Frances was lost for words, she hugged Drew before she slumped into her seat in the car, Drew shut the door, and spoke to Omar who was going to be driving.
“Turn right out of here, remember when you get to the gates that you have been requested to assist and rearm the Knight team Gaswain”
Omar nodded taking in the information
“You are Knight team Aglovale, Dominic insists that will be enough information to get you out of the gates, any issues contact him on the radio”
Omar drove off turning right at the end of the road, followed closely behind by Hameed driving the van, now loaded up with weapons and ammo.
Three of them remained. About to embark on the last part of their objective.
“You ready brother?” Marcus asked Drew clapping his hand on his shoulder.
“Ready as I will ever be” he replied he took a deep breath “We know Hannah is in there somewhere, Chloe says all new girls go in there for initiation, and Becky has not seen anyone new outside but Sarah…”
“Brother” Marcus interrupted “We will find something, and we will keep on looking”
Drew smiled “Thank you” he said sincerely, grateful for the support.
Clapping his hand onto Marcus’ shoulder. Steadying himself preparing for hopefully what would be the finale in this saga, in his quest to find Sarah. For redemption.
“Lead on Dominic”
39
They walked up a set of stone steps, between trees on either side. Towards a massive white house, hidden from view from the road, passing by old statues and an unworking water fountain sculpted with a statue of a lady pouring water, moss was growing around the outside of it.
Dominic opened the door, the three of them entered. The lights were on the only place in the village the lights were always on.
They appeared to be in a foyer. The room was hexagonal there were multiple doors leading to other parts of this huge building. On the left side there was bar, complete with barstools and dotted around the room, were small tables where people would sit and enjoy a drink. For a moment Drew forgot what he was there for, he lost himself in the grandness and the detail of the room. He wandered star struck into the middle of the room, looking up at the artistry, a chandelier hanging from the ceiling underneath a glass dome.
“Which way?” Marcus asked
Dominic pointed at a door opposite them.
“This leads to the main corridor Jared’s office is down there”
Dominic led on; he opened the door to a long straight corridor with doors along each side. People were coming and going rushing between the rooms. Some of them noticed Dominic and greeted him, paying no attention to Drew and Marcus but others looked at them quizzically and some were too busy with what they were doing to care.
“What’s going on here?” Drew whispered to Dominic
“Crisis, seems like your friend Sam has got them spooked”
Marcus was getting nervous, he put his hand to his side to grab the Kimber. Drew noticed and looked at him, his eyes telling him to calm down.
The corridor never seemed to end, Drew wanted to be in and out quickly. There were too many people seeing them, it would only be a matter of time until
“Wait!” someone yelled.
Drew thought the game was up. He stopped and stared forwards he did not dare to turn around.
“Sir, we have a strange occurrence at the gate”
Drew exhaled in relief, someone needed Dominic for something.
“Would you come with me please sir?” the man asked.
Dominic needed to act natural, this would be one of his duties on a normal day. He followed the man back through a side door. Drew and Marcus followed. Conscious of the fact they were wasting time.
The room was a radio room. They could hear lots of chatter on different frequencies from the walkies, like the one they had, like the one Sam has. Maybe they had heard their conversation earlier.
“What seems to be the problem?” Dominic asked the man.
“The gate reports that a black van and accompanying vehicles” the man said
“For what purpose?” Dominic asked
“To reinforce Gaswain, apparently they have hit heavy resistance, although we have not heard anything of the sorts over the radio Sir”
It was Omar, they had been stopped the authorisation had not gone through it had not been believed. They must have been sitting there for ten or fifteen minutes already it was a miracle nobody had failed to recognise them.
Dominic picked up the radio.
“Who’s on the gate tonight?” he asked the man from the radio room.
“Proctor” The man answered
“Proctor? Its Dominic over”
“Copy sir”
“Aglovale, are clear to go, Gaswain are under fire, I confirm they are under fire”
“Roger sir” Proctor replied before clicking off.
The radio operator looked baffled. Drew edged towards the door.
“We never received that call sir?” he questioned and for the first time he looked at Drew and Marcus “Who are these people?” he inquired
Marcus put his hand back to the Kimber, clicking the safety off. Suddenly a different radio crackled.
“House! This is John in the armoury, we have been raided, the suspects left in a black van”
The radio man looked at them each in turn from Dominic to Drew to Marcus. He went to lift the radio.
“House?!”
Dominic beat Marcus to it, he drew a Glock from his waistband he fired two shots, hitting the radioman in the chest and the head. This was not part of the plan, Drew and Marcus shared worried glances to each other. Now what?
“What the hell do we do now?” Drew asked Dominic “You just killed someone”
“We improvise” Dominic replied smashing a glass cover on a fire alarm sending alarms all over the building off, “Follow my lead”
Dominic rushed them out of the room, leaving the dead radio man on the floor, he still had his gun in his hand, the corridor was flooding with concerned people.
