Claire and Lexa went to Tottenham. Grieg Industries was located in one of those bits of London not served by the Tube, something outsiders always find a bit confusing. They had to take a train up there, and leaving the Tube system made them feel like they had gone off the map and were now in "Here Be Monsters" territory. Arriving in Tottenham they were struck by how different it was to the parts of London they were familiar with. The streets here seemed grimy and dirty, with almost every second building burnt out or boarded up. The people on the streets seemed to be all from ethnic minority backgrounds. Claire and Lexa were unusual here, in that they were not veiled. The policemen and National Security personnel at the station were a lot more pushy and aggressive than their counterparts in central London, even than their counterparts in Ealing. Hooded youths loitered on street corners, glancing suspiciously at people like Claire and Lexa with whom they were unfamiliar. The two women were left with the sense that this was a place of tension and barely suppressed violence.
"Yeah. Though I bet rents are cheap".
They walked through the ugly streets towards the address they had found for Grieg Industries. The area improved slightly. The street Grieg Industries was on was that bit less dilapidated and did not have quite so many shifty looking young lads hanging about. Some of the shops looked like they might even have things in them you would want to buy. The cafés were almost appealing.
Grieg Industries itself occupied a fairly anonymous looking office building, but a large one that was a bit out of scale with its surroundings. This was not the kind of place where you would normally expect to find a five storey commercial premises. There was a café across the road. By unspoken agreement, Claire and Lexa went there and took seats by the window, from which they could try and get the measure of their target.
It was coming up to lunchtime. Workers from the building were already starting to leave for their lunch breaks. One thing was immediately apparent to Claire and Lexa – all the men who worked for Grieg Industries seemed to sport moustaches. Not beards, just moustaches. And they seemed to be doing this regardless of obvious ethnicity, so it was not just that the company for whatever reason was only employing people from countries where moustaches are common. And although they all had moustaches, their choices of clothing and even hairstyle was not uniform. Some wore suits, some jeans and t-shirts, some had long hair, some short, some mullets, some skinheads, but they all had moustaches. There did not seem to be any feature like the moustache that was common to all the women. And there were women, in the kind of numbers that would be proportionate for a company of that type.
Steps led up to the building's entrance, with a ramp to one side for the wheelchair-bound or for people who otherwise find steps problematic. They could just about see through the entrance into a small lobby inside, in which receptionists and at least one security guard awaited anyone who tried to gain admission that way. And to one side there was a shuttered entrance to an underground car park. The building's windows looked like they were of the unopenable type, so there did not appear to be any possibility of gaining unauthorised access by that route.
Some of the office workers came into the café, sitting in small groups and chatting among themselves. From what Lexa and Claire could hear, their chatter was the usual kind of talk from people who work together – general stuff about TV programmes, sporting events, gossip about colleagues, and so on. No one mentioned anything about the company having a secret dungeon where people were being held for mysterious reasons. Nor was anything said to suggest that Grieg Industries was involved in some kind of covert plan to take over the world. If there was anything noteworthy about their chatter it was that they all seemed very enthusiastic about their work. Claire and Lexa recalled, however, that this was not unusual for people in the high-tech sector.
Claire and Lexa left the café and went walking to talk over their options.
"It's a bigger place than I expected", said Claire.
"Yes".
"It's too big for it all to be a front for something else, I think", said Claire. "I mean, there are too many people there for them all to be in on whatever is going on. So there may be some kind of cell within there who know what's really going on".
"If there's a closed-off area inside that only some people have access to… well that could be where we're looking for", said Lexa.
"Or it could be somewhere else entirely".
"Yes".
"Seriously, though, what's with the moustaches?" said Claire.
"The head guy has a moustache", said Lexa. "Maybe he likes everyone else to have moustaches? Like the Chief and beards".
Their apparently aimless strolling took them round the back of the building, along a backstreet that was a bit less salubrious than the front.
"If they brought the van in the front, then if they still have Ryan here then he probably is somewhere near the car park", said Claire in a low voice.
"True. Or there may be a back entrance. Shhh".
They were closer to the back of the building now, and there was indeed a back entrance to it – but it was closed and looked like it could not be opened from the outside without setting off alarms. The windows to the rear had the same closed character as the ones to the front.
Walking a bit past the rear of the building they were suddenly greeted by a street person calling to them. He was lying in pile of cardboard boxes he called home, nestled into a recessed on the opposite side of the street to that of Grieg Industries.
