Only the Guilty

CHAPTER 1

Magda Plaistot had protested volubly against Aaron returning to duty so soon after his operation, but her protestations had fallen on deaf ears, Aaron was determined to carry on again with his work and nothing that Magda had said would change his mind, She gave in trying to persuade him to wait until he was more like his old self and instead asked for assurances that he would keep an eye out for ways of taking things a little easier than his normal headlong dash into unnecessary problems.

So, here he was again, in harness doing his usual duty, surveillance, again in France. This time he had his colleague and friend Hiram Woolley with him, or he would have him if he turned up thought Aaron who checked the time on his wrist-watch, beginning to feel a little uneasy and lighting another cigarette. It wouldn’t be the first time things had gone wrong while waiting for a colleague to turn up but this time he needn’t have worried the delay was over as Hiram opened the car door and slid into the front passenger seat.

‘I’m sorry Aaron, I’ve been having a word with Jean Winster and trying to help him with the roster for looking out for visitors at Buckland’s place, we seem again to be a little short staffed’

‘Oh, I see. Have you got it sorted then? I thought we were a bit thin on the ground for that job, we could do with more than the three men we’ve been told we can have. It’s a pity we can’t ask the police, but our Lords and Masters aren’t keen on doing that. It’s all bloody politics if you ask me’.

Aaron Plaistot and Hiram Woolley had arrived in France only a couple of days before, instructed to find the source of the illegal explosives and arms trade and if possible eliminate it, bringing the culprits to justice where possible, especially the men at the top of the activity. Aaron had only been back on duty a couple of weeks after his recuperation from the operation to remove a bullet from his chest had expired and his chest occasionally still gave him some discomfort, a niggling ache which varied in intensity depending on his physical activity and not aided by his continual smoking habit, about which, his doctors continually warned him he was asking for trouble. That trouble though, he kept to himself, not complaining to the other colleagues in case their burden should be increased; something he did not want, especially to Hiram who had also been in the same hospital as himself for a different operation; to remedy a patella displacement. They had received their respective injuries when working together on another surveillance, in Jerusalem and after the experience of working together there, were very good friends.

Hiram had been back at work for two months but he still walked with a limp from the occasional pain of his knee injury. They had been chosen for the investigation as a result of their experience in the Candor affair, working in Jerusalem when that assassin was finally brought to justice, mainly by the action of Candor’s own daughter who, in ignorance of his identity and to protect her husband, Hiram, shot him twice, wounding him badly enough so that he was easily arrested but died later in hospital of a heart attack.

Candor had been deported to his country of origin, England and was in hospital with a damaged shoulder and a shattered shin as a result of the two bullet wounds he sustained in Jerusalem while, with an accomplice, trying to blow up the Knesset. A contract killer, later found to be named Ripley, employed by the remaining trio of arms dealers had murdered the assassin while the man was in hospital, to avenge the death of the fourth member of the quartet, the man Adam Buckland, whom Candor had murdered; the contractor had faked his identity by pretending to be a doctor to gain access to Candor’s private cubicle during the night and had deposited a syringe full of morphine into the drip container while Candor was asleep under sedation. The tube carrying the lethal dose fed into Candor’s arm and the quick build up of the drug in Candor’s body brought about the massive heart attack which killed him.

The assassin Candor, while in Jerusalem, Israel, had hidden the explosive in the woodwork of some heavy chairs belonging to the Knesset which had been taken out temporarily for refurbishment by the workmen of a local carpenter’s business workshop, Candor and his accomplices removing some of the chairs from the factory to carry out their modifications to them. The chairs were to be replaced in the Knesset by the factory workers and Candor had the necessary means to set off the explosion while the Government were in session in the Knesset.

However, the chairs had been secretly changed again and the suspect ones stored in a Government warehouse for examination. Before the examination could take place the explosion was set off by a model aircraft flyer who had lost control of the flying model and tried changing the frequency of his transmitter. The resulting explosion almost completely destroyed the warehouse, proving the efficiency of the chair exchange which had been suggested by a British Police Inspector, Seth Winfild, who had been on the trail of Candor and finished up assisting Plaistot and his men in the assassin’s capture in Jerusalem.

