They spent the rest of the morning going over Merlin's findings in detail and working out how to continue. Once they had got as far as they could, Balinor looked at his son and summarised their plan, "you go up to the factory for a spot check, take Arthur and Percy from I.T. with you. Percy can check the computer systems while you check out your suspicions on the ground and then we call the police." Balinor looked at Arthur, and don't let this idiot take risks, it could get nasty if they suspect we are onto them. I'd rather go myself but Merlin is right, in that if I turn up they will be more on guard." Turning back to his son he added, "make sure Gwaine stays up there and does not expose himself as a plant."

Merlin and Arthur spent the rest of the day getting everything ready. Percy Evans from IT was filled in on everything and arrangements were made to meet up the next morning for the trip up North.

Once back in his home that evening, Merlin rang Gwaine to let him know what was happening and the Irishman confirmed that he was due to be at work that day, in the job he had as cover, so he could snoop around.

"What happens if Sarrum recognises Arthur? After all, he did work for his father," Gwaine asked Merlin.

"I had already thought of that, Arthur will keep in the background. I won't introduce either him or Percy. I'll act like I am superior to them and I discount them as unimportant. If Arthur is recognised, I'll play it by ear, maybe drop a hint that I like the idea of the humiliation of having a previous V. a P.A."

Gwaine chuckled, "You mean act like so many of the big bosses do? Superior and arrogant like you got the job because of who daddy is and not because you are a clever clogs."

Merlin winced at the comment and even down the phone, Gwaine knew what he was thinking. "The key word in that was act! The rest is definitely not what you are."

"If you say so Gwaine. Anyway, in the meantime, keep your head down and don't attract attention to yourself," Merlin told his friend. "I want to make sure they have no idea that they have been rumbled."

"I can do that," Gwaine reassured his friend. "Just go careful tomorrow, I don't want you getting hurt."

Merlin snorted and pointed out, "I hardly think anyone will get hurt, Gwaine. They will do their best to get out of this and hurting anyone won't help their case. We have spoken to our lawyers. This will all need to be proven, now while I think that won't be a problem, I won't disclose all our cards to them."

The next morning, Merlin went to the office to pick up Arthur and Percy. Merlin felt better with both the other men with him. Arthur was well muscled but nothing like Percy, who went to the gym every night and had muscles everywhere. Even if there was trouble, he was sure that between them, they could handle it. Arthur offered to drive but Merlin declined saying he seldom had the chance and found it relaxing. Arthur was impressed with Merlin's driving, he was a steady driver who took no risks. It took longer than it would have, had Arthur driven as he was a faster driver, but they had allowed plenty of time. Merlin hadn't told anyone at the factory besides Gwaine, that they were going to be arriving. He wanted to catch them unprepared.

Once at the factory. Merlin parked and they walked into the building. After informing the receptionist not to announce them, they headed to the offices.

Merlin went straight to the head manager's office and walked past his secretary, straight into see the Manager, who looked up in annoyance. "How dare you come in without knocking!"

"I think you will find I am allowed to, Mr Olaf," Merlin said calmly. The manager looked up and recognising Merlin stood up and offered his hand.

"Mr Emrys! I wasn't expecting a visit, did my secretary miss your communication?" the surprised man asked.

"No, this is a spot check, something we do occasionally," Merlin said, "The accounts for the company have been giving us some concern so I decided to pop up and see if I could help out in anyway."

Alan Olaf frowned. "I'm sure that once everything settles down, the figures will improve, as you know the previous owners were somewhat lax. We are working hard to improve them. You can rest assured we are doing everything we can."

"I'm sure," Merlin said calmly. "I have looked at the finances and all your reports in detail. Now, I wonder if you could arrange to show us round the factory. Just so I can get a feel for the place." Then as if it was an afterthought he added, "Oh and get your secretary to set Mr Evans up at a computer, he will start to go over the I.T. stuff, that will save time. I don't want to be here longer than I need to," Merlin demanded, playing to his spoilt image that might make their job easier.

