Elephants can't hide forever (20 page)

Jane had listened with growing incredulity, was this a weird dream, or nightmare? She felt her life was changing in front of her, but was transfixed. Mike was listening intently, weighing up the
options. As alien as this was to Jane, Mike had been here before. Eventually Mike spoke, and it was not what Jane expected to hear.

“You started this conversation by saying there were three people to pull out, but all I’ve heard you mention is two, who’s the third?”

Jane looked at Mike, he was talking like he was considering this madness, her world was collapsing.

“And how in God’s name do you know so much about me, I’m restricted personnel under the Official Secrets Act, and will be till I die” continued Mike.

Penny delivered what he thought was the fait accompli.

“The third person is only a passenger, but he put us onto you, and Mouse has agreed he comes, it’s an old colleague of yours Jock Wallace.”

This time it was Mike turn to look stunned. Jesus this was almost blackmail, and that explained how they had the full insight into Mike’s previous life. More to the point though, the
unwritten laws of the SAS demanded you were always there for your mates, both on the battlefield and basically forever.

Jane looked at Mike, he returned the look, and she thought: he’s
thinking about this, unbelievable, no way.

“Mike” said Jane, “I need to talk to you alone, will you two leave the boat until we’re ready?.” Both enforcers nodded their agreement.

The boys had laid their demands out as well as they could, they were pretty sure he had taken the hook. Much to their relief his expression hadn’t changed at all as they laid down the
deal, he was indeed a very cool customer, and probably a formidable enemy. They left the boat and sat waiting in the chairs by the kiosk.

For several moments Jane and Mike sat staring out to the creek. Jane spoke first:

“Darling, whoever this Jock Wallace is, whatever he means to you, however much a million pounds would mean to us, please, please don’t go.”

She was wise enough not to threaten him by saying if he went they were finished, but she had already made her mind up, if he went they were.

Mike sat very still, for what seemed an eternity. He eventually replied: “Yes I’m tempted, but I never thought I would find what I’ve found here in Australia, I’m
staying.”

Jane crossed the cabin and threw her arms around Mike. “Thank you” was all she could say.

Mike spoke to the two protagonists back on board. “The answer’s no,” he said firmly “Matter’s closed.”

Both men shook their heads, they were sure they had sold the deal.

“Well there’s nothing more to say” said Penny, and with that both men left the boat, returned to the Toyota and left the Marina.

Jane was relieved beyond belief, and hoped and prayed they could soon put this terrible encounter behind them.

Mike was not so sure.

Back in the Holiday Inn, the two Londoners were in deep conversation.

“Right then,” said Penny “We have no alternative other than to convince him otherwise, I’ll get my brother Jason on the next flight over, you and him will have to stay
here and mind the girl. I’ll go back to England with Tobin and we’ll get the job done the hard way” he told Sykes.

“Bollocks” said Sykes, “We’ll have to hire a house or something out of town where we can stash her then, better start looking tomorrow”

The decision was made; Mike was going back, come what may.

Ten days later, Mike and Jane’s life had returned to normal, the incident of recent days was all but forgotten.

Jane was in her customary chair next to the kiosk, the Marina was deserted and she never heard the Green Toyota pull alongside her. Before she realised something was happening, three men had got
out of the motor; two of them grabbed her and manhandled her into the opened boot. The boot was slammed shut, and the car pulled off. The whole operation had taken less than fifteen seconds, and
Jane was now effectively a hostage.

Mike returned at his usual time. As he rounded the headland his sixth sense kicked in, something was wrong, and as the berth came into view and no Jane in her customary position, he realised
something was very, very wrong. He moored the boat, left the tourists to their own devices, and hurried down the dock where he confronted Dave Penny, sitting in Jane’s chair.

“Hello Mike” said Penny “We meet again.”

Mike stared at him, “Where’s Jane” he demanded.

“She’s going to stay with my friends while you and I go on a little trip.” was the reply.

