Rachel watched, aware suddenly of a distant buzzing; aware that it was growing less distant. A sound she hoped meant help was coming.
“Hello, Martin,” Morag said.
The guard fumbled quickly for his glasses and struggled to plug in his inhibitors, but he was forced to flap his hands at the bee which had appeared from nowhere and had begun buzzing angrily around his head. Suddenly, the panic died in his eyes and his hands dropped, hanging uselessly at his sides as the bee landed and began to crawl lazily across his shoulder. The man could do no more than stand, like a waxwork, transfixed by Morag and Duncan.
“Now. You’re going to escort us, and our friends, to the main entrance,” Morag continued. The guard stared, his mouth opening and closing slowly. “Dr Van der Zee’s instructions.”
“OK,” the guard said. Though it was clearly too late, he plugged in his earphones, pulled down his dark glasses and walked slowly away down the corridor.
Morag grabbed her brother’s hand and grinned at Rachel and Adam as they emerged from the shadows. “Don’t dawdle,” she said.
Rachel began to move, pulling Adam with her, while watching the bee rise from the guard’s shoulder and drift away ahead of them.
“We haven’t got long,” she said.
The guard, whom Morag called Martin, dutifully took them down corridors, through sliding doors and past other security guards, punching in key codes, giving passwords and swiping keys as he went.
“Martin’s a nice man,” Morag explained to Rachel as they trotted along behind him. “Me and Duncan caught him out once before. We made him think he was a cat. It was really funny, he kept purring and licking milk off the floor. We got in trouble when Dr Van der Zee caught us and Martin rubbed himself against his leg.” Rachel grinned. “Not as much trouble as Martin, mind you,” Morag added.
Not as much trouble as he’ll be in this time, Rachel thought.
They passed another security office near the main entrance and Martin spoke to the duty officer. He filled in his name and number in the log and assured the officer that he was escorting all four twins on the explicit instructions of Dr Van der Zee.
“That’s all right then,” the duty officer said, before going back to his crossword.
As the guard slammed the steel doors behind them and the chilly night air filled their lungs, Rachel and Adam could not quite believe how easily they had got outside.
In front of them, the wide gravel driveway snaked off past the near-empty car park towards the security hut. Rachel looked at the field of long, wet grass that stretched out to the right and saw the tops of the dark trees in the woodland beyond. She didn’t want to hang around in front of the building a moment longer.
“Let’s head that way,” she said, pointing towards the trees. All four jogged off through the wet grass, keeping their heads low. The trees appeared to be around thirty metres ahead of them. Adam led the way, Duncan trotted behind him with Rachel following, holding Morag by the hand. The tops of the trees, now distinguishable as tall pines, loomed closer and closer, and Rachel began to allow a mounting sense of relief to take hold of her, now that they were clear of the building.
Then Adam tripped and fell.
A few steps ahead of the others and only a few metres shy of the trees, Adam had been caught by a low-level tripwire concealed in the long grass. Instantly the whole area was lit by strong halogen spotlights and the two sets of twins could do little but stare at one another in horror, their faces bleached out and bewildered in the harsh white light.
The “whoop-whoop” of an alarm sounded from the Hope complex and Adam struggled to his feet. Bells rang and lights flashed as he joined the others, staring back towards the main building, rigid with panic. Turning to the woods, lit now by the powerful spotlights, they could clearly see the fence that ran the whole perimeter of the grounds. A high fence topped with razor wire and marked with warning signs of lightning flashes and skulls. A fence that was crackling with the thousands of volts of current that ran through it.
A fence that Duncan, in his panic, was running towards…
Adam threw himself after the boy, his feet slipping on the wet grass. “Duncan! Duncan…!”
But the boy was too far ahead, and Rachel, Adam and Morag could only watch in silent horror as the small figure jumped up and grabbed at the wire, as a jagged blue flash delineated his body, then scream as his limp form was thrown back several metres and delivered lifeless at their feet.
