OK back again with another Chapter of SAnta's New Toy...
Chapter Six
Nick opened the study door with a satisfied smile on his face, Ralph had scrubbed up rather better than he?d anticipated. He was sure there would be someone at the party who liked the shy and retiring type and maybe wanted to teach him a lesson or two?
Nick stopped dead in his tracks. He?d left the machine running, he was sure of it. Where in the name of Rudolphs red nose was Lee? He checked the control panel and ascertained that he should in fact have had a bloke in skimpy swimming gear waiting for him, then picked up the phone.
?Malcolm,? he bellowed down the receiver, ?Get your backside up here immediately!?
Malcolm had been engrossed in a live feed from a miniature camera he?d planted in the broad sword back in London. From what he had seen so far, Nick needed to get his finger out. There was some guy called Lucas who clearly couldn?t be trusted, and a misogynist old fart called Gisbourne who the ladies of the Academy seemed to be crazy about. Malcolm sighed, what was wrong with a nice, albeit short, red-haired bloke with a stable job these days. The call had brought him nack from his reverie and he hurried to the study.
?Malcolm, the mother of all cock-ups has occurred,? exclaimed Nick, ?I?ve got a man missing ? this Lee bloke. He must be freezing his arse off somewhere given what he was wearing. Ineed you to check the CCTV and locate him as quickly as possible. Now, what intel have you got on Guy Thornton-North and John Lucas??
Malcolm filled Nick in on the details, and told him he had emailed a list of web links that would help with the two mystery men. ?But most importantly,? he said, ?You need to get on the case with Lucas, Gisbourne and Porter, and fast ? we need to leave in three-quarters of an hour.?
Santa decided Porter was probably the safest bet of the three and loaded an episode of Strike Back into the machine?s control panel. Within minutes he was taking shaping, in the guise in which he had appeared in Epsiode 2, posing as a diamond dealer. Tan shoes, cream linen suit and khaki t-shirt appeared topped with the same handsome face as the others but with shorter dark hair. He appeared more curious than anything else to be trapped in the glass box. When Nick released him, he had to spend several minutes talking him through the technology involved, before telling him where he would be going later that night. John Porter gave a satisfied smile, Danni notwithstanding (and she?d not been up to much anyway)?it had been a very long time?