by Ian Chapman
‘Yeah.’
‘Then we’re on the home straight. Not far to the loch. To where Arcadia is.’
‘I suppose.’
‘You’re still on for it?’
‘Possibly.’
She sighed. ‘What’s going on Trent? What’s locked in that head of yours?’ She moved up so that we were close together on the settee.
‘Nothing really —’
‘Come on. You picked up that lad to bring along and you’ve not asked anything about where we are going. Are you still in?’
The fire crackled and rippled on her face. This seemed familiar to me, like situations I’d had with Sophie. Questions with no right answer. This time I was going to be straight. Tell the truth. ‘Maybe I’ll drop off before we get there.’
Becky stood up and went over to the fire. She leant against the mantelpiece and twisted one leg behind the other. ‘We need you, Trent. We need what you can do.’
‘I can’t do anything.’
‘Of course you can.’ She stared at me as the fire popped and hissed on the damp wood. ‘I didn’t just invite you along for the fun of it. You’re good in a crisis. When it gets tough. There are still challenges ahead.’
‘Right…’
‘Think about it, at least.’ She moved away from the fire and stood by the settee, hands on her hips.
‘All right. I’ll think about it.’
She smiled, and without saying anything else, leant forward and kissed me. She lowered herself down wrapping her arms around me and holding our bodies close together.
After a minute she moved away.
‘What was that for?’ I said.
‘Just for you.’ Then she took off her shirt and trousers, down to her underwear. She slid into her sleeping bag, one edge of it held open to show her long legs and slim torso. Then she shifted around and took off her knickers and bra. Chucked them onto the settee next to me. ‘Well?’
I slid my own clothes off and joined her, as the fire crackled and the building creaked around us.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Confess
BECKY WAS UP BEFORE me in the morning. I rose and dressed then went into the dining room to find her there. Daniel was awake as well, standing by her as she tended a pan of water on the fire.
‘How are you?’ I said, all bright and cheery.
‘Fine,’ said Becky. ‘We need more wood.’ Her face was expressionless. Flat.
Daniel poked at the fire.
‘How are you?’ I said to him.
‘Good,’ he said.
‘Sleep well?’
‘Yep.’ He wasn’t very chatty either. Maybe he was hungry. Maybe we all were. I went over to Casper. His eyes were half open and his breathing regular.
He grunted and pushed himself up. Becky appeared with a mug of warmed water. She almost pushed me out of the way to put it to his lips, letting him sip the liquid. Then she patted him on the head, holding him up, smiling at him with warm eyes. ‘I’m going to heat up some of the tinned meat we’ve got. Fix a good breakfast.’
‘I didn’t know we had tinned meat,’ I said.
‘I’ve kept it safe.’ She returned to the fire and opened the tin.
I went outside. The sun fought its way through the morning mist that filled the glen and hid the mountains.
The Scrambler was where I had left it, parked behind the Eblis. There was time to give it a test run before we set off. I wasn’t bothered about breakfasting with Becky if she was going to be a pain in the arse.
I went back in. Daniel was at the far side of the room as Casper and Becky chatted. He seemed to have made quite a recovery. My pistol was on the mantelpiece so I grabbed it up and shoved it in my jeans. ‘Fancy a ride on the bike, Daniel?’ I said.
He glanced over at the other two before he spoke. ‘Is it safe?’
‘Yeah. It’s fine.’
‘Are you sure?’
‘Yeah. Come on.’
‘Okay.’
‘Where are you going?’ said Becky.
‘Off on the bike.’
‘You going far?’
‘Not sure.’
I led him out without saying anymore. Maybe it would shake her up a little. Shake the pair of them up.
I slid onto the saddle and told Daniel to get on the back.
He hesitated then swung his leg over. For a second it seemed he was going to slid off then he grabbed me and pulled himself into place. His hands were tight around my waist.
