Dory's Avengers (63 page)

Facing Philip Lorimer, Alan Santiago and Georgia Farrell across his desk, Rollins finished his phone call.

‘OK,' he said, ‘Lord William will see us in half an hour.'

‘How did he seem?' asked Alan anxiously.

‘Relaxed,' replied Rollins, looking dubiously at Alan's flamboyant attire. ‘You are the one who made the allegations initially, right?'

‘I am, but they're not just allegations. It's the truth…'

‘We shall see, Mr Santiago. Might I suggest that only you and I attend this interview with Lord William? We at the Embassy have a good relationship with the Sponsors, and I have no wish to antagonise His Lordship by turning up mob handed.'

Turning to Georgie, Rollins assured her that the Embassy was delighted to find her safe and well, and that he would do all he could to find her brother. Then, still feeling that he was setting off on a wild-goose chase, Rollins left with
Alan to keep their appointment with Lord William. Half an hour later they were seated in Lord William's office, along with a number of high-ranking Sponsors. Rollins found the whole episode a little embarrassing, and his embarrassment only increased as the interview progressed.

‘William St Benedict,' said His Lordship unnecessarily by way of introduction, shaking Charlie Rollins by the hand. Alan refused the outstretched hand offered to him by Lord William, instead sitting himself down in front of His Lordship's desk without waiting to be asked.

‘Please be seated,' said Lord William, smiling pointedly at Alan's display of bad manners. ‘Now, gentlemen, what can I do for you?'

‘I've had a report, from this…gentleman…here,' Rollins gestured at Alan, not sure that gentleman was the right word, ‘that his…er…partner, Dexter Montfiore, an American citizen, is being held against his will in your house…'

Charlie Rollins's voice tailed off as Lord William started to laugh. Looking scathingly at Alan, who was beginning to wish he'd put slightly less eyeliner on that morning, Lord William spoke.

‘I think your companion has rather a vivid imagination. Or perhaps he's been at the wacky baccy – who knows what these Unsponsored get up to? Mr Rollins, feel free to search my house from top to bottom. Feel free to question my colleagues here, who spend a large amount of time in my house and I'm sure would have noticed a random American incarcerated herein. All are respectable people,' Lord William again looked pointedly at Alan, who was trying to surreptitiously remove a pink comb from his hair and sneak it into his pocket. Totally relaxed, and enjoying an unexpected opportunity to humiliate one of the Applethwaite Unsponsored, Lord William warmed to his task.

‘All are of high standing in the Sponsorship Scheme, and therefore they are regarded with the utmost respect here in
the UK. I'm sure you're aware of the success of the Scheme in this country, Mr Rollins. I'm sure you're also aware of the recent disturbances in London caused by the Unsponsored, such as Mr Santiago, at a time when the Sponsored wish only for the Games here to be enjoyable and successful. Ladies and gentlemen,' Lord William continued, addressing his Sponsors, ‘have you noticed an American being held against his will in my house?'

The Sponsors all obediently replied that they hadn't, some laughing incredulously at the crazy notion that the benevolent Lord William would hold a fellow human captive. The household staff had also been warned to deny ever having seen Dexter Montfiore, so Lord William was confident in inviting Charlie Rollins to ask as many questions as he needed. Rollins, however, had heard enough. Surprised that Philip Lorimer could have been taken in by Alan Santiago's ridiculous allegations, but not surprised in the slightest to find that Santiago had been lying, Rollins apologised profusely to Lord William. Ushering Alan hurriedly out of Lord William's office, Rollins didn't even wait until they were free of the St Benedict residence before he gave vent to his anger. As he let fly at Alan on their way down the stairs, Rollins's voice carried clearly back to the delighted Lord William.

‘Well, that was embarrassing,' yelled the American, glaring at his companion and losing his temper even more at Alan's less than masculine appearance.

‘I realise that you and the Unsponsored have some sort of grudge against the Scheme, but HOW DARE you try to get the American Embassy involved? Don't you think we've got far more important issues than your little rebellion? What the hell's your problem anyway? Why can't you accept Sponsorship; to my mind it offers so many benefits…'

‘With respect, you need to know…' began Alan, only to be rudely interrupted.

