THE CLEARING (20 page)

Chapter Thirty Five

*

We crammed into the copter, buckled up and slipped on our headphones, Charlie Duke was relieved to see us, but he was also worried about our two hostages. They weren’t part of the plan and Pa and Eddie had been very specific about sticking to the plan.

‘It was too good an opportunity to pass up,’ Luc said.

‘You were lucky to get out alive,’ Duke said. ‘I don’t mind telling you, I was more than a bit worried waiting here.’

‘We didn’t all make it,’ I said.

Denzil filled Duke in on what had happened to Connor. He spoke quickly and quietly and I tried in vain to tune out his words.

‘We couldn’t have done it without Denzil,’ Luc said.

Duke threw Denzil an appraising glance. ‘Right, let’s get out of here and drop these people back at their farm. There’s too many of us in this copter for my liking.’

I was up front with Duke, while Denzil and Luc sat behind with the two hostages. It made me uneasy to think of them in this confined space with us, but they were unarmed and outnumbered so I tried to relax. Grey must be weak after our long journey and the beating he’d received from Fred.

We finally rose up into the morning sky, the copter blades whirring in time with my thoughts: Connor was dead. Pa was in Ringwood facing Grey’s army. And Luc and I were over before we’d really begun. I’d given him a get-out clause and he’d taken it. He just wanted to be friends.

Ugh.

Since the moment Luc had made his feelings clear, nothing felt worth fighting for anymore. It all seemed so pointless.

As I felt the heat from Luc’s leg against mine, I tried not to think of the softness of his kiss and how good his hands felt on my back. The strong smooth feel of his fingers entwined in mine. I glanced at his profile and he turned to look at me but he didn’t smile. I was still mad at him anyway, for being so insensitive back in the forest. I needed to let him go. To let these feelings go. I had to try, or they would eat me up from the inside out.

My head felt like a muddy river with its flood defences about to collapse. I couldn’t let myself think about Luc and I couldn’t let myself think about Connor. If I did, I would break down again and I couldn’t afford to be a mess right now. I had to choke back all my emotions and stay focused.

It seemed we’d only just taken off into the air before we were descending again. Below, I made out the mellow brick farmhouse, the yard and the cow field where we were about to land - Fred and Jessie’s place.

Everyone climbed out of the copter except Duke and the prisoners. The air smelt fresh, the scent of damp grass in the breeze. Jessie had an arm around each of the girls and kept kissing the top of Liss’s head. Liss’s eyes were as wide as the sky, drinking in the landscape of her home. I felt happy for her. But there was still one major problem we needed to discuss.

‘I’ll get the lad out shall I?’ Fred said, turning back to the copter.

‘Can I talk to you about that,’ Luc said.

‘What’s to talk about?’

‘We need a favour.’

Fred’s mouth hardened into a thin line.

‘It’s FJ . . .’ Luc began. ‘We need him.’

‘No.’

‘What’s going on?’ Jessie detached herself from the girls and came over.

‘They want FJ,’ Fred said. ‘But it’s not gonna happen. The deal was . . .’

‘. . . the deal still stands, Fred. We only need him for a short time.’

‘Look,’ Fred said taking a pace towards Luc. ‘Whatever he might have done, it’s not his fault. He was taken when he was a boy. They’ve twisted things in his head. We can get our old FJ back.
I’ll
get him back . . . even if I have to tie him to a chair till he remembers who he really is.’

‘And you can do all that, Fred. A deal’s a deal. But if we take him with us now, we can save a lot of lives. It’ll just be for a day or two. We need him to barter for our people’s freedom.’

‘No!’ Jessie cried.

‘We won’t let anything happen to him,’ I said. ‘We only need to show his face to Grey’s guards. Threaten them.’

‘Threaten them with the death of our son, you mean,’ Fred growled. ‘You’ve got Grey haven’t you? He’s the real villain here; not our Freddie. Why d’you need ‘em both?’

‘To be honest, Grey doesn’t look too good,’ Luc said. ‘He might not last the day.’

‘Good,’ Fred said.

‘Please, Fred,’ I said, resting my hand on his arm. ‘You’ve waited nine years already. Another day or two won’t be so hard. And at least you can have a couple of days with Liss, without . . . without any stress. Please do this one thing for us. To help save our people. You owe us that.’

