Chris Lawler 'One Of A Kind', Page 2

CHAPTER ONE

  THE ELECTRICIAN

  With a deafening BANG! The front door of number 9 Hillcrest Avenue was smashed open, completely tearing it from its hinges. By an armoured clad Police Officer using a 14lb sledgehammer. It ended up lying on the floor in front of him, almost blocking the hallway into the block of flats, and hindering other Officers who were trying to gain a swift entrance into the building.

  Being the early hours of the morning the noise was so loud it carried far, and awakened the whole neighbourhood of the quiet leafy suburb of Bermondsey, located south of the river Thames in London.

  The forced entry operation was being carried out by the London Armed Offenders Squad, under the special direction of Detective Inspector Ronald Knights from New Scotland Yard, who was hoping to arrest one of the buildings occupants.

  Chris Lawler was suddenly woken from a light sleep, by the loud bang that sounded below him in the building. Without hesitation he jumped from his bed, throwing some of his bedding on the floor towards the door, hoping to throw whomever it was from his scent by distorting their view under the bed. He then dropped to the floor sliding underneath, with his head pointing towards the door, and took up a statue like pose. Holding an old pair of black boots in front of his face, to break up his outline. Just in case somebody was to bop down to look under the bed from the doorway. Lucky for Chris the blankets he had thrown on the floor had landed in a good position to break up the intruder’s line of sight.

  It was all part of a plan that Chris had practiced in meticulous detail several times in the past. He had even chosen to rent this top floor flat, with a possible event like this in mind. Knowing that his pursuers would have to climb two flights of stairs to get to him, and thus allowing him precious seconds to hide from whomever they were, and he had no doubt in his mind that it was him they were after.

  By now, he could hear the heavy clumping of many boots making their way up the stairs giving him prior warning that it was either the Police or the Military.

  As the bedroom door was kicked open, Chris watched as two sets of boots entered the room. By watching how they were walking and stopping gave him all of the information he needed. Informing him that they were both armed and covering each other’s every move. One of the intruders bent down and touched the bed linen on the floor in front of him, remarking to his partner, that it was still warm. Un-lucky for Chris the guy was not low enough for him to see his face.

  From his hiding place, it was hard for anybody to see him, as the bed was very low. Giving the impression to anybody who walked into the room, that there was just no way that anybody could actually fit underneath. Earlier Chris had managed to have it specially adapted for him, with the divan base section having been hollowed out enough to take his frame. While on top was a very thick special mattress that was designed to take a 9mm pistol round if it was fired into it.

  From the top and to an un-trained eye, it looked like any normal double sized bed. However, its lowness was against him, preventing him from making a fast escape from its cover, if required. Chris had placed a lot of his trust in the fact that, whoever would be after him would not know what room he was in, and so they would have to search every single flat in the building. Being an ex-military man, he had worked out that they would have allocated at least four men to a floor. With this in mind each group of four, would have to cover each other’s back while searching every room on their level as quick as possible. Just in case he was escaping from another room.

  Once it was ascertained that the rooms on each level were all cleared, they would return to go over each room in minute detail. With a fine toothcomb as their instructor had once named it, in their quest to find any evidence of the occupant, or of where he might be.

  After just a few seconds one of the intruders called out that the room was all clear and secure. Adding that the window was also shut, thus informing those in charge down stairs that he had not escaped through the window. They then made their way to the next room, as Chris heard them kick the door in. Without hesitation Chris slid quietly from under the bed, headed straight to the window, and quietly opened it. Although he need not have bothered as by now the whole house was reverberating to the sound of heavy boots clumping around on hollow wooden floors. While others were shouting out instructions and confirming that certain rooms were secure.

  Chris climbed out onto the fire escape, and then closed the window behind him. Having no intentions of letting the intruders know how he had actually got out of the building. This was all part of the plan that he had run through his head a hundred times, and if successful he would be able to use the same trick again. Now he could make his way down onto the flat roof one floor below and to freedom across the other buildings.

  As he quickly made his way across the rooftops, he knew exactly what lay in front of him, having undertaken a recognisance of the whole area when he first took up residency in the flat. Ahead lay a three and a half metre gap to the next building, and so without hesitating or wanting to check out the jump distance first. Chris increased his speed, in the hope that it would help propel his leap across the void to the next building. The jump turned out to be relativity easy, however he landed a little awkward hurting his right ankle.

