Damsel in Distress (Long Version) by Dave Dawson
“Central receiving. Go ahead Bravo”.
“Bravo. Approaching target location, two minutes. One obstacle. Will neutralise and proceed, out”.
The suited gorilla standing at the entrance to the pub watched as the hiker, complete with backpack and hikers pole approached. He moved in front of the door in an obvious attempt to prevent anyone entering. “Private party pal, no entry for…..”
The weighted handle of the hikers pole struck him heavily on the forehead and he crumpled to the pavement in and untidy, bleeding heap. Bravo pushed open the door and scanned the interior. It was half full of male drinkers who, to a man, ceased their conversations and looked warily at the intruder. “Hi, sorry to be a pain but I’m desperate for a loo. Two minutes and I’ll be out of your way” he looked directly at the man behind the bar, apologised again, said, “you know what it’s like, when a man’s gotta go….”
The Landlord looked towards the entrance hoping for some sort of confirmation that was not forthcoming. The stranger spoke again, “aye, the guy outside nodded me in, he was busy with some youths giving him some aggro”.
Satisfied the barman nodded his understanding and said, “the bogs are out the back. Through the curtain, across the courtyard, ladies on the left, gent’s on the right. “Cheers, said the stranger, er, if it’s no trouble I could sink a pint and a whisky chaser before I get back on the canal.” He took out a wallet and pealed a twenty off a role of cash and placed it on the bar. “Won’t be two shakes,” he said, as he parted the bead curtain that led to the courtyard.
Through the curtain he found himself, as the plans had indicated, in a hall with a staircase to the left. A sign read ‘Rooms 1 to 12’ and an arrow pointing upwards. Quickly he ran up the stairs and, turning left at the top was confronted by a second, almost identical gorilla sitting outside a door. “Oh, hi, er…, I’m looking for room six.”
The gorilla wasn’t the sharpest knife in the box and by the time his brain had registered what was being asked, he too was a bleeding lump slumped in his chair. Opening the door bravo was confronted with a young blonde girl, sitting on a bed, her knees drawn up to her chin and mortal fear written on her face.
“Ellie?,” she nodded, “Who are you, please, let me go, don’t hurt me”, tears rolled down her cheeks.
“You my dear I believe, are a damsel in distress and I, your knight in shining armour. You’re safe now Ellie but I need to get you out of here quick sharp.” He noticed a plate of food at the end of the bed she was sitting on, “Ellie, have you eaten any of that food, any at all?” She shook her head. “I didn’t want anything; I just want to go home.”
“All in good time. Now, I want you to stand by the door while I sort things out. When I give the word I want you to walk quickly along the landing and wait at the top of the stairs there. Ok?” She nodded and rushed to the door whilst he slung his backpack onto the bed and took out a large thermos flask. Removing the top, he set about spreading its contents over the soft furnishings before opening the door and repeating the process at the top of the stairs that he had used. Taking a lighter from his pocket, he set the petrol alight and threw a lit taper into the bedroom.
Taking hold of the prone gorilla, he dragged him by the feet away from the burning carpet to the safety of the far end of the landing. “Now, Ellie, we’re going down the stairs and out into the courtyard. You go through the gate, and you’ll see a large white car with its engine running. The driver is Tony. Climb into the back and, if you see any of the men that abducted you, point them out to Tony. Got that. Again, she nodded that she understood.
Having watched her exit the courtyard, Bravo sauntered back into the bar, said, “sorry to break up an obvious party guys but you appear to have a fire upstairs. I’ll phone the fire brigade”.
The Landlord was galvanised! With a yelp he dashed from behind the bar and screeched when he saw the flames at the top of the stairs. “Oh my God” he cried before disappearing through a door along the hall. Meanwhile, three other surly looking characters had left their seats and also ran along the hall to the staircase at the far end. “Time to move,” thought Bravo as he made his way back to the courtyard. He concealed himself behind a green Subaru saloon and waited. Moments later a huffing and puffing Landlord appeared with three holdalls which he was intending to place in the boot of the Subaru, but he was poleaxed by the weighted handle of the hikers pole. Grabbing the bags, Bravo stepped into the street and joined Tony in the front of the Landcruiser. “Ok, let’s roll,” he said. “You ok in the back Ellie?”
Glancing behind him it was obvious that Ellie was heading into shock, but he needed her lucid. “Ellie, I need you to do something, quickly! I need you to call your Sister on this phone and tell her to pack a bag for you both for a few days. Those men, the men that took you, they’re not going to be very happy with the way things have turned out, and, they might have a back up plan in place. Tell her to pack a few things quickly and, is there a friend on the street that she could go to and wait for us?”
Ellie started to weep but recognised the urgency in bravo’s voice. It took her three attempts to get her sister’s number in the correct order and make the call. She quickly told her what was required and advised her that they would meet her at Pauline’s house in about half an hour.
Satisfied that everything that could be done had been done, Bravo contacted Central and brought them up to speed on the events. “I recovered three holdalls, first glance, a lot of cash in mixed notes. Currently on route to Ellie’s home to pick up her Sister then we should contact the chopper around 21.00 hours. Will keep you updated, out.”
He sat back in the seat and was ruminating on the exercise when Ellie spoke from the rear seat. “Please Sir, why did they take me. I’m not special. Just a kid, why would they take me?”
“Ellie, the world is full of bad people, and we just sorted a few of them out. They take young girls like you and spirit you away from everything that you know, to a different country, where you might be married off or bought by someone as a housekeeper, or a nanny. They like youngsters like you because you can’t fight back.” He wasn’t going to spell out the probable real reason girls like her were being snatched.
“Well how did you know how to find me? They threw my phone away!”
“We got lucky! Do you remember the story about four months ago, a young girl Leah, thirteen from Rochdale who went missing just like you. They snatched her and threw away her phone, but they didn’t know that her Mum had fitted a tracker in her pants. We don’t know what went on but they discovered the tracker about an hour after they took her and threw it out of their vehicle but once we knew the location of the tracker, we then started looking at scenarios, possible places to hide someone without raising suspicion. One of the girls in our team figured the pub you were in because of its location and the adjacent canal. We had it figured out that to get Leah and others to their final destination, a boat would be the likely easiest method. Anyway, Mattie, our group member, worked tirelessly to piece together a likely methodology that would not raise any suspicion. Essentially, from the pub to the sea via the canal in a barge, during the hours of darkness. Then, a boat to intercept with a ship heading east. Very smooth and very effective. Sadly, we were not able to help Leah, yet; but we have high hopes that someone that we arrest over the next few hours, will give us some answers.”
“Right young lady, we’re about twenty minutes away from your sister so settle down and try to relax. Nothing’s going to harm you now.”
Comments
Post a Comment