Chapter 19
Tall Trees, Swainshurst, Wealdshire. Wednesday 20 May 1998
The spread which awaited the conspirators was just as splendid as on the previous evening when the meeting had been interrupted by the discovery of the eavesdroppers. By the time that Shadow, Howard, Jerry and Bounce had returned from their adventure in Kingsbourne, and related how the police had lain in wait for the black Transit, it was far too late to continue the meeting. It was decided to meet again the following night.
Now everyone was in the kitchen heaping food onto their plates.
'Do you think we'll be safe from eavesdroppers tonight ?' Dennis Trimble asked. He looked towards Howard. 'You don't think our phones will be tapped, do you?'
Howard had a sneaking suspicion that the Trimbles would secretly be delighted if he told them that there were probably hidden bugs in every room of the house. It never failed to amaze him how many members of the public loved the idea of getting mixed up with criminals, the SAS, MI5, the CIA and various other groups who were glamorised in television series. 'Sorry to disappoint you, Dennis, but I don't think you'll have to look under your bed for spies tonight. Neither do I think we'll need to check outside this evening although, just to be on the safe side, we'd better keep an eye open.'
'Actually,' said Dennis, 'I've left the dogs out in the garden. They can let us know if we have any intruders.'
'Good idea, Dennis,' Howard said. 'They did a good job last night.'
Jerry called out. 'If everyone has stocked up on supplies, perhaps we can move into the living room and get started.'
Shadow began by saying that the main aim of the protest was to delay the construction of the road and to get as much publicity as possible. 'This has two purposes. Firstly, we want to make it so expensive to clear a site that the authorities will think twice in the future before going ahead with a new road. And, believe me, it costs a fortune to employ goons to guard sites and evict protesters. The other point about that, of course, is that the more money they have to spend on getting rid of protesters — the less money there will be available to spend on building new roads.
Secondly, we want to persuade the general public that destroying the countryside to build more and more roads is wrong. If we have a groundswell of public opinion against road building, the authorities will have to think long and hard before proposing new roads in the future. I often wish that we had a time machine. If we could take people back to see how fast the countryside has been destroyed during the last few years — they would be behind us all the way.'
He then explained why this meeting was so important. He said that the pixies sat around the camp fire almost every evening talking about ways to defeat the enemy, but some of their ideas were so bizarre that he needed to hear the objective views of people who weren't on the front line. He stressed that any idea which involved attacking the goons or the police was a no-no. Physical violence was definitely out.
'So — let's have a brainstorming session,' he suggested. 'If anyone has any bright ideas — just shout.'
Bounce was obsessed with the idea of getting hold of some military vehicles. Seeing the puzzled looks on many faces, and guessing that they probably imagined Bounce wanted to fill Stumblefrith Forest with tanks and missile launchers, Shadow thought he ought to explain. He related how, at one of the road protests, two ten-ton Saracen armoured personnel carriers had been employed. Both had carried powerful sound systems allowing them to bombard the enemy with music. 'One hundred and thirty five decibels,' he said, 'Enough to shatter your eardrums.'
'I can see how that would work,' Harold Bartholomew said. 'I can write all day when I'm playing my music — but if someone next door starts playing their music, it drives me insane.'
Bounce started to say that it was a bit like bodily smells, but Shadow reminded him (much to the relief of the ladies present, who were beginning to wonder what he was going to come out with) that they had a lot of business to get through. 'Anyway, Bounce,' he added, 'those Saracens were taken away on a low-loader and impounded — so I don't think anyone will be too happy about lending you their tanks. And don't forget that we wouldn't win many friends amongst those who live nearby.'
Dr Sengupta wanted to know when and how the evictions were likely to take place. Shadow said that although it was impossible to predict when the bailiffs would move in, he suspected that the Battle of Puck's Dell would take place on 21st June — Midsummer. The bailiffs would be expecting all the pixies to be celebrating on that day, either in Stumblefrith Forest or some distance away at one of the ancient sacred sites. The most likely scenario, Shadow believed, was that the police would arrive and form a cordon around the camp. Anyone who could be found easily would be asked to leave immediately. The active eviction squad would arrive later to deal with the protesters who were making life difficult. What was essential, if they were to stand any chance of resisting eviction, was to have as much early warning as possible and then to make the actual eviction process as difficult as possible.
Dennis asked if Shadow knew at what time of day the police were likely to arrive.