  For Chris the adrenalin was flowing very fast around his body, disguising any pain that he should have by now been feeling. His eyes were already on the other end of the roof as an area he was heading for. He knew that there was a fire escape ladder on the end of the building that led all the way to the ground, and would be out of sight of any Police cars that were by now all parked by his front and back doors.

  Halfway across the roof he was suddenly confronted by two heavily armed and armour clad Police Officers, who suddenly appeared from behind a chimneystack just in front of the fire escape.

  Chris had always imagined that at one time or another, he was going to be caught, along with the distinct possibility that he might be killed in the process. Therefore, he had long since decided that rather than spend the rest of his life in prison. It did not worry him if he were killed during his attempted escape. With this attitude in the back of his mind, it did not worry him whatever he tried, in his desperate bid to evade capture.

  He never hesitated, but headed straight towards the backyard side of the roof, hoping that the Police Officers at the front of the building would not know what was happening. As far as he as concerned, one way or another he was going to be killed, and so without looking down at whatever awaited him below, he suddenly leapt off the roof feet first.

  The two Police Officers were left standing speechless, and wondering what to do next. While Chris was praying that providence might interfere and play a very small part in his future, if indeed he had one. What he was doing was comparable to purchasing a lottery ticket, all he had to do now was to just hang around long enough to find out whether his lucky numbers would come up.

  A split second later he crashed through the roof of a tin shed with a terrific bang, collapsing its empty structure under him, while sending up a dense cloud of dust that obscured everything.

  Staggering out of the ruins he could not believe that he was still alive. Although it only took a split second for him to realise that he was by now limping badly, suspecting a broken ankle. While one of his arms felt as though it was also broken. However, no amount of pain was going to stop him from making his escape from the scene.

  Only to stagger straight into the arms of another Police Officer pointing an automatic weapon at him and telling him to give up, as it was all over. He finally fell to the ground unconscious, after being pistol-whipped on the back of the head, by another Police Officer that had managed to creep up behind him.

  As Chris started to regain consciousness, he had a distinct feeling that he was in a hospital. Maybe it was the disinfectant smell of the place, or the stiffened freshly ironed sheets covering his body that was the giveaway. Not to mention the terrible pain that seemed to be affecting his whole body. He might have been unconscious, but
he could still remember everything had happened to him.

  If he was in a hospital, it was a sure bet that a Police Officer would be within arm’s reach of him. With this in mind, he did not want to let them know that he was coming around. Instead, he pretended to be asleep while using his senses to work out his next move.

  He decided that no matter what was to happen to him, he would not move his body, and with the pain, he was experiencing that was going to be hard. What he really wanted to do was to slightly open one of his eyes so that he could get his bearing and take a look at the layout of the room he was in.

  It only took a couple of seconds for his suspicions to be confirmed, as a nurse enter the room and asked somebody very close to the bed, how was the patent doing. The guy who answered was on his left, and was sitting down. As he spoke it sounded like his mouth was only a couple of feet away from his head. Chris then realised that he got up, and it seemed like he was walking over to where the nurse was standing. A conversation developed between them, which started about his condition, but soon developed into a question and answer exchange between them. He surmised that the guy who must have been a Police Officer was trying to pick the nurse up. Now would be a good time for him to take a peek, as the Police Officers brain and thoughts were elsewhere, and on another completely different subject, probably that of sex.

  He could hear them talking on his left, making an assumption that the Police Officer would have been sitting between him and the door, and when the nurse came in she was also on that side. This told him that the door was on the left side of the room, and knowing that he was a wanted man, he did not have to be a rocket scientist to work out that he would also be in a room on his own.

  Very slowly, Chris opened his right eyelid a couple of millimetres, taking a brief look around the right hand side of the room. However, there was nothing but the wall and a couple of hospital machines next to a bedside locker, but at least it confirmed where he was.

