by Hatchett
Jack’s eyes were drawn to her chest which was mostly hidden by her hair, but extremely sexy all the same. She reached under the quilt and ran her hand along his upper thigh, causing a stirring in his groin and the concerned look on his face to disappear in an instant.
As her hand travelled up his thigh there was a click in his ear and Jack heard, “Is Jack there? It’s Kyle.”
“Hi Kyle,” Jack replied, and was disappointed to see Sarah withdrawing her hand. “Are you OK? What’s the problem?”
“No problem, I have good news.”
“Go on.”
“I have a couple of people here who want to speak to you.”
The next thing Jack heard was Issy and Gina saying ‘Hi Jack’ in unison.
Jack let out a sigh of relief at hearing their voices. “Issy, Gina, how are you? How did you get there? Never mind, you can tell me later! What’s happening?”
Sarah had sat up at the mention of Issy and Gina and she mouthed ‘are they OK?’ and Jack nodded back and held up his hand while he listened. Sarah sat looking at him, eager to know what was happening.
“We’re fine Jack,” Issy said, “and we’ll tell you all about it later. There isn’t much time and we may already be too late, but Mamba and about forty Turks were holed up at the Travelodge in Enfield just a few hours ago. With any luck, they’ll still be there.”
“OK, leave it with me, I’ll send the heli’s.”
“We’ll stay here and rest. We’ve been up all night and we’re knackered. We’ll catch up later.”
“Ok, Issy, thanks for letting us know, I’m so pleased your both safe and well.”
With that Jack clicked his earpiece.
“Tom?”
“Here Jack.
“Did you hear that?”
“Yes. I’ve summoned the Leaders, pilots and the quick response team.”
“I’ll be over there in a few minutes,” Jack said.
“Roger. Just one thing,” Tom continued, “we can’t seem to locate Sarah.
“Don’t worry, I’m sure she will turn up,” Jack said, looking at Sarah and winking.
He clicked off his earpiece.
“Well?” she asked.
“It appears you’ve gone off the grid,” he said.
“Not that!” she said, punching him on the thigh as he made to get up. “Tell me!”
“Issy and Gina have turned up at Hendon. Both are fine. They think Mamba is at a Travelodge in Enfield so we’re sending in the teams. Get dressed.”
Sarah jumped from the bed and bounded into the en-suite before Jack could get there.
“Women!” he muttered as he decided to just put on some clothes and go as he was.
50
Day 18 – 07:30
M25, Junction 25
Mamba only just about heard the cry for help as it was barely louder than a whisper, and he did wonder if he was imagining things.
He looked back inside the car but the woman in the passenger seat didn’t seem to have moved. He put his head up close to the gap in the window and listened carefully, sticking a finger in his other ear in an attempt to block out other sounds.
He concentrated hard and thought he could hear a light croaking. He pulled back and decided the quickest way to find out for sure was to go around the other side and check. As he was passing the bonnet he wondered if the woman had ‘turned’ and that was why she was croaking.
He got to the passenger door and found it was locked, so he reversed his knife and used the handle to smash the side window. The woman flinched slightly, and Mamba was then pretty sure she hadn’t turned. He unlocked the door and swung it open, then, keeping his knife ready, reached out and put his hand under her chin and lifted.
The woman tried to open her eyes, but the light was obviously too painful, and she immediately closed them again. Mamba could see that she was probably only in her twenties and might have been quite pretty, but the lack of food and water had caused her to shrink and look more like she was in her eighties. He looked around and saw various food wrappings and water bottles in the footwell, but they were all wiped clean and she had obviously run out some time ago.
“What the fuck ya doin’” Ahmed shouted from his car.
Mamba stood up. “Get over here and bring some water.” He then crouched down next to the woman and grabbed her wrist. Her arm weighed hardly anything, and it was like picking up a twig, the desiccated skin threatening to tear at any moment. He tried to find a pulse, but if there was one, it was very weak.
