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EPISODE 65

 “Where are they?” Mary asked when she realised that the two men were not behind the car as she had still expected them to be by the sound of the coughing.
“Over there, by the bushes.” Martin replied, pointing a finger in their direction.
Mary followed the finger across the high grassed area until she caught sight of Joseph standing upright beside an equally unencumbered Raji against the backdrop of the thick wild bushes that ran spasmodically alongside the narrow country road. Mary was surprised by what she saw and she was about to call out to Martin in a rather sardonic tone that they had made a remarkable recovery from the point of death. But before she got the chance to speak, Joseph seemed to have read her mind, and he raised a finger to his lips before beckoning them over with some urgency.
“Uh, oh, here we go again” Martin thought to himself as he remembered the situation at the restaurant when voices were raised.
Mary, however, did not associate Joseph’s current need for quietness with the restaurant, and the minute that they arrived alongside the two men she could not hide her curiosity, though she did manage to reduce her whisper to a gravelly roar. “What is going on, Joseph?  Are you two really sick, or just playing some silly party game?” She asked, but not before Joseph had advised to keep her voice even softer.
“We are fine,” Joseph replied in an extremely quiet voice; a voice so low that Mary had almost to stand on his shoes to hear him, “I knew that Martin’s car had been interfered with, and that we would be able to use William’s car, but I was uncertain why Martin’s car had been grounded in the first place.  It took a while, but I finally got round to thinking that it may have been because Martin’s car may have offered too much security for anybody to use to their advantage. Though, after what happened at the farm when it got stolen, you’d wonder about that security.   However, I am not certain that whoever slashed the tyres was thinking that way … possibly not even the same people as at the farm … and I am not just talking about being able to steal the car. I am also talking about utilising the vehicle for other purposes such as spying on the occupants. Now, perhaps Martin was a little slack with his security at the farm feeling that we were well and truly out of harm’s way out in the countryside, which is a fair enough assumption. After all, we had no idea what we were coming up against at the time … and nor are we much more understanding of the true situation even now. But I am fairly certain that that irregularity shan’t be a recurring mistake. I think that Martin would have picked up fairly early in the piece if somebody had made any modifications to his beloved Mercedes Benz.”
“You are right there, old boy.”  Martin interrupted.
Joseph smiled at Martin’s automatic reaction before recommencing his narrative. “What I think is that initially somebody needed to keep an eye on our movements for some unknown reason, and they would have preferred that we didn’t leave the village tonight.  They knew that it would be almost impossible for us to get a replacement car at such short notice, if, that is, you can even hire a car in Trenthamville, and that gave them the idea to eliminate the Mercedes from the equation thinking we would be stuck in the village. However that plan fell in a heap when William not only offered us the use of his car, but he also offered us somewhere of interest to go and visit.”
Joseph’s conversation was momentarily disrupted by the sound of a man coughing his heart out, its volume so loud in comparison to their whispering voices it startled Mary so much she lost balance and crashed heavily into Joseph taking them both into the bushes. When they finally managed to untangle themselves Mary was surprised to find Joseph restraining himself from breaking out in laughter as Raji, a sheepish look on his face, began to apologise.
“Really, Raji.   You could have given some warning.”   Joseph said in a mock reprimand.
“Sorry, Joseph. I just thought that perhaps we were getting a bit too quiet for our audience.  They may be wondering why we haven’t returned to the car”
“Yes,” Joseph said in total agreement, “You are quiet right.  I think that you should give it another blast? After all, there are two of us?”
“I would be more than happy to do so.”  Raji replied with a twinkle in his eye. And it was then, as Raji pressed his index finger down on a button located on the side of a small gadget that he had in his other hand, that Mary and Martin were dragged into the charade as another sickening burst of vile being disgorged from somebody’s irritated and extremely unwell stomach began screaming through the otherwise quiet evening air. Mary and Martin couldn’t believe their eyes when they realised that Raji was operating some kind of electronic device to produce the most vile of noises. 
“What is going on, Joseph? Is this some kind of sick joke?   Well, I don’t think it is very funny.”   Mary and Martin opened up; blurring their questions and comments into one.
