me? you've been calling me it for the last couple of minutes." "Yes or no." "No I'm actually Arch duke Ferdinand the third." "I'll take that as a yes then." "How long have you worked on the cleaning staff at Markhams?" "Two days but this may very well be my last day Skippy as I'm not going to put up with this shit every week, has someone been at the biro's in the stationary cupboard or something?" "May I remind you Ms Swann that I am the one asking the questions here." "Well ask some sensible ones then as all the ones you've asked me up until now you already knew the answers too," In my earpiece I could hear Bob saying to someone "At least she's talking to him I had to put up with days of her staring eyes looking directly at me, it was quite unnerving," I made an involuntary smile at this. "You find something funny Ms Swann?" "Yes." "Then please enlighten me?" Bob's voice reappeared "Ask him his star sign or something completely irrelevant." "You're a typical Capricorn aren't you I can always tell you know." "I'm not a Capricorn." "Well you must be on the cusp then," My interviewer slammed his hands on the table in obvious frustration. "Ms Swann please can we get on with the interrogation," I smiled at his loss of focus and said quietly. "Interrogation Skippy? I thought that this was just an interview." "Yes Interview, that's what I meant." At that moment I heard the shift change horn go off in the distance and got up to leave. "Ms Swann where do you think you are going I haven't finished with you yet?" "Well you now have three choices Skippy, pay me overtime for an extended chat, let me go or try and stop me from leaving in the final case I will scream my arse off and will not stop until the police get here." "Very well Ms Swann you may go but we will resume our interview first thing on Monday morning and please, please stop calling me Skippy, my name is Mr Kingston," I heard muffled laughing in my earpiece and then. "Just who was interrogating who? Run a check on all UK trained interrogators with second names of Kingston Taff, I can't imagine this clown being military trained though." I got up out of my seat and turned around to see the suited man smirking, he opened the door for me and as I left I said, "Come on Julie it's finishing time I'll give you a lift." It wasn't an offer I wanted to make sure that she left the premises safely, I didn't turn to see what Silvanus was doing but hoped that she would at least have a little fun before leaving for the day. Today Julie and I still had lunch together as I didn't want to spook her too much and after lunch as we were leaving on the way to get changed we walked past Mr Kingston and as we passed I asked. "On Monday will I still be paid during our interview?" "Oh err yes I believe that you will." "Ooh Brilliant so it will be in my interest to stretch it out then?" Mr Kingston turned from me and headed over to the serving area all the time shaking his head. "Why did you do that Olfa, antagonise that man?" I didn't answer. Julie and I changed and picked up our phones from reception before walking to the northern car park to pick up my car, I dropped Julie off on the high street about fifteen minutes later before heading away for an important rendezvous. on the way to my rendezvous I pulled over in a quiet lay by and quickly changed the number plates of the SAAB before getting a bag out of the boot, I removed my wig and started to remove my heavily applied makeup using the small vanity mirror in the sun visor to guide me. It didn't take me long to be rid of the makeup and the padding under my clothing and in my underwear. Checking that there was nothing coming along the road either way I quickly removed my now baggy top and undid the now too large bra deftly replacing it with a much softer silken one two cup sizes smaller I then quickly slipped a simple patterned peasant dress over my head and smoothed it down my body before finally removing my leggings and after popping on a couple of nude Socklets I slipped into a pair of kitten heeled soft leather Mary Jane's, checking the time I decided I still had enough time to make myself presentable so I applied a little makeup before removing my wig cap and the pins holding my hair in place. I brushed my hair out imagining that it was Alice that was doing it for me, I then pulled my silky smooth hair into a high ponytail before holding it in place with an elasticated hair band with its attached pink bow I adjusted the bow then packed away my paraphernalia back into the boot of the car and as I had a few minutes to spare contacted Alice on the car's hand free system for no other reason than to hear her voice. Five minutes later I was re-joining the main road taking the rare opportunity of listening to some of my favourite music and cooling down in my much less restrictive clothing with the aid of the car's latest addition a retrofitted Aircon system. It didn't take me too long to get to the airport and as I was early it afforded me time to sit with my tablet and a cup of tea and go through several backed-up emails from my normal day job until I heard the announcement of the flight I was waiting for on the airport's P.A system. It took just over fifteen minutes before I first caught a glimpse of the two pretty young girls and their little sister being shepherded by their slightly harassed looking but very pretty older sister who was carrying Terry and Aliza's daughter Andi and was holding our youngest daughter Terri's hand. The youngest of our girls Terri started to strain against the Susan's firm grip as she shouted, "Mummeeeee," at the top of her voice. I crouched down as she was released and came charging over to see me with a huge grin on her face, I grabbed her and twirled as I raised her into the air. "Hello Terri, did you miss me?" I asked as she showered me with kisses and hugged me tightly. The twins Lucy and Dawn joined me next and both hugged me, they were both dressed very femininely for them and looked so pretty, 'They must be having a girlie day.' I thought to myself as they were usually both to be found in dungarees or jeans causing some form of mischief around the estate (something that Alice and I whole heartedly approved of.) Susan joined us next she also hugged me and kissed me on the cheek, she was wearing a dark blouse and a pleated skirt with what looked to be two inch heels her hair was in a plait and she looked so natural and beautiful. I had been worried about Susan for quite some time following the incident with Trish earlier in the year but she now seemed to be getting over it and our life had returned to normal or as normal as the Stevenson household could get. "Did you enjoy the flight Girls?" I asked. Terri's face beamed and she nodded, Lucy said, "Dawn was flirting with a boy mummy." "Wasn't, he just had a nice smile so I smiled back," added Lucy indignantly. "I think we all got a little bored waiting for the plane Mummy," added Susan, I offered my hand to Susan and she took it. "Thank you for escorting the rabble down here Susan I'm sure you would rather have been doing something else today." "It was fun mummy I enjoyed it and with Trish, Chris, Leah and Toni away at the moment it was really quiet at home." Trish and Chris were in Scotland at the moment with Dix and Leah Trish was hoping to at least get her father to communicate with her once more, Toni was cycling in France with a local cycling club, Sarah would have liked to have gone away with Toni but she was away herself with Don the Stevenson's Mechanic at a residential training facility run by a major motor manufacturer on their newest engines, I hoped that Sarah would be able to join Toni next week. Come on girls I'll show you to the car." I turned to Andi. "And I think that your mummy should be here soon too Andi." Andi brightened up a lot at this and decided that she would like to walk now. At the entrance to the airport Aliza was waiting outside the main entrance with her Land Rover having just arrived her face lit up as she noticed Andi, I leant down and explained to Terri. "Auntie Aliza has your seat in the back of her car so can you go with her just until we get to Uncle Hillary's house." Terri and Andi held hands and they headed over to Aliza, I'll go with Aliza too Mum see you shortly," said Susan. I turned to the twins. "looks like it's just us then girls." Dawn and Lucy followed me to the car park and after putting their overnight bags into the boot we headed towards Brunsfields, considering that Alice and I had only been away from our home a couple of days Lucy and Dawn appeared to have managed to pack a lot of activities into that time causing me to smile constantly as I listened to them talking enthusiastically at me as they sat in the back of the old 99. Chapter 34 - Night Manoeuvres Joy. As we approached Brunsfields I noticed a dark blue Jag parked outside and standing with Silvanus in the open doorway to his home was a casually dressed Hillary. As soon as we had parked Hillary came over to us, it was then that I realised that he had been holding Silvanus's hand, Hillary embraced me warmly. "I'm sorry I wasn't here to meet you personally Joy, unavoidable I'm afraid," he then noticed Terri getting out of the car. "Theresa you look prettier every time I see you." Terri smiled at Hillary and came up to him, Hillary immediately picked her up and turned his attention to the twins. "Oh and look at you two, you're both becoming proper young women, aren't you?" In the few years I'd known Hillary I'd actually seen him grow as a person from a very polite but almost soulless ex-marine turned bureaucrat into someone I was proud to call my friend. "Come in, come in I believe that Silvia has prepared snacks for you." Hillary gestured our children into the house whilst Alice moved to my side. "Hillary is chuffed to bits that we've invited the children for the weekend dear, he was suggesting that we all went to the zoo tomorrow." I turned and noticed the expectant look on Alice's face and keeping my face as deadpan as I could said, "I suppose, we could stay here and catch up on paperwork, couldn't we?" Alice's face dropped. "I suppose yes," she said without any enthusiasm at all, I couldn't keep my face straight anymore and could feel myself smiling. "Or we could go to the zoo as well." Alice finally realised that I'd been messing with her and her expression changed once more into a lovely smile. "That was rotten Joy I thought you were being serious." I held her hand. "Do you think that there are snacks for us too?" I said as we headed into Hillary's home. That evening as Alice and Susan entertained our children, Silvanus, Aliza, Terry and I were in Hillary's study, he sat leaning against the edge of an ancient oak desk whilst we all sat on an assortment of chairs borrowed from various parts of his home. Hillary did not beat around the bush at all and opened by informing me that the devices I'd sent him for analysis had indeed been tested and that the results were extremely worrying. The larger of the devices were marked as power MosFets which are usually used for switching large loads and are ideally suited to the situation that they were being employed in and under normal operation behaved just like power MosFets but after being reverse engineered in the Ministry of Defences electronic espionage research labs something far more sinister had been found. I read the dossier that Hillary passed to us all with increasing concern. The devices under certain conditions could be remotely controlled either by a UHF (Ultra high Frequency) signal modulated using QPSK (Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) or by direct injection of a coded digital signal into its input terminal (The gate pin). This meant that the transistor could be remotely turned on or off and in certain conditions destroyed remotely. This meant that in the case of the module that these transistors had been used on that when the unit had gone into fault it had blown the surge arrest circuitry causing the entire control power bus on the XAI 230-lr to fail. If it hadn't been for the quick thinking of the chief engineer and the skill of the test pilot our latest Aircraft prototype would now be at the bottom of the ocean somewhere south of Ascension Island. I'm not sure how much of the technical aspect of the report Terry managed to absorb but he understood fully that if these devices were to be found in other military equipment that it could have a huge impact on our National security, Hillary however assured us that all of our front-line military equipment was now being checked for these or similar devices as they all had the same electronic footprint. As Hillary finished talking I knew what was coming next. "So boys and girls I thought that this evening we could pay Markham's a visit to test out their new security and generally poke a stick into the wasps' nest. Night combat gear at 00:15 southern perimeter fence just as she shift changes at the gatehouse," He then turned to me. "Joy do you have your access card on you?" "It's upstairs I'll get it Hillary." I went up and returned immediately with it. "I trust you know how to clone the card?" he asked. I took the card cloning equipment from Terry and placed it on the desk in front of me. Within seconds I had located what I required. "Okay Hillary I have located the site's unique code what users would you like programmed in?" "1707492 please and could you program five of those cards, all identical, Taff has already re-enabled that particular card, I believe that it belonged to Mr Robert Biddlestone." This made me smile as using Robert's old card to access the building would cause concern amongst Markhams new security and possibly even lead us to him. Just after midnight and with Alice and our children safely tucked up in bed guarded discretely by Hillary's own security staff, I found myself just inside the security fence of the Markhams complex paring a length of coaxial cable until the screen and the inner core was exposed, I then placed a small clip onto the screen and another onto the inner core of the cable, turning on my frame grab device I pressed the grab button for a full seven or eight cycles of the camera panning from left to right covering the staff car park and the rear of the admin area. Releasing the grab button I then placed another small clip further down the inner core of the coaxial cable and cut the centre core between the two clips, I now had two moving pictures on my frame grab, the live one on pass through to the security room/ gatehouse and the recorded one I'd previously done, I pressed sync on the frame grab and watched as the two pictures seamlessly synchronised and then took the frame grab off pass through. "We have about thirty seconds to get to the building, Three, two, one go, go, go," I was first to leave cover and sprint across the empty car park followed by Terry Aliza and Silvia. Hillary covered our rear and was the last person into cover fifteen seconds later. Entry to the building was a lot easier than we had expected as someone had not locked one of the downstairs windows and after checking it for alarm devices we entered the main building one at a time and made out way to the UPS room where the main recording equipment was kept. Ten minutes later we had the run of the admin area as all of the camera feeds were now under Taff's control. Hillary Silvia and I started to log onto the office computers that I'd found codes for during my previous two days snooping and placed mischievous software packages onto their hard drives whilst Terry and Aliza did the same to the management office computers. The whole operation took just under an hour and by the end of it we (Meaning Taff) now had complete access to Markham's emails, CCTV, security systems and as soon as he'd decrypted them all secure files. Just before we left the complex Terry and I stayed back and with Taff's remote assistance left a small surprise that would be activated at 04:00. Once outside the building I reactivated the frame grab device remotely and we made our way back to the perimeter fence, I was the last one out as I had to repair the Coaxial cable from the camera tower sealing it with self-amalgamating tape before climbing through the hole in the fence and re threading it so that it looked intact. Back in Brunsfields as I cleaned off my face camouflage Silvia came up to me and told me to remove my trousers, she then proceeded to massage my leg muscles firmly with her knuckles. "I noticed a slight limp as we exited the complex Joy, this should help," she then applied her herbal gloop as she had done previously and bound it to me with a long length of gauze. "Good as new," she then smiled and slapped me on the bottom "You have a wife to got to, so off you go we'll finish off here." I was happy to leave the others to their debrief and went upstairs to join Alice. Chapter 35 - A Lovely Weekend. At exactly 04:00 on Saturday morning in the front gatehouse at The Markham's complex every single video screen on the video wall changed their pictures and all started to show the same scene from inside the admin building, the picture showed a large open plan office and in the background could be seen a clock whose time showed four 0 clock exactly, the picture remained the same for nearly ten seconds before out of nowhere a figure dressed completely in night combat gear appeared, the figure was holding an automatic weapon, the figure's face could not be seen as it was looking down towards the floor and was obscured by a helmet. After a couple more seconds the figure looked directly at the camera and then vanished leaving behind it on a whiteboard in the background a pair of crudely drawn angel wings. "wha, shit," said the two security men who until seconds ago had been watching an action film on a tablet propped up against a console, one of the men pressed a large red button and set off the site's perimeter alarm. Within minutes the admin area was swarming with security staff trying to locate the intruders but to no avail as they were now long gone and at least one was snuggled up next to her wife sleeping soundly. It took Markham's security staff over an hour to locate the room where the footage of the intruder was taken but there was no trace of him or her ever being there and even stranger there wasn't even a camera fitted in that room. Hillary's idea of poking a stick into the wasps' nest had been fully realised and by dawn there were several new faces on site unknowingly being observed from a distance. It was quickly found that Robert Biddlestone's own access card had been used many times the previous evening sometimes simultaneously on more than one door, unfortunately before the data could be dumped to a printer the entire log of the access control system along with its entire card database was deleted from the RAM of the many individual controllers on site, subsequent searches turned up nothing. No footage could be found either of the mysterious figure in the office who after several hours of interviews with the night staff was found to have been standing next to Robert Biddlestone's desk! Joy. I was woken in the morning by my nose being tickled and when I opened my eyes the first thing I saw when my vision cleared was Terri, she was lying in Alice's place on the bed and her face was beaming. "We are going to see Eliflants today mummy," she stated brightly, "lions and tigers and penglings and and and, Mummy?" "Yes Terri?" I asked as I pulled myself up. "Do you think they have Dinasores too?" I started to giggle at her question. "Ooh I'm not sure Terri as I've not been to this zoo before, why don't you get dressed and you can ask uncle Hillary." "Mummy, why does your leg smell funny?" "Oh that is because Auntie Silvia put some medicine onto it to stop it from hurting," Terri crinkled up her nose. "It's really smelly like the gardeners pile of dungy stuff." I picked Terri up in her nightshirt and she wrapped her arms around my neck and I carried her into the room that she was sharing with Andi, As I entered Aliza was helping her daughter into a cute summer dress. "Dungarees or dress today?" I asked as I swung Terri down onto her bed. Terri looked at her friend and then at her dungarees and then back at Andi "Can I wear a dress with my unicorn socks?" "Of course you can princess," I replied, "Second drawer down left-hand side Joy," said Aliza who was also wearing a summer dress in a similar colour to Andi's and for once flats. When I returned to my room I found out that Alice had already prepared my clothing for today and on the bed was a beautiful v neck brightly coloured tie-dye shift dress. I slipped off my nightshirt removed the binding on my upper leg and stepped in the shower and then fifteen minutes later exited the shower to Alice sitting on our bed with a bottle of sun cream. "I've done Terri and Susan has done the twins, your turn," I dropped my towel to the carpet and sat naked on the bed whilst Alice gave my face, arms, shoulders, torso and legs a generous coating of high SPF sun cream, I then reciprocated with her until her entire body was protected. "No exercise this morning my love I'm afraid as Hillary wants an early start but I'll jog with you this evening." I hugged Alice as I hadn't had my wake-up cuddle and started to dress. We all left Brunsfields just after nine in a mini convoy of three vehicles headed by Hillary, the twins had opted to go with Hillary and Silvanus in his Jaguar as it had very dark tinted windows and they thought that was really cool! Terri and Andi were with Terry and Aliza leaving Susan to ride with us in the back of the old 99 with a collection of floppy sun hats. About ten minutes into our journey Susan's phone went off. "Oh Trish is heading back home now mum." Alice then asked, "Did she say if she'd made peace with her father or not?" Susan rapidly tapped at the virtual keyboard on the screen of her phone and a few seconds later there was another ping. "Sort of, it looks as though Dix may have had to intervene at one point though." I smiled but Alice shuddered. "Oh I really hope that this trip has a positive outcome for her Suzy, after all she's been through over the last few years, she deserves some happiness." There was a pause and I heard Susan sniff quietly before she replied. "Yes mummy she does." When we arrived at the large car park to the Zoo I noticed Terri and Andi sitting on a wall together with Silvia and Hillary standing by them. I got out of the Saab and was reaching into my satchel for my purse when one of Hillary's security staff appeared and passed me a parking permit. "This one's for you Ma'am." I found myself wondering if he'd always had security staff around him or if he'd organised a security presence for our visit. I placed the small paper permit onto the dash of the car so that it could be observed through the windscreen and Susan passed me my hat before heading over to Andi and Terri with theirs. It was a beautiful day with almost no clouds in the sky and only the slightest hint of a gentle cooling breeze I was glad Alice had chosen such a light and airy outfit for me to wear today. As we entered the Zoo Hillary's staff quickly blended into the crowd Susan Alice and I stayed as a small group and as Terri was with Andi and seemed to be comfortable in Hillary and Silvia's company we just tagged behind them with the twins and Aliza following closely behind. Terri was quite disappointed that she couldn't find any Elephants or unicorns at the Zoo but Hillary somehow managed to find a ranger to explain to her that Unicorns didn't like Zoo's and liked to roam free in forests so they didn't keep them as it would be cruel, Terri then decided that she was happy that the Zoo didn't keep Unicorns! Hillary was a completely different person when with small children and throughout the morning could be seen with either Andi on his shoulders or Terri. Just before lunch we visited the Meerkat enclosure, Terri absolutely loved them. We had a lovely lunch at one of the on-site restaurants and after lunch visited the penguins who soon became Terri's newest favourite animal. I noticed as we watched the penguins that Susan seemed a little distracted so I left Alice with Hillary and the others and went over to her and using one of Alice's sisters favourite saying asked. "Penny for them Susan?" She hadn't even noticed me coming over to her. "Uh wha?" "I said Penny for them Susan, you seem to be perpetually distracted at the moment." "It's nothing Mummy really, I promise." I gently placed my hand in hers. "It might be nothing but it's obviously playing on your mind, let's walk." And with that Susan and I headed away from the main group towards a lovely grassy picnic area where we both sat down on the grass. "A lot has happened to you this year Susan some of it must be playing on your mind, is it what happened to Trish or your boyfriend or something else?" Susan's face visibly reddened. "I'm not sure mummy, last year everything was perfect but now things are different." "In what way?" "I'm different Mummy I'm not like you, I'm not fearless I can't just turn my emotions on and off like you." I didn't agree with her but I reasoned that now was not the time to contradict her. "Mummy I don't think things will ever be the same again, Trish and I are friends again and she seems to have recovered from her ordeal but whenever I'm with her I can't stop myself thinking of all she went through and how she nearly died. Mummy the twins could have been hurt too, or Leah all because of me." I swallowed as I listened to Susan quietly and wondered to myself if Bob may have finished his counselling with Susan a little too early, no it wasn't that Susan had been a little hesitant with Trish following her recovery but they were soon friends again, something had caused my sweet daughter to lose confidence in herself and I was wondering if it had been her Ex-boyfriend. "Susan has this got anything to do with the policeman?" I didn't need Susan to answer as her expression said it all. "Susan did he hurt you?" I asked. "No Mummy he didn't, Mummy can we stop talking now please?" I nodded and hugged her Susan then dabbed at her eyes and rose from the ground, what on earth had gone on with my daughter and Pc Thompson for her to end their relationship so suddenly? "Would you see if anyone wants a lolly or a drink please Susan?" she smiled. "Okay mummy." She then left me to my thoughts and worries for her. I was watching from a distance Terri, Andi, Alice and Hillary interacting with a large snake held by one of the keepers sometime later and must have been quite lost in my thoughts as I hadn't heard anyone approach me. "She'll be okay Joy Susan just has to work through what is troubling her, she's a bright girl it shouldn't take her long." "I think it has something to do with her Ex Silvia." "It really wouldn't surprise me Joy but there is something else too, have you noticed the way she observes Terri? it's almost as though she's afraid to let her out of her sight." I had, Susan had always been protective of Terri but recently I had noticed a change she'd almost become over protective. "May I talk with her as a friend later Joy? It may help." I nodded. "I'd appreciate that Silvia." "Come on let's rescue Hillary from the girls," said Silvia. "I'm not sure he really needs rescuing Silvia, he seems to be having a whale of a time." Silvia smiled broadly at me as he proudly stood holding both Terri and Andi's hands "He used to be such a lonely man Joy but look at him today, he looks so happy." Silvia then confided in me something that Alice and I had already figured out. "I love him so much and if I'm being honest with myself I think I always have done, I'm such an idiot." I was just about to ask Silvia a little about their long relationship when the twins appeared. "The gorilla threw poo at Terry Mummy it was really funny," said Lucy excitedly. "Yes but that's because he was annoying him Lucy," said Dawn. I walked with the twins and re-joined our group with Silvia. That evening I swam for nearly an hour in Hillary's outdoor pool, then sparred with Susan and Aliza before Silvia massaged my leg once more and then applied her gloop to it. On Sunday we all, with the exception of Terry, Aliza and Andi, visited a lovely steam railway ending up late afternoon at the beach, Silvia spent a lot of time on Sunday with Susan walking the grounds and talking to her and that evening I watched from our bedroom window Susan talking animatedly to Silvia as they walked it both saddened and mystified me that she didn't feel that she could confide her problems in Alice or me, but I also knew that with Silvanus she was in good and understanding hands. Chapter 36 - Sacked Joy. On Monday morning before dressing for work at Markhams, Alice and I said goodbye to our children, as Matt and Iona would soon be picking them up and taking them to London to visit their Auntie Stacy and do some sightseeing. Susan, who today was dressed very casually in stretch jeans and a tee shirt seemed more like her old self as she hugged me very tightly and whispered. "Thank you Mummy for not pushing me and for your understanding." She seemed a lot happier today. Silvia who was already dressed for work winked at me. Alice stayed with our children downstairs whilst I went up to our rooms and got dressed for work. As I drove along the road towards the Markhams gatehouse I noticed Julie getting off the bus so I slowed a little and pulled alongside her. "Want a lift in?" I asked through the open passenger window. "Please," she replied with a warm smile as she reached out to open the door and entered. "Did you hear what happened at the weekend Olfa? Markhams was broken into." "Really I hadn't heard anything but I was out most of the weekend enjoying the weather." "Well Maureen who is on the late shift rang me yesterday evening and told me that the place was swarming with people on Saturday from some security company Maureen said that they were scratching their heads as to what had happened as nothing seemed to have been touched." "Are you sure that Maureen wasn't just spinning you a yarn Julie?" "No she wouldn't do that she said that the security guards saw something on their cameras early on Saturday morning that really spooked them." "Oh?" "Yes Someone dressed like a soldier in one of the offices but they just disappeared in front of their eyes." I started to laugh as I pulled over by the gatehouse and showed our passes at the window. "Seen any ghosts recently boys?" I said to the man at the window. "Doesn't take long for the rumour mill to start does it?" he commented as the barrier raised and he let us into the compound. Julie and I clocked in. we handed our phones in at reception and went to the cleaner's room to get changed, I removed my silver wrist bangles and my ring and placed them onto the shelf with Julies jewellery and pulled my tabard on to protect my clothing. "You know that woman that started the same day as you Olfa?" "Oh yes she's a little older than me, she got the workshops to do, didn't she?" "Yes, have you heard what the machinists are calling her?" "No I haven't." "They're calling her the 'Grim Sweeper' because she's always miserable." I just couldn't help it I burst out laughing, Julie joined in. "So did you have a good weekend then?" I asked as we walked together towards the offices. "Yes we did; I took Simon and Carrie to the park on Saturday and we had a picnic on the grass and on Sunday I had a long talk with my Sister, she's in Germany with my dad at the moment." "Oh does she live there?" "She does at the moment Olfa, she's not very well and is having treatment at a clinic there." "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that. Is it working, the treatment?" Julie smiled at me, her entire face was full of hope and emotion. "Yes it is, before she left home she could hardly walk and her speech was almost unintelligible and she was going blind but when I talked to her on Sunday her speech seemed so much better." Julie paused for a second or two. "And my dad says that now she has been offered a similar therapy back here in England, up North somewhere I think, so she may be coming home soon." I already knew this of course as Alice had been in communication with Dr Mike, Major Simmons and Ruby from Stevenson Biotec sporadically all weekend, she really wanted to help. "Oh that is good news Julie isn't it?" "It sort of depends Olfa, I've been funding her treatment so far but my funds aren't limitless I just hope that this new clinic isn't more expensive or I'll probably need to find another job or work weekends or something." Soon after Julie and I split up, with me doing the western end of the offices and her doing the east and meeting in the middle around lunch time but I noticed as I was getting closer that she was nowhere to be seen. "Have you seen Julie the other cleaner?" I asked one of the draughtsmen as he walked past me. "I think she was called for some kind of interview," he replied, Kingston I thought to myself he must have resumed his interviews, I parked my trolley and headed downstairs and as I passed one of the other cleaners she said, "Have you heard? Julie's just been seen coming out from her interview in tears." "Where is she now Karen?" "In the cleaner's room I think." I headed quickly to the cleaner's room to find Julie sitting on a large bale of cleaning cloths in tears. "Julie are you okay?" I asked as I approached her. "That horrible man he knows all about me, he kept saying that I had done something wrong and asking questions about Mr Biddlestone, he said awful things Olfa." I approached and gently hugged Julie. "I don't think he really knows anything Julie I think he was just fishing for information, he knows that you and Mr Biddlestone had a friendship and is trying to read something else into it, you've done nothing wrong so you have nothing to worry about." I passed her a small hankie from my pocket. "But he knows about my past my previous jobs and, and..." I knew exactly what he'd found out about this lovely young woman and I was not about to let him spoil her life but before I could console Julie any further I heard the door open. "Ms Swann would you please accompany me to the interview room Mr Kingston is awaiting your presence." I turned to Julie. "I'll see you later Julie, chin up." I then turned to the suited man "Lead on then." Mr Kingston was sitting smugly behind his desk as he had the previous week and in front of him was a folder with my name on it. "Ah Ms Swann please do sit." Maintaining eye contact with my interrogator I sat on the hard-backed wooden chair. "I've had quite a busy weekend Ms Swann and as you can see I have found out some interesting information about you and your chequered past." "Really Skippy? I don't believe that for a second." "For instance it says here that you were once a member of communist affiliated organisation during the early eighties and organised several sit-in demo's, so you are a trouble maker." "Nope I was a student and was a young socialist, that's what students do, you're pretty shit at this interrogation lark aren't you?" "And then we find a caution for possession of a class B substance." "Whoo a bit of weed, big deal." Quietly and almost inaudibly in my ear I heard, "Care to guess who was kicked out of the police force for an inappropriate relationship with a junior officer? It was all over the London papers at the time." I smiled at my interviewer at Taff's comment. "Actually I've just remembered where I remember your name from Skippy." "We are not talking about me Ms Swann." "I remember now, I was living in London at the time, it was in all of the papers, you used to be a policeman, didn't you?" "Ms Swann I'm warning you." "You seduced a junior officer that was it, there was a huge scandal and you were forced to resign." "MS SWANN WE ARE NOT HERE TO TALK ABOUT ME WE ARE HERE TO DISCUSS YOU." "Oh but I'm pretty boring compared to you Casanova." Mr Kingston did not say anything and composed himself. "I'm sorry Ms Swann but as you did not reveal your previous dealings with the police on your vetting form nor your history of subversion whilst a student so I have no option but to recommend that you be suspended without pay with immediate effect, he looked behind me at the suited man. "Please escort Ms Swann off the premises." I looked at this idiot with contempt. "You do know that I'm only an agency worker don't you and as such you can't actually suspend me." "C'mon luv, you had better do what Casanova says." "It's Mr Kingston to you." "Oh yes sorry sir," he said not really meaning it. The suited man then escorted me out of the room and down to reception. "Stay here I'll get your stuff for you," He returned a couple of minutes later with my satchel and coat just as I'd gotten my phone back, my escort then followed me to the car and then sat in it with me as I started the drive out of the large car park. "Why didn't you just answer his questions? Why did you deliberately try and piss him off?" he asked me of Mr Kingston "I didn't really take to him I'm afraid err." "Aidan, Aidan o Reilly." "Nice to meet you Aidan I only started at Markham's last week as an agency cleaner so I didn't think these interviews applied to me and I really didn't like Kingston's adversarial attitude, I mean what was with that lamp?" "Aidan laughed, yes he is a bit of a dick, isn't he?" I smiled and nodded in agreement. "I've only been with this lot for four weeks, probably won't stay though." "So what did you do before then?" "Was in the parachute regiment but was invalided out when I damaged my eye, bloody ridiculous, seven years in various war zones with hardly an injury and then lose most of the vision in my eye to a bloody accident, got no real depth perception now so I'm not much use as a soldier anymore." "So who do you work for then?" I asked. "Not really sure I'm a bit like you employed by an agency, the pay is good though." He then pointed over to a dark blue Rolls Royce parked in the bay to the side of the Gatehouse. "That's the bosses' car over there, he's also a bit of a dick, must be visiting to see how the investigation is going on, oh there he is just coming out." I couldn't believe it, it was Lucius Withers." "Is that Lucius Withers?" "No I was told his name was Damien Aldfield, oh just drop me off here if you don't mind I'll walk back in." Now I had a dilemma. I quite liked Aidan but I didn't want to blow my cover, I also didn't want him to get further involved in whatever Lucius was up to so I reached down just under the steering wheel and pressed a small recessed button. "Aidan may I give you some advice." "I suppose." "Don't go back into Markhams." "I can't really afford not to Olfa, we have a baby on the way and I really need the money." I sighed. "If you give me half an hour of your time Aidan I promise it won't be wasted." Aidan looked at me quizzically. "I suppose, I was going to walk over to the pub on the estate for my dinner anyway." I turned the car and headed into the estate to locate the pub. "So what was your rank in the parachute regiment then Aidan?" "I was a lance corporal I was just about to go for my corporals' ticket when I had my accident." "Really so where were you based?" "In Wales." "So you're first battalion, I trained with you lot for a while." "What?" "I trained with your battalion for a while Lance corporal, although I don't remember seeing you I'm pretty sure that you would remember several Royal Marines and a woman staying at St Athan." "No, no that's not even funny, stop the car now." "It's okay Lance Corporal o Reilly I just want to ask you a few questions and possibly save you from the worst career choice you're ever likely to make, now what do you fancy for lunch? My treat," I had to play this carefully I didn't want to spook Aidan any more than he already was. After parking the car I took my satchel then Aidan and I walked into the lounge area of the pub and after a few minutes we ordered food at the bar and then took our drinks to a secluded booth. "You seem to be taking this rather well Lance Corporal." "Not really, because if you are actually who I think you are I'm actually bricking it." "If I thought that you had anything to do with Roberts disappearance or had any allegiance to Damien Aldfield you would be justified but If I'm correct you were just employed as personal protection to Skippy sorry Kingston for during his interviews." Aidan nodded and took a mouthful of beer. I then noticed entering through the lounge door Terry, he had Jonesey with him, he went to the bar and Terry came straight over to me carrying one of Aliza's bags. "What do we have here Captain, who's your friend?" I introduced Aidan to Terry and he shuffled himself into the booth next to him, Terry then passed me the bag. "Prezzie from the missus, I'll stay here and let you freshen up." I took the offered bag and headed over to the toilets where I entered the disabled cubicle and quickly stripped off removing my extra padding as I did, I removed my wig and unpinned my hair from the net then removed my makeup and after changing into my usual underwear I quickly pulled up a pair of loose cotton Capri trousers tiny white socks, plimsolls and a loose tee-shirt, I packed my disguise back into the bag and quickly made up my eyes and added a little lippy. On my way back to Terry I dropped the bag off with Jonesey and re took my seat only to find Terry eating my food. "Don't worry Captain yours will be along soon." Aidan just stared at me from the other side of the table and said to himself. "Aidan what the hell have you gotten yourself involved in?" Terry said, "I don't think you really have anything to worry about mate but you will be taken from here by one of our colleagues and interviewed at a secure location and if your story pans out you'll be free to go." "Will I still be able to talk with Freya, she's due soon," I added for Terry's benefit. "She's his wife and she's pregnant, they should be together Captain," Terry sighed. "We'll arrange for your wife to be picked up this afternoon Son, you'll be together by this evening." "Thank you Sir," Terry then started to ask questions of Aidan whilst I tucked into my newly delivered lunch, it was around this time that I realised something, something very important indeed, I'd left my silver ring on the shelf at work, my mood darkened considerably after that. Just as I was finishing my own food whilst running through scenarios to get my ring back in my mind, three suited men entered the lounge area. Aidan sank into his seat. "Oh crap that's my supervisor and a couple of his cronies, what they doing here?" "Just stay calm Aidan I'm sure that they're just here for their lunch too." The three men went over to the bar, one of them started to talk to the waitress whilst the other two looked around fortunately Aidan was shielded by Terry and the wooden walls of the snug. "You got a phone son?" asked Terry. "A company one yes, it's here." Aidan lifted it out, Terry immediately took it and passed it back to Jonesey who immediately left his seat behind us and headed out into the carpark. After a few seconds one of the men's hands absent mindedly went to his ear and he gestured to his colleagues to leave and they did at speed. On his return Jonesey came straight over to us. "Dropped the phone into the cab of the bar snack man's van Sir, Ma'am" "Thanks Jonesey probably just enough time now for pudding before we head off then," said Terry. I was just polishing off my apple pie and custard when a number I didn't recognise appeared on my phone and knowing that my phone was secure I answered it. "Hello?" "Hello Is that you Olfa? It's Julie from work, I got your number from reception." "Oh hello there Julie." "Is it right they've sacked you?" "Yes I'm afraid it is." "Ah, well you left your ring behind and your bangles I've got them here with me now." Thinking fast I said, "The other agency worker that started the same time as me, is she still there or has she gone now?" "Oh the 'Grim Sweeper' she's already left for the day I think, I'll tell you what I'll take them and meet you tomorrow somewhere possibly the high street after work if you like?" "Thank you Julie I appreciate it." "Bye then." "Bye." Terry was smiling. "Grim Sweeper?" "Yes it's what they've been calling Silvia." "Oh that's a classic." Just then Jonesey appeared once more and addressed Aidan. "Excuse me, your wife would like to speak to you sir." He passed the phone over to Aidan and for the next minute or so he tried to reassure her that everything was all right and that she should go with Taff to the safe house with him. We left soon after, Terry and I going back to Brunsfields and Aidan with Jonesey to be reunited with his wife. Chapter 37 - Ding Dong Angel Calling Joy. All through our evening meal according to Alice I was fidgeting with my ring finger, she of course was right I missed my little silver ring badly I knew it was only a copy of Alice's ring but without it something was missing and it disturbed me. After our evening meal as Alice and I walked through the gardens hand in hand Alice said, "Joy?" "Yes?" "Do you know where Julie lives?" "Of course, she's only about half an hour's drive from here why?" "So if your ring is only half an hour away then?" "Yes." "Why not pop out and get it?" "It'll wait until tomorrow," I stated. "No it won't Joy, I can tell it's disturbing you I'm sure that Julie won't mind if you call on her." I turned and looked deeply into Alice's eyes. "If you are sure?" "I am," she lifted up her free hand and wiggled her fingers showing the simple patterned silver ring I'd bought her just after we'd first met. "My ring means everything to me and I'm pretty certain that yours means a lot to you also." She was of course right I just didn't feel right being separated from it. "Okay then I'll be back soon." I kissed Alice passionately for few seconds before heading back into the house to get the keys for the SAAB. It took me a little while to locate Julie's house which was virtually on the edge of town, her street was tree lined and poorly lit, her house was also set back from the road and quite hidden by the high surrounding privet hedge, I noticed it on my third drive by, Julie's house was a large fairly old detached house with a large front and rear garden surrounded by the high hedges that gave it privacy, I noticed two things as I drove past firstly that there were a few large plastic brightly coloured toys on the front lawn but secondly and more importantly that the front door to Julies house was unusually lying on the floor just inside her house and there were wood splinters still attached to the hinges on the doorframe. I immediately called Taff to see if anyone was in the area. "We're about seven minutes from your location Ma'am, Captain Percy and I were just out in the van getting a Chinese takeaway for the lads." "Head straight over here Taff I think we almost certainly have a situation." "We'll be there soon, careful Ma'am." "Thanks Taff I will." I cancelled the call and pulled in a couple of hundred yards from Julies house, went to the rear of my vehicle and located my Bergen in the boot. After quickly changing into more suitable attire for an evening in the shadows I placed my Glock along with silencer and three spare clips into my trusty satchel and headed down the road towards Julies house fearing what I'd find when I got there. Instead of going through the open gate on Julies driveway I entered via the hedge to the side and after taking out a couple of external lights found myself in cover to the side of her open front door, inside I could hear the noises of a very rough search accompanied by smashing and clattering as drawers and cupboards were being opened and their contents tipped and strewn on the floor of her house. One man appeared to be directing the search. "Over there try in those cupboards," he ordered. "Any headed Markhams paperwork bring to me, once we've finished down here go upstairs and search the bedrooms." "What about the girl?" I heard another voice ask. "You heard the boss no witnesses." "Sir." I knew exactly what 'no witnesses meant' and I was not about to let Julie or her children be hurt so I took out the Glock from my satchel and screwed on its silencer then slid a fresh clip into its handle and pulled the slider back loading the first round into its chamber. Moving silently under the large bay window I approached the front door and stood in the open doorway with my legs apart and the Glock behind my back and pressed the doorbell once. 'Ding Dong' went the doorbell followed almost immediately by complete silence within the house and apparent shock from the five men in front of me in the large open plan living area. "Kill he..." shouted the first man his words being silenced by a single thuck from my side arm hitting him centrally in the chest. I turned to see a second man pulling a weapon from his jacket Thuck, thuck, thuck went my weapon as three small holes appeared in the fabric of his shirt and he fell to the floor, I quickly entered the house in the confusion that followed and made my way to get a clearer view of the adjoining dining room when I was rushed from the side by a lean man who grabbed my arm preventing me from using my weapon so I dropped it onto the floor and followed its path down to the carpet as I dropped then side swiped his legs from under my attacker, he partly fell catching himself on the arm of reclining chair so I swung around and kicked him in the head, then as he fell. I throat punched him, twisted his arm so his elbow was facing the hard edge of an occasional table then smashed his arm against it shattering the joint. I dived for my pistol just as another man entered the room with pistol in hand and I let off another two shots, one of which relieved him of his ability to fire as it severed the nerves and tendons in his shoulder. The man then picked up a steel decorative poker from the side of the fire place and with his good arm started to swing it in front of himself hitting several ornaments and smashing them as he did, I picked up a nearby lamp standard and used it to deflect the blows from the poker until I could go on the attack. My opportunity came a few seconds later when instead of deflecting the blow from the poker I pulled back and allowed his swipe to continue with the result that the poker hit the coffee table and before my assailant could pull his weapon back to resume his attack I hit him across the side of his head with the base of the lamp standard rendering him unconscious. Retrieving my pistol once more I checked the rest of the ground floor for any more unwanted guests and went into the kitchen to wash the blood from my hands in the kitchen sink, I then on noticing Sterilisation equipment on the worktop checked the fridge and removed a small bottle of expressed milk wrapped it in several layers of kitchen tissue to act as an insulator and placed it into my satchel before heading upstairs. It was obvious when I reached the top landing where Julie and the children were as I could hear muted whimpering from the second door along, I made my Glock safe and placed it in my satchel then approached the door cautiously. Chapter 38 - An Unexpected Visit from A Work Colleague. A few minutes before... Julie. A few minutes ago as I glanced out of the kid's bedroom into the street outside I noticed a large executive type car pull up just down from our house on the other side of the road then three burly men and one tall thin man got out from it then headed up towards our house and up our drive, they didn't even knock on the front door, they just kicked it in, I quickly gathered the kids and brought them in here to my room and locked the door, Simon is absolutely terrified and Carrie is fretting as she needs her Nappy changed. I suppose it's now only a matter of time before they come upstairs and find us but until then I'm staying here huddled in the gap between the old oak wardrobe and the wall whilst my noisy burglars ransack the downstairs of my house I can hear the noise and of movement downstairs and the occasional thing being smashed still, then to my surprise I hear a 'Ding Dong' as the front doorbell goes off, everything then goes very quiet for a second or two before I start to hear screams from the men downstairs, then a couple of bangs like a car backfiring and some weird thuck noises from directly below me in the living room or dining room. The noise continues for what seems to me to be ages but in reality, was probably only just a minute or so. After a while it goes really quiet for a minute or two and then the boiler bursts into life, someone is using the hot water! There is then another period of silence before I hear the stairs creak as someone comes up them, Carrie who is still at my breast is whimpering now as she's soiled her nappy and is not happy, I try and calm her by stroking her fine hair but she's terrified I think she has sensed my own fear. 