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‘We haven’t got
a lot of time, see if you can edge in front of them.’

‘Have they got
guns?’ asked Adam. It was a perfectly reasonable question.

Adam skilfully
overtook the minibus and swerved in front of it.

‘Best you stay
in the car,’ said Madeline.

She gave him a
quick kiss, rubbed her thumb and forefinger together and got
out.

Alf and his men
were waiting for her.

‘Well done, so
you got out’ said Alf cheerfully.

‘Takes more
than a fortified dungeon to hold me,’ said Madeline
confidently.

‘So what do we
do know?’ Alf asked, as charming as ever.

‘Well, you try
and capture me again and I defend myself,’ said Madeline.

‘Fair enough…
Okay boys, open fire.’

True, a few
bullets did get through but her laser had stunned all of them
before any real harm was done. Adam had wisely hunched down behind
the dashboard.

‘Adam, quick!’
shouted Madeline.

Adam gingerly
climbed out of the car and warily strode over to the pile of
unconscious men.

‘Help me, I’ll
get their ear devices out, you get their guns and mobile
phones.’

Very soon they
had nineteen pairs of ear devices the same number of hand guns and
mobile phones. They sat in the car and waited.

‘Don’t tell me,
we’re waiting for them to come around,’ speculated Adam.

‘Only gave them
minimum stun, they’ll be waking in a minute or two.

‘There’s a word
for this.’

‘What…
gloat?’

‘No, risky,’
said Adam.

Two minutes
later they had all roused but now they were under the influence of
the ultrasound. All nineteen of them stumbled around in a
despondent daze. Madeline got out of the hire car and walked over
to them.

‘Don’t you just
hate yourself for what you’ve done?’ said Madeline.

‘I can’t bear
the thought of it,’ said a humbled, despondent Alf.

‘Who put you up
to this?’

‘You will find
out shortly… Please, let me have a gun so I can kill my self.’

‘Where is Mark
Titoo?’ demanded Madeline.

‘You will find
out shortly… Please, I have nothing to live for, use your laser on
me.’

Obviously that
was that then, she was going to find out shortly. Her questions
were more or less answered.

‘For goodness
sake, go and lie down, you don’t look well… none of you,’ said
Madeline slightly irritated but never-the-less sympathetic.

‘I think we
will, thanks,’ said Alf humbly.

Chapter 25: A
splendid back garden

‘22, County
road, Roseville. There you are madam. That’ll be five pounds,
twenty five pee please,’ said Adam

‘Keep the
engine running cab - bee, I’ll be out in… in… Actually I could be a
while.’

‘I’ll come with
you then.’

It took a while
for Gemma Bream to answer the door. Madeline already had her app
running on her super watch. The door violently swung open.

‘Yes, what do
you want?’ said Gemma Bream abruptly.

‘I need you’re
help,’ said Madeline.

‘Who are you?’
said Gemma curtly.

‘Madeline Bull
MI 7 and this is Adam.’

‘MI 7? No such
thing, sorry, you’ll have to go. I’ve got a head ache.’

‘You are Gemma
Bream, MI 6? Nuttall says you’re one of his best agents.’

‘Does he? Well
not any more. Good for nothing… now… what… what’s going on?’

Gemma was
coming out of the spell considerably quicker than usual.

‘Don’t worry,
you’ve been under the influence of an ultrasound transmission, it’s
been brainwashing you. This watch is neutralising the signal.’

‘Of course,
yes, my God, we’re being invaded by the whole of Europe!’

‘Actually it’s
all the rest of the world,’ said Madeline.

‘I didn’t care,
I wanted the invasion to happen. I was so despondent.’

‘Everyone in
the USA is under this spell. I’m here to try and break you all out
of it and we only have nine days before the ships reach your
shore.’

‘Tall order
then,’ said Gemma.

‘That’s what
everybody keeps saying,’ said Madeline.

‘What can I
do?’

‘We need to get
to the top and work downwards. We’ve… commandeered these ear
devices, they filter out the ultrasound.’

Adam showed her
a small bag full of ear devices.

‘They want
cleaning…’ said Adam.

‘They aren’t
going to go very far,’ said Gemma.

‘There’s an app
you can download on your smart phone – does the same thing with a
range of about thirty metres.

‘We need to get
to the president,’ said Gemma positively.

It was at this
point that Madeline realised that Minneapolis wasn’t the most ideal
place to be. It was well over a thousand miles away from the east
where the important and influential people were usually to be
found. Washington was where they needed to go.

