Algy Goes Alone: Chapter 2. Eddie Takes Charge

By Sopwith

Disclaimer: I do not own, or claim to own, any of the Biggles series characters used in this work. This fan fiction was written for entertainment purposes only and should not be considered part of the official storyline. 

True to his word, Eddie Ross arrived in London just in time to join the four airmen for supper. Inspector Gaskin too was present, invited by Biggles.

Eddie started off by giving them a general description of the members of the gang. “There’re six of ‘em in all. Tony Konn is the ringleader. He’s maybe forty, forty-five. Here’s the only photo we managed to find of him.” He passed the photo around, and those present saw that Konn was a muscular man with cold eyes, thin lips, and a shaved head.

“He looks like he’d take any trouble head-on and blast it to pieces,” observed Ginger.

Eddie nodded. “That he would. He’s a tough one, Konn. Started stealing cars when he was fourteen and went on to deal in drugs before starting these plane thefts. Got a sheet longer than your arm. Another member of his gang is his nephew, Scott Gold. If anything, he’s tougher than his uncle, and unpredictable as well. Don’t take any chances with him. I suspect he’s mostly responsible for the deaths of those pilots.”

“I don’t like the sound of that,” murmured Biggles, his eyes hard.

“That goes for me too, pal. Konn’s got two pilots, Johnson and Reeves. And he uses two guys for muscle, called Watkins and Clark. If you run into Clark, try to go easy on him—he’s one of my men. He used to be a friend of Gold’s, and we had his records falsified to make it easy for the gang to hire him. He feeds us stuff from time to time, but he has to be careful to keep his head down or he might lose it, know what I mean?”

“We understand,” said Biggles. “We won’t give him away. Do you have any idea where the crooks could be now?”

“I can tell you where they won’t be,” asserted Eddie. “They won’t be anywhere near where they lifted your boy’s plane. Konn’s too smart for that. He’d get as far away as possible before he goes for his next plane.”

“He shouldn’t find it too difficult to get away, either,” murmured Biggles. “With a plane at his disposal, and some petrol on hand. Which reminds me, he must have somewhere to get juice on this end when he needs it. He can’t be lucky enough to pinch planes with full tanks all the time. Also, according to you, Eddie, they sometimes take planes apart and sell off the parts. They’d need tools for that sort of thing, not to mention a place to keep the planes until he can find someone to buy them. Would your man happen to know where that is?”

“I don’t know,” admitted Eddie. “I could ask, but like I said, it’s not easy for him to get info to us, so I wouldn’t expect an answer any time soon.”

“I see. Well,” Biggles looked around. “Does anyone have any suggestions on how we should handle this?”

“It seems to me that until we know where these crooks are, we won’t really know where to start,” remarked Algy.

“That is that. Perhaps Eddie’s man on the inside can help us on that front. I agree with you that there doesn’t seem to be much point in starting the chase until we know where to start chasing from. Raymond would take a dim view of us flying up and down the countryside waiting for them to pinch another plane.”

“I’ll send some of my men out to see if they hear anything,” offered Gaskin.

“Thanks,” acknowledged Biggles. “Any news of these crooks would be helpful. What would really help, though, would be if we could locate the base somehow. If can cut off their supply of petrol, that would hamper them quite a bit.”

“There may be more than one petrol supply,” Algy pointed out. “And if they’re willing to pay well, they may be getting the juice illegally from legal sources.”

“You’re right,” agreed Biggles. “But even if we found one it might be a help…I think I’ll make some inquires tomorrow. You never know what you can find by simply asking the right people the right questions. Until we have something solid, however, I really don’t see that there’s anything we can do.”

“If my man gives me anything, you’ll be the first to know,” promised Eddie.

“That’s good enough,” said Biggles. “We’ll be ready to take off at a moment’s notice in case any of you manage to get something useful.”

And on that note, the party broke up.

&&&

A week passed with no news of any kind.

One morning, Ginger was seated by the radio, bemoaning the long period of inactivity, when the telephone rang by Bertie’s elbow, who promptly picked up the instrument and said, “What ho, Special Air Police, and all that sort of thing.” He listened intently for about a minute, then passed the phone to Biggles.

“Hello?” said Biggles crisply. “Yes, what is it, Eddie? Uh huh. Yes. All right, thanks, we’re on our way.” Hanging up the phone, he turned to the others and said, “That was Eddie. His man has managed to get a message to him saying that the gang is in Scotland, by Loch Fyne. Let’s be on our way. I’ll take Bertie and Ginger with me, I think, in case I need an extra pair of hands. Algy, old man, I’m afraid you’re going to have to hold the fort while I’m away. We shouldn’t be gone more than two or three days, but if I have to be longer than that I’ll try to let you know. In any case don’t panic unless you don’t hear anything from us for three days in a row.” Donning his overcoat, he turned to add, “Oh, and let know Raymond know where we’re going, will you?”

“All right. Be careful. I don’t like the sound of these crooks.”

“Neither do I if it comes to that,” admitted Biggles. “Still, I suppose someone has to do something about them. Cheerio.”

&&&

Ginger looked around the aero club as he clambered out of the Auster. “Is this where they are? Bit obvious, isn’t it?”

“No,” said Biggles, “they’re staying in an inn several miles away called the Valentia, but I didn’t think it would be a good idea to land there. It would seem too much like giving them an invitation to pinch our plane. Besides, landing a plane at the inn would be bound to cause some excitement, and at this stage in the proceedings I’d rather we didn’t stand out.”

“Is Eddie going to join us?”

‘No. He thought it might make the crooks suspicious to have an American staying in the same inn as they are, and frankly I agree with him. Any whiff of someone who looks like a cop, and we won’t see them for dust.”

“So what do we do now, old boy?” inquired Bertie, casually polishing his monocle. “Do we all hoof it up to the jolly little inn?”

“Not exactly,” replied Biggles. “I had thought it would be a good idea for all of us to go, but thinking it over on the way here, I feel as if someone should be left here ready to fly the Auster at a moment’s notice. After all, if the crooks do manage to get away with stealing a plane, the best way to follow them would be in a plane, and it would take too much time to drive down from the inn and come back down here. Bertie, I think you’d better stay. There’s an inn over there; you’d better get a room and stay by the phone in case we need you to take off in a hurry. The Auster should be more than a match for anything they manage to steal here, so you should be able to follow them easily enough. Ideally, they would fly their stolen plane back to their base, but failing that it will still be interesting to see where they go.”

Bertie replaced his monocle with anything but enthusiasm. “Bit of a jolly bore, what?” he murmured, but he knew Biggles too well to argue.

“You’d better ring Algy after you’ve settled in, in case I forget to,” suggested Biggles. “Let him know how things stand here, and see if he has any news on his end. I expect I shall book a room at the Valentia for a few days, so you should be able to reach me there. If for some reason I can’t get a room, I’ll try to let you know where we end up. Come on, Ginger.”

Go to Chapter 3. Ginger Cuts It Fine

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