Crossing The Line Chapter 32 by Angharad Copyright© 2022 Angharad

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(title picture Andrea Piacquadio)

The crowd was building up at the showground as the cycling entourage arrived. Matt continued to drive into the centre of the ground where the officials were waiting along with a group of fifty or more people, some obviously cyclists themselves, from the CTC tee shirts they sported. (CTC Cyclist’s Touring Club, the largest cycling membership organisation in the UK).

Despite the background noise and the tannoys, not to mention the ripple of applause spreading through the crowd, Drew heard a familiar voice close behind him.

“Hiya Gaby, when are you gonna get a decent bike?” The voice belonged to Harry.
Drew replied a little tersely, “If my dad sees you, he won’t be pleased.”

“I’m part of your protection, a body guard,” said Harry smiling.

“Who’s gonna guard me from your body?” snapped Drew, riding a little faster.

“I’m sorry about that, I can’t help how I feel about you,” said Harry trying to keep up.

A moment later, the cortege stopped in front of the small podium as the tannoy announced a welcome for the arrival of the women’s world champion and her lovely daughters. Harry, stopped and pulled back from the Bond group where he was met by William. “She’s gone off you,” hissed William to his friend.

“Nah, she’s playing cool in front of her folks. If they weren’t here, she’d all over me like a rash!” Harry laughed at his own joke, William stood and shook his head.

“That wasn’t the impression I got from the body language,” he cautioned his friend.

“It’s okay, I tell you. Now you know what to do?”

“I’m not the stupid one,” answered William.

“Funnnneeee, I don’t think. Look if this creep turns up things are gonna get nasty, hopefully for him.” Harry, got off his trusty steed and chained it to a gatepost. He took the rucksack William was holding for him, protruding from the top was the disguised handle of a baseball bat.

The two boys had practised drawing the bats from their bags and being able to wield them as weapons. In the way they had closed their bags, they could dump the bag and pull out the bat in under seven seconds. Harry had also practised doing so while running, it took a fraction longer but it worked.

Their plan was simple, shadow Gaby and if Meadows showed up, whack him! Unlike the dynamic duo, the official police presence was experiencing problems. A local taxi firm appeared to be using the same wavelength as the police radios. The crowd was larger than expected and Inspector Dimmock had made the plan so complicated no one but he, understood it. Ben and Andrea had nodded their ‘understanding’ simply because to have run over it for the ninth time would have left them without the will to live. The other WPC had hidden behind her colleagues during the briefing to avoid showing her non-understanding. Effectively, what they did was to try and keep the Bonds under surveillance while watching out for Meadows. The same as the boys, but with uniforms.

While Jenny was making a short speech before declaring the fair ‘open’, a certain Mr Blobby was trying to get closer to them. He’d seen them arrive, but he couldn’t decide who was who, as three of the girls looked similar and two especially so. At one point he wondered if he’d better kill them all, but that would hinder his escape, so he thought he’d try and get one if not both of the ‘twins’.

His progress was impeded by a group of children who surrounded him and wanted to touch him, their parents putting coins in the bucket he was carrying. Angry that he couldn’t get close to his quarry, he was about to barge through the mob of children when he saw Ben standing near. The police uniform reminded him, he was still wanted by the police.

Jenny was still talking to the crowd when she beckoned to the girls, just then another collector wearing a ‘Tigger’ costume, stood in front of Meadows and blocked his view. He wanted to knock the other man down, but Ben was still standing there, and surprise was his main weapon; that and the shotgun hanging from his waist inside the costume. He had plenty of time, and if he got both twins, he’d be sure to get the right one. He tried to relax, sweating profusely from the costume and his excitement.

“When I was asked to open this hospital fete, I agreed because I felt I and my family had a personal debt to your wonderful hospital. My younger daughter Gaby, who many will recall winning that tragic bike race on the promenade in Weymouth a few weeks ago, fell ill and nearly died. She was rushed to Dorset County Hospital where they saved her. I shall never be able to thank them enough, nor our wonderful National Health Service. So here I am, we are, to say our thanks in person.”

