The Cult of The Enemy: The Dark Places Trilogy

by S. G Mark

  He knelt down in front of her and calmly held her hands, “The safest place you can be right now is Headquarters. Only three people know its location, and I’m one of them. I’ll get you to drive to somewhere close by and I will drive the rest. But we need to get there by tomorrow evening.”

  “Why so soon?”

  “Because it’s too dangerous to break the journey up. There’s a price on my head and as much as I hate to admit it, for some people in this organisation, that is something worth having over freedom.”

  Claudia held a hand to her lips in fright, “That’s horrifying.”

  “That’s reality,” he said.

  “Does it really happen - have you been betrayed before?”

  Keeping one eye on the ajar living room door, Jack looked into Claudia’s eyes and nodded solemnly.

  “So I need a new ID for that?”

  “Yes, but also so you can have an unlimited travel licence and you can’t be tracked by the government. Cameron Snowden has surely been keeping tabs on you since you quit, so he’ll be wondering where you are in a couple of days. Best to not let him have any evidence of where you’ve been.”

  “So what, I become this person? Is this my new name, like in the cop shows where you go into witness protection?”

  Jack sniggered, but suppressed his mockery. She was naive, but only as naive as he had been in the beginning.

  “Tanya is who you will be until Headquarters. After that, we will probably change your ID card again. Generally we do it every couple of weeks.”

  “Even you?”

  Jack took out his current ID card, “I’m Colin Goodall today, born in Wrexham and I’m thirty-one. I’ve had this one for more than a few months, but mainly because no one is actually going to bother checking my ID if they see me. To be honest, I’ve lost count on how many names I’ve gone by.”

  Claudia shook her head in disbelief, “It’s so strange… to see it from this side of the fence.”

  “Are you worried that you don’t think you can hack it?”

  “I’m a bloody PA,” she said, “I don’t do espionage. I do diaries and meetings and typing up speeches and minutes.”

  “Well do you know what I did before all this?” Jack kicked the door closed with his feet, “I worked in a sorting office. I moved parcels from one box to another. All day. If I can survive, then you can too.”

  “I didn’t know that,” she said, almost with admiration, “I mean the press paint you out to be this… this monster. I mean god, I saw your father in the news… the night you broke into my house, after you left. I saw him crying his eyes out on the television and I pitied the poor bloke that had raised a terrorist as a son. I saw the pain in his eyes. It’s strange… to see you almost… humanised, in the flesh?”

  Jack curled his lips solemnly, “If it’s any consolation, I still think I’m the monster.”

  “Why?” Claudia asked, and Jack was surprised she even had to.

  He cricked his neck and stifled a laugh, “Because I killed my friend. Because I killed Quentin Robson. Because I killed someone I thought betrayed me. Because I’ve done things I regret just to get what I need, what I want from people. Maybe it was in the name of freedom, maybe you could call it justified. But I don’t, I just have to do it and live with the remorse.”

  Claudia sat back and kicked her shoes off. Her hair was strewn about so much it looked like it had been electrified. Damp patches had formed around her thighs on the sofa cushions.

  “Why are you telling me all this? You say you don’t trust the people you lead, but you are telling me all these deeply personal things?”

  Jack leant back against the other sofa and his mind drifted as it caught sight of the television which had been playing on mute. He smiled at his own foolishness, yet again. Despite being the most wanted man in the country, he still held out a trusting arm to the former Prime Minister’s PA. He didn’t know if he was brave or simply an idiot. For all he really knew, she could be a plant for the government. They could be tracking his every move right now and he might have seconds left to live before the SWAT team burst through the front window; glass spraying in an explosion of splinters as the bullet burst through his forehead and buried itself into his brain. And then he caught a memory in all the aimless thoughts in his mind and he anchored it to a broad smile.

  “Because I saw you crying, naked,” he said, “And well if you trust me enough for that, I think it’s only fair that you get to see me naked, of sorts.”

  From her sofa, Claudia beamed warmly, “I thought you were a fucking bastard. I think a part of me still does. But it freaks me out that you’re so bloody ordinary. I look at you and I see… I don’t know how to describe it, is it hope? It is just optimism, or maybe a failed pessimism.”

  “Probably the latter,” he said, “I’m still struggling with the optimism part myself.”

  A knock on the door announced Katie into the room.

  “A car will be here within the hour,” she said, “Can I get you anything before you leave?”

  “We’re going to need supplies,” he said, “Food, water. Whatever you can spare.”

  Claudia turned on him, her eyes widening with panic. Before she could voice her concerns, Jack interrupted.

  “It’s at least a day’s journey, depending on how far we can stick to the back roads and avoid security,” he said, “If we need to break they journey, then I’d rather we didn’t starve.”

  Just over an over later and they were loitering in the kitchen, having stuffed a rucksack full of crackers, water bottles and some bread. Claudia had kept very much to the edge of the room, though Jack saw her attempting to help once or twice. He wasn’t remotely annoyed, as he could see what she was doing; absorbing the process, dealing with her own demons and the fear that she was abandoning her entire life. It wasn’t an easy thing to accept, if it even could be accepted. Though his face was plastered on all the news channels and his name indelibly blotched with his crimes, there were still days where he might sit and stare into space, dreaming of the life he would have had, should have had, and may yet still have.