  As the couple were still in conversation, Chris decided it was time to take a look through his left eye, and there they were standing over by the doorway chatting to each other as if he was not even in the room. They were so carried away in what they were doing that Chris was able to look around the room in very fine detail. He was correct in his assumptions that he was in a small single ward with only one door leading in and out, which was to his left and towards the bottom of the bed. There was a chair to his left and as suspected near the bed. Other than the couple of machines and the locker to his right, the room was completely empty.

  He lay back wondering what his next move should be, as there was nothing within arm’s reach that might aid his escape, and that was assuming that he could get past the guard. A sudden twinge of pain shot through his body bring him back to reality, and reminding him that he was also in no fit state to take on the guard, let alone to escape walking unaided.

  Chris knew that the best time to escape was just after he had been captured, mainly because you know the area and its surroundings. Once you have been moved to another location that might be hundreds of miles away, you would not have a clue where you were or better still where to go. However, even though he had just been captured he had no idea where he was. Although he knew that if you escape immediately, it would usually catch the enemy off its guard, not expecting it so early in the capture. Especially if you had looked defeated, and willing to give yourself up to the enemy in the first place. For some reason they usually let their guard down and assume that you would do anything they said or wanted you to do. This had all been drummed into his head many years earlier, while he was a member of the military.

  Suddenly the Police Officer and the nurse slowly walked out of the room while still talking to each other. By the sound of their voices, they were moving away from his ward and heading down the corridor. Chris could not believe his luck and the opportunist within was going to take full advantage of the situation. He threw back the sheets from the bed and wasted no time in getting his feet to the floor. However, suddenly his whole body was racked with pain as he dropped to his knees cursing. Most of the pain seemed to be coming from his right leg. Upon looking down, he discovered that it was heavily bandaged from the knee to the ankle, and was the main source of his pain. However, he convinced himself that it was not broken because it was not in plaster. Although he suddenly realised that it was going to be very painful to walk on. He also noticed that his left arm was also bandaged from his wrist to his elbow. However, his brain seemed to be working and was racing ahead wondering what to do next. Because it was a sound bet that he was not going to get far, in the condition he was in without help. All of a sudden, he heard the voices coming back up the corridor and they seemed to be getting closer to his room.

  Without hesitating he pulled the bedside locker that was on wheels, away from the wall and crawled behind it, where he tried to make himself as small as possible. Once in a reasonably comfortable position he pulled the cupboard back in front of him, held his breath and awaited the outcome.

  As the Police Officer entered, the room Chris heard him stop in mid-sentence, realising that he was looking at an empty bed. Immediately his voice was raised asking where the hell was he, the nurse must have been speechless as well because she never said a single word. Instead, it was all left to the Officer, who by this time was going off his head, and talking about being thrown out of the force.

  From his very small hiding place, the top right hand side of the bed also protected his position making it very hard for the Officer to see him. For a few brief moments, he froze completely, even holding his breath not wanting to make any sounds that would give his position away. He was also praying that he would not pull the bed away from the wall or in fact walk around the bed to where the locker was positioned. Instead, the Officer totally panicked. His voice got louder and louder, knowing full well that his boss was going to be in one hell of a bad temper, once he told him that he had lost his star prisoner.

  As the Officer ran out of the room, Chris could hear his footstep heading down the corridor and away from his room, and was guessing correctly that he was hastily checking the other rooms, before informing his boss of his loss. For some reason and lucky for him the nurse also followed the Officer, leaving him on his own and in an empty room.

  Chris slowly crawled out from behind the locker and looked around the room trying to see if there was anywhere better that he could hide. Knowing that when most people are placed in a predicament just like the Officers, they panic and just keep running in the hope of catching up with whomever it was they were looking for. Everybody seems to assume that the escapee will want to place as many miles between themselves and their hunters. When in actual fact Chris had been trained in a completely different manner, it being the total opposite, and to take full advantage of a situation like that. By hiding very close to the scene of the crime. Anyway the pain in his leg was telling him that he was not going to get very far in his condition.

  There was nothing in the room that was going to help him and so rather than waste any more time, he slowly hobbled out of the room to be confronted by several hospital staff, all going about their daily chores. Not one of them seemed in the least bit interested in him, and so taking full advantage of the situation he slowly made his way down the corridor in the opposite direction to which the Officer had fled. He had no idea where he was going, but as long as it was away from his room and the guard that was all that mattered for the moment. Now, he was running on instinct and looking for a place to hide. As every step he took brought pain to his body, constantly reminding him that he was not going to get much further. With this in mind, he started trying every door he came across. Looking for an opportunity or a suggestion of an idea of what to do next. A couple of times he was confronted by surprised people within the rooms, but he just apologised closed the door and moved on to the next door.

