Chapter Twenty Five
Riley
*
‘Tricked? I say. ‘Tricked how?
Luc shakes his head slowly, a scowl on his face.
‘Luc, tell me what’s happened.’
He steps closer and starts talking in a fast whisper. ‘Our first night here, I climbed up on the roof to get an idea of the layout of the place. I didn’t see anybody. No security guards or anything. There’s another courtyard round the back and there was a vehicle in there. It was parked under some trees.’
‘A vehicle?’ I say with a growing feeling of dread. I think I know where this is heading.
‘Riley, it was our AV.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Hundred percent.’
Fred and Jessie were supposed to be waiting a mile away in their jeep with our AV parked close by. They were going wait there for us and if we didn’t show up after ten days they would drive to our Perimeter in Bournemouth and alert our parents who would send in help.
But if our AV was now in Grey’s Close, something had gone very wrong.
‘There wasn’t a lot I could do from up on the roof,’ Luc continued. ‘I had to get back and try to find out what it meant.’
‘So they must’ve caught Fred and Jessie,’ I say. ‘What shall we do? We’ll have to find them. Get them out as well as their kids.’
‘Hang on, Riley. I haven’t told you the rest.’
As I wait for him to continue, I hear footsteps coming down the stairs.
‘Quick,’ I hiss, yanking open the broom cupboard and dragging him inside with me. I pull the door closed behind us, hoping whoever’s coming doesn’t open the door and discover us.
The footsteps get louder and then they stop. We’re in total darkness and there’s a strong smell of wood and disinfectant. Luc’s body is pressed up close to mine. He takes my hand. My heart is crashing against my ribs.
Any minute now, I expect the door to open. We’ll be hauled out and turned over to James Grey. I hold my breath and squeeze Luc’s hand. And then the footsteps continue on, moving further away until I no longer hear them.
Luc inches open the door and peers out. ‘All clear.’
We step out of the cupboard and give each other a look which says it all.
‘God, we need to get out of this place,’ I say.
‘Yeah, might be harder than we thought,’ Luc replies. ‘I found out some other stuff which you’re not going to like.’
I wait for him to go on.
‘The next day, after I’d spotted our AV, I planned to try and get some sense out of somebody. There was this boy a bit younger than me - Michael. I told him about Fred and Jessie’s kids being kidnapped. Hoped he might know who they were.’
‘Was that such a good idea?’
‘I was running out of options. I couldn’t wait around for answers to fall into my lap. Anyway, get this - Michael doesn’t know Fred and Jessie’s kids, but he does know Fred and Jessie.’
‘He knows Fred and Jessie?’
‘Yes.’
‘That can’t be right,’ I say.
‘Yeah, it was a shock for me too, but there’s no mistake. Michael described the farm and said what a nice couple they were. He said they were the ones who sent him here and that was months ago.’
‘No!’
‘Yes.’
‘But that means …’
‘It means Fred and Jessie must have known about Grey all along.’
As Luc whispers his discovery to me in the dark doorway, I experience a sweep of hopelessness.
‘But they seemed genuinely upset,’ I say, raising my voice. ‘Jessie was in tears.’
‘Shh, Riley,’ Luc says, glancing around. ‘I know. It’s sick. They tricked us.’
‘So there probably is no Freddie Junior and Liss. They must’ve made them up. How could they do that?’ I wonder, did they do it willingly? Or have they been coerced? Brainwashed too maybe? Well, it makes no difference now. They fooled us completely and now I feel stupid and angry. I thought I was a good judge of character, but I was completely taken in by them.
‘Riley! Riley, are you okay?’ Luc shakes my arm to get my attention back.
‘What should we do?’ I say. ‘We're trapped here.’
‘We’ll get out. I’ll find a way. Security seems laid back. It's just the outside wall we need to worry about. But we’ll have to do something fast before they move the AV. If we lose our transport we’ve got no chance. Day five is the start of Integration Week for newbies and I don't want to stick around for that or we'll end up like zombies.’
‘I should’ve been at the Nursery ages ago,’ I say. ‘They’ll be wondering where I am.’
