Chapter 3

Peta put the mobile phone down on the table by the bed. She looked down at the soundly sleeping Connor sprawled across the duvet. Smiling she reached down and brushed the hair aside from his face.

"You really are quite remarkable, Connor Temple," she muttered. "Who in their right mind would want to give you up."

Sighing, she turned away from the bed and reached up into a cupboard, retrieving a grey micro fibre blanket. She spread the blanket over the sleeping man, picked up his trainers from the floor and put them neatly together by the bedside table, then quietly turned and slipped out of the room.

XXXX

By the time Kate finally arrived at the school, the playground was fully devoid of children and staff. She parked her car hurriedly, almost hitting a bushy shrubbery with plywood cut-outs of medieval knights on horseback rising above it protectively. Kate shuddered. She hated shrubberies, or any kind of ordered, landscaped gardening. The only visible signs of life were the black-clad soldiers in the back of a communications van, monitoring monitors.

Sighing and rolling her eyes at the infuriating pace of city traffic, Kate headed over towards the van. As she passed a shrubbery, a small sound reached her ears and she stopped, listening. There it was again: a faint rustling coming from the shrubbery. Slowly, quietly, Kate turned to face the source of the sound. Scrutinising every leaf for any sign of a creature out of its place in time. She stepped towards the shrubbery. Yes, there was definitely something there. Some shadowy form hid within the depths of the leaves, defying definition.

Slowly, ever so slowly, controlling every muscle in her body as best she could and focussing all her senses on the shrubbery in front of her, Kate inched her way forwards. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Her pulse echoed in her ears. Unconsciously holding her breath, she reached out a hand to the shrubbery. Suddenly, Kate froze. Something was behind her. Taking care to move her head as little as possible, she let her eyes slide sideways. Whatever it was moved closer. She could feel it's breath on her neck and cheek.

"Nice of you to join us!" Becker whispered in Kate's ear.

Kate jumped and spun round to face the captain, landing a fist on his shoulder before he could, or would, react. The second punch stopped midway as Becker caught her wrist and raised an amused eyebrow.

"I could have you arrested for that you know," he grinned.

"You jerk!" Kate fumed, aiming another punch with her free hand and promptly having that caught too. "You completely and utterly intolerable..."

"You need to be more aware of your surroundings," Becker cut her off.

"I was aware of my surroundings! That was why I was investigating that bunch of bushes behind me!"

"And completely oblivious to someone walking up behind you on gravel!"

"I thought you were a creature! I nearly had a heart attack!"

"I could have been a creature! Then you really would have been in trouble! You didn't realise I was there until it would have been way too late!"

"And what about the shape in the bushes that I was watching?"

"What shape? There's nothing there?"

Kate twisted her head round to gaze at the bushes where the shadow had been. Whatever it was, it was gone now.

"It's gone," she frowned, turning back to Becker. "There was definitely something there though."

"What kind of thing?" Becker sighed, looking dubious.

"A shape, a shadow, I don't know," Kate snapped. "Someone interrupted me just as I was about to find out!"

"Well, you're not the only one then," Becker sighed.

"What do you mean?" Kate frowned.

"We've had a call from the ARC. There's another anomaly, down in Dorset. I've left Cutter and Abby dealing with this one and I'm taking a team down to secure the other one until they can get there and you're coming with me. You're now lead biologist, for this anomaly at least."

"You mean I have to get back in that car and drive across these infuriating city roads again! I nearly crashed three times on the way over here thanks to the maniac drivers in this place!"

"Well, maybe I should drive then!"

"You will not!"

"You know, I know almost all the short cuts in this part of the city and I've been trained to drive just about anything. Where are your keys?"

"You are not driving my car!" Kate shouted. "It might be old and battered with a boot that doesn't lock and a tape deck that chews up anything you put in it, but it's mine and you're not driving it!"

"Oh really?"

Becker switched Kate's right hand over to his right, holding both her slim wrists with one hand. Ignoring Kate's furious glare boring into the side of his head he reached into first her jacket pockets, then her handbag, eventually drawing out the small bundle of keys. And dangling them triumphantly in the air.

"Now are you coming with me, or are you just going to stand there and glare at me all day?" Becker asked.

"Since you've still got hold of my wrists, it doesn't look like I have much of a choice!" Kate hissed.

"You only had to ask," Becker smirked, letting go of Kate's wrists and striding off towards her car before she had time to aim another punch at him.

Kate huffed and shook her head in disbelief, storming over to the car while Becker settled himself in the driver's seat and radioed an order over to the waiting van of soldiers. She dragged the passenger side door open, its hinges creaking in protestation, and swung herself into the seat, glaring out of the windscreen as she shut the door and clipped her seat belt in place.

Reversing faster than Kate would have liked, though slower than she would have herself, Becker turned the car and headed out onto the road, following the unmarked, military filled van as it accelerated away from the quiet suburban school. Had either of them been paying less attention to the van or to each other, they might have heard the dull thump from the rear of the car as an extra passenger slid backwards and hit the door of the boot.

"I cannot believe I am stuck in this car with you all the way to Dorset and I don't even get to drive!" Kate muttered.

"There's space in the van with my men if you prefer," Becker suggested nonchalantly.

"Oh, no, no, no!" Kate snapped. "You might be able to steal my keys and drive my car without my permission, but there is no way I'm leaving you alone with it! You are not getting rid of me that easily!"

"Good, good," Becker replied smoothly. "By the way, what are you doing for dinner this evening?"

XXXX

"Talk to me Cutter, what does it look like?" Lester drawled lazily in the vague direction of the speakerphone.

"I'm not sure," Nick Cutter sighed into his bluetooth headset. "Judging by the plant life around, and bearing in mind that I'm no botanist, I think we're in the future. Nobody's spotted any sign of animal life yet though. Not unless you count the midges."

"Well, you should feel right at home then, at least. What's the weather like? Raining?"

"Actually yes, but not heavily enough to put the beasties off. Its just light smirry stuff that soaks into everything. As if the middle of a peat bog wasn't damp enough already."

"Peat bog, rain and midges?" Lester gave a short sharp laugh. "So you really have found an anomaly to the uncivilised northern wastes of your own country then? What gives you the impression that you're in the future?"

"Firstly," Cutter replied, "I'll have you know that the north of Scotland has some of the most beautiful scenery you uncultured Londoners will ever see. Secondly, 'peat bog' is a very general description. The ground beneath us is pretty much just that, mostly, but the trees around us are ones I don't recognise, covered in mosses and lichens I've never seen before, trailing vines that you just don't get in Scotland and surrounded by smaller marsh plants that are only vaguely recognisable."

"So what are you in? A marsh, a peat bog or a rainforest?"

"I'm not sure the land itself has made up its mind yet. When it does I'll let you know."

Lester sighed and hung up. Cutter turned back to face Abby, who was carefully taking samples of the plants and trying to swat as many of the midges as possible.

"Having fun?" Cutter asked.

"How come they're not bothering you?" Abby muttered slapping her arm and leaving a smudge of blood where a feeding midge had been.

"Ach, who knows. They've never bothered me in our own time either. Some folk are just like that. Others seem to attract them more than normal. You must be one of those, I'm afraid."

"Well, that's the last of the samples from the immediate area of the anomaly anyway. Can we go now?"

"Aye, let's go. We haven't seen anything with teeth yet, but we don't want to overstay our welcome."

"Speak for yourself! These things have fangs!"