“Dammit! Dave! Simon! It’s Jimmy. Are you there? Come in! It’s Jimmy.”
Just outside the perimeter fence, Leslie crouched on an old oilskin and peered over a clump of gorse. She heard the sound of breaking branches and ducked down behind the bush, giggling to herself.
Jimmy was coming. Tonight was the night. It was going to be great!
A lone form lurched out of the darkness and into the clearing. Leslie knew immediately that it wasn’t Jimmy Hicks. He was too short and the walk was wrong. In fact the stranger seemed to be limping.
The moon came out from behind a cloud and Leslie gasped.
It was Cruikshank. And he was carrying a rifle.
The girl crouched down further and peeped through a gap in the jagged scrub. The blonde boy stopped and removed Barn’s jacket, revealing a bloodstained lab coat underneath. Tearing it off, he threw the coat away with an angry grunt. It drifted down and blended into the snow, invisible, except for splatters of red.
Cruikshank looked at the gun in disgust, then flung that away too. He put the jacket back on, shambled across the clearing and vanished into the trees, heading away from Pinewood.
Leslie waited until he was out of earshot before picking up her walkie-talkie.
“Hicks,” she whispered. “You there?”
“I’m here.” Jimmy’s voice sounded strained and tearful.
“What the hell’s going on? I just saw Cruickshank! He had a gun but he threw it away. Where are you?” The girl’s frightened sentences came tumbling out on top of each other.
“Leslie, you have to go after him. He’s stolen Simon’s formula.”
The little…” Leslie stopped mid-sentence. “What about you? Aren’t you coming to help me?”
There was silence from the other end.
“Hicks? What’s gone wrong?”
“I have to go back.” Jimmy’s voice was thick with apprehension and sorrow. “Something terrible is happening at Pinewood.”
“What, for God’s sake?”
“I don’t know, but Simon, Dave and Barn aren’t answering. I think they’re in danger.”
Leslie got to her feet, shaking snow from her clothes.
“Hang on. I’m coming back.”
“No!” Jimmy shouted. “You can’t do that! Not under any circumstances! I’ll sort this out. You shadow Cruikshank. We have to know where he goes.”
“How will I reach you? The radio range is only a few hundred yards.”
“You’re a genius. You’ll figure out a way.”
“Are you trying to send me to safety, Hicks?”
“Nah.” She could almost see the boy’s lopsided smile. “I just don’t need you getting under my feet when I’m saving everyone’s ass.”
“That’s very noble,” Leslie whispered. “But I can’t leave my friends.”
“Leslie. I’m begging you. I need you to be all right.” There was another silence. A long one this time. When Jimmy finally spoke again, his voice was calm and clear.
“I love you.”
Leslie closed her eyes and a tear slid under dark lashes.
“Of course you do Hicks. I’m great.”
“Over and out, Leslie. Be safe.”
The walkie talkie went dead.
Leslie ran out into the centre of the clearing. The rifle was sticking out of the snow like a piece of battlefield debris. She snapped open the breech, the way her father had taught her, and checked the magazine.
“What? Damn thing’s out of ammo.”
Dropping the gun, she pulled the flashlight from her pocket and followed Cruickshank’s tracks out of the clearing and into a winding path through the forest.
18.35
Leslie had barely vanished from sight when the air began to shimmer and sparkle. A few seconds later Sherman, Madrid, Darren and Nulce were standing in the clearing. They wore dark combat gear and Sherman had on his lucky black leather jacket.
“Great.” He glanced around at the winter landscape. “We stick out like a bunch of exclamation marks on a sheet of white paper.”
Madrid and Nulce crouched low, weapons at the ready, scanning the forest edge for any sign of hostility. Darren bent down and picked up an object by his feet.
“It’s a lab coat.” He said. “A very small lab with blood down the front.”
“So, keep your eyes open for a dwarf with a nosebleed.” Sherman took out his handcom and studied it.
The perimeter fence is this way,” he said. “Code for the gate is 1234. On the way to the main complex we detour to leave a strongbox at the old well. That’s where the DNA sample we’re retrieving will be deposited.”
He motioned forward with two fingers, a move he’d copied from half a dozen war films.
“Let’s head out.”
18.40
Jimmy burst into the dormitory, hair plastered to his forehead.
“What the hell is going on?” he shouted wild eyed. “There’s gunfire coming from the main complex.”
Barn looked behind the boy into the empty passageway.
“Where’s Cruikshank?”
“Half way up the nearest mountain, by now. And he’s got the time travel formula.”
“Jimmy!” Simon’s head shot up.
“He pulled a gun on me! But he’s ditched it now and Leslie’s following him.” Jimmy held up his hands in a vain attempt to placate the horrified boy. “Let’s sort out the problem here first.”
“This problem’s no sortable, Hicksy,” Dave said glumly. “You better sit doon.”
Jimmy’s expression hardened as the boys explained what had been going on. When they were finished, he sat with his hands on his knees, staring into space.
“What’s the situation now?” he asked suddenly.
“Most of the base personnel will have heard May-Rose over the intercom.” Simon said. “I imagine they’re under her control and trying to break her out.”
“We werenae effected because we wir just reading what she said.” Dave pointed to the transcript on the computer screen. “And the team that arrived this morning dinnae seem to be falling for her shtick either.”
Jimmy thought about that. “Understandable. If they’re a Special Ops force, they’ll be trained to withstand hypnosis and mind altering techniques and probably using their own radios on a different channel.”
“They’re trying to keep everyone contained in the lower levels, maistly by shooting anything that moves.”
“I take it base communications are down now?”
.“Yeah,” Simon confirmed. “Their Lieutenant, some guy called Dunwoody, finally wrecked the system. And he killed everyone in the Ops Room doing it.”
“So who’s winning?” Barn asked.
“Dunwoody’s SWAT team are well outnumbered, but they’ve got better guns and they’re obviously trained killers. I’d say it was a tie so far.”
The children looked at each other. Barn spoke up again.
“What’ll we do?”
“I say we gie this argy-bargy a body swerve. Get oot while we can, man.” Dave said. “Barnsy, see if you can spot anything moving oot there.”
Barn lumbered over to the dark window and peered out, shielding his eyes with his hands to block out the reflections of the worried group behind him.
Jimmy stood up.
“What about May-Rose?” he said awkwardly. “We can’t just leave her down there.”
“Are you kiddin’ man?” Dave held up his hands in despair. “She’s no exactly battin fur the hame team any more, know?”