The Mossad knew from experience that the person who organized the sale of arms and explosives in France had been the man Adam Buckland, murdered by Candor after organizing Candor’s journey through France to Israel after he had obtained from Buckland the explosive he needed.

‘Anyway’ said Hiram, ‘What’s the immediate plan? Jean Winster is going back to his cafe at Marseilles Provence for the time being. What about us having lunch at the airfield at la Malouesse before we set off for Valeille and Thiers? Jean has not heard of any illegal traffic, only suspicions. He believes however that another Controller has been selected to take the place of Buckland but is not sure yet who it is. He wonders about the housekeeper of the late Buckland. She must have a good general knowledge of her late master’s business, having lived with him for quite a few years. What do you think Aaron, have you any thoughts on that?’

‘Yes, o.k. We might do worse than to approach her and yes although it’s only a short flight to Valeille from la Malouesse we might as well have lunch at the airfield’.

‘Good’ said Hiram ‘I’m starving’.

They drove off to the airfield and made for the cafeteria where they ordered their lunch, sitting at a table near the door. Being in the surveillance business they were always on the look out for anything suspicious or out of the ordinary and in their position by the door they had a clear view of all who entered or left whilst they were there.

‘What you say about Buckland’s housekeeper is good thinking, Hiram. We’ll keep an eye on her first for a while before we go barging in; to see if there’s any movement of anything or persons; any kind of activity at all there. You never know your luck and it’s about time we had some, good luck I mean. We’ll leave the car here for Jean to organize its recovery and get another hire car at Valeille’.

Later they boarded the flight they had arranged to join for their journey to Valeille, ready to organize with their few colleagues, some sort of surveillance of the area in which they were interested, especially the house of the late Adam Buckland, near Thiers.

CHAPTER 2

Madame Olivia Pentriche opened the door leading to the cellar and switched on the light above the steps which gave access to the underground room. She had made sure of the security of the external doors of the house as a precaution to prevent the entrance of any uninvited guests while she was absent from the main building and descended the stairway and switched on another light illuminating the room itself.

Fastened to one wall was a metal safe and the door of this she opened by entering the number code on the lock dial in the correct sequence; a number only known to herself and her late master Adam Buckland she believed. The safe contained several files full of papers which, by removing the top two she was able to release a hidden catch at the back of the safe. The open catch cover revealed a set of three buttons coloured red, blue and green. By pressing the red button a huge panel of brickwork in the adjacent wall to the safe began to slowly swing open, driven by an almost silent powerful electric motor through a low speed gearbox. The panel’s hinges and joints when closed were invisible and when opened revealed first a rack whose compartments contained boxes of material and chemicals whose scents rendered the odour of the inner containers to be unobtrusive to any investigation by sniffer dogs. The chemicals used had, several times in the past, prevented such animals from showing any interest in the area outside the secret compartment wall when undeclared visits had been made by the police.

The outer rack was moved forward and gave access to a large underground cavern, about twenty metres square and four metres high. The wall racks there contained all sorts of weaponry and boxes of chemical and plastic explosives, so much that a large quantity was heaped in the middle of the floor in boxes stretching far up the tunnel of the cavern. Almost any piece of small armament or explosives an army might need was stored there. Buckland had been careful to store only explosive products which he believed could not deteriorate and become unstable if kept for some length of time.

Ammunition boxes full of cartridges and bullets of all types of calibre were stored and available. At the far end of the cavern was a forty metres or so long tunnel leading to another set of steps which gave exit into a stable at the back of the property. This stable was in a row of stables owned by the late Buckland and which was a thriving business, hiring out horses for riding by the young and old alike. The exit itself was so disguised as not to be apparent and the stable itself normally contained two horses.

