Chapter 83

Katie's visit was a whirlwind of delight and terror. I longed for it to start and dreaded meeting her again.

The door opened and...

"Dad..." She was my little baby again, the small trusting infant who believed that her Dad knew everything and could do anything. How I then hated the coming day when I would fall short of her beliefs.

We hugged for the longest time. My tears wet her head and hers my chest.

"What happened, Dad?" She looked at me with those trusting eyes again. "Why did Mum tell us that you'd run off with someone else?" her eyes flicked towards Sasha, "Is that her?"

I told her my side of the story, Sasha sat next to me, her arm through mine. We didn't try to hide our love.

"So Karolina and Joasia are slaves?" she looked at me teasing a little.

"Yes." I answered seriously, a little pained by my memories of Joasia.

"Are they here?"

"Karolina is, Joasia and June, another girl..." I started to answer her.

"Another slave?" She had a broad grin now.

"Yes, they were slaves; June had just given herself to me as a slave." I felt my tears sting my eyes.

"What happened to them?" She asked a little worried now by my reaction.

"They were murdered, we, Joasia, June and I, were poisoned. They couldn't save Joasia or June."

"Oh Dad, I'm so sorry, and I've been making you talk about them, dragging up all of those painful memories." She hugged me as Sasha looked on. I could see that Sasha was impressed by Katie's empathy.

Then she asked the question that I'm sure most of the Marines wanted answered, "How did you become a Baron?"

"Well that's a long story. First of all Sasha bought me a Lordship..." We talked long into the night. Katie watched as my girls came and went, her eyes opening wide at their nudity at first but quickly becoming used to their nakedness.

"BILLION?" Katie looked at me in shock. "A BILLION POUNDS? A REAL BILLION POUNDS?" her face had gone white. "And Mum isn't trying to get most of that for herself?" She looked at Sasha, "That would be the real miracle, stopping my Mum from wanting all of it."

"Well, it's not really a Billion..."

"Oh so your nearly a billionaire then?" She said with a laugh.

"Oh I'm a real Billionaire, at the end of the last quarter I had about 14 Billion in cash and assets." I spoke without thinking.

"14 BILLION! That's ... that's ... a fucking shed full!"

"Maybe fourteen or fifteen shed fulls." Said Sasha helpfully. We both stared at her until she burst out laughing.

Then Katie laughed, and I joined in too.

Our meeting was wonderful. We laughed, we cried, we spoke of the things that had happened to us and we listened in wonder at the other's story. But all too soon it came to an end. As wonderful as our time together had been, so was our parting sorrowful. I closed the door behind Katie with more than one tear in my eye.

Sasha hugged me, "She's a wonderful girl, no, not a girl, a young woman. You must be so proud of her."

Unwilling to trust my voice I just nodded. It was true I really was proud of my Katie.

Prof and 2 were wrong; they waited three days before sending out the expected replacement products. Eight police vans started out from the four main stations that were being watched. Each van took a different route. It was just a pity that they seemed to have forgotten the GPS trackers in the vans. We also had people watching the vans. After all, they may get smart and use the false van trick that we used.

And they did try it. The change over came in tunnels each time. However our watchers kept track of the correct vehicles and we waited.

The first van stopped in a motorway services for a break. After all, they were supposed to be on a normal patrol and normal officers had regular breaks. We took that van by the simple expedient of covering it with a bottomless portacabin* and laying mud tracks and building supplies and vehicles all around it. The two 'coppers' returned and spent over three hours looking for their lost van, including looking over on the other side of the motorway, before phoning for assistance. They never once asked any of the 'builders' around the portacabin where it had come from.

The second van was waylaid on a remote section of moorland. A sharp dip between the hills provided us with perfect radio blackout and the driver and front passenger surrendered their weapons without any shots being fired. Det-cord cut a large circle in the side of the rear compartment and deafened & disorientated the four men waiting inside. We took all six men alive and, basically, unharmed.

The third and fourth vans were caught on the same single track road. We'd been able to trick each one into entering from opposite ends and they blocked each other in the centre. The drivers in each van thought that the other van was the enemy. The resultant fire fight only lasted five minutes but only two men survived, both of those badly wounded. Our people gave them the coup de grace and we only had bodies to deal with. Both vans were badly shot up but they didn't have to be driven far. Agricultural vehicles lifted both vans across some fields and onto waiting lorries.

