Useful Intelligence

Caught in the act!!

This was bad! This was really bad!! Joanne peeked up from under George Wright's desk just as Olivia Wright glanced down. There was nowhere for her to go, nothing what-so-ever she could do; whatever happened next was totally up to Olivia. She was just thankful that Olivia hadn't jumped back or reacted in any way. Also in her favor was that the desk faced the door so she hadn't been visible when Olivia had first entered the room.

Curled up in as tight a ball as she could manage, Joanne stayed as still as possible, controlling her breathing...in and out...softly, willing her racing heart to slow down.

Whoever had been pounding on the front door had been allowed in and had come into the office with Olivia. The person was male, and Olivia had referred to him as 'Captain'. Knowing that George was an MRU section chief, it could only be assumed that this...Captain...was also with the MRU. Thoughts of the raid on Leather Bound came to mind and Joanne began to fear not just for herself but for Olivia as well. Her experience with the MRU so far had revealed that they were nothing more than uniformed thugs. Was this Captain any better? The way he spoke to Olivia indicated that he was not, and that sent chills up her spine.

Listening to their conversation it became apparent that the man worked for George and had been sent to collect a roster of some sort from his boss's desk. Luckily for her, Olivia had insisted on getting the material herself, otherwise it would've been the guy who discovered her under the desk instead of Olivia. After a few seconds had passed Jo was fairly certain that Olivia was not going to reveal her presence in the room. In fact, she sat down in her husband's chair and scooted forward, reducing the amount of space Joanne had, but also reducing the chance that she would be seen. She was now pressed up against the solid wood at the back of the desk.

As the heated conversation went on above her, Joanne couldn't help but admire Olivia for the way she refused to allow the man to bully her into letting him access the desk. There was definitely a difference between how a lowly book store owner and how the wife of an MRU official were treated. There was no way this man would get away with molesting Olivia the way that guy had molested her when Leather Bound had been raided. Even though this man was trying to assert his authority over Olivia, Joanne could tell he was wary of pushing things too far.

With the argument concerning who had the right to go through George's files settled, Olivia opened the drawer that Joanne had just returned the planner to and flipped through some of the papers under it. Not finding any files like the Captain had described, she opened the larger lower drawer. As she flipped through the hanging files her eyes glance under the desk at Joanne and her lips pressed together while she very subtly shook her head, giving her a look of disappointment and maybe anger. Joanne couldn't be sure how to interpret the look, but she knew her presence in the room was going to be questioned. Cramped under the desk, her concentration was on keeping absolutely still and quite, but the thoughts of how to explain herself still ran through her mind.

"He said it was a dark brown accordion folder, maybe if I..." the man had started saying.

Olivia moved slightly in an attempt to further block the view under the desk as the man bent down towards the open drawer. This further reduced the space in Joanne's hiding place and threw her slightly off-balance. She felt herself teetering a little and panicked at the thought of falling over. Reflexively, she grabbed onto Olivia's bare leg. As if understanding Joanne's struggle, Olivia braced her foot against the back of the desk for support.

"Step back, Captain," Olivia said. "I think this is it...right...here." She pulled out a folder and handed it to the MRU Captain. "Is that it?"

"Yes, that's the one." He used his fingers to flip through the papers inside the folder and then tucked it under his arm. "Thank you, Mrs. Wright, and I'm sorry for having disturbed your nap."

Olivia felt Jo's hands release her leg as she went to stand up. "My nap?" she asked.

"Well, I assumed by the robe that you must have been sleeping," the Captain said.

"Oh! I sometimes don't even get dressed when my husband goes out of town. I mean, without him here I have no one to serve, and no reason to dress up."

Joanne caught the edge in Olivia's voice and wondered if the Captain had picked up on it, too.

"I suppose you're right."

What a bastard! Joanne thought. I suppose you're right! Yes, we women just live to serve you a-holes. She was relieved to hear that the voices seemed more muted as they left the office.

"But I would also guess that it gets lonely sometimes, too, all alone in this big house."

"It's not too bad...hey! Don't go in there!" Olivia blurted out.

"I just want to look down at my driver, to make sure he's watching the Jeep like he's suppose to be." The MRU man had walked into the sitting room. "It's good to keep an eye on the enlisted men to keep them on their toes."

"You have what you came for, Captain, I would prefer that you leave now," Olivia shot back.

