Fidel - 12. Plans

‘Are you sure you’ve got nothing turned on they can use to spy on us?’

‘Yep. TV’s off, phones are all off, computer’s off, Internet’s off, security’s off, curtains are pulled… Unless they’ve bugged the place we’re probably safe.’

The five men were seated on comfortable chairs in Arnold’s lounge, eating with their fingers from plates on their laps.

‘I still can’t believe we didn’t realise they’d hack into everything and know everything about us.’

‘Well, they did, but we’re lucky they spilled the beans. Now we won’t make fools of ourselves by thinking we can trick them.’

Bart turned to Hylas. ‘I owe you an apology. I annoyed Tom so he got back at me through you.’

‘I don’t think so, Bart,’ Arnold interrupted. ‘It was a classic intimidation ploy. Conquerors always do it to weaken the will to resist. Make everyone terrified so they’ll do as they're told. He was just looking for an excuse. If it wasn’t you it'd have been something one of us said, so don’t beat yourself up about it.’

‘He’s right, Bart. It wasn’t you, it was my irresistible flesh.’

‘Good one, Hylas. What amazes me is you ran up and down to the roof three times without even the slightest wince; have you a cast-iron rectum?’

Hylas smiled. ‘He used so much spit I didn’t even feel uncomfortable.’ He snuggled against Fidel and kissed his cheek. ‘Don’t forget I've been inoculated on a regular basis by this magnificent instrument.’ He waggled Fidel’s penis affectionately. ‘So Tom’s little worm didn’t cause any anguish. His creepy hands were worse, and his evil breath when he kissed me. It was all I could do not to spit.’ He paused, frowned and added seriously, ‘But if you guys hadn't been there I’d have been terrified. Honestly. It was only the knowledge that you'd not let anything really bad happen to me that stopped me chundering. Then at the end when one of them scratched his groin I wondered about lice, so I've shaved myself.’ He stood and paraded. ‘How do I look? Prepubescent?’

‘So that's why you were so long in the bathroom. And here I thought you were disinfecting your ring. Actually, you do look younger… but an adult male audience would have to be soft in the head to imagine you were prepubescent.’

‘Anyone who believes in that religious crap is soft in the head and an utter bastard!’ Arnold growled. ‘They're going to turn Natural Fitness into a brothel where religious big-wigs can watch boys dance naked, then fuck them with impunity. And they expect Hylas and me to teach those poor boys how to take a huge, probably diseased hard-on up their tight little arses. I feel sick! Physically sick just thinking about it! I keep imagining how I’d have felt if I’d been locked in a room alone being fucked by that evil Tom, as he calls himself, when I was ten years old. I’d have been terrified out of my wits—literally. I’d have gone mad. There's no way you can prepare boys or girls for that sort of thing. I know boys do sell themselves in some countries, but they’re able to say no if someone as evil as those creeps comes along.’ Arnold ran his hands through his hair in despair. ‘Look at the continuing misery and suffering of adults here in Australia, who've been sexually abused by priests and ministers when they were kids. But what can we do? How can we stop it?’

‘By not losing our heads, remaining true to ourselves, and putting obstacles in their way. We’ve got three weeks until they move in. We’ll do as we’re told, keep the gym going so they don’t suspect anything, and make plans.’

‘All very well, Bart. But my brain’s stopped functioning.’

Robert smiled grimly. ‘Do you mind losing the gym, Arnold?’

‘I’ve already lost it, so no.’

‘You’ll still have multi millions.’

‘Which they know about,’ Fidel said sombrely.

‘They know everything.’ Bart added. ‘A 3V client was telling me about a friend whose life savings disappeared from his superannuation account after he refused to allow his daughter to marry a middle-aged JECHIS agent.’

‘Did she want to?’

‘She was fourteen, for fuck’s sake!’

‘Actually,’ Robert said diffidently, ‘I've been thinking about this for a while now, and have been working on an idea.’ He paused as if unsure whether to continue.

‘Well? Get on with it.’

‘We don’t intend to stay here, do we?’

‘No, Robert. We do not!’

‘The problem is how to avoid getting caught if we do anything to upset their apple cart,’ Bart said thoughtfully. ‘I doubt if we can just disappear. Even going to the bank will be enough for them to trace us.’

‘We’re prisoners.’

‘Stop being such a pack of losers,’ Hylas growled. ‘We’ll find a way. What's your idea, Robert?’

