by Hatchett
Gina stared back without saying anything, trying her best not to lick her lips.
“You wish!” Issy butted in.
“Yer jus’ sore ‘cos she’s prettier than ya. Probably betta in the sack too. Can jus’ imagine ‘em lips workin’ on me.” Mamba thrust his hips forward and leered at Gina. He didn’t even bother looking in Issy’s direction, despite aiming his comments towards her.
He continued to stare at Gina for a few more seconds, Gina almost straining with the effort to not lick her lips.
“I think we’ve got a couple of candidates for yer Wall of Fame, Sully,” Mamba said, over his shoulder, referring to the wall behind Sully which usually had some naked woman or women chained to it.
Sully chuckled. “They’re both lookers all right!”
“Don’t even think about it,” Issy warned. “I told you what would happen, Sully.”
“Well, things have changed,” Sully explained. “Because of you, I lost two fresh specimens, so they need replacing.” He was referring to the brother and sister he had allowed Issy to take back to Heathrow the last time she was there.
Issy stared at him, realising that the goalposts were shifting rapidly. “You do know what will happen?” she asked.
“I doubt it,” Sully replied confidently. “They’re hardly likely to shoot at us with you two in here.”
Sully raised a hand and within seconds his bodyguards had surrounded Issy and Gina with their pistols pointing at them.
“Knives. Now,” Hakan instructed, as Mamba stood behind him, smiling and enjoying every second.
Issy and Gina heard Jack telling them to do as they were told and not to risk anything. They complied by removing their Bowie knives and placing them on a nearby table.
“Stand.” Hakan ordered.
“Let me do this,” Mamba urged, pushing past Hakan. He got up close and personal to Issy and started to pat her down, spending more time and effort than was absolutely necessary around her breasts.
“There’s nothing there, dickhead,” Issy whispered.
“Ya right, there ain’t,” he mocked.
Mamba smiled and took even longer checking between her legs, squatting down as he did so, and blatantly running his tongue around his lips.
“You’re a dead man walking,” Issy whispered.
Mamba looked up at her. “Wet yet?” he enquired, with mock innocence.
Issy bit her tongue.
Mamba then turned his attention to Gina and smiled brightly. “I bet you’re lookin’ forward to this jus’ as much as I am,” he suggested as he moved closer. Again, he lingered around her breasts and between her legs and was eventually satisfied that she wasn’t hiding anything.
Mamba took the helmets off both women and grinned and stuck his tongue into the camera lens.
“Time to strip,” Mamba ordered as he took a couple of steps back and glanced towards the hooks on the wall behind Sully, as if to remind the two women what was in store for them.
“Fuck off,” Issy replied.
Before Mamba could respond, a walkie-talkie on a side table next to Sully sparked into life. “This is Jack Robinson in Heathrow. I would like to speak to Sully.”
Sully motioned for everyone to stop what they were doing while he indicated to one of his girls to pass the device over.
Once he had the walkie-talkie in his hand, he pressed the button on the side and said, “This is Sully.”
“Sully. Issy and Gina came to you in good faith and brought your daughter back. You want to think very carefully about what you do next.”
Before Sully could respond, one of Sully’s guards ran into the church to advise that the helicopter that had brought Issy and Gina had taken off.
Issy and Gina looked at each other, knowing that they were on their own for now.
“You have watchers in the houses surrounding this estate,” Sully pointed out. “Did you think we wouldn’t notice them?”
There was silence for a few seconds before Jack came back online. “We were waiting to see if Mamba came back to see you.”
“And so, he has,” Sully confirmed. “Now what?”
“Let Issy and Gina go. We can then meet and try to work out a way forward which gives us both our own space.”
“I don’t think so,” Sully replied.
“Why?” Jack queried. “I’m sure we can work something out amicably.”
“You have what I want,” Sully said, before turning off the walkie-talkie and throwing it against the wall.
“Take them out,” Sully ordered.
Hakan pulled out a different walkie talkie and gave the order. His people had been watching the Heathrow soldiers in the local houses closely and had taken their time in getting up close to them whilst staying hidden. They would now take out the soldiers before they even realised what was happening.
Sully turned back to Mamba. “You better be right,” he stated ominously.
Sully then looked towards Hakan. “Take these two downstairs.”
Hakan and two other guards moved forward and used plasticuffs to secure Issy and Gina’s hands then led them to the stairs at the back of the building which would take them underground and the maze of rat runs and storage rooms. Issy and Gina would be locked in one of the cells for the time being.
Mamba placed the two helmets on the floor and stamped down on them to break the cameras and communicators. He looked towards Basir, who nodded to confirm that everything was in place for Mamba’s plan.
Mamba’s only worry had been that Sully would sell him out. He hadn’t, and that was a big mistake on Sully’s part. Huge. Especially when he found out what Mamba had in mind.
Mamba’s thoughts about the next steps were interrupted a few minutes later as the building was rocked by explosions coming from close by.
12
Day 16 – 15:45
Heathrow Terminal 3, Security Command Centre
Jack and the Major sat in the Command Ring within the Security Command Centre. They had been watching and listening to proceedings through Issy and Gina’s helmet cameras and communicators, the footage displayed on the jumbo flat screen on the wall straight in front of them.
