Chapter 03

Dancing with Death

Since the first day of school one of Gordie’s best friends is Melody Hilston. When her family first moved to View Port she was very shy, but he soon got her actively involved with the rest of their classmates. They become great friends as she turns out to be a very lively, active, witty, and funny person. Her father is in the Guards and he was recently posted to detached duty in Carmel from the 3rd Claymore. Her mother is a teacher at the View Point High School located next door to the primary school they attend.

In February, 1999, her father, Sergeant Oliver Hilston, is involved in a traffic accident. A drunk tourist driving a speeding car knocks him down on a pedestrian crossing. Sergeant Hilston has an opportunity to get out of the way, but he lives up to his true nature when expends the time by making sure two frightened children get to safety by tossing them to two other Swords on the footpath. He’s almost clear of the vehicle’s path when it reaches him and slams into his back leg while he runs for the side of the road. The impact spins him around and tosses him against another vehicle parked in the street so hard his leg is very heavily damaged and he suffers other injuries to his body.

Sergeant Hilston is in a hospital for four months while recovering. Melody is upset and depressed by the incident. She only starts to recover her outgoing self when he’s released from the hospital. Although physically healed Sergeant Hilston is a long way from being fully healed as he can’t reconcile himself to the loss of his left leg. It was so badly damaged the doctors had to amputate it at the knee. The only things he’s ever wanted to be were a Royal Guard and a father. For a while he was both. Now he can’t be a Guard and he feels he can’t be a real father with only one leg.

He’s hardly out of the hospital when they discover Mrs Hilston has an advanced cancer with only a few months to live. Since the doctors can’t halt or effectively treat the cancer she declares a wish to be at home with her family and not in a hospital. Having just been released from the hospital, and still recovering his own strength, Mr Hilston is unable to care for his wife. The Claymore Association (CA), the retired Guards body, pays for a nurse to see to their care. Two months later Mrs Hilston dies.

October, 1999, sees Mr Hilston very angry and very worried. He couldn’t care for his dying wife and he can’t get a job because all he knows is soldiering. Also, he now feels he can’t care for his daughter properly. He becomes very withdrawn, and he starts to drink too much.

The whole year has been a heavy trial for seven year old Melody, but watching her father vanish inside himself is just too much. She goes very quiet and stops interacting with any of the other children at school and out of school. Gordie becomes very worried about her. She goes to school, goes home, goes to school, goes home. She no longer plays or talks to anyone.

Interference

One afternoon in late October, about an hour after school has ended for the day, Gordie fronts up at Melody’s home. He rings the doorbell. She answers the door and refuses to let him in.

He gives her a hard stare, then he pushes past her. The house isn’t quite a mess. It’s clear Melody has done the best she knows how to do to keep it clean and tidy. There’s no rubbish lying about, nor dirty clothes, but it can do with a proper clean. Mr Hilston is on the lounge, half drunk, with a bottle of cheap whisky on the floor beside the lounge. He has a severe look on his face. Gordie can sense a very strong determination in him, and he can see the end of a pistol butt under the cushion he’s lying on.

Mr Hilston sees him and says, “Be a good boy and take Melody out to play, son.”

Gordie walks over to him and asks, “So you can kill yourself while she’s gone?” Melody gasps and Mr Hilston jerks as if hit by a strong punch.

He shakes his head, “No, I won’t do that.” Gordie can tell he’s lying and Mr Hilston intends to kill himself. That’ll destroy Melody, and Gordie can’t allow it. He must do something to stop this happening.

Gordie walks over to the telephone, but it’s disconnected. He doesn’t dare leave the room so he pulls out his radio, and Mr Hilston’s eyes go wide at seeing such a small boy with a radio like that. Geordie activates it then he waits for a response.

At Clay Comm Jenny Smith has listening watch on the emergency alert channel again. She responds when the activation signal beep occurs. She immediately hits the button to initiate the triangulation of its origin and responds with, “Clay Comm Emergency Desk, go ahead.”

Gordie says, “Falcon Nine, I’m sorry to trouble you, please patch me through to the Nest.” The Nest is the code name for Highcliff, the Royal Palace. He’s asking for a phone link to it. Mr Hilston recognises the code name and the call sign too, the Falcon series is reserved for the King’s personal agents. He begins to wonder about who this boy is. Jenny makes the link. The Palace switch operator answers, Gordie says, “Falcon Nine, please patch me to General Mannheim, it’s very important.” A few minutes later, “Good afternoon, Sir, it’s Falcon Nine. Sorry to disturb you, but I need your assistance here. I’m at the residence of medically retired Sword Hilston. He’s drunk, has a pistol, and he intends to kill himself when he can talk his daughter into leaving the house for a while. I need your help to convince him things aren’t that bad.”

Melody is looking at Gordie and her father with a very shocked expression while she switches her attention between the two of them like a tennis spectator. Mr Hilston is very surprised this young boy has the ability to get through to a retired general at the Palace, and so fast. And how can the boy possibly know he intends to commit suicide.

At the Palace Gordie’s father understands, from the way Gordie has contacted him and the words used, he’s on an unencrypted line while worried about interception and Gordie requires his help in his military persona. He says, “Right, Falcon Nine, I’ll be with you shortly.” His wife, Lara, is checking the Guards database for information about Sword Hilston. She shows the display to her husband. He nods to her then he leaves. She does another search of the database to find a retired Sword who served with them both. She contacts him and asks him to go to the Hilston house after giving him the address. Only then does she set about reorganising the appointments the King is about to miss before she arranges to deal with the few matters she can handle for him in his absence.

About twenty minutes later the front door of the Hilston residence opens and a tall well-dressed man enters. He calls, “Gordie?”

“In here, Father.” Mr Hilston’s eyes go very wide. Well, that explains a few things, being Granite Mannheim’s son means he can contact him and he’d be a prime candidate as a Royal agent for his age group.