The Tower Grave Read online

  Holly’s head whipped around as she saw her father and she smiled.

  “Dad!” she said. “What are you doing here?”

  “Oh I just popped in. What boyfriend is this, Hol?”

  “Robbie,” she said quietly, turning red.

  “Is he in your class?”

  “No, Dad, he’s left school,” she said rolling her eyes, making John smile.

  “Left school?” he asked.

  “Only just, John,” Sophie added. “He’s sitting his GCSE’s. Anyway, he’s a nice boy.”

  “Mum, he’s gorgeous,” Holly said, walking out the door.

  “Hol, wait, Daniel?” John said, gathering them in. “I need to speak to you please.”

  The three of them walked outside to the garden leaving Sophie sitting still in the kitchen with a nervous look on her face. As he went through the back door to their patio, John looked back and caught a reassuring smile from her. He smiled back thankfully. She approved. The one person whose approval he had always required, and she did, of a job that shook him with fear. Feeling better, he sat the kids down and started.

  “I just wanted to talk to you before I go away. I’ve been sent on a work job and will be away for a little bit. Not for long though!” he added quickly as he saw their faces drop. “And not like before either, I promise. It’s just a short one. I’m on a training course not far away, and I’ll be in touch and able to visit throughout that. But it’s when I’m away afterwards that I wanted to talk to you about. It’s only for the day but a lot can happen in a day. And this job, well it’s particularly difficult, particularly dangerous. I just want you both to know I love you very much and you’re the most important things in the whole world to me. You two and your mum.”

  “Why are you talking like that?” Holly asked as her eyes filled with tears. “You’re not going to die or anything, are you?”

  “No, Hol, I’m not. But if anything happens, just know I would never take a risk of losing you, or you losing me, unless I had no choice. And in this I have no choice. This is for us; in the long run at least. Now don’t be upset, it will be fine, and it’s only for a day. Let’s just spend some time together, eh?”

  Together the three of them walked across the road outside their house and down to the estuary seafront and beach where they watched the kite-surfers ride the air as though they were puppets lifted and dropped by God. They walked for hours in the evening sun talking about school and friends while the joggers and cyclists shot past in their haste. With the days at their longest, they stayed out until the air turned cooler then spent the rest of the evening together at their favourite Italian restaurant nearby. While they were out, Sophie sat in her bedroom looking through the divorce paperwork she had prepared for the next time she saw John. Caught by the unexpected prospect of losing him forever and the emotions that came with it, she slowly put them back into their envelope and replaced them in her drawer. ‘They could wait,’ she thought as she blew through her cheeks and pushed the drawer closed.

  Later as the four of them said goodbye, John struggled to hold a strong face to ease the parting and was thankful that Steve had remained at work. The children wept gently as they shared a cuddle; then as he turned to Sophie, she leant forward, kissed him once on the lips and smiled, her eyes glistening.

  “Take care of yourself, ok?” she asked. “These kids need you.”

  He nodded and backed down the path onto the road, watching them as he went. Smiling one more time, he turned away in the now dark street and began the two mile walk to his flat, his life changing forever.

  Four

  June 4th 2014

  It was the hottest day of the year so far as John put on his Ray-Ban aviators and drove through the Essex villages out towards Bradwell and the training site. He smiled to himself as he glanced in the rear view mirror. Sophie had always mocked his ‘Top Gun’ Ray-Bans as she called them, but he’d loved them for years and since her approval the previous night, he finally felt like a free man. It was the first time for a long time, he thought as he smiled and checked out his glasses again.

  She’d finished their marriage because of his work, and the entire time he’d continued working he’d allowed himself to feel guilty for not making the effort. He shook his head to clear his thoughts. For two years he’d been alone, holding on to the idea that they may re-unite; but she’d moved on and he knew it. She’d met skinny Steve, the kids were happy, and he should be happy that way too. Somehow her approval of the job allowed him to realise that it was truly over. He could handle that, he thought, now that he knew it to be so. He reached down and turned up the radio in his eight year old Ford Mondeo, making a mental note that he needed a new car as soon as possible. He smiled again as excitement shot through him and with a shout of childish glee he put his foot down to accelerate through the country lanes.

  It wasn’t long before he passed the famous Bradwell Power Station and drove through along the coast, following Derek’s directions to the farm he would live in.

