‘Torriero’ he shouted with a clear distinctive voice. ‘It is over. Nobody else needs to die, too many innocent people have already, let’s end the deaths now. If you come out, nobody else needs to die.’
The sentiment was fair one, any reasonable person would agree, but Torriero’s not a reasonable person. If he was going to go down, he was going to take everyone with him. With no response from the building, discussions were held about the best way forward. The army could just obliterate the buildings, leaving nothing behind, and burn everything. But we wouldn’t be sure Torriero was dead, we needed a body, identified, alive or dead. We needed to be sure, and that meant going in. Lieutenant Colonel Carter spoke to the superiors of other battalions, to organise a team to go in. When it became obvious this was going to be the approach, Little D was in his ear, it was an offensive Blue and White Company must be involved in. Little D put our case over passionately, and Lieutenant Colonel Carter wasn’t going to stop him getting the closure he sought. With an estimated ten to fifteen soldiers inside the building, four companies were picked to go in and one to cover the back exit from the building, all from The Lancashire Fusiliers Seventh Battalion. Going in were Blue and White, Clarets, Latics and Riversiders companies. We all checked our equipment, re-stocked and prepared ourselves as plans were agreed. There would be two entry points, Clarets and ourselves would go through the front doors, Latics and Riversiders would go through the large back window, overlooking an extension on the first floor. We waited around for the order, as details were finalised, and Lieutenant Colonel Carter gave us a pep talk. The army wanted Torriero alive if possible, something I believed would be difficult with the amount of men who wanted to kill him. Lieutenant Colonel Carter gave us the signal to move out, and we set off onto the property, via the car park at the front of the building. We hid behind vehicles as we were put under fire from the first floor windows, until the army returned fire, allowing us to move forward. Keane put a breach charge on the front doors, and detonated it when in cover, destroying them. There was an overturned table ten yards into the corridor, which was being used as cover, as they fired at us. Keane rolled a couple of grenades in, the explosions flung men in different directions, obliterating the table, and ripping plaster off the walls. We moved in formation, through the dust and debris, killing any men not already dead. Blue and White Company cleared the left hand side of the ground floor, as Clarets Company searched the right. We stormed the rooms, as our adrenaline started to pump, and the bullets started to fly. Tables had been used in each room to create cover, with barbed wire wrapped around chairs, and bookcases, pieces of wood, picture frames, anything to create an obstacle. In the first room, bullets tore into the wall next to my head, splintering the wooden door frame, as I ducked and returned fire. Books were torn apart by bullets, pages floating through the dusty air, and debris. We exchanged fire with the enemy, as they desperately fought for their survival. One left cover wearing what looked like an explosive vest, screaming as he ran towards us. Little D shot him dead before he had chance to detonated the explosives, and we moved through the room, killing any hostile enemy. We continued room to room, clearing out the fighters, until we met Clarets Company at the doors to the back room, where I’d eaten the meal with Torriero. Higson and Ashby started to attach the breach charges to the doors when bullets ripped through the wood. Higson fell to the floor as Ashby scrambled around the wall to safety, we returned fire as Little D and Sergeant Hargreaves grabbed Higson by the collar and pulled him to safety. But the blood trail he left behind told us it was serious. Murphy threw two grenades into the room through the holes in the door, as Keane and Walters tried to tend to Higson, who was grabbing at his throat. He tried to speak, but only blood came out of his mouth, as Keane and Walters worked frantically to keep him alive. They cut his uniform away, inserted a syringe into the wound in his neck, and injected it, firing hundreds of tiny sponges into the wound, that expand on contact with blood. We kept talking to him, as the syringe sealed the wound and stopped the bleeding, telling him everything would be ok. But I could see from the look in his eyes he knew that wasn’t true, he knew what was happening. His responses slowed down, until finally they stopped, his eyes open in a fixed expression. God fucking damn it, what a waste, to die this close to the end of the war. I could see the effect it had had on everyone, the realisation it could have happened to any of us, we cannot be complacent. But there was no time for sentiment, we needed to finish the job. The tables we’d sat at for Sergeant Davis and Rhino’s final meal, were being used as cover, turned over and stretched across the room. There were six fighters, who had scattered when the grenades were thrown in, hiding behind anything they could find. The gunfire was intense, the walls we were using as cover were disintegrating, with