Uncle Paul´s Cain 10 Page

By Paul Cummings

Hereford Motor Show 15/09/00

Wormelow Tump is not the sleepy little village on the Welsh border that its name seemed to suggest. It has the advantage of being a mile from the A49, the main Gloucester – Hereford road and sits on the A466 Hereford – Monmouth road, which means it is ideal for the modern villager who lives in the village, but works in the cities around. This gives it the modern affluent look at odds with a real village. It does, however, have an old-fashioned country inn called the Border Arms on the road to Much Dewchurch. Outside the inn were a few tables and benches. On one of the benches sat Joe Wormsley with his friend Jack Ruckhall, quietly sipping their beer watching the world attempt to ignore them. They’d been born in Wormelow Tump two doors apart and three months apart and had been friends almost since that time twenty nine years before. Joe had even got Jack a job working at the abattoir. Although work was hard, deep knife cuts were common and the stench of the place never seemed to leave their bodies they liked their jobs. It paid well, especially when they did the kosher meat for the Jewish and Moslem markets. And, most importantly, it started and finished early so that they had plenty of time to sit on their bench in the Arms relaxing with a pint or two. They watched a bright gold Honda off-roader pull up outside the pub. It was towing a trailer with a beautiful metallic black Porsche on it.

From out of the Honda climbed a beautiful young girl. She wore a black polo shirt and skin-tight black leather trousers. Her long black hair was tied back showing off her golden skinned face and dark oriental eyes. She closed her door and waited, giving Joe and Jack a dazzling smile as she watched them watching her. Around the front of the car came a second oriental woman. The second one was even shorter and slighter than the first. She wore a simple floral patterned sleeveless dress. At first look, Jack thought she was the taller girl’s sister. As they approached the pub, he could see that although her short hair was jet-black and she was smooth skinned, she appeared in some way to be quite a bit older that the first girl, who Jack guessed, was probably in her early twenties.

The two women walked towards Joe and Jack to enter the pub. As they approached, Jack greeted them.

"Hello ladies, can we buy you a drink?" The women smiled at him.

"Young man," began the older woman in heavily accented English, "I have been married for thirty five years and have four sons older than you. Do you still want to buy me a drink?" Jack covered his surprise quickly. He would never have suspected that she was over forty, yet alone fifty. Still, it was a quiet day and the company would be welcome.

"I offered a drink and I meant it. Your company would be appreciated. I’ve known Joe here all my life, so some new conversation would be appreciated."

"Mama, what are you doing talking to these two men?" said the younger girl in Japanese.

"Yukio," answered her mother in English, "we should not insult these two gentlemen by speaking in a language they do not understand." Yukio looked at her mother then down at the two men.

"My mother is right," she began in a public school perfect English accent, "I should not have been so rude." Joe stood up and smiled.

"Don’t worry about it, we’ve never been mistaken for gentlemen before. Please have a seat, I’ll get the drinks."

"Please," replied Yukio, "I would like to buy the first drink to apologise."

"We’ve never been bought drinks by two such lovely ladies either," added Jack. "I’ll have a pint of triple A."

"Is the food here good? We would like to eat too." Yukio looked at the empty plates on the table, which were both picked clean.

"Excellent," replied Joe, who was a great fan of Nancy’s cooking. Yukio entered the pub to order as her mother sat down.

"My name is Akiko," she offered as an introduction.

"I’m Jack and this is Joe. Do you live around here?"

"No, we’re just visiting. We’re visiting my second son. He lives nearby though."

"Nice car," said Joe nodding over towards the cars. "Both of them." Just then there came a crash and scream from inside the pub. Shortly afterwards, there was a second, louder scream. Joe stood up. "I’d better check Yukio is okay." Akiko waved him back to his seat.

"Please sit down, Joe. Yukio is in no danger." The voice was so clearly commanding that Joe sat down before he even realised he was no longer moving to the pub door. Just then, the door opened and Yukio came back out. Akiko looked at her daughter, who gave an almost imperceptible shrug.

