CHAPTER TWO
Mark slowly shook himself back into consciousness to find Walker and his men staring down at him. "You took your time,"Walker commented.
"Unfortunately, recovering quickly from being knocked unconscious isn't one of our abilities. As you well know."
"Well, your plan failed, Mark. And I should warn you, I will only tolerate your continued existence so long as you are useful to me. If you fail to assist me against the Tomorrow People, our deal is off."
"And when I do get you the Tomorrow People, I'll be no use to you anyway."
"If you do that, you will have achieved something none of my agents have ever done. I'm not going to get rid of someone that capable."
Mark heard Michael's voice in his head. "Mark. Don't tell Walker I'm in contact with you."
Mark turned to Walker. "Do you mind leaving me alone for a bit? It's not like you won't know where I am."
"All right,"Walker replied. "You have one hour to think up a way of being useful."
As the FBI agents filed out, Mark spoke telepathically. "Well, Michael, what do you want?"
"To provide you with an alternative. Walker can't be trusted, you must realise that."
"And you can?"
"We've never really been on the same side, Mark. But I've never lied to you."
"All right. What do you propose?"
"We meet in person to discuss this. Just you and me. Find a way to stop Walker."
"All right, Michael. Walker's people gave me the use of a hotel suite. I'll meet you there in ten minutes."
The other Tomorrow People had listened silently to Michael's conversation. "You're not serious?" Michelle asked.
"About what?"
"About going to meet Mark. In person. Alone."
"Oh yes, deadly serious."
"Mark might be able to trust you,"Paul protested,"but you can't trust him."
"Well, as he can trust me I'll have to do what I said."
"It's bound to be a trap,"Lucy pointed out. "Mark will try and kill you or turn you over to Walker."
"Anything to save his own skin,"Michelle added.
"You're probably right,"Michael agred. "But that's probably a reason to go."
Michelle was flabbergasted. "What?"
"If Mark is going to betray me or kill me, we need to know. I want all of you to monitor the conversation via the focusing table. That way, you'll know what happens and what Mark or Walker or both is planning."
"And if something happens to you, what do we do?"
"Make sure it doesn't happen to you."
Michael jaunted into the hotel suite to find Mark waiting for him. "You came,"Michael observed.
Mark nodded. "Of course. I wasn't going to miss a catch up session with my old friend Michael."
"Why are you helping Walker, Mark? What's in it for you?"
"Survival. You think I want to live like you, hiding, always on the run? You never understood, did you, Michael? You have to go where the power is."
"If you're talking about hanging around with men like Walker, I'm quite happy to be powerless."
"Well, you'll get your wish, won't you?"
Michael heard the door opening behind him, but before he could react Walker fired, discharging a berilium gun at him. He collapsed to the floor.
"You've done well,"Walker noted. "But we can't keep dosing this one up regularly. And I don't think he'll tell us what we need to know."
"There's no need,"Mark replied. "I think the time has come for me to tell you everything."
Michelle, Paul and Lucy sat back from the focusing table. "I'm not hearing anything,"Lucy said.
"You won't,"Michelle replied. "We won't be able to contact Michael again until the berilium wears off."
"And by then he could be dead!"Paul protested.
Michelle looked at him straight. "Not if I have anything to do with it."
Paul nodded slowly. "So what do we do now?"
Michelle checked a computer programme. "We've got the co-ordinates for where Michael jaunted to. I can put us somewhere nearby."
"Then let's do it."
"Not just yet. We'll gather up everything we need – stun guns, jaunting belts, matter transporters, any personal belongings. There's a lot of stuff here I don't want falling into the wrong hands."
"What do you mean?"asked Lucy. "Why would it?"
"Because we're not coming back here."
Michael recovered consciousness to find himself tied to a chair. Mark and Walker stood in front of him, with two FBI agents guarding the door. "Shot in the back,"he commented. "Isn't that against FBI regulations?"
"It wasn't a fatal blast,"Walker pointed out. "I was merely subduing a dangerous fugitive before he could escape."
"Nice justification, Walker. Except for the fact that I haven't committed a crime and you're acting without official sanction." He turned to Mark. "And what about you? What's your deal in all this?"
"I told you. I need to make myself useful to Agent Walker. And helping him catch you is very useful."
Walker leaned in closer. "But not as useful as what else he's given us…Michael. You see, he's told us everything. Your civilian identities. The location of your secret base. Pretty soon, you and your cohorts will all be safe in one of my facilities, where you can do no-one harm any longer."
"You're crazy, Walker!"Michael protested. "Don't you realise? We're not a danger! This persecution has to end."
"And it will. Once I've rid the world of you and your kind." Walker turned to Mark. "Get going."
"Going where?"Michael asked.
"To your lab,"Mark replied. "I'm going to go there and subdue all your little friends. Have a nice neat package waiting for when Agent Walker and his men arrive."
"Didn't you hear what he just said, Mark? In his eyes, you're one of us. If you put an end to the Tomorrow People, you'll be signing your own death warrant as well."
"Oh, I'm far too valuable to kill, Michael. See you out there." He jaunted.
Walker turned to the two men on guard. "He won't be able to use his powers for quite a while yet. We'll be back before then. See that he's still here."
Michelle, Paul and Lucy watched from an alleyway as Walker exited the building and joined some other men in a car. "They're going,"Michelle noted.
"He had more men than that with him when we saw him before,"Paul pointed out.
"Michael wasn't with them,"Lucy added.
"Which suggests he's still alive,"Michelle observed. "Walker wouldn't have bothered leaving anyone on guard if he was dead."
"Do you know that or are you just hoping?"asked Paul.
