Fallback (The Adventures of Eric and Ursula Book 3)

by A. D. Winch

  That evening, they lounged across the purple sofas on the roof terrace of the Riad drinking mint tea and discussing what they were to do. When Hassan joined them to talk about their day, Eric excused himself and ran to the toilet. While he was gone, Alexander asked if it would be possible for someone to give them a tour of the local area.

  “Anything is possible,” replied Hassam. “What were you thinking?”

  “One car would be too small so we’d like two cars to drive us out of Rabat, around Temara and back again. It wouldn’t be for the whole day, just a few hours.”

  “I will arrange this for you.”

  “And I will pay,” laughed Alexander falsely.

  Two beige, Mercedes taxis were waiting for them the next morning. One was assigned to the ‘girls’ while the 'boys’ took the other. The drive to Temara was on a fast main highway. Light green trees and parched land were on the ocean side of the road, and on the other side there was a long line of buildings. They arrived in less than twenty minutes, at which point the taxi drivers asked them where they wanted to go next. They drove around the city for half an hour, hoping to see a sign for a military base or a clue to its whereabouts, but there were none.

  “I read that Temara has a secret base,” Eric blurted out.

  Alexander cringed, so much for not arousing suspicion, he thought.

  “It is not a secret,” replied the driver flatly. “Everyone knows where it is.”

  “I’ve never seen a secret base before.” Eric turned to Alexander. “Can we see it, Dad, can we? Can we? Please.”

  “Do you mind?” Alexander asked. “It’s his age. He is fascinated by these things.”

  “There is nothing to see, but you’re paying,” shrugged the driver.

  The Mercedes drove out of town, and the other taxi followed. Eric was now looking out of the window intently. As they drove on, they entered a forested area, and Eric knew instantly that this was where he had been held before Roswell.

  “Most of the trees here are cork,” said the driver, pointing at the forest but Eric and Alexander were looking the other way.

  The majority of the base’s walls were hidden behind trees, but the forest thinned out as they neared the entrance.

  “I need the toilet,” Eric shouted.

  The taxi driver was not happy to stop outside the base. He had heard stories and did not want to overstay his welcome. However, the boy seemed desperate, and neither did he want his car to become a WC. He pulled off the road and onto the dirt opposite the base. Eric jumped out and ran into the forest while the other taxi stopped behind.

  There was a vague smell of cork, which Eric remembered from before, and the trees looked familiar. He put a hand in his pockets and tapped his thigh as he thought. What to do? he asked himself. His eyes were distracted by movement on the tree next to him. A gecko ran around the trunk. As he followed it he saw Alexander glaring at him from the car.

  Eric decided he had better pee and, as he did so, he scanned the base in front of him. The walls were high; there were no visible windows, but the main entrance was big enough to drive a truck through. It was sealed with two enormous metal doors that were covered in scratched grey paint. Despite looking carefully, he could not see any security cameras.

  As he walked back towards the car, Alexander got out.

  “I thought it was probably not such a bad idea to take a pee, now,” he said loudly.

  They passed each other by the edge of the trees and Eric whispered, “No cameras.”

  In the ‘girl’s’ taxi, Sasha had been complaining about having to stop until Ursula told her to be quiet. She needed to concentrate and focus on her grandparents. A clear image of them gradually formed in her head, much stronger than she had felt for a long time, and she knew that they were in the base. They were well and looking forward to something, but she did not know what.

  “We would like to thank you, for all your help,” said Olivier.

  “You have been keen to answer our questions and been a great assistance to us. We have nothing more to ask you,” continued Florence.

  They were all sat under a tree in the shade, less than one kilometre from Ursula.

  Mémé turned her head and smiled in the direction of the base’s main entrance. She did not know why.

  “What happens now?” asked Granddad Benjamin.

  “Tomorrow you will meet with a Liaison Officer called Oakley. It will be his job to brief you about going home. This is a secret facility and, therefore, you will be obliged to sign a confidentiality agreement for which you will be reimbursed. You will also be paid for your time here. You will have to work out these financial details with him.”

  Olivier and Florence stood.

  “It has been a pleasure to meet you, and we wish you every success in the future.”

  Florence held out her hand to Mémé. Mémé ignored it and hugged her instead.

  “If you are ever in Paris, you must come and see us. You have our address, non?”

  Florence prised herself away, and Mémé turned to Olivier. She planted two big kisses on his cheeks, but he stepped back before she had time to grab hold of him.

  Granddad Benjamin shook their hands, and Olivier Martel and Florence Caron walked away. Their bodies sagged as soon as they were out of sight.

  “We’re going home,” smiled Mémé and hugged her husband.

  Granddad Benjamin held his wife, but he found it hard to share her enthusiasm. There was something in Olivier and Florence’s manner that he had found disconcerting.

  Agent Angel stood in the meeting room behind his lectern. He was tapping his finger against the silent microphone and looking away from the staff who were gathered in front of him. He placed his hand over his mouth and scratched his cheek. There were not many times when he did not know what to say next but, for many reasons, this was one of them. He breathed deeply and looked over the worried faces in the room. Even those on the computer screens looked scared.

