The Thirteenth (19 page)

“Don’t know. It’s in a large box back at the shop,” Shane replied.

“Well, let’s go and look,” said Delta impatiently.

“No, I need a bath, and I need to tell my parents when I’m coming home.” Val stood and turned to leave the kitchen, then paused at the door. “Is about thirty minutes OK with you?” She smiled at the others and they all started laughing.

“Yes, I suppose father-son bonding can wait till next Sunday.” Shane shrugged his shoulders in Jason’s direction and Jason grinned back, relieved that their Sunday morning fishing had been cancelled.

Val ran up the stairs and into Delta’s very nice en-suite bathroom. In record time she showered and dressed in clothes she borrowed from Delta. Although Delta dressed like an A-lister most days, she did possess a few normal clothes in her large collection.

Delta was waiting outside in a shiny metallic blue Lotus.

“Where’s the mini?” Val leaned down to open the door.

“Maria says it needs a clean.” Delta genuinely looked confused.

“And this little beauty belongs to who, your mum or your dad?” asked Val as she climbed in.

“It’s Maria’s little runabout.” They both laughed as they sped out of the drive, waving to Maria who was watching from the doorway.

As they made their way to the tattoo parlour, Delta explained about all the wonderful things this car could do and Val listened in awe. Although Delta played it blonde a great deal of the time, her head for facts and figures was impressive. “Where are your parents today?” Val asked.

“Well, Dad’s flying over Europe, some big deal and a little golf’s going down. Mum is back in the US having some body part made to look younger than a five-yearold’s,”

Delta’s expression never changed, but Val knew how lonely she got sometimes. Delta’s situation made Val appreciate her parents even more than ever. For all the money Delta could lay her hands on, she had no one to share her joy with. Val grabbed her mobile phone and called her mum. There was no answer, and then Val remembered: it was Sunday so her mum would be in church and her father would be worshipping the gods of the golf course. She left a message.

“Hi, Mum and Dad. I’m staying at Delta’s again tonight. Her parents are away so we are going to have a wild party with many male lap dancers.”

“Hello Mrs. Saunders, that’s not true,” shouted Delta as Val laughed.

“OK, just a few lap dancers. I’ll go to work on Monday from her’s, so I’ll see you Monday night. I love you both very much.”

The High Street was completely deserted and it seemed strange not to see an array of two-wheeled vehicles parked outside Shane’s shop. Delta pulled up and Jason came running out to greet them.

“Wow, you would think we hadn’t seen him for days,” Delta said as she stepped out of the car.

“Is this really a Lotus Supercharged Elise SC?” stuttered Jason. Val was disturbed by the way he was looking at the car, with love in his eyes and his tongue struggling to stay in his mouth.

“Yes, here, take it for a spin.” Delta threw him the keys. At this point Jason almost fainted. Before the girls could say goodbye, he had jumped in and was speeding off down the street.

“Does he have a driver’s licence?” Val asked Shane who was just coming out of the front door to see his son disappear at speed.

“Slightly late to be asking that question isn’t it girls?” Shane replied.

“So let’s go and open Val’s present,” said Delta.

“This way ladies”

They followed Shane into the gym to find a large brown box on the table. Val picked up a card that was on the top of the box. Opening it with great trepidation, she read:

Dear Val,

I know it won’t make much sense to you why I’m giving you these things or where they originate from, but try to forget that point and just use them. I want to help you on your journey, although nothing comes for free.

Val felt herself tense up at the idea that these gifts would cost her something.

I need to know from you how they work, if they work and if not, how I could do it differently.

Val sighed; well at least he didn’t want money.

I will ask Shane to pass on the results and I will try to help you any way I can in the future. Stay safe.

Regards, Sam

Val passed the card to Delta and opened the box. Inside she found several smaller boxes, the first containing what looked like a small brown earplug with a label attached: Covert cellular communications. With it came a silver necklace in what seemed to be a Celtic design with a honey yellow gem in the centre. Attached was a label that said: Tracker.

“I hope these things come with instructions,” Val commented.

“That one in your ear and that one round your neck, not exactly rocket science,” replied Delta flippantly.

