Lies, Damned Lies, and History(37)

‘As did they,’ said Roberts, hotly. ‘It wasn’t theirs to take away. It was given to the people of Caer Guorthigirn. It belongs to them, regardless of who found it. Or who owns the cave. It belongs to the people. We’re not stealing it – we’re taking it back.’

Well, if that was what he wanted to tell himself …

‘That’s as may be,’ I said, ‘but everything stays in this room. We don’t involve anyone else. Not Kal, not Rosie Lee, not Hunter, not anyone. We don’t take anyone else down with us.’

Peterson looked at me. ‘Not Leon?’

My heart thumped unpleasantly. I kept my voice steady. ‘Especially not Leon. He’s Dr Bairstow’s number two. We’d be putting him in an impossible position. Agreed?’

They all nodded. ‘Agreed.’

Peterson and Roberts would share the driving. Roberts would provide the transportation. ‘Sands, you stay with the car while we’re inside,’ said Markham. ‘There’s nothing more embarrassing than erupting from a building clutching your loot only to find the car’s been clamped. Or towed. So your job is to ensure our quick getaway.’

He nodded.

Markham would do the actual thieving.

And me …?

I was fighting off attempts to make me stay behind. Which I managed to do very successfully by simply ignoring everything Peterson said.

‘You’re pregnant, Max.’

I was making a list. ‘And we won’t want to hang around at service stations so we’ll need sandwiches and water in the vehicle. I’ll organise that.’

‘It’s too risky for you.’

‘Mr Roberts, please make sure your vehicle is fuelled and serviceable.’

‘Suppose someone gets hurt? You, for instance.’

‘I’ve done the staff work – here are our routes. This one’s from St Mary’s to Thirsk, and this one from Thirsk to Caer Guorthigirn. Refuelling stops are marked. No one drives for longer than two hours.’

‘Max, you can’t go.’

‘I’ve prepared a cover story because we’ll need a reason to be in the Zetland Library.’ I passed over sheets of paper.

‘Max!’

‘And I’ve already done the groundwork by telephoning the librarian with queries as to the availability of some volumes.’

‘Are you even listening to me?’

‘No, of course not.’

‘Look …’

‘And all the reservations are in my name so if you don’t take me then you won’t even get in, let alone get anywhere near the sword. Do you still want to leave me behind?’ and swept on before anyone could say yes. ‘The biggest problem is going to arise when we reach the cave.’

‘Bigger than actually stealing the thing?’ asked Sands.

‘Oh yes,’ said Markham. ‘That’s the easiest part. Max is right. We have to decide what to do with the damn thing once we’ve got it.’

‘Put it back in the cave,’ said Roberts, impatiently. ‘Surely that’s the whole point.’

‘And that’s it?’ demanded Sands. ‘We just wrap it in a blanket and lay it down in the cave somewhere? Because no one’s going to find it there, are they?’

‘We bury it somewhere,’ said Roberts.

‘Yes, because geophys will never be able to detect such a sophisticated hiding place. Max, we need to think about this because we could be wrecking St Mary’s and ourselves for nothing. There’s no point in us doing it if less than twenty-four hours later, the sword’s back at Thirsk again.’

Silence.

‘And,’ I said, ‘there’s the problem of actually getting to Arthur’s Cave. It’s a quarantine area. We’re going to have to conceal the car somewhere and walk across country. We can’t afford to be irresponsible. We mustn’t carry infection in and we certainly mustn’t carry infection out. Someone needs to steal a couple of cans of the antibacterial stuff we use in the pods. Enough to spray us and the car.’

‘I’ll do that,’ said Markham.

‘We should take a pod,’ said Roberts. ‘We could do the whole thing in minutes.’

‘Thus implicating everyone at St Mary’s,’ said Peterson. ‘No. When the manure heap collides with the windmill, it needs to be very clear that we acted alone.’

‘We’ll find a way,’ said Roberts, with confidence.

‘You don’t know that.’

‘Yes, I do. It’s Arthur’s sword. It was left by him for the people of Caer Guorthigirn. The sword will find a way.’

An even more sceptical silence this time.

I think the only reason no one argued was that, actually, we never thought things would get that far. In my mind’s eye, I was already seeing high-speed motorway chases, police helicopters swooping down on us, stingers, arrest, disgrace, me giving birth in prison …