The Perimeter (24 page)

The disciples lifted the prisoners into the back of the truck. Two climbed in with them, the other two got into the cab. The engine started up and they drove away.

Jamie watched the tail lights vanish into the pale night, feeling strangely vulnerable without his leader. And then he and the rest of them returned to their vehicles to wait.

* * *

The guards’ house had been transformed from an ugly red block to a picturesque
dolls’ house
covered in frosting. A cluster of guards huddled in front of the door, turning at our approach, thick flakes of snow landing on their heads and faces.

‘Riley!’ It was Pa. ‘What are you doing out here? I thought you were back at the house.’

‘Couldn’t sleep.’                  

‘Me neither,’ Rita added. ‘Any sign of  . . .’

‘Sorry,’ Pa interrupted. ‘Eddie’s not back yet.’

I felt Rita’s body sag. Mine did the same.

‘Did you go?’ Rita hissed the words to Pa, but he cut her off with a look.

‘Where?’ I asked. ‘Did you go where?’

‘Didn’t you tell her?’ Rita said.

‘No point her worrying,’ Pa replied.

‘Well, I think it’s a bit late for that,’ she snorted. ‘Things have gone past the point of
worrying
, Johnny, in case you hadn’t noticed. I think we’re now somewhere in the region of
grave concern,
heading toward all out
panic
.’

Her attempt at humour didn’t fly with Pa, and he scowled before a look of resignation settled on his face. I raised my eyebrows for an answer.

‘Nothing happened out there anyway,’ Pa said to Rita. He turned to me to explain. ‘I went to the rendezvous,’ he said.

His words slowly sank in. He had been to the place where Liss was supposed to have traded me for her parents. Pa continued:

‘I took some men. Set up an ambush.  Thought we could rescue Fred and Jessie and take out FJ at the same time.’

‘And?’ I asked.

‘There was nobody there.’

‘Maybe you scared them off,’ I said.

‘We hid ourselves well,’ Pa said. ‘We waited for over an hour, but there was no sign of anyone.’

‘That’s bad luck,’ Rita said. ‘It would’ve solved a lot of problems if you’d got rid of FJ before . . .’

‘They must’ve spotted you,’ I said.

‘Yeah, maybe,’ Pa replied. ‘But then why didn’t they attack? If I was more ruthless, I’d have taken Liss along as bait. I should have done it. But it’s too late now.’

‘I’m glad you didn’t,’ I replied.

‘Let’s hope you still think that after today,’ Pa said. ‘When FJ’s army arrives and starts killing people.’

‘Do you think Liss was lying about FJ’s plan?’ Rita asked.

‘I don’t think so,’ Pa replied. ‘She’d have to be a pretty good actor. And what would be the point?’

‘Maybe something happened to FJ and he couldn’t make the rendezvous,’ I said.

‘Let’s hope so.’ Pa said. He looked done in.

I leant forward and kissed his stubbled cheek. ‘At least you tried,’ I said uselessly.

‘Come on,’ Rita pulled at my arm. ‘Let’s go up on the wall.’

‘What? Why are you going up there?’ Pa said.

‘Me and Riley are going on lookout duty,’ Rita said.

Pa nodded. ‘Go on then. But if you see anything moving outside, I want you straight back down here, Riley. Okay?’

Rita and I headed to the wall. The gun turrets were already manned, so we climbed the first ladder and made our way up onto a wooden platform. Twenty feet up from the ground, the platform measured about three and a half feet wide with a double guardrail at our backs. Snow covered the wooden boards, already about a couple of inches thick, light and fluffy under our feet. But if many more people came up here, it would quickly compact into treacherous ice.

Rita and I were of a similar height and our heads just about poked above the snow-covered razor wire. The storm was slowing to just a few light flakes, but visibility was still poor. Rita took my hand and gave it a squeeze.

‘Come on, boys,’ she said, looking out across the land. ‘Where are you?’

We gazed over to the east where the sky was lightening. That was where Eddie and Luc had gone, so it made sense that that would be where we’d spot them. But all I could see was white land, merging with white sky.

‘Where are they?’ I asked, trying not to let myself think the worst. Images of raiders, upturned vehicles and gun battles flew unbidden into my head.

‘This is hopeless,’ Rita said. ‘I’m going out to find them.’

‘I’ll come . . .’

‘Your father won’t allow it,’ Rita said. ‘And he’s right. FJ wants you, so you’d be playing into his hands if you left the perimeter. You’d be putting everyone else in danger too.’

She was right. I already knew that if I went out there, it would be an opportunity for FJ to get what he wanted without any effort. But it still didn’t make me feel any better about hiding away behind the fence.

I turned my eyes northward and saw a low black cloud spreading across the horizon. A rain cloud? But it was snowing. ‘Rita,’ I said. ‘Do you see that rain cloud?’ I turned to her and saw her eyes narrow, her mouth clamp down in a hard line.

‘That’s not a rain cloud,’ she said slowly, enunciating each word. ‘That’s an army.’

Chapter Twenty Nine

Less than an hour later, Jamie heard the sound of an engine bumping down the track toward them. He exited the AV and held his finger on the trigger of his gun. Several other disciples left their vehicles too. It was probably Matthew returning from his detour, but you couldn’t be too careful.

