She looked out for James, and found him, as expected, sitting on his own next to the fish pond. She really wished he’d get more involved again. Raymond and Henry, not to mention a few others of their little gang, had been allowed to Alistair’s party simply so they’d bring James into the throng. But it wasn’t working. All of James’ friends seemed to be intentionally giving him his space. Things had soured greatly between James and the Bledoe Cadets in the last few months.
Mary sighed. This all had to end soon.
Her mood perked up a short while later. She was sitting, chatting to Eileen about the latest scandal between Nicholas and Tabitha Hardy up at Windsor View, when she noticed a couple of the children moving over to James. One of them was Henry, although she didn’t know the names of the other two – they were the Moynihans’ children, that much she did know. Eileen offered Mary a smile.
‘There we go. Soon have him joining in.’
Eileen was too hopeful.
The women watched. It started off well enough, Henry and the Moynihan boys talking to James about the Dick Tracy cards they had collected. James liked to collect the cards, a newer more fun version of the tab cards found in the cigarette packets, and exchange them with his friends. James though didn’t seem especially responsive, and all of a sudden Henry was shouting.
Mary couldn’t hear the words exchanged but she saw the change in mood sweeping across the garden as both children and adults stopped what they were doing to watch. She jumped to her feet and rushed across the garden. It was about time this was all nipped in the bud.
‘You spoil everything!’ cried Alistair, joining the boys in their row.
‘Look, you’re upsetting your brother now. What you going to do about it?’ Henry asked, pushing James.
James stood up, barely having been moved by Henry’s shove. He squared up to Henry, a look of rage in his eyes. The Moynihan boys pulled back, no longer wanting to get involved. Alistair, not usually one for conflict, pushed his way between Henry and James. Where James was quite tall for his age, Alistair had a long way to go even for a nine-year-old; it was like David and Goliath, Mary thought as she ran towards them. She called out, but they paid her no attention. Still everybody else watched in surprise.
‘What have you done to my brother?’
James looked down at Alistair. ‘What? Nothing has happened to me.’
‘Yes it has. You’re no fun no more. And I wasn’t talking to you, anyway, I was talking to Maha!’
James was confused. He looked around. ‘You can see him?’
‘Of course not. He’s still invisible!’
Mary was stunned by this – Alistair accepting that Maha was real. Bad enough that James wouldn’t be persuaded otherwise, but to have Alistair believe it too! She finally reached them.
James was smiling with pride. ‘See, Maha is real,’ he said, victory in his tone.
‘It’s not even a real name!’ Alistair shouted.
James’ face fell and he turned on his brother. ‘What did you say?’
‘You made it up. Maha! You’re losing your marbles, you are!’
Mary shook her head, and looked down at Alistair, disappointed at the way he was goading his brother. ‘This has gone on long enough,’ she said, stepping between her boys. ‘Look at the scene you’re all making.’
‘It’s James’ fault. Him and Maha spoil everything!’
Mary wished she could argue with that, but Alistair was right. Ever since Maha entered their lives it had been one disruption after another.
‘You’re just jealous,’ James said, stepping forward. ‘All of you are,’ he added, looking around the garden. His eyes lingered on Henry and Raymond. ‘Especially you two! Because I have a real friend now, one who won’t leave. Because I was chosen for something special.’
Mary looked closer at her son. There was a horrible hard look on his face. Contempt, she would have said if she had to name it. ‘Something special? Chosen? What do you mean?’
‘He thinks he’s going to live forever.’ Alistair’s lip was beginning to tremble, his eyes darting around. He was very upset, but Mary wasn’t entirely sure why. She knelt down to look him in the eyes and calm him down.
‘Don’t be silly, nobody lives forever. And you know Maha isn’t real, don’t you?’ she asked, keeping her tone as even as possible.
‘He’s going mad. Thinks Maha is going to show him space… Thinks Maha is a spaceman!’
That was all Mary needed. Bad enough that James had an imaginary friend, but now he believed ‘Maha’ was from space. What was the world coming to?
