Vortex (28 page)

They walked blindly in the silence and the dark, their hands held in front of them to stop themselves from bumping into trees. Neither Ben nor Annie had any idea where they were going, and soon they were wildly disorientated.

The sounds were strange in the forest. The sounds of night. Wild animals called to each other, and there was mysterious shuffling all around them. All they could do was ignore it and press on, hoping that they would come out of the forest on the other side and find some way of orientating themselves. They held hands in order to stop themselves from getting separated; more than once, one of them tripped and had to be held up by the other. It was a frightening journey.

Gradually, however, they became aware that the trees were starting to thin. Desperate to be out of the forest, they upped their pace; in the end they practically ran, hand in hand, out of the woods and onto the grassland beyond. Ben blinked. The moon was startlingly bright - so bright, in fact, that it cast shadows on the ground as sharp and distinct as if it were a summer's day. They stood for a moment, breathing heavily with relief, only now admitting to themselves how scared they had been in the woods. Once they had calmed down, Ben started to look around.

'Over there,' he said, pointing away from them. 'The boundary fence.'

Instinctively, they started running towards it. But they had only moved a few metres when Annie called to him.

'Ben! Stop!'

His heart jumped. 'What is it?'

He turned to look at Annie, expecting the worst.

But his cousin's face had a mysterious smile as she pointed up into the sky. There, silhouetted against the fat, silvery moon, they could see the shadow of a bird, swooping gracefully in the night sky. Time seemed to stand still as they watched it, solitary and magnificent, unaware that it was being admired, and unworried, for the moment at least, by the presence of humans.

'What is it?' Ben whispered.

'I don't know,' Annie replied. 'An owl of some kind. But whatever it is, it's beautiful.'

And so it was. The two cousins continued to watch it until suddenly, without warning, it drifted away on some unseen eddy of wind, leaving Ben and Annie alone once more.

They stood together in a kind of respectful silence, aware that they had been privileged to share that moment with the mysterious, phantom-like bird. Ben found himself wondering if Annie, too, was thinking about Joseph, and how he had entered briefly into their lives and then, like the bird, disappeared, never to be seen again.

He didn't ask her. Instead he took her by the hand.

'Come on,' he said quietly. 'Let's get home.'

And hand in hand, they tramped out of Spadeadam and along the boundary fence. They did not look back until they reached the warmth and safety of the youth hostel, where they slept more deeply than they had ever slept before.

Epilogue

Three days later

Ben's body ached from the bruises he had sustained in the tank, but he ignored them as he jumped down off the bus and hurried along the street to Annie's house. In his hand he clutched an A4 envelope, and he wanted to show his cousin the contents.

He rapped on the front door and Annie answered. She nodded at him, and silently led him upstairs to her bedroom. The bird magazine that Annie had showed him last time he was here was lying on her bed, open at the page that showed the picture of the hen harrier. Ben felt a pang as he remembered seeing the birds being shot down, but also a small surge of pride that maybe - just maybe - they had made the world a little bit safer for those birds that remained.

As soon as they had shut the door behind them, Ben spoke. 'I've got something to show you,' he said, and he handed over the envelope.

Annie looked curiously inside, and pulled out a piece of paper. It was a photocopy of a newspaper cutting, and the two of them read it together.

It was only a small article, and the picture that accompanied it was faint. There was no mistaking the face though - the hooked nose, the floppy hair, the piercing stare. It was Joseph. A young Joseph, but Joseph nevertheless. They read the words that accompanied it in silence.

A physicist, Joseph Sinclair, has been detained indefinitely at a hospital for the mentally ill in York. Mr Sinclair, 21, was widely viewed as one of the most promising young scientists of his generation, but friends had become increasingly concerned about his erratic behaviour in recent weeks. His brother, Lucian Sinclair, spoke of his family's concerns. 'We are desperately worried for Joseph,' he told this newspaper, 'but we are confident he will make a full recovery in the very near future.'

Annie breathed deeply. 'It's horrible, isn't it,' she said, 'what people are willing to do to each other?'

Ben nodded.

'Do you think he knew?' she asked him. 'What he was doing, I mean, when he blew up the bunker? Or was it the voices in his head that he told us about?'