Jenny motioned down to Drew to join her on the podium, which he reluctantly did, blushing nearly as red as his Specialized cycle shirt. “Go on, say something,” whispered Jenny as he stood next to her.

“Hhhhhhhhi everyboddddy,” he stuttered absolutely terrified, the P.A. system exaggerating the nervousness in his voice. He paused as his mother put her arm around him, but the little squeezes she was giving his shoulder were more urges to keep talking, rather than affection.

“Like my mum said, I’m only here because of your brilliant hospital, they like saved my life. I can’t thank them enough, like you know.” There were calls from the press to pose for photos together, which they did, Jenny handing the large scissors to Drew. Finally, she pointed at the tape and then at him. He pointed at the tape and then at himself, whereupon she nodded. “Oh yeah,” he sniggered, “I like, declare this fete open,” he said loudly then snipped through the ribbon. Everyone cheered and he stepped off the podium to stand next to Maddy.

The local officials including the Mayor of Dorchester, chairman of the hospital trust, and others then made short speeches while the crowd dispersed to enjoy the various stalls and amusements. The press again asked all the Bond girls and Maddy to pose together while they took loads of photos. Meadows, still wasn’t sure who was who, but he was sure it was one of the twins. He worked his way closer, still surrounded by loads of small children.

All he was allowed to say was “Blobby,” in a stupid, vacuous voice, then remembering how his character behaved on television, bumping into people and knocking them over, he barged into ‘Tigger’ knocking him down and sending his bucket of coins flying, spilling the contents all over.

The children thought it hilarious, Tigger was very upset, parents were horrified. Ben came over to investigate what had caused the ruction and Meadows unable to pass up the chance, shouted, “Blobby” and attempted to knock Ben over.

Ben however, survived the attack and pulling Meadows away from the crowd told him in no uncertain terms, “Okay Mr Blobby or whoever you are, do that again and I’ll run you in so fast your feet would touch the floor. Got it?”

“Blobby,” shouted Meadows.

“Look you dumb moron, do you understand, or should I arrest you here and now?”

“Look, I’m only allowed to say ‘Blobby’, officer, but I understand. It won’t happen again.”

Ben let him go, with a final caution. There was something almost familiar about the voice, but muffled by the costume it was difficult to identify. It was probably someone he’d arrested or cautioned before. Mr Blobby waddled closer to the Bonds. The crowd had increased and his progress was hampered by children shouting his name in the same vacuous way then trying to hug him.

Eventually, the photo-shoot was over and Jules rushed across the fairground to see John. He was waiting to shoot his three arrows at a butt of targets. The archery range had been set up with several barriers behind it, it also backed onto the river making it very unlikely anyone would walk behind it.

Jules waited while John shot his three arrows, all were within the red or the gold. She thought he was wonderful and gorgeous, and so talented. He thought she looked so sexy in the skin tight cycling kit, he was going to have difficulty concentrating on his archery. They hugged and pecked each other on the lips.

Inspector Dimmock stood near the archery range, he watched John shoot and thought he’d like to have a go, he’d probably be a natural, like he was with a gun. He thought it was most unfair that he’d been taken off the firearms list, after all anyone could have a gun jump and nearly hit the wrong person. It was the recoil on the pistol, that was to blame not him. He was a regular ‘Hawkeye’. Anyway, no one was hurt and he did pay for the repairs to the bloke’s Ferrari.

Meadows looked around the ground, he was still beset by squealing children, but he would look forward to trampling over them when the time came; and they could prove useful as hostages. He almost patted himself on the shoulder, he was so clever; no wonder the plod couldn’t catch him.

He saw the police inspector standing near the river; there was Ben just behind him and two women coppers stood either side of the show ground. Not too many, maybe there were loads of plainclothes? He could usually smell them like a dog does his dinner. Either they were more clever than usual, or this was going to be easier than he’d thought. He continued his progress towards the cycling family.

