Tuesday 28 June 2011

CDoart Pre-occupied ... with Richard Armitage

I should do a mountain of work for my little business, but can't get my head off the RA-Birthday topic.

The virus of this heavily contagious influenza really caught me.
This is also the reason, why I could not get my next "Intrigue" part out in time. Sorry!
It is ready, but I did not manage to get it into the computer. I am working to make up for it!!!

And now the reason why:

I have been busily working with Darlingdarling, to set up a website with a blog to centrally collect all the fan-support for Richard Armitage's "Richard III" project.
The first draft of the page with the petition for Richard III. can be found here:
KingRichardArmitage



Please give the page and petition your support, please participate and make the collective effort public.
An important information is, the signatures collected remain private and the mail-addresses will not be used in any way to spam you with advertisements. They are kept securely and will only be handed over, if Richard Armitage or his certified agent wish to use them in a way to further his cause with film investors, producers, etc.
Darlingdarling and I will keep you updated on the number of signatures collected.

Please also support Calexora with her wonderful idea for a fan-book for Richard Armitage's 40. Birthday. She collects, designs and organises it so admirably and I must add is very patient and helpful (!!! Thank you !!!).
She agreed to let me and Darlingdarling announce the petition-effort to Richard Armitage in our Birthday messages.  
What great heart and understanding for shy fans Calexora has ;o)

Her collective viewing and discussion of "North & South" will begin tomorrow, Wednesday 29th of June, 2011.


Darlingdarling and I will do our best to integrate fan-wishes, ideas and suggestions into the King Richard Armitage page to make it a mirror of the community effort this support for Richard Armitage and his film-project "Richard III." really is.

Thank you !

Sunday 26 June 2011

100. Post - Celebrations !!!

The 100. Post


I cannot really believe it myself. What did I always talk about?
Oh, one person and one person only ;o)
That must really be an exceptional person to write 100 blog posts about, considdering I do not even know him.
I am not even the only blogger writing about this person.
There are lots of wonderful blogs, communities, forums, tweets, facebook fan pages, etc. out there, all for this one person.
(I do not even want to start a list here, as this post likely would never come to an end ;o)

That person really must be a miracle, and yes, in my opinion he is:

Richard Armitage


Source: www.Armitage-Online.ucoz.ru

At first I wanted to include Champagne and glasses to celebrate, but is there a better way to celebrate than with a picture of Richard Armitage himself?
He is much more dangerous and headier than Champagne...

Friday 24 June 2011

Intrigue - Part 3.3: No Lucas With Ruth



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.





After once again a sleepless night filled with restless pictures from his past and the begging face of Lucas, Harry in the morning went to the door of his house to pick up the morning mail.

One letter caught his attention, lying directly on top of the rest of the letters. It was without stamp and address. Someone must have brought it just moments before, as he had heard the mail arrive just about ten minutes ago, while he had brewed his coffee.

When he took it up together with the rest of the mail, he felt some kind of hard object in it through the heavy white paper of the envelope. He rushed to the door and looked out, if he could determine someone leaving from his house. But no one was there.

When he closed the door behind him, he put down the newspaper and some further letters and advertisements on a side-table. He was too impatient to search for a letter opener or even to go into the kitchen to find a knife to open the letter and tore it open with his fingers.

A card fell out. Not any card, but his security card for Mi-5. Utterly alarmed, he went around the house and searched for signs of a break in, but could detect nothing unusual. He went to where he had placed the card last night together with his wallet and there the card lay as he had left it, the card he had brought back home yesterday. When he took it up, he could clearly read the name imprinted on it: Beth Bailey.

Had she recognized that they had mixed their cards and wanted to give back his card? But why not come in. She would not have any means to get back into MI-5 now without any card.

And then sudden realization washed over him. Beth did not want to get back into MI-5. She must have gotten all the information she wanted, when she now openly announced having had his card.

It was very unlikely that he would see her again.

Beth now was one more of his many failures. He should not have listened to Lucas to let her remain on the grid after her betrayal. But remorse came too late now. He searched his brain to dermine, when the card-swap could have taken place. They had had coffee yesterday, or had the swap been earlier? He could not be certain. He had been much too distracted since he had discovered that Lucas was still alive.

Did Beth work for Lucas all along? Did they have any personal connection? What was the goal of them? He knew they had not had any previous connection, as he knew Beth’s back-story. At least here he was sure that whatever went on between the two of them had started after their first adventure on that cargo-ship.

Harry was disturbed in his thoughts by the insistent ringing of his telephone. James Bennett, a colleague from MI-6, called. They would make all the inquiries and researches into his former cases. His presence at MI-5 was not required. When Harry still offered to come in, he repeated: “Your presence is not required and not wanted. So stay at home and enjoy your time.”

Harry harrumphed. Enjoying one’s day when the whole MI-6 was trying to find something incriminating in his past was not very likely. How could he enjoy his time under those circumstances?

Harry let it go and hung up the phone. He would need neither Beth’s nor his own card to re-enter the MI-5 building. Though, involuntarily or voluntarily, Beth had given him an opportunity to still get access, in case he wanted to, by leaving him her own card. At least for a short while, till they would recognize that she was missing and would cancel her access permission, as they surely had already done with his.



He would use the spare time he now had, to look through the files Lucas had had access to. He had not been able to concentrate on them, though he had tried several times during his sleepless night.

Harry filled his cup with fresh coffee and started to go through the files on his computer. He wanted to determine a pattern or a topic which might have been of interest to Lucas. But he could not make out anything. There were files about politicians, companies, numerous bank files. But the contacts were splattered all over the political scale, contained different economic branches and the contacts even were spread all over the world. Petro-chemical industry, machine manufacturers, farming conglomerates, biological laboratories, bankers, IT- and security companies, hotel chains, small and big companies, all kinds of companies were involved. The persons appearing in the files were as hard to get into one line as the companies were.

Suddenly one file popped up, which he knew well. The Nightingale file Ruth had prepared to detect the involvement of the former home secretary.

Lucas had known about that? That was not good. Harry had intentionally kept that information from him. Besides Ruth no one else knew about the real circumstances around the home secretary’s death and especially about his involvement in it. And now - Lucas must have figured out the happenings. No wonder Lucas had not trusted him enough to tell him about his own intentions, when he in return had not revealed such an important incident happening during Lucas’ promotion to become section chief.

He thought about Ros. Would he have trusted her in a similar situation? He was quite sure he would have. But with Lucas ...? Their friendship and trustful working together from before Lucas’ imprisonment in Russia just never had been re-established after his return.

Lucas had changed. He had become a grim, efficient machine, not the fun-loving, joking colleague any longer, he had been before Russia. Not that Lucas had been not effective and hard working before, but the easy going smile, always so ready to be on his face, was missing since his experiences in Russia.

