by Rees, Kevin
‘Perhaps you’d better ask my pa that question, sir...He’s standing behind you.’
It was exactly Sixsmith’s lack of ambiguity that he didn’t spin around, but merely inclined his head casually. ‘Ah, Karl! I was asking young Cole for his thoughts on the mission. I hope you do not mind.’ He turned to address Felton. ‘I do find young minds very sharp.’
‘When did Lars call in last, Cole?’ Karl asked, ignoring Sixsmith, who stepped out of his way. Karl wanted to rip the stupid smile off the man’s face and proceed with the rest of his body. He didn’t think the bodyguards would immediately intervene to stop him.
‘Ten minutes ago,’ Cole replied.
‘Give him three taps for a sit-rep and start getting your gear together. It’s nearly dawn.’ Karl looked at his watch and then at Sixsmith, sensing something unpleasant. ‘Colonel, would you like to join me over there?’
‘Of course,’ Sixsmith said, inviting Karl to lead the way.
Karl gave a slight nod to Cole, who raised his cup to acknowledge the unspoken code between them. He wanted Sixsmith out of the hospital, but it was this Government’s policy that he stayed with the mission as an observer. There was nothing he could do to alter that. The two men walked over to the blueprints spread out over two examination trolleys. Karl deliberately placed the couch between them. Nothing was said for what seemed like a full minute. Just two men looking over plans together and appearing relaxed.
‘Pa, I’ve got Lars. They’re in position for an assault.’
Lars and his team emerged from the boiler room and moved into position behind their targets, just as Eddie had said. They hid in a small office close to the morgue where Tork watched the Bloodeaters gather behind defences that were now as useless as bows without arrows. Inside the room, weapons were re-checked. The soldiers took long blades out of their backpacks and slotted them into special pockets running down the side of their trousers. Sam sat watching with his weapon casually draped across his arm.
‘They’re anxious, but they still have their backs to us,’ Tork reported.
Lars whispered. ‘Let’s prepare.’
The ritual of Stevat’d teh began again. This time they maintained complete silence. Sam and Eddie were invited into the circle. The ritual before battle had began.
The Bloodeaters nearest the office felt nothing as three blades skated silently on the air and took their heads cleanly off. It was the sound of three distinct hollow clumps on the vinyl floor that made the rest turn. As they did, the sound of gunfire pealed around the narrow confines of the corridor. Eddie’s gun bucked four times and a girls face exploded as the rounds found their target. Sam stepped in on Eddie’s left and sent his own bullets on their journey of destruction into the heart of the opposition. Lars said something to the others who lowered their weapons and went in with their long heavy blades whirling in the air around their heads. The attack was strong, fast and a complete surprise. Order quickly fell away as Bloodeaters fell on top of each other with limbs and heads lying on the ground, twitching and blinking.
Lars felt a hand grab his shoulder. He pivoted around. The face of the woman from the alley stared back at him. A moment’s hesitation paralysed him. Lars stood with his knife raised. Maya was on his shoulder and saw the woman hunch down ready to strike. Her six shots opened up the Bloodeaters torso, sending blood and organs spraying over ceilings and walls.
‘Finish her,’ Maya yelled.
Lars stared at the shattered woman at his feet and slowly lowered his arm. He squatted down beside her, ignoring the warnings from Maya. Reaching out a hand, he turned her head around to face him. She was still holding onto a flicker of life. Her arm rose slowly towards his hand as if wanting him to hold it for comfort as she slipped into whatever hell awaited her. Lars felt her ice-cold palm touch his, and he felt powerless to stop his fingers curling gently around it while the battle raged around them. It was all the distraction she needed.
Everything became muted and dark around him. Lars couldn’t hear the gunfire or the screams coming from the creatures, and he couldn’t hear Maya shouting at him to kill the woman. They had all been tuned out and replaced with a solitary, high-pitched hum swinging like a pendulum between his ears. Her hand gripped tighter, drawing him closer. Lars willingly obliged. It was a sudden, intense pain that broke the Bloodeaters hypnotic spell over him. Lars felt himself catapulted back into the discordant sounds of battle.
