All previous chapters - CHAPTER 1 - CHAPTER 2 - CHAPTER 3 - CHAPTER 4 - CHAPTER 5 - CHAPTER 6 - Chapter 7 - CHAPTER 8 - CHAPTER 9 - CHAPTER 10 - CHAPTER 11 - CHAPTER 12 - CHAPTER 13 - CHAPTER 14 - CHAPTER 15 - CHAPTER 16 - CHAPTER 17
Previously on “The bomb in the shed…”; Arthur comes to terms with the idea of life without Elizabeth and tries to reconnect with his family and Camilla, while Jacob realises it was his own father that had betrayed his trust and told Kinga about Bella.
And here we go with CHAPTER 18…
Chapter 18
Jacob shared a cab with Kinga from the office, out of the city and up into North London and Arthur’s house. After days of grey skies and drizzle it was an unusually bright and warm day that was a welcome reminder that summer was perhaps not too far away. They were met by Gibson and his team of two guys who’d been safeguarding the place for the last few days.
Arthur stood apart from them, shoulders slumped, on his own looking rather sullen. Despite it being early afternoon he’d clearly only just crawled out of bed. He wore an old jacket over a pair of pyjamas and he had his slippers on. He’d made it clear that he didn’t want anything more to do with Seed Capital One and whatever they chose to do with Bella. But they needed his cooperation to get into the shed and get Bella and all of the research safely out. Thankfully he’d agreed. Gibson hadn’t sounded at all confident he could find someone to circumvent Arthur’s security systems or access his files.
“Are you ready?” Jacob asked him.
“I want ten minutes in there on my own first,” replied Arthur.
Kinga laughed at this. A short, sharp Ha sound that said everything about what she thought of that idea. It wasn’t surprising given they’d all seen the footage of the Sensidium lab. Why would they let him in there alone? Jacob was pretty sure Arthur wasn’t stupid enough to do something like that again. He probably wanted to talk to Elizabeth. But that could be dangerous enough in itself.
“You know we can’t let you do that.” said Jacob
“I won’t help otherwise.”
It was a difficult situation. They needed Arthur’s cooperation. But they couldn’t let him go in there alone.
“How about I go in there with you?” suggested Jacob. “Just me.”
He looked over at Gibson, to check he was ok with it. He shrugged. Then Kinga who just rolled her eyes but didn’t say no.
Arthur didn’t look convinced though.
“It’s the best you’re going to get,” Jacob told him.
“Ok,” said Arthur, rather reluctantly.
---
“What’s he doing here?” said Elizabeth.
She didn’t look particularly happy to see Arthur, having Jacob with him clearly made things worse. Elizabeth saw Jacob as a necessary evil, someone it was Arthur’s job to manage over at the lab. Not bring to the shed. At least Jacob was giving them some space. He’d sat himself on a stool in the corner and was keeping himself busy on his phone. Arthur was sat on his chair, Elizabeth perched on his desk looking down at him. They were talking quietly so Jacob couldn’t hear.
“He’s making sure I don’t do something stupid,” replied Arthur.
“He has his work cut out for him then.”
This wasn’t typical Elizabeth. Even when she’d been angry with Arthur in the past she hadn’t mocked him or tried to belittle him. Did she somehow know why he was here? What he was going to do. If she kept going like this it would certainly make things easier.
Arthur said, “You’ve been using me, haven’t you?”
“What are you talking about?”
“You’d said you’d found a way to work on Bella without me. But it wasn’t without me. You used me. Controlling me.”
Elizabeth shrugged. If the idea bothered her she wasn’t showing it. “I had to, you were getting distracted.”
“It was destroying me, couldn’t you see that?”
“Don’t be so dramatic…”
Couldn’t she see it? Or did she simply not care?
“… anyway, I couldn’t make you do anything you didn’t want to do. I was just giving you what you really want.”
“What about the lab and the fire. Was that what I really wanted too? I nearly died.”
“What are you talking about?” She looked confused. And it didn’t seem like an act.
“Deleting the research files, starting the fire, destroying the lab. Are you saying that had nothing to do with you?”