‘We need a
Learjet,’ suggested Gemma.

They hadn’t a
lot of time but Gemma invited them inside. She needed to get ready.
She hadn’t been an active agent for over eight years but she kept
herself prepared just in case there would be a time such as this
when her dormant skills would be called upon. Despite being in her
late thirties or late forties, you couldn’t tell, she was still
slim, visibly fit and very attractive. Madeline was aware of the
possible rivalry that may ensue but she was perfectly okay with it,
on balance she did have a substantial edge on most humans.

Adam cleaned up
the ear devices as best he could whilst he was waiting. They really
wanted jet washing and bleaching but there was no time for
that.

She emerged in
secret agent mode, dressed smartly in black, hair tied up, gadgets
galore in all her pockets and very bold makeup, enough to
intimidate most Avon representatives.

‘First stop -
Zol Pidem, a good friend of mine. A multi millionaire - has his own
Learjet and pilots it himself,’ said Gemma.

Gemma pushed
the ear devices deep into her ears and they set off in Adam’s hire
car.

Pidem lived on
his own in a huge perfect replica of a seventeenth century baroque
style French chateaux with more wings than a KFC bargain bucket. So
long was his grand gravel drive that the entrance gates and the
elegant carved walnut double entrance doors were almost in
different time zones. The resident butler answered the door –
clearly the effects of the ultrasound had weighed heavily on his
already depressed manner. He didn’t speak, too deep within his
sombre thoughts to even look at them. He grabbed hold of two
Dobermans who dearly wanted to eat the visitors and then slightly
raised his head. Madeline’s app was running on her super watch but
even after several minutes, the butler’s facial expression hadn’t
changed one jot - obviously his normal disposition was grumpy.

‘Is Zol in?
Will you tell him it’s Gemma, Gemma Bream.’

The butler
disappeared, leaving them all standing at the entrance. They had no
idea what he had done with the Dobermans so Madeline kept her laser
finger ready on standby. She did her best to hide her damaged hands
and the hinged down section of her laser finger. No doubt
eventually Gemma would find out that Madeline was a highly
sophisticated android brimming with weapons, cunning and sex
appeal. For now though, Madeline was comfortable in taking a back
step and letting Gemma do all the work.

Eventually Zol
came to the door - a tall, grey haired man in his Fifties.

‘Oh, hi Gemma,
I’m having a bad day, call me in a week or two,’ he said
quietly.

For the moment
he was not particularly thrilled to see Gemma. He wouldn’t have
been thrilled to see Elvis Presley or even his long lost daughter –
if he had one… But the gloom and depression would pass any second –
Madeline’s watch app was running. He was about to slam the door in
their faces when a wave of joy engulfed him. He slowly turned
around.

‘Gemma… what a
lovely surprise, come in, come in! Come and have high tea with me,
bring your friends,’ said Zol.

‘No time, the
USA is about to be invaded. Don’t suppose you could give us a lift
to Washington?’ asked Gemma.

‘My God, I’ve
just realised, the invasion. Why wasn’t I bothered?’

‘Because of an
ultrasound signal you’ve been subliminally hearing, it’s been
brainwashing you. This watch is neutralising the signal,’
interrupted Madeline.

‘She’s right, I
was in the same state. This is Madeline Bull MI 7, British agent
and…’ said Gemma.

Gemma wasn’t
exactly sure how to introduce Adam so she didn’t.

‘MI 7? No such
thing… Lift to Washington? Yea, sure! The Learjet is around the
back,’ said Zol.

Chapter 26:
…And a splendid front lawn

Madeline and
Adam thought they had lost something in translation from English
English to American English but they hadn’t. They walked into the
grand hall with an irrationally wide marble staircase before
them.

‘This way, this
way, hurry!’ shouted Zol Pidem.

They entered
another huge room exorbitantly garnished with a forest’s worth of
gold leaf. In the centre there was a moving walkway - they all got
on board. Zol got out his mobile phone, pressed it a few times and
the walkway sped up to a dangerous velocity.

‘Hang on!’ Zol
shouted.’ Be there in a minute.’

The walkway
sped them through five other splendorous rooms until finally
emerging at the rear of the building. Madeline and Adam gasped -
back garden was not an apt description for what they saw. Amid the
beautifully laid out gardens were two of the largest water
fountains they had ever seen cascading coloured water into the
matching lakes beneath. Between the two lakes and perfectly
manicured lawns was a runway with a Learjet casually parked up -
all polished and glistening in the sunshine. Zol used his mobile
phone again.

