Before the Storm Page 8

  ‘Fight?’ gasped Emily. ‘You will do no such thing! Not until you are well enough, anyway.’

  ‘You have … soul of command,’ said BC in a soft, slow whisper. ‘Can you understand … what is meant … to accept … CW … and hear mission profile?’

  ‘With all my heart!’ said Emily eagerly, realising that she was finally to learn the truth about her enigmatic new friends.

  ‘DBC … take CW,’ whispered BC, holding up the strange, stubby rifle. ‘Thumb … red pad.’

  Emily took the weapon with great care, then placed her right thumb on a red, halfpenny-sized patch. It had a rough feel to it.

  ‘Zeta, seven, dash, alpha, delta, six, six, phi, dash, share,’ said BC, forcing himself to stay awake for a few moments more. ‘Is … red light … shining?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Remove thumb … act with wisdom. I must now … stand before … the House of Death. Should the door open … all … up to you …’

  BC finally surrendered to the onset of the healing coma. Still holding the oddly light rifle, Emily went to the door and called the others back. Barry and Daniel stared in surprise at the rifle in Emily’s hands, but Fox showed no emotion at all.

  Fox said, ’To store, groceries, selling, going now. Work, commencing, noon.’

  ‘Wait. Fox, can you explain what BC said to me just now?’ asked Emily. ‘He gave me this, he called it a CW, and called me DBC. He made a red light come on for me whenever I touch the red pad.’

  ‘Arming light, to fire, is ready, when glowing. This, intensity slide. Low, singe paper. High, cut six inch steel. To you, assigned. Of command, symbolic.’

  ‘Assigned? What do you mean?’

  ‘CW, meaning, Command Weapon. To you, assigned, ranking, Deputy Battle Commander.’

  ‘Fox, please. Can you explain all that again?’

  Fox raised his eyes to the ceiling for a moment. ‘Shall try.’

  Emily sat miserably on her bed, contemplating the stubby rifle that lay on the dresser in front of her row of dolls and bears. DBC. Deputy Battle Commander. BC had conferred the rank upon her, then lapsed into a coma before he could explain anything else. Fox had been no help at all when she had questioned him about what BC had called the ’mission profile’. Briefing was not his duty, apparently. He had, however, explained that the rifle’s most powerful setting could cut through the steel armour of a battleship. Lower settings were used when fighting people, so that innocent bystanders or equipment would not be damaged.

  ‘I have command of a soldier from somewhere that does not seem to exist but seems to be British, my younger brother and Barry the Bag,’ Emily told the dolls and bears. ‘Oh, and I have to lead them on a mission that I know nothing about.’

  She recalled the previous day’s preparations for battle, which had involved running up and down the stairs to get fit, and arming herself with her father’s letter opener. All that suddenly seemed laughably silly, now that she had a gun that could apparently sink a ship. A very big ship. On the other hand, she had no idea who to point it at, or when to use it. Emily cringed at the memory of pointing the pistol at the push boy without removing the safety catch or even putting her finger on the trigger. Suddenly remembering where the pistol had gone, she reached under her dress and took it out.

  ‘It would never do for Martha to find this in the washing,’ muttered Emily as she put the little gun beside the plasma lance rifle.

  Mission profile. The two words had suddenly become the bane of Emily’s life. Clearly BC considered that she could do something called the mission, but BC was lying in a coma with Fox watching over him. Fox was unwilling to discuss the mission profile, because it was not his place. The following day BC would either awake, or be dead, that much he had communicated to Emily. If he awoke, she would learn the mission profile. Until then, what?

  Trying not to make a fool of herself was high on Emily’s list of priorities, but beyond that there were her duties as DBC. She had command of the squad, but no idea of what to do with it.

  ‘Well, I shall hold it together until BC can take over again,’ she declared aloud.

  Daniel was her most immediate problem. He had been very annoyed to learn that she had been given command of a squad that he did not recall joining in the first place. Barry was less of a problem, because he tended to assume that anyone doing something vaguely suspicious deserved his help. Fox, of course, accepted her because BC had declared her to be the leader.