He should have talked to him, really talked to him amongst friends, offered him an open ear to listen to what he had to tell about his past.

Now it was too late to feel remorse. He would have to find out, what had lead to Lucas’ behaviour all on his own now.

Harry turned back to the files on his computer.



From the files Harry opened, one thing was clear to him. As randomly assorted as they looked, they all had one thing in common. They were extremely important for world economy, so for some reason or other they were well chosen to get specific information. There was nothing accidental in their selection as he first had thought. He had even the impression Lucas in a way wanted him to see what he had researched.

He at first had thought Lucas had chosen some needed files and selected others around them to distract from the original purpose, as he had done last evening. But the one thing that connected all files was, they had importance for world economy and had the potential to destroy governments, not only single one’s, but around the whole world, without exception.

Lucas must have had some intentions with those files, but whatever they were, Harry had no idea.

He no longer believed Lucas had escaped to settle down somewhere in a hidden and peaceful spot in the world with all that money he had got from the Chinese. He more and more got the impression that Lucas was out there to settle some unfinished business and the impact of his actions would be recognizable around the world. Harry just had no idea what business that was and where to get hold of Lucas.


Harry worked all day on the files, but did not get any further in his research. He also had been right; Lucas had had access to all necessary information to find out the truth about Albany. Lucas had known all along that he handed over useless material to the Chinese. But still he had played the game and had lead Vaughan on.

Vaughan – perhaps he should go and look at the files from that angle? What connection did Vaughan have to Lucas and why did Lucas let him believe he played along with his blackmailing attempt? Had Lucas only wanted the money from the Chinese? Or had he wanted the money to now use it for his own purpose?

Harry at least had the impression that he had gotten somewhere, though he still had no idea where all those hints were leading.

When the doorbell rang, he was interrupted in his musings. He went to the door and, as he had expected, Ruth stood in front of him.

“Is it already that late?” he asked. He recognized that it was already dark outside.

Ruth looked at him and saw his dishevelled state. “Late? Late for what?”

“Oh, late for lunch.”

“Yes, most definitely. It is after 7 p.m. If you did not even have lunch so far, you should really get something to eat.”

With those words she took up a large bag standing behind her and smiled at him.

“The print-outs and ... I chose Chinese for this special occasion.”

Harry let her in and the fine smell of the Chinese dishes filled the air.

“You accept then?” he asked, still not quite believing and observing Ruth doubtfully.

Ruth went into the kitchen, put the dishes out from the bag and handed him the immense bag, still quite full with loads of files and papers.

“Yes, this time.”

Harry wanted to embrace her, but she turned to get some bowls out from his cupboards, preparing the meal with a bright smile on her face. She laid out the plates, while Harry went to light the candle. He opened a bottle of wine after consulting with her, which one she preferred.

When they settled down to start their meal, Ruth pushed a small package over to him.
“You should give it to me properly, Harry.”

“Why did you change your mind, Ruth?” Harry asked her, not answering to her request or taking up the package immediately.

Ruth gave him a half sad smile. “You know, a dead man told me, to take what is on offer and grab my chance for happiness. And though he might have been wrong in other aspects, Lucas was right in this one.”

“Lucas changed your mind?” Harry asked surprised.

“Yes, in a way he did. He did not change my feelings for you. They were there beforehand, so obvious for him to easily see. But he gave me back my belief that I deserved a bit of happiness. I think when I left for Greece those years back, I manifested in my head, that happiness was something I would not deserve to get and would have to sacrifice my feelings for the happiness of others. – Lucas taught me, that I deserved a bit for myself, because otherwise all world would trample over me, use me as pawn and not even be a bit better or happier about it.”

“Thank you, my dear”, Harry whispered reverently.

Harry silently took up her hand and slid a ring over her finger, taking up her hand and gently pressing a kiss on the back of her hand.

When Harry looked up and into Ruth’s eyes, all thought about food was totally forgotten for a long while.

After their meal, they mostly shared silently, sinking deeply into each other’s eyes, and kissing in between, they took up their wine glasses and settled in Harry’s living room.

There together on the couch, he held Ruth’s hand and slowly started:
“Not a dead man changed your mind, Ruth.”

When Ruth looked up startled about his words, Harry hurriedly continued:
“..., but a very alive one. Lucas North is not dead, or at least the man we know as Lucas North or John Bateman, or him, you know, Lucas...”

Harry was a bit embarrassed about his stammering.

“He did not kill himself?” Ruth asked, still not fully believing, what Harry just had told her.
“How did you find out?”

“The lab tests. Lucas must have prepared the dead man’s body to replace him, to leave him enough time to get away safely.”

“What a clever boy. Lucas, Lucas, ...” Ruth wondered. “He really played us.”
After a while, Ruth added: “Who else knows? I did not hear of a search for him in the office today.”

“Nobody knows, except Henley. And he will keep it to himself. All documentation is sealed. The cremation already was done today and the ceremony will be next week. There will be no sign of the truth to detect any longer.”

“Why did you keep silent about it? Wouldn’t it be better to hunt him down and eliminate him to prevent him to causing more trouble?”

“No, I don’t think he is out to cause trouble, or at least I think he has bigger goals than just to pose trouble. – I want to find out more about his motives and intentions. This is the reason why I sent you the DVD-ROM with all those files on it.”

“Then you do trust Lucas, don’t you?”

“I am not sure. He so intensely asked for my help. I don’t know what to make of him. At least I want to find out, what is the truth about him. If the news was out that he is still alive, all the world’s agents would try to hunt him down and there would be no way to interrogate him or even get him alive. No, it is better that everyone believes he is dead.”

Ruth nodded in full agreement.

“He was so caring, even friendly during my abduction, even trying to make me feel comfortable. It is hard to make him out. – You are absolutely right, we have to give him time and in the meantime find out more about his motives on our own. I have printed out most of the files. So far, I could not make out a pattern or connection between them.”

Ruth put the pile of paper on the living-room table and showed them to Harry.

“Oh, I have to tell you about what happened on the grid today. Beth is ill. She called in today and excused herself. Dimitri will be transferred to MI-6 and already got his go to join another department there. He will not come back to your department, even if the investigations go in your favour. Tariq remains there to help the research team of the MI-6 to get access to all files and as we expected, you and I are out, on temporary holiday, as they so friendly called it today. I will not have to go back there tomorrow.”

Harry acknowledged this by saluting to Ruth with his wineglass.
“That leaves us enough time for our own plans, even if we cannot leave the country for our honeymoon. Where do you want to spend it, by the way?”

He smiled at Ruth and gently took her into his arms for a warm and happy kiss, which Ruth gladly returned.





