Chapter 13 Scotland Yard
The entrance to Scotland Yard was guarded by the man with a plaster on his nose and the other man who was in deep conversation with a policeman who was on duty outside the building. Roland stepped from the taxi just before reaching the Yard and hid behind some hoarding boards where two men were pasting up advertisements. One of the men shouted out to Roland ‘If you stand there you’ll get paste all over you!’ Roland shouted back ‘That’s okay!’ He was just close enough where he stood to listen to what the conversation was about and his suspicions about the two men were founded. The man was asking the policeman directions to the nearest library.
Roland looked up just in time as a dollop of paste was heading his way, he sidestepped and noticed that a crane was supporting the plank which the two advertising men were standing on and beckoned the men to lower their platform. One of the men gave a thumbs up to the crane driver to lower away. ‘What can we do for you, mate?’ said one of them. ‘Can you give me a lift to a floor – up there?’ ‘Might be quicker if you go by lift, the building has one you know.’ ‘That could be a bit difficult for me.’ said Roland. ‘You see those two men guarding the entrance, well they are out to get me.’ ‘Why, what have you done?’
‘You see the one with plaster on his nose, I married his daughter this morning,’ lied Roland. ‘I need protection.’ ‘Hop on mate, what floor would you like?’ ‘The one on the eleventh floor that has a window open.’ ‘Hold on mate!’ The man gave the thumbs up sign and indicated by some silent gesticulation movement of hands what was required. The plank jerked up and swung across to the open window and Roland, feeling a touch of vertigo (although he should have been used to heights by that time on the flag pole) stepped through the open window. He thanked the men. ‘The one that was talkative said ‘I hope you get the right answers and protection mate!’
Roland knocked on the nearest door available and walked in. A group of policemen were standing and looking out of the window watching the dramatic events unfolding and seeing Roland when he entered the room, they recognized him as the man who had defied certain death and thought him irresponsible for his actions until he explained why he was there.
What a tale he had to tell too, how he had hung on to a flag pole and all the other incidents that followed. He signed the statement and was given a promise that things would be investigated when they had completed their enquiries. Roland picked up some pins that were in a wooden bowl on the policeman’s desk and secretly placed them in his pocket. He liked pins, they were the ones that had different colours on the top part of the pin.
The police officer who interviewed Roland said he couldn’t go out the way he had come in and besides the men who were waiting for him had been arrested on a charge of loitering.
Chapter 14 A Short Car Ride
It wasn’t Roland’s lucky day, he might have got away from the bogus policemen, who would shortly be released by some loophole their solicitor would be clever enough to point out. He turned the corner where the hoarding and the new advert was supposed to be placed only to find the two workmen tied together, though on appearance it looked as if they were having a tea break. Roland stopped in surprise. How could anyone could get away with doing something like this in day time and right next to Scotland Yard full of policemen? They must have the gall of old Harry! He approached the two men and tried to untie their bonds, when a voice said ‘Get into the car!’ and something bulky was thrust into his back which he knew to be a gun.
Roland walked slowly towards the car. Charlie was swinging his gold watch in an arc and catching it with the other hand, leaning back with a smirk on his face. ‘James, you ruined my jacket, but I shan’t charge you with the cleaning bill, because you won’t be in a fit state to even lift out your wallet, especially with smashed hands – just get in the car and shut up!’
Roland slid across the seat and sat in the corner and the man with the gun followed and kept the gun stuck in Roland’s side. Charlie got in next to the driver and told him to get going. He turned to face Roland and with his hand made a gesture of a gun shooting him. The car swerved away from the kerb at speed – Charlie said ‘Slow down, we don’t want to attract attention to ourselves. Been to the police have we? What did you tell them?’ Before Roland could answer, Charlie said, ‘I bet you told them about me and what a naughty boy I’ve been. It won’t do you any good. I’ve got some of them in my pocket.’ Charlie patted his breast pocket. Roland decided to take action again and felt in his pocket for the pins. ‘Whatcha got in the pocket?’ ‘Chewing gum,’ said Roland and produced a piece that had been chewed before, but imbedded in this piece was a pin with a yellow top and Roland placed the piece in his mouth and at the same time stuck the pin into the driver’s neck. The car mounted the pavement and hit the wall with a sickening thud and Roland fell out of the door. The reaction of the man with the gun was slow. He fired and it pinged around the interior of the car and hit the driver’s shoulder who groaned and slumped forward and the horn began its loud noise, echoing and summoning lots of people who seemed to sidestep Roland as if he was not there. He rose from his kneeling position and used someone’s clothing as a climbing frame to get up and said ‘Thanks!’ He brushed himself down and hobbled down the road.
