by Jim Eldridge
‘Stardate 5 March. Action at Hadley Park. Today, armed soldiers and people in hazard suits rushed into HPRE, protecting two ambulances. There’d been reports of big discs in the sky. Coincidence? More likely Roswell, UK. Do we get to see the alien autopsies from the crash site this time, or will this be yet another cover-up!’
‘Roswell?’ asked Jake, puzzled.
Jo turned to him and curled her lip in a sneer. She turned to Parsons. ‘He doesn’t know about Roswell?’ she said, her tone very disapproving.
‘Roswell, New Mexico,’ said Lauren. ‘Site of a UFO crash in 1947. The bodies were taken for autopsy and the whole thing was kept secret. Still is a secret, officially.’
Jo looked at Lauren admiringly.
‘Hey, you’re cool!’ she said.
Lauren smiled at her. ‘I can’t do cool things like you’re doing,’ she complimented Jo back.
Suddenly a realisation hit Jake.
‘March the fifth!’ he burst out. ‘That’s it!’
The others looked at him, surprised.
‘What is?’
‘The day of the dig,’ he said. ‘The day they dug that thing up and the man turned into that . . . thing.’ He pointed at the screen. ‘That’s what they took into Hadley Park. The book and the man. Or, at least, his remains.’
‘His remains?’ echoed Jo, a note of shock in her voice.
The other three exchanged looks, then Jake said, ‘We have to tell her.’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Parsons doubtfully. ‘We don’t want to drag her into this.’
‘You already have,’ Jo pointed out.
‘Yes, but only so far,’ said Parsons carefully. ‘It’s not right to put you into a . . . ‘ He hesitated, then said carefully, ‘A difficult position.’
‘What do you mean, difficult?’ demanded Jo.
‘Well . . .’ began Parsons.
‘He means dangerous,’ cut in Lauren. ‘They’ve already broken into my place and stolen my laptop and the evidence I had.’
‘And they tried to kill me,’ said Jake. ‘They tried to push me under a train.’
Jo now looked at Jake with awe in her eyes.
‘Cool!’
Parsons shook his head.
‘No, it’s not cool,’ he said firmly. ‘I was wrong to come here with this. And especially wrong to bring these two.’
‘Well, you’ve already done it.’ Jo shrugged. ‘So you might as well tell me the rest.’
‘No,’ repeated Parsons, his tone even firmer. ‘We can leave now, and even if anybody has been watching, we won’t have been here long enough for them to get suspicious.’
‘Maybe Jo can suggest someone else,’ said Jake. ‘Someone who won’t mind being at risk. Maybe someone older?’
He’d said the wrong thing.
‘I’m sixteen, rivet-head!’ snapped Jo. ‘I can do loads of things legally. And you can talk – you don’t even look like you’re old enough to shave!’
‘This isn’t getting us anywhere,’ said Lauren. She sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Jo, but I think Jake and Carl are right. This could be dangerous. It’s all right for us . . .’
‘Why?’ demanded Jo angrily.
‘Because we’re older,’ said Lauren.
Jo glared at her.
‘Queen Victoria took over the throne when she was just eighteen. And she became ruler of over half the world,’ she snapped. ‘And then there was that boy of sixteen who sailed round the world single-handed. So don’t talk to me about being too young for this.’
Jake nodded. ‘She’s got a point,’ he said.
Jo added, ‘And there’s something at this Hadley place you want, right?’
‘Yes,’ nodded Jake. ‘At least, we think there is.’
‘Well, you’re going to need me if you want to get inside the place.’
Jake looked at Jo, really taken aback. Was this girl some kind of burglar?
Jo had turned back to her keyboard and her fingers moved at speed over it. And then, on the screen, appeared an architect’s drawing: a building plan.
‘There!’ said Jo triumphantly. ‘The floor plan of Hadley Park.’
Jake’s mouth dropped open. ‘How did you do that?’ he asked.
‘Easy.’ Jo shrugged. ‘Every building in the country has to register their plans with their local authority. Once you know the address of the place you’re looking for, and what local council it comes under, the rest is easy.’ She gave a mischievous grin. ‘You want the plans for Buckingham Palace?’ she asked.
