Dominion (54 page)

‘Go now,’ Sarah said to Irene. ‘Now.’ She went to her and gave her sister an immense hug. ‘I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.’

Irene pulled away. She looked at the body by the stairs, the brightly coloured pieces of the broken vase. She said to Sarah, ‘I love you.’

‘I love you, too. Now go, think of the children.’

For an unbearable moment Irene stood irresolute, then she put on her coat, walked slowly to the door and went out.

The woman turned to Sarah. ‘You’d better get your coat too, it’s cold. Go on.’

‘What’s your name?’

‘Meg. Now hurry.’

Sarah fetched her coat and handbag. Outside, she heard Irene’s car engine start and the vehicle pull away. She wondered if she would ever see her again. Meg said, ‘Go and wait in the
back garden. I’ll join you in a moment.’

Standing in the cold garden, looking at the brown flowerbeds she and David had worked on not much more than a week ago, Sarah heard a muffled bang from inside the house. She closed her eyes.

Meg came out. Her prim little mouth was set hard. She met Sarah’s look challengingly. ‘We have to climb over the fence, get to the lane that runs along the back. That’s how I
got in. Be careful not to tear your clothes. We’re going on public transport, you don’t want to draw any attention to yourself.’

‘Where are we going?’

Meg smiled encouragingly then, the first touch of humanity Sarah had seen in her face. ‘Somewhere safe,’ she said.

F
RANK FELT
B
EN’S PINCH
and when he woke he thought he was back at school, in the dormitory, and they were doing something
to him. He screamed. Then he saw he was in a strange room, with David and Ben and it all came back; he hadn’t managed to kill himself and now they had him.

David leaned forward and put a hand on his shoulder, making him flinch. He said, ‘It’s all right, Frank, we’ve got you away from the hospital, we’re going to take you
somewhere safe.’ Frank stared back at him. Last night, when David came up to him in the road, he had felt a surge of relief for a second and then renewed fear, because his friend had to be
part of the conspiracy. He couldn’t remember anything since then. David’s expression now was the same as last night’s, a sort of desperate compassion.

‘Where am I?’ Frank said. His head was thumping, his voice hoarse.

‘In a house some way from the hospital. We’re safe.’ Frank became aware of sounds outside the room, footsteps. David gave him a sickly smile. ‘You’ve startled
everybody, yelling like that.’

The door opened and Geoff came in. ‘What happened?’

‘Frank woke up; he shouted, he’s confused. It’s all right.’

Ben asked Frank, ‘How’re ye feeling?’

‘I’ve a headache.’ There were other people in the doorway now; he saw a tall, pretty woman who Frank thought had been there the night before, and a stern-looking old man.

‘What’s going on?’ the old man asked sharply. ‘That yell gave Elsie a shock. What’s the matter with him?’

He gave Frank a worried stare. Frank had seen that look before, on the faces of visitors coming to the asylum, people who were scared of the mad. Ben said, briskly, ‘Leave David and me
wi’ him, will you? Every thing’s all right.’

The others went out, the old man giving Frank that look again over his shoulder. Ben asked him some more about his headache, which was fading now, held fingers up in front of his face for him to
count, took his pulse. ‘You’ll do,’ he said, looking relieved. ‘Sorry I had tae give you such a big dose last night, but we had to get you out.’ He looked genuinely
apologetic.

‘Why have you done this?’

‘We’re all working for the Resistance, pal. We’ re gonna get ye oot the country.’

Frank turned to David, his voice catching. ‘Why?’

‘You remember why you got put in the hospital?’ David hesitated. ‘Because your brother –’ he hesitated – ‘fell out of the window.’

‘I pushed him,’ Frank said bleakly.

‘Well, we know your brother told you something important.’ Frank’s eyes widened with fear, and David raised his hands in a soothing gesture. ‘That’s all we know.
Your brother told people in America what he had done, and they asked us to get you out. We don’t know what it is that you know, we don’t want you to tell us. We probably wouldn’t
understand anyway,’ he added in an attempt at humour.

‘Where is Edgar?’

‘Still in America. He’s being held somewhere safe. That’s all we’ve been told. You see, the American security services got in touch with us, they asked us to free
you.’

‘We’re going across country to the south coast,’ Ben continued. ‘The Americans plan to pick us up in a submarine. What aboot that, eh?’

Frank tried to think. He said, ‘But two policemen came, just before you did. One of them was German. I thought you were all working together.’

