Creeping Terror Read Online Free PDF Page A

him, Ben could see the word ‘Gemma’.
    ‘The colonel is waiting, sir,’ the soldier said with evident impatience.
    Knight flipped open his phone. ‘Sorry, I have to take this. It’s the Secretary of State. I imagine he wants to know how we’re getting on.’ He covered the end of the phone with his hand. ‘We’ll find our own way. Tell Colonel Greene we’ll be along as soon as we can. You know how these politicians like to talk.’
    Turning away, Knight lifted the phone to his ear. ‘They really don’t care who they keep waiting,’ he said. Then his tone changed to a hearty greeting: ‘Jeremy, how good of you to call … No, we haven’t yet. The colonel is very busy … apparently.’
    Knight glanced back to see the soldier marching stiffly away again. ‘Priorities, yes, I’ll be sure to mention that,’ he said loudly, before closing the phone and slipping it back into his pocket. He smiled at Gemma and Ben. ‘We’ll let the colonel wait for a bit, shall we? See how he likes it.’
    *
    After ten minutes, Knight decided they’d let Colonel Greene wait long enough. He accosted a private who led them to the colonel’s office. The soldier who’d come to get them was sitting at a desk in a small office outside. He glared at Knight and dismissed the private with a growl of reluctant thanks.
    ‘So many dead people,’ Gemma whispered to Ben as they waited again. ‘Even in the canteen. Can you feel it?’
    Ben shivered. ‘No,’ he whispered back. ‘Well, maybe.’
    The door to Greene’s office flew open to reveal the colonel standing in the doorway. He was sobroad his shoulders almost touched the sides. His hair was cut close to his scalp and his huge hands were clenched into impatient fists.
    ‘Are you Knight?’ he demanded. ‘You’ve got twenty minutes.’
    ‘Thank you, Colonel.’ Knight followed Greene into the inner office, gesturing for Gemma and Ben to follow. ‘But I doubt if that’s going to be long enough.’
    ‘Long enough for me to tell you this is all baloney,’ Greene retorted. He sat behind his desk and gestured for Knight to take the seat on the other side. ‘You brought your family?’ he said, nodding at Ben and Gemma, who had taken chairs at the side of the office.
    ‘Colleagues. We recruit them young.’
    Greene frowned but made no comment. ‘You have friends in important places, Mr Knight,’ he said, angling himself so he was obviously ignoring Ben and Gemma. ‘My superiors tell me that Templeton is off limits. They tell me that even more important people in government have told them that no one goes into the village until you say so.’
    ‘If that’s what they tell you, it must be true.’
    ‘Because of a few spooks? I don’t buy that. My men aren’t scared of ghosts. They don’t runfrom shadows, or believe everything some halfwit tourist who got himself lost tells them. If my men go into that village, what’s the worst that can happen to them?’
    He leaned back in his chair, smiling thinly as he waited for Knight’s reply.
    ‘Tell him, Gemma,’ Knight said quietly.
    Gemma’s chair was so high her feet didn’t reach the floor. She kicked her legs as she spoke, her girlish attitude at odds with what she said.
    ‘They might see ghosts. Apparitions. Demons. But that isn’t a problem. People see them all the time. Usually kids. Probably the younger soldiers … Maybe the ghosts will see them. Maybe they’ll come after your soldiers. Maybe they’ll put ideas and thoughts in their heads, drive them crazy.’ She sniffed. ‘Perhaps they’ll make them forget who they are or why they’re there. Make them get lost, or have fits, or shoot each other.’
    The colour was slowly draining from Colonel Greene’s face. He opened his mouth to say something, but Gemma hadn’t finished.
    ‘Probably we’ll never know. You’ll just find the bodies. Or more likely you won’t find anything at all. They’ll just disappear. Like ghosts. It happens. They might end up