Chapter 27

Dan showed the letter to Martin. He watched his friend's facial expressions as he read the note. His eyebrows were raised, he was probably reading about the kiss, and then he saw the look of horror which signified he had got to the part about the other 27 canisters. When he had finished Martin looked stunned.

"What have we done?" Martin had expressed exactly what Dan had been thinking.

"We didn't know what he would do with the information we gave him. Maybe we were naïve in thinking that he was a decent person, but that is all. A raid on an army base, a deadly attack with gas, neither of us would have imagined that Bertie would do those things." Dan tried to reassure Martin but they both still felt bad.

"The question is what do we do now?"

Dan and Martin had to try to stop Bertie, but they weren't sure how to achieve that. Dan had thought of a drastic course of action, but it should be a last resort. He would go to the authorities and tell them what he knew. If he could save lives, it would be worth the sacrifice.

There were other options before they got to that point Martin suggested. They should try to contact Bertie. They would have to word any letter carefully to try to arrange a meeting. The rebel had tried to kill Dan so that made things tricky to say the least. If they could talk to him, they might be able to persuade him to not use the gas again.

"We could say that because you knew about the gas canisters you had escaped. Bertie must have factored that knowledge in before he decided to attack the party."

Martin would write that they could not believe that he would have put one of his fellow dissenters at risk of harm. They would sound a bit unworldly, but it would hopefully convince him that there were no hard feelings.

They composed a note along those lines and it would be sent through the usual channels. Serena had said that they were moving around a lot so the correspondence might take some time to get to him, if it arrived at all. Even if Bertie got the letter would he actually respond? They had to try.

Time was a big factor for everyone. The authorities would be scouring the country for clues about who had perpetrated the atrocity. As much as people in the labour zones backed the agitators, they would eventually find someone who would talk. Dan and Martin would send a letter which could take months to find Bertie. This would leave plenty of time for Bertie to use the gas again.

Bertie had spent months touring the country spreading his message. Many people would know about him, but few would know where to find him. He had used an alias, Rebel A, when he spoke, so most would not know his true name either. Dan had laughed at his pseudonym because it had made him sound like a rapper. Now it seemed like a clever precaution which would protect him from the authorities.

The police would be travelling the length and breadth of the country chasing a man who must seem like a ghost. A man with a false name who moved around leaving no clue as to who he really was and where he called home. He was a legend like Robin Hood. A hero to the labour class. Few would be prepared to inform on Rebel A.

What would he do next? The OWG knew that someone had the gas and government sites and personnel would be on high alert. They could not protect everyone all of the time and Bertie could be looking for a chink in their armour. He might try some sort of blackmail. He would return the gas if they made concessions. Considering what Bertie had already done this seemed unlikely.

The other thing that he could do was attack a large number of people in the labour zone. It would be very hard to suppress news of a massacre which occurred outside of the leadership areas. It would mean killing the people that Bertie was supposed to be helping, but it would be very effective in turning the public against the OWG. A weapon that they had developed would be used to slaughter innocent people. Would he go that far?

The letter was sent and they waited for a reply. Nothing happened and Martin and Dan decided that they had to be more proactive. They would go to the farmhouse where they had met in the past and see if they could learn anything. A test drive was arranged now that the new shock absorbers had been fitted to a car. It would give them a good workout driving along the rough track to the farm.

They set off on a bright sunny morning. The beautiful countryside could not lift their mood as they headed for the place where so much information had been exchanged. As usual they made sure they were not seen as they pulled off of the road onto the potholed lane. Their journey was a bit more comfortable with the coil springs and shocks. A fact that they only mentioned in passing as they anticipated their arrival at the farm.

The barn door was closed but as they had not been expected, so that was not surprising. They got out of the car and approached the farmhouse expecting someone to intercept them at some point. No one appeared and they knocked on the door which led to the kitchen. There was no answer.

The couple who lived at the house were elderly, early seventies Dan would guess. Maybe they had gone to a local market. He doubted that they would be at work at their age, but who knew. Martin knocked again but still nothing. Dan walked around to the back of the building and peered through the window.

Inside the farmhouse he could see a body lying on the floor. He ran back to Martin and tried the door. It opened and he rushed in closely followed by his friend. They stopped in their tracks as they saw the body of the old man. There was a smell of decay which indicated that he had been dead for some time. A blood stain had spread across the ground around his corpse. His had not been a natural death.

"Oh my God. Has he had an accident?" Martin said more out of hope than conviction.

Dan moved further into the property. He checked the living room and then went upstairs. The house was small with two bedrooms, one of which was tiny, and a bathroom on the upper floor. In the larger bedroom he found the old lady. She was dead in her bed lying on a sheet covered in dried blood.

It was the last thing he wanted to do but he moved closer to see if he could see how she had died. The jagged hole in her nightdress which corresponded with where her heart would be told the story. She had been stabbed. Dan hoped that it had been quick and painless. He went back to Martin and told him what he had found.

"The old lady is dead, too. Looks like she has been stabbed. I don't think we should touch anything else. Eventually someone will come looking for them and an investigation will start. He's probably been stabbed, as well."

"Let's get the hell out of here. Those poor people."

A, good few, miles were put between them and the farmhouse before they stopped to discuss what they had seen.

"Murder suicide?" Dan offered but Martin shook his head.

Neither of them wanted to voice what they were thinking and they sat in silence for a while. Eventually Martin took the plunge and said it out loud.

"They were killed because of what they knew."

The next question was who had done it and one suspect leapt immediately to mind. Bertie. The unfortunate residents of the farmhouse were the only link between Dan's group and Bertie. At some point someone would end up there looking for them. The problem of what the couple knew and what they might say had been solved in a brutal way.

Another indication of just how far Bertie would go to get his revolution. That elderly couple, who had helped his cause, were disposed of without a second thought. He was covering his tracks. Dan dreaded to think what he might be planning next.

The thought of leaving the bodies there to rot was unpleasant, but Dan and Martin couldn't risk phoning the authorities. Dan was convinced that if a phone call was made, the OWG would know where it had originated. A government which wielded total power would have all angles covered.

It was a, hellish, few weeks. Dan was surrounded by people who were bereft, or tense. For the first time in months, he desperately wanted to go back to his own world. Had he been the catalyst for these tragedies? Dan was getting out of his depth.