  “Nine forty five,” he said to himself with satisfaction as he pulled in to the winding lane to towards the house. His arrival time was scheduled for ten-thirty but he had wanted to be early. It wasn’t that he felt he had to be a ‘first in, last out’ kind of boss; but on this occasion he wanted to set an example and get a measure of his team as they arrived one at a time. He finally turned into the long, dusty driveway of ‘Tolkley Farm’ as it was sign-posted and pulled up in front of a large farmhouse with what looked like converted stables leading out from it in a long, white-wooden, low outbuilding. The surrounding crop fields looked well-kept, and had at least five or six large barns spread about across them with a number of vehicles sat waiting outside each.

  He was beginning to feel excited. The stress and thrill of living permanently under another persona with absolutely no second chances for slipping up was an immense challenge and he loved it. Beyond that, he was going to experience the fifteenth century. Who had done that? He was going to time travel, he would live in history and the thought of it was amazing.

  He stepped up to the thick, oak front door of the house and knocked, glancing around at the huge sand blocks making up the outer wall and listening to the series of bolts and a loud keypad being opened inside.

  “Hello, Mr Bridge,” said a pretty young woman as she opened the door.

  John looked back, lost for words for a moment as he took her in. She instantly struck him as attractive and he smiled nervously, feeling different in his new ‘free-man’ skin. Possibly in her late twenties, she had straight, blonde hair tied back into a tight pony tail with a neat fringe just below her eyebrows at the front. She was petite and athletic, and wearing what looked like well-fitted horse-riding clothes. John was impressed.

  “Hi,” he replied, trying to sound confident and cover his moment of silence. “I’m here for Derek Pritchard?”

  “Yes, of course. Come in,” she said, smiling at him. He thought he noticed her eyes flick down over his body before she turned around but his thoughts were distracted by the grand interior of the farmhouse entrance hall and then by the sight of her as she led the way into the house. The riding had clearly paid off and she walked in a way that accentuated her hips in her jodhpurs. He wondered if she exaggerated the step and if it was his benefit. He smiled again at the thought. Shaking himself, he forced himself to ignore the distractions flying around his head and concentrate on the job at hand; at least for a while.

  She led him across the large hall and another empty room before opening a final door and looking back.

  “They’re in there,” she said, politely. “I’m Jane, the riding instructor. I’ll see you around, Mr Bridge?”

  “Cheers. And, uhm, call me John,” he replied.

  “Of course, John,” she said, smiling happily, and walked off not looking back.

  The room through the door, John could see, was very different. It looked like a modern briefing area or classroom with a huge screen at one end of the room an
d eight single desks in the centre. He recognised three of the four faces immediately and entered the room to greet them.

  “Morning, Gentlemen,” he said as he stepped down into the room from the raised floor of the main house.

  “John!” shouted Derek as he looked up. “You remember David and Rich?”

  “Of course,” he replied, nodding towards them with a smile.

  David put up his hand, smiling, but Rich jumped up and waved enthusiastically.

  “Hello, Mr Bridge,” he said, stepping over to John and taking hold of his hand.

  “Call me John, Rich.”

  “Okay, okay. Have you met Chris?”

  “Not yet,” John replied, walking over to the short, slim man he took to be the technical scientist on his team. He looked far too young to risk his life and looked nervous under his thick, strawberry-blonde hair. Nevertheless, he smiled politely back at John. “Nice to meet you, Chris,” John said as he took his hand.

  “Hi John,” he said in reply, taking off his rectangular glasses for a second and rubbing his nose between what seemed like extremely small eyes.

  “So you’re our whizz-kid scientist? Are you excited?”

  “Oh, yes definitely,” he said in a nervous but well-spoken accent. “I’m nervous as hell though.”

  “Yeah, we all are,” John replied. “We’ll be fine though, I’m sure.”

  As John turned and shook David’s hand, the door opened behind them and down stepped an attractive woman with light, wavy, blonde hair falling casually over her shoulders. Remembering she was thirty-two, John was surprised to see who must be Charlotte looking a lot younger than he expected and he turned to face her, smiling as the men around him fell silent.

  “Hi then!” she said enthusiastically in a feminine, high-class, London accent.

