The Perimeter (9 page)

The
sleep in peace
part sounded very appealing, but he still had huge reservations. ‘What if I get there and I don’t like it?’

‘What if . . . What if. Let’s get you there first and you’ll see; it will all be okay.’

The man had a talent for not answering questions, but Jamie let himself be soothed and tried to put his worries aside. A massive set of studded wooden doors opened inwards as they approached the wall. Freaky robed guards stood inside the doors either side of the entrance, guns and swords at their sides. The nerves started up again. Big time.

‘Holy moly.’

‘Every settlement needs its guards wouldn’t you say?’ Mr Carter said.

‘Yeah, but those guys look like something out of a horror movie.’

‘Lucky they’re on our side then.’

Your
side maybe, Jamie thought. As they drove through and the doors swung closed behind them, Jamie took a deep breath and hoped he hadn’t just made the biggest mistake of his life.

Chapter Eleven

Riley

Heart racing, I opened the door and stepped out of the truck, raising my hands in the air. I wore one of my revolvers beneath my coat and the other strapped to my ankle. I’d stashed the Saiga in the footwell under the passenger seat, reasoning that they might mistake my intentions if I approached them with such a powerful weapon. I took a couple of steps towards the gypsies.

‘Okay, that’s far enough,’ the man with no piercings said.

The one with the nose hoop whistled and a boy came running. Nose-hoop said something unintelligible and the boy nodded and ran off. I hoped he was going to get Lou. There was a long silence and I shifted from one foot to the other, feeling exposed and vulnerable with weapons trained at my head and so many pairs of eyes looking me up and down.

‘What’s in the truck?’ one of the men asked.

‘Just some stuff to trade.’

‘Where you from?’

‘I’d rather wait until Lou . . .’

‘Oh, look, it’s Perimeter Girl,’ came a mocking voice.

I gazed across and saw the crowd had parted to let someone through. It was the man from yesterday – Reece.

‘I thought I told you not to come back,’ he called out. ‘What? You enjoy slumming it over here or something?’

This incited a ripple of laughter from the other gypsies.

‘I’ve come to see Lou.’

‘She’s busy.’

‘No she’s not.’ An out-of-breath Lou pushed past him, along with one of her younger brothers.

I breathed a massive sigh of relief and lowered my hands. I’d been about to risk turning around, jumping back in the truck and racing home.

‘Louisa, this has got nothing to do with you,’ Reece said. ‘This girl’s obviously up to something.’

Lou put her hands on her hips and glared at him. ‘Reece, she’s my friend. Do I have to get your permission to invite my friends over now?’

‘Yes,’ Reece replied. ‘You do when they start showing up in armoured trucks with semi-automatic weapons.’

I turned to see that nose-hoop had opened the passenger door of the truck, and had already discovered my Saiga under the passenger seat.

‘Hey!’ I said.

He unclipped the magazine.

‘Hey,’ I repeated. ‘Put that back.’

‘It’s fully loaded,’ he called out to Reece.

‘Put it back, Keon,’ Lou said, walking up to him. ‘Riley’s cool.’

Keon didn’t let go of my weapon, but I ignored him for the moment. Hopefully, once Lou explained why I was here, they would start to treat me with less suspicion.

‘Can I talk to you for a minute, Lou?’ I asked, desperate to dispel all the tension.

‘Course,’ she said before turning to her brother. ‘Joe, thanks for fetching me. You can go home now.’ The boy pouted, but did as he was asked.

‘God, Riley,’ she said, walking up to me. ‘You’ve caused a bit of a scene, haven’t you. Beginning to think you like trouble.’

‘Sorry,’ I replied. I really didn’t want to speak to her with Keon, Reece and the others pointing their weapons at me, but it didn’t look like I had much of a choice.

‘What’s in the truck anyway?’ she asked.

‘You said you needed some fuel.’

She frowned and walked up to the tarp. Keon and Reece joined her while she loosened one corner and peeled it back. ‘Holy mother of all that’s sweet and good.’

Keon let out a long low whistle, but Reece glared at me again, his long fringe diluting the hatred a little.

‘You serious?’ Lou asked.

I nodded and turned to Keon. ‘Can I have my gun back now?’

‘I think I’ll hang onto it,’ he said, smiling at me. He fiddled with the magazine, trying to lock it back in. ‘I could do with a nice shooter like this.’

‘Give it back, Keon,’ Lou said. She turned back to me. ‘But, we haven’t got enough to trade you for all this lot,’ Lou said. ‘Maybe a tenth of what it’s worth? Or a hundredth.’

‘That’s okay,’ I said. ‘We’ve got more than we need.’

‘You want to
give
us all of this fuel?’ Reece said. ‘For nothing?’ His voice was icy. ‘D’you think we’re charity cases? Is that it?’

‘Of course not,’ I replied. ‘Lou more-or-less saved my life yesterday. This is my way of saying thank you.’

‘We don’t like being indebted to anyone,’ he replied. ‘Especially not rich little perimeter girls.’

‘There’s no debt,’ I said. ‘I told you, it’s to thank Lou for yesterday. She saved my life.’

Keon was still fiddling with my Saiga, swearing under his breath as he tried to force the magazine into place.

‘For God’s sake, Kee,’ Reece said. ‘What are you doing with that bloody gun?’

‘There’s a knack to it,’ I said. ‘Here . . .’ I held out my hand for the weapon, but Keon shook his head.

‘Not falling for that,’ he said.

