Shears is Medovsky’s gardener. He works in his residence located in London, England.
Personality[]
For the rest of the world, he seems rude and unfriendly. To some degree, foul-mouthed and unhelpful. Protector of his boss’ affairs. Yet inside hides a love for art and a philosophy of life. When someone is able to connect with human side, wonders can happen.
Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse[]
George and Nico first meet Shears when trying to access to Medovsky’s Residence. After Nico manages to empathize with Shears and share their love for topiaries to another new level of comprehension, she is able to convince him that speaking to Medovsky is of great importance. They pretend to be from the Insurance Company, and some information concerning the stolen painting will be necessary to begin the process of insurance. This convincing story makes Shears talk to his boss and let them both in.
After Nico manages to empathize with Shears and share their love for topiaries to another new level of comprehension, she is able to convince him that speaking to Medovsky is of great importance. They pretend to be from the Insurance Company, and some information concerning the stolen painting will be necessary to begin the process of insurance. This convincing story makes Shears talk to his boss and let them both in.
Already inside, George is able to recover some secret documents from Medovsky’s office. Where he discovers that according to his expenses, Shears was surprisingly in Paris when the theft of “La Maledicció” at Le Lézard Bleu took place. Furthermore, it reads that he bought a helmet from Waterloo Motors which coincidentally appeared recorded on the CCTV footage at Henri's Office. Shears isn't only Medovsky’s gardener, but also Henri Dubois’ killer. A cold murderer.
Later in the story after managing to climb to the running cable car to follow Langham’s traces in Santa Cova Chapel, George and Nico need to quickly enter the moving vehicle to safely arrive to the Montserrat Station in one piece. Already inside, when George tries to open the stuck window to let Nico in, several gunshots are heard and seen entering the cable car which causes Nico to lose her balance and disappear from George’s sight. He kneels to floor trying to evade the shooter’s aim and screams her name. Moments later, a second vehicle approximates George’s cable car exposing Shears and Medovsky holding both a gun in hand.
Medovsky greets George in a threatening manner and hastily asks for his painting, “La Maledicció”. In the meantime, Nico is dangerously hanging from the very end of the cable car. She tries to ask Shears for help but he denies. While Nico is down there, he adds, maybe she can clear something up for him. Something Nico said about “choices in life” when they first met has been playing on his mind. Shears tells her he’s a Determinist, goes with this line of work. But what she said in London made him ask one of the big questions: “Is there such thing as free will?”. After having a philosophical argument with Shears and discovering he never intended to kill Henri Dubois (See in Trivia), Nico is able to change his mind about killing her and George. During this conversation Shears has an epiphany that makes him realize that the only thing that has led him here is himself and his actions. Shears wants to change his destiny and make things the right way. He decides to talk to his boss, guaranteeing he’ll sure understand why they should not kill anybody else. Unfortunately, Medovsky doesn’t care about Shears wishes or thoughts. Shears takes courage and resolves to shoot Medovsky at once to show Nico he is the one who makes the choices, not others for him.
They all three come back to the cable car Montserrat station and try to decide what to do next. George and Nico need to find Langham, stop his crazy plan, rescue Eva and make Nico win a Pulitzer. They have got pretty good idea where he is going thanks to Marqués last words: Eden, or Iraq as it is now. As Shears is deeply sorry for all the horrible things he’s done to George and Nico, he offers them a ride to Iran on Medovsky’s jet. He's got the keys, the contacts - and a full drinks cabinet. It's the least Shears can do. Moments later in the plane, having traveled a few miles, a familiar sound is heard on the plane’s speakers. Shears tells Nico and George that they have finally arrived to the final destination (Trivia n°9).
Once arrived in Eden, the excessive heat prevents Shears from even walk. He asks Nico to wait for him a moment, while George decides to explore the scenery. Soon George encounters a very evil looking creature waiting peacefully next to a fig tree.
George notices a truck with the logo of “Wolfram” which means Langham can't be far away. Before inspecting it closely, he decides it’s better to locate its owners first. Wolfram thugs are waiting outside a recently opened cave not far from them (Trivia n°10). George asks Shears if he can do anything about the guards, unfortunately he has given up senseless violence thanks to Nico’s help. Since the events that took place inside the cable cars in Montserrat Cable Car Station, Nico has been helping Shears to become a better man in search for forgiveness. Clearly, her Philosophy class seems to be working.
Now George needs to find another way to distract the guards and get where Langham is. By searching the back of the truck, he finds a knapsack full of military items. According to Shears, they are some of the explosives used by Langham’s henchmen to blast the hole seen in the rock face. Inside the bag George finds: a block of explosive, two long tubes wrapped in paper which can certainly look like dynamite, a roll of duct tape, some fuse wire, a sausage (someone’s lunch), and a battered old lighter (Trivia n°11). Despite Shears telling George otherwise, he isn't convinced that the sausage is edible. He knows it is a sausage, Shears knows it is a sausage. But one tiny length of fuse wire, and voilà. Passable for dynamite as long as nobody gives it a sniff.
After some thought, George has the great idea to use one of his best known nemesis to his advantage. He plans to distract Langham’s men with Donna, the malicious goat with pure hatred in its black eyes seen near the fig tree. Thanks to Nico’s help, he is able to duct tape the fake dynamite to the animal’s neck. By luring the goat with some ripe and delicious figs, George guides Donna to where the guards are sitting not before lighting the wire of the artefact. The goat begins to walk towards the men casually eating one fig at a time. As soon as she is close enough, they start talking about the cuteness of the animal when suddenly realize the powerful explosive and its imminent detonation. This makes the guards to get up instantly and run for their lives as fast as they can.