"This is such a nice room," the man said, not acknowledging Olivia's request. "You've done a great job in decorating. Where does this go?"

"That's my bedroom, please stay..."

The voices were now too muffled for Joanne to hear, but she knew that the two had gone through the other door in the sitting room and into Olivia's bedroom. From what she had heard whispered earlier, Lani had been instructed to hide in the closet in that room. This all seemed very suspicious all of a sudden. Was there an ulterior motive for the MRU visit? Why didn't the man just take his file and leave?

"Very nice, indeed..." the man's voice was louder now. He must've exited Olivia's room and was now in the open hall across from the office.

"I'm happy that you find it appealing, sir." Olivia's voice was much softer and Joanne wondered if she had begun to take a more submissive tone to appease the man. "Can I get you anything to drink, sir? Tea, perhaps?"

"No, no, I must get this back to the boss and it's a long drive, but thank you anyway."

The sound of the front door opening and then closing echoed through the house and there was silence...for a few seconds.

"Joanne!!"

Oh shit! Here it comes!

"Lani!!"

Shaking, Joanne emerged from the office to see Olivia coming up the grand staircase to the second floor. Across from her, Lani, dressed only in a short silk robe, came out of the bedroom and stood by the banister overlooking the open foyer below.

"What the hell were you doing in George's office?!" Olivia demanded. "You nearly gave me a heart attack!" she was obviously not waiting for answers. "Good God, that was fucking close!"

"I'm so sorry, Olivia!" Joanne managed to say.

"Well?" Now she wanted an answer.

Joanne took a step back as Olivia closed in on her. The words she had spent the last ten minutes practicing in her head rolled out of her, "I told my grandmother I'd call her to make sure she got home okay. I didn't want to disturb you two so I came out into the hall. Then I guess I just decided to go in there to make the call. It seemed more private."

"Is that so?"

"It is, I swear!" Jo pleaded. "And then I heard the doorbell and all of the pounding and didn't want to be seen from below and..."

"And so you hid under the desk?" Olivia asked.

"Yes."

"Give me your phone."

Shit! The pictures! Olivia was standing in front of her with her hand extended. If she didn't hand over her phone it would appear that she had something to hide. If Olivia saw the pictures...how could she explain that away? She knew she couldn't. She also knew she was taking too long thinking, and did the only thing she could do. Pulling her phone out of the small sewn-in pocket on the side of her spandex tights she handed it over. "Nineteen-nineteen-thirtynine," she said, knowing that her code would be required to unlock the device.

Fingering the digits, Olivia touched the screen to access the phone function of the device and then navigated to the 'Recent' call log. At that moment, Joanne was thankful that she had actually called her grandmother! From where she stood she could see the words "Grandma Tina" at the top of her call log. She knew the corresponding time would support her claim that she had just used it moments before all hell had broken loose in the house.

Olivia looked up at Joanne and handed the phone back. "Please forgive my paranoia, Jo. You understand don't you?" She reached over to pull Lani closer to her and their arms went around each other. "I just had to make sure you were telling me the truth."

"I understand," Joanne said as she turned off the phone and slide it back into its little pocket. "Who isn't a little paranoid these days?"

"Let's go downstairs," Olivia said. "Lani can make some tea for us."

The three women made their way down to the kitchen in silence. The appearance of the MRU Captain had disrupted Olivia and Lani's time together and Joanne was still slightly shaken from how close she had come to being caught in the act of spying. If the MRU man had seen her she was sure his search of her phone would've been more extensive. As they entered the kitchen Olivia pointed towards one of the chairs at the table and Joanne dutifully sat. Her hostess led Lani over to the pantry, her arm around her shoulder.

"Are you okay, sweetie?" Olivia whispered as she tucked a loose strand of blonde hair behind Lani's ear.

Lani nodded and whispered something that Joanne couldn't quite hear, but it was obvious that she was rattled by what had just happened, too. They talked quietly for a moment and then Olivia came over to the table and sat down across from Joanne.

"Would you mind if I removed this collar?" Jo asked, touching the wide collar around her neck.

Olivia sat and looked at her for a moment as if she was debating her answer. Finally she said, "I imagine it's getting a little uncomfortable, isn't it?"

"Yes, a little," Jo replied.

"It would be a fitting punishment for you to continue wearing it, but I'm just not in the mood to play any more today. Go ahead and take it off if you promise to come back and visit with us again..." Olivia's face brightened a little with her smile..."Jojo," she said with a wider grin.

