by Glover, Nhys
‘I’ll show you a women’s magazine some time. They have articles like, “How to make sure he gives you multiple orgasms,” or “The G Spot rediscovered!”’
‘G spot?’
Her beautiful face crumpled into mortified humour. ‘I need to keep my big mouth shut. You do not need to know about G spots… Well, maybe you already do and just don’t know what to call it. Come on, I’m going to bed and I’ll check on Marnie on the way.’
While Cassie slept, Hawk experimented with his new existence. The more he thought about Cassie’s possible death, the more he was determined to stop it. That meant he had to be more than a toothless tiger, an impotent ghost. He moved through the house, through doors and walls, and then opened and closed doors using his focused concentration. He even moved around heavy furniture as Cassie suggested and worked out how to pick up a pen and write a note to Marnie with it. Of course, the pen was a strange invention without a nib or ink, but he mastered it well enough.
Then, as the evening shadows darkened, he walked through the front door and out into what had once been the farmyard. Now it was a neatly tarred road that had driveways to the converted barn residences around them. There wasn’t a sheep or chicken to be seen anywhere, and Hawk wasn’t sure he liked the change, although it was nice not to step in manure or mud as he moved around. Not that he could anymore anyway.
He walked right down to the old airbase and couldn’t believe the change in the place. It was the first time he really started to believe that so much time had passed. Even though his conscious mind accepted that there would be no Spitfires sitting on the old runway beside corrugated sheds, his heart was shocked at their absence. The occasional deafening thunder of jet planes far overhead was almost an insult to the fighter planes he’d known so recently.
By the time he got back, Cassie was up again and the three of them sat around the dinner table sharing childhood memories while the women ate “frozen pizza” that Marnie had embellished. He would have desperately liked to try that bread-like Italian food. It was so different from anything he’d ever seen before.
After dinner, Hawk enjoyed a game of chess with Marnie. It was ridiculously easy to move the little chess pieces around the board now that he understood the workings of his new existence. Marnie seemed particularly taken with the game and chuckled when she saw the pieces rise up off the board. He imagined it must seem very peculiar from her side, the pawns moving on their own.
While they played, Cassie sat on the sofa reading, her pyjama covered legs tucked under her. After her nap, she’d taken a shower and changed into different sleepwear. Now she wore long, pale blue flowing pants and a camisole of pale blue satin. She looked entirely feminine in this outfit, and he found it hard to take his eyes off her to play the game.
In the background, a “CD” played mellow classical music from a “surround sound” system. There were so many new words for the “technology” he was coming to see was integrated seamlessly into their life in this century.
Later, when Marnie’s head was drooping, Hawk suggested to Cassie that it might be time for bed. Cassie looked up from her book, her deep-set eyes underlined by dark bags, smiled and rose silently to her feet. She came over to Marnie’s side and rested her head against the old lady’s short, spiky hair.
‘Time for bed, Marnie. Hawk says you’re about to drop.’
Stern old eyes looked in his direction. ‘I was just resting my eyes.’
‘Well rest them in bed. It’s been a long day and an eventful one for us both.’
‘Do ghosts sleep?’
Cassie chocked down a laugh as she threw Hawk a guilty glance. ‘Yes, we discovered that ghosts sleep this morning. Are you tired?’ She looked at him, mischief in her eyes.
‘No, I am not tired. Not physically anyway. My mind feels exhausted though with all that I have learned today.’
‘He says he’s not physically tired but he’s suffering brain fog. Understandable. Bed it is.’
‘He will sleep in your bed?’ Marnie looked a little uncomfortable. ‘I could make up the spare bed…’
Cassie gave a little laugh. ‘He’s fine with me. If I start having a seizure in the middle of the night he can let you know.’
‘Don’t joke about such things. I am deeply concerned for your life, dear. You’re all I have left. I can’t lose you, too.’
The expression on Cassie’s face became soft, and it was clear she was both touched and surprised by Marnie’s words.
