Andrea
opened the door to the recreation room and almost got bowled over as a young
soldier came barrelling out past her in a hurry.
“Sorry!”
he called over his shoulder as he dashed off down the corridor.
She
watched him disappearing round the corner before she turned back to the door,
shaking her head in bemusement. Andrea
entered the room where superhuman, soldier and scientist alike went to relax on
their off hours. Making a quick scan of
her surroundings, she spotted Harry and Tardelli engaged in a game of pool on
one of the two tables. The other one
was empty, as was the full-size snooker table next to it. In fact there was no one else in the room at
all, apart from them and Tom, sitting watching the big screen television.
Andrea
crossed to join him on the couch. “Is
it always like this when the bigwigs are visiting?” she asked him, referring to
the emptiness of the room.
“Pretty
much,” he confirmed turning from the tv to face her, “Everyone has to be on
their best behaviour. All the squaddies
run around like headless chickens, desperate to make a good impression.”
“Is that
why we got the day off then – they don’t want us embarrassing them in front of
the top brass?”
“I never
thought of it like that, but you could be right,” he agreed, “The Major
probably didn’t want you asking the Lieutenant Colonel any tricky questions!”
“Would I
do something like that?” she enquired innocently.
“Yes!” replied
Tom as if the answer was obvious.
He
picked up the remote control and began flicking through the channels. They all had televisions in their rooms, but
it was more sociable to come and watch the one in the common room and Tom was
nothing if not sociable. “A-ha!” he
cried having found something to his taste, “Excellent, ‘Soccer AM’ [8]
is still on.”
He
relaxed back into the cushions, before suddenly realising something. “Oh, is it
all right if we have this on? If
there’s something you’d rather watch…”
Andrea
smiled, “No, it’s fine. Especially
since Helen Chamberlain is quite fit.”
Tom
chuckled. “Yes, she is,” he agreed
glancing at the presenter on the screen.
As they
watched it for a moment, Harry and Tardelli came to join them, sitting in a
couple of the other comfy chairs arranged around the television. Andrea thought it a little odd, since there
was no way they could have finished their game so quickly. She glanced over her shoulder at the pool
table, noting that half the balls were indeed still on the green baize,
including the black. As her eyes came
back round to the screen, she spied Tardelli giving her one of her usual filthy
looks.
“So I’m
guessing you’ve seen this before,” said Tom conversationally to Andrea as she
was returning Tardelli’s look in kind, “You a footy fan are you?”
“Yes,”
confirmed Andrea, “A die-hard Liverpool supporter”
Tom
slapped his hand against his forehead.
“Oh no! Say it isn’t so!”
“Uh oh,
don’t tell me…” began Andrea slowly, “You support Man United?”
“You got
it!” he beamed, “The mighty Red Devils!
But at least I am from Manchester, what’s your excuse?”
“Believe
it or not I was actually born in Liverpool,” revealed Andrea.
Tom
stared at her disbelievingly and Andrea saw Tardelli and Harry had swivelled
round too on hearing the information.
“You’re
a scouser? [9] ” asked Harry incredulously.
“Technically
speaking I suppose,” agreed Andrea, “But I only spent the first six months of
my life there, so it’s not like I remember it.”
“Ah,”
remarked Tom beginning to understand, “So where did you move to?”
“My
parents moved back to Sweden with work, to the city of Uppsala,” she answered.
“So they
were Swedish then,” deduced Tom, “Now I know why you keep coming out with all
those incomprehensible swear words,” he added, shooting a grin at Tardelli, the
target of most of those words. As he
turned back to Andrea his brow creased again in confusion. “But you don’t really sound very Swedish
either, in fact you sound like you come from somewhere in the Home Counties.” [10]
“Are we
all meant to sound like the Swedish chef or something?”
“Er…no…”
She just
raised her eyebrows at him, knowing that was exactly what he thought, despite
his denial. “We didn’t actually stay in
Sweden very long either, to tell you the truth. We moved back to the UK just after my sixth birthday.”
“Blimey,
sounds like you were all over the place.
So where did you end up that time?”
“Birmingham. Though we stayed put there then, at least
all the time I was at school.”
“Birmingham?”
said Tom with slight distaste, “Lucky you didn’t pick up that accent.”
“I bet she went to some posh-nob private school,” muttered Tardelli, “Rather than mixing with the riff-raff at the local comprehensive.”
Andrea
fixed her with a dark look, though she couldn’t deny the remark - she had been
sent to a selective girls school by her parents, but it had hardly been her
choice. All the strictness of it had
been hard to stomach and she would have been just as happy at a state school,
though she had to admit she probably wouldn’t have been taught half as well
there.
Sensing
the slight atmosphere Tardelli’s comments had generated, Tom switched the topic
back to football, having a long discussion with Andrea over the merits of their
respective teams. Every now and then
Andrea’s eyes would flick to Tardelli who appeared to be quietly fuming the
whole time. As an advert break came on
the television, Tom excused himself for a moment, Harry following him out the
door on the pretext of getting something to eat. That left Andrea alone with the glaring Tardelli.
Andrea
stared back for a moment, the heat in the room palpable. “Look, what is your problem, Belinda?” asked
Andrea eventually, using Tardelli’s full first name in the knowledge that the
other woman hated being called it. True
to form, she could see Tadelli’s jaw twitching in anger.
The dark
haired woman got up from her seat, stalking slowly towards Andrea who rose to
meet her. Tardelli came to a stop
directly in front of Andrea, only a foot or so between them. She had to crane her head up to meet
Andrea’s eye though, since she was a few inches shorter.
“Maybe I
don’t like you moving in on things you shouldn’t,” she said with menace.
“Oh for
Christ’s sake,” said Andrea rolling her eyes, “It’s not like I have any choice
about being here. We’re all in the same
boat, can’t we at least try and get along?”
“That’s
not what I meant.” Tardelli’s voice was
still deathly low.
Andrea
looked at her in puzzlement. “Sorry,
you’re really not making any sense.”
“I
wasn’t talking about you being at the base,” explained Tardelli, her lips
barely moving as she spoke, her eyes never moving from Andrea’s face.
“Well,
what then?” demanded an exasperated Andrea.
Tardelli
made a scoffing snort. “Like you don’t
know.”
“Believe
me, I don’t!”
Tardelli
looked like she could barely contain her anger, blurting out her furious
words. “I’m talking about you fawning
all over Tom, shamelessly flirting with him!”