The girl had slipped out a small knife from under her clothing. And, like a snake mesmerising its prey, she drew her enemy in close and struck, managing to plunge the blade into him twice.
‘Ahh!’ Lars grabbed his thigh and yanked the knife out. He knew it would be poisoned, or worse, it would be Father’s blood. Lars prayed for poison.
‘Lars!’ Maya screamed. She fired, finding the girl’s head and ending what Lars should have ended. ‘Help me — Lars is down!’
Eddie ran to her with Sam close behind. They got on either side of Lars and carried him back to the small office. Eddie tipped out the medical bag and applied tight strapping above the wound.
‘Tell me, my friend, does the blade shine black or red?’ Lars gasped.
Eddie looked down. Lars was still holding the dagger in his hand. ‘It looks black. Why?’
‘Then there is nothing in the pack. Not even the wine will change what’s going to be.’ Lars struggled to sit up.
‘You need to lie down,’ Eddie said, trying to gently push him back to the floor.
‘Until a few hours ago we were unknown to each other, strangers, and now I hope friends. Life always seems to find a way to overcome everything in its path. Please give me my weapon. I have one good use as a soldier, let me fulfil it.’
Sam and Eddie helped the Swede onto his feet. Sam looked at Eddie and exchanged an understanding. ‘Okay, big man, if you are going to do some heroics, me and Eddie are on both your shoulders.’
‘You mustn’t,’ Lars said weakly. He swayed as the change began to overcome anything his body was putting up against the poison.
‘No option old son. It’s that, or I could give you a swift kick in the knackers. I take it you do have knackers?’ Sam said, as if in earnest.
A small trickle of laughter altered the tension.
Eddie opened the door and poked his head out. The team had wiped out the first wave with no casualties, other than Lars. The next part wouldn’t be so easy. The Bloodeaters would be waiting in the morgue, and they were better armed and ready for the assault. Lars stumbled and held onto the doorframe. Already, Father’s blood was changing him. He could feel a coldness spreading its plague through his body. He limped into the corridor with Eddie and Sam at his side. Maya ran over, her look of concern changed to pain as she realised the wound the Bloodeater had inflicted was fatal. Already, Lars’ eyes were clouding and taking on the look of the dead as his life began fading away in front of her.
‘Lars! Please go back into the room and rest,’ Maya implored. ‘We can take the nest without you.’
‘And how many of my team will have to die for my mistake? No!’ Lars signalled to Tork, who came to his side. Lars whispered something in his ear and clapped him on the shoulder. Tork disappeared into the office. ‘Now I want to talk with Eddie alone.’
‘But my love...’ Maya said, through tear filled eyes.
‘I waited to hear those words, and it is so fitting that you say them now. I have loved you since the day we met.’ Lars slid down the wall to the floor. His resistance to the viral poison changing his brain and other organs was in the final stages. ‘But I need to speak with Eddie, so go and prepare with the others.’ He gestured for Eddie to come across and sit beside him. ‘I need to tell you something, Eddie.’ Lars held the older man’s gaze. ‘We have known about you all your life. Many people have watched you grow into a fine man. Your warrior heart comes from our breed, my friend. Your father...’ Lars gritted his teeth as a wave of agony swept through his body. Eddie placed a hand on his shoulder, hoping to comf
ort as well as steer Lars back to his story. ‘...Your father was one of us. He chose your mother to fall in love with — a First Blood crossbreed. Shortly afterwards, you were born. You don’t have any memories of him as the beast inside that room had him killed.’ Lars groaned and clasped Eddie’s hand tightly.
‘You’re mistaken, Lars. My father died in a car accident. He couldn’t have been one of you.’
‘We are like chameleons, Eddie. We blow in and out of your world like autumn leaves. You would never see us.’ Lars felt the pain turn into sweeping numbness. He had very little time left and he wanted this man to know as much as he could. ‘Believe me, you are very rare and therefore very precious. We call your like Sydu, it means high crossbreed. There are quite a few we know of,’ the Swede gasped as the coldness began to hijack his brain.
Eddie said nothing at first, as he digested the implication of what Lars was saying. ‘Am I one of you?’ The revelation was starting to sound absurd.
