NS13 Zero Hour

by Andy McNab

  I knelt down beside them and rolled all the remaining gaffer tape around both sets of legs.

  I fished around in Flynn’s smart leather coat for the main door keys. Flynn fixed his eyes on mine. He knew what I was thinking and accepted he was going to die. Bitch Tits wasn’t following his dad’s example. He continued to flap. That was good for me.

  I turned and went out, leaving the door to the hallway wide open.

  21

  She was standing in the far corner of the empty office, her back firmly against the wall. If she could have burrowed her way into it, she would have done.

  ‘Come on, hurry!’

  She didn’t budge.

  I ran across the room. Her arms came up to protect herself.

  ‘For fuck’s sake, calm down. I’m not here to hurt you.’

  She wasn’t responding.

  I touched her on the shoulder as gently as I could. She recoiled like I’d hit her with a Taser. I lowered my voice, kept it as calm as possible. ‘Listen, Lily. I’m here to help you. But you must help me, OK?’

  I took her arm and headed for the main door.

  ‘Mister - my friends … ?’

  I turned to see her pointing at the only remaining closed door.

  ‘Mister … ?’

  I opened the front door just enough to check outside, then closed it again.

  I turned to face her. ‘Listen in. You tell them that they are going to be free, OK?’

  She nodded, concentrating hard to make sure she understood every single word.

  ‘Tell them that I will show them a way out. And they must not come back here. Do you understand?’ You didn’t need even two brain cells to know that this was the last place on earth they should be, but the big wide world might have seemed an even more frightening prospect.

  ‘Yes - but where do they go?’

  ‘They are in Amsterdam. I will show them, once we get out of here.’

  She wasn’t with me.

  ‘Fuck it, just get in there and tell them to follow me.’

  I opened the cell door and almost threw her back in. ‘For fuck’s sake, hurry up.’

  They gathered by the main entrance.

  I moved outside and held them there while I locked up. I still had Flynn’s fob. But I wasn’t touching the car. We couldn’t all fit inside, and it was another bit of kit to connect me with the job. I didn’t want any last-minute complications. We were all better off on foot.

  I turned right, and switched into Pied Piper mode. I started across the wasteground towards the rat run. I had to stop every now and then to give the girls time to catch up. Their bare feet weren’t making life any easier. I took them around the edge of the crater so they didn’t fall foul of the junkie pick-up sticks.

  About ten minutes later I shepherded them, one by one, through the gap in the railing. I held them on the other side until everyone was through, then headed along the fence line. I passed the ferry point and followed the road towards the canal, throwing both sets of keys into the bay to join the Passat.

  I pointed in the direction of the lights across the water. ‘Amsterdam.’

  Lily passed on the message and there was a murmur of understanding, dread and excitement.

  22

  jog, pulling Lily behind me. The rest followed like a gaggle of refugees.

  There was no time to talk - no reason to either. When the silo exploded, they’d throw up cordons. I needed to be away from here and on my way to Russia. That was the only thing on my mind now. I brushed my clothes as I went. The Doughboy look was not what I was aiming for.

  I slowed to a walk as we approached the bridge. I gathered up the girls and told them to be quiet. Lily translated.

  We were soon in the land of the white prefabs. The girls were out of breath. Lily pulled at my arm. ‘Please, slower …’

  I gripped her hand and pulled a little harder. We had to make distance.

  The housing estate was alive. TV screens glowed behind net curtains. Kids played football under street-lamps. All the shops were open, their bright lights flooding the pavements.

  I was gagging for water but it was going to have to wait. I checked my watch. Thirty minutes had gone. I had to get a move on here. With luck I could have the wheels turning by about 22.15. The device would kick off just after 22.30. By then we’d be on the A10 to Schiphol.

  I stopped short of the roundabout and waited for my ragtag band to join me. We got stares from passing drivers, but I was past caring. There were more important things to think about.

  I pointed down the road towards the taxi rank. ‘Lily, tell the girls to cross the road and keep walking. Tell them to go to the Islamic cultural centre, the mosque - you get that?’