‘Shut the fuck up, fag!' roared Rollins, his anger causing latent homophobia to come to the fore. ‘I'm not interested in another word from you. How dare you accuse a respectable man like Lord William of kidnapping? If it were down to me, I'd have you horsewhipped for wasting my time.'

Stephen Dyer saw the furious Charlie Rollins and the crestfallen Alan Santiago out on to the street, sneering in triumph as Alan passed by looking decidedly uncomfortable. Out of the corner of his eye, Alan saw a woman hovering in the background looking as though she wanted to speak to him and Rollins, but she was roared at by Dyer.

‘White, get on with your work, NOW!' Looking back at the woman, who he realised must be the lovely housekeeper Theo and Marina talked about with such affection, Alan saw her mouth ‘He let Dex go' before disappearing into the kitchen.

Sniggering, having missed Mrs White's attempt to communicate with Alan, Dyer opened the door and his taunts died on his lips. Of all the rotten timing, why did he have to be seeing Santiago and Rollins out just as Faye Maloney and the other Sponsors arrived from Applethwaite?

‘Alan,' called Faye, crossing the street, ‘you missed Dex by a few hours. Lord William let him go this morning…'

‘And you are?' asked Rollins, beginning to feel a little nonplussed.

‘Faye Maloney, director of the Leisure and Fitness Group,' replied Faye with a smile, holding out her Gold Sponsor card. ‘Are you looking for Dex? His Lordship let him go earlier, hoping not to get the American Embassy involved.'

‘What do you mean, let him go?'

‘Well, His Lordship's interested in bringing the hostilities between the Sponsors and the Unsponsored to a close before the Games. He was holding Dex as a negotiating tool, until Alan here pointed out that it might not be the best move ever to hold an American captive.'

‘Your colleagues upstairs said that there'd been no sign of a prisoner in His Lordship's home, American or otherwise…'

‘They're lying,' replied the inherently honest Faye. ‘His Lordship can be very persuasive when he wants to be.'

Confused, Charlie Rollins turned to Fiona Turnbull and Mortimer O'Reilly.

‘Is this true?' he asked, although his instincts were already telling him to believe Faye rather than the stilted, rehearsed words of her colleagues in Lord William's office. Showing their Gold Sponsor cards to Rollins, Fiona and Mortimer both nodded. Rollins knew enough about the history of the Scheme to realise that Fiona and Mortimer weren't merely high-ranking Sponsors, they were founder members.

‘Well,' said Alan, looking at Rollins, ‘best you put that horse whip away, sweetie. Dex was held here against his will, and you have a duty to him to investigate.'

At that moment, Lord William burst out of his house. How stupid he'd been, yet again. He'd instructed the Sponsors in his office to lie for him, he'd primed his staff to do the same, but he'd failed to extend his orders to the outspoken Faye Maloney. Was he too late?

‘Lord William,' said Charlie Rollins, looking seriously at His Lordship. ‘It appears that you have in actual fact been holding an American citizen against his will. I shall be investigating this further.'

Lord William was too late.

Chapter Twenty-five

‘Do you want a ride any place?' Charlie Rollins asked Alan Santiago. The American was still embarrassed, but now it was because he had been proved wrong in assuming it was Alan who was lying. Prejudiced by the respectable appearance of Lord William against the highly individual appearance of Alan, prejudiced by Lord William's high standing in society against Alan being Unsponsored, Rollins realised to his shame that he hadn't given his companion a fair chance from the moment they met.

‘No thank you,' replied Alan to Rollins's question. ‘I'm going to carry on looking for Dex.' Realising to his dismay that Dex would have no idea where to find the Unsponsored HQ, Alan was actually no closer to being reunited with Dex than he'd been before the intervention of the American Embassy.

‘Sure?' said Rollins, unlocking his car as Alan nodded. ‘I will be investigating this further,' he continued before he drove away. ‘And I shall, of course, keep you posted. May I take your cell phone number?

Laughing, Alan replied, ‘I'm sorry, I haven't got one. We Unsponsored aren't considered worthy of having individual phones.'

Thinking that there seemed to be rather a lot of restrictions put on those who rejected Sponsorship, in a country that claimed to be Mother of the Free, Rollins decided he
would look into more than just Dexter Montfiore's imprisonment.

‘I'll use Philip Lorimer as a contact then,' he said. ‘And maybe you could do the same? Let me know when you find Dexter?' Alan confirmed that he would, and Rollins drove away.

