The Landlord's Protégé Pt. 03

"How do you see it going?" asked Judy of Victor.

"If possible I want him to confess he framed me," Victor said. "Then I want him to attack me. Then I take the little tyke down."

"From what Susan said, the little tyke is six inches taller than you," laughed Jeanette. "Not that it matters."

"What if they're armed?" asked Terry. "What's plan B?"

"Same, except that you take the back-up group out early," said Victor. "And Jeanette or Judy -- whoever's on the landing, has an 80 just in case, and she keeps it out of sight on the landing, instead of coming to the head of the stairs."

"I suppose we shouldn't ask how you came by an SA80?" smiled Terry.

"All you need to know is that it's legal," replied Victor grimly. "I still do little jobs for the MoD."

"Little!" scoffed Gary. "You don't do little!"

The others laughed, and Victor grinned.

So things settled down for the rest of the day, with little happening. Victor saw that Angela had been present for the meeting, and wondered what she had gathered from it all.

She had kept very quiet while the others were talking, and she had tugged Victor's sleeve and the two had quietly retired to Victor's bedroom where they undressed each other and made gentle love for a couple of hours. As they lay together, Victor could tell Angela was becoming tense.

"You're worried we can't take care of ourselves, aren't you?" Victor said gently.

She nodded against his chest.

"These four are highly trained personnel," he told her. "They've been in much worse than this in war zones against military opposition, and they know what to expect. You must -- and I stress this, Angela -- must stay well out of the way if these thugs arrive. I don't want any of the team distracted. Stay in the bedroom or go to the monitor room."

"What if there's a crowd of them?" she asked.

"We can take care of twice our number," he reassured her. "They think they're hard, but they're amateurs. We are professionals -- these are army folk -- the girls could deal with these tykes with ease on their own, so don't worry."

A short silence, and then, "What's an SA80?"

"A rifle."

"Oh."

----

It was a dark evening two days later when the attack came. The gate buzzer went and Gary went to view the TV pictures. He gave the alarm and everyone quietly went to positions. Angela went to the monitor room, where Victor was viewing the picture of the gate. There was a van waiting at the gate.

"State your business," Victor said.

"Police. Open the gates."

Victor looked over his shoulder at Angela. "Fat chance!" he smiled. He opened the pedestrian gate.

"Open the gates!" came the command.

Victor simply sat and waited. At length five men came through the gate and began walking up the drive. They were illuminated by the drive lights and it was clear that they had balaclavas covering their faces. If they had guns, they were concealed.

"Some police!" laughed Victor.

Angela was frightened. It showed.

"Don't worry, darling," said Victor. "Just stay here and watch!" He dialled the police number and informed them of the raid, then he left the room to wait behind the stairs.

Angela watched as the five figures approached the door. Then there was a movement and the last of the men sagged into the arms of a dark figure and was dragged away. The others did not notice. The same thing happened as they began to hammer on the door -- the outermost man was dropped and removed. Now there were three at the door and she looked at the hall camera monitor. Judy appeared and opened the door manually, which was pushed violently open but Judy dodged it. The men glanced at her. The leader spoke to her.

"Get Freeman!" he shouted. "Now!"

"You wanted me?"

Angela heard Victor's voice, and saw his back as he stood at the foot of the stairs some 15 metres away from the three assailants. As they began to move toward him, she saw Gary and Terry fall in behind them. The whole operation was so smooth she began to feel confident of the outcome.

The group stopped and looked up and stared. Angela guessed that Jeanette had appeared, suitably undressed, on the landing.

"What do you want, Seth?" said Victor quietly.

"We're going to punish you," Seth said, and thus betrayed he was the leader by that remark, as he tore his eyes way from Jeanette. "Pedophiles shouldn't get away with it!"

"You know as well as I do you set me up," said Victor. "You did, didn't you?"

"It was easy. You need putting away, I just helped the police along." He began to approach Victor.

"You know I'm not guilty -- you're jealous -- you didn't like me and Susan getting on so well."

"Doesn't matter -- you had me booted out of her flat. Now you'll pay for that. OK, lads, get him."

As he said it, she saw Gary and Terry immobilise the remaining two, holding them still. Seth looked round and seemed momentarily to panic.

Then he went for Victor, she saw the knife glint.

"No one else to take you down," Seth snarled. "I can do it myself."

There was a stand off, then Seth lunged. Victor side-stepped and suddenly Seth was on the ground. It happened faster than Angela could catch it. The knife had gone, she heard it skittering across the floor.

Seth clambered to his feet and rushed Victor, arms outstretched to enclose the shorter man. Angela saw Victor accept the attack and fall backwards throwing the bigger man over his head. Seth landed with a crash, but was on his feet at a run.

He turned ready to take advantage of Victor on the floor but Victor was also already on his feet. The two men were close together and Seth, thinking he had an advantage, closed on Victor and brought his knee up. Victor stepped back catching Seth's leg and puling hard. Seth landed on his back.

