by Jenn Lees
Rory led Siobhan along the corridor to his rooms and they entered.
“Have a shower, Siobhan, and then we’ll sort out what we need to.” He kissed her gently on the mouth. “I’ll be back soon.” He left.
Rory made his way straight to George and found him in the now empty control-centre. The tables were back in their original positions prior to the Government visit. George noticed him the second he entered.
“Rory.” George strode across the room to stand next to him. “We have a problem,” he spoke into Rory’s ear. “Your big sister has divulged secret information.”
“What!” Rory couldn’t keep the anger out of his voice. “Where is she?” he roared.
“Rory, lad. Calm doon.” George’s eyes flicked to the two remaining Government personnel who picked up the last of the supplies to take out and load onto their vehicles. “The Government is packing it up.”
Rory blinked. “They’re taking it with them? That’s why MacIntosh is in such a hurry to leave.”
Rory’s breath came out in bursts as he stormed through the hall and made his way to the back of the Compound to his sister’s rooms. He bashed on her door with his fist.
“Who is it?” Angela’s voice concealed none of her alarm.
“Your brother!” Rory yelled, his chest heating with his rising anger.
No sound came from behind the door.
“Let me in, Angela!”
A member of the Militia who had taken the detained men to a secure section of the Compound, was passing. “You okay, Mr Campbell?
“I’m fine.” Rory’s answer was curt, sharp.
Angela’s door creaked open. Rory took another breath to stop the wave of anger about to break shore. It wasn’t working. He thrust the door open. Angela stood back, her wide eyes narrowing again to her lofty stare.
“What do you want, Rory?”
“What have you done?” Rory stepped forward, mentally pulling himself back from grabbing her.
He warned himself to not lay a hand on Angela. It would only give her more ammunition.
Angela stood taller and flicked her long, red hair over her shoulders. She remained silent.
“You told them?” His words spat in her face.
Angela blinked at his vehemence. “Aye, I told them. It’s a scientific discovery we need to share now we have an understanding with the Government.”
Rory shook his head in disbelief. “What are they doing with it?”
“They’re only looking at it.”
“No, they’re not. They’re taking it!”
“What?” Angela seemed genuinely surprised. She stormed past him. “Let’s go see,” she called over her shoulder.
Rory caught up. “What made you do it, Angela?” His voice thudded in his throat in time with his footsteps.
“I’m going to the Government Bunker.”
“And you sold us out for that?”
Angela stopped dead and turned. Rory had to scamper back to be face to face with her.
“You cannot understand how much it would mean to me, Rory, to be part of the Scottish Government. To be part of Scotland’s restoration. To be away from this middle-of-the-bloody-nowhere-Highlands Compound!” Her breathing shuddered.
Rory shook his head. “You don’t get it either, do you? They have a time machine. They can change the past now. What will they do? Do you know? Can you trust them?”
Angela didn’t speak at first, breathing heavily through her nostrils.
“It’s too late now. How am I going to get it from them?” she said at last.
“I don’t know.” Even his relationship with Siobhan wouldn’t help him get the Time Machine back.
They both continued their brisk walk to the barn in silence. The earthen floor was clear of the cubicle and two Government men packed up the console. Murray stood to one side with MacIntosh beside him. Rory strode up to them.
“You cannot take it. I do not give my permission,” he yelled into MacIntosh’s face.
MacIntosh stiffened and held his head higher. “Well, Mr Campbell. Your permission has nothing to do with it whatsoever. Apart from being a monumental scientific advancement, the Time Machine is an important resource for the Scottish Government.”
“No, it’s not.” Rory shook his head. “I’ll speak to Siobhan.” He turned aside to Murray. “What are you doing here?”
Murray opened his mouth.
“He’s coming to the Bunker with us,” MacIntosh spoke for him.
“No, he’s not. I definitely do not give my permission.”
“Your brother is over eighteen. He doesn’t need your permission.” MacIntosh took a step closer to Murray.