"Are you okay?" asked Jack. Yukio smiled, showing off a full set of shining white teeth. For a moment Jack’s attention was totally fixed on her stunning smile.

"I am fine, thank you. Someone was just trying to put his hand on me where it wasn’t wanted."

"Who was it? What did he look like?" Joe stood up angrily. Although they worked in an abattoir and spent most of their remaining time in the Border Arms, Joe and Jack were not shallow ignorant men. Jack had even spent a year at University before he decided it wasn’t for him. They were enjoying the mutually respectful conversation with these two foreign ladies, even if that wasn’t what they had in mind when they first approached them.

"Thank you," laughed Yukio, "but that won’t be necessary." The door opened and a short stocky man with a bulldog face came out grimacing and holding his arm. He looked at Yukio then fled to the car park.

"I’ve never seen Dave Jenkins look so scared. What happened to him?" asked Jack.

"His elbow became dislocated when we disagreed," said Yukio before turning in the direction Jenkins had fled. "He made such a fuss when I put it back for him." She laughed again. Joe and Jack, still no wiser as to what had happened, joined in.

The two ploughman’s lunches arrived along with the tray of drinks. The food was nearly as good as Joe and Jack claimed. After a second drink, which Joe and Jack insisted on buying, Akiko and her daughter said goodbye and left. Joe and Jack went back to discussing Gloucestershire’s poor performance in the cricket, but both of them were happy to have been discussing Anglo-Japanese cultural differences and similarities with the two Japanese women whilst sitting on their bench outside the Arms. Several of their friends and acquaintances had seen them, so they were sure to gain some extra respect for having someone as beautiful as Yukio sit with them.

Yukio waited until they had passed through Much Dewchurch and Kivernoll, passed the level crossing and turned south onto the A465 before she asked her mother about why they had eaten lunch with Joe and Jack.

"Aye my daughter, you have so much to learn. We were very early for meeting your brother, so why not kill some time talking with those men? After all, they were very pleasant and it did prevent us getting unwanted attention, apart from the barbarian in the bar." Akiko paused before continuing with a smile. "Besides, after thirty five years of marriage and five children, it is nice to have a young man invite you for a drink." Yukio laughed.

"Mama, you are shameless."

"Yukio-chan, I love your father as much now as the day we married, more probably, and I would never betray the trust he has in me, but a woman can never have too many men think her attractive. Even if it is only because I have such a beautiful daughter. Now, where is that turn off we need?"

"Their opinion is not important, mama," replied Yukio indignantly. Akiko did not have to look to see the pain in Yukio’s eyes as she said it. Yukio had the misfortune to fall in love with a man she could never have; a man who was her brother. Yet again Akiko worried that she was at fault. The distance separating Yukio and Benji had obviously been important. When he had left for university in England she had been only ten years old. Then Benji had stayed on in England, joining the army, so that they had rarely seen him for several years. Something had happened in that time, Yukio’s love for her brother had metamorphosized into her love of the man he had become. Perhaps it was inevitable. Yukio, like herself and Benji, was a ninja. She could walk through most men and kill them in an instant. Then she had met Benji, a man who was little more than a stranger, yet, and Akiko worried about this at lot, possibly the most deadly man alive. He was ninja and also well versed in modern warfare from his training with the British Special Forces. Even Ando, her youngest son and technically the most gifted of her children in the martial arts, could not stand against Benji. And Yukio had fallen in love. Benji loved her as a sister, but nothing more, and that had hurt Yukio dearly. Unable to be with the one man she loved, Yukio had sworn off of men and had had a succession of relationships with other women.

At Pontrilas they came off the A465 and drove through the village of Rowlstone, eventually turning off of the country road into the non-descript narrow road marked solely with a dead end sign. Nothing indicated that this lead to the home of Lieutenant Colonel Benjamin Cain, commander of the 22^nd Special Air Service Regiment. In another life, which Cain kept very separate, he was Benjamin Hampshire, second son of the Marquess of Winchester and his wife Akiko. The only other man in the army who knew his secret was Major General Sir John Wallace, the Director of Special Forces, who was a friend of his parents.

