Capital Falling | Book 4 | Sever

by Winkless, Lance

  “Who is it?” an old-sounding, male voice, with an American accent asks nervously from behind the large wooden door.

  “Uncle Bill, is that you? It’s Alice, Alice ward.”

  “Alice?” the voice asks surprised.

  “Yes, it’s Alice. Can you open the door please?” Alice requests.

  A few seconds of hushed voices talking from the other side of the door is followed by the sound of a lock turning and then finally the door opening up, but only a sliver. In the gap, the side of an elderly gentleman’s face appears to look upon his visitor.

  “Alice?” the man says once more.

  “Yes, Uncle Bill, it’s me.”

  “What are you doing here my dear?”

  “My friends and I need to ask you and Lillian a favour, can we come in please?” Alice asks, convincingly.

  The face disappears back behind the door, which is pushed to again for a moment. More hushed voices talk feverishly until the door begins to open again. This time the door opens wide, and the man ushers us into the house urgently.

  “Thank you, Uncle Bill, Aunty Lillian,” Alice says, looking at the shocked elderly couple, who are standing in their hallway in their nightclothes and dressing gowns.

  “I didn’t recognise you in your uniform Alice. We have been worried about you, haven’t we Lillian?” Bill says.

  “We certainly have dear,” Lillian confirms. “Who are your friends?”

  “This is Captain Richards and his son Josh. We need your help, if you’re willing.”

  “Oh, well you know we will help you if we can, but let’s not stand in the hallway. Let’s go through to the kitchen and you can tell us all about it,” Bill suggests.

  Bill leads us all down the extensive hallway and through a door leading into a large kitchen and dining room at the back of the house. He then insists on making us all a hot drink before he will hear anything about why we have disturbed their night.

  While Bill makes the drinks, I wander over to the large windows and patio doors on the far side of the room. I then proceed to peer out of the glass at the dark back garden and then farther to the river beyond, as if I were just being curious.

  Alice wasn’t exaggerating when she told us that the house backed straight onto the Thames. Flowing water is clearly visible at the end of the garden, shimmering in the moonlight. The problem, however, is that there is no boat to be seen, no matter how much I squint my eyes to concentrate my vision. I can see a small pontoon jutting out into the water, but there isn’t a boat moored up against it.

  “Captain Richards,” Bill’s voice calls me over when my drink is ready. I debate whether to tell him that I am in fact, no longer a Captain but decide against it. It will serve our purpose better for him to believe that I am a Captain in the British Army.

  “Now Alice, why don’t you tell us what this all about and how we can possibly help you?” Lillian says.

  “If I may?” I interject.

  “Of course, Captain,” Lillian replies.

  “I’ll get straight to the point if you don’t mind. We are in need of a boat and Alice tells me that you have one that we could borrow?” I tell the couple, who look at each other confused after I have spoken.

  “Is there a problem?” Alice asks.

  “Well,” Bill says. “If you’re talking about our old boat, I’m afraid we sold it some years back. We were too old for taking it out on the river, it was never used and so we decided to sell it. It’s been many years since you came to visit, and we took the boat out Alice.”

  Shit, I think to myself, it looks like we are going to be trawling the riverbank after all.

  Alice looks terribly embarrassed by this turn of events, but how could she have known. She did suggest phoning ahead, just in case of such a situation, so she can’t be blamed.

  “Oh dear, I can see you’re disappointed. Have you come far to borrow it?” Lillian asks.

  “Well, we were kind of counting on it,” Alice replies.

  “Oh, what a shame. You could have borrowed it if we still had it. Couldn’t they Bill? Lillian says.

  “Yes of course,” Bill agrees.

  “What we gonna do now Dad?” Josh asks, but I don’t answer him while I am thinking.

  “Do any of your neighbours have a boat nearby?” I ask.

  “Only the Kennedys have one that I know of, our neighbours,” Bill answers.

  “Good, can you take me round to see them?” I ask.

