Chapter 10

Veronica was seated in an armchair, with a fire burning in the fireplace to her side, it was warm and comfortable.

"Welcome to the sharp end of the stick!" Sir Timothy's voice sounded in the room, "I'm sorry that you had to take over, it seems I'm not as strong willed as I thought." He said and then appeared standing beside another chair that had materialised with him.

Veronica looked at him; he appeared to be dressed casually and relaxed, "How do you cope with it?" She asked him.

He sat down and shook his head, "Now and again I come to this room, it is quiet and relaxing. And it's just a simple room! Isn't it amazing?"

Veronica sighed and sat back in her chair, now she was concentrating she could see what he meant; the absence of any sounds seemed to allow her to feel safe and relaxed. "Yes... yes it is. How can I get back here?" She asked.

Sir Timothy smiled and closed his eyes before answering, "The inner chaplains know how to get here and will guide you here, just as they have now. It's a thing they can do very well." He said and then his body was gone.

Veronica decided that she would just sit for a few minutes and she also closed her eyes, allowing the peace of the room to surround her.

The next day was just as busy, Veronica made sure that Jackie and Amanda were being looked after by the maids, who had apparently adopted both while they were there, in fact there was also a few requests to allow both girls to move into The Program.

Veronica was going to deny it, but then found herself signing the authorisation forms — prior to the psychologists agreement — to allow it, 'I thought you weren't going to interfere?' she thought to herself

'They will benefit from it, and it will help Jackie to adjust' she 'heard' from deep within herself.

'But what about Amanda?' She thought.

'She will sense the strength in her sister and profit from it; she is too young for the main training but will benefit from a small taste.' The unknown voice said and somehow she knew it was true.

She passed the forms to Baxter who, after raising his eyebrows, passed it on to the Project liaison officer.

She was surprised when she received a phone call from Diana, "I've thought about what you said, I'm still not sure about you people, but from what I've read and heard you're not that bad... I was wondering if I could come in, on a part time basis only, and possibly give a talk and maybe try out some of the new stuff you people have?"

Veronica smiled to herself, "Of course, I'm sure you'll have a lot to pass on, I mean we're not at war with anyone but it never hurts to find out how things were done and how they can be adjusted, as for the other part I don't see why not, why don't you come down and I'll put you in touch with some-one here." She said and hung up.

It was at this point that Sir Timothy made an appearance, he apologised to Veronica for leaving her the mopping up detail, but as he said, "I couldn't have done better myself, you were a miracle Veronica an absolute miracle!"

Veronica shook her head, "I hope you're going to be taking the reins back. If I have to do anymore I'd scream." She said, but she was smiling as she said it.

"Alright Veronica, but I thought you'd want to see this through to the finish. After all you've been the main instigator of it all?" Sir Timothy said.

Veronica thought for a moment, it was true that she wanted to see this completed, she had been driving people along this and so she nodded, "Alright Timothy, but anything else is your problem!" She said.

Sir Timothy smiled, "Of course Veronica, you are in charge of the Lavender House Project and have full control on that." He said and then added, "Baxter mentioned that I should meet somebody? Do you know anything about that?"

Veronica handed him the Merlin file, she'd been keeping it in a drawer — just to have it handy, and he sat down to read it.

Veronica was sorting through the reports from the people who had taken over from the original staff at Lavender House, the children — although wary at first — were now accepting that they were being taken care of and were telling their stories, many of them were along the lines of Samantha's and they were receiving expert attention to help them cope with their abuse.

They also gave details of some of the visitors who had left with the missing children; Veronica noted that these descriptions had been passed on to the police. It was at this point that Sir Timothy gave a laugh which at first made Veronica angry, but then she realised that he wasn't reading her report but Merlin's, she could guess which part.

Sir Timothy put the file down, "That was wrong of them! Baxter what's being done for that woman?" He asked.

"The situation is under control sir, we have solicitors now working on the case and they are hopeful that a successful result will be achieved shortly." Baxter said, Sir Timothy raised his eyebrows at that Baxter indicated Veronica with his eyes and Timothy nodded.

"Very well. When we next hear from this Diana Carmichael arrange for a meeting." Sir Timothy said.

Veronica laughed, "You're never going to believe me, but Diana was just on the phone, she agreed to give some lessons and I've asked her to call in here and we'll set them up."

