Bacchus and Sanderson (Deceased) (50 page)

Kicking out at the rock as it rushed past them they tried to knock Charles off balance and give themselves a chance to get an arm free.

              Jonas’s flailing leg caught an outcrop of quartz, spinning them onto their sides and then their backs. Charles’s grip slackened in alarm as he spun around onto his back. Ernest had been waiting for this and as soon as he felt Charles’s grip loosen, he smiled at Jonas, nodded and they both relaxed, forcing their bodies to become floppy. Their combined deadweight was too much for Charles and he lost his grip on them letting them spin out of his grasp and slide upward away from the direction of their travel.

              Without pausing to see if Charles’s had slowed his rapid descent and was giving chase, Ernest pushed up against the rock and accelerated back up towards the surface, hauling Jonas behind him. Seconds later they broke through the tarmac and shot up to roof level. He looked around orientating himself while Jonas leant against the edge of the building gasping. William was sitting on the back seat of one Range Rover with Annabel beside him and Ben and Jemima were in another. The bodyguards were looking around, unsure who had attacked their principles. Tiny was talking to a police officer, their conversation heated and becoming more so with each passing second. Ernest motioned for Jonas to stay where he was and recover and he moved down to ground level and stood behind Tiny, listening to the exchange.

“The ship will be docking in ten minutes.” He gestured to the ship easing itself towards the mooring point in front of the CHC warehouses.

“Why on earth do you want to arrest the people who will be searching and finding tonnes of pure cocaine for you? We have credible evidence the cocaine is on the ship, that’s why they’re here. That’s why you’re here.”

The policeman looked at Tiny as he would to an errant, slow child and said with care,

“As I have explained sir, the men you claim are customs officers are, in fact, illegal emissaries from the planet Zircon, I have been instructed to apprehend them as they are in contravention of many star command regulations, not least …”

Tiny interrupted, grabbing him by his lapels and spinning him around to look at the customs officers that had been corralled by the police.

“Aliens, do they look like aliens?”

Ernest contacted William, Annabel and Ben simultaneously,

“William, Helena is controlling the police. I think Tiny is about to erupt, can you pour oil on troubled waters for one minute?”

William said,

“Yes but be quick, the ship is about to dock.”

Ernest accelerated to the roof of the warehouse and then one hundred feet above scanning the area for Juanita. Seeing her, he rushed down calling out as he approached,

“Juanita, I need help. The police believe they have to arrest the customs officers.”

“It’s Charles. Ernest you need to deal with him, take Jonas.” Grunting with exertion as she and Helena circled above the approaching cargo ship.

              Helen and Juanita were locked together spiralling around each other each trying to break the others hold. Juanita said through teeth, clenched with concentration,

“You have the power, assert yourself. Ernest your sons need you.” The ships horn sounding stopped Juanita as the first of the hawsers were thrown to dock workers who had arrived moments before.

***

              Charles crouched behind an air conditioning unit, laughing at the scene that was playing out below. Police were attempting to arrest customs men who believed they were emissaries from Zircon. William was trying to restrain his large friend from assaulting the policeman and the other bodyguards were looking on, unsure what to do. Now for the next part.

              With a deft flick of his hand Jemima began screaming in agony, writhing in her wheelchair, but unable to move more than a few centimetres in any direction. Raising his hand, he increased her pain until she was shrieking and thrashing side to side, her wheelchair in danger of toppling over. Nodding with satisfaction, he turned his attention to Annabel.

Helena was right he thought this really was fun. The buzz was incredible. He was controlling the police, who were still trying to arrest the customs officers, his granddaughter was in agony and the irritating vicar was next. All by himself, he thought.

              Later, Charles would reflect on what happened from the moment he finished that thought. He would attempt to see what he missed, how he had underestimated Ernest and Jonas and assumed they were irrelevant. He would wonder, as he languished, where no one wishes to languish, why it had not occurred to either himself or Helena that Team Bacchus would be prepared to risk everything for that oldest of maxims: good must always triumph over evil.

***

              William watched Tiny getting nowhere with the police office. He knew this was Charles or Helena’s diversionary tactics and as soon as Ernest and Juanita could gain control of the situation everything would return to normal. Tiny had started shouting at the police officer and was on the verge of being arrested himself. Rushing over William interrupted their argument before it became impossible to defuse the situation. Easing Tiny towards the Range Rovers he said over his shoulder,

“If I can borrow him for just a moment? Thank you.” To Tiny he said under his breath,

“What is happening, what you are seeing, is not what it seems. I can’t begin to explain what is happening I don’t have the time or words to help you to understand. Please trust me. This will all return to normal soon. Are the customs officers ready to go?” Tiny nodded, confused.

“They can’t,” he said nodding at the corralled customs people being held behind the warehouse.

“Ok, we need to get them onto the ship now that it has docked.”

Tiny thought for a moment before he said,

“Are you sure this will return to normal? Will the police remember what they have been saying and any actions that might have been happening or not?”

William shrugged and then remembering his own recent experience he said,

“A short while ago I was having severe chest pain and it was thought I was having another heart attack. When it stopped, all I was aware of was that something had happened to me and now it had stopped. I didn’t know what it had been. That’s all they’ll know. No memories.”

Tiny looked around and gestured to his colleagues to join him and William.

Staring at William for a moment, he nodded and faced the other bodyguards.

“We need to stop this crap and get customs onto that ship now. Suggestions?”

