Waiting in the Shadows (8 page)

Chapter Six

He had woken up in the night again, calling out. She had rushed in to see him sitting upright in bed, his eyes staring unseeing ahead.

‘It's OK, it's OK, my love,' she had comforted him. ‘It's just a dream! You're OK now!'

‘It was the same thing, but I see a bit more each time, Mom!' he said turning to her.

‘Do you want to talk about it, honey?' she asked gently.

‘I'm in the orange room; I can hear the humming noise; all like last time. But this time … I opened the lid …' he said slowly.

‘What lid?' she asked him. But he shook his head.

‘I don't know!'

She handed him a clean pair of pyjamas, ‘Put these on while I change the sheets. You're covered in sweat, Simon! Perhaps we should make an appointment to see Dr Flynn again tomorrow?'

‘No, I'll be fine, Mom,' he said getting back into bed.

She pushed his hair back and kissed his forehead, ‘I think you've being overdoing it lately, Simon. You've never really given yourself time to get over your last accident!'

‘I'm fine,' he had repeated sleepily.

Chapter Seven

Back at home, Ruby spoke to Celia about the time it took to settle the Labs into their new home.

‘It took us a few weeks longer than we had planned, but we wanted to be sure that they were confident to deal with life on their own. I was thinking, once the students settle in, couldn't some of them help out with the new houses?' she suggested.

‘Yes, that may be an option,' Celia nodded.

‘Celia, can I ask you something?' Ruby ventured. ‘The twins are certainly popular with the girls, aren't they? Can Labs, have relationships, you know, close ones …?'

Celia looked at her questioningly.

‘Can Labs … mate?' she said bluntly.

‘Oh, that.' Celia looked thoughtful. ‘At the Centre they are able to take sperm and egg samples for further research. So, I assume Labs can. I don't know if any Labs have tried to.'

‘And what about Labs mating with Non-Labs?' Ruby continued.

‘We have no knowledge of this at all. I suppose we will need to explore this scenario at some point,' Celia agreed.

Ruby sighed, ‘I think we need to think about it now! Labs are going to be meeting people on a social level in the Non-Lab world!'

She told Celia about her last evening in Manchester and her efforts to give them the basics in sex education.

‘Thank you, Ruby. I should have thought about this myself. I will speak to Abel to make sure all Labs are fully informed on the subject before they move into their own homes,' she told her.

Two days later, Ruby and the twins set off for London to visit the two new homes set up there.

‘At the first house we will meet Zaf, Peg, Joe, and Oll; officially known now as Sophie, Megan, Joseph, and Oliver,' Ruby told the twins.

‘I remember Zaf, Peg, and Joe! They were from the same subscriber!' Leon said.

‘They joined us in the Caves. Oll was at the farmhouse with us,' Johnny added. ‘Who's at the other house?'

‘Ben and Dil – twins, Lok and Hal – also twins, and Fay and Cal,' Ruby read from the notes Sara had given her. ‘Ben, Dylan, Lucy, Helen, Fiona, and Carla. They are all going to be studying politics. I hope they settle in as well as the others did.'

Johnny and Leon grinned at each other.

‘From our meetings at the Caves, they will have no trouble settling in!' Johnny said. ‘They are like Abel about the Labs. What was the word Keith used?'

He turned to Leon.

‘First, firstent?' his brow creased.

‘Fervent?' Ruby suggested.

‘That's it!' his face lit up.

Ruby found both sets of students much more confident and adventurous than the group of musicians in Manchester. They quickly settled in to their new lives. Within a week they had all joined several different organisations supporting different political parties and charities.

‘We need to work to make Non-Labs aware of the unfairness of inequality amongst all people,' Sophie told them one evening.

‘By putting ourselves in positions to have a voice for other disadvantaged groups; we hope eventually to build a network to support the freedom of our own people,' Megan added.

‘We are enjoying our new-found freedom and are eager to free all Labs!' Lucy said.

‘Yes!' her sister leaned forward. ‘We hope to do so much!'

‘I'm sure they would be able to help other Labs set up houses in London,' Ruby told Celia when she and the twins had returned to Castlewell a few days later. ‘They're already very confident.'

‘I will speak to Abel about this when he comes tomorrow. We are planning on setting up two new homes in the north of London. They could help establish the newly freed Labs,' Celia said.

