Jimmy opened the First Aid hut's door and stepped on to the wooden surround. He shuffled along to where the girl was sitting at the white plastic picnic table. She had an identical tray of food before her, again untouched.
'It's OK,' said Jimmy, 'I'll not be stealing your food tonight, not with these lips — unless you mash it up and blow it into my mouth through a straw.'
She continued to stare into the distance.
'Do you mind if I sit down?'
There was no reaction. Jimmy pulled out a chair and sat. It was a pleasant, warm evening, with a light breeze. The girl was wearing a plain white nightdress. Her hair was still as dank as before.
'So, what's your problem? A wee touch of the plague? No?' Nothing. 'Ah well, sometimes silence is best.'
He looked out across the camp. The floodlights were on. The barracks huts were shut up for the night. The plain beyond the perimeter fence was dark and uninviting, except for when the spotlights swept across it, when it became bright and uninviting. How was he ever going to be able to escape? And if he did attempt it, what would they do if they spotted him — drag him back into the fort, or shoot him as he fled?
He smiled across at the girl. 'Maybe the two of us could dig a tunnel? Or I could send you out first, then when they're busy shooting you I could slip away? No? You don't say much, do you? They looking after you OK? You know — you're quite pretty, aren't you? I wouldn't normally say something like that in a million years to a girl I'd never met before, but seeing as how you seem to have all the brain activity of a plank of wood, I don't see how it can do any harm. Of course you'd probably need to comb your hair. And wash the dried-on drool off your face. But look at me — what an oil painting I am, eh? Hey relax, seriously. I have a girlfriend. She's just not aware of it yet.' Jimmy drummed his fingers on the table and stared into the distance. 'In fact, chances are she's dead. Still, that's no big thing these days, is it? Everyone's dead. Mum, Dad, family, friends. Yours as well, do you think? No — you don't have to tell me. Claire, that's her name. We hated each other at first, then we liked each other, then I put my two big feet in it and she hated me again, and then we got split up and...'
He pictured her lying in the woods, helpless, bleeding to death. He imagined the minister finding her, raising his gun, finishing her off.
'. . . I think it may have been my fault.'
A few hundred metres away the guards were just climbing down from one of the watchtowers, and their replacements were waiting to go up. If all of the towers changed at the same time, that might have given him an opportunity to dash across the plain unnoticed. But they weren't that stupid. The changeovers were staggered five minutes apart so that the surveillance was never interrupted. Jimmy sighed.
He studied the girl again.
'You know something? I bet I could make you smile.'
Nothing.
'I'll bet you a kiss I can make you smile.'
Nothing.
'I know one of the worst jokes in the history of the world, but I bet you won't be able to resist it. OK — if you smile, I get a kiss, deal?'
She stared ahead.
'Right, if you say nothing, I'll take that as a yes. If you shake your head, it's a no. So, do we have a deal?'
There was no reaction.
'OK, excellent. You're a challenge, I'll give you that — but I reckon I'm up to it. Here we go, are you ready?' Jimmy moved his chair slightly and leaned forward until he was so close that she could look nowhere else but straight into his eyes. 'Anyone ever tell you you've got nice eyes? Well, one of them anyway. The other's a bit crossed. Only joking. Can you have one crossed eye? All right — here we go. What did the big chimney say to the little chimney?' He waited. Ten seconds. Nothing.' You 're too young to be smoking!'
Nothing.
'OK,' said Jimmy. 'A tougher nut to crack than I thought. I'm going to have to wheel out the big gun. This joke — this joke makes the other joke look really pathetic. This joke saves lives. Are you ready? I'm warning you — you may die laughing.'
Nada.
'OK. Did you hear about the fella went to the doctor's and said he thought he was turning into a pair of curtains? Doctor told him to pull himself together!'
Jimmy examined her pale face right up close. Not a flicker. In fact, she didn't even appear to be breathing. He might well have been talking to a corpse.
'Soldier!'
Jimmy jumped. The nurse was hurrying towards them.'What're you doing? Leave the poor girl alone!'
'I wasn't doing anything, I was only—'
'Leave her alone and go back to bed now — or if you think you're well enough, return to barracks.'
Jimmy wasn't ready to face his fellow soldiers just yet. He pushed his chair back and stood up as the nurse mounted the steps and approached the table.
'Sorry,' he said. 'I didn't mean any harm.'
The nurse took the girl by the hand and gently pulled her up. The girl didn't blink.
'I'll, uh, go and have a lie-down, then,' said Jimmy. 'What's wrong with her anyway?'
'She was picked up in the woods just like this, traumatised. God knows we've tried everything to bring her out of it.'
Jimmy nodded sympathetically.
'Have you tried a good slap in the face?' he asked.
The nurse scowled at him and began to turn the girl. But as she moved slowly past him, Jimmy was certain that he saw a little flicker of movement at the sides of her mouth, the merest sliver of a hint of a suggestion of a possibility of a smile. It was gone as soon as it appeared, and it might just as easily have been a spasm of pain, or wind. She allowed herself to be slowly walked along the wooden surround, and back into the hut.
Jimmy followed them in. The girl stood immobile beside her bed while the nurse turned back the sheets, guided her down, lay her back and lifted her legs up on to the mattress. She then pulled the covers up and tucked her in. The girl lay flat on her back, staring at the ceiling.
Jimmy lay on his own bed at the far side of the room as the nurse turned for the door, then glanced back at him.
'I won't turn the light out,' she said. 'She's frightened of the dark.'
'How can you tell?' Jimmy asked.
The nurse just shook her head. 'Rest while you can, soldier. You'll be back at training tomorrow.'
She closed the door behind her.
Jimmy stared at the girl for a long time. She did not turn restlessly. Or yawn. Her eyes did not flicker. But eventually, his did. He began to drift. He had already slept for most of the afternoon and evening, but his body needed time to recover from the pounding it had taken, both in the ring and over the past few days. Soon Jimmy was in a deep sleep. So deep, in fact, that he was not aware of the girl pushing back her covers. He did not know that she climbed out of bed and padded across the floor to his bed. He would never know that she bent over him and kissed him on the forehead.
20
Battery Park
It became clear within minutes of landing at Battery Park that they wouldn't be forming a convoy to take them anywhere.
The inflatables tied up between two Circle Line ferries that had once ploughed back and forth to Liberty and Ellis Islands packed with tourists, but which now creaked and rattled and rusted at the foot of a short jetty. As Claire climbed up on to it she immediately detected an unease amongst the first landing party. First Officer Jeffers was pacing back and forth, a radio clamped to his ear, in urgent discussion with Captain Smith. The armed sailors had set up a perimeter at the entrance to the park and appeared jumpy and nervous. Then there was the smell — not the stench of death she had expected, but something that reminded her of... a barbecue. Yet there was nothing reassuring about it. The remains of fires were dotted across the park and some of them were still smouldering. Hundreds of what appeared to be recent footprints scarred the grass. But it was deadly quiet.