Alistair was close to crying, not that it seemed to matter to James, who merely looked at his brother like he’d betrayed some secret.
‘Okay, that’s enough. Come on, James,’ Mary said, pulling him by the arm, ‘you can go to your room and tell me all about this Maha. All of it.’
James resisted, but Mary wasn’t to be stopped this time. Months of this nonsense… and it was time to put an end to it finally.
So taken up by James was she, that Mary didn’t even notice as Alistair broke down in tears, his birthday ruined. Raymond looked on, shaking his head.
A month passed them by, and in that time James’ mother seemed to let James get away with much more than usual. It was like she now believed in Maha, too. Raymond wasn’t stupid, he knew that Maha wasn’t imaginary, and he also knew Maha was that man who had appeared to them back in September. The things Maha and James seemed to talk about made little sense to Raymond – but then, nothing about his old best friend made any sense these days.
Raymond and Alistair stalked through the woods seeking out James, who had left the picnic almost half an hour earlier. It was his birthday next week and his mum had taken the chance to surprise him: as a special birthday treat, his dad was to return for the day. Raymond would have thought the news would make James happy, but on being told, James had sulked off with a ‘no, I don’t want to see him’.
Raymond had wanted to follow straight away, but Mrs Lethbridge-Stewart told him to let James have his head.
‘You okay?’ Raymond asked Alistair.
The younger boy didn’t answer; he just set his jaw firmly and continued to plod on.
No, Alistair wasn’t okay. Raymond couldn’t blame him. They had both lost James in one way or another.
They carried on in silence, eventually breaking through into the clearing at Golitha Falls. It was there that they found James. He was standing at the edge of the Falls, looking down at the water crashing into the stream below. Raymond and Alistair stopped, both shocked at the look on James’ face.
He was facing them, his expression crumbling as he fought back tears.
‘It was meant to be you,’ he said, his voice shaking. Neither Raymond nor Alistair knew who he was addressing. ‘Maha came for you, but he found me. I’m where he began.’ He looked around, his eyes seeming to notice the long drop beside him for the first time. ‘He tells me I can’t be happy. Defeat comes in all shapes is what Maha says.’
Raymond stepped towards his old friend. ‘What…’ He swallowed, scared suddenly. ‘What do you mean?’
For the first time it seemed like James was really seeing Raymond. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘I should never have listened to him.’
‘No,’ Alistair whispered beside Raymond. ‘Don’t go.’
What was Alistair talking about? But before Raymond could truly question him, James jumped.
Ray paused in his narration, his eyes lingering on the shaking of his hands. ‘I haven’t thought so hard about those events in years,’ he continued, not daring to look up at Alistair’s face. ‘It was the worst day of my life, yours too, I imagine. If only you could remember it.’ He lifted his eyes slowly. ‘Do you?’
Alistair was resting on the sideboard, his arms folded defensively. He was looking out towards the garden, only Ray suspected he was not seeing the garden at all.
‘Alistair?’
The man blinked. ‘No,’ he said,
his voice so low that Ray had to struggle to hear it. ‘Only… It’s like a daydream from years ago, something that doesn’t seem real, yet somehow I know it is.’ He swallowed and looked directly at Ray. ‘What happened next?’
‘At the time it seemed like everything happened so slowly, but I think it all happened so fast that I barely had time to really comprehend. I was twelve, you were nine, how could we hope to understand what had happened? But we were there, both of us, just looking at the edge of the gorge, as if James hadn’t moved at all. Even now, when I close my eyes I can see it. James standing on the edge, clearly fighting his feelings, arguing even then with the voice in his head. The Manor in the distance like a spectre. He was so scared, Alistair. He knew he was being sacrificed to cause you pain. Defeat comes in all shapes. For years I wondered what he meant, wanted to discuss it with you, but I think we both had to forget things, find a way to move on. We never discussed it again. But I understand now. Whatever the Hollow Man was, he was out to hurt you, Alistair. And used James to do so.’
