Internal Investigations
The auburn
haired woman paused for a moment before she knocked on the large oak door.
“Come,” a
rich female voice called out, as the woman opened the door and went in.
“Are the team
assembled Penelope,” the woman inside said as she walked round from behind her
desk. She wore a black Chanel trouser
suit, and high heeled black patent leather mules.
“They are,
Madame,” Penelope replied, brushing some lint from her red skirt, “Lily and the
others await your pleasure in the conference room.”
“Very well then,”
she said as she walked round, “Let us brief the team on their objective.”
Penelope
followed behind the tall, dark haired woman as she walked to a door, and opened
it, the four women inside standing as she came in. One, a thin blonde haired woman in a grey
jacket and skirt over a white top, said “Good morning Madame” as Penelope
closed the door.
“Good morning
Lillian, ladies,” Madame said as she took a seat, the others following suit.
“Penelope, please distribute the briefing material.”
Each of the
women took a manila folder from Penelope, opening it and taking out a picture
of a woman sitting down. She had lightly
permed black hair, and was wearing a pair of large black framed glasses as she
sat on the seat, her hands on the cushions.
She wore a grey coat dress with a brown pattern on the material, the
skirt pulled slightly back to show the purple lining, and a pair of light brown
Ugg boots.
“This,”
Madame said, “is Angela Reading, the daughter of Sir Clive Reading, chairman of
Mallards Supermarkets. It is our
intention to arrange for Sir Clive to make a substantial impact on certain
current negotiations – but to do so, we must invite Angela to stay with us for
a while.
“Lillian, you
and your team will enter the Reading residence under guise of a robbery,
extract Angela Reading, and bring her back here for negotiations to open. I have assigned Catherine, Angelica and
Rebecca to your team for this purpose.”
Lily looked
at the other three women. Cathy was a
small, red haired woman with an infectious laugh and a genius level skill with
alarm and security systems. Angie was
one of the most proficient marksmen in Madame’s organization, while Becky had
recently demonstrated a flair for driving at the speed and skill level
required.
“Of course
Madame,” Lily said as she looked back to the head of the table. “We shall be ready to move out in twenty four
hours.”
“Excellent –
as always, Penelope will be your central point of contact. I await the results of your visit with great
anticipation – good luck ladies.”
As Madame
stood up, Penelope leaned over and whispered “A word – in Madame’s office,”
Lily nodding as she followed them out.
“Right – we
are clear on the plan of attack?”
Lily looked
round the table at the other three women.
In contrast to yesterday, all four were dressed in black jumpers,
leggings and boots.
“Stage one,”
Cathy said, “we visit the office of Sir Clive, and get from his secretary the
access code to the front gate. Although
Sir Clive is abroad on business, his secretary still has the security
information.”
Lilly nodded
and looked at Becky.
“Stage two –
we enter the mansion, secure Lady Reading and their other daughter, and perform
a standard robbery cover.”
“Meanwhile,”
Angie said, “we find and remove Angela Reading, and report back to base for
stage three.”
Lily slowly
nodded, and looked at her watch. “I have
4 pm precisely on my mark – mark.” The
other three checked and nodded, as Lily said “all right – let’s move out.”
The corporate
headquarters of Mallards was in an estate in a London suburb, the autumn sun already
setting as the grey van drew up at the rear of the building. Lily looked out, then motioned to the team to
follow her as they pulled the balaclavas down over their heads.
“How long,”
she said to Cathy as the young woman looked at the code pad.
“Not long,”
she said as she first sprayed the pad with a fine talcum powder, then blew
gently on the surface. As she looked,
the dust congregated on some of the keypads, and then she looked carefully with
a magnifying glass, before pressing a sequence.
“Easy when
you know how,” she said as the door swung noiselessly inwards, the masked women
making their way in and up the rear service stairs to the fourth floor.
Lily looked
out of the door, noting the only light on at the end of the corridor, and then
the team moved down, stopping outside the door as Lily listened.
“Yes, Lady
Reading, I will mail you the new code as soon as I receive it. Thank you, and I hope you have a pleasant
evening as well.”