‘You won’t lose me, Marnie. Hawk will take good care of me until the danger is passed, I’m sure.’
‘Life is worth living. It might not feel like it after all you’ve been through, but take it from me, it is. There have been times when I didn’t feel like going on, but later I looked back and was glad I did. You’ll feel that way, too.’
Cassie kissed the top of the other woman’s head tenderly. ‘I’m sure I will. I was just feeling sorry for myself earlier. It wasn’t nearly as bad as I made it out.’
‘Yes, it was, and trying to cover it up for my sake was the wrong thing to do. I’m supposed to be here for you, not the other way around. Fran would have wanted it. That’s why I kept track of you after she passed. She worried about you, and so did I.’
‘I’m glad you did. You saved me, quite literally. I don’t know what I would have done if you hadn’t taken me in and looked after me through all this. You’re like a grandmother to me.’
‘And you’re my granddaughter. You have been since you were a little girl. Let’s stop being maudlin and go to bed. Tomorrow is another day.’
CHAPTER NINE
Hawk dozed beside Cassie, trying not to sleep. He didn’t want another nightmare, nor did he want to find himself making love to the beautiful girl at his side. That was too painful to experience again.
The house was quiet and dark. The neighbour’s lights had all gone out about a half an hour ago. Only the sound of an owl hooting in a nearby tree disturbed the night. Heavy clouds had set in late in the evening and the moon and stars were hidden. The darkness was complete.
He heard the sound of boots on tarmac and jerked up from his doze in an instant. How could he hear such a sound from where he was? Holding his breath, he listened more closely. Yes. There they were – stealthy footsteps somewhere outside the house.
In the next instant, without conscious thought, Hawk found himself outside the farmhouse as three dark clad men moved toward the front door. They wore balaclavas and weapons strapped to their bodies. Military, Hawk decided instinctively. They were military men. What were they doing here?
It didn’t matter why; all that mattered was getting back to Cassie. They were obviously intent on breaking into the farmhouse and that meant the women inside were in danger.
In the next moment, he was standing over Cassie in the bedroom. He ignored the vertigo that such sudden movements seemed to bring on and reached down to shake her shoulder. Before she made a surprised sound, he put his hand over her mouth.
Wide eyes looked up at him in the darkness.
‘Shhh. There are intruders attempting to enter the house. Get up and get dressed. I will be back in a second.’
She fought his hand and when he released her, she whispered hoarsely. ‘Marnie?’
‘I am going to her now. Move quickly. There is no time and I am not sure what I can do…’
Cassie said no more and made to rise. He went quickly to the bedroom door and locked it, slipping the key out of the lock. Such measures wouldn’t keep the invaders out for long, but it might be enough to get Cassie dressed and ready to escape. But where? There were three men roaming the house now. How was he going to get her and Marnie out?
He thought of Marnie and was gone in the next instant. As he went to lean over the old lady in her bed to shake her awake, the bedroom door creaked open and a canister rolled across the floor. A haze of gas fumes immediately began to fill the air.
Panicking, Hawk shook Marnie as hard as he could. The old lady woke in th
e next instant and looked about her wildly, then, as she breathed in the fumes, she dropped limply back onto the pillow. Not dead, Hawk could see that much. The gas had put her to sleep. So they meant her no harm. It must be Cassie they’d come for.
He was back in the bedroom as Cassie was pulling on track pants and a t-shirt.
‘Marnie?’
‘Asleep. They’ve put her out.’
They could both hear the door being tried. ‘Out the window.’
Cassie just stared at him in shock. He drew up the window and craned his head out. The oak tree’s leafy branches reached up and over the back of the farmhouse. They should have been cut back years ago but, obviously, Marnie hadn’t bothered. One thick branch that extended toward Cassie’s window had been lopped off at a more vigilant time. The three-foot distance to it was nothing for him to reach, but he knew Cassie would have difficulty getting across to it. Could he catch her and hold her steady from the other side?
