The Tower Grave (5 page)

             
“Peter Firth; sword, archery and combat training,” said a tall, stocky man with ginger hair and a strong Newcastle accent. “Call me Geordie-Pete if you like,” he added smiling.

             
“Paul Martin; fifteenth century lifestyle and history trainer,” said a short man with dark, receding hair in a black, gold-buttoned blazer.

             
“And I’m Rich Walker as you know; here for portal training and operation. Ok,” he added grinning. “We didn’t over do the staff. We have what we need and we all live here. There are ten of us in this room now. Add a chef, my six engineers, two cleaners and Beth our office assistant; and we have twenty residents in twenty rooms. You all now live in the converted stables at the front. They are entered via a corridor and not the doors onto the driveway, which are sealed. On this floor there is a dining room, a bar, this lounge, and the classroom that you’ve seen. Offices are up the stairs, which are back out by the front door, and we will give you the codes for the doors shortly. You may have seen a number of barns outside; they house a bit more, which you’ll see in time. We have a fitness suite, an equestrian unit, a dojo and a mock fifteenth century village. Ok?”

John smiled along with the others at the whirlwind briefing provided by the technician. They each nodded their agreement and Rich exhaled with relief.

“Let’s go and see the portal then,” he announced all of a sudden.

             
John looked around at Charlotte smiling and grinned back in acknowledgement of the short man’s manner. They were led to a steel door that John hadn’t seen at the back of the room and were taken through by Rich into another, far busier area.

             
John couldn’t believe his eyes. It was as though he had stepped into a space-lab from a futuristic sci-fi movie and a slow whistle came from one of the others behind him as they too filed into the large room. In the centre of the room stood what appeared to be the portal. Like a huge, spherical machine, it had a small door and a number of dials and screens upon it. It was clearly extremely sophisticated, but to him it could not look more like a space-pod or submarine from an old eighties sci-fi movie. Around the portal and across the room stood five or six men and women; none of whom seemed to notice the rabble of people standing behind them as they worked at their desks, control panels and computer screens.

             
“Ladies and Gentlemen,” said Rich, shaking them all from their thoughts. “May I introduce my engineers and of course, your portal.”

             
John glanced at Derek who raised his eyebrows and blew through his cheeks in a ‘don’t blame me’ kind of way; then looked back to Rich who began to point out different parts of the machine and how it would work. As far as John could see, only Chris seemed to be following with any understanding; the rest of the team and instructors slowly stopped listening and made their own awestruck inspections of the craft that would decide their fate within weeks. A small, polite voice made John jump as he looked around the room to see if the others were as confused as he was.

             
“Funny looking box, eh Boss?” Charlotte said, looking up from beside him. “What do you reckon? Will it be the last thing we ever see?”

             
“I reckon we’ll soon find out whether this is the most advanced machinery known to man, or if it’s going to quickly turn us into a pool of mush,” he replied.

             
“That’s what I was thinking,” she added, queasily.

             
“I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

             
“Of course we will,” boomed the confident voice of Jake approaching behind them. “Stay positive and we will smash up those Tudors and get back before we know it.”

             
John smiled at the words.

“
You know where we’re going is a few years before the Tudors, right, Jake?”

             
“They’re all the same, Guvnor. We have the advantage of being from the future! We’ll smash ‘em for sure! We know what happens there after all! Got to be a bit of an advantage, eh?”

             
Another voice, this time belonging to Derek, rang out behind them announcing a few hours to get settled before dining and drinks at 5pm. Nodding their agreement in reply, the crowd mingled amongst each other and wandered off slowly as Charlotte and John continued their conversation and looked around the house, eventually separating back at their rooms. John opened his door and stepped into his room, dropping his bag and collapsing onto his bed. Suddenly becoming aware of how exhausted he was, he glanced at his watch and smiled as he saw he still had two hours to himself. Sighing aloud with relief, he wriggled further onto his bed and closed his eyes. He was pleased with his team. Between Chris and David they had their knowledge covered already and the other two were perfect for the job. To a lot of people, Jake would seem cocky and foolish with his over-confident, gung-ho attitude; but John he knew that underneath the bravado, the young agent had exactly what was needed to be a successful undercover operative in an alien environment. If something happened and he was no longer around, he was confident Jake would lead the team well and would either pull them to safety or get the job done. Charlotte was confident and bright and despite being more than attractive enough to turn any man over to her way of thinking, she seemed sensible enough to ensure she wouldn’t stick permanently in the minds of every man they met. An apparent total contrast to Jane, he thought, who was now firmly stuck in his mind. He’d noticed attention from women before but it had hardly registered over his feelings for Sophie. Now, after the emancipation from his unreciprocated devotion, he suddenly felt free and both Jane’s attention and attractiveness were very much clear. He noticed her check him out the moment they met, and the prospect of getting to know someone new was unusual and exciting. He accepted that with the impending risk to his life he may only get to know her in a brief and physical manner; but it had been a long time since he had ‘gotten to know’ anyone like that and the thought made his heart race. He sighed as he wondered whether it would be a good idea to be distracted by a woman when he needed to concentrate on the task at hand. It was his number one rule as a husband and an undercover that he would never play away. Now, he was no longer a husband; but an undercover he still was, and he needed his sense. It didn’t help that she was gorgeous, he thought, nor did it help that they were both part of a very dangerous assignment. But she wasn’t on his team and if he was facing a very sudden death he felt he could probably relax his own rules a little. He kept his eyes closed and considered the peace he had finally found with his family and with himself. He grinned broadly; life was going to get more fun.

