Chapter 13

Cathy Douglas

Cathy sat in the Sergeant-at-arms office, looking out of place amongst the older men playing cards; they were here just to guard her — at Sir Timothy's insistence.

"Come on Cathy, just a couple of hands!" A corporal called over to her.

"It's alright Charlie; I'm okay at the moment." Cathy called back although she didn't feel okay, she was sure that the butterflies would be appearing if she opened her mouth too much. The Corporal looked at the other men and gave a shrug, well he had tried.

A woman in uniform entered the office, "Stand by, we've got a possible! The member for Isdelver West got a strange call earlier, and he's been phoning others in the House ever since." She said.

Cathy got to a computer screen and started entering the constituent's name, but it appeared on the screen before she finished along with a small icon showing with the name Hiram. "Thank you Hiram!" Cathy said and began reading the information.

The man's name was Jack Fowler; he was 48, Married with two children and a well respected person in the area, he had no real affiliation to any outside group apart from his party.

Lived in the constituency and had no problems with the neighbours, could be found at the local taking part in the pub quizzes.

Background investigation has shown no adverse problems with his lifestyle and there is nothing to suggest that he is at risk. No further need to check on this person.

Cathy sighed and shook her head, 'So much for intelligence!' She thought to herself they must have missed something? But what could it be?

Cathy watched on the internal television as the Leader of the Opposition asked for the debate to be held in camera and the furore that this sparked off, a small indicator showed that the feed was purely internal now and that the external link was disabled.

During this time the argument in the chamber became heated and when Jack Fowler accused the Shadow Chancellor of lying in the house the Speaker had no choice but to expel him! The Sergeant-at-Arms escorted him from the chamber and to the office where Cathy was waiting.

"If you wouldn't mind staying here sir? We'll get to you shortly Miss." The Sergeant said with a wink that Jack missed.

Cathy tried not to seem interested in Jack Fowler; she just wandered around the room looking at things as if she was a teenager in trouble. What she was actually doing was mentally examining Jack, she turned to him. "So what did you do? They caught me sneaking in!" She said with a grin.

Jack shook his head, "I'm not sure ... Why did you try to get here?" He countered while thinking, he knew that he'd done something but couldn't think what?

Cathy could sense his confusion but kept talking, "Oh you know, friends at school made a bet that I couldn't get in. I suppose I acted on impulse, is that what you did?" She said pointing to the television screen which was displaying — CLOSE SESSION IN PROGRESS.

Jack frowned, he'd said ... something, but it wasn't him doing it ... what was wrong with him?

Cathy spoke again, "You said something about that man lying. Can you say that in the house? I thought it wasn't legal."

Jack looked at her in shock. He couldn't have said that! It was completely contrary to how he acted normally. Cathy picked up a remote control and started a video playing; it showed the chamber of the House and Jack could hear him accusing the Shadow Chancellor of lying to the house. If he wasn't already sitting down he would have! "That ... that wasn't me!" He said.

Cathy knelt beside him, "It was you who said it, although I don't think you were in charge of the body when you did it!" She said earnestly, she was now able to probe his mind; she followed a trace to where he was being driven to the House by a chauffeur.

"I'm sorry sir; could you confirm that this is the route we're going to take?" The man had said.

Jack looked at the PDA screen and then blacked out.

When he woke up he understood that at times he would be given orders and he would have to complete them, the last message was one that directed him to cast doubt on the House and to get as many of his colleagues to do the same, as this knowledge came to him he shook his head. "I don't believe it! I've got to let ... I have to..." He said shakily.

Cathy handed him a small glass of whiskey which he instinctively downed, he thanked her and then looked at her closely, "How did you know where that was?" He asked.

Cathy smiled at him, "My name is Cathy Douglas, I'm with the Organisation, I'm afraid your mind was invaded by the Association to make you follow their instructions. You were supposed to bring down the Government along with the others that had also been infected." She said.

Jack frowned, "Infected? How do you mean?" He asked.

Cathy sat down in front of him, "When you were shown that PDA there was an instruction on it that took you over, it implanted a command to obey the Association and to ignore your party line when it would help the Association. What I did was to enter your mind and remove the block so that you could recall what had happened ... that is all I've done, any private thoughts or memories are still private." She reassured him.