'Knock Knock' I nearly jump out of my skin as someone knocks quietly on the bedroom door. "Hello Julie, It's Olfa from work may I come in please?" "Please go away you're scaring us." I then hear Olfa speak once more, her voice is soft and she speaks clearly. "The men downstairs were going to hurt you Julie, I couldn't allow that to happen, they won't be hurting anyone for a long time now I promise you." I can feel the tears rising, what on earth is wrong with me? This isn't like me at all. I hold onto the children even harder. "I'm here to help you Julie, I promise you, may I come in please?" asks the voice from the other side of the door. I hesitantly get up from the corner and carrying Carrie whilst holding Simon's hand I walk towards the door and unlock it wondering all the time if I'm about to make a huge mistake. On opening the door I see Olfa the new cleaner from work! She's dressed entirely in black and has an old school satchel slung across her chest, with the satchel itself resting against her hip and what looks to be fresh blood splattered across her left cheek, her hands look wet as though they'd just been washed. "I'm so sorry for scaring you Julie, but I had to intervene, we need to get the three of you somewhere safe but I think that a little someone is going to need their stinky nappy changed first," she says pointing at Carrie. Olfa then crouches down to Simon, smiles at him and says, "Hello my name is Joy I've come to help your Auntie Julie would you like to take my hand and I'll look after you while your Auntie changes your sister's stinky nappy?" Simon looks up at me and I nod, he then reluctantly let's go of my hand and takes hold of Olfa's outstretched hand and we go together into the nursery. As I'm changing Carrie Olfa talks quietly to me. "As you have probably already worked out I'm not really a cleaner, my real name is Joy and as of about five minutes ago you came under my protection, I'm here to help you." "Help me?" "Yes, from what I've just witnessed downstairs your life is in very real danger as are the lives of your sisters' children." I looked open mouthed at Olfa, Joy or whatever her name was; how the hell had she found out about my sister? She realised my shock. "Don't worry I'm not here to take your niece and nephew away from you," she then seemed to become a little distracted as though someone had just whispered bad news to her. "Julie we need to go now, cover your niece's eyes until we've left the house." I finished dressing Carrie and picked her up, Joy picked up Simon and covered his eyes with her left hand then we left the nursery and quickly went downstairs. My living room was a mess and was splattered with blood and littered with the bodies of the men who had entered only minutes earlier, they looked to be either dead or unconscious but as we passed by one of them he groaned only to be kicked in the head by Joy as she passed him by, we left by walking over what was left of my front door and Joy ushered me over to the other side of the street where we waited until a white transit van pulled up a few seconds later, the side door opened and I was assisted in to it by a man with a Geordie accent "In you get pet, you and the bairns will be okay here with us. Joy stepped in with Simon and sat on a seat on the side wall of the van still holding him, he was now clinging to her. "Brunsfields Ma'am?" asked a voice from the front of the van "Yes Taff that'll be fine." "Ma'am" The door to the van then slid shut and I felt it shudder a little as it started away. Joy then turned to me. "Today must be your lucky day Julie, my misplaced ring has almost certainly saved your life this evening, may I have it back now please?" "I'm sorry but I can't get it off It's been stuck on my finger since I put it on prior to leaving work," I admitted. "No matter it'll probably come off tomorrow after a good night's sleep, just don't lose it as it means a lot to me," Joy then went quiet and sat back against the side wall of the van whilst still holding Simon tightly in her arms and stroking his hair. The Geordie man got onto his phone and started issuing orders. "Jonesey? set up a secure perimeter round the house and then ask Aliza or Silvanus to pop out and buy a couple of packs of nappies and the associated gubbins for a couple of young Boggits; then prepare for one new guest along with two micro guests," there was a pause, "Yes nappies Corporal, oh I don't know, get a selection." Chapter 39 - Safety It took nearly an hour before the battered looking white van finally pulled to a stop by which time the two small children were fast asleep in the arms of Julie and Joy, Taff opened the side door to the van quietly and Julie was helped out of the van. Joy just stepped out unaided, carrying the soundly sleeping little boy in her arms. The group were met by two women one approached Joy. "Here let me take the little tyke from you Joy, we've made a couple of beds up for them already." "Thanks Aliza," said Joy before turning to Julie and reassuring her. "We're not taking them away from you Julie, just putting them to bed, you can go up with them if you wish?" Julie looked really unsure. "I'm Alice, may I?" said the other woman offering her arms to Julie, Julie hesitantly passed over the sleeping baby girl to Alice, she then smiled at Julie. "Come up, kiss them goodnight and tuck them in Julie, we've also set up a camping bed in their room if you would prefer to be closer to your children?" "I err." Joy could see Julies hesitation and gently placed her arm around her. "We'll all go up together Julie and get them settled in." With that the three women left the van and headed up to the large old house. On entering the house Julie was led through to the back of the house and into a large modern extension, up a steel and glass stairway and onto a mezzanine landing off which were several doors. "This one is your room Julie but you can sleep with the children if you would prefer," offered Alice. "Oh they are used to sleeping by themselves now but as long as I'm close I suppose it'll be okay," said Julie whilst trying desperately to be brave. Aliza and Alice placed the two small children in separate beds that had recently been fitted with guards to prevent them falling out, Julie kissed them both and then left their room and went out onto the landing and over to the next room with Alice. "Our friend Aliza will be sitting up here initially tonight to ensure you are kept safe Julie, Joy will also be here a little later, tomorrow morning you will probably meet with a man called Hillary, this is his house and he hopefully will explain everything to you." Alice looked at the young woman and could tell that she was struggling to keep her emotions in check, she guided Julie into her room and then once through the door hugged her tightly whispering into her ear as she did. "Everything will be okay I promise." Julie then broke down, the events of the evening finally getting the better of her. Joy and Aliza stood awkwardly on the landing outside Julies room whilst Alice calmed her down. "Can you imagine what would have happened if you hadn't gone to get your ring back Joy?" asked Aliza. Joy winced and shuddered a little. "I'm trying not to think about it to be honest, I'm more concerned about who sent those men to her house and what they were looking for, they certainly weren't your average heavies and they didn't hesitate to attack me." "Hopefully Hillary will have more information for us on what's happening when he gets back from Bristol, get some sleep Joy I'll take the first watch," Joy hugged her friend and left her sitting on an old high-backed wooden chair on the landing between Julies room and the children's room. Joy left Aliza upstairs and headed down to Hillary's office she contacted Bob who had already been appraised of the situation, he suggested that as Julie would probably be quite busy over the next couple of days that they should get someone to help look after Simon and Carrie. "I'll contact Mary (Dot's daughter) and see if she has anyone local available." "Actually Joy I have someone else in mind and I would like you to invite her to help." Five minutes later and just under three hundred miles away in the bedroom of her home on the Northern outskirts of Newcastle Upon Tyne a young woman called Tiffany was sleeping, Tiffany had recently graduated from University and was waiting to start her Master's degree but at the moment was working as a waitress in a local Greek restaurant, Tiffany did not really need to work but her therapist a man she only knew as Bob had suggested it to help 'Bring her out of herself' Tiffany really wanted to work with children again but still suffered recurring nightmares of an incident that had happened whilst working as a holiday rep at an upmarket hotel in Turkey, she'd been turned into a human bomb by terrorists whilst looking after several children including the Susan Stevenson and the twins. (The River part 4) Tiffany was woken from a deep sleep by her mobile phone vibrating loudly on her bedside table, annoyed that the phone had woken her up she turned on her bedside light and after brushing the hair from her eyes swiped the answer logo and said sleepily. "Hello?" The voice on the other end of the phone caused a sharp intake of breath and she sat bolt upright. "M, Mrs Stevenson, it's, I'm, I mean what can I do for you?" Tiffany listened carefully and started to nod. "If you are sure Mrs Stevenson, yes, yes I would be honoured to help in any way I can." "Pick me up in fifteen minutes? Helicopter? Oh," Tiffany was now unsuccessfully trying to get out of her nightwear and half hopping around her room whilst still talking on the phone. "Thank you, thank you thank you so much Mrs Stevenson I won't let you down," and with that the call ended. Tiffany was now standing almost naked in her bedroom looking at her phone and trying to keep calm by controlling her breathing. "Keep it together Tiff remember everything the doc told you?" she said to herself as she went over to the seat her bra was hanging from. Just over half an hour later Tiffany heard a knock at her door she'd just brought her overnight bag downstairs and was zipping up one of her heeled boots as she answered the door to a man in military uniform. "I'm nearly ready Sir I just need to put my other boot on." "It's okay Ma'am take your time," said the sergeant that had been sent to pick up Tiffany and escort her to a nearby helipad but on seeing how flustered she was he suggested. "Would you like me to put the kettle on and make us a brew Miss whilst you get ready?" Finally Tiffany stopped rushing around and said, "Yes I think I would like that." Julie woke in the early hours of the morning to the sound of Carrie crying in the room next door, she was confused as to where she was for a few seconds and then just as she was getting up to calm change or feed her she heard someone singing and humming very quietly in the room next door, Julie padded over to the door to her room in her nightshirt and exited it noticing that the chair on the landing was empty. When Julie entered the bedroom that Carrie was in she found Joy holding Carrie in her arms gently rocking her and quietly singing a lullaby to the now settling child. Julie just stood and watched unsure what to do as Joy then placed the now sleeping Carrie back into bed and as she did Julie noticed a softness in Joy that she'd not noticed previously, gone were the cold eyes and almost emotionless face of earlier replaced with a softer caring face that seemed to radiate compassion. Joy smiled at Julie. "She's settled now Julie, I don't think she was hungry, just a little scared at being somewhere unfamiliar, you should get back to sleep." "I'll try but my mind is racing with what's happened to me tonight." Joy gently took Julie's hand. "I know, I'll make you a nice milky cocoa drink that should help you get back to sleep." Joy then guided Julie down to the kitchen in the old part of the house and started to make Julie a cup of cocoa whilst trying to put her at ease. Julie's nerves were still however in tatters as she nearly jumped out of her skin a couple of minutes later just as the pan of milk on the stove had started to boil when a man dressed completely in black carrying a weapon entered the kitchen. "This is Corporal Jones Julie he's one of the men protecting you this evening." The man turned to Julie. "Sorry for scaring you miss I was just completing my patrol." Joy smiled at the man and threw an entire packet of chocolate digestive biscuits at him which he caught with his free hand. "A snack for the lads Jonesey, sorry about the takeaway earlier." "Thank you, Ma'am." With that he left carrying the biscuits. "He and several others are protecting you and your children Julie, I'm betting that he was sent in by the others to try and find something to snack on." Julie just looked at Joy bemused. "He called you Ma'am are you a soldier too?" "No not really Julie it's a bit complicated as my rank is only honorary." "Oh." As Joy now had her back to Julie she didn't notice her breaking open a small capsule and pouring the powdered contents into her cocoa with the hot milk as she stirred it in. "Here you go; this'll help you sleep." Julie gratefully accepted the offered drink and sipped at it whilst Joy drank her own cup of tea and made idle conversation with her. As Julie was now finally starting to feel more at ease it gave the cocoa and its contents a chance to work on Julie and it didn't take long before she started to feel drowsy once more. "I think I'll be going back to bed now Joy, thank you for the drink." "My pleasure Julie, I'll come up with you. Within minutes Julie was dozing contentedly in her bed and would sleep until morning. When Joy was relieved by Silvanus a little later she said, "It's been quiet Silvia, I gave Julie a little Melatonin to help her sleep earlier as she was still quite agitated but she's sleeping peacefully now." Silvanus knew that unlike normal sleeping pills Melatonin was different as it was a naturally occurring hormone produced by the pineal gland that it's only real effect is to help induce sleepiness, it's effect however would almost instantly be negated by a loud noise or excitement or anything else that caused the release of adrenalin, she'd used it many times herself to help counteract the effects of jet lag. Silvanus took her post on the landing and Joy left to be with her wife and snatch a few hours of sleep and a cuddle before dawn. Chapter 40 - The Next Morning. Julie. I woke to knocking at my bedroom door and after a second or two realised where I was. I pulled the sheets up a little and asked, "Hello?" "It's Alice from last evening, I've brought you a cup of tea." "Err, come in," I replied cautiously, Alice entered she was carrying a tray with a cup of tea and two slices of buttered toast on it, Alice smiled at me. "Good morning sleepyhead, I hope you are feeling a little better this morning," she said as she placed a saucer and cup onto the bedside table then alongside it the two slices of toast on a plate. "Tuck in before the toast goes soggy." I was hesitant to do anything as I was almost naked under the sheets having taken my nightshirt off as I went to bed, Alice noticed my predicament and my nightshirt on the back of the chair next to the window and reached over, picked it up and then passed it to me, she then turned to look the other way as I quickly slipped the soft cotton gown over my head. "Okay I'm decent now," I said Alice turned around smiled at me, pulled the chair over from the window and sat on it. "Tuck in," Alice said pointing at the toast. I took a slice of the thickly cut toast and bit into it and then a sip of the Tea, Alice smiled warmly at me. "Could you try and slip the silver ring off your finger for me please Julie as Joy is missing it terribly." I looked at the silver ring and as I twisted it up my finger it came free, my fingers must have become less swollen in the night. I immediately passed the ring to Alice saying. "I slipped it on just after I contacted Olfa, I mean Joy about it. I should have taken it off once I'd left work but just forgot." She smiled and wiggled her fingers at me, she had an identical ring on her finger. "Joy's is an exact copy of mine Julie and mine is very special to me and it now seems that Joy's ring may have saved your life and the lives of the children last night." "Oh?" Alice then brought out a tape measure from the pocket of her skirt. "But let's not dwell on what might have happened, you are going to need some clothes so as soon as you've finished your toast I'll measure you up," Alice paused "or if you would prefer you can do it yourself?" There was something about Alice that just made me trust her so I agreed and when I'd finished my toast and drunk half of my Tea I got out of bed and she started to take measurements. Alice hummed to herself as she slipped her tape measure around my body and seemed completely at ease with me, something I couldn't say I was feeling about her. "Don't be nervous Julie I've seen it all before trust me, oh before I forget we've already been out shopping and bought you some supplies and a new breast pump as we used the last of your expressed milk earlier on to feed little Carrie, Corporal Jones is busy sterilising the bottles now." Alice smiled and commented wryly. "The Royal Marines are versatile types." Who the hell were these people? I backed away from Alice but she continued. "You're a really good person Julie, what you have done for your sister and her children and what you have sacrificed for them is admirable but you are going to need help now, let us help you please." "B, but you also know that I'm a man, don't you?" "You were once Julie but not anymore." "And it doesn't sicken you?" "No, why should it? We know about your condition, the choices that you've made and that you've sacrificed almost everything to care for Carrie, Simon and your sister, why wouldn't I feel anything but admiration for you?" Alice's words hit me like an emotional brick, I could feel the tears rising and as she offered me her arms I realised that I needed to be held, this she did unconditionally as I broke down in her arms. Alice guided me over to the bed and sat down whilst still holding me tightly and gently stroking my back. It had been quite some time since a proper adult had held me and it felt wonderful, even brief as it was all of my problems of the past couple of years seemed to fade away whilst this stranger called Alice held me in her arms. Several minutes later I was calm enough to continue, Alice coaxed me to take off my nightshirt and without a hint of embarrassment on her part measured my chest for a new bra, all of my own underwear was still at home and really was mostly my sisters especially her bra's I was actually now wearing her old maternity bra's due to lack of funds. Alice pulled out a phone and contacted someone called Silvia and then someone else called Aliza and passed on my measurements to them and in both calls she instructed them to use their good judgement with their purchases, Alice then turned to me. "Right Julie there are a few items outside the room I'd like you to try to see if they fit, your new clothing should be here by lunchtime." She then left and returned with a pile of clothing. "Just find something that fit's and come down when you are ready, I'll be in the kitchen." I looked through the clothing that Alice had left me and selected a tee shirt and leggings from the pile I also picked up a cream maternity bra along with a fresh pair of knickers. My room had a small toilet and washbasin so I had a quick wash, I then noticed my figure in the mirror, the changes to my body seemed to have accelerated even more recently and bringing my hand up to my breast I gently cupped it noticing as I did the glistening of milk at the nipple, I was surprised at the firmness and tightness this morning of my breasts until I realised it had been some time since I'd fed Carrie. Quickly taking my hand away I picked up my new knickers and pulled them up my legs noticing the coarse hair covered triangle that obscured my vagina as I did, I then put my arms though the straps of my bra and gently eased my swollen breasts into the soft confines of the cups that within seconds encased and gently supported my engorged breasts, I then went out back into my room to see that whilst I'd been washing someone had left more supplies on the bed including a breast pump and a pack of absorbent pads to soak up excess milk, I sat on the bed and quickly assembled the breast pump, screwed on one of the small milk bottles and offered the suction cone to my left nipple, after a second or two my engorged nipple and a fair amount of my areola was sucked into the clear plastic cone, whilst the sucking action of the pump mimicked a baby's sucking. I sighed as I watched several fine jets of milk leave my nipple to be collected by the bottle below, it was not as good as when Carrie fed from me but it was rapidly relieving the pressure in my right breast, my left nipple had also started to drip onto the towel I'd placed below my breasts. It took me twenty minutes to drain my breasts to a comfortable level, I finished dressing and as I was slipping on my shoes I heard giggling and laughing somewhere outside the room and then realised that I hadn't seen to Simon yet this morning so I opened the door to my room bringing my expressed milk with me, the noise became louder I then noticed from the balcony him sitting on the floor downstairs with Carrie and a smiling woman who looked a few years older than me, she was playing some sort of game with Simon and seemed very happy whilst Carrie looked on slightly bemused. I went down the staircase to the lower level, the woman immediately got up off the floor and introduced herself. "Hello, I'm Tiffany I'm a registered child minder. I hope that you don't mind but you were sleeping so I dressed and brought your children down, they have had their breakfast, oh good you've expressed some more milk I'll take that if you like? Mrs Stevenson is just through there in the old part of the house I believe she has made you some breakfast." I picked up Carrie and gave her a hug and a kiss and then hugged Simon before leaving them with Tiffany. At breakfast Alice explained that I was staying at a place called Brunsfields and, more worryingly, that her friends were convinced that my life was in very real danger. Alice showed me a report on the local morning news on the TV, my family home was on it or rather what was left of it as it had been burned to the ground overnight, the reporter said that the occupants 'A young mother and her two young children were still missing' they couldn't even get that information correct. The reporter then talked about a gas explosion but mentioned nothing about the men that had been in my house the previous evening. Alice explained to me. "We believe the fire was started to remove any evidence of what happened last night Julie, the bodies had probably all been removed before the fire was set." "Oh what have I gotten myself into Alice?" Alice smiled at me. "That's something that we all need to find out Julie, so I'd like to talk with you and try and work out the how's and whys this morning, if that's okay with you?" "Y, yes anything, I'm no angel but I can't imagine anyone who I've upset enough to try and hurt me as I've spent most of my life trying not to get noticed." Alice smiled once more. "Brunsfields has quite a lovely garden Julie so when you've finished your breakfast we can sit out there in the shade and you can start at the beginning and tell me a little bit about yourself and about your life." "All of it?" "Yes, I'm in no hurry and now that you're under our protection you can take your time," I nodded in agreement Alice really knew how to put me at ease. Chapter 41 - A Gentle Debriefing Julie. After breakfast I spent a little more time with Carrie and Simon before Alice found me and we went out into the gardens of the lovely old house. "This house is owned by a very good friend of ours, this is his family home and has been for generations; he's called Hillary by the way," Alice explained. "It is a lovely old house Alice, I'm not sure about that extension though," Alice giggled a little. "Yes I don't really like it either, I don't even think that Hillary likes it that much but his late father had it built in the Nineties so he's stuck with it now," Alice guided me into a sheltered area near to the centre of the garden it was surrounded by hedges that sheltered the area from wind and it was warm. A garden table had been set up with two chairs and there was a canopy to protect us from the sun, I sat down opposite Alice. Alice then placed her phone on the table between us and dialled a number, she then produced a tiny moulded piece of plastic and as she was placing it in her ear she said, "As we talk Julie our conversation will be monitored by a friend of ours, he's called Bob and he's a doctor, he may occasionally ask me to ask you a question via this small earpiece but essentially all I want is for you to tell me a little about yourself." "Can't this Bob be here himself?" "Alas not at the moment Julie as he's abroad, well when I say abroad he's actually having a few days in Scotland." Her comment made me smile. "So what do you want to know about me then?" Alice sat up straight smiled and asked. "I would love to know a little more about you, about your past and of your sister if it's not too upsetting for you?" Alice was a wonderful listener as I told her some of my history all the way up till lunchtime I spent telling her of my life ending with my diagnosis at the hospital. "Let's stop there Julie as I believe that little Carrie is fretting back at the house, she's probably after a feed and a cuddle." Alice offered me her hand and we headed up the garden towards the house together. "I haven't seen Olfa, sorry Joy, this morning is she about?" I asked. "No she's out working. She's done your shift at the high street and she'll now be hard at work at Markham and Sproggit's." "Really but I thought she'd been sacked?" Alice laughed. "She had but when you didn't turn up this morning Markhams contacted the agency and the only person available was Olfa Swann, so she's back again." "Oh." "She has unfinished business there, but I wouldn't worry about that at the moment." As we approached the house I noticed two armed men dressed in camouflage colours shadowing us to our side, Alice must have noticed my concern. "Pay them no heed Julie, Joy and Terry's men are here for your protection." "But they have guns." "Yes they're not taking any chances and won't hesitate to use their weapons if they think your life is in danger." "Or yours Ma'am," added the closest man. Alice smiled at him. "Thank you John." "Ma'am." As I entered through the rear of the house extension Tiffany came up to me with Carrie in her arms she was wriggling and very unhappy. "The little tike needs a cuddle and a feed, she's missing you Miss," said Tiffany. I took her from Tiffany and found a quiet corner with a reclining chair in it, I sat and made myself comfortable then pulled up my tee shirt and unzipped one of the cups of my bra whilst Carrie strained to get to my nipple, very quickly she latched on and started to feed from me. After about five minutes I was re-joined by Alice and a woman who I'd only seen briefly last evening, thing they were carrying trays laden with sandwiches and drinks. "Sorry but until we go out and get some proper shopping in sandwiches will have to do I'm afraid, oh this is Aliza, you met briefly last evening, she's a very good friend of mine." Aliza smiled at me then closed the blinds behind me. "That'll keep the sun out of baby's eyes Julie." They both then sat down near to me. Once Carrie had finished feeding Aliza offered to take her from me so that I could 'sort myself out' she then placed a towel on her shoulder and placed Carrie into the burping position and gently rubbed her back Aliza smiled as she said, "I never thought I find myself doing this again so soon." Once I'd cleaned my nipples and tucked myself back in I took a sandwich and a drink whilst Alice and Aliza took turns fussing over Carrie who soon fell into a peaceful sleep, Aliza then took her away to her cot whilst the other two kept me company. Alice then placed her phone on the table and once again asked. "I'd like to hear a little more about your life now if that's okay. I believe that you'd just been given your diagnosis at hospital?" I though back to the aftermath of my diagnosis and shuddered as I continued my story. Chapter 42 - The Generosity of Strangers. "I think that is enough for today Julie, as you probably want to spend some time with little Simon and Carrie and freshen up before our evening meal?" said Alice later that afternoon. Alice walked with me into the rear of the old house and we entered through the extension I was greeted by Simon who held his arms out to be carried and Carrie who was being held as she slept by an older woman, she was dressed very casually and was barefoot. "Carrie is such a peaceful child, you are a lucky girl Julie, I'm Silvanus it's a pleasure to meet you." I freed a hand and shook hers, there was something familiar about her. "It's nice to meet you Silvanus are you a childminder too?" She didn't smile. "I suppose in a way I am, but you are the child I am minding, as whilst the others are away for a while my friend Aliza and I are tasked with keeping you safe." "Oh" "Aliza and I went shopping for you earlier today and have placed our purchases in your room I hope that we have made suitable choices for you." "I'm sure that you have Silvanus thank you very much." "Please call me Silvia," At that moment a small beeping sound started, it was coming from a small tablet on the kitchen table, Silvanus quickly went over to it and swiped the screen. "Ah I see Hillary has returned, he's early." She then left me and headed further into the house to greet her still with Carrie in her arms. I was a little surprised to find that Hillary was actually a man, he was probably a little older than my own father, he came straight over to Simon and I and smiled. "You must be Julie. It's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Hillary, could you just follow me through into my office please?" Alice said, "Here I'll take Simon from you; we'll go and do some colouring in with Tiffany." I passed Simon over and I followed him into the old part of the house and along a short corridor through into a dark room with wood panelled walls he unbuttoned and removed his jacket before placing it on a hanger on a hat stand, he then went over to a very large old desk and leant against it. "Please take a seat." I sat on a large leather high backed chair and felt a little like a naughty child about to be reprimanded by the headmaster. Hillary smiled at me, his smile seemed genuine and warm. "Don't look so nervous Julie I'm not about to tell you off for anything." This actually caused me to smile a little. "That's better. Now straight down to business, somehow you have managed to have become a person of interest for some very unpleasant individuals and if it hadn't been for the intervention of my good friend Joy last evening we would not be having this conversation now." I actually heard myself gulp. "do you have any idea at all what those men were searching for in your home any idea at all?" "None at all sir, they just burst through the front door and started to wreck the place I hid upstairs with the children." "Hmm, we've come up with somewhat of a blank too, how long have you been working at Markhams?" "Just under four months sir I'm working there to earn a little extra money to help finances and to help with Izzie, that's my sister, whilst she's away." "Oh yes she's currently abroad undergoing an experimental treatment for a brain tumour I believe." Hillary was now looking through a file "Ah yes here it is, she's getting Immunotherapy treatment at a German clinic for a grade 4 Glioblastoma," Hillary looked up from his notes "May I ask how her treatment is progressing?" "The last I heard her tumour had actually started to shrink and with therapy her speech is slowly returning." "Oh that is good news Julie, she's staying with your father I believe?" "Yes." "Does anyone other than you or I know where she is at the moment?" "I don't think so sir." "Good but as a precaution I will assign some discrete protection for her your father and his new wife." I just nodded dumbly as I realised how out of my depth I currently was and just replied. "Thank you sir." Hillary then closed the file with a snap, left the table and walked over to the large panelled window behind him and looked out of the window for a second or two before I finally plucked up the courage to ask. "I don't want to seem ungrateful sir but who are you people and..." Hillary interrupted, "I'm really sorry young lady I can't tell you everything at the moment as you are still somewhat of an unknown quantity to us but I will tell you that I work for the British government and that you are being protected by several people that over the years I have gained a great deal of respect for." "Like spies or something?" "More like something Julie," Hillary gestured me over to the window where he was standing so I joined him and looked out over the gardens noticing as I did Alice who I'd spent virtually all day with and Joy from last evening, they were by an ornamental fountain and were holding hands. "Do you see Joy over there? She is a very capable woman and will keep you from harm, you should trust her." I nodded. "I think I already do Mr Hillary I mean without her and the others I shudder to think what may have happened to us last night." "Others?" "Yes the people that helped Joy to get rid of my house invaders, the ones in the van." Hillary turned to me. "Terry and his colleague arrived after those men were dealt with, your liberation was entirely the work of that beautiful young woman walking barefoot with her wife down towards the river." I heard myself make an audible gasp. "What Joy lacks in physical strength she more than makes up for with speed of thought and lightning fast reactions, she's a remarkable young woman and a good friend." "And she works for you, does she?" I asked nervously. "No she works with me sometimes when necessary and she does it completely voluntarily, she normally works with Aliza and Silvanus and Terry who you've met." "And those soldiers last night?" "They my dear, are Royal marines specifically SBS," Now I had heard of the SBS. Hillary then went over to his desk and produced a form for me to sign. "Sign here please." "What's this?" I asked. "It's a non-disclosure agreement." I signed it as I figured I really had no other choice. "Good girl, now this evening I was thinking of us all dining at a local restaurant, unfortunately I don't have a cook on staff like Joy and Alice, would you like that Julie?" "If it's not too much trouble Mr Hillary I'll pay for the children and I of course." "You'll do nothing of the sort, 19:00 acceptable to you?" "Err oh Seven, yes that's fine thank you." I left Hillary's dark office and headed back out to the new part of his home then up the staircase to my room, as I entered I noticed several bags on my bed. It took me nearly twenty minutes to sort through the assorted clothing and underwear that Silvia and Aliza had bought for me and I started to offer garment after garment up to my body looking at myself in the mirror as I did and, without a single exception, every single gown, skirt, dress or blouse was absolutely wonderful, my new friends had very good taste in clothing I just couldn't wait to try my new clothing on. After a few minutes sitting on my bed in silence I decided to run myself a bath and get ready for an evening out so I went over to the window to close the curtains and as I did noticed Alice and Joy walking back from their barefoot walk, it was at that point I realised that Joy was actually a lot younger than I had first taken her for and a lot slimmer too how on earth had I not noticed last evening?. Closing the curtains I removed my day clothing and underwear and slipped on a gown before heading out onto the landing to have a bath. On the landing I noticed downstairs Tiffany with Carrie, she was changing her nappy on the floor using a changing mat so I decided to go down and see if she needed a feed before my bath, she did. As I sat with Carrie having her evening meal from me, Tiffany busied herself, tidying up from her day playing with Simon and moving several toys and building blocks over to the side of the room. I noticed outside on the grass that Simon was watching Silvanus who was doing yoga or possibly Tai chi I wasn't sure, but he seemed to be enjoying himself trying to copy her. Joy rescued Silvanus from Simon a couple of minutes later and carried him back into the house, just as Tiffany commented. "Little Simon really likes to use crayons Julie, He's filled up most of the scribble books I brought today I'll probably need to get some more tomorrow." "Oh I just use waste paper Tiffany there are a load of sheets in Carrie's changing bag my friend Robert used to leave them out for me." I moved Carrie over to my other boob and she continued to greedily feed. "That's a good idea Julie a bit of recycling," said Tiffany as she went over to the changing bag and rummaged though it's compartments and finally pulling out a thick wad of A4 sheets. "Oh yes, I see that Simon has already been at a few of them, that's so wasteful just printing on one side." Joy then started to look at the scribbled-on sheets. "Did Robert give these to you Julie?" I nodded. "Yes he would leave paperwork that I could have in the waste bin by the side of his desk usually with a note saying it was scrap." "May I look?" she asked. "Yes, of course." Joy then started to look through a few of the sheets Simon had scribbled on and then a few of the others, she turned to Tiffany. "I have a friend who's currently sitting in a battered looking van down by the potting shed could you ask him to join me please Tiffany?" "Yes of course Mrs Stevenson." Tiffany slipped on her shoes and exited into the garden. "Do you have any more of these sheets Julie?" "I had some at home but the more recent ones were in the bag Joy." She went over to my changing bag and rifled through it finally pulling out my mobile phone. "Julie have you used this phone since arriving here?" "No I usually just use it to ring my father in Germany as its dual sim and has a sim card in it that gives me cheaper calls than using a landline." "May I borrow it please?" "Certainly." Carrie was just finishing off her meal when one of the men I'd met the previous evening appeared through the large glass doors from the garden "You wanted to see me Ma'am, oh heavens I'm sorry I didn't realise." He then turned and looked away from me. "Oh stop being such a wuss Taff Julie's just feeding the baby." Taff turned around once more and whilst looking at the floor asked, "Tiffany said that you needed me for something Ma'am?" "Yes have a look at these," The man called Taff raised his head high enough to take one of the sheets from Joy and started to look at it. "Well the crayon work is a little basic and immature but I can see some structure in the lines, the narrative however is a little sketchy though." I watched as Joy smiled. "Not Simon's artwork Taff the other side it looks like some form of purchase ledger." "Hmm, oh yes and look down here it looks like a list of suppliers, do you have any more of these Ma'am?" "Yes there's a load over here, Julie had them in her bag." "May I take them, I'll scan them all in and see what I can find." "Thanks Taff. Oh and could you take this phone and check it's not compromised for me please," asked Joy, the man called Taff then gathered up all of the sheet's he could find and my mobile phone then left the way he'd come. Carrie by this time had stopped feeding and had started to wriggle. "May I?" asked Joy, I passed Carrie to her and covered myself up she said, "I'll look after little Carrie for you why don't you have a nice relaxing bath?" I nodded fastened my gown and headed back upstairs. It was nearly seven when I reappeared to go for dinner with Mr Hillary. Alice and Silvia were there, as was Aliza and Tiffany with Carrie, I was wearing one of the dresses that had been chosen by Joy's friends along with new and very comfortable underwear and possibly the highest heels I'd ever worn. Hillary was holding Simon's hand "Ah good Simon and I would like you all to follow us to the cars." Chapter 43 - Stevenson Data Collection Centre Joy. I wasn't going out for my meal tonight as Taff had turned up something that could hopefully highlight what had happened to Robert. In his investigations he found that all recordings made by Markham's cameras were backed up to a separate storage facility, this was common practice in the Stevenson organisation and it seemed that after Matt had pulled out from our joint venture with Markham's they'd forgotten to cancel their account, fortunately for us it was a facility owned by the Stevenson family and was only a forty-minute drive away. Terry and I arrived at the secure facility at around quarter past seven and I pressed the call button on the intercom and waited. Eventually my call was answered. "Hello." "Joy Stevenson." "I.D please." I took out a small metal ring made from aluminium and titanium from the pocket in my door card and held it out of the car window next to a black plate with a target on it. "Okay NFC verification complete, is the passenger with you?" "Yes he is." "Move through the first gate please." I drove the car through the first gate and stopped by another intercom whilst the large steel gate closed behind us. "Place your finger onto the reader please Mrs Stevenson." This I did and the second barrier opened allowing me access into the inner compound and car park we parked the car in the small car park to the side of the building and headed over to a single steel door mounted in the wall of the small single-story brick structure. "I've wanted to come here ever since it opened Joy, but never had the opportunity." I turned to him. "Daddy had this place converted following the incident with the toyshop data being stolen, I've never been here either." As I approached the metal door a voice from a small metal grille by its side said, "Place your right eye in front of the retinal scanner," This I did. "Accepted, now type in your access passwords on the keypad please." Once I entered the last letter of my pass phrases there were several loud 'thunks' from behind the door and a whirring noise as the door slowly opened. "I'll meet you at the bottom of the stairs," said the voice as we entered. I noticed that the inside walls were at least three-foot- thick and made of concrete and in front of us was a metal landing leading to a staircase going down and as we reached the staircase the steel door behind us started to close. Terry and I went down several flights of stairs until at the bottom we met a young man wearing a tee shirt and jeans, he was also had a pair of headphones around his neck "Hi, I'm Mick is this going to take long as we've just pulled together a party and I was just about to do Hellfire Citadel with my mate Martin?" "I have no idea what you've just said," said Terry. I did. "He's talking about World of Warcraft Terry. It's an online game." I then turned to Mick "So you are the legendary Mick that my friend Martin talks about." "Yea that's me I wasn't expecting you so early, so what you after?" I passed him the server details and after a quick look he said, "Okay looks simple enough, follow me." We followed Mick through a very large and thick steel door that closed behind us. "Okay then bay 127 rack fifteen." Within minutes we had arrived at the rack of R.A.I.D arrays that housed the recordings from Markham's. "I've routed the rack through to that pc there Mrs Stevenson and if you send your bloke Taff this IP and gateway address he should also be able to access the data too, anyone want pizza whilst I'm ordering?" Terry immediately said, "Can you get me a chilli beef one, Oh and a couple of cokes and some chips too." "Done and you Mrs Stevenson?" "Hawaiian thin crust please and I'll just have some of Terry's chips." "Okay done, need me for anything else?" "No I think I can take it from here Mick thank you, why don't you educate my colleague Terry about your game whilst I'm busy?" "Okay then." Terry followed Mick to his office and I sat down and loaded a viewing browser on the monitor and keyboard supplied by Mick. It took me less than ten minutes to locate the appropriate file dates from the Terabytes of stored data on the server and then a couple more to highlight camera's that would be of use to us, I messaged Taff with the information and left the cold server room to try and find Terry and Mick. Once I'd found it Mick's office was everything I would have expected from him and looked more like a teenagers bedroom than a senior software engineers workshop with pictures of the latest video games and films on the walls and a bin filled to the brim with crisp packets and pizza wrappers but I also knew that as he had a Masters' degree in forensic computing and an almost unhealthy obsession with data security Matt was correct in giving him almost sole responsibility of protecting the Stevenson Organisation's data. I stood at the door and listened as Mick tried to explain to Terry, an experienced tactician and Royal marine, the intricacies of his game. "Remember you're the tank so you need to attract damage from the boss so that the Mages and healers can do their jobs relatively unhindered. See they are healing you now, just keep attacking," Terry looked bemused as he clicked his mouse furiously with Mick taking over every now and then. "Whoa something is up," stated Mick as he swung his seat from the game to a separate keyboard and monitor. "Latency has just shot up on the game, not good, not good," he said as his fingers played across his keyboard almost becoming a blur. "Don't get me killed Terry I'm relying on you, Aw bugger someone is trying to get in," I go over to Mick who was now furiously typing. "Anything I can do?" I asked. "Yea see those two consoles over there?" "The data switches?" I asked. "Yes, when I say 'now' press the green button on the top one and then the blue button on the lower one, it'll physically divert these Arseholes somewhere safe where I can mess with them, what you doing Terry? you're pulling too many enemies?" "Don't blame me mate, If I had my usual weapons I'd be finished by now, and your friends keep shouting at me," said Terry who seemed to be having a hard time on the game he was playing. "Okay Mrs Stevenson now." I pressed the first button followed by the second. "Okay that's it, they get to really fight to see anything now, what you done Terry?" I could then hear lots of voices coming from the speaker on the desk, they were not complimentary. "What on earth are they on about I made a strategic withdrawal?" said Terry indignantly. "Yea further into the dungeon pulling even more bad dudes, you've just done a bloody Leeroy, Aw crap that's my account I'm never going to live this down." I thought it best at this point to intervene. "Mick if we could just get back to work matters please?" "Oh yes sorry, we're busy being hacked Mrs Stevenson, so I've physically switched the incoming connection to a pre-prepared server. This server has layer after layer of increasingly complicated protection and firewalls that should keep whoever is doing this busy whilst I find out who and where they are. Mick then switched desktops to a bland text-based Linux workspace and started to type in a small text window. There was a buzzing sound a few minutes later and a picture appeared on the large flat screen monitor on the wall. "Could you get that for me please it's the pizza guy?" I took the handset and answered. "Hello?" "Hi, it's Tommy from Eric's pizzas have four pizzas for the Noob who just did a Leeroy Jenkins," But before I could answer Mick shouted across the room "Sod off Tommy I was AFK at the time and had a Noob covering me, just drop them off at the hatch as usual." "Will you be on later Mick dood?" asked Tommy. "Dunno mate having a bit of an issue here at the moment." "Kay," I buzzed the pizza guy through and he cycled through to the main building and placed the contents of his backpack within a small hatch by the side of the main entrance door. "Any chance someone could get the food for me as I'm a little busy here?" said Mick who had now pulled up a second keyboard and monitor and was now using both keyboards. I turned to look at Terry but he seemed to be half way through entering his credit card details into Mick's computer. "I'll get the food then, shall I?" I said as I took off my jacket and headed out of the room. I returned three or four minutes later after going up top and retrieving our food from the inner security hatch and entered Mick's office eating a slice of very good Pizza. "Here you go lads, food." "Thank you Mrs Stevenson," said Mick "Dunno who this lot are but they are good, would it be okay if I enlisted the help of some acquaintances?" asked Mick whose fingers were now almost a blur. "Will they need come here?" I asked. "No, nothing like that, they should however be able to discretely trace the origin of this cyber-attack whilst I keep them busy in the bogus server." "Okay then," Mick opened a window on the computer and within seconds a highly disguised voice asked what he wanted. "I have a challenge for you guys, I've