Joanne's hands went up to the back of the collar to work the buckles. "I promise, Miss Libby."

Olivia looked as if she was going to rebuke Jo for calling her 'Libby', but then her grin returned. "That name has been reserved for Lani's use, but she'll share it, won't you, dear?"

Lani turned her head to look back at the two women sitting at the table. "I don't know if I want to share that."

"Maybe Jojo will let you try on her nice collar," Olivia countered, speaking to her friend like a parent would try to convince a child to do something.

Lani looked at the wide leather collar that Joanne had just taken off. As if to signify that she was okay with that deal, Joanne held it up and wiggled it temptingly.

"Okay, I'd like that."

Olivia winked at Joanne. She had that look that said she knew how to get what she wanted from her submissive.

After a few minutes the tea was served and the women sat and chatted like three friends would talk, not as Mistress and submissives. Olivia apologized again for the way her party had gone horribly wrong the previous evening and regretted not being able to talk with Joanne more to get to know her. She asked about what Jo had done before coming to London, so Joanne told them all about growing up in Long Riston and the family book stores where she developed an interest in literature, and which ultimately led to her college studies.

As they finished with their tea, Joanne held up her collar and said, "Well, I should get going soon, would you still like to try it on?"

"Oui, s'il vous plait, Miss Jojo," Lani said in an adorably cute voice.

Joanne and Olivia both laughed, and then Jo held out the collar towards the other woman. "I think it's only right that you have the honor, Miss."

Olivia took the collar and looped it around Lani's throat and then worked the buckles in the back. The two went off, with Lani giggling like a school girl, in search of a mirror as Joanne announced she was going to call for her ride home. Surprisingly, there was an obvious strain of concern in Charley's voice when he answered the phone. He immediately asked if everything was okay, and seemed to be relieved when she said it was. What did he know? Did it seem like she'd been in the house for a long time, or had he seen the MRU men pull up outside? She had no idea where he had gone after dropping her off earlier, so maybe he had stayed close by.

"Ooo, I love it, Miss Jojo!" Lani squealed as she and Olivia entered the kitchen. "Miss Libby has promised to buy me one!" The young woman turned to allow Joanne to unbuckle the collar.

Olivia watched Joanne work the buckles and then place the collar around her own neck in preparation for her departure. "It's been a crazy couple of days hasn't it, Jo?" she asked.

"Yes it has," Joanne agreed. "The store will seem so boring tomorrow compared to this."

"Boring is good sometimes," Lani chipped in.

"Oh, hey, where's my leash?" Joanne asked.

"God, that sucks just having to ask a question like that!" Olivia spat.

"It's in the closet upstairs," Lani said. "I'll go get it." She bounded off out of the room and up the stairs.

When they were alone, Olivia looked at Joanne and asked, "Are we doomed to live like slaves for the rest of our lives?"

Joanne shrugged and stood silent for a moment. "Well, there'll be elections in a few years. Things could change."

"I'm not sure I can wait that long to find out."

That was a statement that Joanne had a hard time responding to. What did Olivia mean by it? That she was thinking of leaving the country? There was no way she could tell the woman that she had friends who could help her with that. All she could do was report it to the Major.

By the time Lani was back with Joanne's leash and coat the two women had made it into the foyer.

"I swear it's not this weird here all of the time, Joanne. This has just been a strange couple of days," Olivia said as she looked out the front window towards the street.

"I'm glad to hear that," Jo replied, joining her at the window. "I thought things would be a little more regimented in the big city, but I hardly expected this!"

"I just hope it's not the beginning of some horrible trend, oh, that looks like your ride." Charley's sedan could be seen pulling up to the curb in front and stopping.

Joanne took the clip end of the leash and attached it to her collar. She looked at Olivia and rolled her eyes, knowing the woman understood exactly what she meant. When the doorbell rang, Olivia opened the door slightly so that Joanne could pass through without revealing herself or Lani to the man outside. They all nodded their goodbyes and the door closed behind Joanne as Charley led her back to his car.

