Chapter Eighteen
The horror that was the Angel of Death stared down on the cowering pair in the gloom of the thirteenth dimension. They both closed their eyes and Johnny said a small prayer. When he opened his eyes again, he was descending with Caitlin in his arms and the shining figure of the hypnotist alongside. He heard a spine chilling scream from above, and he assumed that the Dark Angel was a bit miffed.
“What happened?”
“I saw the danger you were in; I threw a psychic net around you both and pulled you down.”
Caitlin woke up with a start. “Mum, where am I?”
“Oh Caitlin dear,” said Sue as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “You’re in hospital. We were all worried.”
“Where’s dad?”
“He went off somewhere… I’ll need to phone him.”
“It was dad; he came for me!”
“What do you mean honey?”
“Mum, you have to phone dad and see if he’s okay.”
“Okay, but I don’t understand.”
Veronica breathed a sigh of relief. “Am I glad to see you both back with me again? How did it go?”
“Very well,” answered Johnny.
“Yes, but you may be in for trouble soon,” said Keith, rising to stretch his legs.
“I need to find out how Caitlin is.” Johnny said, pushing himself up from the couch.
“You can use my phone if you wish.”
“Thank you, but I have my mobile,” Johnny said, switching on his phone, which at once rang. “Hello, Sue.”
“Johnny she’s awake; Caitlin’s okay!”
“Oh, thank God!”
“She’s asking for you.”
“Okay, I’m on my way.”
“Thanks Mr Moncliffe I can’t thank you enough,” he said as he put his mobile back in his jacket pocket. “How much do I owe you?”
“Miss Wilkie will deal with that. I want you to call or come to see me again for I fear that this isn’t over yet.”
Johnny paid up at the receptionist’s desk adding an extra one hundred pounds for a job well done.
Johnny walked into the ward with tears in his eyes and hugged his daughter then hugged his ex-wife.
“Thanks for coming for me dad.” Caitlin whispered when he turned back toward her.
“Will someone tell me what this ‘coming to save me’ is all about?”
“Oh mum, let’s just be happy for now!”
“Come on Sue let’s go, and let Caitlin get some rest,” said Ollie as he took her arm and gave Johnny a nod.
“Well, okay. Will you be okay baby?”
“Yes mum.”
“We’ll be back tomorrow to take you home.”
“Dad,” said Caitlin, after her mother and Ollie had left. “Will it be okay to sleep tonight?”
“Of course honey. Don’t you worry about a thing; I’ve done what they wanted; now you watch some TV, and I’ll see you soon.”
“How do you know the demon won’t come back for Caitlin or yourself?” Veronica asked as they drove along the dual carriageway that connected Dundee with Arbroath.
“Well, they’ve shown me how powerful they are; I’d be a fool to do anything that would endanger my daughter again. I obviously won’t be going ahead with the TV interview. And I have Keith Moncliffe to call on if needed.”
“Why were you chosen for the visions?”
“I’ve thought about that too. I believe it’s because I’m a journalist I suppose who happened to have a few choice articles published in some international magazines.”
“So what now?”
“What now? Well, I will need to take the risk and try to stop these experiments in the States. How? I don’t know.”
They turned right under the railway bridge, and Johnny glanced up at Arbroath Infirmary sitting gazing out at the North Sea. “Are you coming up to the flat?”
“It depends, are you cooking dinner?”
“I’m the guy that sets out to make an omelette and ends up with burnt scrambled eggs, but okay.”
“A pizza and some wine will do fine.” Veronica said and then laughed. “I need to go back to my room and get some work done also check the emails. I’ll come by at seven.”
Johnny opened the door to his flat, listened, and then crept in and looked in every room. “What am I doing?” he asked himself. “This whole thing’s got me freaked.”
He did some housework and then sat down in front of his laptop in the spare room. He had his own work to do.
At five past seven the doorbell rang. Johnny, freshly showered and shaved, ran through to the hall and opened the front door. “Veronica! You look good enough to eat.”
“Mm…! Maybe later,” she said, walking past him through to the living room.
The doorbell rang again. Johnny tugged the door open again.
“Pizza sir?” A youth asked him.
“Dinners arrived,” he said as he laid two thin cardboard boxes on the coffee table and then waltzed into the kitchen humming the ‘Blue Danube’. He returned with a bottle of red wine and two glasses. “Wine madam?”
“Yes please.”
He filled her glass up to the brim.
“Are you trying to get me drunk sir?”
“Yes,” he replied, watching the wrinkles at the sides of her eyes as she smiled.
“Good, I feel like getting drunk after all that’s happened.”
“Sounds good to me,” he said as he sat down and opened his box.
