Ground Rules by Joseph Browning & Suzi Yee

Author:Joseph Browning & Suzi Yee [Browning, Joseph & Yee, Suzi]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Expeditious Retreat Press
Published: 2019-10-30T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fourteen

Barking, London, UK

30th of June, 12:45 p.m. (GMT+1)

Wilson’s blue Vauxhall Corsa buzzed south along the A406; he had a one o’clock appointment with Gemma Green, and a traffic accident had put him behind his normally well-padded arrival time. The compact car weaved in and out of traffic in hopes of regaining a few extra minutes from the time he lost due to rubbernecking drivers.

His day had started slow. After a busy day yesterday, Wilson had every intention of enjoying a lazy Sunday morning lie in. His corner room was spared direct morning sunlight, and he had the foresight to pull down the window shades before turning in for the night.

Consequently, his phone had roused him from his sleep with a message from the Salt Mine, only just beating the church bells ringing for service. He had hoped it was word from Chloe and Dot on the signature, but alas, it was additional background information for his current Warwick alias that the Mine had spun to Green’s manager, Alistair Thumbold.

Thumbold and Green had been told Warwick was a columnist from the American branch of the Institute of Tradition, and that his interest in her story was driven by the popularity of A Bump in the Night stateside. It had taken two days of negotiations, but the thousand-pound payment they’d offered eventually eased any concerns the two Brits may have had about his authenticity.

It wasn’t the first time his Institute of Tradition alias had proved useful. The Institute was a worldwide organization with at least one branch on every continent. Its stated mission was documenting and preserving the local traditions of various peoples and places within their respective geographic domains. Collectively, they produced an English-language quarterly named The Way Things Were. Every issue had at least one story from each continent, and existed solely to provide cover for agents who needed a quick reason to start asking questions.

After fully waking, Wilson had spent what remained of the morning eating a late breakfast and going back over the collection of media coverage the Mine had gathered for him. The first thing he noticed was the lack of face-to-face interviews on television or the internet—either Gemma Green wasn’t that famous, or the story wasn’t sensational enough for mass consumption.

Reading through the different tabloids, Wilson had a basic understanding of the event as retold by the actress. Green had returned to her room after a long night shoot, changed, and gotten into bed. Just as she was falling asleep, the covers were pulled over her head and she was beaten, suffering dozens of blows in quick succession that left dark bruises across her back and torso. The covers then flew off her bed, and she felt like she was being attacked by some type of sharp instrument. The images were shocking—as tabloid pictures tend to be. Her entire back was covered with bruises, with scratch marks all over her body, particularly around her neck and waist. Whatever was attacking Green was interrupted by one of the A Bump in the Night’s crew, who had knocked down her door once he heard her screaming.

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