Ahmed arrived and handed over the water, looking over Mamba’s shoulder to see what was going on.
Mamba reclined the seat and pushed the woman back gently so that she was lying with her head pointing towards the roof. He unscrewed the top on the bottle of water and tipped a small amount onto her lips.
Nothing happened at first, but then a small slug-like thing emerged from her mouth to lick the water away. Mamba and Ahmed were fascinated.
“Give her some more,” Ahmed urged in a whisper.
Mamba did so, and the woman’s tongue emerged again. It was shrivelled and almost black.
“Fuckin’ look at that!” Ahmed whispered in awe. “It’s like some alien parasite.”
Mamba poured a bit more and continued to watch expectantly.
“Can we go now?” Ahmed asked.
Mamba looked at him, then back at the woman.
“She’s dead, bro. She jus’ don’t know it yet,” Ahmed said.
“Nah, we can bring her back,” Mamba said.
“Why’d ya wanna do that?” Ahmed asked, surprised. Mamba didn’t usually give a shit about anything, so why he was acting like Florence bloody Nightingale was beyond him.
“Dunno,” Mamba said, and he truly didn’t. Perhaps it was like planting seeds and waiting for the plant to grow. He seemed to recall something about sunflowers when he was a kid but couldn’t focus on the memory – if it was a memory and not just something he’d heard about or seen. He really didn’t know, but for probably the first time in his life he was totally and utterly intrigued. “Help me get her into the cop car.”
“Fuck man, we don’t need this!” Ahmed pointed out. “Jus’ fuckin’ put her out of her misery like the dog ‘n let’s get goin’”.
Ayla appeared at their side to find out what was going on. When she saw what Mamba was doing, she was as surprised as Ahmed.
Mamba stood up and leant into the car and carefully picked the woman up. She didn’t feel much heavier than a new-born baby, and like a baby, Mamba had to place his hand behind her neck to stop it from snapping.
“Get the back door,” he ordered, nodding towards the cop car.
Ayla went ahead and opened the door, allowing Mamba to slide the woman in. He inclined the seat and put the safety belt on her.
“You sit in the back and give her a bit of water from time to time,” he ordered Ayla, then shut the rear door, got into the driver’s seat and started the car.
Ayla rushed around the car and got into the back with the woman, but Ahmed was still standing there staring.
“Come on Ahmed! Wakey, wakey. Let’s go.”
Ahmed shook his head and turned to go back to the Landcruiser.
Mamba searched the dashboard and console until he found what he was looking for. He flicked the switch and the siren started up. Mamba wound down the window and stuck his head out and looked up to check the lights were spinning and a huge grin spread across his face as he saw that they were.
“Saddle up!” he shouted to no one in particular then ducked back into the car, closed the window and pulled away with tires squealing and smoking.
51
Day 18 – 07:35
Heathrow Terminal 3, Security Command Centre
Jack raced along the corridor, placed his hand against the scanner and let himself into the Security Command Centre.
He headed to the Command Ring where it was standing-room only.
The Major saw him approach and nudged a couple of
the other Leaders.
“Rough night Jack?” the Major asked with a knowing smile.
Jack ignored the look and just said, “Apologies for my appearance, I came straight here. Haven’t had a shower or anything yet. What’s happening?”
The Major pointed to the jumbo screen which showed a view from the camera on one of the Apache’s. “It should be there in a few minutes.”
Jack watched the screen as the Apache sped across London approaching its top speed of two hundred and ninety kilometres per hour, covering nearly five kilometres every minute. The distance from Heathrow to Enfield was just over thirty kilometres as the crow flies so the journey time was just over six minutes.
“Have we heard any more from Issy and Gina?” Jack asked.
“No, I believe they’ve gone to sleep,” the Major said. “According to Kyle, they were dead on their feet and won’t be waking up anytime soon. Both are a little dehydrated and Gina has sprained her ankle, but other than that they’re fine.”
