Let the Games Begin

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Chapter 26 - DANGEROUS DIRECTIONS

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Something had put Becker in a foul mood in the five minutes it'd taken Jess to get dressed upstairs, and it only got worse when he remembered his car was still back at the restaurant. He was now sat in the passenger seat, impatiently tapping his foot, clearly annoyed the she wasn't speeding the way he always did - heaven forbid she actually follow the speed limits! Of course, his temper was making her nervous, not only about her driving but about, well, everything.

"Hey," he suddenly exclaimed. "You missed the turn." The first words he'd spoken since getting in the car.

"We don't have time to stop for coffee this morning," she hastily explained. She'd been late three times in as many shifts, which was possibly more than she'd been late for anything, ever, in her entire life. Her entire schedule was completely off, and it wasn't just hers - the morning schedule she'd made for the flat had slowly been crumbling a little each day, with simple tasks falling by the wayside, such that Connor's coffee hadn't even been made this morning. If everything had gone as planned, if the coffee had been brewed on schedule, the heavenly aroma probably would've gotten them out of bed - and thus off to work - earlier.

Not that she begrudged lying in with Becker this morning - that had been lovely. But the price they were now paying - with him so grumpy and her out of sorts - didn't seem quite worth it.

But maybe it wasn't just the lateness that had him upset. She knew he'd been disappointed last night, but she'd felt far too self-conscious to take her shirt off. Although she mainly felt safe and hidden in the cave-like bed he'd managed to make for them, when it came to getting naked, she couldn't help but feel exposed. And after all that talk at dinner, about Connor and Abby's "marital relations" and such, the last thing she wanted was for one of her flatmates to walk in on them - Jess simply hadn't felt like risking it.

But clearly Becker had. And clearly he was now upset.

"Are you mad at me?" she blurted out.

Becker turned and gave her a strange look. "For what? Not stopping to get your coffee? Why should I care? You're the one who's picky, not me."

Jess shook her head. "No," she said, "about...last night. Are you upset that...?"

"Yes, of course I'm upset, Jess," he snapped. "What do you expect?"

"I'm sorry," Jess said, feeling terrible. "I just... with no door, and so many people in the flat, I simply didn't feel-"

Becker cut her off with a confused, "What are you talking about?"

Jess paused, suddenly feeling even more unsure. "Well...what are YOU talking about?"

"Matt, of course. I can't believe... I mean, what the hell is his problem? Why is he keeping things from us?" Becker shook his head angrily, slamming his palm against the closed glove box. "I don't know what I'm going to say to him. I know what I'd LIKE to say but..." He gave a frustrated sigh as he added, "I keep trying to remind myself that it's probably not in my best interest to punch my commanding officer."

Jess nodded absently, although she wasn't much listening - she was just relieved that his anger wasn't directed at her after all. The car again descended into a tense silence, but this time around Jess wasn't worried.

Though perhaps she should've been, for less than a half hour after arriving at work, Lester rang her at the hub, ordering her to gather the senior staff in his office. These meetings were never a good thing - in fact, they'd found out about the Minister's orders for the Olympics at the last one - so Jess instantly began worrying and had managed to work herself into a total state by the time she entered the office. Becker was already there, and Abby, Connor, and Emily soon joined them. Jess hadn't seen Emily all morning, but her friend looked calm and self-confident, hopefully capable of keeping it together in front of Matt.

The team leader was, in fact, the last to enter, and the tension in the room instantly went through the roof the moment he stepped inside. Jess noticed that Emily didn't even acknowledge his arrival, though Matt's eyes had instantly sought her out. Jess also noticed that Becker was absently clenching and unclenching his fists, and a whole new set of worries flooded over her as she remembered his comments in the car.

"So...what's going on?" Matt asked Lester as he took a seat. "Why'd you call this meeting?"

Lester shrugged. "I didn't," he said, nodding towards Becker in the back.

Jess didn't like the sound of that.

And neither did Matt, for he shook his head and stood. "Yeah, there's work I should be doing."

But Becker stepped in front of the team leader, extending his arm out across the door, blocking the exit. "No, what you SHOULD be doing is telling us what the hell is going on."

Matt frowned and shot a look towards Emily, but she steadily met his gaze.

"I agree with Captain Becker," she stated calmly but firmly. "You are clearly upset about something, something that I believe might affect all of us, so I feel you must tell us what has got you so bothered. After all, we are a team. Certainly we can handle this - whatever it is - together, can we not?"

Wow, Jess thought. Go, Emily! This was certainly not the girl who'd stood at the hub near tears last night.

Matt gave a frustrated sigh. "I don't know," he said quietly to Emily before turning to Becker and repeating, "I don't know. Okay? I don't know if it'll affect the rest of you. I don't...really know what it all means...or even what exactly I'm supposed to do." He took a deep breath before turning to Lester. "Look, all I know is-"

And that was the precise moment that the ADD's klaxons sounded.

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Of all the times, the alarm just HAD to sound when Matt was about to tell them what was going on. And of all the locations, the anomaly just HAD to be at the Royal Artillery Barracks, right in the middle of the Olympics. And of all the events, this just HAD to happen on the day of the Double Trap!

"Dammit!" Becker grumbled under his breath as soon as Jess read the schedule aloud over the comms. "Shotguns. That'll mean the event's outdoors."

"Sadly, yes," Jess concurred. "In fact, according to the map, the anomaly appears only about 100 metres from the stands."