"How ... you entered my mind? It's not possible!" He said.

Cathy smiled at him, "No, it isn't is it. Neither is you standing up and calling someone a liar in the House! But you did it. Now we need to know who you contacted and how much they are involved in this. Can you make up a list, I'll inform the Sergeant-at-Arms to return you to the Chamber after you're finished." She said

"You can do that? But I thought... ?" Jack said.

"I did say I was with the Organisation, I have a few friends that seem to believe in me and trust what I say. You're now cured of the infection and I know you'll do the right thing." Cathy said and picked up a telephone, "Corporal Anders, can you get a stenographer in here, Mr. Fowler has a few names for you." She said and hung up. "I've unlocked your memory and you'll find everything is to hand. Don't worry this wasn't your fault and everyone knows it." She said with a smile.

Jack was left in the room as Cathy left, he didn't know what exactly the girl had done to him, but he could see everything that he had done that was against his normal actions, the people he met with and planned actions with. How could he have done that, then he remembered a voice whispering in his head, "The Association is everything, you will do the best for the Association at all times, Obey the words of the Association." He shook his head; this was what he had inside him? "Fuck you Association! You nearly destroyed my career!" he said out loud.

"I agree with you Sir, They were the bane of my life it was only the Organisation that saved me, they rescued my family and helped my parents. That's why I joined them." The Corporal said. "I'm sorry you were attacked by them sir, and I hope you'll decide to help us. Unlike them we let people make up their own minds.

Jack nodded, "After what they've almost done to my career I'm going to do my best to hurt them. What do you want to know?" He asked.

With Jack's evidence there was soon a list of those MP's that he knew were part of the scheme, they were soon taken away by the Sergeant-at-Arms and his men, some MP's were taken to Alpha 3 where they were seen by Cathy who was now more relaxed as she was able to repeat the same routine as she had done with Jack — it wasn't as debilitating as she thought it would be.

Jack appealed to the Speaker of the House to be allowed back into the House and apologised for his actions and words. The Shadow Chancellor accepted his apology and said he understood what had prompted the words.

Jack them made a speech telling the House how he had been taken over by the Association and the actions that he'd been made to take in order to sabotage the normal running of the House, he then offered his resignation to the House ... which was instantly rejected by all members.

The Prime Minister gave a speech that told the House that Jack had no option in his actions, and how the Association was working to the overthrow of the Government and the British way of life and how the House would never give in to their actions.

He then announced that he and the Opposition Leader would be making a joint Political Broadcast to the nation to inform them of the plot this was designed to show the Association that Parliament was united in its commitment to the people, and that they would never give in.

Then he outlined the danger to not only the Houses of Parliament but also the Queen and her family, and how the Armed Forces would be mobilised to protect the public and the Monarchy.

The House agreed to the plan and decided to sit until the danger had passed. It was well past midnight when the Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition then rose to meet with the Speaker of the House in his private office, there to sort out the speech they would give later that day.

The broadcast has been described earlier as was Grogan's response.

"How the blazes did he manage that?" Sir Timothy asked Baxter.

"I don't know sir. I would however hazard a guess that he has links in the Publicity office; they would have a copy of the speech to distribute to the papers. It would be easy as they have to have a printed version." Baxter said gravely.

Sir Timothy picked up a phone, "We need to check on the Publicity office, see who had access to the televised speech earlier in the day." He said and listened to the reply he nodded and hung up. "They're already on it! It appears that Miss Charlotte has thought of this as well."

Baxter smiled, "It's good that the girls are more involved with the Organisation, I take it you haven't told them what's happening to them?" He asked.

Sir Timothy shook his head, "That I've made them honorary Captains of the Organisation? No, but they will be ready to accept it soon. That's why I've placed them where they are, separately they are competent commanders, but together they are an unbeatable force."

"Especially with Cathy leading them, they seem to depend on her to instruct them. I would like to see how they get on." Baxter said and removed Sir Timothy's tray from the room.

Sir Timothy nodded sadly, "As would I ... but I truly doubt I'll get the chance." He said.

Grogan's words seemed to galvanise the Association to pull out all the stops, they organised riots around the country, forcing the police to assign more people to patrol these, which meant less to respond to emergency calls, which caused more problems with even more people complaining about lack of response times.

