B00DW1DUQA EBOK (52 page)

‘Are you ready to go?’ His father sat at the hatchway, his legs on the ladder. The others were back down on the ground, lifting bags and sacks onto their backs, supplies for the journey.

‘I’ll send one more message to Mrs. Megrim,’ said Finn.

‘We’ll be waiting for you.’

‘OK.’

‘Finn, I’m sorry about Connor.’

‘Yeah.’

‘I wish I’d done what you did thirty years ago. So you didn’t have to. I can’t tell you how proud of you I am, Finn.’ His father climbed down the ladder to leave him alone.

He sat at the line-of-sight ‘scope and began to type. He didn’t want to have to tell Mrs. Megrim, but it had to be done. They were coming home. There was no sign of Tom. There was no sign of Connor. Mrs. Megrim, he knew, would relay the message to Connor’s parents.

When he’d transmitted, he sat alone in the silence of the hut, awaiting a reply. It took several minutes. He was just beginning to think the message had got lost when the light in the ‘scope began to flicker.

Come home safely, boy. We’ll be waiting for you all.

Closing the hatch behind him he climbed down the ladder. Half-way down he paused to survey the smouldering, broken ruins, thinking about everything that had happened there.

On the ground, he turned away from Engn for the last time. Then the seven of them began to walk, across the grass for the valley and woods of home.

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