A Spectrum short story by Marion Woods
Why have they left me here alone? True, they’ve given me a cup of tea and a
couple of Rich Tea biscuits, but they’ve left me all alone. Maybe they are watching
me, though – through hidden cameras or that mirror? I hope they believe me.
I’ve told them everything I can – everything I saw. It was almost the whole truth, as well.
They can’t expect me to willingly confess what I was doing at the scene,
can they?
Maybe walking the dog isn’t a brilliant excuse, but it happens to be the
truth. I wonder if they took Lu-Tze
home? They’ll have had to tell
Marjorie where I am, I expect. She’ll
be astonished and she’ll want to know why they brought me here; they must have
told her something, I hope they tell me what they said - when they let me go…IF
they let me go…
That American chap – Captain Blue, he
said his name was – said I shouldn’t worry; it was being taken care of. He seemed like a decent enough chap; for an
American. The other one – that
so-called, Captain Ochre - he was nothing but a bully. Who’d he think he was
anyway? Shoving me around like that –
he’d no right to do that. I’m not a
terrorist and he’s nothing but a jumped-up policeman, after all.
Citizens have their rights and I know
my rights. I’m as willing to help them
with their enquiries as any law-abiding citizen could be – but I won’t be
pushed around by someone like him.
I pay his wages, after all.
Mind you, Captain Blue explained that
everyone near the scene had to be treated as a potential terrorist. He was most apologetic that his colleague
had been so heavy-handed. A very polite
young man, I thought. His associate’s
manner was obviously an embarrassment to him.
That Ochre-chappie could learn a lot from him about how to deal with
honest citizens.
Oh… I wish I hadn’t got involved. If I had only resisted temptation I’d have
been at home with Marjorie now, having my cocoa in front of the tele.
I know they always say that Spectrum move against terrorists wherever
they find them, and those terrorists are dangerous and the public shouldn’t
interfere. And I quite agree- it is
what we pay them for. But I never
imagined Doctor Lassiter could be a terrorist.
I’ve never seen any sign of it before.
She’s always been a good neighbour, ever since she moved in a year or so
ago. Mind you, I said to Marjorie that
her new boyfriend wasn’t quite the thing… what did she call him that time I saw
them in her garden? Conrad – that’s it. Sounds foreign to me - and he was very dark
and grim-looking… could’ve done with a decent shave. She could do better for herself, I said. Nice girl like her, there must be plenty of
decent Englishmen who’d be interested – that’s what I told Marjorie. Not that she cared, of course… Marjorie didn’t like Doctor Lassiter
much.
Hardly surprising; Doctor Lassiter was
an attractive young woman. Such a beautiful body… so toned, with long legs, a
trim waist and such pretty breasts….
Tcha! This damn tea’s gone cold… I bet
they won’t give me another one, even if I ask – besides, there’s no one here to
ask.
They can’t know why I was there, can
they? I mean Lu-Tze had gone
under the hedge, just as he always does when we walk past Doctor Lassiter’s
house. Damn dog was bright enough to
learn that trick, at least. His
disappearance was enough to explain why I was at the top of the bank, watching
the house… I was looking for my dog.
And the nature reserve is only a quarter of a mile further on – so
that’s a perfect excuse for my having a pair of binoculars with me…
I must calm down.
They can’t know that you can see the conservatory at the back of the
house from there… the little gymnasium the Doctor used and the sauna and the
sunbed next door. She was a creature of
habit – a session in her gymnasium and then a sauna and a session on her sunbed
– perfecting that all-over suntan…
I wish I’d never discovered what you
can see from that bank, all those months ago.
I knew it would get me into trouble eventually…
I don’t really understand what happened
today, as I told that sympathetic Captain Blue. I saw her working out, as usual, and then she went for her
sauna. I always use that time to walk
around the back and then I wait until she comes out and gets on her sunbed. No
need to hurry, she always has ten minutes front and back… This time there was that bright flash of
light and that weird green glow… I hurried over to the far side of the bank – I
thought her sunbed might have short-circuited or malfunctioned… I was only trying to make sure she was all
right.
I was relieved when I saw Doctor Lassiter standing by the sunbed; she
looked fine to me – exactly the same as usual – and I should know. But there was a second person there –
someone she dragged off the sunbed and into the sauna. I couldn’t see who it was.