"Bit of both. Come on, let's go and have a look."
Michael looked at the two FBI agents on guard. "So how long are you planning on staying for?"he asked.
At that moment, Michelle and Paul jaunted into the room and fired their stun guns, knocking the two men unconscious. Seconds later, the door swung open to reveal Lucy. Michelle turned to Michael. "Consider this a rescue."
Michael smiled. "Much appreciated. Can someone untie me?"
Paul stepped behind him and raised a hand over the ropes, causing them to fall away. "No sooner said than done."
Michael got up, massaging his wrists. "Thank you."
"We saw Walker and the others leaving,"explained Lucy. "Where were they going? And where's Mark?"
"The lab,"Michael replied. "In answer to both questions."
Michelle nodded. "I suspected as much. We cleaned everything out before we left. Stun guns, jaunting belts, anything that would lead them to suspect who we are. I left it all round my mum's place."
"You're gonna have to move them. Mark's told Walker everything. Certainly enough to find out who we are and where we live. I imagine when they find the lab empty that'll be their next port of call."
"What about our parents?"asked Paul.
Michael thought for a moment. "Call General West, call the Home Secretary, call anyone you can think of. Make sure the police keep an eye on them. Walker might think he's pushing his luck by trying to take them prisoner but if he does the authorities will know where to look."
"Why can't you do this?"Michelle asked.
"Unfinished business. Did you bring any matter transporter clips with you?"
"Here." Michelle held out one of the devices, which Michael clipped to his belt.
"You're going somewhere on your own?"asked Lucy.
"That's right,"Michael replied. "I want to get to Mark before Walker does."
"But why just you? What about us?"
"Try and read my mind."
Lucy concentrated hard, then looked at him, confused. "I can't."
"Exactly. No telepathy. I'm still suffering from the berilium shot. Mark can't hurt me that way." He turned to Michelle. "We'll need somewhere to meet up after you've collected the stuff."
"There's a hotel. Very discreet. I can book us all a suite there. I'll give you the address."
"All right. I'll programme the computers at the lab to matter transport me there – after I've finished off."
Mark was looking around the lab, confused at how empty it seemed. Michael appeared on the jaunting pad. "Hello, Mark."
Mark regarded him with surprise. "How did you get away?"
"With a little help from my friends. They're gone, by the way."
"I'll track them down soon enough."
"Walker'll be here soon. You think he'll be very happy at this latest failure?"
"Failure? I've got you! His men couldn't hang onto you but I can." He waved his hand and a telekinetic blast sent Michael flying off his feet.
Michael looked up at Mark. "I'm giving you one last chance, Mark. Put an end to this. Forget Walker, forget the vendetta. Join us. Be a Tomorrow Person. It's the only way you're going to get out of this alive."
"Even if I could, Michael…I wouldn't really want to."
"Then it really is over." Before Mark could react, Michael had raised a stun gun and fired. He got to his feet and went over to a computer bank. "Set the co-ordinates…Computer, once matter transportation has been completed, wipe all records and shut down power. Goodbye." He took a step back and disappeared…
…reappearing in the suite where Michelle, Paul and Lucy were waiting. "You do what you had to do?" asked Michelle.
"Guess so. You tell the hotel you were expecting me?"
"Yes. I imagine they were expecting you through the front door though."
"I like to surprise people. We can't stay here long though. Have to keep moving. Walker will be on the lookout for any trace of us."
"So…what?"Paul asked. "We're going into hiding."
"That's about the size of it."
"But what about the lab?"Lucy asked. "And the Federation?"
"Gone…at least as far as we're concerned. No more lab, no more Trig. It's time we faced facts. We're not going to end wars and put the world to rights – not yet, anyway. Maybe one day, when most of humanity are Tomorrow People, but for the moment we're all there is and we have to protect that. We've still got our powers, we'll still help people that need it. But from now on, it's just us. We're on our own."
Walker and his men burst through the door in the lab, to find it empty bar a dazed-looking Mark. Walker strode over to him. "Where are they?"
"They, er…they must have left. Michael was here."
Walker's fury increased. "He's escaped?"
"Yeah, must have. He stunned me. Left me here."
"So. The Tomorrow People have escaped again. But at least we can be sure they won't come back here anymore."
"I can track them down still. We can still get them."
Walker eyed Mark coldly. "You should have listened to your friend Michael. You've outlived your usefulness." He raised his gun and shot him repeatedly. Mark's body slumped to the floor. Walker turned to his men. "Take this place apart. I want nothing left to show that it ever existed."
Michelle watched Paul and Lucy sleeping in the other beds. Behind her, Michael was on the phone. She turned round as he replaced the receiver. "What did General West say?"
"Mark's dead. And the lab has been destroyed. Walker's work probably, although there's nothing to tie him to it. He had men on watch outside our houses. Police have turned them away but we can't risk going back there."
"So it really is just us? Travelling the world, helping people?"
"Yeah. And not very fast either. With the lab gone, our jaunting belts are useless. We can only travel a few miles."
Michelle glanced over at the two younger Tomorrow People. "It's like we're a family now, isn't it? Mum, Dad and the two kids."
"I was kinda hoping you'd think that." Michael turned to her. "Will you marry me?"
Michelle thought about this. "You realise if we have children they'll be Tomorrow People too?"
"Nothing would give me greater pleasure."
It was a small service, a simple country church affair. Paul and Lucy were present, with a few locals along as witnesses. Contacting anyone else had been too risky. But at the end of the day, Michael and Michelle were husband and wife. It was time for the Tomorrow People to look to tomorrow.
End of Series Three