CHAPTER SEVEN
“She’s a little princess Hobbs, how did you manage to find her?” asked AJ with an admiring look upon his face.
Hobbs was walking around his latest capture, flicking bits of dirt off the panels like it was a new jacket. “Simple AJ, I’m a professional, I make it look easy. Beautiful set of wheels, just saw it sitting there, these are retro classics now, not many of them about now.”
“You’re one lucky sod Hobbs, you just seem to drop on your feet all the time. Look at the brown velour seats, we had blue last time. Is that a Goodman’s push button stereo I see there too?”
AJ was trying to stifle his laughter; he knew that a long journey lay ahead and it wasn’t exactly comfort or style he would be travelling in. He had given up being sarcastic about Hobbs’ choice of car, he just had to get on with it.
Hobbs crouched down and studied the arches and wheels like a presenter on Top Gear. This beige beauty was about to crunch the miles all the way to Edinburgh.
Hobbs continued, “Your Austin Princess was a much laughed at motor, to me it broke the mould for the designs that were yet to come AJ. The geezer who built this had class, he knew what he was aiming for and lucky for us were going to test drive it to see what it can do.”
“Is that a Pontins’ sticker in the window Hobbs? It looks really authentic? That caravan club sticker does it justice too.”
Hobbs walked round and glared at the 1979 white and orange sticker. He didn’t know whether AJ was taking the Michael or he had actually found a car that AJ loved. Either way, they were going in it.
“Saddle up my friend, we’re going on a day trip; only nine hours to go,” said Hobbs with the look of a man out for a jaunt to the coast. He was wearing a sheepskin jacket and jeans; Scotland may well have been in Siberia as far as Hobbs was concerned and it suited the look.
AJ was already stoned so his wonderful take on everything in front of his nose helped a little.
Hobbs threw a couple of bags of clothes and a heavy tool kit into the boot slamming it shut a couple of times to make sure it had closed.
The car spluttered into life and they headed up the northern approach of the A12 to join the M1 and escape the queues of inevitable traffic in one of the world’s busiest cities. Hobbs always had a very good way of dealing with petrol indicators showing empty; he just parked up and nicked another but with this beauty, he decided to run the whole trip up north. The brown dashboard and orange dials added to the whole experience.
“I don’t understand why you had to go and nick something anyway, we had money, why couldn’t we fly up there?” It was plain to see that AJ was already bored and they hadn’t even hit the M1 yet.
“Because Vic’s instructions said we had to drive, we would be recorded as flying up there if we had gone down that route you muppet. Gotta keep our peelers out for the law, after this we’re home free and its Spain all the way.”
AJ didn’t mind the last statement. The car was a means to an end, it drove him closer to the real goal and come summer, he would be oiling up the girls on a beach in Benidorm in his Stringfellow styled briefs while Hobbs would probably be hunting around for an 80s bar and some gear.
Harry had woken up feeling quite refreshed and after a nice cooked breakfast served by Suzy, his intensely attentive wife, he summoned the driver to come and pick him up. They would run a detour to Becky’s before heading off to the airport.
He had packed enough clothes, prepared his favourite suits on the hanger for the outward journey and by the time the driver arrived he was positively pulling at the leash to spring into action for the bank and drum up some lucrative deals for his salesman to follow up with later.
“I hope you have a lovely trip Harry. I’m glad I talked you round in the end, it will be good for you but I will miss you terribly darling,” said Suzy with a teary look in her eye.
“It’s only a couple of days Suzy, I’ll be back soon enough. You look quite emotional may I say; it’s not like you, you’re normally looking forward to seeing the back of me,” he said jokingly as he noticed she was wiping her eye.
“It’s not that Harry, you’re a busy man. You know how bored you get staying at home and these past few weeks have been quite dreadful.”
Harry offered her a comforting smile and kissed her quite tenderly on the forehead. Suzy grabbed hold of him and squeezed him so tight that his blood rushed to his face.
“You’re hugging the dear life out of me! I’ll be back soon enough.”
He extracted himself from her grip and made his way out of the door to the waiting car.
Suzy suddenly had an attack of conscience; what was she getting herself into, was this right? How could she commit herself to the most brutal act of treachery imaginable? Harry was her husband.
She shouted out to him as he was about to slide into the back of the Mercedes.
“Harry!”
He looked up with a start, it was not like Suzy at all.
“Yes dear, have I forgotten something?”
She couldn’t bring herself to reveal the truth of her betrayal, she was too far down the road already.
