Jessica and Luke are siblings who have experienced a whole world of pain and hurt in their short lives. When it seems that, for once, things are finally beginning to improve, a local drug gang invades their existence, and their world threatens to crumble down around their ears. Read on to see how they and their friends fight back.

A story by Iona Laing

My apologies one again, I accidentally posted this episode as part three as opposed to part four.

Chapter Ten.

Once Lisa had been reassured that she wasn’t going to be separated from Carrie and had had something to eat she reluctantly agreed to allow her Mom to supervise the removal of her make-up and to perform her night-time beauty regimen as advised by Diana at Boots’® earlier in the day. Lisa wearing a long pink nylon nightgown looked into the mirror at their joint reflections.

“Mommy?”

“Yes Lisa?”

“Do you think? . . .”

“What do I think?”

“Well, . . . If we have time tomorrow, . . . Before we go to get on the train, . . . If you think? , . . . Well, . . . Could you,? . . “

Carrie took Lisa face in her hands, “If you don’t hurry up, you’ll still be asking this question tomorrow, and then the answer will definitely be no! So just come out with it and ask me about your make-up!”

“Okay! . . . Wait, how did you know I was going to ask you if I could wear some make-up tomorrow? All the other girls in my class wear a little, even though we’re not supposed to wear any to school!” asked a truly astonished Lisa.

“You are silly, I was a little girl once too, you know, and I was desperate to wear make-up too, I nearly drove mom mental! I kept asking her over, and over, and over again!” Carie smiled at Lisa. “So the answer young lady is yes! But only if you go straight to bed now and fall asleep quickly, plus, mind you, no whinging in the morning when I wake you up, or no deal! Fair enough? And do you realise what you just said?”

”Err . . . If I could wear make-up?” Lisa asked hesitantly,

“You said all the OTHER girls in your class wear make-up, you think of yourself as just another little girl don’t you?” smiled Carrie.

“I did, didn’t I, but then, I have always felt like a girl, in my head, in my heart, and in my soul! But, . . . You will still love me won’t you, your love is so important to me Jess, I will be Luke if that’s what you want me to be!” said Lisa not able to look Carrie in the face.

“Oh Lisa, Lisa, you know as well as I do, that Luke is gone forever don’t you. I love Lisa, she means the world to me, I always, always want Lisa in my life. You just have to be your real self, and be happy, okay?”

Lisa threw her arms around Carries neck, “Oh thank you, thank you, you’re the best!”

Carrie swatted Lisa’s backside, “Flattery will get you no-where, now scoot, into bed, and don’t forget to take Elsa with you!” Giggling her head off Lisa shot into the bedroom, bounced across the bed she shared with Carrie, and with Elsa snuggled under her arm, pulled the bedclothes up and screwing her eyes shut pretended to be asleep. She then twitched, her knees shooting up to her abdomen, “Oww!” she exclaimed.

Carrie quickly sat at her side, “What’s up sweetheart, sore tummy again?” she asked.

“Yeah, just a shooting pain, it’s gone now.” Said Lisa.

“I’ll tell you what, when I sometimes get a sore tummy, I find a hot water bottle helps, shall I go get you one?”

“Yes please Mommy, if you don’t mind!”

Carrie went to the kitchen, “Tina, you wouldn’t have a hot water bottle handy would you? Lisa’s tum just gave her a twinge!”

“Sure Carrie, I have one of those new-fangled ones you heat up in the micro-wave, let me get it out for you.” After placing the inner bag in to warm up “She’s complaining a lot about her tummy at the moment, isn’t she?”

“She is, and I am worried, I saw her body today, really saw it, I saw her body for the first time in a long time, and I’m frightened Tina, she looks much more a girl than a boy, I can’t believe I missed it, I’d take her to the Doctor’s now, but I want to get her away from Matt’s thugs more than anything else, so I shall have to get her to an appointment up in Scotland as the first thing I do!”

