The Weekly Dormouse. (aka Bike, est. 2007) Part 3473 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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I was having breakfast when Danni called me to the phone, "Someone for you, Mum," she handed me the handset and I raised it to my ear.

"Hello, Cathy Cameron?" i spoke down it.

"You wouldn't prefer, The Ladt Cameron, or Professor Watts, or even Mrs Cameron?"

"I answer to all of those, what do you answer to?"

"Shall we say, 'The Watcher,'," his voice was quiet and just the tiniest bit creepy.

"That could be off putting if you're the one you're watching."

"I can see that, but you can rest assured that we aren't watching you, except perhaps protectively."

"Some good your protection did my daughter, they still nearly killed her and would have killed me of another daughter in the hospital car park."

"Yes, we learned about that one, concussion and a dislocated shoulder."

"He was intent on hurting either me or my daughter or both. I didn't wait to ask what he wanted, besides him carrying a gun, was a little off-putting, not to mention the knife he also bore."

"I don't blame you, if you had stopped to talk, it may have been your last conversation."

"Which is what I'm saying. The plod still wanted to charge me with unnecessary violence, until they saw the gun and knife, even then is was very long winded and unhelpful."

"They have their procedures and stick to them."

"Is that why they never catch anyone."

"Actually their record with serious offences tends to be quite good."

"So why were more intent on arresting me that my would assassin?"

"They weren't as soon as they realised who was what, it's just your actions were more visible and hence noticeable."

"Don't they know things aren't always how it would first appear?"

"They learn that after a few years," he chuckled.

"So who are you watching?"

"We are aware of a gang of drug pushers who have also shown extreme violence to one of their agents, he is alas deceased as a consequence."

"Is this Shiner?"

"It could well be."

"I'm sorry he's dead but he did try to kill my daughter for being a responsible and caring teacher."

"Surely, she is a lecturer in History and English?"

"Teacher, lecturer, what difference does it make?"

"It can be important in terms of salaries, I'm sure your professorship brings in more than an ordinary lecturer, who is still learning their craft."

"I probably do but money is not one of my fixations."

"Is that because you are married to a wealthy banker who is worth billions?"

"No, I was never into money, even before marrying Simon. I think the novelty attracted him."

"Oh very good, professor."

"Seeing as we have that sorted, could you tell me why you are calling me, I do have a job to do."

"Dear lady, I am calling to tell you that this group has come to our attention and will be dealt with."

"I'm still going to have Meems protected while she's in hospital."

"Your choice and perhaps a good one."

"So are you 5 or 6?"

"No, professor, I'm 28." He thought that was funny.

"You know what I mean MI5 or MI6."

There was silence for a moment before he replied, "I can't tell you that, I'm afraid."

"Don't tell me, if you did you'd have to kill me?"

"All good cliché's eh, professor."

"Well, I don't think many carry a death warrant with them." Oh very good.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Ah, the dear old nitty gritty. I am told to tell you to carry on with normal life and not interfere with this group of thugs."

"Because of their existence my daughter nearly died, I and another daughter were nearly killed the other night. They declared war on me and mine, we are just responding and I admit if I had a Glock in my bag I'd feel safer."

"A very nice hand gun, unfortunately possession could get you ten years."

"How come the bad guys can do it?"

"Only until we catch them, professor."

"But the odds of that happening are pretty small, aren't they?"

"You do have poor opinion of the forces of law and order," he said ironically. "We are trying to catch the bad guys who tried to kill your daughter."

"I'll believe you thousands wouldn't."

"Back to the clichés again, professor."

"If you say so," I answered. "So what do you want me to do?"

"Carry on as normal, as best you can."

"I don't recommend it with a daughter in hospital after a murder attempt and a subsequent attack on me and another daughter. I suppose we can protect ourselves, I presume, if necessary?"

"Not with lethal weapons. like guns."

"Light sabres?"

"All sorts of sword are prohibited."

"Don't tell me penknives are prohibited too?"

"Depends on the penknife, those with locking blades are, but not smaller pocket knives."

"So my Swiss Army Knife is okay but I have to leave the machete at home?"

"I think you have the gist of it."

"Are you going to let me know what happens?"

"As we don't exist, it might be difficult."

"So you're SIS, or MI6?"

"Perhaps, I must go, goodbye Professor." He rang off and I was left trying to understand to who or what I had been talking.

