Tamsin Beech Ch. 09: Edinburgh

PART FOUR: CONTACT

"To be brutally honest wi' ye COUGH ... I feel like shit JB," Hamnavoe wheezed as he tried to sit up on his makeshift bed.

Jessamy was horrified by how much Hamnavoe had deteriorated since they'd returned from Fort George, but more so because the old Scot had admitted it. Ashen skin sheened with sweat, his voice was now barely a whisper, forced out from between chapped lips as if he lacked even the strength to moisten them. The cancer - if that was indeed what it was, was killing him more quickly than anticipated.

At his request, Merida and Ross had helped him up into the Kerrera II's wheelhouse and made him as comfortable as possible. He'd wanted to breath fresh air and feel the sun on his face. With no other pain killing medication on hand, he was smoking the bitter smelling Coalition zabveniye to alleviate the worst of it.

"I can't believe that after all we've been through," said Jessamy softly, "that it's going to end like this."

Leaving Finlayson alone again in Fort George, Ross had taken them back out of the Moray Firth and south along the coast as far as Aberdeen. Where they now anchored awaiting a call from Tamsin and the others that the rendezvous was to go ahead. Hamnavoe smiled, though she could tell by the deep lines etched around his eyes that he was still in tremendous pain, "I've no regrets. I've done ... some amazin' things wi' my life Jess. Two beautiful wives ... first Laura, then you. Two beautiful wee 'uns. An' I ... even got COUGH tae save the world."

"And I'll make bloody sure you're remembered for it," Jessamy tenderly squeezed his hand, trying to hold back her tears, "if we can get to Lindisfarne there's a chance you can do it again."

Russia was to blame for all the death and devastation caused by Thanatos. There was absolutely no doubt about that. And she knew full well that it was high time the perpetrators were made to pay for the unspeakable crime they'd committed against the entire world. Jessamy could clearly recall what the scientist Bromden had told her onboard Airforce One all those years before, "The Russians decided to get the first punch in. Waiting until Thanatos was at its closest point as it passed over the US, they launched a single missile ... every strike, every town and city annihilated, every tsunami, every million souls vapourised ... has been caused by a piece of Thanatos dropping out of the sky."

What she hadn't realised before was that Merida's father - Vladimir Zakhvatchikov had probably been instrumental in launching that missile.

"Have ye ... no' heard COUGH anything from the lassie?"

"Wh-what? Sorry I was miles away. Tamz? No, not yet," Jessamy shook her head, "but between you and me I wonder if we ever will. You saw what the Reekies were like when we passed through Edinburgh. They attack and kill on sight."

Hamnavoe gazed up at the wheelhouse windows as the first rays of the rising sun glinted orange on the peeling frames. Merida and Phoebe had gone below to prepare food while Ross slept, "Don't let the lassie's parents hear ye say that JB. They ... were shite times. On the run from Keaton COUGH ... and tryin' to catch Trevithick and save the fuckin' world. But you ... know what lass?"

Jessamy leaned closer, her dreadlocks brushing the side of her husband's face, "Tell me."

"If I could turn back time ... I'd do it all again. Every second. Ye really are ... like a dream ... that started when I fell asleep and doesnae end when I wake up."

"You're going soft Angus. Or you're trying to sweet talk your way into my pants," Jessamy Beech scoffed, "if you're so eager to turn back time maybe we could use that machine we found in Ayr."

"I'd love tae get into your pants lass COUGH but I doubt I've got the energy."

Jessamy ignored the remark, because to accept the inevitability of Hamnavoe's worsening condition would be to descend into a pit of despair that she simply couldn't afford to do at the present time, "Phoebe kept all the paperwork."

Hamnavoe raised a bushy grey eyebrow, "What? For Project Chronos? Ye seriously think ... it'd actually work?"

Jessamy shook her head, "A time machine? Nah. If you want something done in this world you need to rely on wits, bullets and cold steel ..."

"Kerrera II, this is Girl Fl ..." a sudden burst of static from the trawler's shortwave radio made them both look up, "... ceiving us?"

As Ross stirred into wakefulness from his own bed on the cabin's floor, Jessamy stood up and yelled down through the hatch into the hold, "MERIDA! PHOEBE! COME QUICK, IT'S TAMSIN!"

A minute later, the five of them waited impatiently clustered around the antique apparatus as Ross attempted to get a clearer signal, "This fucking thing must be fifty or sixty years old. I'm surprised it doesn't have valves."

"What's a valve?" asked Phoebe.

"Before your time sweetheart," Ross prayed that the radio's crank handle could produce enough power to receive his daughter's message. A stack of pre-Thanatos lithium batteries they'd discovered in Kirkwall had proven useless, "before mine too ... ahh, here we are ..."