"Hey there ladies, any chance of a few pence there for a cup of tea?"
Lexa made to ignore him, but Claire had an idea. Going over to the homeless man she gave him a fiver and said: "There you go get something warm into yourself".
"Cheers missus, much obliged, god bless you".
"It must be tough sleeping out here on the streets".
"Oh it is, it is, but sure what can I do".
"Do you always sleep here in this doorway? Would you not think of going to a hostel or shelter?"
"I couldn't be doing that missus, you wouldn't believe the kind of people you meet in there. Nah, old Billy sleeps here. It's cosy enough with all me cardboard and stuck in here the rain can't get me".
"I suppose it's quiet enough here… you wouldn't get traffic disturbing you?"
"You wouldn't get that much now, I'd have to say that".
"But if a car or a van did come down here, would it wake you up?"
"Well you never get a deep sleep on the streets, now let me tell you, so whatever comes along would wake you up".
"Tell me", said Claire, her voice moving from one of general inquiries expressing vague concern for the plight of the homeless to something more direct, "have you ever been woken up by a van delivering something to the back of the building there?" She pointed over at the back of Grieg Industries.
"Well, I might have". He was more guarded now, realising that there was a bit of point to the woman's questions.
"Think clearly", said Claire, handing him a twenty. "Like did you see anything going in there in last couple of weeks?"
"Well", he said, trying to think clearly but already a bit distracted at the thought of all the Special Brew he would be able to buy for a twenty. "They don't take deliveries in the night there much".
"But they do sometimes?"
"Yeah, yeah, they do".
"And recently?"
"I woke up in the night a week or two back, and a van had pulled up at the back door there. And the door opened for 'em, from the inside".
"Did you see what they brought in?"
"I didn't see nothing, I was just trying to get some kip. Didn't look like they brought in anything, just some guys went in and then the van drove off".
"Right", said Claire, digesting what he had said. "Thanks. Look after yourself". She and Lexa walked on.
"So what have we learned there?" said Lexa.
"Maybe something, maybe not much", said Claire. "It could be them bringing Ryan in the back entrance – maybe they were able to manhandle him in. The homeless guy didn’t see them bringing anything else in".
"But he wasn't looking too closely. And he could be bullshitting us".
"He could be bullshitting us, but I'm not sure. If he was being led by my questions he would have said something more definite about something being delivered, not people going in".
"Well", said Lexa, "if they did bring Ryan in through the back door then your theory about him being in a dungeon off the car park may not apply".
"Yes. Worrying. We might have to go through the whole building".
"Great".
"Did you notice that low-hanging fire escape ladder on the empty building beside Grieg?"
"I did. Are you thinking of using it?"
"It has crossed my mind. Climb up that onto the roof… would be easier than trying to sneak in any other way".
"Could be. When would we try it?"
"I think over the weekend", said Claire. "You know those computer types, there will always be someone there, but if we came by at, say four a.m. on Sunday morning then there really will be hardly anyone there".
"Still seems a bit risky. It's a big building. What are we going to do, search it all?"
"Do we have any other options?"
"Well, I'd rather not end up in the same dungeon as Ryan if I don't have to. Or find myself handed over to the tender mercies of National Security until the Chief gets round to exchanging us out".
"Sure. But we can be careful. Anyway, we can think on for now, we've got a while to go before we'd be going for it".
"Fuck it", said Lexa. "I'm going to chance my arm with a direct approach. Walk in the front door, see what I can get away with".
"Is that wise?"
"It's not unwise. I mean, they're hardly in the business of just imprisoning people who show up in their lobby, are they?"
"I hope not".
"I've got my phone on. Ring me in an hour's time. If I don't answer, you'll know I'm being prevented from answering".
"So what should I do then?"
"Well", said Lexa, smiling, "they'll probably be torturing me or something, so you'd want to get out of dodge as fast as you can".
"Mmm, OK, as long as you don't think I'll be coming in to bust you out, all guns blazing".
"I wouldn't expect that. OK, look, we should split up now. I'll head in, you go and loiter in the charity shops or something. I'll ring you when I get out".
"Right. Good luck". She touched Lexa's arm for a moment, then turned and walked away. Lexa took the road back towards the front of the Grieg building and started thinking about what she would say when she got there.
20/11/2011
An inuit panda production
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