‘You wouldn’t have had much choice,’ said Lauren, still trembling. ‘Not against that many. They’re armed, remember.’
‘What happened?’ asked Dan.
Quickly, they told Dan what had taken place upstairs: the threats, and Jake’s desperate attempt to put Guy off by suggesting The Index was hidden at Laker Heath.
‘What made you mention Laker Heath?’ asked Gareth, curious.
‘It was a hunch,’ said Jake. ‘I’m so glad you backed me up.’
‘I could tell you were up to something, but I couldn’t work out what,’ said Gareth. ‘I guessed it was to play for time.’
‘Right,’ said Jake. ‘I was thinking: if I can persuade Guy The Index is there, and I can get him away from here, hopefully going with me to Laker Heath, that might give you a chance to do something while we’re gone. Overpower his crew when they come down. Get out of here.’
‘That might be possible.’ Gareth nodded. ‘From what I can make out, Guy’s the only one with a gun.’
‘We saw Spider holding one when we saw them at de Courcey Hall,’ pointed out Lauren.
‘It could be the same gun,’ said Jake thoughtfully. ‘It was all part of a scam, anyway.’
‘I’m pretty sure they’ve just got the one gun,’ agreed Gareth. Then he added, ‘You realise you won’t be able to get into the hangar at Laker Heath, Jake. It needs Level Five security clearance at least, and there are lots of security precautions in place to stop unauthorised people getting access.’
‘I know about fingerprint ID,’ said Jake. ‘But I don’t need to get into the hangar. I don’t even need to actually go to Laker Heath. All I want to do is get Guy away from here, and try and overpower him in some way, and then call up help. If you’ve been able to get out of here in the meantime, great. But, if not, I’ll get reinforcements.’ He looked at Gareth. ‘Do you have a special number for me to call? And a code word?’
Gareth hesitated, and Jake could tell he was deliberating whether to reveal a top-secret code and contact.
‘It’s our only way out,’ Jake urged him.
Gareth nodded. He gave Jake a three-digit number.
Jake frowned.
‘Is that all? Just three digits?’
‘It’s an emergency number,’ said Gareth. ‘Like 999. In an emergency, there’s no time to start keying in a long sequence of numbers.’
‘OK.’ Jake nodded. ‘At least it’s easy to remember. And the code, to prove it’s not a hoax when I call.’
‘Pig seven,’ said Gareth.
‘Pig seven?’ queried Jake.
‘That’s the current codeword. It’s changed every month.’
‘OK,’ muttered Jake. He hugged Lauren tightly to him again as he said, ‘Let’s hope Guy takes the bait.’
It was another two hours before they heard footsteps on the stone steps, and Duke and Des appeared at the door of the cell. As before, Duke was carrying the machete, and he held it menacingly as Des unlocked the cell door.
‘Guy wants you,’ Des said to Jake. ‘The rest of you, back away from the door.’
Lauren, Dan and Gareth moved to the back of the cell as Jake stepped forward, through the doorway. Des locked the door, then Jake followed Des up the steps. Duke followed behind, prodding Jake painfully with the point of the machete to remind him what would happen if he tried any tricks.
Guy was sitting at a laptop. Gadge, Midge and Patch stood behind him, looking over his shoulder, studying the screen.
Spider was sprawled across two chairs, his eyes closed, as if he was grabbing a nap.
‘I’ve done some checking on this Laker Heath place you mentioned, Jake,’ Guy said, gesturing at the laptop. ‘The internet gossip, conspiracy websites, that sort of thing. I’ve also put in a few calls to some old school chums I haven’t seen in years who seem to back up what you’d said about weird stuff being kept at this place. They also mentioned this aircraft hangar at the base as the place where things like that are kept.’
‘Just like I said,’ said Jake, feeling the relief creep in.
That feeling vanished with Guy’s next words.
‘The problem, these old school chums tell me, is that security is very tight there. You can get into the base with Level Three security clearance, but to get into the hangar needs clearance at a much higher level. According to a pal of mine, that needs Level Five. Do you have your work ID card on you, Jake?’
Jake hesitated, wondering whether to deny it, but what was the point? They’d just take his wallet off him and find it inside.