“OK Sherlock.” Val pushed Delta affectionately.

“She’s right. Pop it in your ear,” Shane said.

Val tentatively placed the small brown pill into her ear, unsure if it was going to disappear into some magic hole she had in her brain.

“Next!” Delta handed Val a small brown cylinder.

Val opened the end cautiously and tipped the contents out just as Jason returned from his escapade in Delta’s car. Dropping the keys in front of Delta, he grinned at her like a boy who had just opened his first Scalextric on Christmas morning.

“OK, so what is it?” Delta pushed Jason out of the way.

“Well, it’s a small piece of metal.” Val held the shiny silver cylinder out towards the others. In that moment lights flashed under Val’s fingers and the whole thing sprang to life. With a whoosh, the end extended to just over a meter long and a silver guard swivelled in a circular movement to enclose Val’s hand. Val gaped at it, unsure what move to make next.

“Oh how cool.” Jason murmured. “It’s an épée.”

Val realised she was still pointing it at them and slowly lowered her hand.

“Give it here.” Jason reached out and Val gladly handed it over, but when Val’s fingers left the sword and Jason touched it, it retracted into the cylinder again.

“That’s not fair.” Jason stood with the cylinder in his hand.

“Val, take it again.” Shane suggested.

“OK.” Val took the cylinder, but nothing happened.

“Hold it out, like you did before,” said Jason.

As Val held it towards the others, it extended, reaching its full length in less than a second. In a moment of bravado, Val pointed the end directly at Jason.

“I wouldn’t do that Val,” Delta warned. It was too late. A bolt of white light hit him straight-on. Jason dropped like a rag doll and was left convulsing on the floor.

“Oh my God I killed him!” Val threw the sword to the ground where it instantly retracted. She joined Shane at Jason’s side.

“Don’t worry it’s only temporary; it says here it should last about five to ten minutes depending on the size of the person,” called Delta waving some instructions at the others.

“Is this Sam a nutter?” Val screamed at Shane who was now sitting on Jason’s chest.

“No, he just wants to keep you safe.” Shane was actually smiling which Val found disturbing.

“Leave him here. He’ll be OK.” Shane waved a hand at Val to move away. Jason had stopped shaking and was now just lying very still.

“How do you know this Sam? Why does he have such dangerous things and why is he sending them to me?” Val asked.

“He used to work with me before I left the army. We have been in some tight situations together. I got too old to do the jobs but he stayed on. That’s about it, Val.” Shane grabbed Val’s arm gently. “Come on, let’s look in your last box; it’s the biggest.”

Delta was already leaning over it like a child waiting for a jack to jump out. Val made her way to the table looking back at Jason, still worried about him, and then at Shane, shocked that he wasn’t bothered that his son had been knocked out by a piece of metal.

Val opened the last box. “If anyone else gets hurt I’m going home,” she said.

Shane and Delta nodded impatiently.

Inside were a laptop and four mobile phones. Val already had a phone but it looked nothing like these. They were green and black and seemed to be larger than your average Nokia with a clasp on each one. Val slipped the one with her name on, onto her belt. As she pulled the laptop out and placed it on the desk, Delta collected the phone with her name on it.

“What in sweet baby Jesus’s name is this?” Delta held the phone up to Val’s face.

“Well, it’s your phone,” Val said trying to look past it and start up the laptop.

“I’m not carrying this thing around with me! Forget it.” Delta placed it back in the box. As the laptop sprang into life so did the phones, all bleeping at once. Val looked down at hers and on the screen she saw a GPS map (Val knew all about these as her dad had one for his golf courses). There was a bleeping spot in the centre.

“What do you think that is?” Val showed Delta the screen.

“I don’t know,” Delta shrugged. “You know, I’m sure James Bond had much better looking gadgets than these.” Delta walked off towards the coffee machine in disgust.

“Looking at these notes Val, the bleeping is you,” said Shane making his way over with a sheet of paper. “The laptop is for us to track you through the necklace.” Shane handed Val the necklace from the table. “I think you need to put this on.”

