escape the pursuing vermin, and made for the bent sheet of corrugated iron.
He clambered up the debris to the opening and squeezed his body through, swiftly glancing back to see if he was being followed. He almost cried out in despair when he saw the big Black rat scuttling through the rubble to reach him. It may have come through the now unblocked stairway or, more likely, through its own escape hole the rats obviously had their own entrance into the cellar, a hole he had been unable to see in the gloom.
Fender leapt from the outer window-sill into the beautiful, fresh, sunlit air, rolling down the incline of rubble, jumping up immediately, and running, feet dragging, but keeping going, refusing to fall. He saw the dark green van racing up the track over the field towards him, skidding when it reached the worst of the muddied area, hitting a fence post and knocking it flat. The wheels threw up showers of damp earth as the driver tried to get the vehicle clear.
Fender ran towards it, gasping in air, using his last reserves of energy to reach the van. He twisted his head to see the rats slipping through the gap in the window, running down the rubble, and chasing towards him. Almost exhausted, adrenalin pumped through his system as he redoubled his efforts to get away. He knew he would never make it, the van was too far. Fender wanted to scream in frustration and his body sagged as his knees began to give.
The sudden rush of air and whirring of the Gazelle's blades made his head jerk upwards. He turned and saw the helicopter swooping low over the pursuing vermin, making them crouch, then scatter. Bullets from the sub- machine-gun thudded into the earth, sending up fountains of blood when they struck the running bodies.
Fender groaned with pleasure at the sight and rose, stumbling onwards.
The green Conservation van had freed itself from the mud and was racing towards him once again. He went down, falling to his knees, one hand resting against the ground.
'Luke!' he heard Jenny's voice scream.
He looked up as the van skidded to a halt in front of him and the door flew open. Suddenly Jenny was there, arms around his shoulders, lifting him, pleading with him to move.
Her voice shook with emotion and tears ran freely down her cheeks as she pulled him towards the van. He hardly looked human, his body and face covered in blood and dirt, his clothes hanging in tatters.
Apprehension had filled her as she had headed for the lumbering, bedraggled form, for there was no telling which man it was: Whittaker or Fender? It was only when she brought the van to a screeching halt that she recognized him.
'Luke, you must move please!' she begged.
Fender willed himself to walk and Jenny pulled open the passenger door of the vehicle, helping him to clamber in. She slid the door shut and hurried round to the driver's side, aware that several rats were streaking towards her. She slammed the driver's door just as a rat leapt. It thudded against the metal and fell back to the ground. More muffled thumps followed as the rats ran round the vehicle and jumped up at it
'Oh, Luke, Luke, what have they done to you?' Jenny moaned, taking Fender's torn face in her hands.
He hardly had the breath or the strength to speak, but he managed to say, They're there in the house ... in the ... cellar. It's their ...
lair. That's where ... they were ... all the time.'
Jenny screamed as the windscreen shattered and a rat perched on the jagged glass, head and shoulders not two feet away from Fender's face.
With a shout of sheer rage, the rat catcher lashed out with his fist, hitting the black creature squarely on the forehead, knocking it back onto the earth below.
'Get us out of here, Jenny!' he shouted.
The van roared round in a tight circle, crushing several rats beneath its wheels. Fender was thrown against the door and as his head hit the window, he saw the big Black rat with the strange scar crouched in the mud, its mouth open wide revealing long, yellow teeth. Its eyes glared up at him. Fender lost sight of it as the van completed the semicircle and raced back down the track in the direction from which it had come, skidding through the worst of the mud but gathering speed.
Fender managed to turn in his seat and look through the rear windows.
The helicopter was still hovering low, discharging its deadly spray.
The rats, those not killed or badly injured, were scurrying back to safety back into the house itself.
They've got to get them now!' he shouted at Jenny. 'Now, before they have a chance to lose themselves in the forest!'
They will, Luke! Look ahead!'
Fender looked through the opening in the fractured glass on his side of the van, the air rushing in and stinging his raw face. He managed to smile grimly when he saw the convoy of army vehicles speeding down the lane leading from the gatehouses. He looked at Jenny. 'How... ?'
'Denison found slaughtered deer in the reserve. He radioed the Centre.
I was in the operations room when his call came in.' She carefully but swiftly steered the van through the open gate at the end of the field, rattling over the cattle-grid and narrowly avoiding Fender's parked Audi. 'I knew you and Vie were here so I came for you. I couldn't wait for them to get organized, Luke, I just felt something was happening up here.'
Thank God you didn't,' Fender said, looking at her profile and loving every inch of it.
They were directing the helicopter to your last location when I left.
Oh Luke, I'm so glad I came straight away.'
Fender tried to touch her shoulder but either the van was jolting too much or his hand was too shaky.
The Conservation vehicle came to an abrupt halt, throwing Fender forward. Jenny's arm shot across his chest preventing him from hitting the dashboard. He turned to face her and realized why she had stopped so suddenly. Her door flew open and Captain Mather was staring anxiously at her.
'Good God!' he said when he saw Fender.
The rat catcher pushed forward across Jenny's lap, his face a red, grime-filled mask, a flap of skin hanging loosely from one cheek.
You've got to destroy the house, Mather,' he said urgently. The ...
the last of the rats are in there. Underground. In the cellar.
