Outside (21 page)

‘Your bloke obviously has no idea of this or he wouldn
’
t have brought you within twenty miles of this place. They can’t believe their luck up at the mess hall and they’re
humouring
him till they decide what to do. They knew he was lying about meeting his dad, and now they
’
re dreaming up how they can use him to ruin Eddie and get some revenge.’

‘
We‘ve got to get him out of there,
’
I whisper back.
‘But do they know who
I
am? My father’s on really good terms with the army. He’s one of their main suppliers.
’
Even as I say the words, I know I’m kidding myself.

‘
Who knows you
’
re here?
’
asks Denzil.

I don
’
t reply.

‘
Exactly,
’
he says.
‘
They
’
ve guessed you
’
re AWOL. Your parents would never in a million years let you out of your Perimeter alone. Right now, you
’
re a fine-looking young female in a barracks full of frustrated men, whose boyfriend
’
s family business is seriously irritating them. I don
’
t fancy your chances.
’

‘
Okay.
’
I swing my legs off the bed, so glad I
’
d kept my clothes on.
‘
How do we get out?’ I hear the shake in my voice. ‘What’s the time? Is Luc still eating with them?
’
I bend down and slip my flip flops onto my feet.
‘
Why are you doing this anyway? Helping us, I mean.
’

‘
Selfish reasons,
’
he replies.
‘I’ll explain later, when we’ve got out of here.’

‘
You mean you want to come with us?
’

‘
You won
’
t escape without me.
’

Chapter Thirty

Eleanor

*

Calling Abigail from my mobile, I swallowed my anger and tried to adopt a friendly, apologetic tone. I asked if she’d meet me at the recreation ground that afternoon. She agreed. I waited for her in the deserted playground and sat on a cold, wet swing. She was twenty five minutes late, but I smiled at her when she arrived, hands in her pockets, the hood from her parka covering her platinum hair. She glanced at the swing next to me, but it was covered in raindrops so she stood where she was.

‘Grotty day,’ she said.

‘Hi Abi,’ I said, trying to be breezy. I brought my swing to a stop and stood up, forcing myself to say the next few words. ‘I’m sorry I slapped you before.’ I gave her what I hoped was an apologetic smile. ‘I must have been in shock or something.’

‘Don’t worry about it. I knew you weren’t yourself.’

I tried to restrain myself from slapping her again.

‘You know,’ she continued. ‘I get you were upset about Connor. He tricked us all and you must’ve felt pretty used and stupid when you found out.’

Good God, it took all my strength not to punch the smug smile off her face. I took a deep breath and hummed a tune in my head trying to ignore the self-satisfied crap pouring from her spiteful mouth.

‘Finding out he was a terrorist must have been such a hideous shock.’

I stifled the many retorts that came to my lips and just nodded my head.

‘
I feel like I haven
’
t seen you for ages,
’
she breathed.
‘
Let
’
s forget about boys and do something fun.
’

‘
Yeah, good idea. But do you know what actually happened to Connor? Is he still under arrest or have they let him go?
’

‘
Oh for God
’
s sake,
’
she said.
‘
Connor, Connor, Connor! You
’
ve only known him for a few weeks and it
’
s all you go on about. It’s so bo-ring.
’

‘
I know.
’
I smiled and tried to stay upbeat and act like I didn
’
t care. I knew if she sensed my desperation, I wouldn’t get anything out of her. God, why had I had her as my friend for so long? I must have been blind. She was a monster.
‘
I just want to know so I can put him out of my head. It
’
s bugging me, you know?
’

‘
Yeah, fair enough. But you won
’
t like it, Ellie.
’

I heard the blood pound in my ears. What was she going to tell me? I swallowed down bile in the back of my throat.

‘
Look, Abi,
’
I pretended to be bored.
‘
I don
’
t really care, but I need to know for Tom. Connor
’
s a good friend of his and he
wants
to know what
’
s going on.
’

She eyed me sharply.

‘
Anyway,
’
I tried a lighter tone.
‘
I
’
d like to know if I
’
ve been going out with a convicted terrorist or not.
’
I pulled a lopsided face.

‘
Yeah, not cool,
’
she relaxed her gaze and actually laughed.
‘
Look, he
’
s dead okay? There, I
’
ve said it.
’

Her words hung between us.

‘
I
’
m sorry. I know you liked him and everything.
’

‘
Liked
him,
’
I repeated.
‘
Liked
him? He
’s
the love of my life. I love him and he
’
s not dead. You
’
re lying.
’

‘
I thought you said you didn
’
t care ...
’

‘
Liked him?
’
I stared at her with what must have been pure loathing, because she backed away.
‘
You are a jealous, vindictive cow. This is you and Bletchley pretending to be soldiers. What I want to know is why I ever had you as a friend in the first place?
’

‘
Now hang on,
’
she interrupted.
‘
If it wasn
’
t for me ..
.’

