The Grange

Chapter 3 : Lady Soames

Just then the telephone rang and Pat told Tony that Lady Jane Soames was waiting for him in reception. He kissed Cynthia good-bye, after he quickly showered and dressed. Within ten minutes he was in reception .Lady Jane Soames was talking to Pat as he entered and Pat introduced Tony to her. He had read about her in the press, but was totally surprised at the appearance of the attractive lady that waited him. She greeted him with a warm smile and shook his hand.

She had short dark hair with a fringe and nice strong features. She was very tastefully dressed, in fact she was totally opposite to the press description of her and what he expected . She seemed very nervous and Tony took her bag and asked her to follow him. Pat told Tony ,she had to leave in about half an hour, she wanted to seen him before she left and if everything went according to schedule they should be having a further guest later that day.

Lady Jane did not seem to want to talk. When he got to her apartment he showed her around and immediately called Felicity to arrange some food and refreshment for her and then he called Cynthia to see whether she could come to the apartment to meet the new arrival and put her at ease.

When Cynthia arrived they shook hands and did admit that knew each other reasonably well from the political party conferences. Tony asked Cynthia to fill Lady Jane on the setup here.

“Sure Tony, but I need to see you later, can I call at your apartment? “

Tony agreed and left for his meeting with Pat.

Fiona was the wife of a Junior but very high profile minister in the Department of Defence. She was 30 years old,, highly attractive, slim built and with a good figure. She had that colour hair frequently called dirty blonde hair and she dressed simply but well. She was a nymphomaniac, that was the way she thought of herself and described herself to her closest friends. She could never get enough sex and that had led to her problems. With the press.

She was suffering now because, she had made a big mistake in letting herself get talked into the cocksucking affair in the House of Commons car park. She had been set up by the opposition press, all for the sake of a stupid bet when she had drunk too many whiskies. The whole scene had been cynically planned to discredit her and through her the Government.

Now she was almost completely ostracized by her friends, and was continually having lewd suggestions made to her by taxi drivers and the general public when she was recognised. Two nights ago she had been forced to call the police, as six drunken youths stood on the pavement outside her London home with their cocks hanging out and calling her name. But now in hindsight she had to admit she had been an easy target to set up, and she had fallen for flattery and a few free drinks. Now she was paying for it.

Her marriage was near enough a failure and if it had not been for the imminence of the coming election she was sure that they would be contemplating divorce. Like many MP’s wives she suffered from long boring days and lonely nights when the House of Commons was sitting late.

She lay back in her arm chair contemplating how she would spend the day and whether it would do her any good to assume some sort of disguise. The security service had visited her and warned her about attempts at blackmail by people probably acting for foreign powers . They assured her of immunity and discretion if she approached them with details of any unusual contacts.

At about 10.00 am that morning there was a knock on the door, she checked through a window to see if it was a genuine call and she saw two men and a lady. She opened the door and they showed her their identity passes.

“ Madam your safety is at risk the lady assured her . Your husband has agreed that we take you to a place of safety in common with several other ministers wives. She thought for a moment

“Can I check with my husband? She asked.

The lady smiled and said. Just ask him if you agree that you should spend a short break with Pat.”

Fiona smiled “I think you have just given me all the assurance I need. I will pack a bag.”

While Fiona was packing Pat looked out the window at the small band of pressmen waiting outside. She had a chat to the senior of her two escorts and he rang the Home Secretary’s office. Just as they were about to leave the house, two police cars arrived and after a heated conversation the press corps were made to leave. This was what Pat had wanted and it allowed them to slip out of the house unnoticed.

The next morning at the Grange saw a full house at breakfast . Fiona Lady Jane, and Cynthia all knew each other from the party conferences in the past. They had also read about each other in the press.

Pat had made it clear to all of them that they were in a high security home.

“Their is no way out and no way in.” She went on.” You have all, because of your positions of being married to high profile government ministers embarrassed the government with the help of the press. So the Prime Minister is asking for your co-operation in keeping out of sight for the time being. You are all going to receive a generous compensation package for your co-operation, and we have attempted to provide you with every form of entertainment or recreation that is possible. If we do not have it, we will attempt to get it for you if that is at all possible. Are their any questions?”

Fiona said “I have a question looking across at Tony. “How is one cock going to go round five women”

“Four women “Lady Jane said.

“ You always were a choosy bitch.” Fiona responded nastily.

Lady Jane said. “ No, its quite simple, I was a call girl before I married George ,but I have always been faithful to my husband and I will remain faithful as long as we are married”

Cynthia said quietly “ Good for you Jane, but I have no intention of being faithful, but I do intend to divorce my husband as soon as I get out of here.” She looked across at Tony as she spoke “ I have met someone else who is much nicer, and who interests me now and I could not go back to the marriage I had before.”

Fiona said. “It looks as though one of our squad is cutting the rest of us out from our supply of cock then.”

Just then Pat came in the door, the expression on her face stopped the conversation.

“It looks as though none of us will be here for very long. The press seem to be getting close to our hiding place. It seems as though there is more interest by the press in finding us than in the forthcoming elections. I do not know what your reaction is. As far as the government is concerned they arranged this as protection for you as well as for them”

Cynthia said. “ I was glad to get away from the press and I will certainly tell them I came here for a vacation.”

