Cut Off (Book 2): Cut Throat

by Dalton, Charlie

  “No power. No internet. No servers. Nothing. Right now, the governments’ task is to rebuild the parts necessary to get the power stations back online. Once we have power, we can begin again.”

  “How long will that take?” Aaron said.

  Owain shrugged. “Who knows. Even if they had the parts to create new computers, they still need machines to build them. They have to go right back to the beginning first. It will take months, maybe even years to fix. And that’s if they want it to be fixed.”

  Silence filled the room.

  “What do you mean want to fix it?” Katie said. “Who doesn’t want power?”

  “The world has changed massively the past few days. Simpler, in some ways. But politics remains the same.” He leaned forward in his seat. “Many people are worse off with no power. But some are better off. They won’t be in a rush to fix what was broken. Someone might see the chance to reshape the world and make it in their own image, and that might very well mean an everlasting darkness.”

  9

  The mood of the group was dour on the way back to the house. Even Ella didn’t run and jump as she had on the way to meet Owain.

  “Pretty depressing news, huh?” Aaron said, sidling alongside her. “All that stuff about the world turning dark and us never getting back to the way we were. Do you think it’s true?”

  “Probably.” It was only really Owain’s theory but it rang with a sense of truth that was hard to deny. Human nature never changed, no matter how much or how little electrical power they had. “We’ll have to prepare ourselves better.”

  And that means going to the lodge.

  Her grandfather had a good setup here but it wasn’t a patch on what her father had invested his time and money in. At Bill’s farm, they were exposed on all sides.

  “What are you going to do?” Katie said. “You must have a family to take care of.” A girlfriend?

  “No, actually. I don’t have a family. Only Old Bill.”

  “That’s depressing. Surely you have friends? Someone to talk to?”

  “I did before I went into the army.”

  Katie blinked at that. He would be a good man to have at your back. “I didn’t know you were in the military. That still doesn’t explain why you don’t have friends though.”

  “I have them. I just didn’t keep in contact with them much when I went abroad. I made new friends, brothers and sisters, really. They’re my friends now. But none of them live near here. I hope they’re okay.”

  Katie smiled at his concern for his friends. When he wasn’t deliberately antagonising her, Aaron was a good conversation partner.

  “Woah,” Bill said. “Hold up.”

  Aaron was the first to respond and dropped into a crouched position. Feeling awkward, Katie did the same. Even Ella ducked her head.

  Bill lay on his front and crawled along the hedgerow, toward his house. He reached the gate and peered around it at the door.

  “What is it?” Aaron said, following the old man’s sightline.

  “The front door,” Bill said.

  Aaron looked and saw what Bill was referring to.

  “What’s going on?” Katie said.

  Aaron ignored her. “How do you want to handle this? Want me to head around back?”

  “I installed a couple more security measures there. I’ll go. You might set them off.”

  “I’ll go through the front door.”

  “Not until I go in around the back. Then you come in. Be careful with the door. You know how… finicky it can be.”

  “Will somebody please tell me what’s going on?” Katie said.

  “There’s somebody in the house,” Bill said. “We’re going to get inside and find out who it is.”

  “Can we help?” Katie said.

  “Not with this,” Aaron said. “Not today.”

  “There are too many security systems,” Bill said. “If we set just one of them off…”

  They’ll know we’re here. Then it’ll be a lot more difficult getting inside.

  “What about Camden and the others?” Katie said. “They’re still in the house.”

  “We’ll have to see what the situation is when we get inside,” Bill said. He looked at Aaron. “Ready?”

  “I was born ready.”

  Bill turned and marched in a half-crouch back the way they came. Then he cut behind a hedge and disappeared from view.

  “Who do you think it is?” Katie said.

  “Could be anybody. Someone looking for resources. Someone from the city maybe. It could be that your brother opened the front door and didn’t shut it properly. It could be a million and one different things.”

  Katie felt something tug at her sleeve. It was Ella. She shuffled from foot to foot and bit her bottom lip.

  “I need to go to the toilet,” she said.

  She was a nervous peer.

  “Can you wait a few minutes?” Katie said. “We’ll be inside the house soon.”

  Ella shook her head. “I can’t. I need to go now.”

  They were surrounded by hedges. They didn’t need to go far for her to pee.

  Katie took Ella’s hand and led her across the narrow country lane and through a gap in the hedge. She helped Ella undress enough to squat. She turned back to the house to watch as Aaron ran up the front steps and pushed the front door open.

  The house looked completely normal to her. She never would have noticed anything wrong with it.

  “Done,” Ella said.

  “Let’s go back and join the others.”

  She took her hand.

  A rustle from a hedgerow caught their attention.

  Ella’s tiny fingers clasped tight. “Katie?”

  “Sh,” Katie said, her heart in her throat.

  Was this part of a trap? Someone broke into their house and left someone here to remain as lookout?

  Katie’s insides turned to water. Suddenly she felt like the one who needed to pee.

  “Hold onto my hand,” Katie said.

  “Katie…” Her voice choked with terror now.