'Impossible to say, I'm afraid, Harold. In the early days of road protests, the police or bailiffs usually arrived during the day. Then they got crafty and started turning up at dawn. Their next step was to arrive on the doorstep during the night and then, being really devious, they started besieging camps during the evening. So — they could turn up at any time.'
'How many bailiffs are there likely to be?' Janet Trimble wanted to know.
Shadow blew loudly through the corner of his mouth. 'No way of knowing, I'm afraid. The Fairmile camp on the A30 was cleared by about a hundred police and fifty bailiffs — about five baddies to every goody. But in our case — just think of a number and you may or may not be right.'
'Are you planning to have lookouts?' asked Sasha Rowney.
'We certainly will,' said Shadow. 'We'll have sentries, working in shifts, posted at various points around Puck's Dell all day and all night.'
'And how will they alert everyone?' Harold Bartholomew asked. 'Presumably you wouldn't want the police to know that they've been spotted.'
Shadow gave Harold a nod. 'Good point, Harold. Normally we yell 'Aruga!' to raise the alarm but, if the police hear that — they'll know we've seen them — so they'll rush in as quickly as they can. I think the best plan would be to equip the lookouts with mobile phones or CB radios so that they can alert the camp quietly. We can have someone on duty at the camp to receive the call. Then they can go round and wake everyone. That will give us time to take up our defensive positions before the police move in.'
Sally Crowe signalled to Shadow that she had a question.
'Yes, Sally?'
'Could you explain what you mean by 'defensive positions'? I assume you mean lock-ons and so on.'
'Uh . . . yeah . . .' Shadow hesitated, gave Jerry a quick glance, and then continued. 'I don't really want to go into too much detail about our defences. It's not that I don't trust any of you but . . . well, we just have to be careful.'
'That's okay,' Howard chipped in. 'Work on a need-to-know basis. We don't need to know what your defences are.'
'Actually,' said Shadow, 'We mentioned most of them last night. When the alarm goes, we'll get as many people as possible up the trees, onto the rope walkways and into the nets. But, of course, we may have a few additional defensive ploys.' He gave an exaggerated wink as he said this.
Janet stood up and asked to be excused. 'Sorry,' she whispered, 'I just want to check on the dogs.'
Bounce said that he would pop out to the street to check there weren't any prowlers.
Everyone took advantage of the diversion to stretch their arms or shift their positions on their seats.
When Janet and Bounce returned, everyone was relieved to hear that they'd seen nothing to alarm them.
Charles Rowney gave a little cough to attract attention. 'We know what the front line troops will be doing. But what about the support troops? How are we going to know that we're needed?'
Jerry rubbed an eye with his forefinger and said, 'If you keep your radio on, I expect you'll hear something on the news.'
'No good, Jerry!' Charles replied, shaking his head vigorously from side to side. 'We wouldn't have done too well during the last war if we'd had to wait for the BBC to tell us when to fix our bayonets. You need an efficient and foolproof method of calling the troops in immediately the enemy are spotted.'
Howard added his agreement. 'That's right. It's no good shutting the stable door after the horse has trotted off.'
'Okay,' said Jerry. 'What do you suggest?'
Charles held his arms up, elbows out and finger tips together. 'What we need is a pyramidal one-way communications system. As soon as the police are spotted, someone on the outside must be informed. Let's say it's you, Jerry. You then ring . . . say five people. They, in turn, ring another five. In theory, within . . . let me think . . . five times five times five is . . . six hundred and twenty five . . . times five is . . . about three thousand. Yes, I would say that within ten minutes of the police being spotted, some 3000 support troops could be alerted. So, if the warriors could hold out for an hour or two, that would give sufficient time for reinforcements to arrive.
'Wouldn't that take a lot of organising?' asked Dr Sengupta.
'It certainly would,' agreed Jerry. 'Firstly we'd have to find out who was willing to support us actively — those who would be willing to rush out to Puck's Dell — and then we'd have to work out the alarm system so that everyone knows which five numbers to ring.' He turned to Charles. 'Don't get me wrong. I think it's a great idea. But it'll involve a fair bit of work.'
'But how do we get the volunteers?' Janet Trimble wanted to know.
Jerry laughed. 'A good question — but it's not quite as difficult as you might think. We already have details of over a thousand people. We can get more by asking them to do some recruiting and also by putting an appeal on our Web pages on the Internet.'