Val pulled the chain around her neck and closed the clasp.

Jason was starting to come round, rubbing his head with one hand and trying to keep himself upright with the other. Shane glanced at him them, looked back to the notes.

“The note also says that the earpiece is connected to all the phones and the laptop. That means you can talk to us as long as you have your phone with you. The épée, or sword, is a tazer. It will program itself to your fingerprint and not work for anyone else,” said Shane.

“Lucky I didn’t pick it up first then isn’t it?” said Delta sarcastically. Although everyone had to admit it was true. They needed to take their time with these things.

“There is a book for each of us explaining how our pieces of equipment work. If you want to know where Val is, Delta, you will have to carry the phone.” Shane offered Delta her phone again and she took it as if it were covered in worms.

“I’ll be accessorising, you do understand?” she said pointing her finger at the others. Jason was now back on his feet.

“You OK, son?” Shane smiled, patting Jason affectionately on the back as he arrived unsteadily at the table.

“I’ve felt better,” Jason said, grabbing his new phone with a look that said
I’ll let you off zapping me if I get a toy to play with
. He sat down at the table, politely moving Val away from the laptop.

“Hey, I was looking at that,” Val protested.

“Yes, and looking is all you need to do. You may have super powers, but I’m the computer expert.”

Val sighed, and moved away, relieved not to have the responsibility of it all.

Jason and Shane spent the next hour huddled around the laptop whilst Val listened to Delta complaining about her ugly phone and she really wanted to go and do some retail therapy to get over the shock.

Val sat looking at all the things she now had to carry around with her. Was she expected to constantly have the phone thing in her ear, and what if she lost anything? It must have cost a fortune. This Sam guy was obviously in a good position to do this, or maybe it was all stolen. So many questions.

“Hey Val, are you feeling OK?” Jason called across to her.

“Yes, why?” Val responded unconvincingly.

“Cool. Let’s start your fencing practise.” Jason jumped up from his chair grabbing Val’s hand as he walked past.

A fluttery feeling flooded her whole body and Val was unable to stop her legs following the first guy she thought she had ever truly fallen in love with.

“OK, these are your jackets.” Jason handed Val two white jackets.

“Why two?” Val asked as she slipped them on.

“More protection. And here are your cups.” Jason held out two full moon plastic cups. “Slip these in the front of your jacket to protect your chest.” Val could feel the heat rising in her cheeks as she slipped them in.

“Can I ask why it has this dangly piece in-between my legs?” Val asked giggling.

“Yes, you do that up on the back of your jacket so I don’t slip my foil up the side by accident,” Jason responded, pointing at Val with his foil.

“Oh, OK.” Val bent down to do it up.

As they moved on, Jason positioned Val’s legs. It was almost like boxing but the opposite way round.

“The first thing you need to learn is that you must always salute the person you are about to enter into combat with.” Jason raised his foil to the right of his face and lowered it with a swishing motion to the ground. Now he really looked amazing. “This is your foil.” Jason handed Val a very bendy sword. It was over a meter in length with a cup to protect her hand. Holding it was harder than she had imagined. She started to giggle and then felt uncontrollable laughter rising inside.

“What seems to be the problem, Val?” Jason asked impatiently.

“Mine is broken,” Val said bending the sword backwards and forwards almost as if it were jelly.

“It’s supposed to be like that so we don’t hurt each other,” Jason replied, sharply tapping her foil with his. Val stopped laughing as if a bucket of cold water had been thrown in her face. He must think she was a complete idiot.

“Salute,” Jason instructed and Val lifted her foil up and down as Jason had shown her. “Right, here is your mask. Put it over your head after you have saluted, and never before.”

They both donned their masks. Val thought she now knew what it felt like to be a fly. Looking at Jason, she knew he meant business; she quickly took the position he had shown her, and concentrated on her lesson.

After two hours, a large amount of sweating and several sore muscles, Val felt she had done enough for the day.

“That’s it, I’ve finished.” Val pulled off her mask. Jason tapped Val’s mask with his foil and pointed to her head. “I’m sorry, didn’t you understand?” Val replied.