No time to think. There was rattling in the lock. They were trying to jimmy it. He swept her toward the window and then thought himself to the branch. It surprised him that it didn’t bow under his weight. But, of course, he weighed nothing.
He held out his hand to Cassie and she looked back over her shoulder at the door. Terror was written all over her face. Then, decisively she turned back and clambered out the window onto the windowsill. Hawk reached up, grabbed a branch above him and used the other arm to lean out toward her.
Cassie took his outstretched hand nervously, and with one sharp pull, he had her across the distance to the tree. Wrapped in his arms, she trembled like a captured bird.
But he’d done it. He was solid enough to hold her up.
‘Reach up here and hold on,’ he said, indicating the branch he held above them. She tentatively reached over her head and grabbed on with one hand.
‘Do not let go. I’m going back to shut the window.’ When she nodded, he disappeared back into the bedroom. He closed the window and drew the curtain just as the door began to creak open.
In the next blink, he was back in the tree, standing with one arm around Cassie and the other on the branch overhead. ‘That will keep them for a moment or two. Long enough for us to get out of sight. Come on, walk along the branch to the trunk. Hold onto me.’ He kept his hand around her waist as he edged backward along the tree limb. It was only six feet or so to cover, but Cassie was shaking badly in his arms. And though she tried to obey him, her legs were growing weaker with every passing minute. He was forced to take more and more of her weight.
How was this possible? He could barely feel her and yet he seemed to be solid enough to carry her. Trustingly, she sidestepped along the branch, one arm around his waist, the other on his shoulder. She kept her eyes locked on his.
It seemed like it took an eternity to reach the trunk, but it would only have been a minute or two. He coaxed her around to the far side of the thick trunk, down onto the bough that was slightly lower than the one they’d just walked along, and then he took her arms from around him and put them on the tree.
‘Hold on here for another minute. You should be well hidden if someone looks out the window. It’s dark out here and the leafy branches and trunk are good cover. Can you hold on for a minute until I get back?’
She nodded, clamping her arms around the trunk and closing her eyes. She was so terrified. There was gooseflesh on her bare arms. Was it the terror or the chill of the night air that caused them? He didn’t know. To him there was no difference between hot and cold temperatures. He could feel nothing.
But he couldn’t do anything about any chill she was feeling right now. There were more important matters with which to concern himself. In the next blink of an eye he was standing in Cassie’s bedroom as two men silently scoured the room, looking in wardrobes, under the bed and in the corners. Finally, one of them moved to the window and pulled back the curtain. He looked out the window.
‘Not out there. Tree’s too far,’ the man said in German. His voice was a husky whisper.
‘The door was locked. It has to be the window. Check for a lattice climber on the wall.’ The other man also spoke in hushed German. This was too eerily familiar for Hawk to comprehend. Somehow, his enemies were still German, even after the war had been over for more than sixty years.
The man’s head disappeared out the window, but he didn’t look in the direction of the tree. Instead, he inspected the wall on either side of the window. A moment later, he pulled his head back inside and slid the window closed again.
‘Nothing. No way a sick girl went out there.’
‘Has to be the bathroom.’ The first man moved back from the window heading for the door.
‘Heinrich’s checking it now. She must have snuck out before we got here.’
‘Recheck downstairs. We only did a cursory job.’
The two men stalked from the room, leaving the door wide open behind them. Hawk breathed a sigh of relief. For the moment, Cassie was safe. He blinked into Marnie’s room to see how she was fairing. Her door was wide open now, too, and the third man was looking in wardrobes and under the bed. Marnie didn’t move, for all the man was making plenty of noise. Drugged. She was definitely drugged.
After the room was thoroughly inspected, the dark intruder left it, gliding down the hall toward the stairs. He met up with one of the other men at the top of the staircase.
‘No sign up here. Somehow, she was forewarned and got clear before we arrived. The backyard and perimeter?’
