The Future of Scotland Yard: The Adventures of Xavier & Vic, Sleuths Extraordinaire, #10

By Liza O'Connor

England has become besieged with foreign entities claiming to be English citizens. Three of them have managed to become members of Parliament. Worse yet, the new Prime Minister plans to remove Xavier from his position as head of Foreign Affairs and slot in a man the new Prime Minister likes a great deal. Unfortunately, the man is a Russian Spy.

Worse yet: Vic's sister, Claire, has been declared healthy, despite being insane, and after marrying her doctor, who declared her sane, a week later she returns to London with the intent to kill everyone she hates, which is anyone associated with Vic. When Claire's husband gets fired, he joins her in London and proves to be the reason she has a killing compulsion. He wasn't making her better all this time. He was making her deadly.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Liza OConnor
• Release date: Mar 2, 2020
• ISBN: 9781393642855

Liza O'Connor

   Liza lives in Denville, NJ with her dog Jess. Having an adventurous nature, she learned to fly small Cessnas in NJ, hang-glide in New Zealand, kayak in Pennsylvania, ski in New York, scuba dive with great white sharks in Australia, dig up dinosaur bones in Montana, sky dive in Indiana, and raft a class four river in Tasmania. She’s an avid gardener, amateur photographer, and dabbler in watercolors and graphic arts. Yet through her entire life, her first love has and always will be writing novels. She loves to create interesting characters, set them loose, and scribe what happens in a myriad of genres. http://www.lizaoconnor.com/   

Book preview

Chapter 1

VIC AND XAVIER, THE finest sleuths in England, couldn’t sleep due to a noisy street mob outside their window. For some reason, their normally quiet street had been invaded with a riot of drunken sods who wished to sing off-key and dance the bloody night away. Worse yet, some of the neighbors gave up on sleeping and joined the party as well.

Even at 6:00 a.m., the mob remained outside his home being as noisy as ever. Having enough of this nonsense, Xavier stormed down to Gregory’s room and demanded he use his telephone to ask Barns, the new head of Scotland Yards, to throw the whole bloody lot of them in jail.

Sir, it is very early in the morning. I doubt he has yet gone to work, Gregory chided.

Don’t argue with me, for I haven’t had a wink of sleep, Xavier warned.

With a huff, Gregory dialed the head of Scotland Yard on the matter of badly singing drunks.

What? Barns snapped.

Before Gregory could reply, Xavier grabbed the telephone and yelled, Barns, I want you to blast the drunken sods on my street with cold water. No one in this house has gotten a minute of sleep!

Barns remained silent for several seconds.

Are you there?

"I am. I’m just astounded that you called me on such a ridiculous request so early in the morning.

They have been at it all night. Shall I send them to your street and see how much you like their off-key singing? Several of the local dogs are howling in pain from the racket.

Xavier, I don’t have time to tend to the mob. I have far more serious problems.

What other problems can you possibly have at this god-awful early hour? Xavier demanded.

I don’t have time to discuss it, presently, Barns snapped. However, I’ll have Captain Meyers send a carriage of officers to disperse your party.

They aren’t my bloody partygoers! Xavier snapped. Before he could rant more, Barns hung up on him.

Xavier stared at the phone in shock. Barns had never hung up on him before.

By the time Xavier returned upstairs, he was highly annoyed. Barns just hung up on me! he yelled at Vic.

Well, something must be up for him to be at work so early. And why are you yelling at me? I didn’t hang up on you.

I appreciate that, Xavier stated. Thank you for not yelling at me.

Vic wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

Even better, he stated. Let us ignore the nonsense outside and enjoy a moment of pleasure.

Excellent idea, Vic assured him.

Five minutes into their love making, Captain Meyers and his officers arrived to remove the noisy and inconsiderate street people.

Damn it all! Why do they show up now? Xavier snapped.

Vic covered his face with kisses. Stop. They are doing exactly what you asked them to do. You cannot demand them to arrive, then complain that they actually arrived.

You are correct. So, let us continue to make love while they disperse the mass of troublesome, inconsiderate Cretans outside our window.

While they concluded a very fine bout of pleasure, Captain Meyers and his men removed the obnoxious partygoers, threatening them with jail time if they returned. Now with blessed silence outside they decided to get a bit more sleep.

Should we let Stone know that we’ll be late to work? Vic asked.

Stone will figure out why and where we are. While his body has weakened, his brain and hearing has not.

Vic agreed. Stone, their third partner and former head of Scotland Yard, was awake and in the office across the street. Any issues that might pop up before they got a bit more sleep, Stone would handle if he could do so at his desk. If a problem required mobility, he would send Jacko’s eldest son, Pete, across the street to let us know.

While Davy was also in the office, he could no longer do much, other than fix a hot cup of tea. His bones hurt like the devil during winter, and this winter was brutal.

Vic had offered to move him back to her warmer home, but Davy refused. While he insisted the drafty room upstairs suited him, she suspected he just couldn’t get use to the noisy children in her home. Thus, she purchased him the finest blankets she could find, to keep him from freezing to death.

To be honest, the children were a noisy lot, but she didn’t mind since it was mostly in play. Vic loved to hear all the children playing and laughing. Besides her fabulous son, Cannon, there was Tub’s boy, Ham, who was by far the tallest of the children now, despite that Cannon was ten months older than Ham. Their latest rescue was an adorable baby boy named Danny. She acquired him from a Baby Farmer who had been ordered to kill the child. For a mere hundred pounds, he gave her the child.

Best of all: the children got along with one another.

Unfortunately, when Claire finally discovered her mansion didn’t legally belong to her, she went crazy. Upon discovering that Victor owned her mansion, she set it on fire. Never mind she and her many male friends were the only ones who entered it now that she had divorced David.