Looking up and down the grand, tree-lined avenue that Theo hated so much, Alan wondered what to do next. Look for Dex; yes, that was all very well, but where? London was somewhat bigger than Applethwaite, and it was a place with which Alan was unfamiliar.

‘Do you want some help, Al?' said Faye, appearing at Alan's shoulder as her colleagues got in their cars and started driving away.

‘Won't that get you grief from His Lordshit?' replied Alan.

‘Perhaps, but I think I'm already lined up for some grief for having spoken to that Rollins bloke. His Lordship's just kicked us all out of his house, so I'm guessing he's got other issues on his mind at the moment. Where do you think Dex will be?'

‘Er…London?' said Alan, grinning helplessly.

Dex was indeed in London. As Alan and Faye were walking away from the St Benedict residence to begin their search for him, he was actually quite close by. Following his release by Lord William, Dex didn't have a clue where to head, having never been to London in his life. Meandering along in the sunshine, realising he would never again take his precious freedom for granted, Dex eventually came across a building he recognised: the Royal Albert Hall. Smiling nostalgically as he remembered once commenting to Alan that Dory's Avengers would never play in such a famous venue, Dex strolled into Hyde Park. Skirting round a large lake, which a handy map informed him was The Serpentine, he was drawn by the sound of live music coming from a nearby tent. The band in the tent was rubbish; the
guitarist couldn't hold a tune for love nor money, and Dex's thoughts inevitably turned to the best guitarist he knew. Longing to be with Alan once more, and wishing it was Dory's Avengers playing on the stage, Dex started to drift away only to be confronted by a park-keeper.

‘Sponsorship card,' demanded the keeper, suspecting that Dex wasn't Sponsored. Dex thought quickly, and once again emphasised his American accent as he replied.

‘I'm over from the States for the Games,' he said, relieved that he had a pair of sunglasses to cover his bruised eyes. ‘Decided to get here early, have a look round London. I've left my Visitors' Sponsorship card back at my hotel, is that a problem?'

Realising that this was a situation he'd have to deal with more and more as an influx of foreign visitors arrived for the Games, the park-keeper apologised.

‘I do beg your pardon, Sir, but I would advise you to carry your card at all times. We can't be too careful at the moment, had a bit of trouble from the Unsponsored recently. I'm sure it'll blow over, but I'd also advise you to avoid the Unsponsored areas while you're here.'

‘The Unsponsored areas? They sound scary. Where exactly are they?'

‘Anywhere that looks rough,' sneered the park keeper, laughing. ‘The Unsponsored don't have any decent standards, I'm afraid; but on the whole they tend to congregate south of the river.'

‘South of the river, huh? Thank you. I'll avoid that,' lied Dex, inwardly sighing with relief that the park-keeper hadn't asked any more awkward questions. As soon as the park-keeper's back was turned, Dex once again consulted his handy tourist map then headed for the river.

Faye and Alan were also walking in the direction of the river, trying to anticipate Dex's movements.

‘In Dex's shoes, I'd be trying to find the Unsponsored. Any Unsponsored,' said Faye.

‘How's he going to do that?' replied Alan, trying unsuccessfully to swallow his frustration which was threatening to turn into panic. ‘He doesn't know London.'

‘He knows about Walworth, yes? Well, my guess is he'll head south of the river…'

‘He doesn't know where the river is,' shrieked Alan, ‘let alone Walworth!'

‘He can ask…'

‘What, ask the Sponsored? That'll go down well…'

‘Al, calm down will you! My suggestion is that you return to the Unsponsored hideout. Dex is bound to encounter the Unsponsored sooner or later; you're friends aren't exactly being inconspicuous at the moment, and they'll bring him back to you.'

‘I still think I ought to be out looking for him…'

‘WHERE, Alan? London's vast, where are you going to begin? You and Dex could walk round in circles for ever, never crossing each other's paths, if you do that.'

Frustrated at not being able to do something more positive than return to the Unsponsored HQ and wait, Alan nonetheless had to concede that Faye was talking sense.

‘Do you want a lift?' asked Faye. ‘I live not far from here.'

‘No thanks, Faye,' replied Alan, shuddering at the thought of turning up at Unsponsored HQ with a highranking Sponsor. Faye, however, continued to reason with Alan.