Blood Memory: The Complete Season One (Books 1-5) (11 page)

Looking at Light now, Jordan and Joel realised just how lucky they had been.
The ferry’s stern was completely immersed, the bow standing up from the waterline, only the first three letters of its name now visible.

“
Did you get it?” Mary asked as she wrapped bandages around Anne's head. Anne grimaced in pain.

“
Get what?” Joel said. He grinned.

Jordan unfastened the alternator from his chest pocket.

“What happened to you?” Joel said to Anne.

“
Ask Stan.”

Stan blossomed red.
“A little cookery accident.”

Mary pinned the bandage. Anne got up and
hugged Joel. “Thank God you’re okay.”

“Don’t thank Him,” Joel said. “He was as useful as a chocolate t
eapot. Jordan’s the one you should be thanking. He was the one who got us out of there.”

Anne
smiled, and then wrapped her arms around Jordan, a tangible feeling of awkwardness. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome
,” Jordan said.

“
It was a lot of trouble,” Anne said, “but worth it.”

“
Worth it if it works,” Joel said. “I’m going to go install this alternator.” He headed below deck.

The deck was silent a moment.

“How was it in there?” Anne asked Jordan.

“
Like a theme park without the safety.”

“I
wanted to come in and help you.”

“
It’s good you didn’t. It got a bit hairy in there.”

“
There she goes!” Stan said.

They watched as Light sank below the surface. The bridge was the last thing to go under,
amidst a blanket of bubbles and gurgles. A space of suction pulled Haven over to one side, rocking her gently. A single ripple stretched out across the space, touching Haven, and then on to the farthest edges of the ocean. Nothing was left save stained squares of paper floating on the surface. There was a quiet moment of reflection for the dead.

The silence was broken
by Joel’s heavy footsteps coming up the stairs. He was carrying the old alternator.

“
It works?” Stan said.

Joel nodded.
“As well as a whore during shore leave.”

Stan frowned
with disapproval. “Joel, please.”

Joel ignored Stan
’s protest. He raised the old alternator into the air. “How about we give her a good send-off?”

They eyed one another, thinking Joel had lost it.

“No? Okay then. Get out of here you piece of junk!” Joel pulled his arm back and hurled it into the sea.

Stan took a deep cleansing breath.
“We’re safe.”

“
For now,” Anne said. “A stop-gap until our next crisis.”

“
Whatever it is, I’m sure we’ll overcome it. Nothing can stop us.”

Thirty yards from Haven’s hull a baked bean tin can bobbed in a reflected field of pastel blue and fluffy white clouds. The ocean was unusually calm, with not so much as a ripple to disturb the smooth
surface.

A bullet whistled through the air and smacked the water beside the can, not more than a few inches away, dousing
it. Ripples emanated outwards in concentric circles. A second bullet came even closer.

Jordan shaved off another curl of wood from the block he was whittling. He held it up and blew the detritus away. He had carved out two front and back legs
, the tail and the mane.

“Breathe,”
Jordan said, not taking his eyes off his sculpture.

Jessie took her time and aimed down the sight with great care. She exhaled and squeezed the trigger. A small column o
f water rose up beside the can.

“Shit!” she said.

“Language,” Jordan said. “You don’t want Mary catching you saying things like that.” Jordan put his wooden whittling block in his pocket and took up the string. “Let’s see how you did.”

Jessie crowded round. “I swear that last one hit.
”

Jordan checked the can.
The smiley face he’d drawn on was without blemish. “Nope. No holes.”

“Let me have a look,” Jessie said, taking it from him. She ran her slender fingers over it. “Here,” she said. “Here’s a dent.”

“It’s an imperfection,” Jordan said, reloading the gun. “Not caused by you.”

“Are you sure? It looks very bullet-like to me.” She fell onto the hard plastic bench that wrapped around Haven’s interior and slammed the tin down. “I can’t do it!
Twenty-five yards is okay, but thirty…”

“Sure you can
do it. You just need to quiet your mind and focus.”

“But
how
?
How
do you focus?”

“I’ve told you how. Empty your mind. Think of nothing and find the void.”

Jessie shook her head. “Think of
nothing
? Is that even possible?”

“Then try focusing on something else.”

“Like what?”

“The rules. Do you remember them?”

Jessie rolled her eyes. “You mean the rules I had to memorize for three months before you’d even let me pick the gun up? Yeah, I think I’ve got them down.”

“Good. Take position.”

Jessie stood with her body turned sideways, feet shouldered-width apart, gun pointing out to sea.

“Let’s wipe the smile off the can’s face, shall we?” He hurled the
can out to sea.

“I wish you wouldn’t litter,” a voice said behind them. Anne wore a cheeky
smile and had her arms crossed.

“You’re right,” Jordan said. “We might end up ruining the planet.”

Anne snorted. “How’s Jessie coming along?”

“Not bad.”

“I’m standing right here,” Jessie said. “I think I’m doing a little better than ‘not bad’.”

“Prove it.” With a grin toward Anne, Jordan said, “Rule one.”

“Always have a bullet in your gun.” She squeezed the trigger and missed by a yard.

“Stay calm and relaxed,” Jordan said. “Try again.”

“Rule two. Always have someone watch your back.”

Blam!
Only a few inches away this time.

“Better,” Jordan said. “Take a deep breath.” She did.

“Rule three. Never give up fighting.”

Ting!
The bullet smacked into the side of the can. It dipped beneath the surface and popped back up.