An unearthly, terrifying howl came from Morag as she dropped to the ground in front of her brother. A noise that sounded as if her lungs were being torn from her by unseen hands: an ear-splitting pitch that wailed above the sounds of the alarm. Rachel fell to the ground and clasped the girl’s shaking body to her own, feeling the sharp sting of guilt that told her she was responsible for this tragedy.
Adam gently touched Duncan’s chalk-white face, placed a finger under his nose to feel for breath, but there was none. He put his hand on the shallow chest, feeling for movement beneath clothes that were still smouldering. Nothing. He grabbed at the limp wrist and felt for a pulse. Not a flicker. Adam looked at Rachel and his lip began to quiver as hot tears spilled from his eyes and splashed on to the body of the dead boy.
The three living figures huddled together in the wet field and howled, their escape attempt clearly over as guards began to pour from the building out into the grounds. Rachel and Adam pressed their heads together in anguish.
Suddenly, Morag’s sobs subsided and she pulled away from Rachel and Adam, as if to look at Duncan again, to confirm that the worst had actually happened.
“Michael?” she said, suddenly calm. “What are you doing here?”
Rachel and Adam looked up, expecting to see another security guard, but instead they saw somebody they already knew.
Gabriel.
Speechless, they watched as Gabriel crouched down and put one hand to the chest and the other to the smooth forehead of the dead boy. Rachel’s jaw dropped as Gabriel took his hand away from Duncan’s head, keeping his left hand on the boy’s chest, and her tears came even harder as she saw Duncan’s eyelids flicker, and then open.
“That was amazing,” Duncan said.
All four twins looked up at Gabriel with expressions of wonder.
“Duncan spoke!” Morag said.
“Wouldn’t you?” Gabriel replied, helping Duncan up on to wobbly feet. “Now come on, or they’ll catch us.”
Gabriel nodded in the direction of the main building, where guards with flashlights were beginning to swarm towards them.
Gabriel took the ten steps towards the perimeter fence and calmly lifted the wire up from the bottom, creating a gap for the others to crawl under. The children looked stunned as sparks fizzed and cracked around him, but Gabriel suffered no ill effect from the electricity that was obviously surging through his body.
“Hurry up!” he said. “I can’t stand here all night.”
Quickly, the four twins scrabbled underneath the fence and into the woods. Gabriel followed them, leaving the fence as he had found it and melting into the blackness.
Kate Newman was woken by the alarm.
The siren had snaked into her nightmare, pulling her from it, clammy and breathless, and as she sat up in bed there was only one thought in her head.
The children.
She flung back the blankets and rushed for the door, slammed her palm against the panic button and waited for a guard to arrive. She tried to shout, but the words would not come clearly: the drug she was given at night was far too strong.
Waiting for the guard, the dream came back to her in flashes. Home. Walking in the park. The three of them safe, somewhere bright and familiar. She hammered on the door, then clapped her hands tight against her ears, the siren deafening, making her feel as though her brain was bleeding.
Finally, the door opened and one of the nurses stepped in. She shouted above the relentless wail of the siren, ordering Kate back against the wall a second bef
ore she raised the needle.
Kate knew it was useless to fight – if she wanted the children to stay safe. Nothing was her choice any more, least of all the bogus calls from America every evening.
The siren continued to scream and suddenly the lights flickered, just the once. She wondered what was happening. It had to be something to do with the children.
Held as she was, deep underground in the Hope Project’s sick bay, she could only pray that Rachel and Adam were all right. Could only wonder when any of them would see one another again.
part two:
flight
They hid in the woods until the search was abandoned.
Gathered beneath an enormous pine tree, they watched as the lights of those looking for them moved through the woods like giant fireflies. At times the guards passed within a few metres of them, and on several occasions they heard the voice of Clay Van der Zee close by, marshalling his troops, and then later telling them that they would begin searching again at first light.
