XDSI - 3. XD Ch 3

Suddenly I saw Kyle approaching fast, “Look if you don’t want to believe me, I will pass you onto him,” I said to the Police Officer, and I handed the phone to Kyle. “This is Dr Kyle Davies, Forensic Psychologist for the Department of Corrections, if it is number 8 Ventnor Avenue that has just blown up, then it is my business office, and I suggest that do as what my good friend suggested and get a squad car here pronto,” Kyle said before ending the call.

“Bloody idiots, good quick thinking about the car, I heard you yelling at Sue, so I came right away,” Kyle said softly, as he handed back my phone. “How bad is it?” I asked, “Very bad, the house is totally destroyed, and the buildings on either side and across the road have shattered windows,” Kyle replied.

“I guess you have lost everything in the office like records and such?’ I asked, “Luckily I have them all backed up on a portable hard drive, and that is locked up in a bank safe, everything else is insured, so I should be ok,” Kyle replied, “I bet Sue is not too happy about this happening,” I commented, as I saw the Limo coming down the main road.

When I spotted that it is not the company Limo that I usually deal with, I turned to Kyle, “Quick get your family into any building, it is not the limo company that I ordered,” I said to him. Quickly he dashed over to Sue and the boys, who were sitting under the shade of a tree, across the road and a few metres down Hardy Road from the Zoo,

I watched as they entered through a door into a business, while I walked casually down the street, as if I was going somewhere, other than waiting for a Limo, which had turned down Hardy Road and drove slowly past me, and turned right onto Melville Parade, possibly to do a lap around the block.

“I quickly turned off my phone, so as not to get an unexpected call from the Limo driver, and I walked quicker after the Limo was out of sight, when I saw a business building on the left, on the corner, so I turned and headed right inside, and up the stairs to the first floor. “Can I help you sir?” the receptionist asked me, and I retrieved my wallet and pulled out a $100 dollar note.

“Have you heard about the explosion in West Perth?” I whispered to her, “Yes, isn’t it terrible?” she replied quietly, “That was my good friend’s business office. There are some bad people after him and his family, they have taken refuge just up the road, as there is a man in a Limo looking for us, here is One Hundred dollars, if you can let me stay somewhere out of sight for about half an hour,” I replied.

“As much as I would like to say yes and take the money, I need to check with my boss,” the receptionist replied, as she stood up and headed down the hallway. A few minutes later, she returned, with a gentleman following, “Sarah was telling me you and your friends are involved with that terrible explosion,” he asked.

“Yes, in a way, my friend is Dr Kyle Davies, a Forensic Psychologist, and it was his business that exploded, and now there is someone looking for him and me,” I replied. “Yes I have heard of Dr Davies, I attended a seminar that he gave at the UWA about five months ago. You can use my conference room for as long as you want,” the gentleman responded.

I thanked him and he returned to where he came, and the receptionist showed me to the conference room, which even had a kitchenette, with a fridge and tea and coffee facilities, there was also a telephone there, and I picked it up and dialled Kyle’s mobile number.

“Is that you Huon? Where are you, has he gone yet?” Kyle asked me as soon as he answered the call, “Yes and I am at a business at the end of the street, and no he just did a second lap of the block looking for us. Leave where you are now and run to the last building on the left on Hardy Street, as you head towards the freeway,” I replied, and the call ended.

I headed back down to the reception and downstairs to await their arrival, and I was pleased when I saw Kyle and family running towards the door, which I opened for them, closed it again, and locked it from the inside, before following them, upstairs.

I lead them to the conference room, and keeping away from the windows, I watched the street, and just over a minute later, the Limo drove past. “That is three times now, he is really desperate to find us,” I commented, “That is it, I am calling the police again,” Kyle said.

I called the Limo Company, to cancel the booking, with my apologies, and I was informed that the driver had just called; saying he had just arrived and that there was no sign of me, but the place was swarming with police. I asked the Limo Company to contact his driver and to return to base, as my booking has been intercepted by another company, pretending to be Limo Drivers, and it was not safe to be there.

As I ended my call, an idea came to mind, so I made another call, and in Italian, I asked Captain Anton to set sail at once, and to sail to the Mounts Bay Sailing Club. I then asked him to launch the 11-metre Intrepid Tender, send it to the South Perth side of the river, and collect me and some friends from the pedestrian bridge located just south of the Mill Street Onramp at Hardy Street.