Andrea
stared at her in incomprehension for a couple of seconds before bursting out
laughing. When she noticed that
Tardelli didn’t look like she found it in the slightest bit amusing, she tried
to reign in her mirth. “Tardelli, in case
you’d forgotten, I’m a lesbian,” she spelt out.
Tardelli’s
ire was unabated though. “So you say,
but maybe you just fancied something different.”
Andrea
couldn’t help it – she started laughing again, bringing up her hand to try and
cover her merriment. “I can assure you
I am one hundred percent lesbian,” she said finally, “As lovely as Tom is, he
does nothing for me in that department, we’re just friends.”
Tardelli
maintained her intense regard of Andrea, though didn’t say anything. Andrea hoped that meant she was beginning to
realise her mistake.
“Why are
you so interested anyway?” asked Andrea, before realisation dawned in a flash,
“Oh! You’re jealous!
“I am
not,” stated Tardelli, glancing away for the first time.
“You
are!” crowed Andrea, “You like him! Why
don’t you say something to him?”
Tardelli
flicked her eyes back to Andrea, uncertainty in them. “Do you think I should?”
“Yes,
why not?” urged Andrea, “What have you got to lose?”
“I could
look like a total twat when he turns me down,” offered Tardelli, “And then we’d
still have to work together.”
“Hmm, I
guess that is a possibility,” pondered Andrea, “But I think he likes you too.”
“You
do?” said Tardelli, unable to contain her excitement on hearing the words. “You’re not just saying that?” she added
more cautiously.
“No, no,
he definitely checks you out when you’re not looking,” Andrea revealed, “And I
know when someone’s checking out a woman.”
Tardelli
laughed at that, and Andrea was glad that they seemed to have finally been able
to break the tension between them.
Tardelli’s body language was suddenly much more relaxed and she took a
couple of steps back to put a more appropriate distance between them. “So have you never done it with a guy?”
asked Tardelli.
“No, and
never had the desire to either,” stated Andrea emphatically, “And don’t you
dare even say something along the lines of ‘but how do you know you’re a
lesbian if you’ve never slept with a man’.
Take it from me, I know.”
Tardelli
put up her hands. “I wasn’t going to
say anything of the sort,” she insisted, “I was just curious.”
“So is
that why you’ve been giving me the evils all this time? You thought I was hitting on Tom?” Andrea shook her head, laughing again. She spotted that Tardelli had put her hands
on her hips in a stance of annoyance, but could tell it was more for show than
because she was really angry anymore.
“Sorry, sorry. It’s not funny,
of course not,” noted Andrea, still smiling.
“But hang on, though, you were mean to me as soon as I got here, long
before I got friendly with Tom.”
“Yeah,
well, I thought you were just some posh twit,” allowed Tardelli.
“And
now?”
“I still
think you’re posh, but maybe not quite such a twit!”
Andrea
chuckled at the honest response. “I
suppose it’s a start.”
A sound
from behind them indicated that one of the men had re-entered the room. Seeing that it was Tom, Andrea leant closer
to Tardelli.
“Here
you go,” she said in a whisper, “Here’s your chance.”
Andrea
made to get up, but Tardelli clutched her sleeve. “Wait, where are you going?”
“Leaving
you two alone!” replied Andrea with a sly wink, making it off the sofa and out
the door past a slightly bemused Tom.
………….
Andrea sipped at her tea in the messhall, watching the first of the young soldiers arriving for their dinner. It appeared the official part of their duties were over for the day as they smiled and joked while waiting to be served by Nathan and his fellow logistics personnel. She sat alone, but none of the men or women came to sit with her once they had collected their food. Andrea considered it strange how there seemed to be a divide between the sets of people stationed at the base, in particular the rank and file squaddies and the superhumans. They did mix on occasion, such as in the rec. room, but where possible they seemed to like to stick to their “own kind”. Scanning along the queue, she saw Lieutenant Chadwick who caught her eye in return, giving her a dirty look. She wondered what the Major had said to him after the training incident. She hoped he had gotten a good bollocking.
Continuing her sweep of the room, she took in the sight of Tom and Bel arriving together, smiling as they exchanged words. Seeing Andrea they crossed to join her, bypassing the queue for food for the time being.
“If it isn’t Duransay’s very own cupid,” noted Tom jokingly as he sat down on the plastic chair opposite Andrea.
“I take it your little discussion this morning went well then,” said Andrea, casting a quick look at Bel.
“Indeed,” was all Tardelli said in return, though Andrea couldn’t fail to notice the smile on her face. At least someone was happy and in love.
“Yeah, though I can’t believe Bel thought we were an item!” said Tom wagging his finger between himself and Andrea.
Tardelli gave him a playful punch in the arm, obviously not too pleased to be reminded of her mistake.
“Hey it’s not that far-fetched,” remarked Andrea with a laugh, “I am stunningly gorgeous after all. What man could resist?”
“Shame you don’t want a man though,” Tom reminded her, “Though it’s true you could have your pick if you ever decided you wanted to give it a try. Only yesterday I had to tell poor old Doc of your proclivities, when he started asking if I knew if you were single.”
Andrea laughed; she had suspected that Doc had a bit of a soft spot for her and Tom’s information just confirmed that.
“Maybe we can return the compliment,” suggested Tom, looking round the room a few times, “Find you a nice young army woman?”
“That’s all right,” insisted Andrea, “I think I can manage my own love life.”
As he got up to go and get him and Tardelli a drink, Andrea glanced round the room too, taking a bit more interest in the other women this time. Her eyes had almost made a full circuit when they came to the door in time to see Major Jarvis and someone else officious that she didn’t recognise entering. The Major was in a more formal uniform than usual and Andrea couldn’t help her eyes drifting downwards to where a pair of shapely calves extended from the skirt that formed part of it. As if sensing the gaze upon her, the Major eyes flicked briefly to Andrea, the other woman smiling before turning back to her companion.
“See anyone you like?” asked Tardelli.
Andrea almost jumped in her seat, not having realised the dark haired woman had been watching her. “P-pardon?” she stammered.
“You were casing the room, I wondered if anyone had taken your fancy?” clarified Bel.
“Oh…er…no, not really,” replied Andrea with some relief. Tardelli obviously hadn’t seen where her study had ended up, since she had her back to the door. It had just been an offhand comment referring to all the women in the room in general and not a certain redhead by the door.
