Tunnels 06 - Terminal

along.
    ‘It’s Steph!’ he exclaimed. ‘But what the hell is she doing all the way out here?’
    Martha was immediately suspicious. ‘Could be some kind of trap they’re setting for you. But if it is, then she’s alone. Ican tell from the way my fairies are shadowing her.’
    Stephanie was completely unaware of the lethal animals circling not far above her and under the lip of the cliff only feet away.
    She had almost reached where Martha and Chester were hiding when Martha stepped out, her crossbow levelled at the girl. ‘What do you want?’ Martha shouted, her voice cold and threatening.
    Stephanie nearly jumped out of her skin. ‘Oh, hi, is Chester with you?’ she asked, her voice quavering. ‘Oh, you are,’ she said, as Chester emerged from the trees. In her warm coat and woolly hat, and with the rucksack on her back, she looked like she could be on a school outing.
    ‘What are you doing here?’ Chester demanded. ‘Why didn’t you fly off with that lying bastard and your grandfather?’
    Stephanie bit her lip nervously.
    ‘They have gone, haven’t they? I thought I heard a helicopter,’ Chester said.
    Stephanie nodded.
    ‘So what are you still doing here?’ he repeated.
    ‘Um …’ she replied. ‘I couldn’t let you go off thinking that I’d known about Danforth and what happened to your mum and dad, because I didn’t. I swear I didn’t know anything at all about it. Nobody told me.’
    ‘Fine, but you’re not answering my question,’ Chester said urgently. ‘What are you doing here?’
    Stephanie’s voice was very small under the sound of the wind and the waves crashing at the bottom of the cliff. ‘Um, I came because I was really worried about you … and you left before I could speak to you. So while Parry was helping Gramps – he wasn’t hurt that badly – I sneaked away. I grabbedas much of your stuff as I could because I thought you’d want it.’ She swung around slightly so he could see the Bergen filled to bursting point on her back, then looked awkwardly down at the ground. ‘I … er … I wondered if maybe I could come with you, Chester. That we could be together.’
    It was clear to Chester that she was embarrassed and would have said more if Martha hadn’t been there. And he had no idea what to say in response. He’d been so consumed with anger that he’d been numb to everything else. The truth was that at the moment the first Armagi had made its entrance, part of him hadn’t actually cared whether he lived or died.
    But this wasn’t about him now. During the weeks in the cottage Stephanie had shown him nothing but kindness and affection, and he’d rebuffed her. He liked her very much, and right now he was very frightened for her; Martha was incredibly possessive, and that made her unpredictable. And, Chester didn’t doubt, murderous.
    By following him, the girl had well and truly put her head into the lion’s mouth.
    ‘You have no place here,’ Martha growled. Chester saw her tense her arm as she steadied her aim, lining the weapon up for a shot at Stephanie’s chest. ‘We don’t need no one along to slow us down,’ Martha added, glancing up and obviously considering whether she should instruct her Brights to tear Stephanie apart as an alternative to using a bolt on her.
    ‘Wait a moment,’ Chester said quickly, and stepped closer to Martha. It was no accident that he laid a hand on the woman’s rounded shoulder and kneaded it while he whispered into her ear.
    As she listened, Martha scratched her chin with the stumps of her finger. ‘Is that right?’ she said eventually, turning to him.
    ‘Absolutely,’ he replied.
    Martha was looking penetratingly into his eyes. ‘And that’s all?’ she asked.
    ‘Definitely,’ Chester confirmed, putting on his sweetest, most endearing smile. Martha lowered her crossbow and let out a whistle to her Brights. ‘Come over here, girly, and join us,’ she said to Stephanie, grinning with all her black teeth on display.
    Chester quietly sighed a huge sigh of relief.

    ‘I expect a slug of this wouldn’t go amiss,’ Jürgen said, offering Will the hip flask that he’d taken from his rucksack.
    Taking it from the New Germanian, Will sniffed at the neck of flask, then wrinkled his nose in distaste. ‘Oh, no, I don’t think so,’ he said, quickly handing it back. ‘What is it, anyway?’
    ‘Schnapps,’ Jürgen replied, about to offer it to Elliott but then thinking better of it.
    They had decided