The Darkness Below

Chapter Twenty Eight - 1970

Sgt Armstrong woke with a start in his bedroom at the barracks which was a short walk across St James's Park from Whitehall and the MOD HQ. He had been working the late shift recently so was catching up on some sleep in the afternoon.

Armstrong had not been woken by a noise or an inconsiderate squaddie but by the sudden realisation that he had forgotten to do something. When he had last inspected the reinforced steel vault door which led from Tottenham Court Rd Station into the top secret evacuation tunnels he had not followed protocol and had forgotten to check the mechanical counters on the door.

Armstrong wasn't due on shift until later but he could call up the security team on duty and have them check. But then they would know he had not done his job properly. Decisions decisions! He could go down there now and inspect the counters on the door himself. Or wait until later?

***

John led the way along the tunnel to the reinforced steel door at which they had previously had lunch together. They hadn't been able to open the door then but thanks to John being a clever and well connected person he had been able to get a set of keys and the code to the combination lock.

He hoped that Grace had noticed how resourceful and well connected he was, he was too shy or modest to boast about it in front of her. John opened the door with a flourish trying to appear calm and in command to Grace then ushered Grace inside and closed the door securely behind them. They started walking quietly.

"Did you see those signs? It says "Trespassing Prohibited. Authorisation must be obtained from MoD. Failure to seek authorisation may result in death as tunnels are frequently sealed for gas attack testing"' Grace said with obvious regret in her voice. Maybe going back would be the wiser option.

'No I didn't notice those before, I was a bit preoccupied. I don't believe those signs, I think it's a threat designed to scare us off.' John responded trying to sound confident and reassuring. John wasn't sure but he wanted to look good in front of Grace.

'Well it's working on me!' Grace responded.

They continued on and arrived at the Centre Point bunker access door and John opened the door slowly to ensure no one was inside.

John led the way cautiously up to the control room with its large glass partition window. The control room door was still unlocked and they went inside and found the document was still in the draw.

Grace started laying out pages of the documents inside whilst John took photos. They weren't going to read any now and risk being inside any longer than necessary. The longer they were there, the more chance someone would find them.

'Are you any good with that camera?' Grace teased with a grin tinged with nervous energy and trying to lighten the mood.

'We'll find out when we get the pictures developed.' John replied without looked up and with determination in his eyes.

'Well I hope you are because I don't want to come back here in a hurry!' Grace responded with a smirk.

***

Grace and John surface onto the busy streets of Tottenham Court Road and the narrow pavement is crowded with weary commuters keen to get home after another day at work.

Their visit to the tunnels had been a success, they had not been detected or arrested and John had a camera and several rolls of film full of photos of the top secret document.

The nervous release and excitement of their success led Grace and John to embrace each other and then they realised that they were blocking the pavement and attracting disapproving glances from the Londoners all around them. They parted and headed to their respective homes and John was then going to meet Vince Taft and hand him the rolls of film so he could develop the photos.