Seconds later, Jamie relaxed once more as their leader’s AV came into sight. The driver turned off the ignition, plunging them into silence once more. But the silence didn’t last long. The Voice swept out of the vehicle, anger etched across his face. He stood and waited while his disciples gathered around him.

‘I have been betrayed,’ he spat, his breath clouding the air. ‘By my own sister.’

Nobody spoke.                                                              

‘But she will discover what it means to betray our church. To betray Our Father. To betray me.’

‘What happened?’ Jamie asked, before he could stop himself. As he spoke, he felt the disapproval of the other disciples.

The Voice turned to him, his eyes slits. Jamie immediately wished he hadn’t spoken. But then the boy’s face lost its hard edge and he spoke:

‘My sister had agreed to deliver the enemy to me today. But she never came. In her place, my scouts spotted a poorly concealed vehicle meant to ambush us.’

‘Do you think maybe your sister’s been captured?’ Jamie said. ‘Maybe there was nothing she could do about it.’

Matthew’s face turned to fury. ‘Are you questioning me?’

‘No, no, Sir. Of course I would never . . .’

‘It makes no difference now,’ Matthew replied. ‘We will have to proceed to our final destination.’

‘Tell us what you need us to do and we’ll do it,’ Jamie said.

‘You will travel with me now, Jacob,’ The Voice said to Jamie. ‘And we will lead our army to the perimeter and we will crush them.’

Jamie was taken aback. He was to travel with The Voice of the Father. To lead the army. But something else was troubling him:

‘Which perimeter are we going to?’ he asked.

‘Talbot Woods. No more talk. We leave now.’

Jamie went cold. He was to return to the Talbot Woods Perimeter. The place of his nightmares. A place he’d hoped never to see again. But would it really be so terrible? His life had moved on. His nightmares had receded and he had been granted forgiveness and a chance at a new beginning. Maybe he needed to return to that place to finish this once and for all. If the people of the perimeter were evil, maybe killing the girl hadn’t been such a tragic accident after all. Maybe it had been God’s will.

Gathering up the hem of his robes, Jamie followed Matthew to the truck. As he passed by, he saw the huddled shapes of the prisoners still in the back of the vehicle, their scared hollow eyes staring back at him. Jamie waited by the passenger door while one of his brothers brought him his weapons from the AV.

Jamie had instantly acquired a new status among his brothers. He was now openly favoured by The Voice of The Father. His new life was taking shape. All he had to do was prove himself on the battlefield and he would be assured a life of power and fulfillment. His past was gone. He had to look to his future now.

Up in the cab, it was just him, Matthew and the driver. The engine purred to life and they rumbled down the dark track in convoy once more. Following behind, their massive army on horseback and on foot. If only the old Jamie could see him now, he would be laughing his ass off at the magnitude of the situation. Scrub that. The old cynical Jamie wouldn’t even believe it. Jamie didn’t like to think of the fool he used to be. He was ashamed of his years scrabbling around in the wilderness, doing nothing but surviving. Serving no earthly purpose.

Jamie didn’t know how long they’d been driving for, when a noise in the distance made him strain his ears.

‘Stop the truck,’ he cried.

Matthew looked at him, first annoyed, then concerned. He turned to the driver. ‘Stop,’ he said. The driver slowed to a halt.

‘Turn off the engine,’ Jamie hissed. This time the driver complied without waiting for The Voice of the Father to repeat it. The other vehicles also whined to a halt behind.

‘What is it?’ The Voice asked Jamie.

Jamie held up his hand for quiet. There it was again – the distinct rataratarat of machine gun fire.

‘Let me go and see,’ Jamie said. Without waiting for a reply, he slid out of the cab, reached for his AK47 and pulled up his hood. Moving quickly, he melted into the trees, running back the way they had driven. Running toward the sound of bullets. But he felt no fear. Only power and adrenalin. The knowledge that he was trained to do this. He was good at this. He ran along the path, past their convoy of vehicles until he reached the foot soldiers.

As soon as they noted the trim of his robe, the warriors snapped to attention.

‘What’s going on?’ Jamie asked.

‘Our warriors are under attack at the rear,’ the man replied, his voice deep and calm.

‘And?’

‘There’s a convoy of trucks up on the main route. They opened fire on us two minutes ago. They’ve got the high ground. I’ve told most of our soldiers to fall back into the woods. We’ll leave some snipers behind to eliminate them.’

‘Who are they? The attackers?’ Jamie snapped.

‘I don’t know.’

‘Take a guess.’

‘The enemy. A scouting party. A supply convoy. Raiders. Could be anyone.’

‘How many trucks?’

‘Four or five, but it’s hard to tell.’

‘Carry on falling back,’ Jamie said. ‘And leave the snipers returning fire. I’ll take some AVs up on the main route and cut them off. Inform our snipers we’ll be coming. Tell them not to fire on us.’

The warrior nodded and Jamie powered back to the convoy as fast as he could. When he returned, the disciples were out of their vehicles, gathered around FJ once more. Jamie had no qualms about speaking up this time.