Rachel knew that it was Gabriel keeping them hidden; that when it suited him he could make himself, and those close to him, all but invisible in plain sight. At one point Gabriel had leant across and whispered to her, the shouts of the search party echoing in the darkness around her, “They can’t see the wood for the trees.”
Once the searchlights had been switched off, they broke cover and began to move cautiously through the forest. The darkness was almost impenetrable and the noises of unseen animals caused the little ones to clutch each other as they followed Gabriel on a path that wound through the columns of tall trees. Rachel knew she would have been every bit as frightened as they were, had her head not been buzzing with a thousand questions. She could see the fear clearly enough on Adam’s face.
“We need to move faster,” Gabriel said.
After half an hour or so there was a break in the blackness ahead of them, a momentary sweep of passing headlights and eventually they stumbled on to a narrow country road.
“Where to now?” Adam asked.
Gabriel thought for a few moments, staring along the road in both directions. “Away,” he said.
Adam nodded. “Sounds good.”
Rachel was about to ask one of her many questions, but was distracted by the crying behind her. She turned to see Morag and Duncan sitting on the side of the road, the girl being comforted by her brother. Rachel asked if she was OK.
“I’m cold,” Morag said.
Rachel realized that it was only adrenalin keeping the chill from her own bones and that the temperature would continue to drop: none of them would be able to spend the night outdoors.
“There’s a car coming!” Adam shouted suddenly. Morag and Duncan climbed excitedly to their feet and the children gathered together as Adam stuck out his thumb in preparation.
“It’s not going to stop!” Morag shouted.
The headlights grew bigger and the growl of what was clearly a large truck got louder as it rumbled towards them.
“Course it will,” Adam said. “Who wouldn’t pick up a bunch of kids out here in the middle of the night?” He stretched his arm out, the hope tight round his mouth as the lights moved across his face.
“Come on, come on,” Rachel muttered to herself as the truck got closer, but could only watch in alarm when, at the very last second, Gabriel moved past her and stepped calmly out into the middle of the road: the screams of the younger children were lost in the roar of the truck’s engine as it bore down on him.
“Michael!” Morag shouted.
Rachel stared. Why did they keep calling him that?
“Michael” raised his hand and the light seemed to bounce off his splayed fingers, reflecting back into the truck driver’s face in a tangle of thin beams.
The truck driver knew he was in big trouble.
He knew too that he shouldn’t have been driving while he was tired, that he shouldn’t have been going as fast and that he certainly shouldn’t have had that pint of beer with his dinner. Still, running into a random police check on a road he’d driven down a hundred times before was unlucky. When he’d seen the policeman step out into the road and start waving him down, he could only curse his bad luck and wonder what he’d done to deserve it.
The policeman had looked deadly serious. The truck’s headlights had reflected off the badge on his cap and the buttons on his blue uniform. Big, big trouble…
The truck driver had slammed on the brakes, realizing that the policeman was closer to him than he’d first thought. Why didn’t the stupid idiot get out of the way? He’d closed his eyes, praying that he’d be able to stop in time and that, if he did, he’d manage to hold on to his driving licence.
As it was, he got away with it.
He sat there in the cab, holding his breath, and when he finally pulled away again he couldn’t help wondering why he’d been stopped in the first place. The policeman – and they were definitely looking a lot younger these days – had done nothing but give him a good telling off and kicked his tyres a couple of times before sending him on his way. What had been the point of that? It bothered him as he drove on, pointing the big truck east, towards the coast, wide awake now and watching his speed this time.
Didn’t the police force have better things to do?
Within a few minutes of the truck starting up again and rumbling away down the road, Morag and Duncan were fast asleep in the back. In the half-light from the driver’s cab, Rachel watched them curled up among the sacks of turnips and potatoes as though it was the most ordinary thing in the world, and envied their innocence.