Timothy nodded, "As always when I get an idea, you've already started it! Thank you Veronica, I think I know exactly where I need you." He said. (And so it was that Veronica, although still keeping a watch on the Partnership of Smythe and McKendrick was becoming more involved with the active part of the Organisation).

In the meantime Veronica was working away, checking the evidence for the upcoming court cases, as both Beaven and Smythe would be separate trials — it was better that way rather than to present them together.

After that the others would be tried as accomplices to the offence to varying degrees. But the main guns were after Beaven and Smythe!

The BBC reported the announcement in the following way:

"In breaking news, the Police and Social Services have announced the completion of an exhaustive joint investigation regarding corruption at a high level. They stress that the situation has been contained and that all involved are now under arrest pending final charges and subsequent trial.

The investigation has been centred at a children's home located in London, and all sources say that the staff at the home has been changed to help those resident there.

How the investigation was started is shrouded in mystery but the announcement did state that a member of the public alerted the Police who, in line with policy, contacted the Minister in charge of Social Services, who authorised a complete open house to allow the investigation to proceed.

We will give you more information as we receive it; a press conference is scheduled for tomorrow."

There was also a mention of a severe shake-up of the Social Services with an emphasis on child protection. A couple of suicides were reported but with no link to the main story as far as Veronica could tell.

She switched off the television and, after picking up a phone, dialled a number, she asked to be passed to intelligence. "I've just seen the news, these suicides, were they anyone known to us?" She asked.

The operations officer checked up and then reported back. "Yes Colonel, it seems they went missing just after the police finished talking to them, I'm sorry Colonel nobody kept an eye on them." He said.

Veronica shook her head, in a way this was her fault, she was the one who started all this. "Can we watch the others or would that be too much." She asked.

"Only the main ones Colonel, I wouldn't even think to assign so many people to this, we can't be everywhere Colonel." He said.

Veronica could agree with him and so she said, "No, don't worry. If they decide to kill themselves then it's their own decision! I'm sorry to have disturbed you." She said.

"That's alright Colonel, in a way it's nice that you did think of them. To be honest I wouldn't worry about it Colonel, you are not responsible for something other people do." The officer said and they broke the connection.

Veronica sat down in her chair, he was right of course, but it still seemed to hurt.

The trial of 'The Crown verses Mr. William Beaven' was one of the main cases on the books. At first William denied any of the charges and pleaded 'Not Guilty', since this meant that his victims would each have to give evidence.

The case was scheduled to run for months, unless any of the witnesses were too scared to face the trauma of attending and reliving their assaults.

On the times that Veronica set in on the case, she felt she had to, she was surprised to see Diana in the spectators gallery following the case closely, since receiving her pension — plus the back pay that the Services 'forgot' to pay, and while Samantha was at school, she was at one of the Organisation's area 'brushing up on old skills' as she said. When Veronica approached her Diana said, "I wanted to see that bastard get what's coming to him!" She said, and Veronica could understand her feelings.

After the first week of evidence, none of the children refused to give their evidence — thanks to the work of the Organisation's psychiatrics in calming their fears — William's brief could see that there was too much bad feeling being generated by this and advised him to change his plea to guilty, which he finally did.

When this was announced in the court there was a cheer from everyone in the gallery, causing the Usher to run around calling for order. The Judge noted his change of mind and then dismissed the Jury, since William changed his plea then there was no need for them to consider his guilt.

The Judge then spoke, "William Beaven, You have changed your plea which is commendable in the light of the evidence already placed before the court, it is a pity that you took so long in this choice as it has already placed much pain upon those who have given evidence and also on those who were waiting to provide their evidence. I will have to think about the length of sentence, court adjourned for one week." The Judge got to his feet.

"All Rise!" Said the Usher, everyone in the court were on their feet, the Judge bowed once and then left the court.

Veronica had already been informed about Williams change of plea and was in the court to hear it officially; she looked up to where Diana was sitting and noticed that she was one of the first to lead the cheering.

She went to the gallery entrance where Diana was the last to leave, "Well Diana? Are you satisfied?" She asked.

Diana shook his head, "You know the law Veronica, what do you think he'll get?" She asked.