Although this was the exit from the cavern it was also the access whereby the store was repleted or dispersed, mainly during the night after riding had ceased and obviously much guarded during the traffic of goods. The police had on occasion had a look round the yard and buildings but had never suspected the existence of the hidden access/exit door at the back of that particular stable. In case of emergency a booby trap had been arranged in the walls of the tunnel. Should the door be discovered the trap could be operated and an explosive charge set off which would close off the tunnel.

As there was no indication above ground which way the tunnel went there was no means of knowing that it led to the late Buckland’s house. The blockage would take quite a long time to remove, giving time for that cavern to be emptied and restored in another cavern.

On another wall in the cellar was a second door operated by the blue button which had the same characteristics as that operated by the red button; similar cavern and tunnel whose concealed exit came out in the wood itself and would only be used in an emergency. This exit would have first to be dug out from the inside thus preventing it being discovered by anyone outside prior to its need. This second cavern would accept all the goods from the ‘red’ cavern if necessary, should the ‘red’ cavern be detected and its tunnel blocked. The green button closed both concealed doors.

Madame Pentriche pressed the red button and entered the cavern, switching on another set of lights inside. She had a walk round the area checking that all was well and that there was no obvious danger of any of the explosive deteriorating, as far as she was able to tell, regarding her small knowledge of the subject. She had received a call from the new controller requesting a supply of some of the materials that were in the cavern and checked that the stock required was available. Satisfied as much as she felt that everything seemed to be correct, she carried out the routine to secure everything and retreated up the cellar steps, locking the door again and returning to the library.

The new controller, Alane Rhyber, was appointed from the acquaintances of Jordan alias Somers and his compatriots. He had recently come back to France having met Jordan on his return to England after hearing of the death of Adam Buckland. He had been offered and accepted the onerous role of controller from Jordan. On his return he had soon been asked for and accepted a contract for a supply of arms, from a Middle East buyer, from the store now in the care of Madame Pentriche.

Having checked with her its availability, he was making arrangements to collect it. Unlike the late Buckland, who had organized everything pertaining to his supplies, Madame Pentriche only accepted under duress the role of storage supervisor and receipt of new stock when it was available. The inward and outward movement of the stock was always arranged by the controller and indeed its inspection if a customer required it and Olivia had to make herself available to allow such movements to be made.

She settled herself with a glass of white wine, in the library, her favourite room. She sometimes reminisced about her life with Adam Buckland and though such thoughts were foreign to her nature, was somewhat pleased she had heard that someone had taken the opportunity to end the life of the assassin Candor, as revenge for his murdering Adam and trying to kill her, though she was also aware that her life was of little importance to them, the one time quartet, now trio. It had been pure luck that she had managed to escape and take shelter in one of the unassailable rooms provided in the house for such an occurrence. Candor had tried to make an entrance into the room but gave up believing that her death was of no importance to his safety anyway and didn’t want to waste too much time trying to reach her. She believed the murder of the hospitalized Candor must have been organized by the trio of arms dealers, Adam’s partners and was correct in her assumption.

She hadn’t realized the paid murderer would find it to be so easy; the guard on the private cubicle door probably bored out of his mind and half asleep at that early time in the morning had not insisted on the impersonator’s identification, but had accepted the false doctor’s name badge he was wearing in his coat lapel and which had been thrust under his nose. The guard allowed him to enter the private room in which Candor was sleeping under sedation and the effects of the post operative drugs regime he was taking. It had been easy to empty the syringe of morphine into the drip container feeding by tube into Candor’s arm. The quick build up of the drug into Candor’s body brought on the massive heart attack which killed him, by which time the paid killer was already out of the English hospital. Jordon had achieved his vengeance.

The contract killer had returned to report his success to Jordan and the paper which had been left on the side locker with the two words ‘for Adam’ printed on it was considered by the investigators into the assassin’s death as significant but thought they had little chance of proving who had left it.

Olivia had now to wait for the controller Alane Rhyber, who was organizing the collection of the items he required from her and she was sure it would be soon and the sooner the better, she thought, it would be good to get it over with again.