“A pre-recording that we put together to cover our being absent from the car for a period of time … for the sake of our listeners, you understand.” Joseph said by way of an explanation, “Thank heaven for youtube. But let me finish telling you why we are here at the side of an ever darkening country road side pretending to be about to depart this mortal coil from an overdose of William’s fine cuisine.’
“Sorry,” Mary apologised ruefully as her anger and frustrations began to subside, “Please go on.”  
I told you that there was somebody wanting us to stay in town; somebody who destroyed the tyres on Martin’s car in an attempt to achieve their aim. However it appears that they had a serendipity moment that put them back in the game when we were offered the use of a car, should we have the need for it. I feel fairly safe in assuming that there was a least one of the group who just happened to be within listening distance when William told us that his car was available to us. When they discovered that they weren’t going to get their own way with keeping us in lockdown, they decided that they would keep a good eye on us to see where we went and what we discovered.  Of course if they were the ones that had stolen the statue from Raji they may have set all this up before they obtained the statue. And if that is the case, this whole charade we are providing becomes superfluous. Perhaps there is nobody watching any of this reality broadcast we are providing … nobody at all. But I doubt that very much, I feel that whoever it was that slashed the tyres – it was not the same party that stole the statue from the farm.”
“What are you talking about, Joseph?” Mary asked, then almost jumped out of her skin when Raji pressed the button again.
“Just to make sure that they are off guard.”  Raji said with a weak grin on his face. “Sorry.”
Mary grimaced menacingly at Raji’s excuse, but Joseph simply shook his head, rolled his eyes …and continued talking. “Where we are going is somewhere where we have to be, but I suspected that it may have been hard to keep it a secret if I was to tell you, regardless of where we were in the village at the time.   We still can’t trust everybody in the village, or the dozens of tourists that have arrived today. So I got Raji to obtain a special piece of equipment that could do a spot check on the vehicle while we were driving. I decided that checking the vehicle before we left the village would give away the only advantage we had; that we knew we were being watched … and that would not be good for us.  So we set up a plan, and that included Raji using the apparatus he had acquired for the job … and my theory was proved to be correct … the car is bugged.”
“What type of device have they installed?” Martin asked in astonishment and surprise, “Video or audio?|”
“They have three systems installed all told.”  Raji replied with a huge grin: “G.P.S. tracking, a camera mounted under the car to show where we are heading, and a microphone hidden inside the car radio.”
“Three separate tracking devices!” Martin repeated, “I can’t believe the lengths that somebody had gone to follow us into the woods to see something that probably wouldn’t even make the grade to appear on a low budget take-off of a David Attenborough special.  But, why would they want to follow us?”
“I am sorry, Martin. There are no animals where we are going, that was a deliberate lie for the sake of anybody listening in on our conversation. And there were at least three tables that were watching us tonight, that was the cryptic conversation that William and I had when we departed the table.”
“So what are we going to see?
“Sorry, Martin … spoilers! I will reveal all, but not until the time is right. Should the plan become compromised in any way whatsoever … then we may very well be in big, big trouble
“Bloody hell, Joseph … I do wish you wouldn’t keep secrets. Though, I can understand why you do. Do you suspect William is involved? And, for that matter, what made you suspect that the car would be bugged in the first place?”
“Well, William is definitely on our side as far as I am concerned, but as for your other question, it was purely speculative.  Mind you, I wasn’t expecting a treble. I had only expected something like the G.P.S. to show up. But getting back to your question, considering what happened to Raji’s men, I began to think that we should take care of ourselves, and that means thinking beyond the square. So I set my mind to take me back to the time of our arrival in the village and began to add in the events that took place around us, including things that affected others; things based on what we had heard and seen since our arrival. About what Frank had told Mary about Laurie’s niece, about what Mary had gone through at Frank’s garage … the witches, the strange fire that was still smouldering at the farm, and the many other things that were connected to our arrival in Trenthamville. My instincts tell me that our adventures are not over just yet, and that there is a lot more going on here in this village than meets the eye.  That means that we are still in danger … all of us, including you, Raji. So I began asking myself how were we in danger? Where would danger come from? And being spied on came to mind … especially when the events of what was happening tonight was brought to my attention. Well, that was the basis of it. Everything I added into the mix brought me closer to looking at why we were here, and it seems to me to be a bit preordained … as if some other power is playing war games with us as central characters. And if there is a battle going on with us in the thick of it, it only stands to reason that the game will have to have characters in roles that are at war with us. If that is the case, then they would be expected to be wary of us, observe us, and eventually try to kill us if it helps them win the battle. How many small armies, how many individuals are our opposition is unknown, therefore we must be prepared for virtually anything to happen. And, don’t forget, we still need to do something about Rosetta and her father before we are finished.”