Neither Jack nor the Major had been totally convinced that Mamba was dead, and they were both reluctant to trust Sully, but this was their worst fears taking place right in front of their eyes. They now knew for certain that Sully and Mamba were working together and there was little or no chance of negotiation. Issy and Gina were effectively on their own.
After a few minutes of watching, Jack had grabbed the walkie-talkie to speak to Sully, even though he could tell it wouldn’t make any difference. He just wanted to give themselves more time to react.
As Jack had spoken to Sully, the Major ordered the helicopter on the ground at the estate to return to Heathrow. Don had wanted to run to Issy and Gina’s rescue, but the Major had forbidden it.
As soon as the walkie-talkie connection was broken, Jack alerted the watchers in the houses surrounding the estate, but his warning had obviously come too late as there had been no response.
At the same time, the Major contacted the other Leaders to let them know what was happening. Andy and Travis, both working on the ‘no man’s land’ outside the perimeter fence, immediately headed for the Security Command Centre.
The sound and pictures from Issy and Gina’s helmets were suddenly cut off.
Jack looked again at the Major. “It’s time,” he suggested.
“Yes,” the Major replied solemnly, “I don’t see we have much choice.”
“Get everyone ready to move,” Jack ordered. Then he turned to the main screen. “Get the overhead satellites on the screen,” and moments later he had a birds-eye view of the Dalston Estate.
The Major rose from his seat and headed out of the room.
Jack clicked a button on his chair and gave the order. A few seconds later came the confirmation ‘rockets released’.
The pilot of the Apache helicopter a couple of kilometres
away from the Dalston Estate had released four pre-programmed rockets; the first two took out the barricades at either end of Laurel Street and the other two rockets took out the barricades on Buttermere Walk and Cumberland Close, the latter being just sixty metres from the church.
The rockets decimated the barricades and killed several Turkish guards standing nearby. Other civilians who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time also died. Collateral damage.
However, the main aim was not to kill the Turks; taking out some of their fighters was just a bonus. The real aim was to separate and close them off from each other by allowing the zombies access to the estate.
The plan worked. Zombies not blown away by the initial blasts soon moved into the area, attracted by the noises and fires. Within minutes the estate was crawling with zombies; the luckier civilians managed to get indoors before they could be attacked, the unlucky ones were pounced upon and eaten alive.
Jack watched the satellite feed on the jumbo flat screen, with picture in picture views from the Apache circling the estate and the Lynx which was returning to Heathrow.
As he watched, Andy and Travis entered the room and ran over to him.
“What’s happening?” Andy asked, breathing heavily.
“They’re all trapped in the church,” Jack replied, “and the Chinooks are getting ready to go.”
“I’m going,” Andy said.
“Me too,” Travis agreed.
“I thought you might. Be careful,” Jack said. “They will all be armed, and we know how dangerous Mamba can be.”
“He’s not going to be dangerous for long,” Andy replied, with feeling. He turned and left closely followed by Travis.
The elephant in the room which no one wanted to address was whether Issy and Gina were still alive.
13
Day 16 – 16:00
Dalston Estate, London
Sully looked around the church worriedly. There was dust falling from the high ceiling and rafters, eddying in the weak light. Although Heathrow had made veiled threats, he never in a million years thought they would actually do anything. And yet, the explosions coming from outside, followed by numerous screams confirmed that they had indeed retaliated.
One of his guards ran into the room to provide an update on what was happening outside. Zombies were flooding into the estate and killing anything that moved.
Sully was annoyed. Very annoyed. Annoyed that he had been complacent and hadn’t prepared for this eventuality, annoyed that he had listened to Mamba in the first place. Most of all, he was annoyed that he had let his people down. He was supposed to look after them.
He realised that he had been too greedy and that there were some prizes that you simply shouldn’t go chasing after. He also realised with horror that he was getting too old for all of this and wasn’t thinking things through properly as he had when he was younger.
He blamed Mamba for filling his head with dreams of what could be. He had the Devil’s tongue, that one, and he also had his daughter and many of his sons on his side. The sons who went with Mamba on the previous trip looked up to him, some with respect, some in awe and some in fear. These feelings had permeated amongst others of his people so that Mamba was now almost looked upon like some kind of deity. Sully realised sadly that he should have put Mamba in his place when he first arrived on his doorstep – six feet under – but now it was too late.
Sully looked up to see Mamba staring back at him with a sly grin on his face. The bastard found all this funny. He truly was mad.
Mamba ushered everyone in the room to follow Hakan into the tunnels underground until he and Sully were the only two left in the room.
“I can’t get down into the cellars,” Sully pointed out.
“I know,” Mamba confirmed, his smile widening. “That means I won’t have ta kill ya as originally planned.”
“Et tu Brute?” Sully asked, realisation dawning on him.
“What did ya expect, ya fat ugly bastard?” Mamba asked quietly.
Mamba turned and headed for the outer door.
“Where are you going?” Sully asked in surprise, but Mamba ignored him.