Then she got dressed.
It was only natural I should be
concerned … I wanted to make sure she was all right. I’d hardly reached the garden gate when that Spectrum helicopter
landed nearby and the two officers jumped out and raced across to the
house. One was Captain Blue – I know
that now – and the other man – the man in red, was Captain Scarlet; that’s what
Captain Blue called him. I watched him
shoot the lock off the front door as Blue ran round to the side door of the
house.
I still can’t believe what happened
next.
Doctor Lassiter; nice, neighbourly,
Doctor Lassiter, appeared in the doorway, with a gun. She shot Captain Scarlet – she damn near blew a hole right through
him with that gun…. A magnum, Captain Ochre called it – just like those ice
creams Marjorie likes so much…. Poor
chap, he fell like a tree. Stone dead
in a matter of seconds – he had to be.
Then Captain Blue appeared behind Doctor Lassiter and shot her with that
strange cannon thing he had slung over his shoulders.
Ugh, even now the memory of her screams
goes through me and makes me shiver.
That’s when Captain Ochre grabbed me
even though I wasn’t doing anything wrong – I was walking my dog and being
neighbourly, that’s all.
I have my rights – I don’t have
to take such man-handling. I gave him a
right piece of my mind… Still, I suppose Americans do things differently. The shoot-first-ask-questions-later school
of policing. I was damn lucky he didn’t
shoot me before he knew I wasn’t one of the terrorist group… what was it they
called them? Mysterons… that’s it… Never heard of them, but they must be
dangerous. He was just doing his job,
I suppose – but he was much too rough – he virtually frog-marched me into the
helicopter - and he was so rude... Shoving me into the seat at the back… I
couldn’t see a thing after that.
According to the newspapers, they work hard, these Spectrum agents - and
it can’t be easy seeing your colleague gunned down. But, I ask you, do I look like a terrorist?
I suppose I’m going to be a bit of a
hero when this gets into the papers? I
was on my way to help Doctor Lassiter, after all. And this will be something to tell the chaps when Robinson starts
his ‘I saw an armed robbery at the bank’ story again… Robinson made a statement at the local police station – he wasn’t
whisked away to a place like this high-tech, hovering aircraft carrier…
They won’t tell Marjorie everything, will they? Please God, they
won’t tell Marjorie what I was doing… I’m sure she’s had her doubts about my
regular walks on Sunday afternoons and my sudden interest in the local
wildlife…
But no, I must remember; they can’t prove
anything - she can’t prove anything either – as long as I stick to my story: I
was looking for my dog that’d run off under the hedge when I saw a strange
light coming from the house.
This is all very well – but I wish
someone would come and tell me when I can go home.
~***~
Colonel
White glanced at Captains Blue and Ochre as they joined him in the observation
room and peered through the two-way mirror at their ‘guest’.
“Well?” he asked.
“He’s
as clean as a whistle. No record of any
trouble, apart from a parking ticket fifteen years ago,” Captain Ochre said.
“He’s
clean on the Mysteron Detector too,” Blue added. “He’s just a regular guy
walking his dog.”
“A
regular pervert, you mean.” Ochre grinned. “He must’ve been gawking at Joanna
Lassiter’s workout and nudie sun-tanning session from a vantage point outside
her garden.”
“You
can’t prove that, Captain,” White replied, “and it’s largely an irrelevance to
us anyway. What he saw today and how we
explain it is of far more importance.”
“S.I.G.,
Colonel, but take it from me - he was
watching her – probably always did.
Call it a cop’s instinct, if you like, but he damn near admitted as much
to Captain Blue when he finally mentioned her ‘regular weekly workout
routine’. Besides, he’s terrified
we’ll tell his wife.”
“What
did we tell Mrs. Peplow?” White asked with interest.
“I
sent Lieutenant Cobalt to take their little dog back and he said ‘Mr Peplow is
helping with our enquiries’. Not that
inspired, but it’ll do,” Ochre admitted.
“Hmm,
we cannot keep him here for long then,” White mused. He turned to Captain Blue.
“Is Scarlet conscious again?”
“Yes
sir. He’ll be up and about in the next
hour or two,” Blue replied.
“Excellent. It never ceases to amaze me how resilient
our colleague is.”
“Yes
indeed, Colonel.” Blue’s smile was one of relief.