'We could devise a questionnaire,' Harold suggested. 'Ask people to tick boxes such as . . . uh, let me think . . . do you want to be involved? . . . what is the earliest time you would be able to receive an alarm call? . . . can you ring five other people? How does that sound?'
Martha McKenzie slapped him on the back. 'Not just a pretty face, are you, Harold? You must come and have tea with me in my tree house one day.'
'That's good,' Jerry said. 'We could put the questionnaire on the Web. We just need a volunteer to process all the questionnaires and work out an alarm system.'
Harold held his hands up, palms away from his face. 'Look no further. I'll do it.'
Jerry gave him a thumbs up with both hands. 'Excellent! If you can do that I'll do the Web stuff and get questionnaires printed out for mailing.'
Shadow wagged a finger at Jerry. 'Just one thing — this does mean that the goons will know what we're up to. Without a shadow of a doubt they read our Web pages.'
'Does that matter?' asked Jean Richardson, who had said little until now. 'They can't stop people turning up.'
'Hmmm . . . they might try,' said Howard. 'The police may block the roads.'
Jean persisted. 'People have got feet, haven't they? I assume there are lots of farmers who aren't happy about the new road. Maybe they'd be willing to let people park in their fields.'
Charles Rowney slapped his thigh. 'I could have done with you during the war, my girl. I'll go and visit some farmers.'
Jean smiled at him and said, 'Actually, I've just thought of something else. I wonder if we could get some people to park at different places around Stumblefrith Forest to provide directions for those who've not been there before?'
'Why don't we just erect some signs?' suggested Janet.
'I think you would find, Janet, that the signs would mysteriously disappear,' said Howard. 'Jean's idea — Jean's second idea — is a good'un. People could park by the road and have signs saying, 'This way to Puck's Dell'. And if the police decide they're encouraging illegal activities, they could have an alternative sign saying, 'Are you lost? Stop for directions.' Ha-ha! I like it.'
Sasha Rowney asked if someone could remind her what the support troops would be expected to do.
Shadow answered her. 'All they have to do is turn up, and then leave when asked to do so by the police.'
'I don't understand,' said a puzzled Sasha. 'What good will that do?'
Shadow tipped his head back and gave a loud laugh. 'It'll do a lot of good. Firstly, just by being there, they'll ensure that we get lots of media coverage. It'll look really good if the forest is full of 'normal' people instead of just us scruffbags. Secondly, their presence will ensure that the goons perform their duties according to the book instead of taking such short cuts as lighting fires beneath tree houses — especially if our people are carrying video cameras. Thirdly, they can take their time leaving the site — especially if they all suddenly develop gammy legs. Fourthly, they might suddenly feel so tired that they have to sit down — or lie down — and if they happen to be in front of a digger, or bulldozer, or cherry picker at the time — that's just too bad.'
'Shadow! You're a devious so-and-so,' announced Sasha sternly, wagging her finger at him. 'I shall quite look forward to suddenly feeling a bit poorly in the forest.'
Shadow responded with, 'I didn't get where I am today without being a devious so-and-so.'
'Wait a minute,' said Dennis, waving his arms in the air. 'It's all very well talking about how we're going to hamper the eviction — but if the police have thrown a cordon around the site — how will we get in?'
There was silence for a moment. Dennis seemed to have found a flaw in the strategy that should have been obvious to everyone earlier. Shadow looked at the crestfallen faces around him and grinned.
'Don't look so dejected,' he said. 'Don't you fight fire with fire? If the police can make a cordon — so can we. If we have a cordon around the cordon, it will make it very difficult for the pixies to either walk out or be carried out. It will make it very awkward to bring in the heavy equipment. And, of course, all the photographers and film crews will still get all the shots that we want them to get. I somehow think that the police will not be too happy about having to run the gauntlet of two hundred brolly-wielding angry grannies every time they want to carry away an uncooperative protester. Am I right, Howard? You've been a policeman.'
'You're right, Shadow,' agreed Howard. 'Believe it or not, most police officers want to be loved. They will carry out their duties but, I can assure you, they're not happy campers when their role brings them into conflict with the general public.'
'Well,' said Jerry as he stood up. 'I reckon this might be a good time to draw the meeting to a close. I don't know about you folks, but I'm feeling bushed. The pixies have their nice warm cosy beds waiting for them—'
His sentence was left unfinished as he ducked to avoid the missile that Martha threw at him.
'So, I suggest we call it a night. Thanks very much for coming along, everyone. It was a very worthwhile meeting. Cool stuff, eh?'