by Hatchett
Issy was standing on the pontoon, looking down at the boat Dave had procured for her. It was a large open boat around thirty to forty feet long.
“Are the Zodiacs on board?” Issy asked.
“Yes. Four of them.” Dave replied. They both knew that the Zodiac FC420 was a useful tool for covert operations. What looked like a rolled-up rubber mat quickly turned into a large black boat which could hold ten people when it was inflated with a CO2 canister. It was made from heavy duty material and, with a twenty-five-horsepower outboard engine, could move up to around forty kilometres or twenty knots an hour. Flat out, they could get to the Tower in around fifteen minutes, but of course, they wouldn’t be going flat out. Stealth was the order of the day.
Suddenly the lights flickered on and the helipads were bathed in bright light. Some lights in the hotel and some in the office next door came on at the same time.
“Now we’re cooking,” Dave muttered. “Anything else you need from me?”
“No, I’m fine, thanks,” Issy replied.
“Ok, good. Well, good luck!” Dave gave Issy a quick hug before turning and walking back towards the hotel, shouting orders to nearby soldiers.
Issy watched him for a few moments then looked around the area properly for the first time since she arrived. Through the railings protecting the heliport she could make out hundreds of zombies, all trying to get in, and more coming their way, attracted by the noise and light. The hotel looked like a beacon of hope when all around was in shadow. Issy looked again at her new boat and could now see the Zodiacs lined up towards the rear, close to a pile of naked bodies. The light stretched past the boat onto the river and she could see things bobbing on the surface, although at this distance she couldn’t make out what there were. ‘I could make an educated guess,’ she thought to herself.
The familiar whup-whup sound of the Chinook broke the monotonous gnashing sounds of the zombies all around and Issy looked skywards and picked out the external warning lights of the aircraft. It wasn’t long before the noise increased, and the Chinook came into view before slowly descending and landing on the tarmac. The rear ramp then came down to allow the soldiers inside to disembark. All of them were dressed like Issy; all black clothing and boots, body armour, helmets, pockets, and utility belts stuffed with spare cartridges, and an array of weapons.
“Over here!” Issy shouted, and despite the noise, a couple of soldiers heard her and turned to look in her direction. Issy motioned them to join her and they quickly nudged their colleagues and pointed where to go.
When the last soldier had arrived on the platform and the noise from the Chinook had died down, Issy addressed her group.
“Is everyone here?” There were nods all around; they’d all been allocated a colleague or two to keep an eye on at all times.
“We’ve been over the plans several times. Is everyone happy they know what they’re doing? This is the last chance for questions.” Again, there were nods from all those around her. Most of the men and women in this group had worked with Issy on other tasks and knew that she was hard but fair; indeed, they had all volunteered for this task and there were plenty more back at Heathrow who were disappointed that they hadn’t been selected. “Right, let’s get ready.”
With that Issy climbed down off the pontoon and onto the boat and made her way towards the line of bodies at the back, the rest of the group following in turn.
The bodies had been laid out face up and side by side, empty eyes staring at the now dark sky. “Time to get dirty!” Issy shouted. Everyone knew what she meant as they had all been through it before on several occasions. Bowie knives were produced and those closest to the bodies sliced open the skin from neck to groin. Hands then reached in to pull out the entrails and start rubbing them all over each other’s uniform, front and back. They had learnt back at Heathrow in the early days that if you did this, you would be able to walk amongst the zombies untouched. They assumed it was because of the smell, but so long as it worked, they didn’t really care why. That was why Issy was praying for the rain to stop; she didn’t want the blood and guts to wash away.
Issy nodded to the boat’s new captain to start the engine and signalled that the mooring ropes should be removed.
The boat slowly drifted away from the pontoon towards the middle of the river then started moving downstream when the propellers were engaged. It wasn’t particularly fast, but they were in no rush; it wasn’t as if they had a deadline.
Issy stood on the starboard side, letting the wind hit her as she looked back at the heliport, a brightly lit beacon of light surrounded by overwhelming darkness. In a few hours’ time, she expected to be greeted on her return by this welcoming sight.
Issy turned to face the direction they were going and whilst she couldn’t make out a great deal on the banks of the river, she did notice the inlet to Chelsea harbour on the port side and shortly after they passed under Battersea Bridge Road swiftly followed by Albert Bridge Road. The Captain had a couple of spotlights trained on the water in front of him, to try and avoid any unmoored boats, bridge structures and other floating debris.
There was little talking amongst the group; they were all thinking about the mission ahead and their own role in the operation. Other than the boat’s engine and the lapping of water against the hull, the only other noise they could hear over the wind was the frequent bumps against the boat.