Jake looked at Parsons, stunned.
‘Your cousin is a security risk!’ he said.
‘Easy!’ smirked Jo. She flicked the keys, and the architect’s plan on the screen was replaced by another, and another, and another.
‘We need to find out where they’ll have likely stashed this thing,’ she muttered. ‘It’s dangerous, right? That’s why the hazard suits.’
‘Yes,’ said Jake.
Jo flicked a key, and the architect’s plans vanished and the list of links about Hadley Park came up again.
‘Let’s see what the chatter says,’ she muttered. Rapidly, she scrolled down, then went to another page, and another, then another.
‘It looks like Block C is where all the security stuff happens,’ she announced. ‘According to the whispers and gossip on these blogs and posts, there are weird goings-on in Block C. So I’ll put my money on whatever you’re looking for being stashed there.’
She hit a key, and the architect’s plans for Hadley Park Research Establishment came upon again. She scrolled across the drawings on the screen, and then stopped, and they saw the diagram of a small block sub-divided into rooms.
‘Block C.’ Jo smiled. ‘That’s where it is.’
‘Hmm,’ said Jake doubtfully. ‘It’s all very well knowing that’s where the book is, but how do we get in?’
‘A book?!’ Jo’s voice rose in disbelief. ‘This is about a book!’
‘Not just any book,’ said Lauren. ‘This is a book the government doesn’t want anyone to know about.’
‘Government secrets?’ asked Jo.
‘In a way,’ said Parsons, shooting a guarded look at both Lauren and Jake. We don’t need to tell her about the Order of Malichea, he seemed to be saying. Let’s keep this simple.
Jake nodded.
‘Like I was saying, there’s going to be all sorts of security,’ he said. ‘Armed guards. Dogs.’
‘Electronic keypads on the doors.’ Parsons nodded.
‘They won’t be a problem,’ said Jo. ‘I’ll disable them.’
‘How?’ asked Jake.
‘I hack into their security system and override the locks on Block C, of course,’ said Jo. ‘Though it’s best to do it only for a short while. If I unlock all the doors too soon, there’s a chance it’ll be spotted. You know, someone walking around checking.’
‘So we’d need to fix an agreed time,’ said Lauren.
‘Right.’ Jo nodded. ‘If you’re standing ready by the door at, say, eleven thirty, I’ll make sure the locks are off.’ She flicked more keys and a series of schematic diagrams appeared on the screen, which she studied. ‘Though you won’t want the locks switched off for too long. There’s bound to be a fail-safe cut-in that sets an alarm off if they’re turned off for a certain length of time. There usually is with this sort of security system.’
Jake looked at Jo as she worked, stunned. This girl was just sixteen years old, and yet she could hack into a top-security government research lab and open all the locks on the doors just by pressing a few computer keys! It was incredible!
Then an awful thought hit him.
‘Hang on,’ he said, concerned. ‘How do we get into the place? And how do we get to this Block C? Like I said before, there are bound to be all sorts of security systems you can’t deal with just by hitting a computer. Guards. Dogs. Electrified fences.’
‘I might be able to cut off the electricity to the fence,’ said Jo, ‘but there could
be a back-up system. The only way to really do it would be to shut down the electricity supply to the whole place.’
‘Which would alert the guards and raise the alarm,’ pointed out Parsons.
Jo had put the plan of the research base back on the screen; this one showed the plan of the whole base, including the fences that surrounded it.
‘The fence is electrified, OK.’ She nodded. Then she smiled. ‘But there’s one thing they forgot.’ She highlighted an area near the fence and pressed a key. ‘There,’ she said.
‘What are we looking at?’ asked Jake, puzzled.
‘Drains,’ said Parsons. ‘Storm drains.’
Jo nodded. ‘Right,’ she said. ‘A place like this can’t afford to be flooded. There’s a storm drain runs right across the base, and it comes out into a culvert just outside the fence . . . here.’
Jake and the others peered closer at the screen. Yes, there was a culvert of some sort marked on the plan. Jo moved the plan on the screen.
‘It looks like there’s a manhole from the drain just near the main building.’