‘I've been assuming we’d want to leave sooner or later and find somewhere safer with no public profile, so I worked out a way to break up Arnold’s money and send it in packages around the world a couple of times, ending up in new bank accounts we can access.’

‘They’ll notice it’s gone.’

‘Not if I set the program to trigger the minute we jump ship. On the day we take off, as soon as we’re safe I can send a message that starts the process, and a few hours later all your current accounts will be empty, and new accounts in other institutions will have anonymous deposits in the names of people who are not us. Nothing large enough to attract attention though, so if you trust us we should divide what's left of your fortune into five, then if we each have four different accounts each balance will only be about a million, not an unusual amount. What do you say?’

‘I've no idea what you're talking about, but I agree. If you remember, I wanted to share it all with you guys the day I got it. But are you sure it’ll work?’

‘No. It looks good on paper though. You have to remember that every time you change money from one currency to another you lose, sometimes quite a lot. Banks haven’t gained control of the world by being generous or even fair. They sell you money for much more than they pay you for it, and charge enormous fees merely for letting it pass through their system, so we could lose up to half the original amount. You started with fifty-five million, spent fifteen on the gym, have gained a million in interest, so, after a dozen transfers, we could end up with between one and two million each.’

‘If we can’t live on that and our wits, then we don’t deserve to live, although I do see one minor problem—how do we get new identities to use the new accounts.’

‘As it happens,’ Robert answered with a wry smile, there’s a family friend, Jeff Skeldrake, who’s a dab hand at benevolent forgery. He taught me a thing or two, which is how Lance got landed with a murder charge. I’ll take Hylas along to amuse his wife while I twist his arm. Susie loves smooth, handsome young men, and if you're lucky, Hylas, she’ll read your cards and tell your fortune.’

‘That'll be brilliant—if it works.’

‘Of course it doesn't, Fortune telling’s a scam.’

‘I know that. I mean getting proper forged documents.’

‘Gotcha. Ok. Raise your hands if you agree.’ Eight hands reached for the ceiling. ‘Carried. I’ll get to work tomorrow on details, ready to detonate in three weeks.’

‘Detonate. That’s a mighty fine word,’ Fidel murmured. ‘When we first started, I checked the previous occupations of our new trainers, and discovered that Miguel used to work as an explosives engineer for a mining company in Mount Isa.’ He paused to arrange his thoughts.

‘And…? Spit it out, Fidel?’

‘Well… in three weeks they're going to have a grand opening, according to Tom, Dick and Harry, so I was wondering if we might set up a fireworks display in the basement car park that would literally bring down the house.’

Awed silence.

‘Fidel, I love you!’ Bart was grinning widely. ‘If you and Miguel can set it up that would be brilliant.’

‘Good, I’ll sound him out. We get on well, so I'm sure he’ll help us, especially when I tell him what those bastards are intending and he’ll be losing his job anyway.’

‘Which brings me back to rewarding those six wonderful guys,’ Arnold said with a sigh. ‘We don’t need a couple of million each, Robert. I’d really like it if you could make sure they each get a few hundred thousand to tide them over once we’re gone. Without them Natural Fitness would never have been so successful and I wouldn’t have had the best time in my entire life.’

‘No probs. We pay their salaries directly into their accounts so we can just add a bit extra on the last day. I hoped you'd suggest it.’

‘What're you going to do with this place, Arnold?’ Hylas asked.

‘Donate it to charity?’

‘Charities in this benighted country are all run as profitable arms of religious corporations, so it’d probably end up with JECHIS,’ Bart said gloomily. ‘There’s no way I’d give a cent to official charities. How about ANTaR? They could rent it out, or use it for homeless people. I’d love to see the faces of your neighbours if Aborigines moved in.’

‘Good idea.’

‘Ok, we've sorted the money and our farewell gift, what have we forgotten?’

‘How do we behave when they tell us to do something?’

‘We know they want me to dance, and possibly Arnold, and that probably means getting fucked afterwards as well. Do we go along with that?’

‘Shouldn’t have to if we get our skates on in time for the official opening.’

‘That's an added incentive. And what'll we do if they ask if we believe in god?’

‘Just say yes, like Henry the Fourth of France who said Paris is worth a mass, when converting to Catholicism so he could be crowned.’

‘What’ll we do if they ask us to join?’

‘Join.’