“I don’t know if I can get any more of the antidote from the Punjani after what has happened, but I will try for you.” Raji said with a touch of sorrow in the tone of his voice, “They may understand that it is not your fault that the statue has been stolen and show some generosity … or they may not.”
“Thank you, Raji. But don’t write your losses off yet. You may yet still retrieve your precious statue.”
“How,” Raji asked with incredulity, ‘It would be long gone by now. It’s likely to be in London, or heading somewhere overseas. We may never find it again.”
“We have it on good authority that the village is some sort of gateway to god-only-knows-where.” Joseph advised, “But it is, according to our source, one of only three possible places that the creature could enter the planet. The other two are far, far away from Trenthamville, and it would take more than two days to transport the statue to either location. Vittorio told us that the big event that would allow the creature to enter the planet was due to take place in the next twenty four hours. So they would not be able to take the statue too far away.  If that is the case, then the statue is most likely either still in the village, or just outside it.
Raji looked at Joseph with both surprise and happiness.
“I was not aware. I had only heard rumours. Thank you, you have made my day.”  
“Well, let’s hope I am right. Now listen very carefully. We are running behind schedule because of the bugs in the car. Raji and I had decided on the food poisoning story in order to quietly get you both out of the car without causing suspicion to anybody listening in on our conversations if Raji’s security check proved positive. Now, so you know, we are going to the farm, and what happens there may or may not involve our followers, so we must be very careful in what we say when we return to the car and continue our journey. But I will explain why we are there after we arrive. In the meantime we don’t want them to know where we are going, or why. Nor do we want to them to realise that we are onto them in the case that something goes wrong with our plan.  So when we get back in the car I am going to tell Martin that that we had taken the wrong turn, but what I am actually doing is setting up a subterfuge moment for our fan club. So please refrain from saying anything in the car whatsoever, no matter what happens, or what I may say. And I mean no matter what happens; I will tell you when you can speak again.
“But won’t they know where we are when we get there? The G.P.S. will tell them where we are, and the cameras on the front will show them.” Martin pointed out almost too loudly and everybody quickly, but quietly, admonished him. “Sorry, Joseph, but I am right, aren’t I?”
“Martin, you will really need to learn to control the volume of your voice when you become excited, but in answer to your question the answer is no, Martin … not really.” Joseph replied, with a wide grin covering his face,  “We are counting on that to take place. But don’t worry, we have a few surprises up our sleeves for them.
Joseph’s answer rocked Martin, partly because he hadn’t expected the reply he had, but mainly because Joseph had initiated a plan with Raji without telling him, or involving him … and he wondered why?
“It was not kept a secret from you, Martin.”  Joseph said in response to Martin’s thoughts, and throwing Martin off balance once again. “It just came to me that somebody in the village may have felt the need to witness our every movement in whatever way they could. So I did my best to initiate a defence plan and decided that since your car was out of tyres, and we would be using William’s car, it would be easy for somebody to take advantage of the situation.  And one of things that they could do was add a monitoring device to William’s car without anybody being aware of it. I presume that it is an organised group, and not an individual, therefore it would be easy for them to split up with one of them keeping a close eye on William’s movements while the others nipped around the back of the hotel and upgraded the car. But, if that was what they were going to do, how was I going to know what they had done? Then it came to me that Raji was the most obvious person to have the opportunity to obtain what I had suggested at such short notice.  So I contacted him, asked a few questions … and he came up with the right answers … and here we are.  Well done, Raji.”
Martin stood looking at Joseph with his mouth so open his teeth threatened to fall out.  
“Martin,” Mary said gently. “Are you alright? You look like you are in shock.”
