Christopher Golde

And Christian one fights Christian two
And nations sigh, yet nothing do.
And yellow men great power gain;
From a mighty bear with whom they’ve lain.

Mother Mary Shipton       1488-1561

      Chapter forty nine

            The Games

 Date:               15th September 2000                        Location:        Sydney, Australia

 

 

               Paul Cass looked up and down the corridor travelling under the main stand of the arena. He knew that where he stood was directly below the VIP section where most of the world’s dignitaries were sitting, about to watch the opening ceremony for the 27th Olympiad. This alone gave him a sense of privilege and power. Cass was driven by impulses like these; it was what fed his overinflated need for power. The unfortunate underlying problem for him was that throughout his life it was this very dire need that had caused him to lose every level of status he had ever achieved.

Immediately he had left school, he had joined the police force in Northern Australia. School itself had been an experience he would rather forget. At home, he had been bullied by his father and doted over by his mother. The result was a snivelling insecure child that could not mix with other children. The resulting school bullying had only made that worse and by the time he was ready to leave, joining the police force was all about getting revenge. And revenge he got. So much so that he was dismissed from the force for excessive and sadistic brutality.

He had then headed south and found he could get a job in the southern states as a wildlife management officer and much to his pleasure that entitled him to carry weapons and once again exact his obsessive revenge on humanity. Three years into that he was asked to leave for taking an iron bar to an Asian grocery store owner over some illegal fish. He then tried the military reserve but had failed the psych tests. Finally, after heading north again, he had found another job where he could carry a weapon and be an officious sadistic pig if he liked.

He could see no-one coming in either direction, so he spun around to an attack stance, pulling his pistol on an invisible make-believe assailant. He smiled to himself and relaxed his stance. Once again he had a gun and he was licensed to use it and with a bit of luck, he would. A security guard was probably a bit of a lowly job he thought but he would make the most of it. Now that he had been approached by some Japanese secret agents to do a sanctioned Japanese government job at the games he was in heaven. He could not believe his luck. A spy job was more than he could ever have hoped for.

He looked at the pistol proudly moving it from side to side then returned it to its holster on his hip. He knew the game’s opening was about to start and he had the instructions that soon as the opening ceremony was to begin he was to go up to the press box that was located just above him. Once there, he was to pass a message to one of the Asian press galleries who was evidently a spy and get her to follow him down to the car park that was directly below them.

            ‘Easy,’ he thought.

            He was hoping she might resist and then he could use some force. She was evidently at the games to spy on the Japanese Government and the agents that approached him said if she attempted to escape he could use force to restrain her. He had seen this sort of stuff in movies and he knew just what to do. He looked at his watch and saw it was only a couple of minutes from the scheduled start time.

            He heard a roar from above him and figured it was time. He straightened his tie and adjusted his gun belt, although it did not need adjusting. He moved to the doors just to the left of where he was and taking a deep breath, he pulled one inwards enough for him to pass through.

            The lights of the arena immediately startled him, there was another roar from the crowd and now that he was outside it was so loud it was deafening. He walked forward up the small ramp and when he was clear of the walkway, he looked above him to where he knew the press box would be. He walked straight up the stairs to the front where there was a glass door and indicated for the attendant on the inside to open the door, which she did.

            The attendant was a middle-aged Caucasian woman much shorter than him and quite plump. She had a kind face he thought, exactly the type he liked to lie to. He asked the attendant if she knew which Journalist was Julie Pearce from Stromberg Media.

            Julie was watching the ceremony and making some notes for her article when she noticed a tall security guard with mousy-coloured hair talking to the short female attendant at the door and they were then both looking in her direction. She did not like the look of the security guard. Even from where she sat she could see his eyes were nasty. He had a fake smile. She could tell a fake smile from a mile away. He started walking towards her and the closer he got the less she liked him. His face was very pale to match his mousy hair and he moved in a way that was a weak attempt at showing authority.

            Because she was sitting on the end of a row, he could walk right up to her. He bent over to get close to her ear and spoke to her how a policeman might interrogate an offender.

            “Are you Miss Julie Pearce?”

            “It is possible,” she answered, “it depends on why.”

            The security guard attempted a smile but it just didn’t work.

            “Miss Pearce, I was told to come and get you and take you to our comms room, something to do with your office and a Mr Tilley.”

