For Those In Peril (Book 2): The Outbreak (41 page)

I
smiled back, hoping I was doing a better job of faking it than he was. ‘I
thought we’d take our time. After all, there’s no rush, is there?’ I searched
his face, trying to work out if he believed me or not. ‘Did Claire manage to get
your man sorted?’

This
seemed to throw him. ‘What? Oh, yes. Turned out it wasn’t as bad as we first
thought; it wasn’t really an emergency after all.’

‘That’s good to hear.’ I paused briefly, suddenly getting cold feet about our
plan, but as far as I could see there was no other way: it was this or nothing.
Yet, once we’d started to put it into action, there’d be no going back.
Mentally, I steadied myself and then took the plunge. ‘You want to give us a
lift ashore then?’

Nick
looked nonplussed; he’d obviously not expected us to go with them voluntarily,
and without our own dinghy as that would mean we’d have no way to get back to
the yacht. He took a couple of seconds to answer. ‘Yeah, okay. Climb in.’

Daz
and me jumped into the rib, and moments later we were skimming across the water
towards the beach. Just above the high-tide line on the shore, I saw the
distinctive shape of the Professor’s home-made tidal power generator lying on
its side. It hadn’t been here the last time we’d visited, and its presence here
now seemed to confirm my suspicions that Nick was behind the infected suddenly
appearing out of nowhere, both in Tobermory and in so many other communities.

Once
we got to shore, it took us almost half an hour to find Claire and Sophie,
mostly because Nick was keen to interrogate us about what we knew, but he was
careful to make it seem casual and friendly. Eventually, he must have decided
that we really didn’t know what was going on, and he let us head off in search
of the others. We found them in the room which Gordon had ear-marked for the
clinic. It had already been well-stocked with equipment and supplies, and a
number of beds had been set up at one end. Claire and Sophie were standing round
the nearest, changing the dressing on the shoulder of the marine who’d been shot
the previous day. Given what we’d discovered in the last twenty-four hours, I’d
half-expected there to be no injured man at all, but then I realised there’d
have to have been if Nick was to have any chance of getting Claire on side.

There
was a yelp of pain from the marine.

‘Hold
still.’ Claire’s voice was firm and authoritative. ‘Sophie, hand me the new
dressing.’

Sophie
passed Claire a white square, which she slapped unceremoniously onto the
marine’s shoulder, causing him to yelp again. There was the sound of Elastoplast
being ripped from a roll before Claire spoke again. ‘That’s you finished for
now, but it’ll need changed again in the morning.’

The
marine grumbled and rubbed his shoulder as he slid off the bed, and headed for
the door. That was when he spotted Daz and me. He froze, a look of complete
surprise on his face that suggested we were the last people he’d expected to see
there. After a second, he seemed to come to his senses, barging past us and out
into the corridor, slamming the door behind him.

I
stepped forward. ‘You were a bit rough with him, weren’t you?’

Claire
spun round, a look of relief spreading across her face. ‘You got here safely
then? I was starting to get worried.’ She went over to the door, opened it,
glanced outside and then closed it again. ‘Just wanted to check we’re not going
to be overheard.’

She
beckoned us over to the far side of the room. ‘There’s something very odd going
on around here. For a start, that marine wasn’t shot by accident in a fight with
the infected.’

Daz
frowned. ‘How d’you know?’

‘Powder burns around the wound. By the looks of it someone took a bullet,
removed most of the charge and then fired it into his shoulder at point-blank
range. It looked bad, but it was never going to do him a serious injury. I think
they were just trying to get me up here.’

My
eyes drifted to the window. Outside I saw the injured marine talking to two
others. He was pointing first out to where our boat was anchored and then up at
the window where we were standing. Claire continued. ‘And I think a lot of
locals are regretting ever coming here. I ran into one of the women from Iona
that we picked up in the dinghy, and she gave me the impression that she feels
trapped here, like they’re being held prisoner. No one’s allowed a boat except
the marines and they seem to expect the locals to do all the hard work: like
they’re little more than servants.’