“Oh nothing, Harry, you have a pleasant trip, stay safe.”
Safe? It was an investor conference. The only thing he would have to look out for would be a stampede if the coupon interest rates were a few hundred basis points higher than the competitors.
He waved back as the car slowly reversed out of the driveway and then he was gone.
Suzy crumpled up in a heap in the hallway and started to cry.
The journey to Becky’s was quite uneventful except for an incident at the Blackwall roundabout. Some idiot in a beige Princess had swerved through the traffic and cut up Harry’s Mercedes. His driver had given him the V sign and muttered about the amount of idiots on the road; at least the flight wouldn’t encounter any.
Becky had packed the night before and organised a million and one personal arrangements for the trip to make it as smooth as possible. She was standing outside her apartment waiting for the pickup and Harry waved as the car turned round to pick her up. She looked lovelier than ever he thought; maybe he was feeling joyful at the lack of voices and a good few days rest.
Harry greeted his loyal assistant, “Morning Becky, so nice to see you again,” and beckoned her inside.
“Morning Harry, how have you been feeling? Did you get enough rest like the doctor ordered?”
“Quite a lot actually and I can say hand on heart that I haven’t heard anything strange so far. Everything seems to be in order,” he said with a feeling of relief.
“I’m so glad Harry, I hope it carries on like that. The Harry I know and …” she was almost caught out in the jollity of the occasion, “look out for” she hastily finished off with but the line felt disjointed and Harry picked up on it immediately.
“Now back to business Harry. The flights are a given, Cityjet at London
City airport and the Radisson is awaiting our check in. The conference starts at midday so we don’t have much time. Here’s the itinerary and I’ve also taken precautions.” Harry looked at Becky in a puzzling way, “Precautions?”
She held out a black plastic receiver , “Just in case, if you happen to have an episode here’s a handheld buzzer you can slip in your pocket and if I’m away I’ll receive the message on this and come over to rescue you.” Harry pressed the button and the receiver gave out a ring and vice versa.
He looked quite bemused by all of it. “It’s a little bit cloak and dagger isn’t it? Where did you get it from?”
“A spy shop online,” she said with a smile.
“Ridiculous! but what the hell, if it makes you happy?”
They arrived at the airport to board their flight with half an hour to spare. They managed a quick drink in the bar before boarding. Harry hadn’t seen Becky for a few days and she had missed his company too.
Meanwhile, AJ was venting his frustration by slamming his hand on the passenger side of the dashboard.
“Mate are we towing a caravan or something heavy behind us 'cause I don’t see nothing behind me except a line of cars?”
Hobbs looked over at his companion in crime, there was nothing he could do, “The Princess won’t go faster than 50mph mate. It feels like they fitted a speed restrictor or something.”
“Jesus, how do you pick them? Do you hone in on them like radar or something?”
“Classic motor AJ, got to be treated like one.”
AJ sank back into his brown sagging seat, all the excuses in the world
wouldn’t compensate for the fact this was going to be a long, long journey. He imagined the occupants in the back would have been small kids kicking and screaming while their bald dad was enjoying his break at his leisure after spending months in endless toil just for the sake of them. Two hours in and they hadn’t even passed Luton.
Harry, at the opposite end of the spectrum was giggling like a happy child with his equally giggly assistant. They had taken advantage of the business class seating for a change and the free alcohol that accompanied it. Harry wasn’t decadent but he felt like rewarding himself after all of the events just passed. Melanie, the sexy air hostess was plying back and forth to their seats on an endless stream of requests, she was glad it was only a short trip.
The captain came over the tannoy. “Over to your right you will be able to see the beautiful Pentland Hills. We will shortly be making our descent into Edinburgh, thank you for flying with us and hope to see you again soon.”
Suzy could keep her far flung brochures as Harry saw it now, he was in his element. He’d gained greater comfort from Becky fussing around him than a week of her efforts. In the grander scheme of things, Suzy hadn’t paid him much attention during the last few years unless he was rewarding her or showering her with gifts.
Two different species entirely; completely different habitats.
The Captain was right, Edinburgh was indeed a beautiful city, the old town was Georgian while the New Town, badly named, was Victorian. The castle stood dominant above the city on old volcanic rock and was hardly out of view wherever you walked. Holyrood House, the official residence of the Queen, was equally impressive. It was no wonder Her Majesty spent a week on royal engagements there.