  “Let me summarise,” he finally said. “The Black Queen’s self-claimed ‘grandparents’ have overstayed their welcome. We have extracted all the intelligence we can, and they are no longer needed. They will be disposed of shortly.

  “We are making moderate inroads with the IHBs. However, we are using the samples taken from White King faster than we had anticipated. It will not be long before we run out, and then we will have to stop. The pods are still closed and without Schwarzkopf, it is unlikely that we will make any further progress. Nobody in this room knows the location of White King or Schwarzkopf, or for that matter, the elf or Black Queen. To put it plainly people, we are up the creek without a paddle.”

  He brought his hands together in front of his face and looked up as if he was praying.

  “I’ve tried to move with the times. I gave you people ownership. I made you accountable. And what happens? You screwed it up. So, now it is back to the old way. From this point onwards, I will be pulling all the strings again.”

  Doctor Khan couldn’t help but think that this was how it had been since she had arrived at the base. Agent Angel would say what would happen. They would try to do it and, if they failed it was their fault. Not his. They needed Professor Schwarzkopf, but if he had had to endure Agent Angel year after year, she could understand why he fled. Unlike the others in the room, she missed him and envied him.

  “Dismissed,” boomed Agent Angel.

  The computer screens went blank; the scientists trudged towards the door, and the two members of Team Col followed.

  “Not you,” ordered Agent Angel, pointing at Team Col. “I need to talk to you two alone.”

  Back to Contents

  ***

  Chapter 31 – Stake Out

  It was still dark when they left the Riad. The sun would be rising within the hour, but by this time they planned to be waiting outside the base. There was nobody out on the streets, and there were only a few cars on the roads. They had two bags between the four of them. The contents were varied but included
: spare clothes, two catapults, sugar balls, two boxes of Spanish ants, water and a wire coat hanger.

  Eric lagged sleepily behind the others as they walked towards a nearby residential area. Cars were parked haphazardly on the roads and motorbikes littered the pavement. The night was still and, apart from the noise of AC units, silent. None of the lights were on in the apartment blocks surrounding them, and only a few of the street lamps were working. They walked along the road in the shadows, trying to locate two taxis. It didn’t take long.

  “Coat hanger,” said Sasha, holding out her hand. “I do this quickly. You go.”

  Alexander nodded and handed it to her. He was extremely uncomfortable with the idea of stealing cars, and the others had spent most of the day before convincing him.

  “If we get caught by the OSS, I think car theft will be the least of our worries,” Eric had said.

  It wasn’t the OSS that worried Alexander. He just didn’t like the idea of taking something that was probably somebody’s livelihood.

  Ursula could empathise. Her grandparents had brought her up not to steal. In the past, there had been occasions when she had had to steal drugs for Granddad Benjamin. Just the thought of it now tied a knot in her stomach. She decided that she would not tell her grandparents, Mémé in particular, where they had got the vehicles from.

  The car door clicked, and Sasha knelt into the beige taxi with a torch between her teeth. She pulled wires out from under the steering wheel. A few seconds later, the car started and a mini camera on the dashboard began to film the road ahead. Alexander jumped in and drove the Mercedes away.

  A light came on a building opposite them; Eric and Ursula paused.

  “Come,” whispered Sasha and led them to an identical taxi a few cars away.

  She bent over the taxi’s door, but this time the coat hanger got stuck. Sasha struggled but could not open it. Meanwhile, more lights were being switched on in the buildings around them. Curtains were twitching, and they had a feeling that they were being watched.

  Sasha yanked the coat hanger out and tried again. This time, the door opened, and she sat down immediately in the driver’s seat. The children sat behind her. Wires were pulled out from below the dashboard, and Sasha brought two of them together. Nothing happened. She swore in Russian and tried again. Still nothing happened, and she swore again.

  There were other wires hanging loosely from under the steering wheel, and Sasha worked through them, hoping that one would cause the spark that would start the car. Time slowed down. More lights came on in windows above them and lit up the street below.

  Suddenly, the engine came to life. Without checking the road, Sasha pulled out and accelerated away.

  There were no street lights outside of Temera. The roads were dark, but the main beams from the taxis lit up everything in front of them. Alexander led the way, trying to remember the route that they had taken two days previously. He drove down the same roads, but unlike the experienced taxi drivers, he was unable to weave in and out of all the pot holes. Sasha was not faring much better behind him. Her taxi shook and rattled, bouncing its passengers with every hole it hit.

  On entering the forest, Alexander and Sasha turned off their headlights. The last darkness of night quickly enveloped the cars, and they slowed down. Fortunately, the road was empty, but it was now impossible to see the pot holes.

  The drive became more unpleasant. Both drivers feared that they would damage their cars before they had even reached their destination. To make matters worse, it was hard to see the road, and Alexander almost drove off into the forest on a few occasions. Fortunately, he saw the trees at the last minute and was guided back onto the broken tarmac.

  When they neared the base’s entrance, they pulled off the road deliberately and onto the dirt beside the trees. Alexander reversed his taxi as far as he could into the forest, and Sasha did the same. They killed the car engines and then all four of them got out to collect twigs and branches that lay on the ground. Every piece they could find was placed over the cars until the beige paint was completely hidden. Apart from a little noise they were making, the night was unnervingly quiet. There was no rustling of leaves in the trees nor cries from nocturnal animals, nor even noise from the base.