=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 3.4 (Coming soon)

Wednesday 22 June 2011

King Richard Armitage

Richard Armitage and King Richard III

- a project I would really love to see become reality in whatever form Mr. Armitage might want it or is able to get it produced -
For one, I do love to see Richard Armitage performing, but even when he does decide to not take a role in the play himself, I still would like to see his ideas and his attention for detail at work for the creation of a 'new' history about king Richard III.

That we do honour our 'hero', that he does deserve to be king, at least we as fans know for sure.
That he has the right qualities to be and portray a king, here I am sure that the next photo will be able to convince even the last doubters ;o)

---
Sorry - Picture has been deleted !!!
The used crown was a Wittelsbacher crown which
because of bequest regulations only can be used in direct context.
---


(The picture of the crown is from www.residenz-muenchen.de and is a Bavarian kings crown.
Source of the RA picture is: www.RichardArmitageNet.com
)

DarlingDarling has set up a new Facebook page "Richard III for Richard Armitage" to support Richard Armitage in his efforts for the film about "Richard III".
She as a rather new fan asks for our help to support and to spread the word about this effort to help Richard Armitage via that method.

Please join in and lets see, if we fans really can change the world to make it better, at least a tiny bit for Richard Armitage's film ;o)

It is a kind of birthday present (you know, the still secret one ;o)

Thank you !!!

Intrigue - Part 3.2: No Lucas Without Beth



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.





Beth Bailey walked through the offices. Harry had held a meeting with them all and announced that his time as head of the department would soon come to an end and investigations into his past assignments would start tomorrow.

Beth did not expect a brilliant future at MI-5 for herself now. She was rather new and the investigation against Harry would not cast a good light onto her own background, especially after her ‘friendship’ with Lucas North, who alone she had to thank that she was still a member of the section.

Lucas North - what a liar, what an illusionist.

Beth doubted, that what they had been told by Harry of the occurrences and the results of his interrogation had been all there was to the story. Lucas was such a talented man and the story line with Maya just did not ring true to her. She always had the picture of him in her mind, when on the run close to the airfield he had shot into the wheels of their vehicle and not tried to shoot them. Even when he had held a gun to her head in that park she had never had the impression he willingly wanted to hurt her. He cared for her, for the team, for Harry who’s opinion he valued over anything else.

That absolutely did not meet with a John Bateman trying to kill Harry on the roof of a building.

Her long years in private security had taught her to listen to her inner voice and that voice told her now, Lucas had had no reason to lead Harry away from the grid to let him live. Why kill himself when he could kill his opponent? An opponent he had lead to leave all security behind and who was absolutely defenceless? If he had felt hatred towards him, why had he prepared everything for Harry’s demise and then killed himself?

So fine a colleague she had Lucas experienced to be, when he had supported her through her first assignment for MI-5, she still had the impression he had absolutely been in total control of every step of the game. He knew what he did and calculated all his options meticulously.

She had seen how he had craved adventure and had excelled in leading them all along a merry chase, when he had abducted Ruth. That was not a man who did not know his identity or was likely to break down the next moment and kill himself. This was a calculating, well functioning machine, planning far ahead and seeing possible options far in advance. Leaving a love interest behind for 15 years and then breaking down after seeing her picture again, as Harry had told them about the back story, just was totally unbelievable for her. Lucas, the Lucas she had known, would have found a way out, a way nobody would have been the wiser, if he wanted to. But the question for her was more, why had he not wanted to contact his love of his life again and waited 15 years to do so?

No, she had to be certain about Lucas’ death and for that she needed a certain priority access card. She would borrow it for a while and afterwards give it back. To hide her own tracks she would swap her card with Harry’s, so if he did not directly look at the card, nobody would notice the temporary switch. They could have accidentally gotten hold of the wrong card while drinking coffee together and she would make sure that there was enough of a distraction to make that likely.

The swap went without complications, though Beth recognized, partially responsible for her success was, that Harry looked absolutely devastated and was distracted enough to do not care about the security card at all.

With Harry’s card hidden in the folds of her jacket, she went down to the laboratory, where the forensic department was situated. It was late already. She had seen Harry leaving the building some time ago, not recognizing, that he used her card at the doors instead of his own. She would have to swap it back next time they met.

The light in the laboratory already was switched off and when she entered, a flash of light welcomed her, when the lights reacting to movement, went on. Good to know that she was alone in the area. So nobody would question her or ask for a signed permission for her being allowed to enter.

She knew where the bodies were kept, as Harry had brought her and Dimitri down with him to examine the dead body of the Lucas-replacement they had shot during the operation. She had not seen that man before and his face had not meant anything to her. She had no idea where Lucas might have found this man willing to risk his life for him.

So now Beth was here again and searched for Lucas. What a strange feeling it was, to know, her colleague and admired helper was dead. She knew from her private assignments, that attachments were not helpful in the business, but still, she had had the impression that a kind of friendship and prosperous rivalry had formed between her and Lucas. She would have given everything to help him. Why did he not come to ask for her help, when his life fell apart? Had he not seen, how much she was willing to help him after he had helped her reach her cherished goal to remain on the grid? He must have known that he could depend on her.

First she opened the lid, where Lucas’ replacement was kept. Empty ...
That was strange! The report from the full autopsy was only due tomorrow. Where was the body then? Possibly cremated already...

Beth continued to search the occupied lids. Fortunately, the names were placed clearly visible in shrink-wrapped name tags at each lid.

Here, Lucas North.

Beth took a deep breath to get the courage to open the lid. Slowly she drew at the handle. Nothing. She pulled stronger - still nothing.

Who had locked the lid? That was quite unusual. All of Beth’s suspicions were up again.

She searched for a lock, but there was nothing on the lid. They must have some kind of external mechanism. Beth searched the room and found a small control desk in the corner of the room. There she found the numbers for the lids, but when she tried Lucas’ number there was still no reaction, though other lids opened without hesitation. On the control desk she found a slit for the MI-5 access cards. She put Harry’s card in and now the required lid swung open without further resistance.
Good that she had swapped cards. She now was quite sure that her access would not have sufficed to get anywhere near that room, let alone to Lucas’ body.

But why was it so secret, that they had closed down the access? Not that they were usually careless with the bodies, but locking it in, when already the access for members on the grid to the laboratory had to be signed by at least two authorities?

Her curiosity awakened, she eagerly went to the open lid, when otherwise she would have felt hesitancy to go and see a dead body, though accustomed to them she might be by now. She still had not lost her respect for the unmoving, empty shell of a former vivid, living creature.

She saw the tattoos and her hope sank. Oh no, it was Lucas! But when she got closer, she saw the watery end of fading tattoos and smaller body frame of a weaker and less in form body than Lucas had been. When she came to the face, she shrank back. But the recognizable part showed one thing clearly to her. That person lying dead in front of her certainly was not Lucas. If she could have a guess she would say it was the missing Lucas-replacement, but there she could not be certain about that.

