We turn left onto the main Finchley Road, where there are a couple of cars darting about and the odd pedestrian, all, I presume, rushing to get back to wherever they are going to hole themselves up through this. And, as we move into the shopping area of the street, there are even more people.
To my surprise, there are also some convenience stores with their doors still open and people going in and coming out of them, their arms full of shopping bags. They all look very flustered, some even panicked. These people are obviously getting last-minute supplies they need from the shop owners who can't resist making a quick killing on selling them.
On the opposite side of the road, a police car appears with its blue lights flashing. The car is only moving slowly and as it gets closer, the sound of a loud voice can be heard coming from the car’s loudspeakers. The voice is instructing people to leave the streets and return home immediately, or risk being arrested. The people all now look even more rushed and panicked, some breaking into a run even with their arms full of supplies.
As the police car approaches and comes level with us, it sounds its siren for a couple of seconds and the driver’s window goes down. I slow our car and reach into my inside pocket to retrieve my Military ID card, then—rolling down my window—I flash the card to the police officer driving. With a cursory look at the card, he waves me on, neither of our cars even stopping.
I accelerate, leaving the police car behind, and press the button to put my window back up. A glance into my rear-view mirror shows Emily with her head down and looking at her iPad, while Stacey stares out of her back window looking slightly dazed.
As the Finchley Road turns into the A41, we accelerate further, reaching sixty on my speedo. There are still a few cars and people around, but I ignore them, concentrating on driving while I pick up my phone.
My first call again is to Josh. I am absolutely desperate to speak to him now; is he in the middle of this? Hopefully, he has been stationed somewhere away from the immediate danger. I also want to tell him our plan and where we are heading, but again there is no answer and I leave another message for him, telling him where we are and what we are doing, and asking him to please call me as soon as he can.
My next call is to Orion. The phone is answered again in good time by Lindsay, and I ask to be put through to Dan. She connects us, and this time he is in his office and answers his phone on the first ring.
“Hello, Boss, where are you?” he immediately says into my right ear, straight to the point, thankfully.
“I’m coming down the A41 and just passed Hampstead Cemetery. ETA is fifteen to twenty minutes. Report on the situation there and anything else I need to know?”
“We are still on lockdown. Sentries are guarding the main gate and the perimeter wall, they are armed only with side arms. I can’t get into the armoury; Sir Malcolm won’t give me his authorisation saying he cannot risk its knowledge getting out unnecessarily. Bloody idiot, I nearly knocked his block off, Boss. Anyway, we have had no contacts here as of yet, but it’s only a matter of time; the action is getting closer, we can hear it. I will go to the gate in fifteen minutes to prepare opening it for your arrival. Get here as quickly as possible, Boss. We need more firepower.”
“That’s the plan, Dan, let me know if the situation changes immediately.”
“Will do.”
“Is Catherine there?”
“Yes, she is in her office I think?”
“Good, put me through to her please, see you shortly.”
I’m put on hold to the sound of some nondescript music.
Catherine is my secretary, my right-hand at the office. I rely on her immensely; after all, I’m just a soldier in a suit and my typing skills don’t go past two fingers at a time, one on each hand.
She is a very beautiful woman, but very down to earth and has no side to her. We get on extremely well and to be honest, we have had quite a few ‘moments’ together but I have always pulled back from them, to be professional. I don’t know how much longer I can keep pulling back, though.
“Hi, Andy,” her voice fills my ear.
“Morning, Catherine, are you okay? I know this situation is very worrying.”
“I’m okay Andy, but will feel better once you get here.”
“Will you?” I say
“Yes, yes I will.”
Slightly flustered, I continue. “We should be there in about twenty minutes, I have Emily and Stacey with me. I wondered if you could get some food and drinks ready for when we get there and set the TV up for them in the lounge. I have got a lot to do when I get there, what do you think?”
“Yes, that sounds fine, Andy, I’ll do that now and I will sort them out when you arrive, okay?”
“Thanks, Catherine, I have to go, see you soon.”
“Yes, see you soon—and be careful,” She hangs up.
For the next couple of miles heading deeper into London, I start to hear faint cracking sounds. Immediately knowing they are the sounds of gunfire, I keep my window up so as to not alert the girls for as long as possible. When we reach a crest of a hill on the road, billows of smoke are visible over central London.
The situation is bad, that much is plain, and I only hope we can make it to Orion without incident. Is it the right decision to be moving closer to the immediate danger however secure and well-armed the Orion Building is, or should we turn around now and get as far away as we possibly can from the epicentre?
As my mind works, right overhead in front of the car a formation of helicopters glides past on a flight course towards the city. There are at least six Apache, four or five Lynx and three Chinooks bringing up the rear. The Chinooks have bay doors open with manned M60D machine guns at the ready, capable of firing 550 rounds per minute. Jesus. My foot pushes the accelerator down and our speed increases yet further.
