“What happened?” Nixon asked.
“The swarm is changing people into Faceless and those Faceless are now hunting and converting more. We can’t expect the army to protect us.”
“Protect us?” Nixon said, hurrying around to the back door. “We need to help them.” But Kingston refused to move, blocking the way out.
“Trust me,” Kingston said, “there’s nothing you can do.” Kingston thought Nixon might shove him aside anyway and force the issue, but he made the sensible decision and backed off.
“So, what do we do?” Carter asked, moving to stand beside her colleague. “If they’re hunting, our best bet is to get as far away from them as possible.”
“No,” Nixon said, “we’ve got to stop them. They’re minutes away from the village. No one is prepared for what’s coming.” He rounded on Kingston. “You need to call for more troops.”
Kingston nodded. “Yes. But my phone’s in the car. Have you seen a landline in here?”
Carter hurried to check the rest of the house leaving Nixon and Kingston momentarily alone. “Is it as bad as you say?” Nixon asked softly.
“Yes.”
“Through here,” Carter’s voice came from a room at the front of the house.
Kingston moved away from the door and towards her voice when he heard breaking glass. Racing through the ground floor of the building now, he bumped into Carter hurrying the opposite way, back towards the kitchen.
“They’re inside,” was all she needed to say.
That settled it. They needed to get out of here and back to the cars; get down to the village and call for back up. “We’re leaving,” he called to Nixon as he reached the back door. “Get to your car. I’ll meet you back down at the village.”
Nixon nodded as Kingston flung open the back door and charged into the open. His eyes scanned the courtyard, hunting for signs of danger but it was clear. The Faceless must be working their way along the ridge, taking out whatever men they could find. A sound of gunfire briefly broke the silence before that too ended. Kingston didn’t want to picture what that might have meant, but the image came uninvited all the same.
He headed for the barn and felt in his pockets for his car keys, aware of Nixon and Carter on his heels.
“It’s behind me,” a breathless Carter said, and Kingston spun to see a Faceless emerging from the farmhouse kitchen, only metres behind. The creature had once been a lieutenant, and there was something fundamentally terrifying about the danger hunting them being one of their own protectors only minutes ago.
Carter wasn’t fast enough—the creature would be on top of her before she’d made it to their car. Nixon was still by the side of his vehicle, fumbling with his keys, but now he stopped. The keys fell from his hand and clanked on the cobblestones.
Kingston felt paralysed. He had to help, but he was unarmed. What could he do? He wasn’t a fighter.
Carter had sensed how close to disaster she was and made the fatal mistake of twisting her head to see how close the danger was. It slowed her.
Things played out in slow motion. The hands of the Faceless tore at Carter’s jacket and jerked her to a halt. She opened her mouth to scream as the Faceless bore down on her. A second Faceless appeared in the kitchen doorway. It saw its prey and quickened its pace.
Carter brought her arms up to strike.
Kingston prayed it would be over quickly. He turned away: couldn’t watch.
A body hit the floor.
“Stuart, no!” Carter’s voice.
Kingston looked again. Nixon had rushed in to save his friend and was now sitting astride the first Faceless, punching it in the jaw. Carter ran to him but Nixon shouted at her to run but Kingston knew she would not leave her friend.
Kingston ran and grabbed her by the arms. “We’ve got to go. We need to warn people. Get help.” But still, she resisted. Nixon was on his feet, ready to face the next Faceless that was coming for him, but he still managed to shout at Carter to go with Kingston.
“I’m not leaving,” Carter hissed, but as she was about to rush in to help Nixon, another Faceless appeared at the gate and she hesitated.
“Come on,” Kingston said and pulled at her.
Nixon rounded on the approaching Faceless from the kitchen, “Go!” he shouted at Carter.
Kingston ran with Carter towards the barn. If they could get the car going, they might still save him, cause enough of a distraction that he’d be able to evade them.
But that plan wasn’t going to pass. Another Faceless sensed their destination and ran to head them off; the car option had been taken off the menu. Glancing around, he saw that their only option now was to run on foot, away from the farmhouse back to the village or to the Institute. A pang of guilt struck him then. Linwood was trapped inside TALOS and was relying on his support to get out alive. But that support had gone leaving her trapped and vulnerable.
With a heavy heart, he grabbed Carter’s hand and ran for the treeline, hearing the sound of their hunters close behind.
63
5th June 2013
The day was not going to plan and Kingston was exhausted. It had been years since he’d done any serious running, and despite owning that gym membership for the last four years, he could count the number of times he’d been there on one hand. Pitiful.
Carter had been difficult to keep up with and his heart was racing. His lungs were on fire and sweat dripped under his arms and across his back. He was quite a mess.
But, he was alive.
Carter had forced a fast pace, and that had kept him ahead of the Faceless and away from the swarm and now that they’d rounded the hill and he could see the TALOS Institute again, he finally felt like he might make it through this alive.