She now searched for other clearly distinguishable signs on the body and found dissolved tattoo edges where the forensic must have done some tests. So one further thing became clear to her, the forensic must have determined that it was not the real Lucas North. And if he knew, she was quite sure that Harry Pierce knew that as well. Who else was in on that secret piece of information was unclear to her.

She closed the lid, cleaned off her potential fingerprints she might have left while trying to get the lid open, and carefully brought the room back into that state she had found it in.

Back in the grid, she now also was alone there. With determined steps she went to the bureau of Harry Pierce and turned on his computer. She searched for his last activities and found a list of copied files he had secured externally. She would try to get a further copy of them. Perhaps the access card would help her along, though she did not have the secure passwords she would need and had not the time to let a program crack the heavily secured encryption.

At least she would be able to get a printout of the filenames Harry had taken with him. Perhaps some of the files would still be in the temporary copy for the DVD-ROM, Harry had burned on the computer. Beth was lucky. As Harry had shut down the computer directly after copying the DVD-ROM, the temporary file had not been completely removed and Beth produced another copy of it, before she removed everything that would betray her ever being present in the room and left the MI-5 building.

Now Beth was ready to go.





=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 3.3

Monday 20 June 2011

Intrigue - Part 3.1: No Lucas - No Fun



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.





Harry Pierce walked up and down inside his office. He just had received a call from the Home Secretary. His influence did not seem to suffice to keep Harry in his position. Researches were to start tomorrow and there was an unnamed, influential group involved, demanding his at least temporary release from any office as long as researches into his affairs were going on.

Harry was not overly disturbed about this, whatever the outcome was. He had had his career and had seen lots of injustice and suffering. In lots of cases he had not been able to help or had made things even worse than they were before. It all seemed so futile to him at the moment. He would be glad to lay down his responsibilities and step back from his position.

The picture of his son popped into his mind. Retirement would leave him time to care for those he really cared for. What difference could he make here? It was as good when he left. He did not cling to his office seat. He had offered the home secretary his resignation, but he had refused once again. The home secretary had told him, Harry could do nothing better to help his opponents. But Harry did no longer care whichever way the researches went. He was tired, tired of all the sacrifices he had made for his work. His family, his wife, his son. He thought about Ros and Lucas...

He felt tired, empty, devastated and the worst part was, he felt utterly helpless.

The thought about Lucas brought back his initial intention, before the telephone call had interrupted him. He had to hurry to find out more about Lucas' real purpose behind his strange behaviour. He had to access the systems secret files before his access was restricted.

He was not sure, should he involve Tariq to help him cover his tracks inside the system? – No, he decided. That would only leave one more security risk, even if he would not tell Tariq what he was searching for.

He would use the same method Lucas had used. He could not get used to the idea to call him anything other than ‘Lucas’. His real intentions would not be hard to hide as he clearly did not know what he was searching for. Ruth had provided him with a list of all files which had been touched during Lucas’ break in. It would take him hours, if not days to get access to all of them and look them through. Fortunately his still in place full access allowed him even to copy those strictly restricted files. He would take them and would get a smokescreen in place by accessing and copying quite a number of further top secret files, which were important for national security, but Lucas never had touched. They would get all alarm bells of potential researchers on, but would not give away his real intentions.

He got to work and copied as important files as electricity supply for CCTV around Buckingham Palace. If that would not get their full attention, he did not know what else would.

After an hour he was content with the files he had selected, secured them on stick and copied them on a DVD-ROM, to be double sure. He shut down his computers and turned off the light of his office. The DVD-ROM he placed in a hard cover and packed it in an envelope he addressed to Ruth. He added a small, in soft cloth covered object, sealed the envelope and put on stamps.

Then Harry left the office altogether, not expecting to be allowed in again on the morrow. He went down to the Thames River, posted the envelope in a nearby postbox he knew was unobserved and left for his car.

At home Harry poured himself a glass of Whisky, sat down in his leather armchair and took up the newspaper. He was not really in a mood to take in today’s news or even the headlines. He sat there, hidden behind the newspaper and skipped to the obituary notices and found, what he had searched for:

Lucas North
Lucas. We regret to announce the death of Lucas, aged 36, mourned by his colleagues and friends. Private Cremation Ceremony for family and friends only on Tuesday 28th June at 2.30 pm.

Harry pressed his lips together. The cremation would already be finished by then and he doubted that many of his former colleagues and friends would appear at the ceremony. He was reminded of the fake and real funeral for Ros and remained sitting there deeply in thought, swirling his Whisky in his glass, mesmerized from the dark brown liquid. He doubted that his next night would be any better than his last had been.

During the last night nightmares had kept him awake and what he clearly remembered of them was the repeated image of Lucas begging for his trust. What had Lucas meant by that in the final interrogation? Had all been a lie to fool him, to let him go? Should he – could he believe in anything Lucas had ever said? Who was he - was he really? What kept him going, what were his intentions in joining MI-5, working hard and befriending him? Had this been the real individual behind Lucas, the easygoing friend, efficient colleague and worker, intelligent operator? Or had it all only met a purpose, a purpose unknown to him, Harry?

At least now it was official: Lucas was gone.





=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 3.2

Sunday 19 June 2011

How Much Does Our Past Influence Us?



Calexora had a wonderful idea to make a book with congratulations from Richard Armitage fans all over the world to send him for his 40th birthday in August this year.

Pssst... - It's still a secret ;o)


Please participate in the «Collective Greetings for Richard Armitage's 40th Birthday» to make it a symbol and visible expression of how wonderful his fandom is.

The fan community is such a lovely place for me to be in, that I will support this effort.



You will wonder a bit about the headline for this article. But I must admit, I at first had second thoughts about participating, as I had bad experiences in my past and hesitate to participate in anything where I cannot take full control of the outcome.
It is almost 5 years in the past now, but still my former boss affects my behaviour and judgement of other peoples behaviour. I even erased his company's name from my openly visible background and CV information, to get rid of him and any connection to his company.

But the power he has to influence my head still remains firm.

It almost made it impossible for me to trust enough to send in my comment for the birthday greetings, though I really love Calexora's idea.

To have to document every word you speak, every instruction you give to colleagues, as otherwise your boss, for whom you have worked for years as his assistant, solving lots of critical situations for him and working day and night for the company to flourish, would try to make you responsible for every mistake anyone makes in the company. He tried to turn round every word I said to make me responsible for mistakes someone else made because of negligence and thoughtlessness.