“Very
well, Captain Scarlet must meet Mr Peplow and explain that what he saw was part
of an elaborate Spectrum field-training exercise. Doctor Lassiter was a Spectrum agent and, now that her cover has
been compromised, she will be relocated and her house sold. The weapons used were adapted to fire special
pulses that trigger targets on the personnel, to simulate real weapons. Make sure he believes it, Blue… embellish it
as much as you need to – but don’t over-do it.”
“Yes,
sir.”
“Has
the house been searched?” White asked.
“Yes,
Colonel,” Ochre said consulting a notepad he was holding. “Captain Magenta and Lieutenant Cobalt have
found the serum and it has been returned to the Biological Research Centre
where Lassiter worked, through the auspices of Spectrum Agent Hodges. Professor Wright will receive instructions
in the morning from his Director to destroy the serum immediately.”
The
colonel nodded in approval.
Ochre
continued,” He’ll also be told that Doctor Lassiter was complicit in an
industrial espionage plot to sell the serum to a Bereznian company, through an
accomplice who posed as her boyfriend…”
“The
man we believe was Captain Black?” White asked. “The man Mr Peplow knew as ‘Conrad’?”
“Yes
sir. Since Agent Hodges went to work
for security at the BRC, every member of staff has been tested with a Mysteron
Detector on entry. We assume Black … courted Doctor Lassiter to convince her
to steal the serum. Once she had
brought it away from the labs, it was safe to Mysteronise her. That would have been the ‘flash of brilliant
light and the green glow’ Mr Peplow speaks of,” Blue explained.
“Ruthlessly
efficient,” White commented, shaking his head sorrowfully. “Poor woman.”
Ochre
glanced at Blue, but his colleague had nothing further to add, so he continued
with his own report. “Dr Wright will be
told that Lassiter has fled the country to avoid arrest on the discovery of her
scheme. Agent Hodges will act as her
local agent to dispose of her effects.
Her family – a much older half-brother out in South Africa – has been
told of her death in a freak sunbed accident and that her estate will be
settled and the proceeds sent to him in due course. We have his permission to proceed with burial – they were not
close, apparently.”
The
colonel gave a satisfied smile. “Hodges
has done well. It was his discovery of
the theft of the serum that enabled us to move against the Mysterons so
quickly. I think we can safely draw a
line under this Mysteron threat. Well
done, everyone.”
“Thank
you, sir,” his subordinates murmured.
“Captain
Blue, you will take Captain Scarlet to see Mr Peplow as soon as he is
presentable. Captain Ochre, you will
then escort our guest home – taking every opportunity to impress on him that
what he saw, and what he knows, must never be divulged. You may imply that Spectrum will continue to
watch him.”
“S.I.G.,
Colonel; it’ll be my pleasure,” Ochre grinned, “but I reckon one hint that
we’ll tell Marjorie Peplow where he was will do the trick.”
“I
hope you’re right, Captain.” Colonel
White sighed. “As the Mysterons’ war of
nerves continues, we’re going to be faced with more cases where the public
witness what happens,” he said and saw his officers nod their heads in emphatic
agreement. “We may have to think about
creating a back-up team to cover our traces…after all, we dare not hope that
every eyewitness will have a guilty secret which allows us to silence them
effectively - as is the case with Mr Peplow…and his dog…”
The End
Author’s notes:
My inspiration
for this story came from a conversation I had with Caroline Smith on one of our
enjoyable get-togethers, so I owe her my thanks for letting me use the idea,
and thanks are also due to Hazel Köhler for her impeccable beta-reading… as
always, any errors in the text are all mine and almost certainly due to my
incurable habit of ‘tweaking’ things that I’ve declared are ‘completely
finished’….
The
characters from Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons™ belong to the
business conglomerate Carlton International.
They were initially the creations of Gerry and Sylvia Anderson – to whom
I owe a debt of gratitude for the many years of enjoyment their work has given,
and continues to give, me.
Finally, but by
no means least, my thanks to Chris Bishop for her friendship, encouragement and
for providing me with a constant source of new fiction and debate about a topic
close to both our hearts – Captain Scarlet and his world.
And my thanks to
you for reading; I hope you enjoyed it.
Marion Woods
September 2005
Other stories
from Marion Woods