I
turned my back to the window. ‘Did she actually say that?’

‘No,
it’s just the impression I got from speaking to her. She was being very careful
about what she said. I think she was scared one of the marines might hear her. I
don’t quite know what, but there’s something really wrong here.’

I let
out a sigh, ‘Claire, you don’t know the half of it.’

‘Why?’
Sophie chimed in. ‘What’s happened?’

Before
I could say anything, Daz leapt into the conversation. ‘We found Gordon.’

Claire’s eyes widened. ‘Gordon’s alive?’

‘No,
Gordon’s dead.’ I was uneasy about speaking when I didn’t know if I could be
overheard or not, but Claire had to know. ‘And I’m pretty sure Nick killed him.’

Sophie
was shocked. ‘But I thought Gordon was killed by an infected? That’s what Nick
told us, wasn’t it?’

‘He
was killed by an infected alright,’ Daz shot back, ‘but Nick set it up.’

‘How?’
Understandably, Claire was incredulous.

I told
Claire and Sophie about what we’d found at the lighthouse and what had happened
at Tobermory; I told them about Mitch’s seaplane and how we thought the infected
had been getting onto the islands … and why.

Both
Claire and Sophie looked horrified. I kept my voice low. ‘It’s really important
that you don’t let on that you know any of this. If they get even a hint of it,
I think we’ll be in big trouble.’

‘But
we can’t stay here.’ Claire hissed back.

‘I
know, but they’re not going to let us just walk out of here, are they? You, in
particular, are too important an asset for them. They need your medical skills.’
I checked once again that no one was listening. ‘We’re going to have to wait
until it’s dark and then try to sneak out. We’ll have to be very quiet, but I
think we can make it. They brought us ashore, so at the moment they’re going to
assume we don’t have any way of getting back to the boat. I’m hoping that means
they won’t keep too close an eye on us for the time being. I’ve arranged for
Mitch to bring the dinghy ashore at midnight, so if we can just get down to the
beach to meet her, we should be able to make it out of here.’

‘Okay,
but what are we going to do for the others? We can’t just leave them here, not
living like this.’ Claire was adamant.

‘I
know,’ I rubbed my temples with the thumb and fore finger of one hand, ‘I know,
but the first thing we’ve got to do is to get ourselves off the island; then we
can work out what we can do to help everyone else.’

‘Speakin’ of gettin’ ourselves out of here,’ Daz was now standing by the window
looking down at the marines. ‘Where’s Tom?’

‘I
don’t know. I’ve been in here all day.’ Claire looked at her daughter. ‘Soph,
you were with him after lunch. When was the last time you saw him?’

Sophie
shrugged. ‘When he dropped me off here.’

Claire
glanced at her watch. ‘That was about four. Any idea where he was going?’

Sophie
thought for a moment. ‘He said he wanted to check something out while we were
here.’

Daz
turned to face her. ‘D’you know what?’

Sophie
shrugged again. ‘I don’t know. We saw a couple of the marines going up the path
into the woods, the one that only they’re allowed to use, and Tom suddenly said
he’d drop me back off here because he wanted to take a look at something while
we were here.’

Claire
seemed puzzled. ‘Who told you the path was out of bounds?’

‘One
of the girls I was speaking to last night while you were fixing up the marine.’
Sophie nervously twiddled with her hair. ‘They showed me round a bit, remember?’

I
thought back to what Tom had told me after our last visit to Rhum; that he
thought there was something going on in the woods. ‘I think I know where he was
going. Daz, let’s go and see if we can find him.’

At
that moment the door opened and Nick strode in. He smiled. ‘So, are you all
caught up?’

A jolt
went through me and I wondered whether he’d been listening at the door, and, if
so, for how long. Claire was the first to break a silence that was starting to
get awkward. ‘Yes, not much to tell, though. When you’ve heard Ben go on about
one sailing trip, you’ve heard them all.’

