I pushed the door — not locked, thank Christ — and lurched into the room. It was only my unsteady footing that saved me from receiving a floorboard to the face.
“Hey, hey, it’s me, Lee,” I whispered urgently.
Matron was stood just inside the door holding her improvised weapon. Her face was one big bruise. One eye was swollen shut, her lips were blue and bulbous. There was blood underneath her nose, which bulged where I think it had been broken. Her clothes were torn, too. She was breathing hard and her teeth were bared and bloody.
“What kept you, Lee? Come to take your turn?”
No time to dwell on what that implies. Focus. Concentrate. Things to do.
“Matron, we need to get you out of here now.”
“And why should I trust you? They told me, you’re his loyal second-in-command now!” She was fighting back tears, her words coming out in a furious mix of anger and pain.
There was no time to explain myself. The corridor would be swarming in seconds. I pulled one of the handguns from my pocket and held it out to her.
“Take it.”
She looked down at it, confused.
“Take it!”
She dropped the floorboard, grabbed the gun and then looked up at me. I couldn’t read the expression on her wrecked face.
“Now come on!” I grabbed her hand and turned, gently pushing the door open as I did so. But we’d lingered too long. There was already a crowd of boys arguing over which colour of fire extinguisher they should use. Norton was nearest the door, bathed in a dim orange light, trying to take control but also keeping an eye out for our escape. Not only was he providing a distraction for us, he wanted to be closest to the danger, didn’t want anyone else getting burnt because of his actions. My admiration for him grew hugely.
I pulled Matron behind me and dashed for the stairwell. We feel through the door and it closed behind us. We’d made it unseen.
It was only when I stopped inside the door that I realised I had run along the landing. Adrenaline is a great painkiller, but I knew I’d pay for that later. I could hear footsteps coming up the stairs below us; someone taking the back route to the fire. Matron and I flew down the flight of stairs and flung ourselves through the door of the next floor down, just in time to avoid being seen.
My leg buckled underneath me, and Matron helped me along the corridor to the San, which was almost directly beneath the burning dormitory. Smoke was beginning to seep through the ceiling from above.
“We don’t have much time,” I said. “Someone will be coming to get me to safety soon. They can’t find you here and they mustn’t suspect that I can walk yet. Help me into bed.” Matron did so, and her hands came away from my leg covered in blood. She gasped.
“Lee, you must let me see to this, you could be crippled.”
“No time. Now take the gun and go. Run. Find somewhere and hole up. This school isn’t safe for you any more and I can’t deal with Mac if he has you hostage. So go, please.”
She hefted the Browning. Then she popped out the clip, checked it was loaded, slammed it home, cocked the gun, chambered a round and slipped off the safety catch. She knew exactly what she was doing. How the hell was a boarding school matron so familiar with a firearm?
“I’m not going anywhere.” She was breathing hard and even through the bruises there was no mistaking the look of fury and determination on her face.
“And what are you going to do?” I demanded. “Shoot them all? You don’t stand a chance. There are seven of them, not to mention Mac, and after what they’ve done do you think they’ll hesitate to shoot you? This school needs you — I need you — to be safe, so that when we finally get rid of that fucker you’re there to help us pick up the pieces.”
Her eyes burned with hatred, but I could see she was beginning to hesitate. I pressed my advantage.
“If you go after him now you’ll be dead within the hour. Or worse — locked up again. Please, just run.”
She hesitated, her hand upon my arm. If I’d been in her shoes I don’t know if I’d have been able to beat down the desire for vengeance, but somehow I got through to her. I looked up at her ruined face and saw tears of frustration welling out of her swollen eyes.
I had so much I wanted to say to her but this was not the time.
“Please, Jane, just run. Be safe.”
She leaned down and kissed me gently on the lips.
“You too,” she said, and ran out the door.
I thought she’d make straight for freedom, but once again I’d underestimated her determination. In fact she took refuge in a deserted classroom until the early hours of the morning and then crept out to implement her plan.
The boys were sleeping in five dorms of about ten each, and each dorm had one officer sleeping there as well, as a deterrent against night-time escape attempts. But the four girls who had taken shelter at the school slept in their own dorm, along with the old aunt and one grandmother. They were unguarded and in a different part of Castle to the boys.
Under cover of darkness Matron snuck in, woke them, got their bags packed and provided armed escort as they slipped silently out of the school and into the night. Although prepared to forgo her revenge, she nonetheless ensured that no other girl or woman would have to endure what she had.
When I found out about Matron’s night raid I couldn’t help but smile. She was certainly audacious. I didn’t want to think about where she and the girls were going or how they’d fare. All I knew was that they were safer elsewhere, and were one less factor I had to consider when it came to planning Mac’s downfall.
However, I needed Matron’s medical skills more than ever; my leg was wrecked. The stitches had split, the wound was oozing blood and the pain was unspeakable. I started to worry about things like gangrene and amputation. I did the best I could to sort myself out with antiseptic, fresh stitches and dressings.
Have you ever stitched your own wound? I don’t recommend it. Once I was finished I lay back and hoped for the best. With any luck I’d be able to stay off it for a while now, and would be able to let it heal.
THE BIG QUESTION now was what would happen to Bates. We got our answer the next morning, and it was worse than anything I could have imagined.
Behind the main school building were two sports pitches and a cricket square, all ringed by woods. The school had favoured rugby over football, and there were huge H-shaped rugby posts at either end of each pitch. Mac had a detail of boys cut down one of the rugby goals, dismantle it and reassemble it in the shape of a cross, which lay flat, ready to be re-erected using one of the vacated postholes.
He was going to crucify Bates.
“We can’t let this happen,” said Norton, urgently, when the truth became apparent. We were sitting in the San staring out of the window at the ghastly construction and all it represented. “If we let him do this then… I don’t know what. But it ain’t good.”
“And how do you suggest we stop him?” I replied. “He has a cadre of permanently armed boys who are fiercely loyal. At first through stupidity and now, after what they did to Matron, they’re as guilty as he is and they know it. He owns them and I don’t think they’ll hesitate to shoot any one of us dead if Mac orders it. Not now.”
Norton nodded. “I’ve asked around, as discreetly as I can, but no-one saw anything that night. I can’t find out which boys went into that room.”