‘Our foot soldiers are under attack,’ he said. ‘I need to take six heavily armoured vehicles up onto the main route to outflank them.’

‘Whatever you need,’ Matthew said.

‘Please,’ Jamie said. ‘You stay here. We’ll take care of this.’

Matthew paused and then nodded.

Jamie ran down the line of vehicles and picked out six: three trucks loaded with soldiers and weapons, a couple of fast AVs and a heavy duty 4x4. He got into the driving seat of one of the AVs, accompanied by three other disciples and pulled around the other static vehicles. The six vehicles travelled down the track until Jamie spotted a path leading back up to the main road. Turning sharp right he nosed the AV up the bank and onto the track. His disciples already had hold of their weapons.

Revving the engine in first gear, Jamie climbed the track and finally bumped up onto the dual carriageway. He recognised this route. It was the Wessex Way which led down into Bournemouth. His blood pumped and he felt a little light-headed, but he also felt exhilarated and in control. He drove on a few yards and waited for the others, then they all headed back along the main road toward the enemy. The road was relatively smooth here and they flew along.

After only a minute’s driving, Jamie saw the dull silhouettes of the enemy vehicles up ahead. Heard the sound of bullets pinging off metal. He indicated, braked and turned, so his AV was now parked across the route. The rest of his convoy followed suit, so they had now effectively blocked the road. Jamie cracked the window, aimed his machine gun into the night and fired. His brothers did the same.

After thirty seconds or so, Jamie stopped shooting and signalled to others to ceasefire. The sound of gunfire stopped altogether, and now the enemy’s engines roared to life.  Jamie waited, straining his eyes to see, wondering if the hostile vehicles were headed straight for them. Should they move? He fired his weapon once more. But now the engine noise receded until it was just a faint growl in the distance. They must have turned tail or pulled off the main route. Either way, it looked like they had gone.

Jamie pointed the AV back up the Wessex Way toward the enemy’s last seen position. He drove more slowly this time, his brothers aiming their weapons into the darkness, sweeping their surroundings for any movement.

Nothing. No one.

He felt the eyes of his warrior brothers upon them. Thousands hidden down on the forest road under cover of darkness.

And then, up ahead he saw a lone truck in the middle of the road. Stationary with no lights. Jamie braked. The other vehicles drove on so that they formed a semi-circle around the vehicle, blocking off any escape route. Jamie realised the others were waiting for his orders, but he wasn’t sure what to do. He might have the ear of The Voice of the Father, but he wasn’t experienced in these situations. He’d have to make a judgement call. The truck’s cab appeared empty, but looks could be deceiving.

With more confidence than he felt, Jamie opened the AV door and slid out, dropping into a crouch and pointing his Kalashnikov at the truck. He braced himself to be fired upon. Several of the other disciples had followed his lead and exited their vehicles, approaching the truck with caution. Jamie’s adrenalin was surging and strangely, he found himself almost enjoying the situation, revelling in the fear.

He had almost reached the truck now and sidled up to the passenger side of the cab. He pulled at the cold metal handle and the door clicked open. Then he flattened himself against the side of the vehicle and kicked hard at the door. It flew open and he stepped forward, firing into the interior without checking to see if anyone was inside or not. His heart battered his ribcage and he stopped firing to see what he’d just done. Nothing. There was no one inside. Jamie was half-disappointed, half-relieved.

While he’d been checking out the cab, two of his brothers had been around to the back. Jamie joined them.

‘Empty,’ one of them said.

Jamie peered in. Nothing inside. ‘Maybe it ran out of fuel. Looks like they’ve fled,’ he said.

‘Here!’ a voice called out.

Jamie turned and followed the sound to the front of the abandoned truck. One of the disciples had noticed a piece of rope tied to the front of the vehicle. It had been cut.

‘They were towing it?’ Jamie asked.

‘Yes,’ the disciple replied. ‘Should we give chase? The other vehicles . . .’

‘No point,’ Jamie said. ‘We’re only a few miles from the perimeter now. Come on, let’s get back to the others.’

Twenty minutes later, Jamie and The Voice of the Father led the army down along the main route into Bournemouth. The vehicles drove in rows, four abreast, spread out across all four lanes. The cavalry came behind and lastly came the foot soldiers, their robes merging with the cold darkness. Unshed snow hung heavy in the air and the breath of four thousand soldiers made its own clouds above them.

The vehicles moved at a slow cruising speed, a little way ahead of the main army. Jamie had returned to Matthew’s vehicle, leaving the driving to one of the others. No one spoke. They would soon reach their destination and all thoughts were of what might lie ahead. As they reached the end of the road, flakes of snow began to fall. At first, light and whirling, but too soon they grew heavy and thick. This was no flurry, it was a blizzard. The raw landscape transforming from a black wilderness to a whiteout.

The going was slow, but they inched along. At least they would be able to sneak up unseen, the snow shielding their approach. Jamie wondered how the main army behind was doing. He prayed the snow wouldn’t settle too deep or they’d be done for.

His prayers were answered. The snowfall eased after about half an hour, just before dawn. The land was white, but the snow wasn’t deep enough to hamper their progress.