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"I wonder what the Police are doing," Michael
said. "Do you think we could get another look?"
"Are you crazy?"
"They're so absorbed with the house they won't
even notice us. I want to see what's happening."
"No!" Lea hissed. Perhaps she was right.
Perhaps it was too dangerous. Then again, it wasn't
every day you got to see the Police do this kind of
thing.
He wondered what to say to her. Cajolery probably wouldn't
work so he picked something else. "Stop being such
a bloody invertebrate!"
She turned and stared at him, her eyes open very wide
in warning. When Lea got angry it was wise to be cautious.
He watched her calmly but her eyes just burned back
into his soul. He hoped she would speak, even if it
were to shout at him, but he knew she would not.
Finally he broke the silence. "Shall I go first?"
Lea nodded, very, very slightly.
He set off through the hedge and she followed, reluctant
but resolute. An antenna mast stood at the end of the
garden and, though it was narrow, they crouched behind
it. Michael had seen this kind of mast before. His uncle
built amateur radios and kept his antenna well away
from the house and high up to avoid the risk of burns.
Once, when he was young, Michael had spoken into the
microphone and heard his voice bounce off the moon.
The two policemen were still in place, peeking through
the boards. Gradually the rain began to subside and
the lights inside the laboratory stopped flashing.
One of the policemen shifted carefully to another window.
He pulled out a device that might have been a camera.
Michael wet a finger and carefully held it in the air
to test the wind direction. A gentle breeze came towards
them from the house and he knew it would carry their
voices safely away from the men.
"What are they ?" he began to whisper but
then a familiar deep humming sound filled the air and
stopped him. Every muscle in Michael's body froze. Time
seemed to flow in slow motion. He knew exactly what
was going to happen next. The streetlamps flickered
slowly but inexorably into life and Michael and Lea
found them selves brightly illuminated against the hedge.
"Shit," Lea said, much louder than she meant
to.
"Don't move," hissed Michael. "Don't
move a muscle."
He knew, without even looking, that the police would
see and hear them. There was no escape. It was just
a matter of time but he remained steady, looking at
a random patch of ground six feet ahead of him. Then,
terribly slowly, without moving his head, he forced
himself to raise his eyes and confront the inevitable.
He could hear footsteps.
His father, he knew, would be livid. He wondered how
long it would take for this massive misdemeanour to
blow over. The consequences flashed through his mind.
He would be grounded, he would no longer be able to
see Lea, he would probably be set to work in the kitchen
without pay. And he could picture Fred and Wilma lecturing
him. "If you can afford to lurk in gardens and
spy through windows you can definitely afford the time
to wash dishes."
He wondered if they would be taken straight to the
police station. That would be the final ignominy. Maybe
they should run. No, they would make it through the
hedge but the police would surely know that the other
side of the hedge led to the park and it would be easy
to pick them up.
He raised his eyes the final painful five degrees,
ready to offer his wrists to the handcuffs. What he
saw amazed him. Instead of approaching officers the
two men were running away. The first of them was already
at the gate that led to Pea Street, the other was close
behind, showing a clean pair of heels.
It took Michael a few moments to understand. This was
a surveillance operation. The police had been relying
on the cover of darkness just as much as Lea and Michael.
When the lights came on the last thing on their minds
was to check the garden.
Lea began to laugh, and Michael joined her, quietly
at first but then more loudly. Relaxed now, they climbed
back through the hedge into the park and walked, hand
in hand, home to Lea's house.
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