But it was. Wasn’t it? No! He shoved the phone back into his pocket. Let it ring, he wouldn’t answer it even if it did. How dare she speak to him like that! It wasn’t his fault, he hadn’t done anything wrong. He had told her how careful he had been and she had just thrown it back in his face. But a moment later he had the phone back in his hand and again was hoping against hope that she would ring him back. “It’s not my fault,” he told the phone weakly, as if saying the words would somehow make it ring again. Make Libby forgive him.
Again, no, he hadn’t done anything wrong. He was convinced of it. Someone else had fucked up, spoken out of turn, and used a landline to communicate with Freddie or Logan. Yes, that was it. Dennis knew it must be the old man. What did he know about covert communications? The dumb bastard had probably called direct from the Lab he had stolen the damn thing from. All their phones would be tapped up there. It was a miracle that the old Doc’ got out of there in the first place. Christ, they probably had him in custody right this second. Or they were laid in wait for Freddie and Lib to come to the meeting and nick them red handed.
Or was that all just wishful thinking? Dennis (he didn’t much feel like crazy Earl at that moment, just Dennis, stupid little baby Brother Dennis), could still hear the rage in Libby’s voice and it still felt like a blunt knife twisting in his guts. ‘This is all your fault, you’ve ruined everything!’ He had never heard her sound so hateful, and it made him sick to remember. “It isn’t my fault,” he said again, as he put the phone away again as if maybe vocalizing it would make it so. But she wouldn’t call back, not for hours. Longer maybe. Sick, it all made him feel so physically sick he could taste the bile at the back of his throat.
He leaned his backside against his motor bike and tried to clear his mind. Dennis had parked up down a side street away from prying eyes (thankfully considering how he had been wailing like a baby when he was on the phone to Libby) but now he needed a clear cool head to try and figure out what had happened. Maybe it was desperation, but he was convinced he had taken every possible caution when planning and then executing the March Dale attack.
Dennis tried his best to remain calm and went over the events of the other night in his head as systematically as he could. He had made sure his bike was well camouflaged by painting it black, covering the number plate, he had even bought a set of old tires that once he had gotten away and back to Libby’s he had taken off and later burnt them on a stretch of waste ground. Even if the police had later found what was left of them, it would have been impossible to match them to the skid marks he had left on the green, let alone tie them to Dennis’ bike.
Then there was the CCTV camera’s, he knew there were several dotted around the car park and the road leading to the Club house, but during the week before the attack he had taken a walk around the golf course itself, there was a public foot path that ran straight through the middle if it so it wasn’t hard to do a recce without raising suspicions. That walk had confirmed that there were no cameras on the course so that night he had ridden right across it and parked the bike next to a bunker hidden behind a large grass verge which had given him easy access to the car park. Then he had carefully mapped out a getaway route which took him away from the main roads with their traffic cameras and onto the back roads so the police would have had no way of tracing his route past the first set of cameras at the course before he disappeared off the face of the earth. Clean away.
He had been well camouflaged dressed all in black, complete with a ski mask, so even though he knew that when he was setting the charges there would be no way they could ID him from the CCTV images at the car park. He would have just been a ghostly figure darting around from one car to the next. He had even stopped to wave at one trained on the entrance to the Club house’s kitchens.
Then once all the charges were set, Dennis had returned to hide behind the grass verge and wait for the right moment. He could still feel the giddy sensation as he stalked his prey. But mixed with that he had been shocked at how easy he would have found it to wait, just that little bit longer and set off the charges when those bastards had all got in their cars again. In the end he had timed it to perfection, the only slight hitch was when that waiter or whoever the hell he was came outside unexpectedly for a smoke. That had forced Dennis to quickly rewire the charge sequences so as to set off the furthest away from him first and thus driving the poor sap back towards the club house so he didn’t get in the way when the closer cars when up.
That had been a source of the most pride for him. He had planned everything carefully and safely, he had no intention of killing anyone just sending them a message made of heat and light and ear shatteringly loud. So the fact that he still pulled it off with those last minute changes proved beyond all doubt that he was so much more than a mindless terrorist. He had hoped Libby would have seen that. Fool that he was.
Now that he ran it over in his head he was more convinced than ever he had gotten clean away. Which left Freddie and Logan, maybe Paul even, but if anyone was adapt at avoiding police surveillance, it was him. Dennis’ money was still on the old man.