‘Not fully one of us, my friend, but you have our DNA inside you. How it works in your body, I don’t know. Perhaps there were times in your life when you questioned how you may have done something that seemed to be impossible.’
Tork returned with one of the rucksacks before Eddie could say any more. He knelt before Lars and began strapping it onto his body.
‘No!’ Maya cried out. ‘Lars, you can’t do this... I’ll get you help. My father can evacuate you. Please don’t do this.’
Eddie looked from Maya to Lars and saw a length of wire coming out of a small tear Tork had cut in the side of the sack and running into a small switch he was taping to Lars’s palm. ‘You’re carrying a fucking bomb! A suicide bomb! Aren’t you?’ Eddie stood up.
‘No-one must die for my mistake, Eddie. And there is no coming back from this wound. Please, my friend, help me up.’ Lars reached out his hand.
The long white fingers stretched before Eddie. He felt the coldness of death on the others man’s skin as he pulled him to his feet. Lars felt his muscles becoming weaker, making him more determined to complete his final mission quickly. Eddie flashed an agonised look to Sam, who stood impassively on the other side of the Swede. Tork took command and lined the team up, ready to assault. Maya couldn’t stop the tears, but fell in with her team.
Lars stood unsteadily, swaying like an oak in a high wind. Sam caught his arm.
‘Please tighten the straps on the rucksack,’ Lars gasped.
Sam pulled on the tabs, making sure the wire wasn’t impeded. ‘Good luck mate. It was an honour serving with you. You are a great leader,’ he said, before moving over to the assault team.
Eddie stood looking at the man, ‘I won’t ever forget you, my friend. In the space of a few hours I have learned to dislike you and then like you. And I want you to know this, I will take a river of their blood for yours.’
‘Its time, Eddie,’ Tork said, gently, but firmly moving him over to the rest of the team. ‘Richard, get ready.’ He turned to Lars. ‘Ready? The charge will go off immediately. Try and get to the centre of the room before you detonate.’ He reached forward and clasped the Swede. ‘May our Gods have the honey wine ready for you, and a dozen beauties waiting to be at your side.’
Lars managed to smile as the first pangs of madness found him and twisted Tork’s face into something from his worst nightmare. ‘Look after Maya and the nurse. They are both valuable.’ He took in a pained breath and drew his blade. ‘Kill the door — quickly Tork.’
‘Richard, now!’ Tork shouted.
Four gunshots rattled down the confines of the corridor, blasting off the hinges. With a roar that physically shook the air around them, Lars drew on the last remaining force in his body and ran forward like a runaway train, battering the door inwards.
‘Everyone down!’ yelled Tork.
The team fell to the floor. For Eddie, it seemed he was back in his nightmare. Savage cries of pain from the things in the room suddenly stopped. Then a flare as bright as a flashgun went off, temporarily blinding him. It was instantly followed by a bang that rattled the fillings in his teeth.
‘Take them! For Lars!’ Tork roared.
The assault team poured in like black quicksilver. Whatever was left to kill was made to wait for a slow, painful death. Sam went in ahead of Eddie, who tried getting to his knees before collapsing back onto the floor. Hands reached down and helped him up. Maya stood and pointed to the door. Her lips were trying to say something, but Eddie’s ears were deaf from the explosion. By the way she was trying to hold him back it seemed she was reluctant for Eddie to join the rest, but he had to for the sake of Lars, and to show him the respect he deserved for his sacrifice. He pushed Maya’s hands away and ran into the room.
The explosion had sent torn bodies to the four corners, except Lars. Although the bomb was part of him, his body was laid on the floor, nearly intact except for a gaping, empty hole where his back had been. His clothing had been incinerated by the intense heat of the explosion revealing the number of wounds on his body. Bite marks, bullet holes and steel implements from the morgue had been used to stab and hack at every part of him. Lars had sustained over a hundred separate assaults before turning onto his front and allowing them to overwhelm him before he pressed the button and sent them all to hell.
‘Find Father. Son of a bitch must be here somewhere,’ ordered Tork.
