Why is Nothing Ever Simple? by Jodi Taylor

Author:Jodi Taylor
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Headline
Published: 2019-12-11T13:22:10+00:00

Our proximities were useless. Well, no, actually they were working perfectly, showing every single one of the thirty thousand men out there.

Our tag readers weren’t much better. Over the years we’ve found the quickest and easiest way to find any missing colleagues is to close our eyes and keep walking until we fall over them. It helps if the rescuees can jump up and down, shouting, ‘We’re over here, stupid,’ and set off a few fizzers as well.

The readers were giving us two readings – one for Peterson and one for Markham – Guthrie had had his tag removed when he left St Mary’s – but were declining to tell us in which direction and how far away our missing colleagues actually were. So, helpful as ever.

I tucked myself behind Evans and we moved very slowly and very carefully, flitting from tree to tree, watching where we put our feet and keeping our eyes open. There were God knows how many armed men jammed into these few square miles. Anyone they didn’t recognise was an enemy and would be treated as such.

Time passed. We paused at regular intervals to crouch behind trees to try to raise the other team but there was still nothing. We were still in communication with Elspeth, so the obvious conclusion was that our boys were for some reason unable to respond, and that was deeply worrying.

More time passed. The wood itself was silent – there was no birdsong or woodland noises – and trees deaden sound so the noises of men and horses had dwindled into a distant murmur beyond the trees, from which would emerge a trumpet call, occasionally, or the whinny of horses. The sounds were far off but continuous. A constant reminder of what was happening not that far away.

I began to have a very bad feeling. The further we got from the pod the more nervous I became. There could be a man hidden behind every tree. There could be traps set to catch spies. The area to cover was huge. The two of us could barely scratch the surface. We needed more people and better equipment. I think Evans was feeling the same way because he took a quick look around and then pulled me down into a shallow ditch, whispering, ‘Max – I’m not happy about any of this. There’s not enough cover and we’re too close to the battle lines.’

He was right. We were slightly above and to the south-west of the action but still close enough to see the southern edge of the Scottish lines. As far as I knew no action took place anywhere in the Torwood – no official action, anyway – but there would be troop movements and scouts and we were far more exposed than I was happy with.

‘We have to look for them,’ said Elspeth, managing to sound angry even over the com. ‘We can’t just go home.’

‘We can come back with more people and cover more ground more quickly,’ said Evans, quietly, trying to calm her down.

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