  “Hi,” the men all replied together before Derek broke the following silence by stepping forwards to shake her hand.

  “Good to see you again, Charlotte,” he said.

  “And you, Sir,” she replied.

  “This is the team leader, DI John Bridge,” he continued.

  “How do you do?” she said, smiling as she shook his hand.

  “And these are Chris Deacon, your team scientist; Rich Walker, your portal technician; and you’ve met David. Gentlemen,” Derek added, “This is your next team member and surveillance specialist, Charlotte Birch.”

  She nodded to each with a smile before glowing red and turning back to Derek.

  “Sorry, Sir,” she added, quietly, “Have you got a toilet? I’m bursting!”

  Derek chuckled with her and led her back out to the hall, closing the door behind him. John continued to talk to David in an attempt to get to know him before the door opened once more with an explosion of noise.

  “Wow, have you seen that horse-riding bird? She’s gorgeous!” exclaimed a tall, slim man in his late twenties as he stepped down into the room. “Hi fellas, I’m Jake,” he said confidently, pushing his left hand through his dark hair and extending his right to John and then to the others.

  “I’m John, nice to meet you,” John replied, smiling at the confidence in the young agent.

  “Ah, nice to meet you, Boss. And let me guess, David and Rich I’ve met, so you must be Chris.”

  They all nodded and Chris shook his hand, smiling with awe at his new team mate. John smiled to himself. He thought he was going to like Jake; providing he could keep him under control.

  The door opened once again.

  “Wahey!” Jake exclaimed. “Another riding instructor, I’m looking forward to this!”

  John shut his eyes for a moment and smiled as Charlotte stepped into the room and her faced turned a deep crimson.

  “You must be Jake,” she said, raising her chin defiantly. “I’m your teammate, Charlotte.”

  “Ah, shit. Sorry mate,” he said sheepishly, turning red himself. “I didn’t mean to, you know, you look so, and out there she was, you know what I mean. Don’t you?”

  “No worries,” she said, smiling and looking away from him shyly with a hint of embarrassment in her eyes.

  “So we’re all here? Excellent,” said John, breaking the embarrassment and making a mental note to use the three week course wisely in planning his team management.

  “Well, seeing as you’re all here,” said Rich, “Follow me and we’ll go through for the induction.” He led them through a door on the far side of the room into another. This time, the room was made up of two cream-coloured walls opposite two sides of large floor to ceiling windows. The spacious room was scattered with coffee tables, a large TV unit and a number of cosy looking sofas seating a group of people who stood as they entered.

  “Ok,” Rich said. “This is your team of instructors and you already know Derek. If you would introduce yourselves, please, everyone?”

  John looked at Jane, whom he’d met in the entrance hall, and watched her until her eyes flicked onto his and remained there with a smile as though questioning him for his stare. The instructors introduced themselves one at a time.

  “Derek Pritchard, Guvnor,” Derek said, smiling.

  “Jane Chrisp; riding,” said Jane, still looking straight at John who smiled back as he struggled to pull his eyes away from the intense blue stare.

  “Peter Firth; sword, archery and combat training,” said a tall, stocky man with ginger hair and a strong Newcastle accent. “Call me Geordie-Pete if you like,” he added smiling.

  “Paul Martin; fifteenth century lifestyle and history trainer,” said a short man with dark, receding hair in a black, gold-buttoned blazer.

  “And I’m Rich Walker as you know; here for portal training and operation. Ok,” he added grinning. “We didn’t over do the staff. We have what we need and we all live here. There are ten of us in this room now. Add a chef, my six engineers, two cleaners and Beth our office assistant; and we have twenty residents in twenty rooms. You all now live in the converted stables at the front. They are entered via a corridor and not the doors onto the driveway, which are sealed. On this floor there is a dining room, a bar, this lounge, and the classroom that you’ve seen. Offices are up the stairs, which are back out by the front door, and we will give you the codes for the doors shortly. You may have seen a number of barns outside; they house a bit more, which you’ll see in time. We have a fitness suite, an equestrian unit, a dojo and a mock fifteenth century village. Ok?”

  John smiled along with the others at the whirlwind briefing provided by the technician. They each nodded their agreement and Rich exhaled with relief.

  “Let’s go and see the portal then,” he announced all of a sudden.

