The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3470 by Angharad Copyright© 2024/2025 Angharad

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This is a work of fiction any mention of real people, places or institutions is purely coincidental and does not imply that they are as suggested in the story.
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James and I drove our respective cars to Southampton, and to the General Hospital in particular. It must have been out lucky day as we both sped well above the speed limit most of the way there, but the police were not in evidence. By the time I'd parked, James was already in the hospital arguing for a private room for Meems, one in which he could offer greater security from intruders.

Danni and I ran to the ICU and we were just in time to hear James threatening all sorts penalties to the hospital manager should anything happen to Meems. I then reinforced those threats and pretended to call my lawyers to get ready to sue should anything untoward happen.

"Look, we run a hospital, this is the NHS not MI5, surely no one is going to try anything here?"

"Seeing as we nearly had another of my daughters attacked in our own drive way, we aren't taking any chances, remember they have already had a go at this daughter, and only your doctors and nurses plus some luck, stopped them succeeding. We don't know why they are trying to kill my girls but we suspect it's being attempted by organised crime and if we let out guard down, they may succeed on another time and bystanders could also get hurt, which means your clinical staff. If you think I am joking call Hampshire Constabulary and ask them to share the laugh with you."

"And you are?" asked the manager.

"Professor Catherine Watts," I answered him.

"They may know her better as the Lady Catherine Cameron," offered James.

The manager's colour faded a little as he mumbled, "(Oh shit!)." For some reason he recognised my name. "You're not from Portsmouth way, are you?"

"I am."

"I saw you at the QA, I used to work there."

"Sorry, I didn't recognise you," I said to him, which was true, I didn't know him from Adam, or Eve for that matter.

"You have a woman footballer as one of your daughters, don't you?"

"That's me," said Danni." She luxuriated in the recognition, whereas I was embarrassed by it. Two sides of the same sword, I suppose. He spoke to her for a few minutes telling the sister to accommodate us, then he went on about Danni's overhead bicycle kick, that she scored for England, he was apparently in the stadium with his daughter and they were both blow away by it.

They pushed Meems bed into a side room, thus far I hadn't had a chance to speak to her. She was still quite poorly and I knew she needed to have surgery on her leg but I didn't know how aware she was of her condition. I'm sure she was content to be alive, I know I was, she was still my daughter and she was pleased to have me hold her hand, though we didn't talk much at all, she was still very tired. As she drifted off to sleep, we managed to dissuade a police detective from trying to interview her and asked him to try again tomorrow. I left James with her, he had his laptop with him and he agreed to stay with her that night, I or Danni would relieve him in the morning.

We discussed Danni sitting in with Meems to offer her protection. I didn't think it was a good idea, she may be fit but if they send someone to hurt her, Meems that is, Danni could get very hurt and not be able to stop them. I wasn't sure I could anymore, but as it was in my job description, I would have to try. Being a mother is the most wonderful job in the world, but it never really stops, you never stop worrying about them as long as you are alive. I'm sure Simon must feel something similar, but it's different for dads, at least I think it probably is. I wouldn't honestly know, I've never been one.

Talk of the devil, Simon phoned just after we got home and was glad to hear that Meems had recovered consciousness and told me that James had uncovered some clues about the people for whom Shiner had been working. He had spoken to Sammi about it and she had used her connections in GCHQ to find out a bit more. He said they were very nasty people and to be very careful as they wouldn't think twice about hurting any of us. He told me he had let James know this which was probably why James had taken a gun with him. There was no news about Shiner which could mean he had gone to ground or they had got to him. I told Si, that I didn't care because if he turned up here, I'd kill him. Simon told me that wasn't a good idea and not to tell anyone else because you never knew who was listening.

We chatted about the girls, I said Danni wanted to sit in with Meems to protect her and he raised his voice, telling in no way was she to try doing that, it was too dangerous and we could lose two daughters. I said I would pass on his message. He rang off and I wondered about carrying a concealed weapon when I went to relieve James. As I was contemplating this he sent me a text, telling me that his regular helpers were going to share protection duties with them, Simon had agreed to fund it, so tomorrow Chas or Dave would be sitting shotgun for Meems and I didn't need to rush there for him to get some breakfast. That was the least of my worries but I would have taken him a coffee and a bacon roll when I replaced him. Now he'll have to buy his own.