“Good. At least they’re safe. Where are Andy and Travis?” he asked looking around.
“Taken a Lynx to Hendon,” the Major said. “Couldn’t really stop them in the circumstances.”
Sarah entered the room and approached the Command Ring as the Apache crossed Wembley, about halfway into its journey.
The Major, Bear, Irish and Joel watched her approach and noted that Jack didn’t turn around but continued watching the screen.
“Hi Sarah,” the Major said as she approached.
“Long night?” Bear asked with a big grin across his face.
Sarah looked at Jack who had taken his eyes off the screen to first look at Bear then turn to Sarah.
“So, you’ve told them?” Sarah accused.
Jack held up his hands. “I’ve said nothing,” he said.
“You don’t need to,” Bear pointed out. “You look like you slept in your clothes, Sarah was late, and anyway, people saw you leaving the bar last night and as you know, gossip around here spreads like wildfire. I think I knew before you did.”
“I think congratulations are in order,” the Major said, “and to be honest, it’s about time. It’s been obvious from the first day we all met.”
“Well, thank you, I guess,” Jack said, with a smile as he looked around the group and let his gaze fall on Sarah. She was already grinning and just shook her head in mock-annoyance. “Time to switch on,” he added as he turned back to the screen, and saw the others following suit.
The Apache crossed Bush Hill Park train station and within seconds it was swooping over an apartment block to give them their first view of the hotel.
The pilot took the aircraft three hundred and sixty degrees around the hotel, keeping the front pointed towards it all the way, before coming back to hover over the car park and entrance.
“Lot of dead zombies in the car park,” the Pilot commentated over the radio, “so someone has been here...plenty of cars around, but none lined up near the entrance...looks deserted.”
Jack pressed his earpiece. “Search the immediate area for anything out of the ordinary,” he ordered. “The Chinook will be there shortly, and we can then do a proper search.” Then he clicked off and turned to Tom. “Get the satellite to show the surrounding area.”
“What are we looking for?” Tom asked.
“Cars driving around or anything which looks unusual,” Jack said.
The Leaders formed a short circle.
“If they’ve gone, where are they going to?” Sarah asked the obvious question.
“Well, I think we now know that Volkan is more involved than he led us to believe. Mamba didn’t find forty Turks to help him from nowhere,” Joel noted.
“They could be the group that escaped from Dalston,” Irish pointed out.
“I didn’t think that many left Dalston,” Bear interjected. “Volkan told us he had around twenty so how come there’s suddenly forty? Anyway, the exact number is sort of beside the point at the moment except to indicate that we can’t trust Volkan. The question for me is why he would go up to Enfield one day then back to Volkan the next?”
“Unless he was collecting something to take back,” Irish said.
“Unlikely,” the Major replied. “I can’t see him going South.”
“He could be aiming for the Tower again,” Irish argued.
“Yes, but why would he go North to come back South,” the Major pointed out. “Surely he’d have gone South straightaway.”
“I think we can count the South out for the time being,” Jack said. “I think we can reasonably discard the East as well.”
“On what basis?” Sarah challenged.
Jack looked at her. “No particular reason. I’m just not sure there is anything of interest for him that way.”
“You’re assuming he’s still coming after us in one form or another,” she suggested.
“Yes. From his previous actions, I can’t see him giving up easily. And, for that reason, I also can’t see him heading away from us towards the North.”
“Unless he’s going to meet other people up there,” Sarah pointed out.
“Let’s face it, he could be anywhere,” Jack said. “He may have taken the cars a few hundred metres, abandoned them where we won’t find them easily, then gone in the opposite direction just to throw us off his scent. We have to make assumptions and guesses if we’re going to have any chance of catching him. We’ve got to try and think like him.”
“You’re right,” the Major agreed, “and I follow your thinking. I happen to think he would have gone West. First, it means he stays within London which gives him plenty of places to hide, eat, escape and blend in et cetera. It is also heading towards us with his little army. I can’t see him taking a roundabout route, he’s too impatient.”
