thenotsomightyom

©GeraldineBanksMarch2025

On Friday morning Chief Superintendent Napper drove up the long driveway to the ” House” . He was driving his wife’s car to maintain the status that the Police were not involved, even if he knew Tedi was not in danger , at least from the kidnappers.

It was a pleasant day and the Superintendent was pleased to say that he had some good news. There had been a two or three reports of sightings of a white dog with a small boy and it appeared that they had travelled out of London and had been spotted with some other dogs. The little group had so far evaded capture and seemed to be heading West. Increasingly the Chief Superintendent felt that Tedi was heading home. Even better he had CCTV photographs of the little gang which he felt would reassure Cross.

Napper was intent on getting the kidnappers, he hated kidnappers with a vengeance. One of his most difficult cases was a kidnapping that was never resolved to Napper’s satisfaction. So he was determined to get the person responsible . This was an opportunity to get the main protagonist and he had to persuade Cross to follow his plan. He felt Cross would be reassured that they could proceed with the plan without endangering the little dog.

” So there you are” Napper handed Cross and Letitia the photographs.

” Yes, that’s definately him! ” Cross and Letitia gasped. ” I don’t know the other dogs with him or the little boy”.

“They seem to mainly travel at night, how they got out of London and crossed the Motorway without being killed, I don’t know, but now we’re beginning to get reports from the smaller villages. Some people have reported the dogs sleeping in their outhouses and have given them food and water. The little boy has stayed out of the way when people are around, might be he’s scared someone will catch him. Either way , they’re covering a lot of ground , about twenty miles a day.”

” Is there nothing we can do, put out a search party, posters anything?” Cross asked.

” If you don’t mind, they seem to be doing OK, we can’t say anything yet, I want to get this kidnapper, you said that you were getting a call at 6.00 o’clock tonight , to arrange a rendezvous to hand over the money. “

The Chief Superintendent continued.” You’ll get full backing and I’ll get whoever is behind this. I’m pretty certain the kidnapper will ask for a meeting tonight. We’re going to fill a suitcase full of monopoly money and a little surprise, the techhie people will brief you. You know he hasn’t got the dog, but you can bluff it. Whoever the kidnapper is , they aren’t going to trust their underlings with ” a million smackers”. The Chief Superintendent smiled.

So Cross took the call as agreed at 6.00pm, the technicians were listening in and gathering evidence. They managed to trace the call to a telephone box in Oxford, and the local Police , once they knew the coast was clear , followed through and took finger prints from the phone in the box. It was a long shot but it had to be done.

The kidnapper was oblivious to all this evidence gathering and was pleased with himself for setting up the rendezvous. He would handle this alone, he would have some dinner at a local restaurant and then make his way to the Industrial Estate he had chosen for the money to be handed over and agreed Ten O’clock. He would bring a little white dog which looked like Tedi, it was in the back of his car. In the dark no one would know and anyway if there was any trouble he would use his gun.

Cross was in his car , waiting at the agreed Rendezvous spot in the middle of the Industrial Estate the kidnapper had requested. Cross had been waiting in his car for ten minutes , when the kidnappers car pulled up beside him.

Cross rolled down his window.

” You got the money in small bills in a suitcase.”

” Yes, I have, let me see my dog.”

” Look he’s there in the back, happy as Larry to see you he is.”

” It’s very dark, but yes , I can see his tail wagging, so he’s alright then?” Cross played along.

” He’s fine” The man took out a gun and said to Cross. ” Get out of the car, I’ll check the suitcase on the bonnet, no funny business, you’ve seen the dog”.

” Yes , that’s fine.” Cross wasn’t worried about the weapon, in his youth, he’d looked after many shooting parties, there wasn’t much he didn’t know about guns.

Lettie, however, was in the Chief Superintendent’s car watching on videocam and she was very worried.

” Oh no!” she put her hand to her mouth.

” Be careful everyone, suspect has a gun. Approach with care, but move fast if anything untoward happens. Listen for instructions and act when I give the command.” The Chief Superintendent said over the radio.

” Untoward?” Lettie looked at Napper.

In the meantime Cross had got out of the car with the suitcase in his hands and moved to the front of the car to lay the suitcase on top of the bonnet.

The kidnapper moved beside him but keeping his distance and pointing his gun at him.

“Open it”

” Surely that isn’t necessary, I hardly would have come here by myself without the money.”

” I wasn’t born yesterday mate, you posh ones are all the same, forget it , there’s no honour among thieves. “

” What ? What Century do you think we’re living in” Cross looked at him calmly.

” Open it!”

” Alright” Cross moved his hands towards the two locks on the suitcase.

As he pressed the locks, the case flew open and jets of orange gas spewed into the atmosphere.

” Go!” Napper shouted on the radio.

Meanwhile Cross jumped behind the passenger side of his car, and ran around the back . At the same time covering his face with the mask he had in his pocket. He ran around the back of his car over to the kidnappers car.

The Police came from everywhere, they shouted at the kidnapper to put his weapon down.

The kidnapper’s eyes were streaming and he couldn’t see a thing, the Police shone a beam of light on him and watched as the kidnapper threw the gun on the ground and bent over and began rubbing his eyes. The Police officers grabbed his arms and moved him away from the gas towards a wall of a building and then searched him.

The message came over the radio. ” Suspect detained. Weapon retrieved, cleared of live ammunition and bagged for evidence.”

” Right , lets go and see this fellow.” Napper said to Lettie.

“Is that OK? Well I’d appreciate it, I mean I ….”

” Right come on….” The Chief Superintendent said gruffly, he had cottoned on to the fact that Lettie was fond of Cross.

So as Napper walked up to the officers who had handcuffed the kidnapper, Cross appeared with a little white dog in his arms.