They turned a bend, past the small house Cain pretends is his main residence and saw his real house. It’s a large house, set in just over 10,000 acres of woodland. One of his favourite pastimes was to run around the border of his land, which came out to a little over sixteen miles. When he first bought the property, he had set up boundary fences so that it actually looked as though the house sat in less than half an acre of land. Few people visited him in his domain, but he was not about to blow his deception on details. Akiko pulled the Honda up in front of the house.

"He’s not here," said Akiko. Yukio just nodded, she too would feel Cain’s presence if he were nearby. They drove round to the back of the house and parked. The got out and walked back around the house. Yukio looked all around, unlike her mother, she had never been here before.

"So this is the house of Benjamin Cain. I thought it would be bigger." Akiko looked over to her daughter. She didn’t like her son not using the Hampshire name, but she understood why he did it and was secretly proud that he had done so well completely under his own name and without the Hampshire name opening doors for him. Akiko looked at her watch; they were still thirty minutes early.

They both turned as a big off-roader came into sight and drove up to them. In his hurry to greet his guests, Cain parked at the front of the house, rather than round the back as was his norm. He jumped out and hugged his mother and then his sister. He took them into the house and upstairs to the kitchen, where he made a pot of green tea. Yukio watched in amazement at how Japanese he could be; his movements were so precise, everything was done exactly right. Where as Yukio looked Japanese with just a hint of European, Cain looked more European with just a slight slant to his hazel eyes and the black colour of his short hair giving his mixed race parentage away. In personality, they were much different too. Yukio was something of a wild child, growing up with five older brothers had probably done much of that, where as Cain was much calmer, gentler.

After they finished their tea, Akiko and Yukio took Cain outside to present him with the Porsche. He was amazed.

"Mama, it’s beautiful, but you didn’t have to buy it for me."

"Benji, your father and I wanted to. It’s been six months since your promotion and we haven’t given you a present for it. Besides, we know how much you loved your old Porsche." Akiko didn’t mention that his own brother Charles had borrowed his 944 Turbo cabriolet, without Cain’s knowledge, and managed to drive it off the road and into a tree. Luckily Charles had walked away, although he did sprain his wrist and get lots of small glass cuts. Cain, of course, had never said anything about the car and had only been concerned that Charles was well, but Akiko remembered how he always took the car out whenever he visited the castle. Wordlessly, Akiko handed her son the keys.

Cain walked to the back of the trailer, pulled out and attached the ramps then climbed up to the car. He opened the door and climbed into the surprisingly spacious cabin, a big improvement on his old 944. He adjusted the black leather seats to a comfortable position and started the car. The flat six engine fired up immediately. For a few seconds he listened to the unique Porsche sound, something they had carried over from the old air-cooled 911 engine. The Porsche rolled smoothly backwards and down the ramps then round the Honda and parked with the late afternoon sun reflecting off of its metallic paintwork. Even with the removable hardtop the car looked good.

Yukio immediately asked to be taken for a ride in the car, Akiko said that she would remain behind whilst Cain took his sister out in the two-seater. He agreed, so long as they agreed to let him buy them dinner. With the sun shining, the top had to come off. Cain grabbed his sunglasses from the Land Cruiser then drove the Porsche round to the garages that were hidden from the house. It was here that Cain kept his other cars. Visitors to the house would not realise that there was a five-car garage here. The electric motor lifted the huge double door allowing him to reverse the Porsche in. Although normally a two man job, Cain worked out immediately how to remove the top alone: Remove all of the clips holding it in place, open the door wide then lift the top off from within the car before stepping out, still holding the top high. The only tricky part came with lowering the top down without scratching it. Putting the roof aside, he got back in the car and drove back to the house.

