Out Of Time

by Oldfield, Donna Marie

  Scarlett giggled and took a seat on the blanket. This was so romantic – she couldn’t believe he’d gone to all this effort for her. Dylan kneeled down next to Scarlett and opened the hamper.

  “Glass of Champagne?” he asked.

  “Ooh please,” she laughed. “What’s for dinner?”

  “Ahhh, patience,” he replied as he popped the bottle open and poured two glasses. “Here you go.” He handed Scarlett one and raised his glass. “To us.”

  “To us,” she agreed. “Finally!”

  “OK, now let’s see what Neelam’s made for us.”

  “Neelam cooked our meal?”

  “Of course! You know how she likes to help.”

  “There was me worried how everyone would take to us dating, and they’ve all helped out,” she laughed as Dylan pulled out two plates and a huge container.

  “Cor, she’s gone to town,” Dylan smiled. “Roasted sea bass, cherry tomatoes and some kind of celery,” he said as he dished it onto their plates.

  “I think it’s fennel,” she guessed.

  “So it is. I didn’t know you knew about cooking and stuff. I’m impressed! Oh look, there are some potatoes and green beans here too.”

  “Yummy. This is so wonderful, Dylan. Thank you. It’s nice to be to able to take time out to have fun, but most of all it’s nice being here with you.”

  Dylan leaned over and brushed her cheek while he stared at her. She felt so close to him, it was like they were one. She smiled shyly and looked around at her surroundings.

  “You’ve got a beautiful smile.”

  “Thank you,” she said.

  He pulled away to continue eating, but he kept gazing up to grin at her. Scarlett felt excited, like when she was a little girl at Christmas.

  “This is delicious,” he said.

  “I know, it’s incredible!”

  “I’ll have to learn to make it myself, so I can cook for you next time,” he said.

  “There’s going to be a next time?”

  “I hope so!” he grinned. “And a time after that, and a time after that.”

  “You’re such a smoothie at heart, aren’t you?”

  “Only when I’m around you babe,” he said in a mock cheesy accent.

  Scarlett started laughing again. She was so happy when they were together; everything felt right. She wished they could just run away from this stupid world and live in a park, or a forest.

  When they’d finished eating, Dylan cleared everything away and sat down next to Scarlett, who was facing the lake.

  “It looks so lovely,” she said. “I remember how when I was little, I always wanted to visit a frozen lake so I could skate on it. This just looks a bit mushy with slush and snow though.” She laughed.

  “You want a frozen lake, you got one,” Dylan said.

  He walked over to the waterside and touched the water. Scarlett watched in amazement as the whole lake froze over.

  “You turned it all to ice?” she gasped.

  “I sure did, a foot thick just to be sure it’s safe to skate on.”

  “But we don’t have any ice skates,” she pointed out.

  “Don’t we? What’s in that bag next to the hamper?”

  She unfastened the black holdall and found two pairs of skating boots inside.

  “You thought of everything, didn’t you?”

  “Nothing but the best for my Scarlett. So, you wanna skate or not?”

  “I’d love to.”

  She couldn’t stop smiling as she laced her boots up and tiptoed over to the water.

  “Are you sure it’s safe?”

  “I promise! I’d never let you get hurt.”

  “What if I fall over?” she grinned.

  “Then I’ll pick you up!” he said as he stepped onto the ice. “If you like, you can hold my hand for safety.”

  “Hmmmm…”

  “Come on,” he said again, reaching out to her.

  “Oh, OK!”

  “That’s my girl!”

  Dylan guided Scarlett onto the ice, then they started to slowly skate along.

  “That’s it,” he said. “Just push your feet out one at a time.”

  “You’ve done this before,” she laughed.

  “Yeah, haven’t you?”

  “No!” she yelped.

  “You’re doing so well though. You must be a natural.”

  It did feel quite easy, she had to admit. After they’d done a few laps of the lake, she was gliding along effortlessly.

  “Wow, aren’t you the little star?” Dylan smiled. “Do you want me to let go of your hand?”