‘Grayling, co
pilot duties please.’

Within seconds
Grayling appeared suitably dressed as a co-pilot should be. His
depression and gloom had finally lifted, the app had, at last,
taken effect - either that or it was because he preferred co-pilot
duties to polishing the silver.

‘Where to,
today sir?’ he said cheerfully.

‘Washington,’
said Zol.

‘Very good
Sir.’

It was a
thousand mile trip which equated to a little over a couple of hours
in the Learjet. Once in the air Grayling took the controls and Zol
reacquainted himself with Gemma. Madeline and Adam gave them space
– clearly there was an old flame still flickering. They gazed into
each others eyes and eventually held each others hands. Madeline
and Adam decided to do the same, everyone felt sorry for
Grayling.

‘Oh by the way,
brought something I thought you might need – left it in
my
car,’ said Adam, fully aware that Madeline had designs on it.

He reached in
his pocket and took out a small zip up bag. It was her repair
kit.

‘Thank
goodness, you’re a saint.’

Madeline opened
up the bag and took out a small pot of flesh toned special silicone
based cement composite and an applicator. Out of sight of Zol and
Gemma she spent the next half hour repairing her damaged hands.

‘There, how’s
that?’

‘Perfect!’ said
Adam

Madeline now
turned her attention to more pertinent matters, she was on a
mission – she had responsibilities. One of the phone numbers in the
log of Alf’s mobile phone had to be the number of the MI7 traitor.
How else would he and his men know when Madeline was to arrive and
where? She contacted Nuttall.

‘Nuttall… are
you there?’ said Madeline talking into her super watch.

‘
Hello
Madeline, got any good news to tell me?’

‘No, bad! Are
we safe to talk?’

‘
Hang on…
okay, go ahead.’

‘Had a party
waiting for me. They knew where I was supposed to land and
when.’

‘
Right…
okay… understand.’

‘Sending you a
list of phone numbers taken from their leader’s mobile phone.’

‘
Okay,
thanks. This is getting a bit tiresome. All my staff were supposed
to have been fully verified and investigated.’

‘Leave it with
you. Have to go, we have an important date.’

‘
Right, the
President I suppose!’ Nuttall chuckled.

‘Got it in
one.’

Shortly the
skyscrapers of Washington DC came into view.

‘Zol, what
length runway do you need to land this thing?’ asked Madeline.

‘For a bet,
landed it once in 150 yards!’

‘Think you
could do it in 115?’

‘Where’ve you
got in mind?’

‘South
lawn!’

‘Zol! No! Don’t
even think about it,’ said Gemma.

‘I am thinking
about it – I’m always up for a challenge,’ said Zol boldly - then
promptly returned to the cockpit.

‘What’s all
that about - the south lawn,’ asked Adam.

‘Kind of… the
White House’s front garden,’ explained Madeline.

Zol circled the
plane as low as he dared around the grounds of the White house to
make sure that the lawn was clear of people– it was. Only a few
hundred feet off the ground, the wail of the two jet engines
drowned out everyone’s conversations even thoughts, on the streets
below. It was an unusual sight, nothing like this had ever happened
such a short distance above the White house before. No one was
particularly bothered about it being a terrorist attack – which,
indeed, it could have been. Everyone was unknowingly under the
influence of the ultrasound signal and hated themselves. Most
wouldn’t have cared if the Learjet landed on top of them.

The verdict was
that it was going to be tight. Over the intercom, he told everyone
to belt up and then lined the plane up for the approach. The speed
and angle were critical, if he got it wrong, at best he could try
again, at worst the plane would make a serious mess of the looming
large white building. The plane slowed to such an extent that they
appeared to be standing still in the air, hovering above the
ground. The monument glided slowly past to their right, they were
committed. The ground came in close and the South lawn was
immediately in front of them. The approach angle had to be
unusually steep - consequently the landing was heavy on the wet
soft grass. The wing air brakes swung open and the engines screamed
and then immediately throttled back, the end of the lawn was
insight. Everyone held their breaths – even Poppy in her tank.
Fifty, forty, thirty, twenty, ten yards to go and then the whole
plane nose dived with the wheel brakes. Zol had downed the Learjet
in a record breaking short distance.