But Martin didn’t respond.  He knew that Joseph was messing with his mind, but he had no idea how, and he needed to know.  However, before he had a chance to open his mouth to speak, Joseph advised the small group that it was time to go.  And just before they moved back within ear shot of the car, he gave them a quick rundown of what was needed from them to carry out this deception.

********

Thirty eights second later, as the small group approached the car and began to open the doors, they were accompanied by a blur of voices with only a few words distinguishable to the casual listener. But once the doors were closed the transmission was of a much higher calibre, with every word being heard clearly by the unseen listener – and each word spoken, formulated for their ears alone.
“Now, you are both certain that you will be alright to travel?”   Martin asked, “I don’t want either of you bringing up in this beautiful car.”
“Yes, I will be fine, thank you.” Joseph replied in a slightly dubious tone, “There must have been a spice or two in the gravy that my system is unfamiliar with. I feel much better now that it has been dislodged. Anyway, I thought that you didn’t like this old beast?”
“I have changed my mind. It is a lovely car to drive and travel in.” Martin stated in a tone of admiration as he ignited the engine, “Though there are some switches and things that I can’t work out their use. Perhaps William has had a few modifications added. As Martin spoke the engine roared into life, the cameras into action, and the uninvited audience opened their ears wide and breathed a sigh of relief. Everything brought back to life in real time in an instant. Real time, however, is not necessarily reality time and the audience were not aware that they were going to be duped for the second time that evening.
“I am going to ring William before we move.”   Martin stated adamantly with the engine still running,   “It’s best that he is aware of what happened with you two so he can be ready for a bigger problem should it arise … which may have already happened I suppose.   But, at any rate, I want to make sure that the ambulance is on standby should you two start off again.   Damn!   I can’t get a signal.   I am going to walk around a bit to see if I can get one. Shan’t be a tic.”
   “Don’t be long,”   Joseph called out as Martin’s door was about to shut,   “We are starting to run out of time if we want to get a good spot.” But whether Martin had heard him was unknown because the door slammed shut before Joseph finished talking, and Martin was quickly walking away, phone to his ear, deliberately walking far enough in front of the car so he would be seen on the camera as he sought the allusive signal he seemed so badly to require.

  ********

The seconds ticked by as Martin moved around in his search, watched by both those waiting in the car … and, according to Raji, anybody watching the monitor that received the transmission from the front camera. And Raji was adamant that the camera was giving its total attention to Martin which is why he began pressing a series of buttons on his new toy and inserting several S.D. cards into it.

*******

Finally Martin appeared to give up on obtaining a signal and stomped back to the car, looked at Raji through the window who gave him the thumbs up, before slamming the door behind him as he sat down in the driver’s seat in the same time frame that Raji pressed a single green light and four screens lit up on the small case he had been playing with.
“Not a drop of service.” Martin growled in a deep, but loud voice, “In this day and age you would think that they would have overcome blind spots. You are right, let’s get out of here. William will just have to deal with things as they come. You two … don’t get sick.”
And with that Martin turned on the engine and pressed hard on the accelerator pedal as the car began to move off, with Raji prepared himself to sync with the action.
“Oh, Martin, I am sorry, but this is the wrong turn. There should be a sign advertising the Rat and Mouse. I didn’t notice it before; I must have been feeling too ill to concentrate properly. It is the next turn. I am absolutely certain about that. Sorry.”
“There is no reason to be sorry, Joseph.” Martin responded in a softer voice, “Actually it was you that were in a pretty sorry state at the time. I’m just glad to have you back in the land of the living. Though it’s good that you remembered at this point of time rather than when we became lost in these woods. Hang on everybody while I make a u-turn. This old girl is a bit too ancient for power steering, so it might be a bit of a tight turn.”
As Martin began to turn the vehicle in the opposite direction, Raji began pressing a second button on the apparatus at precisely the same instant.
Raji’s sudden movement caught the corner of Mary’s eye and she swung herself around to see what is he doing, surprised to see he was wearing headphones and staring at what appeared to be a Brady Bunch Zoom meeting with a major difference. Instead of a series of faces including Raji’s appearing in the different screens, one screen had a moving image of the grass and dirt that the car was passing through, the second screen was showing what appeared to be a moving g.p.s. location, while the third showed nothing but white noise, and the fourth screen seemed to be offering a choice of options for the gamer.