His phone suddenly began ringing. Making him actually cry out loud in shock. He smiled forlornly to himself and not for the first time today was glad there was no one around to see him jumping or sobbing like a frightened child. He fished the phone out of his pocket and thought for a moment that if it was Libby, (although he hated himself for desperately hoping it was.) But if it was his Sister he wondered if he would have the strength of character to hang up on her before answering, to make her call him again and again. He looked at the caller ID and froze. One word flashed up and all defiance melted away in a heartbeat; MUM.
He stared at the screen in disbelief reading the simple word over and over as if he might be imagining it and all of a sudden he was a terrified child once more. His heart was racing as he finally plucked up enough courage to slowly raise the phone to his ear and press the answer call button. “Hello...” The word came out as little more than a choking sound. Dennis listened, he could hear what sounded like a chaotic office in the background and heavy, mournful breathing. “Mum?” He swallowed a sob as he waited for his Mother to reply.
“Dennis?” He gasped out loud, her voice sounded so weak, so full of emotion and fatigue like it had never sounded before and it ripped at his heart strings to hear it. “Dennis... Dennis its Mum.”
Should he try to sound nonchalant? After all no one saw him watching the house as his Mum and Dad were cuffed and shoved into a police car. He swallowed hard and concentrated on keeping his voice even. “Hi, Mum, you alright?” The words were filled with a hollow levity that made him feel sick.
“Dennis... I, It’s just that your Dad and Me...” She sounded so weak, like she had been crying for days, so utterly defeated.
“Mum...” He stifled a sob. “Mum,” firmer this time, no more bullshit, she and Dad deserved better than that, and if it turned out this was all his fault he decided then and there to man up, accept responsibility and put an end to it. “Mum, I know what happened. I, I saw... The police. What’s going on, why have they arrested you?” There was the sound of someone covering the phone and muffled voices that he could not make out what they were saying. “Mum?” He shouted.
“Dennis?” A stranger’s voice with an air of authority to it.
“Who is this? Put my Mum back on, you bastard.” Dennis demanded.
“Now, Dennis, just try and calm down. My name is Detective Inspector Ellis. I’m at Leeds Central Police station, with your Mother and Father.” His voice at a public school upper class clipped tone to it that instantly put Dennis’ back up.
“I don’t give a shit who you are. What the hell is going on here? Let me speak to my parents.” He insisted as firmly as he could.
“All in good time.” Ellis’ voice was one of someone who was used to dictating conversations and Dennis despite himself couldn’t help but feel intimidated. “Look Dennis,” Ellis went on. “Firstly I want to make it clear that arresting your Mother and Father was just a cautionary action. They are not in any trouble, it’s just that with the seriousness of this situation we have to look at every possibility, take every precaution. I would be neglecting my duty if I did otherwise, please understand that. No one really thinks they have anything to do with what’s happened, we are just being thorough.”
“What are you talking about?” Dennis asked feigning ignorance. “What’s happened?” He screwed his eyes tight shut and prayed all this wasn’t about March Dale, but if it wasn’t, didn’t that mean things were about to get a thousand times worse?
“Dennis, When was the last time you saw your Sister, or her Boyfriend Fredrick Holt?” The policeman asked.
Shit! Dennis almost said it out loud. He took a breath before replying. “Dunno, a couple of days ago. Why?” He cursed the weakness in his voice and leant hard against his bike to stop his knees from buckling.
“Look, I don’t really want to do this over the phone.” Ellis said and for a moment Dennis thought he could hear a thin thread of fear in his voice. “Why don’t you come in? See your Mum and Dad.”
“Just tell me what’s happened?”
“All in good time, Dennis where are you? Can I send a car to come pick you up?” Ellis asked.
Yeah, right, Dennis thought bitterly, just like you did for Mum and Dad. “Just tell me.” He insisted.
“Well, alright,” Ellis relented. “We think Fredrick has gone and done something extremely serious, I don’t really want to go into too much detail, but it’s incredibly dangerous.”
No shit. That settled it, even though Ellis was reluctant to come right on out and saw it, somehow they knew about Logan and the virus. It was strange but Dennis felt a huge sense of relief. It wasn’t his fault after all. But that relief was tempered by what that actually meant for Libby and her chances of exposing Ventrex, let alone her liberty. Also Dennis wondered if they had arrested Paul too.
“That doesn’t sound much like Freddie,” he finally said.
“Freddie Holt is known to us Dennis, so is Libby, and so are you.” Ellis paused letting the gravity of the statement sink in.
Not as much as you think smart arse, Dennis thought and for all his fear, he was feeling more and more like Crazy Earl again. You think you’re so clever, but you don’t know shit. You don’t know about March Dale. But how much do you know about where Freddie and Lib have gone? “So what exactly has Freddie supposed to have done?”
