Josh has his back to me and seems to be remonstrating with a sailor stood on one of the patrol boats. I wave across the river trying to get Alice’s attention as she stands next to Josh, but she is looking everywhere apart from at me.
Suddenly, Alice’s head turns in my direction and my waves become more vigorous. I see a smile spread across Alice’s face and she urgently pulls at Josh’s arm. Josh turns to Alice in surprise, and she says something to him excitedly, while pointing towards me.
Josh’s head spins in my direction and he finally spots me up on the embankment wall and that I am alive. Josh, who must be overcome, drops down, bent over in the boat, his hands moving to his head.
Perhaps, somebody up above was watching over me after all, I think as I look out at my son, my eyes welling up.
Alice’s hand goes to Josh’s shoulder to comfort him, but as soon as she touches him, he pushes himself upright. He gives me a wave back and then quickly reaches for his radio.
“Thank God, Dad. Are you okay, over?” Josh’s voice squawks from the radio on my chest. I just about hear it over the roar of the helicopter.
“Just about champ. But if it wasn’t for these guys, we wouldn’t have made it. When did they turn up, over?” I ask.
“About five minutes ago. Are the others with you, over?”
“I’ve got Karen and one other. I’m afraid Jim didn’t make it, over,” I tell Josh sombrely.
“Shit,” Josh replies. “Fill me in later, over.”
“I will. What are those guys saying, over?”
“Nothing, they won’t tell me anything, apart from we cannot come onto the beach to get you, over,” Josh replies.
“Okay, I’ll see what I can find out from up here. I’ll let you know. Out,” I tell Josh.
“Copy.”
I turn away from the embankment, my eyes falling on the colossal carnage reaching up the street in front of me. The Special Forces troops have formed their perimeter. One or two walk between the fallen undead, double-checking none pose a threat, and there is a conflab going on between three of the black-clad operatives close by. These are obviously the ones I need to get some answers from, but before I get the chance, Karen comes over to me.
“Are you okay,” I ask. She looks a bit broken, something I am not surprised by in the least. She comes right up to me and throws her arms around me, taking me somewhat by surprise.
Karen squeezes me tightly in silence for a moment and I belatedly put my arms around her to give her a reassuring hug in return. Tanya stands close by watching on, she looks completely drained. I can only feel admiration for the young girl after her ordeal of been trapped in that office for days and then dragging herself through this nightmare. She has an inner strength that I am sure she knew nothing of before and I hope she finds some peace now.
“Thank you, Andy,” Karen says as she breaks away from me to look me in the eye.
“It was rough. I’m sorry about Jim,” I tell her.
“We knew it was a gamble Andy, so don’t blame yourself. It will be tough, but I will get over it. Stacey and I will be together,” she tells me, and I think that they will be as I look at Karen.
“Andy, fucking Richards,” a voice asks from my left. I am not sure if I am being asked a question or being addressed.
“Yes, and you are?” I reply as a tall, burly, black-clad operator approaches me.
“You’re a fucking loose cannon,” the man says as he reaches to pull up his black balaclava, his helmet under his arm. “You always were.”
The black material rises to reveal a face I know well, a face I had hoped I would never see again.
“I don’t know what you mean, Sergeant Briggs,” I answered.
Briggs and I had a long history of butting heads. I was his Captain for a short time before I left the SAS and the military. Briggs passed selection two years after me and the man is a complete arsehole. Luckily, the two of us were never posted into the same troop together, but we completed plenty of operations in the same field together and we never saw eye to eye. But when I was fast-tracked for promotion, he did everything he possibly could to fuck-up my command. He took pride in trying to make me look bad to the top brass, at every opportunity. Not that I ever let him succeed.
“You don’t know what I mean?” Briggs says in amazement. “Just look at your little escapade today, for example.”
“I’m here to help some friends, that’s all,” I tell him.
“And how was that going before I turned up to save your ass?”
“We haven’t got time for this Sergeant,” I say changing the subject, and not only because this dickhead has a point. “We need to evacuate the area, the enemy could be regrouping as we dick swing, Sergeant.”
“My men have us covered,” the Sergeant grins, loving every second of his time in the spotlight.
“Nevertheless, Sergeant, we are leaving,” I insist, without really having a leg to stand on. We are in their hands, it seems.
“Corporal,” Briggs shouts to one of his men, who comes to heel immediately.
“Get the women down to the boats,” Briggs orders.
“What is going on here, Sergeant,” I demand.
“What can I tell you Richard’s. It’s on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to know.” Briggs grins.
“Where are you taking them?” I ask urgently. “Am I going with them?”
“The women will be safe, don’t worry. But I have different orders for you, my friend.”
“Come on, Don. I know we don’t see eye to eye, but that’s in the past. What’s happening?” I resist referring to Briggs by his full first name. Calling him Donald will only wind him up even more, I know he hates it. I’ll keep that in my pocket in case I need it.
“Sorry, Richards, I can’t help you,” Briggs replies.
“Andy?” Karen asks worriedly as Briggs’s men try to usher her towards the steps down to the beach.
“Go with them, Karen. They will look after you and I’ll see you later.” I hope that my words might resonate with Briggs’s men if not with him, about the women.
“Okay. I’ll see you soon, Andy. And thanks again,” Karen says as she turns to leave.
“Thank you, Andy,” Tanya tells me with a worried look on her face. I try to give her a reassuring smile in return.
I watch Karen and Tanya walk towards the steps for a moment, two black-clad operators escorting them along.
“What now?” I ask turning to Briggs.
“Now you take a little flight.” Briggs smiles sarcastically. With that, he turns and whistles sharply, raises his arm above his head and winds it around in the air.