The feeling was unanimous as both Jane and Cynthia echoed the same sentiments.

Then Pat said.” I am a Police Superintendent and I was asked to take this job as a vacation from some arduous and very dangerous security duties in which I nearly died. I am not really here as a police officer, but this is a sort of rest job for me. Now ladies there is a nice warm swimming pool, a tennis court and even a small putting Green waiting for you. The press can not get past our security easily and I can only thank you for your support.

Cynthia looked at Tony . “Are you free?” “Probably in a few moments, I will get the ladies here fixed up with what they want to do and then I will join you.”

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Meanwhile in Fleet St London the Editor in Chief Mark Haley of the Sunday News looked at the draft copy on his desk.

”You mean to say these three women have disappeared all at the same time and no-one knows where they have gone.

Eddie Haines one of his best reporters said. “ They all disappeared the same way in a big black limousine, with three people who looked like policemen. According to the car number the car belongs to the Home Office”

“They have sent them into hiding , so that they can not talk to us. Damn them. I wonder what they hiding.?”

“Eddie said I don‘t think they are hiding anything. They just want to keep them off the front pages, of the newspapers, which means the government is worried about the bye elections.”

Right Mark said “We run the headline. What has happened to the government whores.? Splash it all over the front page with full photographs, of them and their husbands and print what we know and do your best to find them.”

Eddie thought about this problem and had to admit that he did not know where to start looking for the missing ladies. He mentioned this to Jean his wife who looked rather thoughtful. She rang her father who had worked in the Home Office before he retired.

“Daddy did you not tell me that the government had a secret place for spies or something during the cold war? ”

“ Yes honey why?”

“Would you speak to Eddie and tell him the story it might just help him.” She called Eddie to the phone

“Daddy wants to speak to you.”

Eddie came away from the phone. He kissed his wife.

“You little darling. I think I know where to start looking.” Next morning he fetched the newspapers ordinance survey maps and spent an hour or so studying them. He then made a telephone call to a helicopter hire company that the newspaper always used..

Later That Morning

The Prime Minister was furious .” He said to the Home Secretary “I wonder whether we have made a big mistake, hiding the girls away? This has now started a nationwide hunt.. The papers are not fools and if they find those girls we can expect a real big storm and a scandal we can never live down.”

“What happens if they find the Grange then Prime Minister.? The Home Secretary asked

“ They can not enter without breaking the law, that is a secure area.”

“If they break the law, then we throw the book at them whatever the cost“ The Prime Minister retorted.

“We must brief Pat on what to do. But they can not, as far as I know get through the security cordon anyway. To be sure I will put them on high alert ” Said the Home Secretary.

Meanwhile

Tony and Cynthia had spent the morning walking in the grounds , While they had not known each other for more that a few days they had made a sort of commitment to each other. Provisionally Cynthia had agreed to move in with Tony in his apartment in Ealing and she intended asking her husband for a divorce.

Tony told her “Darling I must spend more time with the other ladies, otherwise there could be problems. I hope you understand?”

Cynthia reluctantly agreed to let him go. Tony made his way to the swimming pool spending a little time chatting with Lady Jane before a very subdued Fiona approached him. The ladies were all swimming and enjoying the summer sunshine with an ample supply of drinks supplied by Felicity.

“I am here to apologise Tony for my remarks the other day. I recognise that you and Cynthia have something good going for you and I hope that at least I will get an invite to the wedding.”

“That’s a promise.” Tony said.

As he spoke his attention was drawn to the noise of a hovering helicopter which had come in very low and seemed to be preparing for a landing on the tennis court. Pat came out of the house and called to Tony

“Get inside Tony we do not want you to be recognised..”

Tony dashed and got into the house quite quickly and watched proceedings from the lounge window.

Pat waited for the engines to stop before she approached the two men who had jumped down from the helicopter. Before she could speak the one man said.

” I am Eddie Haines, we are from the Sunday News and I am here to interview your guests “

In reply Pat said. “I am Superintendent Pat Noble of the Metropolitan Police and seconded to the security services . You are all under arrest for unlawfully entering a prescribed area . I am arresting you and anything you say will be taken down and may be used in evidence. I assume you are working under orders from you employer and so they will also be vicariously liable for your intrusion and may face charges. The police will be here shortly to escort you away and the RAF will impound your helicopter at RAF Didshaw”

A press release from the home office the following day gave the short announcement .

A privately owned Helicopter carrying a pilot and two reporters of the Sunday News violated the air space over a prescribed security area of Southern England. The civil aviation authority maintain that they did not approve and would not have approved a flight plan allowing the plane to go into that area. All three people on board have been arrested and are being questioned by MI5 at a London police station with a view to prosecution.

It was three months later when the new Prime Minister looked around the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street. He had a smile on his face as this was his first cabinet meeting of the new government. I suppose ladies and gentleman that the first order of business is to ensure that our spouses do not make the same mistakes as our predecessors.

*** Epilogue

It was some months later that Cynthia knocked on the door of an apartment in Ealing. She had a large suitcase with her. Tony opened the door and he opened his arms to welcome his fiancé into his home .”Welcome to your new home and new life darling.” They were kissing passionately as he kicked the door shut behind them.

The End