'I don't know, Annie,' he replied. 'I guess we'll never know.'

Before he could say anything else, there was a knock at the door.

'Come in,' Annie called.

The door opened, and a tall, thickset man with steely grey hair appeared.

Annie blinked, then smiled. 'Dad!' she said with delight, then ran to her father, who embraced her in a great bear hug.

Air Commodore James Macpherson smiled at Ben over his daughter's shoulder. 'Ben,' he greeted him affably.

'Hi, James,' Ben replied. He barely ever saw Annie's dad, but he liked him a lot.

Annie pulled away from her dad. 'How come you're back?' she asked excitedly.

'Been reassigned up north,' he replied. 'All this business at Spadeadam - you've probably read about it in the paper.'

Ben did his best not to catch Annie's eye. 'Yeah,' she replied. 'Bits and pieces. Do you know what went on?'

James took a seat on Annie's bed and stretched his legs out. 'Not a clue, to be honest. It's all very mysterious. Some people seem to think it's a terrorist strike, and we've had certain intelligence--'

'What sort of intelligence?' Ben asked, a bit too quickly.

James looked slightly taken aback by his sudden question. 'I'm sorry, Ben,' he said quietly. 'It's the sort of thing I can't discuss.'

'No,' Ben muttered, slightly embarrassed. 'No, of course not.'

'Still,' James announced brightly, 'for what it's worth, I don't agree with them. Strikes me as being much more likely that it was an unexploded bomb left over from the war. Or something like that. Whatever it is, it's a mess. Anyway' - he smiled over at his daughter - 'it means I'm going to be around for a bit, I'm afraid.'

Annie grinned at him.

'Well,' James declared, standing up and stretching his legs, 'I'd better get back to it.' He made to leave. 'Oh,' he said, turning round just as his hand touched the doorknob, 'your mum said you went bird-watching in that area.'

Ben and Annie nodded mutely.

'See anything interesting?'

Ben blinked, his mind suddenly blank as he tried to think of something to say.

'Oh,' he managed finally, shrugging his shoulders as nonchalantly as he could and turning to look out of Annie's bedroom window, 'you know. This and that.'

Know the Facts

Fact

In the 1950s, the CIA initiated Project MKULTRA.
Its purpose was to use scientific techniques to affect
and control people's minds. According to an official
CIA document, this included research into 'substances
which will promote illogical thinking and
impulsiveness to the point where the recipient
would be discredited in public'.
It is not known if the British government carried out
similar research, though some people think it likely.

Fact

In 2004, excavations for a secret missile silo were
uncovered within the grounds of RAF Spadeadam. No
official documents relating to the construction of
these silos appear to exist.

Fact

RAF Spadeadam contains a number of sites of Special
Scientific Interest, and the RAF is scrupulous about
conserving the wildlife and habitats that exist within
the base.

Fact

The hen harrier is one of the rarest birds in the
United Kingdom. Evidence suggests that breeding hen
harriers are being routinely killed and if nothing is
done to reverse this trend, this beautiful bird risks
becoming extinct, at least in England.

Author's Note

Ever since I was a boy, I have enjoyed hiking outdoors - not only appreciating the physical challenges involved, but also being aware of the local wildlife. I am particularly concerned with the conservation of our natural wild birds and animals, and especially where individual species are at threat of disappearing for ever unless they are actively protected.

The hen harrier bird is one such species. In 2004, a survey by the RSPB, Scottish Natural Heritage and other countryside agencies found only 749 nesting pairs in the UK, almost all of which were in Scotland. Only ten pairs were found in England and this year only fifteen successful nests have been confirmed. This is a pitifully low number, considering that the birds have legal protection, and I would very much like to see their numbers increase.

For further information on the hen harrier, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) has information on how you can help to save this amazing bird of prey, as well as giving you information on other birds at risk. See www.rspb.org.uk for further information.
And
www.rspb.org.uk/youth/join_in/wex.asp
for details of their wildlife explorers club.

Outside the UK, you will almost certainly find your own national organization to help protect birds and wildlife in your area.

For further information on species at risk - insects, birds, animals or reptiles:

www.wwf.org

www.worldwildlife.org/endangered

www.wildlifeprotection.info

Chris Ryan