12
S.P.O.P.R
The cells in Haywards Heath police station weren’t as nice as I had imagined and the police officers were even worse. Mike, my private support worker, surprisingly came to see me just as I had finished eating my bowl of revolting and unknown cereal. I guessed that the police had realized their mistake and that Mike had come to clarify the situation and take me home. But instead he just came to make sure I was okay. When I asked him to tell them they had made a huge mistake all he said was – “I haven’t known you long enough to get to know you properly so I can’t say anything to help you.” A lot of use you have been I thought to myself. Mum came up to Haywards Heath looking extremely agitated and told the policeman –
“Chris couldn’t kill anyone!”
“Well we’re keeping him in our holding zone till we can prove he wasn’t responsible” came the reply.
“How on earth could you believe that my young son could be responsible for such a malicious act”
“We’ve had a tip off and as such he is a suspect in the case” the policeman said without looking my Mum in the eye. “We will hold your son here until we have completed all our enquires”
Later on that morning, Ben turned up in his black Mini and parked it outside the police station. I could hear him walking outside in his size 11 boots, through the grating of my cell.
“You’ve got the wrong boy!” he said as soon as he walked up to the counter, slamming his fist down onto it.
”What... Why?” said the policeman who had arrested me the previous day, looking perplexed.
“Because he was with me at the time the blast went off.” Ben lied.
“We are unable to release him until we try to cross match his DNA with the samples found at the bomb scene”
“Well release him into my care for the time being and I will assure you that if you find any incriminating evidence I will return him” Ben said
Ben obviously had some serious jurisdiction over the police, as they immediately released me into Ben’s care.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“I’m taking you to my base.” Ben replied. “All will be revealed when we get there.”
“Where is your base?” I asked.
“It’s a small place off Folders Lane in Burgess Hill.”
I thought he must be mad if he thinks he could have built a base the size that he was talking about around Burgess Hill without anyone noticing. He drove me down near to Ditching Common and then took a breather in the common car park before completing our journey.
We finally arrived at his base. At first it looked to me to be quite a dingy place. We went into a dark room with four computers in it. Funnily enough it looked pretty similar to the abandoned house at Chailey. Ben turned on one of the computers and frowned, I knew something wasn’t quite right.
“What’s wrong with your computer Ben?” I asked.
“Nothing much, maybe it’s some kind of glitch, we get them from time to time. I’m sure the lovely Penny here will be able to get it sorted” said Ben gesturing towards a beautiful young lady who suddenly appeared by my side.
“Pleased to meet you, my name’s Penny” she said offering her hand in greeting.
Behind Penny were two men in white shirts with black bow ties. They initially showed no emotions on their faces. Only when they spoke did they show any hint of being normal human beings.
“Would it be alright if I showed Chris what we do here?” Ben asked the men.
“Why not.” They replied in unison.
“The first question I have for you is what does S.P.O.P.R. stand for?” I asked, half expecting that I wouldn’t like the answer.
“It stands for the Specialist Protection Of Public Rights”
“Right, well that sounds a bit vague” I said. “That can mean you pretty much protect everyone and everything then” I said, slightly sarcastically.
We started to walk around the base as Ben started to explain the development of the organisation.
“S.P.O.P.R was originally set up by a group of ex-secret agents who were disgruntled by the governments lack of innovative ideas to prevent terrorist attacks. Over the last ten years we have been able to recruit an elite force of ex-spies and individuals just like you who have a natural aptitude to espionage” Ben explained.
I grinned at Ben, embarrassed by what he was suggesting.
“At the moment we are trying to catch the suspects who we are sure are responsible for the recent terror attacks in both U.K and the U.S. You’ve probably heard all about it on the news or maybe seen it in the newspapers.” Ben went on.
“Yes” I nodded in agreement “I suspect that what I had just witnessed at the gym was a terrorist attack” I said.
“Yes, according to our undercover surveillance we suspect that it was Harry Howler and his gang who were responsible for the latest attack, you are very lucky to be alive” said Ben.
“So what do you want from me” I asked.
“We thought that you might be interested in spying for us, they’re hardly going to suspect a teenage boy in a wheelchair”
At that very moment a man who Ben greeted as Keith entered the room.
“Hi you must be Chris, how the devil are you?” he asked as if we had been friends for all my life.
“My name’s Keith.”
“Right” I said looking confused.
“No need to look so astonished.”
“Don’t worry all will be revealed in time; all you need to know at this stage is that I am the head of special equipment here. Please follow me to my office”
It wasn’t what you would normally call an office - it was the size of an aeroplane hangar! I guessed it might be used for testing prototypes or something.
“What do you think of my office?” Keith said spanning out his arms
“Wow”
“We want you to complete one of our training programs Chris? It’s really meant for adults but I think you’re ready now to have a go”
“Yes I’m well up for that!”