Tag: Thoughts

NaNoWriMo – April – 2023 — Day 28

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

Henry wakes to the realization that, one, he is in hospital with no memory of how he got there two, his brother Harry is nearby, three that he had no idea if his rescue mission succeeded or failed. And lastly, what happened to Radly.

The reality, he had been used as a human punching back, Michelle had disappeared, along with the Turk, and Harry made the conscious decision not to tell his little brother what had transpired while he was in the hospital.  Good news though, Diana and Radly were in the same hospital, and were alive.

Harry has pieced together the night’s events, and ever relating it, he wonders how any of them are still alive.

His father comes to visit, and it’s apparent he doesn’t know the real reason Henry is there.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.  Henry has bought a house in his now favourite village by the sea, easily accessible by train, for now, and plants to go there when discharged.

Michelle has not returned, and he has told himself that she might never.  It’s that old saying, better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

Then it’s off to Morganville.

…

Words written 4,637, for a total of 107,771

NaNoWriMo – April – 2023 — Day 28

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

Henry wakes to the realization that, one, he is in hospital with no memory of how he got there two, his brother Harry is nearby, three that he had no idea if his rescue mission succeeded or failed. And lastly, what happened to Radly.

The reality, he had been used as a human punching back, Michelle had disappeared, along with the Turk, and Harry made the conscious decision not to tell his little brother what had transpired while he was in the hospital.  Good news though, Diana and Radly were in the same hospital, and were alive.

Harry has pieced together the night’s events, and ever relating it, he wonders how any of them are still alive.

His father comes to visit, and it’s apparent he doesn’t know the real reason Henry is there.

There is light at the end of the tunnel.  Henry has bought a house in his now favourite village by the sea, easily accessible by train, for now, and plants to go there when discharged.

Michelle has not returned, and he has told himself that she might never.  It’s that old saying, better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all.

Then it’s off to Morganville.

…

Words written 4,637, for a total of 107,771

NaNoWriMo – April – 2023 — Day 27

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

Henry and Diana are sent to a hospital where Henry’s father was on call, both appalled when he discovers the identity of one of the victims, and ready to operate on his son.

Banner curses his late arrival as the Turk got away, and so, apparently, did Michelle.

She returns briefly to see Henry and talk to Harry.  She asks if he is willing to help make those who caused Henry pain, and he readily agrees.

Henry survives but will be in an induced coma for a while.

Harry gets the call, and with some of his friends, they are off to capture those who caused Henry’s injuries, principally Felix and the Turk.  The mission is run by Michelle, whose slowly evolving plan has reached maturity.

First Felix, at one of the parlours.  He has one weakness, and it is his downfall.

Then the Turk, who thinks he is invisible, but there was one person who knows all of his secrets, his one weakness.

Both end up in a room, securely bound, awaiting their fate.

It’s going to be a long slow death.

Banner runs into one of his old felons, who just happens to be the Turk’s neighbour, and who is able to fill Banner in on some details, like who may have perpetrated the kidnapping.

He headed to Harry’s place and all but accuses him, but with no tangible evidence, all Banner has is suspicions.  He leaves empty-handed.

…

Words written 4,808, for a total of 103,134

Motive, means, and opportunity – Opportunity

I’m working on a novella which may boringly be called “Motive, Means and Opportunity” where I will present a chunk of information from which you if you want to, can become the armchair detective.

Here’s the third part, the Opportunity

Where was I last night between 9pm and 3am?

Not with my wife, Wendy. She had gone out before 6 pm, about the time I got home from work. No, she didn’t really say where she was going, or if she did, given the list of the past, I didn’t believe her.

Where was I?

Home, alone.

Could anyone corroborate that?

Sadly no.  Isn’t that always the way, though?

But, the car I was driving was a company car. It had a GPS and tracking system, part of so-called security measures put in by the company I worked for, but in reality there to check after-hours use.

The GPS would show I never left home.  Using the car, that is.

The only other car had been taken by Wendy so the reality was, I hadn’t left home. The other car, the off-road vehicle was in the workshop, still waiting to be repaired. It was the car our son had been killed in, and neither of us had the heart to do anything with it.

But…

Apparently, I had a visitor.