Veronica thought for a moment before answering, "Well with the attitude of the judge and the way the evidence was showing William, I wouldn't be surprised if he got 50 years!" Veronica told her.

Diana snorted, in the way Veronica remembered from first meeting her, "Yes, and he'll be out in what 20, 25 years and still able to harm children! It isn't right Veronica, it just isn't right!" She said and walked away before Veronica could answer.

Veronica watched her and agreed, yes it wasn't right, but it was the law!

The following week Veronica was again in the court, she looked up to the gallery but couldn't see Diana which puzzled her, she was sure that Diana would have been there for the sentencing.

The Judge entered the court room, with the Usher asking everyone to rise until the Judge was seated. William was told to remain standing.

"Mr. William Beaven, I have studied the evidence both given and written and have been saddened by what I've seen.

"You were working with vulnerable and impressionable children who depended on you to protect and to help them, but you betrayed their trust! You took their innocence and childhood away from them without any regard for their well being.

"Not satisfied with that you then used these poor children to pander to you and your friends sexual fantasies, without regard to their own feelings, in fact should any of them refuse to 'entertain' they were forced by threats and actual harm being applied to them. There are also the written statements about children missing from the home, those that have yet to be traced.

"I've had to think long and hard about this, and I'm sorry to say that I can only follow the guide-lines allowed to me by law, I have no alternative to sentence you to a term of 10 years on the first offence of child slavery, 20 years for procuring children for sex and 20 years for multiple rape of minors, these to run consecutively, this is a total of 50 years.

"Take him down!" And with that William was taken to the holding cells before his transport to the prison.

His last words were, "You can't keep me, I have friends who will have to help me!" as the door to the stairs down closed.

Veronica shook her head, with parole he could be out in 25 years, but justice had been done, slightly dejected she walked to her car where Hector was holding the door open for her.

The transport was waiting for the prisoners to be taken from the courts to the various prisons, it was an enclose security transport, with single 'room' for each prisoner to be held while in transit.

To get to the van each prisoner was handcuffed to two guards — to reduce the risk of them running off — and then taken to the steps of the van before entering it and being place into the secure seat where they would also be restrained.

There was a large crowd waiting for William as he emerged, he was still defiant and didn't seem to take any notice of the people calling for his blood, his guards allowed him to get to the top of the steps where he looked back at the people still calling out, he smiled and then seemed to stumble as he entered the van, falling onto his face.

When the guards tried to pull him to his feet, he didn't move.

When they managed to turn him over there was a neat hole in the middle of his forehead where the bullet had entered.

The trial of Thomas Smythe was a quick affair; he had admitted all the charges and pleaded guilty.

He was sentenced following the normal psychological reports and received 30 years, due to the fact he didn't contest the crime and admitted his guilt immediately, of course he lost his job at the Social Services — also several positions, some high up, also became vacant for various reasons, these were filled by others following an in depth check on their backgrounds and home life.

The men taking Smythe to the van were taking no chances; the van was loaded inside the court area with a covered roof.

The officers made sure that Smythe was firmly tethered, so to stop his trying to escape while others were being loaded and then returned to the court house to get the next prisoner.

During this time the driver shut the passenger door and drove slowly to the exit, the guard there opened the gates and waved the van through.

When the officers arrived with the next prisoner they were astonished to find the van gone, it caused a disturbance as it seemed the van had disappeared, it was assumed that somehow Smythe and some others had contrived to get him to escape by stealing the van and its documents.

It was several days later that two boys playing in some woods, a long distance from London, found an abandoned van, the driver's door open but the keys missing, they reported it to the police who sent a car to investigate.

The two officers inside the car had a set of keys for most vehicles and soon had the van started, but it was the stench from inside that caused the most concern for them; they took the van to the station where a representative of the security firm had a duplicate set of keys.

Inside the van, strapped to his seat still, was Smythe. But he couldn't tell them what had happened, his head had a hole drilled in him, subsequent examination showed that his hands had been shot, pre-mortem, as had his genitals.

"Poor bastard must have suffered a lot before he was put out of his misery" an officer was overheard to say.

Of course investigations were made by the police and the Organisation, it was assumed by the police that some of Beaven and Smythes' people shot them to keep them quiet, although it was too late as Beaven had kept meticulous records of everyone involved.

Veronica made a trip to visit Diana; it was something that she'd been doing for some weeks ever since Beavens' demise, Diana was pouring out the tea.