  “They aren’t there. They left when the trouble started, I’m afraid,” Bill tells me.

  “Is their boat still there?” I ask.

  “Yes, it’s still there. It’s undercover, on their pontoon.”

  “Well, we will have to borrow that one,” I announce.

  “How can you borrow it if they’re not there?” Lillian asks innocently.

  “I’m sure they won’t mind,” I say. “If it’s for military business. We will return it tomorrow in any case.”

  “But you haven’t got the keys?” Lillian insists.

  “That won’t be a problem, Lillian. I’ve had training for exactly this kind of situation.” I smile at her.

  “What do you think Bill?”

  “I think I’d better show the Captain where the Kennedys boat is, Lillian. Don’t you?” Bill tells his wife.

  As soon as Bill opens the porch doors that lead onto his garden the sound of the river washes across me. He leads us down his garden until he is close to the riverbank and then he turns right. The fences that separate the gardens stop well short of the riverbank so there is a clear path into the neighbour’s garden. As soon as we turn, I see the boat on the river, hidden under its soft covering and moored up against its pontoon.

  “Normally the boat would have been taken off the river about this time of the year,” Bill tells me. “You’re lucky it’s still there. If it wasn’t for the trouble, it could well have been taken for storage, until next season.”

  “That is lucky then,” I reply. “And thanks for showing us.”

  “Can we get anything for you while you work?” Bill asks me.

  “We could do with a good meal if that’s not too much trouble?” I reply.

  “No, not at all Captain. Lillian and I will rustle something up.”

  “That’s kind of you, Bill. We shouldn’t be more than half an hour or so. We just need to load our gear into the boat and make sure it starts.”

  “We’ll get it ready for you in an hour then, how does that sound?” Bill suggests.

  “Perfect Bill, thanks. Also, would you mind if we rested up in the house before we go? We will be gone by half three in the morning.”

  “Anything we can do to help. I’ll leave you to it, Captain,” Bill says, turns and does just that.

  “Come on, let’s get the cover off and see what we’ve got,” I tell Josh and Alice.

  The Kennedys boat will be ideal for our purpose, it is a small launch of around twenty feet. The fifteen-horsepower outboard motor will propel us along at a steady speed and there is plenty of room to store our gear. I can see why the Kennedys have this boat; it would be perfect for frolicking around on the river when the sun is out.

  I tell Josh and Alice to go and get the gear from the Defender so that we can get most of it stowed away, ready for the off in the early hours. While they do that, I go about bypassing the ignition on the motor, which is a fairly easy job and within ten minutes the engine is fired up. As an added bonus, there is already a full can of fuel stored on the boat, so we won’t have to worry about running out.

  As I expected, our preparation of the boat takes thirty minutes, more or less. We soon have the boat recovered and are heading back to the house to see what Bill and Lillian have prepared for our meal.

  Bill offers us all a beer when we get back inside which we all eagerly accept. He joins us in one while he helps Lillian finish off the food, which I’m overjoyed to learn is steak, mashed potato, and veg.

  While we eat, Bill and Lillian sit with us and
their questions lead us into telling them why we have gate-crashed their home. We are all set to go so there is no harm in telling them. They are amazed by our story and wish us all the best in finding our friends and getting them out safely.

  After we’ve eaten, we all help with the clearing up while we share some more beers. We are offered beds upstairs in their spare rooms, but we kindly refuse their offer, instead asking them if we can bed down on the kitchen floor, if they don’t mind, which they don’t. We don’t refuse the offer of some pillows though; however, we might not want to get too comfortable but there’s no point in being uncomfortable.

  We thank Bill and Lillian for their hospitality as they hand us the pillows and we tell them we will let ourselves out in the morning. They then leave us to rest up and they go upstairs to bed. Nobody mentions if we will see them tomorrow, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

  I step outside to give Catherine a call, to see how they all are. I don’t spend too long on the phone and I don’t mention my phone call from Lieutenant Winters. Alarms are set and then the three of us settle down on the dining area floor with our pillows. Little sleep will be had tonight, if any, our brains, and nerves will be working overtime, but we must get whatever rest we can.