Johnny awoke to a loud crash from the living room. “Jesus! What was that?” He shouted, as Veronica mumbled something and then went back to sleep. He jumped out of bed and pulled on his bathrobe. A cracking noise and the smell of smoke made him rush to the door. “Oh shit!” he shouted as he gradually opened the door and saw flames spreading through the living room. The right-hand window had been smashed and black smoke was escaping through the jagged hole. He ran into the hallway and closed the living room door, then ran back into the bedroom and pushed the door shut as the smoke alarm screamed.
“Veronica, get up!” he shouted as he ran over to the bedside chair and hauled on his clothes.
“What’s up?”
“It’s the living room; it’s on fire. Come on we got to get out of here.”
Bizarrely, he heard the letter box flap close, which he put down to a draft caused by the broken window. He took his mobile from the bedside unit and pushed it in his pocket and then grabbed his jacket. By the time he had his jacket on Veronica was dressed.
“Right,” Johnny said, as he opened the door. “Oh no!”
The hall carpet was ablaze and flames were creeping up the walls and pushing black smoke onto the ceiling. He slammed the door shut and pulled a sheet off the bed, then rolled it up and tucked it along the bottom of the door. He then ran over to the window and pulled up the lower frame. Looking down he shook his head–the garden was further away than he remembered. The distance was just too great for a ‘hang and drop’. He pulled his mobile from his pocket and rang 999.
“Which service: ambulance, police or fire?”
“Fire–we’re stuck in the bedroom at 10b Guthrie Port Arbroath, the rest of the flat’s on fire!”
“Right sir, there will be an appliance with you soon.”
He hugged Veronica as they stood by the open window. Smoke was squeezing into the room from the minute gaps between the door and its frame. The heat became unbearable and the sound of cracking and smashing deafening.
Johnny coughed, and Veronica sobbed with despair when suddenly, they heard the sound of aluminium on sandstone. The top of a ladder had appeared at the window. Johnny looked down and saw Bob Tosh, the Roofer who lived two blocks along the street standing at the bottom. “Okay, John I’ll hold it steady, down you come!” he shouted.
Johnny pulled his head back in, and said: “Veronica, you first.”
She removed her shoes and threw them along with her handbag onto the lawn. Then she climbed out of the window and onto the ladder. “Oh my God! Oh my God!” Veronica shouted, climbing unsteady down the ladder.
“It’s okay Veronica I have hold of the top and Bob has the bottom. You’re doing fine.” Johnny said.
The roar of the fire increased as it raged through the flat. A big black mark appeared on the inside of the bedroom door. Johnny burst into a fit of coughing.
“Good lass,” said Bob as Veronica stepped off the ladder and gave him a quick hug.
Flames ripped through the bedroom door as Johnny climbed out onto the ladder and then descended to the safety of the garden.
The three stood on the grass and looked up at the smoke belching out of the bedroom window. Suddenly the bathroom window cracked, and they saw flames dancing around inside.
“We best move into my garden,” said Bob as he took the ladder down.
They made their way through the garden gates which connected the properties as a siren screamed to a halt on the street outside.
“These lads will take care of it!” Bob shouted.
Johnny hugged Veronica as they watched Bob put his ladder away.
“Marj’ll have the kettle on John, why don’t the two of you go up to my flat.” Bob said as he approached them.
After climbing the stairs Johnny knocked on the maroon door and pushed it open.
“Come on in,” said a soft voice. “We’re in the kitchen.”
Johnny went into the neat kitchen, followed by Veronica, to find Mrs Spink, his neighbour, sitting chatting to Marj Tosh beside a steaming kettle.
“Thanks for this Marj,” said Johnny. He then turned to Mrs Spink. “I’m glad to see you Mrs Spink.”
“I saw Mabel standing out on the street gazing up at the fire,” said Marj.
Bob strode into the kitchen as Marj handed out mugs of tea. “I’m just in time then.”
“You can make your own, Bob Tosh, these are for my guests.”
“Mm…! Typical,” said Bob with a laugh. “The firemen are running hoses up your close and their shooting water in through the front windows off that hoist thing they have. Hamish Murray’s there, and he says he’s coming up for a statement.”
The doorbell rang; so Bob left the room, and when he returned a stalky paramedic with a shaven head followed him.
“Anyone require treatment here?”
“We’re all right,” said Veronica, looking at Mabel Spink, who nodded her head.
“No smoke inhalation or cuts?”
“No, fine,” said Johnny.
“Okay, I’ll leave you to enjoy your tea.”
“Would you like a cup?” Marj asked.
“Not while I’m on duty,” the paramedic laughed.
Sergeant Hamish Murray knocked on the kitchen door just as the paramedic was leaving. “Hope you don’t mind Bob–the front door was open, so I came in.”
“No that’s all right Hamish come on in.”
“Mr Duncan. We meet again.”
“Yes, under different circumstances.”
“An eventful life you lead.”
“Well, I don’t plan it this way.”
The policeman took out his note book. “The firemen have got the better of the fire now. You won’t need me to tell you that the house is pretty well gutted.”
He wrote something and then said: “I’ll need a statement please.”