Nick
was clearly relieved to hear that this was apparently all we’d been talking
about. ‘You want to join us for supper? We can’t offer you much, but we do
okay.’

Looking for Tom would have to wait. I rubbed my hands together, ‘I could
certainly do with some food.’ I glanced at Claire, ‘and it would be good to have
some company that I haven’t already bored to tears with all my sailing stories.’

Claire
scowled back as she followed Nick and me out of the room.

All
things considered, the dinner was a civilised affair, with the locals serving us
food and wine. I watched them as they moved around the room; they appeared happy
enough when they were at the table, but the moment they thought they were out of
sight, their masks slipped, revealing how tired and frightened they really were.
The way the marines treated them was also illuminating: they expected to be
waited on hand and foot, snapping their fingers and beckoning the nearest local
over whenever they wanted something. Altogether, it was painting a very
unpleasant picture of how the marines saw their role in the Rhum community.

As we
ate, Nick discussed the clinic with Claire. ‘You know, I think Bucky was right,
we really do need a doctor around here, and you need somewhere you can run your
clinics. Let’s face it, people are going to get hurt, and they can’t work if
they’re injured.’ He forked more food into his mouth. ‘And we can’t afford to
carry anyone who can’t work; not for long at any rate.’

‘I
suppose that’s one way of looking at it.’ Claire leaned forward. ‘So, what are
you proposing?’

Nick
picked up his wine glass and drained it before waving it around above his head.
One of the locals scuttled over with a bottle and refilled it before returning
to their place by the back wall. ‘Well, you’re not like these people,’ he swung
his arm in the general direction of the locals huddled near the door, ‘are you?
You’re more educated; you’ve been places; you know how the world works. We can’t
exactly expect you to live like them, can we? If you’re willing to stay and help
out, then you can stay in this place, rather than outside in the tents with that
lot.’ He waved an arm at the locals again.

Daz
butted in. ‘All of us?’

Nick
took another swig of wine. ‘As long as you’re willing to play by the rules, I
don’t see why not. I’m sure you’ve all got skills we can use.’ As he spoke, he
glanced round at us, his eyes lingering a little too long on Sophie.

Daz
saw this too, but before he could say something which Nick would certainly not
consider to be ‘playing by the rules’, I jumped in. ‘So have you got somewhere
for us to stay for the night? No point in going back to the boat if you can
offer us proper beds.’

Nick
smiled, happy that we seemed to be seriously considering his offer. ‘I’ll show
you myself.’

I
looked at my watch: it was almost eleven and there had still been no sign of
Tom; I was really starting to worry that he’d got himself into some sort of
trouble. I hadn’t wanted to ask Nick where he was over dinner in case it alerted
him to Tom’s absence, but then again, he hadn’t mentioned it either, which I
felt was distinctly odd.

‘Daz,
are you awake?’

We’d
been lying in the dark since ten, listening to the noises of other people moving
around the house, hoping the marines would assume we were asleep after the heavy
supper. 

‘Yeah,’ Daz whispered through the darkness.

I sat
up. ‘I’m going to see if I can find Tom; I’m not leaving here without him.’

I
heard Daz start to get up, too. ‘I’m comin’ with you.’

‘No,’
I hissed back. ‘I need you to stay here in case something happens to me. You
need to make sure Claire and Sophie get down to the beach on time, and if I’m
not there by midnight, you need to get in the dinghy, go back to the boat, and
then you need to leave.’

‘But
…’

‘No
buts. Remember: my boat; my rules.’

‘I’m
no’ leavin’ you behind.’ Daz was indignant.

‘Daz,
you have to. You need to get Claire and Sophie away from here; this is our only
chance. I think Claire managed to persuade Nick that she’s seriously considering
his offer, so their guard’s down: it’s now or never.’

‘But I
can’t leave you here.’ There was fear in his voice. ‘If Nick catches you, he’ll
kill you.’