“There’s nothing down there,” she complained.
There was, though. Through the binoculars, I scanned past the darkening town and along the coastal path to the north, where the cliffs of a headland began and a road slid down a sharp slope into the water. It wasn’t the harbor we were expecting, but it was access to the sea, and it was certainly low profile. I pulled the binoculars away and squeezed my eyes to focus better. Looking again, I made sure of what I thought I could see: the glinting signal of the sun’s last rays on the white coat of a person walking up the slipway.
The last time I had seen a white outfit, it was marching away as Horatio buckled onto the forest floor. I squinted through the binoculars again. This was different. His movements were swift, unrestricted: no biohazard suit. Then there was a second figure, going down toward the beach and disappearing from view behind an old wooden pier. Into a boat that was moored out of sight, maybe? I scanned back up the slipway to a white tent, like a small marquee, set up on the road. There was a flag, which I couldn’t make out. Red and white. Red Cross? No, the red was in the background. I called Charlie over, passed him the binoculars.
“Your eyes are better than mine. What’s that flag?” I said. “It’s not the George Cross—”
Charlie peered down. “Norway.”
“Are you sure?”
He held the binoculars out to me. “Blue-and-white cross on red. Easy. Norway. Capital: Oslo.”
I looked again, and then I could make out the blue. Joni scrunched over the gravel to join us and took the binoculars while we studied the map.
“Looks like the place,” said Lola. “Right coordinates.”
Way below us, the sea slapped the land.
“They’re too far away,” I said at last. “I need to get closer to see if it’s safe.”
“Let’s just go,” said Joni.
“But we don’t know who they are,” I said.
She made an impatient sound and stared out over the water. I faced the other way, to check the kids in the pickup. Billy pointed two fingers to his eyes and turned them to point at me. I’m watching you. I copied the motion in response.
“What choice do we have?” Joni asked.
“I’m just saying we should check it out first,” I said. “You can stay here, under cover.” I pointed to the abbey, where a deep stone archway led to a visitor center. “I’ll run along the coastal path until I reach a vantage point.” I measured the distance on the map with my thumb. “It’s about five miles there and back; I’ll be gone less than an hour.”
“And what happens if you don’t come back?” said Lola.
“Then you revert to Plan A: hide in a cave.”
“And leave you?”
“Yes, Lola—if I get killed, you and Joni must leave me and get the children to safety.”
Lola chewed her lip. “I guess an hour might be enough time for Jack to catch up.”
“If it’s safe down there”—I nodded in the direction of the white tent—“we can keep watch until he turns up.”
“Okay.”
Joni turned to face me, her eyes slipping over my shoulder into the distance. I followed her gaze. Way beyond the yellowed grass, a flock of birds rose up as silhouetted darts against the sky, too distant to hear their cries, but their disarray clear. Something had disturbed them from their roost.
“Let’s go now,” Joni said again.
Charlie pointed a finger. “Drones.”
Two black dots, small as gnats, growing in size as they headed toward us. An unnaturally coordinated movement amid the floundering birds.
“Back in the truck,” I shouted at two boys who’d slipped out from under the tarpaulin. “Get in!” They scrambled up as though scalded by the ground. I started the engine and spun the wheels over the gravel.
“Which way?” I said to Lola.
“There’s only one road. Back the way we came.”
If we followed that road, it would take us in a wide loop to the south before we reached the route that led north toward the headland. We would have to pass right beneath the drones, which were approaching now in a kind of pincer movement.
“What about this path down toward the town?” I pointed to a wide avenue of stone steps ahead of us.
“It goes straight down the cliff.”
“They’re coming, Mummy,” hissed Charlie. Maggie broke out into a high-pitched keening.
I edged the pickup forward to the top of the steps, which curved round the escarpment between black iron railings. Once committed, there would be no stopping.
“What do you think?”
“It’s too steep,” said Lola.
“How far does it go?”
“There’s one hundred and ninety-nine steps. It says on the map. We can’t even see right to the bottom.”
“Mummy, they’re coming!” Charlie said. Maggie gave a loud yelp and clamped her hands over her ears, the keening louder.
I teetered on the top. These were not the undulating hills of Shropshire. If I rolled it down this cliff, it would leave us with more than a busted headlight and a few dents. If I lost control on the steps, it would kill the boys in the back. Little buggers wouldn’t stand a chance.
Maggie was thrashing her legs now, lashing out a hailstorm that pelted everyone around her.
“Quiet, Maggie!”
“It’s too steep.” Lola.
“Let’s just go.” Joni.
Billy sobbing.
Maggie keening.
The boys in the back under the tarpaulin, waiting.
In the rearview mirror, one black fly came into view. Still too distant to hear, I nevertheless felt its buzz. All the voices receded, and I was left with a weightlessness, like I’d had for one calm second when I’d rolled the Beast, as land turned into sky. A moment when the worst had already happened, so there was nothing left to worry about. I wanted to stop forever in that pause between cause and effect. A place where I didn’t have to be responsible for everybody all of the time. I blinked and the drone was still coming at me, bigger, faster. I hauled the pickup into reverse, and we shot back from the precipice, over the gravel, and straight under the cover of the stone cloister.
“Get out,” I said. “Joni, take all the kids and get out.”
“Mummy!” Three voices in unison from the back.
“You have to hide.” I turned to face Joni and Lola, appealing to them. “Take the kids under cover and when it’s clear, start down the steps. I don’t have time to explain. Just do it.” Nothing moved except the wind through the dry grass and the drones in the sky. “Ah, Jesus!” I flung open my door and jumped out to wrench off the tarpaulin. While the boys clambered out like clockwork robots, the others emerged from the cab, and Joni rounded them up into a darkened corner.
“Where are you going, Mummy?” Charlie clutched at my hands while I struggled to clear everything from the cab, making me drop the petrol canisters, which I scrambled up off the floor and dropped into the open back of the pickup.
“It’s okay. Just go with Joni and Lola, right? Down the steps. I’m right behind you.” I squeezed Maggie’s chin as I passed her. She held hands with Billy and the Lost Boy. “Look after them.”
“Yes, Mummy.”