Mike’s initial reaction was to grab the bloke’s neck and snap it, which he was entirely capable of. However, his training kicked in and he backed off and considered his alternatives,
then spoke in a very measured tone:

“Where is Jane, how do I know she’s going to be OK? If I go with you I need guarantees she’s safe and untouched, I will to speak with her every day, and if one hair on her head
is harmed, I swear I will find you and your accomplices, and I will dedicate the rest of my life to finding you, and when I do you will regret ever having set eyes on me, believe it.”

Dave Penny looked into Mikes eyes, he believed him and he didn’t scare easily.

“That’s a promise, there’s nothing to gain by hurting your girl, so here’s what happens now- you put a notice on the shed saying due to family bereavement all trips are
cancelled for the foreseeable future, you pick up an overnight bag from your home and we catch the nine pm flight tonight to Heathrow.”

Mike reluctantly agreed, his mind was racing however; he had less than four hours to get Jane back before he was committed to leaving her alone in this country with two dangerous villains. He
could easily overpower this ape, but he had no understanding of what arrangements they had put in place if he resisted; things looked bleak.

Dave Penny and Richard Sykes had done their homework well, they had ascertained that Mike and Jane lived alone, neither had children, so their sudden disappearance might cause some comments from
any friends they might have, but if all went well Mike would be back before they were missed.

All plans have a flaw. Penny and Sykes’s plan had one flaw and one piece of bad luck. They had assumed that Mike and Jane had no living relatives. That was the flaw, and the piece of bad
luck occurred on their very first day in Port Douglas when they asked the fishermen if they knew of Mike Tobin. Jane did indeed have a live and very able bodied relative who happened to be fishing
in the Marina on that day, when Penny and Sykes asked him of Mike’s whereabouts. Her father Charlie Allington.

At eight pm that night a very heavy hearted Mike Tobin boarded the red eye to Singapore on route to London Heathrow.

As Sykes and Penny boarded their Jumbo for Australia, John Illes’s wife Cathy was passing through customs in Terminal One, Heathrow, on her way to make a rather shorter
flight, albeit the mission was the same, to secure the freedom of the two villains currently incarcerated in one of Her Majesty’s penal institutions. Cathy, under instructions from The Mouse,
was on her way to Malaga to brief Danny’s brother Sammy on the possibility of Mouse and Danny’s liberation. Mouse, in his usual way, was thinking ahead and planning the outcome, he knew
when the time came all hell would be let loose, and the harder he made it for the police to trace the events back, the better chances the trio would have of making it. At this point, there was no
tie up with the SAS man and the potential escapees, although Jock Wallace was a concern, but that couldn’t be helped, as long as there were no further coincidences, they should be long gone
before any tie-ups were made.

Sammy had returned to England with Cathy almost immediately; he saw his role as a facilitator and minder, and brother or not he still owed Danny big time for keeping stum after the St Albans
foul up. He knew whatever way the SAS man wanted to play it, he, Sammy, would be in a position to obtain almost anything the man would require, his contacts were still good and he had a lot of
markers ready to call in. If the Army man was going to pull any stunts, he was the man to bring him into line.

Sammy’s English country home, which Mouse had decided was the best location to plan the escape, was situated on the southern tip of the New Forest, the nearest town being Brockenhurst, and
a few miles from the costal town of Lymington from which the Isle of Wight was just a few miles and clearly visible. The house itself was discreetly located down a leafy lane with no immediate
neighbours, in fact Sammy had never met any local residents, this being one of those areas where the property owners were either self made millionaires or blaggers, and neither parties were mixers,
which suited Sammy just fine.

On this particular evening the house, was occupied by Sammy and Cathy Illes. They were awaiting the arrival of Dave Penny and his cargo from Heathrow. Sammy had considered strengthening his
numbers, knowing the SAS man was likely to be a handful, but, and quite rightly reckoned he wouldn’t be any trouble as long as his girlfriend was in safe custody down under.

Just after ten pm the front doorbell chimed, and Sammy answered it.

“Hello Dave” he said with some genuine affection, “Hope the flight was not too painful, and you must be Mike Tobin” he enquired, holding out his hand in a display of
attempted friendship.