Once they were on their way Joanne noticed that Charley took several quick turns and then ran through a red light, all the while glancing in his rear view mirror. It was pretty obvious to her that he was checking to see if anyone was tailing them, but that seemed somewhat unnecessary since anyone who knew she was at Olivia's would just be following her back to Cecil Court. But then, from what little she knew of the city, it didn't look as if they were heading in the direction of the Court. She was just about to speak up when Charley maneuvered the sedan down an alley and stopped about mid block. Her confusion lifted when Major Taylor stepped out of a covered doorway next to the car and ducked into the backseat beside her.

"Glad to see you're okay, Joanne," Peter said as Charley stepped on the gas, propelling them towards the opposite end of the alley.

"Yes, I'm fine, sir, but that turned out to be a little more complicated than I thought it would be."

"I'm sure!" Peter relied. "The sudden appearance of an MRU officer always complicates things."

"Oh, so you were watching?"

Peter reached over and unclipped the leash from Olivia's collar and held it up. "And listening, too."

"What?!" Jo exclaimed as she took the clip and examined it. "Holy shit. Is that...?"

"Yes it is." Peter said as he took the leash back and curled it up in several loops. "I'm sorry I didn't have Charley tell you we would be listening in, but I didn't want you to be worrying about it."

"What do you mean?" Jo asked, turning slightly to look over at the Major. He was listening to everything we said?!

"What I mean is, the first few times a person wears a listening device they're usually self-conscious about it and tend to talk unnecessarily loud and try to get other people to speak up or repeat themselves. We'll have to provide you with more training if you're going to be working outside of Leather Bound like this. Our Minders don't normally do this sort of thing, but with you I see we may have an exception."

"You mean to...to do what? What sort of thing?"

"We can get into that later," Peter said, not wanting to expand too much with Charley sitting right in front of them. Charley was a trusted member of the KSN, but the ex-MI6 operative still ran his operations on a "need-to-know" basis and, at the moment, Charley didn't need to know what sort of thing Joanne might get involved in.

Jo looked out the window and saw that they were crossing a bridge over the River Thames. "Where are we going, by the way?" she asked.

"We're going to de-brief at my house, if that's okay with you. I can give you a ride home afterwards. It shouldn't take long."

"Oh." Joanne was actually quite interested in seeing where, and how, Peter lived. "No, that's fine," she stated, and looked out the window at the passing city as they rode along in silence. In her mind, she played back the events of the previous two hours and tried to remember what was said that would've been overheard on the hidden microphone. While how she had acted at Olivia's was slightly embarrassing, she knew it could be easily explained away as being necessary to fit in with what she had observed upon her arrival, and what she felt needed to be done to remain in the house. She had achieved her primary objective, which was to determine Olivia's sexual orientation, and there was also the bonus of what she may have captured on her phone camera. So what if she had acted like Olivia's submissive? It was just that; an act to get what she needed.

Only, if she was being honest with herself, she knew damn well it was not all an act.

Glancing at Peter, she saw that he had been sitting there looking out the front window of the car, and then turned to look at her when he noticed she was looking his way. They made eye contact and Joanne felt a twinge of guilt and looked away. Guilt? For what? For enjoying her brief interlude of submission...for letting down her defenses in the presence of a dominant woman...for wishing she had been led into the bedroom by her leash...and tied to the bedpost to watch Olivia and Lani do whatever it was they did in there! Or to maybe...join in? To be forced to join in...

It was too dangerous to think those thoughts!! She was the Cecil Court safe house minder; an agent of the Kink Support Network! What she was thinking...what she was fantasizing...could not happen, especially in the heart of London where a mistake like that could result in an armed escort to an MRU modification prison. At least with her they wouldn't have to work that hard to regenerate her. These fantasies of being intimate with other women were just that; fantasies.

With the storm of thoughts flooding her mind, Jo hadn't noticed the change in scenery outside the sedan. They had turned into a neighborhood that had mult-family homes mixed in with some single family dwellings. She looked across to the window next to Peter and then out the front window.

"It's probably ninety percent low-level government employees living in this development," Peter commented. "It's pretty quiet, for the most part, and people tend to mind their own business."

"It's nice," Joanne said as the car pulled up to the curve in front of one of the homes. "Is this yours?"

"It is," he replied. Peter got out of the car and came around to Joanne's side to open her door. She looked up at him and presented the leash, but he shook his head and held out his hand. "I know my neighbors pretty well. Let's just say none of them voted for the Ultras in the last election." He leaned in to give Charley some money to keep up the appearances of a hired car, and the man pulled away and headed back into town.

