‘The men are trying to get into the bathroom,’ said Liz.
She felt the car lurch forward as Dean floored the accelerator. ‘If those bastards lay a finger on her …’ He didn’t need to say what was on his mind.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Leay Street, Battersea, South London, new moon
Dean pulled the patrol car to a stop immediately outside his house and jumped out. Liz followed him. Lights were on upstairs and downstairs but there was no obvious sign of trouble from the outside. Liz had tried to get through to Samantha on the phone again, but she hadn’t picked up.
‘Samantha said that the men climbed in through a rear window,’ she said to Dean. ‘She thought there were two men, but there might be more. It sounded like they were burglars.’
Dean had gone to the back of the car and he appeared now with the assault rifle in his hands.
Liz stared at the weapon. ‘Is that necessary?’ she asked.
‘Oh, yes,’ said Dean. ‘I think it is.’ He ran to the house and opened the front door with his key. ‘Sam!’ he bellowed through the open door. ‘Sam, we’re here!’ He entered the house, the rifle raised in front of him. Liz followed.
Dean headed straight upstairs, his feet pounding heavily as he took the steps two at a time. Liz checked the downstairs rooms, but they were empty. She heard a shout from above and ran quickly up the stairs.
Dean was on the landing at the top of the staircase, the rifle aimed and ready to fire. Two rough-looking men stood at the end of the landing ten yards from him, looking scared but undaunted. They were young, perhaps late twenties or early thirties, one of mixed race with long dreadlocks, the other white with a shaven head and tattoos on his neck. Both held knives: one a broad-bladed machete; the other a brutal-looking meat cleaver.
Dreadlock Guy had one arm wrapped around Samantha’s neck. His other arm held the machete. The tattooed man held Lily, the meat cleaver at the little girl’s throat.
Samantha’s clothes were torn away, her underwear on display, the soft mound of her belly clearly visible. Her face was rigid with terror.
‘What have you done to her?’ shouted Dean, pointing the rifle at the first man’s head, his finger resting on the trigger. ‘What have you done to my wife? If you’ve hurt her …’
‘They didn’t do anything to me, Dean,’ said Samantha, tearfully. ‘You got here just in time.’
‘Yeah,’ sneered Dreadlock Guy. ‘Like your wife says. We didn’t have time to do nothing.’
‘You were going to rape her,’ accused Dean, his voice rising. ‘You were going to rape my pregnant wife.’
Dreadlock Guy shrugged. ‘You heard what the chick said. No milk got spilled. No need to cry.’
Dean stared at the man down the barrel of the rifle, his eyes blazing with fire, seemingly too angry to speak. His finger twitched on the trigger of the gun.
‘Dean!’ cautioned Liz. ‘Hold your fire.’
‘Yeah, like the lady says,’ continued the man calmly. ‘No harm done, nothing stolen, nobody hurt. So we all know how this plays out. You let us go. You put the gun down, we walk out of here and nothing nasty happens.’
Samantha’s eyes seemed to beseech Dean to do what the man said.
But Dean’s finger didn’t move from the trigger. ‘I’ll tell you what we do,’ he said. ‘You release my wife and daughter. Drop the knives and get down on the floor. I’ll decide what happens then.’
Liz knew what Dean was likely to do to anyone who threatened Samantha or Lily. She stepped up beside him and spoke to the man with the machete. ‘More armed police officers are on their way now,’ she said. It was a barefaced lie, but she was getting good at those. She ought to have radioed for backup, but there just hadn’t been time. ‘You have no hope of escape,’ she continued in what she hoped was a calming, measured tone. ‘Drop your weapons and release your prisoners.’
The tattooed man was sweating like a pig. He held the meat cleaver at Lily’s throat with knuckles turned white. His eyes darted from Dean to Liz and back. ‘Let’s do it like she says,’ he suggested to his accomplice. ‘I don’t want to go home with a bullet in my head, man.’
But Dreadlock Guy wrapped his arm more tightly around Samantha’s neck. ‘No one’s getting a bullet,’ he said. ‘Not while we have his wife and daughter. They’re our ticket out of here and he knows it.’ He jerked Samantha’s head back and she gasped. ‘Now drop the fucking gun, big guy.’