He even tried to start doubt and mistrust between the colleagues and had quite a fine success with one colleague who should have been working for me, but who was putty in his hands to start one intrigue against me after the other. The last year I worked there it had been hard work to keep all those intrigues under control and stay ahead of them. Fortunately I have a good nose for strange behaviour of people and do not hesitate to confront them and talk about the reasons for it. So I had been able to solve the arising problems before they could get out of hands.
But still it is an enormous work load to do your usual quite immense work load and guard your back at every step you take.

This destroyed my nervous system and when I handed in my resignation, it was the happiest of days for me. I even started smiling again, what I had not done in this company for almost two years.


The result of it all is, I must admit, that now I am an absolute control freak. What I cannot control I do not do.

So perhaps it is a good sign to give up a bit of this total control and trust Calexora with doing a fine job for our collective Birthday Greetings for Mr. Armitage!

Thank you, Calexora, for doing this and for helping me on my way of healing!



P.S.: "Intrigue" will continue on Monday ;o)

Thursday 16 June 2011

Intrigue - Part 2.7: Nothing Comes Back



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.




Kehrwieder – “Come back”, what a name for a street in the harbour of Hamburg.
Al was not sure if he wanted to come back. If his job here was done, he would be glad to be gone never to return.

But before that could happen, a hard, nearly impossible operation lay ahead of him. To break into the security system of one of the world’s best guarded men. Modern technology, high numbers of security personnel and lots of personal guards, his own and those of his guests, which were very influential people in world business. This all made the mansion that man lived in nearly unbreakable.

Al intended to make his the one exception to prove the rule. What better way to break into a place than to enter it openly? He would get himself invited.

The Chinese had provided him with enough money for the ‘Albany’ files to easily be able to pull all necessary registers to make his invented back-story believable. – He would go in as Russian oligarch, enjoying his time in Hamburg’s brothels, throwing around with money and leaving the right hints at the right places. As reference contacts he would use some of the established Russian spy contacts, Oleg had hammered into his head. The contacts would answer that they knew him whatever name was asked of them, as they would expect an agent of their country was on a mission for Russia.

The first thing Al went out to organize was hire a local body-guard company to expect him at the airport. Nobody would believe his story if he did not pretend to fear for his life. Alexander Litw*nenko brought it home what kind of gratitude Russian citizens expected from their government.

His nearly perfect Russian language skills should suffice to pass muster, as the body guards were German and if they were not from the East they would have to use English to communicate with him, as his German consisted only of a few essential words to get something to eat but nothing more.

Al faked a perfect arrival by flight from Russia by getting into the security area of the airport while using a police uniform and entering the area as if he were at home there. As he did not go near the heavy security zones of the departure areas, but only entered the exit area behind the luggage return, his entering caused no further attention whatsoever. He easily could get into a toilet, change into a business suite and get out of the light security zone at the exit for his intended flight from Russia. The two body guards, both as big as he was, but bulkier and heavier built men, welcomed him directly at the openly allowed exit. They took their job seriously, Al recognized. He would have to be careful around them to not get them on his trail and make them suspicious. But as it was, he paid them and as an eccentric Russian they as Germans would expect quite a lot of strange behaviour from him - and that they should get.

For the first he asked them for nice company for the evening. He saw in their faces that this was exactly what they had expected of him. So, let’s go on not to disappoint his guards. When they asked for his luggage, he answered with a light tap on his breast-pocket and murmured in faked broken English: “Money”.

Source: CDoart - Hamburg 2002

The hotel had already been arranged according to their security suggestion. They arrived in the secured car park beneath the hotel in a secure limousine with tainted windows.

The hotel was one of the best addresses in town and had an exceptional view over the Binnenalster. He was reminded of another 'fake' agent, James Bond, who had visited this hotel once and had to smile over the coincidence.

Al felt alive. How he had missed this role-play during all his paperwork for MI-5. It was good to be rid of Lucas North.





=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 3.1

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Intrigue - Part 2.6: Nothing for Company



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.





The first Lucas North had wanted to go back to his real identity, as far as he had told him, and they even had prepared sand-dummies, either for Lucas’ burial together with Vaughan and for the fake burial after a car accident they had improvised for John Bateman to fool his contractors.

Al had not been in Dakar for the fake burial of his fake identity. But when Vaughan had told him, they had escaped from Dakar together, he knew something was wrong.

He had been gone before Vaughan left and had taken on a job on a container ship from the large international harbour not far from the British Embassy in Dakar.

There had only been one person left in Dakar who could have impersonated John Bateman and have gotten through with the disguise and that was the man he knew for Lucas North. He had never known his real identity, as Lucas never had known his entire back-story as Al Delarmy. They had been young and had loved the suspense and disguise going along with the agent’s profession. They had been friends and rivals about being the better spy all at the same time.

Lucas North must have his hands in this whole charade. But when this man had taken over the identity of John Bateman when they had agreed upon getting rid of this fake identity, he must have found something to make it worth his time to take over his role as a drug courier.

What had occurred back there in Dakar after he had left the town to make it desirable and safe for his friend to use his fake identity and risk discovery by meeting and leaving town with Vaughan?

Vaughan was a tool in a greater game. Al was quite sure, that Vaughan had thought his information he planted upon him, had been the real one. He had had no idea about the double play going on.

But who else was involved and how far did their power go? Was Harry involved, Ruth, Beth or Dimitri?

Vaughan had had access to the top secret MI-5 files through his secret contact. But he had not been able to make sense of the content he had found.

Neither had he found out that Albany had only been a bluff in a cold war about technological pre-domination, nor had he uncovered the true intentions of his customers. Were the Chinese played as Vaughan had been or were they part of the bigger game?

To find that out, Al was here in Hamburg.

Source: CDoart - Hamburg 2002






=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 2.7

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Intrigue - Part 2.5: Nothing to Trade



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.





Vaughan revealing to him that he still believed him to be John Bateman had told him, that Vaughan still did not know the true intrigue behind the Dakar happenings. He was not in possession of the true background story and had not had the confidence of the contractors back then.

But what role did the Chinese play in all of this? Did they not know or, as Al suspected, had they intentionally used Vaughan and his petty motives to get to torture John Bateman, a man now working for the MI-5 under wrong premises, making him his willing tool?

What motives did combine the leak inside the MI-5 and Vaughan?
To find all that out, Al was here in Hamburg to get in contact with his old contractors, who only knew him as John Bateman and once had let him down and left him stranded in Dakar, before changing their mind and reactivating him for the bombing of the embassy, informing him, that Vaughan would get in contact with him with further details.

But most of all they had needed the contacts and information he had gained during his imprisonment for details about a chemical formula. A dissenter against the current government had developed a super-drug, making the skin age more slowly with a lasting effect and making other cosmetic products or Botox injections quite unnecessary. The man had had the good instinct to keep all his files and recordings about this development a complete secret, so all sent agents and bribed colleagues were useless to acquire this formula.

