Chapter 9

The next few months went by in a rush of business, hospital visits, the odd Weed Run, and life in general. Al and I were regulars on the Weed Runs, with Cate coming along occasionally, with Angelique looking after Jenny.

Pablo and Antonio were good contacts, telling us a lot about life on the island. It was their sales of weed that allowed them to live above subsistence. We discovered that the cigars came from the Party Headquarters, with some going missing before the final delivery.

Chapter 8

It was dark again when I woke up. Cate had stripped me while I was out to the world and covered me up. I was having dreams about shooting people, only to wake to realise that my dreams were only a reenactment of real life. When I put a gown on and went to the toilet, Cate was there to help me stagger into the kitchen, where she plied me with a fry up.

Chapter 6

A few days later, we were flown to Miramar airfield in California, then driven to the Naval Hospital at Camp Pendleton. We were in a secure ward where I was started on hormones while Kat was given a series of minor procedures to change her facial features to be close to how I was expected to turn out. She was not happy undergoing the changes, except for the operation that augmented her breasts. She was stoic, though, taking one for the team.

Chapter 4

I watched closely as she matched the speed of the ship and brought us back into the pool. When we surfaced, the doors were closing and I left the sub to reattach the lifting mechanism, which I now noticed had a remote release on it. It would enable someone to release the sub and then get in to drive it.

Chapter 2

When I arrived at the saloon, only Dimitri was there, filling a cup from a coffee pot. He waved it at me, and I nodded, so he filled another. I thanked him and wished him good morning, as I looked out to see empty ocean.

“I know that look Mikhail, it’s the look of a career sailor. I spent my early years in the Russian Navy, and I, too, appreciate the vista of empty oceans. The problem is that there could be submarines out there, just as there are hidden dangers on land.”

Chapter 4

As we moved into the summer season, the main sales at the Village were swimwear and we weren’t needed so much. We spent that time with the drama group. The first show we did was a stage version, greatly edited, of ‘Some Like it Hot’ as a farce. It went down well, and then we worked on another show where we played a married couple. That was the one where we were seen by an agent from London.

Chapter 2

A couple of weeks after my birthday party, I was sent a letter telling me that the College was moving to contract cleaners in the next term and gave me a contact number if I wanted to apply to work for them. I had enough experience now to know that they worked you all hours, paid a pittance and were very picky about your work.

Chapter 7

The next day, we were packed and in the back of the car, heading for the next event. It was a busy six weeks, going from one signing to a hotel, followed by another signing and then on towards the next hotel. We were well looked after, had some time for rest and time in a salon once a week. The signing, in Norwich, had all of Ellie’s family in the queue, and we took them for dinner afterwards.

Chapter 5

Ellie called her family first, to let them know that we would pop in when we were in Norfolk. There was a signing session at a bookstore in Norwich, after which we had a day off. It was her mother that brought up the problem with it being written by two women, which allowed Ellie to tell her that she would send a picture of the new me to her phone. She did this when she had finished the call.

Chapter 3

When we left the Chancellor’s office, we could hardly stop giggling. There we were, two students who were about to start a year with the University, and all we were asked for was our signatures on her collection of books!

We utilised the campus map we had been given and went around to look at the various buildings where we would have been studying, then found the canteen for a drink and talk.

“It looks as if the President has spoken to the Chancellor and sealed our fate.”

Chapter 1

I was the third child born into what was supposed to be a large family. The first three of us were named alphabetically, as per my father’s family. My brother was Adrian, my sister was Belinda, and I was called Clarence. Our father had been from a big family and was called Gordon Higgins. He had been born in 1988, while my mother, Annabel, had been born in 1990, and was an only child.

Chapter 3

During that week, we tidied up the aftermath of the track day. We banked the money and filled in the ledger of accounts. Lena did newsletters and receipts for the new members, and then started thinking about the next social, which we thought may be one that was only by invitation, with the meal at Saxmundham and a visit to the place where the cars had been created. When Lena rang Grayson with the idea, he was enthusiastic. Two dozen would be a nice number.