‘How far is it from there to Block C?’ asked Lauren.
‘According to the scale on the plan, about a hundred metres,’ said Parsons thoughtfully.
‘We can do that,’ nodded Lauren.
Jake looked at her, shocked.
‘A hundred metres? With armed guards and dogs?’
‘We don’t know there are armed guards and dogs,’ pointed out Lauren.
‘Yes, we do,’ said Jo, studying the screen. ‘I’ve hacked into their guard roster.’
Lauren shrugged. ‘OK, so we run,’ she said. ‘It’s not that far. Usain Bolt can run that distance in under ten seconds.’
‘We are not Usain Bolt,’ countered Jake.
‘When are you going in?’ asked Jo.
We’re not, thought Jake. Not without doing a lot of serious checking out this place first.
‘Tonight,’ said Lauren.
Jake stared at her.
‘Tonight?’ he echoed.
‘The sooner the better,’ she said. ‘They might move the book somewhere else.’
‘OK,’ said Jo. ‘I’ll have the alarm systems off and the locks undone at eleven thirty. I reckon I can give you twenty minutes before they need to be switched on again. After that, the fail-safe alarm system might cut in.’
‘Will twenty minutes be enough?’ asked Lauren, concerned.
‘It should be,’ said Parsons. ‘If all goes to plan.’
No, it won’t! Jake wanted to yell out loud. We’ll get caught! We’ll get put in jail for life! The guard dogs will tear us to pieces!
‘Is that all right with you, Jake?’ asked Lauren.
Jake did his best to appear casual.
‘OK by me,’ he said.
‘Right, I think we’d better go and make our arrangements,’ said Parsons. ‘We’ve got some serious planning to do.’ He looked at Jo, concerned. ‘If you have any doubts about doing this, Jo, just let me know. We can always try and come up with something else.’
Yes, please, begged Jake. Say you have doubts, Jo!
Instead, Jo shrugged.
‘No,’ she said. ‘It should be fun.’
Fun, groaned Jake to himself. That’s not the word I’d use to describe it.
‘OK.’ Parsons nodded. ‘We’ll leave you to it.’ He was just about to head for the door of Jo’s room, when he stopped and gave her an apologetic, awkward smile. ‘By the way, I told your mum I’d have a word with you,’ he said.
‘Yeah?’ asked Jo.
‘She thinks you ought to get out more. And I agree with her.’
Jo looked at him with distaste.
‘Outside?’ she asked.
‘Yes,’ Parsons said. ‘It’s healthy out there.’
‘There are muggers, rapists and murderers out there,’ said Jo. ‘How can you call that healthy?’
Chapter 12
Their next stop was a small block of flats in Kentish Town. We’re doing a complete tour of London this evening, reflected Jake. Anyone who’s following us is certainly earning their money. Not that they’d spotted anyone following them, but then these people would be professionals.
‘This is where Carl lives,’ Lauren told Jake as they followed Parsons into the courtyard of the small block and then across to a row of garages.
Parsons had unlocked one of the garages and lifted up the door. Inside was a black Mini, and on hooks and shelves on the walls hung tools and equipment: battery chargers, tyre levers, tool boxes, saws; all tidily arranged and even with labels on the shelves detailing the various items.
‘Wow!’ said Jake, impressed. ‘You’re Mr Handyman. And catalogued!’
‘I take care of things,’ agreed Parsons. ‘Not only does it make running a car cheaper, I like to understand how things work.’ He patted the Mini. ‘This is what we’ll go in tonight.’
Jake looked at the car doubtfully.
‘These things are bigger inside than you think,’ said Parsons, clearly reading Jake’s mind. ‘And we don’t want some huge vehicle that’ll draw attention to us.’
Yes, we do, thought Jake. We want a big enough vehicle that will mean the police will get suspicious when we park near the base and tell us to go away. He’d agreed to go on this stupid mission because he knew how much it meant to Lauren, but he broke out in a cold sweat when he thought of what they would actually be doing. Breaking into a high-security research establishment. People got shot for doing that, especially with all the fears about terrorists.
Parsons reached up to a hook and took down a heavy-looking double-handed tool.