Rory blinked. “What do you want, Murray?”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing the computers and stuff at the Bunker.” Murray sounded hesitant.
“Can you wait a wee bit? Go later on, aye?”
“Sorry, but he’s going now.” MacIntosh again.
“Why can’t it wait, MacIntosh?”
“We are here, we’ll take him with us?”
“No.” Rory was adamant.
MacIntosh pursed his lips and gave his head a slight shake. “Well, it’s not a request. It’s actually an order. From the PM herself. Murray’s coming with us.”
“Why?” Rory narrowed his eyes. Something was really up.
“They want me, Rory, because I’m good at maths and I know what to do for the calcs for the Time Machine,” Murray said.
Rory sensed in his brother’s tone that they’d put him under duress.
“Tell me,” Rory asked in the Gaelic.
“They’ll no’ ensure the safety of the Compound if I dinnae go,” Murray answered, also in the Gaelic.
Rory spun on his heel without a word. He ran to his quarters and slammed open the door.
“Siobhan!” His yell filled the old farmhouse.
Siobhan came out of the bathroom wearing only a towel; her wet hair dripped on her shoulders, her eyes wide and blinking.
“What’s the matter, Rory?”
He took some breaths to calm himself. It wasn’t her fault. Siobhan would know nothing of it. It had only been Angela and that MacIntosh guy.
“They’ve discovered the Time Machine and are dismantling it to take back to your Government Bunker. They are forcin’ Murray to go ‘cos he knows how to operate it.” He said, his voice firm, trying not to yell.
Siobhan’s eyes never blinked throughout the time he spoke, and her mouth remained opened.
“A Time Machine.” Her voice was awe-filled.
“Aye! Siobhan you cannae let the Government have it. Please speak to your PM. She’s ordered it!”
Siobhan shook herself. “Okay, let me get dressed and I’ll speak to Bethany Watts on CB radio.”
Chapter 30
Is that understood, Siobhan? Over. The voice of Bethany Watts, Prime Minister of Scotland, came through the handset of the CB radio.
“Yes, Prime Minister. Over.”
Very well. We trust you will have a safe journey home. We will be waiting for you—and the Time Machine. Over and out.
Scooting the chair out from under her, Siobhan let out a long sigh. Her still wet hair had dampened the fresh blouse she wore, which now stuck at the shoulders. Walking along the corridor from the communications room to Rory waiting in his quarters, Siobhan pushed away the mild sense of dread swirling within her.
Rory would not be happy—understatement of the century.
Siobhan opened the door to his quarters and stepped in to find Rory rummaging in a kitchen cupboard. Bottles of preserves lined the bench underneath it.
“Well?” Rory stepped back from the cupboard, empty-handed, as she closed the door behind her.
“Prime Minister Bethany Watts was adamant.” Siobhan pressed her lips together as Rory’s stare became angry. “You can’t take it back by force, Rory.” Siobhan put her arms around him. He was tense, every muscle in his long torso tight and he had an air of desperation about him. S
tanding in the kitchen of his accommodation, he leaned back against the cupboard doors painted the mission brown of the nineteen-seventies.
“Oh aye, I can,” Rory’s voice was deep and firm.
Siobhan shuddered.
“No, Rory. Don’t. I’d have to arrest you. Don’t make me. The PM has ordered us to return with it.”
The tight muscle in Rory’s jaw relaxed a little.
“Don’t let them use it, Siobhan, I beg you.” He was so intense. She’d never encountered this level of desperation in him.
“I will do all I can to ensure that MacIntosh and his team do not make any time journeys until you and your people here have a full say in it, and all the input you want. Okay?”
“They can never use it, Siobhan. Never.”
“But you have.”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t trust the Government. Too many loose cannons.”
Siobhan blinked, taken aback, and frowned.
“Oh, Siobhan. You cannae think me unfair. Look at your pal, Antony. You must’ve seen it coming. You used to be with him, aye?”
How did he know that?