  “No,” she grinned. “You can stay here. I like it like this. It’s nice.”

  “What about like this?” Dylan asked, taking hold of her waist.

  It tickled, but it a good way.

  “Well, that’s nice too.”

  “And this?” he said, pulling Scarlett closer towards him.

  “That’s OK.”

  “Just OK?”

  “And this?” he said before leaning down to kiss her.

  Scarlett replied by kissing him right back. Her mind, heart and stomach started whirling crazily as they kissed each other – his hands were circling her waist and hers were running through his hair. He had lovely wavy, brown hair.

  After a perfect few minutes, Dylan broke off the kiss. She beamed a smile at him.

  “That OK?”

  “Yeah.”

  He took her hand in his and started skating again.

  “We’d better head home soon,” he said, somewhat sadly. “It’s getting late, but I wish we could stay all night.”

  “Me too,” she agreed, “but you’re right. It’s past 11pm. We should go back. It’s not safe.”

  They climbed off the ice, took their boots off and packed them into their bags. Then Dylan picked Scarlett and their things up and they headed for home.

  As the twosome made their way back across London, she couldn’t help thinking the stars and the lights below seemed even more beautiful than usual now – more twinkly. “Oh no,” she thought to herself. “I’ve become one of those sickening people, haven’t I? I’ve fallen for a boy and I can’t stop smiling.” She wanted to embrace it though – she deserved a bit of happiness.

  “Thank you for a lovely evening,” she said as Dylan landed them in the back garden. “That was the most perfect night ever.”

  “Wasn’t it just?” Dylan said, stroking her cheek again. “How about a goodnight kiss before we go back indoors?”

  “Well if you insist,” she replied teasingly.

  Scarlett lost herself in another movie-style kiss. Now she understood why the characters on the big screen made such a fuss about love and romance. It really was incredible.

  “That was quite some goodnight smooch,” she laughed as she put her key in the back door. She was so happy. It was quite possible that Dylan was the best thing that ever happened to her.

  “Oh thank goodness you’re home,” Neelam shouted as they walked into the house. She looked very distressed.

  “Neelam, what’s wrong?” Dylan asked.

  “It’s Lucy. She’s gone!”

  “What do you mean, she’s gone?”

  “Look!” Neelam said as she thrust a note into her hand.

  Dylan leaned over Scarlett’s shoulder to read it aloud.

  I cracked it! I discovered that Secureforce own another workhouse in Essex and it looks exactly like the one on our plans. I’ve printed out everything I know about it. They are using thousands of unemployed people – mainly 16-21 year-olds – to provide slave labour as well as doing the super power experiments. The info is all in the envelope I’ve left for you. I also discovered that my brother, Aaron, is being held there under the fake name of Tim Jenkins, so I’ve gone to rescue him before Goulden realises who he is. I’m so sorry for not waiting, but I couldn’t waste one second. Hope you understand.

  Love Lucy.

  Dylan scratched his head. “I can’t believe she
’d be so stupid,” he said. “Why did she go off on her own?”

  “Here’s the envelope with the information in it,” Neelam said.

  “Thanks,” Dylan replied.

  “Shouldn’t we go after her?” Scarlett asked.

  “We need to form a plan first. Neelam, fetch Jay, we’ll start reading this information, then we’ll follow Lucy once we’re ready.”

  “What if Goulden catches her in the meantime,” Scarlett protested.

  “Then we stand a better chance of rescuing her if we know what the hell we’re doing than if we run in there cock-a-hoop and get caught along with her.”

  “Fair point,” she said as she took the envelope through to the front room and sat down on the sofa. Dylan followed Scarlett and perched next to her. “Here,” she said as she took the printouts and gave him half of them. “I guess we’d best find out what we’re getting ourselves into.”

  Chapter 22

  Three hours later, they had completed their research and Neelam was making coffee while they ran over the finer details. Scarlett, who was sitting on a stool at the breakfast bar, looked at her watch – it was 3.15am. They needed very strong coffee if they were going to be chasing after Lucy at this hour, but there was no way they could wait till morning when their friend and her brother were at risk.