John looked confused and said,

“Without going to jail for a long time?”

Tiny considered how he should answer and then said,

“This is a short term blip that won’t be remembered.” He indicated the police guarding the customs officers and the Inspector in the patrol car.

“Whatever we do in a few moments won’t be remembered by them. “

John scoffed with derision.

“Bullshit. We attack the police and release the customs guys, we’ll be in the scrubs faster than you can say madness.” He grinned at Tiny.

“I’m in. Boys?” He asked the others.

“This has got so boring, shall we?”

They all nodded without hesitation. William stood stunned unsure what to say. He decided on a simple response.

“Thank you.”

***

              Ernest was still struggling to understand the dichotomy that concerned touch. The living, he could whoosh through with ease, top to bottom or side to side. Other spirits however; were solid, tangible, a force he could push against. This curious reversal of the laws of nature now meant he could address the Charles problem himself.

              Charles was at roof level enjoying an unobstructed view of the chaos he was causing between the police and customs below. Ernest motioned to Jonas to join him. Seconds later when he was by Ernest’s side, he told Jonas what they were going to do. Jonas grinned and rose up and to his left. Ernest went in the opposite direction, high and to his right. On a signal from Ernest, they both accelerated down banking around until they were on parallel paths accelerating at Charles back. Puffing themselves up to maximise their slighter physiques, they accelerated faster and faster at Charles. They covered the intervening distance in complete silence, leaving Charles unaware that they were there. The force of the impact surprised him, he hadn’t been sure how effective their combined power would be. They hit Charles and kept driving forward pushing him over the edge of the building and then downwards towards the tarmac of the car park.

              They used the momentum they had from their impact with Charles and the acceleration from the fall to ground level. Aligning themselves with the church of St Saviours they continued to surged forward forcing Charles to go faster and faster.

              Charles was struggling and cursing; twisting, turning and all the time screeching to Helena to assist him but she had to concentrate on stopping Juanita wrecking her cloaking of the cocaine’s location. Charles’s struggling increased as his rage multiplied. Ernest and the less fit Jonas had begun tiring with the effort of driving forward towards St Saviours church and keeping Charles pinioned in their grasp. Sensing that Jonas was on the verge of collapse and with his own strength was beginning to fail him, he saw the spire of St Saviours five hundred meters ahead. Adjusting their alignment to ensure that Charles would not be aware of his destination, he grinned at Jonas and screamed,

“Not long, hang on.” They put in a final massive effort and sped up holding him away from the church, stopping him from guessing what they were trying to do. The plan was simple and used an obvious flaw in both Charles’s and Helena’s powers. They couldn’t fight religion and were rendered powerless and unable to move or function in any building used for religious purposes. They shrivelled and became nothing. If they were released, they regained their form and powers, though to a lesser extent.

“The Sanderson brothers have failed again, I can feel you tiring. As soon as I escape, and I will, I’ll destroy you and then redouble my efforts to humiliate and hurt your pathetic family.”

Ignoring his taunting, Ernest adjusted his position in relation to the church and they continued to push their exhausted bodies closer. Two hundred meters.

“Helena and her master Satan, will pull you into the lowest reaches of hell and subject you to torments lasting for eternity.”

Charles’s struggling had become less ferocious as his confidence grew with each passing sentence. He was almost still, allowing Ernest and Jonas to focus on the last fifty meters they had to cover to get him to St Saviours.

              Charles’s floundering again became more focused as he squirmed to see where they were going. He had realised too late, that Ernest and Jonas were taking him to a specific destination and weren’t just removing him from the vicinity of the warehouse. Ten meters.

              With a final effort of biblical proportions, Ernest and Jonas hurled Charles and themselves through the walls of St Saviours and collapsed to the floor. Ernest lay still on the floor of the church. Exhausted, waves of nausea washing over him. Could ghosts throw up? Charles was swirling around him hurling taunts and venom.

“You’re as worthless as the rest of your, hapless pathetic family. Have you forgotten; we’re ghosts, buildings can’t contain us.”

              He flew at the wall, expecting to go straight through and back to the CHC warehouse complex. He hit the wall at speed and bounced back into the room, stunned and angry. He soared to the full height of the room and then using his altitude accelerated at the bottom of the wall. He hit the wall full on and collapsed in a heap on the floor, the blow leaving him barely conscious.

Ernest smiled, his strength was returning and Charles was learning a valuable lesson.

“Jonas would you like to explain to Charles why he is struggling to breach these walls?” Jonas shook his head still too exhausted and indicated his brother should continue.

“Look around you Charles, I’m sure Helena told you.”  Charles looked confused. Uncomprehending, he did as Ernest suggested. For the first time he noticed the windows, stained glass. The pews and at the far end the altar. He struggled up and picked up a book from the top of the pile at the entrance to the building. The Book of Common Prayer.

              He stared at his hands and then his body and legs, they were fading, disappearing before his eyes. The look of fear was unexpected. Ernest glared at him and said.

“Goodbye Charles. We need to finish what was started forty years ago. Jonas, we need to go. William and Juanita need us.”

***

              Ernest and Jonas rushed back to the CHC warehouse, covering the mile and a half in seconds. Ernest deposited his brother on the roof and surveyed the scene below. He could see that the police had released the customs officers and Jemima had stopped screaming and had been lifted onto the rear seat of a Range Rover to recover.

“William, Ben, is everyone ok?”

Ben replied, as William was talking to Tiny, the police inspector and the head of the customs team.