“Who told you?”
“You did.”
She blinked her disbelief.
“You can tell when a man and woman have been, you ken, intimate in their relations, like.”
“It was over, ages ago.”
“Aye.” Rory flicked his eyebrows. “I’m still no’ happy about the Time Machine leaving here. Nor ma’ wee brother, Murray. They, I mean the Government—no, actually that MacIntosh, has threatened us if he does nae go.”
“What?” That was unbelievable. “That can’t be right.”
“Well, it’s what ma wee brother says.” Rory breathed through his nostrils.
“I’ll check it out, Rory.” Siobhan placed her hand on his chest and felt his heart pounding through it. “I’ll ensure he doesn’t carry out any threats against this Community. Or make any in the first place.” She tilted her head back to see his expression. He appeared to be calming; his heart beating under her hand steadied.
“Did you recognise Murray? He was the lad with me when we visited you and your father.” Rory’s smile was tight. “Who can you trust in the Bunker to look out for him?”
Sweat dampened her hand as it rested on him, and his eyes narrowed as she hesitated. She’d struggled with a question all the long walk back and had finally decided in the shower. But what she would tell Rory now, wouldn’t please him.
“Rory, I’ll keep an eye on him.”
He took a deep breath in and gripped her shoulders, his warm, large hands like tight clamps on her upper arms.
“You’re no’ telling me you’re going, Siobhan? We’re together now, are we no’? You’ll no’ leave me?”
“Rory.” Where should she start? “I have things to clear up at the Bunker. I need to sort out Antony and MacPherson’s prosecution. I am a key witness.”
Rory looked at the stained ceiling with a pained expression on his face. She’d struggled with her plan, but her certainty of its logic overrode the cool sweat now forming on her upper lip.
“I have so much to tell the PM about life out here,” she continued. “And people like you, who are wonderful leaders and would be part of it all—the New Scottish Government. I have my personal belongings to sort out. Rory,” she said as he began to speak. Now looking at her once more, Rory’s blue eyes were slits. “I can’t just leave it all, I have a role to hand over. And going in convoy is the safest way to return.”
“Don’t leave me, Siobhan,” he almost moaned.
Siobhan’s throat ached. “Rory, I’m not leaving you for good. I am leaving so I can come back and be with you for good.”
“Marry me now.”
“What?” She inhaled but could not breathe out, her pulse drummed in her head.
“We have a minister. He’ll marry us.”
“But I’m about to go.” The air finally left her lungs. “They’re waiting for me, so the convoy can leave.”
“Don’t go from here not my wife.”
Rory was dead serious. Was he afraid he’d lose her?
“Rory, you know I’m yours.”
“Aye, but I want you to be mine.” His blue-eyed gaze bore into her.
“We won’t have time to...consummate it.”
Rory shook his head. “Dinnae care. Please don’t leave here until you are mine.”
Siobhan blinked. The man before her was earnest. He loved her. She loved him.
Those in the Government Bunker may not approve.
They may misinterpret it. They may regard her as a traitor, not a peacemaker. Not a woman in love with a man—a great man.
Rory waited for her answer. There was love and longing in those intense eyes. How could she deny them each other?
Damn the nay-sayers. She’d show them what Community people were really like.
And MacIntosh could wait.
“Yes.”
“Aye?”
“Yes,” she nodded.
“I’ll go get the minister then. Dinnae move!” He kissed her firmly on the lips and ran out the door.
THE CEREMONY WAS BRIEF and fulfilled the legal requirements. The whole Invercharing Community and the Government contingent were present. Rory’s family were happy for them, if somewhat surprised. There was genuine acceptance in the hugs she received from each of his siblings.
Siobhan placed her duffle bag in the back of the armour-plated vehicle. Murray jumped in the back seat with her while Angela would ride in the front with MacIntosh. Rory leaned on the vehicle and fiddled with something in the pocket of his buckskins.
