The next minute I was grabbed and flung in to a chair by two men. They were yelling something at me but in my dazed state I could not make it out so I pretended to lapse in to unconsciousness again. One of them slapped me hard trying to bring me round. He gave up, pulled the ‘‘‘phone cord out of its socket and disappeared, presumably to join his friend in wrecking the house.
After a few minutes I ’d managed to get to my feet. I could hear them making a noise upstairs as I quietly moved towards the door. It opened with just a slight creak and I ’d stumbled out in to the rain and down the steps and along the path towards the car. There was a yell, my departure had been spotted and the chase was on. I reached the car; fortunately I still had the keys in my pocket, and started it as a figure had burst out through the front door and down the path followed seconds later by a second. I ’d slammed the car in to reverse and shot back up the drive and out on to the road, nearly going in to the beech hedge opposite the gateway in the process. As I pulled away one of the men, an unshaven individual in a black leather jacket and black shirt, had grabbed the door handle but I picked up speed and he was forced to let go and fell to the road. I ’d swerve d violently to avoid hitting a Volvo Estate parked in close to the hedge. Looking in the mirror as I ’d careered off down the lane I could see the two men running to the Volvo.
The solution was to get to the police, and the nearest police would be the station in the village. As I ’d roared down the hill in to the village, the wipers were not coping well with the rain, which was torrential; I could see headlights behind me, the Volvo. I ’d screeched to a halt outside the police station. It was dark; it was closed and nobody answered as I thundered on the door. I ’d cursed, only manned for a limited number of hours each day. Looking around I could see that the whole village was deserted and silent. It seemed no one want to brave the weather. I ’d looked up and could see the Volvo hurtling down the street straight towards me and jumping back in to the car I’d s lammed it in to reverse gear. The Volvo swerved and crashed diagonally in to the passenger side bouncing off and knocking me sideways across the cobbled street. The Volvo window opened and a hand waved what looked like a pistol. I did not wait to find out and gunned the car on down the high street and out in to the country again. Looking in my mirror I could see that the Volvo was in hot pursuit.
Back out in to the country again, the lanes were narrow with hedgerows or dry-stone walls pressing in on both sides; I ’d prayed we would not meet anything coming the other way. I was steering with one hand as I tried to use my mobile with the other, and call the police. The Volvo was catching me and soon the headlights were right on my tail. The car jumped and there was a loud crash noise; my mobile fell to the floor. I realised that the Volvo had rammed me and I ’d put my foot down further on the throttle only just getting round the next corner without losing it and leaving the road. The Volvo dropped back and then gained again; the jump and the crash as I was rammed, and then a screeching noise, the Volvo did not drop back, he was hooked on to my tow bar, the steering was light and I was losing control. I ’d braked and we sk idded locked together, and left the road, crashing through an old dry stone wall. We were at the top of an embankment and the car toppled over on to the roof and skied upside down at top speed down the slope towards trees at the bottom!
CHAPTER 14
Coming back to the present with a start, I looked up from the empty Latte cup and then down at my watch. After having spun out three coffees for nearly two hours I was receiving some sideways looks from the staff. I suppose I had been here a long time. The trouble was that I was comfortable and did not relish moving again. I gingerly rose to my feet, paid the bill, and walked out to the shopping mall. I needed a phone. I quickly bou ght one with a pay as you go SIM card and walked down the mall to the garden area where I was able find a bench and sit down. Time to call Alec. Alec was in the office and I was put through quickly.
“Alec, this is Martin, can you meet with me? I don't want to come to the office at the moment.”
“What is going on, Martin,” said an understandably perplexed Alec, “Are you alright? I understand you sneaked out of the hospital and stole a car!”
“I will explain when we get together, if you can get away how about the coffee stand near the SS Great Britain in half an hour?”
Alec sighed, “OK, see you then.”
The day had brightened up and sitting in the warm sun was very pleasant. I started to relax while I drank yet another coffee and waited for Alec. It was very pleasant here with the SS Great Britain’s masts towering to the left and the recently rejuvenated harbour developments in front of me. I could see a ferry making its way across the water and in the bow was the tall figure of Alec, he waved and I waved back. The ferry reached the wharf and Alec was quickly with me. Having ordered himself a coffee he slumped down in to a chair beside me.
“Sounds like you are having a rough time, ” I said.
“Not really, it’s just that a few minutes before you ca lled I had a somewhat unpleasant phone conversation with that git Plavsic.”
“So you don't like him either,” I said.
“He just won't take no for an answer. He had been told by Allied Grampian of our board decision not to take his proposals any further and he wanted to discuss it further. When I politely said no, that our decision was final he became unpleasant, almost threatening.”
“Now that is interesting”, I said. I then went on to tell him the story of my 'accident'.
“You don't think it was Plavsic who knocked you off the road, do you?”
“Well, not personally because that driver is dead, but maybe he is involved. Perhaps the accident was meant to be a warning that went wrong?”
“But why?” said Alec. “It sounds a bit far fetched that someone would try strong arm tactics like that just because we turned him down”.
“I agree, but maybe there is more to Plavsic than we know. I have felt that someone has been following me for the past week or so and then just before I set out for home the other night I had a threatening call. An obviously very heavily disguised voice threatened me that I would be 'dead meat' if I allowed the company to float. That's all he said, and hung up.”
“Well. There is something I didn't tell you. Three days ago I got an anonymous letter threatening something similar. Well not a letter really, it was a message made up of letters cut out of magazines.”
“Have you still got it?” I said.
“No, thought it was a crank and threw it away. Why did you run away from hospital? I couldn't believe it when I heard.”
“Frankly, I was scared. The accident seemed like an attempt to kill me and I was lucky to get out alive. On top of that there was this business of being followed, and lying there in hospital I felt like I was a sitting duck if someone wanted to try again. I have even stopped using my credit cards so they can't locate me.” I did not feel like telling Alec about Adrian's problem.
“You're being crazy Martin. We may have a problem here but tracing you through credit card use is something that only police and security services could do. Don't you think you are going over the top?”
“Maybe,” I said, “You're call from Plavsic puts a different light on it. However there is something else I need to tell you.” I then described the home visit and threat I had from the man in the trench coat.
“Why did you not tell me before, and why have you not told the police?” said Alec.
“I'm not really sure why I kept it to myself,” I said. “The more I thought about it; there was really very little to tell the police that they could act on or use to identify the bloke, and I suppose I was a bit shocked. Frankly I am not a great fan of the police, probably stemming from the days of getting beaten up during student demonstrations, so I decided to leave it. The only action I took was to change the locks on the front door, he obviously had a key.”
“I think we now need to involve the police, straight away. Tell them everything that has happened and see what they make of it. If you put the whole thing on a formal basis with the authorities that might restrain these people or at least make them think twice. ”
“I suppose you are right.” I said. “Technically I might be considered to be on the run. There was a uniformed police officer stationed at the reception desk in the hospital. I am not sure if the crash was someone trying to kill me or just warn me off.”
“Well I think that you need to talk to the police. If you are by any remote chance right that security services