Lily indicated
to Cathy to stand guard as she put her hand on the door, and pushed it in, the
other two following her.
A dark haired
woman looked at them, wearing a green top with a black leopard print over a
black pinafore style dress, patterned dark tights and a pair of knee length red
leather boots with three inch wooden heels.
“Don’t move a
muscle except to put your hands in the air,” Lily said as she pointed a pistol
at the young woman, smiling as she slowly raised her hands. “I presume you are Margo?”
She nodded as
Lily looked at the nameplate on the desk.
“All right
Margo,” Lily continued, “we’re not going to hurt you, we just need the current
access codes to the Reading mansion. The
question is, will you give them up willingly, or do we need to get them from
you by some other means?”
Margo looked
at the three armed and masked women, before saying “All right – I’ll give you
the access codes. They’re on my
computer.”
“Sit, and
reveal them – and no tricks. I would
hate to bring your evening to a premature and messy end.”
Margo slowly
sat in the chair, working on the computer as Becky knelt by her side. She felt her ankles being pulled together,
the rope rubbing against her leather boots, as she accessed and pulled up a
file from the system.
“Take a
note,” Lily said to Angie, as Margo felt more rope pulling her ankles together
below her knees.
“Got it,”
Angie said as she looked at her tablet.
“What now?”
“Delete the
file, and put the computer into standby,” Lily said as Becky then pulled
Margo’s arms behind the chair back, securing her wrists together with her hands
back to back, and then tying them down to the support for the back rest. She then passed some rope around Margo’s arms
and upper body, pulling them tight into her sides as her top opened up under
the pressure of the hemp bands.
“Make sure
her feet are off the ground as well,” Lily said as Becky tied another length of
rope to Margo’s ankles, and pulled them up under the seat, securing them to her
wrists. They then wheeled her into the
corner of the room, Angie pushing a cotton cloth into the bound woman’s mouth
before Becky wound black tape around her head, trapping her hair underneath to
keep the wadding in place.
“All right,
let’s move out,” Lily said, as the three of them left Margo alone in the
room. A few moments later, she looked up
as the door opened again, nodding as she accepted the thin blade in her bound
hands, and started to work on her wrist binding…
The front
gate of the Reading mansion sat in a high stone wall that ran around the
perimeter of the grounds. Lily looked up
at it, as Angie typed a sequence of numbers into the entrance pad by the
intercom button.
“You sure
that patch is going to hold,” Lily said as she looked at the grey disc covering
the lens of the security camera. It was
designed to show the front gate of the building, and had been attached by Becky
using a telescopic arm as soon as they arrived.
“Should do –
after all, the tech department designed it,” Becky said as the gates swung
inwards. Angie climbed back into the van
as they drove up to the front door.
“All right,”
Lily said as she looked at the trio, “we deal with the housekeeper first, then
the family. Angie, Cathy, you go first –
find the housekeeper and make sure she cannot interfere.”
The two women
nodded as they got out of the van, and made their way stealthily to the rear of
the manor house. They could see a light
in the kitchen window, and looking in from either side they saw a woman
standing over a cooker, wearing a purple cardigan over a checked patterned
dress.
Angie
motioned to Cathy, who nodded as she crept along to the rear door. Turning the handle, she slowly opened the
door and crept in, shutting it behind her.
The woman
suddenly straightened, and was about to turn when Cathy grabbed her, a gloved
hand over her mouth as she whispered “Not a word – sit down in that chair,
hands behind your back, and keep quiet.”
She nodded
slowly as she turned and walked to the chair, guided by Cathy as Angie came
in. The cardigan was actually tied just
below her chest, the dress having a low cut neckline and a flared skirt, ad a
pair of baggy black leather boots on her feet.
Cathy and
Angie worked quickly together, using lengths of cord from their pockets to
secure the young woman to the chair she was sitting in, her ankles tied to the
front legs, her own legs tied together under the skirt and below her knees, her
wrists secured to the chair back and cords around her arms and waist to secure
her further. Angie picked up a tea
towel, rolled it into a band and pulled it between her lips, muffling her
complaints as she secured the ends together at the base of her neck.