Everyone agreed that until their escape they'd always be obedient, polite and deferential. Hylas and Arnold shrugged acceptance of their probable fate; they weren't innocent young virgins, and could cope with doing it in the greater interest of the planet, so the others weren't to worry about that. If it helped in blowing the bastards up then it would be well worth it.

To make sure, they reconfirmed their vow never to disagree or offer an opinion unless specifically asked for one.

‘We mustn't seem too keen, too easy, too anything. If we play the perfect servants; respectful of our masters, accepting their higher status as their god given right, and agreeing that the world really does need to change, then we’ll last the next three weeks.

‘And after that? Where’re we going?’

‘Perhaps I'm naïve,’ Arnold said nervously, ‘but I've been assuming we would stick together—the fabulous five. But if you'd sooner… you know, start a normal life with your boyfriends…’

‘Arnold, don’t be a fuckwit! We love you like a brother, and in Fidel’s case it was as a lover for two years. There’s no way we’re going anywhere without you.’

The others echoed Bart’s words and soothed Arnold’s fears of abandonment with hugs, kisses and the usual manly expressions of sincere emotion.

‘We could stay for a day or so in the Sunshine Coast hinterland with the couple who own my apartment. They have no mobile phone, so all communication’s been by landline. I pay rent to a bank, so I don’t see how JECHIS could know about them. After that… hell, something’ll turn up.’

‘You’re a natural planner, Bart.’

‘Thanks.’

‘Can we visit Noosa on the way in case Mum’s gone back there so I can tell her what a murdering slut she is and get that amulet off her?’

‘Sure, and then I want to go as far north as we can, just for the heck of it.’

‘Yeah. An adventure. Too much planning takes the fun and chance out of travel. We’ll just see what happens.’

And so to bed; hearts and minds busy with plans, hopes, and dreams. Robert and Bart in the guest room, Fidel in Arnold’s king-sized bed, with Hylas, who was suddenly desperately in need of a cuddle, in the middle.

*****

When Arnold and the others arrived the following morning, demolition gangs were already emptying the contents of the first and second floors, and removing all non-load-bearing partitions and walls. There was surprisingly little noise.

Instead of waiting for the female clients to arrive, Arnold telephoned or emailed each, explaining the takeover by JECHIS and promising to send their refunds by the end of the week. Most replied with commiserations and good wishes. One woman from the previous night’s class came in person to tell him about the rapes and warn him to be on his guard. Like the rest, she was deeply disappointed but more concerned for the trainers than herself.

An hour later, Susie Skeldrake was falling in love with Hylas, holding his unresisting hand while reading the Tarot cards and prophesying an exciting future with lots of love and companionship.

Retirement had sharpened Jeff’s appetite for activity, so after he’d dragged Robert to his inner sanctum and learned his reasons for requiring five new passports, driver and gun licences, he was impatient to start work. He couldn’t manage a tax file number, but as the young men didn’t intend to work legally, that didn’t matter. Everything would be ready within a couple of weeks.

After consuming several gargantuan slices of a five-layered chocolate and cream cake guaranteed to give a week’s indigestion to stomachs used to raw vegetables, lentils, tofu and yoghurt, the two young men returned to the gym.

Fidel’s discussion with Miguel was even more productive than he’d hoped. Together they wandered around the basement pretending to pick up rubbish and sweep the corners, while working out the best place to plant explosives. The place was too bare—only smooth concrete floors and pillars. Nowhere to conceal enough explosives to do more than gently shake the place.

‘You say there’ll be a grand opening with all the bigwigs in three weeks’ time.’

‘Yes, in the first floor lounge/coffee room whatever they're going to call it.’

‘And Arnold and Hylas are going to dance and strip for them?’

‘It seems so. And also get fucked if they're unlucky.’

‘Rather them than me! The best solution would be to pack Arnold’s car with explosives and park it directly beneath the main function room. It’ll blow a hole in the roof of the car park, which is the floor they’ll all be sitting on, and take out at least five pillars. That will cause the building to collapse in the middle, sort of fold in on itself, doing the least damage to surrounding buildings. There's only one problem.’

‘And that is?’

‘When do the guys do their dance? Will they be able to get out of the place while everyone else is still partying on, or will they be getting fucked in a back room while everyone goes home? How will whoever is going to detonate the bomb, know if they're safe or not? If they're naked they can’t conceal a telephone or do it themselves.’

‘We’ll discuss it with them. I'm sure there’ll be a way.’

