P.N.E. (The Wolfblood Prophecies Book 4) Read Free Page A

soothe him.’
    Jean was still fretting. ‘Your father is supposed to see the specialist tomorrow… but if the river does flood…’
    Sam spoke hesitantly. ‘It’s a really important appointment – with a visiting doctor from America. She’s the best in her field and has some exciting ideas about helping Dad, but she flies back the day after tomorrow. I hate to ask, Jo, but if the worst comes to the worst and we’re stranded, do you think Titus would help?’
    ‘He’ll probably send a helicopter,’ replied Jo nonchalantly. ‘I’ll ask him, if you like.’ There were some perks in being under the protective wing of the founder of the Glory Foundation.
    Sam was so relieved. She chattered excitedly as the journey continued. Just like old times, thought Jo. As long as we don’t discuss religion, the Righteous, the riots before Titus repented his wicked ways, and Beth. And Smokey.
    At the thought of Smokey Jo abruptly switched off. Reg assured her he was safe, but that was all she knew. As for Beth, she had just vanished; probably determined to find Smokey wherever he was. She had done it before, when Lethe held him prisoner in America, and she wouldn’t let him go without a struggle.
    ‘Jo? Jo? Come back to Planet Earth!’
    Jo jumped. She had been miles away. ‘Sorry, Sam! What were you saying?’
    ‘I was asking if you’ve done your History homework?’
    Jo pulled a face. ‘Not yet. I’ve brought the textbook with me so I’ll have something to do if the conversation lags.’
    ‘What are you studying?’ asked Jean with interest.
    ‘The Cuban Missile Crisis,’ replied Sam.
    Jean looked appalled. ‘Good grief! Is that History now? It seems like only yesterday to me!’
    ‘Can you remember it, Mum?’ asked Sam.
    ‘Of course I can!’ she replied indignantly. ‘Your father and I had just got engaged, and we were terrified there would be a war and he would be called up. Mind you, if there had been a war, it’s hard to imagine what would have been left afterwards.’
    ‘How do you mean?’ asked Jo.
    ‘Well, I would say it’s the nearest the world has ever come to a nuclear war in my lifetime. And there was this really scary thing being discussed – MAD.’
    ‘Mad?’
    ‘Mutual Assured Destruction. The ultimate deterrent. The attacker and the defender would both be destroyed. Terrifying.’
    Jo shivered. ‘Sounds like something Titus would dream up. So how did it start?’
    Jean thought hard. ‘It was about Cuba. They’d had good relations with America for years, but Cuba was moving to the left politically and the U.S didn’t want that - remember, in the 1950s there was the Red Scare - they feared and hated Communism.’
    ‘When we did The Crucible at school we learned it wasn’t just about witch trials hundreds of years ago,’ remembered Sam.
    Jo chimed in. ‘It compared the witch hunts to Senator McCarthy persecuting Communists in the Fifties.’
    ‘That’s right,’ agreed Jean. ‘McCarthy loathed Communists and his enemies say he wasn’t too bothered about evidence. On the other hand, his supporters point out that Stalin’s brand of Communism, for example, was pure evil. Anyway, in 1962 the Americans tried to overthrow the Cuban regime. They launched an invasion on a beach in the Bay of Pigs. The invasion was a dismal failure. After that, the links between Cuba and the Soviet Union grew stronger, and the Russian President, Nikita Khrushchev, suggested siting nuclear missiles in Cuba as a deterrent. They started building bases. When the Americans found out they set up a military blockade, to stop the weapons being delivered. President Kennedy thought war was almost certain.’
    ‘So what happened?’ asked Sam, enthralled.
    Sam’s mother thought for a bit. ‘A lot of posturing and big talk on the surface, but urgent meetings and frantic negotiations behind the scenes. Some climbing-down, some face-saving all round. Between them Kennedy and Khrushchev found a path through it all,