Chapter Nineteen
Tom and Jodie had followed the driver up North End Road until he turned left into Hampstead Way. On the way they had turned off their mobile phones in case he heard them in the increasingly dark and cloudy night.
‘Quick. Let’s get to the corner of the road and watch him,’ Tom said.
They hurried there and peered around the corner. The driver was definitely heading to North End, thought Tom. They continued to follow him, being as careful as they could. They got to the drive of a private estate on their left, which was quite near to North End. There they stopped. From this point Tom could see the driver turn the corner, just around which was the white surface building of North End.
‘Come on. Let’s see what he’s up to,’ said Tom.
They both went towards the fenced off area of the surface building, slowing down as they got to the corner before it. The gate was closed and there was no one around. Then Tom quickly pulled Jodie back to the private housing estate’s small car park which they had just passed and which was adjacent to the surface building.
It went down below pavement level but there was a wall at the end of it, at the top of which the ground was at the same level as the surface building. There was a bin enclosure here, which had a fence surrounding it at the top of the wall, which they could hide behind. They got behind it and up against the fence separating North End from the car park.
Tom pulled himself up to see over it but could see no signs of movement, though he could see that its door was closed. The driver must have gone inside, thought Tom. He got down and told Jodie what was going on but she had already found a small gap in the fence and seen everything for herself.
‘We’ll wait here until he comes out,’ he whispered. ‘No one will be able to see us. We’ll be safe.’
‘Are you sure he’s in there. I mean we didn’t see him. Anyway, I hope he hurries up because it’s bloody cold tonight,’ said Jodie quietly. ‘Looks like it’s going to rain a lot soon as well, judging by the clouds.’
Tom looked up at the sky and then at his watch: it was 8.06 p.m.
‘He must be there,’ said Tom. ‘Otherwise we would have probably seen him around the corner.’
‘Why d’you think he’s come here?’ asked Jodie.
‘Probably meeting the creatures or checking on something,’ replied Tom wondering why the driver would do these things.
An hour later, after Tom and Jodie had to crouch down a few times because of people parking their cars in the car park below them, the door of the surface building begin to open. ‘Tom, he’s coming back. Look,’ Jodie whispered.
Tom joined her looking through the gap in the fence and he could see the driver come out.
He closed the door behind him, pushing it firmly twice to make sure. He then approached the spiked fence with caution, looked around him, and, satisfied, opened and closed the left padlocked gate. Tom and Jodie then turned around and after a few seconds, the driver went past the opening to the car park they were in.
They let a few more seconds pass and then followed him. He was about twenty metres in front of them and seemed more focused and, Tom felt, happier than before he had gone into North End. Just before he got to the end of Hampstead Way he looked around slowly. Tom and Jodie were in the drive of the posh housing estate and quickly hid themselves. Then after a few seconds they peered around the wall to see what he was doing now. He was crossing Hampstead Way going towards Hampstead and not back down the hill to Golders Green.
Tom was a little surprised at this but assumed the driver had decided to walk up the hill towards Hampstead tube station, which was further away than Golders Green, but perhaps the driver fancied a walk, thought Tom. When he was out of sight they rushed after him. From the corner Tom saw him about to cross North End Road on a zebra crossing. There were a few other people around now, some going home, some going to the nearby Bull & Bush pub.
At the other side of the road, the driver walked up the hill a little. But then he confused Tom again; this time in a more worrying way. Instead of carrying straight on up the hill, the driver turned right into a narrow road called Sandy Road, which led into Hampstead Heath.
What was the driver playing at? Tom wondered. He looked at Jodie. Tom knew they had to continue to follow him. He might be up to something. They went after him. Sandy Road turned right sharply right after a few houses and Tom saw the driver disappear from view. They rushed to the corner. The driver was continuing to walk down the road which now turned into a pathway leading into the Heath.
They made their way after him and Tom could just about see him in the darkness ahead. The pathway was quite narrow at first but then it became wider and more road-like again. The wooded Heath was on the left and Golders Hill Park was on the right, after some trees and a fence. Tom tried to keep about twenty metres behind the driver.
The driver looked around him again, as before in a slow fashion. There was now no question that he was definitely up to something, thought Tom as he and Jodie ducked behind a tree. The driver moved on again until he disappeared from view around a bend.
Tom and Jodie hurried to the corner where the path veered to the left. They watched from the bushes. There was a wide opening on the right but the driver was now looking at the ground on the left in front of him, like he was searching for something. Then he stopped. He must have found what he wanted. But what could he want out here? Tom wondered.
Tom looked around him; he could see no one else around in the darkness, though he could feel the air becoming tenser with the approaching storm. He could also hear some traffic behind them on North End Road.
The driver looked around again but they were now too hidden to be seen. He then took out two rod-like tools with triangular handles from his black shoulder bag.
‘What is he up to?’ whispered Jodie.
‘I don’t know. Let’s wait and see,’ replied Tom. The driver then inserted the two tools into the ground and pulled on the handles of them. Tom saw that he was lifting up a manhole cover. The driver moved it to the side of the hole. He then looked around him again before taking out a torch. He had another final look around and then descended into the hole, which Tom now thought must be a sewer.
Jodie tugged at Tom, ‘Let’s get closer and see what he’s doing,’ she whispered.
‘No. Not yet, Jodie,’ Tom said. But it was too late; she had already begun to move towards it. He followed after her, now understanding a little the problems such a strong-minded girl must cause her parents. He got his Swiss army knife out and opened the biggest blade, cursing himself for not bringing his mother’s more lethal kitchen knife. He reached the hole and crouched down next to Jodie. He was aware the driver could return at any time.
He gave the knife to Jodie, got down on his belly, and put his head into the sewer. Yes, it was definitely a sewer, he thought, as his nose caught its smell. He could not see much: a ladder leading down a small shaft leading to the main tunnel and the glint of some ‘water’ at the bottom. He knew he would have to enter the tunnel. He got up in a crouched position, took his knife back off Jodie, and put his legs onto the ladder.
‘Be careful,’ Jodie whispered. ‘It might be a trap.’
Tom gave her what he thought was a reassuring look and descended into the tunnel. When his head got to the top of the tunnel’s ceiling, he peered around him and saw in the darkness the moving beam of a torch, very probably that of the driver, quite far away to his left. He could also hear and much better see the sewage glistening below him. The tunnel was arched-shaped and about six feet by six feet. The torch beams then disappeared and he waited a couple of minutes to see if they would return.
They did not and he climbed back up to Jodie to tell her what was happening. ‘The driver has--‘
‘AAAARRRGGHH. AAAARRRGGHH.’ Tom was interrupted by the screams of a female from somewhere inside the sewer. No. No. Not again, Tom thought as he looked at an also shocked and scared Jodie.