“Fancy a walk?” I asked loudly, and Emily nodded.
I pulled the door open quickly, half expecting to find the guard with his own ear against the door, but instead of the man from earlier another soldier lounged against the far wall, a man in his twenties with arms like tree trunks and small, piggy eyes that were too close together under his shaven hair.
“I assume we’re allowed to go for a walk?” I asked, stepping out into the corridor with Emily close behind, the papers no longer in sight.
He straightened and shrugged, a movement like boulders rubbing together.
“Don’t see why not.”
He followed us out into the yard, keeping us in sight but allowing us enough privacy to talk, which put my mind at ease. Had he heard anything suspicious when we’d been talking in the room, he would have been on our heels.
“Where shall we go?” I asked, looking out over the playing field and seeing the crews hard at work while the sun was still above the horizon.
“Not that way,” she said, leading me towards the other side of the buildings so that we walked between them and the high fence that separated the base from the nearby village.
I nodded at the small houses. “I guess they were the first ones to be brought under the Secretary’s wing.”
“Probably. What do you make of him?”
“The Secretary? I think he’s a self-serving, public school idiot with more power than sense.” I stared at the empty houses as we walked, the blank windows looking uncomfortably like they were watching eyes, stripped of hope and left to do nothing but wait for the ravages of time. I shivered at the thought.
“There we are,” Emily said, nodding towards a small building with a white gas tank next to it, a series of pipes connecting the two as they disappeared inside the brickwork.
“Great, now what?”
She glanced up at me. “Why do I have to come up with all the ideas?”
“Because you’re an engineer. I’m just a puking journo, remember?”
I smiled as I said it and got an answering grin. It was like the sun coming up, and heat flared in my stomach.
Perhaps she felt it too, because she suddenly looked down and cleared her throat.
“Right then, let’s walk a little bit further and then head back, eh?”
I nodded and we carried on, passing the small building without showing too much interest for the sake of our constant shadow.
We walked on for another few minutes, then rounded the far side of the admin building and headed back, taking our time in the cool evening air.
I didn’t have much to say, but just being in Emily’s company was enough. I longed to reach out and take her hand but I was too scared of being turned down, or worse, laughed at, so instead I contented myself with walking close enough that every so often my hand brushed her arm, and convinced myself that was enough.
The sun was beginning to set as we reached the accommodation block, a golden-orange disk slipping over the horizon and turning everything to amber. I wondered for a moment how something so beautiful could be so deadly, but then wasn’t that often the way with nature?
When we returned to the room the door was ajar. A stab of worry hit me, even though I had nothing personal to steal, but as I hurried in I saw that a large pile of books and papers had been left in an untidy stack next to the bed.
Emily closed the door behind her.
“What the hell is that?”
“No idea.” I picked up the first book and saw that it was a 2013 diary, the red cover worn and the gilt lettering already flaking.
I opened it and flicked through, reading an entry here and there until I realised what it was.
Dropping it back on the pile I picked up a small notepad, scanning the pages until I was sure.
“He was bloody serious!”
“What?” She asked, picking up the discarded diary and reading a few pages.
“Is this the Secretary’s?”
I nodded. “It sure is. I’d hoped he was joking when he told me he wanted me to write his biography. He must have been making notes and collecting things for years. Who in hell brings their notes to an end-of-the-world party?”
“The man in charge, I guess.”
“Yeah, well at least we know how we’re starting the fire now.”
She laughed, a delicate peal that made me smile in return.
“So what happens after we’ve started the fire?” She asked, the laughter fading as quickly as it had come.
“We use the distraction to find a vehicle and don’t stop driving until we run out of fuel, I guess.”
She frowned. “Doesn’t sound like much of a plan.”
I shrugged. “If you’ve got a better one then I’m all ears.”
“Not off the top of my head. When do you want to try it?”
“I don’t know. I suppose we’ll just have to wait until we can find the right moment, then make a break for it.”
Only, as it turned out, we didn’t have to wait after all.
Chapter 41
I was woken by someone pounding on the door. I sat up, almost falling out of the narrow bed as Emily shifted beside me. We’d fallen asleep pressed against each other in the cramped confines, but by unspoken agreement neither of us had done more than rest an arm on the other. Whatever might blossom between us one day, it wouldn’t happen here.
The room was pitch black and it took me a few seconds to get my bearings.
“I’m awake,” I called, and the door opened to show the outline of our guard in the eye-watering light of the LED lantern he held.
“You need to get up and get dressed,” he said shortly, “the Secretary needs you now.”
I felt Emily tense. The only reason I could think of for being woken in the middle of the night was the discovery that the paperwork she had stolen was missing, and we exchanged a worried glance as the guard set his lantern on the floor and closed the door.
As soon as he was gone I jumped out of bed and pulled my combats on. We’d both worn underwear and T-shirts in bed, and as Emily swung her long legs out from under the blanket I tried not to stare.
“Does he mean both of us?” She asked as she began to dress.
“No idea, but if I’m going, I want you there with me.”
She nodded and began to button her uniform shirt.
“Do you think it’s about this?” She waved the papers at me.
“I don’t know, but I don’t see what else it can be about.” I reached out and took the bundle, stuffing it deep into the pile of notes the Secretary had left for me. “Good luck to them finding it in that lot.”
In a few moments we were ready, and I opened the door with lantern in hand to find the guard almost hopping from foot to foot in the hallway.
“This way,” he said the moment he saw us, leading us out of the building without another word, clearly anxious to deliver his package.
The night sky was a riot of colour, the swirling snakes of blue, red and green almost taking my breath away with their beauty. It drew my eyes even as we walked, shimmering curtains like a veil across the stars, brighter than a full moon.
A shout from outside the Admin building made me tear my eyes from the sky to see several Landrovers outside the offices, bonnets up and batteries being replaced while soldiers in battle gear hurried to and fro.
“What’s going on?” I asked the guard, but he ignored me and picked up the pace instead, only halting when we reached the vehicles.
A soldier a few years older than me with the crown of a Major on his chest tab and a fierce expression under his Kevlar helmet accepted a salute from the guard and gestured at me irritably.
“You go in the second vehicle with the Secretary, but I’ve got no orders about her.” He hiked a thumb as Emily as if she was a piece of luggage, instantly putting my back up.