As we approach the Swiss Cottage Junction of the A41, I make out a military checkpoint together with a barrier blocking the road. Slowing, I again get my spare military card at the ready. Getting closer still, it’s easy to see they are not messing around. There are at least ten fully armed troops, five on each side of the road approaching the junction. A Warrior personnel carrier is parked in the middle of the junction, its main gun turret and cannon circling around looking for possible threats. The travelling turret comes to a sharp halt, the cannon pointed directly at us!
Slowing down ready to pull up and stop, I tell the girls to be silent. Emily starts to say something but cutting her off, I sternly tell her, “Silence”!
One of the soldiers moves into the middle of the road holding his hand up, palm facing flat out towards us, signalling for me to stop the vehicle. He is dressed in full combat gear, with body armour, helmet, his comms earpiece, then a rifle across his chest and a sidearm. Two other members of the unit take positions with their L85 assault rifles pointed directly at our car. There is no way we are getting through this checkpoint without their say so.
Opening my window, the soldier moves around to the side of the car.
“All roads ahead are closed; there is no access, turn your vehicle around.”
I produce my military card and hand it to him. “I’m Captain Andrew Richards, Military Intelligence. I have been ordered to HQ by Colonel Reed. Open the barrier Corporal…?"
“Corporal Brice, Sir. I am sorry but I'm under orders to allow no vehicles past this checkpoint, in or out. All hell is breaking loose in there, Sir.”
He is not exaggerating, the sound of gunfire is constant and not too distant, explosions too. The unmistakable smell of combat is in the air.
“Thank you, Corporal Brice. I understand your orders, but this comes from the top. So, I am ordering you to open the barrier, understood?”
I sit there in silence, not wanting to overplay my bluff and wait for the Corporal to come to his own decision. Thankfully, the girls are silent in the back and I am positioned so he can’t see them through my open window. The Corporal seems in deep concentration for a couple of seconds and then loo
ks at me.
“Do you have your sidearm with you, Sir?”
“Yes, Corporal.”
“Very well then, Sir, watch yourself in there, Sir,” he says, genuinely concerned and handing back my ID card.
“Thank you, Corporal, keep your men alert,” I say and immediately roll up my window.
The Corporal walks back around to the front of the car shouting orders and waving his arm, instructing his men to open the barrier. As soon as the barrier is open wide enough, I drive straight through the gap and into the unknown.
Chapter 7
My doubts about whether I have made the right decision to seek sanctuary at Orion for me and my girls continue to persist. Maybe I have underestimated the threat of this outbreak and these creatures, who were ordinary people going about their daily business only a short time ago. Have they reached as far out as the Orion Building already? Will they attack us before we even get any closer? I have to put these doubts aside; we would never have been able to defend ourselves at home. My task now is to get us to Orion and inside the building as quickly as possible, and hopefully before this plague or whatever it is, reaches the Paddington Basin area and the Orion Building.
The soldiers back at the checkpoint were probably expecting to see our car turn left towards Military HQ but the car turns right down Wellington Road and toward Lord’s Cricket Ground. The streets here are totally dead; there is nobody, no cars to be seen moving anywhere. We speed down the road.
“I’m sorry for snapping at you, Emily, back there.” She still hasn’t made a sound. “But you have to listen to what I am saying at the moment and do as I say, do you understand?”
“Yes, Dad, I’m sorry. I was only going to ask you a question.”
“That’s okay, sweetie, it’s not your fault. I just needed silence while I spoke to the soldier. Now, what did you want to ask me?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Emily replies.
“Yes, it does, Emily, you know you can ask me anything. I just needed you to be quiet right then.”
“Okay, Dad, I was going to ask you to tell me what is going on? Why were those soldiers pointing their guns at us?”
Emily is asking a fair question. She must be very afraid and confused and I haven’t really told her much. Yet there could be anything waiting around the next corner for us, any untold horrors. I can’t protect her from what we might see—in fact, not might—what we, in all honesty, are going to see and what is probably going to happen to us, if not on the road, then back at Orion.
I decide I have to prepare her and quickly!
“Emily, I am going to tell you what is happening. This will frighten you, but you have to remember that you are with me and I will protect you, okay?
“Yes, Dad,” she says quietly and nervously.
“Well, you know that there is trouble in the city and that there are lots of police and soldiers there trying to sort it out?”
“Yes.”
“The trouble is, an illness is turning people into very, very nasty people once they have it. They do horrible things to other people, and we must try to keep away from them, which is why we are going to my work. These nasty people will find it very hard to get in there and all my work friends will be there to help us.”
Emily is silent.
“Now, I don’t want you to worry too much. We will be safe when we get to my work and hopefully, we will get there without seeing any of these poorly people. I’ve told you what’s happening, Emily; now, will you do something for me?”
Emily now sounding extremely nervous and afraid, replies, “Yes, Dad what do you want me to do?”
“I want you to listen to what I am saying and telling you very carefully until this is over. I want you to do exactly what I tell you and I want you to stay very close to me when I tell you to. Is that okay?”
