‘Why do I get the impression you’ve done this sort of thing before?’ he asked.
‘Anti-nuclear activities,’ said Parsons. ‘Sabotaging drilling rigs on possible waste sites, that sort of thing. I’ve got a couple of balaclava helmets indoors you can use, if you haven’t got your own.’
No way am I going to put my head inside one of Parsons’s sweaty stinky balaclavas, vowed Jake to himself.
‘That’s all right,’ he said. ‘I’ve got a ski mask at home.’
Lauren looked at him, surprised.
‘Why on earth do you have one of those?’ she asked.
‘If you must know, after we broke up I decided to go and do something I’d never done before to make me feel better,’ admitted Jake. ‘I decided to go skiing.’
‘Where did you go?’
Jake looked uncomfortable.
‘Actually, I never went. I got the ski mask and the gloves, and then realised I couldn’t afford it. But one day I will!’
‘I don’t think we’ve got time to go to Jake’s place and get his ski mask,’ said Parsons. He tapped his watch. ‘It’s late already, and we have to get to Stone by eleven at the latest if you’re going to be waiting by the doors of Block C at eleven thirty.’
‘Then we’ll use your balaclavas,’ announced Lauren.
It was nearly eleven o’clock as they left the ring road around Aylesbury and headed on the road to Stone. Parsons and Lauren were in the front of the Mini, and Jake was crammed in the back. He reflected ruefully that a Mini was large enough inside to sit comfortably, if you were in the front. The back was fine if you were one of the Seven Dwarfs, but for someone tall like Jake, he’d had to fold himself up to get in. It had also just begun to rain.
Great, thought Jake. We’re going to be crawling along a drain, with water pouring through.
The rain got heavier as the lights above the high wire fence of Hadley Park Research Establishment came into view. The place was lit up like a Christmas tree. And it looked huge; the fence and the harsh lights went on for about a quarter of a mile along the road. Parsons turned left, taking a narrow side road that bordered the edge of the base. The fence and lights continued down this road, but there were also trees and small wooded areas on the other side. Parsons continued for a further hundred metres, pulled into a gap between two trees, and drove over the bumpy uneven ground into a small clearing.
‘How did you know this place was here?’ asked Jake.
‘I came to Aylesbury years ago to visit an aunt, and we came out here for a drink in the village pub. Then we came to this spot to pick blackberries.’
‘Lucky for us,’ said Lauren.
Or is it? thought Jake. It was all too much of a coincidence, as far as he was concerned. He was tempted to dig deeper, ask Parsons the name of this supposed aunt, but he thought that might upset Lauren.
‘One last thing,’ said Parsons. ‘Leave any wallets, or anything with any identification of any sort, in the car. If you drop anything while you’re in there, all this is a waste of time; they’ll know who you are anyway and will come and pick you up.’
The professional action man, thought Jake grimly as he took out his wallet and other bits of paper from his pockets and dumped them on the back seat. He had to admit, the fact that Parsons seemed to be experienced in this sort of covert activity made Jake feel even more jealous of him.
They got out of the car and Parsons pointed through the bushes that shielded them from the road and the base.
‘According to the plan Jo pulled up, the culvert should be just along there. I’ll wait for you here.’
‘What will you do if someone finds you?’ asked Lauren.
‘Hopefully this rain will keep people indoors,’ replied Parsons. ‘But if I am confronted by anyone, I will reluctantly admit that I am having an affair with a local married woman, and I’m meeting her here.’
‘I can’t see them believing that,’ snorted Jake.
‘Why not?’ asked Parsons. ‘I bet you it happens a lot around here, illicit meetings in wooded places like this, off the beaten track.’
Lauren checked her watch.
‘We need to hurry,’ she said. ‘It’s ten past eleven. We’ve only got twenty minutes before Jo opens the locks.’
If she opens the locks, thought Jake. He felt sick. This whole escapade was a foolish nightmare. There were so many things that could go wrong: they wouldn’t be able to get into the drain. If they did, they’d get stuck and drown because of this rain. Even if they did manage to get inside, they’d be caught by security guards or dogs. At the thought of a vicious-toothed slavering Alsatian attacking him, Jake felt himself go weak. And, even if they made it to this Block C, what were the chances that Parsons’s odd cousin would have actually been able to hack into the security system and disable the locks? It was just some weird fantasy on her behalf, pretending to be some cyber-terrorist. Jo was playing games. But this was real. If they were caught – and the chances were they would be caught – then jail was an absolute certainty. Providing they weren’t shot dead first. No, this was a bad idea. A very bad idea.