  “I’m shattered,” Jay complained as he leaned against the worktop. “I wish I had the ability to have super-fast power naps – that would come in pretty handy right about now.”

  “This will wake you up,” Neelam said as she handed him a large mug of coffee. “I put two sugars in it too, so you’ll be back to your usual hyperactive self in no time.” She passed a coffee to Scarlett and another to Dylan, who was pacing the kitchen lost in thought, then perched on a stool next to Scarlett.

  “So, we all know roughly what we’re doing?” she asked.

  “Yep,” Scarlett said with a nod. We, well me, steal a car from the hire place down the road, then drive over to the Holdforth Workhouse, which apparently is right here.” She pointed at an X marked on the map Lucy had left them. The location was in wide-open Essex countryside, which seemed like a strange but ideal place for Goulden to hide his goings-on. “As far as I can see, we drive towards Braintree, then head down this country road, take a couple of turns and then it should be just here.”

  “Let’s hope so,” Neelam said. “I don’t fancy getting lost in the middle of nowhere at this time of night.”

  “We won’t get lost,” Dylan said. “We’ve got the map and Lucy’s super-smart Sat Nav. “It’s getting in there undetected that I’m worried about.”

  “Don’t worry,” Jay said, “Scarlett can telekinetically force her way through the concrete perimeter wall and the map shows that this small fire door round the back isn’t guarded, so she can use her powers to open it from the outside and get us in there.”

  Scarlett didn’t share Jay’s confidence because she wasn’t sure she could rely on her powers under pressure yet, but she chose to keep quiet.

  “Then all we need to do is get to the other side of the building and take the stairs,” Neelam added.

  “It’s a huge building – that’s 90 metres of floor we need to sneak across and we don’t even know what’s there because floors one and two are simply marked Workhouse Area.”

  “Well, hopefully no one will be working at night,” Jay said optimistically, but Dylan didn’t look convinced.

  “Remember, I’ll be able to mask us,” Neelam said. “No one will know we’re there and according to Lucy’s research, they’re very low on CCTV, so we stand little chance of being picked up that way.”

  “I guess you’re right,” Dylan said. “So say we do make it to these stairs and sneak our way up to the third floor, does everyone know what we do then? We should all be clear in case we get split up. Let’s agree to meet in this Prime Power area if that does happen.” He tapped the map at Zone B, Floor Three for effect.

  “Good idea,” Scarlett said. “And when we get there, we try to find a way into the Holding Pens, which is the first room in the Prime Power Project zone.”

  “And from there we investigate the whole area, including the Holding Pens and Super Soldiers Room,” Jay said.

  “Let’s not forget Lucy,” Neelam said. “I’ll keep scanning for her the whole time, but she should theoretically be in this zone, or in the dorms on the second floor. I’m hoping that her brother is still just a normal workhouse resident at the moment and will be sleeping along with the rest of them.”

  “Does this plan seem sketchy to you?” Dylan asked.

  “I think it’s the best we can do,” Neelam said. “We have no idea exactly what we’ll find or which routes are definitely available to us until we get there. However, unlike with our last mission, we have knowledge on our side this time. We all have a map and an understanding of the layout and security systems of the building, so we’re well placed to come up with genius plans as we go. I think it will be OK and you know I wouldn’t say that if I didn’t mean it.”

  Dylan smiled and looked a little more confident. “Thanks Neelam.”

  “You’re welcome,” I’m just going to grab some things, then I’ll meet you back down here in five.”

  “Me too,” Jay said as he followed her out of the room.

  Dylan turned to face Scarlett.

  “So,” he said, giving her a hug and kissing her on the forehead. “Ready for battle?”

  “Not especially,” she said, as she concentrated on her coffee.

  “No, me neither,” he admitted. He slumped onto a stool next to her.

  “Come on,” she said, “you’ve got to be ready, you’re our leader.”