"Of course, not a problem. However, as to the tourm I don't expect you to gain anything from it, it's much like any other facility of its kind," Olaf said not even looking at the two men with the owner's son. Olaf was confident that the young Mr Emrys would be none the wiser before he headed for home. "I will take you around myself. Would you like a tea first? After all you have had a long drive," Olaf offered, hoping he could warn a couple of the other managers of the visit before they met the young Mr Emrys.

"No, thank you. We stopped at a service station on the way up. Once we have done the tour, we could stop as I look at your latest figures." Merlin smiled, he realised that the other man was confident he could outwit him, after all he knew he was young and inexperienced. Merlin had, as planned, deliberately not introduced his companions and wondered how long Arthur would remain unnoticed. Hopefully, for some time as he had had little to do with the factory, even if his face was well known from his father's trial. He hoped that everyone assumed they were just two minor hangers on.

"Perhaps you could ask the other managers to join us. Then I can ask questions as we go around. After all, it is my first visit and I am unfamiliar with the processes undertaken." Merlin wanted the man to relax and continue to feel superior. That maybe either himself, or Arthur might pick up even more information.

Alan Olaf asked his secretary to make the arrangements and they set off. As they walked, they were joined by the three other managers. Cedric Brown head of production, Daniel Sarrum, head of contracts and Nimueh Lake head of procurement and acting financial officer. "We are short a new financial officer as John Drake unfortunately had to leave with short notice due to illness."

Merlin frowned as he responded, "I was unaware of that, did you inform head office? My father likes to be involved in all hiring of key staff. Also, is there anything we can do to help Mr Drake?"

"That was one of today's jobs and no, Mr Drake has declined any help, I did offer," Olaf said smoothly not expanding. "It was all quite sudden."

As they toured the factory, Arthur kept to the back of the group as much as he could, hoping Sarrum didn't notice him. Everyone was more concerned with Merlin being there. During the tour, Merlin asked many questions and wrote down what he was told as Olaf kept up a running commentary. As the group went into the packing area, all the men were more alert, if anywhere this was where they might see something. Gwaine had managed to tag along as they left the main factory floor. He winked at Arthur as he did so. Merlin noticed a couple of things but didn't comment immediately.

But then as the tour finished and they got back to the office. Gwaine discreetly waited outside the door. Merlin looked at Olaf. "It is vital we sort the finances of this factory out for the continued viability of the factory. I have spent some considerable time and effort with my P.A. going over your accounts and I believe I can now see where one of your problems lie," he paused. "In fact, this visit has confirmed my suspicions."

Merlin looked at Olaf, "Could you ask my I.T chap to join us and do you have a larger office where we can all discuss this? I would like all the managers present."

Once they were all settled in the conference room, Merlin turned to Daniel Sarrum and he asked calmly, "You, I understand, worked here when the Pendragons owned the business."

Sarrum nodded. "I did, although I never met any of the Pendragons personally. They always dealt with the General Manager."

Merlin frowned. "Are you sure?" he asked. "I understood you reported directly to Uther Pendragon." Not waiting for an answer he turned to Arthur. "That's right isn't it, Arthur?"

Sarrum turned and noticed Arthur for the first time, paling as he did so. "You!"

Arthur raised an eyebrow and looked at Merlin. "That's right, Sir."

Merlin smiled. "You see Arthur is my P.A. now. So can you explain yourself, Mr Sarrum?"

Swallowing a couple of times and thinking quickly, Sarrum said in an embarrassed tone, "I didn't want you to think I was associated with the Pendragon Mr Emrys, after all they did. It was disgraceful the fraud they committed."

"They did? I think you mean Mr Pendragon senior, his son was exonerated," Merlin pointed out. "I hope that is the last lie I hear today. I also hope you can explain something to me between you all. You see the information you supplied both today and in writing in the accounts has thrown up a few… discrepancies," Merlin stopped before adding. "I also have a few questions from the tour."

There was a stunned silence for a few moments before Nimueh Lake asked,"Discrepancies?"

Before Merlin said anything, Olaf also spoke. "So what do you believe has been happening? I think we should keep this calm and talk like adults. I want to get this cleared up." He was confident nothing would be found.