‘Give it back to her, Keon,’ Reece said. ‘You’re doing my head in.’

He glowered at Reece, but handed the gun and magazine back to me. I locked the mag easily back in place.

‘How did you do that?’ Keon asked.

‘Keon, shut up or go away,’ Reece said.

I caught Lou’s eye and she smiled as Keon shoved his hands into his pocket and kicked at the ground.

‘There’s got to be a catch,’ Reece said, turning back to face me.

‘No catch,’ I replied. ‘You can thank Lou.’

‘Why are you
really
doing this?’ Reece asked. ‘Are you setting us up, is that it? We gonna get a load of perimeter guards come down and start kicking off that we nicked their fuel?’ He stepped up close to me, his eyes blazing. I held his stare.

‘Easy, Reece,’ Lou said, putting a hand on his arm. ‘I’m pretty sure she’s on the level.’

‘
Pretty sure
isn’t good enough.’

‘We’ve got no choice. We need this fuel.’

There was a moment of silence.

‘So . . .’ Reece said, still staring.

‘So . . .’ I replied, holding his gaze.

‘How about if we trade you something for it?’ Lou said to me.

‘You don’t have to,’ I replied.

‘We want to.’

Reece walked off a little way, his head bowed and his fists clenched. Then he stopped, turned around and walked back.

‘Fine,’ he said. ‘We need the fuel, so we’ll do a trade. But if this comes back to bite us, it’s on you, Louisa.’

She grinned. ‘Let’s get this baby unloaded.’

‘Come and see me when you’re done and we’ll talk terms.’ Reece turned his back on us and walked back into the camp. Keon let out a piercing whistle and soon we were joined by about fifty men, women and children; maybe more, I lost count after a while. They looked at me curiously, some with distrust, others with a glimmer of friendliness. Within minutes they had unloaded the flatbed and re-secured the tarpaulin. The timber had been squirreled away to some unknown destination, lifted over the heads of others and hidden within the vast encampment.

‘Let’s go to Reece’s,’ Lou said. ‘We need to talk about what we owe you.’

‘We’ll guard your truck if you like,’ Keon said with a wink.

I looked at Lou who smiled at my dubious expression. ‘It’s okay,’ she said. ‘Keon’ll make sure it stays in one piece.’

‘Really?’ I said. ‘He tried to steal my gun a minute ago.’

‘Trust me,’ Lou said. ‘Your truck’ll be safe with Kee.’

I turned to him and his friend. ‘Okay.’

‘Chuck us the keys then.’

‘I’ll keep hold of them if you don’t mind.’ I didn’t trust him not to unlock the fuel cap and drain the tank.

‘Whatever,’ he replied.

‘Cab’s open though, so feel free to sit inside and warm up.’

‘Nice one.’ The two men turned and walked over to the truck, pulling a group of noisy children out from the cab and smacking their heads as they sent them on their way. This elicited a bunch of friendly swearing and rude gestures.

‘This way,’ Lou said.

I walked beside her as she led me through the chilly maze-like camp. Once again, I noticed how raggedy and skinny everyone was and I felt self-conscious in my good-quality warm clothes. The makeshift paths were hard and frosted over, but I could imagine that with a little rain they would become mud baths.

‘Here we are.’ Lou pulled back the flap on a large marquee-like structure with a tall post running up through the middle of it. It looked as though it had been constructed from animal hide and it smelt like it too. I followed her inside. Natural light filtered in from the entrance and other window-like flaps, but the air inside was thick with smoke. Thin plywood and mismatched squares of worn-out carpet dotted the muddy floor. However, the beauty of the place was that it was lovely and warm inside. A squat black wood-burning stove sat in the centre of the tent, its chimney running up alongside the central tent pole and out through the roof. An assortment of shabby chairs and cushions were strewn about the place and people sat talking in small clusters.

‘This is our gathering place,’ Lou said. ‘It’s usually the only warm place. Sometimes, on really cold nights, we sleep in here too.’

Lou led me across the marquee to a screened-off area behind the stove, where a scrawny man with weasely eyes stood in front of a patched-up wall of some kind. When he saw Lou, he grunted and told her to wait.

‘We’re here to see Reece,’ she said.

‘And I told you to wait.’

‘Fine,’ Lou replied.

As we stood in silence, I let my eyes wander further and realised that the screen was covered in charcoal and pencil drawings. They were pictures of people – faces. Mainly children.

‘What are those pictures?’ I asked Lou.

The weasely man scowled at me.

‘That’s our Lost Wall,’ Lou replied. ‘Our artists come and draw portraits on here every time someone dies or goes missing. So we’ll always remember them.’

‘So many children,’ I said, gazing at the young faces on the wall.

‘Most of them disappeared,’ Lou said, making my heart sink.

‘Recently?’

‘It’s been going on for years. Makes me scared for my Joe and Mikey. But there’s nothing any of us can do about it. We don’t know where they’ve gone. They just disappear. Reece’s younger sisters disappeared a few years ago. He doesn’t like to talk about it.

My thoughts flitted to James Grey, but now was not the time to mention him.

‘You can go in now,’ the weasely man said. I had the feeling he’d kept us waiting for no reason other than to please himself.

I followed Lou past the man and along to the end of the wall. We went around it into a large open space at the back of the marquee where Reece was sitting at a scrubbed wooden table. With him sat two men and two women, all considerably older. Reece, however, sat at the head of the table and it looked to me like he was in charge.