© GeraldineBanks2020
At 7.00pm exactly on Friday evening, Sandy opened the door and was relieved to see Maria Turner standing there. Martin had gone out to collect the twins from his parents who had been twin sitting.
Sandy beckoned Maria in quickly and closed the door. ” I’m so pleased you’ve came Maria , we are so worried We haven’t heard anything from Alex. Come on in.”
Maria walked through into the kitchen ; turned to Sandy and handed her a letter.It was addressed to Mummy and Daddy and was in a child’s unsteady hand. It was a letter from Alex.
Sandy sat down at the table , the letter wasn’t sealed and she opened it up and began to read it.
” Do you have time for a cup of tea Maria. ” Sandy looked up at Maria .
” Yes , that would be lovely I’ll make it, you read Alex’s letter.”
Maria began to fill the kettle and took the mugs off the mug tree. Sandy gave a sharp intake of breath.
“How does he know? How does he know? Alex says there were bad people trying to catch him!” she looked up at Maria.
” Keep reading Sandy, he tells the story really well. We lost 90% of the children and a lot of key staff but they managed to rescue some including Alex. ” Maria put the mugs of tea on the table.
Sandy continued reading the letter, it was two pages written on both sides. She looked up at Maria. “Where is Alex now, is he safe?”
” Yes, as safe as we can make it. He’s in good hands.” Maria passed one of the mugs of tea to Sandy.
” Alex says he was on an underground train.”
“Yes , it was quite an adventure for him. He was, I’m told, very brave and was very upset about losing so many of his friends. He is quite the little soldier. If he survives he will be one of our protectors. Even at the age of six he knows that we are fighting a Great Evil.”
” Oh Maria, if he survives!” Sandy cried.” Who can tell with all this turmoil, how can they keep up his meds, suppose he has a relapse and starts fitting again. I mean he was doing well, but what will happen now?”
Maria replied.” All our locations are exceptional and have exceptional people in them. All knowledge is shared, one of the last things Dr King did before he was captured was forward the details of the cases he was dealing with to a virtual server. The information has been accessed and the server destroyed. Alex is still healthy , our other more dependant patients were not so lucky.”
” How did they find the location , Maria?” Sandy asked.
” We don’t know, there’s always the potential for a clink in the armour , a leak. To be truthful it’s getting harder for us all the time. It was very bad though, we’ve lost some good people , like Dr King for example. The cover of P.Neel Organic Greengrocers is blown, so no more deliveries from now on; keep a look out for anyone following you or watching the house. We need you still to make the payments , we’ll use the emergency phone to send you the account details to pay the money into each week. Same as before.”
” Yes , that isn’t any problem, we can do that.What will happen to Dr King?”
” That is something we just don’t know. We’ve never been in a position to find out , but we are hoping that you ,Sandy ,might be able to help us.” Maria looked at Sandy.
” Me , how ?” Sandy looked puzzled.
” We think because of your job that you might have a chance to find out. You may be able to go undercover and find out where they are taking our people and what they are doing with them. William King is not the first. There have been a number of disappearances and we simply don’t know what happens to them.”
” How do you mean?”
” Well I’m aware of some of your work you’ve been doing recently. Investigative work about Modern Day Case Histories of the Miraculous Cures of Genetic Disorders that are promoted as a cover to stop people finding out what they are really doing and what a Global Tragedy this is.”
” I’ve been given a project at Work, yes, I’m working quite independently, it’s supposed to be confidential , but how did you know Maria?”
“I was told, one reason we survive is we don’t ask. I know it’s sounds silly on one side we are asking you to ask lots of questions and on the other side we want you to not ask any for your own safety. I don’t know where the information comes from, so I have nothing to hide, you see that keeps us safe as we can be. We want you to try and find out about doctors or medical staff who have ” reformed ” after they were captured. That was all I was asked to find out. We think that these people are not murdered, they might not be the same people with the same motivations before they were captured, but we would like to find them all the same. You at least have an advantage that you know what Doctor King looks like.”
As Sandy listened to Maria, the penny dropped. It would make sense to follow that path. Gerry had opened that door for her. The initial research she had being doing was historical and based on factual information she knew she was being fed information to ensure the current status quo of Genetic Cleansing was supported. She had tried to push for the truth but that would never be forthcoming. She realised she had to change tack. Sandy needed to integrate herself into the mechanism’s and vehicles of this deadly organisation, and become one of them. They wanted to justify their reasoning and Sandy was going to give them every opportunity to do it. She would pitch her idea to Gerry to film a programme about the ” Organisation” and the good work it does to protect future generations from contamination with faulty genetic material. She still didn’t trust Gerry as far as she could throw him, but she had a chance to help and she didn’t need to give it a second thought.
” Maria, I understand now, and I can help, I’d be only too glad too. I’ve been reluctant to follow through on some stories because I felt I was being used for propaganda , but I wonder if I towed the line what else I could find out, I’ve had some invitations, conferences , hospital visits and seminars, maybe I need to start following through with those. As far as they are concerned I’m just another Media contact for them to promote their cause.” Sandy finished her mug of tea and began to stand up.
Maria began to stand up too.” Sandy thank you.” She looked at Sandy and hugged her tightly, as she moved away she clasped both of Sandy’s hands in hers and said.
” I have to go now, but rest assured Alex is in safe hands and I’ll let you know , when I can how he is getting on. Keep the phone we gave you on charge, it might be the only way that we can stay in touch. In the meantime we need the money, We’ve had a lot of unplanned expenses over the last few weeks.”
Sandy thought perhaps she needed to explain about where the money was coming from.
” If you need more let me know, just text me the amount and where you want it to go. Alex is not Martin’s child, the father is an executive at Sunshine Media. We had to blackmail him to get the money, but he is now a very wealthy man and the money supply is endless and untraceable. Mainly from gambling. I think.”
Maria looked perturbed. ” How much have you told him and do you trust him?” They both walked towards the front door.
“I’ve told him that Alex is being looked after and it is very expensive. Alex is his only son and he wants what’s best for him it appears. I’ve only told him what I know and as you say that isn’t that much. It was his idea to give me the project to work on and in the back of my mind I worry that he is the chink in the armour, but without his money we can’t do anything. So I’m being careful with him. I’ll never trust him completely. “
” Good , perhaps we have no other option. Good luck, I’ll be back in touch when I can. Goodbye.” Maria opened the front door and quickly disappeared into the night.
As Sandy shut the door she realised that she had planned to write a short note to Alex and give it to Maria. Sandy opened the door again, but Maria had already disappeared. Sandy closed the door again and walked back into the kitchen. Martin would be home soon. She would tell him all that had happened and that Maria wanted help to trace Dr King. Perhaps he would think it was dangerous , but she didn’t see any other option.” She washed up the mugs and checked the mobile that was on charge and out of site in one of the kitchen drawers.