24
July the 3rd
As we had the go ahead by Kaowen we had to plan which day we were going to blow the satellite up and exactly how we were going to do it. I woke up and knew then what I had to do. I got out of my bed as quiet as a mouse, and then I slid open three drawers of my wall unit and got dressed. I watched the BBC news for half an hour while my mum got up. When I had woken up I’d had a headache but now it seemed to have gone. My brother popped his head round the door to say “Morning.” I finally got down our stairs, put my Mum’s porridge on and walked the distance from our kitchen to the dining room with my Mum closely following behind. I finished my breakfast first as per usual and watched Diggit on ITV with Des and Fern until 10:30.
“What do you want to do today?” Mum asked.
“How about I go up to Wintons fishing lake again.” I replied.
“I think you’re spending too much time up there.” Mum replied.
“Come on, if I catch a fish today they’re letting you take your fish home for free.” I quickly said, worried that I wouldn’t be allowed to go there after all.
My dad was getting a bit suspicious of me supposedly going fishing, this time he didn’t just drop me off, he hung around for a bit until I had gone around the corner. I then drove myself behind a bush until I was sure he had gone and then I made the detour around the bushes and into the cave.
Keith opened the door as soon as I got there.
“Saw you coming.” he said “Was there someone you wanted to get rid of before you got into the cave? You were a bit cautious coming in today?”
“Nobody, just my Dad, what are we doing today?” I asked.
“We could go to the Brighton camp to arrange and plan the satellite plot at Alex’s.” Keith suggested.
“Alright.” I agreed.
Keith had the site plan already laid out on the table.
“We have already notified the Ministry of Defence of our plans, so we’re ready to plan for July 3rd which is exactly three weeks away. I am assuming you can make the 3rd?” Keith asked.
“I’ll have to check my diary, just a minute I’ll see.” I reached into my back pocket, brought out this very thin purple diary, opened it to July, and then found the 3rd.
“I haven’t got anything written in there yet, so I could do that date but you’ll have to help me think up a good excuse for me to use to get out for the day as my parents are getting a bit suspicious of me coming up to Wintons all of the time.” I explained.
Keith looked puzzled; this was obviously his thinking look.
“How’s about a fishing tournament?” He finally suggested.
“That’s fine with me.” I replied.
I was counting down the days; I was excited but also afraid of July 3rd.
I was woken at 6am the next morning by the birds twittering in our huge oak tree. I turned over and tried to get back to sleep, it would be good if I could sleep until 7.30! However at 7:15 the choir started again, so I gave up any hope of getting any more sleep. I drew my orange curtains back, opened my top window and lay in my bed for 15 minutes. Then I got out of bed slowly getting my feet down to the second step of the ladder, then the first, then my foot hit my thin carpet and took a couple of steps whilst holding onto my bed, then I got in my black chair. I felt the cold air coming in through the window, blowing onto my neck. I decided to watch the rest of Stuart Little 2 on my DVD, as I hadn’t had enough time to finish it the previous night. Keith rang me up on my mobile phone, the Italian Job theme tune played twice before I could answer my phone.
“Hi Keith!” I said.
“Hello Chris, Jonathon and I are going to do some training for our mission for July 3rd. We were wondering if you wanted to come.” Keith asked me.
“I can’t do today I’ve got Nikki my Physio later, maybe tomorrow.” I replied.
“Ok see you then, hang on a minute what time tomorrow?” He asked.
“Does 11.30 suit you?” I asked.
“Yeah - so see you then.”
I was tired after my physio session with Nikki, it was an hour of hard work. We got back home at ten minutes to six in the evening, for dinner I had buttered brown toast and my Mum had Spaghetti Bolognese as did the rest of my family. Something caught my eye above our mantle shelf, I eventually focused on what had caught my attention, and it was the painting of the Belfast. As I looked at the massive beast of aluminium, I heard our home phone ring and soon my Dad got to it. He then quickly passed it on to me. The voice on the other end said urgently –
“We need you down here pronto” and then the line went dead.
“I need to collect my fishing stuff from Wintons Fishing Lake.” I announced.
My Dad gave me a lift in his car and dropped me off at the lake. I waited for my Dad to go and then another couple minutes before entering the cave. I opened the concealed door; Keith was waiting for me and pushed my chair along the long waiting room and into the operations room. The room was dark grey with black chairs and a long table stretching almost to the door. In the room there was Jonathon, Keith and also three other people I hadn’t met before: Jackie Jab, Craig Crêpe and Ian Lewis. I was paired up with Jackie Jab, she had blue eyes and dyed hair which was jet black.
“I won’t keep you here that long.” Keith began.” I’ve split you up into pairs because your partner has been in similar roles to yourselves. This is Jonathon whom I’m sure you’ve all met.”
“Hi, I’m Jonathon, I am here today to show you all how to operate these machines.”
I hadn’t noticed the machines before; I guess that Keith had brought them in at some point. One looked as though it was something out of a sci-fi movie: It was silver and stood about seventeen feet off the ground supported by two legs.
“What’s that?” I asked.
“A M162000.” Jonathan answered.
“What does it do?” Jackie asked.
“I’m glad you asked.” Jonathan replied “It has a multitude of weapons including a fork and a grabber, but it’s main purpose is to carry Chris and Jackie around; also it’s an armoured vehicle which will come in very useful I’m sure. It can be painted in camouflage colours so that it blends into the surroundings.”
I was very interested to see how it was going to work!