  Suddenly Emily had it! She was very good at chess. She excelled at strategy and tactics, and leaders needed to be good at strategy and tactics. That was why BC had chosen her. She always planned ahead. Emily decided to go to her brother’s bedroom and explain that she was only supposed to make decisions, and that all the heroics were to be performed by himself and Barry. That would make him happier, and with luck he might follow her orders.

  Emily picked up the command weapon as a symbol of authority, mentally rehearsed what she would say to her brother, and had got as far as his bedroom door when she heard Barry’s voice.

  ‘Look, I know it’s a bit of a shock, but that’s the way it is!’ said Barry in a stern but soft manner.

  ‘It’s too disgusting!’ replied her brother in an unsteady voice. ‘Mother once told me that the midwife brings babies in her suitcase. When she puts one in hot water it comes to life.’

  ‘That’s horseshit, Danny Boy.’

  ‘Well, have you ever seen anyone doing it?’

  ‘Look, what do ya think dogs are doin’ when ya see them playing wheelbarrows in the street?’

  ‘I – come to think of it, people get really embarrassed about dogs doing that, and even throw buckets of water over them,’ Daniel conceded.

  ‘That’s why grown-ups don’t like boys and girls bein’ left alone.’

  ‘But Mother never complains about Emmy and me being alone together.’

  ‘That’s because brothers and sisters don’t do it! Only folk from other families do.’

  ‘But, but why did the groom do it with Martha? Did they want a baby?’

  ‘Nah, it just feels good. Real, real good.’

  ‘How would you know?’

  ‘Trust me, Danny Boy. Barry the Bag says nothing to incriminate himself, inside a court of law, or outside.’

  ‘But Martha has not had a baby.’

  ‘It doesn’t always happen, not sure why. Ya know, girls think it’s the most lovey-dovey thing they can do with a cove, so they risk having a baby just to impress him, like.’

  ‘So that’s what Father meant when he said Martha was seduced. No, I can’t believe it, I can’t imagine Martha and the groom playing wheelbarrows.’

  ‘Danny Boy, what would you say if you saw it in a book?’

  ‘Well … what is in books is true, unless they are novels.’

  ‘Good, because guess what Barry has in his bag.’

  Emily heard the sound of rummaging.

  ‘A Scientific Guide to Human Reproductive –’ began Daniel.

  ‘Forget that, just turn to page thirty-seven.’

  ‘Page thirty-seven … Oh my goodness!’

  By now Emily could feel perspiration trickling from her armpits and down her ribcage. All thoughts of the mission profile and leadership disputes had been wiped from her mind while she had listened in on Barry the Bag’s private tutorial on human sexuality, but now she climbed back out of the chasm of absolute and complete shock and began composing plans and strategies. Placing her thumb on the red pad of the command weapon, Emily flung her brother’s bedroom door open just as the two boys inside had begun giggling.

  For a moment there was chaos. Daniel and Barry tossed the book between each other in a bizarre sort of ball game, but at Emily’s command ’Raise your hands!’ the book was allowed to fall to the floor.

  ‘I can explain,’ said Daniel.

  ‘Do so,’ replied Emily.

  ‘Well, er, but not just now.’

  ‘Move back, both of you!’ snapped Emi
ly.

  The two boys backed away until they were stopped by Daniel’s bookcase. Emily went down on one knee and snatched up the book. Holding it in one hand, she flipped to page thirty-seven. Upon page thirty-seven was a series of rather graphic line drawings, and the blush that blazed over Emily’s cheeks burned like a facecloth that had been dipped in near-boiling water. Daniel and Barry exchanged worried glances.

  Tucking the book under her arm, Emily reached out for Barry’s bag.

  ‘Barry the … Barry, just what is your proper name?’ she asked.

  ‘Barry Porter. I got a middle name like Danny Boy has, but me mum died when I was little, and me old man was at the pub when I was christened, so he never told me.’

  ‘Didn’t your mum run off with a fishmonger from South Melbourne when you were thirteen?’ said Daniel.

  ‘You said you’d never tell!’ shouted Barry, rounding on Daniel.

  ‘But –’

  ‘Anyway, she won’t see me, so she might as well be dead.’

