‘Could one of us get captured and swipe the keys as we go in?’ asked Alex.
‘Not if your hands are zip-tied,’ said Mark.
‘How about if we start a fire,’ said Taz.
‘That might work,’ I said slowly, ‘a fire at night, if they evacuated the building, with only maybe one guard, in the confusion we might be able to grab them and get away.’
‘It would draw a lot of attention,’ said Mark.
‘Well maybe we don’t need an actual fire,’ I said, ‘maybe we could pretend a fire to get the guard to let me in, and then I could incapacitate the guard somehow. Get them to let me in and then drug them like in the movies.’
‘How?’ asked Alex.
I went to the computer and opened google. After a quick search, I saw something familiar - Chloroform. It was in all the old detective stories so should have been quite easy to make. Some further research revealed that all I needed was some acetone and bleach. But then I looked at the side effects; it looked like pretty horrible stuff, vomiting, liver damage, even heart failure. I suddenly had second thoughts.
‘No I don’t think this will work’ I said, ‘let’s go back to the fire idea.’
‘Was there a fire station in the town?’ Alex asked Jack.
‘We didn’t see one,’ he replied.
I googled Potters Bar fire station and quickly came up with a picture of the station, ‘yes they do,’ I said.
But would they have firefighters?’ asked Leila, ‘I haven’t seen any in the past nine months and there weren’t any in the Chiltern Camp.’
This was news to me ‘what did they do if there was an emergency?’ I asked.
‘They called in the army for any emergencies,’ said Taz.
‘And we definitely don’t want that to happen,’ said Leila.
‘Yeah but if we rescue the others that will trigger a search anyway,’ said Jack.
‘Not if we get them out without them noticing,’ said Mark.
‘Well they’ll notice if they all run off during a fire,’ responded Jack.
There was a pause then Liam spoke for the first time, ‘Could we use the chaos to get someone in, rather than get people out?’ he said.
‘What do you mean?’ I asked.
‘Well, if someone slips inside, they could hide and wait until everything calmed down and then use the backdoor key to unlock the door.’
‘We would still need the key to the room,’ said Mark.
‘And need to avoid the guard,’ said Jack.
‘So where would the key to the room be?’ I asked, ‘Would the guard have it?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Jack, ‘there isn’t a window into the hallway.’
‘But was it a staff member or the guard who let them out for meals?’ I asked.
‘The guard I think,’ said Jack, ‘he would leave the kitchen and then they would arrive in the downstairs room a couple of minutes later.’
‘And did the guard take a key with them?’
‘No…. I don’t think so,’ said Jack.
‘I didn’t see them take a key either,’ said Freya.
‘So maybe the key is upstairs by the door,’ I said, ‘if they hang the backdoor key by the backdoor, it would make sense that they hang the key to the locked room, by the locked room.’
‘It’s a bit of a gamble,’ said Mark.
‘But there would be no harm in trying,’ said Alex, ‘what’s the worst that could happen?’
‘The worst would be that the fire alarm goes off, the army arrive, they realise there is no fire, get suspicious and take them somewhere more secure,’ said Mark.
‘If we just need someone to get inside, I could pretend to be a new guest,’ I said, ‘could you add my name to the hostel list using the computer?’ I asked Mark.
‘Probably,’ he said slowly.
‘So I could get in, then at night I could get the key and unlock the room.’
‘But what about the guard?’ said Taz.
‘The guard mostly stayed in the kitchen,’ said Jack, ‘The house is not that big, so he just stayed in the one room.’
‘Did he take toilet breaks?’ I asked, ‘Could we lock him in the toilet?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Jack,’ ‘he left the kitchen twice whilst I was watching but I don’t know where he went… and remember, I didn’t stay and watch the whole night.’
We looked at each other; it seemed we had the beginnings of a plan.
Mark booked me in under a false name at the hostel, arriving in the evening. I didn’t want to be waiting around too long and increasing the risk I would be found out. Freya said the new arrivals had been checked at the hostel gates, so Mark searched through the intranet to find the gate security lists and add my new name there also.
Getting into the camp would be difficult. Freya had gotten over the fence, but she was a good climber and tall which helped. Mark hadn’t managed it even though he was the same height as Freya. I was several inches shorter than them both and I doubted I would have any chance getting over, even with help. In the end we decided to take a number of tools and see if we could get through the fence somewhere else. Then a couple of us would make our way to the residential area to the north of the hostel, find a suitcase and then I would make my way to the hostel gates and hope to be let in without any trouble.
The biggest problem would be getting away quickly enough so weren’t caught if the alarm was raised before morning. Alex was in favour of taking a car, mostly because he knew how to drive, but cars on the road were so rare now that they would always attract attention. We settled on taking bikes. The trailer Mark and Freya had used to carry Matty was still parked around the corner and we picked up six of the lightest bikes I had found last summer and stacked them inside, using bungee cords to keep them fixed in place. It weighed about the same as Matty had according to Freya as she and Mark practised pulling it.
There was some debate about who would be going. I needed to go of course, and Jack knew where the empty houses were. Mark seemed an obvious choice as he could pull the trailer. Freya wanted to come, and it seemed sensible to have her along just in case. She had been inside the town and could help guide the other kids out. Leila and Taz wanted to come of course, and Alex, but it seemed silly to put them at risk when they had just got to safety. The kids looked set to debate it for a while yet, but I had been up since 4am and was shattered. I put a good portion of food in a plastic container and left them arguing over who was staying behind.
Nina was just about finished feeding the kids when I arrived and was ready for dinner. I asked her to wake me at 4am and went to bed. By this time tomorrow we would have everyone back safely or I would be locked up and heading out to spend the rest of my life working in a chicken factory or down a coal mine.
Chapter 21: Freeing
The morning was cold but clear with ample moonlight to see by. I was going to have to cycle for about an hour and a half, so I put on some leggings and a t-shirt, with a fleece top to keep warm. In my rucksack, I packed some normal clothes; jeans and a jumper similar to the ones I had worn in the Chiltern Camp. I also packed the pliers I had used to undo the chain link fence of the garden centre, all that time ago. I picked up my heavy secateurs and added them; Mark and Freya had mentioned hedges and it would be much less obtrusive to cut a hole in a hedge than in a fence.
I wandered round the house picking things up and putting them down, trying to figure out what else I could take. A candle? Blue tack? Glue? Maybe we could glue the toilet door closed, then I saw the door stop; that would work even better. I picked it up and added it to my bag. There was a light knock at the door, I opened it; Mark, Freya, and Jack were standing on the doorstep kitted out and ready to go.
‘Morning,’ I said quietly, ‘Sorry Jack, I forgot to check; did you find somewhere to sleep?’