CHAPTER 3

Aaron Plaistot and Hiram Woolley arrived at Valeille after the short flight from la Malouesse in mid morning and were greeted by Jean Winster who had made the journey earlier by car. The trio sat together in the airport cafe drinking coffee and talking earnestly about their plans to organize the watch on the late Buckland’s house.

‘It’s true what I said about being a bit thin on the ground’ said Aaron, ‘it’s ludicrous only having that number to do what we want to do. Perhaps those that make the decisions may change their minds when we get nowhere’.

‘Yes’ said Hiram, ‘I’m sure that if the police knew what we’re up to they’d be only too pleased to help out with a few bodies. After all we’re doing this job for them as well as for us’.

‘Well there’s nothing we can do about it now we’ll just have to make the best of it. Did you and Jean here get the itinerary worked out Hiram?’

‘Well as best we could. We’ve had to split the three into equal time watches; that’s eight hours each and they’ll have to work out themselves how they’re going to get food and drink. They’ll be given a specific area to survey for the three watches and then move to a different area for the next three and so on. When they’ve surveyed the whole area around the property, they’ll start the business all over again. We two will have a wandering surveillance; sometimes splitting up when it becomes obvious that something is going on in two places at once, because we could do with Jean here getting back to la Malouesse to keep a look out there. What do you think Aaron?’

‘Yes you’re right about that, best make tracks back Jean, but keep in touch with the courier and us, right? There’s one other improvement I think we could make. When the two who are not on duty are free to do so, they could spend some time here at the airfield and keep a watch here and any where else they might be, of course’.

‘Right’ said Jean Winster, ‘I’ll be making tracks back to la Malouesse after I’ve reported to the courier and I’ll keep in touch, Aaron. Also, I nearly forgot, I’ve got a bit more information about the Buckland property. Apparently the guy was running a stables business with horses for hire not all that far away from the house at the other side of that copse from the back of the house. I think there’s a manager and his wife and a daughter in law, but those stables definitely belonged to Buckland.’

‘That’s interesting’ said Aaron ‘where did you get that from?’

‘A friend of the contact in Thiers got it from the police files and passed it on to me. Apparently the buildings have been checked by the police a few times but nothing was found’ answered Jean.

‘H’m, I can’t imagine Buckland wanting a riding complex unless he himself was interested in horse riding. We’ll have to think about that nugget of information, it sounds a bit fishy to me, this stables manager may well be in cahoots with the trio for all we know; but if the police have found nothing it may be quite innocent. Anyway, on the other hand it might have some significance, but there’s no way yet of us knowing’.

‘What interested this guy, the Contact said, was, that on occasion there would be some movement of traffic in and out of the stable yard and he couldn’t see the connection with a riding stables, unless it was purely to bring in feed stuffs’ Jean commented, ‘that’s why the police were interested, but as I’ve said, they found nothing to convince them there was something sinister going on, they’ve never kept a continuous watch on the place like you are going to do’.

‘All right Jean, we’ll keep our eyes and ears open. Have you made arrangements for somewhere for us to stay?’ asked Hiram.

‘Oh yes, here’s the address; it’s in Thiers, not too far away from the property we’re interested in, only a short drive. I believe you’ve been to this property before Aaron’ laughed Jean, remembering Aaron’s wait in the rain and then Candor had turned up instead of Aaron’s colleague. ‘You had a bit of a shock then, didn’t you. Mind you’, he said becoming serious, ‘I was sorry about Hassan; he was a good bloke and then to get murdered by that bastard’.

‘Don’t remind me’ said Aaron. ‘Anyway, we’ll get off after lunch and have a look round when we get there and as for that stables yard, I believe Hiram here has a bit of experience with horses; it might just come in useful’.

Lunch was soon over and Jean left them. Hiram and Aaron began their drive to Thiers determined to make a detour to take a look at the late Adam Buckland’s property. The two men arrived at the gated house and the gates were closed; Aaron swallowed hard remembering the last occasion when he had been there and the shock he’d had when Hassan’s car had arrived, but it was Candor who had got out and talked into the microphone at the gate. He remembered also the rain; he’d got wet through all his clothes, but because of the rain and the darkness, his mistake of stepping out from his position behind a tree was not seen by Candor and he’d been able to hide himself from the assassin again.

