The Last Bike Ride - Part 2 Chapter 12/15

Chapter 12

On Saturday morning, as Nikki was walking round to Alum Chine, Michelle was in Weymouth preparing for the forthcoming sailing exhibition, part of the Bomb 20th commemorations.
She had been chosen, along with her friend Natalie, to perform a very difficult manoeuvre in tandem. There were few who could do it, but these two were considered to be the best women sailors in Britain.
Their practice session had gone well and they were talking about it afterwards in the clubhouse. A man came over to their table,
“Excuse me, ladies, I’ve been watching you out there. That was very impressive. My name’s John, by the way.”
“Thank you, John,” said Natalie, “I’m Natalie, and this is Michelle.”
“Actually, I know your names, I still follow the sport closely even if my competitive days are way behind me now. You’ll know my son, I should think, he’s just a bit younger than you two. Jack Mortimer. I taught him that manoeuvre you’ve been practicing. I only ever had to use it once for real when one of my superiors at our Naval academy knocked my mate into the water with the boom.”
“We know Jack, of course we do,” said Natalie.
“Sorry, John,” said Michelle, who had been looking at John wondering where she had seen him,
“I thought I recognised your face. You’re that John Mortimer, aren’t you, from the sub. I’ve read your book, and your picture was on it. Jack never said anything, and he knows how much I read. That was such an amazing story.”
“Oh, there’s Dave. I’ve got to go,” said Natalie, “let’s kick some bottom next week, Mich. It was good to meet you, John.”
“I haven’t heard that for a while. It was from some old comedy, way before the Bomb, I think.”
“Yes, my Dad used to use it whenever me or any of my sisters were going off to do our sports, and Natalie picked it up from me. It’s much better than arse, or ass, as the Americans say, isn’t it?!”
“Does your Dad still follow you?”
“No, he died on the night of the Bomb.”
“Oh, sorry.”
“You don’t have to be. Millions died that night, and it would have been billions if it wasn’t for you.”
“Anyone in my position would have done the same. It was just a case of holding back the US generals. But President Fuller was a good man. He helped change a lot of things after that.”
“Yes, I know. My sister met him when he came over to talk about our new leadership. She worked with that first team.”
“Do you live here in Weymouth, John?”
“No, I’m on my way to Kent for a few days and thought I’d call in here. I might stay overnight, actually. We live in Cornwall, Perranporth, in fact. We’ve been there for years.”
“I’m sure it was Perranporth we visited once. We were staying in Newquay and Dad wanted to show us where he had an indoor market stall one season, years before he met Mum. I don’t know if he made this up, but I wouldn’t have put it past him. He said that the old cinema building where the indoor market had been was just off the main drag, so he got up one night at about two in the morning and painted the soles of his boots white and made a line of footsteps from the main square, or clock-tower, I can’t remember now, all the way to the old cinema. He said the market was the busiest it had ever been after that!”
“That’s actually a true story, Michelle. I don’t know if it was your Dad or not who did it, but I heard it a couple of times and checked in the local paper’s archives and there they were, these white footsteps weaving their way along the road!”
“If it was Dad, it would have been the type of thing he would have done after a few beers! Thanks for that, John. It’s been great meeting you. I’ve got to go now.”
“It’s been a pleasure, Michelle. I hope the display goes well. Kick some bottom!”

***
Round at Alum Chine Nikki rang the Warman’s bell.
“Hi, Nikki, come in,” said Harriet.
“Thanks, Harriet. I’m quite nervous about this, and I expect you are, too.”
“Yes, of course. Let’s have a coffee to start with?”
“Good idea!”
Nikki looked out over the bay through their window while Harriet made the coffee.
“That’s a great view you’ve got here.”
“Yes, it’s better than the one we had in our last house. We were right on the edge of the M3, up near Basingstoke.”
“If it’s the one I’m thinking about, did it have a chandelier in a room overlooking the motorway?”
“Yes, that’s the one.”
“Dad pointed that out when I used to go with him to London. He would make a point of looking up at it every night when he went past”
“Every night? What was he doing?”
“He used to take JDG’s mail up to the City and bring the City office’s mail back to Bournemouth. That’s what he was doing on the night of the Bomb.”
By now they were both sitting with their coffees and on to the subject before either of them had expected.
“Look, Nikki, this is going to be difficult for both of us, I know, that’s why I’ve sent Rob out with the kids under strict orders not to come back until this afternoon!”
“I’m OK for now, thanks Harriet, so let’s go for it!”