Yukio slipped into the supportive leather passenger seat and they pulled away, waving back at their mother. They took the backroads out to the A465, avoiding Rowlstone village. At the main road Cain headed north – east towards Hereford. The Boxster proved an easy, confidence-inspiring car to drive, so the paced was upped, despite Cain’s relative unfamiliarity with the car. The six speed manual gearbox was a delight to use; snicking positively and effortlessly from one gear to the next. After eight miles they turned left onto the B4348. Yukio pointed out the sign to Thruxton village, its twin in Hampshire having an excellent racetrack of the same name, which was owned by the Hampshire family. Cain smiled then put his foot down harder. Visibility was good and the roads quiet, allowing Cain to use the road’s full width, despite using the tight, new engine gently. When you have a car capable of 160mph, you can take it easy and still travel quickly. The sun was warm, despite being only May and the wind whipped through their hair. As ever, Cain slowed right down for every village.

Another seven miles later they turned left again. Heading now more south–east than west as before, the setting sun was no longer in front of them, so Cain was able to drive even faster down the Golden Valley. Yukio’s long black hair was often strung out behind them. All too soon they were back on the A465 and back to Cain’s house.

Cain was very pleased with the car. It was much easier to drive than his old 944 had been and despite keeping his speed down to around 75mph in mechanical sympathy, having been in mobility troop Cain was quite gentle on his own transport. The driving position of the Boxster was much nicer than the 944 too. The 3.2 litre flat six also sounded better than the old four-cylinder, 2.7 litre turbo charged unit he had owned. Nominally the two engines had around the same power output, but once loosened up a bit, Cain thought the Boxster would be much quicker and certainly more flexible. Fit and finish was also much better. Sometimes the 944 had shown that it was just a 924 on steroids, which was basically an Audi under its skin. The Boxster was very well finished, with a really quality feel to the leather and wooden trim. Yukio told him that they could have ordered the car with a carbon fibre or brushed aluminium finish to the controls. Cain voiced silent thanks that his family had the taste to choose walnut and leather in preference. After all, the Boxster was both a genuine sports car and a small grand tourer.

The Boxster drove round to the secret garages again and Cain reversed it into its new home, between his old Volkswagen Golf and the metallic wine coloured Toyota Camry he had bought four years before as an anonymous executive car. This was the car he usually used when going into Hereford for a night out. It had an anonymity that the Land Cruiser Amazon or the Colorado he had before that could never have. Anyone taking an interest in it would assume he was a boring accountant or the like. The Camry was a top of the range 3 litre V6 version with a tan leather interior. Cain brought this car out and drove round to the front of the house, before putting the Land Cruiser away in the double garage attached to the house. Finally, having sorted out his car pool, he went back inside the house.

Akiko had showered and changed whilst they were away. Yukio immediately followed her example and disappeared into the shower. Whilst Cain was getting out his clothes for the evening, he called to confirm the reservation he had made when he first learnt that his mother and sister were visiting. Castle House is a small luxury hotel set in a refurbished Grade II listed Georgian building in the centre of Hereford. It is well known for its excellent restaurant, which can be difficult to get a table in, unless you book well in advance. Once he had showered, Cain dressed in a light grey suit with a pale yellow shirt and bright yellow and black patterned tie. His black, light Church shoes were as highly polished as always. Both his mother and sister wore expensive designer dresses. Cain smiled; obviously they had anticipated his reaction. Somehow, Akiko had managed to get a European designer who would include a chrysanthemum pattern. The chrysanthemum was the symbol of the Japanese throne, which was why most people who knew her family assumed she wore it, as her cousin Tsugo was now Emperor Akihito. The real reason was that the flower was also the symbol of her family’s school of ninjitsu, adopted after the discovery that this beautiful flower could be distilled into the powerful poison called docu, a poison that was very rare and very difficult to detect.

They entered the hotel through the columned main entrance and walked through to the restaurant. At the entrance to the restaurant they were met by the restaurant manageress.

