Out of control (12 page)

He had heard me introduce myself at the desk when I had visited the company. Might he connect Bob Bruce with Liam Bruce? Possibly.

From what I’d seen of the man and how Brian had described him it was a distinct possibility that he was Irina’s ‘field manager’ in the drugs business and had a lucrative little source of revenue on the side.

This needed thinking about because I didn’t fancy getting too close to that kind of stuff. On the other hand we were perhaps in a position to help the police. Maybe we could do a bit of snooping before I talked to Ross. Mike would be up for that.

I decided to talk it through with Mike and Liam so I phoned him and asked him to come back down with his godson. They were just about to set off the next morning for a two day climbing expedition so he said they’d come straight down when they got back.

That suited me fine. A couple of days of golf and maybe Brian would have come back with some more information by then. Meanwhile I checked with Helen to find out how her presentation was going. We agreed I’d come over the next Monday to review it with her.

*

Mike and Liam came down, as promised, after their expedition. Liam now had his first two Munros under his belt and was very keen to tell me all about their trip. They had had to hike six miles to get to the foot of the first one which they had scaled the first day. 
They had camped out over night and attacked the next one the following day. Mike and Oscar, his black Labrador, were now at thirty.

Mike was determined that they would get to fifty and was even thinking of developing a special harness so that he would be able to carry him on his back if there was any rock-climbing to be done.

After lunch I told them what I’d learned from my visit to LyonPharma in Edinburgh and my meeting with Brian Dawson, and asked Mike’s opinion as to what, if anything, we should do next.

“We can’t do anything about the patent business,” he said. “Let’s just drop it. You said that even if we did have proof that they had got the information through Liam, it wouldn’t make any difference. I’ll believe you.

“As for that poor girl – I hate that kind of thing. I saw too much of it when I was in the army and couldn’t do much about it then. If we can help the police nail this bastard let’s try. I can easily get Mac and Doug and we can do a bit of shadowing for a few days and see if it leads to anything.”

Just then we were interrupted by the phone.

It was Brian.

“Just thought it might interest you. I’ve just been talking to one of my old regional managers. He moved companies only a week ago so was quite happy to talk. He told me that Macek has brought a new foreign girl over for a three month training stint in the IT department – just like Irina. Nothing else on the share purchase yet. I’ll call again if I hear anything.”

I thanked him and hung up.

When I told the others Mike’s reaction was immediate.

“Right. Action. We go and talk to this girl and, if she tells us that she’s in the same boat as Irina was, we tell Ross.”

I 
wasn’t so sure about contacting the girl. It seemed to me that we would be getting too close for comfort. I didn’t want to get us mixed up in combating a possible drug ring with a bunch of Romanians. Some discreet following of Macek was pretty safe and wouldn’t expose us. Mac and Doug were experts.

“I think we should still stick to a couple of days of watching Macek. If that seems to confirm our suspicions we go to the police. It’s much safer. I don’t think it’s a good idea to contact the girl. What you can do is phone Brian Dawson, tell him who you are and, between you, get her name, address and, if possible, the phone number. Once we’ve got that we’ll decide if someone goes to see her. Anyway, I’m not sure you’re the right person to go interviewing young girls without creating a stir.”

He bristled. ”What do you mean ‘not the right person’?”

I’d seen Mike in action. I couldn’t really see him handling a young girl who was probably nervous and vulnerable but I needed a good reason to dissuade him.

“Listen,” I said. “I’ve met Irina. I know a lot more than you about how these guys operate and if she’s not keen to talk I’m more likely to be able to trick her into revealing things. You find out who and where she is and we’ll go together. How about that?”

He looked a bit hurt but reluctantly agreed. I was relieved that I’d avoided another of these brotherly bust ups which, from time to time, come between us. They happened less now that we were older but there had been some real beauties in the past - mostly when I had tried to give him advice about something.

“Fine. I’m bored. Sophie won’t be back for a while yet and I need something to do so we’ll stick to tracking Macek for the moment.”

I looked at Liam for his opinion.

“I’m not going back home for another month so if I can help in any way I’m up for it. Why not? Now that I know that Irina was forced into doing what she did I see things a bit differently. She was actually quite a nice girl and I don’t like the idea that there might be others out there like her being forced into crime by a bunch of gangsters.”

“Right,” said Mike getting up. He stood there, hitched up his trousers and put his hands on his hips, looking belligerent. “I’ll get Mac and Doug and we’ll mount the operation. Liam can help as well.”

That decided, I had something I wanted to do which needed Liam’s help. My abilities to flit around the internet were in no way up to the skills of the modern generation.

“Liam, can you go and find something on YouTube for us?”

“Sure. What are you looking for?”

“Brian told me that there are two videos of Dugain on there. I thought it might be interesting to find them and have a look. Maybe I can learn something about the man from seeing him interviewed.”

He went through to power up the computer and called us through a few minutes later.

The man was standing behind a lectern on a raised platform addressing a seated audience of around fifty people. Seated on either side were five of his executives.

As a back drop, there was a screen illustrating the company’s logo. The camera moved round and in to a closer view of the man we were interested in.

He was tall, thin and dressed in an expensive-looking suit, shirt and tie. At odds with his dress, his hair was long and wavy and he occasionally pushed it back from his forehead with a short jerky motion. Nothing too remarkable so far. His head was too small to be perched on top of such a tall frame but that wasn’t what struck me most. It was his eyes. Over small round glasses perched halfway down his nose they stared out at his audience. Grey, piercing, with an almost fanatical look.

The effect was mitigated however by a smile which accompanied his upbeat message. It was the usual stuff – investment for the future, caring for the community, satisfactory results, etc.etc.