“Yes Carrie, you will, I think there’s more going on with Lisa than any of us have realised, more even than Lisa herself. You might have a bit of luck there though, Karen’s partner Ruth is a Paediatrician at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital. Perhaps she can have an initial look at her for you, and give you some professional advice!” Just then the microwave pinged, and Tina handed the grain filled bag for Carrie to place in its outer cover before she took it up to Lisa.

“Here you go sweetheart, you cuddle that as well as Elsa, and get some sleep, okay, real sleep mind, Lisa! Not that pretend version!” laughed Carrie as she smoothed the bedclothes out, kissed Lisa’s forehead and added “Goodnight, Sweetheart, sleep tight!”

“You too Mommy!”

Carrie switched off the light and headed back downstairs, just as she heard Mike driving into the garage. She headed into the kitchen and put the kettle on as Mike was always ready for a cuppa. After giving both women a welcoming kiss, he sat at the kitchen table and listened to the tale of the events that took place after he’d left them that afternoon.

Chapter Eleven.

“So where did you go Mike?” asked Tina as she laid her hand atop his.

“Well, the less you know the better, but, our two girls will need some identification, and not some crappy versions run off by some pimply Herbert with a laptop, a printer and a laminator, but something that will stand up to relatively close scrutiny! So that my dears, is what I have been arranging. Through my past employment I have various contacts, many dubious I know, but, who will, for a price, provide a bespoke custom-made service. It will take some time to provide, but the wheels have been set in motion, and just for now, here are your new details!” With that he took a folded piece of A4 paper from his jacket pocket and slid it across to Carrie, who took it, unfolded it and started to read out loud.

“Carrie Jenna Brown, Date Of Birth 22nd January 1997, Lisa Kirsty Brown, Date Of Birth 25th May 2015.”

Tina’s hands shot to her mouth as tears flooded her eyes, “Oh Mike!”

Carrie looked confused from one to the other, “What!”

Tina took her hand and after wiping it on her skirt took Carrie’s hand in hers. “A couple of years after Karen was born I had another child. The labour was prolonged and the baby, another daughter, got into severe distress. She was born via caesarean, but she only survived for a few hours and we were advised that I could never have any more children. We named her Jenna Kirsty!” With that she flew into Mike’s arms, sobbing!

A tearful Mike looked across at Carrie, “I had to come up with middle names really quickly, and I knew your birthday was the same day and month as Jenna was born, so the idea took, so I hope you don’t mind but I used Jenna Kirsty for the two of yours middle names, it seemed a good way to remember her, I used both your real birthdates, I just made you two years older and Lisa two years younger, which means you gave birth when you were eighteen. Our Lisa is such a slight, small, innocent soul, I thought she wouldn’t mind reliving part of her childhood as the girl she was always meant to be, if necessary?”

“Oh Mike, thank you, thank you so much for this honour! Both of us will be proud to commemorate Jenna Kirsty in this way, and I for one would not be surprised that when Lisa changes her name legally, that she will want to keep the new middle name you have bestowed on her!” With that Carrie hugged both Tina and Mike as they all cried.

Carrie and Tina returned to their seats, both looked at the sheet of paper with other details specified, new National Insurance numbers, places of birth, previous addresses, parents’ names, their dates of birth etc.

“Mike, how on earth am I going to pay for all this, let alone our train fares and board and lodging up in Aberdeen? I know you “Confiscated” money from those thugs Friday and you found Matthew’s drug money, but surely there’s not enough to cover all this, what am I going to do?” said an increasingly tearful Carrie.

“Hey now you! None of that, now shush!” said Mike sliding into the seat next to Carrie. “Money is not a problem, not in the slightest, now stop worrying!”

“But!” splutter Carrie.

“No buts either young lady!” Mike said hugging her tightly. “I have been busy in more ways than one, first off, the confiscated money liberated from the thugs amounted to Four Thousand, Six Hundred and Eighty Pounds, so your fares, your shopping, living expenses and so on are covered for the immediate future. So when you get to Aberdeen, Karen and her partner are going to take you shopping for new wardrobes, so bugger the expense, go mad and treat yourselves, you can afford it!”