‘Yeah, I better get back too.’
‘So what now?’ I ask.
‘Okay,’ Luc says. ‘How about, each night between two and four in the morning, you wait in the bathroom. Hang a rag or a piece of clothing from the window to let me know you’re there. Once I’ve got a plan, I’ll come and get you.’
I nod and we briefly hug before he leaves. I wait a moment and then hurry to the Nursery, my mind spinning out with everything he told me.
*
This is the fourth night I’ve waited for Luc to come and meet me. But Luc hasn’t shown up yet and each morning I’ve staggered back to bed, weary and disappointed.
Tonight, as usual, I’ve hung a small hand towel outside the bathroom window. It’s chilly and all I’m wearing is a cotton nightshirt. I wish there was a large towel or something I could wrap around me. I couldn't risk getting dressed in case someone saw me.
I get up and stamp my right leg which is full of pins and needles. I’m still angry with myself. Luc’s gut instinct was to leave well alone and not even mention James Grey to Fred and Jessie, but I opened my big mouth and now we’re both in danger of a lifetime of incarceration.
But it’s too late to regret stuff. We just have to hope we can get out of here. And then what will we do? Continue on our way to find Chambers? Suppose Luc doesn’t want to carry on. I wouldn’t blame him if he’s had enough and wants to go home. Do I want to keep going?
I give it some thought and decide I’m not ready to give up on our mission despite the danger. This realisation surprises me and gives me a surge of fresh courage. The alternative is to go back home and live with regret. Skye is dead, she had no choices, but I’m alive and I really want to do this for her. I have to get out of here, if not for me, then for her and anyone else who might fall foul of Chambers.
Now, in the quiet murk of the bathroom, I’m willing Luc to come for me, but an hour passes and there’s still no sign of him. Each night, I worry that I’ve arrived too late or returned to my room too early.
I’m almost dozing off on the chilly linoleum floor, when I hear a soft tap on the window. I give a start. I’m cold and stiff, but my heart beats fast and I jump up and go to the window.
Luc's face is such a welcome sight. He climbs into the bathroom, slides the window shut and passes me a pair of worn navy jogging bottoms. I pull them on gratefully. They’re too long, so I roll them up a bit. We hug awkwardly and I return the towel to the hook.
‘Okay, we haven't got much time,’ he whispers. ‘Come on, I hope you've got a good head for heights.’ I follow him out of the window and try not to look down. ‘You'll be fine,’ Luc says. ‘Wait till I've reached the ledge before you start coming down, I don't think the drainpipe will take both of us at once.’
I don't share his confidence in my climbing ability and my right leg shakes uncontrollably. But I grit my teeth and attempt to emulate his cat-like agility. We finally make it down to the ground. This side of the building adjoins a different courtyard. I glance around and spy our AV parked under some trees. It seems too good to be true – there’s no one in sight.
‘Why aren't there any guards?’ I whisper. ‘A place like this, you think there'd be loads of security.’
‘Yeah, you're right.’ He thinks for a minute. ‘M
aybe there's something we're not seeing, or maybe they don't think they need security on the inside. I mean, with everyone here wandering around in a daze, they probably don't need to worry about people escaping. It is a bit weird though. You think there'd be someone.’
‘Any idea how we're going to get out?’ I ask. ‘We seem pretty well locked in.’
‘There's a delivery van arriving later. Well, it's come in the last two mornings. It's not a great plan, but we haven't got many options. I thought we could just make a break for it when the gates open and hope they don’t catch us. We have to pray we can get into the AV and hope it's got enough fuel to get us away.’
‘It sounds like a plan to me,’ I reply. The fresh air and the climb down from the bathroom has woken me up and, with a heavy shot of adrenalin thrown in, I feel on heightened alert. ‘Luc, you're amazing. I wouldn’t have thought we had a hope of escaping.’
‘Thanks, but we've got a way to go yet. Okay, when I say go, we need to run to the AV. You flatten yourself up behind one of those trees, while I see if the keycard's still there. Once I'm in, you get in the passenger side as quickly and quietly as you can.’
I nod.