I turned the bike’s engine over and it coughed but didn’t catch. It started on the second prod and I revved it, holding it at two-thousand revs for a minute, letting it warm before dropping to tick-over. It was a familiar feeling holding the handlebars, pulling the clutch in and twisting the throttle. As I slipped it into gear it gave the usual thud, hiccupping a little as I pulled off. I took it slowly along the track, as it bounced over the ruts made by the Eblis, the exhaust note roaring back off the trees.
Daniel had his whole body pulled up tight against me. At the end of the track I stopped. ‘Are you all right?’ I said to him.
‘Yep.’
On the open road I let it rev up, right round to four-thousand rpm and the engine picked up cleanly. It slid into second then third. As I wound it up some more Daniel banged me on the back of my head. He shouted something so I slowed and pulled in at the side of the road.
‘What’s up?’ I said.
‘I don’t like it.’
‘You just need to get used to it.’
‘No. I don’t like it.’
We stayed put as the bike idled. ‘Maybe we can go a little slower, let you ease into it…’
‘No. Don’t like it. I want to go back.’
‘Let’s just take a short run. Up the road —’
‘No. I don’t like it.’
So I swung the bike round in the road. We rode back in first and I slipped the clutch on the rutted section to keep the speed right down. Maybe I’d overdone it. Or maybe he just didn’t like bikes.
As we approached the Eblis I turned the engine off and coasted in neutral to save fuel. If he didn’t like riding the bike we really were stuck. I’d have to get hold of a car, or walk. Or leave him with Casper and Becky.
I stopped the bike. ‘Get off,’ I said. It wasn’t his fault that he didn’t like the bike but I was still pissed off with him.
He swung his leg over and stumbled off the saddle. I put the stand down and slid off myself.
Daniel stood there like he didn’t know what to do.
‘Come on,’ I said. ‘Let’s go eat.’ I guessed Becky would have prepared some food. Maybe I’d take Daniel out later. Or just sit him on it without moving. Something to get him used to the idea of it. There were options.
As we approached the hotel there was movement from the dining room, odd and rhythmic, the kind of thing that attracted attention. I pulled the pistol out and went up to the window. Becky was there with Casper. She had her back to me and it was her head I’d seen, bobbing up and down.
She was naked and astride Casper, riding him. Like she had me the night before. Now it was him she was having sex with. Her brother.
I stayed like that for a while, as she moved and he made noises, until they’d finished. It wasn’t the kind of thing I normally did but this wasn’t a normal situation. I’d not even noticed that Daniel was beside me. His mouth open.
I put the pistol away, grabbed his hand and led him round to the entranceway. He went to say something but I put my hand over his mouth. I could hear Becky and Casper talking. She was muttering on about how much she wanted him but he was warning her, saying I’d be back soon with Daniel. That they’d get caught. There was no talk of this being wrong or weird, just that they might be found out.
I let go of Daniel and walked into the room, standing by the doorway, waiting until Casper saw me.
‘Trent?’ he said.
Becky pulled her shirt back on while he lay back with his hand over his face.
‘W
hat’s going on?’ I said.
She slid her trousers on and went over to the pan by the fire. ‘Come and eat something.’
‘You kidding?’
She stirred the food. ‘I’ll explain.’
‘I think you’d better.’
I kept my eyes on her as I walked round, sitting on the floor. Daniel sat behind me as if he was afraid to get too close to her. She spooned out food for each of us, pasta in sauce again. It had burnt onto the bottom of the pan. Casper dragged himself over and we sat spaced out around the room. Becky ate but Casper just stared at the floor.
‘So?’ I said. ‘What’s going on?’
‘It’s not as bad as it seems,’ said Casper, his voice weak.
‘Really?’
He glanced at Becky. Then over at me and Daniel. ‘We haven’t quite told you everything…’
Becky was now halfway through her food with no sign of saying anything.
‘It was a convenience thing,’ he said. ‘It’s not that…We needed to get you on our side. Without making it too odd, difficult for you. We were going to clear it up.’
