Another chunk on Devil's Afters. It is shaping on and I like it even if no-one else does.
This is a part of story as it moves and binds Gris together again with Boy under the influence of DUA who having been thrown out is using everything he can to get back.
The last time they met she was employed to torture him in Kensington under a Basketball pitch where the screams matched the thumps above them.
Now they escaped from - was it ever reality - into a false world that offers false hopes but they are not Politicians so false hopes may not always fail?
Bishop driving, packed us in the rear.
The wails from my body echoed every moment I turned. In my brain, my groin, everywhere that could have met somewhere to tune in to it.
Gris took to marriage, like a dying cat to an open fridge door, with her claws fully extended… unfortunately, she had reached to me as thoroughly, and being abused by her, was nothing to being felt by her.
You had bits, sending messages to other bits that were failing to respond. I kept missing the bit about the dominant male or any male part of me… no wonder I needed a Butler, or Bishop to say the last rites.
Bishop looked in the mirror at me and said, “you look a bit the worst for wear, Boy?”
“Bishop. I look like the cat adverts, when the cat won’t eat whatever they are supposed to, crossed with an attack by a rabid dog.”
“You are a married man, Boy.”
“To a gorilla, Bishop, albeit a lovely and caring one.”
“Everyone has a stag night, Boy.”
“Before we marry them, Bishop… not afterwards – I am still sitting on the antlers!”
“Stop complaining, Boy. All you have to do now is hold a job down!”
“I can’t even hold my pants, ‘UP’! Can you drop me at the nearest Monastery? I have an urgent appointment.”
“It will have to be in London, Boy, and your Lady are looking peaky and quiet. It seems you two are getting on, or off, as the case might be?”
“That is the point Bishop, and far too often?”
“We get on… at the moment, I don’t remember ‘getting off’,” said Gris, “and you are as bad as me, Ralf?”
“You okay, Gris,” said Bishop.
“Place your eyes on your Boy, Bishop… I’m uncertain he is on protection now, but I could manage it?”
“DUA negotiated us some good deals – Boy, met most of the demands.”
“Tell me that again, Bishop?”
“Financial. Boy, you are the sole one of us bunch with any funds in an investment sense. You have about ￡100K and a car. We have monthly salaries and allowances, but nothing besides that, so you are the man with the capital, and Gris has the jewels on rent.”
“Remaining awake is my priority… I’m uncertain why I should try. I live with Gris and you, in the hope someone doesn’t bop me off – I cross DUA and I am ‘open season’ despite Government procedures. Tell me about those qualities I have, Bishop, and without the oratory?”
“You and Gris are together, and you work for Security. We have ‘Garden Retainers’ and that pays off for the house, and here and there for the team to settle. You are inside Security, we are outside, and DUA manages the team, even yet he is outside. You are still a target, and will be for a while, but Gris and I will be there, and you two can live together happily forever after.”
“It sounds very pleasant to be truthful, Bishop. How many games are being played here… you tell me, I am a novice – West Africa taught me – was it sufficient?”
“West Africa was a learning spiral, Boy. Multiply that '50 times’, and if you are still alive, come get me – if you can discover me?”
“Locked up, Bishop,” said Gris, “I lack sleep if Ralf doesn’t.”
“The Boy needs to survive, Gris, and this is his hard chance to gain experience.”
“You sing like a star on a mission, Bishop.”
“I am your Butler, Madam. That is my mission.”
“Well ‘butler’ this car home, Bishop!”
I felt Gris put her head on my shoulder, and I automatically put my arm around her. For a forced marriage, we seemed to do OK.
Things seem to go quiet for a while after that, and it was about an hour later that Bishop cut in, “why don’t you buzz the Agents for the Coombe Lane West house, Boy – it is convenient enough to Putney to make a brief viewing date.”
“Well Bishop, my Agents are waiting to hear that I will accept their offer to leave this property… probably a good idea to get things moving? I booked the appointments to view”.
At last, it became mute for a time, and questions arose again.
“Bishop. For the ninety-ninth time, do you really know what DUA has planned for me?”
“As far as I can tell Boy, he wants information on what is going on in Security, so he can try, and get back in, and if that doesn’t work, he wants you to transfer to France, as he considers some ideas for West Africa.”
“Why?”
“He is a Security guy… what is hurting him, is being thrown out, and he wants something to exchange with the US, if he can’t get back in. He wants in and controlling again—it is all he knows he’s usually achieved—all his soul; what he exists for.”
“He must have admitted taking out Peres would lead to concern?”
“He lifted out Peres, because Peres found out about us. He couldn’t take Matthews out, because Matthews knew very high things about him, and wouldn’t have opened the door to him – he couldn’t take you out, if Matthews continued, because Matthews would off him and overrule DUA.”
“How was it managed?”
“The arrangement was, I would take Matthews out, he would get Peres, and thus we would look at getting you out of that hole. Gris and you by default, he considers part of his team. Now we put ourselves out to consider the team. He believed it a duty. Did you know he paid for Prilloch and Meik, after their parents died? A friend of his, got into a drunken rage, killed both their mothers, and DUA killed him. Then paid for the sons. DUA is a very odd guy, and one I won’t cross, although I might kill him, if he crosses me, but he is very quirky, dominant, and thinks in a world of his own.”
“Did he tell you I knew him in DQs? I was part of his Class 53 squad, to be smashed into the ground and having no chance of survival.”
“No. He never mentioned it, but I doubt he ever forgot. He has a memory for people that is unbelievable. He doesn’t forget anyone, although he gets greedy, and that is when he goes ‘arse over bollocks’ and needs picking up. It is often just better to let him play, touch your hat to him, and get on with life before yours ends.”
“How close is DUA to this Meik character?”
“He wouldn’t take him on. He said the blood derange Meik as much as his father did. Prilloch he can control. Meik is out-of-control. Prilloch will do what is told. Meik won’t and had been nothing but trouble as he grew up. He won’t have anything to do with Meik, even though DUA cared about his mother and paid for him.”
“That is a side to DUA that I never knew existed.”
“DUA is so twisted and torn… there are sides to DUA, even he doesn’t know exist. What is the top speed of this car, Boy?”
“196 mph, Bishop. 0 to 60 in 2.98 seconds, but please don’t try. I don’t want Gris’ lunch in my lap, it is still sore, and she has hardly digested it.”
“Then why did you buy it?”
“I thought Gris was hungry, Bishop.”
“The car, you fool.”
“I’ve never had a decent car before, and I had the money. I wanted something back from Africa after the guys died.”
“Well, you certainly have that, and they left pretty quickly, I was told!”
“Mr Hoo was on a death wish. Who do I contact to get into Security, Bishop?”
“Macguire is the general connection, as they consider you family. Once upon a time it was DUA, but you had an offer, and that way you bypass Sebastian. Already agreed and just waiting for your holiday and marriage to settle in. I’ll let Macguire determine in due course, and you go through HR.”
“You OK driving, Bishop?”
“I must pull in soon, for a break, Boy, and we can grab a coffee with some more plastic food. Up to you if you want to drive for a while, but it will spell me.”
“I’ll drive us back for a bit, Bishop… The short-cuts after Heathrow are a bit weird. It will give you a chance to keep your eyes free, for anything interesting.”
“You are learning, Boy!”
“I don’t get a chance, do I, Bishop?”
“Alive or dead these days, Boy, so let’s keep you alive!”