"Had enough?" asked Victor, mockingly.

Seth made a show of being stunned and slowly climbed to his feet. Suddenly he was up and had aimed a fist at Victor's head. Victor rolled with the punch, and Angela saw a grim smile. Victor had been waiting for a punch and countered, hard. Seth was met by a volley of blows carefully aimed at various parts of his body, and he collapsed gasping for breath. There was no more fight left in him.

Victor picked him up and whipped off the balaclava. Then he let him fall back to the ground. Seth made no further effort to get up.

All three were held there until the police arrived. Judy had opened the main gates and the police had picked up the driver of the van on the way in. The two outside had been handcuffed to a couple of drainpipes and were released before the five and the driver were taken away.

From start to finish it took fifteen minutes. There were high fives all round, and Angela rushed Victor and hugged and kissed him fervently.

"Hey," laughed Victor, "I didn't do this alone!"

Angela laughed in her turn and hugged each of the other four, much to the men's enjoyment.

George rang shortly afterwards and Victor and he had a short conversation. Then Gordon rang and there was another conversation.

That night, Angela attacked Victor in bed and applied herself to his pleasure, beginning with her appearance in a diaphanous baby-doll nightdress with matching bikini panties, then with her mouth, licking and gently sucking.

After she had allowed him first to lift the upper garment off her body, so he could suckle her breasts and hook his fingers under the waistband of the knickers and slip them off, he licked and sucked on her sex to bring her to a thorough release, after which she rode him cowgirl and reverse cowgirl, then doggie style, and finally missionary with her legs each side of her head while he engaged in a pile-driving frenzy, which brought each of them to a very satisfactory culmination.

It was a noisy congress, but the other house-guests not only tolerated the din but felt it was only right and proper.

After they disengaged, Angela went down on him and licked him clean, after which she cuddled up to him and told him she was going home the next day. He had half-expected as much and was grateful for what she had given him, both in support, time and love-making. He said as much.

"I just felt I had to give you moral support, so you would know there was at least one person who believed in you. And after your support for me and your love, I knew I wanted to stay with you again and repay your goodness to me, but my holiday allowance has now run out."

Victor made a dismissive noise.

"No, Victor," she said patiently, "you don't realise how liberating you were for me. I told you about Donald, my first boyfriend. He's still hovering round, and I think I'll give him a chance when I get back. I'm glad I could have this time with you before I committed to him."

"Take it slow," counselled Victor. "It's early days yet."

"I will. But I know him well and he knows me, so we're comfortable with each other. He won't make a move on me, so I'll have to take the initiative. Don't worry, I'll spell out my conditions."

Next morning, as they had done in Scotland, they made love again, and as she had before, she left after breakfast, one of the team driving her to the station.

----

Chapter Nineteen

It was Monday morning, and Susan had packed Gail off to Nursery and was settling to do the books in the office, Carl playing near her on the floor, when her morning became rather busy.

The outer door sounded, Susan reached to open it, and into the office came Claire.

"The police have arrested Seth," she said as she entered. "They've kept him overnight and he's up before the magistrates this morning. You want to come?"

"No," said Susan, looking up from the computer screen. "He can rot in hell for all I care."

"Eh?" Claire said, "I thought..."

"Conned you as well, didn't he?" Susan said bitterly. "Let me enlighten you. Seth took my keys and had copies made. Then he went to Victor Freeman's flat and downloaded child porn, printed some of it off and then anonymously told the police where it was.

"He came in here to the office, and wiped the tape that showed him going into Victor's flat. Then he poisoned my mind against Victor, thereby destroying a lovely friendship. You know why? Because Victor had him chucked out of my flat -- something I was grateful for at the time. There! Enough for you?"

Claire gasped and sat down heavily. "You sure of that?"

"Absolutely," stated Susan.

"Well," Claire continued, "apparently he went to Victor's place in the country last night with some mates to beat Victor up. Victor was waiting for him with some help. Seth was arrested for attacking Victor."

"Victor?" Susan started in fear. "Is he all right?"

"Is he all right?" laughed Claire. "He gave Seth a good pasting apparently."

Susan sagged in relief. "That's all right then."

"Hey," crowed Claire. "You fancy this Victor, don't you?"

"He's a good friend," Susan replied primly, with some embarrassment.

"You do!" Claire laughed. "Well, from all accounts he's quite a catch. I hear he's very rich."

"He's also a very nice man. I've done him wrong and I think I've lost him -- as a friend," she added hastily as she saw Claire's expression. "And he was never more than a good friend, no matter what Seth may have thought."

Claire stood. "I was going to give Seth some support, but I think I'll go home instead."

Susan nodded. "Don't be a stranger," she told her visitor. "The kids love you, and they'll miss you if you don't come round to see them."

"Thanks," Claire said, seeming quite touched. She left and Susan went back to her work. Not for long.