  She nodded, then gobbed off at the frightened faces.

  ‘Tell them the people there will help them.’

  She did as she was told and I started to move them on.

  ‘Tell them not to say where they’ve come from. They don’t know - it was near the motorway.’

  She gobbed off again and I had to physically turn them in the right direction.

  ‘Go on, fuck off, go!’

  Lily started to move with them.

  ‘Not you.’

  I hooked her arm and guided her across the roundabout towards Papaverhoek.

  That was me fucked with Tresillian yet again, but so what? I was fucked anyway. He’d have to find me to grip me. As for the target building, fuck it. It was going to be a while before they found out where the girls had come from, even if they told the truth straight away.

  I couldn’t get Lena’s friend involved. It was too complicated, and there wasn’t time. But at least the girls were safe. They’d be fed and watered and given warm shoes and a place to rest before someone remembered to ask the police if they might like to find out where they’d been held, or about the man who’d saved them. By then it would be too late.

  Lily was hobbling now, but she’d live. FilmNoord XXX was doing a brisk trade. Four cars were parked up, their drivers browsing the shelves. A woman in her late forties and not exactly box fresh smoked a cigarette and scoped for business. She didn’t give us a second glance. She was more interested in the lads with back seats than a guy who’d already found what he was looking for.

  I approached the safe-house from the opposite side of the road. Everything looked OK. I checked the telltales, unlocked and closed the door quickly behind me. I hit the lights and locked back up.

  I stood there for a while, composing myself - allowing myself a moment or two of satisfaction for a job well done.

  ‘You will be taken home, Lily. Soon.’

  As I opened the fire door and we moved into the office corridor, I could see that the door to the mailroom was open. But it wasn’t Angeles who emerged from it to greet us, and the dull light was clear enough for me to see he had a shotgun at his shoulder. The barrels were pointing at me. Bradley had both eyes open. His finger was inside the guard, and its pad was resting on the trigger.

  23

  ‘For fuck’s sake …’ My shoulders slumped. I shook my head slowly as Lily jumped behind me for protection.

  At that moment I realized that if it wasn’t for Anna and the two girls, if Angeles was still alive, I’d just let him get on with it - and feel happy that it would be over and done with.

  Bradley looked at me, weapon still up. ‘What have you been doing, Nick? Starting a collection? This other young lady should still be in that building.’

  The barrel moved left to right. ‘Follow me.’

  He walked slowly backwards, barrel facing us, until he reached the door to the back room.

  ‘Both of you - inside.’

  Angeles was sitting by the opening to the shower, blood pouring from her nose. Her hands were red with the stuff. She’d been packing. Most of the gear was gone, but now the mugs lay on the carpet and tea bags from the box were strewn by her feet. She recognized Lily at once and started to beg Bradley in Russian. Tears rolled down her bloodstained ch
eeks. Was it a bluff? Had she gone straight into her native language so she didn’t give away she understood English? Or was she so shit scared she couldn’t force any English out?

  Bradley tried to appear calm, but I could tell he was flapping. The plan had probably been to enter the building, wait for me and Lily, and simply drop me. Now he was going to have to think on his feet, with another body to sort out.

  He looked behind me.

  ‘Lilian?’

  ‘Yes.’

  He immediately looked a lot more cheerful. ‘Then who on earth is this one, Nick?’

  ‘Just a whore. From the porn shop. She knows fuck-all.’ I moved sideways and leant against the wall. My arse was killing me. ‘Well, she knew fuck-all until you decided to come in here like Wyatt fucking Earp.’

  ‘Stand fucking still.’ Bradley was in command mode now he had Lily.

  ‘Why? What are you going to do if I don’t? You going to shoot me?’ I nodded at Angeles. ‘Look at the fucking mess you’ve made of her.’

  ‘Who else knows about you being here?’

  He moved the weapon up a couple of inches, as if that was going to make me flap. Fuck him.

  ‘You had anyone else here?’