“OK, so what do you know about what happened with your Dad that night?”
“Well, the news of the Bomb came through very quickly and we all thought that he would have been in London when it happened. We got a short call from him. Luckily, Mum was too surprised to say anything and she just listened for once. He said he had seen the mushroom cloud of the Bomb and was going to try and cycle home to us. He said it was about 80 miles. He told Mum to give us all a hug and that he loved us all. That was the last we heard from him.”
Harriet then told Nikki about the call she got and that whoever it was calling had asked if it would be OK to phone home. She went on to talk about the fading signal and only catching the ‘S’ of his name.
Then Harriet recalled the call she received from Harry Groves, many hours later.
“Harriet, it’s Harry Groves. I’ve got some bad news.”
She knew what the bad news was, but she just let him carry on.
“We were on a special op and Pete went down. He wouldn’t have stood a chance. We knew he was dead and we had to carry on.”
“And what was this special op? Who were you carrying?”
“You know I’m not supposed to tell you, but in the circumstances, it was the Duke of York and some Saudi princess.”
Harriet didn’t answer.
“Harriet, are you still there?”
“Yes, I’m here, you bastard. You mean to say that Pete died trying to protect that fucking arsehole. By the way, Harry, he wasn’t dead.”
“What do you mean? How do you know? Did he call you before he died?”
“No, Harry, someone else did. Someone who stopped to help him and then called me to say that Pete had died after an accident. Whoever it was, tried to say there was something else, but the signal went.”
“Nikki,” said Harriet, who was looking a bit nervous now, “there’s something else that I have to tell you.”
“What is it?”
“Well, that something else, Groves told me, was that Pete had been shot, at close range, with his own gun.”
Nikki went pale and thought she was going to be sick.
Harriet hugged her and said,
“Look, in the time since then I have been able to find out more about how Pete was found. His injuries from the crash were horrific and he wouldn’t have survived even if there had been medics on the spot. They found two emergency blankets and an empty brandy bottle. I know Pete always had some brandy with him, as did the other bike riders on the team.
I think you’d understand my initial thoughts when I first heard that he had been shot, but from what I’ve been able to find out I’m certain now that Pete asked your Dad to put him out of his misery. He wouldn’t have wanted to lie there for hours in pain and I guess he knew the effects of the brandy wouldn’t have lasted for that long.
As far as I’m concerned, Nikki, your Dad had helped my Pete. He could have easily have just carried on and left him there, and I’ll always be grateful that he was able to get a message through to me to say that Pete loved us.”
“That’s the sort of thing Dad would have done, that’s for sure.”
“Look, Harriet, I need to get some fresh air, on my own, if you don’t mind. I’m going to have a walk along the front.”
“Of course, I understand.”
“But, Harriet, would you do something for me? Would you call into my Mum and have a chat with her”
“Of course, Nikki, any time.”
“Just one thing, though. Let’s keep the shooting to ourselves. OK? She doesn’t need to know, and I don’t think she could take it right now anyway, she’s not too well.”
“You have my word. Have a good walk!”
“Thanks, and thanks for this. It’s been a real help. I hope we can meet up again.”
“We will. Bye, Nikki.”
Nikki walked along the prom with tears in her eyes again, but with a smile inside knowing a bit more about her Dad’s last journey and that he had helped someone along the way.

***
Harriet pressed Nikki’s entry-phone. They had arranged to meet up before Harriet met Juliette.
“Hi, Harriet! Come up.”
Nikki was waiting at the door for her.
“It’s good to see you again. Come in.”
“This is quite a flat you’ve got here, Nikki.”
“Thanks. This used to be our house, the one we moved into when I was about five. After a few years, Mum had wanted to split it up, but Dad had a vision for it like it is now. They didn’t agree on it and it stayed as it was until after the Bomb.
Me and my sisters have got a flat each here, although we’re hardly ever here together. I’m here all the time, but the others are all over the place. Mum has the ground floor flat, as you’ll see shortly.
Upstairs is a big penthouse which we rent out to JDG’s executives when they come over on short-term stays. They pay well!”
“I’m sure they do.”
“I’ll take you down to Mum now, if you want.”
“Please, I’ve been looking forward to meeting her, so lead the way!”
“Mum, this is Harriet.”
“Pleased to meet you, Harriet, come in and we’ll have a cup of tea.”
“Thanks, Mrs Martin.”
“I’ll leave you to it, I’ve got to go back up and finish some marking.”
“OK, love.”
“See you soon, Nikki!”
“OK, Harriet.”