  As he approached a ward reception desk, he could not help noticing that there was at least three nursing staff manning the phon
es. While others were attending to several people all positioned around the desk making enquirers of one kind or another. The place seemed to be in pandemonium as everybody was asking questions at the same time.

  Once again taking full advantage of the situation Chris just looked down at the floor and blatantly walked past them all. One of his old service mottos was, to never give people eye contact, and usually they would not challenge you. Once again, it worked, as he slowly made his way past the desk, heading further down the corridor and to what he hoped would be his freedom.

  Then as he rounded a corner, he came upon a wheel chair with a blanket draped over one of the arm rests, parked by the main toilet block. He could not believe his luck. It was just as though somebody had left it especially for him, and there was no way he was going to refuse such a kind offer. As he lowered himself into the chair, he felt the severe pain from his leg ease slightly. He then wrapped the lower half of his body with the blanket, trying to cover up his bandaged leg. No need broadcasting to everybody that he had a bad leg. Believing he was on a winning streak, he released the brake and tried to grab the wheels to propel himself down the corridor. It was only then that he realised that it was not going to be as easy as he had first thought. Because his left arm was heavily bandaged, he could not use his wrist as normal, and when he first tried to push the wheels it went round in a circle as the left hand was not doing anything. After a couple of minutes, he gradually got the hang of it and slowly he made a little progress. Although it was very slow going it was still better than walking and he was going to take full advantage of that fact. It was also his belief that his captors would not be looking for somebody in a wheelchair.

  It did not take him long to get the hang of it, and he headed down one of the corridors quite blatantly weaving in and out of other patents and staff, in his effort to escape. At one stage, two very young nurses even opened a door for him and giggle as he thanked them.

  He even managed to get passed a second receptionists desk manned by two more nurses, without even raising an eyebrow, and headed into a lift that had been left open for him by a very kind old gentleman.

  Chris realised that it was no good going down to the front entrance, as the building was going to be crawling with Police within just a few more minutes.

  He decided to get out of the lift on level 7, being his lucky number. As the lift door opened, the old feller helped Chris steer the wheelchair out of the lift and wished him a nice day. Chris thanked him and told him that so far it had been. He then smiled at him and made his way down another corridor, reading the names that were printed above each and every door.

  Within just a few minutes, he came across one that read laundry, and tried the door to find it open. He then got out of the wheelchair and pushed it into the room, stowing it in a corner amongst a few cardboard boxes. He then examined the room and discovered a ventilation grill in the ceiling above a wooden rack that was full of hospital linen. Somehow, he managed to climb up the rack, forced open the vent and crawled inside. For the moment he was safe, but for how long he had no idea. By staying around the scene of the crime, he was hopping that his would be captors, would be looking for him elsewhere, giving him a little breathing space. After just a few moments he fell asleep completely exhausted at what he had just accomplished.

  Chris was awakened and startled by the sound of a door slamming just below him, as he looked through the grill from his hiding place. He watched a nurse removing bed linen from the shelves. While trying to keep as quiet as possible, so as not to arouse her suspicions that he was right above her. It also gave him a chance to try and work out exactly where he was, and to what time of day he had suddenly been awoken to, as there were no windows in the room. One thing he did know was that he was feeling very hungry, and his mouth was also very dry. Somehow, he would have to try and find some food and drink. He was also feeling very cold lying in the metal duct, as he was only wearing a thin pair of cotton pyjamas.

  Once the nurse had left the room he quietly climbed out of his hiding place and down the shelving to the ground. As he looked around at all of the items stored on the racks he noticed a pile of dressing gowns, and grabbed the top one, and put it on. He also found a pair of crutches in the corner deciding to use them rather than the wheel chair he had found earlier. Slowly he opened the door and looked out into an empty corridor, and decided that it did not matter which way he went, as he had no idea where it would lead him. Although the one thing a hospital is good for, is signage, showing you the way around the building, as long as you know where you are going.

