Admiral Stuart had made it his home. I was pretty sure he had a small cabin on one of the destroyers and a bunk in a back office in the command centre. He didn’t seem to need anything else and to be fair, he was always working anyway.
“Ryan,” Lily said dryly, and I winced a little at the lack of a greeting.
“Didn’t have time to clean up,” I muttered as Gregg grinned, amused as always.
She didn’t reply, just sniffed and turned back to the central table. I joined her quietly and she reached out with one hand to clasp mine. The only concession she would allow since she was annoyed with me.
Admiral Stuart watched us with a half-smile while Minister Shepherd beside him openly gloated at my poor reception. The weasel-faced woman with the constantly greasy looking greying hair didn’t like me.
I was fine with that. I actually quite liked her. She had a bit of a bite to her and she didn’t fear me which was refreshing.
Cass smiled a warm greeting at me before hugging her brother and the dour Minister Jones nodded curtly. It seemed that the majority of the government was in attendance. I looked to my left as Samuel joined me, Lily’s favoured bodyguard taking up position a few paces behind.
“Why are we here?” I asked.
“Patience, My Love,” Lily said quietly, lips barely moving.
“A ship is approaching,” Admiral Stuart said.
My frown deepened at that and I set my jaw, forcing aside the irritation. Boats arrived all the time and a lone boat wouldn’t be any kind of real threat. We had enough ordinance set up around the harbour that it would take a full invasion force to break through.
“The problem,” he continued as if reading my mind. “Is that they are not responding.”
“Is it propelled or drifting?” Shepherd asked.
“It has adjusted heading several times to ensure it is moving on a direct route towards us.”
“How big a boat?” I asked, curiosity growing a little.
“Fifteen metres. A commercial fishing boat from the little we have been able to see. Storm is hindering us.”
“Not one of ours then?” Gregg asked, looking around. The Admiral shook his head. “Where’s it come from then?”
“Best as we can tell, Somewhere between Liverpool and Blackpool.”
Blackpool was a coastal town in Lancaster. It had a long history of being a holiday destination with lots of fairground attractions and touristy things. Liverpool, on the other hand, was a large city. For anyone to come out of either of those places was surprising and potentially dangerous.
“Clearly we need to know who they are and what they want before they land.”
“Could be survivors with a broken radio,” Lily said. “We need to go slowly. I don’t want anyone to come to harm if they aren’t hostile.”
“Send out a boat then,” I said with a shrug. “Why the need to bring us all here?”
“The storm,” Admiral Stuart said grimly. “The sea is rough enough but with the snow, ice and heavy winds, it’s lethal.”
“Then there’s nothing we can do. We either wait it out and they arrive or they drown and it’s no longer a problem.”
I glanced at Lily as she squeezed my hand. Hard. Her eyes flicked to me as she pursed her lips and I held back a sigh.
“Fine,” I muttered. “We can’t let them drown. What do you want us to do then?”
“We have a decision to make,” Admiral Stuart said. “One that we need to make as a government.”
“Go on, Admiral,” Lily said with an approving nod.
“If we send a boat out, we have a number of problems. Our best suggestion is to send a helicopter.”
“We have a helicopter?” Gregg asked and the Admiral nodded.
“Yes. Two. One of them was used specifically for sea rescue.”
“Then send it,” Shepherd snapped. “No need for a full meeting about it.”
“He can’t,” I pointed out with a growing smile. “If there are enemies on board, we have the potential to lose the helicopter and our people.”
“Yes,” the Admiral agreed.
“But there’s something else,” I said as I watched his face.
Emotions I struggled with recognising for the most part but some, some I could. One of those that I was very familiar with was fear and the signs of it were written clearly for me.
“What is it, Admiral, that so worries you?”
“I can’t help but wonder,” he said slowly. “If the reason they won’t contact us is because there are infected onboard.”
“Can’t sink it,” I said with a widening smile. “In case it’s the living. Can’t let them land or get too close to shore in case there are infected aboard. What are we to do?”
There was only one real response. If the infected were on board, as soon as they got close to shore, they could dive overboard and pretty much walk along the seabed to come ashore anywhere along the coast.
“I will detail a fist of our best acolytes,” Samuel said as I looked at Lily.
There was fear in her eyes and she chewed on her lip but seemed to understand just how badly I needed it. More than that, she knew that I would be the best one there to deal with the infected if it was them.
“Have you ever even been in a helicopter!”
“How hard could it be? Fly out there, strap a rope to a harness and jump.”
The Admiral gave me a hard stare and muttered something I didn’t quite catch. I grinned at him anyway, knowing it would irritate him.
In truth, I had never attempted such a thing and doing it as a storm raged around us was incredibly foolhardy without any training. Something about the situation sent an alarm running through my skull and I knew that I couldn’t trust anyone else.
Lily was watching me, openly disapproving of my choice and I dropped my façade and faced her squarely.
“This could be a threat to you, to the twins. I won’t allow that.”
“I don’t want to lose you.”
“You won’t.”
“Can you promise that?”
“No.”
“But you want me to just accept you going?”
“Yes.”
