Everything to Lose (8 page)

"Right
boss."

"I
hope so Scott because if Shawlens gets barbequed under your nose. I'll personally rip out your liver and serve it with onions in the mess. AM I CLEAR?" she bellowed.

"YES
BOSS."

Scott's
expression conceded the error of his thoughts. Zoe reminded them of the op at Ardwell Bay and the fact that Barscadden got away in a small submarine. Barscadden's vast empire was built on intimidation, murder and theft. Gavin Shawlens together with Emma Patersun were the main instruments that brought down the high and mighty billionaire.

Toni
and Scott knew part of the story and in particular the killing of six Special Branch officers by WRATH in a failed attempt to rescue Emma Patersun. There was wild speculation in the Special Forces community as to why Special Branch didn't call for SAS backup to help overcome WRATH.

They
didn't know, so Zoe told them in confidence, that pregnant Emma Patersun and her sister Donna were murdered when their home was razed to the ground by arson. Zoe told them Emma Patersun was Gavin's childhood sweetheart and the violent loss had put Gavin Shawlens in a state of melancholic limbo.

They
agreed that as far as Barscadden was concerned his revenge was only half complete. They discussed how Barscadden might attempt to kill Gavin Shawlens and how they would prepare. Zoe told Toni and Scott to shadow Gavin Shawlens when he was out of her sight.

She
warned them he was not thinking straight so they should expect him to make mistakes. They accepted Shawlens shouldn't be in the field with a troubled state of mind but the Lambeth Group needed his expertise. As they gathered their briefing papers Zoe pointed an accusing finger at Toni.

"By
the way Sergeant we're not done by a long chalk," Zoe said to Toni and smiled.

"Any
time any place boss, you name it, I'll deal with it," Toni replied with a smirk.

Zoe
and Toni were like two big girl guides always trying to outdo each other. In their last challenge they went river sledging in the Scottish Highlands to race against each other. Lying flat on a plastic sledge they skimmed at high speed down a rapid white-water river course.

Toni
won because Zoe caught a 'play wave'. It’s a section of water where the rock formation forces the current to turn upstream. It's dead water so you have to paddle by hand out of it. The whole of the Highlands heard Toni's WOOHOO YEEHAH echo when she reached the end of the course first. That put the score at 7-5 in Toni's favour with first to reach ten the winner.

Loser
chooses the next contest so Zoe made her choice. She said the next event would take place at the Warcop Tank Training Area, in Cumbria. Zoe's chosen contest; parallel parking a 62 tonne Challenger main battle tank, against the clock, best of three. Both of them have ridden in a Challenger battle tank before but parallel parking. That would be a new experience.

12

University
of
South
England
,
Hampshire

At nine in the morning the Attenborough Building was heaving with excited students sheltering from the heavy rain pelting down outside. The glass wall panels of the entrance where fogged with condensation. As Gavin Shawlens navigated his way around huddles and clusters of students in the foyer he saw a portrait of Sir David Attenborough high up on the wall looking over them.

As
he stepped around students to climb the stairs he wondered how Sir David might describe the chaos then the immortal Attenborough 'Life on Earth' voice popped into his head …
and
so
,
the
eager
young
gibbons
have
gathered
in
their
hundreds
,
at
the
mouth
of
this
spectacular
cave
of
learning
,
for
the
old
gibbons
to
show
them
the
ropes
.

When
he arrived at the Department of Sports Biology office on the second floor the corridors were crammed with streams of students looking for lecture room numbers, looking for staff, looking for timetables, looking for laboratory rooms and a myriad of other things that are new at the start of a semester. Many of them were clutching a piece of paper that needed an academic signature for the next step in their registration process.

Gavin
Shawlens had experienced similar new semester chaos many times at the University of Kinmalcolm. He navigated queues, clusters and 'lost' students wandering around, to reach the Head of Department's office. He raised his voice over the melee of student chatter to introduce himself. The HOD's secretary had to raise her voice to tell him that her name was Kate as she guided him to the HOD's office. The name on the HOD's door was Professor A. H. R. Wood.

"Dr
Shawlens in you come. You found us alright," Alastair Wood said as he shook Gavin's hand with a finger-crushing grip.

One
by one he introduced his senior staff; Professor John R Russell, Professor Brian S Bartlett, Dr Keeley J Hughes and Professor Kevin R Buzzwall.

In
turn they all exchanged business cards and took turns in crushing Gavin's fingers except for Keeley Hughes whose handshake was firm but comfortable. A crushing handshake was obviously a requirement for promotion in this Department. Gavin was glad he started the business card exchanges because there was too much name and title information to absorb.

The
HOD's room was large with expensive furniture a grand conference table with twenty-four leather-covered chairs bearing the University crest on the back. Gavin took a seat opposite Professor Wood and his staff, who sat in a row, so it felt like a job interview.

The
grand room, the suits, fancy titles, superior attitudes and high-brow introductions were intimidating but Gavin Shawlens in his usual casual clothes had seen this behaviour many times before and saw it for what it was - imposing nonsense.

"Call
me Keeley," she said with a friendly face as she handed her business card.

"Sorry
about the pandemonium outside," Alastair half-apologised with a hand gesture.

"It's
good to see plenty of students. Recruitment at Kinmalcolm is down three percent this year. Panic." Gavin said.

"We're
introducing an electronic registration process to cut down the paperwork. Just a few teething problems," Keeley said.

"We
have that at Kinmalcolm. Unfortunately," Gavin said with a tragic look.

"You're
not a fan then?" Keeley asked.