It was obvious that if there was a visitor to the house now, they would have to wait to find out. A cursory investigation showed nothing, the drive-way hedge hid the house from the gate and it was impossible to see if there was a vehicle parked in front of the building. Aaron decided to park a few metres away from the gate, just off the edge of the road almost hidden by the trees of the coppice and wait for a half hour or so, in case there would be a visitor either coming or going to the property. They knew they were lucky that the not so small wood which was opposite the property’s gates gave them cover whilst they were quite near to it. There were tracks leading into the wood here and there having been made by small transport of some kind, which was also handy for them.

They waited the half hour and then left. No vehicles had come along the roadway either, the only occurrence being the quarrelling of a couple of magpies, flapping about near the gates and they drove to Thiers to the address given to them by Jean and took possession of their digs, unloading their travelling bags and cases from the car.

CHAPTER 4

When they had settled in and as the afternoon was not yet ended they decided to have a drive to the stables about which Jean had informed them. They were not surprised on arrival by the sight which met their eyes; it was a typical stables complex. As they had driven up the short, partially gravelled lane to the buildings, several people of varying ages were riding horses of different sizes and moving in or out of the yard. The stables complex was also surrounded by trees and bushes and in places almost impenetrable tangled undergrowth. It looked to be a very popular venue there though and on arrival at the beginning of the stable yard they obeyed the notice requesting them to park in the area provided, Hiram remarking that as the park was of grass, much worn, it perhaps would be difficult to move about in mud if there was a downpour of rain. There were quite a number of cars already there.

Aaron and Hiram walked to the obvious business office which contained two people; one an elderly man and the other a girl, who were quite willing to answer their questions and the girl gave them a tour of the ten stables, one containing more than one beast and some of the horses were of different breeds.

The two men kept a sharp look out for anything which might indicate that the stable complex was involved with the late Buckland’s activities, but there were no obvious signs that such was the case. They did however notice that the yard itself was large enough to accommodate quite big vehicles and giving enough room for an easy reverse turn without having to reverse out of the gates. They also noticed that the gates were about three metres high and very substantial, making a difficult barrier to anyone trying to get through them. The whole set of buildings were surrounded by a stone wall as high as the gates and it appeared that the flat tops were covered with what looked like broken glass. They wondered at the necessity for that and what was so valuable in the stable yard that it deserved such security.

This was the reason for their suspicions that the stables were somehow involved in the activity which they were determined to terminate. The difficulty would be, how to achieve that and how could they examine the stables to see where if any, illegal activity took place; that which contributed to the movement of arms and explosives for those who required them? They knew for certain that the explosives which Candor had taken to Jerusalem had definitely come from the late Buckland’s abode; but how were the stables involved? They knew they had a difficult task to carry out and returned to their digs in a sombre frame of mind and with much to and fro discussion.

After breakfast the following morning the two agents left the accommodation and found a telephone kiosk and Aaron reported to their Contact in Marseilles-Provence and had a short chat with Jean Pilsley to inform him of their visit to the stables where Hiram had booked a ride for himself in two days time. He was to hire the jodhpurs and safety hat which the manager of the stables insisted he wear. He’d have to buy a pair of long stockings to go with the jodhpurs but thought he’d have no problem doing that and, in fact was looking forward to the ride as it was a few years since he’d done any hacking. What he was slightly worried about was if the injured knee would be a problem to him when mounting, or in fact when mounted as he had not ridden since his injury.

The first thing they did after making the phone calls was to get in the car and take another drive to the residence of Madame Pentriche, who’s Christian name they’d found out was Olivia. They parked in the same spot they had the day before; each had possession of a newspaper which they would use as a shield to hide behind each time a vehicle came past, which rarely happened. The only movement again was from the obviously same pair of magpies; once there was the cough of a fox further back in the wood and