Chapter 1

As the year moved towards another Christmas, Lena and I didn’t have to worry about the jobs, as we now had enough of our own money to live on. We didn’t go mad, but worked on the jobs that came in, keeping the income ticking over. With the work that Helen Harding and her constituents were giving us, we went to see Hassam’s friend in the auto trade.

Chapter 4

The appointment was for nine on Tuesday, so I rang Hassam to book him from eight until twelve. He told me that he had his car back and it was now a lot quieter. Lena wanted to know how my weekend was, so I told her that I had been invited to the dinner on Saturday evening and met Barry Bishop, AKA DI Abbott, and had a frank discussion with him.

Chapter 2

I woke early from an uneventful night. I peeked out of the window and Mo Man had gone. I expect that when I went back out, there would be someone else waiting to follow me. If that was the case, they could follow me back to the town house.

Chapter 7

I woke with an insistent bladder on Monday morning. I felt a lot better and hummed a bit as I showered and dressed. I ate well and went down to the office to see if we had any new emails. Then went to open up the street door for Lena. When she came in, she put a large bag on my desk.

“That’s your outfit for when we go to Epsom on Thursday. They had your sizes still on file.”

I looked in the bag and saw a WPC uniform, identical to hers, except in one detail. Mine had a sergeants’ stripes.

Chapter 5

When I got home and turned on my computer, I had an email from the Islington Inspector. He wanted me to pop in and pick up my communications on Friday. I answered that I would be there. I looked for the Saturday weather on the computer and saw that it would be cold.

Winter was arriving at last. I looked in my wardrobe to see what I had to wear, seeing that I didn’t want to be recognised. I chose a red shirt and a long black winter skirt, which I would wear with leggings and long boots. I had a heavy greatcoat that I could use.

Chapter 3

It wasn’t far from the track to the turning, and I stopped at the gate and reached behind me, finding the button in my bag, under a lot of money. I pressed the button and the gate opened. I drove slowly to the house, now surrounded by Rollers, Bentleys, and big Mercedes. I parked the Aston, and we got out.

“Do you think we can put the money in the boot, I feel a bit vulnerable with it in my bag?”

“Sure thing, there’s a button to press.”

Body In The Tip – a Max Force story.

Chapter 1

I was humming a popular tune as I drove my ‘A’ Class Mercedes towards London. I had just completed a job in Norfolk, my best one so far, and now had a money in the bank, some new clothes on the back seat and was happy to be alive. It had been good to be able to help out a friend. I say friend, but we had been nearly rivals at school. We were now firm friends, and I was happy to have helped her, as well as pulling her out of a depressed state.

Chapter 3

Over the next few days, I spoke to as many friends and acquaintances of Clement as I could. All it proved was that he was a man of smoke and mirrors. Everyone had their own likes encouraged and their dislikes agreed with. He was consistently remembered as smooth but untrustworthy by those he had met since he left school. Only his schoolfriends were able to skate over his failings.

In a story I posted earlier in the year – ‘Life at Tethers End’ – I had my main character as a writer of racy stories. I’ve had a chat with Adam, and he has allowed me to post the first four stories as listed in that one. They are heavily edited to cut out the more explicit sexual details. This is the first story. They run to a total of 19 chapters and are sequential.
Marianne

Chapter 34

After the lunch, we drove to the studio. May and Chloe were amazed at the size of the complex. We went to where David usually shot the screen tests and Cecil was there with his crew. Chloe was introduced and I saw that there was a settee where I would sit to start the scene. I took Chloe through some vocal exercises.

When everyone was ready, I sat on the settee, Chloe stood to one side, and I started with “I don’t think I can take much more.”

Chapter 32

The next day was still that constant drizzle that makes the world feel as if it’s been submerged into the North Sea. I sat quietly, catching up with my tablet and emailing Jacquie to see about getting one of the spare rooms ready. Later that afternoon, May took me and Chloe to the school. Chloe led me through to the gym, where Miss Steel was standing with a worried look on her face.

Chapter 30

When we reached him, we shook hands and he helped my into the plane, getting into the second seat as I buckled up in the main seat. We spent some time going through the instruments, seeing that it was a similar upgrade to the Cheyenne, with the Garmin system, and similar touch screens and the automatic landing at the touch of a button. With the headphones on, he called up the flight control and we had permission to taxi to the end of the runway.