"It's
fine for students on set degree programmes with few options. Less good for students who want max choice in a cafeteria degree system. The module pre-requisites come into play and crash the system. You end up sitting down with the students to register them manually," Gavin said.

"We
fixed that by eliminating module pre-requisites," Brian said.

"We
did that, it's a nightmare. Last month I had a meeting with a student who failed my level three biochemistry module. Her exam answers were poor because she didn't do my level two module that underpins level three," Gavin explained.

"How
did that happen?" Brian asked.

"The
max choice system allowed her to take a level three biochemistry module never having done any biochemistry before."

"That's
not good," Brian said to Alastair.

"The
new registry system allowed her to enrol for the module without pre-requisite passes in level one or level two," Gavin said.

"You
should sit down with Gavin and gain a better insight into these systems," Alastair said to Brian.

Gavin
and Brian nodded to each other to acknowledge they would meet up.

"Gavin's
purpose here is to facilitate greater research collaboration with Kinmalcolm University," Alastair said to his colleagues.

"A
key criticism of our last RAE was that we didn't have enough international collaboration. So new links with Scottish Universities will strengthen that corner," John said.

Gavin
Shawlens spent the next thirty minutes discussing how he would match-up potential collaborations with research teams in Kinmalcolm and in other Scottish Universities.

He
talked of short-term exchanges of research staff, students and research technicians, of joint development of a programme of training and studies for postgraduate research students.

He
promised joint applications for major equipment and project grants, engagement with industry for knowledge transfer. He offered to share intelligence on how best to prepare a top class submission for the next RAE.

Alastair
Wood and his staff were impressed with Gavin Shawlens. Alastair gave Gavin a confidentiality agreement to sign to make sure that Gavin couldn't steal any of their research results or ideas. Gavin looked with surprise at the document but signed anyway.

The
group were joined by Professor J. Lee Kwan and he escorted Gavin on a tour of the Department's research facilities. He showed Gavin to his office and laboratory. He introduced Departmental staff, research students and technicians they met as they walked around.

When
the tour was over Gavin sat down in his new office and smiled as he looked around. He went into the den of lions and told them a good enough story to allay their concerns. They seemed impressed with his pitch and he sensed no suspicions or doubts. He felt confident they had no idea what he was going to do to them.

* * *

"What
do you think?" Alastair asked his colleagues.

"I've
looked him up. BSc and PhD in biochemistry at Heriot-Watt University before moving to Kinmalcolm University. He's a research star, well known, his research is cited as world class and from what we've just heard he knows what he's talking about. I think he could be useful," John said.

"I
don't doubt he's a top researcher or that his work is excellent. I want to know what he's doing here," Kevin said and thumped the table.

"Well
I told you that Dianne, our esteemed Vice Chancellor, called me into her office and told me Gavin Shawlens was coming to beef up our research collaborations. She said I was to give him full support," Alastair said unconvincingly.

"What's
bothering you?" Brian asked.

"I
didn't like her attitude. When we get an award or a new grant her attitude is gracious, charming, often celebratory with a glass of sherry. She makes me feel like I've won a watch. When she told me Shawlens was coming here, her attitude was cold, matter-of-fact, no negotiation. It was not a prize. When I said we didn't have a spare office for Shawlens. Snap! An office was made available," Alastair said.

"Maybe
Dianne thinks our next RAE is going to be poor," John said.

"Or
she's had wind of something else," Kevin said.

"What
else?" John asked.

"I
know the chemists are shitting bricks because their research isn't even nationally recognised. Closure is high on their cards," Kevin said.

"I
don't think we have anything to worry about. I've spoken to a couple of people who know Shawlens and they say he's a typical unmarried academic nerd with his head firmly set in a bucket of enzymes. He's not a business hatchet-man type," John said.

"He
brought his technician. Surely he's here to do research," Keeley said.

"He
may have a brain but apparently he's useless at basic lab skills and that sort of thing. So his technician does it all for him," John said.

"What
an arsehole," Kevin said.

"Exactly,"
John said.

"Well
I don't care what our VC wants. Shawlens is not poking his nose around my labs. I have commercial projects starting to bear fruit. I don't want any distractions," Kevin said forcefully.

"
Well then make an appointment and tell her how you feel about this imposition," Alastair said.

"If Shawlens becomes a nuisance then I will see her and I will tell her to get him out of my hair," Kevin said.

"Maybe we should give him some teaching to keep him busy," Keeley said.

"Good
idea Keeley. Can you organise some final year tutorials?" Brian asked.

"Give
him the social inclusion group," John said.

"Group
E, okay," Keeley said.

"Just
keep him away from my research team," Kevin said.

"Let's
keep his head in his own research bucket," Alastair said.

"Where
are you putting him?" Brian asked.

"Kevin
has moved his students out of K416 so I've put Shawlens and his technician in there. It's isolated so they will be on their own most of the time," Alastair said.

"John
can you ask Shawlens to give a research seminar? So everyone will have a chance to know who he is and what he's doing here. It will make it easier to keep tabs on him," Alastair said.

"No
problem," John replied.

"I
think we should tell all the staff and research students that Shawlens is some sort of research inspector and that they should be guarded about what they tell him," Kevin said.

"Is
that really necessary?" Keeley asked.

Alastair
Wood was unsure about this ploy. If word got back to Vice-Chancellor Dianne Mesholey there would be trouble. He allowed his colleagues time to discuss the pros and cons. Then Alastair suggested that some well placed rumours with a few research students would be better for raising caution rather than a direct comment from senior staff.