by KJ Griffin
***
As soon as she had recovered from the shock of the explosion, Magdalena Ortiz ran to the end of the corridor and crouched down in the entrance to Speaker's Court, waiting for the soldiers to appear. But they didn't.
Instead, she heard firing behind her in the Commons chamber. For a few seconds she hesitated. Should she abandon her area and go to check out the Commons? There was nothing coming across the radio.
In the end her curiosity won she began to make her way back along the corridor leading to the Commons Library.
The smoke and dust hung thick in that direction and she could see little beyond the barrel of her AK47, till she bumped straight into the two men.
Corporal Ingham reacted first. He knew there were no friendlies ahead and he let rip with his Sterling. Magdalena Ortiz hardly felt the succession of 9mm rounds that ripped into her chest, ending her life instantly.
***
‘Shit!’ Smedley hissed to himself in the Chess Room at the far end of the Commons Library. The SAS team must have taken advantage of the explosion to come in from the river, across the Terrace and into the Commons Library. This wasn't the place or the moment to take them on, despite the small arms fire he could hear from the corridor and from the Commons Chamber. He would try to sneak back to his designated position in the Central Lobby and take the bastards on from there.