‘
If it wasn
’
t for you, I would never have gone out with Johnny in the first place. You only hooked me up with him so we could be a foursome with you and Bletchley. If you hadn’t been such a bossy cow, I would’ve been free to see Connor …’

‘Don’t call me a cow, you psycho bitch …’

‘… and Soldier Boy Sam wouldn
’
t have had some pathetic idea about avenging Johnny
’
s hurt pride.
’

‘Yeah, well blame me if it makes you feel better, Ellie.’

That stung. I knew in my heart it was my own stupid fault for being so easily led by her. I felt disgusted with myself, defeated, tired, bereft. There was nothing left for me, nothing that mattered anymore. I was too numb to even cry.

‘
How do you know what
’
s happened to him anyway?
’ I suddenly asked.

She looked angry and uncomfortable, shocked by the strength of my feelings.

‘
Ellie, I
’
m sorry. Sam called me. Connor tried to escape at Portsmouth and a soldier shot him. I don
’
t know the details.
’

‘
It
’
s all gone mad,
’
I muttered.
‘
Connor wasn't a terrorist. It
’
s all bloody stupid.
’

Abi turned to leave, but then she changed her mind and put her arms around me. But my body was stiff and unyielding, and I wouldn
’
t sink into her clumsy, cold embrace.

Chapter Thirty One

Riley

*

I study Denzil, taking in the intense expression on his face, and through my fuzzy panicked senses comes a cold knife-cut of realisation. I have no choice. No one else can do this for me. It’s up to me and I can’t afford to muck it up. I put my fear into a box and clear my mind of everything except what I know I have to do.

Our lives are at stake, but this time I’m not afraid. I feel like I’ve been plucked me out of reality and given a pure shot of calm.

Minutes later, I walk into the dining hall and up to Luc, who sits at the far end of the room next to some scarily important looking men in uniform. They blur into a sea of khaki and I’ve no idea who they are or what rank they hold. My heart thumps, but I do my best to plaster on a smile for everyone seated at Luc’s table.

‘
Sorry to disturb you.
’
I smile apologetically.
‘
Luc, could I borrow you for a second. There’s some stuff in the AV I need.
’

‘Are you okay?’ he asks. ‘Feeling better?’

I nod. All I can think about is getting us the hell away from Warminster.

One of Luc
’
s dining companions speaks.
‘
Go on, son, help the young lady out. We
’
ll keep it warm for you.
’
They all laugh at this, though what’s so funny, I can
’
t tell. They remind me of a pack of hyenas I once saw on a wildlife DVD, laughing hysterically before tearing into another animal
’
s kill.

As we walk out of the room, Luc hisses,
‘I think t
hey were just about to give me some useful info on Chambers. Are you sure you’re okay? You’ve got a weird expression on your face.
’

‘
Sshh,
’
I answer.
‘
We
’
re in trouble.
’
I quickly fill him in on the details.

Like me, he doesn’t know whether to believe Denzil
’
s story or not, but if Denzil’s story is true then we’ll be in greater danger if we stay. We make up our minds quickly and decide to leave.

Luc and I walk the five hundred yards to the AV. It seems like five miles in the humid electrified air. We slide into the vehicle and Luc drives out slowly, back the way we came in, less than three hours ago. As we approach the checkpoint, Denzil emerges from the hut. Through the door, I can see the body of a soldier sprawled on the floor. Denzil sees us warily eying the body.

‘Don’t worry, he’ll live. I just clocked him on the back of the head.’ He jumps into the back seat, throwing us each a machine gun, one of which is our confiscated weapon.

‘
Keep those handy,
’
he says.
‘
I
’
m deserting my post and I reckon we got about fifteen minutes before they realise you
’
re not having any pudding. I should put my foot down hard on that pedal if I were you,’ he says to Luc. ‘I
’
m Denzil, pleased to meet you.’

‘What the hell’s going on?’ asks Luc, clearly shaken by this turn of events. ‘Why do we have to leave? You said my father’s not welcome here anymore. It all sounds like a load of crap to me.’

‘Can we drive and talk?’ Denzil says.

Luc shakes his head but he does as Denzil asks and turns back onto the road.

‘I just need you to trust it’s also
best for
me
if I get you out of here alive,’ Denzil says. ‘I know you got no real reason to trust me yet, but you must have known something wasn’t right back there or why would you be escaping with me now?’

‘I trust Riley. She said we needed go, so here we are.’