“So, we could expect an attack in the next couple of days? Is that what you’re saying?” Joel asked.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying,” the Major agreed.
“Well, I better get back to working on that trap,” Joel said. “I’ll leave the hunt to you.”
“I’ll come with you,” Irish offered.
With that, Joel and Irish left the Command Ring to head outside.
“Tom, focus to the West of the hotel,” Jack ordered, “and get the Apache’s to scout the area.”
“Just thinking about him going West,” Bear said, “but is there any way he knows about Hendon and is following Issy and Gina?”
That sobered all the Leaders up immediately as they thought about the implications.
“It’s possible,” Jack agreed, and the more he thought about it, the more worried he became. “Andy and Travis should be there by now. We need to warn Hendon and send some re-enforcements. We should hide spotters at intervals all around the site and send one of the Apache’s in case its needed. I’m sure there’s enough well-trained and well-armed people over there to deal with forty people, but it’s better to be sure.”
“I’ll get onto it,” the Major said, stepping down into the horseshoe.
Jack, Sarah and Bear sat down to watch the search of the hotel on the jumbo screen. The Chinook had just arrived, and soldiers were jumping off the ramp onto the hotel’s roof as they watched the screen.
52
Day 18 – 08:30
M25, Junction 24
Mamba had been bored with the car’s siren within ten minutes of setting off, so he’d turned it off. He thought about stopping to get some CD’s from the Landcruiser but then realised there wasn’t a CD player in the ‘fuckin’ useless cop car’.
God he was bored!
There was a radio unit and he’d tried various frequencies to see if he would get any response but there had been none forthcoming.
According to the satnav, it was sixty-five kilometres around the M25 to Staines and the first few kilometres had flown by. You could always rely on the Great British public to abide by the rules no matter what was happening around them, so the hard shoulder was almost deserted. Even if Ar
mageddon happened, you could guarantee that the Brits would still be queuing up for something. Armageddon. He thought about it and realised that the zombies were sort of like Armageddon. He liked Armageddon. That Ben Affleck was a bit of a wanker, but the things he could do to that Liv Tyler…he wondered what she was up to these days. Even if she had turned, he would seriously consider letting her have a munch on him. He wondered what her Rockstar father would have to say about that. Probably wouldn’t give a shit, being a typical bad boy rocker himself. He and Mamba would probably get on like a house on fire. He could imagine snorting a few lines with him, having a few beers, having a laugh, then shaggin’ his daughter. Bliss.
He was brought out of his reverie by a car in his lane. Of course, there was the odd BMW driver who pissed everyone off by jumping the queue and breaking the Rules. Bastard!
He came up behind the car and shunted it hard off the road. He could easily have gone off road to avoid it but where was the fun in that? He hoped the fucker got whiplash.
Fuck he was bored.
“Ayla! Get yer arse in the front. I need a bit of entertainin’.”
“I’m busy,” Ayla replied.
“That bitch must be OK by now,” Mamba barked.
“Are you having a laugh? She was nearly dead, and still might die.”
Mamba slammed on the brakes, almost causing Ahmed in the Landcruiser behind to pile into the back of him.
Mamba got out, went to rear door and opened it. He then stabbed the woman through her right eye, sliced the seat belt and pulled her body into the road before slamming the door shut again.
“Shoulda done that earlier and saved a bottle of water,” Ahmed shouted through his window.
Mamba showed him his middle finger.
“Wanna swap cars?” Mamba shouted back.
“No fuckin’ way, officer,” Ahmed replied, laughing, “ya look like summat out of the Village People ‘n I ain’t wearin’ that gear!”
Mamba could hear Basir and Sami laughing at Ahmed’s comments and he wasn’t amused. He looked down at himself and realised he was still wearing the high-vis jacket…and the cap. He tore them both off. It had been funny while it lasted, but now it wasn’t funny at all. He glared towards the Landcruiser then started walking towards it.