  Slowly he hobbled down the corridor just hoping that it was not the middle of the night, as that would arouse the nurses, in to wondering why he was out of bed. When he came across a lift, he took a ride down to the ground floor, as his stomach reminded him that he had to look for some food. Chris had not visited many hospitals in his lifetime but he knew that the ground floor was usually where you would find a cafeteria. He also knew that was where he was going to find several Police Officers manning the exits and looking for him.

  The lift door opened on to a very large open reception area that also lead to two large sliding glass doors, that opened out to daylight and a busy main road. While positioned on the other side of the doors stood two large burly Police Officers.

  The entrance hall had several people walking around, with some entering and some leaving the building. The Police Officers were checking every one of them. However, Chris had no intentions of leaving the building. For the moment, he felt safer staying where he was, but he was feeling very hungry. His nose suddenly informed him that food was being cooked and served somewhere in the near vicinity.

  The cafe was easy to find as it was positioned to his right in an open fronted side room. Quite a few people were sitting at the tables, but there were plenty of empty ones. However, what Chris was looking for was a table that had some uneaten food left on it. For once Chris was hoping that the cafe staff was a little relaxed in their cleaning routines. Not only did he not have any money, he did not even have any pockets in his pyjamas. For the moment he would have to try and scrounge whatever he could get his hands on.

  Luckily, he found a table on its own with a half-eaten sausage roll and a mouth full of cold tea. Chris was not the type of person who worried what people thought of him, he was a survivor, and if it meant people looking and talking about him, well so be it. Although normally he would go out of his way, to ensure that people did not notice him, he usually liked to blend into the background when possible. The one thing in his favour at the moment was the fact that he was in a hospital, and you meet some strange people in hospitals. He made up his mind that if he were challenged he would try and act a little retarded, at least that way he might get some sympathy and maybe a little help.

  As he looked around he spied a newspaper on another table, and so he walked over, picked it up, and then returned to finish off his cold cup of tea. He was not interested in the front-page story, just the date. It was the 15th, and from that he deducted that he’d been unconscious for almost two days. So now, he knew that it was a Sunday. While stamped along the top of the newspaper in bold red ink, it read, ‘This is the property of the St James Hospital for the use of its patents’. Now he knew where he was, and lucky for him he was only a couple of miles from his flat, so once he got out of the hospital he knew the area, and would be able to escape down any of the side alleys that he knew well.

  Unfortunately, as far as he could see there was no more food to be had from the other tables. Chris convinced himself that people were a little more careful with their money than they used to be. It was no good sitting around as it might draw attention to him, and there was also the chance that the Police might still be walking around the building. As he got up to leave, he noticed a clock above the counter informing him that it was 11-35. He worked out that it must be in the morning as it was light outside and anyway there were plenty of people walking about.

  It was a good job that
he remembered the floor back to the linen cupboard, otherwise he would have been in trouble, when he realised that there were 15 floors to the building. As the lift door opened on floor 7, the smell of food greeted his nostrils. Looking in the direction from where it was coming from, he noticed a meals trolley standing on its own in the corridor outside one of the wards. Obviously, a hospital helper was taking the midday meals around, and had stopped to drop one off into the room it was standing in front of. Chris left one of his crutches by the lift door and hobbled up to the trolley. Without hesitating, he took a plate of food that was covered by an aluminium cover, from the top of the trolley and limped off in the direction of his hiding place.

  He found it a little awkward climbing the shelving in the linen room, to return to his hiding place in the air duct, while carrying the plate of food he had just stolen from the hallway. However, when you are desperate you can usually undertake super human feats, with great success.

  It was while he was eating the long awaited meal that he started to think of where he was. With the constant air flowing past his body, he knew that he would not be able to stay where he was all of the time. The cold air that was constantly flowing through the duct would soon dehydrate him, and drop his body temperature to a dangerous level. Although he had grabbed a couple of blankets from the room, to cover his body and to keep him warm. Not only that the plate of food he had with him would also be giving off smells that would not usually be coming out of air ducts. He would have to find somewhere else within the hospital building to move to, but at this stage, he had no ideas.