“But Mike, “It’s drug money!”” whispered Carrie.

“Yes sweetheart, it is, it comes from misery, but there is no way to return it to those who got involved in the drug scene probably as users first, then pushers afterwards! Even if you did, they’d probably spend it on more drugs from another supplier! So, turn it into happy money, put it to a really good use, spend it on yourself and Lisa, you look upon it as wages if you like, wages earned by falling for that scumbag Matthew, and the fear that you and especially Lisa endured!”

Carrie stared down at her hands as if contemplating her decision before silently nodding her head, “Yes Mike, you are right, I don’t really have a choice do I, not until I can find another job anyway!”

“No you don’t, but before you go looking for another job, you are going to investigate getting your degree, and both of us are determined on that, that is what you are going to do, just like that copper suggested, there’s two good universities in Aberdeen so take advantage of them, or perhaps you’ll be able to come back here and enrol somewhere, but, you, young lady are going to qualify, no more waitressing! Make use of your brain, for the both of you, you owe it as much to Lisa as you do to yourself. Plus the sacrifices your mom made to get you to university in the first place deserve to be honoured!”

“But Mike, almost Five Gand won’t last that long!” Carrie responded.

“No, you’re right, but, there’s more than almost Five Grand! You see Carrie, when I took the liberty of going through Matthews hidden reserves, I told you he’d been a naughty boy and had obviously been siphoning proceeds of the drug trade from his bosses, which is why it has all hit the fan this week in all likelihood. What I didn’t tell you was just how naughty he’d been. I was only able to do a quick calculation based on the size of the bags of cash he’d hidden under your floorboards. So I took the liberty of removing just over a third of his takings, then I left the rest and all his drugs behind for the boys in blue to find. The drug lords will already probably know how much money in drugs and cash were seized Friday, and I doubt very much if they know exactly how much he’d skimmed from them, but based on what I brought home he must have stolen almost Three Hundred Thousand Pounds, plus who knows how much in actual drugs. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that early this morning I did a rough counting up of the money I brought home with me Friday, and there is something in the region of One Hundred and Ten Grand!”

“One hundred and Ten Grand?” repeated both Tina and Carrie, both equally stunned.

“That’s right, now obviously we can’t just open a bank account and drop One Hundred and Ten Grand in it! We’ll have different Police and other authorities down on us like a ton of bricks. So, once you have some actual I.D., you’ll go to one of the big banks in Aberdeen, and open an account, then once that’s gone through, Tina and I can start making random deposits on your behalf, so you needn’t worry about money for a year or two ,at the very least, longer if you are careful. So, no excuse not to finish your education, plus Lisa is going to have needs that money will help accelerate, you literally have the bank of “Mom and Dad” behind you!”

Carrie threw her arms around Mike’s neck, “Okay Mike, you have me convinced, but, won’t your contact want a lot of money for all his efforts to provide us with new I.D.?”

“Yes he’ll need paying, his normal fee is somewhere around Twenty Grand or so, but, when I explained to him who it was for, family, and why, well, I won’t tell you exactly what he said, but his language was more than a trifle blue, so he said he’s do it at cost, which was somewhere around Five Grand. Then, the strangest thing happened, he looked at Lisa’s photo, and he got all pensive and gently ran his thumb over her face, and had genuine tears in his eyes. A real hard bloke turned to jelly in front of me. It transpires that him and his wife fell out big time over something or other when he was serving with “The Regiment”, anyway, when he returned to his base in Hereford after a mission in Iraq, he found she’s upped and left him, taking their daughter with her and he’s seen hide nor hair of either of them since. It seems our Lisa looks a lot like his daughter did the last time he saw her, so he’s doing it purely for the cost of the materials, so a case of decent red wine, and Two Grand. I’ll settle up with him once he’s got the items we need!”

“Thank you, Mike, thank you, and please, thank your friend for me next time you see him!”