Luckily for us, there’s no artificial lighting in the courtyard and none of the lights in the surrounding buildings are on either, but we know it won't be too long before everyone is awake and the bells start ringing for morning service. Luc and I haven't attended service yet as we’re not allowed to go until we’ve completed our 'Integration' course, whatever that entails. Hopefully we’ll never have to find out. The sun is rising fast and a milky light begins to flood the expanse we’re about to cross.
We go for it, crouching low and running fast. I feel vulnerable and exposed, expecting to hear a shout or running footsteps at any moment. But we reach the AV without incident and I scoot behind a large horse chestnut tree. Its green spiky pods remind me of more innocent autumns, of hard-baked, vinegar-coated conkers smashing into each other.
Luc tries the door of the AV. It’s locked. He scrabbles beneath the vehicle, searching around for the spare keycard which is normally magnetically fixed to the underside. We didn't check if it was still in place after the run-in with the raiders on the floodplain and I’m praying it didn’t get dislodged during my bumpy getaway. Luc's mother always keeps a spare under there, much to the disapproval of his father, Eddie, who thinks it’s a dangerously obvious thing to do.
Luc is taking a long time and I peer out from behind the trunk. He beckons me over. ‘Riley,’ he hisses. ‘I can't find it. It's not in the usual place. Come and give me a hand, quick.’
I creep over and slide under the vehicle on my back. ‘I wish we had a torch,’ I say. ‘It's too dark under here. It's impossible to see.’
‘I don't think it's here.’ Luc slides out from underneath and I join him. His fists are balled up tight and he has smears of oil on his eyebrows and cheek.
Then I see a movement out of the corner of my eye and a streak of fear flashes up my spine. I tap Luc on the arm and point. He turns around to see what has me frozen in terror - a procession of black robed figures streaming out of a small door in the outside wall and heading towards us.
Chapter Twenty Six
Eleanor
*
The following day I took the bus up to Abi’s house, sure she would have some information from Samuel about what had happened to Connor. The story she gave me was so ludicrous, I could hardly believe she said it with a straight face.
‘Ellie, you won't believe it - Connor’s a terrorist!’ She stared at me, waiting for my reaction, but I couldn’t speak. I didn’t understand why she would say such a thing. ‘Ellie, you’re in love with a murderer.’ She was clearly joking. ‘God, he could have killed us all.’
‘Are you joking?’
‘Do I sound like I’m joking? I’m really sorry, Ellie, but they’re going to interrogate him and then they’ll probably shoot him.’ She said this with no regard for my feelings. No words of comfort. She treated it like a piece of juicy gossip. Something to be savoured.
‘You spiteful, evil cow!’ I slapped her on her smug face as hard as I could. Her hands flew up to her cheek. I glared at her and shook my head. ‘Why would you say those things?’ I asked. ‘What could possibly make you be so horrible to me?’ Tears escaped with the shock of what was happening.
Still holding her cheek. Abigail raised her head and scowled at me. ‘I’m telling the truth and you’ll regret doing that, Eleanor Russell.’
*
When I got home, I sat down with my family and we tried to piece together what had just happened. After several hours of tears and speculation, we all reached the same awful conclusion - Samuel and Abi had probably cooked up the accusation out of sheer spite.
‘In which case,’ said Oliver, ‘the army will realise they have no evidence against him and let him go.’
‘But what if Bletchley (I couldn’t now call him by his first name, Samuel, because it was too friendly and familiar. And I accompanied his surname with a retching sound, for good measure) has planted some evidence?’
‘He doesn’t have the brains. He wouldn’t have thought that far ahead,’ reassured David.
‘No, but Robbins does.’ (Ditto the retching sound for Abigail).
‘They wouldn’t go that far, darling,’ Dad said. ‘Look, give it a week and I bet we’ll hear Connor’s van puttering up the Lane and he’ll be telling us all about his adventures. He’s a sensible lad. He’ll realise what’s happened and he’ll plead his case well.’