“Who’s that, with the Major?” Andrea asked, regaining her composure.
Tardelli craned round in her seat. “Oh, that’s Lieutenant Colonel Parsons,” she informed Andrea, “He’s the Major’s commanding officer. He’s actually the one directly responsible for the base, though the Major basically runs it. He only ever comes for flying visits every month or so.”
Andrea watched the older man for a moment as he chatted with Major Jarvis. He was a few inches taller than the Major, and looked more like a kindly father than a hardened military officer. He was about fifty-odd years of age, and had neat white hair and a slightly rotund figure. The most striking thing about him were his bright blue eyes. Suddenly something dawned on Andrea.
“Hang on,” she said, switching her attention back to Tardelli, “Lieutenant Colonel Parsons?”
Tardelli nodded, “Yep, he’s Tom’s dad.”
Andrea glanced over to Tom who was returning with his drinks. She saw Tom take in the fact that his father was by the door and then just carrying on walking in Andrea’s, ignoring him.
“I’m guessing there’s some sort of history there?” Andrea whispered quickly to Tardelli before he got there.
“Yeah, I’ll fill you in another time, safe to say they do not get on.”
Tom remained silent as he sat back down, resolutely keeping his eyes away from the door. Andrea drained the last of her tea before looking at her watch.
“Oh, I have to go and make a phone call,” she said, pushing back her seat. Though it sounded like a feeble excuse to escape the rather uncomfortable atmosphere, it was actually true – she was meant to be calling her friend Maria.
Tardelli looked suspiciously at her and Andrea offered her an apologetic glance before hurrying out of the messhall for her quarters.
………..
Kate went over to
the drinks cabinet in her office, pulling out two tumblers and the whiskey
decanter. As she poured the golden liquid she saw the other occupant of the
room taking up a seat on the couch next to her, overlooked by the large
window.
Even though it
was dark outside, Lieutenant Colonel Parsons took a moment to glance out of it
before speaking. “So how are you,
Kate?”
“I beg your
pardon, sir?” she asked, placing his drink down before him but remaining
standing herself for the time being.
Though he had used her first name rather than her rank, she wasn’t sure
if this was going to be a friendly chat yet.
“Well, we’ve
talked about the base, and the superhumans and the other personnel all day,” he
outlined, turning from the window to look up at her, “But we’ve not really
talked about you and how you’re getting on.”
“There’s not much
to report really,” she said evenly, “Everything’s running fine, isn’t it?”
The Colonel eyed
her for a moment with his piercing blue eyes.
“That’s not what I meant and you know it.”
Kate turned away
from him to avoid his gaze. Normally it
might have been considered rude to do such a thing to a superior officer but
she had a feeling that this conversation wasn’t really from one officer to
another. She feared that it was
something much more personal.
Subconsciously she found her eyes lighting on one particular picture on
the wall that she was now facing. It
had been taken in Iraq just over a year ago, when her father was still alive.
“It was the
anniversary of his death recently wasn’t it?” Parsons noted from behind her.
“Yes it was,”
confirmed Kate quietly.
Silence enveloped
the room as Kate stared at the smiling faces in the photograph. They almost seemed to mock her with their
joy.
Unable to look at
it anymore, she turned back to the Colonel who was watching her with
concern. She came to sit next to him,
offering him a reasuring smile.
“Honestly I’m fine,” she insisted, “All those counsellors were good for
something. I’m never going to forget
what happened, but at least I’ve managed to come to terms with it.”
He simply
nodded. “You know if you do ever want
to talk to anyone else though, then I am here.”
“Thank you,” said
Kate sincerely, “But I think it’s easier with an independent person in a way,
someone not so close to me.” She paused
for a moment. “And someone who didn’t
know him.”
It was Kate’s
turn to stare out the window now as the emotions she usually kept so well hidden
threatened to break through to the surface.
The Colonel didn’t say anything further for a while, leaving her to her
contemplative thoughts as she gazed at nothing in particular in the night sky.
“He was a good
man,” he said eventually.
“Yes, he was,”
she agreed quietly, just about managing to get the words out past the lump in
her throat.
“But more than
that he was a good friend,” added Parsons, “And a good father.”
Kate bowed her
head and closed her eyes for a moment.
She knew she had to get a grip of herself, since this was hardly going
to be reassuring the Colonel that she was all right as she had maintained. It wasn’t like it affected her ability to
perform her duties normally, but Parsons presence in particular always seemed
to have a way of bringing thoughts of her father to the fore. She resolved that a change of topic was
probably in order.
“Anyway, enough
wallowing in the past,” she said dismissively, “There is something else I’ve
been meaning to ask you about, connected with our new arrival.”
“Andrea
Hallstrom?” he queried, “Is she still causing you problems?”
Kate had filed
regular reports with the Colonel on Andrea’s progress, but had stuck to the
facts, omitting anything about any personal character clashes. However, he would also have had other
general reports from Chadwick and various of the scientists. Kate had little doubt which one of those was
his source for thinking that Andrea was difficult.
“Nothing I can’t
handle,” said Kate confidentally, feeling more like herself again now she had
steered the discussion away from anything too personal. “No, it was more related to what happened to
her before she came here. She wants to
know about the accident at the warehouse, where all her the other police
officers present were killed but she miraculously survived thanks to her
dormant mutated gene. As you know she
did manage an impromptu off island sortee to meet one of her other colleagues
recently…”
“Indeed,” noted
the Colonel with a slight edge of disapproval.
Kate certainly hadn’t enjoyed having to inform him of that one.
“Anyway,” she
continued, “Said colleague told her that the investgation has been closed to
the police and the case papers transferred elsewhere. As you can imagine she’s quite keen to know why and what’s happenning
with the investigation. I have admit to
being rather interested too.”
Kate was
surprised when the Colonel didn’t immediately respond. Instead he got up from the couch, taking his
drink with him and sipping at it as he paced across the room. Eventually he turned round to face her. “I’m afraid I can’t tell you what’s
happening with the investigation, Kate.”
She eyed him
suspiciously. “But not because you
don’t know, right?”
The Colonel
glanced away, answering her question without words.
“What’s going on,
Colonel?” she asked, curious.
“I’m sorry, Kate,
but this comes right from the top. The
details surrounding the accident are on a need to know basis only.”
