The Historians
Chapter 4
Kitty had gone with Jennifer, shopping for new clothes. Matt sat with Doc for the longest time, but his old friend did not stir. One of the nurses came in and swopped out a new bag of liquid for the empty one on the stand then checked the connection to the needle in Doc's arm. She left and soon Matt decided to make his way back to the apartment. Halfway along the hospital corridor leading to the stairs, someone came up behind him.
"Dillon?" a voice asked softly.
The Marshal spun around reaching for the gun that should be on his hip. He saw a blond headed man standing there.
"Whoa," said the man holding out his hands palms up. "I think we are on the same team. My name's Allen Cranbourne. We need to go somewhere we can talk."
Matt led the way back to the apartment on Bowling Green Place. By this time he had become quite comfortable with crossing the street, the electronic lock, the lift and even the coffee maker.
He brought two of the blue coffee mugs to the table in front of the couch, and pulled the chair up so they could sit facing each other.
"Tell me what's going on," he said.
Cranbourne took a mouthful of the coffee.
"We have a problem, and it involves your country just as much as mine. That is why your agency agreed to send you here, that together with the fact that they think you have some special skills that will be useful. I understand that you have been told very little, so I will start as near the beginning as I can. It looks like we will be working together so I'll tell you everything I know."
He took a folded map from his pocket and opened it onto the table.
"This area," he pointed to the red mark on the map, "is where we think the whole scheme is run from. The town is called Tintagel."
Cranbourne stood up to remove his jacket and Matt saw that beneath it he had a gun and holster similar to the one he had been given. At least he now had an idea how that worked. He said nothing but listened to the story the other man was relating. Many of the words were not familiar to him, they did not belong to his time, but he tried to remember them so he could ask Thomas later. If this was what it took to save Doc's life, he would do whatever was asked of him.
"There are a lot of legends surrounding the town of Tintagel," Cranbourne continued, "from the knights of King Arthur to the smugglers of the eighteenth century who brought their boats ashore off the rugged coastline, it has always been a place of mystery." He took another mouthful of coffee before continuing.
"We think the smuggling has started up again, though this time it's a lot more serious than the brandy, pepper and other spices of the old days. Now it is weapons, heavy weapons, maybe even ground to air missiles or worse. The terrorists from the Middle East want to get a foothold here really bad. They took a leaf out of the Columbian drug smugglers book and developed their own submarines.
We don't know who is supplying them, and we have never been able to track them once they land here so we don't know where they are going. From intelligence we know that this stuff is arriving somewhere in this area and then getting distributed. There are active groups or cells here in the UK just waiting for enough weapons to launch a big campaign of terror. The same is happening in your country Dillon, I'm sure you are aware of that. We need to track this stuff down before they are ready to strike. Tintagel is the only lead we have."
"What do you think I can add to this investigation?"
"It's not me Dillon, apparently your bosses and mine got together and decided to team us up."
"I will do what I can. Can we go see this place," Matt points to the map "Tintagel you called it? How far is it from here."
"Not far, about 250 miles. Your Agency must think highly of you, they are giving us use of their private jet for the day, so if we leave early tomorrow morning, we'll be back by supper time."
Matt had no idea how anyone could travel that far in one day, and what was a 'jet', more questions for Thomas.
Matt produced the gun he had been given, from a drawer where he had placed it.
"Uhmm, this gun is different from the one I am used to, I'd like to practice with it before we get going."
"Certainly. I didn't realize but I suppose you couldn't board the plane with a gun without blowing your cover. Come on we'll go over to Scotland Yard.
They have a firing range in the basement; we can borrow it for a while. Do you have your credentials?" Matt took the small leather wallet with badge and warrant card that Thomas had given him, and put it in his pocket.
"We'll get a taxi over there. The Yard won't give us a problem about using their facilities." Cranbourne puts his jacket on and leads the way.
Meantime Kitty met with Jennifer outside the back entrance to the hospital planning to go exploring the shops of London's West End.