Becky put down the rest of her food and stared at me. ‘We’re not brother and sister. He’s my lover.’
I laughed at this, not so much as what she’d said but the use of word. Lover didn’t seem to fit Casper very well. ‘Right,’ I said. ‘So what was I?’
She shrugged and held my gaze, the look softening a little, but still hard to read. ‘Sometimes stuff just happens. Stuff you haven’t planned…You wouldn’t have come with us if you’d known we were a couple.’
‘I see.’
‘And you’d have asked more. Like about where we met and such like. This made it easier.’
‘And Arcadia? Is that real?’
Becky shook her head. Just a tiny movement but enough to let me know that they’d made it up. That it didn’t exist.
‘What else do I need to know?’
‘I think we’ve said enough,’ said Casper.
‘I don’t think so.’ I pulled out the pistol and aimed it at him.
‘You wouldn’t.’
I cocked and it fired just over his head. It punched a nice hole in the wall behind him. He shrunk down, folded up on himself. The sound seemed to last for ages.
‘Missed,’ I said. I was in the mood to shoot both of them. Hurt them at least. They’d really messed me around.
Becky took a deep breath then straightened up. ‘Okay. Okay. But Daniel doesn’t need to hear all of this —’
‘Yes, I do,’ said Daniel.
‘All right. Fine.’ She took a breath, moved over to the wall. Leant back against it and closed her eyes. ‘Casper was part of a gang, a big gang in the borders, once run by a guy called Maxwell – ’
‘Maxwell,’ I said. Maxwell was who I’d stolen from. Been on the run from in the past. Maxwell had been a nasty piece of work. A real bastard and so were his men.
‘Casper wasn’t one of the main people. But that was where he was. I met him in Kelso and, well, you know. That was how I found out about…’ She turned to Casper. He shook his head. Neither said anything else.
I’d had enough of this. I went over to him, pointed the gun at his head. Then I went round his back and leant the barrel against his injury. He cried out.
‘I want some answers,’ I said.
‘Okay!’ said Becky. ‘Okay. We found out about you. About Gehenna. That you had the documents with all the details on the sub.’
‘I see.’ I’d been so stupid. They’d played me all along. Gehenna. That deadly sub. That’s what they wanted. In a loch in Scotland, not their mysterious town. They’d made up all the Arcadia crap.
‘We borrowed a bike from Maxwell’s as well as the Eblis.’
‘He had the tank?’
‘The tank, weapons, all kinds of stuff. Once he was dead it started to unravel. So we helped ourselves…’
‘Right.’ I sat down again. They’d come to Faeston to find me, for what I had. There’d been no coincidences. ‘It was all planned out?’
‘Apart from me getting caught,’ said Casper.
‘Why Gehenna?’
‘Why do you care?’ he said.
I waved the gun at him. Then lowered it. I didn’t care anymore. ‘So what now?’
She shrugged. ‘That’s up to you.’
The pair of them looked at me, across at Daniel.
I got up. ‘I need some air.’
When I walked out Daniel followed me.
We went over to the trees. They’d played me all right, reeled me in and kept me interested. It explained a lot but there were still a few gaps. Gaps that didn’t matter.
The worst part was the Maxwell link. No one decent worked for Maxwell.
‘What you going to do?’ said Daniel.
‘I’m not sure.’
‘Are you cross with them?’
‘Yeah.’
‘You’ll feel better in the morning.’
‘What?’
‘That’s what Mum always says.’
‘Your mum’s gone Daniel. Forever.’
I didn’t give him time to reply but walked off into the trees, away from all of them. It wasn’t his fault but he was part of all this now.
I faced back to hotel, its smashed windows catching the morning light. In front of it was Daniel just standing there. Then there was the Eblis and off along the track the Scrambler, now all tidied and ready to go.
And so was I.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Hit the Road
IT DIDN’T TAKE LONG for me to pack up and even less time to say goodbye. I raised my hand and said, ‘I’m off.’ Becky looked like she wanted to say something but didn’t. Casper just stared at the floor. I still had hold of the pistol in case he tried anything but he seemed out of it.