“And I don’t need
to know?” she asked with a little annoyance creeping into her tone, “Andrea’s
one of my operatives, under my command and my care. If there’s something important I should know about that
accident…”
“Major…”
“…then I think
you should tell me. It could affect…”
“Major!”
Kate finally
stopped at the Colonel’s raised voice.
“I don’t like
pulling rank on you,” he continued in a more even but deadly serious tone, “But
I’m going to have to on this occassion.
I’m telling you as your commanding officer, and as your friend, to leave
it. You’re just going to have to take
my word that it is being looked into.”
“By who?”
He didn’t answer,
merely giving her a stern look to indicate she wasn’t getting any more. When she just fixed him with an equally
deathly stare he eventually sighed and came back over to the couch. When he spoke, his voice was softer again.
“Kate, please,
trust me, it is being dealt with,” he insisted, “Don’t push this. You really can’t afford to make waves after
what happened here six months ago.”
Kate gave him
another severe look. “You know I was
willing to resign over that,” she stated, “If I’d known it was going to be used
to beat me with whenever I questioned anything, then I would have.”
“I’m not beating
you with it,” said the Colonel, trying to keep his tone calm, “I’m just trying
to give you some friendly advice. If
you cause problems over this then I won’t be able to protect you this time.”
Kate weighed up
her options for a moment before replying.
“Fine. I’ll leave it for now,
though I can’t promise anything on Andrea’s behalf.” She didn’t like lying to the Colonel, but she could tell he was
too tightly bound by the command structure to actively do anything. Of course, she respected that structure too,
she had dedicated her life to it and the army after all. However, that didn’t mean she would blithely
accept things when she smelt a rat. She
had other avenues she could pursue this through, she would just have to quietly
follow those.
…….
An hour or so
later, Kate rubbed at the back of her neck, easing the stiffness, as she waited
for the lift to arrive. It was days
like this that she felt every one of her thirty-five years. Having finally got rid of the Colonel, she
thought that at least he had been suitably content with the way things were
going at the base in general. She just
wished he would give her a bit more warning when he wanted to pay a visit in
the future. Not to mention the way they
always ended up talking about her father whenever the Colonel did come to the
base. She supposed it was only natural
since they had been best friends, and though she had told the Colonel that she
had come to terms with his death, that wasn’t entirely true. She still missed him desperately.
As the lift
pinged to indicate its arrival, the sound of running footsteps behind her broke
her sad thoughts.
“Major!”
She turned to see
Lieutenant Chadwick hurrying down the corridor in her direction.
“We’ve got a
problem,” he said, panting as he stopped before her.
Kate sighed –
this was all she needed. She had been
looking forward to a nice relaxing soak in the bath with a glass of
whiskey. “What is it?” she asked
tersely.
“It’s Andrea…,”
he began hesitantly.
Kate felt a small
constriction of anxiety in her chest - what had the young woman done now?
“Go on…”
“She’s gone off
the island again. Flown off under her
own steam this time.”
Kate closed her
eyes and exhaled slowly. “Great,” she
muttered to herself. “When was this?”
“About ten
minutes ago. I thought you would want
to deal with it personally, since you did last time.”
“Thank you, Lieutenant,”
replied Kate, “Is her tracker still functioning properly?”
“Yes, luckily she
only seems to have gone as far as Ayr – the movement’s stopped somewhere just
to the south of town. There is another
problem, though.”
“Oh good,” noted
Kate sarcastically. “Well spit it out
then,” she added when Chadwick seemed reluctant to continue.
“It’s the
weather, the storm’s too bad to take the chopper, you’ll need to go to the
mainland by boat.”
Kate sighed
again, the crossing would be a rough one given the conditions. “Well boat it is then. Tell them to get ready, I’ll be down in five
minutes.”
As Chadwick
dashed off, Kate took a moment to pinch the bridge of her nose in
frustration. Just when she thought they
were making progress Andrea had to go and do something stupid like this. She was going to be one sorry woman when
Kate got hold of her.
………….
Kate struggled
against the biting wind as she crossed the car park, pulling the collar of her
coat up around her face in a feeble attempt to ward off the sheets of rain
driving over the open ground. She was
certainly glad that she’d taken a few extra minutes to change out of the highly
impractical skirt she’d been wearing as part of her number two uniform for the
Colonel’s visit before she’d come out in the vicious weather. She didn’t know why the army still insisted
that female officers wore them for formal ocassions.
She had been
annoyed when she had set off in search of Andrea, but now her anger knew no
bounds. She’d had to endure the three
mile journey from the island to the harbour at Ayr in some of the roughest sea
conditions she’d ever witnessed.
Normally her sea legs were pretty good, but even she had to admit to
feeling a little queasy during the trip.
From the harbour she and one of the other soldiers had taken the car
they kept waiting there out of town on Andrea’s trail. Fortunately the young woman still hadn’t
moved from her original position, which had turned out to be a remote pub up on
the headland south of the town.
The door to the
inn clattered noisily against its frame as Kate pushed it open, having to force
it closed again against the wind. She
took a moment to shake the rain from her coat and hair, which hung limpy
against her chilled cheeks.
Unsurprisingly the low-ceilinged bar was empty save for the barman and
Andrea, who sat on a bar stool with her back to Kate, leaning heavily on the
bar. The barman shot Kate what she
thought was almost a grateful look, the man no doubt guessing she was there for
Andrea. He descretely sidled away out a
side door, leaving the pair of them alone.
Kate stalked over
to the bar, clenching her fists to try and hold back her fury which was
threatening to burst forth at any moment.
She stopped next to Andrea, staring at her downturned blonde head but
not saying anything – she wasn’t sure she could be trusted to come out with
anything civil. Andrea didn’t seem to
even realise Kate was there, hunched over the bar, morosely swigging at a pint
of beer. Kate noticed that Andrea’s
power regulating armband was sitting on the bar, the young woman obviously
having removed it. That just added to
Kate’s unease, knowing that Andrea could be so reckless as to remove the only
thing that controlled her seizures.
Finally Andrea
sensed the presence next to her and her head came round to look at Kate, her
eyes blurrily trying to focus. “Oh,
hello,” she slurred almost incoherently, “Why don’t you join me for a drink?
Barman!”
Andrea made a
grand gesture towards the bar, only then realising there was no one there. She cast her eyes around in drunken
confusion. “Hmm, he seems to have
gone,” she observed with a shrug, “I suppose we could help ourselves.”