‘He didn’t do a good job of it,’ Alistair said, his tone bitter. ‘I can’t even remember James properly. What kind of defeat is that?’
Ray shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’
‘What happened after James jumped?’
Ray took a deep breath. ‘I rushed to the edge of the gorge, trying to see where James had gone. Stupid really, where else could he have gone? But I couldn’t see him. The water had claimed him. I remember turning to you. I think I wanted to hold you and tell you that it was okay, to protect you. I think, at that moment, I knew I had to try and become the big brother you needed. Like James, I’d actively kept you away from the Bledoe Cadets, never really let you in. I was a kid, and kids can be spiteful, but right then I think I knew I had been wrong. That we had both lost the best friend we both had. James was, in some ways, as much my brother as yours.
‘So, when I turned to you I found you had already gone. You were running down the side of the gorge. I called after you, but you didn’t listen, or didn’t hear. I’m not sure which. For a moment I stalled, part of me knowing I should run and find our parents, tell them what had happened. We needed them more then than ever before, but instead I ran after you. By the time I reached you, you were down by the stream where it joined the River Fowey. The water was wild there, moving fast, and it had dredged James’ body up, got it caught on some broken branches. You were there, kneeling by the edge, trying for all your worth to reach and grab your brother. But your arms were too short.
‘All I could do was stand there, watching. I’m not sure how but our parents found us. They said they heard me shout out. The worst sound they had ever heard. I don’t remember shouting.’
Ray had run out of things to say. For a few moments the men sat in silence, the tale sinking in. Ray wanted to understand how Alistair was feeling, but he couldn’t. He had lived with it his all life, but for Alistair this was all new. However true it was, it was still new. How did one deal with that kind of news?
‘Alistair, I just want you to know that…’
Ray was interrupted by the sound of movement upstairs. Something falling. Alistair’s head snapped up.
‘Mum!’ he almost hissed, and darted towards the staircase.
— CHAPTER TWELVE —
Village Under Siege
LETHBRIDGE-STEWART LEFT RAY TO attend George, while he gave chase. Even as he darted out of the kitchen door and scanned the fields beyond, his mind raced. He should have realised the Intelligence would have control of someone in Bledoe. It always had control of someone, according to Travers. In Tibet it was some llama, in London it had been both Travers and Arnold. Why should Bledoe be any different?
Owain Vine was the obvious candidate, considering his long stay at the Manor. There was little doubt in Lethbridge-Stewart’s mind that the Yeti had come from the Manor, too.
There!
Despite the cold his mother was in the same damp clothes, no coat to protect her against the air. The sun may have been shining, but that didn’t stop the wind from biting icily at Lethbridge-Stewart’s skin. He could only imagine how his mother must be feeling. She was walking almost casually, her arm linked in Owain’s, as if the two of them were off for a normal stroll in the countryside. They even appeared to be chatting.
Lethbridge-Stewart set off after them, shouting Owain’s name.
The young man looked back and smiled. But he didn’t quicken his pace.
Damn fool. At this rate Lethbridge-Stewart would be on them in minutes. Then he realised the reason for Owain’s casual gait. On the horizon a Yeti appeared. Neither Owain nor Mary paid the shaggy creature any mind, they simply walked past it. Well, it would take more than a Yeti to stop Lethbridge-Stewart. He reached down for his revolver.
His hand rested on an empty belt.
He hadn’t brought his weapon with him. Wasn’t expecting to need weapons. He slowed to a halt. The Yeti continued to advance on him. It raised its web gun.
‘Let me get a damp cloth,’ Ray said as he followed George down the stair. The man looked back up at him with a mix of anger and embarrassment.
‘I’ll be fine,’ he snapped. ‘I’m done with that little…’
Ray stopped listening, his mind a jumble. He’d barely managed to process all that was going on. Going so deeply into his past wasn’t easy. Even when he wrote his books he had forgotten a lot of what he had told Alistair, but talking about it… And then, before he’d even been able to let those feelings settle Owain had kidnapped Mrs Lethbridge-Stewart. Not only that, but he had attacked his own father.