“Dennis, your Mother and Father are worried sick about what Libby might be getting herself into.” Ellis replied evading the question. “And I would just like to stress that we don’t believe you are involved in any of this. But please, not only for your sake but also for Libby’s, if you do know anything, you must tell me, Dennis. This could literally be a matter of life and death. I’m sure you don’t want anyone to get hurt, least of all your Sister.”
Dennis heard his Mother sob in the background at this, and could just about make out his Dad trying to comfort her. The sound made the breath catch in his throat. “Put my Dad on,” Dennis asked. “Please. Just for a second?”
“Of course Dennis, one moment.” Ellis replied and once again Dennis could here muffled taking as the policeman covered up the mouth piece.
Eventually his Dad’s weary voice came on the line. “Den, you alright mate?”
“Yeah,” Dennis replied and a sob of heartache escaped his lips hearing his Dad’s voice. He slammed his fist against his leg and told himself to be strong, he didn’t know if the police could trace a mobile, but if they could they would have had ample time to pin point his location. Time was short.
“Dad, listen to me. I know what’s going on...”
“No, Den, this is really serious, Son,” his Dad cut in.
“Dad, please. I know what’s going on and I know it’s hard but you must believe me when I say that one day, soon I hope, you and Mum are going to be so proud of Libby and Me.”
“Oh, Dennis, please...” His Dad pleaded. And even though he wouldn’t have believed it was possible, Dennis’ heart broke a little more at the despair in his Dad’s voice.
“It’ll all become clear soon, Dad,” he told him and could hear Ellis in the background telling his Dad to get him to come in. “Dad, I gotta go, but tell Mum... I love you both...” He hung up before his Dad could say another word and leant against his bike in that deserted side street and sobbed his broken heart out once more. Sobbed for his Mum and Dad, for the uncertainty of what may lie ahead, but strangely, mostly because he realised he had never told either his Mum or his dad that he loved them before. And he just hoped that once the dust settled he would have the chance to tell them that face to face and he promised himself that, if he did come through his he would tell them both every day for the rest of their lives.
An hour later Earl thumbed a text:
Call me on this number, and make sure you use Freddie’s new phone to do it. Yours is compromised. And stow the bullshit Big Sis, they know and it was that precious Doctor of yours, or your Boyfriend. Not me. Earl.
Crazy Earl hit the send button on his new phone with a strange sense of satisfaction. Since he had cried himself out on that (thankfully) deserted side street, Earl had been galvanized with a new purpose. It had welled up inside him as he sat on the pavement with his back leant against his parked bike and the pain and sorrow had just drained away. This new found resolve was born both out of necessity and the fact that he had been proven right.
March Dale had nothing to do with his Mum and Dad’s arrest. That Stupid fucker Ellis thought he had nothing to do with what was happening (in truth he did indeed have very little to do with events so far, but by Christ as he had sat there after sobbing his heart out, Crazy Earl had vowed to himself that too would change.) And he would use that to his advantage, Libby and Freddie would have to lay low, if they could get the virus from the old Man with all that was going on and he wasn’t actually already banged up. And he knew it would be down to him to help get them to Paul’s rally and he would then make damn sure he was right there with them, centre stage when they did the great unveiling.
That was of course still dependent on them not only getting the virus, but that Paul wasn’t in the next cell to his Mum and Dad. Earl had made a cursory pass by the university concert hall Paul had hired for the rally tonight and had been heartened to see that preparations seemed to be still in full swing. That would have to do for now, he couldn’t risk calling Paul, even on the new pay as you go phone he had just bought from Asda. He was in the super market car park now. He had bought the exact same model as his own phone so he could exchange the new empty battery that came with the phone with his fully charged one and dump his old SIM card after copying a few of the essential numbers over. Libby’s, Mum and Dads (just in case) and Paul’s.
It was all counter surveillance 101 but he was still proud to have covered all the bases. Now it was just a matter of waiting for Libby to get down off her high horse and call him. Like it or not, once she realized what was going on she would have to trust him and let him help. It felt good to be part of things again and he was determined not to let anyone marginalize him again. With that he headed for the McDonald’s next to Asda to sit and wait for the call.
He wouldn’t have to wait too long.