Getting inside TALOS would be risky and probably stupid, but he had to get in there to at least attempt to put a stop to all this madness. When the inquiry came knocking on his door, and that day would come, he would make damned sure he could answer them with an honest heart when he told them he’d done everything he could.
Carter nodded to the town a mile away. “You could go to Lavernock. If you can’t find a mobile that works, you could find a landline.”
It was tempting but getting inside the Institute and being there in case any of the infiltration team made it to the extraction point was the priority. It would take any support up to an hour to reach them and Kingston wasn’t sure they had that long.
“How you doing?” he asked the detective.
Carter was breathless and her eyes hadn’t stopped scanning the area. “I’ve had better days.”
“We should keep moving. The extraction point was on the west side of the compound. That’s where Linwood and her team were going to meet us.” He tried to ignore the breathlessness in his voice.
“We’ll be down by the main road. There’s less cover. The swarm could come for us. The Faceless will spot us.”
“They’re not expecting us to be down there. All their efforts are focused around the farm. Besides, if they come for us, we’ll be closer to the town and the main road. We should be able to find a vehicle.”
Carter nodded, but it was begrudging. She glanced back up the way they’d come, and Kingston knew she was thinking of her friend. Nixon had shown himself to be a brave man and capable of taking on their attackers.
“He might have made it,” Kingston said softly.
Carter shook her head. “He’s gone. I know it.” Then, cautiously, Carter unlatched the gate, and they stepped through. The ridge and the track were on their left. They would need to head straight down a small embankment, cross the main access road, and head around to the right. It looked like a million miles all exposed to the swarm and anyone else who might be watching.
Kingston wasn’t sure whether he had any breath left in him should the need arise to run again. He chose not to let Carter know.
Quickly, he led the way across the path and back into the undergrowth. Thorns and brambles grew large, and he got scratch
ed as he fought his way through. He cursed as a thorn snagged on his shirt and dug into his flesh.
At the roadside, it was all he could do to not just run for the far side, but Carter put an arm out to stop him. She wanted to check if the coast was clear. Looking up and to his left, he could see most of the ridge. The Faceless were still hunting for survivors up there. He wondered if anyone else had survived and prayed that he’d find a group waiting for him at the extraction point.
But three minutes later, it was a hope built on nothing. The extraction point was clear of troops. Added to that, there was no sign of any of Linwood’s team.
“Are we at the right place?” Carter asked.
“They might have had to improvise another way out. Or they might be successful and not need a way out at all.”
He prayed that it was the latter.
Sounds of gunshot broke the silence. It had come from inside the Institute. Ice scored Kingston’s back, and he tensed, expecting his team to come running out of the facility with armed security at their heels.
He gritted his teeth and waited.
64
5th June 2013
DI Payne smashed open the fire escape and found himself staring up at an embankment and the metal fence atop it. He was living on borrowed time. The creatures he’d left Max fighting would kill him then they would be out and free and there was nothing he could do about it.
Then he saw the man he’d met in Westminster all those weeks ago—Kingston, and he was standing beside someone else, gesturing madly for him to hurry.
It was Carter! What the hell was she doing here? An initial jolt of anger evaporated as he found seeing the friendly face spurred him on.
He galloped up the steep incline to the fence, swearing he’d shed a few pounds should he survive this.
“I thought you’d have had enough throwing yourself into danger for one week,” Payne said, smiling at his colleague.
“You’re setting a bad example, sir,” Carter replied.
“Where’s the rest of the team?” Payne asked Kingston.
“We ran into a problem,” Kingston replied. “There’s a group of Faceless up on the ridge with the ability to turn people into more Faceless by touch alone. Also, see that black cloud?”
Payne turned and saw the curious black shape higher up by the tree line, a dark grey against the silvery sky. It moved and bristled.
Kingston continued. “Not a cloud. Some kind of swarm. Best guess is it’s something to do with nanites. They can eviscerate you or turn you into a Faceless. Either way, you’re done.”
“And that’s what happened to your men?”
Kingston nodded. “Let’s get you out of there, then we can worry about the men.”
Carter gestured at the fence. “You’re going to have to climb over.”
Payne contemplated the ten-foot-high fence and resisted the urge to laugh. “You are joking.”
“No joke.”
As if in response to his growing misery, the heavens chose that moment to open, and a heavy rain began to fall, running down Payne’s back and soaking his shirt. Could today get any more miserable?
“Where’s Linwood?” Kingston asked, brushing rain away from his forehead.
“I don’t know. She broke off to find the controller. Dean and Jaq followed later. I was making my way outside when we were intercepted by a group of Faceless.”
“Who’s we?”
“Me and Max Harding. They were holding him. Experimenting on him.”
“What kind of experiments?” Kingston pressed.
“I’ve not had time to ask. Does it matter?”
And suddenly the doors that Payne had run out from opened again and four Faceless were in the open.
“Shit,” Payne said. He looked around, working out what his best escape route would be. Then he glanced up at the fence again and wondered if he could try it after all. The Faceless were fast. He’d seen that on many occasions, but if he could get over the fence, he’d stand a chance.
