Chapter 16

The ferry sailing was an overnight trip leaving Rosyth at 17:00 and docking in Belgium, at Zeebrugge, at 12:00 the following day. Kenny hadn't booked any accommodation so he settled himself down in one of the ferry's public lounge areas and passed some of the time by playing with his new computer.

At first the 3G card allowed him to connect to the Internet but the ferry was soon out in the North Sea and coverage halted abruptly. Before that happened Kenny had managed to download some road maps of Western Europe and he familiarised himself with the route the satnav would guide him along once he was back on dry land.

A google search led him to a website called 'viamichelin.co.uk' and that allowed him to enter his start and end points for his journey. The site then generated the best route and provided lots of useful detail. The journey planner set out details of the roads, the signs to look out for, distance travelled, where speed cameras were situated along the route, road tolls and even where the best places were to stop and take a break. There was a sidebar with adverts for places of interest to visit along the way and recommended hotels, restaurants and other useful information. Kenny assumed that the site made money through selling advertising space - whatever, it was certainly very useful.

According to the site his total journey was just over 1,300 miles or 2,100 kilometres. It estimated that the total driving time would be 20hours and 21minutes. Kenny couldn't help but laugh at the web-site's apparent precision. He knew it would be foolhardy to try and travel all that way without a break so instead carefully thought about where he might break his journey.

Once he was satisfied with his journey planning, Kenny paused to gather his thoughts. He had little doubt that the police would still be looking for evidence with which to pin something on him, that made leaving the country a good idea.

"It's time I switched from running away back to being the hunter again though. I refuse to be one of life's victims - I will find out who is doing this and I will make them pay!"

Kenny slipped the memory stick from his pocket and slid it into one of the USB ports on the notebook computer. He steeled himself and began to go through the e-mail messages once more, determined to keep searching for clues that would reveal who his controller was.

Drew had men waiting at the Cambo House Estate to arrest Kenny MacGovern whenever he returned. Details of the teacher's description and of the car he was driving had also been sent out to all mobile patrol cars. With little else to do or organise meantime, Drew decided it was time to have some fun and speak to DI Roger Black.

He couldn't put his finger on any specific incident or issue that had led to the bad blood between himself and the other detective. It just seemed that from the first moment they met each other there was an instant and mutual dislike. Like to two rival alpha males, they appeared to instinctively view each other as opponents and that fuelled the feeling between them.

Drew lifted his phone and punched in Black's extension number.

"DI Black."

"Roger, it's Drew MacIntosh. I'm sure you've heard the good news by now that I've got the lead in relation to Kenny MacGovern."

Roger had indeed already had a phone call from his own Chief, Ernie MacKay, informing him that Drew was taking forward another case involving MacGovern. The Chief had made it clear that Roger's interest had to be at an end and that he shouldn't interfere in any way. He had tried to squirrel the details of what Drew was up to from MacKay, but had been told simply to stay out of the way. Roger had put up a spirited fight, claiming that if it was in any way connected to the investigation that he already run then it stood to reason that he should be in the lead, not MacIntosh.

"Roger, drop it. That's an order," MacKay said, "you had your run at this chap and you dropped the ball. If I hear that you've in any way interfered in this case I'll have your balls. Do I make myself clear?"

Roger knew MacKay well enough to know that the decision would not be reversed. That left him seething at his old rival appearing to have got one over on him. Now he had to suffer the indignity of MacIntosh phoning him - no doubt to gloat over the fact that he had in effect stolen one of Roger's cases.

"I don't know how you've managed to convince the brass to let you pull this off MacIntosh but you and I both know that you're stealing my case."

"As usual you've got your head so far up your own arse you can't see the big picture, Roger. You were running with some low-level sex charges and you couldn't even make those stick. This thing goes way beyond that, way beyond that. That's why I'm in the lead now and not you. This thing calls for the first team to be in charge, not the reserves."

MacIntosh's words and tone of voice conveyed the fact that he saw himself as being by far the superior detective. Black found himself grinding his teeth together and his grip on the phone tightened as he tried to control his anger.

"Have you just called to rub it in or was there a point?" he asked.