  Katie brewed them both a cup of tea and shoved the mugs down on the table. Desperate for caffeine, they both snatched them quickly and though it was steaming hot, downed them as rapidly as possible.

  “Here’s your card,” Katie presented the shiny new plastic in front of Claudia, “You’re Tanya Phillips, forty-two years old. Memorise your date of birth and we’ve put home town of Caterham, but if you’re stopped, it’s best not to bring up any details unless you’re asked.”

  “If I’m stopped?” Claudia looked horrified, taking her new identity and perusing over it sceptically.

  “It’s more than likely,” Jack said, “But nothing to worry about.”

  “Nothing to worry about - you’re going to be sitting next to me!”

  Jack shook his head, “No, I won’t. I’m going to be in the boot. It’s safer for everyone that way.”

  “Aren’t they going to check that?”

  “We do our best to conceal our guys in the back,” Katie interrupted, making a strange face at Jack to suggest that she was confused as to why he was relying on Claudia.

  “And where are we going? You still haven’t told me.”

  “I’ll tell you when we’re in the car,” he glanced at Katie, ensuring that she understood that he wasn’t going to entrust her with directions to headquarters.

  He returned his empty mug to the table, his belly bubbling with warm tea. The nerves had seized him again.

  “Shall we?”

  He grabbed the bag and slung it over his shoulder. As Claudia exited the kitchen, Katie grabbed his arm lightly. He stopped and turned around only to come into close eye contact with the girl.

  “Be careful,” she said, “I have a bad feeling about this.”

  “Really? I’ve got a bad feeling about it all.”

  Claudia was in the darkness of the hallway, catching a glance out the window. Pushing her
gently aside, he scanned the road in either direction. All was clear.

  “It’s a black Vauxhall parked just outside,” he directed Claudia, “Head to it and get in the front seat. I’ll get in the back. As soon as you get in, just drive.”

  “Where?”

  “Forwards would be great,” he said, “I’ll instruct you from there.”

  He opened the door. Claudia inhaled deeply before half leaping over the threshold. She clocked the car immediately and walked quickly towards it. He left a few seconds before following her and throwing himself into the back.

  Meanwhile Claudia had found the keys and had already turned the engine on.

  “Forward, right?”

  “Head to the borders, as much of the back roads as you can. If you’re stopped, be calm. If you believe you aren’t doing anything wrong, then that will come across. You’re just Tanya right now. Tanya visiting her relatives in Scotland - Inverness to be precise. It’s your sister, it’s easier if you say sister. Harder to trace if they really want to trip you up.”

  Rigidly, Claudia steered out from the kerb as Jack clambered into the familiar surroundings of darkness. He kept the seat open a little so that he could see a fraction through it. Bad feelings aside, he had just placed his life in the trust of someone who had worked for the past two Prime Ministers: the icon of his enemy.

  The city lights melted into black velvet. Soon streetlights were placed with stars, pavements by fields and tower blocks by forests. They’d made it through security without being stopped for checks. Claudia was excellent thus far. Her sight never left the road. Not even when she passed the city boundaries did she begin to panic - Jack kept a close watch through the little crack. Hours passed and the comfort of the tea disappeared into memory. As his heartbeat slowed back to relative normality, his mind drifted to the source of his current anxiety.

  How could one man have all that power? And more importantly, why didn’t he want the associated fame that might come with it? It was odd; far stranger than he’d ever imagined. Despots were desperate for attention, and yet this man was a shadow. To Jack, that was far more dangerous than had he been infamous all along. Everything about The Man was anonymous. From his features, to his plans, his ideas and his strategy. They had nothing to go on, but a series of meetings with the former Prime Minister. Maybe Claudia was right, and that he was just one amongst a group of similarly identifiable men; each as likely to emerge from the shadows as the other. Thought of the Illuminati crossed his mind, but no sooner than he had entertained the idea, than it had vanished from all reasonable thought.

  It would be too easy to apportion the puppeteers with the characteristics of Hollywood films. Nameless men, smoking rising from dark alleyways; code names exchanged as they wax lyrical about the fate of the planet; chess games played in the old boys club, as whisky Old Fashioneds were placed on oak side tables, orange zest spirals decorating the decadence with a fringe of colour. They’d discuss wars over canapés, alcohol infused breath spreading like chlorine across the trenches. Lives would matter as much as the ice cubes melting in their drinks that they’d idly stir with their cocktail mixers, light circular motions as if they were brewing some horrific spell in a cauldron. And it would all be so simple to imagine them gathered in their tired Armani suits, playing the world for the fool that they thought it was. But after all these years, if Jack had learnt one thing, it was that humanity loved its ego and whilst one man could keep silent, it was quite another for a whole herd of them to shut their mouths.