“I think you’ve
had enough,” said Kate through clenched teeth.
Andrea was too
inebriated to take in the menacing tone in Kate’s voice or the cold look in her
eye. “No, no, no, I can take a good few
more yet,” she said waving her hand loosely, “I have the
consti…conti….constit….,” Andrea stumbled over the long word, “…I can drink
lots,” she settled for in the end.
“But not
tonight,” stated Kate cooly. “Come on,
we’re leaving.”
Kate made to take
Andrea’s arm but she shook the hand off almost falling off her seat in the
process. “Says who?” she shot back
indignantly, “I like it here!”
Kate found her
other hand drifting to her coat pocket where she had a strong dose of the
inhibitor drug concealed – more than enough to nullify Andrea’s powers and most
likely knock her out too.
“What have you
got in your pocket, a gun?” queried Andrea, her eyes narrowing suspiciously. Kate deduced that even in her drunken state
the young woman’s observant nature had spotted the gesture. “Going to shoot me
unless I come back with you?”
Kate decided she
may as well be honest. “It’s a strong
sedative,” she informed the other woman.
“I don’t want to use it, but I will if you leave me no choice,” she
added with just enough hint of threat to indicate she meant it.
“Ah I see!”
exclaimed Andrea, “Want to pump me full of more drugs do you? As if this isn’t enough!” She picked up the regulator off the bar and
slammed it back down onto the wooden surface noisily. Kate thought it was fortunate that it was made of durable
material.
“That is
for your own good,” Kate reminded her, “And you really shouldn’t take it off,
unless you want to try and kill yourself.”
“Well maybe I
do!” announced Andrea stubbornly, “I might have some control over that at
least!”
Kate rolled her
eyes and suddenly in that moment Andrea was on her. She was quick and Kate futilely tried to stop the hand that had
darted to her pocket, but it was too late.
Andrea triumphantly leapt back, clutching the sedative in its
dispenser. She tauntingly held it out
between them for a moment before she flung it across the room with such force
that it shattered against the wall, it’s contents spraying over the bare stone.
“Ha!” crowed
Andrea, dancing from foot to foot, “Let’s see you stop me leaving now!”
She went to walk
past Kate and out the door when Kate swiftly stuck out a booted foot. Andrea tripped and fell with no coordination
whatsover, landing heavily face first on the floor.
Snarling angrily,
she whirled round on the well-worn carpet. “You fucking bitch!”
Andrea leapt
unsteadily to her feet, making a half-hearted swing for Kate with her
fist. Kate easily dodged under the
flailing arm. Andrea tried again, but
Kate just side-stepped this time, sending the young woman careening past her
and clattering into one of the tables, before she crashed to the floor again.
“We can keep
doing this all night if you want,” said Kate standing over her with her hands
on her hips, “Or we can get out of here?”
Andrea stared up
at her balefully, showing no sign of moving from amongst the wreckage of the
table.
Kate sighed
wearily before reaching down and grabbing the collar of Andrea’s jacket,
sticking her face up close to the other woman’s though the smell of alcohol on
Andrea’s breath was quite overpowering.
“Get up, and get out that door now!” ordered Kate, “Before I decide to
put my boot up your arse!”
Kate tugged on
Andrea’s jacket and the young woman reluctantly clambered to her feet. Kate shoved her in the direction of the
door, before reaching back to the bar and picking up the power regulator. “And put that back on!” she instructed
irately.
Andrea took it
with a sneer and shoved it in her pocket.
Kate couldn’t be bothered to make an issue of it any further, at least
they had it should Andrea have a seizure.
As soon as the door to the pub was opened the driving rain hit them in
the face again, and Kate bowed her head as they crossed silently to the car
where Private Thompson was dutifully waiting.
Getting in the back, Kate ordered him to take them back to the harbour
and he set off slowly through the raging storm, taking it carefully on the
twisting cliffside road.
Kate sat for a
moment, grinding her teeth, but the short cold walk to the car had done little
to subdue her anger. Andrea’s continued
sullen obstinace was only fuelling it further, as the young woman sat with her
arms crossed in an open show of defiance.
“So here we are
again then,” commented Kate icily, “Am I the only one with a sense of déjà vu?”
“It does seem
somewhat familiar,” replied Andrea nonchalantly, refusing to look in Kate’s
direction.
“Is that it?”
demanded Kate, bristling, “No apology
no excuses? I cannot believe you! I thought I made it clear last time why you
can’t just leave the island, but, oh no, you just have to do what the bloody
hell you want don’t you?”
“Yes, that’s
right!” Andrea shot back caustically rising to meet Kate’s anger, “You’ve
obviously got me all worked out - I don’t give a shit about anyone else!”
“Obviously not!”
shouted Kate. “Dragging me out here
again after you. You think this is how
I like to spend my time, chasing after petulant children?”
“Yes, yes I fucking
do!” Andrea’s blue eyes were suddenly
sharp again as they shot to Kate to pin her in place. “I think you just love controlling us all like your little pets! I think it gives you a thrill, using your
power over us.”
Kate
seethed. “You are so…so…”
“What? Obnoxious?
Annoying? Selfish? Come on spit it out, let’s have it all!”
“Yes! All those things and more!” agreed Kate
furiously, “I don’t know why I waste my time on such and ungrateful bitch!”
“I don’t either,”
noted Andrea scornfully, “I’m obviously a hopeless case, you may as well just
lock me up when we get back and have it done with. Pump me so full of your drugs that I can’t use my powers. Then I’ll be no threat to you or anyone will
I?”
Kate stared back
at her, a deep fire in her eyes. “Don’t
tempt me.”
The silence
pressed in opressively again as both women maintained their intense regard of
each other without speaking. Neither
appeared willing to back down and look away.
The car suddenly jerked to the side, breaking the still of the moment,
before resuming its straight course down the road.
“Careful
Thompson,” noted the Major to the man in front of her.
“Sorry, Major,”
he called back over his shoulder, “This weather is trecherous.”
Kate turned back
to Andrea. “Here I was thinking we had
made some progress again,” she noted with an air of resignation, “But every
time I think we’ve taken a step forward we seem to end up taking two or more
back.” She paused to shake her head. “So was there actually any reason for this
latest escapade?”
“I don’t know,”
shrugged Andrea insolently, “I fancied a drink?”