  John looked around at Charlotte smiling and grinned back in acknowledgement of the short man’s manner. They were led to a steel door that John hadn’t seen at the back of the room and were taken through by Rich into another, far busier area.

  John couldn’t believe his eyes. It was as though he had stepped into a space-lab from a futuristic sci-fi movie and a slow whistle came from one of the others behind him as they too filed into the large room. In the centre of the room stood what appeared to be the portal. Like a huge, spherical machine, it had a small door and a number of dials and screens upon it. It was clearly extremely sophisticated, but to him it could not look more like a space-pod or submarine from an old eighties sci-fi movie. Around the portal and across the room stood five or six men and women; none of whom seemed to notice the rabble of people standing behind them as they worked at their desks, control panels and computer screens.

  “Ladies and Gentlemen,” said Rich, shaking them all from their thoughts. “May I introduce my engineers and of course, your portal.”

  John glanced at Derek who raised his eyebrows and blew through his cheeks in a ‘don’t blame me’ kind of way; then looked back to Rich who began to point out different parts of the machine and how it would work. As far as John could see, only Chris seemed to be following with any understanding; the rest of the team and instructors slowly stopped
listening and made their own awestruck inspections of the craft that would decide their fate within weeks. A small, polite voice made John jump as he looked around the room to see if the others were as confused as he was.

  “Funny looking box, eh Boss?” Charlotte said, looking up from beside him. “What do you reckon? Will it be the last thing we ever see?”

  “I reckon we’ll soon find out whether this is the most advanced machinery known to man, or if it’s going to quickly turn us into a pool of mush,” he replied.

  “That’s what I was thinking,” she added, queasily.

  “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

  “Of course we will,” boomed the confident voice of Jake approaching behind them. “Stay positive and we will smash up those Tudors and get back before we know it.”

  John smiled at the words.

  “You know where we’re going is a few years before the Tudors, right, Jake?”

  “They’re all the same, Guvnor. We have the advantage of being from the future! We’ll smash ‘em for sure! We know what happens there after all! Got to be a bit of an advantage, eh?”

  Another voice, this time belonging to Derek, rang out behind them announcing a few hours to get settled before dining and drinks at 5pm. Nodding their agreement in reply, the crowd mingled amongst each other and wandered off slowly as Charlotte and John continued their conversation and looked around the house, eventually separating back at their rooms. John opened his door and stepped into his room, dropping his bag and collapsing onto his bed. Suddenly becoming aware of how exhausted he was, he glanced at his watch and smiled as he saw he still had two hours to himself. Sighing aloud with relief, he wriggled further onto his bed and closed his eyes. He was pleased with his team. Between Chris and David they had their knowledge covered already and the other two were perfect for the job. To a lot of people, Jake would seem cocky and foolish with his over-confident, gung-ho attitude; but John he knew that underneath the bravado, the young agent had exactly what was needed to be a successful undercover operative in an alien environment. If something happened and he was no longer around, he was confident Jake would lead the team well and would either pull them to safety or get the job done. Charlotte was confident and bright and despite being more than attractive enough to turn any man over to her way of thinking, she seemed sensible enough to ensure she wouldn’t stick permanently in the minds of every man they met. An apparent total contrast to Jane, he thought, who was now firmly stuck in his mind. He’d noticed attention from women before but it had hardly registered over his feelings for Sophie. Now, after the emancipation from his unreciprocated devotion, he suddenly felt free and both Jane’s attention and attractiveness were very much clear. He noticed her check him out the moment they met, and the prospect of getting to know someone new was unusual and exciting. He accepted that with the impending risk to his life he may only get to know her in a brief and physical manner; but it had been a long time since he had ‘gotten to know’ anyone like that and the thought made his heart race. He sighed as he wondered whether it would be a good idea to be distracted by a woman when he needed to concentrate on the task at hand. It was his number one rule as a husband and an undercover that he would never play away. Now, he was no longer a husband; but an undercover he still was, and he needed his sense. It didn’t help that she was gorgeous, he thought, nor did it help that they were both part of a very dangerous assignment. But she wasn’t on his team and if he was facing a very sudden death he felt he could probably relax his own rules a little. He kept his eyes closed and considered the peace he had finally found with his family and with himself. He grinned broadly; life was going to get more fun.