The Sons Of Cleito (The Abductions of Langley Garret Book 1) Read Free Page A

bodies moving in front of me and then they all suddenly disappeared, bar one blurred face that appeared directly in front of me.
    'Take it easy Mr Garret. It won't be such a long flight,' I heard, before I heard nothing again.
    The rocking of turbulence woke me and a man in front of me slowly came into focus. In his fifties perhaps, with short grey hair and a very square jaw. Military was the first word that came to my muddled mind.
    'You're probably thirsty,' he said, as he put an open bottle of mineral water to my mouth. It was then that I felt my arms were tied and I looked down to see the green straight jacket that was enveloping me. My ankles were shackled. I drank because my mouth was so dry, but wondered if I was being drugged yet again. 'We'll be landing shortly,' he said while I drank, spilling some water as I quenched my thirst. I wanted to ask where I was but my senses were still trying to find their feet. When I'd finished the whole bottle of water, he stood up and walked away. As the minutes passed, my head cleared and I realised I was sitting in a small jet. I turned my head as far as I could and looked around the cabin but couldn't see anyone, although I could hear dulled voices over the engine noise, coming from the rear of the cabin behind two pulled curtains.
    I wriggled a little trying to make myself more comfortable, which was a complete waste of energy as I learnt quickly that there was no comfortable position to be in when you're wearing a straightjacket. However I did manage to rub my itchy nose up against the side of my seat's headrest and from it, gained some mild relief just before the man with the square jaw returned and sat opposite me. He even half smiled, and although it wasn't really a warm one, I satisfied myself in believing it wasn't a threatening one.
    'I'm sorry about the necessity for the restraint Mr Garret, but we didn't want you to come to any harm. I'll have it removed shortly.'
    'Should I ask my questions now?' I asked.
    'Probably best not to right now, so relax as best you can and you'll find out all you need to know after we land.'
    I nodded, and then looked out my window for a moment into the dark night sky. A much younger man appeared in the aisle alongside us, and the man across from me nodded towards him.
    'If you could sit forward a little Mr Garret, I'll have your jacket removed,' he said, and then the younger man leant towards me and started unbuckling the straightjacket. Within a few minutes my chest and arms were extremely relieved to have their freedom of movement back. I stretched my arms to relieve the stiffness, and was even more pleased when the young man bent down to remove my ankle cuffs. As he did though, I noticed he slipped something else around my right ankle and I looked up at the squared jawed man.
    'A little something to make sure you're safe Mr Garret.'
    'A tracking device?'
    'A little smarter, but yes, something like that.'
    'Smarter?' I asked him as the young man finished his task of freeing me and fixing this smarter thing around my ankle.
    'I'm sure you'll come to understand.'
    'Another question for after we land?' I asked, and he nodded, accompanied by a smile that seemed pleased with my comprehension of the situation. The young man disappeared without a word and I sat opposite the square jawed man, whose smile had now vanished, but at least I could happily scratch my itchy nose with ease. Above the noise of the engines, the silence between us was punctuated with my arm stretching and ahhing at my newfound freedom, and his military like sniffing. It reminded me of my father, who sniffed in exactly the same fashion when he was bored, annoyed, or ready to give me a thoroughly good talking to. It was an, 'I'm really fed up with all this,' kind of sniff. I sniffed back at him, as if to say I was fed up as well and I felt we had reached a form of mutual agreement.
    Helen crossed my mind and I think I wished she hadn't really bothered crossing. The last few