Van five nearly escaped us. The driver must have been a former professional rally driver. He managed to get out of the trap we'd set and ran; straight into our first backup. The RPG ripped open the van and destroyed both men and drugs in a furious fire. Our people cleared up and re-laid the damaged tarmac road surface. Within three hours the only sign of what had occurred there was a fresh patch of tarmac; and that was being muddied and disguised.

The driver of van six decided to call in at home on his way down south. To see his old Mum, I've no doubt. He invited his colleagues in for a cuppa as well. One of our men just walked up to the van, broke in, hotwired the ignition and drove off. It took less than a minute. This team we'd leave to their bosses to sort out.

Van seven was caught on a bridge between two bulldozers. They trapped the van and lifted it off the ground; the driver and front passenger decided to jump into the canal below. This was a mistake as the drop to the canal surface was over twenty feet and the canal was only two foot deep. Both men suffered injuries in their fall and both drowned in the shallow water. The men in the back of the van were trapped. The bulldozer blade prevented them from opening the rear facing door. They fired freely through the van walls but our people were protected by the bulldozers. A small charge on the side of the van dealt with all the occupants. The van was placed on a lorry and taken away.

Van eight was possibly the easiest take down and possibly cost the most to stage. We did a film set scene again. Everything went well, though one spectator was heard to remark that it didn't seem as 'real' as the other TV shows he'd watched. We took four men alive and that was good enough for us.

The amount of drugs that we stole surprised us. We took more than triple the amount we'd stolen in the previous raid. And it was all medically pure.

After our successes I wanted some way to reward those who'd helped us. Prof put me off giving them money. The type of people we wanted help from didn't do it for money; they did it because it was the 'right thing to do'.

I decided to have a coin minted. Like the regimental coins of old they'd be given to those who took part in the raids. In the future if anyone said that he was on raid so and so, others could say 'show me your coin.' Hopefully that would stop a lot of boasters, not all of them, just most. Prof thought that that was a brilliant idea.

I mentioned this to the Coven and my slaves. June looked up hopefully, "My Master, this girl begs to be allowed to make the coins."

I looked at her surprised.

"June, show me what you can do. You have £100,000 to buy the materials and press, and to get the first design done," I told her.

June's eyes sparkled, "Thank you my Master, I'll do a good job Master."

I hoped so. If June could shine at medal-making like Karen and Karolina did in their areas, then I'd set her up in a workshop to make specialist medals and coins. It would do her, and the rest of my slaves, a lot of good if she did do well.

I was in my office when Sandy called. "Trystan Bonner on the phone for you, Boss."

"Thank you Sandy."

I pressed the button next to the lit outside line marker.

"Trystan, what can I do for you?" I asked him with a smile in my voice.

"Baron, I'm calling to let you know that Captain Le Farge will be visiting you tomorrow."

"Thank you Trystan. It's always unpleasant when guests turn up uninvited." I replied.

"Yes, I suspect that it can be bad for their health as well." He agreed.

"Baron, perhaps you would remind your ... messengers, that France, despite all of the evidence to the contrary, is a civilised country and like all such countries has laws regarding how fast motor vehicles may travel on the public roads. It is not often that our police record a speed of 240 Kilometres per hour." He paused for a couple of seconds, "On the Champs-Elysees."

"I shall make sure that they are told as soon as possible, Trystan."

"Thank you, Baron."

He hung up and so did I.

I had to smile about Katie though. I wondered if any of the French police could keep up with her. I doubted it.

That girl was going to give me grey hair.

Captain Le Farge was undoubtedly French, and, equally obviously, Bonner's daughter. Though I suspected that 'he' was a 'she' when I saw the smirk on Elastic's face as she escorted Le Farge into my office.

She wore motorcycle leathers. I wondered if Trystan was trying to tell me something.

I called Trystan.

"Yes." He answered.

"Trystan, I have a messenger here. How may I identify him?" I asked.

"Baron, if it is indeed a 'him' then shoot him immediately. However, if it is my daughter, then she has a scar, an appendix operation scar. It has an unusual shape. There is a photograph of it on my desk computer called collette.jpg. I'm sure that your computer people will have no trouble getting you a copy. After all, they didn't seem to be inconvenienced by our security systems last time."

Yes, Trystan was definitely pissed off.

"Thank you, Trystan. I'll look after Captain Le Farge while she's here."

"I know you will, Baron. But thank you all the same."

We hung up.

My next call was to Karolina.

"Yes me Master?" she answered.

"Karolina, Trystan Bonner has..."

"Does got already me Master. Is Ela print now."

I might have guessed that they would be monitoring my phone calls too.