Mary was fascinated with what she saw and was about to ask Raji if he was playing some type of digital game when she heard Joseph’s voice her telling her not to talk. The voice and its message had not been expected and they sent a cold shiver down her back and froze her tongue, but she somehow managed to look up to where Joseph was sitting and was surprised to see him facing forward towards the road. ‘Had she imagined what she thought she had heard?‘ she wondered, but she nearly passed out when Joseph’s voice once again entered her head while he was still facing the road and drawing no apparent attention from Raji or Martin,
“Don’t say anything, Mary. You are safe, you are sane, but, never-the-less, I am inside your head.” Joseph’s voice announced in a soft calming manner, “Quickly, look at the screen so I can see it.” Mary had no idea what was going on, or what to do other than think she was going mad, so she did what she was asked and returned her eyes to the small screen just in time to notice a small log lying on the road as they approached a corner. Mary’s first instinct was to call out a warning to Raji, when she suddenly remembered Joseph’s warning to not speak and restrained herself, but was surprised when Joseph’s voice suddenly, loudly, advised her to warn Martin, not Raji. It took Mary less than a tenth of a millisecond to realise that it was the image from the camera under the car that she was looking at – and Mary responded with such a loud, panicky, and frightened voice Martin jammed the brakes on immediately; jamming them on so violently the sound of the squealing tyres dominated the senses of all within the vehicle’s confines. But it was to no avail; the camera was slammed into the log not once, but twice, both times accompanied by a loud banging sound as the car bounced across the fallen log. Then, as the car finally came to a stop, Martin was the first to get out and check on the damage to the car by whatever it was that Mary had warned him about – and he was very surprised to find that there was none. Joseph, however, had remained in the car to communicate with Raji, “Well?” he asked, and the question caused Raji to grin like the proverbial Cheshire cat as he simultaneously spoke and turned the display screen on the apparatus around to face Joseph. I might go to Hollywood,” He replied, “I would win an Oscar for my input.” The camera screen now displayed nothing but white noise and intermittent flashes, the G,P.S, however appeared to be intact and working, but seemingly frozen, and the third screen was showing the image of a treble clef and identifying one of the B.B.C. classical music stations. Joseph was about to ask Raji if the G.P.S. was broken, when he suddenly realised it was waiting for the car to move.
“How long before it starts moving again?”
“I have set it for ten minutes time. It has a seven day battery so it will not give up on us. I thought ten minutes would have been enough time to discover the car was still working safely, taken a few moments for a bit of anxiety wind down and got back on the road.
“You did do a good job, Raji. And thank you, Mary. You did a great job too.” Joseph’s voice was so soft and gentle as it entered her head, Mary could only smile as she looked up at him.
“You are more than welcome.” Mary replied, completely ignorant of what it was she had done; not even, for one second, thinking about the questions she had stored up in her head.
“You are certain that everything is working the way we set it up, Raji?” Joseph asked as he returned his full attention to him.
“As far as I can ascertain, everything is going fine. They should be receiving several hours of classical music on their audio system, more than enough to drive them crazy trying to work out how that occurred. They would have seen the vehicle hit the log and would understand that was the reason for the static and white noise they now see on their monitor, and that applies also to the G.P.S. not currently operating because they would realise that an accident like that would require a thorough check of the vehicle to ensure it was safe to drive. However, in a couple of minutes time, according to the G.P.S., they will believe we have moved out of the woods and onto the motorway on our way to Scotland Yard. Should they still be hanging around when we return to the hotel they will truly be surprised to see us return, but they will have no idea what is going on … and they can’t very well ask us. I really doubt that they would believe the trouble we had to gone to play this little charade, nor would I expect they would even think such a thing was possible.”
“Well done, Raji. Well, we can converse now. Between us we have managed to rid ourselves of those tracing systems that were attached to the car, but we do need to get to our destination pretty soon. Time and light are both running out for us.”
“Exactly how did we do that, pray tell. How did we get rid of the tracking systems?” A voice asked as the driver’s door was unceremoniously ripped open and a very perplexed Martin slumped down into the driver’s seat, ” And what were you warning me about, Mary? Why did you yell out to stop. I don’t seem to have hit anything, and I couldn’t find anything that I could have hit.”
