Ratcatcher by Stevens Tim

Author:Stevens, Tim [Stevens, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-04-26T07:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE

‘Looks like a farm to me.’

They were huddled in front of Abby’s monitor. With the mouse she altered the view so that they were sweeping in almost horizontally, trees and buildings rendered in squat, distorted three-dimensional images.

‘That was our impression,’ said Purkiss.

The property covered ten acres, a curving driveway leading down from a gate set in a stone wall to a low but two-storied building which appeared to be the farmhouse. There were smaller buildings scattered about: stables, a couple of sheds, what looked like a garage for a tractor. The stone wall surrounded the entire property in an approximate rectangle. The gate was in the south wall, set back from the road, and the north of the property was carpeted in fields and woodland. A couple of cars were parked outside the farmhouse, but their details were obscured.

‘How up to date are these pictures?’ asked Purkiss.

‘They were taken some time in the last three years,’ said Abby.

Kendrick: ‘This isn’t real time?’

She shook her head. ‘You’d need direct access to a satellite for that. The military, the CIA have that capability. I don’t.’

‘My three Service friends might,’ said Purkiss.

‘Want to ask them?’

‘No.’

Purkiss stood and stretched. ‘You brought what I asked for?’

‘Yep.’ Kendrick had brought a rucksack and he rummaged in it and pulled out two pairs of night-vision goggles.

‘Okay, good.’ He paced to get the blood flowing. ‘We circle the wall, see if there are any other ways in. If not, we go over. Ideally we want to have a look in that farmhouse, but if we manage to take captive anyone there, quietly, that’ll be good too. Abby, we’ll stay in phone contact with you all the time. If you lose both of us, contact these people individually and tell them where we were.’ He gave her the numbers of each of the three agents. ‘It’ll mean we’ve failed, but at least they’ll be able to alert the police and have the farm raided.’

He paused, looked at them in turn, said: ‘Ready?’

Kendrick shrugged on his jacket. ‘Farms. I come all the way here on a city break and you want me to get my feet covered in cow shit.’

‘The fresh air will do your complexion good.’

‘It’s all right for a swede basher like you. Some of us, the ones whose brothers aren’t also their dads, prefer city life. You know, cities? Where people respect species boundaries.’

‘He’s been learning some big words lately,’ remarked Abby as she opened the door for them. ‘Now leave me alone so I can work on that memory stick.’

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