  There would be whispers trickling through the intelligence. Some slimy politician who’d snuck into the club would have drooled about it over cocaine and video cameras. But even if its membership was select and elite, Jack could not help but worry that for a group of old puppeteers, they were strangely united and after running The Resistance alongside Alex for but a few months, there was no chance in hell there was more than one shadow in the darkness. The synchronicity of control was too perfect.

  “We’re nearing the border,” Claudia shouted from the wheel, “Another ten miles. What should I do?”

  “What’s the time?”

  “Nearly seven o’clock,” she said.

  “Get to the border and pull over for five minutes in a layby a few miles after,” he said, “We’ll take a breather.”

  They had stopped off for petrol an hour ago. Jack was comfortable that they were able to reach Headquarters, but he wasn’t entirely sure whether they’d arrive before Curfew. Even if the area around the farm was quiet, he didn’t want to risk putting the house on a watchlist.

  Not long after the border, they pulled over. Claudia exhaled sharply, as if she hadn’t breathed since leaving Colchester.

  “How are you feeling?” Jack asked, peeking through the crack as he pushed it open wider with his finger.

  Claudia turned around. Her features were grey with stress.

  “How do you do it?” she asked, “How do you live under this constant fear of being caught?”

  “It doesn’t get normal, it never gets normal,” he said, “You just learn to live with it.”

  “How long have you been doing this for?” she asked.

  “Years,” Jack caught sight of the stars twinkling above.

  “Don’t you ever want to give up? Return to normal life?”

  “Do you think that I could?”

  “I guess not,” she sighed, “But if you could, would you?”

  It was a question Jack didn’t want to answer right now. Normal life had been a dull job where his only solace was Eliza and a couple of drinks at the end of the week. He could never return to the mundane Monday to Friday - not after the things he’d seen, the things he’d done. And Eliza? The sooner he forgot about Eliza the better.

  “Drive on to Perth,” he said, “I’ll take over from there.”

  He closed the boot shut now, properly this time. A moment later the car started again, and they were back on the road.

  Had Claudia not asked, maybe the thought would never have occurred to him; or maybe it would have and he would just stamped it out or tried his best to ignore it. Either way, she defibrillated the thought of Eliza back to the top of his mind and that led him on a thought path at the end of which was only one destination. After headquarters, he was going to go back to Edinburgh. Nearly two months had passed since he’d seen her and his promise to return with Alex was suddenly weighing heavily on his heart. Even without her brother, he owed it to her to explain why and to attempt to prove to her that he was still alive. One more chance, that’s all he needed.

  Of course Jonathan would still be a problem. There was a chance he’d heightened security in the area in the chance that Jack would return. In this time he might have even manipulated Eliza against him. Returning was not wise on any level, and there was a distinct possibility that he would be putting his life seriously in danger. But he still loved her and since when was there reason in love?

  He hated himself for it, but he couldn’t shake the feelings he had for her. Despite there being more important things to focus on and despite knowing she had moved on, he was struggling to forget his feelings for Eliza. She had been the centre of his motivation for so long now it felt a part of who he was. How could he be this powerful leader without something driving him on. Without it, would he not have just walked into the open arms of the officers back when Lana was being arrested? There was a fight for justice and a fight for freedom, but what did either of those things mean without love?

  There might never be a way to express it. There might never come a day when she will say it back. Right now that didn’t matter for Jack. What mattered was that he felt this powerful force inside him spur him on and that it was the one good thing he had in his life right now.

  Perth came and Claudia shouted from the front.

  “What do you want me to do?”

  “Drive a little farther North and park,” he instructed.

  A short while later and he was climbing out from the back and int
o the driver’s seat. Claudia had shifted over into the front passenger seat, her skin now a distinct grey.

  “There are less security checks up here,” he said, “And if we stick to the back roads we’ll only have one officer at a time usually.”

  “Does it not worry you that we’ve not been stopped?”

  Jack shrugged his shoulders, “It’s random. They can’t check every car, else there’d be no traffic on the roads.”

  “It worries me,” she said, glancing into the rear-view mirror as Jack adjusted the seat and started the car again.

  “I’ve been doing this long enough to know when to worry,” he said, “Unfortunately, it’s constantly. However, in this case? We have been sticking to the country roads throughout the whole day. The chances that we just missed out on everyone’s ten percent quote is stupidly high.”

  “It just doesn’t feel right,” she said, “Knowing what we know, they could be following us and we don’t even realise it.”

  “Then why are we still alive?”

  Pulling out on to the road again, Jack found it strangely liberating to be driving again. It had been such a long time since he had last taken the wheel. For far too long he had been cowering in the boots of vehicles he’d nearly forgotten how to change gear.

  “How do you keep your nerve?” she asked, stretching her back and looking out into the horizon.

  “Because if I don’t, I die,” he said, dimming his headlight for an oncoming car.

  Within thirty miles of headquarters, Jack made Claudia wear a blindfold. There was no chance that he was allowing her to see the route, even though he was going to order her to remain at the place. It seemed safest for her to stay here. It offered much more security than travelling between ex council houses around the country.

  Driving right up to the gate, he slowed down and showed his face through the window. Shortly afterwards, the gate opened and Jack drove in, coming to a stop just outside the farm house. Home.