Nuclear Midnight by Cole Robert

Author:Cole, Robert [Cole, Robert]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Published: 2014-11-21T05:00:00+00:00

The engine of the Land Rover was still rough idling. Terry figured it was the spark plugs misfiring. After scavenging another set of spark plugs from a second Land Rover that was now used for spare parts, the engine idled much more evenly.

Terry had only recently been placed in charge of the mine's workshop facilities. He was now responsible for the service and maintenance of the mine's fleet of transport vehicles, a job he did well and enjoyed immensely. This was a man who, on the surface, struck most people as hard working and intelligent with more than his fair share of initiative and ambition. Just the type of person the community was crying out for. But underneath the ostentatious goodwill and community spirit, there lurked a darker side. He came from a depressed area of London and from his school days onwards he had been a natural rebel.

His father was a mechanic, who stimulated his son’s interest in cars from an early age. By the time Terry was thirteen, he was already a practised craftsman. By fourteen he was dodging school to steal parts off cars to fence. By eighteen, by which time he had taken an electronics course, his talents extended to burglar alarms and home wall safes. But Terry was too smart to continue stealing and he set himself up as a fence and made a comfortable living for several years. At the age of twenty three, however, his chequered past had caught up with him and he was jailed for three years for burglary, car stealing and receiving stolen goods. But with the holocaust, the slate had been wiped clean. Terry and a group of inmates had struck out for the west in the immediate aftermath, but by the time he had reached northern Wales all the members of the gang had either died or disappeared. He had stumbled across the community by himself. With his knowledge of electronics and mechanics he had been eagerly accepted.

‘Hey, Terry!’ one of the mechanics called. ‘I’ve bypassed the ignition, but this truck still doesn't start.’

It was that idiot Jefferson, a former sales clerk who was all at sea in this field. ‘Just a minute!’ Terry finished wiping his hands, then walked over. He was now in charge of eleven somewhat dubiously qualified mechanics. Although he could have occupied himself entirely with administration work, he liked to get involved.

The man removed his head from under the dashboard of a Toyota truck as Terry came up and gave him a cheery grin. Terry did not respond in kind.

‘This looks okay, but have you checked the battery?’

‘No,’ said the other man sheepishly.

‘Then don't bother me until you've checked everything,’ Terry said angrily.

The man gave another stupid grin and quickly shuffled out of sight around the front of the vehicle. Terry returned in disgust to completing his checks on the Land Rover. He was no longer the wild youth he had been before the war. He had learned how to conceal his impulses and channel negative feelings to more useful ends.

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