hanging flowers and other plants. It was a peculiar sight; a boy, a girl, an Army Officer and a well-dressed man in his thirties sat in a French cake and pastry shop surrounded by heavily armed troops, with the door guarded by two armoured vehicles.
Colonel Bertrand poured tea and explained how impressed he was by Kate’s composure under fire, and Hector’s indefatigability.
‘Did anyone die?’ Kate asked.
‘Well, you have to remember that they had come to kill you. They had money, we think they had been taking illegal drugs, and they would not have hesitated. One person died in the tank that turned over. Everyone in the tank shot from the shoulder-launched weapon died,’ said the Colonel.
‘I think Pierre fired that,’ said Hector.
‘Yes, he did well. He is very brave,’ the Colonel replied.
‘Did I kill anyone?’ asked Hector in a small voice.
‘No, Hector. You saved your sister, and I should say with her driving she saved you. You also saved the men on the range. They only had one missile,’ said the Colonel kindly.
‘Were they injured in the tanks?’ Hector asked in a slightly more confident tone, ‘The ones I shot’.
‘No Hector,’ said the Colonel kindly, ‘they all died.’
‘Sorry,’ said Hector, and for a moment he looked quite lost.
‘Hector, they killed themselves,’ said Colonel Bertrand, ‘They were set on murder, they killed a farmer and his wife. They could have tied them up and left them, but they murdered them instead. They took a tank onto a firing range and tried to kill you, your sister and the soldiers on the range. They had already signed their own death warrants. If you hadn’t hit them the helicopters that arrived moments later would have torn them apart.’
Hector looked worried and Kate put her hand on his shoulder. Hector felt shocked. What he did not say, but could not stop thinking about, were the pilots who had died. It was the first time that it hit Hector; he had already killed, but he had not given it a moment’s thought. It had been like a game. Now it felt more real and more frightening.
‘Hector,’ continued the Colonel, ‘it is good that you are worried about someone dying. It is not a good thing that anyone should be killed. Very few of the men under my command will ever have to kill anyone, and almost all that do find that it troubles them. It should have never fallen on your shoulders, and for that I am very sorry. But remember, you did not seek them out. You were having a treat with your sister and they tried to kill you.’
Chatterton was warming to Kate and Hector, and beginning to realise that whatever their extraordinary experiences and background, they were not the violent sociopaths the misleading report had suggested.
‘Hector,’ Chatterton said, ‘I have no experience of guns and tanks, but you were the one who, just by chance had the means of stopping these people. Is this correct Colonel?’
‘Oui, quite correct.’
‘And, had Hector paused, or turned away scared or missed, then there would probably have been several dead soldiers?’ Chatterton continued.
‘Yes, definitely. There’s nothing a soldier can do against a tank. Several were shot at. It was a miracle that we only had one small injury,’ said the Colonel.
‘So, some stupid people effectively killed themselves, and if you hadn’t acted Hector there would be several families in the camp, and maybe elsewhere, who would be preparing funerals for husbands, brothers, fathers. The Colonel is quite correct, it is a big thing, but think of the people who didn’t die, and think about them sat with their families tonight, unharmed and happy.’
Colonel Bertrand nodded a quiet thank you. There was a pause. The only sounds were a quiet radio playing, the breathing of the soldiers and Hector slurping his tea.
‘How did these people know that Kate and Hector were in a tank?’ asked Chatterton, gaining in confidence.
‘We think there are at least two sources, one French and one British,’ said the Colonel, ‘We really do think this, we are not just saying there is a British source to even it up and escape any embarrassment.’
‘What’s a source?’ asked Hector.
‘Someone who is leaking information to the criminals,’ Chatterton explained.
‘The plan now,’ said the Colonel, ‘is to clear the camp of some families and staff, take you back there and wait for an attack. If no attack comes you will go back to England.’
‘No zoo trip then?’ asked Hector, ‘The important person in Paris said we could go to the zoo.’
‘The important person in Paris; you remember Hector the one who was speaking when you ruined my aquarium? Well that person; the same one who you told about me not listening to his call because I was rescuing fish, getting me into all of that trouble? Yes, Hector, you remember? Well, he might be the source, the leak,’ said the Colonel. Kate could see Pierre and Andrè grinning at each other.
‘The important person will not expect me to take you to the zoo after the attack today, so that is exactly what I will really do,’ said the Colonel.
‘We will make it look as though you have returned to the camp. In a while, I want you to get into the armoured car and out of the other side into the small car that is waiting. You will go with Pierre, Andrè and Mrs Warp.’
‘Mrs Warp!’ exclaimed Kate, ‘I thought she was dead.’
‘There is more than one Mrs Warp,’ Colonel Bertrand explained, ‘And this time, because of the malfunction, I want both of you to have a remote override.’
The Colonel presented them each with a small round disk with a red button on it.
‘All you have to do is press the button and Mrs Warp will obey your next command no matter what it is,’ said Colonel Bertrand.
A noise outside drew Kate’s attention. There was activity; two people were speaking with the soldiers.
‘Ahh, but this is why we are really here,’ Colonel Bertrand said with a huge smile on his face.
Hector looked to the window.
‘Kate, Hector,’ said Colonel Bertrand to attract their attention, ‘I have some generally good news. Your father is much recovered, but he has suffered a small amount of brain damage.’
Hector just stared at the Colonel, while Kate felt as though her chair had suddenly been dragged from under her, allowing her to slip into the underworld.
‘It is not so bad,’ said the Colonel quickly as he saw their reactions, ‘but this is why you have not seen him. However, he has still not completely recovered. People who have head injuries can feel depressed sometimes for months afterwards. He may also be more bad tempered.’
‘More bad tempered?’ questioned Hector, ‘How is that possible? When our outhouse was burgled, and Dad saw two men with iron bars breaking in, he chased them all through the park, even on the cycle path.’
‘There isn’t a cycle path in the