A couple of minutes later, Mamba reappeared and strode swiftly towards Sully and the direction of the stairs leading underground.
“What are you doing? What about me?” Sully rasped.
Mamba stopped and looked at Sully. “Funny ya should ask that,” he said. “Thanks for all yer help, Dad,” he added as he continued on to the stairs.
Sully was confused as he watched Mamba walk away. What did Mamba mean? He heard a noise coming from the front of the church and turned to look.
The first of many zombies entered the room and headed towards Sully.
“Mamba! You bastard!” Sully screamed, before the real screaming started.
14
Day 16 – 16:15
Dalston Estate, London
Mamba had closed the heavy door at the top of the stairs so Sully’s screams couldn’t be heard by those below.
He climbed down the steps and found Hakan waiting for him at the bottom.
“What’s Sully doing? Hakan asked.
“He didn’t make it,” Mamba replied.
“What do you mean ‘he didn’t make it’?” Hakan asked suspiciously.
“One of yer clown guards left the front door of the church open and allowed the zombies in. I tried ta fight ‘em off, but there were too many.”
Hakan stared at Mamba for a few seconds, not really sure what to do. He wasn’t sure he believed Mamba, but was he willing to go back upstairs to see for himself? No chance. Anyway, Sully was past his sell-by date and it was now Hakan’s chance to take over the leadership, for which he’d been waiting patiently for years.
“Let’s go,” Mamba ordered, pushing past Hakan and into the dimly lit corridor, a line of dusty bulbs hanging on the wall at various intervals along its length. He hoped to Christ that the generator didn’t stop working as he didn’t fancy being down here in the dark, especially as he didn’t know the tunnel routes at all.
Hakan was about to reply, but Mamba had already gone, so he waddled to try and catch up.
Mamba walked fifteen to twenty metres West to the end of the tunnel, passing numerous doors on either side, then turned North and continued walking and passing more doors and alcoves for a further one hundred and twenty metres until he entered a wider space where all the people from the church were now gathered. Mamba noticed that another couple of tunnels led off from the area before he spotted Basir and strode over towards him. Ayla had been waiting patiently for Mamba to arrive and made a beeline for him. Mamba smiled at her and they put their arms around each other, but Mamba’s focus was on Basir.
“Is everythin’ ready?”
“Yes, it’s all arranged. What happened to Sully?”
“Ya don’t wanna know,” Mamba replied.
“Is he dead?”
“Well, let’s put it this way, I can’t see him survivin’.”
“Good,” Basir replied, nodding. “Hated that fat fuck.”
“Let’s get sorted,” Mamba ordered. “Quickly.”
Hakan arrived panting and struggling to draw breath. Most of the people in the space looked briefly in his direction before continuing what they were doing. Eventually his breathing calmed down and he said, “Listen up everyone.”
No one paid him any attention and Hakan looked around in surprise and mounting anger.
“I said listen up!” he shouted in the confined space.
People stopped what they were doing and looked towards Mamba, who turned to look at Hakan.
“Shut the fuck up, Hakan, afore I take ya back upstairs to keep Sully company.”
Hakan’s mouth opened and closed like a fish, his face going bright red in anger before all fight left him and his blood seemed to drain away before their eyes, leaving him white as a sheet. He knew then that Mamba must have been working on this behind the scenes, just like the snake he was, and that Hakan wa
s simply not in a fit enough state to take him on, especially without any support. He decided he would bide his time thinking, ‘what goes around, comes around’ and smiled inwardly when he considered that blood was thicker than water and that his Turkish brothers would never be fully behind the usurper.
Mamba realised that Hakan was a beaten man, for the time being at least, but that didn’t mean he trusted him. The time would have to come when Hakan had a nasty accident, preferably sooner rather than later.
He looked around the group, watching them help each other to get dirty by using the blood and guts surreptitiously collected by Basir and some of his brothers and hidden in one of the store rooms. He suddenly remembered Issy and Gina and mentally cursed himself for forgetting about them.
“Where are the two prisoners?” he asked, turning towards Basir.
“I don’t know. Hakan brought them down here.”
Mamba turned to Hakan.
“Hakan, where are the prisoners?”
Hakan looked up from covering his legs in blood. “They’re in a cell towards the far end of the tunnel.”
‘Shit’, Mamba thought to himself. That was a good hundred or so metres away and they needed to get going, especially as the bastards from Heathrow might fire a few more rockets. They were bound to be on their way with back up and he pondered how long it would take for a helicopter to get to them. Then he considered how long it would take to get the women from the cell they were in. He could leave them to starve, but the problem was that they might be rescued. Anyway, he fancied having a little fun with them, especially the stunning blond one, and especially if Ayla wasn’t around, or was around and fancied joining in. He closed his eyes. He’d still have some fun with the pink haired one as well, even if it was just to make her scream a bit. Get her on her hands and knees begging. He felt himself start to stiffen at his thoughts and smiled.
“Penny for your thoughts.”
Mamba’s eyes sprang open and saw Ayla looking at him inquisitively. “What?”
“I said penny for your thoughts,” she repeated.