She stared at me for what seemed an eternity. It wasn’t like I needed her permission to go but her accepting the need for me to be one of those going would certainly make my return home a great deal more pleasant.
“Don’t die out there.”
“Wouldn’t think of it,” I said with a grin while Gregg groaned.
“Balls. Fine, I’ll come too. Someone has to keep you alive.”
“Welcome to join me,” I said. “It’s going to be fun.”
Gregg just groaned again and shook his head as I laughed.
Chapter 4
The helicopter settled onto the snow-covered car park outside of a restaurant and, ducking my head, I rushed forward through the falling snow towards it. The rotors whirred overhead kicking up a small blizzard of loose snow and making a horrendous noise.
I climbed into the fuselage, accepting the headphones I was given by the waiting co-pilot and buckled myself into the nearest seat. I was not at all sure of how it would go out at sea, but my heart was beating fast as excitement welled up within me.
Gregg climbed in beside me and then two minions came after. Not too many to fill the wide fuselage, just in case we needed the space for survivors from the boat. But enough for if there were enemies to be faced.
The fuselage was almost eight feet wide and about the same height. It was more than fifty feet long, not including the rotors which had a diameter of fifty-three feet. Painted a bright yellow that would allow it to be instantly recognisable, it was undeniably impressive.
It had a sense of raw power about it. I had no doubt whatsoever that it would hold up well against the storm winds and I waited eagerly as the co-pilot slammed shut the door and climbed back into his seat.
I ignored the tinny chatter from the pilot that was coming over the headset and instead, stared out the wi
ndow as we rose into the air before swinging about and heading out towards the sea.
The wind buffeted the helicopter and visibility was ridiculously low. Beside me, Gregg was muttering softly to himself and I couldn’t help but grin at him as he looked up and caught my eye. He glared in response and turned away.
Darkness surrounded us and I was impressed by the pilots' ability to navigate through the falling snow and sleet. It built up on the side windows and I could feel the chill when I pressed my glove covered hand against it.
The heavy jacket and woollen hat didn’t seem to be enough to combat it and I shivered a little, though that could have been from the rising excitement. I took a moment to check my weapons, the two knives in sheaths hanging from either hip.
I wore a harness of straps made from some material I couldn’t identify but certainly felt strong. As I understood it from the brief instruction given by the Admiral as we waited, I would be clipped to a line that hung from a winch.
That winch would then lower me down towards the boat as the pilot did everything he could to keep the helicopter steady. Sounded simple enough though I knew that it wouldn’t be.
There were a million little things that could go wrong. Sea rescues were hard enough at the best of times and sending untrained personnel down to a boat, bobbing up and down in rough seas with a snowstorm around us, would be as far from the best of times as it could get.
I grinned at the thought. Too long cooped up on the island. I needed the risk, the danger, the potential for violence. It was a sobering thought.
When Briony had led her infected on a small rampage across the island and almost killed Lily, I had rushed back to her. In a short time, she had become such a stable part of my life that I couldn’t actually see myself without her by my side.
It had been an easy thing, back then, to promise to stay with her. To keep her and our unborn children safe. I just hadn’t realised what effect that would have on me.
For more than a year I had been wandering the world killing with impunity. It had been a life of danger, of chaotic violence and pain. I’d loved it. The fight for survival, the almost constant taking of life. It was like a drug.
Then I had stopped, suddenly, cold turkey. No more killing, no more violence, no more real risk to my life. Like the junkie that had been my first kill, I was an addict craving my drug of choice. Murder.
I could look back and see how it had happened. Starting small, killing a few people here and there, but building up as time went on. Culminating in the deaths of hundreds of people at my hand when I activated the devices that the Genpact employees wore.
Each and every time my need had grown and, to be fair, it was becoming ever harder to fulfil that need. There had to be more deaths, more danger, more risk, more thrill.
If I were honest, it had been part of my decision to stay. I had identified that need within me and had refused to let it control me.
But it had not been easy.
I had distracted myself with ensuring Lily and our unborn children were safe. Then, by spending time with my children after they were born. In the spare moments I had, I’d begun training harder and harder, expending my restless energy as best I could.
It hadn’t been enough. There was a constant itch in the back of my mind, an urge to kill that I couldn’t ignore. I had distanced myself from others, spending more and more time surrounded by my minions and using them as a means of exhausting myself. A distraction.
Lily had noticed, I was sure. I think she understood, but it was hanging there between us. This thing that we needed to discuss, needed to deal with. When she thought of us, she thought in the long term.
A lifetime together, with our children and friends. Recently though, I had caught her looking at me with a considering look on her face, one that had begun to gnaw at me. As though she was realising just what it would mean to spend that life with me and my need for death.
I shook my head to clear it and turned to face Gregg as he tapped my arm gently. He gave me a considering look and spoke into the microphone attached to his headset.
“You okay, mate?”
“Sure.”
I managed a small smile for him but he didn’t seem convinced and so I shrugged and flashed a grin that was sure to irritate him. I had no need to unburden myself on him and I definitely had no need to talk about my feelings.
The very idea almost set me to laughing.
“Coming up on the boat,” the pilot said, his voice coming through the headset.
