Chapter 75

The details of where Bertie had been and what he had done were gradually being revealed. The injuries he had received had left him scarred and limping. It was a testament to his force of personality that he had still been able to persuade people to employ him and trust him. He had acquired identity papers which showed him as a member of the leadership class. His excellent education had finally come in useful.

"You need to prepare yourselves." Dan advised "They will lock him away for a long time."

"I know. I can't defend anything that he did. He killed people and deserves whatever punishment the court sees fit to give. It seems odd, but despite what he has done I will visit him in prison if I can." Phyllis said.

"It is not odd at all. Be aware though that he is not the Bertie you knew. He has changed dramatically from before he went to America and how he was when I saw him in the garden. His mind has slowly unravelled I think."

Dan gave Phyllis a cuddle before he carried on. "I have been telling you what you already know. Now for something that you don't know. I have discussed this with Serena and she is in full agreement. The annexe is your home for the rest of your lives. Right I am going to make a quick exit before you start slobbering all over me."

Phyllis threw her arms open wide and chased him around the kitchen laughing. Once he was out of the room, she cried about how bad Bertie was and how good Dan was.

Those first few days in custody had been horrendous. Bert had been dragged roughly away from Dan's home by some delighted police officers. They could not believe that they had the infamous Rebel A in their custody. He had been read his rights and would be held in custody awaiting his trial.

A doctor had visited Bert in his cell. The bruises on his face were courtesy of Dan and Eric who had punched him. There were no broken bones, but he would be sore for a few days. Bert had been beaten up a number of times in America and was familiar with the injuries that he was suffering.

The bigger problem was his withdrawal from alcohol. He shook and sweated and felt nauseous. It was fairly obvious to everyone other than Bert, that he was an alcoholic. The doctor told him about his condition. He would be most uncomfortable for a couple of weeks, but then the major symptoms would begin to subside.

At times Bert would be shouting and begging for a drink. On other occasions he was hallucinating that he had the bottle of whisky that he so craved. He thought that he might die and sometimes wished that it would happen. He longed for the moment that he would start his recovery.

He looked haggard and grey. Food and water arrived on a regular basis and eventually he found that he could eat. Bert was getting better. Well, his withdrawal from alcohol was affecting him less. The absence of the shaking and nausea meant that he had to think about other things.

There would be a trial and he decided to plead not guilty. He had no doubt about what the verdict would be but he wanted to be as awkward as possible. As the charges were read out, he was somewhat surprised by the number of people he had killed. He grinned when Sarah MacBride and Samantha Ellis were mentioned among his victims.

The mug shot which accompanied the report in the newspapers showed a surly scarred man. The sensational story of Bert's escape from the authorities to America could have made him into a folk hero. The smaller details prevented that happening. When he had been arrested he was wearing filthy clothes and he stank of whisky.

Bert had also betrayed his labour class roots. He had created a false identity which saw him working as a clerk at a distribution depot. He lived in a leadership town and associated with privileged young men. He even had a girlfriend from a wealthy family. The downfall of Salter had been the catalyst which made him return to his life of crime.

A list of Bert's misdemeanours featured in the reports. He had attacked the party at Eric McBride's home killing 16 people. He had released poison gas at a football match in a labour zone murdering 8 more. He was suspected of causing the deaths of an elderly couple at a remote farm. There was also the stabbing of a man whose car he had stolen. He had also shot Samantha.

There had been a proper trial in front of a jury of his peers. The justice system had been variable at best and corrupt at worst. Eric said that this prosecution must be transparent and fair. The coverage in the media had to show that things were beginning to change. Bert had a lawyer to offer a defence and evidence was presented on both sides. The guilty verdict was accepted by nearly everyone.

Dan and Serena would not have to worry about Bert again. He was locked up and he would never be released. Under the rule of Nicholas Salter, he would have been executed. He owed his life to his nemesis Dan. A fact which would haunt him every day, as he served out his sentence of hard labour and confinement.

