Chapter 1

Veronica Coleman was sitting in her study, the whole exercise had been completed successfully, the two girls had been rescued and back with their families. She sighed; it was strange the way Cathy had brought George, her father, together with Sandra, Veronica's own daughter. Almost as if it had been ordained by some higher power?

She shook her head in amusement, several years ago she wouldn't have even thought of such a thing, but that's what happens when you work for The Organisation. But since she was first approached by Sir Bartholomew, and his son, who then was plain, Timothy, she had seen and heard things that should have driven her mad.

"Oh Will, I wish you were still here!" She spoke to a picture on the sideboard, and then smiled, "for all I know you're most probably watching it all!" She added. The picture showed her husband Police Sergeant William Coleman, back when they had been married for 15 years and had one daughter, Sandra, who was the apple of her father's eye. Veronica wiped a tear from her face — her daughter, whom she hadn't spoken to for nearly 13 years.

She met William Coleman while she was at the cinema with friends and had bumped into a group of trainee police officers, she had dropped her handbag and he charmingly picked it up for her, as he handed it back to her something 'clicked'.

After the film they went for a coffee, Veronica found that William was a friendly and easy-going young man, he made her laugh, the only person she met who could do that.

They made a date for the next weekend.

It was due to William's influence that made Veronica apply as a legal secretary at a London firm of solicitors, she was surprised at how easy she was both accepted and able to do the work, almost as if she'd been doing it for years.

William proposed to her outside the cinema three months later.

They were married the Saturday following William's graduation from the police college — he was lucky enough to be assigned to a station near to where Veronica lived... which was unusual as the new officers could be posted all over the country.

12 months later they had their first, and only, child. A girl they called Sandra, of course Veronica had to leave her job, which she did reluctantly, but was assured that she would be welcomed back at any time.

William was a no-nonsense type of person, he had quickly rose from constable to sergeant and remained at that, not because there was little chance of promotion, oh no, it was that he preferred the position, he was able to watch over the constables, he would 'puppy-walk' the 'wooden tops' (the probationers) until he was happy with them.

He was an old fashioned copper, knew all the shopkeepers, as well as the local crooks. Both groups held him in high esteem, the former group would wave and talk to him as he walked past on his various beats. The latter, when he happened to be the arresting officer, would always go meekly and smiling. Yes, everyone knew and liked William Coleman.

When Sandra was old enough Veronica returned to her previous job, as a legal secretary in the partnership called Smythe and McKendrick - although both those partners were deceased the name remained. She found it easy to slip back into the routines, and to be honest she was surprised that she'd been welcomed back so quickly, almost as if she was expected — she suspected that she had a guardian angel looking after her.

This was almost confirmed when Sandra was 8, she was walking home from school and was running across a zebra crossing, when a car — being chased by a police car — overtook the waiting traffic and roared over the crossing. Sandra was frozen in fright as the car approached her, but then she was pulled back by a man, she didn't know who he was and he melted away in the crowd that had formed. Veronica, alerted by a next door neighbour, rushed home to her shaking and crying daughter, she didn't normally pray but she gave a silent prayer of thanks for the life of her daughter.

It was when Sandra was 12 when the tragedy occurred. She came home from school to find a Police car outside the house and a woman police officer with her mother, both were seated and Veronica was crying. When she saw Sandra she pulled the puzzled girl close to her and just kept sobbing.

The WPC went to speak but couldn't.

What Veronica had to tell her was this. William, with a rookie constable, had heard an alarm bell ringing in an antique shop, knowing that it was early closing they investigated.

"Shouldn't we call for backup sergeant?" Pierce, the probationer constable asked.

"It's probably a fault, keeps happening to Mike all the time, all we need to do is check the doors are tight and the windows are shut, then we'll get the station to phone him and that's that. There is no need to panic people un-necessarily son." William said confidently.

Will didn't add that Mike had already got the alarm fixed, and the firm had said that the fault was originally due to damaged cabling. The other problem was that this part of the road was in a 'dark area' the police radios had problems with communication, if they needed help the nearest place to call from was a phone box at the corner of the street! The superintendent knew about this problem, but it wasn't a high priority!