  Inspector Knights was sure that the ‘Magician’ as his team had nick named Chris because of his disappearance, was still hiding somewhere in the building. He had ordered his men to make a fine search of the building. However, it was turning out to be an enormous task, as the building had fifteen floors, not to mention numerous out buildings. He had set a task room up on the 10th floor not far from where Chris’s ward had been. For some reason he was convinced that he had not left the building, as Officers had been stationed in other parts of the building, and nobody had seen him.

  With a few of his men standing around him, Inspector Knights was running over a few of the details, of areas that they had already searched. Suddenly he noticed the smell of food in the room. It caught his attention because it suddenly came from nowhere. He asked if any of them had food with them, to which all agreed that they did not. That’s strange, he told them, and I was convinced that I could smell some sort of cooked food. One of his Constables agreed with him, that he could also smell whatever it was. Within seconds, all in the room were sniffing and agreed that they could faintly smell something. Being detectives it only took them a couple of minutes to work out that the smell was coming from the air vent above their heads.

  Inspector Knights took his Officers out of the room and into the corridor. Quietly he informed them that maybe the ‘Magician’ was in the air vent, after all he would have to eat. What better place than to take your food back to your hiding place. It was an area that they had not thought to search, and why would the smell of food be coming from the air duct anyway. He continued to talk very quietly just in case their prisoner was above them listening to what they had to say. There was no need to pre-warn him of their plans, as sound travels long distances in air ducts.

  He ordered the search to be stopped, so that they could re-group and start again. Only this time they were to start from the top, and work their way down. There was no way that he wanted to flush him out onto the roof, after the last stunt he had pulled on them, back at his flat. This time they were to check every single nook and crannies they could find and that included the air vents. For some reason Inspector Knights was convinced that the Magician’s instincts would force him to go up the building, in order to escape his capture, rather than down, where he knew the Police Officers would be waiting for him. He even detailed one Officer to look into the possibility of using a Police dog, being allowed to enter the air ducts.

  Once a floor had been secured, an Officer was to be placed at each set of lift doors, so that the ‘Magician’ could not move between floors. He wanted to be able to move on right down the entire building, knowing that there was no way that he could double back on them. While outside every exit and ground floor windows had to be guarded, and every person who entered or left the building, had to be checked, with no exceptions. Knights was convinced that Chris was holed up somewhere within the building, and there was no way that he was going to let him escape.

  It wasn’t long before Chris heard noises coming through the ducting system, informing him that the Police were checking out his hiding place in other parts of the building. It was only going to be a matter of time before they stumbled onto him. As far as he could make out the noise was coming from above him. Now was the time to move out of his air vent hidey-hole, but to where he had no idea, just as long as it was lower down the building. He knew that these building were usually duplicated on every floor, making it easy to find another vent on another floor. However, it was a waste of time, if they had worked out where he was hiding, it would not be long before they checked out every single floor. The only alternative was to break out from the building, and to try and disappear out in the street.

  Grabbing just one of the crutches, he made his way down a corridor looking for any type of clothing that he would disguise his looks. For now, he was using the crutch but he knew that at some time or other he would have to dump it, as it was a dead giveaway as to who he was.

  Luck was with him, when he stumbled onto a changing room area, and found a patients clothing hanging on the back of a door. To his amazement, there was also a small brief case in the cubicle.

  Chris set about removing the bandages from his arm, to discover a very long stitched up gash down his forearm that had needed over twenty stitches to close it up. Luckily for him it was not bleeding otherwise he would have been in trouble, trying to hide it. After taking the bandages from his leg, it revealed a very swollen ankle, but there were no cuts. When he removed his pyjamas, he noticed that his chest was very black, indicating that he had probable got a couple of broken ribs. He then wasted no time in putting on the clothing he had just found. Although they did not fit him perfectly, it was good enough to disguise his looks and hopefully aid his escape from the building.

  This was what he wanted, something to completely change his looks to throw his chasers of the scent. All he needed now was a stethoscope to hang around his neck and with a little luck he might pass as a doctor.

  Chris made his way to a lift, and mingled with several people who were already riding it down. Unfortunately, it stopped at almost every floor, as people came in and others left. On one level one guy carrying a large bag, banged into Chris’s left arm in his effort to squeeze in. For a brief moment, pain shot around his body, leaving Chris to grit his teeth not wanting to attract any attention towards him.