            “Mr Tilley, he’s my boss, is everything okay?”

            It seemed rather strange to her that  John would contact her this way but if he did then it must be urgent. She thought back to Singapore and the Ong attack.

            ‘There must be a good reason,’ she thought ‘and maybe it is to do with the Ong, that’s why the security guard I guess.’

            “Okay,” she said to the security guard. He stood straight and offered her to get up and go first.

Paul Cass smiled to himself, looking around the room as if to demonstrate an air of authority.

            ‘Those Japanese agents had the right intel,’ he thought. He didn’t know Tilly was her boss but all he cared was that it worked like a charm.

            Julie stood and put her notes down on her seat. She indicated to the journalist sitting next to her, who she knew quite well, that she would be back shortly. She turned and looked up into the false looking face of the tall security guard.

            “Okay let’s go.”

            The guard attempted the same fake smile and turned walking towards the door. Once at the door, he opened it then turned to wait for her to pass. She did so and walked out into the night air just as it erupted with cheering and applause. The guard indicated for her to go down the stairs towards the ramp that would lead into the bowels of the stadium.

            She knew Jason was coming and she knew where he should be seated. She took a glance in that direction as she and the security guard made their way down the stairs. She couldn’t see him but she was not one hundred percent sure which seat, only the general area he should be in. She did, however, notice an Asian girl from a distance that looked like the girl she had seen in the newspapers when there was a reference to Jason’s company. The security guard said something to her.

            “What was that,” she asked turning her head slightly in his direction?

            “Are you enjoying the ceremony, Miss Pearce,” he asked again, this time louder?

            “Maybe if I were able to sit and watch it,” she said, a little anger showing itself.

            She thought to herself that she probably shouldn’t be angry at the security guard, after all, he was only doing his job. It was just that he was the type that irritated her for some reason.

            She looked back again.

            “Sorry, don’t mean to be angry at you.”

            “That’s alright Miss Pearce, I understand.”

            He was enjoying upsetting her. He hoped she would show some resistance when they got to the garage.

             

              Jason entered the stadium through the VIP entrance and stood looking at the incredible spectacle that presented itself. He was twenty minutes late due to pressing matters at his office and already the opening ceremony had begun. He looked up in the stands for Julie Peirce who he knew should be in the press box above the entrance but could not see her. An attendant who had walked in behind him to show him his seats came alongside and indicated him to turn right and as he did he saw Pietta already sitting in their seats, his still empty.

              In the centre arena, giant floating Kangaroos bounced and bobbed as their handlers skillfully navigated them about the stadium. Pietta looked towards him and smiled. He smiled back and began to walk towards her. The crowd cheered as a girl swung down from the roof on an aerial trapeze. He glanced up briefly to watch but then walked to the seat bent over and kissed her on the cheek and sat down.

              “Did I miss much?”

              “Yes you did, why are you late? It is just so incredible to watch, I can’t believe I’m here.”

              “No excuse, I ‘m sorry my darling. Sorry I didn’t pick you up personally. Did my driver look after you?”

              “Of course, as if he wouldn’t, he was wonderful, even left the car and walked me right to the door, oh look at that!”

              Pietta pointed in excitement as the girl on the trapeze floated down to the floor of the stadium with the wings of a butterfly as she kept singing a song that Jason was not familiar with but knew he would be hearing a lot of it in the near future. He looked at Pietta’s smiling face that just seemed to sparkle with childish joy. She was so beautiful when he saw her at moments like these.

              Pietta turned and look into his eyes. He smiled.

              “Who were you looking for,” she asked?

              “When?”

              “When you came into the stadium.”

              He knew what she meant but for some reason, he felt a bit embarrassed and avoided the question.

              “I found you.”

              “You knew where I would be,” she looked at him quizzically, “no, you were looking up there in the media box.”

              He knew there was nothing to hide but for some reason, he was embarrassed to admit he had been looking for Julie Peirce.

              “Oh, you mean then.”

              “Yes I mean then, you know when I mean. What are you trying to hide from me?”

              ‘Damn,’ he thought, ‘she knows me too well.’

              “Okay, I was looking to see if someone I knew was up there, but I wasn’t hiding it from you, I just didn’t know what you meant.”

