JASON STEED Absolutely Nothing (2 page)

“You wouldn’t believe how many teenagers run away from home to the bright lights of London. Over seventy-five thousand a year according to the police. Apparently some turn up at the Salvation Army after a night or two out in the cold. They basically told us to go home and wait. Abigail has been missing for four days. We can’t just go back to Manchester and sit around and wait,” Bill said. He drank his glass of Port in one swallow, then helped himself to another and started to pace up and down.

“My sister is staying at our home just in case Abigail calls home. I’m not leaving London without her.” Pauline sobbed. Ian put his arm around her and comforted her. An awkward silence engulfed the room.

Eventually Jason broke the silence. “I know people at Scotland Yard. Well, actually Scotland Yard Undercover Intel. They owe me a favour. I can call and ask if they can help.” He smiled, took off his cap, and plucked his blond fringe of hair down in front of his eyes.

Six months had passed since Jason had gone undercover for SYUI and Inspector George Young. He'd helped uncover a drug smuggling plot with the Triad. George Young was now head of SYUI.

Despite many attempts by George to use Jason again to work undercover, Ray wouldn't allow it. He'd actually banned George from having any contact with Jason again.

Jason looked at his father before he dialled SYUI. Ray reluctantly nodded and gave him the go ahead to make the call. The phone was picked up on the second ring. Jason asked the phone operator at SYUI to speak to George Young. The operator sighed when she heard a child’s voice and took Jason’s name while placing him on hold after telling him Mr Young is a very busy man. She seemed surprised when she came back on the line, saying George instantly agreed to speak to Jason.

“Jason Steed. Is it really you?” George asked.

“Yeah, hi George.” Jason grinned.

“Does your old man know you’re calling me?”

“Yes, Dad's here with me. I need to ask a favour, George.”

“Anything to help you, Jason. What can I do?”

“Can we come in and see you?” Jason asked.

“
We
? Sure come on in. I'll be here for a couple more hours.”

*

Jason, his father, and the Giles family waited at the reception desk while the desk sergeant sent a message to SYUI. When George appeared he headed for Jason and held out his hand. Jason ignored the hand and gave George a hug instead, much to the surprise of the others.

George was dressed in his usual attire—black pants, white shirt, and a black jacket with matching tie. As usual, he smelt of cigarettes and body odour and his hair was greasy. Jason thought he looked just as unhealthy as he always did. His stomach over hung his pants and his shirt buttons were straining at the seams.

George and Ray shook hands; there was no love between them, but they made an effort for Jason’s sake. Ray introduced Bill and Ian, but George moved directly to Pauline. He took her hand, sat down with her, and looked up at Jason waiting for an explanation. The man had a knack for knowing when someone was in trouble.

“Pauline's daughter Abigail ran away from home. She's only fourteen, but her friend said Abigail was heading here from Manchester,” Jason said giving a tight-lipped smile. He studied George and thought the man looked a bit fatter than he remembered.

“Do we know why she ran away?” George asked, stroking Pauline’s hand.

She was unable to answer and started to cry, so Ian explained. “Abigail went ahead and got her tongue pierced after we told her not to do it. We had a huge argument about it. She never came home from school and told her friend she was going to London. She has this dream and wants to be an actress one day.” Ian held Pauline’s other hand while he spoke.

“Okay, come with me.” George sighed before he put his hand over his mouth while he loudly burped. He walked ahead down a long corridor. The corridor was line with large offices, each with glass doors. George paused and spun around. “Look, we don’t normally allow members of the public in here, but since you’re with Jason and he works for us, I’ll make an exception. Some of this is classified, so forget what you see once you leave.”

Ray frowned at George’s remark.

George stopped at the first door and looked in. Inside, two officers were going through papers in manila files. Another was talking on a phone. On the walls were pictures of men, some taken without their knowledge from a distance.

“This is our criminal underworld dept.” George said opening the door.

The officers looked up and nodded as the guests walked in. George pointed at a board with a picture of a large man with white hair and a broken boxer’s nose.

"This is Mick Vango. I’ve been after this geezer for years. Because of the intimidation of jurors, he got away with murder after he killed a nightclub owner. He’s known as ‘The Hammer.’ hen he was younger he was a boxer. He was also the best man at Robbie Kemp’s wedding. You know Robbie Kemp from the notorious ‘Kemp Twins.’ We know he’s still stealing everything that’s not tied down and now has moved onto dodgy cars and drugs. It’s just a matter of time before I get him behind bars.”

George passed the next few offices without mentioning what cases they were investigating. He paused at an office and looked down at Jason.

“This is where we keep track of your old friends Jason, the Triad.” George winked. Jason looked through the glass window but kept walking. “It’s quiet in there now thanks to you. We just check on their activities to see if we can sniff out anything.”

Jason shuddered as he thought about his last mission. It was something he wanted to put behind him. He went undercover in a boy’s detention center to befriend a Triad leader’s son. Although the mission was a success, it had almost cost Jason his life.

“Ah here we are.” George sighed loudly as he opened a door to an office. They followed him and gasped at the sight of the wall of photographs of children, mostly aged between eleven and sixteen. Most of the pictures were school photographs and showed the children in uniforms a variety of colors and styles from around Great Britain.

“Are all these children missing?” Ray asked astonished, glancing over the fresh young faces.