His shoulders suddenly sagged. ‘I suppose you’re right. We do owe you.’

‘No, Fred!’ Jessie grabbed his shoulder.

‘It’s the decent thing to do, Jess. We gotta do it.’

‘Thank you,’ Luc said. ‘We’ll bring him back to you as soon as we can.’ He held out his hand and Fred reluctantly shook it. Jess looked devastated.

‘You’re not thinking of staying here are you?’ Denzil said to the couple.

They stared back at him. ‘Yeah, course we are,’ Fred said. ‘This is our home.’

‘Denzil’s right,’ I said. ‘You can’t stay here. Grey’s men know where you live. They’ll come and get you.’

‘Thanks for your concern, but we can keep ‘em out,’ Fred said.

‘This is the first place they’ll come,’ Denzil said. ‘And you won’t be able to stop them. If they can take out fully guarded perimeters, they can take out your farm.’

‘What about the local compound?’ I said. ‘You told us there was a place for you there. You could go and ask. It’s safer to be around people.’

‘Maybe . . .’ Jess said.

‘Thanks, but we’re not your problem anymore,’ Fred said.

‘Just say you’ll think about it,’ I said. ‘Please.’

‘Okay,’ Jessie replied. ‘Take good care of our son won’t you. No matter what he’s like now, he’s our son and we love him. He’s a good boy.’

‘Two days,’ Fred said. ‘We want him back in two days.’

* * *

Liss walked into the yard in her socks. She had already discarded her uncomfortable boots in the copter. She stood and took a breath, inhaling wet grass, manure and cut logs. She heard the cows and the rooster and smiled as a couple of collies joyfully circled her parents. The farmhouse looked the same. Maybe a little smaller and little shabbier.

The others had gone. Taken FJ with them. It had been so hard for her parents, she could see that. But there was nothing else to be done. Liss secretly dreaded his return.

She and Annabelle had been hugged by Denzil, Luc and Riley. Such kind warm people with so much life. They were different to the people in The Close. They were . . . vibrant as though a light shone within them. The people of Salisbury were the opposite – like something inside them had died. Shadows and wraiths.

‘So, Lissy darlin’, is it like you remembered?’ her mum asked, taking her hand and giving it a squeeze.

She nodded.

‘We kept your room for you. It’s just like you left it. You can share with Annabelle if you like, or we can sort something else out.’

Liss smiled and leant into her mum’s shoulder. ‘Thanks, mum. I don’t mind either way.’

Annabelle was crouching on the ground, petting the dogs. Scratching behind their ears and talking to them in soft soothing tones. Liss couldn’t wait to show her around.

No bells rang out for morning service here. No hooded figures glided past, provoking fear in their wake. No stern-faced women told her off for standing still and doing nothing. No threats hung in the air. The atmosphere was sweet and untainted.

She would teach Annabelle how to farm the land and tend to the animals. She would be a good daughter and care for her mum and dad. She would have the life she had always yearned for but never thought would come to pass. She would erase the past nine years from her mind. After all, those years had just been spent waiting for this moment. Waiting to come home.

Chapter Thirty Six

Riley

*

The original town of Ringwood had been decimated by rioters and looters years ago. While all that was going on, the River Avon decided to burst its banks, flooding the area and finishing off any hopes its inhabitants might have had to rebuild. So Ringwood became a no-go area for most. Some people still lived there, but it was dangerous, unprotected, a marshland concealing raiders and pirates.

The Ringwood Perimeter had been created at about the same time as the collapse of the old town. It had been founded on the site of an old private school to the north of its namesake. Much smaller than the old town, but heavily fortified and extremely wealthy.

Pa, Eddie and Rita should have arrived at the Perimeter days ago, but we had no idea whether they’d been successful in holding back Grey’s army. We’d had to land out of sight as we couldn’t risk being shot down, which had meant another trek through the countryside.

Charlie Duke stayed with the copter, an automatic machine gun on his lap. So once again it was me, Luc and Denzil on the move; but this time we had hostages. After some debating, Luc had removed their hoods.