“You were about to hit a log, Martin. I saw it on Raj’s play station, or whatever it is called.” An embarrassed Mary argued in defence,” Oh, is it only a game I was watching? Oh, I feel so foolish. But why did you tell me to call out and warn Martin, Joseph. And for that matter why do I keep thinking that you are speaking through my mind, not my ears??
“What is going on here?” A rather miffed Martin asked. I haven’t got a clue what any of you are talking about?”
“I will explain as best as I can, but we are almost arriving at the farm and it is important that we are giving our full concentration on the task we will have once we arrive there. Now Mary, and Martin, You both felt at one stage that I was messing with your minds … well I was.”
“I knew it was you.” Martin exclaimed, but you made my mind convince itself that I was imagining things. But why, Joseph?”
“I needed you both to be prepared for it when it was used for a much more serious use … or to stop you from saying anything that may have been picked up by the broadcast when it was still active. Mary, why did you scream out for Martin to look out for the fallen log?”
“Because you asked me to.”
“But you weren’t going to, were you, but more importantly, who were you going to advise they needed to stop?”
“Why, Martin of course, wait … no, it was Raji because I saw it on the screen that he was watching.
“That’s right. I could hear what you were thinking while you were watching the screen and I took advantage of your emotions because it seemed so natural and it would have given credence to what appeared to happen next. Unfortunately telepathy takes a little while and a little practice to get it right, and time was not a working companion that accompanied us this evening, but it was necessary that I had control over both your tongues and thoughts to ensure our plan worked, which, fortunately, it did.
“So now you have telepathy on your resume, Joseph?” Martin asked in a mix of admiration and jealously.|
“No, not quite. I had Arkerious helping me out.”
“Arkerious was with us. How? How come we couldn’t see him?”
“He was with us in spirit. Well, more accurately, he was with us in energy. A Guardian can split up their energy levels and partly be in several places at the same time, or at least part of his mind is. Guardians can multi-task, unlike us mere humans. When I first decided that I needed a plan I rang William and told him I needed to speak with Arkerious and he turned up around fifteen minutes later. I explained my thoughts to him, he advised me of the existence of the thing that Raji has in his hands and the rest is history. He also offered to send his energy clone along for the ride and that is when we came up with the way to sabotage any spy devices that had been set up and I used Arkerious’s energy to direct my thought patterns to whoever I needed to contact at the time.
To explain what happened, once I had made contact with Arkerious, I again made contact with William and we all drove out to the woodlands, but not using his car. Instead we borrowed one from Harvey, videoing the trip from the front in much the same way as our fan club did. We made our way straight out to a fairly wooded area not far from the next entry to the motorway and began our videoing at this point. It was at this point that we set up the log in the tall grass that grew at the side of the road. Of course we never actually hit it, just drove as close as we could to it, then used some editing to make the tyres appear to smoke and make the camera seem to jump up and down when the car appears to bounce over the log. A few other special effects took place then we turned everything over to Raji who used the gizmo to hack into their devices and effectively took over what they were allowed to see, He set the G.P.S. to travel up the motorway where it will end up at Scotland Yard, then eventually move on to the War Ministry. Now that should put the wind up our friends should they watch it to its eventual conclusion, which they probably wont. My guess is that they will stop watching once the G.P.S. hits the motorway. But the main thing is that the entire orchestration was meticulously planned. When the car was stopped with the motor running, and Martin pretending to make the call to William, Raji installed the software and hacked the programs so the instant they came back into use, and the car began to move, the viewers would be watching our input …not what where we were really going, or what we discussed. Everything was completely synchronised to the point where our fan-club would believe the log damaged the camera, the G.S.P. was working, even if where we were heading was not where they expected, and the audio would be the mystery bag. They would suspect audio drop out, damage caused by the branches on the log, or even something as simple as a faulty switch. They would probably never completely agree on what happened, but they would ever think that we were involved. I truly think that they undervalue us, and that is in our favour.
“Well, that is all you get. We are getting further and further out of time. If you need to know more, I am afraid you will have to wait till the book comes out in print, because here is the farm and this is where our night begins.