'Shhhhh!' Ben interrupted her, holding up his hand and straining his ear to hear.
Annie fell silent. 'What is it?' she mouthed.
They both sat perfectly still. There was a shuffling sound nearby, but for some reason the mist seemed to obscure where it was coming from.
It stopped, and all around them seemed deadly quiet. Ben and Annie looked at each other, neither of them able to stop an expression of worry from showing in their faces. In his mind's eye, Ben saw the image of the soldier from yesterday, the one who had shot down the birds, and he found himself holding his breath, acutely aware of the heavy thump-thump of his own heartbeat.
The shuffling started up again. This time there was no mistaking the regular pattern of footsteps.
Somebody coughed, a harsh, hacking, sandpaper sound that echoed through the still, early-morning air. And then the footsteps. Regular. Determined. And coming nearer.
It was only by chance that Ben was looking in the right direction to see the figure approaching out of the mist. It was just a shadow at first, a silhouette becoming gradually more distinct as it approached. Ben lightly brushed Annie's hand to get her attention, then pointed in the direction of the figure. They watched, wide-eyed, as it approached.
He was muttering to himself, the old man. His head was bowed, but although he walked slowly he was not as infirm as some people his age might have been. As he came closer, Ben could hear him muttering, a low, indistinct murmur of words that made no sense to his ears. Occasionally he would stop, raise his head and look all around. He seemed for all the world as though he were searching for something, but each time he did it, Ben had the impression that he believed himself to be somewhere completely different to where he was ten seconds ago. He strained his ears, desperately trying to catch some of that indecipherable muttering, but it was impossible. Ben couldn't help thinking that there were no real words coming out of the old man's mouth.
Just as Ben thought he was going to walk straight towards them, he stopped, looked around once more, and veered off in a different direction. But when he came to the trees, he halted and sat down against one of them, just as Ben and Annie had done.
The two of them sat in silence for a moment. 'He didn't see us,' Annie breathed. Ben looked at her and saw anxiety etched on her face — the arrival of the old man had clearly frightened her a bit, and if Ben was honest he would have to admit to feeling a bit spooked himself.
The old man was rummaging inside a plastic carrier bag now. He pulled out a Thermos flask and, with slightly shaky hands, unscrewed it and poured himself a cup of something hot. He breathed in the welcome steam escaping from his cup and closed his eyes, as though that simple thing had given him more pleasure than anyone could know, then he sipped gratefully before resting his head against the bark of the tree.
'I feel a bit sorry for him,' Annie whispered.
'Yeah, me too. See why I wanted to come and find him? Look, I'm going to go and talk to him—'
'No, don't,' Annie said, just a bit too quickly.
'He's harmless, Annie,' Ben assured her.
Annie responded with a wide-eyed, uncharacteristically frightened look.
'Come on,' Ben said reassuringly. 'I'll show you.' He stood up, and started walking towards the old man, with Annie close behind.
'Joseph!' he called gently when he was near enough for the old man to see them, but not so close that he would be too alarmed by their presence. 'It is Joseph, isn't it?'
The old man looked up like a startled animal, spilling his hot tea over his hand as he did so. The scalding liquid didn't seem to worry him.
'How do you know my name?' Joseph hissed. 'Who are you?'
'I'm Ben,' Ben replied confidently and with a smile. 'We spoke last night in the youth hostel. Do you remember?'
Joseph seemed to shrink back against the tree, looking first at Ben then at Annie. There was not even a spark of recognition in his face.
'We talked about this place,' Ben persisted. 'About Spadeadam. You told me about Blue Streak. Don't you remember?'
The old man started nodding his head furiously. 'Blue Streak, yes,' he gabbled. 'Spadeadam. Strange things happening at Spadeadam. Strange things.'
His voice crumbled once more into a meaningless mutter and Ben and Annie cast an anxious look at each other. 'I thought you said he'd recognize you,' Annie breathed.
Ben grimaced, then looked back at the old man before taking a tentative step forward. As he did so, his foot landed on a twig. It cracked, the noise sounding much louder than it should do. Instantly the old man stood up, his hawk-like eyes peering at Ben. He held the now empty cup above his shoulder as if it were a missile that he was prepared to hurl. 'Stay away,' he warned. 'Who are you? Why are you following me?'
'We just want to make sure you're OK,' Ben said in what he hoped was a reassuring tone of voice.
Again the old man peered at Ben and Annie, as though looking at them for the first time. 'Kids,' he said shortly. 'Spadeadam's not a place for kids. You must leave, now. Leave me alone. Get out of here.'
'But, Joseph—'
'Get out!' the old man roared, and for a moment Ben thought he saw real madness in his eyes. Both he and Annie stepped nervously back.
The old man looked around him yet again, and started muttering once more. This time, Ben managed to catch something of what Joseph was saying. 'I have to find the place,' he was whispering to himself. 'They don't know I'm here, and I have to find the place.'
'What place, Joseph?' Ben called with a confidence he did not feel. 'Who doesn't know you're here?'
Joseph shook his head. 'Leave me alone. And get out of here. You have to get out of here.' He turned away from them, picked up his plastic bag and returned the Thermos flask, then walked further into the trees. The deeper he walked into the copse, the more indistinct he became in the mist, but before he disappeared from sight, he turned round to speak to them once more. For an alarming moment, his bright green eyes seemed to shine like emeralds in the mist, clear and knowing. 'Leave me alone,' he called again, before continuing on his way.
Ben and Annie watched as the figure of the old man grew increasingly ghostly among the trees. Ben stepped forward after him. 'Come on,' he said suddenly. 'We have to try and talk to him again, find out what he's on about.'
But Annie had grabbed him by the arm. 'Ben, he's incredibly frightened, can't you see? Keep disturbing him and we'll send the poor guy over the edge.'
Ben looked anxiously after him. 'What are we going to do, then?'
Annie bit her lip. Ben half expected her to suggest that they go home, but when she spoke it became clear to him that she was as intrigued by Joseph and his mysterious warnings as he was.
'Let's follow him, from a distance. We'll have to be careful and keep out of sight, but at least we'll be able to see that he's OK.'
Ben nodded. They grabbed their rucksacks, put them on and then, as silently as they could manage, started to trek deeper into the forest. And deeper into RAF Spadeadam.
Chin-Hwa's driver had deposited him outside the government building a couple of hours ago. He had rushed inside in a matter of seconds, but the heavy rain had still saturated his cheap clothes. Since then, he had been waiting on his own in a bare, chilly room containing nothing but a few old plastic chairs. There was no point asking anybody how long it would be until he was seen: Chin-Hwa would be called when his presence was required, and no sooner.
The door opened and an expressionless government worker appeared. He spoke to Chin-Hwa in a voice devoid of respect. 'They will see you now,' he said.