Grey was weak, struggling to match our strides and Denzil had to pull him along. FJ stayed at Grey’s side although I’m sure he could have moved quicker if he’d wanted to. The afternoon was dull and still; quiet apart from the sound of our feet tramping up the grassy hill and the low whine of the wind. Except that was odd, because I couldn’t feel even the faintest breeze on my skin. A thin grove of poplars lined the top of the hill. They wouldn’t provide us much cover, but they would have to do.

As we neared the summit, Denzil crouched and scooted up to the top, sinking to his belly and pulling out his binoculars. Luc waited with the prisoners as I crept up to join Denzil, flattening myself on the ground next to him.

Spread out before us at the base of the slope lay the Ringwood Perimeter, with scrub in the foreground and dark forest in the distance. The fence was almost an exact replica of our own – a high metal electrified mesh with evergreen trees inside, screening most of the interior from prying eyes. But that wasn’t what drew my attention. The thing that made me take a breath was the sight of hundreds, no thousands, of Grey’s soldiers surrounding the settlement. They must have been twenty or thirty deep.

And I realised that the low moan of the non-existent wind was actually coming from down there. The soldiers were chanting. An eerie sound which filled up the valley and sent shivers across my shoulders. Denzil turned to me and raised his eyebrows.

‘Nutjobs,’ he whispered.

I nodded and smiled despite the creepiness of the situation. He passed me the binoculars and I wheeled the focus until the fence became sharp through the lens.

‘They haven’t breached the fence yet,’ I said. ‘Hope Pa and the others made it inside okay.’

‘They could have arrived, seen that lot and turned right around,’ Denzil replied. ‘I wouldn’t blame ‘em if they had.’

I shifted the binoculars and focused on the soldiers now. Why were they standing there chanting? What would that achieve? It was like they were waiting for something to happen. I passed the bins back to Denzil.

‘I’ll send Luc up,’ I said and scooched back down the hill.

Luc took my place next to Denzil. It felt odd to be standing here on my own with FJ and Grey. They were sitting with their backs to each other, still cuffed with their faces covered. I kept my gun trained on Grey’s head, not wanting to take any chances.

A couple of minutes later, Luc and Denzil were back by my side. We moved a little way away from the prisoners and spoke in whispers.

‘There’s no point waiting is there,’ I said. ‘We should just go down there and do it.’

‘Yeah okay,’ Denzil said. ‘We’ll need to stay real close to each other. No one moves off even a couple of foot.’

Luc nodded. He’d been unusually quiet and hadn’t said a word to me since our short conversation in the forest outside Salisbury.

We walked back to our hostages.

‘Up you get,’ Denzil said, hauling first Grey to his feet and then FJ.

Grey was the important one here, so we decided that Denzil would be the one to hold him at gunpoint. I was to train my weapon on FJ, and Luc was to go first, waving his t-shirt as a white flag so the soldiers wouldn’t shoot us on sight. Lastly we removed the prisoners’ hoods. FJ fixed me with a stare.

‘Walk,’ I said.

We crested the hill and began our descent. There was nothing to stop Grey’s soldiers opening fire and slaughtering us all, but I was too numb to feel fear. If they had spotted us they didn’t show it. They were focusing all their attention on the fence and on their chanting.

‘Over there,’ Luc said. ‘Look left.’

I looked and saw a detachment of six soldiers break off from the rest and turn towards us. Now my heart pumped a little quicker. Not totally numb then. One of them held out a hand to halt our progress. We did as we were bid, stopped and waited for them to come to us.

They took their time, moving as one. Their cloaks merged together making them appear as though they were one huge single creature crawling across the hill. Once they got within six foot of us, they stopped. One of them stepped forward, his face concealed by his hood, a heavy iron cross hanging from his neck.

The faceless guards were still for a second before they realised who our hostages were. As one, they reached for their weapons – machine guns hidden beneath their robes.

‘Put those away,’ Luc said. ‘Or we’ll shoot them both.’

They were both still gagged, but I could see FJ itching to speak. I pressed my revolver into the side of his head.

‘You’re gonna need to withdraw your soldiers,’ Denzil said. ‘All of them.’

Their leader turned his head to Grey and although I couldn’t see his face, I guessed he was seeking his approval.

‘Don’t look at him,’ I said. ‘He’s not giving the orders. You all need to leave now and you need to tell your other freak show soldiers to leave the other perimeters and compounds too. Do it now, today, or we’ll stick James Grey’s head on a spike.’ I spat the words out.