got someone or ones trying to get into my system, I was wondering, if I kept them busy, if you could find out where they are doing it from?" "Get back to you," was the reply and two minutes later as I enjoyed some of Terry's chips the reply popped up on the large CCTV monitor on the wall. "Wow that was fast even for them, hmm they're using a server at the local university and about three hundred of its computers to mount their attack on us, however it in turn is connected via the Water Boards network and then it bounces off an American military weather satellite back down to earth in Seattle then via a fibre link into Canada and then up through Alaska," said Mick as he talked idly to himself before finishing with, "Former Soviet Union, Ukraine just off the Moldovan border, looks like an old Radar listening station or at least it was once according to google maps." I listened to Mick as he talked and as I poured drinks into three mugs asked. "What would happen if these hackers managed to beat you Mick?" "Not going to happen Mrs Stevenson, this is far too much fun." "But if they were to get into your bogus server, what would happen?" "I suppose that they would locate what they wanted and take it before erasing their tracks and probably trashing the drives." "And have you worked out what they're after?" "Oh yes, they're after the same files you've came for." I thought for a second and then using my mobile phone contacted Taff who confirmed that he had all of the data he needed at present. "Mick can you transfer the last month's footage to your bogus server and make it look like our hackers are winning." "Are you sure Mrs Stevenson?" "Yes, they already have the data, they just seem to be covering their tracks and cleaning up." "Well okay then, I'll need to briefly connect to bay 127 rack fifteen though," Mick pointed over to a patch panel on the rear wall, I took a bite of my pizza and got up from my seat and picking up a patch lead connected rack fifteen to Mick's bogus server. "Thanks, won't take long." Within five minutes Mick had completed his task and had started to let the site's intruders enter. "This really doesn't feel right, I do have my pride you know," said Mick as he typed. "Can I at least send down a little surprise?" "What did you have in mind?" "A little something to bugger up the data packets and slowly corrupt their system from within, it'll keep em busy for ages." "And will this be undetectable?" "Yes, it'll latch on to one of the server's processes and uses so little processing power it's virtually undetectable and it'll vanish from the system in a few days leaving no trace apart from corrupted files." "Go on then," I said, Mick nodded in acknowledgement. Chapter 44 - Rescuing Robert Later that evening... Less than twenty minutes' drive from Robert Biddlestone's home, in large secluded detached house called 'The Surgery' but which hadn't really been used as one since just after the advent of the National Health service in 1948, five men sit in what would once have been called the parlour, watching sport on a small laptop placed upon an old upturned tea chest. "Check on our guest will you Alec," said one of the men to another who was munching on crisps. "What already?" "Yes already, usual drill loud music and or a good kicking." "Okay Manny but I don't think he'll last much longer, he's not exactly match fit, is he?" "The Pole says he needs info from him so just do as I say." "You're the boss mate." Down in the basement lying on the stone floor of the old mortuary was Robert Biddlestone. At the moment he was sleeping, giving him a brief respite from the pain he was now constantly in. after days and days of inactivity and sleep deprivation yesterday Robert had been dragged into a room with only a sturdy table and two chairs in and had been chained to the table then interviewed by a man with a strong accent. a man who, after an hour, had with no notice whatsoever grabbed at his hand and with the aid of two other men cut off the top of his little finger with a conduit cutter and even smiled at the traumatised Robert as he picked up the end of his finger and fed it to the small dog he kept in a man bag by his side on the table. "After lunch I think we'll try some electricity, it will be fun," said the man as he left Robert clutching at his bleeding hand. That afternoon Robert was ready to tell the foreign man anything he wanted but he just didn't ask preferring instead to inflict pain on his victim with a hand-held Taser unit until its battery failed. Later that day Robert was thrown back into his cell hooded soaked and almost naked now with a broken arm, wrist, three dislocated fingers and a fractured skull. In the evening Robert was subjected to very loud music followed by deathly silence and then as he nodded off through exhaustion someone would sneak up on him and shout loudly in his ear, Robert wept as he lay on the stone floor wondering when this hell would end but that was yesterday. Today Robert had been interrogated at length following being injected with a cocktail of pharmaceuticals designed to make him more talkative, they needn't have given him the drugs however as he was quite prepared to give his interrogator any information he needed. "What is your association with the Stevenson organisation?" Being one of the many questions he'd been asked followed by several about his investigation of component procurement procedures and finally at the instigation of a softly spoken voice behind him. "What is your relationship with Joy Stevenson?" "She was once my boss." "No there has got to be more, tell me more about her." "I once did something very stupid, she and her wife gave me a second chance." "No, no, no, no." Robert lost unconsciousness soon after that after being beaten by something heavy and damp that was absolute agony when it hit. Lucius Withers stood over Roberts unconscious body holding a long sock that was filled with damp sand. "When he wakes I want to find out everything he knows about the Stevenson woman, she keeps turning up and this worries me." "Maybe if you hadn't knocked him out sir I would have been able to find the information you required," answered the interrogator. "Just get it done or you'll be next." As Robert lay on the stone floor in the basement of the old Doctors house about to be tended to by a henchman who would rather be watching sport, drinking beer and eating crisps upstairs, several figures dressed entirely in black arrived unseen by any humans and surrounded the detached premises guided there by the green rental van parked on the drive. Earlier this evening, after downloading the video files from the Stevenson server, Taff has quickly located the correct un-doctored footage and although he did not witness Robert Biddlestone being abducted from Markham's he did observe four burly men in suits bundle something person like in a van at roughly the correct time, Taff took a grab of the vehicles number plate and quickly traced it back to a hire company using the DVLA database, fortunately for Taff the hire company used trackers on all of their vehicles (something they did not advertise to their customers) so Taff logged onto the tracker network and located the vehicle at its current location. The armed and camouflaged figures approached the house slowly and deliberately stopping only once to disable a crude perimeter alarm. Soon there were seven dark figures against the perimeter wall including Joy, Terry Corporal Jones, John and Taff. Silently each person placed charges against doors and windows setting the trigger mode to 'remote' before moving far enough away not to be caught in the blast. "Three, two, one," There were several simultaneous explosions as windows shattered and doors blew in followed almost immediately by the deployment of flash bangs and smoke grenades thrown through the now gaping holes where windows had been. The disorientated occupants of the ground floor put up no opposition and surrendered immediately when confronted by several heavily armed men (and one woman). "Robert Biddlestone where is he?" Terry asked of the men who were now bound and lying on their fronts on the bare floorboards. "Downstairs with Alec in the old Mortuary." Terry, who was covering the subdued men looked over at Joy, she left immediately followed a second or two later by John. As she went down the wide stone staircase into the basement area Joy heard scuffling coming from ahead of her, the door was ajar and as she reached it she heard. "I have a gun, if you enter I'll shoot." Joy took a flash bang from her satchel and pulled the pin but did not release the priming mechanism. John stood to one side of the door whilst Joy stood to the other and as she released the mechanism she counted in her head before tossing the flash bang through the door milliseconds before it went off. John went in low and kicked in the door whilst Joy came out of cover with her weapon raised, the stunned man was confused, uncoordinated and started to raise his own pistol but immediately dropped it as he realised that he was no match for his heavily armed opposition. "Secure the prisoner," Joy ordered. "Ma'am," said John as he approached Alec who now had his hands behind his head. Joy went immediately to the semi naked figure huddled on the floor and noticed immediately the marks left in pairs by electrical burns all over his torso and genital areas and the darkening skin caused by the rupturing of small blood vessels causing bruising, Robert had been severely beaten. Then Joy noticed that the tip of the little finger on his right hand was missing from the knuckle, she turned to John and in turn the man called Alex who was now secured. "Who did this to him?" "We only gave him the occasional kicking and made him uncomfortable, it was the interrogator and our boss that did the rest." "Take him away Lance Corporal and get a medic down here please." "Ma'am" Joy knelt on the floor and took Robert into her arms slitting the lacing of the thick cotton hood with her boot knife as she did, Robert whimpered in pain but wasn't really conscious, she tapped his face gently with her hand as she said repeatedly. "Mr Biddlestone can you hear me?" Robert returned to consciousness with a start and tried to shield his face from attack but Joy gently moved them back down. "I'm a friend Mr Biddlestone, we're here to help you." "Wh, who are you people?" "You're safe now Mr Biddlestone I promise." "They hurt me, beat me and electrocuted me." "I know Mr Biddlestone, I know." Robert realising that his ordeal may now be over then started to weep in Joy's arms, a grown middle-aged man reduced to tears by his captor's treatment, Joy held Robert tightly and stroked his sparse greying hair until the medic arrived to take over. Joy stood over Robert whilst the medic attended to him and watched as John led the now hooded man out of the cellar and up the stairs to the main house allowing him to bump into and trip on every obstacle in his path as he went. As Joy stood watching Robert being cared for by the medic Bob's voice came over her earbud. "I've been observing Robert Biddlestone via your helmet cam Joy, he needs urgent treatment and counselling. I'd like your permission for him to be treated at 'The Centre'." Joy nodded causing her camera to move up and down. "Thank you, I'll make the arrangements now, oh and if you could get hold of the animal that interrogated him for me I'd appreciate it." Joy nodded once more. "Peggy and I are in Glasgow at the moment we'll head back when it's light, we've both had a wonderful few days together, thank you once again." It was roughly two hours after dawn that a small blue and very old Austin Mini pulled onto the driveway of the old surgery, almost immediately a green Land Rover pulled behind it the car was then surrounded by men dressed in black bearing automatic weapons all trained on the driver. The front door of the vehicle was pulled open and the man inside dragged out restrained and hooded, his annoying little constantly yapping dog was placed into a pet carrier and later appeared at the local RSPCA office with the recommendation it be destroyed. Thirty miles away at almost the exact same moment Silvanus and Aliza walked out of a lift together hand in hand turned right and headed along the wide carpeted corridor of the third floor of a hotel, they approached two men standing guard outside a room who both smirked to each other as they watched the couple approach. Before either men had realised the danger they were in they'd both been winded by the women before each fell to the ground unconscious following several targeted and lightning fast blows to their bodies. The two men were swiftly taken from their assailants by Marines and dragged down one of the service staircases into a waiting van. Lucius Withers was still asleep when three fully armed marines burst into his room less than a minute later. Lucius was led from his room shortly afterwards, he was hooded his hands were bound with ties and he was protesting loudly his innocence. Chapter 45 - A Final Trip to Markham And Sproggit's Joy. I woke to the noise of a small child giggling and laughing somewhere and quickly realised I was still at Brunsfields. The sound of the children enjoying themselves lifted my spirits immediately and as I lay there listening I found that I could hear Alice also, she was in the shower and was humming to herself lifting my spirits further. Alice had waited up into the early hours for me to return, she helped me to undress and then without saying a word held me tightly to her own naked body until I fell asleep. I stretched and sat up slipped my panties off and padded across the soft carpet of our room towards the shower and entered, Alice had her back to me as I entered the wet room and was rinsing her long hair under the powerful jets of the shower, I smiled to myself as I took in her naked form and remembered back to the first time I'd seen her naked, her body was now a little more mature, as was mine, but she still had a wonderful figure despite carrying three of our children and Andi for Aliza. I slowly entered the wet room and came up behind her my hands gently traced her hips as my breasts pressed into her back. "Mmm, Good morning Mrs Stevenson," she said as she turned and kissed me on the lips. I thought that Silvia may have been a little irritated when Alice and I appeared very late for breakfast holding hands but on seeing us she just smirked and asked. "Would you care for a little late breakfast before your next workout girls?" We both nodded guiltily and then burst out into a fit of giggles, Silvia turned to Aliza. "Honestly they're like a couple of naughty schoolgirls sometimes." "And I wouldn't have them any other way Silvia," said Aliza. After our late breakfast Alice and I jogged before joining Silvia for her Tai chi warm up and then thirty or so minutes of sparring for me whilst Alice went over to talk with Julie and Tiffany who were entertaining Simon and Carrie who was sitting up aided by Tiffany. After our sparring session Aliza left us to get changed whilst Silvanus massaged my recently injured leg. "Your leg feels much better now; the muscles are moving smoothly once more." "Thank you Silvia, it feels much better now too, if you don't mind me asking where did you learn to do these things?" "I don't mind at all Joy, a long time ago when I was still quite young I lived for some time with a band of travellers in Eastern Europe I was eventually taught some of their old skills before we were separated," Silvia then changed the subject. "Hillary has suggested that we all adjourn to your home this weekend Joy, has he mentioned it?" "Yes he did and you are very welcome to stay with us Silvia and I'm sure that Leah would love to see you." Silvia smiled warmly at me before saying. "Shouldn't you be getting changed now for your trip to Markham's." "Oh yes, can't keep Aliza waiting." I kissed Silvia on the cheek and walked barefoot across the grass back into the old house and entered via its extension. It was just after lunch time when one of Hillary's drivers pulled up at the main gates to Markham and Sproggit's, Terry who was dressed in a suit got out from the front passenger seat and headed over to the gatehouse. Hillary's driver opened my door and I stepped out onto the tarmac in my four-inch heeled court shoes, the driver then passed me my briefcase and I followed Terry into the gatehouse noticing the several other vehicles of our convoy waiting behind us. "Hello how can I help?" queried the security man behind the counter as I approached it. "Hello er." I looked at the name badge on his shirt. "Graham, my name is Joy Stevenson, if possible could you call a member of senior management and have them sign my colleagues and I in please." "Do you have an appointment at all?" he enquired, I pulled several pre-prepared documents from my briefcase and showed Graham the security man the first. "Is this real?" he asked. "Yes Graham it is, my colleagues will now all show you their government identification." Terry and Hillary's men showed Graham their Government Id's and I showed him my interim ID. "Mine is only a temporary one Graham, as I will only be here to supervise the audit and temporary management team." To my complete surprise Graham said, "If I contact Management and tell them why you're here they'll most likely ask me to stall you whilst they start shredding things." "So what do you propose?" I asked. "This used to be a good business until the new lot came in and took over, I think I should escort you up to the management suite personally." I smiled at him. "Thank you Graham." Graham took his tunic off the chair. "My uncle works at Stevenson automotive in Doncaster Miss. If anyone can turn this crock of shit around it's you lot, Dan can you let those other vehicles in for me mate?" he said as we left the gatehouse. By the time we'd arrived at the main complex Taff had informed me that he'd blocked outgoing calls and that emails would be directed to a holding server so the complex was now effectively isolated from the outside world. On noticing us enter the main reception area one of the reception staff picked up her phone only to be told forcefully to put it back down, we then showed them the appropriate documents supplied by Hillary and signed by the Home Secretary authorising a temporary takeover of Markham's in a similar way that failing schools are taken over by the management teams of successful schools until they improve, in this case the Stevenson organisation would be temporarily taking over the day to day running of Markham and Sproggit's mostly due to the fact that until his death we'd been in partnership with Gerald Markham for several years. Once the reception area was secured a call was put out on the internal PA system for all senior management to meet in the Board room, we were joined at this point by Hillary. I swiped into the main complex using one of the cards I'd previously cloned and took the lift up to the management suite which was the entire top floor whilst the team of auditors set themselves up in the spare office space on the first floor. When we arrived at the doors to the board room they were ajar and there were several confused voices inside all with different theories about why they'd been summoned and as we entered Hillary took immediate control. "Excuse me ladies and gentlemen please take your seats whilst we await the rest of your management team." "Who the hell are you?" asked a breathless and very overweight man with a pink face. "My name is relatively unimportant. Suffice it to say that I work for her Majesty's Government." He turned to one of his entourage. "Mr Collins if you would," one of the suited men with us then started to place documents in front of each and every person sitting around the large polished table. Three men and a woman in suits arrived at the door. "Ah I see we have some stragglers, please take a seat," stated Hillary before he started once more. "As you can see from the documents before you that when your company tendered for work for the Ministry of Defence it agreed to certain conditions, one of which was to inform us of any security issues, stolen intellectual property, break ins or even staff that had gone missing under unusual circumstances..." One of the men interrupted Hillary. "But none of those things has happened, have they?" "Unfortunately sir, all of these events have happened and to top it all, I have had two of my top operatives working undercover here for some time, I'm not sure if these events are due to negligence, stupidity, incompetence or good old fashioned criminal intent but until we get to the bottom of what's been happening here at Markham's Mrs Stevenson has agreed to send in a management team from her own organisation to oversee this facility until our investigations are complete, oh and my staff are currently rounding up the other investigation team that has been running an illegal inquisition on your premises, we'll be dealing with them separately." "I must object," said the overweight man "Objection noted." Hillary turned to me. "Do you have anything to add Mrs Stevenson?" I stepped forward. "My father in law speaks highly of your company gentlemen and offered his help immediately when asked by the ministry; but until this investigation is complete I would like you all to surrender your access cards and passwords, if you need to go anywhere on site just ask one of our staff and once verified they will accompany you, I'm sure that this investigation will be over soon and everything will return back to normal for you." The meeting went on for another half an hour with the Markham's staff arguing their case, I slipped out with Terry as Hillary, Aliza and our staff had control of the situation we decided to retrieve a couple of things from the cleaner's cupboards. I retrieved a Glock pistol from the false bottom of the Henry Vacuum cleaner I'd been using until very recently and Terry retrieved Silvanus's pistol from her vacuum cleaner in the production facility. It was as we were heading towards the canteen area that Taff interrupted us via our earpieces. "North perimeter, the old Boiler house some unusual comings and goings, I think someone may be trying to destroy evidence Ma'am." "Okay Taff we'll take a look." "Thanks Ma'am." Terry and I turned around and headed towards the north perimeter fence, as we approached the old boiler house it looked abandoned, there were several broken panes in the windows but as we got closer we noticed that there was a light on inside and after getting close enough to look through one of the broken windows two men could clearly be seen throwing small boxes into a fire that had been set up in one of the old open boilers. "Looks like Taff was right these guys are attempting to destroy something Joy, Shall we?" I nodded and we moved along the wall towards the entry gate. I remover my recently recovered weapon and made it live before placing it into my open satchel then removed my heels before entering. Terry coughed and the two men turned, then on realising that they'd been caught red handed each started to reach into their jackets presumably for their weapons. "I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Terry whose firearm was already pointing at its target as was mine. "If you would do the honours Captain?" said Terry, he covered the two men whilst I moved forwards and removed a pistol from the shoulder holster of the leftmost man. Cable tied his hands behind his back and just for good measure looped an additional cable tie through his belt and through his tied hands. The second man was a little more difficult putting up unnecessary resistance to me restraining him. "Mate I would just comply because if you don't I may have to shoot one of your kneecaps out or worse let my associate disable you," the struggling man sneered. "Like she could," this was followed by a scream of pain as the struggling man's legs collapsed from under him following a blow just below one of his sciatic nerve points. "Don't say I didn't warn you mate," said Terry as he came forward and made his weapon safe. We restrained the two men and Terry put in a call to get them removed for interrogation. "Okay guys we're going to leave you now to our friends, try not to wander off." As Terry and I left the old boiler house he noticed that I was frowning. "Problem Captain?" "Yes the rough floor has plucked and laddered my stockings, I don't have spares with me." "Catastrophe." "Like you'd know," I said whilst slipping my heels back on outside the boiler house. "S'pose, c'mon I think it's time we made ourselves scarce, I'm sure Hillary's lot and your team can take it from here." I nodded to Terry in agreement and we walked back to the gatehouse to sign out. Chapter 46 - Assault Force Later, back at Brunsfields, Taff was working with three laptops that had been set up on the workbench of the potting shed. he was running searches on emails that had been recently downloaded from the Markham's servers, there was a knock on the potting shed door and a young marine entered. "Captain Percy asked me to bring these to you Sir," said the marine holding several devices some of which were wrapped tightly in Aluminium foil. "Pass them over Private I'll put them safely in here." The young marine passed the bundle of devices over. "So why do some of them have foil wrapped around them sir?" "Ah, they're the ones with batteries that can't easily be taken out, it keeps them safe until I can sift through the data in them. Just stick them in the microwave oven over there." The young marine turned to Taff. "Really?" "Yes really, it's a trick I learned from Captain Stevenson, a microwave oven makes a really good Faraday cage. I'm using this one to store several recovered phones." The young marine opened the door to the old microwave oven and started to stack the phones inside. "Sir." "Yes?" asked Taff. "One of the phones inside here has just turned itself on." "Shut the door Quickly." The young marine slammed the door to the old microwave oven shut. "Now go and find Captain Percy and ask him to come down to the potting shed with Captain Stevenson, Go go." The young marine left the old potting shed at speed whilst Taff logged onto the local mobile phone masts and started to look through their logs to see if Julies phone had managed to communicate back to any of them. By the time Terry and Joy arrived at the potting shed at the bottom of Hillary's garden Taff had already started the process of stowing his gear into the old van. "I'm sorry Sir, Ma'am but this location has been compromised Julies phone activated when the microwave was opened and at least two masts got a partial location I advise moving somewhere else as a precaution." "Partial location?" asked Joy. "Yes Ma'am but whoever turned the phone on will almost certainly be moving into the vicinity now so it'll only be a matter of time before they locate Brunsfields, there's not exactly that much around here is there?" Joy looked out of the tiny window of the potting shed and out over the river then said, "Can you get me a plastic container filled with petrol, some det cord, a battery, timer and a few lengths of scrap wire please? I have an idea that may give us some time." Terry went back up to the house to arrange evacuation whilst Joy worked to fabricate an improvised device. Aliza, Hillary Silvanus and two of Terry's marines along with Hillary's own private security ushered Alice, Julie, the children and Tiffany into vehicles spiriting them into the glowing gloom of the oncoming evening whilst Terry and Joy crossed the small river at the bottom of Hillary's land and headed up towards an old abandoned farm outbuilding approximately half a mile away. Terry carrying a large plastic container filled with petrol and Joy Julies phone, a length of det cord and a hastily constructed circuit. By the time Joy and Terry had returned Brunsfields was in partial darkness, Joy quickly slipped into her night combat clothing as did Terry and they joined the marines who had taken up defensive positions around the perimeter of Hillary's home. It was just after Eleven that the first signs of movement were seen near the old farm outbuilding in the form of headlights heading at speed across the field towards the building, Joy then heard over her earpiece 'Five armed men approaching building, entering building now.' Terry took out a throwaway mobile and pressed send. At the old farm outbuilding Julies phone lit up and went ding ding, it was picked up by the gloved hand of an armed man, who swiped the screen of the phone to try and read the message. when Julies phone was picked up the proximity sensor that had been fitted below the table detected that the phone was no longer present and sent a signal to a small timer set for seven seconds. Whilst the timer ticked away silently the armed man was reading the not so cryptic message on the screen of the phone, it read simply 'BOOM' he immediately realised that he and his colleagues were in mortal danger and that he had very probably set of a booby trap. "GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT," he shouted as the timer reached two on its countdown, and he and his colleagues had reached the wide door to the old building as the timer reached zero causing an electric charge to ignite the det cord that had been wrapped tightly several times around the plastic container containing petrol. The det cord immediately destroyed the plastic container and created a huge vapour plume of petrol that was immediately turned into a massive fireball blowing the intruders many feet from the old building and setting fire to their clothing. Joy Terry and the rest of the marines watched through binoculars as three of the men rolled on the ground in agony trying to extinguish their burning petrol sodden clothing whilst their colleagues tried to cover them to also stifle the flames. The brief explosion and associated fireball had illuminated the area long enough to reveal several minibus type vehicles following the initial two that had stopped to investigate the old outbuilding. Switching to night vision Joy noted that the people exiting the vehicles were also dressed in night combat fatigues. "That's commercial combat gear Joy it looks like Mercs we're dealing with here, hope it's not bloody Sentinel again." "Taff do we have the Barrett with us?" asked Joy into her mic. "Jonesey has the M107 with him Ma'am and Collins has a Dan.338" Terry then added. "Okay lads take out the two rear vehicles then find new positions before taking out the others, the rest of you prepare for incoming fire, Taff can you find out if anyone over there has a mobile phone on them?" "Scanning the local cells now sir." To the left of Joy there was two almost simultaneous bangs as the snipers took out the rear two vehicles effectively blocking the other vehicles exit from the field this was followed by a second of silence and then the distant cracks of small arms fire from the direction of the old farm outbuilding that was still on fire. "Looks like they've taken cover in the old building Joy," said Terry from behind the sturdy brick wall on Hillary's patio. "Taff you got a number for us yet?" asked Joy "Got three Ma'am, should be with you in a second." "Thanks Taff," Terry then used the comms. "Hmg's target the outbuilding and prepare to fire." Joy then pressed the green phone button on the old Nokia 5110 in her hand and placed it to her ear, a few seconds later it was answered. "Hallo?" "Oh hello there could I speak to your leader please?" "Who is this?" Joy could hear in the background small arms fire and confused shouting. "Could I speak to your leader please?" "Screw you." The line went dead. Terry issued the order to fire. "Hmg's five second burst now." Whilst the heavy machine guns delivered their deadly load into the vicinity of the old farm outbuilding, Joy re-dialled. "Okay point taken, who the hell are you people?" shouted the voice on the other end of the phone. "Us? Oh I'm sorry we're British special forces, and you?" asked Joy. "Security contractors," was the answer from the man on the phone. Taff interrupted via Joy's earpiece. "Ma'am Mr Simpson has just contacted me to say that airborne help is on its way." Joy pressed mute on the phone "Did Hillary happen to mention what kind of help Taff?" "No Ma'am he just said to expect it in the next couple of minutes." "Thanks Taff." "Ma'am." "Hello, are you still there?" asked the voice on Joy's phone, Joy un- muted the phone. "I'm still here, I would like you all to come out into the open now without your weapons drop to your knees and place your hands behind your heads. "Yea right lady, like that's going to happen." "Would you like a reminder of our fire power sir?" asked Joy. "Look there must be some way out of this situation." "Yes come out into the open now without your weapons drop to your knees and place your hands behind your heads, we'll discuss your future after that, you must know that you are in a hopeless position now." "We've been in worse." "Are you a military man may I ask?" "Yes I was a Navy seal for sixteen years, most of my colleagues were military men at one time or other." "And now you work as a gun for hire?" There was no answer as the man had probably heard the noise of the five heavily armed Apache helicopters sporting extremely bright spotlights rapidly coming towards their position. "What the hell is this?" asked the man on the other end of the phone. "Your last chance Sir. The British government does not negotiate with terrorists and as you are mercenaries operating within the United Kingdom without government sanction I'm afraid that you are now classed as terrorists please relinquish your weapons now before it's too late." The helicopters had now formed into a very wide circle around the old building and their spotlights had illuminated the entire area blowing dust and dry grass into the area partially obscuring the building and fanning the flames within. "Okay, okay we're coming out, we have wounded." "I understand." One by one the men came out from the cover of the burning building they held their weapons aloft before placing them in front of themselves and stepping back several paces before dropping to their knees. Joy Terry and three marines rose to their feet and whilst holding their weapons in defensive position started to advance upon the Mercenary's. Completely defeated the mercenary's put up no further resistance and were easily restrained by the Marines whilst Joy and Terry covered them with their MP5's. There was a short debate when the police turned up in force sometime later as to whether the mercenary's should be dealt with by the civilian authorities or the military, but Hillary intervened by phone and informed the local police commander that the Military police would be taking initial charge of the Mercs until they had been interviewed and then they would be handed back to the civilian authorities and prosecuted or deported as they saw fit. As Terry, Joy and the team were preparing to leave Joy approached the leader and man whom she'd talked to on the phone. "May I ask you a question please sir?" "Do I have a choice?" Joy turned to face Hillary's home and pointed toward it. "Hypothetically speaking If you'd found the owner of the mobile phone this evening, say over there at that house, what would you have done to her?" "Hypothetically speaking we would have taken her to be interviewed." "And then once you'd finished with her?" "She would have been disposed of." "And the other occupants of the house?" "The house and its contents would have been sterilised." Joy looked at Terry and then said, "You are a very fortunate man sir that you didn't locate her then," Joy turned and walked away passing Taff her side arm and Mp5 as she did. "What the hell did she mean by that?" asked the leader of the Mercs, this time it was Terry that spoke. "It means mate that if you'd harmed the lass or anyone around her, me and the lads would now be picking up body parts and putting them into large buckets for the coroner to sort through." The man laughed nervously. Terry continued. "I'm sure that you have TV and radio in America or Canada or wherever you're from." "Yes and?" the leader asked. "Did you happen to have caught a little incident a while back near the Swiss border involving people traffickers on the news then?" The entire area went silent and it took some time before Terry's prisoner spoke again. "She's, she's The Angel?" "Yes mate and tonight she saved your lives by choosing to negotiate with you. Personally I would have been happy to blow your sorry brains out, Corporal hood him and get him and his friends out of here." "Sir." After a few minutes Terry waved Taff over to him. "Taff." "Sir." "Can you just nip over to Hillary's place and check on Captain Stevenson for me?" "Certainly sir." Taff left the scene of organised chaos by the old farm building, it was still ablaze and the local firemen were attempting to run a hose down to the river as he crossed the small wrought iron bridge spanning it. As Taff walked up the lawn towards the big house he noticed the scars of small arms fire on the glass of the rear extension and noted that not one round had actually breached the glass, he smiled to himself as he realised the entire rear of Hillary's had been bullet proofed and that the damaged to the glass was only superficial on its outside layer. When Taff entered Hillary's home he heard noise coming from the kitchen area and when he arrived he found Joy sitting by herself sipping from a large mug. "Help yourself Taff I did a pot," said Joy. "Thanks Ma'am I will," Taff poured himself a cup of tea and sat opposite his friend who had only partially removed her camouflage makeup. Taff and Joy sat in silence as they both sipped their Teas. "If it hadn't been for you Taff, Alice and Julie could well have been here when those Mercs arrived." "I honestly think if they had they would still have been safe Ma'am as although it doesn't look it this place is a fortress." "Yes but I'm questioning my decision to let Alice come here at all after all she's been through over the years." "Have you talked with your wife about it at all Ma'am?" "Yes and she doesn't seem bothered, she says as long as she's with me she'll be okay." "I'd agree with what she says Ma'am, the safest place your wife could ever be is right by your side." "Thanks Taff." "Ma'am?" "Yes?" "You don't happen to know where Mr Simpson keeps his chocolate biscuits do you?" Joy's face finally broke into a smile. Chapter 47 - Up North Julie. Okay I'm officially freaking out a little now as earlier Simon, Carrie, Alice, Tiffany and I were ushered out of Mr Simpson's house by Aliza, Silvanus, Hillary and three of his assistants with almost no notice and bundled into cars. We've been driving for nearly two hours now and about fifteen minutes ago we pulled off the main road and down an unlit road, we've just come to a checkpoint of some sort with a barrier across the road and been waved through by a man in uniform, I have absolutely no idea what is going on but Alice keeps holding my hand and reassuring me that I will be okay. Simon is in the other car he's wide awake and seems to be having a wonderful time with Silvanus whilst Carrie is asleep in my arms oblivious to everything. Our cars are now being escorted by military looking vehicles in front of us and behind and from the front passenger seat one of Mr Simpsons men has just said, "Nearly there." He then passes us small packets containing earplugs and a pair of ear defenders for Carrie, I slip them over her ears immediately as I don't want her to wake scared by any noise. Our vehicles have now stopped on what looks like a giant concrete car park but with no markings and in the distance I can see a flickering light. As the flickering light quickly gets closer I realise it's a helicopter of some sort but not the usual type of helicopter as this one has two big propellers on the top. "Our taxi has arrived Julie, would you like me to take Carrie or are you happy to carry her?" asked Alice as I watched three armed men dressed in army uniform get out of the freshly landed Helicopter. "What the hell?" I heard myself saying as the events of the last couple of days finally and inconveniently started to sink in. "I know this is a bit of a shock Julie but we're taking you somewhere you'll be really safe I promise." I started to cling to Carrie and I watch helplessly as Silvanus walks with Simon over to the big helicopter and up the ramp at its rear and vanishes inside Silvanus is also carrying a pet container. Alice has now gotten out of the car and has opened my door for me, she offers me her hand once more and I pass her Carrie before getting out myself. Alice walks with me to the waiting helicopter whose blades are blowing a gale and messing with my hair as we approach. In the helicopter a pair of headphones attached to a long cable are placed on my head whilst another of the crew attaches me to a harness similar to a seatbelt but with four fixing points, Alice then passes Carrie who unbelievably is still sleeping soundly over to me and I hold her tightly. As I turn to look at Alice I hear in my headphones a tinny version of her voice as she places her hand on mine. "It'll soon be over Julie, Hillary has organised transport for us, were going to my home now." I find that I can't answer Alice, I can't really do anything as all I want to do is scream at the top of my voice for everything that's happened over the last couple of years just to just go away, I want to be who I was again I want to be Jason again and for everything that's happened to me since leaving school to have just been part of a really bad dream, I feel my lower lip start to quiver and start to shake. Alice takes Carrie from me and passes her to Aliza, she then pulls me towards her and I lay my head on her shoulder and start to sob uncontrollably into it whilst she gently strokes my hair. I think I may have cried myself to sleep, Alice is still holding me when I wake and as I start to look around I hear in my ears Alice. "Do you feel better now Julie? I was a little worried about you for a while." I look up, Alice has a look of concern on her face so I nod and attempt a smile, I then look opposite Alice and see that Carrie has woken and is being looked after by both Aliza and Silvanus, Simon is on the floor with one of the helicopter crew and Tiffany they seem to be playing some sort of drawing game with him, he looks really happy, I turn to Alice and mouth 'Thank you' to her, she just smiles and pats me on the hand. I sit quietly for a while and am a little surprised when one of the crewmen passes a chipped enamelled mug to me. "Tea miss?" I accept it gratefully and holding it with both hands start to sip at it, and jump a while later when over my headphones I hear. "We are about fifteen minutes from destination ladies and gentlemen and will soon be doing our final approach, if you care to look out of one of the windows you may even catch the sun rising over the sea," It was Hillary's voice, Alice turned and raised a shutter on one of the porthole type windows behind her and started looking out. "Look Julie over there the sun is about to rise." I looked out into the dimness and could see on the horizon a glow that over the next minute turned into a blazing light as the sun seemed to be coming out of the sea itself. I realised quickly that we must now be flying up the east coast. "Shouldn't be too long now Julie before we land," said Alice through my headphones. Alice was right as we landed ten minutes later, it's curious but now we're almost on the ground it seems to look darker once more out of the window. I feel a gentle bump as the helicopter lands, a few seconds later the noise of the engines starts to reduce and after about a minute I feel a blast of chilly grass scented air as the rear door is lowered, Alice holds my arm as a crew member removes my headphones and we head towards the rear, down the ramp and onto a beautiful dew-covered lawn. Mr Simpson approaches Alice. "Thank you for letting the crew rest up here Alice I appreciate it." "Are you sure they wouldn't like to stay in our guest rooms Hillary?" "No they'll stay with the chopper but thanks for the offer." Mr Simpson paused for a second before adding, "I'm sure that they would all appreciate one of Mrs Burtons breakfasts later however." "I'll see to it thank you once more Hillary." Alice then turned to me. "Come on Julie we'll get the little ones settled in the nursery and then I'll show you your room." I followed Alice dumbly across the lawn and into what appeared to be a huge stately home where she was met by two young women who Alice gave instructions to before guiding me up a beautiful wide staircase. "This is the nursery Julie, Simon and Carrie will be safe here with Tiffany." I placed Carrie into the mattress of a large pre-made cot and looked over to see Simon climbing into a small bed, he'd already decided he needed a sleep. "Let Tiffany look after the children Julie, you look exhausted," said Alice as she led me reluctantly away into an adjoining room. Alice turned on the bedside lights as she entered the room. "I know it may be a little difficult but try and get some sleep Julie; Silvanus and Aliza will be on the corridor for the rest of the evening, I'll see you later." She then kissed me on the cheek and left me alone in my strange new but beautiful old room. Changing out of my day clothing I found a nightie had been left on the bed for me so I slipped into it and then without washing or cleaning my teeth lay on the bed. I woke with a banging headache sometime later and noticed through the edges of the large curtains that it must now be fully light, I turned and squinted a little to see that the clock on the bedside table showed it to be half past nine. Reaching over I turned on the bedside light once more and moved to the side of the bed and sat up. "I wonder if this room has a toilet?" I asked myself as I rose from the bed and started to look around, by the door was a wicker basket and next to it was a chair that someone had lain clothing on with a post it note. 