  It had not been the adult’s idea to arrive so early but Eric and Ursula’s. Both of them felt strongly that the Benjamins would be moved as soon as the sun came up. This was less than half an hour away. The light was already changing, and the sky above them was fading to dark blue.

  Eric and Ursula looked from the sky to the base and then got back in the taxi. Sasha joined Alexander and showed him how to hot wire the car. Once she was satisfied he could do it, she took a bag and rejoined Eric and Ursula.

  Ursula watched Sasha as she walked towards them. She stumbled over the forest floor in her high heels but kept them on anyway. She had definitely followed Johan’s advice on wearing something distracting.

  Sasha pulled her puffy mini-skirt down slightly before opening the car door. She bent forward and leant towards them, “You are okay in the back?”

  Sasha’s low cut blouse looked as if it was about to pop open.

  Ursula had to answer for both of them, “Yes, we’re fine.”

  “Good,” and she sat down behind the wheel.

  Eric turned back towards the base’s wall. Ursula pinched his leg hard and hissed, “Concentrate.”

  “I am,” Eric whispered, but not very convincingly.

  Ursula did not need to reply; she knew what he had been thinking. In this case, she hadn’t needed to read his mind.

  The two children closed their eyes and focused on the Benjamins. Sasha thought they were sleeping but did not say anything. Time passed, and the sun rose from behind the Atlas Mountains. Golden rays began to stream into the forest. Twenty minutes later, the children opened their eyes again.

  “Get ready,” Ursula said.

  Sasha leaned forward and started the engine using the loose wires. In the taxi next to theirs, Alexander did the same.

  The two children jumped out of the taxi and quickly brushed all the flora and fauna from the cars. As they did this, the base’s large metal gates opened. A black Yukon drove out, waited briefly by the road and then accelerated away from them.

  “Quick!” hissed Alexander, from his open window.

  The children cleared the last branches off the taxis and jumped in behind Sasha.

  “Let’s go,” said Eric, but his words were not needed.

  Sasha was already heading out of the forest and onto the road. She waited until the Yukon had driven out of sight, put on the headlights and followed. Alexander was right behind them.

  The Yukon drove out of the forest and headed towards the mountain range in the distance. The roads improved and the journey became much less bumpy. They continued to follow at a safe distance as the Yukon was not speeding away.

  When the sun started to warm the car, they discovered the car’s AC system did not work. No one minded, and they opened the windows instead. There was little conversation in Sasha’s car. No one was in the mood for small talk, and all had their own concerns about what lay ahead.

  At one point, Sasha tried to begin a conversation by saying, “This is easier than in Moscow.”

  The children nodded, but they had no idea if it was or it wasn’t, and had no desire to find out why.

  The tailing was not difficult as the road was long and straight. The Yukon never turned off. It kept to all the speed limits and was easy to spot. Its driver did not appear to suspect that he was being tailed, and, even if he did he was not changing his driving habits.

  “I told you no one suspects taxis,” Sasha said proudly as they drove on unnoticed.

  “You seem to be right.” Ursula felt she had to answer.

  The flat landscape started to change as they neared the city of Azrou. Lush green, rolling hills began to form, and the scenery became more interesting as they stared through the windscreen.

  In the Yukon, M�
�mé and Granddad Benjamin were enjoying the ride. Two and a half hours had passed, and they were seeing places they had never seen before. Liaison Officer Oakley had warned that the journey would be long but, after a number of months stuck in one place, the Benjamins did not object.

  Sasha checked the fuel gauge on the taxi; it had less than a quarter of a tank left. She cursed in Russian.

  The Yukon drove slowly through Azrou. It was a pretty town on the edge of the mountain range. Many of the low buildings’ roofs were the same green as the countryside around, and they blended in with the surroundings. Normally, Ursula would have gazed out of the window, admiring these features. On this occasion, she was worried about losing her grandparents, and she kept her eyes firmly on the black SUV in front of them. Eric was looking vacantly ahead of him. Occasionally, he would tap his fingers impatiently against his thigh but otherwise he hardly moved.

  The Yukon’s driver slowed to allow a parked car to pull onto the main road and then gradually accelerated away. As they left the town behind, the road bisected farmland and quickly began to rise. They drove on, the Yukon always in their sights, and twenty minutes later they had left all signs of human activity behind.

  The road continued to rise and gradually the greenery that was so plentiful at the foot of the mountains, faded away as they neared the outskirts of the Sahara Desert. Sasha looked at the fuel gauge again. It hadn’t moved, and she had no idea how much petrol the taxi had left. She hoped it would be enough.

  The mountains rose steeply around them. Small bushes were scattered over the reddish dirt, but otherwise the scenery was barren. The road was good, but it thinned to the width of one car. Soon after, it started to wind its way around hairpin bends. There were no side roads, and it would be impossible to lose the Yukon now. A long line of cars and trucks all headed in the same direction. Even if the Yukon driver thought they were following him, there was little he could do about it.