The bombing had not been to destroy or kill people, but to destroy all evidence that this invention ever had existed. The scientist had sent in material to the ambassador to get registered with help through the embassy and in consequence a visa for the U.K.

After the bombing and the successful destroying of all evidence, Al had feared to have become their dispensable scapegoat and had prepared his silent departure from their employ.

His friend Lucas North, or the man he had held for Lucas North, had provided him with the ideal opportunity for an exit, when he mentioned his reticence to really becoming a badly paid spy for the MI-5.

Contrary to what Vaughan believed, he had not killed Lucas North, who had been quite glad to get rid of his invented identity to fool the strict enrolment tests of the MI-5.

With John Bateman ‘killing’ Lucas North in front of witnesses, Vaughan, no further questions about his departure would arise in Dakar.

As Al had really remained with this fake identity, he had had quite some work to do to fill in the blank spaces his friend had left in the background of his character. It had taken all Al’s skills to make this invention work and to create a tight and believable background story to get through all further MI-5 tests.

With Harry Pierce as his lead officer, he had found a working environment he had craved to really be part of. He had worked day and night to fulfill Harry’s high expectations. And when he had believed to be at the peak of his goals and get the promotion to officially being the section chief, he had been imprisoned in Russia.





=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 2.6

Intrigue - Part 2.4: Nothing to Disguise



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.






Hamburg, Germany -
Source: CDoart - Hamburg 2002
Town famous for the burger and its red-light district.

Al was here for neither, though he would not mind some fine and large dish.
The food on the container ship had been hardly edible. They must have chosen their cook as they had chosen him as specialist for their machinery, especially their large motors. Fortunately everything had been well kept and no problem beyond his abilities had occurred.

They even had wanted him to stay on for their next contract tour to Casablanca, Morocco. They would carry loads of old European cars down to Morocco, where the TÃœV regulations were not as strict as in Germany. A lucrative tour for all participants. Al had refused. He had personal business here in Hamburg, he had explained. Though he stayed the two days they needed to get the required papers and the unloading space at one of Hamburg’s cargo docks.

It also gave him time to do some research concerning his local contacts.

Source: CDoart - Hamburg 2002
Hamburg was a town of big business. Where better to start than in the motherland of those companies, who had employed him back in his time as drug agent. All assignments had been under the strictest cover of secrecy and in all deniable operations. That had been the reason why he had been stranded in Dakar, when one operation went not as previously planned – or at least not as it had been agreed upon with its executor, him.
Why that was so, he was here in Hamburg to find out.

He had to thank Vaughan for giving him that lead, though he had not had the least idea of what he had revealed to him by contacting him, calling him John Bateman and bringing him into contact with Maya again.

He had loved Maya back then, though he never revealed his true identity to her. She on the other side had made good use of the contacts he had provided her with. Becoming doctor in one of the most famous clinics in the middle of London and here director of a medical department was something only influential connections could achieve; learning and knowledge were nowhere sufficient for such a task.
He honoured it very highly that Maya would have left her comfortable existence and lucrative career for him.

With sadness he thought about her senseless death. He had hoped their love would be strong enough to overcome her doubts and the denouncements of his ill-informed colleagues. But he had not been able to reveal the truth to her, and as it had been revealed, he could not even trust her though she professed her strong and undying love and even was prepared to sacrifice her comfort. When even she had readily betrayed him without further proof of the accusations against him, a revelation to his ‘former’ colleagues was completely out of the question.

Al wondered, where one external informer like Vaughan, whom Harry had called unreliable and brewing his own mixture in all the intrigues of politics and power, got full access to the inner sanctum, the secret files of the MI-5? He must have had high and mighty contacts, to get that grade of access and very important helpers to remain in obscurity though the MI-5 had investigated all access files, after the discovery of his own, admittedly planned obvious, break in with the access code of the young technician.

There had only been three persons in their department with that high an access and enough technical knowledge. With his fake break in, he had ruled out one, though Vaughan thankfully took this as his going along with his blackmail.

With his approaching Malcolm, who had retired some time ago, he had ruled out the second one of his suspects.

Only one was left now, knowledgeable and able enough to play that stunt.






=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 2.5

Monday 13 June 2011

First Attempt - I Ruined 6 Needles

Dear Readers and encouraging Commentators,

Thank you very much for all your encouraging feedback to my violin post. You helped me very much and slowly I begin to see, why my nightmares had the connection to Richard Armitage.
He starts playing cello after years of not using his talent and I should do the same.
This weekend I started by caring for my violin and replacing some of the strings. But as one especially keeps tearing apart, the A string, I have all others, but not this one left and have to buy a new string set first before I can start practicing again.
One poem about Richard Armitage playing the cello I got for encouragement and I want to mention it here. DarkJackal32 posted it in a comment to my blog-post. It is so very lovely and sensually covers the attraction of playing the cello. Violin is very close to it. You take her in your arms and caress her. She will be able to feel your every emotion. That is also the reason, why violin and I can imagine cello as well are such cruel instruments to start learning, as they will reveal all your weaknesses ;o)

This weekend I also used for another test and attempt. With 6 ruined needles you can imagine, that is was very close to total failure, but at least I have a first result to show you.
I really did try to make a bag, but as I did not trust my abilities to transform the picture in a working stitching motive, I started on a ready made bag out of some kind of plastic fabric.
Here is my first result (The 6 ruined needles are removed, so you should be able to make out the object of admiration):


I will have to keep on trying to get a digitalisation, where I do not ruin so many needles next time. I will keep you updated on my results.
But now I also fear to use that bag. When I go out shopping, I would most likely draw a crowd of women ... Possibly I should cut the picture out and put it in a frame for me alone to admire ;o)

Thursday 9 June 2011

Why I Stopped Playing my Violin



For all of you awaiting the next episode of "Intrigue", please excuse the delay.
Today I only post something I have written after the Cello-fund raising for Christchurch.
Today I had been by the dentist, had computer problems and a load of telephone calls leaving me no spare time to continue with "Intrigue". So I will need a bit of time to work up the whole load I accumulated today and get back to pleasure ;o)
I will try to have the next episode ready for you next Monday.



The thoughts about Richard Armitage playing the cello brought back the memories of my time playing the violin during my school years. I had some nightmares lately about it, always starting with Richard Armitage images playing the cello. That is the reason, why I mention it here and perhaps, because it might help me to overcome this memory.