  ‘Why the fuck should I tell you? You’re going to drop me anyway, aren’t you?’

  Angeles was quiet now, her eyes flicking between us. The weapon was still in his shoulder. I couldn’t see if the safety was on or off. It was on top of the weapon, just in front of the stock.

  I looked at his eyes. They were flickering. They weren’t cool and steady. Maybe it was OK killing men, but young girls …

  I knew the feeling.

  His finger was still curled inside the trigger-guard. I watched his eyes. Whether by action or default, he could still drop me. The end result would be the same. He blinked. Then again. He had the tools to do it, but had he the intent? Execution without reason or emotion is for psychos, and unfortunately for him, he wasn’t one. I knew; it was easy to tell. It was probably why I’d fallen for this whole stitch-up in the first place.

  ‘Bradley, you don’t have to do this. You do this, mate, you’re going to have nightmares for the rest of your life. It fucks you up for ever, believe me. You can’t sleep. Your head will fill with my face and hers every time you close your eyes. Don’t do it. We can sort something out. We can make it work for both of us …’

  He was weirding out. The fingers of his left hand started to jump about on the barrel like he was playing the trumpet. He adjusted his grip on the weapon and squeezed it more firmly, as if it was going to run away.

  ‘Once you do me, they’re going to do you - you understand that, don’t you? Someone will be coming for you. They won’t leave loose ends, mate. You’ve seen how they work. We’re all tools here. We’re all used and abused.’

  I had to get on with this shit one way or another. There was less than an hour to go. If we were still here at that point, we were all in the shit.

  I noticed beads of sweat forming on his forehead. I kept eye-to-eye. ‘Mate, you’ll be next. It’s what they do. I can help you make that not happen. I’ve been doing this shit for years. They don’t like people like you and me, mate. They—’

  A mug flew left to right and made contact with Bradley’s head. I dropped beneath his line of sight.

  ‘Fucking bitch!’

  Angeles hurled another mug-shaped missile and ran towards him in a frenzy. I focused on the barrel. I lunged and grabbed it with my left hand, moved it straight down towards the carpet, trying to keep the muzzle out of harm’s way. Angeles lashed out at him as he slumped to his knees. Arms windmilling, screaming like a banshee, she rained blows on his head, eyes closed, then leapt on him.

  They both fell, the barrel between them. The weapon kicked off, the lead shot peppering the wall beneath the sink and blowing a hole the size of a fist through Angeles’s tiny chest.

  I pulled the shotgun away from him as I dragged him free of her, then jumped on him. I wanted to keep him on the ground. I wanted him alive. I wanted to find out who, where and when.

  He kicked out like a madman. ‘Leave me alone! Leave me alone!’

  I shoved my left arm onto his chest, punched into his face and shouted down at him: ‘Stop, Bradley. For fuck’s sake, stop!’

  His face was red with fear or rage. He wouldn’t stop moving. ‘No! No!’

  I felt the gun barrel cold against the side of my head. It made contact with Bradley’s cheek. The loose flesh creased and folded around the muzzle.

  ‘No, Lily! No!’

  I jerked back, but felt the pressure wave of the blast against my face. A fine, liquid mist coated my skin, and I didn’t need a mirror to tell me what it was.

  There was a massive oval-shaped hole just below Bradley’s eye. Through it, I could see a patch of red and glossy carpet.

  She showed no emotion as she stared down at him. I got up and took the weapon off her. She looked at me. ‘He tried to kill you.’

  There was no time for waffle. We had to get out of there.

  I dropped the shotgun on the floor. I didn’t need it. And the rounds I hadn’t used for the IED were at the bottom of the bay.

  I pulled off Angeles’s trainers and handed them to Lily. Then I took the cash from the back pocket of her jeans. I couldn’t bear to look at her face.

  I had the notes in my hand when someone gave the front door a good pounding and a megaphone sparked up outside.

  24

  ‘Wait here!’