“Siobhan, we did nae have rings. I’ll see to it for when you are back here. But in the meantime...” He held out the object he’d been handling, took her right hand, palm up and placed a navy-blue velvet jewel box in it.
Siobhan looked at the small jewellery box and blinked.
“What’s this?”
“Open it. They’re for you.”
She opened the box, inside it was a set of diamond-stud earrings. Twin miniature multi-prisms refracted light a million-fold. Tiny rainbows emitted the seven colours of the spectrum. Her mother’s words came to her—a rainbow signifies a promise—sunshine after rain; good times after hardship.
He didn’t have wedding bands, but he had these rocks!
“Rory, they are incredibly beautiful.”
“They were my mother’s. The only thing of hers that survived the looting after The Stock Market Crash. And now they are my wife’s.” His large hands engulfed hers holding the box in her palm.
Siobhan lifted her face and pressed her lips against his. Then he wrapped his arms around her and brought her close to him.
“Dinnae be gone long, heart of my heart,” he whispered into her hair.
“Don’t be in a hurry to be a hero at your own expense, Ruairidh Campbell.”
“Aye. I’ll think twice now I have so much more to lose.”
A member of the Government’s Defence Force marched Antony and MacPherson past them.
“So, did you tell your husband about the nuclear fallout cloud?” Antony spoke as he came level with them.
It was as if the world stood still as the people present absorbed his question. The conversation by the doorway to the main building ceased. Those involved in the last-minute loading of the vehicles stopped their activity. Rory stood tall and glared at Antony. Then he turned his glare to her.
“It’s slow moving, Rory,” she said. “And it’s possible it won’t reach the British Isles.”
Thanks Antony, for making it sound as if she was keeping something from everyone.
“When were you goin’ to mention the nuclear fallout cloud, Siobhan?” Rory asked.
“Rory. It’s not as bad as he made it sound.”
“What’s not so bad about a nuclear fallout cloud on its way to the British Isles? What caused it?”
Everyone in the immediate vicinity waited for her reply, unashamedly ea
ves dropping.
“Tell him, Siobhan.” Antony’s mocking voice came from a far vehicle, which his guard ushered him into.
“Shut the door to his vehicle, please,” she shouted to the man who accompanied Antony.
And gag him.
“When we left the Government Bunker five days ago, there were reports of a nuclear cloud coming from one of the southern states of the USA.” Siobhan spoke loud enough for those around to hear. “A nuclear attack or a power station incident, they weren’t sure. Due to known weather patterns, it was making its way east, and the projection was it would cross southern Europe in three to five days’ time.”
“So, now.”
“Yes. But our meteorologist ran a program which, with the weather data available from this morning, predicted it would not, should not, spread this way.”
A frown replaced Rory’s glare.
“I spoke to my assistant while I was radioing the PM. Louise has been keeping tabs on the cloud’s progress and the weather. So, we should be okay.”
“Well, you, Murray and Angela will be okay in the Bunker, but if your wee projection is nae correct, we will nae be.”
“But it’s dissipating all the time. It should be minimal radiation.”
“I’ve seen the effects radiation can have on the human body, Siobhan—”
“No Rory, it will be minimal. Those poor North Korean submariners were right in it. We will have nothing to worry about.”
“And if it’s not?”
“Then, we will let you know, and you can come to the Bunker where it’s safe.”
Rory shook his head.
“Your people are welcome to come to the Bunker if we find the trajectory is over Scotland. I’ll radio you when the next lot of data is in and I know the program’s results.”
Rory continued to shake his head while she spoke.
“No. The Government Bunker does nae have room for us all. You ken we are not the only Community in Scotland? We have family in Glencoe. Hell, all Communities are our family. Besides, we have animals and crops. And who will defend our compound from being looted by bandits while we are underground? And don’t the bandits and that weird group who live in the wilds, and people like them, have just as much right to the Government’s protection in an egalitarian society? Isn’t that the kind of world your Government will want? It’s what those of us who live in Community want.”