Jessie stared at the can wide-eyed and open mouthed. “
Oh my God… I did it! I did it, Jordy! I did it!”

Jessie dropped the gun and reached up to hug Jordan, who put his hands in the crook of her arms. The air pressed against her head as she rose high into the air. He put
her feet back down on the deck.

“Did you see me, Anne?” Jessie asked, voice squealing like a child. “Did you? Did you see?”

“I saw. You were great! Soon you’ll be as good as Jordan.”

“Better than me,”
Jordan said.

“You should learn, Anne,” Jessie said. “Jordan says it could be really useful.”

“I don’t need to learn,” Anne said. “You can shoot for me.”

“It might save your life one day,” Jordan said.

“Go on, Anne,” Jessie said. “Jordan’s a brilliant teacher.”

Jordan stepped forward and took
Anne by the hand. Her skin was hard and worn from her daily tasks, but there was a warmth that shone through.

“All right,” Anne conceded. “But quickly.”

Jordan picked up the gun and held it in the correct stance. “Keep the butt firmly in your shoulder like this. Breathe out when you fire. Squeeze the trigger, don’t snap it. The gun can kick-back, so you have to be careful.”

“That’s a lot to remember,” Anne said, taking the gun and holding it
as Jordan instructed.

Jordan raised her right elbow a little and gently pressed her head toward the rifle. “You need to look down the barrel. We’re going to use the sight to aim.”

“Okay.”

“Hips,” Jordan said. “They should be shoulder-width apart. Like this.” He turned to Jessie. “Do you think she’s ready to shoot?”

Jessie frowned. “Doesn’t she have to study the rules for three months too?”

Anne chuckled. “She’s right. You can’t have favouritism amongst your students.”

“I don’t,” Jordan said. He winked at Jessie, and mouthed to her, “You’re my favourite.”

Jessie tried not to giggle.

“What was that?” Anne asked in a mock angry voice. “Picking on the new girl?”

Jordan tossed a fresh can out to sea. “Are you ready?”

“She has to sing a song,” Jessie said, “to help with concentration.”

“You’re right.”

“I can’t sing,” Anne said.

“A nursery rhyme is fine,” Jordan said, enjoying this. He held up his hands defensively. “I can’t have favourites.”

“Okay.” Anne cleared her throat and tentatively sang, “The itsy bitsy spider climbed up the waterspout.”

Blam!
Two yards wide.

Jessie laughed.

“Down came the rain and washed the spider out.” Anne couldn’t stop herself from giggling. A yard wide this time. “Out came the sun and dried up all the rain.”

Ting!
The bullet hit the can.

Jordan and Jessie exch
anged expressions of amazement.

Anne shrugged as if it had been part of her plan all along
and not the pot luck that it was. “What can I say? I’m a natural.”

“Great shot!” Jessie said as she held up her hand for a high-five. “We can be like cowgirls!”

“We only have one gun so I don’t know how that’ll work.” Anne handed the gun back to Jordan. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.”

On the small deck, Anne was close. A breeze brought her scent to him: lilac and lavender. It took him back seven years – to the very fringes of what remained of his memory. The barracks’ canteen. He reached for the memory as he had so many times before. He saw his friend, Flaherty, wave him over. Flaherty was a short unshakeable fellow with a straw-like mop of fringe that hung limply over his eyes. Jordan carried his tray over to him. Flaherty gestured to someone beside him, as if introducing someone. As the person stood, the memory turned to mist in his hands, slipping through his fingers.

“What’s going on here?” Joel said, leaning against the doorframe. “You were supposed to tell them dinner was ready, not playing Calamity Jane.”

“I got distracted,” Anne said, cheeks glowing.

“I can see that.”
Joel had an amused look on his face.

Anne looked at Jordan through her big brown eyes. “Dinner’s ready.”

“Surprise!” they all cheered as Jordan descended the stairs into the main cabin. They wore hand-made hats and blew party horns made out of telephone directory pages. The table was full to bursting with every type of food they could rustle up. Amongst the obligatory fish, seaweed and jellyfish were sausage rolls, chicken, pies and cakes. There was also an assortment of drinks; half a bottle of Glenfiddich single malt whisky, four bottles of Bud, an unopened bottle of red wine
and some lemonade for the kids.

Jordan couldn’t hide his amazement. “Where did you get all this stuff?”

“Didn’t you hear?” Joel said. “Tesco opened a new branch in the North Sea.”

“From the yacht we boarded last month,” Stan said, ignoring Joel’s remark.

“I thought there was nothing on board?” Jordan said.

Stan grinned. “Maybe it wasn’t quite so empty as we said it was.”

“Are you telling me we could have been eating sausage rolls instead of haddock all this time?”

Joel slipped a purple paper hat on Jordan’s head. “Happy
first birthday. I have to say, you don’t look at all well for your age.”

“See how you look after w
aking up to your face every day,” Jordan retorted.

“Let’s put some music on, shall we?” Stan said, moving to the
iPod they’d found in a floater’s pocket. It was connected to a battery Stan had made out of plastic cups, seawater, and strips of aluminium and copper. A poppy tune played.

Stacey ran to Jordan and held up a card she’d made. On the front was a ha
nd-painted picture of them all.

“Wow, this is amazing,” Jordan said. He pointed to the smallest figure. “Is this you?”

Stacey nodded.

“
And this is Uncle Joel? You drew his nose too small…”

“Hey!”
Joel said.

“And this must be me and Anne…” In the picture they were holding hands. “Thank you so much. Can I hang it on the wall for everyone to see?”