  Chapter 11

  “Oh, I’m sorry,” Lillian squawks as I jump out of my skin coming out of the downstairs toilet in the hallway.

  “I’m sorry, did I wake you,” I ask, quickly regaining my composure.

  “No, not at all. I don’t sleep well, so I thought I’d come down and make you all some breakfast before you go,” she tells me as she shuffles towards the kitchen in her dressing gown and slippers.

  “Thank you, Lillian, but that wasn’t necessary,” I reply.

  “Don’t be silly. You can’t set off on your journey on an empty stomach,” I’m told.

  I smile to myself as I follow her into the kitchen, where she proceeds to switch the lights straight on. Josh and Alice groan as the lights blind them, but that’s okay, they need to wake themselves up now anyway. We will be setting off in just over an hour.

  “Bacon sandwiches everyone?” Lillian asks loudly as she shuffles over to the fridge. There are no groans to that question but muffled ‘yes pleases’.

  While Lillian begins to retrieve food from the fridge, I once again get my phone out of my pocket to see if there has been anything from Karen and Jim. There’s still nothing, not that any communication is expected yet unless their situation has changed.

  I managed to resist checking my phone through the night, even though I don’t think I managed to get one wink of sleep. I did manage to relax, some, but it was tough not to keep playing the hours to come over and over in my mind. I tried to take the advice that Catherine had given me when I spoke to her last night, which was to concentrate on something else. I chose to concentrate on her, and it did work for a time, but the mission ahead kept seeping into my thoughts, until it took over completely once more.

  “Mushrooms and tomato?” Lillian asks.

  “Yes please,” I reply as I check the weather forecast for the day ahead.

  According to the forecast, the weather isn’t going to be an issue today. It’s telling me that it will be overcast in London today, with sunny intervals. The news hasn’t changed much from yesterday, I see when I click off the weather. There is no good news, but at least it hasn’t got any worse. Although it is probably too early in the morning for the website to have updated with today’s latest horrors.

  “Come on you two, look lively,” I say to Alice and Josh as I put my phone away.

  “I’m up,” Josh tells me as he rises like the creature from the black lagoon.

  “How are you feeling?” I ask.

  “I’m okay. Wish I’d got a bit of sleep though.”

  “You did,” I tell him. “Your snoring kept me awake.”

  “Did I?” Josh asks surprised.

  “Yes, you did,” I tell him.

  “I don’t snore,” Josh protests. “Are you sure it wasn’t Alice?”

  “Hey, you cheeky sod,” Alice bites.

  “Only joking,” Josh quickly says.

  “You’d better be,” Alice tells him as she picks up her travel bag and heads off to freshen up.

  “Excuse me,” Bill says as he meets Alice at the doorway and lets her by.

  “Ah, Bill, you can get the kettle on,” Lillian tells him, before he has had a chance to say good morning.

  The bacon sandwiches come off the production line and they are gratefully received and consumed. Bill keeps the brews coming and before we know it, we are approaching the off.

  Both Lillian and Bill sit on stools in the kitchen, cradling cups of tea and watch us in astonishment as we do our final weapons checks and load up with ammo. Their looks of astonishment turn to concern as we clip grenades to our bodies, throwing them between us like candy, to share them out.

  I’ve got to hand it to the elderly couple, they have taken our arrival in their stride, and treated us kindly. I am sure the last thing they expected to happen last night was to have three soldiers arming up in their kitchen with assault rifles and grenades in the early hours of the morning.

  Just as I am about to go over and thank them for looking after us, my phone starts to vibrate in my pocket. It must be Karen and Jim, I think, as my hand goes to my pocket.

  I am already heading to the patio doors to take the call outside when I see that it is Catherine calling.

  “Good morning Captain,” she says in a husky voice as I put the phone to my ear.

  “Good morning, I wasn’t expecting you to call me so early in the morning.”