'Hope these will fit you Julie.' I was just about to explore the rest of the room when I heard a knock on the door. "Hello?" I asked. "Hello Julie, it's Tiffany may I enter please?" "Err, yes." Tiffany entered carrying Carrie. "I fed her earlier with the last of your expressed milk but I think she needs a little personal attention from mummy." I sat on the bed and undid three buttons on the front of my nightgown exposing my right breast, Tiffany passed Carrie over to me and within seconds she was greedily feeding. "I'm not her mother you know," I said to Tiffany as I gently stroked the soft downy hair on Carries head. "I know that but little Carrie doesn't, look at her she's calmed right down now she's happy again." I nodded in agreement. It didn't take long for Carrie to drain both of my breasts and to fall asleep pausing only to make a very loud un-babylike burp. Would you like me to take her Julie or would you like to spend a little more time with her?" asked Tiffany. "I think I'd like to cuddle her for a bit if you don't mind." "Of course of course, do you want me to leave the room?" "No could you stay please, think I'd like a little company." Tiffany got up from sitting on the bed and went over to the window. "A bit of light and fresh air I think just to blow the cobwebs away," she said as she opened the curtains a crack and then opened the window behind allowing fresh air to enter the room. Tiffany was dressed very femininely today wearing a light cotton dress gathered at the waist and wedge heeled shoes instead of her normal doc martins. "Do you work for Alice Tiffany?" "Oh no I don't work for The Stevenson's Julie, I'm actually a student." "Oh." "But I am qualified to work with children I've had all of the police checks and everything," she added quickly before going on to say, "I was actually up in Newcastle when I was asked by Mrs Stevenson if I would like to help, I jumped at the chance." Tiffany paused for a few seconds. "I owe the Stevenson's Julie and I couldn't believe it when they asked me to help them." "You owe them, do you owe them money or something?" Tiffany's face changed her expression became darker as though she was remembering something she didn't want to. "No Julie I owe them my life, actually that's not even strictly true I actually owe them my life twice." "Oh." "I can't really go into the first time Julie but the second time I was in a bad way, I didn't know it at the time but I was suffering from PTSD the Stevenson's and a wonderful doctor called Bob helped me through it and they are now helping fund me through my Master's degree, I would now literally do anything for this family." Tiffany was looking me directly in the eyes and I could see them glistening and could tell that she meant every single word she'd just said, who on earth were these people? Tiffany's face started to soften once more and she asked. "Would you like me to look after Carrie until you are dressed?" "Please," I said as I passed her over. "Oh if your room is like mine if you go through that door there you'll find a dressing room a walk in wardrobe and bath and shower facilities, Try the shower it's wonderful." Tiffany was correct the shower was very refreshing and once I'd finished and entered the dressing room area I found that a pair of panties and a new nursing bra had been placed on a short sofa by a vanity table along with the dress I'd noticed earlier in the bedroom, I quickly slipped into the underwear and then dropped the dress over my head struggling a little to get it over my hips. "Knock knock," said a female voice through in my bedroom. "I'm through here." A young woman entered with a very cute little girl who was holding her hand. "Hello, we haven't met yet, my name is Susan and this is my baby sister Terri." Terri frowned. "I'm not a baby Suzy." Susan smiled and dropped to the little girls level. "I know you aren't silly, you're a big girl now aren't you." Terri nodded, Susan then came over to me and hugged me. "Mummy Alice asked me to come up and check you had everything you needed." "Oh err I think so um Susan." Susan smiled as the little girl sat on the small sofa with a grin on her face. "Are you Simon's mummy?" "Oh, er no Terri, I'm his auntie. I'm looking after Simon and Carrie whilst their mummy is away." "Can my friend Andi and I be Simon's friends pleeze?" I just couldn't help but smile at the gorgeous little girl sitting looking hopefully up at me. "You can try Terri; Simon likes to draw pictures." "With crayons? I've got crayons and felt tips too." Susan then intervened. "Terri has been itching to ask since she noticed Simon at breakfast." Terri then turned to me as I was towel drying my hair. "Suzy did my hair today Julie do you like it?" I looked at her long dark hair it started as two plaits that merged into one at her neck and was tied off half way down her dungarees with a little pink ribbon. "Yes I think it looks lovely Terri." "I'm sure if you aksed Suzy nicely she'd do yours too." I smiled at Terri and was about to say that her sister probably had better things to do when Susan said, "We could go to my room and I could do it for you there if you like I'll even dig out some makeup for you to use if you wish?" it was then I realised in our haste to leave Brunsfields I had no makeup with me at all and I sort of felt naked without at least some on now. Susan escorted me through the big house to her rooms and left there half an hour later with my hair plaited wearing subtle makeup and a pair of Susan's very comfortable sandals. Susan and Terri led me down stairs but as we reached the bottom Terri noticed Alice so she let go of my hand and headed towards her. "Mummy, Julie says I can play with Simon." Alice smiled at me and offered her hand to her daughter. "He's with Tiffany at the moment shall we go and find them?" "You hungry Julie?" asked Susan. "A bit yes." "Well we've missed breakfast but Mrs 'B' will probably rustle you up a snack." Susan led me into a large room with a magnificent and huge dining table, she took a seat and I sat next to her unsure what to do next. "Oh hello there Susan I was just making packed lunches for the airmen, what can I do for you?" "This is Julie Mrs B, she'll be staying with us for a while, could you rustle up a snack for her please." Susan helped me to eat my snack and just as I was finishing a glass of grapefruit juice she asked, "Fancy a stroll?" "Okay but what about Simon and Carrie?" "They can come too if you wish but I would leave them with Tiffany It's a long time since I've seen her so happy." I shrugged and said, "Okay then, lead the way." Susan led me out of the house past the giant helicopter on the lawn and down towards a wooded area, it was quite sunny but with a hint of a breeze that kept the temperature comfortable, Susan explained as we walked that she lived here with her three sisters, two mums and her grandparents, she guided me over to a view point by a lake and we sat on the grass together looking out over the water until the peace and tranquillity of the day was disturbed by a whine that got progressively louder in the distance. "Sounds like your taxi has been refuelled and is leaving," Commented Susan almost as though this was an everyday occurrence for her, the distant whine changed its tone into a budda budda budda noise that helicopters make and after a few more seconds the huge monster rose above the trees to our right. "Cool, I wonder if the twins got back from the dentist in time to see the chopper taking off?" Susan said to herself, I watched as the large helicopter rose almost vertically and then headed out over the lake gaining height all the time before banking left and heading towards the moors in the distance. It didn't take long before the quiet re-established itself and all I could hear were birds and the occasional grasshopper. "Susan?" "Yes Julie?" "There's a man coming up the path towards us," she turned to look. Oh him that's just Bob he's probably just come to interrogate you," Susan then started waving at the man approaching us. "Hello Bob, enjoy your holiday?" "Yes thanks. It was just what I ordered, very tranquil indeed." "So you going to get the thumbscrews out and interrogate Julie then?" "That's not funny Susan just look at the poor girl's face," the man then turned to me. "Hello, my name is Bob we haven't met but I have been monitoring your conversations with Alice." "Oh it was you," I said, he offered me his hand and I shook it. "Contrary to what Susan says, I'm not here to interrogate you, I just want to check on how you're coping after all being rescued from attackers in your own home and then your late-night evacuation all within the space of a week probably has you a little disorientated," I just nodded dumbly, the man called Bob pulled at his trousers and then sat down on the grass opposite Susan and I. "So any questions?" I nodded and then said, "I don't know where to start." Bob smiled. "I do firstly do you know why you are being sought?" "Something to do with my friend Robert and some paperwork." "Good, that's right yes, your friend Robert discovered some anomalies whilst doing a self-audit at Markham's and discovered that several electronic components had been substituted for the authorised and approved ones on certain products, he then started his own investigation into these components and contacted Joy Stevenson about them." Bob slowly explained about Simon's scribbling paper and Joy's involvement as my mouth got progressively wider and I started to get nervous pains in my stomach. At some point Susan slipped her hand into mine, this I appreciated greatly. "So what is Joy then a spy? an engineer? a business woman? an assassin? I've seen the aftermath of what she did at my house and those soldiers they called her Ma'am is she a soldier too?" "She's my mum Julie," said Susan quietly. "Susan is right Julie, she's a loving mother and business woman most of the time." "And the rest?" "She's-" Bob paused. "She sometimes helps the British government with problems." before I could ask any more questions of Bob Susan's phone pinged. she looked at it and she started to giggle to herself, she then looked up at Bob "Terry's probably going to be bending your ear later Bob." "Oh, why prey tell?" "Mummy has managed to hitch a lift back here." "And?" asked Bob. "The lift is a C-130 Hercules on its way up to RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland with no stops." "Ah I see what you mean, so when is your mum due?" "In about fifteen minutes she's already texted Aliza to prepare the front lawn." I sat in the sunshine with not a clue what Susan was on about, she turned to me. "Mummy has hitched a lift on a transport plane Julie, but it can't stop, so as it passes by she and some of the marines that have a current skydiving ticket are going to jump out." "You're kidding?" I asked. "Nope," replied Susan with a massive smile on her face. "Did your mum really hitch a lift with the RAF Susan?" I found myself asking stupidly whilst imagining her with her thumb out near an airport, Susan who was now standing offered me her hand. "Not really, Taff probably organised it, he's really good at that kind of thing." I took her hand and she pulled me up from the grass. Bob and Susan walked with me through the woods back to the big house where as we approached I saw two teenage girls approaching us. "What's Aliza doing Suzy?" asked one of the girls. "Mum is dropping in on us Lucy." "Really just like when Terri was tiny?" asked the other girl with some excitement. "Yes Dawn, oh this is Julie she'll be staying with us for a while." "Hello Julie," said both of the girls simultaneously closely followed by the one called dawn saying. "Do you think Mummy will have her wings today?" "I'm not sure, we'll just have to see." I frowned as I didn't understand what Dawn was saying. "I believe that there are a couple of pairs of binoculars in the outbuilding next to where we keep the bikes girls, if you want to run and get them." "Okay Suzy, oh do you think mummy will be dressed as a Ninja?" I heard Susan sigh. "I'm not sure Dawn we'll just have to wait and see won't we?" the two girls then headed off at speed around the back of the house skirts billowing in the breeze as they went. "They're the twins my other two sisters," I smiled. "I like them," I said. The twins returned very quickly with three pairs of binoculars and something they called a spotting scope that looked like half a pair of binoculars, by this time several more people had exited the house including some uniformed staff. Aliza was on the large lawn and Silvanus was talking to Mrs Burton the cook. The twins quickly spotted something and soon after I heard the noise of engines, Aliza on the lawn set off some kind of smoke cannister and moved quickly away from it. "Look over there high up in the sky just above the farm Julie, that's a transport plane," said Susan so I took the binoculars I'd been given and after a while found the aeroplane it seemed very high to me and appeared to have its back door open. Then after a few more seconds as I was craning my neck and looking up almost vertically I watched as someone exited from the rear of the aeroplane followed by another and another and another, six people in total were now free falling through the air towards the ground. Then one after another the falling bodies deployed their parachutes and within seconds were circling in a huge circle around the big house. "Look mummy has her machine gun strapped to her," shouted one of the twins I looked up to try and see who the twins were talking about and noticed that the last parachutist had a different parachute but couldn't quite make out how it was different until I adjusted the focus on the binoculars and noticed the angel wings on the underside of the parachute. "Oh god," I said out loud as I suddenly realised who Susan's mum was, I turned and looked at Susan and actually felt my legs wobble a little. Susan came to my side and supported me. "Mummy really shouldn't show off like that but it was probably one of the lads that packed her chute, they love the whole Angel thing," said Susan as she looked up to see her mum circling. "Your mum, she's the Angel?" I heard myself asking whilst trying to control the sudden butterflies in my stomach. "But she seems so normal." Apart from an almost undetectable smile Susan showed almost no emotion and just watched as the parachutists circled ever lower and then one by one landed and quickly gathered up their chutes before the next person landed. Mrs Stevenson was last to land and did it running, Aliza came over to Mrs Stevenson and relieved her of her weapon whilst she was gathering up her chute Aliza then took her weapon and parachute away whilst little Terri ran towards her mum followed by Alice, they left the lawn seconds later and headed for the big house with Mrs Stevenson now carrying Terri. "Ooh it's nearly lunchtime Julie, You hungry?" Susan asked me. "A bit." She offered me her hand. "Come on we'll freshen up it can sometimes get quite busy at lunchtime nowadays, Grandpa has even joked about getting a bigger dining room." Chapter 48 - Robert meets Bob Joy. I really love it when Terri runs up to me and literally jumps into my arms, it always lifts my spirits. the jump from the Hercules was exhilarating, but Terri and Alice's hugs beat it any day I've spent most of this afternoon with Alice and Terri and they've managed to lift my mood considerably but now as I'm approaching the gates to 'The Centre' I'm feeling nervous, Bob is currently with Lucius Withers trying to get information out of him. but I'm about to see Robert Biddlestone and I'm not particularly looking forward to it. Ralph, who's on security today, lets me through the front barrier, I park up and as I enter the building I see Harry Simmons talking to another doctor and as he notices me he cut's his conversation short and comes over to me as I wait to sign in by the reception desk. "Hello Joy, have you come to see Mr Biddlestone?" "Yes Major I have, how is he?" Harry frowns. "Not good Joy, the trauma of the last few days has been too much for him I'm afraid, we've operated on his finger and closed the wound and tended to his other physical ailments but he's going to need some serious counselling I'm afraid." "Have you asked Bob to pop in?" "He's scheduled to come over this afternoon, I believe he's busy with Lucius Withers at the moment." "May I speak with him please?" "Of course Joy, I'll take you to him," Harry led me to Robert's room and knocked on the door. On opening the door I could see that Robert had placed a seat in the corner of the room furthest from the door, he was dressed in a surgical gown and had huddled on the seat in an almost defensive position. "Hello Mr Biddlestone, I've brought someone to see you," said Harry, Robert looked up and recognised me "J, Joy?" "Hello Robert, it's been a long time." Without prompting poor Robert started to say. "I didn't tell them about you Joy, they kept asking about you, the man he hit..." At this point Robert Broke down, I turned to Harry. "I think Robert needs Bob more than that little shit Lucius; would you ask Bob if he'd come over here for me please?" "Certainly Joy, I completely agree with you." As Harry left the room I walked over to Robert then pulled another chair over to his side and sat down next to him. "Robert I know what happened to you in that basement, it wasn't interrogation it was torture, you were tortured and I am truly sorry for what happened to you." "It wasn't your fault Mrs Stevenson," said Robert trying, but failing to put on a brave face "If I hadn't started that investigation none of this would have happened I'm so sorry, I've done it again haven't I? I've screwed up again." "No Robert this time you haven't screwed up, what you did was perfectly correct." Robert then lifted up his hand showing the dressing on his finger, and said angrily. "Correct, they cut off my finger and fed it to a bloody dog Mrs Stevenson and there was nothing I could do to stop him, what if you'd been taken instead of me?" I thought for a second and decided to be honest with Robert. "The survivors would now be recovering from their injuries in hospital Robert, do I really look so different without my camouflage makeup on?" It took a few seconds for Robert to realise what I had said and another second or two for him to join the dots in his head. "You, you were that woman, the one in the cellar that rescued me?" I nodded "I thought it was the drugs or something Mrs Stevenson I thought I'd Imagined it." "I'm so sorry that we didn't find you earlier Robert. but it took us some time to work out where you were," Robert then started to look at me, I wasn't sure if it was out of fear or shock, but he started to shake violently. "Colin, my cat Colin he's only a kitten." I reassured Robert as best I could. "Colin is fine Robert a friend of mine has him, she's looking after him for you," There was a knock on the door and Bob entered. "Hello there Robert, I'm one of the doctors that work here, would it be okay if we had a chat?" Robert looked at me as though seeking my approval, I smiled at him. "He's a good man Robert and he's also called Robert but we all call him Bob." Robert nodded. I stayed with Robert for just over an hour whilst he unburdened himself to Bob, Robert looked a little happier when we left his room around teatime. "Joy I have a favour to ask of you," Bob said as we walked over towards the caf? area of The Centre. "Oh and what is it that you require of me Bob?" "I'd like you to become a guest in the bunker alongside Lucius Withers." "You're kidding me?" I said. "No Joy I'm being serious." "I'd kill him Bob I can't stand the man." Bob ignored my comment. "Lucius thinks you are involved in this whole affair Joy so, if we convince him that you may actually be involved and that you too are being investigated he may just open up with you, if not you have my permission to beat him up." He paused. "Actually on second thoughts maybe not beat him." "Okay Bob, I'd better be back in time to tuck Terri in though," Bob laughed. "I promise." Chapter 49 - Cellmates. Soon after in the old civil defence bunker we used as a secure area I was in my small office with Silvanus. It didn't take long for me to change into one of my old hated business suits I dispensed with the jacket however, I applied quite heavy makeup and put my hair into an elaborate plait and then with Silvanus's help we set about making me look dishevelled, I laddered my stockings with an emery board and scuffed the skin on my legs with it causing red patches to appear on my knees Silvanus creatively undid sections of my plait leaving loose strands everywhere whilst I placed cable ties on my wrists and twisted them continually until my wrists had become reddened, Silvanus then ripped across a couple of the seams on my blouse and sleeve exposing my shoulder and bra strap she also snapped off the heel of one of my black court shoes. "Okay Joy this is going to sting," said Silvanus as she dabbed a tissue containing a tiny amount of peppermint oil into the corner of each eye causing them to sting and water and thus causing my mascara to run, Terry appeared. "Are you sure about this Joy?" he asked whilst holding a thick cotton hood in one hand, I nodded. "Might be fun," I responded. "Okay then you ready?" I nodded, Terry placed the hood over my head and bound my wrists with cable ties then escorted me out my office. "We won't keep you in there for too long Joy and we'll be monitoring you via the covert's constantly." I limped in my ruined heels for nearly thirty seconds and started to complain loudly as we entered the holding areas. In front of me I heard a clunk and then a door being opened as I was manhandled through the door. I felt my bonds being cut and then the hood being removed, I immediately went for Terry and attempted to scratch his face, he easily deflected me and then pushed me back, I staggered back a little and with my broken heel made a show of falling onto my backside before getting up and attempting to reach the door but Terry was too fast for me and slammed it shut just as I reached it, so far so good. I started screeching at the top of my voice for my captors to return to no avail and after a few seconds heard from behind me I heard a calm voice say. "It's no good Mrs Stevenson they won't hear you." I turned to see Lucius Withers dressed in what looked like paper overalls. "You!" He smiled at me. "Yes, it seems that we are both in a bit of a pickle aren't we?" I started to bang on the door to the room and shout. "Let me out of here this man is a criminal he's wanted by the police." I knew nobody would come but decided to put on a show regardless. After a while I gave up and Lucius said, "So tell me why do I find myself sharing a cell with Joy Stevenson, have you been a naughty girl then?" "I am not a criminal unlike you Mr Withers." "And yet I see you before me." "It's just a misunderstanding I'm sure that Daddy will soon have it all sorted out." "I'm sure he would with his clout he'd have his lawyers working on your release night and day, if he actually knew that you'd been arrested, but you weren't were you?" I looked at Lucius. "No Mr Withers I was boxed in by several vehicles on my drive home and all these men with guns appeared and bundled me into a van, I thought I'd been kidnapped." "Did they say anything to you?" "No they just drove for what seemed like hours I was then led into a room my hood removed and a man started to ask me questions." "What about?" asked Lucius. "About some electronic components I'd been sent a while back by an ex colleague." Lucius nodded as though he knew exactly what I was talking about but didn't enlighten me, not that I needed enlightening. "So what happened next, if you don't mind me asking?" "After a while the man just seemed to tire of me, I was re hooded and brought in here." "And here we are cell mates together Joy, isn't this cosy?" "Just stay away from me you pervert. my wife and I still haven't gotten over what happened in that hotel last year and I've been taking martial art classes, I can protect myself," I said as nervously as I could. Lucius and I talked on and off for what I assumed to be around an hour until the lights went off in the cell and after a few seconds I heard the clunk of the cell door opening. "Lucius what's happening?" "We're being messed with that's all it'll be over soon, they are just having their fun." "Ow get off me, ow that hurts mumff." As I was led out of the totally dark room I heard Lucius say. "Mrs Stevenson are you still here?" The door clunked once more and the light came on, I was in the outer cell area Terry put his finger to his lips and gestured for me to follow him. "You should have been an actress Joy, probably throw you back in there sometime tomorrow, meanwhile Alice has brought you some clean clothing, she's waiting with Terri for you in the main building." "Thanks Terry." "Oh leave your clothing out after your shower as you'll be wearing them all again tomorrow." As I was leaving I passed by Taff who was carrying an opened pizza box and was eating a slice. "May I?" "Of course Ma'am." He offered me the box and I took a slice of his Pizza and headed out of the secure entrance and over to the main building. On entering I was met by Alice and Terri. "Have you been crying Mummy?" asked Terri with concern. I crouched down so that I was face to face with her and reassured her. "No Terri I've been sort of playing a game where I had to pretend to be scared and upset that's all." Terri scrunched up her face. "That's a funny sort of game was it fun?" I smiled. "Actually yes it was but now I need to take a shower, have you and Mummy Alice got some nice clean clothes for me?" Terri led me over to one of the shower rooms with Alice following behind. Just over half an hour later I was showered and dressed and was putting the final touches to my makeup when outside 'The Centre' I heard the unmistakeable sound of a helicopter landing so I quickly tied my hair back into a high ponytail and headed out towards the caf? area where Alice and Terri awaited me. As Alice Terri and I exited the building I noticed Dr Mike and a nurse pushing a wheelchair towards us, in the wheelchair was a woman who's face and body was quite bloated. "That's Isabella, Julie's Sister, Dr Mike has just returned from Germany with her." "She still looks quite unwell," I commented. "She is Joy, according to Harry her tumour however has shrunk to half its former size, we are going to step up her immunotherapy treatment, he has a speech therapist coming tomorrow morning and her physical therapy is about to be stepped up big time as she needs to relearn some of the things that have been lost due to the brain damage caused by the compression of her brain." "Does Julie know that her sister is coming back yet?" "No Joy. Bob suggested that we give it a couple of weeks and allowed Isabelle to settle in before they are reunited." I turned and hugged my sensible wife then asked Terri. "Are you tired Terri or would you like to go down to the seaside for a walk with us before bed?" It was a stupid question Terri's face beamed at me as she said, "Seaside pleeze." Alice drove us whilst I sat on the back seat next to Terri who was strapped into her child seat, she talked almost constantly about her and Andi's new friend Simon and what they'd been doing throughout the day with Tiffany. When we reached Saltburn, Terri was between Alice and I as we all walked barefoot on the cool damp sand along the shoreline dodging the occasional wave but by the time we'd reached the end of the beach Terri was looking tired so I picked her up and we walked back up towards our car on the softer dryer sand whilst Terri snuggled into me. Terri was fast asleep by the time we reached the SAAB and didn't even flinch when Alice brushed away the now dry sand from her feet and legs. It didn't take long to drive home and within minutes our sleeping daughter was tucked up in bed with her teddy and a goodnight kiss from both Alice and me. Alice and I had both missed our evening meal, but Dot had left sandwiches out for us just in case we returned so we sat both sat in the dining room together and had a late meal. "Are you still being interrogated?" Alice asked with a wry smile. "I believe so, I might pop in and see Lucius tomorrow afternoon so I'll probably need Aliza's or Silvanus's Makeup skills though to make me look really tired." "You don't need them now Joy, you look exhausted." "It's been a couple of long days Alice, hopefully now that Julie is safe with us things will calm a little, at least until Hillary's lot have completed their investigations." "Are Mr Taff and the lad's in the grounds at the moment?" "Yes as a precaution Alice, Hillary has insisted." Alice leant over and rested her head on my shoulder. "Will you wake me tomorrow morning please I'd like to jog with you?" "I'd love that Alice," I said as I absent-mindedly stroked my sweet wife's hair. Once finished our snack I decided to retire for the evening as I really was tired Alice eagerly joined me and within 20 minutes we were lying naked together on our bed with only a thin sheet covering us Chapter 50 - Unwanted Attention. Susan. I couldn't help but smile as I looked out of my bedroom window, I'd been up some time now and had already washed, but was still in my vintage sleep chemise, Mummy Joy and Mummy Alice were out near the lake, they were jogging together and from what I could see weren't taking their morning jog very seriously and seemed to be playing a game of their own devising similar to tag except it involved kissing, It was lovely to see Mummy Joy smiling. I went through to my dressing room and slipped out of my sleepwear and picked up my sport bra and jogging leggings along with a stretch top and a pair of ankle socks and started to dress catching a glimpse in the corner of one of the pairs of ridiculous heels I'd bought earlier in the year spurred on by Ian's domineering grandmother, she was a bad influence on me and had encouraged me to do something whilst I was stressed and upset that I'm now ashamed of and could never admit to either Mummy about as they would be so disappointed in me but hopefully that is all in the past now and I can get on with my life again. I'm really glad that I met Silvanus even though she did try to strangle me on our first encounter and despite her rather tough exterior she really does have a heart of gold. I've even confided in her recently about Ian and the reason why I broke off our relationship, she didn't even laugh which surprised me. I quickly plaited my hair into two thick long pigtails, slipped my jogging shoes on and headed downstairs before exiting the house for a wake-up jog. I was doing stretches when I noticed Aliza jogging slowly alongside Andi towards the house. "Going for a Jog Suzy? May I join you?" I nodded as Aliza let her daughter into our house "Now be a good girl and don't annoy Tiffany okay?" "Yes mummy." Andi kissed her mum on the cheek and then skipped into the house "Bye mummy see ya later." We'd just reached the quarry when Aliza said, "Silvanus tells me that you're going shopping today with her?" "Yes, you're welcome to tag along if you would like." Aliza smiled. "You know I think I will, it's about time I treated myself to something nice, where were you thinking of going?" "Pickering I know Martha\ is semi-retired now, but I believe she's in today." Aliza picked up the pace and I reciprocated, I'd been neglecting my fitness a little earlier this year so I was keen to step up the pace and get back to full fitness. I did Tai chi with Silvanus and mummy Alice whilst Aliza and mummy Joy sparred, I then took turns sparring with Silvanus and mummy Alice then finally Mummy Joy before going for a well-earned breakfast before having a shower and dressing for the day. Today I'd 'borrowed' one of mummy Joy's hippie smock dresses from the laundry and worn with footless tights and plimsolls I loved the look, I let my hair play loosely down my back and wore only a hint of eye makeup, 'Oh busted' I thought to myself as I entered the first-floor landing and came face to face with mummy Joy, she smiled at me warmly "Ooh that really suits you," she commented. I did a little twirl. "You think?" "Oh yes definitely." "Thanks Mummy, I'm off shopping wanna come?" "I'm sorry Suzy we'd love to but Alice and I have to go into work for a bit, have you asked Julie if she'd like to come with you, she should be okay with Aliza and Silvanus and of course you." I then realised much to my shame that I hadn't even thought that Julie may want to come shopping with us. "I'll ask her now mummy." I was just about to bound down the stairs when I stopped turned and hugged my mummy really tightly, she was taller than me today as she was wearing heels. When I finally broke free from mummy I found myself saying. "I don't think I'll ever be too big for a hug mummy." She just nodded in agreement, I turned and headed down the stairs. "Charge Julie to me Suzy," I heard as I headed towards the front lobby area. "Thank you mummy." I asked Aliza to bring around a car whilst I sought out Julie, she was in the library curled up on one of our reclining chairs watching out of the window as Tiffany entertained the children in the garden. "Oh hello Susan I was just watching Tiffany, I think she's having just as much fun as the children." I nodded but couldn't help remembering the time she'd been wired into an explosive laced vest by terrorists whilst looking after Lucy, Dawn, me and several other children, she'd shown true courage that evening whilst mummy Joy and Terry defused her. I then asked Julie if she'd like to come shopping with us. "I'm Sorry Susan, but I don't have much money with me, maybe if we called past a cash point?" I shook my head. "No Julie you can't use cash points or indeed any card at the moment as your rough location could be traced by them, this is our treat." "Are you sure?" asked Julie. I smiled and nodded. "Oh yes I'm sure." "Err give me a couple of minutes then, the kids will be okay here won't they?" "They'll be fine," I said; but didn't add 'as there are several marines and a gamekeeper with a very large dog to protect them. Julie joined Silvanus and I, whilst Aliza brought a car around for us, unfortunately when it arrived it was my Focus she'd brought, I'd been avoiding using that car as Ian knew my registration and would use any excuse to stop me. Aliza threw me the keys as she got out and within minutes we were heading out towards Guisborough. We stopped in Guisborough for twenty or so minutes but the shops today just didn't inspire me so we headed off towards Pickering taking a short cut across the moors. The moors in the summer were beautiful apart from the many bugs and tiny flying beasties that seemed hell bent on hitting the windscreen. Aliza sat in the front with me and talked to me whilst Silvanus was deep in conversation with Julie. "I see that Trish called earlier this morning they should be back later this afternoon, I wonder how things with her father went?" "I think it went better than they'd hoped for; but I don't think Trish had hoped for much," Silvanus spoke from the rear of the car. "After all that young woman has been through in her relatively short life she deserves at least to make peace with her parents." I agreed by nodding my head, but said nothing as I was distracted by the blue flashing light behind me, I sighed as I indicated, slowed and pulled to the side of the road to let the police car pass me knowing fine well that I was about to be stopped again. but once in front of me the police car indicated and the light on the rear of the car told me to stop. "Sorry about this It's probably just my ex again making a nuisance of himself." "No I think that this is a little more serious Susan, there is another car coming up behind us." within seconds another police car had appeared behind us and then another appeared to completely box us in. "Do you have any weapons in this car Suzy?" asked Aliza. "No none at all Mum's 99 is the only one with a weapon box." "Good then we have nothing to worry about," said Aliza as she quickly sent a text on her phone. I noticed the policemen getting out of their vehicles, they were all armed with handguns apart from one older man, a Sergeant who was holding a semi-automatic Geckler and Koch G36 assault rifle. Then the shouting started designed to disorientate and panic us. "Julie just stay calm and do everything that the policemen say, Susan be prepared," said Silvanus calmly. I opened my door and placed my hands behind my head then walked forwards only to be grabbed by two officers dragged across to their car and forced into a splayed posture against its bodywork. The same happened to Aliza then Sylvanus and finally Julie who looked terrified. "What's this all about Officer?" I asked the young officer that was restraining me "We've stopped you as we have reason to believe that you may be carrying illegal weapons Miss my colleague is now performing a search of your vehicle." an older police officer with sergeants stripes then started to search my car. "Your reason wouldn't happen to be called Ian Thompson would it?" I asked. "I'm sorry Miss I can't say." The policeman holding me seemed to be genuine I wasn't so sure about his friends though. It took a couple of minutes and a good show of searching my car before the portly sergeant appeared carrying what looked like quite a rusty Browning HP between his fingers. "Well what have we here then?" He just managed to say managed to say before Silvanus took the two policemen completely by surprise and floored one of them with his own truncheon, turned and with the same truncheon smacked the second policeman across the wrist causing him to lose his handgun, I swiftly turned placed both of my hands on the wrist of the constable holding me and kicked myself up against the car body twisting as I did the constable had no option but to twist with me he however did not land as comfortably as I did as I landed on him, I rendered him unconscious and as I turned I watched as Aliza swiftly dispatched the policeman restraining her she then dived across the top of the police car and hit the sergeant who was struggling with his automatic weapon. Punching him in the face she then relieved him of his weapon released the magazine and as he recovered kicked his legs from under him. I ran across to Julie who had a single policeman with her, he was completely unsure what to do but reached down to his utility belt and grabbed what I assumed to be some form of pepper spray. "That would ruin my makeup constable," I said as I performed a judo disarm on him, he lunged for me so as I sidestepped him I grabbed his arm and accelerated him straight into Silvanus's fist, she then rendered him unconscious. "See to Julie Suzy, we'll deal with these," said Silvanus. I turned to see Julie cowering by the side of one of the police cars, I offered her my hand which she reluctantly took. "Wh, who are you people." I smiled and tried to inject a little levity. "Me? I'm just a student, Aliza she's an ex Mossad agent and Silvanus, not really sure but she's probably an assassin," It really didn't have the desired effect so I went back to old faithful and just hugged her. "How are we going to explain this?" I asked in the direction of Silvanus and Aliza. "We don't need to Suzy, Silvanus was worried about you and your ex so she used some of her local contacts keep an eye on him, she found out a while back that your tracker data has been being accessed, that's how Pc Thompson has been harassing you." "And today?" "A tip off Suzy, we knew that the next time you used the Focus something was going to happen, we just hastened the inevitable, we didn't however anticipate this!" "And how are we going to sort this out then? I mean we've just assaulted policemen." "Hillary granted us authority to use appropriate force, we weren't expecting live firearms however." Aliza went over to the policeman who had been restraining me and started to gently slap his face, he quickly regained his senses. "Once you can see straight constable get into your car and find a caf?, drink lots of coffee and forget this ever happened." "Understood," said the policeman groggily as he got up from the ground and headed over to his small police car. It didn't take long before the policeman had recovered enough to drive away. "He trained with Ian Thompson, apparently Mr Thompson is a bit of a control freak, he also tipped us off about what was about to happen." I cringed a little. "I feel guilty about knocking him out now Aliza." "Don't, oh look here come Terry and the lads, they'll clean this lot up for us, I hope we're still going shopping?" I nodded eagerly and then thought about Julie and looked over to her, she smiled weakly. "I suppose, at least I know that I won't get mugged today." "That's the spirit Julie." As we walked back to my car Aliza said, "I'll drive Suzy. You can keep Julie company in the back, she's probably not used to all of this excitement." As I got into the rear of my car I heard the portly policeman complaining to Terry. "That lass had a gun she needs to be arrested." "Bullshit mate you planted that gun." "Prove it," snarled the sergeant. I heard Terry sigh. "Okay if you insist, firstly that weapon is in appalling condition Suzy keeps her weapon in pristine condition and field strips it after every use before cleaning it. Secondly it is a Browning HP she prefers a Glock and thirdly the covert cameras within her car observed you placing that weapon there from under your ballistic vest. So in essence matey you have been well and truly screwed over not only by the cameras in her car but by your colleague Pc Thompson," I didn't hear any more of Terry's conversation as I closed my door but the look on the sergeants face said everything. Curiously the incident on the moors seemed to have had no detrimental effect on Julie and after a very pleasant lunch she became quite talkative as we browsed the shops in Pickering. Julie was still quite a novice and also very conservative in her dressing something that Maud's minions have hopefully corrected. We didn't have time to go to the salon but when Julie left Maud's place she looked radiant in her new dress, gone was the mumsy blouse and leggings she'd been wearing to be replaced with a very practical but comfortable looking dress with short sleeves, nipped waist and hem that stopped about six inches short of her ankles. "I can even breast feed whilst wearing this Susan, it has these hidden panels look," stated Julie whilst pointing to a hidden fabric panel just below her breast. "That old lady is wonderful thank you so much," I linked arms with her as Aliza and Silvanus carried their own bags back to the car. The trip back to Stevenson Towers was uneventful and interrupted only by a phone call from our good friend Dixie or Dix as I called him. "Hello Dix, are you back now?" "Yes Miss mission accomplished." I laughed. "So what can I do you for then?" "Err, well your mum said that you were out shopping, you wouldn't happen to be coming back via Middlesbrough would you?" "I can do what do you need Dix?" "Balsa sheets 2mm thick." "Balsa from the model shop?" "Yes please if you don't mind, I'd go myself but I'm knackered," I smiled at how well Dix was now integrating within our 'family' "Of course I'll pick it up on my way back." "Could you get a tin of Humbrol 102 as well please I'll pay you when you return." "Okay Dix See you soon." I was about to ask Aliza to divert to take in Middlesbrough but she simply said, "Can't keep Trish and the boys from their little hobby can we? Terry is now even thinking about buying one of those drone thingies." I turned to Julie who was now sitting looking out of the window. "That was our friend Dix he's been away with some of our other friends in Scotland, you'll probably meet them later at dinner." Aliza took us to a small model shop on the outskirts of Middlesbrough, I popped in to buy Dix's bit's and bobs Julie followed me and started to look with interest at the radio-controlled cars. "What are you looking at Julie?" I enquired. "I used to have one of them when I was younger Susan but Izzie my sister crashed it into a wall," she said whilst pointing at a kit high on a shelf. "Women drivers eh?" I said, Julie started to giggle at my comment, it was wonderful to see her smile. "Oh and one of those too please," I said to the man behind the counter. "You sure miss that's nigh on 200 pounds." "Yea my card can take it," I paid and passed the box containing the car and controller to Julie. "Try not to do an Izzie when you first use it Julie," Julie just stood and stared at the large box. "I, I." "Come on let's get back to the car or we might find Aliza with a traffic warden in a headlock." Chapter 51 - New Friends Julie. I like Susan I like her a lot, nothing really seems to phase her. Earlier we were surrounded by police cars and police with guns. I was almost peeing myself with fear, but Susan, Aliza and Silvanus just stood calmly until one of the policemen attempted to plant a rusty old gun in the boot of her car, then all hell broke loose and within seconds all of the policeman were lying on the ground after being subdued. I suppose I shouldn't really be surprised as I've only recently found out that Susan's mum is 'The Angel'. I'm currently sitting in the back of Susan's car as Aliza negotiates it through early rush hour traffic. I'm wearing probably the most comfortable dress I've ever worn, the old lady that chose it for me must have a perfect eye for clothing as never in a million years would I have chosen it for myself but when I'd slipped into it and looked at myself in the mirror I instantly fell in love with it. I'm starting to feel a little uncomfortable now as we negotiate through the country roads even in my new nursing bra my boobs have swollen to a quite painful fullness I didn't anticipate being out this long and didn't bring my bag with the breast pump in it. "Not long now Julie," said Susan who must have picked up on my discomfort. "Carrie will be waiting for you when you arrive," I smile at her and nod. As Susan's car comes to a stop outside the big house I quickly get out and head towards the front door. "Sorry about this Susan." She smiles sympathetically at me and as I enter the house Tiffany is standing in the hallway with Carrie who is grizzling. "I was just about to give her some formula Julie, she's been quite a hungry little mite today." I took Carrie from Tiffany who then suggested that I could just use the library. I undid one of the panels on my dress as I walked then freed the left cup of my new bra and even before sitting down on one of the recliner chairs Carrie had latched on and was sucking greedily on my nipple. I had just switched to the other breast when Terri came into the library she was holding Simon's hand much like an older sister would and had a white towel in the other hand. "Mummy aksed me to bring this for you," said Terry as she passed me the towel. "Thank you Terri. That was kind of her," I said as I took the towel and placed it below my breast, it was a little late for the towel as my dress was already damp but it would limit any further damage, Simon let go of Terri's hand and found some paper and crayons whilst Terri got onto one of the other recliners and watched me with curiosity. "My Mummy used to feed me like that when I was really little, but now I eat proper grown up food just like my sisters," she said, I smiled at Terry "Does it hurt, does Carrie bite you?" she asked. "No Terri it doesn't really hurt and Carrie doesn't have any teeth yet, but sometimes I do get a little bit sore." "Like when I scuff my knees because it really hurts then?" I nodded. "Yes a bit like that." I laughed. Terri continued to question me for several more minutes whilst Carrie fed, I didn't mind at all answering her questions, she is such an inquisitive little girl and curiously didn't ask me anything I was uncomfortable talking about. "Julie?" asked Terri. "Yes Terri?" "Simon doesn't really talk lots does he?" "No Terri I think he really misses his mummy." "Oh has he got two mummies like me?" "Simon's mummy is called Isabella but she's really poorly at the moment so I'm looking after him and Carrie until she gets better, she's my sister." Terri seemed deep in thought as I wiped my nipple with a towel and slipped my boob back into the comforting embrace of my bra. "Do you think that Simon would like one of my spare teddies?" I smiled and nodded, Simon also turned and smiled at Terri, she immediately dropped down from the recliner and skipped out of the Library stopped turned around and said, "Do you want to choose one Simon?" Simon looked up from his scribbling and smiled got up and headed towards Terri, who was how offering him her hand, Simon took Terri's hand and they both vanished. I noticed Tiffany following them both probably to keep them out of mischief. Alice entered with Susan a couple of minutes later, Carrie was sleeping peacefully in my arms and I was feeling remarkable relaxed considering my day. "Susan has just been telling me about what happened today, I'm so sorry, are you okay?" Alice seemed to be very concerned about me. "Actually Alice I feel fine. yes earlier was a bit of a shock but the rest of the afternoon was wonderful and I love this dress that the woman in the shop chose for me," Alice turned to Susan and asked. "Maud?" Susan nodded. "Yes, mummy Joy said I could put some stuff on her account," she then turned to me and said, "Just wait until you get up to your room Julie," Alice then offered her arms out. "May I?" I passed Carrie over to her and Alice took her in her own arms and gently rocked her. "We're dining at Seven Julie, Joy has asked if we could dress formally tonight, I think she's had quite a taxing day and wants to feel special." Susan's face lit up. "Oh smashing It's been a while," I was just about to say I had nothing formal with me when Alice said, "We've taken the liberty of setting out a couple of outfits we think you'll approve of, why not go up to your room and relax a while, have a soothing bath then we'll see you back here later." "Err okay then," I kissed Carrie on the forehead and headed out of the library hearing. "I hope you're not starting to get broody again are you mummy?" Okay the Stevenson's are officially eccentric; eccentric a bit weird, but completely wonderful and I absolutely love them all. Tonight at dinner I met a woman called Trish, her wife Chris and Trish's sister Leah. I have a feeling that they at some point have all been helped by the Stevenson's but they mentioned nothing about it, Trish spent some time talking about a model aeroplane and then talked with Susan about their new year at university whilst Leah spent a lot of time talking with the twins about their Ninja training! The strange thing is that after the last few days it wouldn't surprise me in the least if they were actually trainee Ninjas, nothing is completely as it seems here. I've just been in to see Simon and Carrie they are both fast asleep. Simon tightly hugging the rag doll that Terri gave him this afternoon. I'm currently sitting in the dressing room of my rooms undoing the tiny buckles of my heels. Placing my shoes to one side I flexed my feet in front of me noticing as I did the shimmering fabric of my stockings, standing up I undo the three tiny buttons hiding the Zipper at the rear of my gown and gently tug at the soft but surprisingly strong fabric then ease the dress over my hips I step out of the pool of fabric on the floor and pick it up placing it once more into its hanger. I notice myself in the mirror as I hook my gown up standing in stockings suspended by straps from the Basque that has been holding my tummy back all night, I walk towards the mirror and start to examine myself from my painted toes up my silk clad legs to my now empty crotch area, my wide hips and then to my Basque enhanced waist and boobs finally ending in my cosmetic enhanced face and beautiful and elaborate Chignon done for me by Joy earlier this evening, I see in the mirror a face I hardly recognise being traced by fingers tipped with long varnished nails. Is this really my reflection now? I feel myself wondering as I start to take the pins and clips from my hair holding some between my painted lips as I do, I suppose it is. I can never go back to be being Jason and I'm pretty sure if I could I wouldn't, being a woman can be a real pain in the backside sometimes but tonight dressed up in the company of people I can only describe as wonderful I feel so at ease with myself. I walk over to the dresser and sit on the wide padded stool, I place the now quite substantial pile of clips and pins on the dresser and start to undo the suspender tabs before gently sliding each stocking down its respective leg, then I gently ease off each false eyelash placing each into its little holder before coating a cotton pad in micellar water and start to remove my makeup before adding a little moisturiser to my disappointingly pale face. Finally I undo the row of clips on the Basque and allow my breasts free of their confinement. "Wow they really don't look like they used too," I commented to myself as I notice the size of my nipples. "Carrie has really made them big," I said as I wondered if they would ever return to a less grotesque size but it was not only my nipples that had grown since agreeing to feed Carrie my areola had at least doubled in size and had darkened considerably and also several small veins had come to the surface I really hoped that my breasts would return to a more manageable size once Carrie stopped breast feeding. Leaning over I took my new nightie and slipped it over my head before going through into the bathroom to clean my teeth. When I returned I took one of the vitamin pills that had been left for me and slipped beneath the cool sheets of my bed, I then set the alarm clock for half past seven as I'd agreed to exercise tomorrow with Christine Trish's wife before breakfast. Turning off the bedside light I snuggled under the sheets and closed my eyes. Chapter 52 - The Continuing Investigation. For the next few days Joy spent some hours each day at the old civil defence bunker adjacent to 'The Centre' she dressed in the same clothes that she'd worn on her first meeting with Lucius in his cell the clothing was however becoming more soiled and worn with every wear and now had quite a unique smell of its own Silvanus did Joy's makeup every single time working on photos from the day before and adding a smudge here or another tear stain there. It was now obvious to Lucius that Joy Stevenson had nothing to do with his current predicament and he was really enjoying her suffering at the hands of his current captors as her mental state appeared to be slipping. Lucius couldn't decide if his captors were sanctioned by the British government or were mercenaries being funded by competitors to the organisation he worked for but he was determined not to be broken by his captors. It was half way through his second week of captivity that Lucius noticed that he hadn't seen Joy for some time so when one of his meals was delivered he asked the guard where his sometime companion had gone. "Her Daddy it appears has a lot more clout than we thought mate, she's gone... probably straight to the nearest nuthouse though as I'd heard she'd just about lost her marbles." Lucius smiled to himself as he took his spoon and started to eat. Every single mealtime was exactly the same, some sort of stew and a piece of bread with a tin cup of water and as each meal was identical he now didn't know what time of day it was or even how many days had passed. Two cells down from Lucius the man who had tortured and interrogated Robert Biddlestone had been kept in solitary confinement since being captured he had not been interviewed or even communicated with in that time and was now becoming very agitated about the fact he was apparently being ignored. Hillary had returned to London and was continuing his own investigations into Markham's and how private security contractors had been allowed almost free reign within the company that nearly resulted in the murder of Julie, her niece and nephew and the illegal detention and torture of Robert Biddlestone not to mention the damage to his own home. Hillary was almost certain that the use of contractors was