James Burgman had been seen outside my house at 10:30 pm, his car had been found two blocks away in the car park, away from the street, and he was found dead, shot by a gun that used 9mm bullets, at 4:45 am the next morning.

No. I had not been seen leaving the house, but it had been ascertained that it was possible to leave and not be seen, if I tried hard enough.

I hadn’t and had no reason to, but that didn’t seem to matter.

Sitting in the interview room, purportedly to help the police in their enquiries, Detective John Sanderson had detailed quite succinctly how I had a motive, the means, and the opportunity.

Little else mattered, particularly the fact I didn’t do it. It was only a matter of time before the gun was found.

So, there I sat in the station, waiting for a series of test results to come back, mainly gunshot residue on me and on my clothes, not just those I was wearing, but everything I owned.

In the end, there was nothing. They couldn’t prove I left home, or that I shot him. Not then. I was advised not to leave the city, that I was a person of interest.

When I asked whether my wife, Wendy, had been subjected to the same interrogation, the atmosphere changed, and Sanderson had rounded on me quite savagely.

“Her innocence is not in question. In fact, you would not be here if it wasn’t for her statement. She honestly believes you shot him out of pure jealousy, and, quite frankly Mr Winters, so do I, and it will only be a matter of time before I find the evidence to convict you.  Now, get out of my sight.”

© Charles Heath 2019-2023

NaNoWriMo – April – 2023 — Day 27

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

Henry and Diana are sent to a hospital where Henry’s father was on call, both appalled when he discovers the identity of one of the victims, and ready to operate on his son.

Banner curses his late arrival as the Turk got away, and so, apparently, did Michelle.

She returns briefly to see Henry and talk to Harry.  She asks if he is willing to help make those who caused Henry pain, and he readily agrees.

Henry survives but will be in an induced coma for a while.

Harry gets the call, and with some of his friends, they are off to capture those who caused Henry’s injuries, principally Felix and the Turk.  The mission is run by Michelle, whose slowly evolving plan has reached maturity.

First Felix, at one of the parlours.  He has one weakness, and it is his downfall.

Then the Turk, who thinks he is invisible, but there was one person who knows all of his secrets, his one weakness.

Both end up in a room, securely bound, awaiting their fate.

It’s going to be a long slow death.

Banner runs into one of his old felons, who just happens to be the Turk’s neighbour, and who is able to fill Banner in on some details, like who may have perpetrated the kidnapping.

He headed to Harry’s place and all but accuses him, but with no tangible evidence, all Banner has is suspicions.  He leaves empty-handed.

…

Words written 4,808, for a total of 103,134

NaNoWriMo – April – 2023 — Day 26

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

The waiting game begins.

Henry moves into the hotel to begin the wait for the call from Michelle.

Radly turns up, having decided to join the rescue mission, and they while away the time playing chess.

Then, the call comes, and decisive action is prompted by the news of Angie’s death.

They are given the location, and it’s time to move.

They are being followed.  The Turks men had Henry’s location and were on surveillance, waiting to see what he would do.

Seems the Turk never believed Michelle’s promises, and vice versa.

Radly leads them on a merry-goose chase, and then manipulates them into having an accident which ends their surveillance.  Unfortunately, it also ends the protection provided by Banner, his men being caught up in the traffic disaster.

Henry’s finally at the door, only to find a woman he least expects.  Michelle is also there.

They go to leave, and the Turk is standing in the doorway.

The reunion doesn’t last long.  Michelle is dragged away, unconscious and Henry’s brief but futile resistance is met with extreme violence.  He is taken away too but downstairs all is in darkness and there’s hesitation on the Turk’s part.

Henry escapes and finds Radly ensconced with Diana, waiting for the inevitable in another apartment.  That becomes a messy last stand, Radly badly injured, as Diana and Henry escape, as far as the Turks man who sees them and deals with Henry first.

Banner arrives too late to prevent both Henry and Diana from paying a hefty price for their involvement.

…

Words written 3,980, for a total of 98,326

Motive, means, and opportunity – Means

I’m working on a novella which may boringly be called “Motive, Means and Opportunity” where I will present a chunk of information from which you if you want to, can become the armchair detective.

