The Tower Grave Read online

  As John opened his eyes, the light was lower outside his window and the heat of the sun was pressing strongly onto him making him sweat. He rolled over to grab his watch, showing ten to five in the evening, and figured he must’ve slept though he didn’t remember passing out. He jumped up, washed his face and changed into some comfortable jeans before jogging down to the lounge and dining room they’d seen earlier.

  Opening the door, he saw all of his team and instructors sitting around a long table, talking and joking loudly. The only seat available sat clearly between Geordie Pete and Jane who both smiled up to him as he entered.

  “Johnny!” called Derek from the table. “Grab some food from the buffet and have a seat, mate.”

  John smiled around at everyone and quickly grabbed some cuts of roast meat and vegetables from the chef at the buffet, sitting down in the available seat as Pete shuffled his large shoulders out of the way.

  “Cheers,” he said, feeling ravenous. “Hi Pete, Jane. Are you well?”

  “I’m great, John. You?” she replied, smiling.

  “Not bad,” he smiled back, trying to keep his eyes on hers but failing miserably and becoming embarrassed as he took in her body and clothes below. She’d switched the riding outfit for a pale-yellow summer dress that accentuated her tan, and had her hair tied up in a high pony-tail that revealed delicate shoulders and the firm swell of her breasts.

  “So, what do you think of your team, Johnny?” Geordie Pete asked, snapping him back to reality before he lingered too long without speaking.

  “Yeah, they all seem great,” he replied. “If nothing else, it should be a good laugh and quite an adventure!”

  “To say the least, mate. I have no idea how dangerous it’s going to be.”

  “What are going to learn? Defence-wise?”

  “Originally they wanted you armed. Just in case, you know. But the slightest inclination of something unusual and they’d probably call it witchcraft and come after you with pitchforks. So we’re going to train daily; open hand, sword, dagger, shield work and archery. Twice through each.”

  “Twice?”

  “On foot and mounted. You may need both, after all. Especially considering your undercover legends; you’ll have interesting personas to say the least.”

  “I can’t even ride a horse!” John exclaimed, laughing.

  “That’s why I’m here,” Jane interrupted. “I’ll teach you to ride and we’ll be doing loads of it.”

  “I bet you will, Janey!” Geordie Pete shouted, cracking out a bark of a laugh.

  John laughed too as Jane leaned past him and punched Pete in the arm, growing a deeper red by the second and looking around to see if anyone else had heard.

  “You sod, Geordie.” She said, smiling and glancing up to John shyly.

  “I’m sorry, Jane,” he continued, chuckling. “Maybe you should take your eyes off him for a second.”

  John felt his own cheeks flush in embarrassment but was cooled as he saw she felt just as shy and awkward as he did. From their introduction he had expected more confidence, but from what he had seen so far, she had the personality to match her appearance.

  “What were you saying, John?” she said, changing the subject with the embarrassment clear on her face.

  “Of course, what are our legends then, Pete?”

  The table grew quiet as some of the team turned their attention to Pete at the question and within moments only the sound of the oblivious Chris and Rich discussing the portal at the end of the table could be heard.

  “You’ll get everything in the morning,” Derek said, quietly from the other side of the table. “I’ll brief you properly and we’ll discuss any changes you want to make.”

  “Ok,” John replied, in thought. “We’ll wait until tomorrow. I hope you’ve got a decent Jester’s outfit for Jake.”

  Jake squinted at John and laughed as a chuckle rippled around the table.

  “Anyway,” Derek jumped back in. “Have a few beers and relax because starting tomorrow you’ve got some pretty intensive training ahead. I expect your brains, arms and arses to be in agony within forty-eight hours.”

  They continued to eat and talk, John remaining with Jane and Pete while he ate, others in small groups as they all gradually moved about and spoke with each other throughout the evening. By ten o’clock, David announced he was off to bed and most of the group agreed, setting off behind him.

  “I’ll see you in the morning, John.” Jane said quietly beside him. “You’ve got a session with me at eight.” She smiled up at him and walked away, waving to the others.

  “See you in the morning,” John replied as he watched her go.

  “She’s well into you, mate,” Jake said into his ear. “What do you reckon?”

  “I’ve got to concentrate, Jake,” he replied, lying.

  “And it’s also maybe the last time you’ll ever see the twenty-first century! A girl like that; she’s nice, John. She’s really nice.”

  “Yeah, she certainly is,” John replied as a smile crept across his face.

  “Good decision,” Jake grinned back.

  Five

  5th June 2014

  “Nice motors, Del,” said John as the Commander and Rich pulled up outside the house in two black Range Rovers to transport the team the short distance to the stables.

  “We just needed some off-road vehicles to get around the site,” he replied, grinning. “No use having a job like this if you don’t make use of the funding. Any time any of you need to get about in here, just grab one. We have five available for the use of the whole complex and they’ll always be parked about somewhere with the keys in them.”