“Go and let
the others in,” she said to Cathy, taking a seat and leaving her gun on the
table as she watched the housekeeper carefully…
Cathy crept
out of the kitchen, listening carefully to the noises from the front rooms and
upstairs as she opened the front door, and let Lily enter with Becky, carrying
a canvas bag each.
“Housekeeper
secured?”
Cathy nodded
as they looked to the door to the right, the light of a television screen
shining through the opening at the bottom.
“Right – let’s see who is in here first,” Lily said as they opened the
door and walked in.
A thin, grey
haired woman stood up and looked at the three armed and masked woman, before saying
“Who the hell are you?”
“Please, Lady
Reading,” Lily said quietly, “no shouting, no screaming, and no
resistance. We are armed, and we will
not hesitate to use them if you or your family cause us any trouble.” She looked at the eighteen year old girl on
the couch, who had put her arms around her legs and drawn them to her chest
when she saw them come in.
She wore a
white short sleeved top, olive coloured pants and a pair of Greek style
sandals, while the older woman wore a grey top with elbow length sleeves, a
pair of light tan pants and red slippers.
Lady Reading
looked at their guns, and said quietly “very well – what are your intentions?”
“We will
secure your daughter, and then you will open your safe for us before we secure
you,” Lily said quietly. “Questions?”
“None,” Lady
Reading said quietly. “Constance, do as
they say, all right?”
“Yes mother,”
the young girl said as Angie opened a bag and took out a roll of silver tape.
“All right,”
Lily said quietly, “Constance, lie face down on that couch, and put your hands
behind your back. Lady Reading, please
place your hands behind your back as well.”
The older
woman watched as Becky tore the end of a roll of tape, and knelt by the side of
Constance, putting her hands together palm to palm before taping her wrists
tightly together and then running the tape down over her hands. As this was taking place, Cathy stood behind
Lady Reading and pulled her arms behind her back, using the tape to secure her
crossed wrists together.
“Be brave,
Constance,” Lady Reading said as Becky made her daughter kneel on the couch,
and taped her arms tightly to her side, before laying her down again and taping
her ankles and legs. She herself felt
her wrists pressed against her back, and then to her sides as bands of silver
tape were wrapped around her body.
“Open your
mouth,” Becky said, Constance looking at her mother before she opened her mouth
and allowed the masked intruder to push a sponge ball into her mouth. She closed her lips over it before Becky
pressed several strips of the silver tape over her mouth.
“Please,”
Lily said as she opened the door, “come with us. You stay with the girl.”
Becky nodded
as Lily and Cathy escorted Lady Reading from the room, Becky sitting and
watching the struggling youth on the couch.
The trio
walked into the office, Cathy closing the door as Lily said “The combination
please, your ladyship.”
Lady Reading
nodded as she gave a sequence of numbers, Cathy kneeling by the safe and
opening it with little trouble. As she
emptied the contents, Lily sat Lady Reading in a chair and taped her legs
together, as well as her body to the chair back.
“I suppose I
should thank you for your manners,” Her Ladyship said as Cathy stood up, and
looked at Lily.
“Silence Her
Ladyship,” Lily said as she handed Cathy a sponge ball and the roll of tape,
“I’m going to look round upstairs.”
Cathy nodded
as Lily went into the hallway, collecting several lengths of rope and a couple
of scarves from the bag before she headed up the stairs. Walking down the corridor, she stood by one
door, and opened it, the woman sitting by the desk looking round as she came
in.
Cathy and
Becky came out of their rooms to see Lily coming down the staircase, her hand
on the arm of Angela Reading. The young
woman was not wearing her glasses, and wore a long sleeved jumper with black,
olive, brown and white stripes on a slight diagonal, a short brown skirt, green
tights and knee length brown leather boots.
A green woollen scarf was around her neck, and a knotted black scarf sat
in her mouth.
Her arms were
pulled behind her back, and tied to her sides with bands of rope around her
waist and chest. She looked at the other
two masked women as Angie came through from the kitchen.