‘Hans is checking the back garden. We’ll do the front.’
The men took the stairs two at a time in quiet efficiency. These were no amateurs. Their military precision was apparent in every movement and in the brief exchange of information. Whoever had sent them was serious.
He followed them down the stairs. He knew that Cassie would not be seen from the ground if she kept still, and he also knew she would do her best to do just that. But he didn’t know how long her strength would hold out. She was in a weakened state already, the intensity of the last few minutes would rob her of what little strength she still had.
‘No sign out back,’ the man called Hans said as he reached the front door where Heinrich now stood. The last of the men were inspecting the front yard.
‘Check the neighbour’s yards, then clear out,’ Heinrich ordered.
‘The old lady?’
‘Leave her. She’ll wake in the morning not knowing what’s happened. I took the canister. There’ll be no sign of us.’
‘The girl?’
‘She’ll come back here. She has to. That’s what the insurance is for. We’ll keep watch.’
The shadows stole from the house, closing and locking the door behind them. Hawk watched until they were well beyond the perimeter of the property, then he flashed back to Cassie’s side on the tree.
‘Oh, thank God,’ she said softly at his appearance. ‘I don’t think I can hold on much longer. My legs are wobbling.’
‘Just a little longer, Pet. They have gone for now. We can get you back inside. Take my hand,’ he kept his voice firm and strong, infusing his confidence into her.
Slowly she obeyed him, and he smiled his reassurance every step she took. Then he had her edging back around the trunk and up onto the higher branch that ran out toward the window. With his arms around her, he supported her body as she edged back toward the house along the branch.
When she was as close as she could get, he told her to hold on above her and blinked back into the bedroom. Opening the window, he slid out onto the windowsill and leaned out toward her just as he had done from the tree not long ago.
‘Come on Cassie, take my hand. I’ll pull you across to me. You can do it. This is the last of it.’
She edged a little closer and reached out with one shaky hand, as the other stayed clamped to the branch above. When her fingers were in his, he breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Now let go and let me pull you over,’ he demanded. When she did, he pulled h
er toward him with all his strength as he clung to the open window frame.
Finally, she was across the gap, her body pressed to his. He bent double and climbed through the window, drawing her along behind him. When they were both standing in the bedroom again, Cassie came into his arms, clinging tightly to him, sobbing quietly. The last of her strength left her and he had to catch her before she collapsed to the floor.
Sweeping her up into his arms, he carried her to the bed and laid her down gently. She was so limp in his arms – like a marionette doll with its strings cut.
‘Marnie?’ she whispered.
‘Asleep. Drugged. They were not after her. They were after you. When they could not find you, they left. But they are keeping watch on the house. This is not over.’
‘Why me? What would they want with me?’
‘I do not know. But I am determined to find out. Rest now, I am going out to them. I will be back when I know more.’
‘Be careful,’ she said.
He grinned at her. ‘What? You think they might kill me?’
The absurdity of her fears must have gotten through to her. The edges of her tired lips turned up.
Kissing her gently on the forehead, he blinked away to what had once been the farmyard.
The three figures were coming together from all sides of the old yard. Then they retreated with the same military precision as they’d carried out the whole mission. If he hadn’t heard them in time, they could have easily taken Cassie. But for what purpose? Why would one sick young woman be of any interest to these men?
He focused on them and blinked to their side, jogging along as they increased their pace. None of them said anything until they were inside the dark van parked at the end of the long drive up to Grange End.
Hawk walked through the van’s walls and sat down next to one of the men who was busy removing his balaclava. This one was young and blonde, with closely cropped hair and hard blue eyes. He looked to be in his late twenties.
The other two sat in the front as they removed their head cover. The driver was older, maybe fifty, with a bald head. The other man was the biggest, his muscular shoulders dwarfing his side of the van. His dark hair was cropped short, too, but from the re-growth, Hawk guessed he had a receding hairline.