The two twins seemed to have split up, that would be a little more difficult, now he’d have to choose one or the other. He’d wait a bit longer, they might come back together. It was hot in that outfit. There was something familiar about the kid with the rucksack. He wasn’t walking with ‘Barbie’ so maybe it was just a dumb kid look-alike; they were all dumb brats to him.

Where had the other twin gone? He turned around, she was behind him talking to the copper: that had to be the one, he moved towards her. He slipped his hand out of the arm of his costume and felt the gun on his belt. It reassured him. He would walk up to her and slip off the top half of his costume and holding the gun would grab her. Then he’d clock the copper if necessary and make his getaway. His car was close.

Dave and Jenny were talking to the mayor, they couldn’t escape, each time they tried to move away he’d say something which showed he hadn’t finished the conversation. Dave cast a wary eye over the show, there were so many people, surely no one would try anything stupid here, would they?

He couldn’t see any of the girls. His heart began to beat quickly and he excused himself from the idiot mayor and began to run around the showground. He spotted Jules with her arm around John. He sighed with relief, one down two more to find. There was Mad, so she was okay, where was Gaby. His heart began to race, surely she was here somewhere.

He was now running as fast as the crowd would allow, where was she? He turned and ran in another direction; she had disappeared. He swore, how could this happen?

Meadows moved towards the blonde girl in the cycling outfit, he was only ten yards away, when an official stopped him and swapped his half full bucket for an empty one. Meadows couldn’t believe his luck. He got ready to pull off his top. The copper had walked away and another girl was talking to the blonde. This was going to be so easy…

The girl next to the blonde screamed as Mr Blobby threw off his top and held a shotgun on them. The blonde girl stood still and went ashen grey. “Hello Barbie,” said Meadows, “Remember me?” The blonde girl stood rooted to the spot.

Dave was over the other side of the ground when he heard the scream, his blood ran cold. He sprinted as fast as he could, but people were running towards him and some big, fat bloke ran smack into him, knocking him down.

Meadows stepped out of the bottom half of the costume, amused that people were running away from him. He grabbed the girl and she fainted. He threw her over his shoulder and began to walk quickly towards his car. The young copper ran towards him but stopped when he had the gun waved at him.

He jumped in his car and started it up, having flung the limp body onto the back seat. “Easy-peasie,” he chuckled to himself. He drove his car at speed at people who had to throw themselves out of his way.

“Shoot him!” screamed Dimmock at John who ran towards the kidnap, but there were too many people. He saw the man get into a 4x4 and loosed an arrow at the window. It hit the glass and cracked it, the car sped off and he fired another arrow at the back sticking in the spare wheel.

Suddenly there was a flurry of activity as someone on a mountain bike raced across the grass and bunny hopped over the low fence. “Gaby, come back,” shouted Dave, but he was wasting his breath.

Meadows drove across the field after smashing the Landrover through a fence. He again smashed through a hedge, time was of the essence. He needed to be clear before they got the helicopter up. He chuckled again, he’d pulled it off. Well, he had one of the Barbie twins, he’d kill her and be long gone before anyone found the body.

Screaming on to the road he began to accelerate then turned off again across farm tracks. He had to slow because of the cattle in the field, stupid cows!

Just managing to keep him in view was his nemesis, albeit a muscle aching, lung screaming one. Drew had never ridden a mountain bike so fast, he’d barely managed much faster on his road one. The adrenalin was pumping almost as fast as his legs. He saw the car turn off the road and down the farm track. He kept going, nearly colliding with a motorbike going the other way.

His legs were fast turning to jelly, he couldn’t race like this much longer. He’d lost them. “Shit! Shit! Shit!” he screamed. He was close to both mental and physical exhaustion. The farm track separated into two directions, one looked to end in a barn, the other went over a hill. He chose the latter, and on aching legs slowly climbed up the steep track.

