medical training. The Hippocratic Oath seemed like a sick joke to me now. I wondered what the woman at the swimming pool would have thought of me, lying here surrounded by bodies. The thought caused a sharp pang of loss.
'Your cheek looks a lot better. I don't think it's going to be a bad scar,' said the man sitting to my right. 'You stitched it really well.'
'Thanks, Barker,' I said. 'But I don't really think I'm going to have to worry about my good looks much longer, do you?'
He didn't answer and I didn't open my eyes to see the look on his face.
'I'll tell them what really happened,' he said.
'But you weren't there, were you? Not in the cellar, not in the surgery. I appreciate the thought, but your word's not going to carry much weight when you stack it up against all these corpses.'
He didn't say anything else, so we sat and listened to the birds.
'Do you ever think things will get back to normal?' he asked eventually. 'I mean, telly and buses and elections and stuff?'
'Not in our lifetimes,' I said.
'The king says it will.'
'The what?'
But before he could answer I heard the sound of tyres on gravel.
'You're on,' I said.
I heard him get to his feet and begin walking away, towards the fellow soldiers he'd radioed yesterday. I just lay there, eyes closed. I caught snatches of conversation, and the sound of boots on gravel, then someone walking towards me.
I sighed. Time to face the music.
'Miss Jane Crowther?' The man's voice was deep and strong, it was the voice of someone accustomed to being listened to and obeyed. I'd tried to develop a voice like that over the last few months, but my efforts in the courtyard suggested I'd probably failed.
The voice was also oddly familiar.
'That's me,' I said, and I opened my eyes. The soldier was standing over me, and the sun behind his head made a halo and shadowed his face. I winced at the brightness.
'No, it's not.' The voice had changed. It was softer, surprised, almost friendly. And definitely familiar.
'Pardon?' I said, as I sat up. I rested my weight on one arm and raised a hand to shield my eyes so I could get a look at the man who'd come to serve justice on me. It took a second for my eyes to adjust.
'Hello, Miss Booker,' he said. 'What have you got yourself into this time?'
Chapter Ten
Katherine Lucy Booker – Kit to her family, Kate to everyone else – died five years ago in a warehouse on Moss Side.
Then she gave herself a bit of a makeover. She dyed her hair, got that nose ring she'd always secretly craved, dumped the Jigsaw wardrobe and went a bit more casual. She even started listening to different kinds of music – out with Kylie, in with Dresden Dolls – and stopped watching thrillers and horror films altogether, preferring inoffensive romcoms and bodice rippers. She walked differently too, but only because she stopped wearing heels.
Her sleep patterns altered. She used to sleep like a log for eight hours straight, preferring early nights and cosy jim jams. Now she was more likely to crawl to bed in the early hours in her knickers and t-shirt, cuddling a bottle of chianti, before waking, sweating and alarmed after four hours fitful rest.
She moved to a different part of the country, broke contact with all her friends and family, abandoned her career as a doctor and became a far less illustrious type of medic, ministering to spotty boys and institutionalised teachers with bad breath and nicotine fingers.
Kate Booker became Jane Crowther.
Then, one day, lying on the grass surrounded by corpses, Jane was visited by the ghost of Kate.
And I couldn't think what to say to her.
'I'm sorry, do I… do I know you?' I stuttered as the ground which had been so solid beneath me only a moment ago, began to spin.
'Lieutenant Sanders, Miss,' he said cheerily. 'I was part of the team that oversaw your training.'
I wracked my brains. Sanders? I didn't remember any Sanders.
He reached down a great paw. I took it and he pulled me up without the slightest effort. The man radiated strength.
Once I was upright the spinning was even more pronounced and I stumbled a bit. He caught me in his arms like I was some kind of swooning schoolgirl. I blushed red with embarrassment. This, of course, made it even worse. I shook him off firmly and regained my composure with a brisk cough.
'It's been a long time since a man's made me dizzy, Lieutenant,' I joked.
He laughed awkwardly as I took a closer look at him. He had the tanned skin of a man who spends time outdoors; thick black eyebrows topped deep-set brown eyes that sat either side of a classic Roman nose. His large chin jutted out slightly, making him look like a weird mixture of toff and bruiser. It was a striking face rather than a handsome one.
'Wait a minute,' I said, as realisation dawned. 'I do remember you! You were one of the soldiers Cooper took me to train with out in Hereford. You were the judo guy, weren't you? Spent a whole day throwing me round a gym like I was a, oh, I don't know what.'
'That's me, Miss. I was part of the assault team at the warehouse as well. Nasty business. I'm sorry about… you know.'
'Yeah, right. Wow. It's, um, it's been a really long time since anyone's called me Miss Booker. You threw me there for a minute.'
He nodded. 'What exactly is the reason for the name change, Miss?' The shift from friendly reminiscence to polite officialdom almost went past me. Almost.
'Witness protection,' I replied. 'They made me into a boarding school matron, would you believe. I was only supposed to be here 'til they caught up with The Spider, but I never heard anything. And then, The Cull, obviously.'
'Kept the name though.'
'Kate's a distant memory now. It's Jane who looks after the kids. I'm not sure Kate would have been up to this kind of thing.'
He was looking at me oddly, trying to suss out whether I was delusional or just weird.
'I know,' I said. 'It just helps me if I keep them separate in my mind, lets me focus on the here and now. And it would only confuse the kids if I introduced them to Kate after everything we've been through. They trust Jane, they might not be so sure about Kate.'
He nodded again. 'I've been undercover, Miss, I get it. So, Lance Corporal Barker says you've evacuated the school and he doesn't know where they've gone. That right?'
'Yes.'
He looked at the row of bodies and his cheeriness faded. Our surprising reunion lost its novelty and the reality of his job re-asserted itself.
'It was just an awful misunderstanding,' I said.
He regarded me coolly. 'I'm sure it was, Miss. But it's not me you've got to convince, it's Major General Kennet.'
More soldiers had arrived now, and Sanders set them to carrying the bodies into one of the three trucks they'd brought, expecting to have to transport all the children and staff to safety.
'What's he like?' I asked as we walked away.
'I've served under worse,' he replied.