huge gaps appearing. I used one of the holes to peer through, and shot one enemy through the head, crouching behind a grandfather clock. Pictures fell to the floor, glass shattered, as more bullets thudded into the walls. With only a few enemy left, Murphy stormed into the room, shattering the remains of the doors as he shot a man behind cover, but was hit in the leg. He went down, clutching the wound, as Little D followed him, killing the soldier who had shot him. The final two enemy threw their weapons to the floor, and put their hands in the air, pleading for their lives. They were rounded up, as I started to check the dead, looking for Torriero, or Keenan, as Keane treated Murphy’s leg. I couldn’t find either, I went back through the rooms we had cleared, searching each body, with no luck. The Sergeant of The Riversiders Company came down the stairs with his squad, he had three prisoners with him, but I didn’t recognise any. I went upstairs and checked the remaining bodies, including those in the War Room but couldn’t identify them. The operation had taken a little over twenty minutes, and we now had control of his headquarters, but Torriero was nowhere to be seen. Lieutenant Colonel Carter entered the building, bringing with him the rest of The Lancashire Fusiliers Seventh Battalion, who started to work over the building, seizing anything of interest. They removed bin bags full of evidence, pulled up all the carpets and rugs, looking for any way of escaping, but we found nothing. Little D explained the outcome to Lieutenant Colonel Carter, who got on the radio to General Morris. The Camp was put on lock down, with extra battalions requested to help with the search. Higson’s body was placed in a body bag, and carefully carried outside, as more and more military started to fill the building. The man hunt was on, the disappointment on the soldiers faces was hard to hide, it was a real come down from the adrenaline pumping attack. He could be anywhere in the remains of the city, we could have to search through every building, under every rock, and the fucker might never be found. Lieutenant Colonel Carter noticed the disappointment on the faces of his men, and tried to rally us, before ordering us to camp down for the night, in any of the properties around the estate, and we would continue the search in the morning.
16/1/2028 - Time 23:10
There was noise all night as I tried to get some kip, with new battalions arriving on the outskirts of Leeds, to seal off any exit route Torriero may have. The army was hard at work, rows of soldiers were combing the area around Torriero’s headquarters, turning over every stone, searching for clues. At its peak, the city saw over three thousand soldiers working their way through the war torn streets, backtracking over every area we’d already searched. But this time it was more extensive, with everywhere needing to be searched, trees, bushes, waste ground, bins, anything sizable enough to hide an adult man. We were desperate to catch him early, it was believed if he wasn’t caught within the next couple of days, he could disappear forever and escape justice. A specialist diving unit was brought in to search the miles of city sewerage, still largely underwater from the floods a few months back. The searches uncovered a few new atrocities, not really a surprise, but uncomfortable viewing for the men that discovered them. Two large pits were found, dug out of wasteland in the fields off to the north of the headquarters. The holes were around thirty by thirty foot, and filled with the b
odies of mainly men and boys, all executed in the same way, with a bullet to the head. The level of cruelty and brutality inflicted on the city of Leeds could be considered genocide, and will go down in history as the city to have suffered the most in the UK during the Third World War.
After lunch I was searching the buildings along Westgate, when I had an official visitor, Captain Jones needed to speak to me about an urgent matter. I hadn’t seen him for weeks, probably since Christmas lunch, it was good to see him. A body had been found in a boat, matching the description of Torriero, heading west on the River Aire, just off Whitehall Road. As I was the only military on our side who had met Torriero, and was able to identify him, I was in demand. I left by Viking heading towards the NXT building that overlooked the river, where his body had been retrieved, with a real sense of apprehension, was I about to get some closure? The man was elderly, and had managed to get on a boat and travel out of Leeds centre, but had died from an old gunshot wound. When I arrived at the building, I was greeted by more military, who showed me up to a room on the second floor, where the body was laying on a table. The man looked around the right age, with a beard and balding head, just like Torriero. But it was not him, he had all the hallmarks of the man, yet looked nothing like him. The ultimate disappointment, we had to pick ourselves up and carry on, but not today, the search was called off as a storm rolled over, we would continue first thing in the morning. There was a real air of despondency amongst the men, while we’d halted the war, the man responsible was still at large, escaping justice.