  ‘You said you can’t go to their shop because you stole ten shillings when you went there last month and the fishmonger said he would wring your neck if he ever caught –’

  ‘Enough!’ cried Emily. ‘Barry Porter, swear that you accept my position as Deputy Battle Commander, or I shall empty your bag onto the dining room table in front of my mother and father.’

  ‘Oh shit, no, no, that’s got all me artistic postcards, an’ special keys, and, er, rubber medical devices of a highly personal nature, and –’

  ‘Swear!’

  ‘Swear? Er, wot ya mean? Shit? Bugger? Friggin’ ’ell?’

  ‘Barry, just say “I swear”,’ advised Daniel.

  ‘I swear,’ said Barry.

  ‘Splendid,’ said Emily, turning to Daniel. ‘Daniel Edward Lang, unless I have your sworn word that you accept my position as Deputy Battle Commander, I shall go straight downstairs, present this book to Mother and Father, and open it at page thirty-seven.’

  Once again Daniel and Barry exchanged worried glances, this time augmented by hopeless shrugs.

  ‘I swear,’ said Daniel.

  ‘Good,’ said Emily. ‘Now I am going to impound this book and bag at least until tomorrow evening, when BC is awake again. Until then, you two will obey my orders, just as if I were a captain in an army, and you were common soldiers.’

  As she returned to her room, Emily was certain that her shame of earlier in the day had been wiped out. She might not be able to command the loyalty that people gave BC, and she certainly did not have his charisma, but she definitely had ways of getting people to do what she ordered. If she were not able to lead BC’s squad against whoever the enemy might be, she would certainly hand it back to him intact and ready for action.

  4

  SPY

  It was the following morning, over breakfast, that Emily made her announcement. Daniel had made the mistake of allowing himself to feel a little relaxed. After all, his sister was in charge now, so when they were caught and put on trial he could blame her for blackmailing him with A Scientific Guide to Human Reproductive Biology. Mrs Lang had just proposed that Fox be invited over for dinner that night when Daniel noticed his sister smile ominously for a moment, then relax her face into a perfect blank.

  This is it. I know that look. Page thirty-seven is about to cut off my pocket money forever and get my bottom caned until it glows in the dark, thought Daniel.

  ‘Did you know that one of Fox’s officers is in Melbourne?’ asked Emily.

  ‘An officer?’ exclaimed Mrs Lang at once. ‘Do you think he might come to dinner as well?’

  Daniel sagged with relief, and did not spare a thought for Emily’s possible motive for telling her mother about BC. Page thirty-seven was not going to be mentioned, nothing else in all the world was as important as that.

  ‘Fox says that he is not very well, that he was injured in some fight with mutineers.’

  ‘Oh dear, is he confined to bed?’

  ‘Fox did not say, but he will be working at the grocery store today, so I can ask him after school, when Martha is walking me home.’

  It was not often that Daniel looked forward to going to school, but on this particular Tuesday he could not get out of the house fast enough. Barry was at the railway station, taking one of his frequent days off from his own school.

  ‘I’m mindin’ BC an’ all,’ he muttered conspiratorially through the ticket window grille. ‘Foxy Boy has gone early to deliver for Aitkinson.’

  ‘So BC is still alive?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘Warm and breathin’, reckon that’s alive. Lor, but I feel naked wi’out me bag.’

  ‘Emily seems to have kept the bag and the book hidden so far. You had better really look after BC, so he can take over again and we can get everything back.’

  ‘First time in me life I’ve thought about goin’ to the coppers. All this got the wind up me.’

  ‘Will you?’ asked Daniel, who was also feeling increasingly nervous about Fox and BC.

  ‘Nah, not yet. Never live it down if word got out that Barry the Bag asked a copper for help.’

  Daniel’s school day passed slowly, and he had trouble concentrating on anything at all, but his class was let out early due to some ceremony practise for the opening of parliament. Just after four o’clock he stepped off the train again, and as usual Barry was collecting tickets. Daniel waited until everyone else had left the platform.

  ‘Ha ha, young squire, d’ya have a tikky today?’ Barry called, although he was not smiling.

  ‘No, some push stole it!’ muttered Daniel, waving his ticket at Barry. ‘How is BC?’