"Have Menolly deliver it as soon as possible please."

"It coming now Master."

I hung up.

"I'm sure you'll understand my need to properly identify you, Captain." I said, trying to be pleasant.

"Of course Baron, given the nature of my task, it is absolutely necessary."

Menolly and Em entered. Menolly had an envelope and Em carried a hospital type sterile tray.

Em gestured to a chair, "Captain, if you will let me have access to your arm please?"

Le Farge unzipped her one-piece suit and shrugged off the top. I would have thought that she'd have worn more than just the very thin white tee shirt and white mini briefs that she revealed. But on second thoughts, given her state of near nudity, we could all see that she wasn't armed.

She sat on the indicated seat and offered Em her arm. Carefully Em drew two vials of blood.

"The initial results will be ready in an hour, Master. Positive DNA identification will take twelve days."

"Well, Captain, it looks as though you will be our guest for a while." I said.

Le Farge nodded. "I expected so, Baron."

"Call me Paul."

Le Farge thought for a minute. "I'm supposed to say 'yes sir' aren't I."

All of the girls in the room nodded or spoke their agreement.

Le Farge looked at me, "Why?"

"It's a joke." I explained.

Le Farge just looked puzzled. "Oh, the British sense of humour. Yes ... I'm sure it would have been very funny."

She nodded and then stood to attention. "Yes Sir." She stated loudly and clearly.

This made us all laugh out loud.

"I suppose you have to be British to understand the joke," she said, almost like a little girl.

"You may call me Collette."

"Thank you Collette, and now," I held up the picture.

She stepped out of her leathers and slipped off her panties. I checked her scar carefully. Her pubic hair was neatly trimmed and allowed me to see the scar clearly. It looked the same as that in the picture, but scars could be faked. This confirmation just meant that we'd treat Collette nicely until the DNA confirmed her true identity.

"I imagine that you'll want to check my leathers too," she said.

I looked over to the chair where she'd undressed. Her leathers were already gone.

"I'll make sure that new clothing is provided as soon as possible. I would like you to have a full medical though."

Collette looked a little suspicious at this.

"My doctor will carry this out in her sick room." I said, with a little steel in my voice.

"Yes, Baron." She accepted.

Em took Collette away and I returned to my work. Buying 20 Billion Euros worth of land and property with only 3 Billion Euro in cash took a little organisation. And I hated dealing with banks.

Note to Nigel and Bee - I want my own bank.

That would make things a little easier I though. Though how long I'd be signing contracts for, I dread to think.

Twelve days, make that a fortnight. Plenty of time to get the initial purchases made. I'd have to do this very carefully of course. If anyone discovered what I was trying to do they'd just try and raise prices sky high. It would become obvious later on of course, but the longer my plans remained secret the better.

The Coven disturbed me a few minutes later.

"We need to give you a quick update while the Captain is in with Em." Carol explained.

"OK then, what do you have for me?"

"Well Boss, all of the bodies have been cremated along with regular cremations. The vans have all been broken up and the parts are on their way to India."

"India?" I was a little surprised.

"Yes Boss, big market for Transit van spares." Carol informed me. "The drugs are on their way to a medical pharmaceutical company that we've bought. This firm has licenses to manufacture or refine all of these drugs for medical and scientific research purposes." Carol looked up at me, "Boss, we need to save a lot of these drugs. We're going after their girls next, the prostitutes, escorts and sex slaves. Most of these are kept in check with drugs. If we can wean them off the drugs, then these girls have a good chance of living a normal life again. Our medical company has to keep quite meticulous records. If any of their stock goes missing then there will be problems. Extra stock though, they can just put that into a cupboard. How on Earth is a drugs dog going to sniff it out with all of the other stuff around it?"

I smiled at that. It showed very original thinking from someone.

"Boss, we've hurt them bad, very bad. The street price of cocaine is already five times what it was last week and it's going up almost by the hour. When the street dealers run out, then that's going to be it for a while. We're also looking for more supplies coming in from abroad. Amsterdam is our best guess, though Spain has close links with North Africa and has regular ferry services to England."

"Aren't there other suppliers?" I asked.

"Oh yes, lots of small independents, but in the areas that the police have established control, the small people have mostly been put out of business. When they put their mind to it, the police forces can be very effective. London is the main hold out for organised crime and the independents. The Met has been under political control for so long that it hasn't had the corrupting influences that the other forces had. And the ACPO hasn't as much influence over the Met either. The Met is considered to be the UKs senior force and the one that gives guidance to all of the others."