At the showground, pandemonium was everywhere. Carol was hysterical once she found out that Meadows had taken Maddy. Jenny and Dave were almost as bad having seen Drew sprint after the kidnapper, and stay on his tail. Police cars were noisily arriving and the helicopter had been summoned. Dimmock was protesting that if he’d had more men…..

Meadows began to wrap his limp victim in parcel tape. He taped her arms behind her, and then her legs, together at the ankles. He thought about taping her mouth, but no she could scream her last; after all, no one would hear her. He laughed again.

Drew crested the hill, he stopped to look down the valley before him. There was nowhere they could be without him seeing them. Where had they gone? They had simply vanished, how could they?

He got off the bike, his legs shaking like two jellies, he nearly fell and tears rolled down his cheeks. He should never have said, “Yes,” to that stupid copper, Inspector Dimwit or whatever his name was. If Harry hadn’t sidelined him, trying to make it up with him, he, Drew, might have seen this coming and helped to prevent it.

He heard someone calling his name, or more accurately, her name. He looked around and Harry was racing towards him on his bike, he had made progress.

“Gaby, wait for me,” called Harry. The dumb boy couldn’t take ‘no’ for an answer. He struggled up towards Drew. Panting he said, “Geez Gabs, I’ve never seen anyone ride a bike that fast.”

“It was futile, I like, lost them.” Drew had tears running down his face, “I lost ‘em.”

“They like, definitely sorta came up here did they?” asked Harry, still panting.

“I don’t know, I thought so. Maybe they turned off earlier. It doesn’t matter now anyway, it’s too late.”

Meadows carefully placed his still unconscious victim into a sitting position and fastened the seat belt around her. “Mustn’t let you hurt your little self, must we,” he laughed. He closed the door of the Landrover and went to the rear of the car. He carefully fitted some tubing into exhaust and inserted it though an open window; he then closed the window as much as the tube would allow. His next act was to start the engine of the Landrover, then he got out of it shutting the door behind him.

Harry was holding Gaby, allowing her to cry on his shoulder, “You did all you could, it wasn’t your fault; it really wasn’t.”

“What’s that?” cried Drew, as a powerful motorcycle started up. They both spun around and saw someone gunning a big BMW motorbike up the path from the barn. They threw themselves down on the ground and the motorbike passed without seeing them. “You follow him, I’m going to the barn,” said Drew.

A moment later, Harry set off in hot pursuit again, this time in a vain attempt to see where the bike went. Drew actually jumped on the bike as it was moving and sped down the hill, almost flying into the barn.

He realised what was happening within a second and throwing the bike down rushed to the car. It was locked, and full of exhaust smoke. “Hang on Mad, I’m coming,” he screamed over the rumble of the engine.

He pulled at the pipe, but Meadows had jammed it in tightly, he couldn’t shift it. Desperately he scanned the barn, finally spotting a shovel. He ran and grabbed it, then running back he began bashing at the damaged window. It wasn’t smashing as easily as he thought. He changed his action and stove at it, ramming the end of the shovel blade at the top corner of the window, on the second attempt it began to crack; a third and he made a hole. Another go and the whole window fell in.

He threw open the door, and in one action switched off the engine and grabbed at the seat belt. The fumes were making his eyes smart and his fingers fumbled with the seatbelt catch.

Finally it was free, and he yanked open the back passenger door and dragged Maddy out. He half dragged half carried her out into the fresh air. She looked rather pink. He placed her on the ground and felt for a pulse in her neck, it was very faint.
“Mad, please don’t die. It’s me Drew, you’re safe now, please come back,” he cried. He couldn’t see if she was breathing, her chest didn’t seem to be moving. “Maddeeeeee!” he screamed. Then controlling himself he began to blow into her mouth. Two breaths and she coughed, he turned her on her side just as she vomited, then began to gasp.