The next visitor was a young policewoman.

"Just clearing up a small point from our enquiries into the case against the gentleman who lives on the top floor," she began. "You know the evidence against him is totally discredited?"

"Yes," replied Susan, wondering where this was leading.

"Well," the young woman went on, "could you identify these photos for us, and tell us where the incident shown occurred?"

She put some photos before her. At first Susan was at a loss. It was Gail and Victor in the park, seemingly alone. Then she remembered.

"Yes," she said. "It was about two weeks ago and we were all in the park. Whoever took these made sure little Carl and I were not on the photos. We were right next to them. What bastard took these photos?"

"They arrived at the station anonymously when we had arrested Mr Freeman. It seems there was a concerted effort to destroy him. Thank you. We were going to ask you earlier but the case against him collapsed and we had more urgent things to do."

"My ex-partner was in court this morning?" asked Susan.

"Yes," she answered.

"Do you know the charges?"

"Well," she replied doubtfully, "he will have been before the magistrates by now, so I suppose I can tell you. He's accused of downloading child pornography, attempting to pervert the course of justice, obtaining entry to a private dwelling by deception, theft, assault with a deadly weapon. I think that's all."

"It sounds serious."

"It is. He's been remanded in custody pending his trial. I don't think his Crown Court appearance has been settled yet, but it'll be a few months. He could be sent down for ten years or more -- if he's found guilty that is. It's the knife crime that's the most serious."

The woman left.

At this point, Susan gave up trying to work and took Carl into the flat to get a coffee. She was making it when the door buzzer went. It was George. She let him in.

She gave him a coffee, then sat opposite him while Carl played on the rug between them. She felt a sense of dread and apprehension, expecting this to be the meeting at which she would be fired.

"Susan," he began.

"You're sacking me, is that it?" she asked. She said no more -- no begging for her job, or self-justification. Her bravery impressed him.

"Your breach of security certainly merits it, and I was all set to end your employment, but I was overruled."

"Overruled?" she queried. "Who could do that?"

"Well," he answered, "I only allowed him to overrule me if I could reveal a secret to you. He actually said it was up to me, but... Well, it was the owner of the flats."

"The owner?"

"Yes, and I insisted I would be allowed to tell you who he is. There's no reason why it should be a secret. I didn't think there ever was, but he was insistent. I can understand his point of view."

"So?" she asked urgently. "Do I know him?"

"Oh, yes."

"It's you, isn't it?"

"Nope Susan, I'd hardly be arguing with myself would I?" and he laughed heartily. She smiled, seeing the silliness of it.

"Then who?"

"Victor Freeman."

There was a long silence and the smile left her face, to be replaced first by complete surprise then a look of anger.

"He's been playing games with my life all this time?" She was incensed. "How dare he?"

"Susan," said George gently, "Can't you see that he wouldn't have been able to be your friend on an equal basis if you'd known that he was, initially at any rate, your boss? He loved being your friend, and as soon as you became manager of all the flats he handed you over to me entirely.

"He believed in you before I did, and he was right. Even now, after your lapse of judgement, he pleaded for you to keep your job. He said it was because of your talents, but I know it was because of his feelings for you. Can't you see that?"

She sat still for a few minutes at that, while George drank his coffee.

Then, "Why now?" she asked.

"Because I forced him into it. There had to be a time when he had to tell you, and after this horrible time I thought he ought to come clean."

"But he hasn't," she persisted. "He sent you. Couldn't he face me?"

"He feels your friendship is over. He's upset that you wouldn't hear his side of the story. He could have told you how impossible it was for him to have downloaded that stuff, but you wouldn't have anything to do with him, and you were pretty nasty to him when I called you in about the keys. You scorned him and demeaned him.

"You know he was in the army for a long time? Not just the army: the SAS. He had a reputation for strictness when it came to the men's treatment of the locals when they were in Iraq. He is a very upright and moral man. Really you should have been able to tell that. Think how he treated you and the children."

She looked thoughtful, "Yes, I know. I've had time to think about that since I found out about Seth. I remembered how careful he was with Gail -- I thoughtlessly got him to do some pretty intimate things with her -- you know, the loo, and bathing her. He insisted I was always in view. How could I not see that? I feel really ashamed."

"Well," George said, "he's a proud man, and you have insulted him, but I think you should try to see him and talk to him. After all you did go out of your way to warn him of Seth's intentions, and I reminded him about that. I think he may see you."

"I'll think about it," she said, smiling at him. "I really appreciate you giving me another chance."

"You're worth it, Susan."

After he had gone, Susan sat and absently played with Carl, thinking all the while about all that had happened. A feeling of loneliness came over her, a feeling she had not had for a long time. Suddenly she longed for family and home, and resolved to go back for the festive season.

She phoned George and arranged for cover and felt better for that. Yes, she told him, she would go and see Victor, if he would see her. She would do it before Christmas.