The investor conference had more humble digs at the Edinburgh ICC but it was still impressive and was a great venue for all involved.
Suzy had decided to call Jack to tell him how she felt. It wasn’t an easy decision to make or follow through with; she needed reassurance, it could be a defining moment of doom for the both of them.
“Listen Jack, are you sure we should go ahead with this? I saw him leave this morning and it almost broke my heart.” She was still sobbing and trying to wipe the tears away with a damp handkerchief but they kept on coming.
Jack remained as calm as ever. He couldn’t have doubts creeping in at such a late stage of developments. He always saw things as calculated portions of time seamlessly feeding into others. Plans and more plans were his order. There was hardly any need for emotion in any of his dealings as long as he got what needed in the end.
He couldn’t act calm though in this instance as he heard her muffled sobs on the other end of the line, it needed something extra. “Suzy, Suzy, my love, you shouldn’t fret anymore. You need to see there is no turning back now.”
She snapped back, “but there is, we could end all this in an instant, tell the doctor to change his findings. We don’t need to take it this far, we have money, we could just run away together and forget about Harry, we don’t need the bank, we just need each other.”
Suzy was still sobbing and whether Jack needed her or not, he certainly needed the bank. Sure, they would have their fun for a while, she was still good looking but eventually he would grow tired of her and find someone else.
He didn’t need this, he really didn’t. “Now look Suzy, we can’t just simply run away. If this thing got out, even at this juncture, we wouldn’t be seeing each other for a long stretch. You don’t want that do you?”
Suzy, amazingly, was like a little lamb. Quite unlike the confident persona she normally carried around. It seemed Harry had touched a nerve, years of marriage couldn’t just turn you into a heartless monster. Well it could if you had married a monster, but Harry wasn’t anything like that.
“Of course I don’t want that but I also don’t want Harry harmed in any way.”
Jack took a different tack this time, lying was his forte; he had mastered it over the years with apparent conviction, much like politicians, especially the old bruisers.
“You’re right Suzy, I’ll call off the hounds. This is pure madness isn’t it?, we could just as easily do this without the bank and bear no feelings of guilt, consider it done.”
Suzy suddenly picked up, she was good at that. “Oh Jack, this is important. I knew you would come round to my way of thinking. Tomorrow night at 8 then? Usual place?”
“You can count on it and we can make our plans to steal into the night. You need a change Suzy, see you soon darling.”
Sitting at the desk he had inherited from Harry, he quickly ended the call. Lovely office, how sad would he be to part from it but maybe she was right. He had to call them off. The chairmanship, was that what he really wanted? He had schemed so long to get it.
He rang Vic on the secure line. He had to speak to him, he hoped he would pick up. Vic was a busy man just like himself.
It dialled out for a time then a voice answered quite abruptly, “Hello, its Vic.”
“Hello Vic, Jack here. Are they still on their way?”
“Of course they are, I don’t mess about, why did you ring me?”
He paused for a moment and then replied quite calmly, “Oh nothing Vic, I appreciate your good work, thanks for letting me know.”
Vic hung up, it was good pay but he wasn’t about to act as a call centre. He threw the mobile down onto the couch and grunted in an irritated tone, “Posh ponces, they’re all the same. They want Vic to hold their hand every step of the way.”
Jack sat back and thought about what he was letting go. By tomorrow it would be too late for Suzy to turn back; she was as guilty as he was. He chuckled to himself at the whimsical nature of women.
Hobbs and AJ were having an awful time of it. The crap car was down to 40mph now and was kangarooing on occasion, the temperature gauge had shot up to the red and it didn’t look good.
“I feel like we’re in the movie Speed; when we hit 30mph it’s going to blow,” said AJ. He was still stoned and was coping better than he appeared. Hobbs, meanwhile, was cursing and gesturing to all the irate drivers who had got stuck behind him on the busy motorway. They couldn’t carry on like this and it was getting a bit desperate.
Hobbs decided to inject some care into the car. “C’mon you beauty, don’t let me down. You were a star back then, you just need to get us to the nearest services and we’ll park you up for a rest.”
AJ looked at Hobbs a bit oddly. His love of 80s cars was bordering on the obsession. He almost looked like the bald dad sat in his sheepskin jacket patting the steering wheel, hoping he would make it to the coast with no clue on how to get back.
Meanwhile, a blue light was faintly flashing from a distance as it raced up the hard shoulder after a call from motorway control.
“Shit, Hobbs, look it’s the Rozzers,” shouted AJ; it couldn’t be happening, they didn’t need this.