  Over her shoulder, Katie watched as Aaron approached the front door in a half-crouch. It was all coming to a head. Either the man behind the hedge or the man in the house was going to make the first move.

  There was no jumping to safety, not with the open field on either side.

  A bullet could slam into either one of them at any moment.

  “Katie…” Ella’s voice shook.

  Katie clutched Ella’s tiny hand between her own. “It’s all right, Ella. I’m here.” And if it comes to it, at least we’ll die together.

  Was there anything worse than the thought of dying alone? She didn’t think so.

  Her thoughts drifted to her father and the way he passed away. Was this how he felt before he died? Frozen with terror and bowels ready to let loose the moment death reached into her chest and tore her soul out?

  Stay in the moment, Katie, her father’s voice from beyond the grave said. Focus and you might see an opportunity to cheat death another day.

  Katie focused on the moment, on the here and now. Maybe – just maybe – if they were lucky, they would hear a noise in the house, enough to distract whoever shook that hedge and they could dive backwards, onto the road.

  Maybe she couldn’t save herself, but she could save the little girl.

  Katie didn’t take her eyes off the foliage. “When I say run, get to the road and run back to Owain’s house.”

  “What about you?”

  “No questions. Just do as I say.”

  Katie peeled Ella’s tiny hand from her own. The little girl gripped her trouser legs instead.

  Over her shoulder, the front door creaked open. Aaron raised his hands, preparing to seize any weapons that poked through the gap.

  The hedge stopped shaking, save for a small section near the bottom.

  Ella’s clamp-like grip loosened and she drifted out from around Katie’s legs.

  “Ella? What are you doing?�
�

  “Sh,” she said, their roles suddenly reversed. “You’ll scare him away.”

  Isn’t that a good thing?

  On the front doorstep, Aaron relaxed and he stood at his full height. Standing on the other side of the door was Bill.

  “Nothing to worry about,” he said. “It’s only the twins.”

  A pair of large figures stepped up behind him. “Only the twins? Boy, I’ll have you know we’re wanted in more than sixteen countries…”

  Katie phased the unknown voice out. No danger from behind.

  But what about in front?

  The hedge shook and a black shadow melted from beneath it.

  Ella screamed and rushed forward.

  “Ella! Wait!”

  It took a moment for Katie to recognize what it was.

  “Scallywag!”

  The dog yapped happily and met Ella halfway. She fell to her knees and enveloped the little dog in her arms. Scallywag licked at any bare skin he could find.

  The tension flooded out of Katie, taking all her energy with it. Her heart still pumped a million gallons per second. On the verge of exploding.

  “Who wants a cup of tea?” Bill said.

  “A cup of tea?” the unknown voice said. “Don’t you have a real drink?”

  “I think I have some coffee somewhere…” Bill said in a teasing tone.

  Ella rolled around on the mossy ground, wrestling with the little dog. Despite his small size, the dog appeared to be getting the better of her.

  Ella wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.

  10

  Captain Derek Burgess stood with his back to the tent entrance, his hands clasped as if gazing upon a beautiful view… except there wasn’t a view. He was staring at the gorgeous green of a military tent wall that shook gently as the wind brushed it.

  “Sir,” Finnegan said. “Lieutenant Mansfield is here to see you.”

  Burgess turned around, only at the waist, and only in profile, to look back at Laurie. He didn’t smile, didn’t offer any words of welcome. He merely looked Laurie over with his penetrating eyes.

  Laurie saluted and waited.

  Burgess nodded to Finnegan, who exited the tent hastily. Wish I was going with you, pal.

  Burgess still hadn’t told Laurie to stand at ease, and so he remained still and facing forward.

  “Do you believe in honour, Lieutenant?”

  “Sir?”

  “Honour. Is it a concept you consider important?”

  “It’s the highest achievement there is, sir.”

  Burgess smiled. It wasn’t cruel. “Said like a true recruit. My question was a little cumbersome, so let me put it more succinctly. If you were given an order and you knew it would do untold harm to civilians, would you do it anyway?”

  The captain’s eyes were penetrating. Laurie got the distinct feeling he was being tested. “Sir… I would carry out my duty to the best of my abilities.”

  Burgess stared into space a moment and brought his smile up to him. “Of course you would. You’re a good soldier. At ease.”

  Finally.

  The captain fell into his chair with a loud groan. “Are you going to make problems for me, Lieutenant?”

  “I never intend on making trouble for anyone, sir.”

  “And yet, you manage to do so with virtually every commanding officer you’ve served under. I read your file. It was very… enlightening.”

  Laurie couldn’t say he shared the same honour but he knew Captain Burgess by reputation. He learned to take rumours with a fist of salt a long time ago but from what he’d seen of the man so far, the rumours were proving uncannily accurate.

  “I am given a mission and I do my best to carry it out, sir.”

  “Carry out according to your own instincts, not those of your superiors. Have you ever been wrong and they right?”

  No. “I can’t recall, sir.”

  “Do you think a slight bellyache trumps decades of hard experience?”

  You said you read the file… “I think everyone brings their own biases to a certain situation. Sir.” Just as you’re doing with me right now.