‘I gave you back all your weapons didn’t I?’ Denzil says. ‘I wouldn’t have done that if I was gonna hurt you.’

‘Well, it doesn’t look like we’ve got much choice now,’ says Luc. ‘Not now we're fleeing from our hosts and you did something nasty to that soldier back there. And Riley seems to trust you.’ Luc glances across at me and I shrug non-committally, which isn’t any help at all. He presses his lips together and his jaw tightens.

‘We’ll go along with you for now,’ he says, braking suddenly as we reach a junction. He turns to look at Denzil, who almost fills the whole of the back seat. ‘We’re heading west. That okay?’ Luc asks. ‘Tell you the truth, I’m a bit drunk. They loaded me up with spirits back there.’

‘It doesn’t matter which way we go. They’ll send units in both directions. May as well head towards Westbury, and go as fast as you can. I’ve topped up your tank.’

Luc and I both peer at the fuel gauge, which is showing ‘Full’.

‘Nice one,’ Luc says grudgingly, looking at him in the rear view mirror.

‘Are you alright to drive?’ I ask. ‘Do you want me to take over?’

‘I’m sobering up quickly, but thanks for the offer.’

Night is falling around us and the AV’s beams are on full. We’re climbing in altitude and the road winds above the surrounding countryside, which spreads out all around us in dark splodges of field and woodland. The road quality is better than we’d been used to and we manage to hit thirty miles per hour, but I still feel every jolt and accidentally bite my tongue. It hurts like hell, but I don’t say anything.

‘We’ll have to get off the road in a minute,’ Denzil says. ‘Once they’ve discovered we’ve gone, they’ll send out the Lynx.’

‘What’s a Lynx?’ I ask. ‘It doesn’t sound good, whatever it is.’

‘It’s not. Not for us anyway. It’s a helicopter and it’ll pick us up straight away if we stay on the road. Lucky for us, they’ve got no more anti-armour missiles, but we still got the door guns to watch out for.’

‘So why are we still on the road? Let’s find somewhere to hide.’ I’m panicking now.

‘We still got time,’ Denzil reassures. They might not even bother to come after us.’

‘Really?’ Luc asks.

‘Nah, man. They’ll come after us, no question.’ He laughs a deep belly laugh.

‘Great,’ says Luc, massaging his temple with his right hand.

We pass tiny terraced brick cottages perched on the side of the road, obviously abandoned and completely dilapidated. They look sinister in the black night, like huddled old crones plotting our downfall. We drive towards a bridge with faded graffiti daubed across its length:
TURN BACK OR DIE
.

‘That’s a bit dramatic.’ Luc brakes suddenly, unsure whether or not to continue.

‘Don’t worry. That graffiti’s years old,’ says Denzil. ‘This is Westbury. It used to be a compound, but everyone got wiped out in the plague.’

‘Everyone?’ I ask.

‘It was bad. About twelve years ago they all got sick and nearly everyone died. Anyone who didn’t get it fled the place and no one ever came back. Westbury’s deserted now, apart from the odd
traveller
. It’s a ghost town, literally. Loads of the lads swear they’ve seen weird stuff going on down here.’

‘Thanks for that, Denzil. You’ve made me feel so much better.’ G
oosebumps
prickle all over my back and arms.

He laughs his loud surprising laugh, unexpected for such a softly-spoken person. It would be infectious if I wasn’t so scared for my life.

‘I’m glad you think it’s all so hilarious,’ says Luc. ‘Are we going into the joyous ghost town of plagues and death then?’

‘We’ll hide ourselves there till morning.’ Denzil confirms my fears.

‘Why did I know you were going to say that.’ I’m not happy with the thought of spending a night in this creepy, deserted town. But then I suppose it is marginally better than being shot at from a military helicopter.

The AV crawls under the bridge and along the silent narrow street. I can’t see any signs of habitation. Thick foliage lines the road. I don’t even want to think about what I would do if I was alone here. We turn off the main track into an overgrown wilderness of rubble and tangled greenery, bumping over goodness- knows-what and straining our eyes to spot somewhere to hide.

‘This is no good,’ Denzil says after a couple of minutes of trying to penetrate our way through the debris in the AV. ‘Got a torch?’

I scrabble about in the footwell and release the catch on the hidden compartment. My hand finds the torch straightaway and I pass it back to him.

‘Stop the vehicle and kill the lights. I’m gonna go find us somewhere proper to hide.’

‘On foot?’ I ask, horrified he could be so brave.

‘Yeah. You two wait here. I won’t be long.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Luc says.

‘No need. You stay with Riley. It’ll be quicker if it’s just me.’ And he’s gone, eaten up by the shadows.

‘Do you think he’ll come back?’ Luc asks.