  John turned just in time to catch Chris’ expression of joy as the tyres spun on the dust and bounced across the field towards one of the barns. They pulled up outside the most distant outbuilding in moments as the large door slowly eased open and Jane stepped out dressed once more in her riding clothes. The air from the coast was cool on John’s face but the heat of the summer sun had already left Jane with a glow of exertion as they gathered around her.

  “Welcome to the Equestrian Unit,” she said, smiling. “Come through and see what awaits you.”

  The newly formed team stepped inside as the sound of eight wheels spinning across the turf faded outside and they were faced with six large horses standing calmly in their riding equipment. Behind them was a large open sandy area with what looked like show-jumping hurdles pushed to one side.

  “Is that for us?” David asked, pointing at a pile of weapons and armour beside the hurdles.

  “Eventually it will be,” Jane replied, turning and buckling a saddle that sat atop one of the horses. “Has anyone ridden before?” she called over her shoulder.

  John raised his hand, trying to remember what he had learned from taking Holly to riding lessons when she was ten years old. He’d only made a few lessons himself, taking them when she did before having to stop when he was deployed on a job. She soon gave up the lessons when he stopped.

  “I did about eight lessons, five years ago,” he said.

  “Ok, and you, Charlotte?” Jane replied seeing Charlotte’s hand was also raised.

  “All my life,” Charlotte said. “We had horses at home and I’ve grown up on them. My mum used to compete.”

  “Excellent! Then it’s just you three from scratch.”

  Jake snorted.

  “Surely it’s not too bad?” he said. “I mean, I haven’t been on one before but I can ride a bike!” he said, laughing arrogantly.

  “A bike, Jake? Wow, ok,” Jane replied loudly. “Well we’ll get saddled first then you can show us how it’s done eh, hard nut?” She smiled as she spoke but showed a hint of annoyance in her voice. “Everyone pick a horse and stand by it, please. If you want to mount, you two, then go ahead.”

  “We’ll just stick to the horses for now, if that’s ok?” Charlotte said, laughing. “He is the boss after all!”

  The entire team chuckled as Char
lotte found a mare and sprang up into her saddle, soothing the beast’s neck gently. John picked a young gelding and slowly climbed into the saddle, feeling slightly unsteady while the other three found a horse and stood nearby.

  “Are you ok?” Jane asked quietly as she passed John’s horse.

  “Yeah, I should be,” he said, awkwardly as it shifted about uneasily beneath him.

  “Just relax your legs, ok? Keep your toes firmly in the stirrups and push your heels down to stay comfortable rather than squeezing your legs to stay still. You’re making him want to go,” she said, touching his thigh and loosely squeezing his leg muscles with her hand. “You’re too tense, John. Relax,” she added, grinning as he tried to relax but shifted nervously under her hand on his thigh.

  “You’re putting me off,” he said quietly and smiled.

  “We’ll work on it,” she said, and grinned before turning away.

  “Now, Jake. Hands on the saddle, left foot in the stirrups, pull yourself up and take your right leg around the back to the other side.” She frowned as he laughed at her blunt teachings and shrugged her away to grip the saddle and step up by himself. Seeing his grin as he stepped up with his second foot, she slipped behind him and slapped the mare’s rump making it lurch forward a few paces.

  “Fuck!” Jake exclaimed fearfully as he barely regained his footing without falling over, and skimmed across the floor before stopping and clinging on to the saddle tightly. “Oh, ok. Have a good laugh,” he said blushing, then quickly stepped up and mounted the horse the way he’d been told to.

  Chris and David followed suit, with David’s horse snorting softly at the arrival of its rider, while Chris’ began to circle slowly backwards making his knuckles turn white and his jaw clench.

  “Stop pulling the reins so hard, Chris,” Jane shouted at him. “Are you ok?” she asked, stepping in and finally bringing him to a stop.

  “Just a bit nervous up here, that’s all,” he replied. “I haven’t ridden before.”

  “Ok, I’ll stay by you. Charlotte can you take John and Jake through some drills outside and I’ll lead Chris and David through some basics in here?”

  Charlotte nodded and led the two men out of the barn doors and began to circle with them in the field.

  “Right,” she said. “Give a gentle squeeze with your legs and try to move into a trot.”

  They both did as they were told and John found himself enjoying the small, circular ride.

  “This is fine, Char,” said Jake. “Let’s go faster.”

  “One, don’t call me Char. And two, you’ve never ridden before. I can see by the way you sit that you’re not ready to move into a canter. Stay at a trot.”

  “Nonsense, this is easy,” he said arrogantly as he kicked his heels into his horse’s flank.