Once this was confirmed, and the call ended, I began to listen to Kyle’s phone call, and from what I could gather, the police had already set up roadblocks, and were checking all vehicles in the area of the Zoo. When he finished his call, he indicated for me to follow him out into the hallway.

“Finally the police are doing something, the team investigating the explosion have interviewed Michael, my office manager, and let him return home, the team here in South Perth have found a suspicious item under my vehicle, which is been taken away to be destroyed.

They have locked down all of South Perth, from the Freeway including the onramp to the west, South Terrace to the south, Coode Street to the east, and Mill Point Road to the north,” Kyle said to me. “Good, I hope they catch the bastard… oops, sorry Reverend,” I commented smiling, and Kyle laughed at that.

“I have an escape plan in place, I have ordered the yacht to set sail and come upstream, and the Intrepid Tender to collect us, from across the freeway and take us to the yacht, which will be near the yacht club on the west side of the river,” I informed Kyle.

“How are we going to get across… oh there is a pedestrian bridge close by isn’t there,” Kyle said, and I smiled and nodded my head yes. “Directly across from Hardy Street, so all we have to do is check that it is all clear, and make a dash for the bridge,” I said.

“He is back and he has parked on the side of the street, outside that blue building diagonally opposite,” Kyle said to me, as he looked out the window, looking in the direction of the zoo. “Blast, that is going to cause a few issues, no doubt he is aware of the heavy police presence and is trying to stay down low,” I responded.

I walked down the hall to the receptionist. “The man looking for us is parked across the road a down a little bit, when I let my friends in I had locked the front door, you had better go and tell your boss, and without going outside check that your vehicles are secure,” I said to her.

“There is just the boss and me here today, I am actually his daughter, we came in because he had some work to catch up and I came to keep him company, kept him fed and do any paper work that needs doing, so there is just the one vehicle,” the receptionist said.

“Well, tell your father that he will be greatly compensated for allowing us to take refuge here, and I suggest that you tell him to keep well away from any windows,” I replied, and she hurried off to relay the information. About twenty minutes later, the receptionist’s voice came over the phone.

“Call for you Mr Davenport on line two,” she said, and I picked up the phone and pressed line two. “Hello Xander speaking,” I said expecting to be speaking to the Captain. “Alexander, what the hell have you got us into now?” Sebastian said loudly.

“Not me cousin, it is Kyle, his business in West Perth has just been blown up today, while we were at the Zoo, and the police found explosive under Kyle’s car, luckily I acted quick enough to stop Sue and the boys from getting too close to it,” I replied.

“Oh, I see. Well we have just set anchor about 250 metres north of the yacht club in Matilda Bay, and the Intrepid is been launched as we speak, and will be there soon,” Sebastian said to me. “There is a slight hitch to my original plan, we were going to run across the pedestrian bridge to get to the river side of the Freeway, but the man that is on the lookout for Kyle and family is parked just down the street from where we are,” I said.

“Does it have a back entry to the building, so you can get to the bridge unseen?” Sebastian asked me, “Not sure, I will check and get back to you using Kyle’s phone as my phone is off because the limo booking I made was intercepted, bye,” I said and I ended the call.

Kyle followed me out of the conference room, and back to the reception office, “Can we speak to your father please?” Kyle asked, “I am right here Dr Davies, nice to see you again, I attended your seminar a few months back at the UWA,” the Gentleman said from behind us.

“Nice to have a fan of my work, now we are planning to leave here, but the man looking for us is parked outside the blue building across the street and down a bit. We need to get onto the pedestrian bridge without been seen, we will have a boat waiting for us on the river side of the freeway,” Kyle said.

“I have done what I need to for today, so how about we create a diversion while you get to the bridge, I will show you to the back door, so you can get onto Melville Parade, and all you have to do is run like hell once you see us creating the distraction,” the gentleman suggested.

“That would be appreciated, take this as compensation for your time and patience,” I said as I placed three $100 notes into his hand. “Wow, that is really too much, I can’t accept this,” he said to me, “I suggest you do, or you will be offending a very good family friend of mine,” Kyle said.

“Very well, but only under protest I will accept it,” he said, and I smiled, “Duly noted with all of our thanks for keeping us safe,” Kyle said as he handed me his phone, and I dialled the number for the sat phone of the yacht. “Ok Captain, we are ready to cross over the bridge when the intrepid has arrived,” I said when Captain Anton answered the call.