Johnny gave the sergeant the sequence of events.
“Okay,” said Hamish, after Johnny had finished. “Have you got anywhere to spend the rest of the night?”
“Yes sergeant we’ll be staying at my bed-and-breakfast: the Harbour View,” said Veronica.
“How about you Mrs Spink?”
“Mabel will stay with us,” said Marj.
“Okay then, thanks Bob. Oh, CID will be down to see you tomorrow Mr Duncan.”
“All right, thanks sergeant.”
The next morning as the sun was playing cat and mouse with a large rain cloud Johnny walked along the High Street and then turned down Guthrie Port. The sight of his flat stopped him in his tracks: the windows were rectangular, black voids, and the blackness seemed as if it was creeping up the building above them.
He climbed the stairs and stood gazing at his front door, which was still intact and open. “Hello, anybody there?” he asked as he walked over the scorched floorboards, some of which were burnt away leaving the blackened joists exposed.
“Yes, in the living room,” said a familiar voice.
“DS Mitchell,” said Johnny looking at the black walls of his living room.
The policeman was crouching as he searched around the floor area in front of the right-hand window. “Ah, Mr Duncan you’ve saved me a journey I was just going to come and see you.” He looked up at Johnny. “A bit of a mess?”
“Yeah, you could say that.”
“Have you got anything to add to the statement you gave Sergeant Murray last night?”
“No.”
“Well, we’re dealing with a case of arson. The forensic chappies have found pieces of a bottle in the living room that have traces of petrol on them. The reason you and Miss Cahill couldn’t get out of the bedroom was because petrol had been poured through your letter box and ignited. We’ve found a petrol can in a wheelie bin down the road and suspect it to be the one used.”
“I thought I heard the click of the letter box flap last night, but assumed it was just the wind.”
“Whoever did this wanted you dead I’m afraid. Lucky for you Bob Tosh is a light sleeper.”
“Yeah, I owe him a big one; he’s a good man.”
“So, any idea about this one?”
“No, must be those neo-Nazi’s I guess.”
“We’re working with the German police on those people. They’re a slippery bunch; nothing can be pinned on them. How about the murder, have you remembered anything in connection with it?”
“No–nothing!”
“We’re no further I’m afraid.” DS Mitchell said, standing up. “Okay. You’re staying at the Harbour View?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, take care.”
After DS Mitchell left Johnny walked through to the spare room and stared at his laptop, melded to a charred floor joist. He stared out of the crack in the blackened glass of the window and watched the large rain cloud, which had escaped the sun - deliver a shower in the distance. He then took out his mobile; he had some calls to make; first was his insurance company.
Johnny walked into Veronica’s room at the boarding house and collapsed on the bed.“Well I’ve phoned the insurance company and bought myself another laptop.”
“Where is it?” Veronica asked, looking up from her computer.
“Och, they didn’t have the model I wanted, but the guy in the shop said he’d have it in by tomorrow. I need to write my column as soon as possible!”
“You can use this one when I’m finished,” said Veronica as she resumed her work. “Johnny?”
“Yes my sweet?”
“I phoned a colleague of mine, Dave Martin, about this dimensional thing. And he said, among other things, that some old German guy and his son had been bugging scientists and politicians to stop the tests. It seems that during the Second World War Hitler was scared off by some experiment with a UFO where something materialized from another dimension. He was of course laughed off as a joke.”
“What’s his name?”
“I thought you’d be interested; so after some arm twisting I got Dave to email me the details. His name is Günter Wiedemann and he lives in Stuttgart. I have a mobile number, that’s all.”
She stared at Johnny. “I wonder if what he saw was similar to that thing from which you and Caitlin escaped?”
“Could be,” said Johnny as he sat up and looked out at the harbour. “Could be.”
Johnny rang the number given to him by Veronica as he sat by the window and gazed at the yachts bobbing up and down.
“Ja!” said a firm voice.
“Hello Mr Wiedemann, my name is John Duncan. I am calling from the UK about the dimensional tests about to be conducted in the United States. I believe we both have an interest in stopping them.”
“Where did you get this number?”
“From a secure source.”
“Are you the John Duncan that I read about in Time Magazine?”
“Yes, that’s me. I was wondering if a colleague and I could come over to Germany to meet you.”
“You will be phoned back shortly!” The line went dead. Johnny looked around at Veronica, absorbed in her work. He thought better of disturbing her and watched a boat leave the safety of the harbour for the open sea instead. His mobile rang. “Yeah, hullo–John Duncan.”
“Mr Duncan my name is Matthias Wiedemann. My father has told me he would like to meet you to discuss the mutual interest?”
“Fine.”
“Very well, please understand we have been the target of fools; both the harmless kind and the dangerous kind, ja!”
“We will be most discrete Mr Wiedemann.”
“Please phone me on this number when you have come to Stuttgart and I will meet you. For now–goodbye.”