Things were making less and less sense. None of this fitted with the Owain he had seen grow into a young man. What could have possessed him?
Ray swallowed, remembering the look in James’ eyes moments before he jumped into the gorge. The Hollow Man – this Great Intelligence of Alistair’s, it had got to Owain after all. Just like it had done with James.
Who was the Intelligence pretending to be this time, Ray wondered, that Owain would listen to it so?
George was pacing the living room when Ray returned from the kitchen. Ray handed him the wet cloth, but George batted his hand away.
‘I told you I’m fine!’ George looked around wildly. ‘What the hell has got into that boy? Kidnapping old women! I did not raise my sons to be like this.’
Ray frowned. ‘No one is blaming you, George.’
‘Maybe they should,’ George responded quietly.
The back door opened and both men turned to see Alistair return. He was breathing heavily.
‘Damn him,’ he said, glaring at George. ‘The Yeti has cut off Owain’s retreat with web. There’s no way to follow him.’
Ray looked from Alistair to George. The two men were still regarding each other coldly. Ray couldn’t have them fighting in his house. They had enough trouble.
‘What happened?’ he asked. ‘Owain would never act like that, not unless he was possessed.’
George turned on Ray. ‘What the hell are you on about now? Possessed? Good God, man, that’s my son you’re talking about there.’
Alistair took a deep breath to calm himself down. ‘He’s right, George. Your son has been taken over by the Great Intelligence.’
‘The…? You mean this Hollow Man that Ray’s been writing about all these years?’ He shook his head. ‘This is absurd. Completely ridiculous.’
‘Pull yourself together, man!’ Alistair barked. ‘You’ve seen the Yeti, the web, and I’ve told you all about recent events in London. Put the pieces together, use the brain God gave you.’
George stepped forward but Ray placed a hand on his chest. For a moment George stood there, pushing himself forward. But, slowly, he relaxed and nodded his head. ‘You’re right, sorry. It’s just that… It’s my son, Colonel. How can this happen to him? Lewis is missing, Owain is…’
‘We’ll do what we can to get your boys back, George, I promise you. But first we need to work out a strategy of our own. All this
distraction with my… brother.’ Alistair glanced at Ray. ‘We’ve spent more than enough time on that. All the while the Yeti have surrounded Bledoe. We need to defend this village. Go on the offensive.’
Ray wasn’t too happy with calling the death of James a distraction, but he had to concede that Alistair was right. The village was now under siege. A woman had been kidnapped. He asked the only question that mattered. ‘How?’
They tried as far east as possible. It made sense to Bishop – after all, from what he could gather the Yeti were coming from Remington Manor, to the west of the village, so their best bet of a gap in the perimeter was as far from the staging ground as possible.
He was mistaken.
He stalled the Land Rover and turned to Henry. ‘What do you think?’
‘We could try ramming it.’
‘Most likely won’t work. This stuff managed to block all access to London.’
It seemed like the web was everywhere. The Yeti certainly worked fast to be able to cover such a wide area in so short a time. Of course that depended on when they started. Sometime after he and the colonel had returned to Redrose the previous night, or they would have spotted them surely.
‘We should keep trying,’ Henry said. ‘There must be a gap somewhere.’
Bishop wasn’t sure he agreed, but he tried to remain hopeful. He changed gear and released the brake. The Land Rover bumped its way along the field, while they searched for a gate into the next one. They continued on like this for a short while, going from one field to another, but when they reached their fifth field Bishop slammed the brakes.
Several Yeti stood at the far end of the field spraying web from their guns. But the web didn’t just stay where it landed; instead it continued to move, spreading out on the breeze, catching on every branch in the hedge lining the field. Even then it continued on, stopping only when it came into contact with web from another gun. It pulsed, seemingly alive.
Could it be? Bishop would need to ask the colonel. He knew more about this stuff than any of them.
The Forgotten Son Page 18
