‘Try me.’
‘I work — worked — a lot with Sean Grabb. He was a good bloke. He sort of took me under his wing when I came up here. Sorted me out like. He got me a job, helped me get my head together and encouraged me to get off the gear I was on. You know about Sean, right?’
Megan nods.
Johns lowers his head. ‘He was a good bloke. A mate.’
Jimmy pushes him. ‘Tell the DI what you said about the cult and Stonehenge.’
He looks up. ‘It’s not a cult. It’s a religion. A proper religion. Goes back before Christ and everything. Sean was really into it. He believed the henge was some kind of sacred thing that was the home for ancient gods. He would go on and on about it, the power it had. He said the people who worshipped there were good people, doctors, lawyers and stuff, even coppers.’ He looks towards Jimmy. ‘No offence, like.’
‘Go on.’
‘Well, I got interested more because Sean was a mate and I wanted to stay tight with him. They took me somewhere weird and held this kind of mass and blessing.’
‘Where?’ asks Megan.
He shakes his head. ‘I don’t know. They put a hood over my head. I couldn’t see. They drove me somewhere. I remember the inside though. It was like a big old church, a cathedral kind of thing.’
‘Warminster?’ suggests Jimmy.
‘Might have been. I don’t know. I’ve not been in any churches anywhere since I were a kid. Anyways, I didn’t get to see it going in or coming out. Sean said it would be some time before I would be told where the meeting place was.’
Megan is anxious not to let him wander too far off track. ‘Lee, do you know about Caitlyn Lock, the American who was kidnapped at Stonehenge?’
‘Only what I saw on the news.’
‘This group and their secret place, do you think they have her there?’
He looks shocked. ‘The American? No, I don’t see them doing anything like that. No way.’
She can tell he’s scared. What interests her is why. ‘Jimmy says you know about something that’s supposed to be happening today?’
He looks uncertain.
‘Tell her, Lee.’ The DS glares at him.
‘All right. Look, it might be nothing. I mean, I’m not that involved with these people, right? I just work security at the henge and went along to the ceremony with Sean.’
‘We’ve heard all that,’ Megan snaps. ‘What is it, Lee?’
He takes a deep breath. ‘There is something big going down at the henge. Extra security has been put on. Dozens and dozens of extra uniforms. I’m on a detail that starts at six and stops anyone getting within a mile of the place.’
‘Aren’t there prayers, masses and ceremonies happening there all the time?’
‘Yeah, there are, but security is usually low level for that sort of stuff. A couple of guards to make sure no one messes with the Sacreds. Tonight is different. The area is completely shut to the public. No bookings from this afternoon until tomorrow.’ He turns to Jimmy. ‘Look at their records. You’ll find it’s for maintenance of the stones, but what happens out there tonight is nothing to do with maintenance. At least not the kind most people would expect.’
156
Luc van Daele is the first to run into an army ground patrol. He sees the Saxon armoured personnel carrier kicking up dust and spitting out fumes straight ahead. It’s not a surprise that they’ve turned up. In fact, he expected them much earlier than this.
He gears the dusty trail bike down to an unhurried halt and steps off. The engine dies as he turns away from the vehicle and speaks quickly and quietly into his radio. ‘I’ve got visitors. A personnel carrier with four-up. They’re just coming over for a chat. I’ll keep this channel open as long as possible. Over.’
The big, camouflaged Saxon grinds to a noisy halt and several soldiers spill out. Time to put Lynton’s cover story to the test. Van Daele wriggles free of his rucksack and digs out his false papers. ‘Hi there,’ he shouts with a friendly smile. ‘You guys work on a Sunday as well, eh?’
A clean-cut soldier in his late twenties is first to speak. He’s kitted out in standard green and brown field gear. The tactical recognition flash on his arm puts him at captain-level with the Yorkshire, one of the British army’s largest infantry regiments. ‘You’re trespassing here, sir. This is a restricted area. I need you to step away from the motor cycle and come with us.’
‘I think you’re mistaken.’ Van Daele holds out a plastic file filled with paperwork. ‘I’m with the International Entomological and Natural History Society. My colleagues and I have permission from the ATE to carry out a survey on rare myriapods and isopods.’ He can see the soldier doesn’t have a clue what he’s talking about. ‘Centipedes, lice, pill bugs, stuff like that.’
The captain takes the documentation but doesn’t look at it. ‘I’m sorry, sir. It doesn’t really matter what this says or what you’re doing, I’m under instructions to remove you from here.’
Luc knows better than to argue. ‘Okay. No problem.’ He waves a hand resignedly. ‘I can easily put up with going home early to my wife and children.’ He takes back the papers, shoves them in his rucksack and goes to start the bike.
The young captain steps in his path. ‘I’m afraid you can’t do that. You have to travel in the carrier with us, back to our barracks. One of my men will take care of your vehicle.’
‘Hey, come on now.’ Van Daele pushes the officer’s arm away. ‘I’m happy to ride this off your range, that should be enough for you.’
The captain calls to his men. ‘Welsby, Simmonds, Richards.’
Three squaddies quickly crowd van Daele and move him away from the bike. Two of them are no more than kids. He could crack their heads easily enough. Leave them flat on their backs shouting for Mummy. But not without looking anything but like an insect collector.
157
Megan and Jimmy let Johns go and drive towards Stonehenge. She has mixed feelings about what she just heard.
‘How much do you believe him, Jimmy?’
He drives with one hand on the wheel. ‘Lee is an ex-junkie. Hard for these people to get out of bed without lying. What’s on your mind?’
‘He used the word “Sacreds”. He didn’t call them stones. He called them Sacreds. The same word that Gideon Chase used.’
‘Sounds like he didn’t make it up then, not if Chase used the same word.’
Megan is still chewing things over. ‘He’s not telling us everything. He’s either more involved than he says he is, or less. Either way, he’s holding back for some reason.’
Jimmy puts his foot down as they clear Shrewton and join the last stretch of road to Amesbury. A brown sign for Stonehenge comes up on their right. ‘You want me to pull into the car park?’
‘No, not for a minute. Just drive around the place.’
He slows to a crawl as they pass the monument, then turns right off the A344 and heads past it on the other side down the A303. In the grounds around the henge they see more than two dozen black-suited security guards being organised into groups.
‘Well, it looks like he was telling the truth about some of it,’ says Jimmy.
‘Take another right,’ says Megan. ‘The lane, there. Park up and we’ll walk.’
Jimmy indicates and starts to manoeuvre. As he turns he’s confronted by a ‘Road Closed’ sign weighed down with sandbags in the middle of the lane.
‘I’ll stop further down and turn around,’ he says. ‘Otherwise we’ll have to go all the way to Winterbourne Stoke and back through Shrewton.’
He pulls out and starts a three-point turn. Megan glances across the open countryside. ‘I’m puzzled about something else that Johns said back there.’