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‘
I will –
love you babe.’

‘Love you
too.’

With Adam’s
past results ‘come up with something’ could mean just about
anything: Bullet holes in his
own
legs, being beaten up and
stripped naked, finding himself in the completely wrong country or
even
un
locked up somewhere. However, recently, it has to be
said, he was proving to be quite proficient. He had rescued
Madeline twice although the shining armour had yet to be
tested.

Perhaps
Madeline was expecting too much from him, after all it all started
many moons ago when Madeline was desperately hungry and had no one
else to turn to. Of course, she didn’t
want
anyone else to
turn to, she just wanted an excuse to see her lovely Adam and dying
of hunger seemed as good a reason as any. Now things had moved on
and he was flying around the world at the drop of a hat.

Back in her
room and back under the unwelcomed surveillance of Nuttall and his
team, she plugged her laser lens tube back in.

‘Nuttall…
Nuttall, are you there?’

‘
Yes, yes,
what do you want?’

‘Haven’t you
got a family to go home to?’

‘
No, this is
my home! What do you want!?’
As usual, Nuttall didn’t sound in
a particularly good mood.

‘Okay, bit of
civility please. Something’s up with my left arm, it’s sluggish. I
need Barton to have a look at my sensors.’

‘
Leave it to
me. Be ready for you next mission tomorrow, it’s the big one, what
everything has being leading up to,’
said Nuttall almost trying
to be civil.

Within thirty
minutes, a black car pulled up outside ‘Barton’s meats’. It was now
dark and the shoppers had gone home but Adam could clearly make out
Barton and another man get out of the car. The man held Barton by
the arm and ushered him quickly into the shop. Adam had no idea how
many were inside – at least two and the only bit of good news was
that one was definitely Barton. If he brazenly went in the front
way, he knew he would certainly come off worst so he wisely decided
to find a way around to the back of the shop. It was a maze of
alley ways, carpeted in dead rats, bags of rubbish and ugly weeds
that eventually led him to the rear of the shop. It didn’t help
that it was pitch dark but the torch app on Adam’s phone adequately
lit up the way. It was unclear if all the windows to the rear of
the shop were filthy or had obscure glass fitted but the effect was
fortunately the same. Yes the lights were on and people were inside
but it was unclear exactly how many there were, there could have
been ten or two. Adam knew he had to act now or never, he picked up
a piece of discarded two by three timber lying in the slimy mud and
banged repeatedly on the rear steel reinforced door. He knew he
would only get one chance - it always looked so easy in the movies.
He turned off the phone light and waited for the moment. After a
few seconds, the sound of bolts sliding and keys turning disturbed
the eerie silence of the backyard.

It was a very
foolish thing to do, opening the door into darkness with a light
behind him. He couldn’t see a thing but Adam could clearly see
him.

‘Who’s there?’
shouted the man.

‘Me!’ replied
Adam as he swished the piece of wood down on the back of his
neck.

‘In one!’
loudly whispered Adam proudly. The man was out cold.

Adam banged the
now open door again. Just as before, another man poked his head out
into the darkness.

‘Jim! Are you
there,’ said the man.

‘No but I am,’
said Adam as the piece of wood came down again.

Two men were
now out cold lying in the slimy cold mud between the dead rats.
Once more Adam banged on the steel door. After a few seconds
another man popped his head bravely out. Adam was just about to
give him the same treatment but just in time, he recognised the
profile.

‘Barton!’

‘Adam?’

‘Anybody else
in there?’

‘Yes,
Poppy!’

Being a
butchers shop meant there were plenty of meat hooks and rope at
hand, ideal for fastening up two men with severely bruised necks
and imminent headaches.

To Adam’s
surprise more than anyone else’s, he had been completely
successful. He was naturally proud of him self. Quite possibly he
could have killed either one of the men and then he would have been
wanted for murder regardless of the situation but, as it happened,
he hadn’t – he hoped. Even Barton complimented him – praise indeed.
What was disturbing were the four jerry cans containing something
highly inflammable lined up ready to be used if Madeline didn’t do
as she was told. Adam’s first job was to flush the contents down
the toilet. This totally illegal and inconsiderate act would
certainly be deplored by many but flushing the toilet several
times, in Adam’s eyes would redress any wrong doing.