” I’ve no idea who this is ” He said to Lettie.

Lettie looked at him relieved and petted the little dog on the head.

” Are you alright?” she asked, really meaning Cross but looking at the dog.

” He’s fine, fortunately I got him into the fresh air before he breathed in any of the orange gas.”

” And how about you, you OK?” Lettie enquired .

” Oh yes, I think it all went to plan what do you think?”

” Sounded pretty good.”

They both looked over at the man in handcuffs being questioned by Chief Superintendent Napper. They spoke to some of the other officers involved and checked if it was alright for them to return home. The Chief Superintendent would be occupied for quite some time and while Cross and Lettie wanted the go ahead to start the Publicity to find Tedi and his gang. It was agreed they would speak to the Chief Superintendent tomorrow. So they said their goodbyes to the officers and some of the technical staff and headed back to the Palace with the new addition to their brood, James would be delighted and they had already decided he would be called ” Napper”

©GeraldineBanksMarch2025

Tedi looked at the frail little boy that was Tommy and wondered how they were ever going to make it. Still ,Tedi’s homing instinct was very strong, he knew he had to just keep going. It was three O’clock in the afternoon and he knew the right direction to go. Tedi got up and Tommy followed him.

They walked along streets and alleyways heading towards what everyone would know as the North Circular, fortunately there were a lot of cafes and shops along the route where they were going. Food seemed to have been dropped everywhere and now and then Tedi stopped and ate what he found on the ground which was actually quite tasty, there were meat sandwiches, burgers and fries and his favourite fish and chips. Tommy couldn’t eat that , but he was quite capable of going into shops and shop lifting, he knew how to get in without being noticed and he came out with all sorts of things , drinks and food, even a dog bowl to put water in and finally a rucksack to put everything in.

However, one observant shop keeper, spotted Tommy and nearly caught him. Tedi was just having a wee when he saw Tommy running out of the shop being chased by three young men.

” Ooops” Tedi thought” and started running too, Tommy followed him. They crossed roads dodging the traffic and came to a load of abandoned road works, there were lots of signs but no one working on them. Tedi popped behind one of the big orange signs and onto the edge of one of the holes Tommy followed him. They hunkered down and waited for the men to pass.

The men were were quite out of breath, but still managed to talk to each other.

” We should report it to the Police, a little boy out on his own like that with a little white dog. It’s not right.” Said one of the men.

” Yes, poor little blighter , the little boy was skin and bone, ran like the wind though, best report it , someone might be looking for him.” One of the men gasped.

And so Chief Superintendent Napper, got the report of the little dog and a boy who matched the description of Tedi and Tommy and it looked like they were heading West out of London.

” That’s going to make the meeting with the kidnappers very interesting, I think I’ll pop in and see Mr Cross later on today. He’ll be glad to know that I don’t think that the kidnappers have the dog either.” Napper thought to himself, and decided to issue a request for other nearby Police Forces to report any sightings of a small white dog accompanied by a little frail boy.

So Tedi and Tommy sheltered behind the roadworks for a while and then continued their journey. The roads were very busy , it was getting to five o’clock and everyone was going home from work. It would be light until about seven O’clock and Tedi was beginning to feel tired, he knew he’d rather travel at night as it would be safer and less likely to attract attention. Also he needed the stars and the moon to help him navigate, he couldn’t rely on them but if he could see them it would reassure him.

Tedi decided that as they were near some very big concrete roads that they would find a culvert and hopefully find somewhere comfortable for him and Tommy to hide and have some rest.

Tommy was slowing down and he was really grateful when Tedi made a left turn and went under a bridge. Someone had discarded loads of cardboard and Tedi and Tommy were able to gather it up and protect themselves from the hard ground. The traffic was very noisy , but Tommy had something to drink and put some water in Tedi’s bowl and then they lay down, hidden from everyone and they both fell asleep , cuddling each other to stay warm.

They woke up at midnight, much longer than they intended sleeping. Tedi was woken by a paw in his face, it was a large brown mongrel who was fast asleep on the cardboard beside him. Tedi opened his eyes and raised his head to see four other dogs huddled together with Tommy and him. Despite being a chilly night they were all very cosy and all the dogs were snoring gently. Tedi looked at Tommy and saw how comfortable the little boy was cuddled up to the dogs.

Tedi wanted to get up and moved out of the way of the large brown dog, who he later found out was called Bruno. Bruno woke up and in a few minutes both dogs knew each others history. Bruno looked after the other four dogs with him, they’d been strays in London for a long while. Bruno found out Tedi was heading back to the Countryside and Bruno asked him if he and his friends could go with them. Tedi liked the idea immediately and said yes.

Tedi explained that he wanted to set off while it was still dark and his plan was to find shelter, food and water on the way. Bruno told him he knew the best way to get out of London and that there were loads of tunnels under the motorway that they could go through in safety and he knew a lot of the towns on the way to the Countryside. Bruno had had enough of London and it’s business and pollution. He wanted to live like a Lord like Tedi. Tedi said he would see what he could do. He really liked Bruno.

And so , one by one they woke up the little pack of dogs and finally they woke Tommy up who was very reluctant to get up . Tommy yawned, but brightened up when he saw the dogs, and patted each one and said hello. Bruno was nearly as big as Tommy, and Tommy hugged him.

Before finally leaving , Tommy opened up his rucksack and got some water for the dogs and some sausages, and Tommy drank a small carton of fruit juice he’d taken from one of the shops and an out of date bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich for himself which he ate, throwing small bits of bacon to the dogs who were delighted.

So guided by Bruno and the night stars, Tedi, Tommy and Bruno passed underneath the big motorway and began their journey into the Countryside.