  “I can phone my man whenever I want, can’t I?” Catherine teases.

  “Yes, you certainly can, I just thought you’d be asleep.”

  “Did you get any sleep?” she asks me.

  “No, afraid not,” I reply.

  “Well, neither did I. I’ve been waiting to phone you. I wanted to wish you luck and remind you what’s waiting for you when you get back,” Catherine teases.

  “It’s good to hear your voice. I can’t wait to see you again?”

  “And why’s that?”

  Her question confuses me for a second, but there can be only one answer. “Because I love you, Catherine.”

  “That’s good because I love you too, so come back to me, Andy. And remember the promise you made me; do you understand?”

  “I do, I will turn straight around if it’s changed. I’ll phone you as soon as I’m back on the boat, okay?” I explain.

  “You’d better. I’ll be waiting for your call,” Catherine replies. She still resists the temptation to tell him about the events of yesterday. The phone call from Lieutenant Winters and then the helicopter landing next to the cottage. He has enough to think about without adding to his troubles.

  “Okay, please try not to worry too much. Speak later, my love.”

  She will be worried to death, I think as I take the phone away from my ear and look inside to see Alice speaking to Bill and Lillian. Before I have a chance to go back inside the phone vibrates again. This time, it’s not a number stored in my phone, it must be Karen and Jim.

  I only speak to Jim, who sounds very groggy, like he hasn’t slept in days, which he probably hasn’t. He tells me that nothing has changed, they are still holed up in the same office. I tell him that we are all set to go and that they should try and conserve their energy and eat whatever they can. He tells me that they will, but they are running extremely low on food and water. We confirm that they will phone me back at the agreed time and we then say our goodbyes and good lucks.

  This is it, I tell myself as I put my phone away and head back inside to collect my gear. Everyone turns to me as I enter to see what I say.

  “Let’s get moving,” I announce as I get inside, my M4 slung across my back.

  Josh and Alice’s faces immediately change, and they move to get their gear, as do I. Alice gives Bill and Lillian a kiss goodbye and Josh a
nd I shake their hands thanking them for their hospitality.

  Bill closes the door behind us, and he watches from behind the glass with Lillian as we march down his garden and leave them behind.

  Not much is said in the darkness as we uncover the boat and get on board. The gear is double-checked under torchlight and once that is done, I move to the back of the boat, where the motor is mounted. Again, under torchlight, I show Josh and Alice the procedure for starting the outboard motor and then let Alice try to start it.

  The motor roars into life as if it were a jet engine in the silent darkness of the early morning, at Alice’s first attempt to start it. Josh casts off and a quick explanation on how to control the motor is all that is needed for Alice to reverse us away from the pontoon and into the flow of the river.

  We can see Bill and Lillian’s shadowy figures are still at the windows watching, as we reverse out. Alice gives them a quick wave before she adjusts the motor and brings us about to point the boat downriver.

  We will be travelling downriver on the journey into London, and the river rather than the motor will do most of the work to get us there. The river Thames isn’t particularly full after the fairly dry summer that we have had and so the currents aren’t too difficult to navigate.

  The overbearing noise of the motor dissipates as we become used to it and it is kept in low revs in the water as the river does most of the work. Josh and I show Alice the way with our torches and we make her aware if we see any obstacles that we need to avoid.

  Daybreak is already underway and the sky in the distant east is beginning to brighten, it won’t be long until Josh and I can store away the torches. The town of Richmond is an affluent one, with large gardens, ample parks, golf courses and general greenery. In dawn’s dim light, the majority of manmade structures on the riverbank are hidden behind the greenery or lost in the darkness. Even the sound of any traffic that may be on the adjacent roads is subdued by the trees or drowned out by the boat’s motor. In the darkness, with the motor chugging away, I could easily be transported back to my numerous missions and training exercises that I have taken part in, on dark rivers around the world. I could easily be fooled into thinking I was in the jungles of Borneo, on route for a dawn raid on rebels hiding out in the deep jungle.