              “Oh bulla,” she said, laughing and hitting him lightly on the arm.

              He knew she was just being playful but he still felt embarrassed.

              “Who is she?”

              “What do you mean ‘she’,” he said indignantly?

              She laughed.

              “Jason King, the only person you would hide from telling me about was a she, I know you, Jason.”

              “Okay, it is a she, so what?”

              Pietta laughed. Jason was relieved but still did not know why.

              ‘Maybe I expected her to be jealous’ he thought, smiling back at her sheepishly.

              “So who is she?”

              Pietta nudged him and he smiled patronizingly.

              “Just a reporter I met in Japan.”

              “A reporter eh! Must be a very pretty reporter to catch the eye of the elusive Jason King.”

              Jason instead of answering the jibe looked out over the unfolding spectacle on the main arena as ten-foot-high kangaroos paraded around.

 

              Deep down under the stadium, Julie and Paul Cass were arriving in the underground car park reserved for employees and security forces. Julie had begun to get suspicious when they had entered a lift under the stadium and the security guard had pushed the button for P2 indicating they were going to the underground car parks. As they were about to exit the lift Julie turned to him.

              “Why are we in the car park?”

              Paul Cass stepped in between the open doors and turned sideways indicating with his hands that she should pass leaving the security of the elevator.

              “Miss Pearce part of our comms centre is on the other side of the parking area, I am just taking the shortest route possible.”

              She did not move and looked at the dislikeable features of the tall security guard.

              “Well, I just find it a bit strange to be passing through an underground car park.”

              “I assure you, Julie, this is the quickest way,” he said, giving one of his fake polite smiles.

                        ‘Did he just call me by my first name, oh my god, how creepy!’

            She stared at him and knew that trusting him was a mistake but now that she had come this far it felt like she had no other option. She moved out of the elevator and Paul Cass smiled when he knew she was past him and could not see the grin on his face. Once they were out into the car park, which was completely full of vehicles and void of visible people, she followed him along a wide-open driving passage towards what seemed like the entrance.

            When they were less than ten paces from the entrance, two Asian men in long grey coats emerged from the doorway. Julie took no notice at first but then she could see they stood and waited for them to approach. Somehow, the security guard had managed to slip behind her now and when she stopped walking he pushed her so hard she almost fell. She spun around.

            "What the fuck is going on here," she spat at the grinning security guard, who had now pulled his gun out and was pointing it at her chest.

            "Just keep going," he spat back, "keep walking Julie,"

She turned reluctantly, her mind racing for options. She tried to stop and he pushed her again, this time using what felt like the barrel of the gun. The two long coats were now only a few paces ahead of them stopped either side of the door. She dodged to one side of him and tried to run but he grabbed her arm pulling her roughly back.

            "Please keep struggling, I would love to shoot you," he said under his breath, his face so close to hers she could feel his hot and disgusting breath on her cheek. She stopped and looked over her shoulder at the two long coats. They stood motionless waiting. She knew the evil security guard was not kidding, she could sense his keenness to hurt her.

            She turned back towards the door with the two awaiting men. Cass did not let go of her arm, in fact, she could feel his grip tightening to the point it was hurting. When close enough, he roughly threw her towards the waiting men and she almost fell, regaining her feet only just enough time not to fall completely but to bump into one of the two. He grabbed her but much more gently and seemed to assist her to get her balance politely.

            'Maybe these were not bad guys,' she thought, for a brief second.

It was very a brief moment of thought because as she turned back to look at the security guard she heard the other man say.

            "Thank you, Mr Cass, you have performed as we expected you would."

            Cass began to smile and lowered his gun, but suddenly, and to Julie's complete horror, the silly, self-proud grin of the security guard exploded as the long-coated Asian man unleashed a barrage of bullets into his face. He dropped almost instantly. What was left of his head slammed into the concrete garage floor causing a horrible cracking sound as his skull shattered into pieces and bounced away from the body followed by a spray of blood and grey brain-matter. A solitary eyeball rolled away from the body towards Julie and she screamed.

            She grabbed her face as she felt the bile rush up from her gut

"Now Miss Peirce, come with us," said the man with the gun.

She wanted to scream or vomit but she wasn’t sure which. It was then she realized the accent was Japanese and another fear rushed into her brain.

            'Oh my God,' the Ong!'