Merlin looked at the group sat around the table and feeling confident said, "Indeed. You see we were considering rationalisation of the factory in light of the losses it is making. We spent a great deal of time trying to find a way to keep the staff on. It was the invoices that alerted me in the end. It seems you are ordering more materials than you actually use. You see I had previously been studying the specifications of what we make here. To see if anything could be improved and because another firm had offered to make same components so much cheaper than we could, so I knew the details. I have an almost photographic memory and the figures didn't match up even allowing for waste. When I was studying the accounts, I realised that the amounts we were recycling and the amounts we were sending out didn't match the amount we were producing. Why would that be I wondered?"

Olaf looked incredulous. "How could you possibly work that out accurately? I mean wastage happens in any process some might be invisible. You are mad if you think anything is that accurate."

"That's true, but even for allowing for some inaccuracy in the weights there is another concern. All your machines are equipped with a computerised device that allows for the automatic counting of units produced. So, why are they all switched off?" Merlin asked calmly.

"They are always going wrong and slowing down production, so it was decided to disconnect them, the units are counted as they are put in the final stage packaging," Sarrum said. "I saw no reason to spend money on something we could do without and Mr Olaf agreed with me."

"So all the stock is counted anyway by the final machine? Is that what you are saying?" Merlin asked. "I presume that is when they are packaged in boxes of ten. That sound reasonable," he paused. "So you never send anything out not packed in this way?"

"Never! It protects them from damage, we don't want returns," Olaf told Merlin. "Bad business practice."

"One other matter, earlier I noticed a shipment waiting in dispatch addressed to a firm that as far as I know we don't sell to, would you like to explain that?" Not waiting Merlin looked at Percy. "Did you find any transactions other than to the firms on the list I gave you?"

Percy shook his head as he replied, "No Sir, everything matched."

Merlin raised his eyebrow. "So why are you sending a shipment to a firm you don't deal with?"

The three managers looked at each other before Sarrum said, "We sometimes get asked to ship direct to a different address by the purchaser. We cooperate as much as we can."

"Umm," Merlin pursed his lips and looked at Arthur. "What was the company it was being shipped to?"

"V.A. Industries," Arthur said grimacing.

"How strange? a company that has recently been involved in negotiations with us to supply the very same parts we produce here. I suspect that the boxes downstairs contain units not in the correct packaging having never been through the appropriate machine." Merlin's expression hardened. Looking at the three managers he asked, "I wonder why the financial officer has gone?"

Merlin stood up and walked to the door then he spoke to Gwaine who was waiting outside, "Could you please go down to dispatch and make sure the boxes marked V.A. Industries are locked up somewhere safe and do not leave the building."

Looking back at the three managers, Merlin said, "I do believe it was opportune that we came here today, don't you? Far more opportune than we could have expected."

Olaf frowned and then said sharply, "If there is any funny business going on, it must have been set up by Pendragons when they owned the place, ask your P.A."

"Or I could ask Mr Sarrum, I do believe he knew more about this factory than my P.A. However, I do think this needs investigation by someone more independent. Luckily, as we already had a suspicion, that can be arranged without fuss." Merlin smiled at Arthur, "Did you ring the number my father gave you and make the arrangements?"

"I did, the police are on their way, Sir." Arthur had rung Balinor at a prearranged signal given to him by Merlin.

Merlin looked at the men who, in turn, looked gobsmacked by the turn of events. They had thought their scheme was fool proof. Arthur smirked at Merlin then at Sarrum but he remained silent, just glad he could actually be here to see this happening.

Nimueh Lake looked at Merlin. "Well, you can't think I had anything to do with this? I am in procurement, I only purchase the raw materials," she said reasonably.

"Aren't you the acting financial manager? That surely means you have all the payments sent to you."

Arthur butted in, "Mr Emrys, I do believe you might want to stop now and leave this to the professionals." Arthur took Merlin's arm and drew him to one side and whispered, "Best not say anymore, it will get twisted and used against you. Take my word for it."

At that moment the police arrived as arranged, Balinor had contacted action fraud, made a report and asked for the police to attend. "You are all suspended until this matter has been investigated fully," Merlin told the men. "Unless these gentlemen need to speak to you then please leave the premises and do not return unless contacted."