  Every time the door opened, his heart stopped wondering what was going to happen next, and of who might appear in the lift doorway. Luckily for Chris, he had made his way to the back wall, in order to hide behind the other people. This helped save him on one floor, when the door opened and two Police Officers entered, the by now almost full lift. Lucky for him they got out three floors below, and he breathed a little easier.

  As the lift door opened on the ground floor, he walked out quite blatantly in front of another Police Officer, standing by the door waiting to enter. Playing the part of a Doctor, he imagined he was, while making sure that he did not make eye contact with him. As his earlier training had taught him, you never turn away or hesitate in situations like this. These actions can always be noticed and picked up on, by people like the Police, who are trained to pick up tell-tale signs that criminals tend to leave in their wake.

  Unfortunately, Chris was having problems trying to walk normally. The ankle was giving him a lot of pain, However, he was determined to act as normal as possible. While in his now painful left hand he
was trying to hang onto the brief case. Leaving his right and good hand free, just in case he needed to use it. He made his way towards the cafe where he took a seat facing the exit doors. Now it was a case of watching the Officers manning the door, and to try and find a chink in their armour. Somehow, he had to work out a way of getting passed them and out of the building.

  He was presented with another problem, as he had no money. He could not buy himself a cup of tea, or make a phone call. If and when he finally got out of the building, he would not be able to phone for a cab. It was just more food for thought as to what he could do next. However, he was an opportunist and what he was looking for was an opportunity that he was going to grab with both hands, once it presented its self. He was also a strong believer that if you waited long enough, something would usually turn up. However, he also knew that he could not hang around too long, in case he aroused somebody’s suspicions. He was also convinced that the people searching the building were slowly making their way down to where he was actually sitting. Time was not on his side at the moment, even though so far he had been very lucky. All he needed now was for his luck to hold just that little bit longer.

  It was a tension filled time for Chris knowing full well that at any moment somebody might recognise and arrest him. Where he was sitting he was in constant view of a lot of people as they arrived or left the cafe. At one time, a Police Officer and a plain cloths detective came in to the cafe for a cup of tea. Lucky for Chris they sat right behind him, so neither could see his face. There was no other way, he just had to brave it out, and wait for his moment.

  His chance came when he spied a coach load of old people pull up outside the main doors. His brain was working overtime and fast as he realised that they would all be walking along very slow and getting in everybody’s way. To add to this, two of the main lifts had just disgorged full loads of people into the main entrance hall. Who would soon be heading for the main entrance to leave. Without hesitation Chris got up and somehow managed to walk over to join in with the large group of people leaving the building. Then just as he had imagined, they all reached the front door at the very same moment as the thirty or so old people did on the other side. It was pandemonium for a few moments, as the Police Officers did not know what to do. There was just no way that they could check everybody, instead they choose to eye as many people as possible. Chris, who was by now carrying the brief case in the other good hand, broke all of his rules and raised the case a foot into the air as if to acknowledge the Police Officer with a polite hello. One of them returned the gesture by nodding his head as if to say sorry for the bedlam, but it was out of his control. Un-known to Chris, when his arm had been hit in the lift, it had broken a couple of the stitches. By now a small amount of blood was running down his arm into his half cupped hand and dripping on the floor as he walked.

  He could not believe his luck he was actually outside of the building and walking with everybody else towards the main road. Just behind the bus was a taxi and somebody had just got out and was paying the cabbie. He made his way over to where it stood and once the traveller had left, he called out asking if he was free. At this stage, Chris was not worried about the fact that he did not have any money, he just wanted to put as many miles between him and the hospital as possible.

  The cabbie told him to hop in, and so Chris opened the back door. However, just as he bent down to get inside, a hand suddenly gripped his right shoulder. As he turned his head he was greeted by a smiling Inspector Knights, saying “not so fast young man. I think you have a few questions to answer.”

  Un-known to Chris, Inspector Knights had been one of the many people coming out of the lifts. While walking towards the front doors his suspicions had been aroused by the awkward way in which he was walking. Once he had looked down at his feet, because of his limp, he realised that the trousers Chris was wearing were a little short and did not seem to fit him correctly. It then became apparent to him that the jacket was also short and very tight. In fact, everything about him was starting to look quite odd. The final straw was the sight of a small amount of blood running down his left wrist into his hand and dripping onto the floor.