Will's musings stopped when they got to the back of the shop, the door was ajar. "Lad! I think you'd better get to that phone and call in; I'm just going to have a look!" Will pushed Pierce away towards the main road. As the probationer ran off Will pulled out his truncheon and entered the darkened shop.

The sounds of voices, all male, could be heard but their words were difficult to understand.

Will crept closer to the voices; the accents were north-country, so his friendly copper act wouldn't work with these people, as they didn't know him! His arm hit an ornament which fell to the floor, immediately the voices stopped. Oh well... nothing else to do...

"I'm a police officer! I suggest you remain where you are!" William said loudly.

The noise of furtive movement told Will that his suggestion had been ignored, he wondered if he should go back outside and wait for backup, but they might all escape! He moved forward, entering the next room where two men were standing, looking at him.

"Right you two now turn around and put your hands behind your backs!" William ordered.

"Oh I don't think so copper! You see you've forgotten something!" The cocky young man said folding his arms and smiling, the other man also started to grin...

A noise behind Will caused him to relax, Pierce had got though and re-enforcements were coming up to help him, he turned to call them over, but a blow to the side of his face forced him to his knees. 'There must have been someone else!' Will thought as another blow knocked him to the ground.

The last thing that Will heard was the cocky voiced man saying "Grab the thing and scarper, we've only got a few minutes... Come on Pete! Put him out of our misery!" And everything went black.

By the time Pierce returned with two other officers they found William Coleman lying on the ground with blood streaming from his head. They quickly called for an ambulance, but by the time it arrived at the hospital William Coleman had already died.

The force tried to find the perpetrators of the crime, but the owner of the antique shop couldn't tell them what was missing, there were no fingerprints at the scene of crime. An appeal for help gave them quite a bit of information, a surprising amount of which came from the underworld itself — which showed how much respect William had.

The information said that there were three out-of-town criminals recruited to do a job in the city, they were known to be rough and dangerous. However, when the police raided the hotel room they were reported as staying in, the birds had flown by only a few minutes, it later transpired.

The trail went cold in Sussex and a team of men were sent to investigate the lead in that county. There was a report of the men in Manchester, but for some reason this was discounted and never followed up.

The funeral was a solemn affair, the shops all closed to allow people to attend.

Sandra listened to the service, but couldn't really take it in. She'd seen the coffin where her father was lying, but somehow that cold lifeless thing didn't seem anything like the happy man she remembered.

The young girl was quiet during the funeral and indeed for several days following, she wouldn't cry as everyone expected but seemed to be building up to something. One night, when Veronica was tucking her in bed, she spoke for the first time. "Mummy, the people you work with, they help to put people who killed daddy away for a long time don't they?"

Veronica didn't know quite what to say. "... Well some of the time they do, but we're not always successful, and you know that most of the time we have to defend such people."

"But there are those who do persecute killers?" Sandra persisted.

"You mean prosecute my dear, yes there are!" Veronica reluctantly said.

"Well then that's what I want to be! I want to make sure that people like that pay!" Sandra said earnestly.

Veronica just smiled and switched off the light to allow her daughter to sleep, she knew this was just a momentary thing, as soon as she got over her grief she'd forget about this.

But Sandra didn't! She started to arrive at the partnership and talk to the solicitors there, taking in their stories, and gaining as much knowledge she could, learning what she'd need to study in school and university. At first the staff were amused, but then realised that this wasn't a phase that Sandra was going through.

Veronica didn't try to stop her though; this seemed to be Sandra's way of coping with her father's death. Veronica did get invited to Sandra's school for a meeting with her teachers, expecting the worst she was surprised to learn that Sandra's marks were improving; they were worried in case Veronica was making undue pressure on her daughter to keep her grades up, as they had also expected the young girl to fall behind.

In fact a report also arrived on the desk of Sir Bartholomew • • •. He was very interested in Sandra. He was the current Grand Marshal of, what had officially become known as, The Organisation. It was also this group that was responsible for saving Sandra when she was eight. He raised his eyebrows as he then re-read the reports from the watchers assigned to the child. He rang for his butler Wilson.

The butler entered the room, "Yes Sir? Do you require tea?"

Sir Bartholomew shook his head, "Not just yet Wilson, help me over to the chart." He had recently started to suffer from gout, he would have resigned and handed over his work to his son, Timothy, except it was not something a 16 year-old youth could cope with, although he was in training.