Then there was Daniel. He was still on the front lawn when I went out. ‘I’m sorry what I said. About your mum.’
When he looked at me he blinked more than usual. ‘It’s okay,’ he said. ‘It’s okay.’
‘Daniel, I’m going.’
‘Oh?’
‘Are you coming with me?’
‘You going on the motorbike?’
‘Yes.’
He took a deep breath. ‘I’m staying.’
‘You’re welcome to come.’
‘Not on the motorbike.’
We stood there for a minute. Then I put my arms around him and hugged him. It was like holding a bag full of wooden stakes. When I released him he wouldn’t look at me.
‘Look, Daniel…’
‘Bye.’ He went back into the dining room with Becky and Casper.
I walked out with my kit under my arm. It seemed further to the bike than it had before.
I turned the Scrambler around and climbed onto it. Across at the hotel Daniel was at the window. I waved to him but he didn’t move.
I started the bike. It settled into a smooth tick over. Gehenna’s details were in the bottom of my bag as was the shotgun, bike parts, siphon tube, money and my few clothes. There was a can of food in there as well, something I’d put there just in case. In case I had to leave like this.
I rode the Scrambler along the track, rutted and chewed up. At the end the main road was empty in both directions. Either was fine. I had everywhere open to me. Nowhere. Despite Casper and Becky messing me around, they had given me some kind of purpose and direction for the last week. Now I was drifting again.
Mist hung over the road as I headed south. There was no real reason why I’d chosen this way but we’d done the last few miles without difficulty and it was the opposite direction to Becky and Casper’s intended route.
The Scrambler pulled well, cruising at a comfortable fifty despite the road’s pitted surface. Frost had lifted the tarmac in places and the far side was further chewed up by the Eblis. There were clear track marks going for miles.
It was a shame about Daniel. I felt bad about leaving him. I’d found him and brought him with me. It was because of m
e he was here. But it wasn’t like I’d refused to take him. He’d been offered the chance to come and he’d chosen not to. Still, I felt bad.
Now I had to sort myself out.
Once I got past Stirling I’d decide where to go. There was the east coast of Scotland. Fife: Kirkcaldy or St Andrews, even. The stories about the new developments in those places all sounded interesting, even if they weren’t keen on outsiders. I’d have to prove myself to settle somewhere like that.
I dodged a pothole and accelerated the bike up to sixty, swinging it round the ruts in the road. The bike really was running well.
Maybe it was time to head south, well south. There wasn’t much worth seeing in the Midlands, it seemed, not from what traders passing through Faeston had said, but there were places in Cornwall that sounded good. Those that hadn’t completely disappeared into the sea. There was nothing decent in the South East, of course, after what had happened to London. That wasn’t worth visiting.
But there was no need to decide where to go yet.
As the miles clocked up I got back into the rhythm of travelling, that floating sensation that always came with being on the road. Moving through the scenery but not part of it, automatically driving without thinking. I passed by forest and open moors, wrecked vehicles and debris. The land fell away to the left as a small river followed the road. Eventually I’d pass Gregg and Will’s wrecked car and bodies. But that was just another piece of the landscape.
A white Transit van approached from way off, the first vehicle I’d seen. There was nothing special or significant about it. It travelled at a steady speed keeping a straight track down the road. As usual I avoided eye contact or any kind of signalling just in case it was neo-reivers.
Off in the distance the sun lit a hill, a bright patch of green in the grey mist-covered land. Maybe I’d stay up here, where there was plenty of space and fewer scavengers.
The Transit swung across the road towards me, a sharp manoeuvre so it was head on. Maybe the driver had fallen asleep at the wheel. Without thinking I swung out of the way, steering to the left to avoid it. The van followed so it was still directly in front of me. I tried to go over to the right, where it should have been but it followed again, shifting to the middle.