"I want to know everything you had on MacGovern. There must have been something or you wouldn't have been able to get a warrant. Even you wouldn't be so stupid as to charge the man without some grounds, so what did you have?" Drew enquired.

"Check out the file and find out for yourself," Black snapped and hung up.

Back in his office, Drew laughed. He had expected nothing else from Roger and had in fact already ordered the file to be brought to him, knowing that would be the only way he would find out what he wanted. He couldn't resist taking the opportunity of hearing Black suffer however.

At that very moment, one of the station's admin staff appeared with the file in question and Drew signed for it. He wasted no time in opening up the buff folder and began to go through its contents.

Given the fact that the charge against MacGovern had been dropped, Drew wasn't surprised that there wasn't very much on the file. He quickly scanned the transcripts of the interviews Roger Black had conducted with the teacher and immediately picked up the references to the notebook that had been recovered.

He could see that Black had homed in on the sex angle as being the most likely to bear fruit. He didn't miss the mention of the Church of Cyberscience and the Hamiltons however, and his frustration grew as he realised Roger hadn't really explored those with MacGovern.

What was worse for Drew was that it became clear the notebook was a veritable gold mine. He just knew there would be material in there that would help him piece together the things that he was currently wrestling with. He didn't for one second believe Kenny MacGovern's story that the notebook was all about a book he planned to write. The fact that the notebook wasn't on the file gave him a sinking feeling and he reached for the phone once more.

"DI Black."

"Roger, it's Drew MacIntosh again. What's happened to MacGovern's notebook?"

Roger had been waiting for this although he hadn't expected another call quite so quickly. He realised that MacIntosh must have already called for the file if he was back on the phone so quickly. A smile of triumph broke out on his face, as he knew his rival really wanted to get his hands on the notebook.

"I'm afraid we had to give it back to him when he was released," he answered Drew's question, his joy evident in his voice.

"Thanks for nothing pal! How did you ever make detective?"

Having confirmed his fears, Drew slammed the phone down. He tried to quarry the thin file for every scrap of detail that could possibly help him, cursing the fact that he couldn't go through MacGovern's notebook himself.

The references to MacGovern being responsible for some kind of mind control seemed so far fetched as to be unbelievable.

"Is it possible he's been using some kind of hypnosis? Where does the sex with the young girls fit in?"

After two hours of complete concentration on Roger Black's 'evidence' Drew was developing a headache. He took a break and walked along the corridor to the coffee machine. He inserted the correct change and selected a black coffee. He took the drink back to his desk and fished out the small bottle of paracetamol from the drawer. Drew took two of the painkillers and sat back in his chair to go over what he now knew about Kenny MacGovern.

Drew snatched up the phone again and dialled frantically.

"It's DI MacIntosh here. I need an alert broadcast to all UK airports and ports for an immediate stop and detain on Kenny MacGovern. Get onto the relevant authorities and get details of his passport."

Despite the urgency of Drew's request, the various agencies involved in acting on it were typical bureaucracies. The request did arrive at the customs points at all ports and airports within six hours - just after 04:00. It carried details of Kenny MacGovern's description, his passport and his car. Unfortunately the request at Rosyth ended up in the in-tray of an already hard-pressed customs officer.

The man had his monthly statistical return to complete and he was giving that priority over everything else. The return was finished by 09:30 and the officer then decided to catch up on some of the urgent things from the previous day that he had put off.

He didn't actually come across the stop and detain notice until 12:40 and he passed it immediately to one of his staff to action. He noted the date stamp which told him when the alert had arrived but didn't think it would be a major problem.

When his junior officer burst through his door half an hour later he had a premonition that he could be in trouble.

"Sir! This stop and detain alert, this guy was on last night's sailing!"

The customs officer glanced at the clock on the wall. He knew that last night's ferry would have docked in Zeebrugge more than an hour ago. Cringing, he took the details from the junior and scanned the alert for the contact details of the person who had raised it. He picked up the phone on his desk and dialled the number given.

"Can I speak to DI MacIntosh please?"

"MacIntosh speaking."

"Ahh, detective. It's customs at Rosyth Ferry Port here. I don't know how to say this..."