"Of course!" There went the Minister's plan of keeping everything hidden from the public.

"What is Double Trap?" Emily's voice sounded through the comms. "I have not heard of such sport."

Becker was frankly surprised that Emily had joined Matt in his 4x4 - Becker wasn't sure whether it was out of habit or whether they were planning to talk on the drive.

"Me neither, Emily, so don't feel bad," Connor said from the backseat, reminding Becker that he really wished Temple would get out of the habit of riding with him!

"It's a shooting event...," Becker began.

"Well duh, we got that, mate."

Becker sighed before continuing, "...where they release two birds at once, and the shooter is only allowed two shots to bring them down."

"Birds?" Abby asked, sounding horrified.

"Not real ones," Becker quickly clarified. "Clay discs."

"Ah, 'pigeons'," Connor said, catching on. "Too bad Jenny ain't here - she'd've loved this."

Becker couldn't help but smile. That was one thing that Connor and Jess definitely had in common - they tended to see the sunny side of most situations.

Becker, however, didn't really feel this HAD a sunny side.

And neither did Matt. "Jess, any reading on what time this anomaly leads to?"

"It looks like...Early Cretaceous?"

Becker heard Abby give a slight gasp, and he glanced over to see she'd gone pale. He realised how much she'd struggled to forget about her year on the other side, and he felt bad for this sudden harsh reminder. He put a comforting hand on Abby's knee even as he realised the implications of such an anomaly - there could be any manner of deadly dinosaurs coming through!

"Hey Abby, maybe we'll run into some old mates, yeah?"

Temple's seemingly insensitive comment infuriated Becker...until he realised Abby's fiance was tenderly rubbing her shoulders from the backseat, trying, in his own way, to make light of the situation in order to soothe her.

"Becker, you're going way too fast," Jess suddenly admonished over the comms. "You need to slow down, as you're going to make a left shortly on Charlton Park Lane."

Becker gave a frustrated sigh. He couldn't believe she was now criticising his driving...and over official communications! He KNEW they should've stopped for her coffee this morning. "Jessica, I think I know how to get to the Royal Artillery Barracks."

"Not during the Games, you don't," she replied. "It's on the ORN, so there are temporary road changes in effect."

"Yes, I'm well aware of that, Jess," Becker snapped - having driven from the ARC, he was one who'd had to traverse all the Games Lanes to get to Shooters Hill.

"Then are you also aware that you just missed the turn?" Jess snapped. "Now you'll never get to the anomaly."

Becker shrugged off her concern - he knew he could simply turn on Academy and that would take him straight to...

"There are turning restrictions on Academy Road," Jess went on, as if reading his mind. "You won't be able to turn into the Barracks from there."

And as she spoke, Becker realised he'd just sped past the last turn before Woolwich Common - now there was no turning back. Slamming his palm angrily against the steering wheel, he snapped, "Why didn't you say so before, Jessica?"

"I DID! I told you where you needed to turn - I wasn't aware that giving elaborate reasons for my directions was now part of my job description."

Suddenly Connor leant forward, again putting his hand on Abby's shoulder as he asked, "Why won't Mummy and Daddy stop arguing?"

Becker rolled his eyes as Abby patted Connor's hand, pointedly saying, "Don't worry, Mummy and Daddy aren't getting a divorce. They're just both in a bit of a temper this morning and need to CALM DOWN before we get to the anomaly."

Becker knew Abby was right - being grumpy wasn't going to help them deal with this incursion. He sighed and was about to apologise to Jess when Matt's voice came over the comms.

"Okay, Jess - we seem to be approaching some kind of checkpoint."

"That means you're almost there," Jess said, sounding much calmer than she had a moment ago - perhaps she'd taken Abby's words to heart as well. "There should be a vehicle permit checkpoint where the road becomes Ha-Ha. I've tried to put word through to the guards, but you'll probably have to-"

"I am sorry," Emily interrupted, "but did you just say 'the road becomes Ha-Ha'?"

"That's its name, I'm afraid," Jess said. "Ha-Ha Road."

"A ha-ha is a kind of trench," Matt explained.

"But you don't want to continue onto Ha-Ha," Jess continued. "Once you get past the guards, you'll want to turn left onto Repository."

Becker sighed - Matt and the others were almost there, and he was now speeding up Academy. They could see the crowds in the distance, and he cursed himself for being so stubborn and not listening to Jess, as it was clear it was going to take them ages to negotiate all the Olympic pedestrian traffic ahead.

As they finally cleared the trees of Woolwich Common, the view opened up, and Connor gasped, "Blimey, what're those?"

Becker glanced from the road and was just as surprised as Connor to see the giant white tent-like buildings with large blue and red discs.

"That's the venue," Jess explained. "They built temporary structures for the indoor shooting events."

"They're so...sci-fi and...cool!" Connor said, clearly impressed. Becker had to admit that they did look almost futuristic - he hadn't realised so much work had gone into preparing for the Games.

Unfortunately he had other things to worry about at present. He could see the congestion at the intersection ahead...and unfortunately could also see that they were preventing vehicles from turning either direction.

"There are turning restrictions ahead, Becker," Jess said, once again practically reading his mind. "I'm afraid you won't be able to turn right onto Nightingale Place." At least she was being nice about it and not saying "I told you so".

Becker gave a resigned sigh. "Copy, Jess. Just tell me where to go."

Abby gave a little snicker from the passenger seat as the field coordinator efficiently started giving directions.

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to be continued