state sanctioned his problem was knowing which state? It was two days after Joy had been 'freed' from custody that Robert's torturer was first interviewed by Bob, Joy observed from the CCTV room with Major Simmons and Taff. Joy had just taken a bourbon biscuit had carefully removed the top layer by twisting it gently and was nibbling away at the filling within with her front teeth when Robert's torturer was led into the interview room, his wrist chains secured to the large steel eye bolt on the desk and his hood removed. "Hello there, please make yourself comfortable Mr Powell." "Your humour does not amuse me Sir," said Robert's Torturer irritably Bob reached down to his side and pulled out a Taser and placed it out of reach on the table, the man opposite him shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "So that is it, you are going to torture me are you?" Bob looked affronted and replied. "Sir I am insulted, I'm British, we don't do that sort of thing, you on the other hand are Polish." Bob pulled a thick folder from his side and opened it. "Now let me see you were born Bartek Pjinski in 1956 the son of a plumber," Bob continued to read through the dossier making sure that the man that had been revealed as Bartek could see the Polish writing on the cover. "Hmm lukewarm military career, oh and then I see you started to work for the Sluzba Bezpieczenstwa or SB as we like to call I here in the west," Bob looked up and smiled at his opponent, who was now showing signs of discomfort. "Ah yes and in 1987 we have the unfortunate arrest detention, torture and untimely demise of the wife of a prominent party official that resulted in you having to sneak out of the country due to your overzealous use of a hallucinogenic drug. Oh and then the incident in Berlin where you were literally caught in a gentleman's convenience with your trousers down, I have to hand it to you sir you do seem have knack of annoying the authorities wherever you go don't you?" "These people they are not me and I am not them I am a ceramic tile salesman." "Oh well that's all right then, I should probably just let you go then!" Bob paused for effect. "Oh just a minute now I remember, there's only one small problem about that." "And what is that then funny man?" enquired Bartek. "It's a new-fangled thing called evidence Bartek; more specifically DNA evidence, you see it seems that the Polish, French, Germans, Russians, Americans, Danish and even the Dutch all want to have a word with you about something or other and four of these countries have even forwarded your DNA profile to us and guess what?" Bartek remained silent. "Yes, correct! We found it to be a match, so where would you like to be Extradited to then?" "I would like to claim political asylum." "Sorry off the table I'm afraid," said Bob. "So what do you want from me then?" "Me I want one more torturer to be removed permanently from this world." Bob continued to look through the thick folder. "Aha look at this even the Belgians want you for something, what on earth could you possibly do to piss off the Belgians?" Back in the CCTV room Joy continued to sit quietly occasionally talking to Major Simmons and Taff whilst watching as Bob picked away at Bartek's mental defences, curiously for an interrogator and torturer Bartek was not immune to Bob and soon he started to argue with Bob to which Bob simply retrieved a picture placed it on the desk before him and said apologetically. "I'm so sorry Mr Pjinski, but your little dog had to be destroyed I'm afraid." Bartek started to pull against his chains. "You Skurwielu, I will kill you for that. this interview is bullshit I will..." Two marines quickly entered the room and planted Bartek firmly back into his seat. "Temper temper, when you've calmed down we'll continue." Joy turned to Major Simmons. "Has Bob tailored his technique for Bartek Major?" "Yes Joy and it seems to be working. he's certainly getting under his skin," The major looked at his watch "Lunchtime, care to join me Captain?" Joy smiled. "I'd like that Major." Major Simmons then offered Joy his arm "Then please allow me to escort you over to the restaurant." As Joy and the Major were leaving the CCTV room Joy asked. "Would you like some lunch sent over Taff?" "Captain Percy already has it sorted Ma'am I believe it's pot noodle for lunch today." Joy winked at Taff. "I'll get a little extra sent over." "Thank you Ma'am." On the walk over to the main building of The Centre Joy asked The Major. "Has our new arrival settled in yet?" "Oh Isabella? yes she's comfortable and with Stevenson Bio's help we've continued her treatment, Immunotherapy really does seem to be working in her case, she does however have a long way to go before the tumour will be small enough to operate on." "Her Physical therapy has she started yet?" "Yes, she's a fighter I'll give her that, she's actually been stopped by her trainer twice now." "Really?" said Joy remembering how hard it had been to get Chris to take her own physical therapy seriously during her recovery. "Yes Joy, there is one worrying aspect however." Joy turned and looked up at the major. "She had a small petit mal yesterday it was hardly noticeable but is something we'll need to keep an eye on. "A seizure?" "More a moment of vagueness but definitely noticeable, I'm hoping it's just a little extra electrical activity as her brain re expands to retake its position as the tumour shrinks, but I've sent for a Neurologist to review her scans in case we need to modify her therapy." "She's in good hands Major, may I meet her later?" "Of course you can, she's been in quite high spirits since her arrival." Harry and Joy sat opposite each other in the Caf? area of the hospital, Joy enjoying a chicken salad whilst The Major tucked into fish and chips, they were joined after a few minutes by Chris who was pink in the face and wearing a leotard with footless tights and carrying a tray containing two lunches, she'd been for her exercise appointment and physio and seemed to be in a very good mood as she sat down. "Is Trish with you Chris?" asked Joy. "Yes she's just gone to the little girls room she'll be here soon." Chris took the food laden plates off the tray and placed them onto the large table and then arranged the cutlery. "Ah here she is," said Chris to Joy and the major as she pointed over to her wife who was wearing a very wide smile. "She's happy because she and Dix managed to get their model plane to fly this morning without it ending in tears, they didn't actually fly it though they got some bloke from the village to fly it for them." The Major laughed. "Chris tells me that the inaugural flight of Dix's plane went without problem Trish," as Trish pulled a seat out a little sat down then crossed her stocking clad legs exposing them a little more. "Yes we both got to fly it a little and Dix just hasn't stopped smiling since." The three women and the Major then ate their meals and made polite conversation until just as the Major was finishing off his fish a nurse interrupted them. "Excuse me sir, you asked to be informed when Private Leuchens arrived." Harry looked at the three women and apologised then left with the Nurse to attend to his new patient. Chris pointed over towards the gym area whilst she ate a yoghurt. "Is that Julies sister over there Joy, with Dave?" "Yes I believe it is. She looks determined doesn't she?" answered Joy "Does Julie know that she's here yet?" asked Trish. "Not yet Trish I was thinking of bringing Julie and the children here possibly tomorrow hopefully it will lift both their spirits." "If you need any help from Trish and I, Joy, any help at all just ask." Trish nodded in agreement. "Thank you both I appreciate it." Chris and Trish left a few minutes later leaving Joy to watch Julie's sister put herself through punishing exercises, Joy got up and went over to the open gym area. "Hello Dave," she said as she approached Isabella's trainer, an ex- marine with two artificial legs. "Oh hello there Ma'am, have you come to see Isabella?" "I have, I hope that you don't mind." "No not at all we are just doing repetitive movements, trying to retrain her muscles." Joy turned to Isabella. "Hello Isabella my name is Joy." Isabella raised her hand cautiously from her walking frame and whilst slurring badly said, "Hello there the Doctors have mentioned you." "I hope you don't mind us whisking you away from the clinic in Germany I believe that we are offering an identical treatment here." "Thank you, but why?" "There are a couple of reasons that I'm not quite ready to go into, but it was the right thing to do Isabella." "I prefer Izzie," she said, Joy laughed "Ah sorry Izzie." She then turned to Dave. "Would it be okay if Izzie and I went for a slow walk out into the sunshine?" "Yes but Isabella tires quickly so I would take a wheelchair along with you, just in case Ma'am." Joy took the offered wheelchair and pushed it slowly alongside Isabella as she shuffled along by her side with the aid of a walking frame, dragging her left foot slightly as she did, they exited through one of the open side doors to the building directly adjacent to the garden area and after a few minutes Joy helped Isabella sit down near to a water feature. "Thank you," she slurred as she sat back closed her eyes and allowed the sunshine to warm her pale face. "I don't get out much now but this is nice." "I've been talking with your doctor he's really happy with your progress." Isabella half smiled half frowned. "I can walk a bit now yes and I can once again move my arm and my vision is returning but speech is still really difficult for me and it appears I can no longer read very well." Joy placed her hand on Isabella's and looked her in the eyes. "The Major did say that there could be some lasting damage Izzie but I'm sure that with time and patience you will be able to relearn to read." Joy noticed Isabella's eyes glistening. "I noticed from your records that you have a sister and two small children Izzie?" she nodded. "Yes Julie she's looking after my son Simon and my beautiful baby girl Carrie for me whilst I fight this horrible disease." "She must love you very much to look after your children Izzie." Isabella sat quietly and looked into the distance for a second. "After her own illness and all she's been through recently I really hesitated before asking her for help, I even contemplated putting the children into foster care but Julie insisted she'd look after them both and even took medicines so that she could feed Carrie when she was born... She's a wonderful sister." A tear started to run down Isabella's face Joy took out a tissue and gently dabbed at her cheek with it. "If I could arrange for your sister and your children to come and visit you would you like that?" Joy asked. Isabella's face broke into a smile. "I would love that, but I don't want them to see me like this, like a hospital patient," she said whilst pointing at her hospital clothing. "I have a couple of friends I'd like you to meet Izzie one of them was until recently a guest here too, they'll help you choose some nice clothing and I will arrange for you to meet with your sister possible at the weekend if that is okay with you?" "I don't know how to thank you I really don't." Joy leant over towards Isabella. "I would settle for a hug." Isabella nodded and as Joy gently embraced her she could somehow sense Joy's sincerity and it lifted her spirits. Isabella even though she was tired insisted on walking back to the gym area with Joy where she was met by her physio for the afternoon, Joy decided to head home to her own family. Chapter 53 - Silvanus and Susan Silvanus. Today Joy will probably be spending most of her time at 'The Centre'. we exercised together this morning and I am pleased with how she's finally healed from her recent injury. I smile as I think back to how some of my injuries in the past had also been caused by me jumping out of windows. I've just been with my friend Dot in her walled herb garden. Dot is quite knowledgeable about some of the more common supermarket variety herbs but not so with the more exotic herbs, I can't believe she even cuts back stinging nettles I tried to impress upon her that they are very high in vitamin C but she still classes them as a nuisance weed. Dot, once I'd got to know her, is a very open person; this morning I steered the conversation to the Stevenson family she talked freely about Matt Stevenson and his wife Iona and then about Alice and Stacy she became quite misty eyed as she described Alice and Stacy's childhoods and didn't gloss over what she called the dark years the period following Alice's illness after she'd been abused by her uncle. What interested me the most was Dot's own description of Joy, she described Joy as a gift sent to restore happiness to Alice's life, I smiled as Dot explained. "From the second Joy arrived here at the Stevenson home, Alice was a changed person; which is saying something Silvanus, as Joy was actually carried into the house unconscious late one evening in the pouring rain by Mr Stevenson," I'd actually read both Alice's file and Joy's but as with most files they stick to the facts and sometimes leave out little subtleties. "Joy was quite ill at the time. I believe she had flu and an infection I think but the change in Alice was hard to believe as before she'd gone away on her holiday with Joy, she'd been quite cold and self-centred, but on her return and during the week she nursed Joy whilst she was unconscious, I noticed a softer, caring and more confident Alice emerge. I know that some people call Joy 'The Angel' and I also know that she tolerates it, but I firmly believe that she..." Dot didn't continue, instead she turned and sniffed then quickly changed the subject. Joy is in many ways a remarkable woman and not just for her 'Other Duties' she and Alice are both successful business women Joy has an understanding of technology I am actually envious of and despite their own wealth and the immense wealth of their family they have four wonderful and sensible children. the twins Lucy and Dawn, whose adventurous nature always amuses me. I have often watched them in the woods climbing trees or mountain biking in the morning or doing their Martial Arts training after school and on some evenings seen them dressed as beautiful young women for their evening meal, they have the best of every world and they seem to appreciate every minute. The twins also make quite a formidable fighting duo as they demonstrated earlier this year when they saved Leah from an attempted kidnapping. Terri is an absolutely gorgeous bundle of energy and smiles and has the purest heart of any child I've ever met, she makes me smile whenever I see her and at the moment whilst I sit in the shade I'm watching her sitting cross legged with Andi and Simon on the lawn whilst Tiffany reads them a story, she is of course smiling. And then there is Susan, Joy and Alice's eldest daughter, I first met Susan just before Christmas last year and our meeting could so very easily have ended in tragedy as I misinterpreted her intentions towards Leah, a young woman I'd taken it upon myself to help. Fortunately she survived our first meeting with only a bruised body; surprisingly she accepted my apology and forgave me. Some time ago I believe that Susan had a premonition of some sort it really unsettled her and as a result she terminated her relationship with a policeman called Ian, no loss there I disliked he man intensely. Susan for reasons of her own has confided snippets of her premonition to me and despite me asking her to, she steadfastly refuses to talk about it with either of her mums, her premonition involved a road accident involving Terri, fortunately Susan and Terri were along with the twins at Brunsfields when she'd imagined the accident would happen. Susan is now of course convinced that it is because she broke off her relationship with the policeman. Unfortunately another problem manifested itself recently culminating in the nastiness on the moors the other day, following which her ex- boyfriend went missing after a warrant was issued for his arrest, what an idiot. Susan has just left one of the small outbuildings at the back of the house and has noticed me she waves at me and I reciprocate, she then heads over towards me and finally drops down on the seat next to me. "Dix and Trish are fine tuning their aeroplane Silv." "Oh the thing that sounds like a very annoyed wasp?" "That's it, they really are having a lot of fun with it, Terry's in there too trying to assemble some kind of drone helicopter I was giving him a hand wiring the Esc's to the motors but he's had to go shopping with Aliza." Susan went quiet for a second or two. "Fancy a walk around the lake?" she asked. I smiled and nodded. Susan and I walked in silence until we reached the pebbly shore of the lake. "I'm going to talk with both Mummies soon Silvia." "About your premonition?" "Yes, Mummy Joy has been really great about it and hasn't pressed me at all but I think that mummy Alice wants me to tell her why I've been so odd recently." "They'll understand Susan I mean circumstances have shown you were right to finish with the policeman." "S'pose, he seemed so nice to start with but he must have always had a bit of a screw loose Silvia." "He was a controller Susan, he wasn't your type at all, it would have eventually ended in tears one way or the other, fortunately you are a very clever and sensible young woman and you realised what was happening before any real damage was done, I'm actually very proud of the way you handled the whole thing and your mum's will be too I'm sure." Susan reached for my hand and held it, her hand was warm just like my own daughters, I decided at that moment that as soon as this current nastiness was dealt with I would go and find her wherever she was and attempt reconciliation. Chapter 54 - A Very Old Friend Visits Hillary Simpson had returned mid-week to London to continue his own investigations into the origins of the doctored electronic components it was now Friday and the time was 17:05 he was still in his office and was considering calling it a day and going to his club for his evening meal before having an early night. A red light lit up on the old intercom on his desk, Hillary pressed the talk button. "Yes Mrs Tanner?" "I have Sir Lawrence in the outer office Mr Simpson." Hillary rose from his chair and headed towards the outer office where his Secretary worked. Hillary opened the dark wood panelled door to his room. "Sir Lawrence what a pleasant surprise." Hillary extended his hand and shook his old friends hand, Sir Lawrence immediately asked, "Is your room clean Hillary?" "Yes Sir Lawrence it's one of the few clean rooms on this floor." "Good May I?" "Of course." The old man walked straight past Hillary and into his room "Mrs Tanner If you could secure the office on your way out please, oh and have a good weekend with your Daughter and Granddaughter, Centre Parks isn't it?" "Yes sir it is. Thank you sir." Hillary then turned and entered his office closing the door after him. Sir Lawrence had already poured himself and Hillary a whiskey and passed Hillary his glass as he headed towards his desk. Sir Lawrence sat opposite Hillary and made himself comfortable. "So what brings you here to my little office then Sir Lawrence?" "Carlton, were in private here so just use Carlton." Hillary smiled internally as that is the name his father had always referred to Sir Lawrence by, it was his middle name. "Sorry Carlton, what can I do for you?" "Firstly that was a really bad show at Brunsfield's was there much damage?" "Surprisingly little considering, mostly the new extension lots of crazed ballistic glass, the old place survived Old Ironsides, woodworm and my father's upgrades it'll survive a few bullet holes." "Still when you get the final quote for the repairs send it via me and I'll green light it for you." "Thank you Carlton." Carlton then took a sip from his drink. "Now this brings me onto your latest investigation, how's it going?" "Slowly sir, we've some men in custody most of the Mercs have now been sent packing, Lucius Withers has reappeared, Bob is working on him at the moment and following on from information supplied by Joy Stevenson's man Mike, MI5 has managed to identify a couple of sites of interest in the Ukraine but no real evidence yet to link them to the sabotage of our military equipment." "Well I may have something for you Hillary, I had dinner the other evening with my counterpart in Washington and he happened to mention that our old friend Lucius Withers had recently become involved with an organisation within Europe whose mission statement seems to be to destabilise our exit from the European union." Hillary laughed. "I don't think they need bother Carlton our own politicians seem to be doing a pretty efficient job of that for themselves." "True, True but this organisation wants to profit from the confusion caused by our direction-less leaders we believe that there may be several large corporations involved too. Of course these chaps aren't going to get their hands dirty so they've subcontracted the dirty work basically to criminal hacking organisations and mercenary groups." "And?" "Well it seems that one of their major bases of operations is indeed in the Ukraine." Carlton took out a folder from his briefcase. "Everything you should need is there." Hillary took the folder and quickly leafed through the folder. "As you can see old man, we are going to have to pay these chaps a visit at some point and let them know that attacks on our sovereignty will not go unpunished. I do however envisage one or two stumbling points," Hillary knew that one of them would be Joy and that he couldn't force her to go on any mission. "I'll ask Joy If she's prepared to go Carlton, this however is not her usual thing." "I understand Hillary take a look at the name of the second complex, do you think that it will be an issue to your other asset?" "Oh Christ," said Hillary out loud. "Her name is Silvanus and yes it will be a huge issue for her." "Ah well that is unfortunate as we are probably going to need the assistance of her local contacts and some of your late father's contacts too." Carlton sipped at his drink quietly for several tense seconds as Hillary made notes from the folder he'd been recently handed. "I do appreciate all that the Angel has done for us Hillary and I will always be in her debt for sparing my idiot nephew's life, but this is an issue of the highest national importance." "I'll speak to her myself Carlton, how long do we have to prepare?" "Three weeks but I'll expect boots on the ground in two and as always we'll deny any involvement whatsoever if it all goes tits up." "Thank you Carlton." "Well old chap must be going, have a meeting with the Swedes tomorrow to discuss an aviation joint venture." Hillary shook Carlton's hand and escorted him from his room. Once alone in his office Hillary sighed as he looked at the aerial photographs of the semi derelict complex that had once housed a soviet era sports academy and medical complex, Hillary knew that his old friend Carlton, unlike his nephew, would never force Joy to do a mission she didn't want to do and all Hillary could do was ask her and hope she'd be amenable, what Hillary was most concerned about however was what Silvanus's reaction would be. Chapter 55 - Something New Whilst Hillary worked into the night interpreting all of the intelligence sent by Carlton's American contact Joy and Alice Stevenson prepared for bed. Joy. Every now and then I have a perfect evening, this evening has been one of them Alice is sitting behind me now cross legged on our bed and is brushing out my hair after removing the clips and ribbons that had been holding it up all evening, although I had removed my gown I was still wearing my favourite black lace trimmed bustier, stockings and heels, as was Alice except her bustier was virgin white. Alice and I had just returned from a late evening walk in the walled garden where just for the fun of it we'd been imagining ourselves as Victorian or Georgian ladies of leisure. We'd been sitting on one of the old wrought iron and wood benches by the fountain and I was resting my head against her shoulder. "Joy?" asked Alice, I responded with. "Mmmm?" "I've been thinking." "Oh yes and what have you been thinking?" "I think we should host a Halloween party this year." "Really, oh I think the children would love that Alice." "I was thinking of either using the hall or we could even hire a large marquee." "I like it, would we invite the village?" "Yes that's what I was thinking." "Would it be themed at all as I know that Toni and Sarah really loved making all of the costumes for the girls last Halloween." "I was thinking a masked ball in period costume Joy, what do you think?" I knew exactly what I thought, I loved the idea, I'd really enjoyed last Halloween despite the nastiness towards the end and was secretly hoping for an excuse to dress up again. "When Tony and Sarah get back from France I think we should approach them about making costumes Alice. I'm already looking forward to it," I turned and kissed Alice on the cheek. We returned to the house a few minutes later hand in hand and headed straight up to our rooms. I'd now taken off my heels and was now behind Alice brushing out her long flowing hair the brush flowed effortlessly through her silken hair but I continued nevertheless as I knew how much she enjoyed it, as did I. When finished She started to roll her white stockings down her legs as I undid the numerous hooks and eyes from the back of her Bustier and as it fell away from her body I cupped her soft breasts in my hands and started to nibble her ear, this caused her to audibly sigh, turning me on even more. Alice turned to me and planted her lips on mine and after physically pushing me down onto the bed straddled me then reached over to her bedside cabinet and removed her favourite toy and tube of lubricant. "I think tonight you will have the penis," she said as she lubricated both ends of the double ended silicon phallus, I took it from her pulled my panties to one side and gently eased it into me sighing as it moulded itself to my crotch and I felt the vibrations from the small weighted motor within on my clitoris. Alice raised her body took the other end and allowed the tip of the artificial penis to slowly invade her own body. "Ooohh that's niiceee," she gasped as our crotches joined at the silicone testicles at the penis's base Alice freed my breasts from the cups of my Bustier and mashed her own breasts into mine whilst we kissed passionately. Alice and I made love until the early hours of the morning when we both lay back on the bed out of breath. "It's times like this when I miss the after-sex cigarette Joy," she said breathlessly I agreed but there was no way I would ever smoke again, it was something that now reminded me of my illness something I'd worked hard to forget. The strapless Dildo was still inside me gently vibrating away as I snuggled into Alice's back, I was just about to remove it when she said, "Leave it in a little longer please Joy." I did as requested and after a few seconds she surprised me by getting the tube of lubricating Jell and applying some to her back passage. "We've never done it this way my love, I'd like to try it." "But!" Alice reached around and took the silicone phallus in her hands and pressed it into her bottom. "Nghhh," I heard as she struggled to force the bulbous head past her tight Sphincter muscle and then she stopped. "It's in me Joy it's inside my bottom, be gentle my love." I slowly started to push into her, I couldn't of course feel anything of her apart from the pressure on my own crotch from pushing that also pressed the vibrating section of the dildo into my own clitoris but the feelings for me were not unpleasant so I continued slowly and gently thrusting, going deeper and deeper until I was completely within her. Alice's orgasm came a few minutes later as she frantically rubbed at her own clitoris with her fingers I followed a second or two later and as our breathing returned to normal I gently pulled the strapless dildo out of myself and Alice and with wobbly legs went into our bathroom to wash it. When I returned Alice was sobbing. "Alice what's the matter I thought it was what you wanted." "It was Joy I needed to know what it was like but now I just feel dirty." I tried to hug Alice but she shrugged me off, I however was not going to accept rejection so I raised my voice a little. "Alice Stevenson I told you many years ago that you needed to share your problems with me and you agreed." She looked at me for a second or two and then fell into my arms. "I'm so sorry Joy. I'm so sorry I thought I could do it, I know I did it at the cult, it was an itch I thought I had to scratch." I felt myself tearing up, poor Alice so desperately wanted to be 'normal' in her eyes, but what she's completely failed to recognise was that she was now better than normal in my eyes, Alice fell asleep sobbing in my arms. Alice did not have a good sleep and had two nightmares the first more upsetting for me than the second but by dawn she was sleeping very peacefully so I dressed in my fatigues and headed out for my morning jog and workout. When I returned to our room Alice was still asleep I placed the tray I was carrying by her side and started to tickle her nose with mine, she woke with a smile on her face and immediately said, "Thank you for last night Joy," followed closely by, "I need to talk with Bob this morning will you come with me?" "Of course I will you silly moo." I stripped down to my panties and got into bed with Alice and we ate our breakfast together and talked about the previous evening. "I think I need to give the erotic books a rest Joy just wanted to see what anal sex was like if I gave myself willingly." "And?" "It hurt at first then it was quite nice and then I got sore, I'm still sore now it was nothing like it was described in my book" "You had nightmares last night Alice I was worried about you" "I know and I'm sorry, but I knew I had you to enter them and take me somewhere safe Joy. I don't think I'll be trying anal sex again for a while though." I stroked her shoulder and her arm, and looked at her with an impish smile. "I would let you do it to me Alice, if you wanted to." She looked me in the eyes. "You would?" "Of course I would," I'd been reading the same book as Alice and I couldn't help but wonder what it would feel like (after all the heroine of the story seemed to like it) Alice snuggled into my side. "I love you Mrs Stevenson." As Alice and I were dressing I pointed out Terri, she was with Andi and Simon on a large blanket on the lawn Tiffany was hovering but she was staying back and letting the children interact by themselves. Terri and Andi have really brought Simon out of his shell haven't they?" Alice turned and looked down through the window. "Oh Yes I think they are becoming good friends she's even given him one of her cuddlies." As it was Saturday Alice and I had decided it was going to be a day by the lake so under our skirts and blouses we sported swimming costumes. Susan entered our rooms just as we were about to leave. "Terry has your stuff down by the lake Mummy and the twins want to know if they can go out in their canoes. "Yes Susan as long as Terry or Aliza is with them and they wear their buoyancy jackets." Susan smiled at Alice and I. "Gosh you both look beautiful today." Alice and I both blushed at Susan's compliment, she turned and said as she left our rooms. "Seeya down at the lake then." As Alice and I were about to leave the house I noticed that in the dining room Julie was sitting feeding Carrie and we had two more people today as Toni and Sarah had returned. As we entered the dining room Toni and Sarah's faces lit up and they got up from their seats Sarah carrying baby Dylan in a sash on her front, I hugged Toni and Alice hugged Sarah. I then held Toni at arm's length and looked at her in her sleeveless baby blue dress, she was wearing heels and looked every inch a beautiful young woman. "Oh Toni look at you, you look beautiful; that colour really suits you," Toni smiled warmly at me and hugged me once more. "Thank you Joy and my nails match look," she said as she showed me her blue painted nails "See Toni, I told you that dress really suits you," Sarah said, Toni beamed at us, both she seemed very proud of herself. "Toni chose her entire outfit herself today and has been for some time now, she's got such a good eye for fashion," Explained Sarah to Alice and me. "We're having a day by the lake Girls will you be joining us?" Both Sarah and Toni nodded. "We'd love too as soon as we've unpacked back at the cottage." I turned to Julie. "You too Julie no excuses." Julie smiled and nodded. Chapter 56 - A Wonderful Reunion. Julie. This morning at breakfast Simon called me Auntie and hugged me before he left with his new friends Terri and Andi to find Tiffany. I nearly cried. Poor Simon he had been missing his mum Izzie so much. but over the last few days he's really taken to the Stevenson children and little Andi and he's started smiling again and even talking a little more. I'm still not exactly sure where here is but it is an oasis of calm and I'm appreciating every minute of it as I'm not sure when, if ever, I'll be going back to my own old life once more. After breakfast I was sitting quietly with Carrie wondering if I should give her her morning feed when two women I'd never met before entered the dining room. One was called Sarah and the other Toni, Sarah was carrying a sleeping baby she called Dylan who woke soon after they arrived and made enough noise to wake Carrie from her slumber, Sarah apologised to me for waking Carrie and passed the crying baby over to Toni who took the baby then pulled one of the straps to her dress low enough that she could expose one of her breasts she then smiled at me as Dylan latched on and started to feed. "I fed her on the train here so it's Toni's turn," said Sarah as she passed her a towel from her changing bag. I suppressed my own shyness and started to feed Carrie and soon the three of us were talking like old friends. A little later Joy and Alice appeared and invited us all down to the lake and when I returned to my room to change I noticed that a bikini and a bathing suit had been left out for me along with a bottle of sunscreen. I struggled a little, whilst pushing Carrie in her buggy and carrying her changing bag and towels a little later down the pathway through the woods towards the lake when I was joined by a man with a very large dog. "Going to the lake Miss?" he asked politely. "Err yes." "I'm going that way myself, here let me carry your bag for you." He then walked alongside me on one side whilst his dog walked alongside me on the other. "Don't you worry about the dog, miss he only bites wrong-uns." When we reached the lake I noticed that several large blankets and ground sheets had been set up on the grassy area by the shore and along with a small gazebo where the small children including Simon were happily playing in the shade, Mr Percy had a barbecue set up and appeared to be having a disagreement with Mrs Burton about how something should be cooked (I had a feeling that Mrs Burton would win this one) Alice got up from her blanket. "Julie I'm so glad you could make it. Please find a space." She then turned to the gamekeeper Daniel and his dog. "Do you have time for a burger or sausage Daniel?" The large gamekeeper smiled but said, "Better not Miss We have the Badger set on the bottom road to check on," Alice then turned to the hound "And what about you Toby, wanna sausage boy?" The dog's tail started to wag and his tongue flopped to the corner of his mouth Alice tickled the huge dog under his chin "Good boy," said Alice "Looks like we're stayin' then boy," said Daniel to his hound. I found a space on one of the blankets and after checking that Carrie was comfortably asleep and in the shade I undid my wraparound and sat down. Joy came over and offered me a huge floppy hat which I eagerly took and for a while watched the Stevenson twins out on the water with Susan and Aliza in their canoes I was joined after a while by Toni who sat beside me. "I hope that you don't mind me sitting here but my wife has stopped off at Mr Stevenson's Garage to see how their project is getting along?" I didn't mind at all Toni was really friendly. I sunbathed and talked to Toni for ages and even had a burger provided by Terry. Toni was very open and told me that she and her wife had been helped by the Stevenson's as had Trish, Chris and Trish's sister Leah she then told me a little about each ones rescue, it sent a shiver down my spine. "Even Tiffany, she was rescued too I believe or rather rescued once and helped once, now look at her Julie she looks so happy." I looked over at Tiffany who was having a wonderful time with the children and then over at the shore of the lake where Trish, Susan, Joy and Alice were now dressed in wetsuits with big tanks on their backs and looked like they were about to go diving. "Chris really wants to go diving but the doctors won't let her yet," stated Toni as she noticed what I was looking at, in the background Aliza was racing the twins back to shore in her canoe and I started to think that this was almost a perfect day. After a while we were joined by both Sarah and Chris who lay alongside us and took in the sunshine too. Carrie and Dylan stayed quiet and even when they woke just burbled and giggled to themselves in their respective prams. After lunch Joy, who had finished her diving, came over to me and asked if I would like to try canoeing, I nodded eagerly, Toni asked if she could come too, Sarah was asked but she wanted to work on her suntan, Joy offered us both her hands and she helped us both up. I noticed as we walked towards the shore that Joy had several faded scars on her back and a quite nasty scar on her shoulder and thigh but otherwise looked absolutely fantastic in her bikini, it was really quite hard for me to believe she had a grown-up daughter. As we reached the shore she said, "Aliza, Terry, I have a couple of volunteers for Canoeing for you. Be gentle with them please." She then kissed Toni and I on the cheek saying, "Have fun girls," and left us. A few minutes later as I was getting into the wobbly canoe I noticed Joy walking back towards the big house with Alice, they were holding hands. Canoeing is brilliant, I loved it and I only fell in three times! Toni and I followed the shallows of the shoreline of the lake and did at least two and a half circuits before Terry and Aliza let us cross the lake. Unlike the shoreline the centre of the lake was quite choppy and it was more difficult for me to keep my balance, I was therefore really grateful for the practice I'd had circumnavigating the lake it was however great fun and both Toni and I really enjoyed it. "Righto girls let's head back to the others now it must be well past snack time," said Terry followed quickly by Aliza saying. "Honestly Terry is food all you can think about?" As I approached the shore I noticed coming towards the lake through gaps in the woods an ambulance, I turned to Aliza. "Do you think someone has been hurt?" she shook her head. "No but concentrate on your paddling or someone might be." By the time I had beached my canoe and extricated myself from it the Ambulance had reversed up to our picnic area and had parked, I pulled the canoe up the shore a little and stowed the paddle as the tail lift on the rear of the ambulance was raised, I then noticed Joy backing up onto the tail lift helping someone, Alice was standing by the Ambulance with an older man. It must have taken me several seconds to realise who the woman was that Joy was assisting and when I did my jaw dropped, it was Izzie, my sister and she was walking, she was actually walking again, I stood transfixed as Izzie stepped off the tail lift by herself with Joy steadying her, my vision became blurred as the tears started, I heard Aliza. "She's worked so hard to be able to walk for you Julie, go to her." I hesitated for a second then walked, that soon turned into a jog, I must have looked stupid running across the grass wearing a buoyancy jacket with my spray deck flapping against my legs as I ran but I didn't care, my sister was walking again and I really needed to embrace her. I stopped just short of Izzie she smiled a slightly lopsided smile and said slowly. "Betcha didn't think you'd ever see me again didya Jules?" I wrapped my arms around her and cried, the tears just wouldn't stop. "I hoped I prayed Izzie. I've thought about you loads, oh god this is just so wonderful." I continued hugging my sister until I heard a male voice suggest that we got into the shade and that Izzie may like to sit down. I took Izzie by the hand and led her slowly to the gazebo where there now appeared to be a reclining chair Simon noticed his mummy and came running over to us shouting "Mumma" as he came. I helped Izzie into the comfortable chair and sat Simon on her lap. she was very pleased to see him. Izzie was wearing a cotton blouse and pleated skirt, her hair had grown quite a lot since I'd last seen her and her features were not quite as puffy, her speech had improved considerably but she still seemed quite weak. None of this mattered however as I was just so pleased to see her I did however wonder how she was here was she cured? Simon was enticed away to play a few minutes later and it gave me the opportunity to let her hold Carrie in her arms, Carrie must somehow have sensed that her real mummy was holding her as she opened her eyes and I swear she smiled at her although it was probably just wind. I spent the rest of the afternoon in Izzie's company. unfortunately Izzie had to go back to her hospital before our evening meal but Alice assured me that we would be able to visit her from now on after her therapy each day. I've just slipped beneath the sheets I'm actually really tired in a good way and looking forward to tomorrow. Chapter 57 - The Angel Abroad From Sir Lawrence's visit until Wednesday morning on the train up to Middlesbrough, Hillary worked almost continually; only taking breaks for sleep and food, he had formulated a plan and direct action was required. Whilst the politicians played at point scoring, infighting and deflection of the truth he had no such luxury and over the weekend he'd identified two targets that needed eradicating, the first being the data centre and hacking hub, that was identified by one of Joy's employees Mick, and second, an old soviet era facility that had once trained some of the soviet bloc's top athletes but was now being used as a base of operations and administration hub for a sizeable mercenary force. Hillary had already arranged the transport of 'supplies' into the Ukraine and had established contact with a band of travelling people that his father and grandfather before him had worked with on many occasions since the early days of the Second world war until very recently. Until Monday afternoon Hillary had been worried that Joy may have turned down his request for help but circumstances had now changed. On Monday morning Lucius Withers was taken hooded by Terry and three marines to Catterick Garrison where he was handed over to the authorities on site he was then transported still hooded under military escort from their secure compound to be transported south to a secure facility near Milton Keynes. Unfortunately at exactly 15:03:14 the tracker signal on the military convoy went dead, by 15:37 the missing vehicles had been found by a passing motorist along with nine dead bodies, Lucius was nowhere to be found. Hillary quickly established how Lucius Withers location had been leaked and the culprit a data analyst at GCHQ was now in military custody. As Hillary got off the commuter train at Saltburn station he was met by Susan. Chris and Terri. Susan took Hillary's briefcase so he could carry Terri, Terri had made it her personal mission to make Hillary less stuffy and it appeared to have worked. "Hello, my favourite little girl," he said warmly as he kissed Terri on the cheek. "Hello uncle Hillary," she replied as she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him on his cheek and hugged him. Susan and Chris helped Hillary with his bags out of the station whilst Terri happily allowed Hillary to carry her whilst telling him about her new friend Simon. Joy didn't meet Hillary at the station because she and Trish were busy on a project of their own involving the quad rotor drone that Terry had recently purchased for himself but had been borrowed firstly by Susan, Trish and Dix and then by Joy too. As Hillary sat in the back of Susan's car Susan said, "If your visit has anything to do with finding Mr Withers Hillary, mum will say yes, you know that don't you?" "I do Susan and my visit is partly to do with Mr Withers, but I also need to speak with Silvia first." "Oh." The drive from the station to Stevenson Towers was uneventful and Hillary was soon greeted by Alice as he entered the big house whilst Susan headed away in the direction of the woods. "Joy is in the old quarry Hillary, I'll take you," she said as she hugged him. As Hillary and Alice walked towards the woods Silvanus appeared from the rose garden and ran to join them, Silvanus hugged Hillary and then kissed him passionately on the lips. "Hillary I'm genuinely happy to see you," she said as she hugged him once more. "You may not be once I've briefed Joy." To his surprise Silvanus gave her new boyfriend a hearty. "Ha, I've already been contacted by Milosh dear, I'm already ahead of you on that one," Hillary frowned. "Did he also mention that you would be expected to enter The Academy complex again?" the colour immediately drained from Silvanus's cheeks, she stopped and said quietly. "No, no Hillary he didn't." Silvanus just stood transfixed looking into Hillary's eyes Alice could see that she was deeply troubled by this news. "For heaven's sake Hillary, can't you see she needs you?" "Oh er sorry Alice I wasn't thinking." Hillary took Silvanus by the hand and led her over to one of the many park style benches around the Stevenson estate he then gently held her head against his shoulder. "I'll' be at the quarry when you are ready," informed Alice as she left Silvanus with Hillary. Alice had never even seen a chink in Silvanus's emotional armour before and to see her break down like she'd just witnessed was unnerving to her, Alice took her mobile from her pocket and selected Bob's picture. "Hello Alice?" "Yes Bob." "What can I do for you today? You haven't had another nightmare have you?" "No Bob I haven't but I am a little disturbed by something I've just seen." "Oh?" "Silvanus, she's just been almost reduced to tears by Hillary." "Alice tell me exactly what Hillary said." "Well he told her that she may have to enter somewhere called The Academy again and she just seemed to break," Alice heard Bob say under his breath. "Fucking idiot," before saying "I'm sorry Alice, excuse my language. Hillary should have talked with me first, I'm on my way. Oh thank you for the heads up I do appreciate it," Bob discontinued the call and Alice continued on her way to the quarry. As Alice approached the quarry area she noticed Trish coming up behind her so she waited, Trish was carrying three shrink wrapped packages with wires coming out of them. "I assume those are for whatever you're getting up to in the quarry Trish?" "Oh these yes we've been doing a lot of practising today Dix asked me to get some more charged LIPO's from the workshop." Alice knew better than to ask but still couldn't help herself. "LIPO's?" Trish smiled. "I'm sorry Alice I'm just a bit excited that's all, Lithium Polymer batteries that's what these are, we've been going through a lot whilst trying to master Terry's drone thingy." As Alice and Trish entered the quarry area she noticed Joy watching Susan flying the drone around between the high quarry walls, Susan had a visor on and Alice couldn't figure out how she was able to see the drone to fly it. "Susan is flying the drone via its onboard camera Alice she's flying as though she was on the drone itself," commented Trish helpfully. Alice also noticed Terry Taff and Dix who all seemed to be looking at a small screen on a fold up table in front of them and not the drone. Alice looked out near to the back wall of the quarry where a steel tower had recently been erected and on top of the tower had been mounted a camera housing, the drone was hovering above the camera and slowly lowering itself towards it. "Okay Suzy see if you can drop the payload onto the top of the camera housing," said Terry whilst constantly looking at the picture on the screen. Alice watched as the drone touched the top of the tower, Susan at this point flicked a small switch on her controller breaking the power to the electromagnet that had been holding the drones payload, the payload stayed on the top of the camera housing and the drone went vertically up. Susan then flicked another switch and took off her visor. "Hello mummy have you come to see the fireworks." "Does that flying thingy not still need you to well fly it?" asked Alice with concern. "Oh not really mum I asked it to come home, the GPS will bring it back to where it took off from in a few seconds, cool eh?" Sure enough the drone landed on the table right next to the monitor a few seconds later and Trish went over to place a fresh battery in it whilst Terry and Dix went to the tower and with a long pole retrieved their dummy charge from the top of the camera. Joy came over to her wife and passed her a pair of ear defenders. "You'll need these in a couple of minutes." Alice took the offered ear protection and smiled. "Hillary is here but he's been held up, so what are you doing anyway?" Joy's expression changed and she grinned at her wife and with childish enthusiasm explained. "You see that tower over there?" "Yes it has a camera box on the top." "Well we've just managed to drop a dummy radio-controlled explosive charge onto it and in a minute or two we hope to do a live test and destroy the camera." "Okay I give in, why?" "It's an idea Trish, Dix and Susan had, using drones to disable the enemies eyes, if it works it'll certainly give us the edge as they literally won't see us coming." Terry stood with Dix and looked impatiently at his watch and then at Joy but she ignored her friend she wanted Hillary to witness the live test and a couple more minutes really wouldn't make much difference. It took a few minutes for Hillary to arrive and for everyone to move back to a safe distance whilst Dix and Terry placed a live charge of C4 with associated remote detonator to the armature plate of the electromagnet on the bottom of the drone. Hillary was passed a pair of ear defenders and safety glasses, the drone on the table made a couple of random beeps and then rose into the sky piloted by Trish, this time the drone flew directly to the rough location of the tower guided by its own GPS system but the final placing of the explosive charge was done manually by Trish. She then manually piloted the drone back to the desk and landed it. "The base of the charge has an adhesive coating on it