“We got what
we came for – let’s move out,” Lily said as the four masked women left the
house, Lily bringing Angela with her. As
they approached the van, she made the bound woman step in, and then sit on the
floor before she bound her ankles and legs together, and then blindfolded her
with her own olive coloured scarf.
“Let’s go,”
she said as she took out her mobile phone.
“Penny? It’s Lily – objective met and we’re coming
home. Full debrief to be scheduled.
“Understood –
we’ll see you in base in two hours.”
The four
women were sat again around the conference table as Penelope and Madame X came
in. Penny was wearing a red jersey dress
and black boots, while Madame was wearing a dark green jumper and long skirt, a
designer scarf tied round her neck.
“Well,
Lillian, I hear all went smoothly?”
“It did
Madame,” Lily said quietly, “we have Angela Reading safely resting in one of
the guests rooms, and the contents of the Reading safe are in the storeroom.”
“Excellent –
and your team?”
“Performed to
the high standards that you would expect of them, Madame.”
Madame X
looked round the table, and said “good – very good. All objectives of the task fulfilled?”
“Indeed – I
presented my report to Penelope within an hour of returning.”
Penny nodded
as she glanced at Madame X, before saying “Shall I?”
“Please,”
Madame said with a nod as Penny stood up and opened the door. Becky, Cathy and Angie all watched as Margo,
Lady Reading, Constance Reading and the housekeeper came into the room, and
stood on the other side facing the table.
“Ladies, my
thanks for your cooperation tonight,” Madame X said as she looked at them.
“Forgive me,
Madame,” Becky said as she looked at the other women, “but what is going on
here?”
“That,
Rebecca, is a very good question,” Madame X said as she looked down the
table. “I have been aware for some time
that there was, to use the vernacular of some of my American colleagues, a
snake in the grass within our organization.
It does happen from time to time, but when it does happen I have my own
way of dealing with it. Margo?”
“I was able
to escape within five minutes thanks to this person, who left a blade and a
number to call.”
“And did you
call the number?”
“No Madame –
but I did recognise it as one of those known to be used by Lady C.”
“Thank you
Margo – you may return to your normal duties now, with my thanks.”
The dark
haired woman nodded as she looked round the room, and left quietly.
“The real
Lady Reading, Constance and housekeeper had been secured earlier in the evening
by another team, and replaced by these three,” Madame X said as she stood
up. “At my instructions, Lily left one
of you alone with each of them, and then brought Angela Reading down. She had already agreed to take part in
tonight’s performance, in return for the safe release of the others and their
property. Penelope, will you see to that
please?”
“Certainly
Madame,” Penelope said as she got up and left the room.
“You see,
ladies, we had narrowed the suspects down to you three, so we arranged this
team exercise, in the hopes that the plant would reveal themselves in full
plumage. When you left with Angela, one
of the three women here had been left with an escape route, and the same number
to contact.
“I will give
the person concerned ten seconds to admit their guilt, before I unmask
them. The clock starts – now.”
Lily watched
the trio as they looked at each other, before Cathy made a bolt for the door –
only to run into the tall, black haired form of Dominique as she stood in the
doorway.
“I think you
left this with me,” the false Lady Reading said as she placed a thin blade on
the conference room table. Cathy looked
at Madame, before saying “My apologies, and I hope there are no hard feelings.”
“None
whatsoever,” Madame X said with a smile.
“Dominique will ensure you are safely returned to my dear friend, and I
wish you continued success in your career – so long as we never see each other
again.”
Cathy nodded
before she was led away by Dominique, and Madame turned back to the room. “Ladies, my thanks. Rebecca and Angela, my apologies – and you
will be recompensed for your troubles.
Please, leave Lillian and I to discuss other matters.”
The other six
women nodded as they left the conference room, and Lily looked at Madame X.
“I thought
all three of them were working together?”
“Of course
they were, Lillian – but the other two held their nerve at the moment of
crisis. I admire that, and therefore
they may remain – under close supervision and only for selected tasks of
course.
“I believe it
was Sun Tzu who said ‘Keep your friends close but your enemies closer’. I understand the importance and necessity of
that, Lillian – I hope you do as well.”