Mike just looked into his eyes and made no movement to accept the handshake, neither did his facial expression change, but Sammy sure got the message. Cathy came into the hall and quickly
recognising the building tension: addressed Mike:

“Mr Tobin” she said in a level voice, “These circumstances are not what we wanted, however it’s what we’ve got, the fact you are here demonstrates you are going to
get my husband out of prison. Now you probably hate us all, and I don’t blame you, we are holding your girlfriend against your will, and will continue to until my man and his two friends are
freed. No harm will come to her as long as you do exactly what we require, but believe me, if I think you, at any time, are considering any type of double cross, or contacting the authorities or
any of your ex army mates, I will have her fingers posted back here one at a time, so it’s up to you. One other thing it might help the cause if we can at least be civil whilst we are all
working together.”

Sammy whistled under his breath, what a fucking tough bitch she could be when needed.

“You people are barking mad,” said Mike. “You really have no idea who you are messing with, and let me tell you this if one hair on my Jane’s head is out of place when I
get back, each and every one of you will regret this day beyond your wildest nightmares. Now, before we even start talking about getting these people out of the slammer, what I require from you is
this. Whilst I’m here I want to speak with Jane whenever I say, and I want to speak alone. If at any time she’s not there, for whatever reason, this job stops and you’ve got a
problem.”

Cathy, who had assumed control of this opening debate, considered this carefully. There was really nothing this guy could say to his girlfriend, now held in a remote shack in the bush, that
could assist any type of escape, and in any case the boys down in Oz would keep an eye on that.

“Very well Mr Tobin, agreed” stated Cathy. “But when you call, all I ask is that my guys are in the same room as your girlfriend, just to ensure she doesn’t give the
address away or anything that might compromise this little agreement.”

Mike nodded, and announced he would like to ring Jane right away. Cathy handed him the GPS phone and ushered the men out of the room.

“We’re right outside, any funny stuff and the deals off,” she told Mike with some bravado.

Mike dialled the number on the side of the phone and recognised Richard Sykes’s voice on the far side of the world.

“Put Jane on” he told the thug, a few seconds later Jane spoke.

“Mike?” she asked into the phone. Mike swallowed hard and composed himself.

“Hi honey, how are you?” he asked anxiously.

“I’m fine, Mike, and you?”

“Listen honey,” Mike said, “until I can get you out of there I’ve got to go along with these bastards, so here’s what I want you to do, somehow I’m going to
bust you out and when I do these turkeys at this end mustn’t know, so when I do and you’re free and I ring, I want you to mention your Dad, just that word in the conversation, and
I’ll know you are free, is that OK?”

“Sure.” said Jane, “But be careful and don’t take any risks.”

Mike put the phone down, and for several seconds stared into space. Somehow he had to orchestrate two extractions, one from a Category A British Penal Institution and the other from a hideout
some where in Australia, and as if that wasn’t enough, the Australian breakout had to happen before the jail bust. The Gods of fate who had orchestrated this affair would have to play one
last hand.

Mike switched the GPS phone off and called to the other two that he had finished.

Cathy entered the room. “We’ve kept our end of the bargain, Mike,” she said, “so I suggest we turn in for the night and get down to business first thing in the morning.
Your room is on the first floor, we’re not going to lock you in, and you understand the stakes. All I would say is, no wandering about the house, the CCTV cameras will pick you up,” and
with that veiled threat Cathy wished the three men goodnight, and retired.

The next morning the four conspirators sat round the large pine table in the kitchen studying a large map of the Isle of Wight. Cathy was the first to speak.

“Well, Mike, you’ve had a night to sleep on it, any thoughts?”

Mike, having decided his hostile attitude would only ensure the other three kept him under intense scrutiny, replied with a civility that was a distinct change from the previous evening.

“Yes, but before I decide the best method, we have to agree some ground rules.”

“Fair enough, go on,” replied Dave Penny, who up to this point had remained remarkably quiet.