Jennifer was especially excited about a store from America that had recently opened up on New Bond Street.
"Victoria's Secret has finally arrived here, now we can buy all that sexy underwear." She looked at Kitty, "I guess that store is not new to you."
"Oh we don't have it where I live either," she remarked truthfully. The idea of Mr. Jonas's store selling sexy underwear made her smile.
Jennifer led them across Great Maze Pond and up to Street, Kitty was terrified by all the traffic and stuck close to her new friend, just hoping not to get hit by one of these so called cars. "It'll be easier to get a taxi here." Jennifer explained. She flagged one down and they both climbed inside. Kitty was terrified at how fast this conveyance travelled through the winding backstreets. It was quite terrifying at times, but she managed to keep her composure, although she felt her palms becoming hot and sweaty. The multitude of stores and the variety of goods for sale was almost overwhelming. She tried to remember what Thomas had told them and not to let on that all this was new to her. Jennifer was very observant however and could not help but notice the bewildered look on her friend's face.
"Thomas did tell me that you lived out in the country and that there were no big cities nearby, so I imagine this is a little overpowering. I remember the first time I came to London, I wanted to run away and hide from all the crowds, but it won't take long for you to adjust."
Kitty wondered about that last statement.
The taxi dropped them off outside the new store on Bond Street and Kitty felt compelled to stay as close to her new friend as possible as they walked inside.
Jennifer was excited about all the garments they had on display. Kitty was shocked, no pantaloons or corsets, everything so colorful and she could not even think of a word to describe the way the garments covered so very little.
Jennifer laughed kindly at her. "Most of this stuff is just for fun. You know, you'd wear it to entertain that good-looking man of yours. They do have bras and panties you can wear every day. There are four floors to this store so we should find something"
She went over to a display table and picked up some lacy panties with frills around the legs. "I think these might interest Thomas," she giggled.
"Have you known him long?" Kitty asked.
"Oh we met each other around the hospital about a year or so ago, but I guess you'd say we've only been dating for about three months."
The women wandered around the store picking up and looking at many different things.
Kitty found some night attire that she thought Matt would certainly find interesting and also some panties and bra's that would be nice to have.
"Come on Kitty – you will need more than that," cajoled her friend, but she felt guilty about spending money that was not hers. Who was paying for all this?
That thought brought something else to her mind. Matt was going to get involved in a job that he knew nothing about. A slight shiver went through her. She hoped nothing bad would happen along the way.
Watching carefully as Jennifer paid for her purchases she got out her card, the one Thomas had told her was made of something called plastic. When her turn came she pushed it into the machine as her friend had done and entered the so-called PIN number – somehow it worked and the girl behind the register wrapped her purchases and placed them in a pretty pink bag. They left Victoria Secret and walked back up Bond Street towards Oxford Street. Kitty found the side walks to be more crowded than Dodge on a Saturday night.
They reached Oxford Street and turned left. Jennifer pointed out several of the larger department stores and headed them towards the one called Selfridges.
This store seemed so large she would have got lost in there if she was by herself. Jennifer guided her through floors of dresses, pants and jackets, encouraging her to enjoy herself. She bought some clothes for Matt, even though it was difficult to find something to fit him. They did find some undergarments for men – called boxer shorts, and picked out a few pairs with lively colors.
Kitty couldn't think of what he might say when she gave them to him. She did find him some pants called Jeans – 'wranglers' is what Jennifer called them – she said they were for cowboys – so that should work. She also found him a couple of shirts. She noticed that men didn't wear hats here, and had only seen one or two ladies sporting them either.
Finally they went to a small tearoom and after some light refreshment there, they got a taxi to take them back home. Her packages almost filled the back seat and Jennifer helped her back up to the apartment with them.
"I have to get back to the hospital now Kitty, I have a couple of patients to check on. I'll catch up with you later."
Kitty was alone. She started to look at all the clothes, laid them out on the bed. It was then she thought about Matt and hoped he would be back soon. She thought she would go check on Doc.
TBC