“How do you take your tea, Harriet?”
“White, please, Mrs Martin, with no sugar, thanks.”
“It won’t be long, I saw you arrive at Nikki’s just now and put the kettle on. And please, call me Juliette. You’ve got someone at St Michael’s haven’t you?”
“Yes, our Sam. Of course, I thought I had seen you. You walk two boys to school, don’t you? Whose are they?”
“They’re Nikki’s twins, Stevie and Henry. Yes, I love walking them there whenever Nikki can’t take them.”
“I’ve seen you a few times, and I’ve seen you on a seat on the corner a couple of times.”
“Yes, we always sit on that seat. We had it put there with my husband’s name on it. It’s the spot where he died.”
Harriet was pleased to see Juliette had made a proper cup of tea, as she watched the tea being strained into her cup.
“I’m glad you make the tea in the traditional way, you don’t find many who do, these days.”
“I have to tell you that it was only after the Bomb, maybe two years after in fact, that I started to make it this way. Steve always used to make it this way.”
“You’ve got lots of photos, Juliette. Is that Nikki?” she asked, pointing to a picture of Nikki from about ten years earlier.
“She hasn’t changed much, has she?!”
“What about her husband? Is he around, or her boyfriend?” asked Harriet.
“I hope it’s not an awkward question.”
“She married Paul about 10 years ago. I liked him a lot, and then all of a sudden he just upped and left. Nikki found out that he had gone off to America. All we got was Christmas and birthday cards, and then everything stopped about six years ago, and we’ve heard nothing since. He might be dead for all we know. The twins were young enough for it not to affect them too much, but it took Nikki a long time to get over it. She changed their surname back to Martin, as she didn’t want his name to continue, and she’s now happy being married to her work.”
“Thanks for telling me that, you didn’t have to, and I won’t mention anything to Nikki about this chat.”
“Are there any pictures of Steve? I’d like to see what he looked like, to put a name to the voice.”
“There is one somewhere. Oh, here it is. That was about five years before he died.”
“Thanks for showing me,” she said, after studying the picture for a while.
“Well, Nikki told me about what happened that night. It must have been terrible for you.”
“It can’t have been easy for any of us. We were all wondering if there would be a world left by the morning, and if there was, what kind of a world would our kids grow up in. At least I knew what had happened to Pete. You were left wondering where Steve was.”
“Did you have children at the time, then?”
“Yes, we had two girls. Milly was seven at the time, and it was Susie’s 5th birthday that day. She answered the phone when Steve called. She saw his number on the phone display and cried out ‘Daddy!
I was so relieved when I heard her shout that out, but my world was turned upside down a few seconds later when Steve told me about Pete.”
She showed Nikki her bracelet.
“Pete had given me this just three days before for on my birthday.”
“It says ‘Hattie’ on the inside,” said Juliette, pointing to the inscription.
“Yes, that was what I used to be known as, even as a child, but I wouldn’t let anyone use that name after Pete died.”
“I have always wondered about Steve coming across Pete. He was very badly injured and it would have been easy to have ridden on by, and probably the more sensible thing to have done.”
“Sensible was not often a word associated with Steve, Harriet!”
“Well, I can’t tell you how much I appreciated what he did for me that night, and it made it so much easier to cope with the call I received from Pete’s commander much later on.”
“When we moved down here in July, I came across an old Echo in one of the cupboards I was cleaning out and there was a story, in its 10th anniversary of the Bomb section, about your Steve being found so close to home. I had a strange feeling about it when I read it and then things just fell into place over the weeks since.
I got elected as a governor at St Michaels’ and had a chat with Bob Reagan about it, just before the talk at Nikki’s school. He told me how Steve going for a governor role and just missing out by one vote!”
“To be honest, Harriet, he didn’t really want it and I don’t think he could have offered much. He was glad to have missed out because he couldn’t have been able to work with, or even sit with, one of the other governors!”
“Bob showed me Steve’s application letter. It was in a file of absence letters he wrote for your girls.”
“Has he still kept those? That’s amazing! You know, the girls were hardly ever off school because of those. They couldn’t stand the thought of his sick notes being read out by the teachers!”
“Look Juliette, I really appreciate this chat. Steve helped me that night, and I’m sure he must have helped my Pete. I hope you can take some comfort from that.”
“I can. It’s been a pleasure, Harriet. I’ll probably see you around. We might even bump into each other on the way to school, but call in whenever you want.”
“Thanks, Juliette. And thank you for a proper cup of tea!”
“You’re welcome. Bye!”
“Bye!”