I thought about killing someone if push came to shove. It filled me with horror because I had done so before. I was fortunate that Henry had brought in a counsel to defend me who did such a great job, that I almost came away with a pension for doing it. I had acted in self-defence and the defence of my family and police officers who were trying to assist me. My conscience was clean but I really never wanted to be in the at position again. I'd come close to it when taking out various intruders with a bow and arrows, but so far they all survived and I had had one or two warnings about pushing my luck. My comeback to the police was simply, "I was only doing what I needed to, where were they?" I knew it was a sore point because they had taken casualties, particularly when dealing with the Russian mafia, and they were looking to get some revenge, so far without a result, but I'd be happy to transfer credits for it to the lot who seemed to be after us this time, though in this country we shouldn't need to, but who knows these days. It seems standard have fallen so low that you can't get a decent gangster anymore. On that sill note I fell asleep.

I awoke early and was thankful that Danni was still at home doing her breakfast. I told her that Chas and Dave were helping James out with the protection detail and for her to remember they were trained special services soldiers, so probably of more use than we would be. I also explained that Simon had agreed to fund it, so all we needed to do was not fall victims to anything that may be tried against us, and to get Meems better. I still hadn't talked to her so didn't know how much she knew was going on especially with the trauma she had undergone. Danni agreed not to push her luck and to leave the protection to those who knew what they were doing.

That was the theory, the bad guys obviously hadn't read the script or were doing improvisation. I learned of this when David came over to start catering when he asked who the man he'd seen walking out of the drive. I called Danni and we immediately went into lockdown. Everyone who wasn't involved was sent up to their rooms, Including Daddy, who was recovering from his recent hospitalisation. I got my bow and arrows out and using a new piece of kit I'd acquired, a thermal imager I went out onto my veranda and keeping low managed to scan most of the garden and drive. Whoever he was he had long gone. I called the police and said we'd had another intruder. They came along with books of mugshots and David was able to identify who he'd thought he'd seen. They confirmed he was one of the gang and that he was a mean bastard and for David to be glad he hadn't tried to intervene as he could be an ex-chef by now. I watched David pale visibly.

Danni heard the copper say this and also paled herself. These guys were not nice. The police had a quick check over the cars and discovered a couple of trackers, so looked harder and found a couple more. Thankfully, it wasn't something worse but as it was, they could have told whenever we left the house or went to Southampton to see Meems. It gave them flexibilty to hit us when we were most vulnerable, they really were nasty people and I honestly wondered if I should acquire a gun for self-defence. One of the coppers, the DS that James knew watched me as I was thinking about being less defensive and told me that it wasn't worth it, that if I shot someone, however it happened, they throw the book at me and not to look to Jason or Henry to get me out of it.

I hadn't met a copper with so much intuition before and asked him how he knew what I was thinking. He told me that he'd seen several people who were thinking of getting a gun to defend themselves, all with a great reluctance and he'd seen a particular look. On one occasion he couldn't stop the person concerned and someone had been shot, not the bad guy. He explained that he was a new detective in those days and didn't recognise what he'd seen. Now he did and he had warned me. I'd keep to bow and arrows if I were you, just don't shoot anyone dead and we'll try to avoid prosecuting you. I thanked him and offered he and his colleague some of David's scones with jam and cream and some fresh brewed coffee. They went off very happy and while David was doing us something for lunch, James, who I'm sure smells the teapot, arrived and we all shared in a snack lunch before we discussed our own strategy and how long we'd have the hired help.

I mentioned the trackers the police had found and James finished his lunch and dashed off to the drive. He found some the police had possibly left instead. He also swept the cars with one of his electronic toys and found one under the chassis of the car, which he didn't think was a police one. So much for the professionals.

Chas was with Meems at the moment, but Dave would replace him for the night. The He, James, would replace him in the morning. He told me Meems had spoken to the police but couldn't remember much about the accident apart from feeling her leg break as the car hit her. She knew it was a dark coloured car but that was all she could remember. I said I was going to visit her that late afternoon and again Danni wanted to come with me. I told David to keep something for us for when we returned and he said he already had. He'd made individual pasties and we could warm them when we got back. I felt myself salivating before we left, his pastry is amazing and so are the pasties.

We had to stop on the way there and grab something from a chippy, so much for Danni's healthy eating but we snaffled them in the car as we drove to the hospital.