The butler helped his master to rise and they went over to a chart which showed family trees, not of Sir Bartholomew's family, this was concerned with a group of people and had now resolved itself into four families.

Sir Bartholomew pointed to the chart and took on a lecturer's voice, "This is the generation that will become known as the foretold ones. These four families are the main pivotal lines, The Marshall, Douglas, Coleman and Henderson. All signs indicate that these families are the progenitors of the ones..." the ones who will make, or break, both this Organisation and the other! Wilson knew all of this but kept quiet out of respect for his master.

But he did do something that surprised both of them, he pointed to where a black line showed up under a couple of the surnames. "What does that show if I may ask?"

Sir Bartholomew shook his head slightly, "The Henderson family became acquainted with the Association, and in fact they played a minor part in the Association's fight against us. We did think that the line was lost to us, but they drifted apart from the Association after 50 years."

Wilson frowned, "I wasn't aware that this was an option with the Association." He said.

"If they decide that you're of no use to them, then they dissolve their attachment. Normally it involves the death of that person, but the family normally remains, it's just more mischief wreaked by the Association." Sir Bartholomew said in an angry tone.

"But sir? Doesn't that mean they might return to the Association?" Wilson asked.

"Yes, they could. But that the problem with free will! They have to make up their own minds; we're not allowed to influence them!" Sir Bartholomew said.

"That didn't stop Howard from saving that Sandra Coleman." Wilson said.

"That wasn't intervention as such; it was just a reflex action to save a child. Nothing was wrong in doing that!" Sir Bartholomew said in a tone that indicated he'd gone over the situation several times.

"If you say so sir. Now why are we here, if I may ask?" Wilson said diffidently to his master.

"Well... take these children — they're all bright and quite well adjusted, even young Sandra, she's just lost her father but hasn't allowed it to affect her school work, in fact she's taken an interest in the law, quite a remarkable interest in one so young." Sir Bartholomew seemed quite happy as if Sandra was his own daughter.

"Indeed Sir, perhaps she's masking her grief by all this work? It's not unknown, at some stage her grief will emerge."

But Sir Bartholomew shook his head, "But not for some time to come. She seems to have a fixation to learn about the law... Make a note Wilson; she is to be offered a place in university that is, if she should require one!"

Wilson nodded, "Certainly Sir Bartholomew, purely for this Sandra Coleman? Or should this apply to the others?" He enquired.

Sir Bartholomew rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "Well... at the moment there is a total of seven children. The Marshall's have two - Peter and Rachael, the Douglas's have one - George. Veronica Coleman has Sandra and then the Henderson's have three - John, Susan and Martha. We'll have to have teams to watch them and report on them!"

Wilson bowed gravely "Of course Sir, I'll get that underway immediately. Now if I can get you back to your seat sir, I'll have tea served."

While Sandra was improving at school, Veronica found that life at Smythe and McKendrick getting worse, petty bickering within chambers was causing problems with the secretary staff and the solicitors. There were accusations of favouritism in assigning cases to some, not to mention pockets being lined by some of the others.

Over the next few months it got worse Veronica could see that there would be a serious crisis in the chambers soon, she tried to convince Herbert Vise, the head of the chambers, about the problem but he refused to even consider this happening.

"This partnership has been running for nearly 80 years, I can't see it falling down overnight, you must be mistaken! Now I've no time for all this speculation and alarmist attitudes. If you can't work here just say so! We can always get more staff you know!"

Veronica puffed herself up. "I have worked here for several years, I feel that I'm more in touch with events here than most of the legal partners. If you don't sort this problem out then the partnership is going to lose its clients."

"You can't tell me what to do! I am the head of chambers! I tell you what to do, and now I'm telling you to pack your things and leave, one thing we can't have here are troublemakers, and that is what you appear to be! It was a pity, your service with us has been excellent but there you are! We'll send you your wages along with a reference should you need one" Herbert got up from his seat and opened the door to his office. "Thank you for your work Mrs. Coleman, it was appreciated."

Veronica just stood there for a moment unable to comprehend what had happened, she had worked out just what was needed to be done, but this... this... MAN! had decided not to listen to her.