Chapter 15 Home Again
Roland decided to catch a bus to his flat, although a five minute walk from the bus stop to the entrance of his building could be fraught with danger, but he was beginning to have that ‘I don’t care feeling.’ He had been through quite a bit of agro lately and he still was none the wiser, although he thought at the beginning it was because he had kissed Jo, but there seemed to be a bit more to it than that.
He got off the bus and stood on the corner opposite the building of his flat and looked up. In just a fleeting moment he thought he had seen a shadow cross the window, although from a distance it was hard to tell and being on the third floor, it was difficult to discern any movement. His thoughts were suddenly diverted as he remembered the flag pole which saved his life on the second floor. It sent shivers down his spine to seeing the distance he had fallen plus the distance had he missed the pole and fallen to the ground and his stomach tightened in a knot. He decided he would approach his flat a different way, although it would be tricky. He was going to attempt kneeling on the laundry chute and climbing up it. He thought about the rubbish chute, which was not so steep, but it did smell and as he hadn’t got a peg to place on his nose, he was not going to chance it, should he lose his grip and end up in all the rubbish of bits of bacon and other horrible messy produce. The laundry chute was shallow to begin with until you came across the connection that fed Flats 1 and 2 on levels 1,2,3,4 and level 5 flat 2 at that moment decided to bundle their laundry down – he was in luck in that respect, but now the hard work had to be done and it was a case of two slides forward and one slide back. His arms began to ache and he wondered whether he was going to make it. He began to think about his hero, James Bond, but then again, James would shoot his way to his flat or punch his adversary in the face. He didn’t think he would crawl up a laundry chute, but you never know.
It must have taken Roland almost two hours to crawl up to his flat. He waited behind the swing doors and hoped it had not been latched, he hadn’t thought of that until he reached the doors. He listened and heard footsteps approach the laundry chute doors, he heard the latch being undone, he had no where to go and if he dropped it would be certain death – he swung himself over the side and just hung there as a small case and his clothes whizzed passed his face. He heard the latch being fixed. He heard a voice, it sounded like one of Charlie’s men. ‘That’s got rid of his clothes.’ He heard the front door of his flat being closed. Roland had three choices to make. One: he could let go and to hell with it, at least he wouldn’t worry any more. Two: he could force the door open or three: go down the chute. One he could do straight away, choices two and three presented a problem as he had to climb on the chute in the first place. He started to swing sideways to get some leverage to raise his legs sufficiently to get on the chute. His right foot clanged on something and he felt the pain shoot up his leg. Should he let go with his right hand and see what it was but being so dark it was difficult to see. He looked towards the wall by the side of his laundry hatch and a small metal ladder welded to the wall. It was obvious that certain maintenance would have to done if chutes became clogged up and of course this method of entering his flat must have been used by the men from Special Branch. Roland climbed down and at the junction where all the flats chutes merged at the first level, the case that had been chucked down, had caught the edge of the chute and failed to fall the rest of the way. Roland was able to retrieve some of his clothes and climbing down placed them in a neat pile on the floor of the maintenance room. Roland made sure the door was locked and his plan was to climb the ladder to his flat and kick open the latched doors and get a couple of plastic bags from the flat and get the rest of his clothes.
After battering the hatch open, he collected two plastic bags and a torch and entered the hatch. He shone his torch into the blackness and found that there were quite a few metal ladders at different levels and when he was hanging from the side of the laundry chute, he wouldn’t have fallen far, for the floor from his bedroom was extended out to where the chute disappeared down a hole in the floor. He wondered why he had not looked at the configuration of the building’s design before. He had been shown the Architect’s designs before when they were sent to him by post when he had placed a deposit on the flat of his choice, but as always, it was too much trouble and quite frankly he was not able to understand some of the outlines, although he did understand the generous measurements of each room which was good enough and gave him confidence to purchase.