“You’re alive!” he shouted, “Oh Mad, you’re alive.” Minutes later he heard a welcoming sound, a helicopter hove into view and he ran out into the open waving his arms.

Meanwhile Harry managed to keep the motorbike in view, the rider was slowing up, perhaps trying to avoid the police stopping him for speeding. Harry became aware of sirens, the police had a block on the road. They were stopping the traffic coming towards them, but not the vehicles going towards Dorchester.

At three hundred yards behind, Harry was still pedalling furiously. He got to the roadblock a minute or two behind the motorbike, which had been allowed through. “That’s him,” panted Harry, “The kidnapper’s on the motorbike,” he gasped, “you let him through.”

It took a few moments for the policemen to understand what he was saying, then they were on their radios, the motorbike began to speed away towards the town centre. Meadows began to laugh, he driven through the plod again. It was all too easy.

As he passed up High West Street and up to the ‘Top o’ Town roundabout he caught sight of a police motorbike hammering towards him, sirens wailing from the direction of the hospital. Cursing he turned abruptly down the A37, the Yeovil Road, causing an old lady to fall backwards as he rocketed past her. She was still lying there when the police bike came past even faster. Several bystanders stood open mouthed as the screaming police bike flew after the first bike, then they attended to the old lady.

The ‘Copper Chopper’ landed by the barn, and within minutes Maddy was bundled inside with an oxygen mask attached, and the machine took off for the hospital. Drew clutched on to his seat as they flew towards the hospital emergency entrance.

Below him he was unaware of the drama unfolding, of the motorbike chase in progress. Meadows however, spotted the helicopter and cursed again, he upped the revs as his bike sped along the road, overtaking everything. He checked his mirror, the copper was gaining, he twisted the throttle some more, the speedo read ‘100mph’, his adrenalin was flowing, it was exciting and he had faith in both his bike and his ability as a rider. He also had the satisfaction of knowing that one of the Barbie twins was dead by now. He’d won and he felt good.

The police observer ran with the semiconscious girl in his arms, hurtling through the doors held open by a nurse. Drew followed a few seconds behind, he was stopped by the nurse. “She’s my cousin…” he protested.

“I’m sorry young lady, you have to wait out here. You’ll only be in the way.” She helped him to a seat, the young policeman walked out and approached Drew. “Is she gonna be okay?”

“I don’t know sweetheart, that’s up to the doctors and you know…”

“Oh no, Maddeeee!” screamed Drew, and the policeman held him and hugged him.

“Hey there, calm down, disturbing the peace won’t help.” He tried to make a little joke to cheer up the young woman’s spirits. “If she is okay, you saved her, do you know that?”

“It’s all my fault,” sobbed Drew.

“How’s that?” asked the copper.

“Meadows thought Maddy was me.”

“Why would he think that?”

“We look similar.”

“I can see that, but why did he want to kidnap you?”

“I got him arrested before.

“Oh,” the police radio called and he hugged the young woman once more. “Sorry luv, I’ve got to go, the air ambulance is on its way, needs our parking spot.”

The noisy engine of the helicopter started up and the sound faded away to be replaced a couple of minutes later by another throbbing engine. Drew wiped his eyes and went to watch the yellow air-ambulance arrive.

He stood and watched as the paramedic and pilot jumped out and raced in with the stretcher. “Think we got a DOA,” called the paramedic to the awaiting doctor.

Drew walked back to the waiting area. He shivered, someone in worse condition than Maddy, poor bugger. He sat down, just then a police car wailed its way into the car park and Dave, Jenny and Carol came rushing in.

“Gaby, you’re safe,” screamed Jenny and engulfed her offspring in a hug so fierce it threatened serious crush injuries. Drew felt safe in the embrace and began to sob uncontrollably.

Dave explained who they were to the nurse and she took Carol off to see the doctor in charge. He then went over to his ‘two girls’ and hugged them both. “Well, kiddo, you are quite a girl,” he said as he hugged Gaby.