Chapter 2

Yelena Smallbridge:

It wasn’t the first time I’d left Woodside Lodge, but it was the first time I knew I would not be back within a few days. I was leaving the first secure home, the first safe place, I’d known since my mother died. I was leaving my ‘identical’ twin sister, who was very close to me, but that was an inevitability. Although ‘identical’, technically ‘monozygotic’, that applied to our appearance, not to our personality. Lena is a homebody, and one day hopes to be a mother. She loves to cook and look after Mama Sally’s children. Indeed, she tends to ‘mother’ the younger fosterlings. Both of us were trained in self-defence. We can use firearms with considerable accuracy, and a longbow or a compound bow very effectively. But I enjoyed shooting and after what happened to Lena and me, I wanted to use my skills to help other young people in the same position. The opportunity came to join a ‘black’ organisation, rather than the regular military. Having driven an acquaintance to Thornseats Lodge, the officer in charge gave me an open offer to join them.

On this occasion, having decided to take up the offer, I was not driving, though. I didn’t want to take the lovely Lotus Seven sports car which took Ginger and me to the Lodge the first time. No. Papa Jerry had insisted that I learn to ride a motorcycle, and then he gave me his Royal Enfield Bullet. (It’s a modern one, built in India, with fuel injection, electronic ignition, disk brakes and decent lights).

“It’s easier to maintain and more reliable than the Norton,” he said, “and I really should ride that more anyway.”

So, with a large rucksack on my back (resting on the pillion seat, so not straining my shoulders and back) I ventured forth. Oscar – Papa Jerry called it that – is not particularly exciting, but fine for the back roads I would use. I took his advice and took a break about every hour, which got me to my destination mid afternoon. The duty sentry directed me to a shelter designated for recruit vehicles, and I parked, and locked Oscar, before leaving him to report in. At the Lodge reception, I was directed – even in my motorcycling gear, carrying my helmet and rucksack on my back – to the Major’s office.

I obeyed the notice on the door, knocked and entered. “Recruit Smallbridge reporting as ordered, sir!” standing as straight as I could.

“Excellent, Yelka! Dump that rucksack and helmet by the door and come and sit down.”

“Yessir.” I did as I was told, and perched on the indicated chair.

“Relax for a moment, Yelka. I have a good idea of your capabilities, but all recruits must endure a six-month assessment, at the end of which you will either be directed to further training, or designated a qualified operative. In the latter case, you will still, probably, have to undergo further training. During your six months, you will probably be appointed an assistant instructor in certain areas. Your first language is Russian, I believe?”

“Yessir,”

“Excellent. Your idiom may not be entirely up to date, but I am sure you will be able to improve ours. Most of the recruits you are training with have come from the regular military, so with few exceptions they should already have basic skills. All will be competitive, but team-work is vital, and one of the things we’ll be looking at will be your willingness to support and help others.”

“Certainly, sir.”

“Very good. I’m delighted you decided to join us, and look forward to seeing what you can do. Oh, one other thing. In view of your undoubted unarmed combat skills, you may be invited to accompany another operative to patrol the local shopping mall, as we’ve been tasked to tackle the problem of sexual harassment of unaccompanied women. You would be wearing a discreet body-cam, and your companion would not be obviously with you.”

“I see, sir. Thank you.”

“Very good. If you return to the desk, you will be assigned to a dormitory with several other female recruits.”

“Thank you sir. By your leave?”

“Dismissed, recruit.”

I was assigned to a large room containing six beds, six wardrobes, six bedside cabinets. I dumped my pack on a bed at random – one with an empty wardrobe and cabinet – and stripped off my protective gear, which I carefully hung up, and began, bare-legged, to unpack. Once I had carefully put everything away except a basic outfit – jeans and top – which I put on with socks and trainers, I plugged my radio-alarm in and set it, then went to shower off the grime of my journey before going in search of the dining-room. That’s not quite correct. I did have a directory, and of course having visited before, knew where the important things were.