"Good evening, Mr Cain. It’s nice to see you again. It’s been a while since you visited us." There was just a hint that the last comment was more personal than professional. Yukio noted this and filed it for later. She noticed the manageress was tall, maybe five foot nine, and an attractive brunette, although Yukio suspected that she was nearer forty than thirty.

"Good evening Julia. You’re looking well," replied Cain. "May I introduce my mother and my sister?" Suddenly Julia’s smile was just a little bit wider and much more genuine. She showed them to their table, which was well positioned for viewing the restaurant, but not a table that would put them obviously on show. Akiko approved, but kept her thoughts from her face.

After Julia left, their waitress came over. She dressed in a slightly old fashioned and unflattering uniform, but she was young and had long blonde hair with a clean fresh face. Yukio disliked her instantly. Cain looked up and met the waitress’s eyes.

"Hello Nicki, how are you?" he asked.

"Hello Ben," she replied with a twinkle in her eye, adjusting her uniform so that it pulled a little tighter across her pronounced chest. "I’m fine. Sandy too. We haven’t seen you for a while. Have you been busy?" Cain smiled at her.

"I’m afraid so. May I introduce my mother and sister?" Nicki blushed slightly and hurriedly left to get them menus.

"Benji," asked Yukio leaning towards him, "is there anybody in this place you haven’t slept with?" Cain flicked his eyes to his mother, catching her slightly raised eyebrow, then quickly changed the subject.

They all had the seven course gourmet "Taste of the Marches" menu, which was superb and washed down with an excellent, though expensive 1985 red Burgundy. Even the after dinner coffee was strong and flavoursome without being bitter. Cain had been slightly embarrassed by the very attentive service they got from Nicki and even Julia, but the evening passed without further incident.

"Thank you Benji, the meal was excellent," said Akiko. Cain stood and gave a florid bow.

"You’re welcome Mama. It was the least I could do after such a wonderful present. It’s a pity Papa couldn’t come too," answered Cain.

"Benji, you do have a weakness!" laughed Yukio surprised. "I wonder what you would do for a Ferrari?" she added mischievously.

"If it was a bright red 550, almost anything," replied Cain lightly. If he was said to have vices, they would the cars and women. He owned more than half a dozen cars now, although he did not keep them all in Hereford, preferring to leave some in Hampshire at the castle. The reason he had so many was that he found it really difficult to sell any of them, like his 15 year old VW golf; he’d bought that to go to university with and had never wanted to sell, despite having driven over 140,000 miles in it. He formed personal relationships with most of his cars. As for women, he loved them, but had no intention of settling down right now. His Japanese upbringing had left him without the traditional English reserve and inhibitions with respect to sex, something that was widely regarded amongst the women that had shared his bed.

"Why don’t you just buy one then?"

"Yukio-chan, a lot of the pleasure for me is the fact that someone has spent the time to work out what I would like and then got it for me. That love is very important." Both women smiled. They knew what he said was true, but they also knew he loved cars too.

When they eventually left the restaurant, they noticed the temperature had dropped considerably. After all, it was still only May, and in the Marches they were lucky it wasn’t raining. The big camry soon heated up and they had a pleasant trip back to Cain’s house. Once there, Akiko retired to bed and left the siblings talking. Yukio had just come over from Japan for a few days on business, but she had managed a couple of days holiday and a weekend to enable her to see her family. Cain, of course, wanted to know how she was getting on and how everyone else in their family was.

"So," asked Yukio, suddenly changing the subject, "who’s Sandy?"

"Nicki’s sister," answered Cain.

"You didn’t? Not sleep with both sisters?" Cain looked down, somewhat embarrassed by his sister’s questions and dreading when she worked up to the real situation. "On, no!" suddenly it dawned on her. "Not together!"

Cain coughed and tried to change the subject, but Yukio had the scent now.