To overcome this the Army was then sent out to contain the protests, to leave the police to response to calls, but this then caused another problem, Although trained for fighting, the army had little skill in acting as riot control officers! After a few soldiers were injured from flying bricks they were issued with rubber bullets — the death of a young boy and elderly man provoked more riots and the Army had to be withdrawn.

Then the first reports of bombings came in, the Pepsi Ride in Blackpool suffered from three explosions that brought down a main support, while a car was on the ride ... there were 12 injuries, 2 fatal! Other Theme Parks were also targeted, it was no longer aimed at London this was now attacking the British public, but this wasn't how Grogan defended it.

"It saddens me that the Government is unable to defend us from these attacks! If only they would surrender to the Association then all this unpleasantness and death could be avoided. I say that we should all take to the streets and show the Government that the people want this stopped, it isn't much to ask for ... peace?" was how one television advert put it, an advert that was withdrawn by the station, but copies were on the internet within seconds of the transmission.

The South Coast was next targeted; the Brighton Pavilion was targeted and lost one of its domes due to a bomb attack, Worthing pier was destroyed by two explosions which started a fire on the wooden decking.

Southsea's Wild Mouse ride was damaged, but luckily the car was stopped before it struck the damaged rails.

At Portsmouth the Spinnaker Tower was struck on the 2^nd observation deck, killing 5 people and injuring many others, broken glass showered down on the surrounding ground and the mooring sites nearby which caused more injuries.

Finally the Dockyard at Portsmouth was attacked, HMS Warrior suffered and explosion and fire but this was quickly dealt with, but the worse was when the HMS Victory was destroyed by several explosions and fires which quickly ate into the tar and pitch that the ship was built with, all that was left was the main support beams which were burnt and blackened, leaving a skeleton of the oldest commissioned ship from the Hanoverian age.

In the light of these atrocities the Organisation supported the police and ambulance services where they could, but then a new wave of explosions started in London, these were traced to sprayers installed originally at the council's request, or so it seemed at first. But a check on the council records soon showed that this wasn't correct, but by then the installers were no longer around.

The Evening Standard had an emergency message on all the placards and on the main headline — ANY SPRAYERS INSTALLED MUST BE REPORTED TO THE POLICE — the paper also gave instructions on using CO2 fire extinguishers to freeze the contents of the sprayers until the Army was able to arrive to take the sprayers away in insulated packs.

With the discovery of several sprayers, all empty, in Buckingham house it was obvious that nobody was safe, although Sir Timothy believed that this was just a threat as no explosive liquid was present, he tried to persuade the Queen that they had to keep the government and monarchy safe! Although Balmoral House was clear the Queen and Price Philip declined to leave, as the Queen said during a memorial speech, "If my parents could stay in London during the blitz, then I should remain here with my people as well!"

Charles, Camilla and the two princes were sent by the Queen; just in case anything happened to her the succession would be assured.

Sir Timothy was now dressed in his Ermine robe ready for the next stage, it was the turn of the House of Lords to declare a state of emergency, but this could only be done with the permission of the Monarchy, Sir Timothy had already been through a lengthy meeting with the Queen in which they had decided what steps to take.

"We trust you and your organisation to do the best for our country; I am willing to sign the declaration and to give The Organisation the duty to protect the people and to prosecute your action against those who would destroy our way of life!" The Queen had said and then she agreed with the structure of the forthcoming sitting.

It was televised and there was strict security in both Houses, again Sir Michael of Medway set off the alarms but this was cancelled when he displayed his cufflinks and these were shown to be the cause of the alert.

The Lords took their places and there was a general discussion going on as Black Rod brought the MPs from the House of Commons to their positions in the Lords.

Then, as arranged, Sir Timothy stood. "Your Majesty, My Lords and Members of Her Majesty's Parliament. We are met in unusual circumstances. The country is in turmoil and there is nothing that the Government can do to help its dependants. Anarchy threatens to overwhelm us and the very lives of our countrymen is at risk! I call upon our monarch to speak."

There was a gasp as he said this, it was against all protocols of Parliament for anyone to speak before the Queen, and some started to speak out but they were quietened as Black Rod knocked on the floor for silence.