“We have an active shooter, everybody keep your head down and head to the exit!” Dominic yelled authoritatively.
They people had no reason to disbelieve him, they would have heard the shots, also had no reason to distrust him, it was his responsibility to keep them all safe after all.
The three of them poked their heads into rooms to make sure people were following his instructions. This could work out for the better Drew thought, easier to snoop and look around if no one were about to see you. They decided to split up to cover the rooms quicker.
Marcus opened a door to a set of stairs that were leading downwards, to a basement. It was dark, he leant back into the corridor and flicked a switch, the room, lit up slowly, the halogen bulbs needed to heat up first to get the correct brightness. The room smelt of stale blood and other unpleasant things, his feet echoed loudly on the metal steps as he made his way down. He walked around a few storage shelves and came to what looked to him as a makeshift prison, locked inside was a single occupant.
“You?” The man inside said in surprise in an Irish accent “What are you doing here?”
“Where is she Seamus? Where is Hannah?” answering the question with one of his own.
Seamus did not know whether he was pleased to see Marcus or not.
“He took her” he stammered “For initiation he called it, I am so sorry Marcus I thought she would be safer here, I did it for her to protect her, I love her I did not want to lose her, you got to believe me mate”
“I am not your mate” Marcus spat on the floor at Seamus’ feet
“I made a mistake, please help me out of here” Seamus pleaded
His hands and feet were tied together, he shuffled towards the bars holding his arms out begging for Marcus to cut his restraints, instead Marcus’ grabbed his shirt and pulled him right into the bars. Fury in his eyes a vein in his forehead bulging his face going purple with rage.
Seamus was struggling for breath as he knelt before Marcus. He understood the anger and all the reasoning that went with it, but he was desperate.
“Please, don’t do this, please give me a chance to make it up to you, to all of you” Marcus turned away to walk back to the stairs “Marcus please!” he yelled “They will kill me if you leave me here”
“And so will I if I get you out, safer to stay here, at least you will be alive a little bit longer”
Seamus pressed him again, and again. Pleading and begging, Marcus had had enough he pulled the Kimber spun around to face him.
“It’s only because of Hannah I have not pulled the trigger on you yet, you better pray she is ok, or I will come back here and I will blow your fucking brains out, mark my words”
As Marcus started towards the stairs once more, Seamus gulped and fell silent sitting back on the floor, contemplating what he had done, then it dawned on him, something more important than his own life, or in fact that of Hannah’s, something if he had thought about when this all started maybe things would have worked out differently.
“Marcus, wait!” He shouted Marcus stopped again “If you see them, please, get my sisters out of here, you have not met them before, their names are Siobhan and Roisin. I have failed them too many times”
Marcus carried on walking he put one foot on the stairs before saying back to him.
“Save them yourself, Hero” He said ironically using Seamus’ phrase he had used to describe Drew a few days ago.
He did not look back again, he climbed to the top of the stairs, and flicked the light off, leaving Seamus in darkness hoping to never have to see his face again.
Marcus closed the door to the basement.
“Anyone down there?” Drew asked
“Negative” Marcus lied.
The last of the stragglers were making their way out, those who were too scared to leave in fear of the fictional shooter, mercifully everyone complied with Dominic’s instructions.
“Jared’s office is the up here on the left” Dominic informed them; his living quarters backs into the office.
“And where do the girls go for his sick initiation?” Marcus asked.
“Same place” Was the answer. “There is a door to the living quarters from the corridor, although it is likely to be locked”
Drew decided that he and Dominic would enter the office through the main door first and Marcus would try the door to the living quarters on the basis behind each of the doors may be the reason they are here, their motivation.
Dominic turned the handle to the office and entered, Drew followed in directly behind, a man sat at a desk opposite them. Infront of a set of sliding doors, that led to the living quarters.
He was dressed in a black suit fully equipped with a tie, tied in a perfect Windsor knot. He had dark slicked back greasy hair. Not unwashed but from lots of product applied to enhance his look. Although this was not what caught Drew’s attention. Which was the gun pointed at himself and Dominic.
“I hear there is an active shooter?” the man said.
He removed his earpiece and stepped away from the desk revealing his matching black trousers and a stunningly polished pair of Christian Louboutin shoes.
“I also hear that you gave permission to a stolen van to leave the camp, on false pretences”
He strode towards them, Dominic edged backwards brushing into Drew and surreptitiously passed him the Glock.
“I also have solid intel that you, checked a van and two support vehicles out from the lot, the evidence is all stacking up against you Dominic my friend”
Drew’s hand was shaking as he held the handgun by his side, shielded from view by Dominic standing in front of him.
Marcus kicked the door down, with one heavy boot, breaking the lock and pulling the hinges away from the jamb. He rushed the room, Kimber drawn, there was a four-poster bed against the far wall. he saw two people, a woman was tied up on a chair with a bag pulled down over her head, she was thrashing around startled by the crash from the door, and on the bed was another woman, face down amongst the pillows completely motionless. It was Hannah.