They passed under Chelsea Bridge followed by the bridge that took all trains to Victoria Station. Then they passed by Battersea Power Station and carried on to Vauxhall Bridge then Lambeth Bridge. At last they passed the Houses of Parliament on the port side, went under Westminster Bridge, and slowly moved across the river heading for their stop-off point at Waterloo Pier, with the London Eye rising four hundred and forty-three into the sky. As they approached the pier Issy could see that it was crowded with zombies, many of which were falling into the river. She quickly looked over her shoulder back towards Westminster Pier on the other side, and this looked almost deserted. She approached the Captain and after a short conversation, the boat made a sweeping turn and came in alongside Westminster Pier heading back the way they had come. A couple of soldiers quickly jumped onto the pier and secured the mooring ropes. The Captain shut down the engine but turned the spotlights so that they lit up the pier.
As Issy had suspected, the pier was almost deserted, save for half a dozen zombies which were beginning to head in their direction. There were several other zombies pushing against the entrance barrier, but this was thankfully preventing them access to the Pier itself.
The soldiers started climbing onto the pier, the boards creaking with the additional weight. Those nearest the zombies removed their Bowie knives and stabbed the zombies in the head before rolling the dead bodies into the water.
They had come roughly seven kilometres downstream in just under forty-five minutes, with a further three kilometres to go to the Tower Pier. Issy had chosen this location as the staging post for two key reasons; they were far enough away from the Tower that no one would hear or see them, and it was conveniently just before a dog-leg in the river to the East and then an almost straight run to the Tower. They could make as much noise as they wanted without having to worry about being detected.
Issy ordered the four Zodiacs to be inflated; these boats would be able to cover the final three kilometres in about nine minutes at full speed. However, the journey would take a lot longer than this because they had to go slower if they wanted to retain their element of surprise. If they were seen before they were ready, it could cause untold problems and Issy would have a decision to make; proceed and potentially lose a lot of lives or fall back. She had considered the options for both scenarios but had yet to arrive at a decision; she didn’t like the idea of falling back, it went against the grain, but she also didn’t like the idea of being responsible for the deaths of her group and potentially many others. She would decide if and when the time came. In the meantime, it was full steam ahead so-to -speak
.
The sound of hissing filled the air as the soldiers inflated the Zodiacs with compressed CO2 and attached the outboard motors. The thirty soldiers had been divided into two sub-teams, codenamed Alpha and Bravo. In additional there were eight snipers, who would be shared by the two sub-teams. They would keep in contact with each other and Heathrow and the insiders in the Tower by earpiece.
Once everyone had finished what they were doing, they stood and waited for Issy to give the order to move out.
“Remember, this is the critical part of the journey,” she started. “There is a small sheltered area on the North side of London Bridge, which is about two kilometres from here and a final kilometre to the target. Once we get there, all outboards and any lights get turned off and stay turned off. We then use oars and the current to get us to our target. Any questions?” There were none; they had already been through the plan several times, but it never hurt to re-enforce the message. “Good luck.”
The group split into their sub-teams and moved across to their allocated boats before lowering them into the water. The teams started to climb aboard, being careful not to tip over; that was the last thing they wanted when they didn’t know what might be in the water waiting for them.
The light rain stopped as the engines of the four zodiacs started in succession and eased away from the pier before turning East and opening the throttle. The boats sped along at around half speed for a kilometre before easing off and covering the last kilometre at little more than a crawl. Issy had stressed that they needed to avoid spray because they couldn’t afford for the blood and guts to be washed off them.
They reached the sheltered area on the North side of London Bridge in just under ten minutes. Issy was in the lead boat and saw straight away that they wouldn’t be able to get too close to the edge; the tide was a little low and the sheltered area was now a small sandbank with zombies on it. As the moon appeared from behind the clouds, she watched as another zombie emerged from the river and joined the others, like someone who had been swimming in the sea and was coming back onto the beach to dry off. She signalled for the engines to be turned off and within seconds all four boats were quiet and bobbing gently in the water. Issy gave another signal and the teams grabbed their oars before all lights were extinguished. They manoeuvred the boats until they were facing downriver and set off on the final kilometre, the only sounds being the lapping of water and the noise of the oars as they pulled the boats along.
41
Day 6 – 19:15
Tower of London, Tower Wharf
As the zodiacs approached the stretch of water by the Tower, they split up. Two boats including Issy and Team Alpha, headed towards Tower Pier on the West side of the Tower and the other two boats, Team Bravo, continued for a few hundred yards to St Katharine’s Pier on the East side of the Tower.
Team Alpha rowed their boats up to the Tower Pier where they were securely fastened. Like the Westminster Pier, there were a few zombies around, but they were stuck behind metal barriers and out of the way. Issy gave her sub-team a few minutes to catch their breath and take a drink while she quietly reported their arrival. A few minutes later she heard through her comms that Team Bravo had also arrived.
Issy silently got the attention of her sub-team before leading them past the ‘City Cruises’ ticket office and onto the exit ramp where they merged with some of the zombies wandering around. Their arrival caused some interest, but it quickly faded as the zombies looked for other stimuli. At the top of the ramp, the four snipers turned left while Issy and the other fourteen soldiers turned right.