Everything else fell away as I leant forward, staring out of the front windshield, eagerness clawing at me.
Powerful spotlights were aimed down at a boat bobbing in the violent sea ahead of us, the beams illuminating flurries of falling snow. Even with the lights, it was hard to make out much detail.
A simple fishing trawler, sitting low in the water that washed over its decks. There was a light on in the cabin that was set towards the bow, but it was too far and too dark to detect movement or whether there was even anyone on board.
Clearly, there must have been as the boat had made course corrections. I grunted, softly, as a large wave hit the side of the boat, washing over it and sending it careening wildly. It was being tossed about on the waves like a child’s toy.
“We’re supposed to lower ourselves onto that?” Gregg muttered, a look of horror filling his face. He turned his one eye towards me and scowled. “I don’t know why I keep doing this shit with you.”
“Because it’s fun,” I replied, with only a little mockery for his fear in my voice. His scowl deepened.
“Hope you guys know what you’re doing,” the co-pilot said as he climbed out of his chair and joined us in the rear compartment.
I didn’t bother to reply, just watched him as he pulled open the door. A blast of ice and snow was carried in on freezing winds and I couldn’t help but shiver. The co-pilot clung tightly to a handle as he reached out for the winch cable, pulling the hook on the end inside the cabin.
“Who’s first?”
I pushed myself to my feet, swaying and almost falling as a strong wind hit the helicopter, shaking it. Gregg reached out to steady me as the co-pilot hooked me to the winch and I couldn’t help my smile.
“Keep the headphones on,” the co-pilot said, calmly. It was a task he had done countless times before. “When you get down there safely, unhook yourself and radio up.”
I nodded and stepped to the edge of the compartment, holding the edge of the open door and letting the winds buffet me. They seemed to want to grab a hold of me, to pull me clear of the helicopter and send me tumbling to the ravenous sea below.
“Take your time,” the co-pilot said. “No one will feel less of you if you back out.”
Gregg’s laughter filled my ears, coming through the headset and I looked back long enough to grin at him before I took that final step, out of the helicopter.
I fell freely for a few short seconds before coming to a rough stop as the slack in the winch cable ended. I hung just below the helicopter, spinning wildly as the winds pulled at me. The co-pilot looked down at me from the opening and I waved irritably.
Slowly, I began to descend. The spotlights remained fixed on the boat below and I focused on that as I spun and swung about, this way and that. The lower I went, the more violently the movements.
Like a worm on the end of some fisherman’s line, I had no control of what was happening. All I could do was hang there and hope that the pilot knew what he was doing.
Seawater hit me as a wave crashed over the side of the boat just as I neared the deck. I spat out the mouthful of freezing water and kept a tight grip on the winch line, skin burning from the cold. A gust of wind caught me, sending me spiralling out over the open sea as the boat rose on another swell.
As I swung back over the boat, I hooked my leg over the port side rail and clung on as another wave hit the side. Soaked through and half frozen, my fingers caught hold of the railing and I held on for dear life.
The winch line was the only thing that would keep me alive if I were swept over the side, so I kept it hooked onto my harness as I pulled myself along the railing, step by step, pausing only to hold fast as a wave hit me.
Ahead of me was the cabin and I aimed for that, fighting against the violent movements of the boat on the storm-wracked sea. Only a fool or someone truly desperate would risk the crossing in such weather and I intended to find out which I was dealing with.
My hand closed on the handle of the door and there was a strong sense of relief as I pulled it open and pushed inside, coming up short just through the doorway as the boat's pilot turned to me. To my surprise, and a great deal of annoyance, I wasn’t actually facing a zombie. The man had a sawn-off shotgun in his hand, ready, and pulled the trigger as I stepped through the door.
The boat lurched to the side, saving me as it caused him to stumble as he fired. The blast peppered the cabin wall beside me and set my ears ringing. I had my knife out in an instant and leapt at him.
In the small confines of the cabin, we grappled as we both struggled to stay upright. Each crash of a wave against the boat sent it lurching to one side. He gripped my wrist with one hand, eyes wide as he snarled, attempting to keep my knife from stabbing down into him.
My other hand was around his throat, squeezing with all I had as he tried to pummel me with the shotgun he held. His face, slowly turning purple in the bright light of the helicopter’s searchlights, was filled with hatred.
“Ryan, mate, you there?”
I couldn’t exactly answer Gregg as all my attention was focused on staying alive. A tug came at the cable connected to my harness and I growled, a sense of urgency flashing through me. If they tried to pull me up before I had killed him, I was in trouble.
As the next wave hit, I slammed my knee up and against his hip. He fell back against the console losing his grip on my wrist and my knife slammed down into his shoulder. Blood flowed and he cried out in pain.
I pulled him close, my face just before his as another tug came at the cable and I snarled at him.
“Who are you?”
Chapter 5
Once again, I sat staring at a monitor as the man I loved was out there risking his life without a thought for what it did to me. If he died, leaving me and the twins alone… I couldn’t even finish the thought as I frowned at the screen.
Killing the Dead Season 3 Box Set | Books 13-18 Page 70
