Eagle Day - Robert Muchamore Page 0,35
a row.’
‘She certainly wasn’t happy with the way he treated PT,’ Rosie said. ‘I heard them upstairs yelling before dinner.’
Marc came in with wet hair and a bare chest. ‘Morning,’ he said, before spotting the basket. ‘Oooh, eggies!’
Paul looked horrified as Marc cracked an eggshell on the countertop, flipped his head back and drained raw egg into his mouth.
‘That’s so gross!’ Rosie said.
Marc poked out his tongue, which was covered in strands of yolk. ‘Give us a kiss, darling!’
She picked a wooden spoon off the worktop and whacked Marc hard on the elbow. ‘One step closer and you see what you get.’
‘You and whose army?’ Marc teased, as he lunged at her.
Rosie screamed, but the fun ended abruptly as a length of metal chain clanked down on the table behind them.
‘Good morning,’ Henderson said firmly. ‘You all doing OK?’
‘You want eggs on toast?’ Rosie asked, as the two boys shrugged.
‘I surely could,’ Henderson said. ‘Make some for PT too. I expect he’ll be hungry.’
Marc smiled. ‘Are you letting him off?’
Henderson rattled the chain. ‘If he behaves himself, I’ve got a couple of options for him. Marc, I want you to go cut PT loose and bring him up here. Let him know that I’ve got my eye out and I’ll shoot if he tries to run.’
Marc got a sharp knife from a drawer and jogged down to the shed. Rosie checked that the hotplate over the wood-fired oven was up to temperature before starting to crack the eggs into a saucepan.
‘Paul tells me you got a reply last night,’ Rosie said, still bursting to know. ‘Was it good news?’
‘I’m not going through the whole thing six times,’ Henderson said. ‘I’m going to deal with PT. Then we’ll deal with the message and our new plans.’
‘So what’s the deal with the chain?’ Paul asked.
Henderson had a sly way of not answering awkward questions when he didn’t want to. He ignored Paul and wandered over to see if there was any hot water on the stove. ‘I’ll make some coffee,’ he said, as he peered out towards the shed, making sure that Marc was OK.
PT came in a minute later and sat at the table. The shed was stuffy and he’d not washed since his tussle with Paul on the driveway. Dry blood caked his shirt, his head-wound had dried up into an unsightly scab and the smell of his sweat was stronger than eggs or coffee.
‘Manna from heaven,’ PT said, tucking in greedily as Rosie put a plate in front of him.
Marc and Paul brought their plates over to the table, but Henderson told them to eat standing up by the cabinet with Rosie.
‘I kill you,’ Henderson said to PT. ‘Letting an untrustworthy worm like you live is a risk that could lead to the slow painful death of everyone in this room – but you’re not much more than a kid.’should
PT glanced up from his eggs, but after his ordeal he resented Henderson and refused to show any sign of being grateful.
Henderson pointed at Paul, Rosie and Marc. ‘I thought they were your friends, PT.’
PT shrugged. ‘I’ve got nothing against any of you, just no appetite to go around spying on Nazis.’
‘Two options,’ Henderson said dramatically, as he raised one end of the coiled chain. ‘This chain is the first. I can’t let you split from us until we’re a day or so ahead of you. So I’ll put you upstairs, chain you to a bed and give you a knock-out pill. I’ll leave some food, some water and a file.
‘You’ll come around after eighteen to twenty-four hours, and I reckon it’ll take you another eight to ten to file your way through the wooden bedpost. By the time you set yourself free, we’ll be at least a couple of hundred miles away. I’ll leave you your money. You won’t have the gold you might need to get into Spain, but you’ve got experience working on boats. If you’re alone you’ll be better off getting a job on a steamer heading for the Mediterranean and jumping ship.’
‘I’m right off boats after the sank under me,’ PT sighed. ‘I like the idea of crossing a land border.’Cardiff Bay
Henderson scratched his head and thought for a second. ‘How about if I sell you two gold ingots for six hundred dollars? The trouble is, I hear it’s a nightmare getting into Spain at the moment. There’s tens of thousands of refugees. The official border’s closed and if you’re lucky enough to find a