“Just a moment and I will call the Intrepid,” Anton said and in the background I heard him make the call, “Mother Hen to Chick, the parcel is ready to be collected, over,” I heard and I couldn’t help but laugh at this, “Ok, they are just fifteen metres offshore from the footbridge,” Captain Anton said. “Thanks see you soon, parcel signing off,” I replied, before ending the call.

Kyle indicated to the gentleman that we were ready, and he drove out of the undercover parking area, onto Hardy Street, where the driving was erratic and kangaroo hopping all over the place, and the car stalled right in front of the limo, on an angle so it was blocking the whole road.

Both the man and his daughter climbed out of the car, with the daughter been in the drivers seat, and they started an argument amongst them selves, blocking the vision of the Limo driver from the end of the street. At that point, we sprinted across to the other side of Melville Parade and down to the foot of the pedestrian bridge, directly opposite Hardy Street, and we raced up the ramp.

I glanced over towards the drama happening, as we ran around the winding ramp, as we neared the top, the man in the limo car has joined in with the argument, and as we were near the top of the ramp, I casually looked over my shoulder, and saw the man looking directly at me.

“Oh shit, keep going, he has spotted us,” I said to Kyle and family who were about fifteen metres ahead of me, and I heard the screech of tyres, and high revving, plus a few bangs. I just kept looking forward, and stepping up my speed, as we were now partially hidden by two large trees as we began the downward spiral on the other side of the freeway, and looking towards Hardy Street, I saw just the limo now, with the other car just turning on to the other street.

When I heard a gunshot, and the sound of metal hitting metal behind me, I ducked down low, as a second and third shot rang out. “Stop at the support pillar, you will be protected there,” I called out to Kyle and family, who were nearly at that point, as two more shots rang out.

When I arrived at the pillar, we stood close to it for protection, Xander, you are bleeding, have you been hit?” Sue said to me with great concern, I looked down at my arm, which was feeling a little sluggish, and when I tried to move it, pain shot right through my arm and up to my shoulders.

“Ouch, that hurts,” I said as we heard a lot of shouting going on over the freeway, and cautiously I peeked around the corner of the pillar, and saw half a dozen police cars surrounding the limo, with guns aimed at the driver. “We are safe, he has been caught, lets get going, and we can worry about this arm when we get to the yacht,” I said, as I lead the way the final few metres down the ramp, and as we stepped through a wide gap in the tall shrubs, we saw the Intrepid race towards us.

As the tender slowed and swung around and stopped, then slowly reversed closer to shore, we started to walk into the river to about shin deep, where we were able to climb onboard. Once everyone was on and seated on the floor, the Intrepid sped off towards the other side of the river.

Sue located a towel, and she wrapped my arm with it tightly, to help slow any bleeding, and less than five minutes later, we arrived at the yacht, and I was helped onboard and walked up the stairs to the main deck from the swim platform, where Sebastian was waiting.

“What has happened?” He asked sounding concerned, “I think a stray bullet has hit me,” I replied, it was Wyatt and Xavier who lead me inside, through the two lobbies and straight to my suite, and I was asked to lay down, as Xavier retrieved another towel to put under my arm to protect the sheets.

Once my shirt was carefully removed, the lads examined the wound closely. “It appears to be just a flesh wound sir, we will just need to clean it up and put a dressing on, and you should be fine, Xavier announced, as Wyatt dashed off to get the first aid kit from the galley, just as June Cooper walked in.

“Hello Alexander, been in the wars again I see,” she said to me, and I chuckled at this comment, as Wyatt returned and he handed the first aid kit dutifully to his aunt, who cleaned up the wound that began to sting badly, before she put some antiseptic on the wound and dressed it with gauze and a bandage.

“I suggest that you stay laying down for a while, I will give you some pain tablets to take, and we will see how you feel when it is almost dinner time,” Mrs Cooper said to me. “Thankyou,” I said to her and she smiled as she cleaned up and packed up the kit and left the room, ordering her nephews out as well.

Mrs Cooper returned a short while later with a plate of soup for me, as well as some pain tablets and a glass of water, all on a small tray, and once I has sat up and taken the tablets, I began to enjoy the soup, that I was given.