‘Okay what do
we do now?’ asked Adam.

‘Well as I see
it… we have to move Poppy again - can’t think of a way around it...
And we have to do it before Nuttall suspects anything.’

It was always
confusing. Madeline was somewhere in the USA – many thousands of
miles away but Poppy was right beside them. It was easy to forget
this. This tank where she floated was up in the corner of the room,
almost overlooked and gathering a faint covering of dust.

‘Hang on…
surely I can talk to poppy directly can’t I?’

‘No problem,
I’ll divert her audio interface to my laptop,’ said Barton.

Barton type a
few commands into his laptop and the job was done.

‘Hi Babe, You
and Barton are now safe.’

‘
Hello
sweetie, that’s good to hear,
’ said Madeline, voice coming
through the laptop speakers.

‘You’re patched
directly through to his laptop. Nuttall can’t hear you,’

‘
Thanks,
both of you. What now?’

‘God this is so
hard to get my head around, you’re only a few feet away from me but
you’re in America, 3000 miles away. Apparently Nuttall was serious
with his threat, there were four jerry cans of petrol all lined up
read for any disobedience... We’re going to have move you… again,
it’s the only way,’ said Adam.

‘
Motion
sickness is always better than being cooked alive… again.’

‘Where are
you?’ asked Adam.

‘
Right next
to you…’

‘No, I mean
where
are
you?’

‘
Back in my
hotel room,’

‘Good, best
that you’re sleep through it.’

‘
It’s only
five in the afternoon!’

‘Well, take a
nap or something,’ said Adam.

‘
I think I
will. Nuttall says it’s the big one tomorrow.’

Barton tapped a
few more keys and Poppy was reunited with Madeline.

The fact that
she had been moved three times before had made the process a little
more practiced but moving the equipment that controls the Madeline
Bull android would never be a walk in the park. Several pieces of
equipment that used to be cumbersome and individual were now
condensed, miniaturised or combined but there was still an awful
lot to do.

‘Where are we
going to move her to, got anywhere in mind?’ asked Adam.

‘Well there is
one place,’ said Barton.

‘Scotland? -
Somewhere in Wales? - Down south?’

‘Next door,’
said Barton.

‘Next door?
Didn’t see that coming,’ said Adam.

‘It’s the last
place they’ll never think of looking… if we do it right. Barton’s
meats was going to expand so my Father bought next door, Needless
to say, it never came to pass, it’s been empty for over twenty
years.’

This wasn’t the
first time Madeline had been moved to somewhere very close; then it
happened to be the floor below.

The first job
was to dispose of Nuttall’s two stooges. Barton and Adam carried
them out into the back alley - the long way round to the Volvo. The
going was arduous and slippery, it had started to rain and didn’t
seem as though it was going to stop any time soon. They loaded them
into the boot and Adam drove them to an isolated quarry. By now
they had both regained conscious and were making a substantial
amount of noise. Gaffer tape across their mouths effectively solved
the problem and also helped deaden the screams as they rolled down
the steep slope to the bottom of the quarry.

Meanwhile back
in the rear of the shop, Barton started the process of unplugging
the many cables and slackening off the jubilee clips on the tubes.
When Adam returned, Barton set him on, unbolting the hydraulic
rams. Without these parts, the tank was just narrow enough to fit
through a normal door way.

