Johnny O'Brien - Day of Deliverance

Gordon added, “And finally, we got a time signal. VIGIL located the time phones and identified where you were and where we were — and they told us where we could find you. They also sent Joplin back to help us. Luckily, going to London was the right move — it hasn’t taken us long to find you…”

“The torture chamber in that big house?”

“Yes. But we got there too late. We must have arrived after Pendelshape took you away. The letter from Marlowe was our first piece of luck. Pendelshape made a mistake. In his rush to take all those time phones and take you prisoner, he just left it there, lying on a table.”

Jack nodded. “You’re right, now I think about it, I remember him saying he’d lost it… but I don’t think he knew he’d left it behind.”

“What did it actually say?” Angus asked.

“Well, now you know,” Joplin replied. “It explained the Spanish plot in detail. One of the plotters, Christo, who was already a member of the Henslowe Players, would use the cover of the players’ visit to Hampton Court to assassinate the queen. The rest of the letter had details of how various other plotters would encourage sympathetic Catholic aristocrats around the country to rise up on news of the queen’s death and provoke a civil war.”

Tony continued, “We disguised ourselves as loyalists who had stumbled across the plot and immediately went to Walsingham.”

“Ironic — that was just what Marlowe had asked us to do with Fanshawe,” Jack said.

“Walsingham already knew that something was afoot — he was suspicious of Marlowe, who had written the letter and was torn as to whether or not he should send it. Then you turned up. The letter was the last piece of the puzzle. Walsingham moved quickly and decided to set a trap for the plotters at Hampton Court on the opening day of the play.”

“The plan worked well,” Tony said. “Although, Angus, what you did was a surprise. Gordon was about to take out Christo, but you were just too quick.”

“So… who was that other queen — you know, Lady Sarah?” Jack paused, his voice quiet. “Will she die?”

“I don’t know. I’m afraid it is likely. She was incredibly brave to act as the queen’s double,” Tony replied. “She looks quite like the queen… and dressed up in all that garb and in character presiding over the play, how on earth was Christo to know any different? It’s not as if he’d ever seen a photo of the queen. In the wilderness it also confused Pendelshape — probably bought us some time.”

“And the crossbow men?”

“Royal guards, disguised as courtiers. The entire thing was a set up — the whole audience — the queen’s double, everything. We hadn’t much time, but it came together on the night.”

“You knew that Whitsun and Gift would be there?”

“We were pretty sure, and we hoped Pendelshape would be there as well, together with any other Revisionists, so we could get them all at the same time. The Revisionist plan was to piggyback on the existing Spanish plot. They want their interventions to be as ‘light touch’ as possible — saves them work and makes it all cleaner.”

“You and the crossbow men were ready,” Angus said. “Brilliant.”

“Losing Pendelshape was not so brilliant, though. Unless we can nail him, we’re done for.”

Joplin looked at Jack, concentrating hard. “Jack, after Pendelshape took you prisoner, was there anything, anything at all, that he said about his plans to change history?”

“It was pretty amazing. He showed us a kind of game where Spain conquers England and then all of the Americas and that becomes a basis for some sort of global domination. He said there was a way of measuring how it would be better than our present history — real history, if you like. Called it ‘UI’ or something.”

“Utility Index?” Joplin looked at his colleagues with ashen-faced incredulity. “They must have developed the causal modelling to a very sophisticated degree. That is very worrying.”

“Er, sorry?” Angus said.

Joplin explained. “If this software can really model intended changes into the future with such precision, that is a truly powerful ability. It is a capability that we in VIGIL certainly never thought possible. Basically, they can play God.”

“Sometimes I reckon Pendelshape thinks he is God,” Jack said.

Joplin rubbed the back of his neck. “This is very serious, Jack. Did Pendelshape say anything else — was he more specific ?”

Jack thought for a moment about what Pendelshape had told them. “He said ideally he needed to do two things. First, he said Elizabeth must die to create disorder across the country — a sort of power vacuum. Then he said the Spanish Armada needed to succeed. The Spanish troops under the Duke of Parma in the Netherlands could then just walk in and take control. In fact, he seemed to think even if they didn’t manage to kill the queen, the second part of the plan could still work, as long as the Armada succeeded.”

“The Armada — did he say anything more about that?”

Angus piped up, “He mentioned a battle… Grave — something.”

Joplin banged the table. “Gravelines! I knew it. That confirms it.” Joplin jumped to his feet and started to pace the room. “I have been piecing together a theory based on the information your father gave us and our knowledge of history. Gravelines was a sea battle that took place in the east of the English Channel. The defeat of the Armada was down to many things… but if there was one point where you wanted to make a decisive change in favour of the Spanish fleet, Gravelines would be it. Gravelines was the point where the English ships engaged and damaged the great ships of the Armada. After Gravelines, the Armada fled up the English coast, badly battered but still intact. After that point though, the storms got them. Those that did survive the wrecks and struggled ashore were often murdered and robbed. If you wanted to change the outcome of events for Phillip II and Spain and allow a Spanish victory, the history of England, Spain and the world would be dramatically different. It would be Spain’s day of deliverance.”

“How would you do it, though? I mean, how can Pendelshape take on all those English ships on his own?” Jack asked.

Joplin shook his head. “I don’t know. But you’re right Jack, you would need some way to destroy the English fleet. Quickly and easily. Some form of military superiority. With the fleet at the bottom of the Channel, London and England would be open for the Armada to transport the Duke of Parma’s Spanish troops from the Netherlands into England, just as they planned. England had no army that could resist them. It would only be a matter of weeks before all of England was in Phillip II’s hands. Your information confirms my theory: Gravelines is the critical event. I am convinced the Revisionists will use this time signal to stage an intervention. Pendelshape will want to get on with it.” Joplin gestured at the bags of equipment arranged along one wall of the room. “We need to get going — let’s take what we need from that lot and Tony, you need to code the time phones for the battle of Gravelines — 8th August 1588.”

“Okay.” Tony opened a thin briefcase on the table and took out two time phones. He handed one to Jack and one to Angus. “Yours — and don’t lose them this time.”

Jack picked up the time phone. “Hold on, you’re not expecting us to come as well?”

“Of course. It’s like Inchquin said — you two are fully paid-up members of VIGIL now — part of the team, and where we’re going, we’ll need all the help we can get.”

“What — you’re taking us into a war zone?”

“No mistake, Jack — this is war.”