I loved to play the violin. It was the second, or better, the third instrument I learned. I started with flute before even being able to read. Learned the piano for years and even wanted to study music once, when I grew up.
So it was recommended, to learn a further instrument.
In my childhood, I had adored my father playing the violin. When he played, the violin lived and sounded with joy. So this instrument was my choice.
My father even bought me a cheap starting violin, where I could easily make my first learning steps.
After a while, when I grew better, he gave me his violin.
What a honour that was for me - his loved and cherished violin.
The only thing, he had from his early childhood years before the war. He had gotten it back years after the war, as a relative hid it with her belongings, when my grandmother and my father had to leave their home and had lost everything they had except the clothes they wore.

What a cherished instrument, my father got it from his admired violin teacher, who had wanted him to become a violinist before all the upheaval of the late war years. He had brought him this violin from a well known and esteemed violin maker in Brünn (Brno).

Now, why did I stop, when I loved to play, loved the instrument, the sound, the feel of it?
I now always have tears in my eyes, when I think about this instrument and it makes it hard for me to enjoy it.
I still have the violin, cherish it, for what it is, but I always must think about the following story of treachery and hatefully greedy behaviour.

I played in the school orchestra and had lessons at school with various teachers, as music teachers changed quite a lot during my time at school. I hardly had one longer than one year, mostly changing teacher even between the school years.
One teacher I had for a longer period of time, offered to send all violins of her pupils to a violin maker to repair and optimally care for them. She also recommended mine to be sent in. I hesitated and resisted very long and expressed that this was an especially precious violin to me. If anything should happen, I would make her responsible and can remember, that I made quite a fuss about this otherwise quite normal circumstance. I must have had a sixth sense back then.

When the violin returned, the 'steg' to set the heights of the violin strings, was lowered, which altered the whole feeling of the violin. The string holder had a knack, which some years later I had to replace completely because of that.
But the most important and for me absolutely devastating thing was, that the paper seal, the violin maker had placed inside the violin, had been forcefully removed.
I did not recognize the loss right away, but when I found out two weeks later and requested the name of the violin maker, my teacher refused to tell me and said, the seal must have been weak and have fallen out on its own.
That was not the case as there are even the marks of the forceful removal visible inside the violin.

My father was lovely and tried to console me. He said, it would not alter the violin or what it meant to him. But for me it was, as if I had let him down and had not been able to defend his memory.

Now I always think about this, when I take the violin up and have tears in my eyes.

The only good thing about these nightmares is, that they start with Richard Armitage playing the cello. That really would be something I would like to see in real life. I would even accompany him on the piano. (Purely selfless suggestion ;o)

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Intrigue - Part 2.3: Nothing Escapes



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.





A bonus-video today. Please excuse the obsession of a London- and ship-lover ;o)




Al hid in a church, not one he was very familiar with, but his hiding in a catholic church off the main tourist tracks would ensure, that nobody would likely know him or connect him to ‘Lucas North’.

Night fell and he stayed hidden during the night. He avoided unnecessary movement from his hiding place to avoid setting off the most certainly installed alarm system. When in the early morning hours the church was opened again, he came out of his comfortable hiding place in the priest’s seat of a confessional, remained in a church bench for a while longer and then unobtrusively left the church.

The city already began to come alive though it was still dark. He moved closer to his meeting point, where he had arranged to be picked up. Closer to the Thames embankment and closer to the parliament building and his old working place. Where better to hide than in close sight?

A self-conscious smile crossed his face, before he collected himself and walked on to hide beneath the bridge, where he would be picked up in about an hour. The sound of an approaching motor boat got him to full alert. It was still long before the arranged time. A police boat came upriver. He hid behind a barrier, but the boat drove on, but minutes later returned with full speed.

They turned the boat around again, departed some way up the river and came back again as if in search of something.
When they slowed down the boat near the bridge and cut off the motor, he heard them speak.

“… not up to speed. Turn it round and let’s try again farther upriver …” before they departed for the final time.

They were just testing new police equipment. Al silently released his breath in utter relief.

When the boat he waited for took him up an hour later, he was quite sure that Harry must have kept silent about the wrong body. Otherwise his troups would be all over London by now.

Al was still not sure about Harry’s motives, but time would have to show.

His way lead him via a trailer boat upriver, where he met another one, with which he in disguise as a helper would go back downriver to the international freight harbor farther down the Thames River.
There he would get on the vessel he really intended, with which he would leave the country. The cargo ship with the destiny …




=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 2.4

Tuesday 7 June 2011

Intrigue - Part 2.2: Nothing to Look Back to



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.





Thinking back reminded him of his childhood, all his fake identities he had to take and memorize since then. But at least now, one fake facade was gone:

Lucas was no more.

No more use for that hated name another man had chosen for himself. The burden of that connection now was gone together with the name.

He had spent years to get used to this identity, but now, after all his fake identities for MI-5 he was free to go back to his own identity again or whatever he chose for himself.

Bad memories connected him with his own name. His relationship with his father had been bad and had even become worse when he grew into adulthood. His invented background had been so much more pleasant in that case than the truth. Bird-watching with his father, a thing the father he grew up with would never have thought about to do with him. What a waste of time, at least with the early error of his wife. The marches had been his hiding place from his father and he was glad his father had never found out where he went when he escaped from home for a brief period of time.

His real father he had never known. His stepfather, with whom he grew up, had been a strict Methodist priest in London. He had been harsh and any time ready to provide corrective methods to get his ‘son’ back in line. The more he got punished, the more he had tried to fight him.

But the last straw that had caused him to leave his family behind had been the audacity of his father to plan his future. His job, wife, family, place to live, all had been laid out in front of him and he had refused. He had hated the strict rigors of growing up under the pious priests’ dictatorship. Everyone in their small community knew about his every move, his every slightest and assumed misbehavior, for which he had gotten heavy beatings at home. His mother had tried to take his side in the end, but an enormous fight between her and his stepfather had occurred about his future, while he was gone from the house.

But as soon as his mother had died, he was gone too. He had not even waited till the funeral, where that pious priest would have held the sermon and pretended how much he had loved his dear wife, who had died from inner bleedings. The doctor could not prove that it had been because of a beating, as his mother had refused to testify and had pretended she had fallen down the stairs. But he knew better.

The more he had been punished, the more he had fought back. He never again would submit to the strictures of another dictator again, whatever flavour the dictatorship might take on the outside. He had sought to fight dictators of the same kind, wherever he found them.

But his stepfather had also been a good school to prepare him for the tortures during his imprisonment in Russia. He knew they needed him to survive it and succumbing to it would not lessen the punishment. During the punishments of his stepfather, he had learned to detach his mind from his body, a technique he had been forced to learn during his early years to bear his life and now was never likely to forget. But it also had taught him, that he was strong enough to survive.

All those ugly memories came back with his name, Al Delarmy. He had been called Al, because his stepfather had the same first name, Daniel, and to avoid confusion, Al had to swap to his second name Alistair, when his mother married when he was 7 years old.