‘No.’ David looked hurt. ‘How could you think that?’

‘How would I know any different?’ Frank asked with sudden anger.

Ben said, ‘We think the Germans also know you have important information. That’s why we had to get you out straight away.’

Frank looked between them. It was hard to take in. Ben said, ‘Did you tell the police anything when they came to see you that day?’

‘No! And I’m not saying any more to anyone. Maybe I don’t know anything,’ he added defiantly.

‘All right, Frank,’ David said soothingly. ‘But please, you have to trust us.’

Ben asked, ‘Is that why you tried to kill yourself? Because you were scared someone wid force you to tell what you knew?’

Frank nodded dumbly. His head still ached but he had to concentrate. He still couldn’t quite believe what David and Ben were saying was true, but he was starting to feel flickers of
something he hadn’t known in a long time: hope. He said, ‘They’ll be after us.’

‘Yes,’ David agreed heavily. ‘We have to hide out here till our people tell us it’s safe to continue to London.’

A thought struck Frank. ‘What about your wife, David? Your job?’

‘My job’s finished. I’m on the run like you now.’ His eyes were bleak. ‘My wife didn’t know I was working for the Resistance. Our people are trying to get her
out, too.’

Ben said, ‘Why don’t we gi’ you a shave, then you can get dressed in some nice new clothes we’ve got for you, and get something to eat.’ He reached out and grasped
Frank’s shoulder, making him cringe again. ‘It’s okay, you don’t have to tell us anything, just go along with us. That’s how we’ll stay safe. Will ye dae that,
Frank?’

‘They’ll be after us,’ Frank said again. ‘When they find we’ve gone.’

‘They won’t get us, we’re smart.’

‘I don’t want to be drugged again like last night.’

‘All right. I’ll just give you your normal dose. Just to keep you calm.’

‘I’ll behave,’ Frank said bitterly. He hated the way Ben spoke to him sometimes, as though he were a child. He was beginning to believe their story, but even if what they said
was true the police and the Germans would be searching already. If the Germans had any inkling of what he knew they would be desperate to find him. He thought,
I’ll wait, I’ll find a
chance, I’ll still finish it
. Then he glanced at David’s serious, unhappy face and something in his look, the memory of their old friendship, made him want to cling to life. He
clenched his good hand into a tight fist. He mustn’t allow himself to think like that. There was still only one certain way to keep his secret safe.

Ben took him to the bathroom and shaved him, Frank guessed because they didn’t trust him with an open razor. Afterwards he changed his clothes under Ben’s eye. When
he had finished dressing he went over and looked out of the bedroom window. He saw a gravel drive, some shrubbery, a dead-looking palm tree, everything covered in frost. Directly below him was the
car they had arrived in, the roof glittering with ice crystals. They were only on the first floor. If he jumped out he would land on the car and might break a leg or an arm but that was all. The
enormity and horror of what he was thinking, what he had already tried to do, suddenly overwhelmed him and he leaned his head forward, resting it on the cold glass.

Ben came over. ‘What are you doing?’ he asked sharply.

‘Nothing.’

‘Come on. Let’s get some breakfast.’ He took Frank’s arm and led him to the door.

Downstairs, the others had already eaten and were sitting round the table smoking, the old woman he had seen the night before bustling about with plates. Geoff stood up.
‘Morning, Frank. Feeling better?’

‘A bit woozy.’ I’ll pretend to be more dopey than I am, he thought.

The woman brought him a plentiful breakfast, bacon and eggs and porridge, toast and butter. Frank found he was very hungry. As he ate the others all watched him. The foreign woman was there. He
saw there was a touch of a slant to her eyes. Her expression as she looked at him was kind but there was a hardness in her face. David had shaved, too, but still looked washed-out, though Geoff
seemed like his old self, puffing away on his pipe.

Afterwards Ben gave him his pill – just one small pill, his usual dose, and the foreign woman brought him an identity card with the name Michael Hadleigh on the front. She leaned over him,
those slightly slanted eyes staring into his, and said in accented English, ‘Just in case we get asked for identity cards for any reason, this is your name. Look at it and remember it. Do you
think you can do that, Frank?’

‘Yes, yes, I can.’ He wondered where she came from. The accent didn’t sound German, thank God.

‘I’ve a doctor’s letter as well, not a real one but it looks authentic enough. It says you’ve got TB and we’re friends taking you to a sanatorium in London. If
anyone asks us to show them our ID cards they’re likely to let us past quickly, people are frightened of TB. There’s more of it around every winter now.’