Lily began to wail, her lower lip trembling, the quiver spreading to her arms and legs. ‘Daddy, help me,’ she cried. ‘He’s hurting me. I’m frightened.’
The tattooed man gave her a shake. ‘Stop it,’ he muttered. ‘I don’t want to hurt you.’ The handle of the meat cleaver was slick with sweat in his hand and his own arms were trembling just like Lily’s. His shaven head shone with perspiration. ‘Keep quiet!’ he said to Lily. ‘I just can’t think through that noise.’
The girl cried louder as he shook her, her arms and legs spasming uncontrollably. She began to twist from side to side in his grip.
The man held on to her tighter. ‘Make her shut up, man!’ he shouted. ‘Make her shut the fuck up!’
Dean swung the barrel of the rifle and pointed it at the tattooed man’s bald head.
The man squirmed, lifting Lily before him as a human shield. ‘Don’t point the gun at me,’ he said. The blade of the meat cleaver sliced through the air by Lily’s neck. ‘I can’t think straight if you point that thing at me.’
Dean didn’t move.
The man with the tattoos turned to Liz in desperation. ‘Tell him to drop the gun,’ he wailed. ‘And make the girl shut up. Make her be quiet. She’s gotta stay still or I’m gonna cut her.’ He gripped the meat cleaver tightly.
‘Let her go,’ insisted Liz urgently. ‘Release the girl and I promise that you’ll come to no harm.’
‘No!’ shouted Dreadlock Guy. ‘Don’t listen to her!’ His hair braids flew as he jerked Samantha in his arms. ‘Don’t let go of the fucking girl, or else we’re both dead.’
The tattooed man ignored him, flicking his eyes wildly from Liz to Dean and back again. ‘I’ll do it,’ he said to Liz. ‘I’ll let her go. But tell the big guy he’s gotta put the gun down.’
In reply, Dean advanced a step toward him.
‘Come on,’ begged the man desperately. ‘Don’t do that. You gotta make it easy for me. Don’t make me do the wrong thing.’
‘Shut up!’ the other intruder shouted at him angrily. ‘Just shut your mouth!’ He tugged at Samantha’s hair and she cried out.
Dean’s gun swung back in his direction. He took another step closer.
The tattooed man holding Lily was babbling now. ‘I don’t want to be here no more,’ he said to Liz. ‘I wish I was at home. Take the girl from me. I don’t want her. Just take her.’ He lifted Lily in his arms and held the girl out to Liz.
Was it a trick? The man was in too much of a panic to be thinking of a trick. He just wanted to be rid of the girl, to have someone else make a decision for him. She edged along the wooden banister toward him, not once taking her eyes from his. ‘Okay, stay calm now. Pass the girl to me. Nobody’s going to get hurt here. Just stay calm and pass her to me.’
She moved toward him in small, steady steps, her arms held out to take Lily.
The man’s eyes flicked from her to the barrel of Dean’s gun and back. Sweat was running from his forehead like a river. He seemed to have forgotten the weapon he held loosely in his hand. ‘Take her,’ he said desperately, his arms outstretched, as if the girl were a ticking time bomb. ‘Quickly. I don’t want her no more.’
Lily’s tiny form was almost in Liz’s reach now. The girl struggled in the man’s grip, crying hysterically. ‘Lily,’ said Liz. ‘Can you hear me? I need you to stay still now. Stay very still. I’m going to take you to safety.’
The man’s arms were shaking violently. ‘Take her!’ he screamed. ‘Take her from me now!’ The blade of the cleaver twitched at hi
s side, the handle dripping with sweat. He held her out for Liz to grasp.
Liz reached out to the girl, but too slowly. Dreadlock Guy lurched suddenly and she saw a silver glint as the machete blade swung toward her.
‘No!’ cried the other man, shoving Lily forward and letting his own weapon slip from his grasp. He threw his hands in the air.
Liz ducked and the blade of the machete swung over her head. Lily had fallen to the floor, crying. She grabbed at the little girl and yanked her backward, tumbling away from the attackers and back toward Dean.
An ear-splitting crack filled the enclosed space of the landing and echoed off the walls. The assault rifle jerked in Dean’s grip and an empty cartridge spun from its side. Samantha screamed.
Liz tumbled to the carpet, covering Lily with her own body as protection.