17/1/2028 - Time 17:20
I decided on waking up, to go back to the headquarters, and search the War Room, which had been put under armed guard when we took control of the building. I convinced Little D there could be something of value in returning to the building, and he agreed to come with me. The guards on the front door let us in, after a radio conversation with Lieutenant Colonel Carter giving us clearance. Inside the building it looked completely different than last time, everything had been sorted into piles, labeled and organised. There were still blood stains on the floor where people had died, Higson’s quite substantial stain stopped the both of us momentarily. We went upstairs to look in the War Room, possibly the only room that had been left as it was. Taking a little more time to view the room, under quite different circumstances, it was clear how well organised Torriero had been. They really had done their homework, detailed maps of Lancashire were covering the walls, with markers for everything from supply runs to the position of spotters. The only real problem with their plan was numbers and the calibre of their personal, the military were just better trained, fitter and organised. We spent an hour or so in the room, looking for some kind of clue as to where he could be, but there was nothing standing out. The building was filling with military men, so I followed Little D outside, and onto the side ally to have a cigarette. We talked about the problems we’re going to face finding him in this mess, a needle in three square miles of destruction. Little D pointed out a mark on the floor, a dark square maybe six foot by six foot, like something had been sat there. I looked around the vicinity, searching for a clue as to what it might have been, when I noticed a few slabs of concrete, stacked up against the building wall. Then it struck me, when I had arrived the first time with Sergeant Davis and Rhino, there was a big rusty skip here, and Keenan had reprimanded me for taking an interest in it. It was full of stones, earth, concrete and dirt. We reported back to Lieutenant Colonel Carter, and a more extensive search of the property started. There must have been something we’d missed, and as soon as we walked into the second reception room, I saw what it was. There was a built in bookcase on the back wall, the army had ripped up its base, looking for a trap door, but it’s back panel was still fixed to the wall. We walked over, and grabbing it by the outer frame, pulled it off the wall. It had a clip frame, coming off easily, leaving another door behind it. We both smiled at each other, knowing what we’d found, as one of the soldiers observing ran to get help. Lieutenant Colonel Carter didn’t want to wait any longer, and put a team together to investigate immediately, formed from available military with Little D and myself at the forefront. We breached the door with charges, to afford them no time to prepare, and stormed down the stairs into a deep underground bunker. We were followed by around twenty soldiers, into a long corridor with rooms on the left and right, and one at the end. We were met by gunfire immediately, probably alerted by the breach charge explosion. Three soldiers, including Keenan, came out of the door on our left, firing at us. I saw the look in his eye, as he recognised me, before he fell to a bullet from my gun. Little D shot the other two dead as we moved through the compound, that was as lavishly decorated as the main building. Little D sent a couple of soldiers into the rooms on the left and right, to secure them, as we approached the final room. There were two gunshots as we reached the door, I kicked it open, splintering the door frame. Torriero was sat at a dining table, his sister by his side, his hand in hers. He’d shot her in the chest, and then himself through the head. The blood behind them was still running down the wallpaper, and over the paintings adorning the walls. The table was laid out with a tablecloth, tea pot and two cups of warm tea, half drunk with blood splattered across everything. The room was small, but very comfortable, with a bed, sofa, bookcase with books and the table and chairs. Little D looked at me for confirmation, I nodded my approval, this was the fucker. I moved over to check his pulse, and confirmed he was dead.
Aftermath: The Complete Collection (Books 1 & 2) Page 57