Her manner had shifted. Elizabeth looked worried, not angry now.
“Why would I do something like that? We need Jacob, we need Sensidium. If we lose them we lose Bella.”
This wasn’t what Arthur had expected. He’d been convinced it was Elizabeth’s doing. But it wasn’t Elizabeth, it was him. It was all him. Was that what he really wanted, deep down? To sabotage everything. To get his life back.
“What have you done, Bear?” asked Elizabeth. “Is that why Jacob’s here?... Are they going to take Bella away?”
“Yes. And it’s for the best. You’re destroying my life. I’m not going to get better until all of this is over and you’ve gone.”
The anger that had turned to worry dissolved into sadness. That was all Arthur could see in Elizabeth’s eyes now. And it broke his heart to see it.
She said, “How can you say that, Bear? After everything we’ve been through together.”
But he had to be strong. For Camilla, and his family.
He said, “Bella was a mistake.”
Arthur often said things accidentally that upset people. He didn’t mean to, often he couldn’t even work out why they were upset. But this time he knew exactly what he was doing. It was obvious how much saying this would hurt Elizabeth. That he was crossing a line.
But he had to do it.
And he had to look away. He couldn’t watch Elizabeth’s reaction.
Jacob looked up from his phone. “Are you ok, Arthur?”
“Yes, I think so,” Arthur replied.
When he turned back Elizabeth was gone.
He whispered her name.
Nothing.
Already pain and sadness was dissolving into relief.
“I’ll get Gibson and his team in now?” said Jacob.
“Ok.”
While Jacob made the call Arthur took a look around the shed one last time.
It wasn’t just Bella that Elizabeth had changed. Everything in his space was laid out a little differently now. Nothing significant, just set to suit the preferences of a different person. Was his mind really capable of deceiving him like that? Pretending to be a whole different person. He looked through the drawers one at a time. Again everything looked a little different. In the bottom drawer he found something that was definitely new. A small gift covered in cartoon bear wrapping paper, tied with a neat bow. He checked to make sure Jacob wasn’t looking then slipped it into his pocket.
---
Arthur watched Gibson’s men slowly and methodically take apart everything in the shed and carry it out to the large truck waiting out front. It felt strange to see the fabric of his life systematically dismantled in that way. But how else was he going to move on to a fresh start? Bella would be the last to go and that would be the hardest part, but once that was done Camilla could come home and Arthur could start to try and rebuild his family and his life.
Each time one of Gibson’s men leant over to pick something up Arthur caught a glimpse of the holstered weapon under their jackets. Gibson was armed too. Kinga was obviously not leaving anything to chance. The guns made Arthur feel uncomfortable. Which was strange in a way. He’d worked around military weaponry of destruction most of his life without giving it much thought, yet a stranger right next to him with a loaded gun was far more terrifying.
Gibson got Arthur to show him and Jacob how to access and navigate all of the data on his servers. They also made backup copies of everything right there, just in case. When it was all done Arthur rolled back the carpet, punched in the codes that pulled the floor back and lifted Bella out into the light for the last time.
She really was the most beautiful thing.
He thought Elizabeth might appear at this point. A last goodbye to Bella maybe, or a desperate attempt to stop her being taken away. But she didn’t. Arthur lifted up the flight case lid, placed it carefully on top of Bella and snapped it shut. He whispered goodbye and stood back to let Gibson’s men lift her up onto their shoulders and carry her away. Arthur followed closely behind, with Jacob and Gibson. It felt like a funeral procession. There were tears in his eyes.
Outside the sun seemed to be shining even brighter than ever.
Kinga watched, fascinated. “Is that it?”
Not the epitaph that Arthur had imagined for Bella. But already he was feeling better. They watched as she was lifted into the back of the truck and the door slammed shut.
Kinga said, “Ok, let’s get out of here.”
Gibson didn’t move.
“Hey, what’s the problem?”
He said, “What’s in my truck, Kinga?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” she replied.
“In the flight case, what is it?”
Kinga was looking pissed now, “It’s a great big bag of none of your fucking business. Just get in the truck, ok?”