Refusing to risk the lives of everyone in Vic and Xavier’s house, Xavier had Claire committed to the finest asylum in England.

Vic hoped the place could cure her.

Xavier doubted anyone could cure Claire, but he never shared that with Vic.

However, it did mean that Maddy moved to their house so she could live with her father, David, and little Danny. Nor, did it take long for David to realize Maddy hated baby Danny.

Vic wasn’t surprised that Maddy had anger issues. But she had no idea why Maddy would focus her anger on the sweet baby.

FINALLY, ABLE TO CALM from all the racket outside, Xavier pulled Vic tightly to his chest and they both fell asleep.

All was peaceful for an hour. Then someone threw a brick into a window of their second-story bedroom. Fortunately, it landed at the foot of their bed, not hitting either of them.

Xavier was up at once, demanding to know who had thrown a brick through the window! He then stormed to the broken window and searched for the culprit. While Captain Meyers had shooed the Cretans off an hour before, there were over twenty men still outside his house, which meant one of them had clearly thrown the brick through his window. However, it was hard to tell who threw it since they were all celebrating the matter.

Vic remained focused on the brick. She noticed it was wrapped in paper. Now concerned this was more than a childish prank, she studied the brick carefully.

Xavier reached down to pick it up and toss it out their broken window, but Vic shielded the brick. There is something odd here. The paper is not tied with a string, but it remains wrapped against the brick. And there is a lump on the top side of the brick.

Xavier sat beside her.

Look, but don’t touch, Vic scolded.

Xavier scrutinized the brick, then replied, It could be a bomb.

Vic ran to the door and called for the smartest man she knew. David, we need you at once. We might have a bomb.

Xavier stood. I doubt David knows about bombs. However, my mother’s beloved certainly will. So, don’t touch anything until I return with Captain Pike.

With Xavier out of the room, she could hear a faint ticking sound from the brick. Convinced it was a bomb with a timer, Vic grabbed it and ran downstairs and out the back door. She had just set it down in the backyard when Xavier and Captain Pike came out of Vivian and Charlotte’s house.

I told you not to touch it! Xavier yelled.

I wasn’t leaving it in the house. It is ticking.

While Xavier couldn’t hear the ticking, Captain Pike ordered them to step back twenty feet and quickly confirmed Vic was right.

Can you defuse it? Xavier asked.

We’ll need a bucket of water.

What good will that do? Xavier demanded.

Before Captain Pike could explain, David came running out with a bucket of water and a vest. Sorry, by the time I dressed, you were already gone with the bomb. But it’s better that we do this out here. David touched the paper. It appears to be common paper, which the water can penetrate with no problem. He then stood and suggested all but Captain Pike should step back.

He then focused on Captain Pike. Wear this vest just in case it blows. It could save your life.

Captain Pike shook his head, but Xavier ordered him to put the vest on.

With everyone safely away from the brick bomb, and Pike wearing his vest, he dropped the brick into the metal bucket.

To everyone’s shock, the bucket exploded a few seconds later. Most of them were outside the range of the bomb. Only Captain Pike took the blast full force and now laid on the ground bleeding.

While Xavier focused on examining the remains of the bomb, he ordered Vic and David to attend to Captain Pike. Upon determining Pike remained alive, Vic ran back inside and called Dr. Connors.

Gregory glared at her once she had hung up the phone. What have you done now?

Someone threw a bomb into our bedroom window, so we took it outside, and Captain Pike attempted to disarm it, only it exploded instead, and now he is injured. So, I called Dr. Connors to come help him.

Then he survived?

Yes. He dropped the bomb into a bucket filled with water so it could possibly defuse the electrical current in the bomb’s timer. Unfortunately, the bomb had run out of time. Thus, the bucket blew up and Captain Pike was knocked down. Thankfully, we had insisted he wear a silk vest, so he remains alive. But he is bleeding on his face and legs, which is why I called Dr. Connors.

Just then the doorbell rang. Vic ran to the door and let Connors inside. She explained what had happened as she pulled him to the back yard. Not surprisingly, Gregory followed as well.

When they arrived, David was tending to Pike’s many wounds. Upon seeing Connors, he stood. Thank God you’re here. He has a cut in the neck that is serious. The other wounds are under control. But I fear this one might kill him.

While Connors preferred to assess all wounds first, in this case, he focused on the neck wound. David, I’ll need your help on this. The rest of you need to move back. Gregory, make certain the children stay inside.

Wouldn’t you rather tend to Pike on a bed? Gregory asked.

Yes, but he will bleed out if I don’t stitch this artery at once.

Pike called out for Charlotte.

Charlotte ran to him and gripped his left hand. I am here, my beloved. You cannot leave me. You must fight to stay alive. You are my true love. I will not lose you!

Pike made no reply, but she felt him tighten his grip on her hand, and that gave her the courage to remain, despite Connors stern glare.

A half hour later, Connors sighed heavily.

Charlotte spoke at once. He is not dead. You cannot give up!

Connors stared at the woman. He is alive, and if we can prevent infections from entering his many wounds, he should improve. However, I cannot say if he will fully recover. He may have incurred permanent brain damage even after using clamps to prevent further loss of blood before I sewed up the artery. We won’t know if that has happened for many months.

He then looked up at Vic and Xavier. I trust you two will be careful while investigating this attempt to murder you. I do not have to mention how important you are to our country.

Tubs spoke up. I’d like first crack at finding out who did this.

Are you saying we won’t find the fellow? Xavier challenged in outrage.

"No, I’m saying, it’s my job.