“I will do Carrie, right, once you get up to our Karen’s go and buy yourself a small, decent car, for cash, and register it at Karens’ address, then, once you have the registration document back from Swansea’s Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority which will take a week or so, plus an insurance certificate, you can open your bank account as you’ll have some I.D. with proof of address on it. I’ll give you about Fifteen Grand or so to take with you tomorrow, so that should tide you over in the short term. But, if you find yourself running short for any reason, just give us a bell and we’ll send you a registered envelope with additional funds in it, so don’t fret right, everything will work out, okay?”

“Okay, Mike, you certainly seem to have all this worked out in advance, I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do!”

“That’s alright sweetheart, I suggest you go and get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day!”

“Thank you both!” said Carrie rising to her feet and giving them both a kiss, “I don’t know what Lisa or I would have done without your help and support, I am so, so sorry to have dragged you into all this mess!”

“Hey!” said Mike as he placed his arm around Carrie’s waist, “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about, I am sorry Matthew invaded your lives, which I am almost sure he did, so you two would provide him with a bit of a smoke screen in the local community! To be honest, I have enjoyed the cloak and dagger stuff! Just like old times! But, neither of us will ever forgive him for what he’s dragged you into. So, no self-recriminations, you are human, you were lonely, stressed and he offered you support and love, or as you thought anyway! So, no looking back, just look forward Carrie love, and everything will sort itself out, you’ll see!”

“Okay, goodnight both!” and Carrie headed off to bed. Twenty minutes later Tina and Mike also retired.

Across the street a different member of the drug gang settled in to keep watch on the Smith household. He wasn’t looking forward to a long and cold night.

Chapter Twelve.

An hour later Tina was disturbed by blue flashing lights just down the street. She nudged Mike awake and after looking out the window, he quickly put on his dressing gown and slippers and hurried downstairs and out the front door, telling Tina to stay where she was.

He made his way down the street to find a policeman rolling on the floor with a sizeable man who was desperately trying to avoid being handcuffed. Pushing his way through a small group of numbskull bystanders, one or two more interested in filming events than helping out, Mike dropped on the bloke he was sure was observing his home, he was sick of the interference, so he drove his elbow into the thugs shoulder before he grabbed the crooks arm, ramming it up his back, almost to the point of dislocation, before he whispered in the blokes ear,

“Carry on mate, I’m quite happy to break your bleeding arm unless you pack it in, you’ve interrupted my kip, so I’m royally pissed off, so up it’s up to you, you have to the count of three to stop struggling!”

“One!”

“Nuck you!” muttered the thug.

“Two!”

“Gerroff! Bastard!”

“Please yourself!”

“Three!”

With a wrench, out popped the thugs shoulder joint! Screams from the thug woke other residents as lights popped on up and down the street and most front doors opened, as more residents came out to investigate what was going on.

“I did warn you mate!” then loudly, so others could hear, “Oh dear pal, have you hurt yourself, you shouldn’t have resisted the officer, here let me help you!”

With a quick twist Mike relocated the joint he had so recently dislocated. The mans screams stopped to be replaced by whimpers as he moaned to himself as he was quickly cuffed, the somewhat out of breath Policeman reported into his radio that the situation was now under control, sirens could be heard approaching from several directions as the officer had obviously activated his “Officer under attack” alarm. Within moments several Police cars and a van were in the street, blue lights flashing everywhere.

The dishevelled copper reached across offering his hand to Mike, “Thanks mate, he had me worried for a moment or two there!”

“No worries, I can’t just stand by and watch unlike some, or even to be happy to film events on their phones, bloody morons, I was in the Para’s, and I have a few moves still, So what was going on?”

“I don’t really know, we’d had a report from someone out walking their dog of some bloke sat in a car looking like he was watching a house, he got snarky when I started asking questions as to why he was here chain smoking, then it all kicked off when I requested back-up, then just when I was getting a bit out of breath, you arrived!”

“Glad to be of help, names Smith, Mike Smith!”