Hillary, we're just giving it a few seconds to allow for good adhesion," Stated Joy who was now standing next to her friend. "EARS" shouted Terry, everyone donned their ear protection Terry then indicated with his fingers three, two, one and then he then flicked up the red cover on the fire switch to his detonation control transmitter and pressed the fire button. Immediately the camera, housing and the top of the tower were no more as fragments of steel and aluminium ricochet of the walls of the old quarry Hillary was impressed and nodded his approval. He removed his ear protection asked Joy. "How many of those can you get up and running in a week?" Joy turned to Trish who answered. "We already have three that have been built, modified and tested, most of the tech is off the shelf so really as many as you need." "Great we'll probably need around fifteen can you do that?" "Easily," answered Trish with a smile. Hillary then turned to Alice. "May I borrow Joy for a short while please?" "Certainly Hillary, how is Silvanus?" Hillary started to look physically uncomfortable. "She's better now Alice It was just a bit of a shock to her that's all, it seems I still need to learn to be more subtle I'm afraid," he paused for a second and then smiled "When Terri finds out I've upset Silv she's going to tell me off isn't she?" Both Joy and Alice nodded their heads. "And deservedly so," he ended with. For the next few days Susan Trish Joy and Dix worked on their drone project, Hillary helped by having delivered several military specification GPS units having an accuracy and sensitivity far in excess of the commercial unit's they'd been using. Terry Joy and their team spent many hours looking over satellite and covert surveillance pictures of the target complexes until finally their transportation arrived early on Wednesday morning. Chapter 58 - The Coach Trip Every member of Terry and Joy's team were waiting outside of Stevenson Towers as the single decker trip bus pulled outside Joy noted that Taff was driving as he was the only one with a PSV licence. He looked very un-marine like in his bright blue blazer and cap, Aliza was also dressed in the uniform of the holiday company too. Each of the casually dressed marines loaded their luggage into the luggage area of the coach and each of the men sat next to one of the women that had volunteered for the mission. Susan, Trish, Chris, Toni, Sarah, Leah and Julie had all volunteered to help but on Alice's insistence and Bob's recommendation Julie and Sarah would be staying at Stevenson Towers initially, Susan sat with John whilst the other girls sat next to other marines, Silvanus sitting with Dix as Hillary would join them at a later date. The early morning mist was just starting to lift from the lawns and trees of the Stevenson estate when the coach left the grounds of the estate on its relatively short journey to the ferry terminal in North shields. Alice stood with tears in her eyes as she watched the bus vanish past the trees, she then turned to Julie. "I have your new passport in the office do you fancy a nice cruise with Izzie?" "Err." By lunchtime Wednesday Joy, Terry and the rest of her team and trusted extras had boarded the ferry at North shields that would take them to the European mainland and Alice along with Terri, Andi, Tiffany, the twins Julie, Izzie and her children boarded a private flight to Gibraltar to join with 'The Alice' for their cruise. Dr Mike was already on the ship, preparing to do surgical voluntary work along the coastal towns as a cover whilst the ship edged closer and closer towards the Aegean and, if needed, even closer. Harry stayed behind initially but would follow within the week, Alice looked around just after her flight had taken off from Durham Tees Valley. she smiled at Dot, who was staring out of the window and at Tiffany who was clutching the seat rest tightly and did not look particularly happy about flying. Alice had insisted that their medical ship be made ready just in case of casualties from the impending operation and even though it would normally be allowed to sail close to the coast but unbeknown to Alice, Hillary had decided that it should stay in international waters to avoid unwanted conflict with local authorities. In reality however Hillary wanted Alice and her family as far away from the action as possible and the ship seemed to him to be a good way to keep them all safe and in one place. Over the next four days Joy and the team became unlikely tourists with scheduled stops in several European countries and principalities. Taff left the coach first being replaced with an agency driver with no knowledge of the mission and as the coach travelled through Europe Silvanus left second, to make advance contact with her friends, several other of the team went missing also only to be replaced with their own doppelg?nger's of similar height and build. The first ones to leave the bus were to be the reconnaissance party and would travel ahead of the coach into the Ukraine to meet with their respective contacts and settle into long established safe houses posing as holidaymakers. Joy would remain on the coach and sightsee through Hungary, Romania and most of Moldova. It was whilst Joy and Aliza were in the Moldovan city of Chisinau just after admiring the Nativity cathedral and wondering how high the dome on it was that they were walking down a small quiet street back to their bus when they were approached by a youth carrying a cigarette. "Light," He said whilst gesturing to his cigarette. Both Joy and Aliza noticed the two other youth's attempting to sneak up on Joy and when one of them made a grab for her satchel in attempt to slash its strap she swung around grabbed his arm with her left hand whilst accelerating her elbow with great force vertically into his jaw shattering it at both Temporomandibular joints. The youth screamed in agony, Joy then winded the injured youth and was about to confront the other youth to her side who was wielding a menacing looking blade when he just fell to the ground along with the first youth and his cigarette. Five men appeared briefly out of the shadows, the lead man a man with thick unkempt greying hair and a scar on his cheek just under his left eye said, "You should not have done that, this will attract the authorities" he turned to his men and issued several commands in what Joy assumed to be Romanian just before a small tired looking pickup truck appeared and the two unconscious youths and the youth with the broken jaw were thrown into the back covered with a tarpaulin and the truck sped away. Joy looked at the apparent leader. "Come with us we have a long journey ahead of us." Aliza nodded and as Joy exited the street via a small dark and very narrow alleyway to her left she passed her own doppelg?nger lookalike along with Aliza's. Joy and Aliza were roughly ushered through several small alleys and lanes before stopping under a dark sheltered arch between two tenement style buildings where an old woman threw clothing at them. "You strip and change now," she ordered. Joy stripped down to her underwear and was about to put on the blouse when the old woman said, "No, no all of the way." She then stripped off completely naked before taking the offered bra and panties from the old woman they were plain and had no brand markings on them she then stepped into the long flowing skirt and low heeled rough leather boots before buttoning herself into a loose fitting blouse Joy watched as Aliza fastened a silken patterned head scarf and copied her actions, the old woman gathered up their clothing and placed them into an old plastic carrier bag. The old woman then pointed at the men who had their backs to the women. "Go now, I will follow." Joy and Aliza were then escorted through the maze of back alleys and courtyards until they reached another pickup truck. "You sit in back," instructed the leader Joy and Aliza then got into the back of the trucks with two goats and a dog and sat on the straw and faeces covered floor as the truck tailgate was closed and two men jumped in, followed closely by the truck slowly pulling away. After three and a half hours of bouncing around in silence through barely paved roads deeper and deeper into the countryside and forest Joy knew two things, firstly she ached from sitting and secondly that Aliza seemed to be enjoying the trip immensely as she was actually smiling as they bumped along the country roads. After a couple more miles the truck turned down a narrow foresters track and after a few minutes drove up a gently sloping hill where at the top Joy could see coming into view several old vehicles, caravans and trailers and as they got closer she could see children playing in the clearing before them. The van slowed and eventually came to a stop at the edge of the clearing, the tailgate was lowered and the two men carried the now untethered goats to the ground leaving Aliza and Joy to get out by themselves. Several men women and children started to warily watch as the strangers came towards them and then Joy heard a booming male voice from behind her. Issuing instructions in what Joy assumed to be Romanian, he then turned to Joy and Aliza. "I have just told them that you are my friends and that they should treat you as they would family." At this the tension within the camp faded away, the scar faced man then came between Aliza and Joy and placed his hands between their shoulder blades pushing them towards the camp fire. "I am Milosh, my home is yours." "Thank you Milosh. thank you for your hospitality," said Aliza. "We have both coffee and tea yes you like?" "Thank you Milosh yes I'm Joy," replied Joy. "No not whilst here, I watched you fight you are like, like, you are like Fulger yes? we call you Fulger (lightning)." Aliza laughed out loud at the irony. Milosh then turned to Aliza. "And you, you look like a spirit so we call you Fantoma (ghost)." "Thank you Milosh I think," said Aliza Milosh laughed and slapped both Joy Aliza on the back. "I like you and I am scared of you at the same time Fulger." Joy and Aliza were just finishing drinking their tea and coffee from old china cups when they were pleasantly surprised to see Silvanus walking towards them barefoot through the woods with two very old looking women she looked completely at home and was carrying a basket of fresh herbs and berries. "Hello girls, you made it then?" Joy and Aliza both nodded and got up to greet their friend, but instead she embraced Milosh. "Thank you for bringing my friends safely to me frate mai mare (big brother)." "As always it is a pleasure sora mai mica (little sister)." Milosh then got up from his seat and gave Silvanus a bear hug squeezing her tightly against his chest and after releasing the now breathless Silvanus said, "Tonight we feast tomorrow we travel." Silvanus sat with Aliza and Joy. "I like your friend Milosh," smiled Joy. "It's been a long time Joy he's filled out a little and looks older but he's still the same person, I'm really glad I came." Aliza and Joy then caught up on what had been happening whilst they'd been travelling through Europe, they were informed that Taff and four other marines were now on the Moldovan border and had already made two incursions into the Ukraine to gather intel on both the hacker base and the old sports facility. Then Silvanus asked Joy. "Taff has asked if he can borrow your man Mick, is he available?" "Why on earth would he need Mick?" "He has skills Joy and although Chris and Trish are getting better at coordinating they really are not up to hacking yet." "Will he be safe?" "Yes Joy he'll be staying at the same safe house as Susan and Trish, it even has a swimming pool." "Hmm, do you have a phone I can use?" Silvanus passed Joy a satellite phone. "His number is already stored Joy and if he agrees he'll be picked up within the hour, Hillary has already organised his transport in anticipation." Joy dialled Mick's number and waited. Chapter 59 - An Unexpected Journey Back in England, in a normally sleepy village to the east of Bristol a few moments earlier in the front bedroom of Mick's parents' house. "You're kidding me, two Basilisks? I'm going to need a hell of a saving throw here if I'm going to survive this one." "I warned you that the door was charred and looked enchanted mate, you should have waited for the rest of the team now throw the dice and take your punishment," said Donald the dungeon master At that very moment just as he'd picked up the d20 dice Mick's mobile phone went off, it appeared to be a work number and as he was on call this evening he answered it. "Hello?" followed by, "Mrs Stevenson? What can I do for you?" There was a long pause where Mick's mates all noticed him becoming more and more surprised looking and nervous. "You're kidding me right?" "You're not? oh hell" Mick listened to the phone for a few more seconds "Dangerous, really?" "Yes, I suppose it would make it easier for everyone if I were there and even at that short distance I could still make it look like we were somewhere else." "Thank you Mrs Stevenson I'm in." Mick's mates who were all sitting on the carpet of his room in a circle around several small figurines were now wondering irritatedly what on earth was going on as their friend and gaming partner continued talking on the phone, the call finally ended with. "Ready? Well now I suppose... I'm at home why?" Mick then heard what was unmistakeably a helicopter over the village. "That's for me?" "Okay, I'll just pack some stuff." Mick leapt to his feet and then instantly regretted his decision as the blood rushed from his head and he stumbled. Whilst Mick ran around his room pushing socks, underwear and his least smelly tee shirts into his laptop bag followed by his Razor laptop, his friends all rushed to the window to see a helicopter landing on the village green. "Mate you need to see this a bloody great chopper has just landed on the cricket pitch." "Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck," said Mick quietly to himself as he grabbed the nearest army surplus jacket. Donald the dungeon master turned to Mick from the window. "Mate you need to see... where you going dude?" Mick turned to his mates. "Chopper is for me, sorry gotta go." And with that he left his bedroom, only stopping to shout. "Mum, Dad I'm off out for a bit," before slamming the front door behind himself. Donald and the rest of Mick's mates watched from the bay window of his bedroom as he exited the house walked across the street, was met by a uniformed man wearing a flight helmet and then escorted into the helicopter, followed a few seconds later by the chopper taking off and vanishing into the dwindling light of dusk. "What the hell Dudes," said Eric another of Mick's friends Donald the dungeon master smiled and turned to the remaining players. "I think I'm going to class that as the best saving throw ever lads." Mick. So what the hell just happened? I know from my one and only experience of Mrs Stevenson that she and her noob mate were into some weird shit but this? I can't believe I've agreed to whatever I've agreed to but I've talked with this Taff guy a couple of times now and he seems to know his way around a computer. I've now been flying in the chopper for just on twenty minutes and the crew haven't talked to me once apart from asking me how much I weighed and if I had any medical conditions, one of them even used a tape measure on me. We've just landed and I've been led over to a land rover by two uniformed men the crew called MP's my backpack and laptop have been taken from me. Oh shit this is scary I've just been led into a concrete blockhouse and a doctor has just taken my blood pressure and listened to my heart. "Slightly overweight, blood pressure elevated but otherwise fit," he pronounced before leaving the room. A man and woman soldier have just entered the room the man says, "Trainers off." I do exactly what he says he then produces what look like green overalls but look far more complicated as they appeared to have some sort of pipe or cable umbilical dangling from themselves, the man helps me into the overalls. "This is a G suit it has special bladders in it that when inflated will prevent blood from leaving your brain and keep you conscious during high G manoeuvres, not something that we are expecting this evening, take these boots and lace them up." I was passed a pair of lace up boots and started to lace them up whilst the woman put my long ish hair into a net and wriggled a helmet in place. It was about this time that it started to sink in that I would very probably soon be in a military jet flying who knows where. After signing several legal looking documents I was led from the changing room into a large hanger where I encountered what I was told was a Eurofighter Typhoon, I already knew what it was, as I'd seen them at air shows many times, I'd not seen one close up, however. "This is your taxi for the first leg of your journey sir, once in Sweden you will continue courtesy of the Royal Swedish Airforce on to Moldova where you will rendezvous with your contact and be taken to the safe house." 'Wait, What!!, safe house what the hell was I involved in I'd only agreed to help someone called Taff to do a little hacking hadn't I?' I just nodded dumbly at the man escorting me, he then saluted a man dressed similarly to me carrying his helmet under his arm. "This is Flight Lieutenant Richards, he'll give you a quick briefing before your flight." "Err okay then," I replied. The officer offered me his hand and I shook it. "Quite an honour this, I really didn't expect to be doing this when I was called back from the club, been in a fast jet before son?" "N, no." "Hmm, you don't get travel sick do you?" "Not really." He passed me a stiff paper bag. "Well if you throw up do it in the bag and if you make a mess in my bird I will make you clean up after yourself so be warned," After that I was shown to the rear seating position of the fighter jet and basically told not to touch anything and showed the ejector seat release controls. "This is the Martin Baker mk16a ejector seat, the ejection mechanism will be between your legs do not even put your hands near to it or fiddle with it in any way because if you do activate the ejector seat in the hanger or when the canopy is down you will spoil everyone's evening and my ground crew will be spending days scraping your remains off the roof," He wasn't smiling when he said this. "In you get then," said the pilot, his crew then helped me into the rear seat and the pilot got into the front. Okay this really is not the way I was expecting to end my evening I was thinking it would be more kebab and cider related, I watched as the large doors to the hanger were opened and the plane was towed outside then soon after the engines were started, there was a little static and then. "Click your mask into position, you okay?" "I think so." The canopy then lowered over my head and the noise level dropped considerably as the plane started to move. At the end of the runway the pilot revved up the engines and I felt the plane straining as it tried to move against the brakes then. 'Holy crap.' I was forced back into my seat and within seconds we were airborne. I looked to the side and could see occasional street lights but very little else the plane then banked and according to one of the little displays in front of me was gaining altitude fast. "Should be over the North Sea in about 9 to ten minutes and then we'll open her up, still okay?" "Yes, may I ask how the hell can you see what your doing?" "Carrots," There was a pause and then the pilot said, "Striker II helmet, pull your visor down." I pulled the visor on the helmet down and after I'd been told how to activate the display I was rewarded with an eerie high definition picture that tracked with my head movement. "You're probably wondering why I'm not taking you all the way aren't you? well Putin's lot are being a little arsey at the moment and unexpected flights always get their interest, the Swedish Airforce has a scheduled flight this evening as part of an exercise so you'll be hitching a lift with them so to speak." Supersonic flight was a little bit of an anti-climax as the aircraft just vibrated a little as we broke the sound barrier and within an hour we were landing at a small airstrip somewhere in southern Sweden. I was quickly ushered out of my aircraft and straight into another delta winged aircraft this time it was a SAAB JAS 39 Gripen as I was informed by the friendly pilot. Take off was just as impressive as my previous aircraft, but my new pilot really liked his low flying especially over the Baltic sea towards Poland, he then took to a more sensible height as the local air traffic control stations made him conform to their local regulations. All I could think of as I watched the world go by as I watched through my visor was 'My mates are never going to believe this'. We landed according to my watch at 1 in the morning and the plane was escorted into a hanger, as soon as the doors closed two men and a young woman appeared and waited patiently until I'd been unhooked from the aircraft. I'd just thanked the pilot when I was approached by one of the men carrying a small pile of clothing in his arms. "I'm John, change into these quickly please." it was only ten minutes later when I was in the back of a beat-up van that the girl spoke to me. "Hungry?" she asked. "Not really, I'm sort of a bit stunned at the minute and wondering what I've gotten myself into." The girl turned to the man to her side. "So can I tell him yet?" "Don't suppose it'd hurt much now miss." "Okay then I'm Susan, Susan Stevenson my Mum is Joy Stevenson." "Right?" "I believe that a little while back you helped mum with a computer related problem?" "Yes hackers, they were trying to take out my servers." "Yes well mummy was very impressed with your skills and so was Taff, so she's invited you here to Moldova to help finish the job." "But how on earth, why? I mean I've just been in a pigging fighter jet." "Ah yes well mummy has a bit of an arrangement with the British military you see," she gestured to the man sitting next to her and to the man at the front driving the van. "John and Taff, who's driving, both belong to the Special Boat Service and so does Terry the man you met in your bunker." Oh boy this was getting hard to take in and I was starting to get a deep sinking feeling in the pit of my stomach that for the first time in many years I was completely out of my depth and was involved in something I would never ever be able to tell my mates about. "This is some kind of secret mission isn't it?" I asked dumbly. "Secret in that it has no official sanction and virtually no one knows about yes," replied the man sitting next to Susan. "So I'm thinking it's probably too late to ask to go home too." "Fraid so, would you like a crisp?" asked Susan who had just opened a packet of prawn cocktail crisps she'd just taken from a large shoulder bag by her side. "Actually yes I would thank you." I took a couple of crisps from the offered packet and then asked, "So where we going then?" "Safe house near to the border It's not much to look at from the outside apart from the swimming pool but the basement is pretty much impregnable so you will be safe." It was then I realised that I didn't have my laptop with me. "My laptop, they took it from me at the airport." The man driving then said, "I had someone create a disk image from your Razor and had the image sent to me whilst you were in the air, by the time we reach the safe house the image should have been installed into an identical Laptop less the spy software you've picked up." "Spy software no way," I started indignantly. "Just messing with you Mike, of course it was clean." Susan and the two men were quite friendly and talked with me the entire way to the safe house which was quite a large house in its own grounds that was normally used as a holiday cottage but in reality I was told was sometimes used for espionage purposes. I was shown my room and told by John that breakfast would be at 06:00, I stripped off to my undies and just flopped onto the bed. Chapter 60 - Reconnaissance It had been three days since Joy had arrived at camp with Aliza and in that time the camp had relocated closer to the border, She'd quickly settled in to camp life helping to gather wood or assisting with food preparation. but today she and Aliza, along with Silvanus and two of Milosh's men would be travelling across the border to the old Sportyvni dosyahnennya akademiyi (Sports achievement Academy) a few miles to the North West of the coastal town of Odessa. The Academy had been abandoned soon after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 and was now a largely forgotten collection of semi derelict soviet era bland concrete buildings but in its heyday had produced some of the Soviet Union's greatest athletes. The complex was still largely complete and was hidden from the world by large sections of dense pine forest, the road in and out of the complex was wide and well cared for but the buildings within were now showing increasing signs of neglect and decay. The old dormitory blocks ugly looking angular grey concrete buildings stood at the rear of the complex with the central area housing the admin buildings and the old swimming complex along with three gyms the front of the complex used to house the running tracks and field sport areas but now the entire area just resembled a barren scrub land dotted with bushes and thick areas of weeds. To the left of the dormitory blocks was the old medical facility, in its time it was a state-of-the-art medical facility home of some of the Soviet Union's best doctors, nurses, nutritionists and medical staff. The current occupants of the complex stayed mostly to the central admin area and one of the dormitory blocks occasionally wandering around the perimeter for exercise or target practice in one of the old shooting ranges. The new occupants were not athletes however, they were part of a mercenary force being built up by Lucius Withers and his backers. It had only taken Lucius a few short months to rebuild parts of his small and increasingly criminal empire following the forced closure of Sentinel's operations within the UK borders and his organisation had already been used to further destabilise a couple of struggling regimes in the middle east. Lucius had also enlisted the services of a talented hacker group that when he met them lacked both direction and leadership." Lucius Withers only had one allegiance and that was to money and the person or persons that would pay him the most, he would do literally anything to further his own wealth. Joy Aliza and Silvanus had two destinations today firstly a small compound that once housed a listening post and missile silo for medium range missiles and secondly the sports complex itself the three women were accompanied by Milosh his eldest son and two of his men. As Joy's skin was very fair Silvanus had used a skin dye to darken it prior to them leaving camp she was wearing a thin full-length cotton skirt with cotton and lace petticoats and knee-high boots with only a small heel, her blouse was thick and cream coloured fortunately for Joy her hair was naturally dark and was tied into two plaits that protruded through the rear of her headscarf. Another advantage of her new clothing was that it was light and cool and it was quite loose giving her a huge freedom of movement, this was a bonus as the weather had now turned very warm and muggy. It only took an hour from leaving camp in the forest before the Toyota pick-up slowed as they approached the first of their objectives for the day, the old listening post. Joy already knew the layout of the old outpost from the plans and satellite photographs but wanted to check for new infrastructure or any other surprises that weren't on the cold war blueprints supplied by Hillary. Joy left the truck with the other girls and carrying a basket headed towards the perimeter fence picking berries and the occasional wild herb as she went, unlike the North of the country where radiation restrictions still applied following the Chernobyl accident many years earlier it was now safe to pick berries and soft fruits and as she approached the old outpost through the scrub and weeds she observed it surreptitiously. The outpost was surrounded by a fence and razor wire. The fence itself was spaced off its supporting pillars by ceramic insulators which meant that the fence was or had once been electrified. Joy noted the positions of several camera towers and pressed a button on a small GPS locater in one of the pockets of her skirt as she passed close to the more accessible ones. Aliza and Silvanus were doing the same thing at different parts of the site. For most of her reconnaissance Joy and her colleagues were basically ignored by the outpost until she got close to the entrance when a man with a semi-automatic weapon came out onto the road and started to shout loudly at her in English, Joy just stood and looked at the man as though stunned. "Fucking Gyppos go on piss off." Joy stood her ground and looked dumbly at the man causing him to become more irate at her. "Do you not understand English? I told you to fuck off this is private property," He then started to wave her away with his arms as though she were a straying animal whilst approaching her, Joy backed away a little before offering her basket to him and said, "Froot, you buy?" the man looked at the offered basket and shook his head "No I don't buy, go shoo." Joy backed away from the man and headed back into the thick undergrowth and heard as she did. "Probably still radioactive." Getting the guard at the front of the complex to come out to Joy had given Silvanus the chance to sneak in behind his hut and plant a surveillance device behind it, she then sneaked away before the guard had turned around to get back to his hut. As the trio returned to the Pickup truck they gave their equipment to Milosh's son who immediately connected them to a USB hub hidden within the dashboard of his vehicle so that the collected data could be sent to the safe house where Taff, Mick, Susan, Chris and Trish were currently working in the basement. Early that afternoon after stopping in a local village for lunch Joy and Aliza left the relative safety of the rear of the pickup truck and along with Milosh's son and two other men headed towards the old sport complex Milosh asked Silvanus to stay with him, she seemed to be relieved when asked and agreed willingly. Joy and Aliza spent nearly an hour sneaking around the old complex picking up pieces of discarded lead pipe and copper cables before allowing themselves to be noticed by the security staff and getting chased from the area by several men. In their time within the complex however Joy and her small team placed several covert surveillance devices to watch over the whole area and set up a relay transmitter within the canopy a tree in the thick woodland to the north of the site, they also tagged the GPS coordinates of the on-site cameras. Chapter 61 - Confronting my fears Joy. On the journey back to our camp I lay back against the side wall of the truck and watched the countryside as it flew past and was glad of the head scarf, the back of the pickup truck wasn't as comfortable as a car, nor was it uncomfortable either, Silvanus was inside the cab sitting next to Milosh and looked visibly relieved that we were now heading back into Moldova. As we pulled off from the main highway and turned onto a side road that would eventually lead us to the camp I noticed the dark clouds gathering over the hills, they looked ominous. When we finally got back to camp the preparations were already well under way for our evening meal and soon we were sitting out in the open and enjoying rabbit stew or at least I think that was what it was I could never really be sure. My meal was only spoilt by the occasional distant rumble of thunder. As I ate I noticed two of the older women looking at me directly their craggy faces not showing any real emotion as they appeared to study me. It didn't take long though before the noise of the approaching thunder storm got the better of me and I left my meal then half walked half ran to the van I had been using to sleep in. I heard as I clambered into the back of the van Silvanus say. "No Aliza leave her." How could Silvanus be so cruel? Within minutes I was forcing my back into the corner of the van and could feel myself shaking as my fear of the lightning overcame my rational mind. The storm raged outside my van and I cowered within for what to me seemed an eternity when I sensed the van moving a little. Then someone gently pried my hands from my ears and I heard a voice say softly. "Uita-te la mine." (Look at me) I didn't respond as I had no idea at the time what she was saying but she repeated the same words constantly until I eventually opened my eyes to see a young girl about ten or eleven in age looking me directly in the eyes, she smiled at me. "fii curajos." (Be brave) she said as she continued to look directly into my tear streaked face, I bit my lip and looked back at her as she held my trembling hands firmly in hers. The young girl continued to hold my hands and maintain eye contact until the storm started to fade then she smiled once more stood up and left me alone once more. The next morning I woke to an argument it was in Romanian or at least I assumed it was and was between Silvanus and Milosh, I opened the rear door to the van I'd been sleeping in only to see Silvanus slap Milosh across the face and storm off in the direction of the river. At breakfast Silvanus reappeared and apologised in English for her earlier outburst and then to me. "What for?" I asked just as I was grabbed roughly from behind and dragged from where I was eating into the open where one of the young men from the camp punched me in the stomach. I of course retaliated by blocking and retaliating automatically and within seconds was standing panting looking around for the next person to attack me but none came instead I had at least four of Milosh's men writhing on the ground in agony having been disabled by me with three others keeping their distance. To my side I heard slow clapping and, "Bravo, bravo you truly are who Silvanus claimed you to be." It was Milosh and he seemed to be really happy that I'd hurt his men. "What! Are you stupid I could have really hurt or killed your men Milosh." "But you didn't, did you?" Silvanus approached me she looked truly sorry for what her friend had put me through. "Joy Milosh wouldn't believe that you The Angel could be scared of a simple storm especially after he named you Lightning, he's now eating his words, they were his best fighters." To my complete surprise each one of the men I'd disabled came over to me embraced me and kissed me on the cheek. Milosh then spoke once more. "We need to remove your weakness, we get lots of storms here this time of the year and it would not be good for you to be compromised during battle." I nodded in agreement at Milosh as I'd also feared what would have happened if I'd lost control during a storm whilst involved in a mission. After the earlier excitement I had a quiet day, we were taken to a local village where I bought some more clothing, I really loved the comfort and freedom the clothing I'd been provided with afforded me and bought several more skirts and blouses for both Alice and I. as I was sure she would love them too, when we returned to the camp I helped gather wood with the children then assisted with cooking. In the afternoon I allowed some of the younger women to bead my hair a little. That evening after our meal and an odd herbal tea given to me by one of the wizened old women of the camp I could hear another storm brewing as happened the previous evening I retreated to the relative safety of my van and as with the previous evening also I was joined by the same young girl who held my hands and looked me directly in the eyes, this time however her face seemed to change being replaced by Alice's face for a couple of moments towards the end of the storm. I don't remember falling asleep or even dreaming that evening but the next morning I woke invigorated and really enjoyed my morning run through the forest and post run sparring session with Aliza and Silvanus. As I stayed with the travellers I knew by the emails and plans I was constantly receiving that it would only be a matter of days before we mounted our attack on the two complexes and it worried me greatly as there had been a thunderstorm now every evening with almost monotonous regularity. Tonight was unusual in the camp, Milosh was shouting orders and there was a lot more activity than usual within the camp, I understood very little Romanian or the dialect that Milosh spoke, but I did understand somehow that we were preparing for a guest this evening, I offered to help with the preparations but was simply told to wash by one of the elder women. I took my small bag and went down to the stream where on a bend the water had carved a pool deep enough to bathe in. I stripped out of my clothing gently laying it on bushes as I did, then stepped into the refreshingly cool water and started to wash myself. I was just finishing rinsing my hair and being careful not to disturb the beads when several other women from the camp joined me and started to splash about Aliza joined us too followed by Silvanus as I was preparing to leave. Some of the younger women started to show interest in the scars on my body but the older women's stern gaze soon stopped any questions about how I'd gotten them, when I got out of the water I couldn't find my clothing but was instead guided to almost identical clothing that had been cleanly washed and lain on an old tree stump I dressed and walked back to the camp barefoot as my boots has also gone missing. When I reached the camp once more Milosh was standing by the camp fire "Please can you go and gather some firewood for me." "Yes certainly Milosh." "Go up the path that way to the overlook I have left a pile there for you to bring back," The overlook was a small clearing at the top of a hill that ended in a small cliff giving a panoramic view of the forest ceiling and hills beyond it was nearly a twenty-minute walk. "Okay be back soon," I said as I headed away. I'd been barefoot quite a lot recently and it surprised me how quickly the soles of my feet had adapted to walking on bare ground. As I approached the overlook I noticed several old and very dead trees surrounding the clearing I knew that that they were dead as they were devoid of bark, there was also an old tent that had been pitched to the left and someone was sitting on a split log looking out over the forest. "Must be a back packer," I said under my breath as I approached the figure wearing a hoodie whilst looking for the firewood Milosh had collected for me to pick up and as I passed the hooded figure I heard "I really like your hair, love the beads." I swung around to see Alice removing the hood and exposing her smiling face. "Alice how on earth did you get here?" I asked, Alice got up from the log and embraced me tightly whispering in my ear she said, "You called for me to come, someone called Milosh organised it," Alice paused "Was it really bad Joy the lightning?" I didn't answer to contradict her I just held myself against Alice's soft warm body. "Ah here's our meal your friend said that he'd bring it up here for us." I turned to see several of the younger women from the camp walking up the track towards us carrying a large pot that I was to soon find was casserole and others carried tarpaulins that they spread on the ground the young women were followed by some of the older women from the encampment along with Silvanus and Aliza. Soon we were all sitting on the ground enjoying a fine meal of casserole and bread I sat with Alice whilst some of the women looked curiously at us. With Silvanus translating for us the young girl from the previous two evenings asked me something but I didn't understand. "Irini asks if you really are an Angel," I was about to say. "Of course not." When Alice said, "Can you tell Irini from me that I think she is my Angel," Alice grasped for my hand whilst Silvanus translated. The little girl Irini smiled and nodded at us. Just then I heard the inevitable distant rumble and turned to look towards the hills in the distance and noting in the gloom the occasional flash within the gathering storm clouds. "I think it's time for us to leave," I said with urgency in my voice but instead of packing up to leave the younger women with us started to string out a large tarpaulin between the trees to form a canopy over our heads, I watched and listened as the rumbling thunder and lightning became more frequent over the next few minutes with increasing concern. "I, I really think that we should be getting back to camp now," I continued to say, Alice clasped one of my hands tightly and Irini held my other hand tightly she then sat cross legged with her back to the storm and like the previous evening looked me directly in the eyes and spoke to me quietly but with great confidence Silvanus translated from somewhere nearby. "Be brave for us, my Angel we are all with you and will stay with you until the storm has passed." I broke the young girls gaze momentarily to see all of the women both young and old sitting near me and watching me and at Alice who seemed to be bordering on tears. I then looked back at Irini she smiled, her smile reminding me of Terri's smile. I looked beyond Irini and could now see the forked lightning apparently hitting the canopy of the forest and heard its associated thunder as it got closer and closer to our position. The little girl spoke again and through Silvanus said, "The storm it is but a force of nature, nothing more, nothing less." I however could not help but think of the high trees around us and the dead ones that had very probably been struck by lightning at some point but also I realised something else, that I was not terrified, scared yes but not terrified. It started to rain soon after and the tarpaulin canopy strung above us protected us from most of it but all of the gathered women sat with me and even though they mostly didn't speak English I knew they were urging me to overcome my irrational fear of lightning, The storm itself didn't last for long maybe twenty minutes or so but towards the end I started to see a strange beauty in the massive energy discharges around me. I then realised that I was no longer looking into Irini's eyes but out over the forest, I turned to see Alice she was smiling broadly probably at the shocked look on my face. "I'm not terrified Alice, I'm not terrified," I said excitedly. I turned to the young girl. "Thank you thank you so much." Then to the other women some of whom were now smiling "Err, mul, multumes." I hoped I had got it right and I had said thank you. Irini hugged me and got up then each of the other women hugged me, took an item and left one by one back down the sodden path to camp. Irini was the last one to leave "Enjoy your evening Fulga," she said pointing at the tent I smiled and nodded. "Fulga?" said Alice. "That doesn't sound pleasant." "It means lightning apparently." "Oh now that is appropriate." She took my hand. "Shall we?" asked Alice as she guided me towards the tent. The next morning, as Alice and I emerged from the tent, the morning was beautiful and fresh and even better I felt wonderful, I may not have been fully cured of my fear of thunderstorms but I no longer dreaded them, Alice slipped on her plimsolls and we headed down to the camp to see what the day would bring us. Silvanus approached me whilst on my jog the morning after Alice's arrival. "The elders are curious about Alice, they've already sensed her troubled mind and her fear of men and want to know it's cause." "She's not troubled Silvia not anymore," I stated not actually believing what I was saying. "Joy what happened to her in the past will always be there, Bob helps her cope but she will always have those memories with her, may I confide in the elders her past?" "I'm not sure Silvia." "Please Joy trust me on this, they helped me through a great trauma when I was younger and they've just helped you." "Err okay then but if they upset her in any way she's going straight back to the ship." "Thank you Joy." Chapter 62 - Away from camp Whilst Joy and Alice were in camp preparing for the mission ahead and occasionally confronting their fears and in Alice's case the greatest darkness from her own past Susan was confronting something entirely new and completely foreign. Susan. This is completely ridiculous, it wasn't hard when he first arrived so why am I finding it so hard to talk to Mick now? I thought to myself as I sparred with Trish. "Ow." "Sorry Susan I thought you'd easily counter that," said Trish as I picked myself up from the grass, she'd actually managed to throw me, Trish offers me her hand and pulls me up. "You're distracted Suzy wanna talk about it?" "Not really Trish." "Tough C'mon over here onto the balcony, Chris has left us some juice," Trish kept hold of my hand and pulled me with her onto the balcony I sat on one of the aluminium patio chairs and she sat opposite me Trish then poured us both glasses of juice from the large ice filled pitcher on the table and passed one to me. "So come on then fess up, what's up with you?" I stayed silent and just sipped at my drink Trish however smiled and looked me in the eyes. "Want me to tell you then?" I continued the silent treatment. "It's Mick Isn't it?" Damn how on earth could she know that? "N, no it's er, it's just..." "Suzy your face has gone bright red and your brain appears to have stalled, you fancy Mick just admit it?" I felt myself swallowing involuntarily my cheeks felt hot as did my ears and my chest. "Suzy it's okay he's a pleasant lad, a bit odd with all of that dungeons and dragons stuff I'll admit and he's not exactly a looker but..." "What do you mean not exactly a looker? he's really cu...te," I blurted out without even thinking, damn. Trish shuffled her chair closer to me and with a wry smile said, "I knew it, you have the hots for him, good for you." She of course was right, initially it was fine it was just like talking to John or Taff but he was really polite and has such a lovely smile. Then a couple of nights ago I had a dream he was in my dream, suffice it to say when I woke I was very flushed hugging a pillow and feeling very horny and frustrated. "I, I just can't stop thinking about him Trish, so I've just started to avoid him." "What on earth for?" "I'm not ready for another relationship not so soon after, after." "After the arsehole policeman, yes I get it but I really don't think Mick is in anyway like him, if anything he's retained many of the innocent childlike qualities I love you and your sisters for." "Innocent, Childlike?" "Yes Suzy you are a beautiful open and trusting young woman, but worldly wise you are not." I frowned as I knew that Trish was right as my life for the most part has been extremely pleasant with almost no hardship whatsoever, whereas Trish had literally dragged herself out of the gutter to become the wonderful friend I have today. "So what should I do Trish?" "You could try talking to him that would be a start." "But about what? I just wouldn't know what to say." "Oh Susan I despair of you," Trish said as she laughed. Trish and I talked for ages after that until after a while Mick exited the house probably from the basement where he'd been working with Taff and went to one of the sun loungers by the small swimming pool propped it up into a sitting position and sat to read a book Trish poured another glass of juice and topped up mine. "There you go Susan I'm sure that Mick would love a nice refreshing drink after a long morning in that stuffy basement." "Trish!" "Your mission today Susan Stevenson is to re-establish communication with the being known as Mick, to boldly go and supply beverages and companionship where probably no woman has gone before," I took the two glasses. "Stop it, you're making me laugh, I'll go." I got up from my seat and just before leaving said "Thank you Trish." I went down to the pool as confidently as I could and when I reached Mick I coughed to get his attention before saying. "Thought that you might be a little thirsty." And placed a glass down on the small metal table beside him before sitting on the recliner next to him. "Thanks Susan, I was just about to get one." "So whatcha reading then?" "A wizard of Earthsea by err Ursula le Guin, I found it in the house yesterday, It's quite good." I'd actually read it several years ago so was quite pleased that we had at least something in common. "I've read that, are you enjoying it?" "Yes Actually. I don't read often and it took a little getting into but yes I'm really enjoying it." "I read the whole series some time ago, I think the twins may have them now." "Twins, oh you have brothers or more sisters?" "The Twins are my younger sisters Mick I also have a little sister called Terri too." "Really?" "Yes." Mick put his book down. "I was watching you this morning fighting, what kind of martial art was that?" "Ooh that's a tough one Mick, as it is sort of a mixture of quite a few different styles including judo Karate and Krav Maga basically anything that can be used to disable disorient or just stop an assailant in his or her tracks." "Have you been doing it for long Susan as you appear to be very good at it, those soldiers were having a hard time getting any moves in on you." "Hmm since about fourteen I think. Mummy Joy Aliza and Silvanus are much better at it than me though Aliza taught us how to fight." "Your mum knows how to do that stuff too?" "Yes." "Ha after the last few days that doesn't actually surprise me." I stayed and talked with Mick for what must have been an hour in the sunshine before Taff came out with some food but before they went back into the basement again Mick asked me. "I was thinking of going for a walk later into the village, would you like to come along for maybe a coffee or cake?" I found myself smiling broadly. "Yes Mick I'd like that." That evening after a long walk and having a lovely evening meal together in the village Mick and I stopped at the edge of the road and watched as the sun set over the forest, I felt myself shivering a little as the cooling breeze ran across my bare shoulders, Mick took off his old combat jacket and draped it over my shoulders. I looked up at Mick and smiled. "Thank you." Mick just shrugged. "You looked chilly Susan." We stood together for a few more minutes and I have no idea when it happened but at some point I slipped my hand into his and as we left to go back to the house we were holding hands and I was feeling wonderful. On board the Alice... Julie. I was a little worried when I found out that we would be staying on a ship but it is lovely and the crew are wonderful. The Stevenson twins have set up a badminton court on the helicopter deck and we have little tournaments almost every day. My day is very busy, first thing I feed Carrie and then go for a jog, it's just with the twins now as Alice left the ship a few days ago but after several times around the main deck I then go with