Moments later – Shears, George and Nico can approximate to the cave where supposedly Langham is now that his men have abandoned their position. The cave is pitch black, too dark to see a thing. George tries to light up the place with the lighter he found on the knapsack and it’s stopped by Nico straightaway. She yells at him for trying to use fire while having a hand full of explosives on his pockets and tells George that she will be protecting those devices. Through the gloom George can just see stairs leading down, he and Nico proceed to go into the cave. While Shears waits patiently outside because he is scared of tight spaces.
After stopping and preventing Langham from destroying the world by calling upon Lucifer – George, Nico and Eva leave the cave before its self-destruction with the Tabula Veritatis in their hands. Safe and sound, the three of them take a deep breath after being ejected out of the cavern by the blast of the explosion. Shears greets them effusively as he holds a meat brochette.
After Eva is out of sight, George and Nico have his first time to talk after the recent life-changing events. He admits to Nico he wasn’t sure they were going to make it this time. Clearly the Gods are on their side. As George approaches Nico to confess his true love with a meaningful kiss, they are abruptly interrupted by Shears who is calling them to have a bite of what he’s prepared: “Doner kebabs with a spicy fig compote”. He wasn’t only guarding the cave’s entrance but also cooking some delicious supper for everybody. Nico doubts for a few seconds and she’s very scared to ask if the name “Doner” comes from her new best friend Donna, the goat. Unfortunately, it is. The scene ends with George being sarcastic about Nico's love for lovely goats.
Topics of Conversation[]
- Medovsky.
- Gardener.
- Topiary.
- Free Will.
- Determinism.
- Helping Hand.
- Chelsea.
- Topiary.
- Henri.
- Redemption.
Quotes[]
- Shears: “Can you count darlin’?”
- Nico: “Yes, of course.“
- Shears: “Well then. One – I don’t know you or laghing boy here from Adam. Two – you ain’t got no business round here. And three – I don’t like French birds. Comprenez?“
- Nico: "He had the typical features of an Englishman who likes beer and football."
- Shears: “Got to love the beautiful game.” (Talking about football)
- Medovsky: “What is it you imbecile? How many times have I told you not to interrupt me when I'm about to kill somebody. Remember what we agreed? I'm the big man who takes care of the big things.”
- Shears: “And I am the little man who takes care of the little things.”
- Kat D: “Oh dear. The monks aren't going to like that.” (Talking about the almost destroyed cable car)
- George: “We had a little philosophical disagreement on the way up. Nothing that a little TLC won't fix.” (Tender Loving Care)
- Shears: “They're not really broken. More in a transitional state. It's amazing what a lick of paint can do.”
- Nico: “I think Shears is having a moment...”
- Shears: “Bleedin' 'ell fire. I'm... I'm Cream Crackered.”
- George: “Guys...There's a small problem.”
- Nico: “Is it Langham?”
- George: “No, It's worse than that. Come and look.”
- Nico: “Oh George, stop being so over-dramatic.”
- Shears: “Ooh look - a goat! Love them! Hey, we could call it Donna.”
- Nico: “What a lovely name. Are you hungry my lovely?”
- George: “Okay, while you get all David Attenborough on us, I’ll take a look around.”
Trivia[]
- Before being interrupted by George and Nico, Shears is working in his topiary. It's a Russian imperial eagle, in honor to his boss.
- Acording to Nico's photos, Shears has a tattoo on the back of his arm. It reads: “Head Hunters”.
- George learns about Shears' address by speaking to the “Waterloo Motors” garage’s owner where he brings his boss's Mercedes to have it serviced. The car is registered on Duchy Street, London.
- It seems that both, Shears and Medovsky, are working together to claim an insurance scam involving the “La Maledicció”’s theft.
- With his beer belly and piggy eyes, Shears looks quite jolly.
- He likes footy, a good scrap and topiary.
- According to Shears, topiary isn't about the freedom of expression. It's horticultural Valium. It makes the voices stop.
- Shears confesses he never intended to kill Henri Dubois at the Le Lézard Bleu Art Gallery. He just wanted to rough him up a little but the gun went off, and the rest is history. The fact that he already had made a choice not to shoot him, says a lot about Shears. Henri’s death was an accident.
- Shear’s communication on the plane: "Ladies and Gentlemen. This is your captain speaking. I hope you've had a pleasant flight. The temperature in Eden is a pleasant 30 degrees centigrade. We shall be landing on a flat plain about two kilometers into the desert which you will find is a pleasant stroll to your destination. Fasten your seatbelt and all that gubbins. Finally, may I take this opportunity of thanking you personally for choosing to fly Air Shears. We do hope you'll fly again with us soon".
- Two large statues that represent the Assyrian deity called Shedu frame the cave’s entrance. The name refers to the male counterpart of a lamassu (female version). This creature has a winged bull’s body and a human head. Historically, they were often placed as a pair at the entrance of palaces. At the entrance of cities, they were sculpted in colossal size, and placed as a pair, one at each side of the door of the city, that generally had doors in the surrounding wall, each one looking towards one of the cardinal points. Wikipedia
- The lighter has a monogram on the front that reads: "Put your own personal monogram here".
- Shears loves goats as much as Nico does.
- He doen't do fruit. Apart from wine of course.
- Shears is the one who gives Donna her name. Also, he is the one who take it away. Ouch!
Gallery[]