The tank was
heavy, very heavy. Not just because of Poppy but because of the
solidity of the tank and all it technical contents. They moved the
tank on wheels – four old skateboards to be precise. After all, it
was only a question of out the back door, along the alleyway for a
few feet and in another door. Many dead rats and strange insects
got squashed under the tiny wheels of the skateboards but things
went well. After only two hours the tank was in its new home and
plugs were beginning to be plugged in and jubilee clips tightened.
After three hours the job was almost complete. As the new location
had been empty for twenty or so years it was very drab and in
desperate need of a lick of paint but it would suffice. There was
electricity, it was dry and above all, it was secure. All traces of
the move now had to be eradicated. The wheel tracks of the
skateboards had to be scrubbed away or disguised especially along
the rear alleyway. Bits of squashed dead rat had to be disposed of
and new dead rats put back where the old ones used to lay. Then it
had to look as though the tank had been taken out of the front
entrance so new wheel tracks were purposely laid.

By five o’clock
in the morning the moving process was complete. Madeline was
reconnected to Poppy, all the hydraulic rams were bolted back and
the food tubes were primed.

It was now down
to Adam for the convincer. Barton’s father’s meat van was used in
the previous move, it was parked a distance away on some waste
ground. Adam fetched it and reversed it up to the front door. It
was dark but the council street cameras would still register the
dark shape of the van. After thirty minutes Adam set off. There was
enough diesel for one hundred miles, so that’s as far as he drove.
The van was abandoned at the side of the road on the outskirts of
Worcester. Adam was now on his own and for obvious reasons, he had
to lie low and disappear off the radar once more.

A few clicks
and swipes and Poppy’s audio circuits were diverted to Barton’s
Laptop.

‘Wakey, wakey
sleepy head, you’ve been moved,’ said a very tired Barton.

‘
Where am I
now? I was quite getting used to Buxton.’

‘Not telling
you. Nuttall will be aware that you’ve been moved pretty soon… once
his men have been rescued from the bottom of a quarry.’

‘
Bottom of a
quarry, that’s good!’

‘Not my doing,
Adam’s. He’s getting quite determined.’

‘
I’ve
noticed. Where is he?’

‘Don’t know.
Told him not to call, we don’t know if Nuttall can trace
mobiles.’

‘
Okay…
understand. Will go with the flow now just for curiosity.
Apparently, got a big day ahead of me – what everything has been
leading up to. I’m quite looking forward to it!’

‘We all are,’
said Barton profoundly.

Chapter 38:
Even higher than Everest

Madeline opened
her eyes; she was in bed in her hotel room, three thousand miles
away from where she just was - she had travelled as fast as light.
All manner of things had happened throughout the night but Madeline
peacefully slept through it even if no one else did. She slid out
of bed and stood at the window naked. She was definitely still in
Cincinnati, not Buxton or somewhere else in England, Wales or
Scotland. Obviously it was Cincinnati as it was still pitch dark
and only two o’clock in the morning – she went back to bed for
another four hours.

‘So, Nuttall,
what games do you want me to play today?’

‘
Ah
Madeline… you are an eager beaver. Today you’ll find out what all
this has been leading up to. So far a few harmless games but now
it’s time to get serious.’

‘Harmless!?’
shouted Madeline.

‘
Yes, no
lives lost.’

Madeline had to
think if indeed he was right. Certainly no one lost their lives at
the ballpark. No lives were jeopardised in stealing – destroying
the gold. The invasion fleet didn’t reach the shores of the US, so
no live lost their.

‘Your four men
were killed at your South Pole base!’ said Madeline with an element
of satisfaction.

‘
That
shouldn’t have happened. The ultrasound emitters were scheduled to
be shut down two days before the fleet reached the eastern shores.
Didn’t you notice the countdown time on the panel? Damn trigger
happy Americans - lost four good men.’

‘Good men? You
didn’t hear what they were going to do to me.’

If he was a
Wardate member he was certainly atypical. Wardate associated people
usually revelled in killing people. She had never actually
established if Nuttall was a Resident of Wardate, she had just
assumed it. But he had killed Coley, mercilessly and coldly –
proving he could kill easily if he wanted to.

‘
You’ll need
your thermals again, you’re going to Ecuador,
’ said Nuttall,
changing the subject.

‘Ecuador? It’s
baking hot there!’

‘
I’ve laid a
jet on to take you there. There’s an airstrip twenty miles north
west near New Baltimore. Be there in two hours.’