the Twins into the ships Gym and with the aid of the twins and Izzie's instructor Dave I do exercises and join in on Lucy and Dawn's martial arts training. After a shower and a breakfast I usually sit and watch Izzie whilst she punishes herself to restore her fitness, Izzie is coming along in leaps and bounds now, her speech is really improving as is her coordination, her eyesight seems to have stopped improving however and yesterday she was tested in the hospital section of the ship and given a prescription for glasses. Izzie usually rests in the afternoons after spending some time with Carrie and Simon so I usually find Toni or Sarah and sit with them, they are a lovely couple and I love chatting with them, Sarah is training to become a car mechanic, I then usually find Tiffany and see what Simon and the other small children have been up to. Tiffany is wonderful with children and they seem to enjoy her company too. A few days ago Matt Stevenson and his wife boarded our ship, he's a billionaire! I didn't believe it when Toni told me as he seemed so friendly and normal and was even on my team for badminton. It's been quiet today but the hospital part of the ship has been really busy as though something was about to happen. Yesterday we left the Aegean and entered the Dardanelles, then this morning I found that we'd entered the sea of Marmara. The crew seems really on edge today and this worries me. Chapter 63 - The Attack (part 1) Joy. It was just after midnight when Aliza and Silvanus and I rendezvoused with Dix and four marines in a quiet and secluded glade about two miles from the old missile silo/ listening post. "Like the new look Ma'am, it suits you," said Dix as he passed me my combat gear. I quickly removed my comfortable clothing and donned my combat equipment the boots felt a little unusual after spending so much time barefoot but still comfortable, I slipped knives into the sleeves within my boots and tied my hair back then placed my helmet on. After blacking up my face we proceeded by truck to within half a mile of the compound then after a short walk the compound came into view. "Control, deploy the drones." "Drones deployed," said a female voice I knew to be Chris and within seconds we heard the buzzing noise of drones taking off from the rear of our truck, I assumed that Susan and Trish would be remotely piloting the drones from the safe house via the repeater transceivers on our truck. "First two payloads delivered, returning." I started forward towards the perimeter fence keeping out of the view of the fixed camera positions until I'd reached where was to be our point of ingress. At the fence I pulled up the bag I'd been dragging and took out two long copper coated poles and with the aid of a handle started to screw them into the damp ground roughly two metres apart and 1 metre from the Electrified fence, I then took out several long lengths of wire with insulated clips at each end and started to clip them to the horizontal cables of the fence the free ends then connected to the earthing rods via a remotely operated contactor box, I knew whilst I was doing my job other marines were also preparing to enter the compound also, Dix had been tasked with lowering smoke grenades down the old corroded ventilation shafts around the perimeter and the other marines would be positioned to provide covering fire should it be needed. "Second two payloads successfully delivered." I lay in wait until all payloads had been delivered by the drones to the tops of the camera housings then issued the order to detonate. Simultaneously the charges fixed to the CCTV cameras all exploded, whilst at the same time all communications to and from the site were cut, the smoke grenades triggered and the electric fence was grounded to earth via the two-earthing rod's buried in the soil. "Go, go, go," I ordered after I'd taken my cutters and cut swiftly through the now harmless cables and hoped that the other Marines had followed my instructions exactly, I then made a break for the compound wall across a neatly mown area of grass in the inner compound. "Deploy the bladders," I instructed. "Deployed," Deep within each ventilation shaft thick inflatable bladders I hoped would be inflating themselves and preventing further ingress of fresh air into the underground area of the small complex. I was joined by Silvanus and Aliza and we worked our way along the concrete wall to the steel outer door of the bunker. It took two or three minutes before I heard the unmistakeable sound of a lift slowing as it went into dynamic braking and then a further minute before hearing the sound again. There were several 'Clunks' as the steel door opened and several casually dressed young men and women staggered out into the night coughing and wheezing from the effects of smoke inhalation, these were not fighters but what Trish would call nerds, we quickly rounded them up and restrained them before the lift returned with several more who we quickly restrained. They all seemed to understand English so we quickly ascertained that there were a couple more down in the bunker trying to tough it out. I gave the order for the bladders to be partly deflated and Dix and I headed into the bunker wearing masks and night vision goggles. I wedged the lift door open at the top and we used the staircase to go down into the bowels of the building arriving at a steel fire door at the bottom. The door was quickly despatched using shaped cutting charges and we entered. The smoke was now clearing a little allowing improved vision and we located a terrified young woman and two men huddled in a small tea room. Dix and I were joined by two marines and Silvanus a couple of minutes later. Silvanus had a cable reel in hand and had lain out a cable from the surface to the old silo launch area, this where we found the servers and adjacent to it the control room which was set up with row upon row of computers "Looks like this was the hub of their cyber-attack operations Sylvia," I commented. "Where do you want this cable?" she asked. "In the server room over here please, Dix can you start deploying the package please." "Ma'am," whilst Dix set about providing a permanent decommissioning of the site Silvanus and I went into the server room and located the connections to the outside world and disconnected them, then via a breakout box connected the cable Silvanus had lain to it. "You getting anything yet control?" Mick answered, "Connecting now err." I smiled as I heard Susan in the background. "Ma'am just call her Ma'am" "Connected now Ma'am, trawling software activated probably be about twenty minutes." "Okay we'll finish off here then," on our way to the staircase Dix joined us. "All set Ma'am timer set for 30 minutes." I nodded as I started to ascend the stairs. We'd been on the surface for about ten minutes when Terry's voice came over the Comm's "Two trucks of Merc's heading your way local comms chatter indicates they're coming to investigate lost contact with the data centre, they are assuming a power failure. "Understood." "Dix move the civilians somewhere safe, I'm going to knock out the power." "Ma'am. Rodgers, Dempsey with me." I returned to the bunker area and walked around the perimeter until I found the main power cables entering the building I then traced them to an outhouse and after smashing the flimsy lock off the door found the mains control board and with it an emergency generator, taking a spanner off the tool board on the wall I disconnected both battery terminals going to the starter circuit of the generator before disconnecting the power at the main distribution point all lighting on the site extinguished with the exception of a couple of battery operated emergency lights over doors. Back out in the night air I could see above me a clear sky full of stars but very little other light so I put my night vision goggles back on and re-joined Aliza and Silvanus. "Incoming in about three minutes Joy, Dix is setting up an IED to prevent their exit." "How long before the bunker goes up?" "Just over five." I took cover behind an old fallen tree alongside Aliza and Silvanus whilst Dix and the other Marines found their own cover positions. The incoming convoy of two vehicles headlight beams appeared and bounced about in the hedgerows for about a minute before the vehicles themselves came into view and as they entered the compound. "62 seconds before detonation," I heard from Dix. "How much explosive did Dix use Aliza?" I asked out of interest. "About 35 kgs I think he made the pack up himself." 35 kilograms in a confined area would cause an amplification effect as the shock wave of the explosion fought to find somewhere to escape from, this was going to be violent I thought to myself as I dropped further into cover. "Ears," Dix warned with roughly three seconds to go just as several armed men entered the bunker. The resulting explosion was nothing short of spectacular causing a huge fireball and shock wave to destroy the ground level buildings and to blow the giant steel cap off the cold war missile silo. Immediately following the explosion we started to advance upon the burning rubble once more as the surviving mercenary's picked themselves up and started firing indiscriminately into the night, I took cover and selected my target, tapped the trigger on my mp5, watched as he fell to the ground. Silvanus, Dix and Aliza along with the other marines did the same and soon the remaining survivors were making their way to the nearest vehicle to the road exit of the burning complex to make their escape. We stopped firing as the truck started and I looked away as it drove over the proximity sensor on the road and the vehicles back broke as it was thrown high into the air pushed by an expanding ball of flame, it then crashed back down to the ground into a heap of flaming mangled steel and aluminium, there were no survivors. Chapter 64 - The Attack (part II) Joy. Taking back roads to avoid drawing attention to ourselves we travelled the few miles to our second target of the night knowing that we probably wouldn't have the same element of surprise as the first and knowing that almost everyone we encountered at our second objective would be a legitimate target. "Hillary is asking for an ETA Ma'am?" asked Trish over my earpiece. "Five minutes, did we gain any useful information from the bunker." "Yes Ma'am apparently a lot." I noticed that Aliza was watching Silvanus almost studying her as we approached the old sports complex. "You can still sit this one out Silvia," she offered as the lights of the old academy came into view in the distance we wouldn't be seen however as we'd extinguished our headlights a mile or so back. "It's been too long Aliza this I need to do." I was going to keep an eye on Silvanus something was obviously disturbing her and it had to do with the old sports academy. Pulling to the side of the road we exited from the vehicle where we were met by Taff. "Captain Percy sends his compliments and, I quote, says to get your arses over to the north block as soon as you arrive." "Thanks Taff we're on our way." We headed out to the northern side of the complex and within minutes were in cover. Unlike the bunker there was no security fence it having long ago rotted away but there were lots of cameras. So as before drones were dispatched to drop their payloads onto the tops of the camera housings, there were however three camera housings mounted on building corners that could not be reached by the drones and the drones near to these targets were to be sacrificed as hovering bombs once all of the other devices were in position. The cameras were taken out in one large multi-location explosion this was closely followed by several other explosions that knocked out power and communications. The site fell quickly into relative darkness. "Jonesey take your lads and secure the armoury, Captain Stevenson are you in position by the dormitory blocks?" I confirmed my position to Terry just as small arms fire started. "Admin area. Several armed targets." I took Silvanus and Taff and made my way towards the admin building whilst Dix, Aliza and two other marines gave us covering fire, it didn't take long for us to reach the admin area and for us to deduce that the firing was restricted to just a couple of windows to our left. Silvanus and I reached the wall of the Admin block first Taff being held back by increased small arms activity. I took two grenades from my satchel and passed one to Silvanus, she took one window and I the other and the second our covering fire stopped we lobbed the grenades through the broken windows and fell to the ground covering our ears, I felt the heat of the blast above me and got to my feet then dived through the window three men in fatigues were lying on the ground one of the men reached for his m4 but didn't make it as I placed three rounds closely grouped into his chest. "Clear." Silvanus joined me followed by Taff and then Dix. We then systematically went through every single room of the admin building capturing and restraining seventeen men unfortunately twelve more paid with their lives the twelfth man's last round catching Dix's forearm due to a ricochet and causing a deep flesh wound as it did. Once the admin area was cleared we returned to our search of the old dormitory blocks and the medical complex. I took the first dormitory block and sent Silvanus with a marine to check out the medical complex Aliza went with two other marines to the other dormitories whilst Dix was having his wound attended to by the medic. Terry, Hillary and their team were engaging Mercs in two of the old gyms and slowly working through them whilst I and Corporal Jones cleared out my assigned Dormitory. "All clear Ma'am." "Thank you Jonesy, find Sergeant Dixon and Aliza I'll go and I'll find and assist Silvanus then rendezvous with us at the medical facility." "Yes Ma'am, she was heading towards the old medical facility." I took a replacement magazine from my satchel and reloaded my mp5 then left the cleared building and entered the old medical facility, noting as I did a new and very sporty Mercedes parked in one of the parking bays by the front windows of the building. The old reception lobby was clear with a couple of dead Mercs on the floor so I entered the main building and followed the main corridor cautiously. At the end of the main corridor I heard several short bursts of automatic fire so I made my way towards it and found in cover at the end of the corridor the marine assigned to Silvanus. "Where is Silvanus Marine?" "She went down to the basement Ma'am to try and get behind this lot but she's been a while." "Got any grenades?" "Sorry Ma'am used them all." I took out my final grenade and a flash bang from my satchel. "here take these, I'll cover you, after three." On three I gave a long burst of automatic fire allowing the young marine to throw the flash bang and grenade and just after detonation we moved forward taking out the two men who had survived the initial blast but who were unwisely readying their weapons to retaliate. Five minutes later after securing all of the rooms on the ground floor. "Seems clear now Ma'am." "Okay keep the area secure I'll see if I can find out what has happened to Silvanus in the basement Sergeant Dixon should be along shortly." I was actually a little worried about Silvanus as she hadn't reappeared from the basement. Once I'd cautiously gone down the two flights of concrete steps the basement opened out into a wide central corridor of which several rooms were situated to the left and right, the rooms looked like they had once been labs or research workshops, at the end of the corridor there was a left turn that opened out into a small reception area and waiting room, then after another small corridor a set of double swing doors much like you would have on an operation theatre. I cautiously opened one of the doors to find Silvanus standing and staring at the remains of an old operating table in the centre of the room. "Silvanus?" She didn't appear to hear me so I approached and touched her shoulder she turned to me. "Milosh would never tell me where it had happened but it was here this is where I was tortured where... where he did those things to me, the monster." "Silvia who?" But before Silvanus could answer me I noticed out of the corner of my eye movement I swung around and fired two shots into the chest of a man carrying a pistol he was dressed in a dark suit and was completely out of place in this derelict and filthy building. My shots and the fallen man seemed to snap Silvia out of her dream like state. "I'm so sorry Joy I don't know what came over me." She was lying I could tell but I could also see she still looked badly shaken so I ordered her back upstairs to find Dix and Aliza, she complied without complaint or hesitation. I continued through to the back of the old operating theatre and down another small corridor. "Captain Percy is asking if you've nearly finished Ma'am as the local law enforcement are now on their way and he'd like to be gone before they arrive." "Yes Trish just checking basement of the medicannnnnggggg." It is at this point that Joy loses consciousness as a cattle prod was forced into her neck and several thousand volts was discharged into it. "Oh so who do we have here then?" said a very familiar voice, not that Joy would have been able to hear it as the high voltage electricity in the cattle prod had completely overloaded her central nervous system a shock that given to most people in the neck would have killed them. "Pick her up and get her into the car I really can't let this opportunity go to waste. Oh I'm so going to enjoy this one." "Okay Mr Withers," Answered the heavily built mercenary carrying the electric cattle prod as he hoisted the unconscious body over his shoulder causing Joy's helmet to become dislodged and fall to the floor. Chapter 65 - Mrs Stevenson I Presume Joy finally regained consciousness whilst being bounced about in the boot of a car but she quickly realised that there was something terribly wrong, her heart felt like it was racing and she was breathless, Joy attempted to release herself from the boot but was having real trouble concentrating 'have I been drugged?' she wondered to herself whilst trying to clear her head and not panic. What Joy did not realise was that the electric shock that had incapacitated her had also interfered with the pulses being generated by the sinoatrial node within her heart, this cluster of cells usually generated regular pulses that enable her heart muscle to contract and pump blood through her body but the node's natural rhythm had been interfered with and Joy was now unknowingly suffering from an acute case of Atrial fibrillation, her heart pumping barely enough blood around her system to prevent cell death. Eventually the car that Joy was an unwilling passenger in pulled to a stop and after several minutes she was bundled out of the car and into a building then securely fastened to a wooden high-backed chair and only then was the hood removed from her head. "This is an unexpected end to a most unpleasant and costly evening, now let us see who you really are." One of the men to her side then started to roughly remove Joy's camouflage blacking. Lucius smiled. "Well well well and this evening just gets better and better, Joy Stevenson in the flesh, strip her," The men then undid Joys restraints to remove her clothing but even though she struggled as hard as she could she just couldn't muster enough speed or strength to break their grip on her and the harder she tried to struggle the dizzier and more out of breath she felt until she actually fainted from the effort. When Joy regained consciousness again she had been stripped down to her Sports bra and panties. "I said strip her, everything off," ordered Lucius with more than a hint of menace in his voice. Two minutes later and after another bout of dizziness Joy was standing her arms being firmly held by two men whilst Lucius walked backwards and forwards in front of her carrying a long black pole with two copper electrodes protruding from the end. "Being an engineer Mrs Stevenson you should appreciate this, the device I'm holding is a cattle prod, it produces a high voltage at low current and is designed to encourage reluctant cattle to move. In normal use it creates no more than an annoying jolt of electricity. This particular one is special however because it has been specially modified, modified in such a way that it no longer has the protection circuitry required by law and if used incorrectly could actually kill someone." He stabbed the prod into Joy's side and watched with some satisfaction as she grimaced and tensed up at the many thousands of volts burned at her skin. "Very good Mrs Stevenson you are fighting me I like your spirit, I'm going to enjoy our chat." Joy stood defiant and answered nothing for over an hour of being electrocuted and beaten by the sadistic Lucius until on discovering that the battery on the prod was failing he stuck the electrodes into her gums, the resultant shock rendered her unconscious. When Joy regained consciousness she was lying on her back on some kind of platform or table her arms were held down by Lucius's men and her legs were being held splayed apart. "Ah good you are awake I would have hated for you to miss this Mrs Stevenson." Lucius appeared to her side and removed his trousers and underwear; his penis was erect. "Whilst my fun stick is recharging I thought I would avail myself of your very enticing body and get a little personal relief myself and use my own personal fun stick on you. Joy's eyes went wide with both shock and fear, as far as men were concerned Joy was still a virgin and she did not want this monster anywhere near her, Joy started to struggle against the men holding her but whatever was wrong with her body had robbed her of her of all of her usual strength and speed, For the first time in many years she was genuinely scared and despite her weakness struggled with futility to break free from her captors grasp. Fortunately for Joy just after Lucius had forced his penis into her un-lubricated vagina she once again mercifully passed out as due to her struggling her brain had been robbed of the oxygen it needed to correctly function and in an effort to protect itself it had shut down. Chapter 66 - The Safe House. "So where the hell is my mum then?" asked an extremely annoyed, upset and exasperated Susan. "We just don't know Susan, Taff and Trish are trying to recover footage from her helmet camera but the helmet was badly damaged when we found it," said Terry. "This is my fault I should never have gone back there, if I hadn't frozen." Susan turned to Silvanus. "It's not your fault Silvanus, Mummy must have been disabled somehow and as she's no longer at the sport complex she must have been taken and as no one would take a dead body she's therefore still alive," reasoned Susan, she then turned to the assembled marines and friends in the room "Get my mummy back for me now." It was at that moment Alice entered the room with Milosh at her side Alice went over to Susan who was now weeping whilst Milosh spoke. "You heard the young woman why are you not out looking for your friend?" For the next hour and after three of the UK's spy Satellites two Russian and four American ones had been commandeered and re-purposed to scan the local area. the first break in their search happened, Taff and Trish had managed to resurrect data from the point at which Joy had been captured and as they all watched the footage on the large screen. "Is that a cattle prod?" asked Hillary. "I believe it is," replied Dix "Oh lord that's Lucius Withers." "I'm leaving to talk to my contacts, I will let you know if I find something," stated Milosh, he then took Alice's hand and held it to his chest. "Have faith in your wife, she is a survivor." Alice looked up at Milosh smiled weakly and said, "I know." "Milosh, I'm coming with you, I'm being sod all use here," stated Dix, Silvanus slipped out unnoticed too. Alice busied herself making snacks upstairs whilst Taff, Chris, Trish and Susan trawled though many hundreds of high resolution images looking for the Mercedes that had been seen speeding away from the sports complex just before the area had been secured Mick not knowing what the protocols really were for such situations started trawling the dark web for any mention of Joy's capture, his searches must have been picked up by an interested party as on his screen a message appeared. 'look at truthsentinelportal101293' "Guys I think I may have something here," said Mick as he located the appropriate announcement page. "Stick it on main screen," ordered Hillary. Amongst the random chatter was a message, it simply read, 'Angel to be revealed on all media 22:00' local time. "Shit, shit, shit, shit," said Hillary as he read the message. "Aliza take three men and go North." "Terry East." Hillary continued to issue orders until he'd basically run out of marines. "Michael we need to find out where the broadcast is being sent from and find a way to block it Joy's identity cannot be exposed to the world." "I'll try Mr Simpson but this connection really does not have enough power or speed for that kind of search," But before Hillary could answer Mick, every single screen in the basement bar one went blank but for the message 'Ours does, Stand By...>_' "Michael who are these people and why are they helping us?" "I don't know Mr Simpson I really don't." Hillary then turned to Taff. "Seems that there is not much we can do now Taff would you care to join the search with me?" "Sir, yes sir." Hillary then went over to Alice. "Alice I am so sorry about this you must be absolutely furious with me." "I'm not, I am however furious that Lucius Withers has managed to escape your custody twice already. he is an evil man and I shudder to think what Joy is enduring at his hands as we speak." Alice however somehow had already sensed exactly what Lucius would be doing to the woman she loved and her heart was already breaking for her, Alice then thought of her children on 'The Alice' with her parents and Julie and when Hillary left the basement to go searching she rang her father. "Daddy? It's Joy, she's missing." It was at this point that Alice finally broke down. Milosh was a man on a mission he didn't want to admit it but he really liked Joy and was disappointed at Silvanus's apparent weakness. Milosh went from village to village along the border talking to locals and local criminals trying to find out if anything unusual had been happening locally, it was a seemingly fruitless and frustrating search but finally at 21:30 he'd been given information that the local cigarette smuggling operation had noticed strangers entering an old long abandoned abattoir just outside of a village ten miles away, Milosh thanked the smuggler and he Silvanus, Dix and several of his men headed west back towards the Moldovan border. On the way he contacted his camp and gave instructions for them to 'up sticks' and relocate to a pre-determined alternate site. At 21:53:47 the screens in the basement of the safe house lit up showing a blank dim room with one wooden chair in the centre and five separate high-resolution camera views. "Oh god," said Trish. A semi naked woman was led into the room by two men with obscured faces her long dark hair covering her face completely but it was obvious to anyone watching the pictures in the basement of the safe house it was Joy, it was also obvious from the many bruises and burns now showing on her body that she'd been very badly beaten. Micks screen started to show dialogue once more. Tracing location now...>_ on the main screen however a tall well-spoken man appeared, he was wearing a pair of suit trousers a white shirt with rolled up sleeves and a ski mask. "Ladies and gentlemen, I will soon be revealing the identity of the person known as 'The Angel' to the world and what I have decided to do is open bidding on how you would like her to die with the winning bid choosing her means of execution, the bidding will start at one million pounds sterling. Within seconds the one million pound target was breached and started to rise rapidly breaking two million within thirty seconds, The man then went over to the woman held to the seat by her two burly guards and stabbed the probes of the cattle prod into the centre of the apparently broken women's chest just below her dirty and torn bra and discharged the full power of the recently recharged probe into it, the woman's body went into spasm and she fell forward without uttering a single noise. Back in the safe house on Micks screen appeared two long sets of GPS coordinates followed by. sending bogus bids to confuse and delay...>_ have severed all feeds bar yours, we pray that you succeed...>_ Susan who was now barely holding it together relayed the GPS coordinates to the teams out in the countryside searching she then grasped at Micks hand and held it tightly whilst looking at the events unfold on the big screen in front of her. Unfortunately every single team was just too far away bar Milosh who simply stated. "Two minutes at most, we will engage on contact." Chapter 67 - The Angel Awakens As she regained consciousness Joy noticed almost immediately that something was different following the most recent shock to her chest as she was now thinking much clearer, she was no longer short of breath and she could once again coordinate her body correctly or at least she hoped she could. What Joy didn't yet know was that not only had her normal heart rhythm had been restored by the very device that had caused it to fail but that several other biological closed and open loop systems within her body had been overcompensating for her condition including her adrenal gland that was still pumping huge amounts of adrenalin into her bloodstream enhancing both her reflexes and other senses. Joy knew that she'd been raped by Lucius Withers but for now she was blocking her ordeal from her mind, instead she was concentrating on how she would get out of this situation alive she didn't even care at this point if she exposed her identity to the world. Lucius was getting increasingly excited as the totals on the screen increased to three and then four million pounds only to be spoiled by one of the men in the background coming off his phone. "That was the ch?teaux sir the live footage has stopped on the web, they can no longer see us." "Check the connection now, get us back online, I won't have my moment spoiled by a computer glitch I want the world to see this bitch die," ordered Lucius. Joy slumped forward in the chair being quickly grabbed and pulled back into the chair back by her guards. Joy then controlled her breathing as best she could and waited until the grips of the two men slackened before twisting quickly and freeing herself from one of the men, she then dropping to the ground and as she hit the painted concrete surface she grabbed the front corner leg of the chair she'd been sitting on and thrust it's back up into the leftmost man's chin before then swiping the chair in its entirety across to the right and hitting the rightmost man in the head with it, Joy's body was now starting to enjoy the benefits of even more adrenalin being created by her situation and as she leapt to her feet she smashed the chair onto the ground, this having the result that she now had two splintered legs to use as weapons the first being plunged straight into the chest of the leftmost man as though she were killing a vampire, the rightmost man started to back away from her but in his eyes Joy could see the reflection of Lucius Withers coming up on her from behind. Joy dropped to the ground and leg swiped the rightmost man whilst turning and deflecting the fizzling cattle prod with her arm. Lucius sneered at Joy as he swiped the cattle prod once more hoping to hit her but Joy skittered back across the floor narrowly avoiding the blow. "You will not leave here alive Mrs Stevenson, even if you kill me I will have died with the satisfaction of having fucked you against your will, something you will live with for the rest of your very short life." Joy however did not react to his comment or even waste her energy answering, she was concentrating on relieving him of his lethal weapon, Joy did not even aware of the background noise of Mp5 and pistol fire outside of her prison as she fought for her life and her friends outside fought to rescue her. Another of Lucius's men attempted to grab Joy's arm but she easily avoided him forced her index finger into the side of his eye socket and hooked his eyeball and it's interconnecting tissue out leaving it hanging from the man's screaming face before throat punching him and spinning around dropping to a crouching position and elbowing him in the testicles. As Joy rose from her crouching position Lucius lunged once more at her with the prod, this time it made contact with her stomach but instead of collapsing into a ball in agony she somehow managed to keep control of her body grab the shaft of the prod with her hand, move it away from her body and then pull it back past her side and with it Lucius. Joy throat punched Lucius and then head butted him, breaking his nose and causing him to drop the hated cattle prod onto the concrete floor, Lucius was then hit in the left kidney rupturing it, she then grabbed his left arm and whilst simultaneously twisting, raised it above his head, kicking his legs from under him before dislocating his shoulder. As Joy tore Lucius's mask from him she felt someone grab her on the shoulder to pull her away from her target and using her left hand she grabbed the fingers of the attacking hand and bent them back turning as she did so and using her right hand punched him in the balls and swept his legs from under him causing him to fall back onto the concrete floor of the room. The other man who had been restraining her had finally plucked up the courage to resume his attack on Joy once more and came at her with one of her own boot knives. The man managed to catch Joy's arm with the razor sharp knife as she attempted to disarm him but on his second attempt to attack her she not only relieved him of his weapon but broke his arm, Joy then slid across the floor picking up the knife as she did and then on seeing yet another man raise a pistol to shoot threw the knife hitting him squarely in the chest his round grazing her side causing her to stagger back against the wall of the room. Less than thirty yards away Milosh, Dix, Silvanus and several of Milosh's men had all but eliminated Lucius's hand-picked personal protection team. Milosh had now discarded the antique Mp40 and was now using his father's old Mauser c96 pistol. Dix was on the last clip of his MP5 and had just thrown a flash bang at the large steel door the remaining men were guarding, the flash bang hit the door and fell to the ground behind the men and then detonated. Dix, Milosh and Silvanus showed no mercy to the stunned men as they fell from cover and the three advanced towards the large steel sliding door being so diligently protected only a few seconds earlier. Joy had just disabled the last of the men in the room when Lucius picked himself up off the floor and started once more towards her he was carrying a large knife and despite his own injuries had murderous intent, Silvanus burst through the door first and on seeing Lucius fired three shots into his chest followed by Milosh who also fired at him using his antique pistol and Dix who's firing caused the already dead man to fall back towards the far wall the trio then quickly went around the room shooting every single injured man without mercy through the head execution style. Joy watched her friends and attempted to compose herself, she stood erect with blood dribbling down her side and blood dripping from her fingers she dropped the knife that she was carrying and started to walk towards the trio but instead she fell to her knees before saying falteringly. "P'please w, would you tell Alice t, that I love her so much?" Silvanus and Dix went to hold Joy but it was Milosh that reached her first catching her before she fell face first onto the dirty concrete floor. Milosh held Joy with one arm as he struggled to take his leather jacket off Silvanus and Dix helped Milosh as he cradled Joy much as a father would cradle an injured small child. "You will tell your beautiful wife yourself my brave warrior, now let me cover you up and restore your dignity." Milosh placed his jacket over Joy's shoulders and with all of his strength managed to lift Joy in his arms and started to carry her from the room. Dix and Silvanus and followed closely behind. "You are both blessed to have such a woman as your friend," stated Milosh as he walked from the scene of carnage, neither disagreed. In the safe house moments before as Joy had talked to Milosh, Alice who had witnessed Joy's fight for survival touched the screen she'd seen everything and with tears streaming down her face said, "And I you Joy." Susan let go of Mick's hand and started to comfort her mum leading her out of the basement and up into the main house as she did. Mick was completely stunned at what he had just witnessed his mouth was open. "Holy crap was that real?" he said but no one answered as he was now alone in the basement it then dawned on Mick that what he had just watched, was real, a woman fighting for her life against people that wanted to kill her. this was his employer the mother of Susan and wife of Alice it was real and not a computer game or a movie, a shiver went down his spine and he felt a deep gnawing pain in the pit of his stomach, he quickly placed his hand over his mouth to try and avoid the inevitable but still threw up in the waste bin to his side. Mick's tears were real when he left the basement with the soiled waste bin a couple of minutes later. Chapter 68 - Aftermath After excitedly watching the TV coverage of the latest Angel antics on board 'The Alice' the previous day the twins Lucy and dawn were completely unaware of their mum's capture and rescue. At breakfast Dawn and Lucy were approached by Tiffany. "Good morning girls could you come with me please your grandpa would like to speak with you," The twins frowned and were wondering what their grandfather wanted them for and when they reached Matt's makeshift office he was standing at the door. "In you go girls and could you come in too please Tiffany?" Dawn sat one side of her grandmother whilst Lucy sat the other, Tiffany sat next to Lucy. "Okay girls I think that you are now both old and responsible enough to hear this but I don't want you upsetting Terri with what I'm about to tell you okay?" The twin's both nodded looking worried as they did, Matt went on to explain some of what had happened to their mum and that she had been injured. The twins although upset took the news better than Matt had expected both twins needed to be hugged by Tiffany and Iona for quite a long time before they were ready to leave the office, just before they left the office however Lucy who was now holding Dawn's hand asked. "Mummy is going to be okay though isn't she?" Matt looked at the twins directly and answered. "I'm sorry but I just don't know yet." "Thank you grandpa, for telling us," they both said as they left the office with Iona. Matt asked Tiffany. "Could you find Toni and Sarah for me please?" Sarah took the news of Joy's injury as well as could be expected but Toni was almost inconsolable resulting in Matt having to hold her and comfort her until she'd calmed down. Julie when told didn't understand initially what had happened to Joy and on realising burst into tears. It was mid-afternoon that a very annoyed little girl stormed into Matt's office, she was holding Basil Joy's old teddy bears hand. "Grandpa, Mummy has left Basil she needs Basil and she needs me to give it to her." Matt was stunned, somehow she had guessed or sensed that her mum was not well and wanted to see her. "I'll see what I can do Terri but it may be a day or so before we can go and see her." "Promise?" asked the stern-faced little girl. "I promise Terri," Matt promised his granddaughter and he meant it the only trouble being that he didn't actually know where Joy was as she'd literally vanished. Dr Mike and Harry Simmons were next to visit Matt that day both demanding to know what injuries Joy had sustained and insisting that they visit her to assess her condition, this visit was followed by Bob who also insisted that he assessed both her condition and that of Alice. Matt gave them all the same answer that he did not know where Joy was the difference being that afterwards Bob stopped and actually asked Matt how he was feeling. "Terrified Bob terrified that I may have lost my daughter, she was raped by that evil bastard and I just don't know how I'm going to make it better." Bob went over to the door to Matt's temporary office and locked it then sat with Matt and listened to him for the rest of the afternoon as the old man unburdened himself. Once he'd left the old abattoir Milosh had taken Joy directly to a friendly doctor at a local hospital who had assessed her condition, dressed her wounds and scanned her for any additional injuries, Joy had numerous hairline fractures and burns from where the cattle prod had been used on her and massive amounts of bruising throughout but otherwise according to the doctor she was in remarkable health considering her ordeal, Joy remained unconscious throughout, Milosh then took Joy to the new camp and placed her into his own bed. One of the old women from the camp examined Joy and redressed some of her wounds before turning to Silvanus and issuing several commands to her, Silvanus nodded to the old woman turned immediately and left Joy's bedside followed by Dix who wanted to know what was going on. "Silvanus what did the old crone say to you?" "She told me that Joy needs her wife to be with her, I'm going to get her." "Not without me you won't" "Joy is going to need both Alice and Susan and lots of peace, complete peace, until she regains consciousness the elders will sit with her until we return and during her recovery but we can't tell anyone else where she is, not for a while at least." "That'll be a huge ask Silvia, Hillary will want her to be in a hospital I can tell you that now." "Please trust me on this Dix, she's in the best place possible now." Dix looked into his friends eyes she was literally begging him. "Okay, Okay I'll go along with it, for now." "Thank you Dix we just need to get Aliza on board now." Silvanus and Dix left the new camp soon after and as the sun was going down over the forest Alice and Susan arrived at the camp slightly bemused and very nervous, Dix having stayed behind to try and explain what was happening to Hillary, Terry and the others. When Alice approached Milosh's trailer a very old looking woman stepped out and gestured to the young girl Irini who was sitting with her friends by the campfire. Irini translated as best she could for the old woman. "Please you come and sit with wife," she then turned to Susan "You not yet, you sit with us" Irini led Susan away whilst Alice entered Milosh's trailer. When Alice entered Joy was lying on her back almost naked on clean white sheets whilst several women attended to her bruises and electrical burns, the old woman gestured to Alice to sit by Joy's side she picked up Joy's limp hand and placed it to Alice's cheek. "Now she is aware of you," said a younger woman in broken English. Alice held Joy's hand to her cheek and tears started to flow. "No, no, no, she is not sad, you should not be sad, be happy for her as she lives." "But look at her look at her wounds." The woman looked puzzled. "Wounds they heal they will always heal and you forget but the Creier, the, the brain it remembers. it heals slowly we need to heal the creier," The woman started tapping her head with her finger "Only when that is healed will Fulger be recovered." Alice was confused these women were putting more emphasis on Joy's mental health than her physical wounds although all of her many injuries had still been dressed and treated with what looked like variations of Silvanus's herbal concoctions even Joy's old wounds had been dressed. "Now you talk to your sotie (wife) take her to a place that you both love with your words and she will join you there." what Alice didn't know was that Joy's mind was currently very receptive due to the herbal medicines she'd received and as Alice described the locations that they loved to go together, Joy's subconscious was visualising them in her own mind. Later that day as Alice sat outside enjoying her evening meal with Susan taking her turn sitting with the sleeping Joy and keeping her company Irini approached her. "You have other copii yes?" "Copii?" "Little ones copii?" "Oh children, yes I do we have three more." "They must all visit, visit soon." During the second week of her recovery Joy had several supervised visits, firstly from Harry Simmons who was initially sceptical about the treatment she was receiving, but after a while became very impressed at the quality of the constant care Joy was receiving and the speed at which her bruising and electrical burns were healing and even the fact that she had lost almost no muscle mass due to her carers constantly massaging her muscles and moving her body. Bob however was initially furious about her being kept in a semi fugue state until he talked with the apparently ancient woman who was supervising Joy's care, who he quickly found out had, after the Second World War, helped survivors of the porajmos (Romani genocide) to overcome their mental problems and survival guilt helping them re integrate back into their own society. Bob was later heard to comment on his satellite phone. "Hillary the old woman she's using variants of prolonged exposure therapy, cognitive processing therapy and E.M.D on Joy and all whilst her mind is in a semi responsive state, she's using Alice as her conduit, honestly she's like the psychiatric equivalent of Yoda I could write an entire paper on her treatment." "Yes Hillary I know I can't and yes Susan did come up with the Yoda comment." It took four weeks but eventually Joy's level of consciousness was slowly raised with Alice talking to her about places they loved whilst playing some of her favourite music quietly in the background on an ancient cassette deck. Chapter 69 - Awakening and News from Home Joy. It's really odd I've been strolling along the beach now for quite some time, it's lovely and warm with my bare feet being occasionally washed by the gently rippling sea, for some reason I can hear in the distance one of my favourite tunes, Beach theme (By Tangerine Dream.) and as I walk towards the cliffs at the far end of the beach I can hear children playing and laughing in the distance which is curious as the beach appears to be completely empty I'm alone. I continue along the beach occasionally guiding my hair back behind my ears with my fingers as the breeze gently blows my hair. "I wonder where Alice has gotten too," I say to myself idly as I walk on the damp cool sand. "I'm right here silly." I turn to see Alice smiling at me and I can feel her warm hand in mine, I smile back at her and we continue to walk and start to paddle in the cool water at the sea's edge. "I can smell cooking Alice can you smell cooking?" I say confused as to where the smell of cooking food and woodsmoke has come from. "Well yes that's because it's nearly lunch time Joy," This confuses me and I feel myself holding Basil even tighter to my chest I then hear someone close but far away say. "pranzul este gata" 'Lunch is ready' oh this is strange but even stranger I hear Alice's reply. "mul?umesc," she has just thanked someone in Romanian I didn't even know that Alice could speak Romanian, come to think of it I didn't know I could speak much Romanian. I turned back on myself to face the pier but instead of the beach and pier I see a forest ahead of me a forest of tall pine trees and oaks the ground is soft underfoot and I can occasionally see my bare feet appear from underneath my long skirt as I walk. "Alice sunt speriat." (I'm scared) I hear myself say. I feel Alice's hand squeeze mine tightly. "Oh Joy don't be scared, you are waking up. your mind is still a little confused from the herbs that's all." "ierburi? (herbs?) I ask and hear Alice giggle it made me smile. "She is coming back now," said another voice that appears to come from apparently nowhere. "Alice, where have I been?" I say to her as I walk along a dirt path bordered by huge trees "You have been sleeping Joy, sleeping to help you heal." "Heal?" I then catch a glimpse in front of me of a man but he isn't moving and appears to be paused in time, I recognised him and feel myself start to shake. "Joy you are nearly back with us, just come a little further, further towards the sound of my voice." I turn and head towards Alice's voice, soon I reach a clearing, there is a tent pitched near to a tall long dead tree whose wood has been bleached almost white by the sun I open the front flap to the tent and find a sleeping bag, I unzip it and climb in. I reach over and take Basil once again and hug him tightly to my chest then closed my eyes. When I open my eyes again the first thing I see is Alice, she is looking at me, is smiling and looks absolutely beautiful. "Hello you," she says. "I've just had the strangest dream. Alice." A small cup is gently placed to my lips and I taste a sweet honey like liquid it is very pleasant so I swallow it down, it warms my throat as it goes down and within seconds my thoughts start to become much clearer. I watch as two very old women get up from their seated positions smile at me and leave without saying anything, Alice notices. "They're my friends Joy, they have been caring for you day and night and tending to your wounds, you're well on the road to recovery now." Alice helps me up a little and props pillows behind me. "Where am I?" "You're in Milosh's trailer, he's been sleeping under it since he brought you here. I don't think he's enjoyed it," The memories had been slowly coming back to me as Alice spoke, but it was like they were old well-worn memories memories that could no longer harm or upset me, memories that I had control over but bad memories, nevertheless. "Alice?" "Yes Joy?" "Would you hold me please." Alice did not need to be asked a second time. The next day I woke to Alice sleeping peacefully next to me, my mind was much clearer and I felt really good so with a little difficulty I got out of bed found a blouse and skirt and slipped them on over my naked body and slowly made my way out of Milosh's trailer using the walls and chairs for support until I reached the wooden steps where I stopped and sat down, the camp was a bustle of activity with everyone going about their morning chores, a young woman noticed me sitting on the steps and approached me "Your fiice are down by the river washing I will help you." I remembered her she was called Maria. 