Again, “Yes, Dad.”
“Remember, as long as you listen carefully to me and do as I say we will be fine. Stacey is here to look after you as well, and as long as we all stick together, we will be okay. Right, Stacey?”
“Yes. Emily, we are all going to stick together and look after each other. We are all frightened, it’s not just you, we all are. But we are with your Dad and he knows what he is doing because he was one of the best soldiers when he was in the army, wasn’t he?” Stacey is reassuring me, never mind Emily. I suddenly feel hopeful.
Then Emily asks Stacey a question. “Where are your Mum and Dad, Stacey?”
“They are stuck at their work, they were there when this trouble started. I have spoken to them and they are safe. Their office is very high up in their tall building.”
“Good,” Emily says. “I am pleased they are okay. Stacey, you are part of our family today and you’re right, Dad will look after us.”
The girls continue to chatter among themselves.
As we round the next corner, Lord’s stadium comes into view, the sun glistening off the top of the tall stands, especially off the marquee tops of the tallest far stand. The famous ‘Bubble’ building of the Media Centre seems to float in mid-air, looking like some kind of alien spacecraft away on our right. Maybe it could fly us somewhere safe, even to another world; anywhere would seem safer than London at the moment.
The gunfire outside is clearly audible now from inside the car, the cracking sounds reaching into us are now constant. Some shots sound as though they are very close, but most still sound farther away as far as I can tell. I don’t mention these noises, however.
The cricket ground is directly on our right-hand side now, the Alien Spaceship hovering above us. We turn right at the end of the road, keeping the ground on our right and I power down the road at speed. My right ear buzzes and I look at my phone screen. It’s Dan calling, I press to answer.
“Yes, Dan.”
“Boss,” he shouts urgently. “Multiple hostile contacts have been spotted to the rear of the building directly on the other side of the water. I have reports that some have crossed the bridge. These ugly fuckers aren’t taking no for an answer, what’s your current ETA?”
Shit. “We are eight minutes out. Have any been spotted to the front of the building?”
“Negative, Boss, get here A-SAP and expect contact on arrival. I’m moving outside ready to open the gate, and I’ll position men in covering positions in the grounds overlooking the gate.”
“Roger, Dan. Be ready for us, we’ll be coming in hot!”
“Copy that, Boss, over and out.”
This is not what I want to hear. The plan was to make it into the Orion Building safely before the chaos reached it, but it’s now already at the back of the building.
The Orion Building is situated in the Paddington basin business district, directly to the east of Paddington Train Station. The building is eight floors high including the ground floor, and the top seven floors are covered with mirrored, light blue tinted glass, twenty millimetres thick. It’s layered toughened glass, not technically bulletproof, but it would take several heavy rounds to get through it in theory.
The ground floor has no glass at all, apart from the entrance doors, also made from 20mm glass, which is bulletproof. These doors then have a hardened steel sliding door which can be closed electrically and internally behind the outer glass doors.
The ground floor is walled all the way around and constructed from a metre-thick reinforced concrete. They may be nicely decorated, the walls painted white with different metallic silver painted shapes inside and out, so they don’t look severe, but these walls are bombproof.
The building itself is in the shape of a right-angled triangle with the rear of the building running adjacent to the canal. This canal has then been extended to also run down the West side of the building and is three metres wide and two metres deep. These two sides make up the right angle of the triangle and basically have a moat running beside them.
To the front of the building are two perimeter walls, also at right angles to each other. These walls, together with the two sides of the bu
ilding, make up one big square. Inside the walls is a road leading to a small flowered island outside the main entrance. An off-road from the island goes to the underground staff car park, for staff with passes. Everything is surrounded by a cleverly landscaped garden area with footpaths and benches.
The perimeter walls are two metres high with spikes crowning the length, the white walls nicely decorated in the same design as the walls of the building. They are also broken up with custom-made metal grilles in different patterns to give a view of the world outside, while not allowing the outside to get in.
The large entrance in the wall is on the left as you come out of the building, with the road beyond it. A large, sliding barred gate constructed in heavy metal can be closed, but would normally be open during business hours. Then, a security station positioned by the gate, complete with a security barrier and retractable bollards across the entrance road, controls both visitor and staff access in the day.
The Orion Building is extremely secure, with state-of-the-art CCTV cameras discreetly positioned all over the site. The building itself has the latest advanced alarm system. Put all these features together, and you have one of the most secure buildings in the capital, in fact in any capital city. Despite this, it is a very welcoming building and the security is hidden as well as it can be; after all, Orion Securities is a business and wants to attract potential customers, not frighten them off.
The heavy metal gate to the entrance will be closed before our arrival. Dan will be there in position ready to open it for us when we get there, I hope!
“Right, girls, we are getting close to work and it looks like some of the nasty people will be outside when we get there, I’m afraid. So, when I tell you to get down, I want you to put your heads down as far as you can, as close to your knees as you can, is that understood?”
Capital Falling Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3] Page 5