“Thanks again Mike, I’m PC Chris Bradley, could you do me another favour, my Sergeant is going to want a short statement from you if you don’t mind, so could you hang around for a moment or two.”

“No worries Chris, Okay if I just pop in the house to put something a bit warmer on, it’s a bit nippy to be out just in me jammies!”

“Sure Mike, no problem, which house are you from?”

Mike pointed across the street. As he entered the front door Tina was at the bottom of the stairs.

“Are you Ok Mike? What’s going on?”

“I’m fine love, I’m just going to slip something a bit warmer on as I have to give a statement. It seems our drug gang friends are still interested in this house, the Police were checking reports of a stranger watching from the shadows, and he wasn’t too keen on answering questions, then it all kicked off, until I persuaded him it was in his best interests to co-operate! He took a little convincing, but once I put his shoulder out of joint, he saw the error of his ways!”

“Oh Mike, you didn’t?”

“It’s alright, I put it back for him!” replied Mike smirking pulling a tracksuit and a heavy jacket on over his pyjamas, “Do me a favour love and keep warm, I shall want to cuddle my little hot water bottle in the none too distant future!”

“Mike!” Tina muttered as she slapped his upper arm in a playful manner. “You’re enjoying all this aren’t you?”

“You know, I think I am, anyway, go woman, warm me bed, I won’t be long, I’ve got my keys!”

Mike rushed back downstairs and out the front door which he locked behind him. Carrie joined Tina at the top of the stairs where she whispered.

“What’s going on Tina?”

“I’m not sure love, I think we had someone watching the house, and they’ve been arrested. Mike helped out and he’s just got to give a quick statement that’s all!”

“He’s alright though isn’t he?” Carrie asked a bit more alarmed.

“Yes love, he’s fine, he’ll be back before you know it, so go back to bed, there’s nothing to worry about, I’ll tell you what, I’ll get him to pop his head around your door to let you know he’s back, okay?”

“Promise?”

“Yes Carrie, now back to bed before you disturb Lisa! Go on, scoot!”

“Yes Mom!” replied Carrie with a quick kiss before going back to her room. Tina climbed back into her bed and picked up her Kindle® to carry on reading until Mike got back. Meanwhile out on the street, Mike approached the Officer he’d assisted.

“Hi Chris, that’s me back, more suitably attired!”

“Thanks Mike, this is my Sergeant, Pete Davis, this is Mike Smith, the man who helped me out just in the nick of time!”

“Many thanks Mike, I’m Pete Davis, so, can we have a chat about events tonight, well, this morning really?”

“Yeah no problem, do you want to do it here in the street? In your car Or do you want to come in for a brew?” The two policemen looked at each other, consulted their watches and said that a cuppa would be very welcome. Once the thug had been ensconced in the back of the Police van and taken to the local station for questioning. A further officer was going to wait with the suspects car for it to be recovered for further analysis, the street returned to its usual peaceful state.

Tina heard the front door open and quiet voices entering the kitchen, so quickly donning her dressing gown she hurried downstairs. Thrusting her head around the door, “Here, let me do that, I’ll make the tea!” So for the second time that day Officers of the law were entertained in Mike and Tina’s house.

After introductions had been made, Pete got down to obtaining a short statement as to Mike’s involvement with that mornings ruckus. As to the question of why a well-known member of the local drug gang was watching houses in their street, Mike explained about how one of their waitresses boyfriend had been involved in drugs distribution, unbeknownst to them all. About his sudden disappearance, and the threats made against Jessica and her brother Luke, and their subsequent disappearance too! They gave them the contact details of the two Officers they’d already spoken too.

“That great, thanks for all that both!” said Pete closing his notebook. “Now we can go and bend our friends’ ear, with a bit more information than he’ll think we have!”

“I’m sure Eddie and Lorna will want to speak to him too later today, I think his day has just got significantly worse!” added Chris. “No doubt his phone, the contents of the car and other odds and sods will all add to the case we’re building against these individuals! We’ve been after them for a long time now, they seem to have imploded with internal conflicts, which is giving us a great chance to take them down!”