“Keep calm mate, I’ll do all the talking, were not gonna race away from them so we got to play it cool, throw that joint out.”
A policeman rode up alongside on a motorbike, looked into the window and gestured that they follow him to the next junction. Newport Pagnell lay a mile off and there was no way they were going to get off at the next junction coming up right ahead. There would be no cars to nick there.
The motorcycle veered off and gestured again for the driver to follow him, but Hobbs ignored him and carried on driving straight, oblivious to his instructions. The policeman veered back onto the hard shoulder narrowly missing the barrier and waved his arm around in anger. Hobbs just laughed and told AJ to reach over to the back seat and pull it down to get the bags.
“What are we going to do Hobbs?” cried AJ. He was sobering up from the weed; it was becoming too real for him to deal with. He pulled at his hair and rubbed his face.
“I know these services; they twist around to the left as you enter them. We need to be quick, as the copper goes around the corner we pull up and get the hell out of there as fast as we can. He’ll think we’ve broken down.”
AJ saw an escape plan. They would surely be serving time for this offence, he had a list of previous petty thefts and he didn’t fancy picking up the bar of soap for anyone.
The angry policeman had seen quite a lot in his time and was feeding the registration plate through his radio as he pulled up the slip road into the services.
Luckily for Hobbs and AJ, a speeding teenager came burning past them and slammed his brakes on in a screech of rubber as he saw the copper. It gave them valuable seconds as they quickly threw themselves out of the banger and into the bushes opposite.
“Oscar 5 3 8, confirm vehicle has been stolen, London vicinity, over,” came the reply on the radio. “Roger Oscar 5 Control, suspects signaled to park up at Newport Pagnell services, over,” the officer hailed back.
The policeman hadn’t noticed the two suspects had legged it; his vision was blocked by the stupid, impatient kid in the Saxo behind. He hurried around to the beige motor and saw the doors wide open and immediately called again for urgent police backup to search for the suspects.
The taxi cruised down the A8 into Edinburgh central. Harry and Becky could see the Pentland Hills in the distance looking as splendid as they did from the air. The traffic was a lot lighter than in London but it was a big bustling city all the same. They saw dark stone clad houses and smaller shops with fewer urban developed shopping centres as you would expect and passed delightful looking pubs and bars as they drove on into the heart of the city. The famous golden mile that lead up to Holyrood was on their left but they had no time to step out and enjoy its hospitality. Hotel check in awaited and then a quick freshen up before arriving at the conference.
Becky felt like an awe struck child, “It’s so lovely Harry, we should head over to Grass Market later on tonight if we have enough energy, I’ve never been there before.” Becky was in her element, looking at the multitude of clothes shops she could while away the hours in.
“I have Becky, and it’s always a sight to behold. It’s been a few years though and the last time my sore head has never let me forget about it.” He smirked as he thought of the numerous makes of whisky he had tried with other executives on a supposed “fact” finding mission.
“Well let’s treat it as if it’s your first time again,” she said with innocence and wonderment that made him wish he was younger than his years.
The hotel had indeed managed to secure two suites almost next to each other as Becky had earlier mentioned. They were located on the eighth floor looking out onto Prince’s Street Gardens not far from the castle.
After quick showers, they met again in the lobby and headed out to catch a taxi to the venue. Harry had opted for a more casual dinner jacket, trousers and shirt with a Windsor cutaway collar and silk tie combination. Becky could never let go of her professionalism and opted for a blue business jacket and matching skirt but Harry noticed the legs immediately; she had opted for a much shorter, racier look than usual.
“Nice outfit Becky,” he motioned.
“Thanks,” came the reply. She was glad he had noticed. Men had a habit of not noticing anything unless prompted.
Harry hailed a taxi and said with the manner of a confident salesman, “Let’s go bag some deals.” But he said it with more cheese for the effect; she knew he was in a playful mood today.
The conference was as decadent as it came. A carpet had been laid at the steps of the centre with concierge and parking attendants busy ensuring everything ran as smoothly as possible. There was a real feeling of recovery and optimism in the air. It had been a tough year for all; Harry knew that some of his oldest acquaintances wouldn’t be there, either through mergers or collapse. He was glad that his bank wasn’t one of them.
He was instantly recognised by many of the delegates who were whispering to each other as he passed. They had read the newspaper articles and were surprised to see him at all but then started to scotch at the rumours that he had been put out to pasture.