The next morning, Akiko and Yukio prepared to leave early. Cain got up and insisted on driving Yukio to Hereford station for her early train to London and her 10:00 meeting. His mother was going to drive back home as her husband was due back from his business trip later in the day. The two off-roaders drove together towards Hereford before Akiko turned off to drive home. Cain dropped his sister off at the famous platform four, which had entered use in the Regiment where ‘to be platform foured’ meant to be expelled from something or to make a serious mistake. The origin being that platform four is the platform for trains to London, so candidates failing selection were given the directions to platform four and later simply platform foured.

The big land cruiser, now producing significantly more than the standard two hundred horsepower courtesy of some work by the Regiment’s motor pool. They had taken apart the engine, cleaned, smoothed and polished each component and rebuilt it with a different engine management chip and a freer flowing exhaust. The improvements were quite noticeable. There was some extra smoothness in general use, along with comfortably better fuel consumption. When Cain used the loud pedal in anger, there was a change in exhaust note and a lot harder kick from the V6 diesel engine, now producing more power than the petrol V8, whilst consuming only half the fuel. Cain had been very impressed with the changes, although they would probably not be approved of by Toyota, especially as the motor pool was not an approved garage.

Regimental Sergeant Major Mick Hill sat in his office and checked the numbers again. Jim Macdonald had done it before, but Hill knew that he would be the one to suffer if it wasn’t right. It was. Macdonald’s contacts in the motoring business had definitely managed to get a Jaguar S-type for the price of a Rover 75. Although a Lieutenant Colonel was only entitled to the Rover as his staff car, there appeared to be no written rule to prevent them getting a special deal and upgrading it without incurring additional cost. Hill hoped the boss would see it like that. Arnie Lewis had already run it through the motor pool, so it sure couldn’t go back. Mick Hill was nervous enough about the creative sourcing they had done for the car. He would have been a lot worse if he had known that whilst the paper work referred to an V6 S-type, under the bonnet was the V8 engine of the top of the range S–type and the XJ8 series cars.

Macdonald sat back relaxed and watched Hill, he remembered when Cain had saved his life. For three days and nights they had fought off the attack, always waiting for support. It had never arrived. Both patrol radios had been wrecked, one with a 7.62mm hole and the other after he had landed on it after being blown off his feet by a grenade. The weather had made it impossible for them to get air support. Eventually Cain had been the only man left uninjured with just Macdonald and Ken Williams left alive. For eleven nights Cain had carried and dragged them to safety, disappearing for hours to leave false trails and delay pursuit. Macdonald considered the VC was scant recognition for Cain’s work during those two weeks. Macdonald had lost a foot, but he survived thanks to his troop commander.

"He’s here." Arnie Lewis, one of the motor pool drivers, called from the window as he watched the dark green Toyota Land Cruiser come into sight. Corporal Mary Jarrett, newly assigned to the Regiment’s Head Quarters Wing, did not understand these men. She had applied for the post within the SAS as it would look good on her record and yet being outside of a sabre squadron she did not have to pass through Selection. She was surrounded by these tough looking soldiers, even Macdonald with his missing foot managed to look menacing, who were now nervous about meeting the CO. The SAS had a reputation for a much closer relationship between officers and men than the rest of the army, yet these men were obviously nervous. The CO must be tough man she thought. He had a bit of a spooky reputation, but she knew he was young and had only held the post for six months, so he was probably insecure. She smiled; all she had to do was flatter him a little, smile and flirt discretely and he would soon be making life very easy for her. She heard the door to Cain’s office open and got up to go in. Hill put a restraining hand on her shoulder.

"Wait a few minutes Mary. Let him settle in." Jarrett shrugged off the well meaning advice and walked into the CO’s office. Cain was standing with his back to her putting his jacket on a hanger.

"Good Morning Corporal," said Cain without turning. "Please be so good as to ask the others to get their preferred beverages and come in." If Jarrett was surprised, she did not show it.

"Sir," she replied with a bright smile.