As Joanne entered Peter's house she was impressed by what she saw. It wasn't at all like the bachelor pad she'd imagined with a huge TV and one comfortable chair with maybe an empty beer can in the armrest cup holder. The living room was well furnished with soft chairs and a sofa, and the television was a nice flat screen but not one that took over the room. Floor lamps and nicely polished end tables rounded off the furnishings and what looked like original paintings hung on the walls, softly lit by overhead track lighting.

"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Peter asked.

"Huh? Oh, no thanks, I'll be fine," Jo answered as she spotted a book case against the wall.

"Okay, make yourself at home. I'll be right back." Peter headed off down a hallway, presumably to use the facilities.

Tilting her head to read some of the book titles, Joanne had to grin at the selection she was seeing. John le Carré, Len Deighton, Robert Ludlum, Stella Rimington, among other masters of espionage fiction. Peering through the glass in an enclosed section of the bookcase, Joanne could see the map book Peter had purchased at her Grand Re-Opening the previous day, along with some other very rare books, some of which she had never seen before. He had quite an extensive, and impressive, collection.

Atop the bookcase was a few framed photographs. One looked like maybe Mum and Dad with young Peter, taken somewhere along the coast. There were two or three pictures of Peter in combat uniform standing in a desert setting with his comrades in arms. One pictured him being given an award of some sort...the man shaking his hand was at the party the previous evening...Patricia's husband. That's right, Patricia had told her they had served together in the desert wars. Next to that was a picture of Peter with...

"Oh my god!" she uttered aloud.

"Oh my god, what?" Peter asked as he re-entered the room.

Joanne pointed at one of the pictures. "You and...and Agent X were..."

"Married?" Peter finished her sentence. "Yeah, she's a wonderful woman, but it was what you might call a marriage of convenience."

"So she's Abigail? I never knew what her name was at the Centre. We just called her X."

"And how do you know her name now?"

"Oh, well, I picked up that little tidbit at the party last night," Joanne admitted, and then with a smile, "You know how women love to gossip."

All of the little bits of information she had gathered on Agent X and Major Taylor were now intertwining. Having lived in "occupied" London for two years, Agent X was the authority at the Centre on how to act without attracting the attention of the MRU. At Olivia's social she had learned that the Major's ex-wife had probably worked with him at MI6, and that she had departed the city under mysterious circumstances. Also of note was that she had been Morally Regenerated. Grandma Tina had mentioned that Abigail had resisted the Regeneration process and that Major Taylor had gotten her out of the MRU facility, and then later, out of the country.

So that left the question of why Abigail, an MI6 agent, had been sent to the MRU facility in the first place? Joanne had picked up on a spark between X and Ms Smythe, the commander of the Edinburgh Centre, and had assumed at the time that they were a couple, even though they didn't openly flaunt it in front of the trainees. During her time in training she had caught little inferences from the trainers that supported her assumptions. They must've been in a relationship in London when the Ultras came to power.

"Yes," Peter said, jerking Jo out of her thoughts. "Women love to gossip and men love to brag. That's why social outings like the one we attended last night are so important in our business."

"And maybe that brings us around to what you meant earlier about there being an "exception" to me being just a Minder?" Jo asked, questioningly, making air quotes at the use of the word.

"May I take your coat, Joanne?"

Jo wondered if he was purposely avoiding the question. She looked at him, standing there with his hand extended, expecting her to remove her coat and hand it to him. Slightly embarrassed because of what she wore underneath, she began to unbutton the coat, but not in the slow seductive way she had done for Olivia earlier.

Peter took the coat from her and motioned her over to the sofa where the both sat down.

"I imagine Olivia was quite impressed with what you chose to wear over there today," Peter said.

"Yes, I think she was," replied Jo, the image of Olivia licking her lips as she unbuttoned still fresh in her mind.

"I was told that you had remarkable instincts and would be of far more use to the Network than serving simply as a Minder. I had reservations about expanding your role here, but after yesterday and today I can see the potential you offer quite clearly." Peter raised his hand towards Joanne's outfit and said, "You obviously will do what you think is necessary to achieve an objective. As someone who's new in the field, and without more training, I would not have suggested that you go to that extreme, but you made the decision and it turned out to be the right one. Your judgement was right on the mark, and now we have the information we need to use against the Wrights."