“Don’t give me
that crap!” yelled Kate. She actually
saw Thompson flinch in the driver’s seat at her sudden outburst. “I’ve had just about enough of your
rebellious bullshit!” she outlined furiously, “I’ve been lenient on you so far,
believe it or not. But this is it, no
more nice Major!”
“You were being
nice before?” Andrea wondered sarcastically
“Come on,”
continued Kate, ignoring the comment, “I want to know what you were doing out
here.”
“I’ve told you -
I just fancied a drink,” insisted Andrea, jutting her chin out
obstinantly. “Can’t I want to get off
your fucking island every once in a while?
Get away from you and all your fucking cronies?”
Kate gripped her
hands together in her lap to resist the urge to lash out. “I don’t believe you.”
“I don’t give a
flying fuck what you believe!”
Kate felt her
blood boiling – no one ever dared talk to her this way. “Were you hoping to meet your friend Maria
again, is that it?”
“Ha!” cried
Andrea glancing to the ceiling, “You couldn’t be more wrong if you tried.”
“Really?”
challenged Kate doubtfully, “I think you’re so desperate to find out about this
accident that you’re willing to ignore any rules or regulations that might
stand in your way.”
“You know
nothing,” seethed Andrea. Her head was
bowed slightly as she looked at Kate so that her pupils peered out menacingly
from the tops of her eyes.
“Well why don’t
you enlighten me?” suggested Kate combatatively.
Andrea kept her
mouth tightly shut, breathing heavily through her nose.
“No?” Kate
wondered, raising her eyebrows, “Can’t do it?
It’s just the same old selfish bollocks as before isn’t it?”
“No!” spat Andrea
adamantly. “You want to know do you?”
she demanded, leaning closer to Kate.
Her face was hovering mere centimetres from Kate’s now but Kate didn’t
back down even when the hot breath hit her cheek. “Ok, I’ll tell you why I wasn’t meeting Maria. I wasn’t meeting her because she’s
dead! Did you hear me? She’s fucking dead!” she screamed again,
just in case Kate had missed the point.
“All right? Satisfied now? Now leave me the fuck alone!”
And with that she
swung away from Kate to stare at the raindrops sliding down the outside of the
window. Kate was momentarily
dumbstruck, all the wind taken out of her great fury in one easy blow. Now all she felt was very stupid and
insensitive. Though she did consider
that she could hardly have known that her friend’s death was what had upset
Andrea and caused her to flee the island.
It did occur to Kate that Andrea must have heard the news via phone at
the base, which meant one of her people would also have heard it. She had a sneaking suspicion that Lieutenant
Chadwick was that person and that he had deliberately omitted that crucial
piece of information when telling her
of Andrea’s departure.
Still, even then
she supposed she had hardly given Andrea much of a chance to explain
things. She had turned up at the pub
bristling for a fight and Andrea had been more than willing to oblige.
“I’m sorry, I
didn’t know,” she remarked softly.
“Yeah, sure you
are,” replied Andrea, keeping her eyes fixed on the window. “You’re probably happy that I’ve lost my
outside contact now.”
“No, of course
not,” insisted Kate, dismayed that Andrea could think that, though she also
knew it was probably just the grief talking.
“I’ve lost people close to me, I would never wish that pain on anyone.”
Andrea didn’t
reply, but Kate could see her jaw twitching behind her damp blond hair where she
was biting her lip.
“What happened?”
Kate thought for
a minute that either Andrea hadn’t heard or just wasn’t going to reply, but
finally she started speaking in quiet haunted voice. “It was just so pointless, so stupid,” she whispered, “She’d
stopped someone for a random search and they…they stabbed her…just like that,
out of the blue. One minute she was
just going about her job like every other day and the next minute…” Andrea trailed off, her forehead now resting
against the glass.
Kate wasn’t entirely
sure what to do, faced with this new vulnerable Andrea. Though it seemed like scant comfort, she
reached out to put a hand on the young woman’s shoulder. She was worried that Andrea might shake it
off, but she didn’t show any sign at having even noticed it sitting lightly
there.
“I’m sorry, I
truly am,” offered Kate feebly. “You
two were good friends?” she asked for want of something better to say. She knew from bitter experience that it
didn’t really matter what she said, it wouldn’t help.
Andrea nodded,
eyes still away from Kate. “We’ve known
each other for years, we were a right pair at Hendon, couldn’t keep us apart…”
Andrea’s voice caught at her recollections.
Kate found a lump
mounting in her own throat in the face of Andrea’s sorrow, especially so soon
after the memories that had been stirred earlier that afternoon. “I know what it’s like, to feel that hollow
feeling in your heart when someone you love has been taken from you.” Kate hoped she didn’t sound trite, it was
hard for her trying to draw on her own feelings but she wanted Andrea to know
she wasn’t alone. “You feel like it’s
never going to go away, like there’s no way that great gaping hole can ever be
mended. But it will heal. It’s no consolation to you now, and it’ll
take a while, maybe a long time. But it will heal, with help from others.”
Kate didn’t want
to outright say that she was willing to be one of those ones to help, not so
soon after they had been screaming the odds at one another. Andrea might have thought it insincere. She hoped instead that the remark was open
enough to interpretation.
Andrea’s voice
was faltering when she spoke. “I just
feel so useless, cut off out here. I
should have been there for her.”
Andrea went quiet
again for a moment and Kate wondered if she was going to say any more. Peering through the gloom Kate suddenly
realised why Andrea had stopped talking - she was crying. Ever so quietly, perhaps trying to hide the
fact, but she was crying nonetheless.
Small, silent sobs that shook her shoulders. Andrea’s face finally turned back to Kate and she could see the
tears slipping out of her blue eyes and tracking down over her smooth
cheeks.
“I should have
been there for her…,” repeated Andrea numbly.
Her watery blue eyes bored into Kate, pleading with her for help. Kate felt a sympathetic jab in her heart,
squeezing the young woman’s shoulder under her hand. It seemed like such an ineffectual gesture. She should do more, hug her…
Without warning
there was the sudden sound of screeching followed by a loud bang. Then everything went black.
……
Andrea’s eyelids
fluttered as droplets beat down against them.
Her head was pounding mercilessly and she screwed her eyes shut for a
moment, slowly becoming aware of her location.
Her left cheek was cold, wet and it was pressed up against something
hard. Her other cheek was being pounded
by what Andrea’s swimming mind finally gauged was rain. That wasn’t the only thing making her face
wet, she groggily realised, there was something warm trickling down from her
forehead too.