Here’s the second part, the so-called Means

Everyone knew I had a gun.  It was locked away in a safe that was not in an obvious position in the dressing room at home.

Several years ago our neighbourhood had been subjected to several breaking and several people had been injured, prompting the rest of us to seriously consider getting protection.

I got a Glock 19, 9 mm along with several of my neighbours and then both Wendy and I got lessons so we knew how to use it properly, and avoid shooting either each other or in our feet.

The thing is, there had only been that one round of breaking, and since the gun was put away on the safe about eighteen months ago, it had not seen the light of day since.

Or so I thought.

When asked to check if it was still there, it wasn’t, much to my surprise.

Equally, to my surprise, the bullet that killed James Burgman was a nine millimetre.  Was that a coincidence, I didn’t think so.

© Charles Heath 2019-2023

NaNoWriMo – April – 2023 — Day 26

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

The waiting game begins.

Henry moves into the hotel to begin the wait for the call from Michelle.

Radly turns up, having decided to join the rescue mission, and they while away the time playing chess.

Then, the call comes, and decisive action is prompted by the news of Angie’s death.

They are given the location, and it’s time to move.

They are being followed.  The Turks men had Henry’s location and were on surveillance, waiting to see what he would do.

Seems the Turk never believed Michelle’s promises, and vice versa.

Radly leads them on a merry-goose chase, and then manipulates them into having an accident which ends their surveillance.  Unfortunately, it also ends the protection provided by Banner, his men being caught up in the traffic disaster.

Henry’s finally at the door, only to find a woman he least expects.  Michelle is also there.

They go to leave, and the Turk is standing in the doorway.

The reunion doesn’t last long.  Michelle is dragged away, unconscious and Henry’s brief but futile resistance is met with extreme violence.  He is taken away too but downstairs all is in darkness and there’s hesitation on the Turk’s part.

Henry escapes and finds Radly ensconced with Diana, waiting for the inevitable in another apartment.  That becomes a messy last stand, Radly badly injured, as Diana and Henry escape, as far as the Turks man who sees them and deals with Henry first.

Banner arrives too late to prevent both Henry and Diana from paying a hefty price for their involvement.

…

Words written 3,980, for a total of 98,326

NaNoWriMo – April – 2023 — Day 25

“The Things We Do For Love”

…

Suitably warned off, and after agreeing to wait for the word to come to rescue her, one Henry feels sceptical about, they return to Henry’s hotel room and toast their good luck and savour the air conditioning.

And start making other foolish plans, like rescuing Angie and Millie, her friends, as a means of hastening Michelle’s decision to leave with them.  Like any plan made without knowing all the facts, it is fraught with danger.

Radly tells Henry that his view of their world was stilted by his background, that not everyone wants to be saved, and that they just might like the life they have.  Henry, of course, doesn’t get it, nor realise what he thinks and how he acts has been shaped by the world he lives in.  It’s a shattering truth he still doesn’t consider possible.

Despite Radly’s reservations, that doesn’t stop them.  Knowing where Angie lives, they make the assumption that Angie would want to be rescued, and suitably fortified by cold beer, they depart.

Doing something, or anything is preferable to sitting around doing nothing.

It was a mission that was destined to fail, but not for the reasons Radly postulated.

When they get to her apartment the door is open.  Inside they are met with the unexpected and tragic consequences of a user that has just pushed the envelope a little too far.

They find Angie dead from an overdose.

For her, the knights in shining armour are too late.

…

Words written 4,769, for a total of 94,346

The cinema of my dreams – Was it just another surveillance job – Episode 60

This story is now on the list to be finished so over the new few weeks, expect a new episode every few days.

The reason why new episodes have been sporadic, there are also other stories to write, and I’m not very good at prioritizing.

But, here we are, a few minutes opened up and it didn’t take long to get back into the groove.

Things are about to get complicated…

Joanne let me get away far too easily. 

When I got back to my car, I ran the scanner over it.  One tracker was easily found, another that took a full half hour to find, and some very strange stares from people on the sidewalk.

I put them both on another car and then went back to the safe house.  Knowing O’Connell was just a pawn meant there wasn’t a hurry to find him.  Anna had everything she needed from him, and now he was of little use to her.  The only question was whether he was still alive.