After he ran away to start university, his stepfather had never tried to find him or to get in contact with him again. He had feared what he could reveal about the death of his mother.

When he tried to finance his studies, he soon came into contact with illegal circles, where his nickname became the laughingstock of all connections. The new ‘Al Capone’. But their smuggling had not involved alcohol, but slightly more elaborate drugs. They were trading with all kinds of drugs, not only for the consumer market, but for the medical market where much higher prices could be gained for impeccable goods. He knew some of his contacts dealt with organs, but that was not his choice. Involving people posed much too high a risk of discovery. He had gone for the really high value material.





=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 2.3

Monday 6 June 2011

Intrigue - Part 2.1: Nothing Hidden



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.







‘Lucas’ was on high alert, when he heard the sound of an approaching helicopter. Had all his scheming been for nothing and had Harry figured out that all was a fake so soon?

He hid behind a car, cracked open the back lid and looked up, to see the helicopter. It came closer in a direct line to him as if it knew exactly where to find him. He evaluated his possible escape routes, where no helicopter might follow. He had well memorized all possible streets and routes, where no observation cameras were installed.

The small dot grew and with some relief ‘Lucas’ recognized it to be a military helicopter. No danger from that part so soon. They had announced major troup transfers and that pilot must have a soft spot for the sights of London, before he left for Afghanistan or some other crisis in the world.

There was no connection to him and he wondered how Harry would react. Would his curiosity win over his interest to hunt him down? His making it public that he, ‘Lucas’, was not dead, would make all Harry’s efforts to find out the truth obsolete, as it would leak out, as all the rest of their secret operations lately had and he most likely would not be the first to get hold of ‘Lucas’ for questioning. If anybody else would find him first, there would be no time for questioning him any longer as those forces sniffing around them would most likely want him dead. This was the reasoning, ‘Lucas’ depended on. He was sure Harry would come to the same result and that Harry’s curiosity about his real motives would win. The only weak spot in his calculations was, that this reasoning depended on Harry not being the leak himself and with what he had found out about him lately, he was no longer sure about that.

The helicopter indeed turned and in a straight line descended to disappear on the wide horizon over the Thames River.

With relief ‘Lucas’ left his hiding spot and continued on his way.

London - time to say good bye. He would not come back for a while, if he could help it. And as it seemed, at least for now, no-one would hinder his departure.
He took a deep conscious breath and slowly released the air again. Spring blossoms made the breeze sweet. He would miss London, as he had missed it during his time in Russia. Though his work schedule always had been harsh and left him no time for a private life, still the atmosphere of hectic activity the city emitted was unique to him.

He had never before recognized that he held sentimental feelings for the town. In Russia he had simply thought it was freedom he craved and that he wanted to evade further torture, but it was more than that. Here he felt at home, here was the place he grew up and had started to fight his way up in the world.




=> "Intrigue"-Page                                   =>  Next chapter 2.2

Saturday 4 June 2011

Video - Resources

DelicateBlossomVideo pointed out in her YouTube video, that quite a lot of fan-videos are access restricted for Germany.
As I am from Germany and often feel those restrictions, I want to take the chance to promote her list of Richard Armitage Fan-Video-Resources:



Video-Resources:
DelicateBlossomVideo
RAFanVids
FoolishPassion
And I would not want to miss one single video of my favourite vidder:
Bccmee (her YouTube channel)
who did such gripping videos, e.g. "Hallelujah" which makes me shiver all over again each time I watch it. (My post about it.)

My own videos I mostly post now as access restricted for only those who know the link. The reason is, that one of my early videos (and I must add, the favourite of mine) got marked because of the used music. Here I must explain, that the used music is the only one which makes any sense with the video content, so I could not just swap it. Also it took me 10 years, to find a recording of this special music and when I had found exactly this very special recording, I paid as much for the delivery as for the recording itself. To my knowledge, the music is not available for sale right now, except someone gives up his precious used copy.
Still I think the recording of this not very often played piece is so brilliant, that I wanted to give it more awareness. But no, it got marked because of possible license violation.

The video is not completely removed, but can still be accessed via this blog. I will not point it out, but followers perhaps have missed it on my account already.




Sorry, no "Intrigue"-part today.
The story will continue on Monday. Till then I will need some time to continue writing and to repair the video I intended to mark the beginning of the second part of the story, now that it seems that my video editing program works properly again.

Friday 3 June 2011

Intrigue - Part 1.5: Lucas North is Dead



By reading any further, you state, that you are at least 18 years old.

The following content contains violence and situations, which might be offensive for some readers.
So be warned and do not read on, if James Bond like situations do not appeal to you.





When George came back after a while, Harry still stood next to the body with a stricken look on his face.

Without acknowledging the return of the forensic, he stated:
“Lucas is dead. I’ll sign the papers for his body. When can they be ready?”
George was a bit startled. “Lucas, but... – Oh, I see.” He turned round and almost instantly had a pack of closely written sheets of paper in his hand.
“Those are the examination proofs, this has to be signed to release the body, and here your signature is needed to get him released to be cremated. – Burning would be my choice, at the highest available temperature. Nothing to dig up later, you know...”
Harry nodded his consent. George obviously understood full well what Harry intended.
“No word to anyone, you understand. I have to do further research and the fact that Lucas is still around could very much damage that. Better to keep him out of sight and let him remain dead for all time.”
“I understand”, George consented. “I owe you one, anyway.”
Both men nodded in acknowledgement.

Harry thought about the time two years ago, when he had helped George to hide a missing test result. But still he had doubts about George’s guilt in the first place. When the results had been lost and nothing could be done about it any longer, he had helped to cover it up. George Henley had been going through his last angry battles of his divorce. Harry still thought that someone had manipulated the alarm clock for George to miss the deadline for the chemical analysis and not that George had set it wrong. But nothing could be proven. The results were irretrievably gone and the culprit as a result could never be found.

Harry had full trust in the ability and reliability of George. His competence was unsurpassed and he was sure, that only a manipulation could have caused that one singular mistake. George was an absolute genius and would find every hint if there was one. Such a mistake was so much unlike him, who even in his dream would rather cite the chemical elements table instead of counting sheep.
“Do a full research and examination of the body. I want as many details and information about him as you can find out, but not a single word to anybody else. Every hint concerning his real identity would be enormously helpful, but keep it quiet. Try to find out what you can, but he must remain Lucas, without any doubt or suspicion.”
“That is fine with me, Harry. No-one will hear a word from me. I will file in a report for the missing guy as well, so no suspicion can arise.”

Harry left George to his further examinations of the fake Lucas and convolute of reports, while he went back to the grid. He would try to find out more about what Lucas’ real intentions were and Saturday was as good a day as any and even MI-5 and the grid were lesser populated than on an ordinary week day.





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