The man pointing the gun at them turned his head, a load noise had come from the room behind him, Drew took his chance, he pulled Dominic’s Glock up and Zeroed in on him, he quickly pulled the trigger firing a bullet into the mans outstretched arm. He hollered in pain as he dropped the gun.
“Good work” Dominic praised Drew as he scooted round to retrieve the fallen weapon.
“All I want is the book” Drew demanded “The one that lists where the women ended up and with whom” The guy stayed quiet applying pressure to his wound “Or the next one won’t be in your arm”
Drew tried to look stern, he had no idea if he would be able to follow through on his threat, but he needed him to believe he would.
Marcus rushed to the bed and to Hannah’s side. He rolled her over, her skin was pale, and her lips were blue, a massive bruise had appeared on her face. Marcus leaned forward he could not hear her breathing. He checked for a pulse. He could not find one. He did not know what to do, he tried drastically trying CPR applying compressions on her chest attempting to start her heart. He was welling up inside, he felt useless he did not know what to do to bring her back. He carried on although nothing was helping, she was gone, he knew it. He stepped back, wiping tears from his face. He pulled the bag from the other woman’s face. He was surprised he recognised her. It was the woman with the piercings, the woman they saw at the barn, the one that had hunted them down. She looked broken, cuts and bruises lined her face. He took the gag from her mouth.
“What happened?” he asked
“He hit her around the head, repeatedly. She refused his advances” the woman replied
“And to you?”
She nodded “I was first, I gave in to it in the end”
She looked lifeless as she stared at Hannah’s body on the bed. Thinking that could easily have been her.
Drew flicked through the book there were lots of names in it along with their price and who they belonged to now along with an address. Fortunately, they were listed in alphabetical order. He looked at the people whose surname began with a B. he could not find Sarah. He checked several times. He was confused, he tried another letter. W for her maiden name Whittaker. And there she was.
“Find anything?” Dominic asked
“Yeah” Drew said “Sarah Whittaker, cost of an Aston Martin DB7 and the glass house in little London village” He looked up from the book “To Mark Knight” Drew continued.
He recounted Connor’s handbook. There was an article in there about a Mark who had embarked on a crusade.
“She is not here” he said
“No” the man who Drew had shot answered “Mark would have taken her with him to the capital”
Suddenly the sliding doors flung open, Marcus stood in the entrance fury in his face.
He stormed into the room. The billhook in his hand, the man who had been shot turned to face him, he raised his hands to try and deflect the blow. The billhook sliced into his neck, cutting the jugular vein, blood shot from the gaping wound, splattering the walls and ceiling with crimson. Spraying the room. The blade came down again, cutting even deeper, the man was howling in pain, he fell to the floor clutching his neck, trying to stem the tidal wave of blood seeping through his fingers, staining the beige carpet underneath. Marcus brought the weapon down again, this time hitting bone, he growled as he struggled through. The man was dead. He kept going until the man’s head was hanging at ninety degrees flopping onto his shoulder, still he hacked away. Covering himself in blood in the process.
The thunking noise of the blade cutting through flesh and then bone, rooted Drew to the spot. It had all happened so fast. He tried to intervene, but his bod
y would not let him, he stood stock still as if held in place by glue. Shocked and terrified at what he was witnessing, and at the beast that had been unleashed in his best friend. Finally, he found courage to speak.
“Marcus, stop!” he cried.
Marcus did not stop. He continued his rampage. Dominic tried to pull him off the man he was butchering. But Marcus pushed him back and waved the bloody billhook in his face threatening that he would be next before he set back to the decapitation.
“What are you doing?” Drew yelled again.
“Skutterz said he wanted things to change” Marcus replied, still cutting through the cartilage “Bring me Jared’s head he said and that’s what I’m doing”
Dominic shot a glance at Drew and shook his head.
“That’s not Jared!”
END
Epilogue
Paul put a sharp knife in his pocket and heaved on his backpack, weighed down with a few things to see him through for the foreseeable future. Food, drink, medication, and some spare clothes. He rolled up his sleeping bag and looked at his living area, an MDF panel leant on some heavy metal racking, in the old timber store. He had not had a chance to call this place home, but he would miss sleeping above floor level. Nevertheless, he had to leave, he felt he had no other option. He could not get caught up in the inevitable conflict that was to come, the others were not back yet but even a best-case scenario retaliation was more than likely.
Below his bed was his guitar case. He was not going to leave that behind; regardless how impractical it would be to carry. He bent down to pick it up, next to it he noticed another backpack. One that had belonged to Steve, Paul had taken it with him after Steve had been mauled to death by the undead. The day Drew and Marcus had come into their lives. That day he had lost someone he had considered a friend, and he was without doubt that there will be many more deaths to come, maybe it was a sign, there was a devil at their door and they had opened it and let them in.
After The Turn: Redemption Page 24
