The Fund. Jeff Edwards

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      Sloane’s gut told him they were police or something similar and he settled down to see what was about to happen, memorising everything for a future story.

      Sure enough, the cars switched positions a short time later and true confirmation of their intent came not long after they reached the outskirts of the city.

      As Toby Brown’s truck pulled up to a red light Suzie Brown opened the passenger door and stepped out. Much to the surprise of the chasers she broke into a sprint and sidestepped her way between oncoming traffic to the diagonally opposite side of the intersection.

      Sloane watched with interest as the two chasing cars disgorged their passengers who rushed to catch up to their fleeing target.

      But he couldn’t help but laugh as he saw Suzie Brown quickly purchase a newspaper and then run back past her pursuers, through the traffic, and hop back into the truck just as the light turned green which allowed Toby Brown to drive off.

      The chasers now had to change direction in the middle of the intersection and rush back to their cars where their drivers waited while the traffic banked up and honked their horns at them.

      Sloane couldn’t help himself and joined in the chorus of horns as the suited men clambered back into their cars and sped off to resume the chase while Sloane followed at the rear of the cavalcade.

      Obviously the chasers knew where their quarry was going as they had no trouble in relocating Brown’s truck and resuming their positions.

      Eventually Toby Brown found a parking spot and the chasers took up new vantage points further down the street where they could maintain a close eye on the building into which the couple had disappeared.

      Sloane continued on past the building and parked around the corner. Taking out his notebook he started to write down as much information as he could recall about the chase before locking up his car and walking back around the corner.

      He casually made his way past the cars occupied by the watchers and took down their registration numbers while getting a closer look at the occupants and fixing their faces in his mind. He then retraced his steps and made a casual examination of Brown’s building.

      The outside of the premises still showed where the sign advertising itself as a bank had once hung. Now there appeared a much smaller brass plaque with just the words: ‘THE FUND’.

      Curious, Sloane stepped inside and found himself in what had formerly been the main banking chamber and which now appeared to be divided down the middle. One side was fully occupied by some sort of business while the other half was vacant.

      The side which Sloane presumed was occupied by The Fund consisted of a small gift shop selling goods of an environmental nature and many racks containing free information pamphlets. Beside the shop a receptionist sat behind a desk while on the wall behind her was a finely carved wooden plaque displaying the logo of The Fund. Beyond the reception desk were numerous work stations where enthusiastic young men and women were busy at tasks that Sloane could only guess at.

      He was startled by a tap on his shoulder. Spinning around, he found himself looking into the deathly white face of a young Goth.

      ‘Can I help you, sir?’ she asked politely.

      Taken aback by her appearance, Sloane was suddenly at a loss for words.

      The girl behind the make-up fixed him with a cold stare: ‘Have you come to make a contribution to The Fund?’ she asked.

      ‘Uh no. Actually, I wanted to have a word with Mr Toby Brown and his wife.’

      Disappointed, the girl replied, ‘They’ve got nothing to do with The Fund. They own the building and will be using that area,’ she said, indicating the vacant part of the building. ‘They’re in a meeting at the moment. You can wait, but I’ve got no idea how long they’ll be.’

      ‘If they’re busy I’ll catch them another time,’ said Sloane as he moved towards the door.

      The Goth shrugged her shoulders and Sloane saw her return to a work station and commenced to assemble another computer.

      Sloane was relieved to escape the girl’s piercing gaze and gladly made his way back to his car. He was unaware that his photo was being taken by one of the watchers.

      Over the next few days he tried to make contact with the Browns by phone without success. He left numerous messages on their answering machine, but they were not returned. Either they had no intention of speaking to him or they had too many other things to worry about. The presence of the watchers had him believe that the latter was probably the case, so he tried harder to meet them in person.

      Despite his failures in this regard he had been making progress in other directions.

      Sloane had decided to trace Jade Green from her very beginnings and hoped to make a breakthrough along the way.

      Here too he had come across many obstructions. He was initially unable to locate Jade Green’s birth certificate and it was not until he finally tracked down her wedding certificate that Sloane learned that Janice Patricia Green had been born in Shanghai and not England as he had assumed.

      But it had been the wedding certificate itself that had given Sloane his first real breakthrough. The amount of information it contained had been small, but each clue had been vital.

      Listed on the certificate were the witnesses Captain Daniel Clarke and a Dr Rani Smith. A female doctor? thought Sloane. If so, she should be easy to trace.

      The marriage had taken place during the early years of World War II, so Sloane was not anticipating that any of these people would still be alive. However, he knew that he would be able to find out a great deal of information from military records about Green’s husband. Also Green’s witness was a female doctor and there would not have been a large number of those in London at that time.

      The staff at military records had numerous listings for both Robert Symes and Daniel Clarke, but luckily Sloane was able to supply Robert Symes’s date of birth from the wedding certificate and acted upon the assumption that both men might have served in the same unit to narrow down the listings for Daniel Clarke.

      It took some time for the research assistant to return and Sloane was beginning to wonder if he had struck yet another brick wall.

      Finally she emerged. ‘You’re very lucky. The records of both these men had been placed under a secrecy blackout. The blackout period only ended a couple of years ago. If you had come before then their files would have been unavailable to you.’

      ‘Why the secrecy?’

      ‘You’ll be able to read it all for yourself. Both men were in military intelligence and their activities before and during the war have been classified,’ she explained, handing over to him two very thick files.

      ‘Can I make copies of these?’

      ‘You can now, but you would have been shot for attempting it a couple of years ago,’ she replied with a grin.

      After photocopying the files Sloane spent all his spare time immersing himself in them and making extensive notes. At last he sat back with a very pleased look upon his face.

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