As John
opened his eyes, the light was lower outside his window and the heat of the sun was pressing strongly onto him making him sweat. He rolled over to grab his watch, showing ten to five in the evening, and figured he must’ve slept though he didn’t remember passing out. He jumped up, washed his face and changed into some comfortable jeans before jogging down to the lounge and dining room they’d seen earlier.

             
Opening the door, he saw all of his team and instructors sitting around a long table, talking and joking loudly. The only seat available sat clearly between Geordie Pete and Jane who both smiled up to him as he entered.

             
“Johnny!” called Derek from the table. “Grab some food from the buffet and have a seat, mate.”

             
John smiled around at everyone and quickly grabbed some cuts of roast meat and vegetables from the chef at the buffet, sitting down in the available seat as Pete shuffled his large shoulders out of the way.

             
“Cheers,” he said, feeling ravenous. “Hi Pete, Jane. Are you well?”

             
“I’m great, John. You?” she replied, smiling.

             
“Not bad,” he smiled back, trying to keep his eyes on hers but failing miserably and becoming embarrassed as he took in her body and clothes below. She’d switched the riding outfit for a pale-yellow summer dress that accentuated her tan, and had her hair tied up in a high pony-tail that revealed delicate shoulders and the firm swell of her breasts.

             
“So, what do you think of your team, Johnny?” Geordie Pete asked, snapping him back to reality before he lingered too long without speaking.

             
“Yeah, they all seem great,” he replied. “If nothing else, it should be a good laugh and quite an adventure!”

             
“To say the least, mate. I have no idea how dangerous it’s going to be.”

             
“What are going to learn? Defence-wise?”

             
“Originally they wanted you armed. Just in case, you know. But the slightest inclination of something unusual and they’d probably call it witchcraft and come after you with pitchforks. So we’re going to train daily; open hand, sword, dagger, shield work and archery. Twice through each.”

             
“Twice?”

             
“On foot and mounted. You may need both, after all. Especially considering your undercover legends; you’ll have interesting personas to say the least.”

             
“I can’t even ride a horse!” John exclaimed, laughing.

             
“That’s why I’m here,” Jane interrupted. “I’ll teach you to ride and we’ll be doing loads of it.”

             
“I bet you will, Janey!” Geordie Pete shouted, cracking out a bark of a laugh.

             
John laughed too as Jane leaned past him and punched Pete in the arm, growing a deeper red by the second and looking around to see if anyone else had heard.

             
“You sod, Geordie.” She said, smiling and glancing up to John shyly.

             
“I’m sorry, Jane,” he continued, chuckling. “Maybe you should take your eyes off him for a second.”

             
John felt his own cheeks flush in embarrassment but was cooled as he saw she felt just as shy and awkward as he did. From their introduction he had expected more confidence, but from what he had seen so far, she had the personality to match her appearance.

             
“What were you saying, John?” she said, changing the subject with the embarrassment clear on her face.

             
“Of course, what are our legends then, Pete?”

             
The table grew quiet as some of the team turned their attention to Pete at the question and within moments only the sound of the oblivious Chris and Rich discussing the portal at the end of the table could be heard.

             
“You’ll get everything in the morning,” Derek said, quietly from the other side of the table. “I’ll brief you properly and we’ll discuss any changes you want to make.”

             
“Ok,” John replied, in thought. “We’ll wait until tomorrow. I hope you’ve got a decent Jester’s outfit for Jake.”

             
Jake squinted at John and laughed as a chuckle rippled around the table.

             
“Anyway,” Derek jumped back in. “Have a few beers and relax because starting tomorrow you’ve got some pretty intensive training ahead. I expect your brains, arms and arses to be in agony within forty-eight hours.”

             
They continued to eat and talk, John remaining with Jane and Pete while he ate, others in small groups as they all gradually moved about and spoke with each other throughout the evening. By ten o’clock, David announced he was off to bed and most of the group agreed, setting off behind him.

             
“I’ll see you in the morning, John.” Jane said quietly beside him. “You’ve got a session with me at eight.” She smiled up at him and walked away, waving to the others.

             
“See you in the morning,” John replied as he watched her go.

             
“She’s well into you, mate,” Jake said into his ear. “What do you reckon?”

             
“I’ve got to concentrate, Jake,” he replied, lying.

             
“And it’s also maybe the last time you’ll ever see the twenty-first century! A girl like that; she’s nice, John. She’s really nice.”

             
“Yeah, she certainly is,” John replied as a smile crept across his face.

             
“Good decision,” Jake grinned back.

Five

5
th
June 2014

“Nice motors, Del,” said John as
the Commander and Rich pulled up outside the house in two black Range Rovers to transport the team the short distance to the stables.

“We just needed some off-road ve
hicles to get around the site,” he replied, grinning. “No use having a job like this if you don’t make use of the funding. Any time any of you need to get about in here, just grab one. We have five available for the use of the whole complex and they’ll always be parked about somewhere with the keys in them.”