  Inspector knights was not sure who he was, or if in deed he was the man he was looking for, but at least he was going to check him out. While later he might chase up the Officers who had let him pass unhindered out of the building.

  Chris found himself in a windowless room, and handcuffed to a wooden chair while seated at a bare wooden table, and staring at two plain clothes Police Officers. He knew from when he was first brought into the building, that it was somewhere deep within the bowels of the local Police station.

  The larger of the two, who looked in charge, introduced himself to Chris as Detective Inspector Knights, and gesturing to his partner, he announced him as Detective Ben Wright. The Inspector then asked Chris what his name was, but he was having nothing to do with it. He had decided to sit it out in silence, while contemplating his next escape. Having been able to watch the city whiz past the window of the Police car, as they delivered him to the station, he still had a little idea as to where he was. There was no way he was going to assist them in their quest for information, by giving details of his past, that he believed they did not already have on record.

  The Inspector had a good idea that Chris was not going to cooperate, as he had not spoken a single word since his capture. Therefore, it did not come as a surprise to him when he refused to answerer his question. Realising that he was going to react in this way, the Inspector had decided to carry on as if nothing had gone wrong with his plans. His next move was to take a small folder from his brief case with the words ‘The Electrician’ typed on the front. He then opened it, before dropping it on the table in front of him. Slowly he proceeded to read from the very first page, so that Chris could hear and hopefully understand every single word, he was about to tell him. By taking his time he was hoping to stretch out what few details he actually had, while also trying to hide the fact that the pages were few and far between. Not to mention that many were in fact blank.

  Chris looked down at the file and almost laughed to himself at its thickness, thinking that all they had on him was the address of his flat. However, Detective Inspector Knights surprised him when he suddenly asked why he had always used cable tie wraps, to bind up his victims. Trying not to alter the expression on his face, Chris continued to say nothing. It was also his aim to try and not alter his body language. In this way, he was hoping that he would not give them anything in his armoury of tricks.

  Once again, his military training was coming into play. He knew that when it came to interrogation and torture, there was nobody in the world who would not crack under some of the methods now being used throughout the world. Unless that is, they were prepared to die, while with holding their secrets.

  Suddenly the whole atmosphere in the room changed as the door was flung open and three men entered, with one waving a piece of paper in front of Detective Inspector Knights. At almost the same time an argument started to develop between the two different factions within the room. From what Chris could work out, they were arguing over him, and to who owned him.

  Almost immediately Inspector Knights lost his temper, explaining that he had spent the past few years trying to capture him. It had cost his office a lot of sleepless nights, time, personnel and money, and here were a couple of strangers waving a piece of paper at him. Declaring that the law had decreed that they had jurisdiction over him, and could take him away. It was no good him arguing because it soon became evident that the new comers were going to take him whatever avenue of protest Knights tried to pursue.

  It was then that the word Mi6 was mentioned, putting a new light onto the predicament that Chris now found himself in. All of a sudden the atmosphere in the room changed, and Knights signed the piece of paper that had been thrust in front of him, releasing Chris from his jurisdiction. He was also ordered to hand over all files and records they had in connection with him. With
this completed they both left the room feeling a little dejected, leaving Chris to be escorted out of the building, by his new owners.

  This time he was covered with a thick blanket, before he left the building. Making it impossible for him to see where he was going, and leaving him a little disorientated. It was also to stop the public from seeing who he was, and of being able to identify him at a later date.

  Although you did not have to be a brain surgeon, to know that Mi6 operated from the heart of London, and he knew that area quite well. There was no cause for alarm, if he could come up with a plan he would know the layout of the land as they say.

  He tried his hardest to listen to the sounds from outside of the car, for that little tell-tale noise that would give him a clue as to where he was. However, his new captors were one step ahead of him as they had the radio turned up full blast. They had obviously been trained well in the prisoner deprivation stakes, and were going to be tougher nuts to crack than Detective Inspector Knights. For the first time Chris knew that this time, his capture was for real. He doubted very much that he would be able to escape from these guys, but it was always worth keeping an open mind.