Meem's surgery happened and she came home a couple of days later. She was healing quite well and while I was aware of potential dangers, we sort of stood the security down a bit, We didn't need Chas and Dave as she was no longer in hospital but I knew the bill for their services cost quite a lot of money, when you ask people to risk their lives it does tend to come expensive. Henry paid for some of it, he'd also spoken to Trish who was still building moon buggies and testing them for ESA. She had phoned Meems once but seemed absorbed in her work. I spoke to Meems about it and Meems was very dismissive if it, "We know she's busy creating a taxi service for Mars so I must be non news to her, let's face it people get killed in car accidents everyday she tried to rationalise. Danni just thought her sister was a waste of time, and I had to admit I thought similarly, but said nothing to Meems.

I did say something to Trish, berating her for the lack of interest in her sister's accident. "I thought you said it wasn't an accident." Trish responded to my asking why she hadn't visited.

"It's just so busy," was her excuse and she was frightened of being replaced by someone else, remember, this Cambridge we are talking about and they tend to have some quite bright people there, but I couldn't believe she couldn't spare a day or two to see her sister. I rang her professor in the astrophysics department and asked her if Trish could get a day or twos leave.

She immediately said she could and her fears were groundless, yes the competition was fierce but it wasn't that bad and everyone deserved a break. I asked her to speak with Trish and say that Meems was asking after her all the time, she wasn't but no one in Cambridge knew that.

So Trish agreed to come home for a day or two and when she arrived it was quite obvious that she had changed. She brought a laptop with her and spent most of her time working on that, so Meems hardly saw her. I think the meeting went thus: "How are you?" asked Trish.

"Yeah, getting there, should be ambulant in a week or so."

"Good," she then went off back to the dining room and her bloody computer.

"Meems, Danni and I had dinner the evening that Trish had returned to Cambridge and she told us that Trish had changed and admitted that she had too, we all agreed that everyone does, so we couldn't expect Trish to be that cuddly little girl who talked about all sorts of things including one she couldn't pronounce the name of. She wasn't worried because that was Trish and they had both gone their separate ways and it was a pity but that was life. Meems was pleased to have seen her however briefly it had been and she accepted we each had different things which interested us, Mars' rovers was Trish's.

We were relaxing after dinner a couple of nights later when Meems called me, she showed me a story in the local paper of a car crash killing four twenty-year-olds. "I knew two of those," she said, "one of them was the student buying cocaine from Shiner."

"Well you know how young men drive, like lunatics, that's why the insurance is so expensive."

"He didn't have car."

"Perhaps it belonged to one of the others," I offered, "they were all high on drugs the reports said."

"I don't believe that," she said and began to cry.

"Well, what do think happened? There have been a lot of RTAs lately?"

"I think some killed them. Rory wasn't the sort to dope and drive, he wouldn't drink and drive either. He used to walk anyway because he didn't have a car, but he was adamant about that. If he was getting stoned or drunk, he just stayed in his room until he sobered up. I know, I gave him a lift one day and had enough time to discuss it properly and he wasn't like that."

"You think someone nobbled him and other three."

"Yes ,I do."

"I'll put your concerns to Sergeant Bond, he'll listen at least."

"Get him here and I'll speak to him myself." That was her suggestion and Andy Bond came to see her. They had an hour together and he promised to ask questions putting her points forward.

He rang me a couple of days later, "Everyone is upset about the boys who died, but no one is saying anything. I've tried to get the evidence and it's been locked away. It's never like that and other accidents are available to examine the full reports and PMs, there's something fishy going on there."

"Could it be the work of MI6?"

"How the hell do I know, I'm just a simple copper and thank God, I don't interact on those levels. But, I wouldn't put it past them, bastards."

I reported what he'd told me to Meems. "I thought so or it might be, after you said they were involved. So four kids died because of organised crime. It makes you sick, what did it prove or improve? The security services are worse than the villains."

A few weeks later we heard of a thirty five year old who died of a heart attack, James told me he was the big boss of the county lines group and was as fit as a flea and neither he nor the copper he was working with could access the records so the diagnosis couldn't be challenged. We also heard that the body had been hurriedly cremated, so no one could ever challenge that.

And I could see why the old saying if I tell you, I'll have to kill you, came about, these people did some awful things at times without any apparent supervision. We talk of people disappearing in China or Russia but it happens here too, we're no better than anywhere else and it disturbed me.