Abel arrived the following morning as Ruby came down for breakfast. He glanced at the clock.

‘Ruby just came back from London last night. She deserves a rest,' Keith told him.

‘Lon and Jed have already gone out to take exercise. They did not seem to feel the need for extra sleep,' he commented. ‘Maybe they feel the need for urgency for our plight!'

‘If I had got up an hour earlier it wouldn't make things happen any faster, would it?' Ruby snapped at him.

Dette and Celia looked at her in surprise. Keith turned away to hide the smile on his lips.

Abel pushed back his chair and went out of the door as Ruby sat down at the table.

Ruby quickly finished her breakfast and went to get dressed. She was furious with herself for letting Abel rile her. Yet she was secretly pleased she had annoyed him in return.

‘Just because I'm a Non-Lab!' she hissed under her breath. ‘I can do
nothing
right in his eyes!'

As she came back down the stairs there was a knock on the front door. She opened it to see two young girls standing there, holding tennis racquets.

‘Hi, are Johnny and Leon here? We have got the right house, haven't we?' one of them asked.

‘Yes. You do have the right house, but they're out at the moment. Oh, here they come, now,' Ruby replied as the twins jogged around the corner.

‘Johnny!' the second girl waved at the boys, ‘We've taken up your challenge! We're just off to play tennis at the park! Want to join us?'

The boys looked hesitant as Celia appeared beside Ruby.

‘Why not, boys? It's Saturday, you haven't any classes today!' Ruby smiled. ‘Come in, girls. They'll need a shower before they join you.' She waved her hand in front of her nose, grinning. ‘Come into the kitchen and have a coffee while you wait.'

Celia gave a brief hello and then disappeared upstairs. Abel glared at Ruby before leaving the house.

The three girls chatted happily in the kitchen. Ruby learnt that they belonged to most of the sports clubs the boys had joined. She smiled to herself, wondering if that was a coincidence.

She gave the girls the version of their backgrounds they had prepared. They had all grown up together in Nottingham, and had decided to share a house for the year.

‘This area is so much nicer than where we were living. It was really industrialised. And it's handy for my work,' she told them. ‘The others are students. I'm sure you've seen Dette and Celia at college, too.'

‘Yes,' the first girl, Jane, nodded. ‘We see them in the canteen sometimes.'

‘They seem nice, though a bit shy,' added Sara, her friend.

‘Who's shy?' Johnny asked striding into the kitchen, followed by his brother.

‘Not you two, that's for sure!' Jane laughed.

‘Come on, then!' Leon said. ‘Let's beat you at tennis like we did at squash!'

‘Don't be so sure!' Sara cried as they left the house. ‘Jane has a wicked backhand!'

Ruby was putting the cups in the dishwasher when Dette and Celia came in.

‘Is it wise to have Non-Labs in our home?' Celia said.

Abel appeared in the doorway his arms folded across his chest.

‘She is right. How can we feel safe? I do not want them coming here. I do not enjoy the company of Non-Labs!'

‘The more we blend in with the community, the safer we will be,' Ruby said in a level voice. ‘Isn't it the plan for Labs to live amongst Non-Labs freely one day? How do you feel about it, Dette?'

Dette frowned, ‘You know, these past few weeks, since we have started our college course with Non-Labs, I've begun to realise that there is not much difference between Non-Labs and ourselves.'

‘Except many of
us
are not free!' Celia added.

‘Yet!' Ruby said.

‘Not much difference between Labs and Non-Labs?' Abel gave a snort of derision, then turning on his heels he left the room.

Over the next few weeks Johnny and Leon often invited other students back to the house and visited other homes. Celia and Dette were more reticent about inviting people, but were finding it easier to settle in at college through talking to the twins' new friends.

One evening Jane and Sara arrived with a boy a few years older than them.

‘This is Isaac, my brother,' Jane explained. ‘He's not a student anymore, he's out there in the big working world!'

Isaac explained he was a trainee reporter on the local newspaper.

‘Today Castlewell, tomorrow London!' Jane quipped.

‘Well, we all have to start somewhere, don't we?' he retorted good naturedly.

‘Castlewell's not exactly teeming with big news stories, is it?' Sara laughed.

‘You never know what dark secrets are hidden behind those net curtains!' Isaac gave a mock frown.

Dette let the cup she was holding clatter to the floor.