She lay back against the side of the truck, Adam next to her and Gabriel sitting opposite them. Gabriel smiled, pleased with himself, but Rachel resisted the temptation to ask how he’d talked the driver into taking them. There didn’t seem much point. She knew Gabriel could get people to do almost anything and besides there were other, far more important, questions she wanted answers to.
“Why didn’t you come and get us?” she asked. Gabriel said nothing. “When we were in there. I know you could have done it. You could have just come in and got us out of there. Why—?”
“I couldn’t just walk in there. I’m sure that’s what they would have wanted and … I was waiting for you.”
“What?”
“Biding my time until you made a move. Until you took the initiative. I can’t do this all by myself, you know. I need your help. I needed you to get the Triskellion. It’s stronger in your hands.”
Rachel thought about it. She remembered Gabriel’s face when she’d seen him – or thought she’d seen him – in the churchyard, the faraway look in his eyes. Waiting.
“So it’s like some kind of battery that needs us to charge it up?” Adam asked.
“It’s all sorts of things,” Gabriel said. “All sorts.” He looked far away again, closing his eyes and letting his head drop. When he looked up again, he was smiling. “You have got it, haven’t you?”
Rachel reached over and laid a hand on her backpack. “In there,” she said. “I couldn’t leave it behind. Something told me we had to bring it with us.”
Gabriel nodded, satisfied. “Good. Now we can get out of here. Get the others.”
The last few words had been mumbled and Rachel couldn’t be sure she had heard correctly.
“What others?”
Adam leant forward. “Other Triskellions?”
Gabriel closed his eyes again and leant back as though going to sleep. After a minute or so he said, “You didn’t think there was just one, did you?”
The truck drove on through the night. Lights passed across the children’s faces as they moved on to bigger, better-lit roads. Rachel pulled an empty sack round herself when it got colder but, though it warmed her a little, she was still unable to sleep.
“Why do they call you Michael?” she asked. She nodded towards Morag and Duncan. The young boy moaned softly in his sleep and threw out an arm.
Gabriel shrugged, his eyes closed. “I’ve go
t a few names,” he said.
“What, like aliases?” Adam asked.
“Yeah, I suppose. Comes in useful, keeps people guessing.”
“Are you hiding your real identity then?”
“We all are,” Gabriel said.
Gabriel’s face was in shadow. His voice sounded no more than a whisper, although they were shouting above the noise of the engine. The sacks piled all around them were dark, hulking lumps, and loose vegetables rolled and rattled on the bare metal floor as the truck swayed on the bumpy road.
“So where are we going?” Adam asked.
“I thought you were happy enough with ‘away’,” Gabriel said.
Rachel turned to her brother and looked at him like he’d gone mad. “We’re going home, obviously. We’re going to see Mom.” She turned back and stared at Gabriel, who was now sitting up, eyes wide open. “That’s right, isn’t it?” The look that passed across Gabriel’s face was like ice pressed against her skin.
“Your mother isn’t at home.”
“We’ve spoken to her,” Adam said. “She called every night from New York.”
“She’s not in New York,” Gabriel said. He glanced towards the road. “She’s back there.”
Adam moved across the floor of the truck. “Don’t be stupid!” he shouted. “She’s at home. We spoke to her.”
“She never left,” Gabriel said simply. “It was a trick, that’s all.”
Rachel got to her feet, almost falling as the truck lurched. She grabbed on to the metal rail that ran round the inside of the trailer.
“Turn the truck round.”
“It’s not me driving it,” Gabriel said.
Now, suddenly, Rachel was shouting too. “Do whatever you did before then. Get the driver to stop and turn round. We have to go back.”
Gabriel shook his head.
“You don’t understand,” Rachel said. “We can’t leave her. She’s our mother … she’s in danger. We have to go back.”
By now Adam was on his feet next to her. They stared down at Gabriel, urging him to move, to do something, but the boy looked calmly back at them as though unable to comprehend their panic.
The Burning Page 8