“Sadly, this is just the ones who have turned up dead. There are thousands of kids who run away and come to London. Unfortunately, maybe two to three hundred turn up dead each year,” George said casually. “Across the UK, over seventy thousand kids aged eleven to sixteen run away from home every year. They travel across the country and arrive here in London, mostly via the train from their hometown or city connecting stations. Beneath the attraction of London’s bright lights and historic city hides a much darker side. A seedy underground network that prey on these young runaways.

Thousands never return home. Some are forced to work for no money. The lucky ones get menial jobs in sweat factories. Unlucky ones just roam the streets. Some are locked up in youth detention centers for theft. The remainder are never seen again. We believe they're sold on an international black market for body parts or forced into illegal activities, becoming entangled in our gruesome underworld.”

Pauline and Ian looked horrified. Pauline started to cry.

“I’m not saying your daughter’s dead, far from it. If I can help in anyway then these people can.” George said pointing at two male officers and a stern looking lady officer. George explained to his officers the situation. They glanced over at Jason and started to speak among themselves. The woman officer came over and shook Jason’s hand.

“So you’re the famous Jason Steed. It’s nice to meet you at last. I was a junior detective when you were working for us on the Boudica Triad case. I work here in the illegal children’s labor dept no. I’m Barbara Inkpen. Please, call me Barb.” She smiled.

George interrupted and explained that London had over twenty gangs that he knew of that worked selling children. It was cold hearing the real life events that happened in the back streets of London. Children as young as eleven were sold like animals to rich clients, and some were used for organ transplants. Healthy young organs could fetch a fortune. Many of the donors would be left in unsanitary conditions and die in agony.

George was optimistic that Abigail was probably just roaming the streets with other young runaways she had met up with. He just wanted them to be prepared for the worst.

“She would have arrived at Paddington train station,” Bill explained in his upper class accent. “Surely one has people watching the station?”

“Paddington has over two hundred thousand people a day passing through. Maybe twenty-five to thirty thousand are school age children, either going to school or visiting family. Do you propose we stop and interrogate every child under sixteen? Not to mention they likely wouldn't tell the truth,” George snapped.

“Then what did you bring us in here for?” Bill asked anxiously. “How on earth is this helping?”

“Well,” George said loudly. He looked at Jason and gave a smile. “If we could have a kid run away, get a train to Paddington, and hang out and see who attempts to pick them up we may have a lead. It would of course be safe. We'd keep watch from a distance. But the kid would have to be able to look after himself if there was a problem.”

“No way.” Ray snorted. “George Young, you never bloody give up do you? Jason has done more for his country than anyone should have to do. How can you even think of using him again?”

George sat on the end of a desk and folded his arms with a straight face. “Unless you’ve got another idea how to get on the inside and find out where these kids get taken, then I guess you lot had better start walking the streets of London looking. But if there is anyone who could do this, Jason could. If they picked up Jason it would be like handing them a ticking bomb. If they tried to touch him, he would rip ‘em apart.”

“It would work. He’s extremely good looking, small and blond. Many would pay a high price for someone like him.” Brenda smiled at Jason who was blushing. “I love how you have your blond hair hanging over your eyes, you look so cute.”

Chapter Two

Reluctantly, Ray Steed agreed to allow Jason to work as a decoy for the undercover operation. Jason was delighted to get time off school and to work for SYUI again.

He also insisted his best friend Scott worked at SYUI while he was undercover. Jason trusted Scott; he had twice before been an advantage. Scott would help monitor his progress. If Jason needed to meet with someone to pass information, it would look harmless if he was just talking to another boy his own age.

While preparing to go undercover Jason and Scott spent a day reading some of the case files from the missing or dead children. Jason was physically sick when he read some of the files and learned what some children were forced to do. It made him more determined to work undercover and try to help save some of the runaways.

Raymond Steed drove Jason fifty miles out of London to Reading train Station. Reading was a major bypass station most travellers would pass through. It made sense to board here. Scott went along for the car ride to keep Jason Company.

SYUI were already in place at Paddington train station; one of the officers was working at the newsstand. It was a busy Sunday and he was angry at the amount of newspapers he was forced to sell to members of the public. Cursing under his breath that he did not join the police force to sell newspapers. Other officers were in similar positions; one was emptying trashcans and picking up trash, while a few others acted as passengers roaming around as if waiting for a train.

*

Jason took a deep breath of fresh air as they climbed out of the car. Scott stretched his arms and yawned.

“Jase, why are railroads always angry?” Scott grinned.

Jason hated to ask he knew Scott was going to throw a hundred jokes at him. “I dunno. Why are railroads angry?” Jason asked.

“Because people keep crossing them.” He laughed and Jason grinned once outside the station, he gave his dad a hug and a kiss goodbye.

“I’ll be home in a couple of days at the most, Dad. Don’t worry.” Jason said.

“But I will worry. Look after yourself. As soon as someone tries to pick you up, let SYUI take over,” Ray said, holding Jason so tight he could hardly breathe. They kissed again. Jason gave Scott a quick ‘man hug’ goodbye.

“See ya, mate. It'll be nice to miss school tomorrow.” Jason laughed.

“Yeah, I’m going straight to SYUI. As soon as you know something call in. Oh here you
must
take this,” Scott said passing Jason some gum.