Andrea let out a
groan and slowly peeled herself away from the ground into a kneeling
position. Opening her eyes, she blinked
a few times as the driving rain battered her.
She tentatively reached up to
her sore head. As she drew her fingers
back, she was just able to see the red stickiness there in the near pitch black
of night. Rubbing at her muddled head, she tried to work out how exactly she
had come to be lying in a field in the middle of nowhere.
She recalled how
she’d been sitting in the car with the Major, talking about Maria. She’d had the distinct impression that the
Major was about to hug her when everything had gone crazy. The next thing she knew she was lying on the
soggy ground. So if she was there, then
where the hell was the car?
Andrea unsteadily
staggered to her feet, almost being knocked from them by a another forecful
gust of wind. She was still feeling the
affects of all the alcohol she’d drunk earlier, though a car crash went a long
way to sobering you up she grimly thought.
“Hello?” she
cried against the lashing storm, “Major?”
There was no
reply apart from the sound of the wind whipping the rain across the open
ground. Andrea could barely see two
feet in front of her and most certainly couldn’t see any sign of either a car
or even a road for that matter. She
supposed all she could do was pick a direction and hope it was the right one.
She traipsed
through the cloying mud of the field while the unceasing rain continued to soak
her clothes. The drenched garments
clung to her body now, and she let out a shiver as the wind bit through
them. She felt so tired, but she had to
keep going until she found the car and the Major. All the drink she’d consumed probably didn’t help her fatigue, but
she had to push all that aside, and concentrate on the task at hand.
Just when she
thought she was going to be stumbling aimlessly around the Scottish countryside
forever, Andrea spotted two deep gouges in the muddy earth. They pointed a trail on down a slope to a
river that flowed at the foot of it.
There she finally saw the car, or at least half of it. The water obscured the rest of the vehicle,
at a level that splashed over the bonnet.
Andrea slithered
frantically down the slope, slipping onto her backside several times and almost
falling the last few steps. At the
bottom she didn’t hesitate, plunging straight into the river, gasping at the
coldness of it. She waded through the
fast flowing waters to the right hand-side of the car where the Major had been
sitting, clinging onto the bodywork to stop the river dragging her away. The door had been ripped right away from the
frame, exposing the inside of the car, but Andrea could see that the Major was
still sitting there, her seatbelt having kept her in place. The bottom half of her body was below the
waterline and her eyes were closed, her head lolling back against the headrest.
Though it was
dark, Andrea could see the sallow paleness of the Major’s face and the rivulets
of blood running down her cheek from a gash in her temple. A horrible sick sensation swept through
Andrea and she quickly reached out her fingers. As she touched the skin at the other woman’s throat Andrea let
out a sigh of relief – there was a pulse.
Suddenly the Major groaned, causing Andrea to jump and hastily pull back
her hand.
The Major’s eyes
flickered unsteadily open. “Andrea?”
she asked uncertainly, seeing the young woman leaning in the door. “What happened?” She tried to shift in her seat, letting out a sharp cry of pain.
“Easy,” said
Andrea, putting some stilling hands on the Major’s shoulders. “We had some sort of accident, I don’t
really know what happened.”
The Major glanced
up at her again, seemingly finding it hard to focus. She closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. “Is Thompson all right?”
Andrea realised
she had completely forgotten about the other occupant of the car. “I don’t know,” she admitted, “Let me just
check.”
Andrea clawed her
way along the side of the car against the current of the river that tugged
heavily against her clothes. The young
soldier was leaning forward, his head resting in the remnants of the airbag
that had erupted from the steering wheel.
The window was shattered so Andrea was able to reach in to check for
signs of life. As she ascertained that
he was indeed breathing, she noticed how the windscreen was fractured too – no
doubt how she had ended up being flung from the car.
She came back
round to the rear door. “He’s alive,
beyond that I don’t know. I don’t
really want to move him for now just in case I do more damage.”
The Major was
grimacing as she reached forward under the water. “No, probably best not too,” she agreed, flopping back against
the seat in frustration. “Well, it
seems my leg is stuck fast, though I can’t see a bloody thing.”
“Do you want me
to try and free it?” offered Andrea, “I could probably break whatever is
pinning it in place. I might as well
make some use of having these super powers.”
She made to delve
under the water when the Major shot out a hand. “Hang on, did you put the regulator back on?”
Andrea
immediately realised that she hadn’t and fumbled in her pocket for it – the
last thing they needed was for her to have a seizure in the middle of the river
with no one capable of helping. “Shit!”
she cursed after groping in the sodden material, “I’ve lost it. It must have been when I got thrown from the
car. Great, it could be bloody
anywhere!”
“Never mind,”
said the Major, “I’ll just radio for the emergency services. There should be a handset up front
somewhere.”
Andrea struggled
though the water again to retrieve it and the Major called in the
accident. The atrocious weather meant
they would have to wait for the regular ground based services, rather than the
speedier army helicopter. Having made
the call, the Major lay back against the seat, her breathing shallow as if just
making the call had been a great effort.
“Are you sure
you’re all right?” asked Andrea in concern.
She was finding it increasingly hard to stand against the raging torrent
and she perched herself on the edge of the Major’s seat instead, bracing her
leg against the door frame.
“You mean apart
from sitting in a freezing river with a pounding head and a crushed leg?” remarked the Major ruefully.
“Sorry, stupid
question,” noted Andrea as she tried to push her soaked hair from her face with
numb fingers.
“No, I’m sorry,”
said the Major more gently this time, “I didn’t mean to sound ungrateful.”
“Indeed, I
thought I was the ‘ungrateful bitch’.”
The Major actually
made a small chuckle at Andrea’s attempt at a joke, wincing again as she did
and bringing her hand to her head. The
blood was still running freely from the wound on her forehead, matting the
auburn hair that flopped lankly against her face. Her hand splashed listlessly back into the water as she made
another moan.
“How long did you
say they were going to be?” asked Andrea, her concern for the Major growing.
When there was no
reply, Andrea feared the Major had actually lost consciousness, but eventually
the blue-grey eyes struggled open.
“Twenty or thirty
minutes,” the Major informed her trying to inject some of her normal steel into
her voice. “They’ve got to come from
Ayr and as you know the weather’s not the best.”