"It was strange about Smythe wasn't it?" Veronica said.

"Really? Why what happened?" Diana asked calmly

"He was found dead in that stolen van." Veronica replied sipping her tea.

"Oh how dreadful, I suppose someone wanted him dead." Diana said as she dunked a biscuit into her tea before nibbling at it.

"Well we're not sure who it would be, but from the reports it was an expert, she knew exactly what to do." Veronica said watching Diana

"She? It seems you think you know who it was!" Diana said without any movement.

"The only problem is there's no proof, and you know how it goes when there's nothing to give us clues. So it both Beaven and Smythe gone." Veronica said again sipping her tea, as if talking about murder was natural.

"Yes, the assassin must have really known what he was doing." Diana said emphasising the he.

"Yes, we shall never find... him or her." Veronica agreed, "By the way I hope Merlin has completely retired now?" She asked.

"Oh yes, I doubt if she'll ever return." Diana said and finished off her cup.

"Good, I'd hate to have to try to arrest her." Veronica said as she put her cup on the table and got up to leave. "By the way Diana, you forgot to sign in that sniper-scope you borrowed, don't do that again."

"I'll make sure that it's returned... Thank you Veronica." Diana said sounding slightly relieved.

"The law has its role, but justice should be done!" Veronica said cryptically and left the house, leaving Diana to think.

Several years passed and Sir Timothy and Joyce's daughter was growing up and becoming a precocious young girl.

There had been a few incidents with the Association trying a few things that had been stopped, although the Association managed to get some of their people into Parliament, on both the current opposition and government side but the Organisation's people were there to counteract any effects they may have tried.

Veronica was spending less time at Smythe and McKendrick now, Sally and April were now expert at sorting out the simple problems and only had to disturb Veronica on the very rare occasions.

The next problem that Veronica had was a personal one. Sir Timothy called Veronica to his office.

"How's Sandra Veronica?" Timothy asked her after a few minutes of small talk.

"I haven't heard from Sandra since the new term started. Why?" Veronica asked.

Sir Timothy sighed and thought back to the report he'd read earlier.

Sandra Coleman, University student currently studying Business Law — changed from Criminal Law. She has recently changed lodgings to stay with John Henderson. Note: There is a question regarding this person — He has been seen with known members of The Association. No evidence of collusion as yet.

We are carrying out background checks on this person, but would suggest that 'this association' should be curtailed as soon as possible!

Sir Timothy snorted — 'Curtailed as soon as possible!' That was a nice phraseology which held no interest in real life situations. He shook his head then picked up another report. This one, though, was much better. Rachael Marshall had met up with George Douglas and the two appeared to have 'clicked' as the saying goes, they were also staying together and were both studying law. Sir Timothy made a note to get them into Hargreaves and Williams as soon as they had graduated. From their current grades and work — Sir Timothy had copies of their work — it would be seen that both were succeeding in their allotted areas.

Peter Hamilton — older brother of Rachael, was now involved in the upcoming world of computing — creating programs in Fortran and COBOL, and was producing several fine applications, many of which were now being used in the Organisation. Sir Timothy thought for a moment and then dictated a memo to expand the operations to include more computer usage and to get Peter Hamilton recruited to head the new section. Technology was always better when harnessed, and if Peter wasn't the one they were expecting, well it wouldn't hurt to have more experts on their side.

But there was one little problem, it was strange that with all the people there had been no sign of any unexplained occurrences which would have been expected. A slight amount of 'slippage' as his experts called it. Even checking with Robert in the Dreamtime had given no result. Just Bamalins' normal sneer — but Sir Timothy could tell he was worried as well, crouched in his corner of the room talking to his counterpart.

Maybe the thought out calculations were wrong! What if someone had been missed, and the twins were already out there unsupervised and rogue?

Timothy didn't answer her at first, he handed Veronica a file named, Mary Quinn. It detailed a young woman who was admitted to a hospital in Australia; she had been to an Aboriginal Camp and had drunk something which left her in a coma for several weeks, a scan showed a dark area in the brain which was interpreted as a tumour, which was benign but un-operational.

A second file identified Mary as the origin of the statuette that Bemalin had shown to Veronica several years ago, Mary was now being watched by a surveillance team.