‘You’re going to need these. Bolt cutters.’
‘What for?’ asked Jake. ‘Jo said she’d have the locks open.’
‘Yes, but you’re going to have to get into the drain from the culvert to get inside the base. The drain could have a metal grille over it. If it’s made of thick iron bars, you won’t be able to cut through it without attracting attention. Not quickly, anyway. But if it’s just a thick wire grille, those will do.’
Please let the drain have a heavy metal grille over it, prayed Jake. Then we’ll have to pack up and leave.
‘You’ll also need some kind of mask,’ added Parsons as he put the bolt cutters and other tools in the boot of the car. ‘To stop you being identified on the CCTV.’
Jake looked at Parsons suspiciously.
‘Why do I get the impression you’ve done this sort of thing before?’ he asked.
‘Anti-nuclear activities,’ said Parsons. ‘Sabotaging drilling rigs on possible waste sites, that sort of thing. I’ve got a couple of balaclava helmets indoors you can use, if you haven’t got your own.’
No way am I going to put my head inside one of Parsons’s sweaty stinky balaclavas, vowed Jake to himself.
‘That’s all right,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a ski mask at home.’
Lauren looked at him, surprised.
‘Why on earth do you have one of those?’ she asked.
‘If you must know, after we broke up I decided to go and do something I’d never done before to make me feel better,’ admitted Jake. ‘I decided to go skiing.’
‘Where did you go?’
Jake looked uncomfortable.
‘Actually, I never went. I got the ski mask and the gloves, and then realised I couldn’t afford it. But one day I will!’
‘I don’t think we’ve got time to go to Jake’s place and get his ski mask,’ said Parsons. He tapped his watch. ‘It’s late already, and we have to get to Stone by eleven at the latest if you’re going to be waiting by the doors of Block C at eleven thirty.’
‘Then we’ll use your balaclavas,’ announced Lauren.
It was nearly eleven o’clock as they left the ring road around Aylesbury and headed on the road to Stone. Parsons and Lauren were in the front of the Mini, and Jake was crammed in the back. He reflected ruefully that a Mini was large enough inside to sit comfortably, if you were in the front.
The back was fine if you were one of the Seven Dwarfs, but for someone tall like Jake, he’d had to fold himself up to get in. It had also just begun to rain.
Great, thought Jake. We’re going to be crawling along a drain, with water pouring through.
The rain got heavier as the lights above the high wire fence of Hadley Park Research Establishment came into view. The place was lit up like a Christmas tree. And it looked huge; the fence and the harsh lights went on for about a quarter of a mile along the road. Parsons turned left, taking a narrow side road that bordered the edge of the base. The fence and lights continued down this road, but there were also trees and small wooded areas on the other side. Parsons continued for a further hundred metres, pulled into a gap between two trees, and drove over the bumpy uneven ground into a small clearing.
‘How did you know this place was here?’ asked Jake.
‘I came to Aylesbury years ago to visit an aunt, and we came out here for a drink in the village pub. Then we came to this spot to pick blackberries.’
‘Lucky for us,’ said Lauren.
Or is it? thought Jake. It was all too much of a coincidence, as far as he was concerned. He was tempted to dig deeper, ask Parsons the name of this supposed aunt, but he thought that might upset Lauren.
‘One last thing,’ said Parsons. ‘Leave any wallets, or anything with any identification of any sort, in the car. If you drop anything while you’re in there, all this is a waste of time; they’ll know who you are anyway and will come and pick you up.’
The professional action man, thought Jake grimly as he took out his wallet and other bits of paper from his pockets and dumped them on the back seat. He had to admit, the fact that Parsons seemed to be experienced in this sort of covert activity made Jake feel even more jealous of him.
They got out of the car and Parsons pointed through the bushes that shielded them from the road and the base.
‘According to the plan Jo pulled up, the culvert should be just along there. I’ll wait for you here.’
‘What will you do if someone finds you?’ asked Lauren.
‘Hopefully this rain will keep people indoors,’ replied Parsons. ‘But if I am confronted by anyone, I will reluctantly admit that I am having an affair with a local married woman, and I’m meeting her here.’