'Daughters?' Was Susan here? but who with? Maria helped me up and we walked slowly out of camp. I was barefoot but just didn't care as I was happy to be at least a little mobile, it didn't take us long to find a large plunge pool by a small waterfall where I watched from a distance as Susan Terri Lucy and Dawn were washing with some of the other children and young adults, they all looked so natural and happy. Lucy noticed me first she was sitting on a rock in her bra and pants brushing through her long, wet hair she dropped her brush and ran over to me. "Mummy," she shouted as she ran and almost knocked me over as she hit me, Lucy then clung to me as I heard the other girls running towards me Susan was topless and carrying a towel running after Terri who was completely naked and Dawn who like her sister had kept her own underwear on to cover her modesty, I rested back against a grassy embankment as our children all showered me with cold damp hugs and kisses and became quite overwhelmed at points. "fete (girls) your mother is still bolnav(unwell) be kind," Maria told the girls in her broken English, they backed off a little allowing Terri who was now wearing a towel to get close to me. She clambered up onto my knees and kissed my lips with her own cold damp lips. "I made grandpa send you Basil," she stated proudly as I ran my fingers through her wet hair. "That was kind of you Terri I hugged him last night." "And lots and lots all of the other ones too, I watched you." Susan then hugged me there were tears in her eyes as she whispered. "I thought I'd lost you mummy." Susan then broke her hug and went to locate her clothing dragging a reluctant Lucy and Dawn with her. Later that morning with Alice by my side I was told what had happened following the two raids and my kidnapping, what I didn't know was that Alice and by now all of my friends had probably all seen me in that room helpless and being restrained by my kidnappers I cared little for them at that second but I did care deeply what Alice thought. "Alice did it upset you?" "Initially yes as you seemed to have had your spirit broken." "It was Alice I had no strength I was dizzy and felt weak, it was only when Lucius prodded my chest with that bloody prod again that somehow it seemed to jump start me and my strength started to return." "Yes Harry noticed that too he watched the video he thinks that your initial shock may have knocked your heart out of sync or something." "But Alice I was shocked many times after that when they interrogated me." "Yes but Harry thinks that they were all in the wrong place That final shock during the bidding process seems somehow to have resynchronised your heart or something like that." "That would explain a lot, I only wish it had happened before Lucius raped me." Alice looked at me as though I'd just sworn. "How do you feel about your rape Joy?" "Has Bob just asked you that Alice?" "No look no earpieces, I'm just concerned that's all, your treatment here has been quite unconventional," said Alice as she pulled her hair back to show me her ears. "Furious that I could do nothing to stop him Alice but I also feel I've talked this through many times already." "You did many times during your recovery and almost every time you you cried like a baby." I felt like crying then too but only because Alice must have witnessed my therapy." "What about the people that witnessed me in that room, the things I did to those men." "Joy it's okay Bob has spoken to us all and talked through what happened, Mick was badly affected though and ruined a litter bin by vomiting into it, I like him" "Mick the computer guy? I like him too." Alice smiled at me it was quite a mischievous smile. "Susan does too." She then giggled, I looked at my giggling wife whilst open mouthed and wide eyed. "No." Alice nodded her face still beaming. "Really? Susan and Mick?" "Yes," I then broke into a smile Mick was a very clever, bordering on brilliant, young man but he was also easy going but I also wondered if it was too soon after her previous relationship, Alice must have sensed my thoughts. "Joy she's old enough to make her own decisions now and he certainly couldn't be any worse than that bloody policeman." Alice's face then frowned. "On that subject Joy there is something I have to tell you." She reached over and held my hand. "Whilst you were recovering there was a fire." "A fire where?" "Home, Stevenson Towers, Daddy and mum wanted to stay to be here when you woke but have gone back with Silvia to assess the damage." "Oh heavens, was anyone hurt?" "No, the damage was contained mostly on the top floors of the East wing but Susan's room was gutted." "Susan's" "Yes and I hesitate to say this but an accelerant was used it was arson." I sighed as I knew exactly who would have done such a thing bloody Ian Thompson. "Have the police caught the arsonist?" "No but Toby chased someone onto the moors and managed to relieve him of his jacket, he's got his scent now." "I need to get home Alice this has to stop." Alice grabbed my arm firmly "You are not going anywhere that is why Silvia has returned with Daddy, she'll keep them safe." "Oh, I wanted to speak to her." "Joy don't be hard on Silvia what was done to her there would have caused anyone to freeze," said Alice but I already knew my capture wasn't her fault I was the only person to blame for that I didn't blame Silvia at all and I needed her to hear it, it didn't however stop me wondering what exactly had happened to Silvia in the basement operating theatre. "Ah there you are my good friend, you feel better yes?" It was Milosh he'd returned from wherever he'd been that day and he gave me a huge bear hug. "It is good to see you up, you are feeling better yes?" I nodded as my arms were pinned to my side by Milosh's hug. "Good, now you train and get your fitness back then go and save the world once more ha yes, my men will help you in this." Alice was smiling as the big man continued to hug me tightly and answered for me. "Joy and I would love to stay until she regains her fitness Milosh." Milosh then released me. "May I ask a favour of you?" I nodded. "It appears I am no longer a young man and my back dislikes the hard ground under my trailer, may I have my mattress back? it is an orthopaedic one and my back misses it greatly." Alice answered for me. "Of course Milosh, you are a true gentleman but I think now Joy should join me in my tent." "Thank you my fiica (daughter)." Alice turned to me. "Whilst you were recovering Milosh asked if we would become his honorary fiice (daughters) whilst we were here, I said "a? fi onorat" (I would be honoured)" I wondered if Alice knew that she was speaking the occasional Romanian phrase but with a slight Yorkshire accent it sounded both wonderful and very sexy to me, I didn't even think about how I also now understood more Romanian now than previously. "Thank you both and my back thanks you from the bottom of its hearts," said a relieved Milosh. Chapter 70 - Restoration Joy started her return to fitness with enthusiasm the very next day and after about a week Terry and Aliza along with Andi came to stay. Terry was very hesitant to approach Joy as he'd recently been shown by Hillary and Bob something that Alice nor his own wife would ever see, footage of Joy's rape. Hillary had shown it to Terry privately and then destroyed the only copy, Hillary was deadly serious when he said to Terry "We failed her Terry, this must never happen again." "What's the matter Terry, frightened I'll break?" said Joy as she embraced firstly Aliza then Terry and after a few seconds picked up Andi and kissing her on the cheek said, "And you've grown haven't you? oh and you've lost a tooth too." "I got a pound off it from the tooth fairy aunty Joy." "Only a pound? Oh I think she must have made a mistake because she left me with some coins the other night and I haven't lost any teeth so these must be for you." Joy took several five and ten lei coins from the pocket in her skirt and gave them to Andi. "Thank you Auntie Joy." "I think that Terri is down by the river if you want to go and see her," Andi looked at Aliza and Terry. "O s? iau feti?a pentru tine, doamn? Stevenson." (I'll take the little girl for you Mrs Stevenson.) "Multumesc Irini." (thank you Irini.) Irini offered her hand to Andi who took it. "Hello, I am Irini, shall we find Terree?" Andi nodded enthusiastically taking the girls hand. "Let's hope she's not running around naked again," Joy commented. "So what brings you here then?" Joy asked. "We wanted to see how you were Joy." "Fine I've been training with Milosh's lads they're really good at the forest stuff but are quite undisciplined would you both consider staying to help me?" "Consider? We insist don't we Terry?" stated Aliza, Terry finally started to smile. "Yes, Yes I'd like that." After that Joy intensified her training to regain both her fitness and her edge and after three weeks the camp was visited by several of Terry's squad who joined in the training exercises. Susan and the twins embraced life in the forest as did Terri and Andi who absolutely loved playing with the younger children from the camp. Joy and Alice had a constant stream of visitors over the next few weeks with Milosh's men bringing each deep into the thick forest for a few days before once again returning them to civilisation Chris and Trish stayed for nearly a week and really enjoyed the peace and tranquillity of the forest. Sarah and Toni also visited with Toni tearfully showering Joy with hugs relieved that her friend was now recovering. Joy's nicest surprise was to see Julie and Izzie as Izzie was now looking 100% better than the last time they'd met and was even carrying little Carrie by herself at times. There were also several visits by Bob, Dr Mike and also Harry Simmons. Harry and Bob stood with Terry from a vantage point one morning whilst Joy's capabilities were being tested both by Milosh's men and by Terry's marines, her brief was to evade capture and she performed spectacularly well at both evasion and attack. "Maybe I should have named her after a forest spirit and not the lightning she so despised," commented Milosh as the two medical men and Terry watched though their binoculars. "I don't think I've ever seen her so agile Bob." "I agree but I think I'll leave my final assessment until after we're home and I've had a chance to evaluate her fully in a controlled environment." That evening whilst Joy and the rest of the camp enjoyed their meal at the communal tables outside in the clearing, a solitary rumble of thunder was heard in the distance, Bob started to watch Joy with interest out of the corner of his eye. A few minutes later the distant thunder was becoming louder and the occasional drip started to land on the table. Joy got up from the table and went over to where three other women were doing something and then to Bob's surprise watched as Joy helped to string large tarpaulins above the tables she then returned to her meal sitting with Alice and their children. Bob smiled and went back to his meal as the rain started to pound on the recently erected tarpaulin roof. The storm lasted just over an hour and Joy although jumping occasionally at the thunder had coped admirably with the storm. Time was now marching forward and in the forest the first small signs of a change in the season had already started to show and both the mornings and the evenings had started to cool, it was getting towards time to leave and for the final week the camp was joined by Silvanus and Leah. The instant Silvanus jumped from the back of the pickup truck Joy ran and hugged her friend. "Silvia I've missed you so much why didn't you come back sooner?" "I, I didn't think you'd want to see me Joy." "E?ti prietenul meu, de ce n-a? vrea s? te v?d." (You're my friend why would I not want to see you?" "Oh Joy," Silvanus wrapped her arms around her friend held her tightly and started to weep whilst Alice came over to Leah "Welcome Leah I'm so glad you could come and visit us before we left, the twins have really missed you," As Leah walked away with Alice she said, "Was Joy speaking Romanian just there? She does look well though, are you barefoot?" Later that week Joy spoke to Matt for the first time since she'd gone away on her ill-fated mission, Alice usually communicated what was going on to him but she now felt confident enough and able enough to speak with Matt a man she adored as much as her own father, she used Milosh's satellite phone. "Daddy?" "Joy Is that you Joy?" "Yes Daddy." "How are you now? are you okay?" "Yes Daddy I'm much better now thank you." "Thank god, Is Alice okay too?" "Yes we are all good Daddy, the reason I've phoned is because we will be setting off to come home possibly this weekend or next and were wondering if we still had a home to come to?" "Ha, ha Yes Joy your rooms were okay as the fire curtains deployed, ours were a bit singed and smoke damaged though, Susan's rooms and the twins rooms should be ready in a week or two and the roof is going back on this weekend." "Wow that is fast work Daddy." "It's one of the perks of owning three construction companies young lady," Joy started to laugh and the line went silent. "Daddy?" Joy heard her father in law sniff. "It is nice to hear you laughing Joy." "Milosh and his people they have looked after me very well Daddy and Alice too they are minunat." "I'm sorry what?" "I mean wonderful I keep slipping into the local lingo, you should hear the twins they know all of the local insults and swear words now," Matt started to laugh. "And I'll bet young Terri has gone feral too?" "She's certainly embraced mud and dirt that's for sure." "Oh that is wonderful," he laughed "I'm so proud of her," Joy remembered that of all the Stevenson family Matt loved it when children behaved exactly like they should, like children. After a little more talking Matt said, "'The Alice' is still in the North Aegean so how about I have it rerouted into the Black sea and it can pick you all up from say the port in Odessa?" "I'd like that but Susan will need to be back for enrolment at uni soon." "Already done Joy, Trish and I went up to Newcastle last week and completed all of the necessary paperwork, enjoy the cruise home." It was with great sadness that Joy and Alice said goodbye to their new friends in camp before boarding an old (very old) trip bus to meet with 'The Alice'. Joy thanked the women that had cared for her, the oldest of which placed her hand to Joy's stomach and said, "?nc? unul pentru cei f?r? copii." (One more for those without children) Joy held the old ladies hand to her stomach and replied. "i?i promit." (I promise) The old woman smiled warmly at Joy then embraced her. The trip across the border went without incident and on the dockside in the port of Odessa Joy Alice and the rest of the group said their goodbyes to Milosh and his sons, it was a tearful goodbye for Joy as she now felt like Alice and her had adopted another family. "May we visit you in future Milosh?" asked Joy "You are now my family, visit whenever you are close, I have the space phone you will contact me yes?" "I will Milosh I will." Joy spread her arms around Milosh and hugged him tightly and then with tears in her eyes said, "I will miss you all so much." Later on board 'The Alice' Joy and Alice stood looking out over the now empty dock as the ship was towed from its berth. "I'm going to miss the camp Alice." "Me too." they walked hand in hand along the deck to watch the tug as it guided 'The Alice' from the harbour and as they looked down at the bow they both noticed Susan she had her arms around Mick's neck and she was on her tip toes kissing him passionately. "Daddy has really taken to Mick, he arranged for him to be aboard especially for Susan." Joy smiled. "She looks so happy Alice." "She does doesn't she." Chapter 71 - The Return Joy, Alice, family and friends docked in Tees port just over a week later and when they arrived back at Stevenson towers they found one side of the old house to be shrouded in scaffolding and tarpaulin with what appeared to be hundreds of people working all dressed in florescent yellow jackets and hard hats with Matt outside in his jeans and rigger boots issuing orders. "Hello girls, don't worry this lot is coming down over the next month or so." Matt embraced Alice then Joy, he turned to Alice and his grandchildren. "I believe that Mrs Burton has prepared a welcome home snack, Joy Silvia would you join me in my office please," Whilst Alice and the children went to see what delights awaited them in the dining room Joy and Silvanus joined Matt in his office. "I'll get straight to the point Ian Thompson is becoming a right royal pain in the arse, I couldn't really care about the house but I do care about Susan greatly, the Police have been bloody useless trying to find him so I was wondering if..." "You would like us to find him Mr Stevenson," said Silvanus. "Yes but I don't want him harmed I just want him out of Suzy's life permanently." "Surely Daddy he's going to go to prison if the police catch him." "If being the operative word Joy, that's the point they just don't seem to be trying, I've a feeling that they think that he's the one that's been hard done to by Suzy." "The man is a manipulator Mr Stevenson he won't stop until he gets what he wants or we threaten something he prizes above Susan." "Is Susan safe here now Matt?" Joy asked. "I would rather that Thompson had been brought to book before her return but I've given instructions that all doors are locked when not in use It's a bloody nuisance as I want this house to be as open and accessible as possible but I think she'll be relatively safe now don't you?" Joy and Silvanus both nodded. "Aliza or I will accompany Susan to and from Uni and keep a general eye on her until Thompson is either arrested or we find him," stated Silvanus. "Oh before I forget Joy the 900 passed all of its tests, has a current MOT and is now insured under the company bond." "Oh that is good news I'll bet you are glad to finally have it back?" "Err," said Matt guiltily. "Daddy?" "I've actually bought another one I was considering giving the one she helped restore to Susan as a gift, she's always borrowing your 99 after all," Joy hugged her father in law once more. "When you going to tell her?" "Mmm tomorrow?" "Oh I can't wait to see her face." It was later that day that Joy and Alice discovered that several of their favourite evening gowns had been damaged by smoke and water as they'd been in the laundry room at the time of the arson attack Joy was not amused by this at all as two of the gowns had been bought as gifts by Alice. On her first night back in her own bed Joy found it difficult to sleep and eventually went out on the balcony slipping her silk robe as she went and sat on one of the folding chairs then just looked up at the starlit sky. "Trouble sleeping? Me too," said Alice a few moments later as she joined her wife on the balcony, sat down beside her and took her hand. "It feels strange to be home, even the night sky is different." "Yes we didn't really have that glow to the west in the forest did we?" "It's peaceful though, out here isn't it." "Yes it is." Joy paused for a second or two "Alice I've been thinking a lot about what happened to me," Alice shuffled nervously. "About being raped?" "Well yes not just that but the whole Angel thing and I'm worried." "Worried? Worried about what my love." "I'm worried about the effect of my other job has on everyone else especially you Alice," Alice placed her arm around her wife and drew her in towards her and started to stroke Joy's hair. "Oh Joy, I worry when you are away yes, but I'm also deeply proud of what you and our friends have achieved over the last few years and the lives we've salvaged. I was watching Tiffany earlier today and remembered her as the super keen holiday rep before the terror attack on the hotel, I then remembered the complete wreck of a woman that Bob brought to 'The Centre' and how he helped her to get her life back in order I just couldn't help but smile as she ran around the lawn happily playing with the children she's come a long way thanks to you and our friends." "But what about you?" "I couldn't be more proud of you Joy, I worry yes but I also know that it would tear you apart slowly if you gave up your other job and returned to the mundane existence of helping to run a multi-billion pound business." Joy looked up at her wise wife. "I love you Alice Stevenson." "And I love you too Joy Stevenson, now can we get back to bed as the cool air has made my nipples painfully hard and they're killing me," Joy giggled. "Mine too." The two women got up from their seats and re-entered their rooms kissing passionately dropping their gowns to the floor along with their nighties and panties as they went. When Joy woke the next morning she looked over at Alice, Alice looked angelic as she slept which was ironic as she'd been anything but angelic a few hours earlier as she'd gently assaulted Joys body with their full armoury of adult toys, Joy giggled to herself as she thought of the things they has both done to each other and as she moved to get out of bed realised that at some point Alice must have used one of the anal toys that they'd recently bought on her as it still appeared to be residing where it had been left. Joy left Alice in bed and went naked over to the bathroom where she carefully expelled the small Toy from her behind, placing it in the sink and washing it carefully. Alice had now become quite adventurous in bed, a stark contrast to her earlier years the reason for this was simple, she trusted Joy. Joy quickly dressed in her exercise gear took her medication and left her wife sleeping soundly. When Joy returned from her morning exercise ritual Alice was still sleeping soundly so Joy undressed once more and went for a shower she was not surprised a couple of minutes later when as she was washing her hair she felt a naked body press against her back and two hands gently hold her stomach. "Mmmmmm," said Joy as the soft hands slowly traced their way up to her soap covered breasts. Within seconds Joy and Alice were both kissing passionately and Joy felt the strapless dildo her wife was wearing slowly entering her. Joy sat next to her wife wearing a silly smile sometime later she was naked and Alice was brushing her silky hair they were both naked, Joy smiled at Alice via the large mirror of their vanity. "Thank you for last night Alice, it was quite wonderful." "And this morning?" asked Alice. "That was just the icing on the cake." Joy's hand absent mindedly drifted to her recently shaved pussy area only to have her hand slapped away playfully by Alice. "You'll wear her out, we can resume a little later if you wish?" said Alice with an impish smile that had the result of making Joy giggle quite girlishly and blush. At breakfast Joy and Alice ate alone as everyone had already had theirs and were going about their daily business. Both Joy and Alice walked together to Matt's garage where they found Sarah doing a transmission oil and filter change on the tiptronic gearbox of one of Matt's Porsche's. On seeing her friends Sarah pulled off her nitrile gloves and slipped out of the top half of her overalls letting it hang from her waist before hugging both of her friends, Sarah held Joy several seconds longer as though afraid to let her go. "You come to see the SAAB?" said Sarah a minute or two later as she filled the kettle with fresh water and brought the new biscuit barrel from its hiding place. Joy and Alice nodded. "Matt still stealing your biscuits then?" asked Alice. "Yes he's a bloomin menace he is, I love them both dearly but him and Don can devour an entire packet in minutes if I don't hide them." with the tea made and with Joy and Alice holding large mugs Sara went over to a car that was covered with a large dust cloth and pulled it away. "The testing authorities made a couple of suggestions which we've adopted but it's once again road legal." "So how does it run?" asked Joy. "Initially like a pig but Martin called around a while back and sorted out a few rogue settings on the new EMS it now runs beautifully." "Horsepower?" "Well with the new injection system and the new cylinder head and the upgraded turbo it's getting just over 190, Martin says that it could go higher but Don doesn't think the drive shafts would like it," Sarah then got a message on her phone. "Susan and Matt are on their way, does she know yet?" both Joy and Alice shook their heads. "Oooh this'll be fun." Susan and Matt entered the garage a minute or two later Matt did not look happy. "But Garandpa I'm sure we checked all of the display electronics." "That's as may be lass but now it's showing errors and it failed its assessment because of it." Susan noticed her mums as she entered the garage. "Hello Mums," said Susan as she went straight over to the gleaming car, she opened the door and sat in the driver's side. "Here you go lass see for yourself." Matt passed Susan the keys to the car, Susan took them placed them in the ignition key slot by the handbrake and turned on the ignition, the old SAAB started immediately and after a few seconds the revs dropped. Susan looked confused. "But Grandpa everything looks to be okay." Matt burst out laughing. "That's because it is, you have all done a wonderful job restoring my old car especially you Susan." "It is a beautiful old car grandpa." "It is isn't it, that's why I'm giving it to you." Susan looked at her grandfather who was smiling broadly then at her mums who were holding hands and also smiling and then at Sarah who was biting her lip in anticipation. "You mean?" "Yes Susan the 900 is now yours." Susan's lip started to quiver and then the tears started Susan turned the ignition off and got out of her new car and embraced her grandfather tightly. "Oh thank you grandpa, thank you so much, thank you, thank you I love it." "You deserve it Suzy, now I want you to look after it and please no parking it in any harbours!" As Susan and her grandfather toured her new car with Susan holding his hand Sarah said "I'm going to miss restoring the old girl." Joy leant over and said, "He's just bought another one to do up you know?" "Really?" "Yes he told me last night I haven't seen it yet though but these are sturdy old cars so it can't be that bad." "I'll prepare one of the bays and get ready for a strip down." Joy and Alice spent the rest of the morning together, but in the afternoon she went for a walk around the grounds, whilst in the woods she noticed several diggers and earth moving machines she'd not noticed earlier whilst out jogging and when she reached the lake she also noticed from her vantage point by a rock outcrop Toni sitting by herself looking out into the lake her bicycle propped up against her seat. It didn't take long for her to reach where her friend was sitting. Toni was dressed from head to toe in Lycra cycling clothing that showed her perfectly toned and feminine body at its best Toni was not wearing any makeup barring a little mascara and eyeliner, her cheeks were a little rosy due to her recent cycle ride. "Oh hello there Joy I didn't see you coming." Toni got up from her seat and hugged Joy then unclipped her cycling helmet "I'm really glad that you are back Joy we all missed you." "I missed you all too," replied Joy as she hugged her Lycra clad friend. Sitting down Joy asked. "I noticed you looking out at the lake Toni and thought I'd come and keep you company." "I was just thinking, thinking about my future." "Future? Oh I hope that you aren't thinking about leaving." "No nothing like that, I was thinking of the future of my body, my psychiatrist has recently started asking me if I had considered completing my transition." "And?" "I'm just not sure, I can't really be a man any more after what those bastards did to me and I'm not sure I would want to be anyway but then again I'm really not sure about becoming a woman either," Toni sighed "I'm just not sure what to do." "Have you talked with Sarah about it at all Toni?" "Yes I have and she thinks I should go ahead with the operation but what if I don't like being a girl, I can't just go back to the doctors and ask them to sew it back on can I?" Joy smiled. "I had much the same worries as you before my surgery too and for a little while afterwards but after I'd healed up I was so glad I'd had the surgery as our sex life improved immeasurably." "Y, You used to be a boy?" "Yes Toni I thought that you knew?" "But you've been pregnant haven't you." "Yes my mother kindly donated her womb to me, Dr Mike and Dr Simmons transplanted it into me and it's been inside me ever since." "So you have periods and everything?" "I do." "Oh Joy I didn't realise, you must think me such a dullard," Joy took Toni's gloved hand and held it. "On the contrary Toni I think that you are one of the sweetest people I've ever met and I know that you will make the right decision, just take your time don't rush into any decision and talk with Sarah about your worries." "May I talk to you and Alice too?" "Of course." "Joy?" "Have you ever regretted your decision?" Joy thought for a second or two. "No I don't think I have, in the early days I did have some weepy moments but that was just due to my hormone regimen being slightly incorrect I actually love being a woman and to be honest it's never actually stopped me from doing anything I wanted." "And what is um err your um." Joy became a little red in the face. "Our sex life like?" "Err yes." "I think it's probably best described as awesome Toni." "Yes I can tell from your expression, thank you Joy thank you for listening to me." "I was a pleasure; now would you care to walk with me a while or do you want to complete your bicycle ride." "Oh I'd finished my ride but I will walk with you." Toni left her bicycle and took a pair of folding ballet flats from the pouch on the back of her saddle and quickly swapped them with her cycling shoes, Joy and Toni then spent the next hour and a bit walking slowly around the lake asking questions and listening to her friend as she went into a little more detail of her past and how she became the woman she was now. Joy left Toni as they passed Terry's house and headed back to the big house where she headed straight for Matt's office, she entered without knocking. "Daddy why are there diggers in the..." It was then she noticed that Matt was not alone. "Hillary?" "Hello Joy." Hillary got up from his seat and offered his hand but Joy just looked at it, she then looked up at Hillary she was not smiling. "Not once did you visit me Hillary not once," Joy said angrily, Hillary stood fast and looked Joy in the eyes. "I didn't think that you would want to see me Joy, if it wasn't for me you wouldn't have been injured I authorised the mission therefore your injuries were my responsibility. Joy looked at her friend, she wanted to say, 'Hillary just for once take that stick out of your arse and show me who you really are' But she already knew as Terri had successfully broken his defences down so Joy stepped forward and embraced her friend. "Oh you silly man you weren't responsible for my torture and rape." Hillary gently placed his hand on Joy's back and gently rubbed it as she continued to hug her friend. Matt sat at his desk and watched as Hillary swallowed involuntarily as he held Joy in his arms whilst desperately trying to control his own emotions but failing, he smiled at himself as he now knew for certain that Hillary cared greatly for Joy. Joy was smiling when she released Hillary. "So what brings you here then?" she asked. "Officially or truthfully?" "Truthfully Hillary." "I came to apologise to you Joy, your family and your wife; but also I came to see Silvia we didn't part on the best of terms when we last met," Joy smiled as she knew that Silvia was missing Hillary terribly. "She's out shopping with Aliza and Andi at the moment but will be back later." "May I stay a couple of days Joy, I booked into a hotel as I wasn't sure what kind of reception I'd get today but if you don't mind I would prefer to be close to my friends. Joy turned to Matt who smiled at her and nodded. "I'll get a room prepared for you but I think tonight you may be sharing with Silvia." Joy smiled once more and just as she was turning to leave Matt said, "Before you go Joy Hillary has something else to say to you, don't you?" "Oh yes, yes I do, your rank." "Yes Hillary what about it?" "It's no longer honorary, the defence secretary recently announced that female combatants will now be able to serve in the British special forces so I have the honour of informing you that your rank is now official." "And the rest Hillary," prompted Matt. "And after review of your performance and that of your team by senior staff both you and Captain Percy are to be promoted to the rank of Major and Sergeant Dixon to RSM." "Even though they are both retired and I'm only voluntary?" "Yes Joy you and every member of your team deserve their promotions and I am so proud to be the one given the job of telling you, congratulations Major Stevenson," Joy didn't really know why but she felt her chest rise a little with pride. Joy left Matt's room soon after and spent some of the rest of the afternoon with Trish and Chris in their cottage until Alice picked her up and took her to The Centre where they spent some time with Julie and Izzie before Joy met with Harry Simmons, Dr Mike and Bob. Harry and Dr Mike's examination went without incident and both doctors were impressed with Joy's recovery but Joy's meeting with Bob was not what she'd come to expect of her friend he was both detached and cold towards her and at points confrontational as he asked her a set of personal and progressively more intrusive questions. Joy however played along with what she assumed were mind games attempting to get a rise out of her until he crossed the line and brought Alice into his questioning. "And Alice how is she coping, knowing what happened to you at the hands of Mr Withers?" "She's coping just fine Bob, she would tell me if there was any problem, we have a long-standing agreement." "Maybe I should discuss her feelings about your rape privately with Alice and find out what she really feels about it." Joy looked Bob directly in the eyes and said very quietly. "Only if Alice agreed Bob otherwise it would become a problem with me." Bob sighed. "God it's hard to anger you Joy, you have quite remarkable control over your emotions," Joy smiled "So did I pass?" "Flying colours. your care back in Moldova was exemplary, unconventional but very effective, I even observed you coping with a thunderstorm, remarkable." "I still don't like them Bob." "You probably never will Joy but at least you now know how to cope," Joy nodded in agreement, Bob got up from his chair. "So you fancy a cuppa then?" For the next few days Joy and Alice got used to being at home and she finally managed to find out what the diggers were doing in the woods, they had been brought in to open up a damaged culvert that for many years had housed an old stream coming down from the moors feeding the lake, Matt had decided that as he had construction workers on site already that he would like the old stream returned to its natural state so the entire half mile of culvert was to be removed and the stream reinstated. Matt had also bought a significant amount of adjoining disused farmland with the intention of extending the woodland around the Stevenson estate Both Joy and Alice approved of this. For Matt he was in his element as he was now able to do many improvements on both the old house and the surrounding land that he'd been putting off for several years. Susan absolutely loved her car and restarted University a little late but Trish supplied her with all of the relevant notes to catch up which she quickly did. Susan did not however like her 'Nannies' as she called them as either Aliza, Silvanus, Terry, Dix or her mum Joy was always with her when she left the Stevenson estate as her Ex-boyfriend was still apparently in hiding. Joy returned to work and quickly got back into the swing of designing and experimenting with Martin and the rest of her R&D team. In the evenings however Joy joined her friends on surveillance of Ian Thompson's Grandmothers house in the hope that he would make contact with her. Chapter 72 - A Court Date As September gave way to October and the weather cooled further the scaffolding and the temporary roof started to come down at Stevenson towers much to the relief of Terri who did not like the flapping of the tarpaulins outside her rooms when she was trying to sleep. Parts of the woods by the lake had now been churned up into a muddy mess as the culvert was removed and a landscaped stream bed emerged (the stream itself having been temporarily diverted into large concrete pipes until the construction of the stream bed and landscaping was completed). Three evenings ago Joy had visited Toni and Sarah in their cottage and shared information with them about Ruth Fischer and her past Sarah was quite shocked at Ruth's story Toni not so shocked. "So what you are saying Joy is that Ruth Fischer was also a victim of the organisation that tried to ruin our lives." "Yes Sarah, Bob has been working with her since just after Christmas and treating her for Stockholm syndrome as well as several other conditions resulting from her treatment during her prolonged captivity." "Stockholm syndrome, I've read about that, is she really suffering from that or is she just pretending to?" "Bob is convinced that she is Sarah," Sarah thought for a second or too and turned to Toni. "You've been very quiet Toni, what do you think?" "Initially I wanted her and that bastard Jon punished but the more I've thought about it and my time with Mrs Fischer the more I realise that she was trying in her own perverted way to protect me from what was going to happen in my future if I hadn't been rescued." "Really?" Toni turned to her wife swallowed and nodded. "Yes Sarah." Sarah then looked at Joy. "So why are you telling us this now Joy, why not just keep us both blissfully ignorant of her past?" Joy shuffled a little uncomfortably on the sofa. "Because Hillary believes that her life is in danger and has asked us to help, Silvanus has been her unofficial body guard at her new prison for nearly a week now and thwarted three attempts to stab her by other inmates, it seems that the closer it gets to her court appearance the more desperate her former organisation are getting to keep her quiet." "Silvanus?" "Yes she's posing as a fellow inmate at the moment." "But why? Can't the prison guards protect her?" "Since she was placed on remand last year Sarah, she's been stabbed twice, she's been badly beaten four times so far this year, she was even beaten whilst in the hospital wing recovering from being stabbed." "Is this all to stop her from giving evidence at her trial?" "Yes Toni, Ruth is pleading guilty to all charges and has agreed to give evidence against several prominent board members of the old ACA, there is a price on her head and it is not just to beat her up, someone wants her dead." "And you want to help protect her?" "Yes Sarah but I also appreciate the hell that Jon Fischer and his wife put you both through so if you would rather that we didn't intervene I will understand and will pass the job onto another agency," Sarah looked towards Toni for guidance then at Joy she sighed and held Toni's hand. "Thank you Joy, thank you for giving us all of the facts and I appreciate you giving us the opportunity to influence your decision, of course you should help her?" Toni hugged Sarah tightly "But if you get injured because of her I will never forgive you," Joy laughed. "Thank you Sarah and thank you too Toni." Joy. Today Ruth Fischer is due to give evidence at court I've just completed my severe makeup and my wig is hiding my natural dark hair I'm wearing the uniform of the private security firm that currently has the franchise to transfer prisoners to and from prison. Aliza and I only have to wait for five or six minutes before the large grey prison transport van arrives in the loading area of an old warehouse and Terry along with Taff get out, Terry complains loudly as he approaches us. "Jeez that thing is a pig to drive," states Terry as he approaches us. "That'll be the armour plating sir, it uses several layers of Duralumin bonded to Kevlar to provide protection to the passengers in their individual pods." "What about us in the front then?" "Two-inch ballistic glass and Duralumin side panels unfortunately the engine is vulnerable though." "Great." Terry finally acknowledges Aliza and I. "Wow that getup doesn't do a lot for you girls, I hardly recognised you." "I'll take that as a compliment then." Terry gestured to the vehicle. "Shall we?" Aliza got into the back of the vehicle and we donned our caps whilst Terry locked the rear doors and within minutes we entered the prison where two prisoners, Ruth Fischer and Mildred Scrubbs (Silvanus) were signed into our custody. Ruth had lost a lot of weight and considering her several months of incarceration looked remarkably relaxed Silvanus however looked tired. Ruth was escorted and locked into her transport cubicle whilst Silvanus went into another and sat quietly we did not lock the door to her cubicle. Seven minutes into our journey to court the spotter vehicles radioed to tell us that we were being followed and using the two cameras' mounted covertly to the rear of our vehicle Aliza and I noticed that the men in the lead vehicle were preparing weapons. Our men had prepared for this so I wasn't the least bit surprised when I watched the vehicle following us suddenly veer to the left and come to a swift stop. 'Targed disabled... puncture!' We carried on our journey for nearly two more minutes when we received another message from our men. "Hijacked bin truck in quarter of a mile lying in wait suggest alternative route, will provide cover." Terry took a right and we soon found ourselves on the motorway fortunately we exited at the next junction and returned to a modified version of our original route. and within seconds we heard. 'Another vehicle has started to tail you blue Merc, four occupants.' in my earpiece I heard Taff. 'They may be locking onto this vehicles tracking transponder, try scrambling it's ident.' 'Okay logged on attempting upload now' Said Susan who was currently with Trish and Chris in Terry's Bunker. I watched on the monitor in the back of our vehicle as the Blue car following us suddenly started to emit massive plumes of steam from its radiator and pulled back from following us, shortly after we modified our route once more and our journey ended with us pulling into the secure compound of the court building. Ruth glanced at me as though she recognised me as we escorted her to the waiting area. About ten minutes before Ruth was due to give evidence the fire alarm was activated in the court causing several minutes of confusion, we placed Ruth in one of the court's holding cells and stood guard outside 'CCTV cameras have just gone off Ma'am, we're operating blind.' Stated Trish. "Aliza, Silvia we need a defensive position, use those thick wooden desks stacked over there, Terry with me," I ordered forgetting that Terry and I were now the same rank. Terry and I exited the underground holding area, I'd dispensed of most of my uniform now and had slung my satchel over my shoulder and was holding my Glock as I screwed the silencer onto the barrel. "Someone is coming Joy," stated Terry quietly, we both slipped into cover and as he approached us I realised it was Taff he had his weapon drawn and he was heading towards us. "Taff over here." Taff noticed us and joined us. "There are five hostiles in the building Ma'am, they are armed with semi-automatic weapons and are wearing vests." "Shit," said Terry "Backup?" "Two or three minutes away sir maybe more it's gridlocked outside, someone has been messing with the traffic lights." "is our transport still here?" I asked. "Yes Ma'am it's still in the secure yard." "Okay give me a couple of minutes if they engage try hands, legs or head shot's don't bother with the body It'll just be a waste of ammo." "Ma'am" I left Terry and Taff and headed back to our transport via the maze of service corridors. As I entered the secure loading area I noticed a man in full combat gear, his face was obscured by a balaclava and a helmet, he was guarding our vehicle I staggered out in full view of the man and fell to my knees the man noticed me, he immediately raised his weapon and started to shout. "GET BACK INTO THE BUILDING NOW." I looked up at him as though transfixed with fear but not moving until he came closer to me, he slung his weapon and grabbed my arm, at which point I reached into my satchel pulled out my Glock aimed up directly between his legs and fired three rounds vertically into his groin. He fell immediately to the concrete loading dock, I liberated his AR10 from him and slung it over my own shoulder then went into our vehicle and located the pod that contained our 'vehicle stopper' I picked up the Barrett and two magazines and a couple of boxes of ammunition then made my way out of the dock area back towards Terry. As I approached the corridor leading to the holding cells I could hear shooting so I changed course a little and circled round until I came up behind Terry and Taff. Passed Terry the AR10 and asked Taff if he would help me with the Barrett, he obliged by allowing me to place the bipod on his back as he knelt on the ground covering his ears Three men were advancing in and out of cover and one was just taking a grenade out of a pouch when the opportunity arose for me to fire. Gently squeezing the trigger the Barrett fired the half inch projectile ripping through the wood of the desk in front of me the lead man's ballistic vest and then straight through the second man's vest also causing him to drop his armed grenade to the floor. The sound of the grenade exploding was hardly heard over the ringing in my ears from firing the unsuppressed sniper rifle. "Christ Joy you've just done a Quigley," shouted Terry as he looked at the scene of devastation at the end of the corridor ahead of us and shot the stunned third man through the head as he came out of cover. As the ringing in my ears subsided I could hear small arms fire above us. "Sounds like the lads have arrived Ma'am," stated Taff. Fifteen minutes later we heard an unmistakable voice at the end of the corridor we were protecting. "Jonesey wants to know if he can drive your truck Taff? As it's all clear up here now." It was Dix. Ruth was not returned to the prison that evening instead we took her in disguise to a secure safe house near Northampton. Ruth testified by video link one week later. Chapter 73 - The Sentence The judge presiding over Ruth's case insisted that she should be present for her sentencing so at 07:35 on the morning of her sentencing she was picked up and escorted into the security transport vehicle by Joy, Silvanus and Aliza and then with a two vehicle escort the transport vehicle was escorted towards the court building several miles away. Things started to go wrong for the small convoy after 10 minutes when the first escort vehicle had to stop due to engine problems and then three minutes later the second vehicle was involved in a minor accident with a truck that caught its front wing and damaged the front wheel, at this point the local police helicopter was requested and was scrambled to watch over the prisoner transport vehicle. The helicopter finally located the prisoner transport vehicle roughly twenty minutes later miles off its planned route it was stationary on a large patch of tarmac the remnants of an old ministry of defence vehicle storage depot the crew of the helicopter immediately called for assistance as they observed that the rear doors of the transport vehicle were lying crumpled on the ground and the occupants of the transport vehicle being roughly manhandled out of the vehicle by hooded and armed men. The powerful camera on helicopter was immediately trained on the scene below as the helicopter crew watched on helplessly whilst relaying information back to their control room of the events unfolding below them. Four women and two men were lined up against the transport vehicle and as the crew of the helicopter watched helplessly, three men with semi-automatic weapons opened fire and one by one the women and men fell to the ground. The co-pilot of the helicopter called frantically for armed assistance only to be ordered to pull back from the scene as one of the hooded men on the ground opened fire on them with his semi- automatic weapon, the pilot however made one further pass over the scene in an attempt to gather evidence but all the crew could see were several bodies lying on the tarmac by the transport vehicle in pooling blood as the perpetrators made their getaway into the adjacent country lanes. That evening Alice Stevenson stood in front of the large screen television in the large living area of Stevenson towers, she watched open mouthed as leaked footage of the moments before two prisoners and their guards were murdered earlier that day followed by a graphic description of their assassination. The news anchor then talked with a reporter on the scene who explained that as the murders had taken place on military owned land that the investigation was now being run by military police and not the civilian authorities and as such the site had been cordoned off and was being guarded by soldiers from the local base. "Cocoa with marshmallows and spray cream as ordered," Alice turned to see Joy offering her a mug of Cocoa, Joy was smiling warmly at her wife, she was wearing a short black pleated skirt, black tights and long sleeved ribbed black top, her hair was parted and plaited into two pigtails ending in blue ribbons. To Alice, Joy looked just perfect. "Do I look okay for a dead woman?" asked Joy as she passed the cocoa to her wife. "You look just wonderful to me Joy." "Thank you Alice." "So Is Ruth now safely hidden then?" "Yes, she's scheduled for a little cosmetic surgery tomorrow morning and when she's recovered she'll be transferred to an open prison to work out her sentence." "And she'll be safe?" Joy sipped at her cocoa. "Yes Ruth Fischer is now officially dead she's had a new identity created by Hillary's department and in three years she'll be reintroduced into society and hopefully live out a quiet life." "So she's in witness protection then?" Joy frowned. "It's not like the witless protection run by the police this is a complete new identity traceable back to birth." Joy and Alice went over to one of the large sofa's and both sat down kicking off their moccasins as they did, Joy Winced a little as she made herself comfortable. "I'll tell you something Alice those squibs pack a hell of a punch when they go off I'm going to be sore tomorrow." Alice smiled took a sip from her mug and said, "Well that's Newtons third law for you, did you not wear padding?" "Spreader plates mostly to dissipate the force of the blasts but we needed it to look realistic so we only used the bare minimum of padding." Alice placed her mug on the side table and asked with a mischievous smile. "Would you like me to kiss your bruises better then?" "I'd settle for a cuddle," answered Joy as she snuggled into Alice. The end (for now) ©Kyorii 2018 Will Joy, Alice and their friends return for another adventure? Please leave a review if you enjoyed my latest story, any comments/suggestions/criticisms are also welcome.