  “I’m well aware of your method of leadership.” He managed to make the final word sound like something he’d stepped in. “I don’t want the men getting confused over whose orders they’re meant to be following.”

  “You’re the captain, sir.”

  “And you’re my lieutenant. It’s easy to make the easy choices. It’s the hard ones that define a career.”

  “That’s where you have me at an advantage, sir. I only care about the mission.”

  Burgess snorted. “I didn’t want you here, Lieutenant. I think too many ideas spoil a simple operation. Our mission is to capture the terrorists and use lethal force if necessary.”

  “Once I conduct my investigation into the events at the silo, we’ll have all the information we need to stop another attack from taking place.”

  “There’s not going to be an investigation.”

  “Sir?”

  “We have tracks. We’re following them to their final destination. We’ll find the terrorists at the end of the rainbow.”

  Now Laurie was getting irritated. “We shouldn’t be sending our entire team after the terrorists. We should investigate the men tasked with protecting the supplies here first. We could learn something about our enemy, how they work, and alert the other facilities before they get hit too.”

  The captain looked at Laurie, a slight frown wrinkling his forehead. “What have you been told about the facilities?”

  “That terrorists broke into this facility and made off with a bunch of supplies. Why?”

  “This isn’t the only facility that was broken into.”

  “No, sir. There have been two.”

  “Two in this county. We weren’t even the first. The terrorists are well organised. I don’t believe they could have organised themselves this well so soon after the EMP.”

  “You think they’ve been planning this for some time?”

  “It’s a theory.”

  Laurie’s mind did somersaults.

  Burgess leaned back and got comfortable. “If they’ve been planning it all this time, then maybe they’re the ones responsible for the EMP attack in the first place.”

  Laurie listened to the words coming out of the man’s mouth but they didn’t make sense. “Why would they do that?”

  Burgess shrugged. “Why does anyone ever do anything? For money, power, control.”

  “You think they wanted to change the world order? Put themselves at the top?”

  “That would be my guess.”

  It was an interesting theory but a little too conspiratorial for Laurie’s taste. But these were interesting times.

  “You’re dismissed, Lieutenant.”

  Laurie hesitated. He didn’t know if he passed the captain’s test or not. “Yes, sir.”

  He saluted and left the tent. He wondered when the world would finally start making sense.

  11

  “Bill, me old mucker, how you doin’?” The man called Ronnie slapped Bill on the back and near sent him flying. Ronnie straightened him up and flexed his arm. “Easy there, fella. I don’t know my own strength sometimes.”

  Ronnie’s sister Tanya slapped her brother even harder on the back. Ronnie stumbled forward and she didn’t help him keep his feet. “Ditto. Looks like I got the brains as well as the brawn when I crossed the birth canal two and a half minutes earlier than you.”

  Katie looked between the latest two additions to their growing family. “You’re twins?”

  “Born and bred,” Ronnie said. “Well, born yes. Obviously. But not bred. Because you can’t be bred a twin.”

  Tanya rolled her eyes. “Shut up, you fool. The girl wanted a very simple ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.”

  “I was only expanding on my point, bitch.”

  Tanya’s nostrils flared and Katie swore she saw flames in her eyes. “Watch your cakehole, fool. There’s a
baby girl present.”

  Ronnie peered around his sister’s bulging frame. “If you weren’t hiding her behind that station wagon you call an arse I wouldn’t have said it.”

  “Always with the insults. That’s the first refuge of a man without any brains. Well?”

  “Well what?”

  “Aren’t you going to apologise to the little lady?”

  “It’s all right,” Ella said in her soft voice. “I don’t mind.”

  Tanya softened her tone. “You should mind, my girl. Let idiot boys walk over you and they’ll be doing it the rest of your natural life.”

  Ronnie approached Ella. It put Katie in mind of a walrus edging toward a mud jack. Katie smiled at the image and now that Ella was armed with her trusted pooch, she didn’t edge back and cling to Katie’s leg. The big man fell to his knees and bowed his head.

  “Oh, illustrious member of the female form,” he said in a singsong voice. “Please forgive me for uttering a mildly rude word.” He arched an eyebrow up at his sister. “Well? That good enough for you, sis?”

  “A little melodramatic for my taste,” Tanya said. “But it’s how men should treat women.” Her attention shifted to Ella. “Well? Is he forgiven?”

  Ella shrugged. Scallywag yapped.

  “Done with cool indifference,” Tanya said with a smile. “I could learn a great deal from you, little lady. Rise, brother, and be counted amongst your fellow human beings once again.”

  Ronnie got to his feet and dusted off his hands.

  Katie turned to Bill and Aaron who stood with their arms folded.

  “You get used to them,” Aaron said.

  “After a while,” Bill added.

  “A very long while.”

  They grinned as they embraced the twins, who sat down and continued to eat the meal they’d momentarily paused in consuming.

  “Make yourselves at home, why don’t you?” Bill said.

  “Don’t mind if we do.” Ronnie tucked into some meat they hadn’t finished that morning.