Chapter 22

It was less than a week since their last meeting with Bertie and they could not risk another test drive. Serena and Bertie would travel to an area near the town and they would meet on the outskirts. They finally had some information about the army and it was horrifying. What did this mean for them?

If the police found a group of dissenters, they could now call in the army and have them wiped out with the gas. A lot of the residents of the labour zone still used coal and wood to heat their homes. Any deaths would be reported as carbon monoxide poisoning and no one would suspect anything else. It was a sinister turn of events and should make everyone very nervous.

Bertie was furious when he heard what Dan had to report. He paced up and down the small room in the house where they had met. He had lots of questions as he clarified what had happened to the soldiers. Dan tried to answer as many as he could, but Bertie was never quite satisfied.

He was very interested in the concept of chemical weapons. Bertie knew that bombs and explosives could be made and that some chemicals were poisonous but it had not occurred to him to use them to kill. It was a horrible, but clever solution for how to wipe out a large number of people without destroying buildings.

"You just put a canister in a room and everyone dies. They can target who they want." Bertie was trying to understand.

Dan pointed out that it sounded simple but it wasn't.

"The gas could leak into other rooms or escape into the outside. Yes, it would disperse, but people could die before it did so. The use of a weapon like this carried a large risk of people other than the targets being killed. They called it collateral damage."

"Did they know that it was going to kill the soldiers or was it an experiment gone wrong?" Serena asked.

Dan told them that the gas had probably been tested on animals first. The only explanation for releasing the gas in that room was to test that it worked on people too. The fact that the person who delivered it was in a hazmat suit said everything.

"Hazmat?"

"It's what you wear when handling hazardous material."

He had dropped another modern word into the conversation. Dan would have to be more careful. It made him sound like he knew more about chemical weapons than he should. Which of course he did.

"I think that is what the soldier called the overalls." He said an internal sorry to Sebastien for using him to cover his error.

Dan had not revealed the identity of his informant to Bertie. He reported that not knowing the soldiers name was one of the conditions of getting the information. Sebastien was already damaged and he did not want the rebel putting pressure on him in any way. Dan wanted to protect him as much as he could.

The base where the activity had taken place was in Wiltshire. Dan thought about the use of the base at Porton Down in his old world and wondered if it was the same here. He told Bertie that his informant had given him a rough idea of where the site was, suggesting that they keep well clear of somewhere that had stocks of poisonous gas.

The event where Robert had died had happened about three months before. The OWG and the army had confirmed that the gas worked and they had a delivery system. They were ready to use the gas if the right circumstances arose. Maybe they had already used it on another continent.

The group debated how much of the chemical the scientists might have produced. Now that they knew the formula, they could create it at will, but they would surely have a stockpile somewhere ready for an emergency. The OWG could potentially kill thousands of people with their new weapon.

In a lull Dan pulled Bertie to one side and spoke to him.

"You could go and see your mother and father whilst you're here. We are very close to where they live."

"No." Bertie was adamant. "They are better off not seeing me. They will start asking questions and then they could end up in trouble too."

The "no" had come first and then there had been a pause. Bertie had then cobbled together some excuse for his refusal. That was what it had sounded like to Dan. He thought that Bertie had left everyone behind when he ran away from school and he had reinvented himself. He did not want a reminder of his old life.

For all his words about his roots in the labour class, Bertie seemed uncomfortable with his past. His father was a driver and his mother a maid. Maybe they were not working class enough for him. Whatever the reason he was reluctant to associate with them again. Dan was becoming ever more troubled about Bertie's nature.

If her son was as hard hearted as he appeared it was probably for the best that Phyllis didn't see him. Any meeting might be a bit of an anti-climax. The boy would not be running into his mother's arms crying tears of joy. He would be looking for the fastest way to leave so that he could carry on his crusade.

Bertie said that he was leaving. He told Serena to stay there and that he had something to do on his own. He stalked out of the room wearing a scowl. Dan thought that he was going before more efforts were made to persuade him to see his family. Maybe he was wrong, but his move had come as a surprise to Serena, who watched him go and then shrugged.

Martin said he had to go too. His wife was pregnant with their second child and as she neared her due date he did not want to be away for long. That left Dan, Serena and the home owner in the tiny lounge of the labour zone house.

"Let's talk outside." Serena suggested and they made their way out of the door.

There were no street lights in the labour zone. One could look towards the leadership town and see the place lit up. They were definitely on the outside looking in. Serena and Dan had walked a few steps away from the house so they were not totally in the dark. A light was on inside and it cast a pathetic glow towards the street. At 9.30pm that light would go out as the power was cut.

