‘Yeah, fair enough. But you won’t like it, Ellie.’
I heard the blood pound in my ears. What was she going to tell me? I swallowed down bile in the back of my throat.
‘Look, Abi,’ I pretended to be bored. ‘I don’t really care, but I need to know for Tom. Connor’s a good friend of his and he wants to know what’s going on.’
She eyed me sharply.
‘Anyway,’ I tried a lighter tone. ‘I’d like to know if I’ve been going out with a convicted terrorist or not.’ I pulled a lopsided face.
‘Yeah, not cool,’ she relaxed her gaze and actually laughed. ‘Look, he’s dead okay? There, I’ve said it.’
Her words hung between us.
‘I’m sorry. I know you liked him and everything.’
‘Liked him,’ I repeated. ‘Liked him? He’s the love of my life. I love him and he’s not dead. You’re lying.’
‘I thought you said you didn‘t care…’
‘Liked him?’ I looked at her with what must have been pure loathing, because she backed away. ‘You are a jealous, vindictive cow. This is you and Bletchley pretending to be soldiers. What I want to know is why I ever had you as a friend in the first place?’
‘Now hang on,’ she interrupted. ‘If it wasn’t for me…’
‘If it wasn’t for you, I would never have gone out with Johnny in the first place. You only hooked me up with him so we could be a foursome with you and Bletchley. If you hadn’t been such a bossy cow, I would’ve been free to see Connor…’
‘Don’t call me a cow, you psycho bitch…’
‘…and Soldier Boy Sam wouldn’t have had some pathetic idea about avenging Johnny’s hurt pride.’
‘Yeah, well blame me if it makes you feel better, Ellie.’
That stung. I knew in my heart it was my own stupid fault for being so easily led by her. I felt disgusted with myself, defeated, tired, bereft. There was nothing left for me, nothing that mattered anymore. I was too numb to even cry.
‘How do you know what’s happened to him anyway?’ I suddenly asked. She looked angry and uncomfortable, shocked by the strength of my feelings.
‘Ellie, I’m sorry. Sam called me. Connor tried to escape at Portsmouth and a soldier shot him. I don’t know the details.’
‘It’s all gone mad,’ I muttered. ‘Connor wasn’t a terrorist. It’s all bloody stupid.’
Abi looked like she was going to leave, but then she changed her mind and put her arms around me. But my body was stiff and unyielding, and I wouldn’t sink into her clumsy, cold embrace.
Chapter Thirty One
I look at Denzil, at the intense expression on his face, and through my fuzzy panicked senses comes a cold sharp knife-cut of clarity. I have no choice. No one else can do this for me. It’s up to me and I can’t afford to muck it up. I put my fear into a box and clear my mind of everything except what I know I have to do.
Our lives are at stake again, but this time I’m not afraid. I feel like some giant hand has plucked me out of my timid reality and given me a shot of calm, before placing me back down.
Minutes later, I’m walking into the dining hall and up to Luc, who sits at the far end of the room next to some scarily important looking men in uniform. They all blur into a sea of khaki and I’ve no idea who they are or what rank they hold. My heart thumps, but I do my best to plaster on a smile for everyone seated at Luc’s table.
‘Sorry to disturb you.’ I smile apologetically. ‘Luc, could I borrow you for a second. There’s some stuff in the AV I need.’
Luc flushes. ‘Can’t it wait, Riley?’ He half smiles at the other men around the table and looks skyward. I can tell he’s annoyed with me, first for abandoning him for the evening and now for showing him up in front of everybody.
I don’t have time to deal with this now. All I can think about is getting us the hell away from Warminster.
‘Not really,’ I reply. ‘It’s a bit embarrassing.’
At this, one of Luc’s dining companions says, ‘Go on, son, help the young lady out. We’ll keep it warm for you.’ They all laugh at this, though what’s so funny, I can’t tell. They remind me of a pack of hyenas I once saw on a wildlife DVD, laughing hysterically before tearing into another animal’s kill.
As we walk out of the room, Luc hisses, ‘What are you doing? They were just about to give me some useful info on Chambers. What do you need from the AV? There’s hardly anything in it anyway?’ He sighs. ‘I don’t think I’ll be able to get the conversation back to Chambers again without them getting suspicious. Sorry for being annoyed, but you’ve messed this up, Riley.’
‘Sshh,’ I answer. ‘We’re in trouble.’ I quickly fill him in on the details. Like me, he doesn’t know whether to believe Denzil’s story or not, but if Denzil’s story is true then we’ll be in greater danger if we stay. We make up our minds quickly and decide to leave.
Luc and I walk the five hundred yards to the AV. It seems like five miles in the humid electrified air. We slide into the vehicle and Luc drives out slowly, back the way we came in, less than three hours ago. As we approach the checkpoint, Denzil emerges from the hut. Through the door, I can see the body of a soldier sprawled on the floor. Denzil sees us looking warily at the body.
‘Don’t worry, he’ll live. I just clocked him on the back of the head.’ He jumps into the back seat, throwing us each a machine gun, one of which is our confiscated weapon.
‘Keep those handy,’ he says. ‘I’m deserting my post and I reckon we got about fifteen minutes before they realise you’re not having any pudding. I should put my foot down hard on that pedal if I were you,’ he says to Luc. ‘I’m Denzil, pleased to meet you.’
‘What the hell’s going on?’ demands Luc, clearly shaken by this drastic turn of events. ‘Why do we have to leave? You said my father‘s not welcome here anymore. It all sounds like a load of crap to me.’
‘Can we drive and talk?’ Denzil says.
Luc does as he’s told and turns back onto the road.
‘I just need you to trust it’s also best for me if I get you out of here alive,’ Denzil continues. ‘I know you got no real reason to trust me yet, but you must know something wasn’t right back there or why would you be escaping with me now?’
‘I trust Riley. She said we needed go, so here we are.’
I give Luc a half smile, but he his eyes are on the road, not on me.
‘I gave you back all your weapons didn’t I?’ Denzil says. ‘I wouldn‘t have done that if I was gonna hurt you.’
‘Well, it doesn’t look like we’ve got much choice now,’ says Luc. ‘Not now we’re fleeing from our hosts and you did something nasty to that soldier back there. And Riley seems to trust you.’ Luc glances across at me and I shrug non-committally, which isn’t any help at all. He presses his lips together and his jaw tightens.
‘We’ll have to go along with you for now,’ he says, braking suddenly as we reach a junction. He turns to look at Denzil, who almost fills the whole of the back seat. ‘We’re heading west. That okay?’ Luc asks. ‘Tell you the truth, I’m a bit drunk. They loaded me up with booze back there.’
‘It doesn’t matter which way we go. They’ll send units in both directions. May as well head towards Westbury, and go as fast as you can. I’ve topped up your tank.’
Luc and I both look at the fuel gauge, which is showing ‘Full’.
‘Nice one,’ Luc says grudgingly, looking at him in the rear view mirror.
‘Are you alright to drive?’ I ask Luc. ‘Do you want me to take over?’