‘I’m not. I subscribe to Murphy’s Law—everything that can go wrong, will go wrong.’ He thought for a minute then wandered to the door leading to the emergency stairs from which there were two ground level exits, one into the car park, the other onto the street. The stairs zigzagged up the narrow space between two load-bearing walls to the roof, with exits on each floor.

‘Ideally, they’d just run down here and out to the street, but we have to assume high security, and guards everywhere down here. Let’s check the roof.’

They ran up the four flights to the roof, where Fidel’s cute little cottage was no more. The only thing left being the solar array on one side. They wandered around the periphery and stopped on the east side.

‘Look down.’

Four metres below was the flat roof of the neighbouring ex-warehouse, now luxury apartments. Several skylights and a sort of sentry box protecting the entrance to the apartments below, were the only visible objects.

‘If they can get up here, and jump down there, and escape down those stairs, they’ll be safe.’

‘And locked up for running around naked.’

‘Not when the building next door is collapsing in a heap. No one will notice.’

Fidel shook his head. ‘They’ll break their ankles or their necks.’

‘I noticed one other alternative.’ He led Fidel to the south side and leaned over. Five metres below was the landing of the external iron staircase serving Bart’s 3V clubrooms.

‘That's an even longer drop than the other side, and exposed to the street.’

‘Nothing’s perfect.’ Miguel pointed to several rusty iron bolts protruding from the bricks. ‘I’d say the stairs originally continued to the roof. It shouldn’t be too difficult to use the bolts to climb down.’

‘You're right. It’s a shame there’s no access to the 3V rooms from the gym.’

‘Probably a good thing, it means there'll be no one guarding those stairs.’

‘Right. We’ll leave it to Arnold and Hylas to decide. And this remains a secret between us, Miguel. The other guys mustn't know.’

‘Of course. Our secret’s safe with me. I certainly don’t want anyone else to know I’m a part-time bomber.’

With only the one working gym, the clients received more attention than usual, which pleased them. They all wanted to remain until the JECHIS guys took over. The six junior trainers appreciated being kept on at their usual rates, but didn’t want to stay after the takeover, especially when they learned what had happened during the inspection.

Bart bought an unremarkable, second-hand Toyota minivan from a private seller with his new identification papers, and had the engine and everything else apart from the exterior, refurbished and/or replaced.

Miguel took Arnold’s car home and removed the airbags and seat stuffing, replacing them with enough explosive to convert a thousand tons of solid rock to fine rubble in a few seconds. The seats were very firm to sit on, but looked normal. From then on, Arnold drove his car to work every day and parked it in the exact spot Miguel had indicated, occasionally leaving it there overnight so it wouldn’t attract suspicion later.

Robert set up the transfer of money to offshore accounts where it would be split into eleven bits and moved on several times until a quarter of a million landed in each of the six trainers’ accounts, and equal portions of the remainder in five other offshore accounts, ready to be accessed and deposited in new accounts they would set up when convenient under their new names.

They practiced their new signatures and tried not to panic.

During their last visit to Monique and Sanjay they told them they were selling up and moving north because of difficulties with JECHIS. The parents were sorry to see them go, but understood and tearfully wished them well.

In the interests of security, ANTaR was not informed of the impending donation of an up-market apartment. They hoped it would be a pleasant surprise.

It was decided that everyone ought to learn to use the emergency exit from the roof, in case Tom demanded they all attend the opening. So after individual reconnaissance expeditions during the day, taking care not to be observed, for three nights in a row they assisted each other to practise climbing down to the stair-head in the dark, using the bolts as supports.

Tom, Dick and Harry’s lawyers arrived and Arnold signed over his gymnasium without shedding a tear. In exchange he was given a promissory note post-dated to the day after the opening.

Four days later, Tom arrived in the office waving an edict from someone of influence in the planning department, which stated that the Café could now conscript men as well as boys to perform for the greater Glory of god. He could also have adult as well as child prostitutes. He was going to make a mint, especially now he’d managed to source half a dozen homeless boys who’d do very nicely, but they weren't stage-ready yet, so he wanted Hylas and Arnold to choreograph and perform a tasteful dance in which Arnold would seduce a youthful Hylas, perform a naked erotic dance, then fuck him on stage.

The two men feigned indifference, having been expecting something of the sort from the arrogant bastard who knew they didn’t want to, but counted on their preferring to live rather than refuse. They spent the rest of the afternoon worrying they'd not be able to get erections, wondering how to fake it, and hoping they'd be able to blow the place up before they had to dance. But if they couldn’t…