  “Yeah, one who really screwed up on our last mission and got us all captured.”

  “You’ve got to stop beating yourself up, Dylan. We all fell for that one, it wasn’t your fault,” she said, squeezing his hand for reassurance.

  “I guess so. I’m so scared, Scarlett. If we screw up tonight, we could endanger Lucy and the thousands of people living in that workhouse, including the experimentees. We have to free them – what he’s doing is barbaric.”

  “I bet it’s worse than it sounds,” she said. “I’m not looking forward to seeing exactly how Goulden’s affected those people.”

  “I dare not imagine. How are you feeling about your role in the plan? We’re demanding a lot of you what with stealing the car, smashing the wall and breaking your way into pretty much every door we come across.”

  “I hope I don’t screw up,” she said. “I’m still not fully in control of my powers.”

  “Don’t let the pressure get to you,” Dylan assured her. “It’s nothing you haven’t done before. You’re incredible and more powerful than you realise. Just believe in yourself.”

  “I could bounce that advice right back at you,” she laughed.

  “Oi you,” he teased, “remember who’s the boss here.” He picked Scarlett up off the chair and started tickling her.

  “Let me go!” she yelled, screaming with laughter.

  “Oh please, get a room,” Jay said as he walked into the kitchen. “You two quite literally can’t put each other down, can you?”

  “Sorry,” Dylan said as he dropped Scarlett to the floor. “You know how it is, sometimes you’ve gotta teach your woman a lesson.”

  “Hey!” she said.

  “Totally with you there, man,” Jay said, keeping up the joke.

  “I’ll put you in your place,” she muttered. With one thought, she whisked them both up into the air and turned them upside down.

  “Scarlett!” Jay yelled as he tried to stop his T-shirt falling down and exposing his stomach. “Stop it!”

  “Well, what have we here?” giggled Neelam, as she came to see what all the commotion was about. “Quit hanging around you guys, we need to get going.”

  “Neelam, make her stop,” Dylan begged.

  “They were being sexist pigs,” she told her.

  “Well, in
that case, I guess we should leave them there a bit longer.

  “Scarlett!” Dylan yelled. “If you don’t put us down now I’ll…”

  She let go and allowed them to fall to the floor with a thud.

  “Whatever you say,” she smiled sweetly.

  “I think I can definitely say that you have nothing to worry about when it comes to your powers,” Dylan said as he scrambled to his feet. “You, young lady, are out of control.” He ruffled her hair playfully.

  “Sweet,” Neelam grinned.

  “Sickening,” Jay muttered.

  “Right,” Neelam said, buttoning up her coat, “It’s good to see we’re all getting along again, but it’s time to get serious now.”

  “We are all serious, Neelam,” Dylan said crossly. “Nothing wrong with trying to lighten the mood for five minutes. It’s been a long night already and it isn’t going to get any better.”

  “Dylan’s telling people to lighten up. Love has changed him big time,” Jay laughed.

  Dylan blushed and Neelam smiled. “You’re right,” she said, “I know, I’m just worried and anxious that’s all.”

  “We all are,” Scarlett said, “you of all people should know that.” She grinned.

  “Of course!” Neelam laughed. “I’m probably more concerned because I’m picking up on all your moods. Come on then, let’s go.”

  Chapter 23

  “There it is,” Dylan said as he pointed up ahead to a large building, which was surrounded by a 10-metre-high concrete wall topped by barbed wire. Scarlett stared at the dank, grey building, which looked as ominously dull and uninviting as the unit in Ealing they had been captured in last week.

  “These places all look the same,” she muttered. As she looked closer, she noticed that floodlights were illuminating the whole grounds, shining a glaring, revealing light on every last corner of the building and its yard. There were also two observation towers poking above the wall – they looked like the ones you see at the airport, but she was pretty sure these were reserved for menacing security guards. This wasn’t going to be easy.

  “So should I park the car here or drive closer?” The group were still about 200 metres away from the workhouse and the narrow country road they were driving down went right up to the main gates.