The Song of Mawu. Jeff Edwards

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СКАЧАТЬ He then climbed onto the high seat and started the motor as the others watched on anxiously.

      ‘Keep digging as much dirt as you can away from the sides while I try to drag it out,’ he called, as he put the tractor into gear and eased slowly on the accelerator. The chain went taut with the tractor’s rear wheels beginning to spin but car remained stuck fast.

      Toby set the tractor to maintain a constant pressure while the others shovelled more dirt away. Suddenly, dirt still sticking to the rear wheels of the captive car dropped off as the wheel itself turned slightly. ‘It’s moving!’ yelled Brian, as he and the other men jumped out of the hole in case the trapped car moved in the wrong direction.

      Increasing the pressure slightly, Toby felt as the interred car move ever so slightly.

      The tractor’s rear wheels shuddered as it strained to gain purchase on the dirt floor and after Toby pushed slightly on the accellorator he felt it jump forward slightly.

      More dirt fell away from the sides of the trapped vehicle and its almost imperceptible progress increased with a sudden jolt, followed by exclamations of joy as its rear wheels were suddenly dragged clear of the hole. Seconds later the rest of the magnificent old vehicle was pulled clear of its grave.

      There were whoops of joy as the Rolls Royce emerged and still more when Brian climbed inside and turned the ignition key. True to her origins the grand old lady’s motor kicked into life on the third attempt and idled quietly.

      Other than the dirt still sticking to her silver sides, the only visible damage was a pattern of scratches and burn marks gained in her fight with terrorists. While in her boot and rear passenger compartment Jade Green’s legacy lay stored just as Brian and his friends had left them.

      ‘Where’s she off to now?’ asked Ellen Scott.

      ‘I’m afraid that’s something we can’t tell even you,’ said Lana, ‘but I bet you’ll be relieved to know that you don’t have the worry of having to look after her any more.’

      ‘Oh I don’t know,’ said Mark, ‘being the keeper of the greatest secret in the last fifty years has added a lot of spice to our lives. Now we’ll have to settle down and become a pair of boring old country yokels.’

      ‘Better a boring old country yokel than the object of The Crown’s wrath,’ said Brian.

      ‘We shall see. We shall see,’ replied Ellen.

      ***

      With dawn approaching, the directors of The Fund drove away from Mark and Ellen’s farmhouse in a short convoy. They made sure that the Rolls Royce, now driven by Lana, was in the centre of the line of cars.

      They didn’t have to travel far as it was only a short drive from Mark and Ellen’s home to the compound of The Fund where they found the front gate securely locked.

      Acting upon instructions from Brian Reynolds, Teddy Strang had taken steps to make sure that no one was present to observe the arrival of the Rolls Royce. He had ordered the entire security staff to take the night off, explaining that he would be carrying out an automated security check on the property in their absence.

      Brian pulled up to the gate and produced a key, allowing the convoy to enter before relocking the gate once they were all inside.

      The convoy wound its way up the hill and past Ali and Nori’s new house, before dropping down the far side to where Toby and Suzie’s house lay in the glen beyond.

      Here, Toby’s new barn had been constructed with its rear wall abutting the excavated side of the hillock.

      Lana reversed the Rolls Royce into the empty barn and switched off the motor.

      ‘From under the foor of one barn and into another,’ said Nori, ‘the poor thing hasn’t seen the light of day in years. What will become of it when we’re finished?’

      Brian smiled, ‘I think she’s done enough to earn a quiet retirement. What if we clean her up and place her on display as a reminder of Jade Green?’

      ‘Where?’ asked Nori.

      ‘How about in the front foyer of our new headquarters?’

      ‘Wonderful!’ said Nori, ‘But I don’t know about clean and polished. She’s been gallant and deserves to display her battle scars.’

      ‘You’re right. The scars should remain but the dirt goes.’

      ‘Having her suddenly reappear will certainly put the cat among the pigeons in certain quarters,’ laughed Toby.

      ‘Yes it will. Won’t it,’ agreed Brian with a wicked grin.

      ‘You’re doing it on purpose, aren’t you?’ said Lana.

      ‘Of course I am. Now let’s get to work.’

      ***

      Once again the wheelbarrows were unloaded from Toby’s truck and lined up at the back of the Rolls Royce.

      First, the contents of the passenger compartment were unloaded and then the boot was cleared.

      With their wheelbarrows now fully laden, Toby stepped toward the shelving that covered the rear wall of the garage. Pushing aside a rusty paint tin, he placed his security card over the pad on the wall behind. With a slight click, the shelf moved and Toby was able to push the entire set of shelves and a portion of the barn’s rear wall into the hillside beyond.

      Reaching into the darkness, Toby found a switch and turned it on, revealing a long tunnel that disappeared into the hillside and ran below Brian and Lana’a house..

      Brian picked up the handles of the first wheelbarrow in line and pushed into the tunnel while the others followed suit. Toby was the last in line and he made sure the shelving was closed over the entrance again. He then picked up his wheelbarrow and hurried to catch up to his companions.

      He grinned as, from the front of the column, came Brian’s voice echoing off the walls singing ‘Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s off to work we go.’

      ***

      Eliza was on hand at the far end of the tunnel when her fellow directors emerged from a door secreted on the second lowest level of the hidden basements.

      She led them down a corridor to a room where she was still in the process of setting up her computer equipment. ‘Stack them against the wall over there,’ she pointed. ‘I’ll start work on them as soon as I’m set up. The sooner I start the sooner I can finish and get back out to Namola.’

      ‘No need to rush Eliza. We still have a lot of things to do,’ said Brian.

      Eliza fixed him with a withering glare, ‘Out in Namola people are dying because I’m not there to help. Of course I have to rush.’

      8

      In the heat of the midday sun, four men sat in folding chairs beneath a canvas awning, sipping imported German beer from an ice filled cooler while surveying the scene below and discussing the future.

      The helicopter they had arrived in sat at the end of the airstrip beside the village. СКАЧАТЬ