‘I cannot act until I hear from Our Father,’ the soldier said. His voice low and monotone.

‘Do you want us to shoot him now?’ I said. ‘Because we will.’

‘I cannot act until I hear from Our Father,’ he repeated.

Denzil, Luc and I gave each other a quick glance and a nod. Luc stepped towards Grey and started to undo the knot in the gag around his mouth, but it was pulled too tight. He drew out his knife and sliced through it, letting the material fall to the ground.

Grey sucked in a lungful of air. He opened his mouth to speak but no words came out. He was unable even to whisper.

‘Oh yeah, right,’ Denzil said. ‘We need the other one to talk.’

Luc came over and sliced off FJ’s gag next.

‘Our Father must not be harmed,’ FJ said to the guards, his voice soft and raspy. ‘Do as these people say. Do you understand?’

The soldier bowed and they all turned away, returning to their comrades.

‘When they’ve gone, you’ll set us free,’ FJ said.

None of us answered.

‘You need to release all the perimeters,’ I called after the soldiers. ‘All of them. Without harming anyone.’

Grey’s face was pale and he swayed on his feet. He looked as though he might topple over.

Denzil grabbed at him with his free hand. ‘Whoah there. Can’t have you dying on us yet. That wouldn’t be helpful.’

Luc took out his canteen of water and pressed it up to the man’s lips. Grey gulped it down, most of it dribbling down his chin.

We stood and watched as the six soldiers made their way back down the hill. As they did so, the chanting suddenly stopped. I hadn’t realised how oppressive the noise had been and it was a relief to have the natural silence of the day back.

As one, Grey’s army turned and filed away from the perimeter like a black river flowing back to its source. As they left, they gathered up dark shapes from the ground.

‘Bodies,’ I said, pointing. ‘There must have been a battle. I hope our people are okay in there.’

‘We’ll find out in a minute,’ Luc replied. ‘I’m looking forward to getting rid of these two.’

‘You can’t kill us,’ FJ said. ‘You gave your word that we would be released if we gave up the perimeters.’

‘No,’ Luc said. ‘We gave our word that we wouldn’t lop your heads off.’

‘So what then?’ FJ said, outrage in his voice. ‘You intend to keep us prisoner?’

‘Pretty much,’ I said.

‘If we let you go,’ Luc said. ‘You’d start this whole thing all over again. And I’m not about to let that happen.’

‘I’m sure there’s a nice cosy cell waiting for you,’ Denzil said. ‘Maybe they’ll let you and James bunk in together.’

FJ’s expression was impressively blank, but his jawbone flexed with anger.

‘Come on,’ Denzil said. ‘Let’s go down and see if they’re okay in there.’

Grey’s soldiers were now nothing more than a thin trail disappearing into the horizon. They had left impressively quickly. If they were that well organised, I shuddered to imagine what damage they could inflict in a battle situation.

We moved down the hillside towards the settlement. The gates were shut with no one manning them. There wasn’t a guard in sight. The light was slowly dimming and a thin breeze began to stroke my face. The Perimeter was alarmingly quiet. Where was everyone?

Then, as we drew closer, through the gates, I saw further signs of battle. Charred trees and scorched ground inside the fence. Perimeter Guards on the ground. Several of them.

‘They’ve been using grenades,’ Denzil said.’

‘Where’s everyone else?’ I asked.

Luc cupped his hands together and shouted ‘Hey!’ His voice reverberated through the valley. ‘Hey! Eddie! Johnny! It’s Luc Donovan!’

One of the bodies on the ground inside the fence moved. I tapped Luc’s shoulder and pointed as the figure - a guard - struggled to get to his knees. He turned his head.

‘Luc?’ he croaked. Luc Donovan?’

‘Seb!’ Luc said. ‘You okay?’

‘Not sure. Something hit my shoulder. Have they gone?’

‘Yeah. Can you open the gates?’

‘What’s that?’ Denzil said, suddenly pushing Grey across to Luc. He darted a little way off and crouched down over the only one of Grey’s fallen soldiers to be left behind. Denzil pulled at something under the body.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked.

He rolled the soldier over and then backed right away.

‘Move!’ he yelled.