Gibson still didn’t move. “Is it a nuclear bomb?”
She answered straight back, “No, it’s clean energy device.”
He nodded, then turned to Arthur. “Do, I have a nuclear bomb in my truck?”
Arthur had no idea what was going on, or what he should say. He just about managed an, “Erm.”
This got a smile from Gibson. “You know, Kinga you’re a good liar. If it was just you I might wonder. But all I need to do is look at Arthur and I know it’s true.”
“Ok, so what if it is?” said Kinga, giving up on the pretence. “You want more money, is that it?”
“You know what? You’re unbelievable,” said Gibson, shaking his head. He pointed at the truck. “That is a nuclear fucking bomb, and you’re talking about money.”
A car pulled up right outside Arthur’s house. Another of Gibson’s men was driving. Someone climbed out of the passenger side. It was Fitzpatrick.
“What the hell is he doing here?” said Kinga.
Arthur had thought she’d looked angry enough when she thought a vending machine was causing trouble. She was at another level now.
“Fitzpatrick and I have a deal,” said Gibson. “We’re going to take this bomb to Lakenheath Airforce base, hand it over to The National Nuclear Security Administration and they’re going to fly it over to the US.”
“You can’t just hand it over to the fucking Americans, It’s mine.” shouted Kinga.
Gibson shrugged.
She tried again, “Whatever they’re paying you, I’ll pay more.”
But Gibson and Fitzpatrick were already climbing into the cab of the truck. And Gibson’s men were getting into the car, ready to follow. Kinga fell silent, staring at Fitzpatrick now. But what could she do? Jacob stood silent, watching. If any of this was bothering him he wasn’t showing it.
Fitzpatrick paused halfway into the cab and looked over. “Arthur, is it true? Do you really see and hear Elizabeth when you’re in the shed?”
Arthur said, “Who told you that?”
Fitzpatrick shook his head in wonder, got in the cab and slammed the door shut. The engine sprang to life and in a moment the truck carrying the last twenty years of Arthur’s life pulled away, and the car followed. Not an end to the day that Arthur had expected, but maybe it was a good thing. Better Bella be in the hands of the NNSA than with Kinga. At least there was a chance they would look after her properly. Kinga looked strangely calm. But all that anger had to be there still, surely. Bubbling away under the calm exterior. Who could she blame though, really? It was her who’d brought in Gibson and Fitzpatrick.
She was staring at Jacob. “How the fuck did Gibson know that was a bomb?”
Jacob stared back but didn’t answer.
Kinga turned and walked off without another word.
“I’m sorry, Jacob,” said Arthur.
After all, Jacob had lost everything now. As much as Arthur didn’t want Bella with Kinga he couldn’t help feeling the whole thing was hard on Jacob. After all it was Arthur who’d brought down Sensidium.
Jacob shrugged. “That’s ok. It’s for the best.” He got his phone out. “I’d better get a cab.”
“Was it you, Jacob?” asked Arthur. “Did you tell Gibson about Bella?”
Jacob gave him a wry smile, “Now why would I do something like that?”
Arthur felt a spring return to his step as he walked back into the house. A sense of optimism he’d not experienced since… well he had no idea when.
He called Camilla. “It’s done… It’s gone.”
There was silence at the end of the line for a moment.
Then Camilla said, “Thank you Arthur.”
Arthur didn’t really know what this meant for their relationship. But just the fact that Camilla was back in the country and talking to him felt good.
“You know, it’s Sunday tomorrow,” he said. “Why don’t I see if the kids are around? Maybe we can all get together for lunch?”
“That would be nice,” said Camilla.
“I’ll give them a call. I can do the cooking.”
“My goodness,” replied Camilla. “I can’t wait to see that.”
As Arthur removed his coat he felt something in the pocket. It was Elizabeth’s present. He took it through into the kitchen and stood for a moment turning it over in his hands.
Then dropped it in the bin.
That’s it for Chapter 18, I hope you enjoyed it and are looking forward to more. Chapter 19 will be out the same time next week, Friday at 4:00pm UK time.
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