The inside of the impressive high vaulted venue was organised chaos, hundreds of chairs had been laid out in front of the stage where the guest speakers would address the delegates. Milling about were worried looking waiters and even more anxious looking banqueting managers.
Harry took two glasses of wine from a passing waiter and they both headed over to the social arena where suits from all nationalities had gathered prior to the conference start.
Alexander Hardie, from the Capital Hedging Group based in Milan, came rushing over to greet his long time friend.
“Harry, how the devil are you? I doubt anyone here imagined you were going to turn up, it’s so nice to see you.”
Harry smiled and took it the French reporter from the FT had woven a good deal of half truths amongst most of them, but then again, they didn’t have another point of reference to go by.
“Alex, my good friend, I’m sorry that nobody’s heard any good words written about me over the past few weeks. There’s been a total blackout as far as my press officer is concerned, mainly to allay the fears of investors but I’m here in the flesh, alive and well … oh, please forgive me, can I introduce you to Becky?”
Alex shook the hand of Becky who thought his wrist was quite a feeble one.
“Charmed I’m sure Becky, nice to meet you.”
He was accompanied by his beautiful Italian assistant, Angela, It was clear that hedging had its benefits.
Harry thought it best to give a little background on his friend.
“Alex here is not your normal everyday banker, oh no, he has broken so many bones over the years performing aerial tricks on a skateboard. He was sponsored for a while, hard to believe I know!”
Becky had a look of bewilderment on her face. Contrary to popular belief, most people who worked for banks didn’t simply push paper around with sniveling snot hanging from their noses in dreary ambiance waiting to retire. There were a lot of talented people in these glass and brick buildings, some with outlandish pasts that were always a talking point. The papers tended to demonise all of them; certainly there were bad apples amongst them, but that went without saying for a lot of other professions too.
Alex raised his arm in front of Becky, “I’ve broken this wrist several times, it’s never healed right and I’ve got scars galore but I still head out to parks and perform tricks … mostly for my daughter Megan. It’s a crazy world.” Alex smiled at Becky and pulled back his sleeve to reveal a crossed symbol for Dogtown, a famous Santa Monica renegade group of skaters. He was proud of that tattoo.
He raised his glass and toasted Harry in front of Becky, “To your good health Harry,” and then headed off into the thronging crowd of suits to mingle some more.
“You know some crazy characters despite the graying sideburns Harry,” she joked as she surveyed the room in all its pomp.
“They’re a symbol of having lived Becky, I’ll introduce you to some more of them later, it’s more like a rock party than a banking convention, don’t let the suits fool you.”
“I won’t.” She gulped her wine down and they headed off to claim their seats. The lights started to dim whilst the announcer was calling hastily for order.
The sirens were heard all over the services. There was a lot of commotion and the place swarmed with officers looking for the carjackers. AJ didn’t know that Hobbs had actually dragged the man out of his beloved Austin and beaten him to a pulp before causally putting the iron bar back into his holdall. There were easier ways of nicking cars but Hobbs didn’t seem to be aware of it.
They had crawled undetected along the motorway embankment and then cut around to the back of the services where the staff car park was situated. They were less likely to raise the alarm if a time clocker was on shift and wouldn’t notice his car gone for a few hours more. Hobbs was dismayed at the lack of classics sitting in the car park and the only car worth nicking was a fairly new silver Corsa which someone had kindly scratched a phallic symbol into the side of it. Probably a parking dispute.
“This’ll do mate,” said Hobbs. Corsa’s could be easily nicked and there were a million of them on the road, not his choice of car but he was on a deadline.
“Nice choice Hobbs for a change,” said his accomplice with a half smile. He was busy looking round for the pigs; he could hear them not too far away.
With a deft click, Hobbs had managed to prize up the lever, smashed the steering lock and began working the electrics. The car sprang into life and they carefully reversed it out of the parking spot and headed off down to the slip road.
They passed several coppers who were too busy checking the public car park for suspects to notice them pass quietly. It was too easy and AJ was glad they had a half decent motor to travel in now.
Hobbs put his foot down and was amazed at the response for such a small car. Maybe these new fangled vehicles weren’t so bad after all, even if they lacked a bit of character. He thumbed the glove compartment for the CDs that lay in the tray and pulled out, to his amazement, an album by the Jam. He shoved it in the CD player and “A Town Called Malice” started playing. Hobbs was ecstatic, it wasn’t doom and gloom after all, even AJ was smiling.