*****
The snipers headed across the cobbles to Three Quays Walk and from there on past the smashed bollards left by Daniel to the Tower Place East building on Petty Wales. Much of the ground floor of the building was made up of an indoor area which housed various fast food restaurants like Subway, a Starbucks, assorted bars, and souvenir shops. They entered through one of the doorways which had been left open and made their way past the lifts to the stairs. A short climb took them up to the seventh floor which housed an established restaurant with its unique selling point being the wonderful views of the Tower. The four snipers crossed the floor to a set of sliding doors which allowed them onto the balcony which was clear of zombies. They shut the sliding doors behind them and began to set up their equipment. Their role was partly to be the eyes and ears for the ground teams, but also to take out sentries when the time came.
The Western wall of the Tower varied between twenty and one hundred and twenty metres away from where they were settling in, but if they needed to hit a target along the Northern wall, the shot could be anything up to two hundred or so metres. This was not an issue because they were using L115A3 rifles manufactured by Accuracy International; they were designed to easily hit a target at six hundred metres and fired a heavy 8.59mm bullet to ensure the target stayed down. The fact that it was nighttime was no obstacle; the rifles employed night sights, spotting scopes and laser range finders. With their ability and their vantage point high above the Tower walls, hitting any target would be child’s play.
Within ten minutes, the snipers were ready and reported to Issy over the comms. They began watching the Tower, especially the sentries patrolling the ramparts, and provided some commentary while listening carefully for any orders.
*****
Issy and her sub-team moved slowly across the cobbles until they reached the start of Tower Wharf which would lead them along the embankment parallel to the Southern wall of the Tower, past Traitor’s Gate, and on to their target entrance of Henry III’s Watergate. This entrance was usually used for group tours, which Issy found appropriate under the current circumstances.
Along the way, the sub-team continued to blend in with the zombies, trying were possible to follow those going in the same direction and avoiding bumping into any others coming towards them. As they moved along, they took surreptitious glances towards the Tower, spotting some of the lights and the sentries on the ramparts. There was little concern that they would be spotted in amongst the zombies, especially as most of the sentries spent most of their time smoking and talking to each other rather than looking outwards over the wall. They obviously felt they were safe, which suited Issy just fine. It meant that they were totally unprepared for what she was about to do.
“Alpha snipers ready,” came through Issy’s comms, swiftly followed by some commentary about the number of sentries on the ramparts.
The rest of Team Alpha reached their designated entrance at 19.45. Issy slowly pushed her way past a couple of zombies to get right next to the door and her sub-team closed the space behind her. She carefully tried the gate and was surprised that it wouldn’t open.
With the rest of the sub-team forming a barrier against any zombies, Issy crouched down and clicked her comms. “We’ve got a problem people.”
*****
Team Bravo had more rowing to do to get to St Katharine’s Pier, so it took them a little longer. It was a smaller and less used Pier so securing the boats and moving up the ramp allowed them to catch up some of the lost time, but not a lot. Like Team Alpha, they merged with the zombies at the top of the ramp and started making their way towards their target; another gate in the Southern wall of the Tower between Cradle Tower and Well Tower known as East Drawbridge.
At the top of the ramp Team Bravo could see the Tower Bridge Hotel on their right and the East Gate beneath the road to Tower Bridge to their left. There were lights on at the hotel and they could see bodies moving around behind the glass on some of the floors.
The Bravo snipers of four headed up St Katharine’s Way to access Mansard House, the six-storey building which, unbeknown to them, had been used by Mamba and his party just a few days earlier. They headed for the roof where they made their preparations.
The other fifteen soldiers in Team Bravo headed left and passed through the East Gate and along Tower Wharf until they reached their designated gate and checked that it could be opened. It cou
ldn’t.
“Team Bravo in position but we’ve also got a problem,” came the update through the comms.
“Bravo snipers ready,” came the final confirmation a few minutes later.
42
Day 6 – 20:00
Tower of London, Inner Ward
“Issy, this is Daniel. What’s the problem?”
“The gates is locked,” Issy whispered.
“So is this one,” the head of Team Bravo confirmed.
Daniel looked at Rhys then Grace with confusion written all over his face. “I thought you said that you’d managed to unlock the gates,” he stated.
“We did,” Grace replied, and Rhys nodded his head in confirmation.
“Did you check?” Daniel asked.
“Of course we did!” Grace exclaimed.
“Then we have got a fucking problem,” Daniel commented. “If you opened them, who closed them, and more importantly, how did they know?”
Daniel, Rhys, Isaac, Grace, Zak, Nelson, and Shauna were all looking at each other in confusion when they heard Issy saying ‘Fuck!’ under her breath. The confusion slowly turned to suspicion, and Daniel asked, “Did anyone re-lock them or tell anybody what was happening?” There were shakes of the head all around. “Where are the keys now?” he asked.
“Here,” Rhys advised, getting to his feet, and passing them across to Daniel. “There are other sets of keys, but obviously not where we think they are. What are we going to do?”
“We’ve got no option but to go and open them again,” Daniel replied.
“But, there’s a curfew and we’re bound to be seen,” Shauna pointed out.