"... rera II, this is the Girl Flora. Are you receiving this?"

Ross grinned, "Receiving you loud and clear Tamz. What's your situation?"

"Made ... tact with the Reekies. We, um ... have their support. We're embarking for ... indisfarne as soon as. Leonid's wounded but not seriously. Give ... irth of Forth a wide berth as Zakhvatchikov's fleet is still ... nchored there. We'll meet you on Lindisfarne in a ... ouple of days. Wait for my signal ..."

Merida crowded closer, seizing the microphone, and anxious to hear more of her daughter's voice, "Tamz? Are you okay? How many Reekies will we have?"

"Hey mum. Don't worr ..."

Silence.

"SHIT!" Ross exclaimed, "looks like it's died."

Jessamy folded her arms and leaned back against the bulkhead, "We've got what we wanted. I don't know how but your daughter's done an incredible thing Meri. If the Reekies do their job we're in with a chance of defeating the Coalition once and for all."

But in her mind Jessamy was far from confident. One part of the plan had succeeded. Merida's daughter Tamsin had at her disposal a horde of bloodthirsty savages with an all consuming hatred of the invaders. Now all they needed to do was get Hamnavoe south and into Lindisfarne's castle to open the Soteria bunker.

If he lived that long ...

THE END OF CHAPTER NINE

Bristol Zoo, mid August 2021 ...

"Can we go see the gorillas now mum?" Merida Zakhvatchikov whined.

Her mother Sorrel sighed, pushing a lock of red hair back from her sweating forehead. The south west was in the grip of a heatwave and combined with the humidity a lot of people in the city were becoming tetchy and irritable. Including herself. She looked up at her husband, "What do you think?"

Vladimir Zakhvatchikov shrugged noncommittally and continued adjusting settings on his DSLR. The previous evening he had dropped a bombshell that might have serious repercussions for their marriage, so their planned day out at the zoo had turned into something of a frosty affair.

"Some help you are," Sorrel murmured bitterly under her breath, then louder, "go by yourself Meri," she told her daughter, "but don't talk to any strangers. We'll be along in a few minutes. Your father and I need to discuss something."

"Grown-up stuff," Merida scoffed and stormed off through the crowds towards the gorilla enclosure, the long plaits of her flame red hair bouncing as she walked. At ten years old she was already fiercely independent but not quite so grown up that she didn't still appreciate having her parents around.

"So," Sorrel turned once more to her husband, "you honestly think a few days is enough notice for us to up sticks and move to Moscow?"

"With international tensions, my government has recalled all diplomatic personnel," Vladimir took a step back as an inquisitive Okapi extended a long blue tongue through the bars in front of him, "it's just a precautionary measure and I can assure you it won't be permanent."

Sorrel angrily seized his arm and forced him to look at her, "Merida starts senior school next September. This will fuck up her entire education if we move to Russia."

"I said it won't be permanent. Besides, there is an English speaking school Merida can attend," Vladimir told her in a calm voice.

"Vlad! That's not the point," Sorrel raised her voice. Several concerned zoo staff nearby stopped to stare, "all her friends are here in the UK. Her grandparents are here."

Vladimir put his hands on both her shoulders, looking down at her. With sunglasses on, his eyes were invisible, his expression therefore unreadable, "Sorrel, moya lyubovʹ ... I don't make the decisions."

His covert mission to discover more about NATO's Soteria weapon project had been largely unsuccessful. Was it something that could be used against the rogue asteroid approaching the Earth he wondered. Astronomers and experts from NASA and the ESA had all insisted the planet was in no danger from the country sized piece of rock - named Thanatos. But supposing their calculations were off?

"I tell you what," Sorrel sneered. Vladimir could see tears were gathering in the corners of her eyes. Angry tears? Or of sorrow? He could never tell which. All he knew was that his beautiful wife had always avoided any kind of confrontation. To be speaking to him like this betrayed a depth of emotion he'd never been able to feel himself.

Vladimir stared, waiting ...

"You go," she continued, "I'll stay here with Merida ... and if you can bear to put your family first at some point in the future, you know where we live. We'd planned to visit my cousins in Scotland before the school term starts ... and that's just what we're going to do."

With her Sports Psychology degree and the wherewithal to set herself up as a personal fitness instructor, Sorrel had every belief that she and her daughter could manage alone. Merida's nanny would have to go but with her parents and brother's family still living in Bristol there would be no shortage of childcare options. They'd be fine. Leaving her husband standing next to the Okapis to contemplate what she'd said, Sorrel Zakhvatchikov marched off towards the gorillas to find her daughter.

COMING SOON ... CHAPTER TEN: SOTERIA