Phyllis and Peter had attended court to see the trial. The plan was to maintain a dignified silence throughout the proceedings. Phyllis, however, reached for her handkerchief on many occasions as the details of the charges were outlined. What had happened to the intelligent boy who was given the best education and chances?

He was still their son. The verdict was given and neither Peter nor Phyllis could take a breath. They did not imagine that something so expected would have the power to be so shocking. He would be in prison for the rest of his life. They would visit Bert, although he would never thank them for it. Sometimes he would say the word mum and there would be a slight tremor in his voice. That was all Phyllis needed.

The worst thing about his incarceration was the time it gave him to think. Bert's thoughts were on a continuous loop. Where had he gone wrong? How could someone as smart as him end up like this? Couldn't they see what he was trying to do? Everything he had done was justified. This wasn't his fault.

Bert had rebelled for a couple of weeks until he realised that it would make no difference. He did the minimum when it came to the hard labour. He ranted constantly about government oppression. He didn't really sleep. He yawned as he faced another task. He didn't have the energy to fight so did as he was asked. At the end of the day he was given a book. Bert accepted it with a wry grin. He knew how to act now if he wanted more reading matter.

He did research and broadened his knowledge. Bert hid his notebooks and guarded his ideas. His smile appeared when he made a discovery or solved a problem. His smile became bigger when he resolved to keep it all to himself. The OWG would never benefit from his brain whatever changes they said they were making.

He saw newspapers and read about the new regime. Bert shook his head when he saw the amendments the OWG were making. It was all a sham. They were not really doing things differently. This is what he would tell his fellow inmates. How dare Dan succeed with his plan where he had failed.

There were plans, mostly in his head, about what he would do when he escaped. Bert harboured the same obsessions. He pictured the hail of bullets which would cut Dan down and the emotional reunion with Serena. How had he managed to win the girl? Dan must have some hold over Serena that he did not know about. He would make sure that he freed her from her mental prison when he was free from his physical one.

Dan had conspired with the OWG against him. If he had not been around he would never have been caught. His friend Colonel Ryan had been dogged in his pursuit and he was to blame for Bert's plunge into the sea. His own parents had sided with his enemy. His father had helped to apprehend him.

Sober and bitter, the force of his personality drew other prisoners to him. He preached about the OWG and how he had planned their downfall. Yes, someone else had managed where he had failed, but that was not his fault. It was all fake anyway. Salter might be gone but the government was the same. They would continue to implement their divisive and unfair policies.

Bert thought about Dan and Serena many times more than they thought about him. In the months after the revolution his name was mentioned frequently, but when normality returned Bert was banished from their thoughts. He thought that he would haunt their lives forever because of his actions. He would be disappointed to learn how soon he faded from relevance.

Newspapers brought details of the ways that the new OWG was changing the world. Bert and his fellow inmates learned about the way that greater freedoms were being granted everywhere. Bert ranted and denied that it was happening and his acolytes gradually drifted away.

"Hello Bertie, how are you?"

Each time his mother used that name it tugged at his heart. Bert did his best not to show any emotion but he looked forward to seeing his parents. At first his father could barely look at him but relations had thawed as the months had passed. Each visit followed a pattern which started with an exchange of pleasantries.

As the visit progressed Bert would begin to rant and complain. Phyllis and Peter did not ever mention Dan and Serena because he would become very angry. That did not mean that he wasn't going to get animated. Some piece of news from them or the wider world would meet with his disapproval.

He was no longer an alcoholic, but his mind had been warped in some way. Maybe he had always been slightly mad. Phyllis and Peter would leave the prison shaking their heads at his latest diatribe. Bert would often talk about what he was going to do once he got out of jail. Something that would never happen.

"Are you well? I read about the OWG's attempts to give those in the labour zone better housing. That will never work."

"It will take a while son. At least changes are beginning to happen."

"You are so gullible. They will do some cosmetic work. Paper over the cracks. Shoddy repairs on shoddy buildings…"