“Hurry,” Carter hissed.
Decision made, Payne gripped the fence and let the cool metal links bite into his palms. He jabbed the tips of his shoes into the latticework and made it a foot above ground before slipping back down again. This was useless. He could see the exasperation on Carter’s face and her disappointment only made things worse.
“You really need to hurry,” Kingston said.
Payne gripped the fence again, this time a little higher, hoping to jump and pull himself up. But the wet fence made it impossible to get any purchase, and he relinquished his grip, dropping back to the floor. He was too old for this shit.
Payne looked back towards the Institute. “I’ll find another way out,” he said and ran back down the slope. It wasn’t supposed to end like this. Stupid and wet and without a plan.
So, when the door opened again, and Max ran out into the open, he felt the biggest sense of relief.
But this wasn’t the Max he’d known earlier. From a distance, Payne couldn’t work out what the dark brown smudges were on Max’s face. It was only after Max came running towards the Faceless, and he let out a screeching howl of rage that he recognised the blood. The man’s clothes were dark, covered in red.
The Faceless turned, ignoring Payne, and focused on Max. They dove on him like a pack of dogs attacking a wounded deer.
Max was unfazed. He threw himself into the fight. His fists struck hard at the creatures’ faces, and his legs found targets easily.
Payne considered moving in to help, but he didn’t want to be anywhere near the death machine that Max had become.
And in seconds, it was all over, the fight that had been so impossibly unfair and unwinnable to any normal man, was over.
Max stood, panting heavily amidst the bodies of four dead Faceless.
Payne approached cautiously. “Are you OK, Max?”
It took a moment for Max to even acknowledge there was another person present. and when he did, it was with the eyes of a startled rabbit, surprised by the farmer’s torch.
“What the...?”
He looked around him at the carnage by his feet and scrambled away from the death. Payne saw that his hands were now covered in fresh blood. He’d been hitting those creatures with everything he had and what had been left of them was poor bloodied sacks of meat.
And Payne resisted the urge to vomit. These weren’t the enemy. They were the victims as much as they all were, no more so. These were people they didn’t even know yet; victims with no names.
Payne reached to grab Max who looked like he might stumble, but Max knocked his hand aside. “I don’t need your help.” But Payne persisted and helped the man sit down on the ground, some feet away from the carnage.
“What’s happening to me, Payne? I don’t even... I can’t have done this.” His voice was full of awe and fear.
“They would have killed us,” he said softly.
Max nodded but there wasn’t any conviction in it.
“We need to get going,” Payne continued. “Are you up for moving?”
“I think so,” Max replied and Payne helped get him to his feet. They moved back up the embankment to the fence where Kingston eyed Max warily.
“You OK?” Kingston asked.
Max didn’t reply.
“We need to get him some medical treatment. He’s injured.” Payne indicated Max’s hands, and they saw the blood and broken skin.
Kingston winced and pointed towards the front of the building. “We’ll have to go to the main entrance and deal with any opposition.”
Carter was distracted. Her eyes were wide, and she was looking behind him, back towards the ridge. “What is it?” Payne asked, turning. And when he did, it was obvious. The cloud was moving towards them, and it was moving quickly.
“I think we’d best get out of here.”
“You need to come inside,” Payne told the others. “We’d do better in the building. Hole up and call for help.”
Carter grabbed hold
of the fence and started to climb. She lost her grip. The rain was making the fence slippy and difficult to gain any purchase on.
“You’ll have to do better than that,” Payne told her. “You too,” he told Kingston.
Kingston took a few steps back and ran at the fence, leaping as far as he could reach.
Payne couldn’t take his eyes away from the approaching swarm. There was no chance they’d make it.
65
5th June 2013
Linwood didn’t know what to say. She’d been quiet ever since Winborn had pulled up the security cameras of Max’s fight against the Faceless. She’d been right about him. Something had changed. TALOS had known it as well, that was why they’d kept him contained for so long. But what that might be, she’d no idea. He was a dangerous man and dangerous men couldn’t be left to roam free—unless they worked for her.
Another camera took over the main display and the approaching nanite swarm got closer.
“Call it off,” she demanded.
“And why would I do that?”
“Because it’s the decent thing to do. Because you want Max to stay alive as much as I do and I’m not convinced your swarm will be able to tell the difference between him and the others. You’ve put a lot of effort in working out what’s happened to him, don’t let that go to waste.”
Winborn looked torn and Linwood realised she’d made the correct argument. She could do this and save her friend’s lives.
He turned back to his console and tapped away, entering instructions. But something was wrong. His expression looked pained, his eyes narrowed, and he increased the pace of his typing. Hitting the keys louder with each attempt.
“It’s not working,” he said, the agitation making his voice rise.
“What do you mean? Shut it down!” she demanded.
“I’m trying. But it’s not working. The swarm isn’t taking my instructions. They’re operating autonomously.”
A weight hit her chest, and she gripped onto the back of the nearest chair. “You’ve got to stop it, or those men will die.”
The Faceless Stratagem Page 27