"I suggest you just get to the point, man. Is it about MacGovern?" Drew demanded.

"Ahh. MacGovern. Yes. Indeed. Ahh. Well, the thing is..."

"Spit it out, man!"

"We only processed the alert half an hour ago, you see. I'm afraid your man was on last night's ferry. He would have docked in Zeebrugge at 12:00."

The customs officer held the handset away from his ear as he heard Drew's shouted curses on the other end of the line.

Two days of driving on unfamiliar roads, on the wrong side of the road and for most of the second day battling against the glare of a bright sun, had taken their toll on Kenny. Added to that was the fact that he had managed little sleep on the ferry.

He arrived at the Spanish holiday resort of Benalmadena at 9pm on the day after he had docked at Zeebrugge plumped for the first hotel he came to. The Torrequebrada Hotel was an impressive looking affair sitting close to the coastal route and it had rooms available. After a quick shower, Kenny adjusted the air-conditioning and fell into bed.

When he woke, he glanced at the bedside clock and saw that he had slept for twelve straight hours. He could hear the Mediterranean Sea crashing against the rocks outside his hotel and lay for a few minutes trying to get his thoughts in order.

"Okay. I've managed to get out of Scotland and I should be safe for a wee while. I've got the computer with me and I need to finish going through the e-mails on the memory stick. I've got plenty of money so that shouldn't be a problem. What else do I need to sort out?"

He decided that his first priority had to be getting some breakfast! After that he would scout around and try and find somewhere to rent for a few weeks rather than stay in hotels. This was a holiday resort after all - how difficult would it be to rent an apartment? Once he was settled he could concentrate on tracking down his controller. The one major consideration would need to be that whatever he rented would have to be in a 3G 'hotspot' so he could access the Internet wirelessly.

Kenny dressed in the creased clothes from his small bag. He realised he would have to shop for more suitable clothing given the heat of Southern Spain and added that to his 'to-do' list.

Breakfast in the Torrequebrada Hotel was a mixture of a buffet - cereals, fruit, various breads and rolls - or a hot breakfast. In the late morning light Kenny realised the hotel was clearly a favourite with visiting golfers from the UK. The catering was therefore designed to meet the needs of Brits and he was able to get bacon and eggs without any trouble.

Reading through some of the tourist leaflets reminded him that there were a number of decent golf courses in this area as well as a dizzying variety of attractions of all kinds for tourists.

He took his time over breakfast, relaxing after the arduous drive and the tension of the past week. Once he had finished eating he stepped outside the hotel and felt the heat. Kenny walked round the hotel to his right and crossed the carpark to reach the sea. The sun was already baking hot and the steady stream of sweat pouring down his back confirmed he would need to purchase more suitable clothing soon. He walked back to the hotel's entrance, which was virtually underneath the busy N-340 coast road, and back into the comfort of the air-conditioned foyer.

As it catered for a significant number of golfers and other sportsmen, the hotel had a small sports boutique situated in the foyer. Kenny picked out a number of pairs of shorts and some short-sleeved, open-necked shirts. He added a pair of canvas boating shoes, a Real Madrid cap and a pair of quality sunglasses to his small pile of shopping and then paid for the lot. He was shocked at first when he saw the cost but then remembered that he had to convert prices from Euros to Sterling. The sales clerk was cheery and helpful, no doubt pleased to have made such a significant sale and she bagged everything up for him.

Twenty minutes later Kenny made his way out of the hotel again, this time more suitably dressed for the heat, and made his way back to the car. The Toshiba notebook was under his arm and he sat it on the passenger seat beside him before turning it on. His plan was to drive round looking for signs advertising properties to rent with the Toshiba beside him giving an idea of where the 3G hotspots were. Kenny planned to focus his apartment searching only in those areas.

It wasn't difficult to pick out the 'for rent' signs as they were everywhere. Kenny smiled as that meant he would have a really good range of properties to choose from. Heading towards Gibraltar on the N-340, he only travelled a mile or so until he reached an area sign-posted as Torremeulle. He could see some pretty large properties slightly higher up on a hillside and swung the car over to come off at the next exit.