  “No!” he heard Charlotte shriek as his horse tensed and bolted below him. Still on a turn, Jake instantly lost balance, making him pull even harder on the left rein and turn the horse even more tightly while it whinnied and stamped its feet all over the place. Jake finally let go of the reins as the horse bolted forwards a few paces and he rolled backwards over his head past the rump to land flat on his face on the hard dry ground behind him.

  “Shit!” Charlotte said as she leapt from her horse and ran over to Jake on the ground.

  John too readied himself to step down from his horse, but another commotion sounded behind him making him turn in worry.

  “Chris!” shouted David’s voice at a volume John hadn’t heard him reach before.

  “Relax your legs, Chris,” sounded Jane’s voice straight after. “Relax them now!”

  John faced the barn and looked on at the sound of voices before Chris’ grey mare burst from the barn doors and shot off at a full gallop across the grass. Chris was clinging to her back like a bush-baby as she hurtled past John and away from the barn into the distance.

  “Bollocks,” John exclaimed as he dug in his heels and galloped after Chris. At first it seemed like he was sitting atop an uncontrollable ride with all four corners of the animal bouncing independently of each other, but then he seemed to catch the rhythm of the feet and realised that the ride was surprisingly smooth between the rhythmical poundings of the steps. Keeping loose and propped up, he found he could stay relatively still as the horse moved beneath him and he smiled as he began to pick up pace. Looking ahead to Chris, though, he saw that he had not gained on him and was merely chasing at the same pace. Afraid to turn his head and only guessing at how far they must’ve ridden from the others, John began to worry that he’d never catch up with his young technician and only the fear and adrenaline pulsing through him stopped him from panicking about how fast he was moving himself.

  As if answering his silent prayers, he felt relief flood his body as Jane shot past him atop a huge and shining black horse. With her legs tucked up beneath her, she rode with her bottom high in the air and almost made John fall from his mount as she stole his attention from the rhythm of the ride for a moment. She quickly caught up with Chris and rode effortlessly alongside him as she tried to calm him ahead of John. He couldn’t hear what was said, but both horses began to ease up and ever so slowly came to a stop before him. John gained ground quickly and slowly pulled his reins to come to a halt next to them, feeling nauseous and shaky at the adrenaline still rushing through him.

  Both John and Jane jumped down and ran to Chris as he moved to his belly and slipped from his own horse’s back to land flat on his feet then collapse to the floor.

  “Are you ok?” Jane asked him as he lay flat in a star shape, panting through the small whimpering noises of imminent tears.

  Nodding, he smiled and sat up as the tears finally brimmed in his eyes. He caught sight of John and straightened himself, trying to blink away the moisture but instead caused them to spill over to run in single drops on each cheek.

  “I’m sorry, Gov,” he said quietly. “I’m not actually crying, it just got me, you know?”

  “Don’t be silly, Chris. It’s easily done. And it’s scary too.”

  John felt Jane’s hand on his shoulder as she smiled up to him. They looked around at the sound of an engine and scattered dust coming closer as a shiny, black Range Rover bounced over the field towards them and skidded to a stop a few feet away.

  “All ok?” asked Derek from the driver’s seat as he threw open the door.

  “We’re good,” Jane answered. “Chris could do with a lift back, though.”

  “No problem,” Derek answered, smiling at Chris as the young man jumped up and nodded his thanks to both Jane and John.

  “Thanks,” he said to them. “Guess I’ll try again tomorrow.”

  “Of course,” said John. “See you back in the briefing room later.”

  Chris jumped in the car and they sped off back across the field.

  “Thanks, Jane,” John continued. “I don’t think I would’ve caught up with him then. I guess I owe you one.”

  “Yeah you do, Inspector,” she said with a teasing smile. “I drink vodka and lime and I’m in Room 4; if you ever decide you want pay me back.”

  She jumped onto her horse and took the reins of the other while John stopped still, stuck for something to say and unsure of whether to take notice of the underlying message he thought he’d heard.

  “Come on then, don’t just stand there,” she said. “I’ll race you back, but don’t go getting distracted by the view if I’m winning.” She grinned and kicked in her heels, trotting away and encouraging the other horse along with her.

  Smiling to himself at her forwardness and wit, John mounted his own horse and trotted along behind her making no effort to overtake.

  * * *

  Having followed Jane the short distance back to the riding barn, John found David and Jake alone and waiting in a Range Rover after Charlotte had ridden her horse back to the house, handed the reins to Geordie Pete and stormed inside without saying a word.

  “So, tell me again, why didn’t Charlotte wait for a l
ift back?” John asked as he closed his door and leant back in the comfortable back seat of the car.

  “We don’t know,” David answered. “She just got up and got on her horse once she’d helped Jake off the floor. She rode off without saying a word and never came back. It was Jake that saw her hand her reins to Pete in the distance. I was still stuck on my horse inside the barn.”