‘Oh, there goes another one!' Ruby laughed. ‘I thought I was the only butterfingers round here! You lot had better get off to the squash court or you'll be late!'

Chapter Eight

He sat at the window and pulled the duvet around him. Outside, far below, he could see a man walking along the dark road. He wondered who he was and why he was out so late. Perhaps he was going home after being out with some friends. Perhaps he was a shift worker. Perhaps he was troubled in his sleep, too and was taking a walk to clear his mind.

His strange dreams were becoming more and more frequent lately. He went over the last one again in his head now he felt calmer.

He'd pushed open the lid and climbed out. The room seemed vast. It was lit by a dim orange glow. Something whirred gently in the background. He remembered the floor had felt cold on his bare feet. He'd walked, slowly at first, as if each step was something new for him. He looked around him and saw …

That's when he had woken up. He sighed. Every dream showed him a little more. And he knew there was still more to see.

Chapter Nine

The next morning Celia and Dette gave Ruby details of the next group of Labs to be settled in two houses in a London suburb later that week.

‘Ben and the others will take care of two more new houses in their area. It is too late for the newcomers to apply for university courses, but we have enrolled them on a short course in office skills, and some in catering, so they are occupied,' Dette explained.

‘We want you and Keith to visit all the Labs in London; make sure everything is OK,' Celia said.

Ruby and Keith found the Labs in all houses had settled in to their new lives. The students in Ben's and Sophie's houses were still very politically active.

‘We are arranging a petition to be presented to the Prime Minister on the inequalities in education around the country,' Sophie told her.

‘Without access to a decent standard of education, many young people cannot rise from poverty!' Megan added.

‘You must not participate in anything that may lead to you becoming involved with the police,' Keith warned them. ‘Your ideals are to be admired but the safety of the Labs is paramount!'

Ben nodded, ‘Yes, we are aware of our restrictions at the moment. Our own people must come first.'

Keith decided to stay an extra day in London to view possible future properties.

‘Why don't you and some of the others go and see some of the sights?' he suggested to Ruby.

Lucy and Helen eagerly agreed and persuaded Ben and Dylan to join them. Sophie, Megan, and Joseph decided to come too.

‘We can start at the Tower of London,' Helen said, spreading out a visitor's map of the city.

‘Then go on to the London Dungeon!' Ben and Dylan suggested eagerly.

‘No! I think I'd prefer to visit Madame Tussaud's,' Megan said. Her brother and sister nodded.

‘Well, we could start at the Tower of London; then we can split into two groups,' Ruby said. ‘Then in a few weeks' time you could take some of the newcomers around yourselves. None of them wanted to join us today.'

‘London is a busy place after the Caves!' Lucy said.

Ruby felt as excited as the Labs as they walked around the Tower. She had never visited London in her old life. She was wandering around admiring the huge suits of armour when she heard a familiar voice.

‘Ruby, what are you doing here?' Isaac was standing beside her.

‘Just a bit of sightseeing, in between jobs,' she smiled. ‘And you?'

‘I'm staying with my uncle for a few days. He persuaded me to look after a friend of his today as he's busy. So we're doing the sights, too!'

At that moment Sophie, Megan, and Joseph appeared, followed by Ben and Dylan.

‘Are you ready to go now, Ruby? Ben and Dylan are impatient to get to the Dungeons!' Megan laughed. ‘Oh, hello,' she added, turning to Isaac.

Ruby noticed Isaac's expression as they were joined by Helen and Lucy.

‘What's this? A twin's convention? And triplets, too?' he looked bemused.

‘Something like that!' Ruby decided not to try to explain. ‘Well, goodbye, enjoy your day!'

She mulled over it for the rest of the day and told Keith of her meeting as they drove back home that evening.

‘Twins and triplets are not so strange, are they?' he asked her.

‘Not really, but it does strange that we should be involved with so many,' she replied. ‘How can I explain the situation?'

‘What did he say? A convention? Tell him he was right!' Keith suggested.

Ruby wasn't convinced.

She felt ill at ease when she bumped into him in the main street near his newspaper office.

‘Oh, hi, Isaac,' she said brightly.

‘Hi. I haven't seen much of you lately,' he said.

‘I've been pretty busy,' she replied.

‘How come you know so many twins, and triplets, too?' he said.

Ruby looked away, ‘Multiple births aren't as rare as you'd think these days, with IVF treatments. Did your uncle's friend enjoy the London sights?'