  ‘Awake, and Foxy Boy is in with ’im. Yer sister is there too, an’ they’re arguin’.’

  ‘Arguing? About what?’

  ‘That benny-thorry-something medicine. Emmy thinks BC should have the last tablet now.’

  ‘But why?’

  ‘Search me bag, Danny Boy, I don’t know. It had better be to do with getting BC out of the storeroom before the inspector arrives tomorrow, though. Oh, and yer bossy sister said we was to come in as soon as ya got off the train.’

  Daniel and Barry entered the parcels store in time to see Fox hand a large pile of coins over to BC.

  ‘Cor, how’d ya ’alf inch that lot from old Aitkinson?’ exclaimed Barry before he could stop himself.

  ‘Half inch?’ asked BC.

  ‘Pinch,’ translated Emily, who then added, ’it’s rhyming slang for “steal”.’

  ‘No theft,’ said Fox as he held up a thin, silvery tube. ‘Legitimate salvage, at beach, mine detector, usage for, metal detection.’

  ‘Was I supposed to understand that?’ asked Barry.

  ‘That tube detects coins under the sand,’ explained Emily. ‘Fox spent his lunchtime at the beach and collected the worth of fifteen pounds in lost coins.’

  ‘Trade ya that for everythin’ in me bag!’ offered Barry at once.

  Emily put a finger to her lips, then turned to BC. BC scanned the four of them, before turning back to Emily.

  ‘Daniel, Barry, loyal?’ he asked.

  ‘Loyal but doubtful,’ said Emily. ‘They obey me out of fear.’

  Like everyone else, thought Daniel.

  ‘Daniel, Barry, need demonstration, as discussed,’ said BC. ‘PLR. Sheer power, will convince, before explaining, who are.’

  ‘Tactically dangerous,’ advised Fox.

  ‘Strategically vital,’ countered BC. ‘Danny, Barry, must convince.’

  ‘Give me a half hour,’ said Emily, picking up a large knitting bag. ‘Danny, Barry, come with me.’

  Emily, Daniel and Barry took the next train south. Emily said nothing on the short trip, but sat cradling her large knitting bag with cane handles. At South Brighton they got off, and Emily led them toward the nearby beach.

  ‘Hurry, I want to catch the train as it returns from Sandringham,’ said Emily.

  ‘What are we doing?’ asked Daniel.

  �
�You two are doing nothing. I, on the other hand, am showing you something.’

  Holloway Bend was a small bay, and a little back from the beach were mounds of shells and charcoal where the natives had roasted shellfish for hundreds of years before European settlement. These were overgrown with bushes now, and it was in the shelter of the bushes that Emily knelt down, opened her bag, and drew out the odd, vaguely gun-shaped weapon that BC had entrusted to her. Daniel watched as she made some adjustments to it.

  ‘See that buoy a few hundred yards out to sea?’ she said, pointing the weapon without really aiming it.

  ‘Yes,’ replied Daniel.

  ‘Shouldn’t ya look through the sights?’ asked Barry.

  Emily pressed the firing stud. There was the sharp, shrill squeak. An area of water about a hundred yards across in the general vicinity of the buoy erupted skywards, and moments later a wall of sound like a thunderclap going off in a toilet cubicle rolled over them. When Daniel and Barry finally turned back to Emily, she had returned the weapon to her bag and was standing up. By the look on her face, Daniel decided, even she had not realised just how powerful the weapon really was. Those promenading along the beachfront who had not started running when the sea had exploded now scampered for higher ground as a wave about two yards high crashed onto the beach. Salty water began to shower down on them out of a clear sky.

  ‘Hurry boys, the train will be returning soon,’ Emily said in a breathless whisper, as the echoes of the blast reverberated around them.

  As they left, Daniel glanced back out to sea. Out on the choppy maelstrom of water, the buoy was still intact. They were hurrying across the Esplanade before Daniel was able to speak again.

  ‘What is that thing?’ he asked.

  ‘A weapon, obviously. BC asked me to demonstrate it to you. He wanted you to be convinced.’

  ‘I’m convinced!’ babbled Barry.

  ‘Convinced about what?’ asked Daniel.

  ‘Convinced that BC and Fox are very, very special people, and are to be taken seriously.’