Below the morgue, Father was waiting for the right moment to move, but he wasn’t prepared for the explosion that sent debris crashing onto him and the girl. The small tunnel was propped with pieces of wood to prevent a collapse, now they lay cracked and split the moment the shockwave hit them. Father dragged himself up into a crouch and looked around for the girl. In the corner where she should have been was a mound where the mud had collapsed from above leaving light to cast a thick shaft into the hole. The pile of wet earth wasn’t big enough to hide her body. She had escaped from him. He wanted to vent his rage, but that would wait as he could hear the enemy’s voice in the mortuary. They would soon realise he wasn’t amongst the dead and begin their search.
Was his mission over or should he search for the girl? Given the force of the explosion, something had happened to end the battle quickly — no doubt one of Felton’s soldiers martyring themselves. It wasn’t something he had factored in. There should have been a sustained battle, one where his fighters would give him enough time to escape. Now there was a chance he could be found if he moved too quickly. Of course, he could smash through the small metal cover and emerge in the centre of the room. The surprise would give him the advantage over the savages who’d massacred his family. If he did, the likely outcome would be his death. He would kill many, he was sure of that, but the odds wouldn’t be in his favour. He didn’t want his head taken and sealed in a glass box to sit on Aquino’s desk so he could gloat every morning.
‘Pa, I’ve got Tork,’ Cole said, handing the receiver to his father.
Karl could tell by the grave look on the boy’s face it wasn’t news he wanted to hear. ‘Yes, Tork... report: over?’
‘We have taken them all, Commander — only...’ Tork paused.
‘Is Maya all right: over?’
‘Yes, sir, your daughter hasn’t sustained any injury. It’s Lars, sir.’ Tork’s voice trailed off again as if he were having a hard time finding the words. ‘Lars was a hero. He got cut with a poisoned blade and wouldn’t let us go in with him. Commander, he took out the nest single-handedly: over’
Karl dropped down heavily onto a seat. ‘Could he have been saved, Tork?’
‘Negative, sir. It was poisoned with Father’s blood. He was turning into one of them as he went in. He knew what he was doing, sir. His act saved all our lives.’ Tork’s voice was getting thicker as the battle was draining out of him, and the reality of losing a friend was already claiming a gap in his life. ‘Sir, I also need to report we can’t find Father, or the girl: over’
‘Look again, Tork. His signature is all over this place: over’
�
�Yes, sir. Tork out.’
Karl found a hand gently resting on his shoulder. Surprisingly, it was Sixsmith, who seemed to have a genuine look of sympathy in his eyes. Karl affirmed his thanks and got up. He could never get used to losing any of his men, but Lars was different. Karl had liked his childish awkwardness and respected the effort he would put into every task he was given, no matter how menial. And now he had given his life in an act to save the team. He would make sure the Swede would be honoured as a hero.
‘Please forgive me, Karl. Now that the operation has been a qualified success I must take back command and move my people in to clean up. Please understand I cannot allow the public to get the faintest whiff of what we did here tonight.’ Sixsmith seemed almost apologetic, but laced his excuse with an order all the same.
Karl narrowed his eyes and stared down at Sixsmith. ‘You can take this place apart, Colonel and put it all neatly back together again,’
Sixsmith bowed and was about to thank Karl.
‘You can take command as soon as we’ve found Father, or his dead body — not until then.’ Karl allowed his face to convey the lust he had for killing anyone who would stand in his way right now.
‘Mr Price, Mr Smith over here,’ Sixsmith said calmly.
His two bodyguards came over and stood either side of Sixsmith. Both could read the tension between the men and knew if it came to it they would have to make some attempt to make Karl do what the Colonel wanted. Neither of them relished the prospect, having seen the team in action and knowing Karl was still at the top of his game physically.
‘Let us be reasonable, Karl. I can sense that you must be feeling all kinds of emotion right now, having lost your inexperienced, young team leader. However, I represent this government, and whilst you are on UK soil you are required to obey my instruction, and that instruction is to withdraw your team and return to your base.’ Sixsmith returned the unblinking stare. ‘Or I can instruct my men to place you, and your team under arrest for violation of the treaty and have you removed permanently.’