Joanne knew the Major was interested in Olivia's sexual preferences, but hearing him say the information would be used against her gave her an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. She liked Olivia. Now, after getting somewhat close to the woman, they were going to, what...blackmail her because she has sex with other women? That seemed wrong!

Sitting back, Joanne closed her eyes and shook her head. The room fell silent as she gathered her thoughts and her courage.

Finally, she said, "I understand this is how things are done in the real world, sir, but we're not MI6. We're the Kink Support Network. We support kink. We cannot support kink and then turn around and use the fact that Olivia is gay against her. If we did that we'd be no better than the damn Ultras."

Now it was Joanne's turn to be silent as Peter mulled over her statement. Maybe it wasn't her place to speak up like that. What did she know about taking down the regime? Maybe some had to be sacrificed for the better good? Maybe not!! It was wrong and she knew it. She sat and looked at her hands, folded in her lap, and waited for the Major's response.

When it came, the calmness of his voice made her look up at him.

"Old habits die hard I guess, and you're right, of course. We've got a few sources inside the regime that were compromised by the threat of exposing activities like embezzlement and misappropriating government funds. One guy we discovered is actually a spy for Chairman Trump's Americas Inc. Now he works for us, lest we reveal his connections to the Trump regime." Peter watched Joanne's reaction and then after seeing none, said, "So how do you propose I convince others on the Council to not use this information? I'm not alone in wanting to entrap George Wright. He's been on the Council's list of top candidates for almost a year."

"Well," Joanne started slowly, "you could use the same plea I just made...to not use Olivia's lesbian affair against her. We should be aiding her if anything, regardless of who her husband is."

Peter shrugged. That might be enough.

"She might also help us on her own if we ask her to."

This got Peter's attention and he sat up a little straighter. "What do you mean? What gives you the impression that she would cooperate with us against her husband?"

Joanne went on to tell him about the remarks Olivia had made that insinuated that she disliked the present political climate enough to flee the country. "Besides that, if she were working with us we might get all sorts of useful intel from her." Joanne reached down and withdrew her phone from its little pocket. She held it up and said, "I was able to snap off some photos of George Wright's planner, maybe there's something here you can use."

"What?" Peter asked as he reached over to take the phone. "You took photos? Do you mind if I link this to my computer?" He was on his feet and heading towards the kitchen.

"No," Joanne called out after him, getting up to follow him into the other room. "I don't mind at all."

Peter quickly opened up his laptop and logged onto his Windows 20.5 account. "Bring Brad Thor's book from the bookshelf," he called out. "It's, um, Foreign Agent."

When Joanne appeared with the book Peter opened it to reveal an external storage drive pressed into a hollowed out section in the pages. He fingered it out of it's hiding place and linked it to his computer.

Handing the phone to Joanne so she could enter in her security code he waited a second for the scanner in his computer to detect her phone, and then navigated to her photos. Knowing they would be the last photos she had taken he highlighted everything after the photos of Christina Halleway and various shots of Leather Bound, and copied them onto his external drive. Pushing the phone back towards Joanne, Peter began looking at the pictures, enlarging the print on his monitor.

"Where did you find all of this?" he asked as he scanned across the entries on the monitor.

"It was in George's desk drawer. It's like a planner or something."

"This is gold, Joanne!" he exclaimed. He looked over at her, "You were in George Wright's office?"

Joanne went on to tell him everything that had happened from the time she left the sitting room to make her call to the time Olivia and the MRU man left the office.

"That was a very close call, Jo!"

"I know!" Joanne gasped. "I was so scared he would see me! I know he would've arrested me."

"Well he wouldn't have gotten very far with you." He detailed the precautions he had taken to prevent the MRU from taking her away.

"Oh shit," Peter whispered as he enlarged a section of the planner. "That bastard."

"What is it?" Joanne asked, leaning in to scan the monitor.

"Today's entry would indicate he's pulling resources from Bristol and Cheltenham and moving them to Cambridge and Ipswich, with his command post in Bury St. Edmund. That covers the main routes to the western coastal area."

"Didn't he say last night that he thought our women were heading towards Bristol. Why would he pull troops from that area?"

"Because he's being clever and purposely misleading. I'm sure he has set up heightened security on the roads going into Bristol, but that's only to drive anyone fleeing the country to think about alternate routes, just like we did. Our people are transporting Mrs MacMasters and the others up the coast towards Ipswich right now. They're going to run right into them!"