Andrea
nodded. She didn’t like just sitting
and waiting when the other woman was obviously in pain. For the second time that day she felt
completey useless. She had seen plenty
of car accidents in her time, of course, but they were always strangers who
were injured, not someone you…
Andrea stopped
her thoughts abruptly - she had been about to finish with ‘…someone you care
about’.
She frowned to
herself as she considered whether it was true, or whether her anxious mind was
just playing tricks on her. Fortunately
the Major’s voice broke in again, before she had to think about it for too
long.
“I just wanted to
say sorry again,” she said, “For leaping down your throat at the pub. I really didn’t know about your friend. I just assumed it was you being your usual
pain in the arse self.”
Andrea laughed,
partly to relieve her anxiety. “No, I’m
the one who should apologise. I
shouldn’t have just left the base like that, no matter what happened. All I could think of was getting away, being
on my own. And then of course I have
these new powers that make it possible for me to go pretty much anywhere - so I
did.”
“You flew all the
way to the mainland then?”
Andrea thought
she detected a faint air of admiration in the tone. “Yes, though I have to say there were a few dodgy moments when I
almost ended up in the sea thanks to that fierce wind. It was pretty stupid of me really. I only discovered I could fly a couple of
days ago and here I am acting like it’s a piece of piss, like it’s the most
natural thing in the world.”
Andrea wasn’t
entirely sure why she was confessing her idiocy to the Major, concluding that
it could still be the fading affects of the alcohol clouding her judgement.
The Major seemed
impressed with her honesty though. “At
least you can admit you don’t know it all.
And that’s what we’re here for - to help you understand and master these
abilities.”
“To help me learn
how to be superhuman?”
“Something like
that,” agreed the Major, offering Andrea a weak smile despite the situation.
Andrea shivered
again as the water licked at her chest, and it was then that an alarming
thought struck her. Only a couple of
moments before it had been licking at her waist. Andrea looked round the car to check she wasn’t mistaken.
“Helvete!”
“What is it?”
asked the Major, alerted by Andrea’s cry.
“The water – it’s
rising!” revealed Andrea frantically.
The Major glanced
down at her body to see the choppy surface now lapping just over the swell of
her chest. “You’re right,” she
concurred grimly.
“We have to get
you out of here!” cried Andrea struggling to her feet in the deepening river.
Without waiting
for the Major’s consent, she took a deep breath and dipped below the surface,
searching out the Major’s leg where it was trapped. Her hands fumbled down over the other woman’s thigh and knee,
having to go by touch since she couldn’t see a thing in the murky water. She could feel jagged metal and soft flesh,
but it was hard to determine which way to try and pull. If she got it wrong she could wrench the
metal right through the Major’s leg by accident. She shot up to the surface momentarily, gasping for air.
“I can’t tell
which way to move it to free you, not without being able to see,” she said
hopelessly.
The water was
rising faster than ever now, reaching up to the Major’s neck. She titled her chin up slightly to keep it
out of the water so she could breath.
“You shouldn’t be trying to use your powers anyway – you could black out
under the water!”
“Oh, what? So I’m
supposed to just sit by and watch while you drown?” replied Andrea
incredulously.
“I’m not going to
ask you to risk yourself on my behalf,” said the Major adamantly, having to
spit some water from her mouth as she did.
“You don’t have
to.”
“Andrea, wait,
there’s no need…”
The Major’s words
were cut off as Andrea plunged under the water again. The current was yanking at her strongly now but she determinedly
planted her feet in the mud, seeking out the bottom of the car. If she couldn’t free the Major, then she’d
just have to get her out of the water, car and all.
Straining to
balance herself, Andrea hefted the vehicle from the riverbed, lifting it
through the water as she rose to a standing position. Accessing her power came completely naturally, like it was
perfectly normal to be able to pick up an entire car. Then she pushed off from the ground, breaking up through the
surface of the river with a stream of droplets in her wake. She flew up to the crest of the slope before
deposisting the car back down on the grass with a thump.
Andrea rested her hand on the frame of the broken door, breathing heavily. “See, no problem, nothing to it,” she noted nonchalantly to the Major, though inside her heart was hammering out of control.
The other woman stared up at her in amazement as the last of the river water drained from the car, leaving behind a scummy grime that caked the interior. Andrea bent down to carefully free the Major’s leg, now able to see that fortunately the wound wasn’t too deep where the floor had warped and twisted around it.
As she stood again, Andrea just managed to offer the Major a smile before the pain tore through her.
Andrea let out a strangled cry at the suddenness of it, her fingers clawing into the metal of the roof, mangling it in their grip. The jagged edges dug into the palm of her hand, but the pain from that was nothing compared to that sweeping through the rest of her.
Screwing her eyes shut, Andrea tipped her head back and howled to the night sky as excruciating daggers of heat lanced through every muscle of her body. This was worse than any of the other episodes – the unforgiving fire wrenching at her bone and sinew, burning and ripping as it cascaded through her.
Gasping in agony, she staggered backwards, tumbling heavily to the ground. Her face slapped hard against the soggy grass as she hit. Another spasm rocked her shaking body, and she tried to bring her knees up to her chest as if that would help ward off the pain in some way. It was like she was being torn apart from inside and all she could do was lie there and whimper pathetically, praying for it to stop, as the cold rain beat down on her cheek.
Then suddenly there was warmth - strong arms wrapping themselves around her and pulling her close, penetrating through the haze of pain. Struggling to open her eyes Andrea could just make out the Major through the blur of tears and raindrops. She was looking down with concern as she cradled the young woman in her lap.
“Hold on, I’m getting help.” she said softly, reaching for something.
Andrea couldn’t respond; it was taking all her strength to fight against the raging fire consuming her body. She closed her eyes again, resting her head limply against the Major’s chest. The comforting arms around her tightened as she trembled once more with a fresh wave of twisting pain. The Major’s voice drifted down to her over the swirling wind.
“This is Major Jarvis, I need an airlift straight away! We’re just off the A719, about 2 miles south of Ayr.” She paused for a moment as she received some sort of response from her radio. “Yes, I know what the weather’s like,” she continued angrily, “Just do it!”
Andrea sensed a hand now, stroking her drenched hair soothingly.
“Just hang on, they’ll be here soon.”
Andrea desperately wished she could comply with the Major’s request, but as another bolt of pain ripped through her she slipped into unconsciousness in the other woman’s arms.