‘And I looked up the list of former pupils at Sherwood High. No mention of any of your names!' Isaac continued, ignoring her question. ‘What did you say the name of the company you work for is called?'

‘What is this?' Ruby knitted her eyebrows, ‘The Spanish Inquisition?'

She started to walk past him, but he caught her arm.

‘Where are you all from?' he said, his face near hers. ‘What have you got to hide?'

She drew back, ‘I don't know what you're talking about, Isaac! You're getting a bit carried away with your big news story ideas!'

She shook his hand off her arm and walked away. As soon as she had turned a corner she leaned back against the wall and took a deep breath. She must go home and speak to the others immediately.

‘Things could become dangerous if he continues to investigate our lives,' Celia pointed out.

‘Abel would send him to the Centre!' Dette said vehemently.

‘A murder enquiry would not be beneficial to our cause,' Keith told her. ‘He does not know anything about us yet, and we do not have to give him any more information.'

‘Yes, we must all remain calm. Give him nothing to fuel his ideas,' Ruby agreed.

Over the next few weeks Isaac found Ruby's household polite, but very distant from him. He was never able to talk to one person without several more joining them.

Isaac felt increasingly frustrated. There was something mysterious about that household. And he had to find out about it.

He spent the next few weeks secretly surveying the house, until one day his patience was rewarded.

First the twins left for college with Dette and Celia. Half an hour later, Keith drove off. And finally he gave a sigh of relief as Ruby stepped out, locking the door behind her, and walked off in the direction of the supermarket. Crossing the road, he silently slipped around the back of the house.

His hand shook as he tried the back door of their house. Locked, as he had expected it to be. He glanced around but could see no windows left open. He reached inside his pocket and pulled out a bunch of skeleton keys. A friend of his at university had shown him how to break into his own flat when he had accidentally locked himself out and he had used this method on one or two occasions since. He had never thought he would use it for illegal purposes, but he told himself that this was justified.

He took a deep breath as he felt the lock give and the door open. He stepped inside and pushed it closed behind him.

‘Hello?' he called and satisfied the house was empty began a quick search.

There seemed to be nothing of interest in the kitchen. The lounge had two laptops, but he knew it would take him too long to work out passwords to gain access to any useful information, so he headed up the stairs. He made a quick search of each room and was finally rewarded when he reached into the pocket of a jacket hanging in Ruby's wardrobe.

It was a list of names and addresses. ‘Zaf – Sophie, Peg – Megan, Ben – Benjamin, Dil – Dylan …' his eyes narrowed, the girl with Ruby in London had referred to Ben, and Dylan. There were two London addresses underneath. He let himself silently out of the house.

Isaac spent the next three days in London. He visited the addresses and found that the people he had seen with Ruby were living there. From the neighbours he learnt that they were quiet, kept themselves to themselves, and were always polite.

He followed Ben and Dylan to two political meetings and also followed them one evening to the house where Sophie lived. They seemed to be living a very similar life to many other students in London. On his last day in London he decided to follow the girls. They left university at lunch time and headed in a different direction on the tube than they normally did. They arrived at a house and were let in by a young girl. Isaac was unsure what to do, but soon the door opened and Megan and Sophie emerged, with two more girls, twins again! Isaac followed them along the road to a small park. They sat on a bench near a duck pond. Isaac sat on a bench nearby and opened a newspaper.

‘It is so different after the Caves,' one girl was saying.

‘It is at first, but you get used to it, Lily!' Sophie told her.

‘Our course finishes next week and then we will be required to take up a position in a workplace! It is worrying!' the girl shook her head.

‘Yes,' a second girl said. ‘We must fit in fully with Non-Labs! What happens if we make an error and are unmasked?'

‘Milly and I could endanger every Lab!' the first girl looked near to tears.

‘Have you spoken to Ruby or Celia?' Megan asked them.

They shook their heads, ‘We feel as if we have failed them. Their plan was working so well until we left the Caves!'

‘You must not feel like this!' Helen told them, ‘If you are not ready for the workplace, you must not go! Ruby and Celia will arrange things.'

Lucy stood up, ‘She is right. We must phone them immediately!'

Isaac watched as the girls walked out of the park and headed back home. Then he opened a notebook and jotted a few sentences down. He gave a satisfied sigh and stood up. Time to return to Castlewell.