"Oh, one more thing: Next time the RSM gives you advice, I think you should take it." Jarrett’s mouth dropped open. Cain turned round and saw her for the first time before she could gather herself. He smiled. One more little chapter in the legend he realised. Why didn’t she realise that Mick knew his preferences well and would therefore have told her not to disturb him until his tea was brewing?

Jarrett re-entered the RSM’s office down the corridor. The three men looked up at her expectantly.

"He says to go in," she said.

"Mary, what exactly did he say?" asked Hill rising from behind his desk.

"He said something like ‘please ask the others to get their preferred beverages and come in.’" The three men smiled. Cain was in a good mood.

"Anything else? It might be important." Prompted Macdonald.

"Nothing. Well, he just said ‘good morning corporal’ and something about taking the RSM’s advice next time.’"

"Oh shit!" exclaimed Hill. "Come on. Let’s get a move on. We may yet salvage this." Hill grabbed his big coffee mug and filled it from his pot. As they filed out and back to Cain’s office, Mary grabbed Lewis’s sleeve.

"Arnie, what’s going on here?"

"The boss only uses people’s rank when he is pissed off with them. Next time, listen to Mick."

"All this just because I interrupted him before he was ready? The arrogant bastard."

"You don’t get it, do you? That’s not the important bit to the boss. You didn’t listen to a superior, Mick. That’s what he’s pissed about."

They entered and sat in the chairs Cain indicated for them. Jarrett noticed the small porcelain cup in Cain’s hand. She thought fast and made a decision.

"Sir," she began, "before we start, I would like to apologise for earlier." Cain turned his head towards her and locked his gaze onto her. She noted that he had beautiful hazel eyes.

"That’s okay Mary, there is no need. If you don’t understand the reason we do things, please ask. We are a dictatorship here, but a benign one. At least I think so, and I’m the boss, so I that makes it so." He gave her an outrageous wink. "Now then," he looked at the others, "what are we all gathered here for? You three are looking guilty, so Jim, why don’t you tell me what is up with the motor pool?"

"Your new car’s arrived, sir." Macdonald paused, hoping Cain would say something and make it easier, but Cain was nothing if not patient; he waited. "You see, sir, it’s not the Rover 75 you authorised." Cain remained motionless. "We didn’t spend any more on it," rushed on Macdonald, "but I was able to get a Jag S-type instead. I know a lieutenant colonel doesn’t get a jag, but it was just as cheap, sir." Cain looked hard at Macdonald then shifted his penetrating gaze to Hill, who nodded.

"And I suppose the car has motor pool fingerprints all over?" The three men nodded. "Right, Mick, give me all the figures to check. Is there anything else?"

"Just the new Range Rovers, sir," said Macdonald. "One of them is kitted out as a command vehicle rather than a battering ram." Cain thought for a moment.

"Good idea Jim. We need a proper command vehicle. It’s a pain using one of the old bullet proof Range Rovers." The other new what he meant. The bullet proof glass meant that the windows were fixed closed and the extra weight caused by the armour plating and ram made the Range Rover a really difficult car to drive. Plus, the Range Rovers were geared up for forced entrances and not equipped with the communications kit useful for a command post. The new Range Rover would be very useful for that.

When the four of them got back to Hill’s room, Jarrett was seething.

"What an arrogant bastard. Why can’t he trust you to check the figures." Mick smiled and lowered his huge six foot six frame into his chair and took another sip from his coffee mug.

"Mary, may I suggest you keep quiet until you understand a little more. We made a decision that is possibly against army regulations because we wanted the best for him and we thought we could justify it. The boss has now asked for the figures to check, I doubt he will, but he will stand up and say that he has and that he authorised the decision. He’s absolved us of any blame." Hill took another long swig of coffee, whilst Jarrett looked at her feet.

"Don’t worry Mary," said Arnie quietly, "it just takes time to get used to him. He does things a little differently to the ruperts, but he’ll stand by his men no matter what. That counts for a lot here."

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