The labour zone outside of the town was not given unlimited power. The electricity supply was rationed to two hours in the morning and then five hours in the evening. The OWG thought that his was most generous but they weren't the ones living under those circumstances.

"What were you talking to Bertie about? He took off right after that."

Dan told Serena that he had suggested that he go to see his mother and father as they were so close. He had said no, but had darted out anyway probably to avoid any further conversation on the subject. She told him that he never spoke about his family. She hadn't known if he had siblings or whether his parents were alive. It was agreed that he was too focused on his cause to let personal matters get in the way.

Dan looked at the very attractive Serena and not for the first time he wondered what her relationship with Bertie was like. He decided to ask.

"You and Bertie are you together. I mean are you a couple."

Serena gave him a wry smile and shook her head. "At one time but not now."

When I first looked at Bertie, I had thought he was very good looking. We embarked on a brief affair, but it was apparent from an early stage that he had no real feelings for me. He had his lofty ideals and his crusade and no time for anything else. I didn't want to be used like that and told him that we should just be friends."

She had been around him for the last three years. He was charming and persuasive, but she had come to realise that he was dangerous too. His original aims of peaceful protests through withdrawal of labour and leafleting had mutated into something else. She was not sure what he would, or would not, do to get what he wanted.

There had been times when she had witnessed Bertie manipulate someone for his own ends. Unless they had ongoing value to him, they would then be abandoned without another thought. He had even tried to press her into doing things which she was unhappy with. At least he heeded her rejections and took no for an answer.

When the rebel leader had heard of Eric McBride's promotion to the government, he had thought about how he could use the situation.

"He asked me to find out about the state of your marriage and, if necessary, seduce you to break any bond with your wife. He felt that you would be more likely to betray your father-in-law if you cared little for Sam."

Dan laughed at that.

"It wouldn't have taken much effort to seduce me. I have a difficult relationship with Sam. She's uptight and angry with life. I understand that her life as a woman under the OWG must be full of frustrations. I wonder, sometimes, what she would be like if she could do something more useful with her time."

Also, Bertie did not know Dan well enough to judge how he might react to situations. However much he might be at odds with Sam he was married to her. He would never consider putting her father in danger. The question that occurred to Dan now, was what might Bertie do with the knowledge of the chemical weapons.

Serena had wondered the same thing too. She spent a lot of time with Bertie but there were periods when he disappeared to work on "projects". Whatever those things were, he did not share them with her. He had a couple of thugs who were like his disciples and she worried about them. If he told them to go on a suicide mission they would obey.

The only thing she could do was be extra vigilant about what Bertie was doing. If she got any inkling that he was planning something crazy she would get word to Dan. They sat silently together after agreeing their plan of action. Dan liked the quiet after having lived in a noisy city in the other world.

They were sat next to each other on a wall beside the road. Dan reached down and took hold of Serena's hand.

"Be careful with Bertie. You have said he is dangerous and if he thinks you are working against him, God knows what he would do."

She squeezed his hand in response. "Thanks. I'll be okay."

As she turned to face him there was only one thing to do. Dan kissed her.

She didn't exactly throw herself into it, but she didn't pull away either. Dan took that as an encouraging sign. Their moment was interrupted by the sound of footsteps and when they looked around Bertie strolled into view. He made no comment about what they were doing he simply told Serena that it was time for them to go.

Dan shook hands with Bertie before he set off back to the town. He had tossed a casual "Goodnight" towards Serena as he left. How much of that had Bertie witnessed he wondered? They had been talking quietly so he was not close enough to hear what they had been talking about but it still made Dan feel uncomfortable.

"Don't think I did that for you." Serena gave Bertie a warning look. "I like him. He is a good man."

He smiled with a sneer in response and walked off. She had no choice but to follow if she wanted to get home. Bertie said nothing on the subject which made her anxious. She had revealed her liking for Dan to him and he would doubtless use that in some way.

As he walked back to his home and his family, Dan thought about the kiss. Was that cheating? The act had not amounted to much, but it was more about the intention. He knew that if he had an opportunity to take things further with Serena he would do so. He had most definitely lacked any sort of loving physical contact since he had arrived in the OWG's world. The only people he had hugged had been his cleaner and a soldier called Sebastien.

Dan had thought about making advances towards Sam. She was his wife and it would not be unreasonable. He had known that she would let him make love to her, but she would not have been happy about it. He did not want to force himself on an unwilling partner. The kiss he had shared with Serena would have to sustain him until he could be alone with her again.