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Chapter nine

‘Glen Did This’

Back at their house, Jack and Tom were talking about Glen’s strange message - TRAITOR. What was the phantom airman trying to tell them?

‘Perhaps there was a traitor on the airfield,’ Tom said. ‘I want to see the Squadron Leader’s diary. We might learn about the traitor from that.’

‘Yes,’ Jack replied. ‘But there’s something strange about the diary. I’m sure of that.’

‘Let’s phone the Squadron Leader’s grandson, Terry Bowles. Give me the phone book, Jack,’ his brother said.

Tom read out the number and Jack dialed it. In a few moments, a woman’s voice answered. Jack asked for Mr Bowles.

‘I’m sorry, Mr Bowles isn’t here at the moment,’ the woman said. ‘I’m his wife. Can I help you?’

‘I’m not sure,’ Jack said. ‘My name is Jack Christmas. My friends and I are doing a project about Lychford airfield in the Second World War. There was a traitor on the airfield in 1940. Someone in the RAF was working for the Germans. But we don’t know who it was. We’d like to see Squadron Leader Leighbridge-Smith’s diary. Can we speak to your husband about it when he comes home?’

Mrs Bowles laughed.

‘There was no traitor,’ she said. ‘I’ve been helping my husband with his work on the diary. There’s nothing in it about a traitor. You’ve watched too many spy films, Jack! But tell me your phone number. I’ll ask my husband to phone you, when he has time. He’s very busy at the moment.’

Jack put down the phone.

‘We won’t get any help from Mr or Mrs Bowles,’ he said. ‘Let’s finish putting our notes onto the computer. We’ll talk to the girls about this in the morning.’

In the middle of the night, Regan woke up suddenly. Something strange was happening. She was falling through the air and her room was full of smoke.

She fell to the ground, but she wasn’t hurt. She had fallen very gently. But now, part of her bedroom was on fire. She saw flames moving through the room.

The flames moved nearer and nearer to the terrified girl. And then they covered her.

Now Frankie was awake too. She heard noises - guns firing, and loud explosions that shook the room. Huge flames were everywhere. They were on the walls, on the curtains and all round her bed. And Regan had gone! Where was she?

Frankie opened her mouth, she was going to scream. Then she saw Regan. The American girl was walking through the flames towards her.

‘The flames are cold,’ Regan whispered, as she sat on Frankie’s bed.

Then the bed started to move. And all the other furniture in the room started to move too. It turned round and round. Everything was covered in flames. But the flames were as cold as ice!

Suddenly there was silence. No noise. No flames. The two girls sat on the bed and looked at each other. The room was wrecked. Everything was on the floor - books, clothes, magazines.

Regan pushed her long black hair away from her face.

‘Hi,’ she said.

‘What happened,’ Frankie gasped.

‘Glen did this,’ Regan replied. ‘He’s angry because we didn’t get all of his message. Perhaps-‘

She didn’t finish her sentence because they heard a terrible scream outside the door.

‘Jennie,’ Reagan shouted. She ran to the door and pulled it open.

Outside the bedroom, Regan and Frankie saw Jennie. She was floating above their heads. She was turning round and round in a strong wind. And as they watched, the wind pushed Jennie to the top of the stairs.

‘No, Glen! No,’ Regan shouted. ‘Don’t hurt her!’

The wind stopped and Jennie fell gently to the floor. She stared at the two friends for a moment. Then, without speaking, she got up and walked into her own room. She shut the door behind her.

Regan and Frankie went back into Regan’s room. Together, they put everything in its place. Nothing had been broken. Nothing had been burnt.

Then the two girls lay on their beds and fell asleep immediately.

Frankie and Regan were still asleep when the boys rang the doorbell the next morning. When the girls were dressed, everybody went into the kitchen. Regan told Jack and Tom what had happened.

‘Why did you let Jennie throw away the piece of metal,’ Tom asked Regan. ‘Now we’ve only got half a message. And we can’t understand it.’

At that moment, the kitchen door opened and Jennie came into the room.

‘Hi, Jennie,’ Regan said. ‘You look terrible.’

This was true. Jennie looked tired and frightened.

‘You must tell me something,’ Jennie said. ‘In the middle of the night, did I wake up on the floor outside my room? That’s what I remember. You were there. I saw you. But perhaps I was dreaming. I was dreaming, wasn’t I, Regan? It was all a dream?’

‘Yes,’ Regan replied. ‘You were dreaming.’

‘Thanks,’ Jennie said. ‘I’m going back to bed now.’

When Jenny had gone, Regan laughed. ‘We won’t have any more trouble from the Blonde Bimbo,’ she said. ‘Now, what are we going to do about Glen?’ She repeated the message again. ‘It says, “Help me rest safe under the air” Perhaps the next letters were going to be f-i-e-l-d. Is Glen buried under the airfield? Does he want us to stop the construction work?’

‘No, Glen can’t be buried there,’ Jack said. ‘Perhaps Glen was going to write two sentences. Perhaps he wanted to say, “Help me rest safe. Under the airfield-“ But he didn’t tell us what was under the airfield.’

‘There must be something under the airfield,’ Tom said.

‘And Glen wants us to find it,’ said Frankie went on. ‘Perhaps it’s something about the traitor.’

‘We must go to the airfield again,’ Jack told the others. ‘I want to use that metal detector there.’

‘Perhaps Darryl will have some more ideas,’ Regan said.

‘We’ll ask him,’ Jack replied. ‘We’re meeting him at one o’clock. We’re going up in the old plane this afternoon. Tom has brought his camera.’