BRIDGES BURNT
As she watched Freddie’s melt down, Libby felt an eerie sense of calm wash over her. It was as if a switch had suddenly been flicked in her head shutting off all the panic, rage and blind terror the past few minutes had wrought on her psyche. She felt oddly calm now that events had reached their lowest point. Round and round and round it goes, she thought, remembering the rhyme that seemed so apt of late. Where it stops, nobody knows. By rights Libby knew she should be sitting in the car with Freddie now, banging her head on the dashboard at the sheer apparent hopelessness of it all. But she wasn’t. She was sitting at a picnic table outside The Hilltop Bikers café, nursing a coffee and looking out over the sumptuous scenery the café’s well named location afforded her.
The café was literally miles from anywhere, situated a top of a steep hill over-looking the valley below which was a mass of mist shrouded fields and rock formations. They were only an hour away from Logan’s hideaway, but at this moment it may as well have been a million miles away. Libby calmly sipped her coffee and looked back over to the car where Freddie was hammering his fists on the steering wheel in a mute rage. She knew exactly how he felt, but it was all about how you dealt with these kinds of shitty situations fate throws up, especially when you were on your way to change the world. What had they expected, that it would be easy?
She couldn’t hear him, but it was plain from the way his shoulders were shaking that Freddie was sobbing again, and who could blame him. They had his family just as they had Libby’s.
Freddie had tried calling his parents but had gotten no reply. Then came the call from his Dad to Libby’s phone as Freddie had ditched his own in favour of the new cheap pay as you go one he had used to contact Logan. They were all under arrest, dragged out of their houses by armed police. Freddie’s Mum, Dad and even his older brother Mike, who lived half way across the country. The news had knocked Freddie on his arse. Then the police inspector had come on the line, with his promises of immunity if she could persuade Freddie to come in and put an end to this folly. Libby had enjoyed telling him to go fuck himself.
She had literally just hung up on the prick when Dennis’ text came through. Too late, but he was right, his little golf course fireworks party wasn’t to blame after all. She didn’t reply on her own phone thought, that was compromised now so she dumped it. They would have to rely on Freddie’s new phone and hope that the police hadn’t tagged her location before she had.
Libby scanned the horizon half expecting to see a police helicopter come flying into view, but there was nothing in the endless bright blue sky but a smattering of soft white clouds, it was too remote out here even for birds it seemed. She looked to the long winding road that led up to the café, there were no police cars cutting their way through the countryside, the road was all but deserted at the moment save for two insanely motivated cyclists powering their way up towards her, they still had a good half a mile or so to go before they reached the café but peddled on regardless like they were struggling through a sea of invisible treacle, two brightly dressed obsessives at odds with the calm world around them.
Libby knew how they felt, although her inner turmoil had eased somewhat, she was a Woman in limbo, on the cusp of something amazing but on a road that could just as easily fall away right from under her and she would be left spinning in darkness, crushed under the weight of what might have been. Dark thoughts for dark times she mused and sipped her coffee which was cheap but thankfully strong although she wished she had brought along some vodka to give it that little extra kick.
“This is insane,” Freddie’s voice was hoarse from crying, Libby looked up from her vodka-less coffee, she hadn’t even heard him get out of that car. He slumped down at the picnic table next to her and she slid over her coffee which he picked up and took a sip. “Thanks.”
“You okay?” Stupid question she knew but she needed to gauge if he was still with her or if this had broken his already fragile spirit.
“Yeah,” he replied taking another sip. “All cried out.”
She rubbed his back and gave him a peck on the cheek. “It is insane,” she agreed. They sat passing the coffee between themselves and for a while neither of them spoke. Libby desperately wanted to call her Mum, but that would just give them Freddie’s new number. Besides, she remembered the pain in Dennis’ voice and how the colour had drained out of Freddie’s face when he had spoken to his Dad. Sure, she felt strong right now, but when she even thought about her Mum and Dad in jail because of her was like the contents of her stomach turned to acid and she could only imagine what speaking to them would do to her resolve.
No, she had to push the urge out of her mind, there would be time enough later to make things right, she had to focus on that and on the task that still lay ahead as long as they stayed strong. But of course things had changed in the space of two phone calls.
Before them she only had to worry if Logan was really on the level. Even that had changed. There could be no doubt in anyone’s mind about that now. He had taken the virus, the call from the police proved that. The old man was true to his word. But the answer to that question now gave rise to another. And now all their fates and that of their families were dependent on the answer to this new terrifying question. What if they had Logan already?
“Hell of a place to regroup,” Freddie finally said as he took in the scenery.
“Yeah,” she had to agree, but it was better than Paul’s, which as they spoke might be knee deep in police. That was when she saw the dark spot on the road way off in the distance moving towards them at quite a pace. It was a sight that brought conflicting emotions with it. “Here he comes,” Libby said and pointed down the valley to the fast approaching motor bike.