Jennifer had taken my pyjamas and my bed in the master bedroom, so I was relegated to the spare. 

Not happy.

We needed a plan.  In all the excitement I’d forgotten O’Connell had three places, the original apartment with Herman, his mother’s house in Peaslake, and the apartment in Bromley.

I was up before Jennifer, making coffee, when she came out.

She made my pyjamas look good.  And there was the distraction factor Maury was prone to banging on about.

“How did it go at the office?”

“Turns out Anna Jakovich, the apparent seller of the USB, is a biochemist herself, one who was involved in a laboratory disaster, and discharged as part of the problem.  Make of that what you will, but it looks like her husband was just the fall guy.”

“Of course, it all makes sense then.  Gets the husband to steal the data on the pretext they’re saving the world, then kills him, and pins the blame on him if anything goes wrong. gets us to stump up several million pounds, then ditches O’Connell and runs with the money, and the USB, to bilk another unsuspecting government, like the Russians, or the Chinese.”

“Can you read minds?”

“No.  Got a call from Dobbin, though I have no idea how he found my number since it’s a burner.  Seems he finally found the file on Anna, presumably the same one you got.

“He doesn’t know you’re involved.”

“He does now.  He figured you’d seek help from your classmates that were still on the books.  There’s two of us, me and Miss Desirable, Yolanda.”

“Didn’t she leave the Severin School of wannabes before qualifying?”

“And went straight to the city office of the department and offered up all details on our once fearless leaders for a second chance.  On the books, and back in training, training we might be able to use.”

“Possibly.  The question is, of course, whether she knew what they were planning…”

“Dobbin says she was fooling about with Severin, or perhaps that was Maury…”

“Then Dobbin or Monica or both knew in advance what was going to happen and could have prevented a tragedy if that was the case.  I don’t think she quite knew everything.”

“Well, what I know now is that we’re simply pawns in a much larger game, dancing to a tune that is completely out of key.  Makes things all the more interesting, don’t you think.  By my estimation when we complete our mission, we’re likely to end up like Severin, we just have to work out which one it is before we reach our expiry date.  That coffee smells divine, by the way.  We’re not going anywhere until I’ve had a cup.”

At least she hadn’t decided to go back to her old life.  Not yet anyway.

We tackled Peaslake first.  It was a free-standing house, and we had reasonably covered access that gave us entry to the property with minimal chance of observation.

When we were close, I was nearly run off the road by a fire engine, in a hurry.  Closer still we could see a plume of smoke rising from behind the trees, and when we reached the top of the street, we could see where the fire engine was going.

O’Connell’s house was on fire.

I parled the car and we went to join the throng of nearby residents, all with nothing better to do.

“What happened?” Jennifer asked one of the residents.

“There was an explosion, a fireball, someone said they thought it was a gas tank, and then a fire started.  It was fully ablaze by the time the first fire engine arrived.”

The firefighters had most of the blaze subdued, and we could see the house was destroyed. 

Was it Anna or O’Connell, or both covering their tracks?  The house had become compromised when Jennifer and I turned up.

Five minutes later the Detective Inspector and her Sargent arrived.

“Should I be worried now you’re here,” she asked when she saw me.

“It belonged to the mother of one of our officers who is involved in the case I’m working on.”

“He has the information?”

“No, or maybe.  We don’t know.  We do know there’s a woman involved who was working with our agent.”

“Oh.  I’ve been told there are two bodies found inside, one man and one woman.  Nothing else yet, but I’m going to talk to the forensic team waiting to see if they know any more.  Don’t go anywhere, I may need to talk to you.”

“Just a question.  You didn’t let Jan out, did you?”

She looked puzzled.  “Jan?”

“The girl who shot Severin.”

“Oh, her.  MI5 came and took her away the moment my back was turned.  Why?”

“She probably did this.”

“You might have told me she was dangerous.  Who is she?”

“An MI5 assassin.”

She sighed.  “You people are a law unto yourselves.  Don’t go anywhere.  I’ll be back.”

We watched her stomp away.

“Well,” Jennifer said, “that just made our life a little more difficult.”

…

© Charles Heath 2020-2023