My family did a good job of trying to calm me down. They had known Connor and I were fond of each other, but it wasn’t until the previous night that they’d seen the true extent of my feelings towards him. I think my cries and tears had shocked them almost as much as his arrest had. I was so relieved they hadn’t believed Abigail Robbins’ ridiculous accusation and my brother Tom was almost as upset as I was. Connor was one of his best friends.
But Connor’s van didn’t come puttering up the lane any time during that week, and I could get no news of his whereabouts. My father called Samuel's dad for me, but he said they’d had no news from their son and didn’t expect to hear from him until Christmas.
I knew I would have to swallow my pride and my hatred and go and visit Abigail once more. But the thought made me feel sick and I was afraid I would physically attack her if she so much as looked at me with that smug expression ... But then I thought of Connor and knew I would do whatever it took to get him back and if that meant sucking up to Abigail, then so be it.
Chapter Twenty Seven
Riley
*
The black robed figures are flocking towards us. We realise, too late, that some parts of the wall are hollow in the middle. Now the sun has risen higher, casting a stronger light, I can see odd bricks missing here and there. Eyeholes for the guards inside to peer out and see what’s going on while remaining undetected. They can probably see through to the outside in the same way.
‘Holy crap,’ says Luc.
‘Holy, is right,’ I reply.
As they glide closer, I see their guns. There’s no point in running. There must be at least twenty of them, all with heavy metal crucifixes swinging over the top of their homespun cloaks. They surround us and the AV. Deep overhanging hoods conceal their features, giving the impression of being looked upon by a black sea of faceless creatures.
It is the most chilling sight I have ever seen and to add to the terror, they are chanting in some unknown language. They don’t raise their weapons, but their chanting is growing louder, more insistent, almost deafening. Suddenly they stop and the ensuing silence sounds worse than the eerie voices.
Two of them step forward and put us, unresisting, into arm and leg shackles which clink and rattle. They lead us away and we stumble across the courtyard. We are taken along pathways and across gardens, through corridors and into a huge echoing hall. I’m too shocked and afraid to think about exactly where we are headed.
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They shepherd us through a bare antechamber into a large, austere room. The walls and floor are of grey stone and the ceiling is high with a central circular metal pendant light. Small high windows stud the walls. It feels like a large cell. Morning has barely dawned, but Grey looks very much awake, sitting alone at the head of a large wooden refectory table set for breakfast. I know it’s him. Who else would it be?
‘Well.’ The man smiles at us down his patrician nose. He would be aristocratically handsome if it weren't for his cold, dead blue eyes. ‘My new children,’ he smirks. ‘What? You don't like my hospitality? Were your quarters not satisfactory?’ He laughs.
Luc stares down at his feet, his fists still clenched and his ears red with anger and humiliation. But I can't take my eyes off this man. This bogeyman we have heard tales of for most of our sheltered lives. James Grey. How have we ended up here? Shackled and alone.
‘Were you looking for this?’ He picks up the AV keycard from the table and waves it in front of us. ‘You can’t have thought we’d have left this in its hiding place. That would have been remiss of us, wouldn’t it? And that’s quite a cache of weapons you have in there. I wonder what two such young ones are doing with such a fine vehicle and so much valuable cargo. Stolen I imagine.
‘I very much look forward to hearing your stories. They did very well, sending two such lost souls to me.’ He pauses. ‘I am sorry about our little deception, but you really will thank us in the end. I promise it. And I did enjoy your early morning shenanigans. Climbing out of bathroom windows, shinning up and down drainpipes. Very enterprising. Must have been cold in that bathroom, Riley.’
My skin crawls with the knowledge that he’s been watching us, that he knew all our plans in detail. That he is, in fact, laughing at us. I feel humiliated and stupid, which I suppose is his intention. Luc must be livid. I can feel the anger radiating off him. The whole episode of our escape has been documented by Grey and here he is gloating. Revelling in our helplessness.
In front of him sits a large plate of food - toast, eggs, bacon, sausages, beans and tomatoes. Somewhat different to the thin, grey, salty porridge that we call breakfast in this place. He loads up his fork and eats noisily. A thin line of runny egg yolk travels down from the corner of his mouth to his chin. I’ve got a direct view of the gross mashed up contents of his mouth as he continues to speak.