“I hope so!” said Tina hugging her mug.

“Yeah, but sadly, you get rid of this lot, and someone else will move in and establish a new supply chain before you can blink!” said Chris sadly.

“Still, we better get ourselves down the station and bend our friends’ ear, thanks again Mike, we all really appreciate your help this morning, it’s not often a member of the public will step forward to help Police Officers in the execution of their duties, especially one so well qualified as yourself. I’m sure you will be contacted by someone higher up than us, have you ever about taking up a position with the force, full time or even as a “Special”, you’d be a real asset! Think about it! However, if you do hear from Jess or Luke, I’m sure you have Eddie and Lorna’s contact details!” said Pete as he quietly walked to the front door. He motioned with his eyes upstairs.

“It’s okay, our daughter and granddaughter have been staying with us for a few days and they’re asleep upstairs!” whispered Tina.

“That’s nice, I hope we’ve not disturbed them with all the racket outside and our voices in your kitchen, thanks again!” said Chris “Hope you can get back to sleep after this disturbance!”

“After all my years in the forces, I can drop off to sleep at the drop of a hat, you learned that skill quite quickly as you never knew when you’d get the chance for another forty winks!” smiled Mike. The after handshakes all round, the Officers left to continue their night shift.

“Right, you, upstairs! Pop into Carrie and reassure her you are okay, if she is still awake, which I bet she is! But you disturb Lisa, I’ll batter you myself, Michael, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Mistress!” said Mike, giving Tina a mock salute as if he was the Genii from Aladdin’s lamp!”

Tina smacked his head playfully anyway, “I’ll just put the mugs in soak, make sure everything is off and secure, and I’ll be right up!”

As Mike got to the top of the stairs, Carrie quietly opened her bedroom door and pulled Mike into an intense hug. “Are you okay Mike?”

“Yes love, I’m fine! I promise!”

“I’m so sorry Mike, I’ve!”

Mike placed his fore finger over Carrie’s lips. “Shush, not another word, none of this, absolutely none of it is your fault, do you hear me, so if I hear one more apology, I shall be really annoyed Carrie. Do you understand?”

“Yes Dad, you know Mike, my mother would never tell me anything about my biological father, or Lisa’s if it comes to that, I think she was ashamed of her behaviour at times, but, I want you to know both you and Tina have been more than a Mom and Dad to the pair of us, we’ll always love our birth Mom, don’t get me wrong, but ever since I first met you through Karen at school, I have always thought of you as my Dad, and I know Lisa adores you as her Grandfather!”

Mike almost crushed her in a hug, “That, Carrie or Jessica, is the best thing you could have said, and is more than enough thanks than I deserve, now go to bed, you’ve a busy day today, besides I don’t want to get an earful off Tina if I disturb Lisa!”

The bedroom door opened a little further, a half asleep Lisa appeared rubbing her right eye with the back of her hand, “Wass, goin on? Is it time to gerrup?”

“No sweetheart, it’s early yet, come on, let’s get you back into bed before we get your Grandfather in trouble with your Granny for waking you up!”

Carrie kissed Mike’s cheek before leading a zombified Lisa back to bed as Mike pulled the door too behind them gently.

Tina quickly made her way up the stairs, “Michael Arthur Smith!” she hissed, “After all my warnings, did you disturb Lisa?”

“No Mam, not me, I was whispering to Carrie and she stumbled out on her own, but I bet she’s asleep again by now as she was never really awake in the first place!” Whispered Mike holding both hands up palms outwards in show of surrender, “Blimey woman! You’re worse than any Regimental Sergeant Major I ever came across, and that’s saying something!”

Tina pushed past him and entered their bedroom first before turning to stare down Mike, “Wait a moment, when you retired you were the R.S.M.!”

Mike closed the door, and looking at Tina sheepishly, “Exactly, I rest my case, now come on, let’s get some sleep!”