I went to the recruits’ lounge, which had a bar operating on an ‘honesty’ basis – one wrote one’s name in a book with the beverage (or, of course, plural if buying for friends) taken. After a little thought, I settled in a seat with a half-pint of dark beer, Bateman’s Triple XB. Quite acceptable. I checked my phone to see if I had any signal, which I did. I found later that the Lodge had a system to permit mobile phones to function despite being in a problematic area. But I sat there, sipping my beer, and reading through the handouts each recruit received.

“Hey, Yelka!”

I looked up to see, to my delight, the vivid red hair and trim figure of my friend Ginger White. Putting my beer down, I leapt up to hug her.

“Ginger! It’s so good to see you! Can I buy you a beer?”

She smiled. “I’ll take the thought for the deed, Yelka. I’m on duty in half an hour. So you decided to take the plunge?”

“It was too good an opportunity to miss.”

“I see you’ve started as you mean to go on.” She indicated my glass of beer.

“Oh, I just wanted something to relax with after my ride.”

“Ride?”

“Yeah. Papa Jerry’s given me his motorbike to get around on. He’s going to use the old Norton instead.”

“Can’t say I enjoy motorcycling. We all had to learn. You’ve got a head start on that.” She looked at her watch. “Better get on. Good to see you!”

“And you.”

Ginger had been gone only a few minutes and I’d about finished my beer, when three girls entered and saw me. “Recruit?”

“Yeah. First day.”

“Me too,” the first one said, “I’m Carla.” She turned and pointed. “Sheila,” a pretty dark-skinned girl, “ ... and Honey.” Honey was well named with hair just that colour. “You a Reservist too?”

“Yelena. No,” I thought for a moment, “I got in through the back door.”

Carla laughed. “Really? I thought you had to have an invite.”

I hesitated, but owned up. “I did. It seems I have some talent that they wanted.”

Her eyebrows raised. “You’ve got beer.”

“Yeah. There’s a book on the counter. Pour what you want and write in the book. We’ll be billed at the end of the month.”

The three went to the bar, and selected something each to their taste. It seemed that Honey was a wine person, Carla went for the Batemans’ beer and Sheila hesitated but poured a Bacardi and Coke. They came over and took seats near me.

“What’s your story?” Honey asked quietly. “If you’re allowed to tell us, of course...”

I looked at them. “I’ll maybe tell you when I know you better. It’s a rough one. But one reason they want me here is that my first language is Russian. I am a British citizen, though.” I suspect that they got more information out of that than I intended, but possibly got it wrong. But certainly I might be telling them more in the future. I glanced at my watch. “We’ve got an early start in the morning, and I want to ring home before I sleep.” I stood.

“We’ll try not to disturb you,” Carla smiled, “and you’re right, we don’t need to be late to bed, either.”

The dormitory had evidence of the others’ arrival. Not much – like me they’d put things away rather than dumping them on the beds. It was warm in the room, and I stripped down to undies; no bra, though. I don’t need one, really, and I find it uncomfortable in bed. Once I was sorted, and my teeth cleaned, I got into bed and called my family. Lena answered. I expect she knew it would be me. I described the run down and arrival.

“I miss you already,” she said.

“I know, Sis.” I suddenly realised that I hadn’t missed my sister to that point. I hadn’t really had time to think about it, but immediately there was a yawning chasm in my middle. “I know, Sis. I’m sorry. I miss you too, but I had to leave sometime.”

“You want to speak to Mama Sally?”

“Yes, please.” Mama Sally was with Papa Jerry, and they had the phone on speaker. I had a similar conversation, though briefer, with them. “Mama Sally, I think my sister will need a hug.”

I could ‘hear’ her smile. “Of course, darling. I know she’s missing you already. Though she’s spending a lot of time with Irene and Nadia. When do you get leave?”

“Four weeks, I believe. A long weekend.”

“We’ll look forward to seeing you.”

I settled back and opened the Kindle app on my phone to read until my roommates returned. That wasn’t too much later, and they were obviously very efficient at their routines to make the most of their time in bed, so we were asleep before ten o’clock.