She stood up and went to the door before turning and accusingly said, "Mr. Vise I was going to say that the problems facing this partnership would be a simple task to resolve... but obviously it would be too difficult for you!" She stormed out of the office, leaving a spluttering Herbert Vise behind her, and went to her desk where she packed her meagre belongings and left the building without a word.

- When he heard about the affair Sir Bartholomew was at first annoyed and then amused when he read Veronica's response. The legal partnership was one that the Organisation had been involve with, indeed the original charter still stated that the Organisation had complete control over all aspects of the partnership. Sir Bartholomew considered possibilities.

It was true that the partnership was losing direction. The head of chambers was an elderly duffer, who was still immersed in the past. What the partnership needed was co-ordination. And who was better than a legal secretary? It was risky, not to say unheard of! He would have asked his legal team about it, except they were the senior partners at Smythe and McKendrick.

He snorted; well it would certainly shake them up. He picked up a phone and contacted the Lord Chancellors office...

When Sandra got home from school she found her mother sitting at the kitchen table just staring at her father's picture. Sandra moved to her mother, seeing the tears in her eyes, "Mom? I don't know what happened, I went to see Paul, but he said you weren't working there anymore!"

Veronica wiped her eyes and tried to smile at her daughter, "I'm sorry darling it is just that I said the wrong thing to Mr. Vise. He didn't like it and so I've left the office."

Sandra's 14 year-old face was one of shock. "But mom, you loved it there. I mean what are you going to do if you don't have to go there?... How will we live?" the girl asked.

Veronica laughed at that. "Oh Sandra, I only went to work because I wanted to. We don't need the money, your father was insured and I do have some savings, so it really doesn't matter"

But Sandra didn't see it like that "Doesn't matter? But mom, how can you say that? How can I find out what's happening? How can I ensure that my options are correct? You didn't consider me at all did you?" Her voice was accusing.

Veronica shook her head, didn't Sandra understand? Obviously not! "Sandra dear, you have to realise that you already know all you need to... There's nothing more that you need! Except to keep you marks up, and you're well on your way already." Veronica said, not raising the point that Sandra was being selfish.

"Oh mother, you just don't understand!" Sandra said and ran upstairs to her bedroom.

'No, I probably don't." Veronica thought to herself as she heard her daughter crying in the room above.

The next few days were awkward as Sandra didn't speak to Veronica, coming home from school, going upstairs to her bedroom and doing her homework while listening to the radio. She only came down to eat her meals and then returned to her room.

Veronica found that she couldn't concentrate, she was at a loss! She needed to work, it was part of her! She couldn't stay at home doing nothing! She found herself cleaning everything, even ornaments that she'd only just put down. It was so aggravating she thought to herself.

The ringing of her door bell brought her out of herself; she shook her head and went into the hall. She opened the door to find a distinguished man standing there, beside him was a younger man.

Before either could speak Veronica spoke, "I'm sorry I'm not interested in Jehovah Witnesses, and started to close the door."

The elder man spoke quickly, "it's alright Mrs. Coleman! We're not here to convert you to god."

Veronica stopped the door and looked at them quizzically, they couldn't be door-to-door salesmen either as they never know the names of the people they're calling on. "I'm sorry, but who are you?" She asked

The younger man was trying to hide a smirk, but the elder gravely handed a small white piece of cardboard. "My card Mrs. Coleman." Veronica looked at it, printed neatly was the name Sir Bartholomew • • • along with a telephone number.

"Well that's all very interesting, but what do you want with me?" She asked Sir Bartholomew.

"Ah! There's the question! It's a matter of what you can do for us rather than what we can do for you, may we come in?" He replied and then added, "This is my son, Timothy."

Veronica opened the door and allowed them to enter, she was going to show them to the lounge but found Sir Bartholomew already walking in that direction.

"Please Mrs. Coleman, it's very important, and you might find it profitable." The younger man said gesturing after his father.

Veronica gave a smile, "Now you're sounding like someone from Reader's Digest."

The younger man gave a mock frown. "Well that's not nice! I mean I haven't even offered you a book yet!"

Veronica couldn't help herself she laughed and followed the older man into her living room. When she got in there she found that he wasn't sitting in the armchair as she expected but on the uncomfortable sofa.

"I won't sit in William's chair; it would be too upsetting for you, especially at this time." Sir Bartholomew said warmly.