A man’s voice roared with anger and the gun cracked again. A second spent cartridge landed on the carpet next to Liz.
She pushed herself to her knees and looked to see what had happened. Dean stood like a statue, the rifle still in his hands. Samantha had collapsed to the floor and was wailing hysterically. The two intruders lay dead, each man with a single hole in the middle of his forehead.
Chapter Fifty-Five
Holland Gardens, Kensington, London, crescent moon
The subject of the next War Council was due to be the attack on the hospital. Adam was reluctant to get involved, knowing that he would be unable to be of much use. How could he be a part of the operation now that he could no longer go out of the house? But Snakebite reassured him that he could still be included in the planning.
‘How can I help?’ asked Adam bitterly. ‘I’m stuck indoors, kicking my feet.’
‘Don’t worry,’ said Snakebite. ‘I’ve got a solution to that. The boys have gone to the hospital to record a video of the layout. Come to the meeting and watch the video. You’ll be able to see what the army’s up to, and how they’ve secured the access points. You can help with the planning even if you can’t go out.’
‘Nice one,’ said Adam, cheering up at once. ‘I can search for plans of the building and other info online.’
‘Sweet,’ said Snakebite, punching him on the shoulder. ‘We’re a team.’
The War Council took place in the basement conference room that afternoon. Adam arrived on time and took up his usual place sitting opposite Warg Daddy and Snakebite. Leanna sat at the far end of the table, brooding silently. Blonde hair covered the burned side of her face, and Adam was glad not to have to look at it.
Warg Daddy seemed to be in charge of the overall planning, with Snakebite as his deputy. The two men acted like military commanders, despite having no weapons and an army numbering just seven foot soldiers. Adam might have laughed, if he’d dared. But even he had to admit that the Wolf Brothers had done a thorough reconnaissance of the exterior of the building.
Snakebite had connected a laptop to the huge wall-mounted TV and was explaining how they’d gathered their intel. ‘It’s not so easy to travel around the city with all the roadblocks and checkpoints in place. But we managed to send some scouts to survey the target. Meathook and Slasher went out this morning and recorded some footage of the area immediately around the hospital.’ He pressed a button and a video began to play on the big screen. It had obviously been filmed from a moving motorbike and was jerky and unclear in places, but it gave a good impression of the geography.
‘The main entrance to the hospital is on the northern side,’ said Warg Daddy, taking charge. ‘Stop the video here, will you, Snakebite?’
The video froze, showing a cluster of buildings. Some were modern; others were older red-brick structures. They crowded together around a cramped parking space filled with military vehicles.
‘Tell them about it, Snake,’ said Warg Daddy, leaning back in his chair and allowing his second-in-command to give a detailed report.
Snakebite pointed at the image on the screen with a laser pointer. ‘The army has set up a roadblock with a checkpoint at the main entrance. They’re searching all vehicles and pedestrians who approach the building. The troops are from 16 Air Assault Brigade, which is the British Army’s rapid response airborne formation. You can see that they’re wearing the red berets of the Parachute Regiment.’
The screen showed a group of soldiers standing at the checkpoint, guns in hand, all wearing the distinctive red berets. Several military vehicles were parked behind them, one of which looked to Adam like a tank. The tracked vehicle was stationed right outside the entrance, its long gun barrel pointing directly at the camera.
‘This is a Scimitar armoured truck,’ said Snakebite. ‘It’s designed to offer protection against bullets, mines and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs. The Scimitar packs a 30mm armour-piercing cannon capable of taking out enemy tanks.’
Snakebite indicated a second vehicle parked next to the checkpoint. ‘This is a modified military Land Rover,’ he said. ‘It’s equipped with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun. It’s a belt-fed weapon that’ll lay down 750 rounds per minute of sustained fire with a range of up to two kilometres. You don’t want to get in its way.’
He pressed another button and the image zoomed in on the soldiers manning the checkpoint. ‘16 Air Assault Brigade was deployed in Sierra Leone, Macedonia, Afghanistan and Iraq,’ he continued. ‘The troops you see here are carrying standard-issue SA80 assault rifles. These can fire up to 775 rounds per minute with a range of three hundred metres. The soldiers patrolling the perimeter of the hospital are armed with combat shotguns. They’re 18.4mm semi-automatic weapons designed for close quarter use.’