It was nearly a week before he spotted Ruby alone in the supermarket. He hurried after her.

‘Hi, Ruby! Been busy lately?' he said with a grin.

‘Just the usual,' she leaned past him and started to fill a bag with apples.

‘Aren't you going to ask me what I've been up to?' he continued.

Ruby shrugged, ‘Tell me if you want to.'

‘I do!' he stood in front of her. ‘Have you heard from Megan? Her friends, Lily and Milly – also twins, as it happens – are worried about working with the Non-Labs.'

Ruby froze for a moment. She had had a phone call the previous week.

‘I'm afraid I don't know what you're talking about, Isaac,' she said.

‘I think you do, Ruby! It would make a good news story, wouldn't it?' he said evenly, watching her face closely.

He pulled the piece of paper he had taken from her jacket from his own pocket.

‘This is just the start!'

‘Where did you get that?' Ruby asked him angrily, making a grab for the paper. He moved it out of her reach.

She pushed her trolley to one side and headed out of the shop with Isaac hurrying after her.

‘Wait!' he called.

‘Why don't you just go away? Your cheap newspaper story may end up costing people's lives!' she hissed at him.

‘I don't want to hurt anyone. But I do want answers,' he said.

She stopped, looking flustered.

‘OK,' she nodded. ‘Come to the house tomorrow evening, at nine o'clock. But you must not breathe a word of this to anyone, you must promise!'

He nodded his head solemnly, ‘Then you will give me some answers?'

‘It's not up to me!' she cried, hurrying away from him.

Keith sprang up as Ruby burst into the house a short while later.

‘Ruby! What is it?' he asked.

‘We must talk! All of us! Now!' she whispered.

Soon they were all sitting in the lounge. Ruby sat white faced.

She took a deep breath and blurted out, ‘Isaac knows something about us! I'm not sure how much!'

‘What does he know? How did he find out?' several people said at once.

‘Start from the beginning, Ruby,' Keith patted her arm, ‘Calm yourself.'

‘Somehow Isaac got hold of a bit of paper. I'd written down the names and addresses of Megan and Ben and the people in their houses. I'd taken the details from Celia,' Ruby could not meet the eyes of the others around her. ‘I really don't know how he got hold of it! I did mean to destroy it as soon as I got home!'

There was a deathly silence.

‘OK. We must get Isaac to come around here and find out what he does actually know,' Keith said.

‘I told him to come here at nine o'clock tomorrow evening,' Ruby told them.

‘What if he has already prepared a newspaper story about us?' Dette cried. ‘Maybe we should get him round here right now!'

‘Wait!' Celia urged her. ‘Ruby was right to give us some time to think about this, before we see him.'

‘Let us discuss our plan of action before he joins us tomorrow,' Keith said. ‘And we must ask Abel to come immediately.'

By midnight Abel had joined them. He turned a scornful eye upon Ruby, who, though pale faced already seemed to blanch even further.

‘So we'll have to get rid of Isaac. He will have to meet with an unfortunate accident!' he said as he strode into the room.

‘No!' Ruby cried out. ‘No! You can't harm him!'

‘You have left us no choice!' he swung around to face her.

‘No, Abel,' Keith said. ‘Ruby is right, we cannot harm him. We cannot harm every Non-Lab that becomes aware of our background.'

‘Not every Non-Lab,' Abel countered. ‘But any Non-Lab that puts us in danger before we have established ourselves in a secure position.'

‘Keith and I have given the matter some thought. We need something to bargain with,' Celia ventured. All eyes were turned hopefully to her.

‘What do you mean?' Johnny asked her.

‘If Isaac has important information about us, how can we be in a position to bargain with him?' Leon looked puzzled.

‘What does Isaac want?' Celia continued.

Ruby looked at her and nodded slowly, ‘A big news story to get him noticed in the media world!'

‘And you have given it to him!' Abel said as Ruby cringed again.

‘No she hasn't, not yet! I see what you are getting at, Celia!' Dette began to smile, ‘I think it might just work!'

Keith nodded, ‘It's a risk, but it gives us some hope!'

‘It may even work in our favour!' Celia commented.

‘I don't really understand …' Johnny began as his twin shook his head, too.

‘Isaac wants a big news story. If we persuade him to wait, he will have the biggest news story ever!' Celia explained.