Time Riders

CHAPTER 63

1957, woods outside Baltimore

‘So, er… who are all these guys, Bob?’ asked Liam as he struggledto keep up with him, striding across the snow-covered field towards the woods. There were menin their wake, dozens of them, waving their guns in the air, discharging them, cheeringtriumphantly.

‘They keep following me,’ answered Bob flatly.

Liam looked back over his shoulder at them: a grimy ragtag army of soldiers and civilians.Beyond them he could see the crisp white field was dotted with grubby prisoners fleeing thecamp in all directions.

‘The captain did it again!’ cheered one of the fighters.

‘Let’s hear it for Captain Bob… hiphip…’

The men chorused ‘hooray!’, several of them firing their guns again insupport.

Liam leaned closer, lowering his voice. ‘CaptainBob? You told them you were an army officer? Jay-zus… thatwas clever.’ He was genuinely impressed with the initiative Bob had shown.‘I’m proud of you,’ he said, slapping him on his broad back.

‘I have told them nothing,’ Bob replied. ‘They have decided to call me thisname.’

‘Hey! You!’

Liam turned round. A dozen yards behind, catching up with them, was a small weaselly-lookingman, who looked like the sort of dodgy debt dealer his mum had once warnedhim about.

‘Hey, kid! Don’t be crowdin’ the captain like that. You want face-time withhim, you come talk to me first, all right? He don’t need to be troubled by no peskylittle kid wantin’ an autograph.’

Liam looked at the other fighters behind him, their eyes still glazed with the exhilarationof battle, panting plumes of winter breath and gazing at Bob with an intense…fierce…

What? Fondness? Love? No, it wasn’t that… It wasmuch, much more. It was awe.

‘Hey, kid!’ said the weasel in the suit. He jogged over. ‘You wanna joinCaptain Bob’s Freedom Force? Is that what you want? Then come talk to me back at the camp. The name’s Panelli, Vice-captain Panelli. I’m the second-in-command around here. I’ll sortyou out with some food and a gun — ’

‘Uh… no, that’s OK. I don’t want to join your Freedom Force.I’m just — ’

‘Then if you ain’t joinin’ the force, kid, you better scram. We got us somemore raids to plan, a war to fight. An’ Captain Bob needs time to rest up before heleads us against them Krauties again.’

Liam looked up at Bob. ‘This isn’t what we’re here for, is it? To fightKramer’s army?’ he asked, ignoring Panelli.

‘You are correct,’ replied Bob. ‘Mission priority now is to return homewith acquired data.’

‘So, how are we going to do that?’

Bob considered the question for a moment. ‘I have no available plan. Suggestion: weawait a signal from the agency giving us further instructions.’

‘We just wait for them to call us?’

‘Affirmative.’

‘Hey!’ cut in Panelli, grabbing Liam’s arm. ‘Hey, stop that! Whatsorta weird talk is that yer saying to the captain?’

Liam spun round angrily, shaking off his hand. ‘Please! Can you leaveus alone? We need to talk!’

Panelli looked at them both suspiciously. ‘I heard you say something about an agency signal? You some kinda spy? Some kinda enemysympathizer?’

‘What? No!’

‘You sound sorta funny to me. Got some kinda accent going on there. What do you think,men?’

‘Oh, for cryin’ out loud! I’m Irish!’ replied Liam. ‘I’mnot a flippin’ German spy!’

Liam looked up at his support unit. ‘Bob, tell them I’m your friend.’

‘He is my friend.’

Panelli looked surprised. ‘You… you know thiskid?’

‘Affirmative. I know him.’

‘So… so, what’s the deal? You family orsomething?’

Liam shrugged. ‘Yeah… that’s right. We’re family, aren’t we,Bob?’

Bob cocked an eyebrow, uncertain what to say. Then, after a moment: ‘This is the one Ihave been looking for,’ his deep voice rumbled.

Panelli suddenly looked unhappy with that, jealous that his self-appointed status asBob’s right-hand man had seemingly been undermined by some scrawny kid.

‘So, Captain Bob… you been looking for this kid, an’ now you found him.What does that mean for me… us?’ he asked, a look of growing concern on his face.‘Do we… do we still follow you?’

Bob frowned and looked down at Liam for guidance, again unsure what to say.

Good grief. These guys… they think he’s some sort of asaint.

He almost giggled at the ridiculousness of it.

‘Tell them, Bob. Tell them exactly what we’re doing.’

‘We are awaiting a signal.’

‘A sign?’ gasped the young corporal, standing just behind Panelli.

‘Yes… that’s it exactly,’ said Liam, ‘we’re awaiting asign.’

The word rippled around the gathered men, whispered with growing excitement and awe.

A sign. A sign.

‘Do you… do you m-mean,’ continued the corporal, ‘a s-sign from theLord?’

‘From the field off-’ added Bob helpfully. Liam elbowed him in the ribs andhe closed his mouth.

‘From the what?’ asked Panelli.

‘A sign,’ repeated Liam, ‘from, you know, from… beyond.’

Whispers spread like a breeze among the men. Liam spotted several anointing themselves withthe sign of the cross.

‘Beyond,’ uttered the corporal, wide-eyed.

‘That’s right,’ said Liam, trying to keep his voice even and his lips fromcreasing, ‘from… you know who.’

A silence settled over the men.

At that moment a scudding cloud happened to pass out of the way of the sun, sending a burstof dazzling rays down on to the snowy ploughed field, bathing Bob in a warm light. The fuzz ofcoarse nut-brown hair growing on his coconut-like head seemed to glow for a moment, glow justlike a halo.

A collective gasp passed through the gathered men, and one by one they began to kneel, eventhe weasel — Panelli — who Liam would never in a month of Sundays have thought wasthe church-going type.

Oh, just great. That’s all we need.