Warg Daddy leaned forward. ‘Short range motherfuckers,’ he said. ‘They’ll basically blow the holy shit out of anyone standing at the wrong end.’
‘Any questions so far?’ asked Snakebite.
Adam had none. The army checkpoint looked to be pretty-well unassailable, at least without heavy weaponry to match, and he was beginning to doubt whether they had any chance of taking the hospital. The Wolf Brothers didn’t even have guns, as far as he knew.
Snakebite pressed a button and the video resumed playing. ‘This is the main road that runs along the eastern edge of the hospital,’ he explained. The entrance to the Emergency Department is located here, and this is where ambulances enter and leave. You can see that the main hospital building where the patients are being held is on eight floors. The southern boundary of the hospital runs along the edge of railway tracks, with Ruskin Park further to the south. Access from the west is sealed. The site is located right in the middle of a residential area, with housing all around, and lines of sight are very restricted. Soldiers patrol the perimeter of the site on foot, and all access points are controlled by the army. There’s a strict quarantine in place, and no one enters or leaves the hospital itself, except to admit new patients.’
He pressed a button and a still image appeared, showing an aerial view of the main hospital building. ‘A helicopter landing pad is located on the roof of the main block. This has been turned over to military use, and currently a Lynx attack helicopter is stationed here 24/7. The Lynx is armed with an M3M machine gun capable of firing over 850 rounds a minute, and runs regular patrols, day and night.’
He concluded with a video taken from a distance showing the helicopter swooping low over nearby buildings, completing a wide circle before returning to its rooftop base. The barrel of the machine gun was clearly visible through the chopper’s side door.
‘Adam,’ concluded Snakebite, ‘over to you.’
Adam stood up and ran through the intel he had managed to gather online. He showed a map of the hospital grounds and plans of the interior. But what little he’d managed to find seemed irrelevant compared with the video showing the military presence. He felt like he was wasting his breath. ‘It hardly seems to matter,’ he said finally. ‘They’ve turned the hospital into a fortress. It looks virtually impregnable.’
Leanna spoke then for the first time since the briefing had begun. ‘Looks
can be deceptive,’ she said. ‘As evidenced by Snakebite here.’
‘Yeah,’ grumbled Warg Daddy. ‘We always thought he was a dumbass. Turns out he’s a fucking military genius.’
‘Explain the plan, Snakebite,’ said Leanna.
Snakebite got to his feet again, towering over her. ‘What Adam says is partly true. The army have assembled a lot of military hardware here, for sure. They probably think the place is very well protected. But that’s their problem, you see. Complacency.’
Adam didn’t see. ‘But all the entrances are sealed or guarded. How can we possibly get inside? We don’t even have weapons, unless you count flick knives and baseball bats. Even in wolf form we’re vulnerable to bullets. It doesn’t take a silver bullet to kill a werewolf – lead does the job perfectly well. We saw that clearly enough when Samuel was killed.’
Snakebite nodded patiently, scratching at his red beard, giving the impression that he knew Adam would say exactly that. ‘The army’s used to taking on conventional military opponents. Even unconventional ones. In Iraq and Afghanistan they dealt with terrorists trained in guerrilla tactics. They’re trained to handle a wide variety of enemies. But they don’t know how to deal with werewolves.’
‘Sure,’ said Adam. ‘But werewolves can’t take out tanks.’
Snakebite nodded. He brought up a still image of the tank on the screen. ‘The Scimitar armoured vehicle certainly looks dangerous enough. It was designed to punch holes in Soviet-era battle tanks. But if the army boys try to use its primary weapon in such an enclosed space, they’ll probably blow themselves sky high.’
‘Fair enough,’ admitted Adam, ‘but what about the soldiers? And the helicopter?’
‘The helicopter patrols the air, but only at regular intervals. We can easily avoid it. The main entrance is secured, and the perimeter is patrolled on foot, but the hospital consists of dozens of separate buildings, each with multiple points of entry. The southern boundary lies along the railway track, and the western perimeter is bounded by low walls with several gates. The hospital grounds are almost impossible to defend from a stealth attack. The primary function of the soldiers is to stop people getting out, not in. Besides, most of the soldiers are based inside.’
Lycanthropic (Book 2): Wolf Moon (The Rise of the Werewolves) Page 23