‘Pretty clever, eh?’ Geoff said.

Frank said, ‘Yes, it is.’

Natalia turned to him, a little apologetically. ‘Before we go we’d like to wash your hair and tidy it up. Would you mind?’

‘No,’ Frank said, touching his uneven fuzz. It sounded a good idea. ‘Are we likely to get stopped?’

‘No,’ Geoff said reassuringly. ‘But you never know these days.’

‘Especially with what’s happening with the Jews,’ Natalia agreed.

‘What have they done with them?’ Frank asked. ‘I heard they’d all been taken away.’

‘We don’t know,’ David answered bleakly. ‘They’ve put them in resettlement camps outside the towns. But we don’t know what’s going to happen from
there.’

‘Maybe they’re going to take them by train to the Isle of Wight. Maybe the Germans will kill them there,’ Geoff said. ‘Perhaps Beaverbrook will keep them where they are
for now, dangle them in front of the Germans as a bargaining chip.’

‘They’ll hand them over to the Germans, all right,’ David said bitterly. ‘They’ll take them to Eastern Europe and finish them off.’

‘Barbarians!’ Colonel Brock burst out suddenly, standing up. ‘Never had too much time for the Israelites myself, but this – it’s barbarism, barbarism!’

The door opened and his wife came in, excitement glowing in her face. She looked at David. ‘I’ve just had news over the radio,’ she said. ‘From our people in London. Your
wife’s safe, our people have got her!’

David’s whole body flooded with relief. Colonel Brock came over and shook his hand vigorously. ‘Thank God! Congratulations, old chap!’ Geoff clapped him on the shoulder. Frank
saw David look over at Natalia. She gave him a tight little smile, and a nod.

Mrs Brock continued, ‘You’ve all to stay here a few days.’ She had seemed nervous last night but the news seemed to have energized her. ‘There are roadblocks round
Birmingham. That’s good, though, because they must think Dr Muncaster’s been taken there.’ She gave Frank a quick look; like her husband she seemed a little frightened of him.
‘The submarine will be off the south coast to pick you up at the weekend. In the meantime, when it looks quieter, you’ll all go down to London.’

Her husband asked, ‘Do we know where on the south coast?’

‘No, they’re not telling us yet.’

Colonel Brock nodded. ‘That’s wise.’ He looked around the group. ‘Well, looks like you’ll be here for a while. Please don’t go out, and stay away from the
first-floor windows. Passers-by can see up there from over the wall.’

‘We’re safe here?’ Geoff asked.

‘Yes. So far as the neighbours are concerned we’re just a couple of retired local worthies.’ He nodded at his wife. ‘Mrs Brock’s the producer of the village
Christmas panto.’

Natalia said, ‘We ought to hide the car. Just in case.’

Colonel Brock nodded. ‘Quite right. I’ll put it in the garage, under a dust sheet. So,’ he said emphatically. ‘We all know where we are then, eh?’

They stayed there four days, not leaving the house. The weather remained cold and dry, with frosts each night. Frank spent most of the time in his bedroom. There was always
someone with him, usually David or Ben. He said as little as possible and to his relief they kept their word and didn’t ask him about what had happened with his brother. Sometimes they played
chess, a game for which Frank had always had a gift. Ben gave him his drugs regularly, and always watched carefully to make sure he swallowed the pill. At night, as at the hospital, he had a double
dose to make him sleep. He wondered how much Ben had given him on the night of their escape. He saw little of Natalia or the Brocks, though from his window he would see Mrs Brocks going out from
time to time, presumably to the village, and twice a day Colonel Brock took the black Labrador, like its master stiff and elderly, for a walk. When they met for meals Ben would sometimes try to
provoke the colonel into an argument. One evening the colonel showed them a gold-gilt carving of the Hindu elephant-headed god Ganesha, a beautiful thing. ‘Picked it up in Bombay for a
song,’ he said proudly.

‘Looted it from the subject peoples, eh?’ Ben said.

The colonel reddened and Frank thought he would explode, but he only snapped, ‘I paid the fair market price.’ Frank wished Ben wouldn’t do things like that.

He still intended to do away with himself if he got the chance, but they watched him constantly. Meanwhile he tried to find out as much as possible about what was going on. In their room he
asked Ben about his past, how he came to be working in the asylum.