  Crouching low, I scuttled into the middle office and took up position at my Bradley-spotting vantage-point. I wasn’t about to stand there and wave. Blue lights flashed all over our bit of Noord 5; uniforms, police cars, guys taking cover behind ballistic shields. A four-man team with an enforcer were hammering away at the door.

  I ran back into the mailroom, grabbed my docs from behind the pigeonhole and climbed the ladder to the roof hatch.

  I wrestled with the bolts. She appeared at my feet.

  ‘Get up here, quick.’

  I jiggled the bolts up and down and tried to pull them back at the same time. The more I struggled, the less purchase I had with my sweat-covered fingers. I pulled my sleeve as far down as I could, and used it as a glove.

  The front door caved in. Shouts surged up the stairs.

  The bolts shifted and I pushed open the hatch into the night sky. Cold air hit me as I climbed out. I pulled Lily up behind me before dropping it back.

  Keeping low on the roof, we scrambled towards the rear of the building. Blue flashing lights were piling in front and back. Headlamps bounced across the wasteground. The air was full of radio squawks and shouts.

  ‘Just stay with me, OK?’ I gave her arm an encouraging squeeze. I didn’t want her to flap any more than she already was and fuck up.

  We aimed for the three-metre wall that would take us across the top of the next-door office block. There’d be no second attempt.

  My throat was parched and I couldn’t get enough oxygen. Adrenalin took over. I sprang up and my hands gripped the edge of the parapet. My legs scrabbled against the brickwork. I repeated the elbow trick. I heaved and kicked until my stomach reached tar and gravel. I clawed my way a couple of feet further, then swivelled round and stretched my hands over the edge.

  ‘Come on.’

  She jumped and I grabbed her hands. She slipped from my grasp.

  ‘Again!’

  This time I gripped her with my right hand and flailed around with my left, hoping for something to grab. I got a fistful of sweatshirt and heaved her up onto the lip. She swung her legs sideways and came the rest of the way.

  More shouts drifted up from the street. More loudspeakers barked either side of the building. Blue lights sped down from Distelweg.

  I didn’t bother checking the entrance to the central stairwell. Even if we could get in, we couldn’t stay there. We had to make distance. We needed one big straight line out of the immediate danger area.

  We ran past it to
the far edge of the roof. FilmNoord XXX shone like a beacon. I knew Lily was behind me; she coughed and I felt her breath on my sweat-soaked neck. I edged along the parapet until I was directly above the galvanized-steel platform I’d seen the last time I was up there, slid my legs over and dropped. I landed with a clang like a bass gong, but noise wasn’t a problem. They were making enough of their own.

  Her feet dangled above my head. I cupped my hands beneath them to give her some support.

  More sirens and blue lights swept down Papaverhoek and screamed to a halt. They were throwing up a road-block. Why else would they stop so close to the main?

  We hit the ground and headed right. I wanted us to be able to lose ourselves among the maze of brick walls and wooden fences that surrounded those back gardens. We found a muddy track that ran between them and crossed a strip of rough land. Brick walls reared up in front of us, but there was always a way round. I didn’t have a clue what lay the other side of them. I just wanted to get within reach of the roundabout and then the estate.

  I caught a glimpse of the main at the far end of a narrow alleyway. I moved swiftly along it and glanced left. I couldn’t see the police cars but I knew where the road-block was. Blue lights strobed all around the incident area, bouncing off the low cloud, but up here it was as dark as any other night.

  ‘We slow down now, Lily.’

  Her shoulders were heaving, her eyes wide. She leant forward and rested her elbows on her thighs.

  ‘Deep breaths - come on now, calm down, sort yourself out.’

  I wanted her looking as normal as possible. I put my hand on her shoulder. ‘You OK? We’ve got to go.’

  She was still gulping air, but she nodded. I hooked out my arm for her to take. ‘Girlfriend and boyfriend?’

  She raised the skin where there had once been an eyebrow.

  ‘OK, daughter and dad …’

  That earned me my first smile. It gave me a bit of a lump in my throat. I pictured another little girl who’d trusted me and died. I was fucked if I was going to let it happen this time around.