I didn’t listen to the words. They were tailored for an audience which was only interested in hearing what it expected to hear. I was watching the man, the body language and the little gestures, trying to fit the picture in with what Brian had told me about him.

When he had finished his presentation there was no word of thanks to the audience nor the usual camaraderie amongst those on the stage as they move off. He simply left the stage giving, to me, the impression of someone who had little regard for anyone other than himself. A loner, I thought, and pretty egoistic.

The one-on-one interview was different. There he was sitting back in an armchair explaining to the interviewer how the company had made a major scientific breakthrough and would soon be able to put on the market an advanced drug for the treatment of Alzheimers which would benefit thousands of people.

He was in complete control of the discussion and only allowed the interviewer a few brief questions. He monopolised the air time. The only minor flaw I noticed in his performance was when he was asked how long it would take the company to bring the new product onto the market.

“We are hoping that we can make it available within two years.”

“But isn’t that a bit short? Don’t you need longer for clinical trials and approval by the authorities?”

He looked irritated for a second but brushed that one off.

“A lot of clinical trial work has already been done and we are confident we will get speedy approval.”

I raised my eyebrows at that and promised myself to ask Helen her opinion.

When the two clips were finished I asked the others what they thought. I was interested in their reaction because neither had had the advantage of hearing Brian’s comments on him.

Liam’s reaction was as one might have expected - quite impressed – but then he was young and hadn’t had the experience I had of meeting highly placed executives of big companies.

Mike surprised me. “That’s a business terrorist,” he grunted. “Comes over pretty smooth but these are the eyes of a fanatic.”

“I agree, but not a fanatic for a cause. Just totally fanatical about himself and nobody else. Did you notice how there was no rapport with his team? At the end he just walked off the platform.

“And I’ll tell you something else. He’s going to shortcut procedures and bring that drug out before it’s properly tested.”

Liam looked horrified.”He can’t do that, can he?”

“According to Helen it’s done all the time. They justify it by saying they want to save lives as soon as possible even if there might be unforeseen side effects. After all it is possible that side effects wouldn’t show up for ten years. Meanwhile people die. Better to take the risk. There is some validity in the argument but it should be competent authorities that take that kind of a decision based on a full disclosure of all the scientific knowledge available - not the bloody companies who have a vested interest in getting it on the market as soon as possible and starting to coin in the profits.”

We went through to the other room and planned the next day. Mike was going to get in touch with Mac and Doug and he would phone Brian to see if he could get the details of this new girl. I gave him Brian’s phone number.

I was going through to Stirling to see Helen and Liam asked if I could drop him off at Heather’s where he wanted to help her exercise the horses.

Liam and I set off the next morning.

There is an old track running north from the church at Monimail. It follows the line of the hills and has been there for centuries. It was originally one of the main north-south communication links in the heart of Fife cutting through the hills towards the Tay from the central plain – the Howe. The church spire identifies its starting point and would have served as a beacon for those travelling down from the north. From there ancient travellers would simply have needed to turn east and follow the road through to St Andrews.

The modern road follows the same route but down at the bottom of the glen. It’s a five mile stretch of narrow road which twists and turns until it arrives at Lindores Loch. It then skirts the loch for about a mile to where the old track comes out, giving access to the way north. Hills on either side flow down to the dry-stane dykes that border the road.

It’s a road where you don’t drive fast. You can’t. Because of the sloping fields on either side visibility is limited to the fifty yards or so until the next bend. But it’s a short cut and I often take it when heading up north or west. It always brings back fond childhood memories of winter skating on the frozen snow covered waters of the loch. Being only a few square miles in size it would freeze more quickly than the larger volume of nearby Loch Leven.

It was only after a minute or so that I noticed the car coming up behind us, seemingly in a bit of a hurry. Too bad I thought. There’s nothing I can do. You’ll just have to be patient.

The next glance in my mirror shocked me. All the muscles in my body tightened in fear. It was as if the lights had gone out. The whole of the front bonnet of a large black BMW four wheel drive seemed to be glowering in through the rear window.

I don’t know if the BMW engineers did it intentionally but, for me, the black radiator grill of a BMW coming up from behind has a distinctly menacing look to it. When it’s glued to your tail – it must have been as close as five yards behind me – it is definitely very scary.

I immediately increased my speed a little, hoping to open up a gap. The BMW driver speeded up with me and remained stuck there. Trying to accelerate out of the bends didn’t help. He had as much power as I had.

I tried slowing down but all that achieved was an impatient horn and a flash of lights.

I was now getting both angry and very worried. Impatient drivers were one thing but on this road it was ridiculous. I pushed my speed up to the maximum that I felt was safe in the conditions, hoping to get to a straight stretch where I could let the bastard past.

I was now driving faster than I wanted to. My tyres screeched on the corners and I had to be extremely careful that nothing was coming the other way. The road is only just wide enough for two cars.

Safely round a left-hander. Thirty yards and a less acute right hander got us a little nearer to our objective. Fortunately I knew the road reasonably well.

Liam had turned round and tried to signal to the idiot to slow down, but to no avail. He was starting to look very worried. I was starting to feel bloody scared. I knew that there was a very tight bend just before the road arrived at the side of the loch. After that we’d be OK. There was a long curve round the water’s edge of about a mile and there would be a place where I could pull in and let him past.

The grey waters of the loch were now visible. Another sixty yards or so on a slight downhill slope. A tight right hander and I would be at the side of the water where I would have a more open road. I needed to be damned careful on this bend because there was no fence, ditch or wall between the road and the water – just a few yards of grass and stones.

“Look out!” Liam yelled.

I had been concentrating on the few feet of road in front of the bonnet on the left hand side and was making sure I was as close to the edge as possible in case anything was coming the other way. When Liam yelled I looked up and saw it.