Immediately, the rest of Briggs’s men begin to close in their perimeter, stepping back towards us, their rifles still pointing outwards, covering the rear.
Before my radio is confiscated, which it undoubtedly will be, my hand snaps across to my chest.
“Josh, they are taking me. I don’t know where, but I won’t be coming back with you. Tell the girls I love them, and you.”
Briggs steps angrily towards me, his hand going to my chest. This is not the time for a fight or a scuffle, so I let him, my hands spreading out in surrender. The radio is ripped off my combat vest just as I hear Josh’s panicked voice sound.
“Think you’re so fucking clever, don’t you Richards?” Briggs says as he drops the radio to the ground. He looks at me for a second before he stamps his size ten boot down onto the radio, cutting off Josh’s voice with a crack of breaking plastic.
“There is no need for this,” I plead to Briggs, who looks back at me with disdain.
“Take his weapons,” Briggs orders his men.
Reluctantly, but voluntarily, I unclip and hold up my trusted M4 to the masked operative who steps forward at Briggs’s order. I feel bare without the weapon, especially considering we are still in harm’s way.
“Your sidearm,” a muffled voice comes from behind the mask, handing the M4 to his colleague.
T
his time I pause to look at Briggs, he knows very well that surrendering my sidearm is the ultimate show of defeat. Any notion of honour between SAS comrades is quickly dispelled, however, as the Sergeant just stands watching my capitulation.
“Your sidearm, Sir,” the operative repeats. I do notice that this time he adds ‘Sir’ at the end of his demand.
Deliberately, keeping my eyes on Briggs, I slowly reach for the Sig, pull it out of its holster, before handing it over. I then pull my combat knife from its sleeve on the opposite side of my holster and hand that over also. I don’t give Briggs the satisfaction of it having to be demanded from me.
“Satisfied?” I ask Briggs.
“Secure the prisoner, Corporal,” Briggs orders, completely ignoring my question.
“Sergeant?” the masked face questions sounding doubtful.
“You heard me, Corporal,” Briggs orders, once again.
Reluctantly, the Corporal’s hand reaches behind his back and pulls a pair of plastic zip cuffs off his utility belt. He then walks around the back of me to tighten them around my wrists behind my back, the plastic tightening against my skin with a fast-clicking sound as they zip closed.
“Sorry, Sir,” the Corporal whispers in my ear, ensuring the Sergeant won’t be able to hear his words over the sound of the helicopter.
With my humiliation complete, I turn my back on Briggs, deciding to let him have his moment. Instead, with my hands bound behind my back, I look over the embankment wall to see what is going on.
Josh and Alice are still blocked in a pincer movement with the two patrol boats, and Josh has his back to me again. He has taken up his complaints with one of the patrol boat crew again, not that it will get him anywhere, I am sure of that.
Low down, on the shore of the beach, I see that Karen and Tanya have been loaded into one of the black fast boats. They look lost as they sit tight-lipped in the middle of one of the boats, waiting to see what will happen to them next.
I glance behind me and see that Briggs’s men have closed right in behind me, and any moment now they will start their evacuation from the wharf and down to the beach to join Karen and Tanya in the boats. The only thing they are waiting for is for me to be loaded into the hold of the helicopter which is beginning its approach to the embankment wall.
I take a few steps back from the wall as the downdraft and overpowering noise from the helicopter begins to close in. A strong hand closes its vice-like grip around my upper arm behind me and I look to see that Briggs is unsurprisingly, the owner of the hand that has taken hold of me.
“Going somewhere?” Briggs asks with a smile of victory spread across his lips.
Looking away from his smug face without giving him the satisfaction of an answer, I simply stand and watch the helicopter come down, its door gun still pointing straight down the street behind me.
The pilot brings the helicopter down, slowly but surely, until its hold door is within reach. Pain shoots through my bicep muscle as Briggs applies pressure, ensuring any thoughts of me making a break for it is quashed. I don’t know where he thinks I am going to run to, there is nowhere to go, certainly not without a weapon and with my hands tied behind my back. On the other hand, and more likely, the bastard just wants to cause me pain, but I don’t show him he is succeeding.
Briggs’s grip relaxes slightly, but at the same time, he shoves me forward and then releases my arm and I stumble forward towards the wall. Is he expecting me to climb on top of the wall without the use of my hands, wouldn’t it be much easier all around if he released them?
No chance, two of his men close in either side of me and grab both of my arms, their grip is strong but forgiving. They lean me backwards supporting me so that I can get my feet up on top of the wall, then push me back upright with the help of the door gunner who jumps down to get involved and helps me upright.
Getting into a hovering helicopter can be dicey at the best of time, never mind with your hands tied behind your back. Thankfully, the door gunner mounts the helicopter before me and helps steady me as I step across the void and into the helicopter’s hold. He keeps hold of me and directs me over to one of the seats where I plonk down.
Down on the wharf, I see Briggs shout his orders to his men, but cannot hear a word he says, he then turns his back away from his men who begin their retreat towards the steps and down to the beach.
I am extremely disappointed not to see Briggs lead his men away down to the boats, and it can only mean one thing; he is getting into the helicopter.
Sure enough, as his men disappear right out of my view, Briggs mounts the wall with ease and confidently steps across and into the hold, where he drops into the seat next to me. Great, I think, as two of his men, one of which I am sure is his Corporal follow him up and climb on board to take seats opposite me. The only bonus is that I see my M4 is coming along for the trip.
With everyone now on board, the helicopter immediately begins to hover sideways away from the embankment wall before lifting us up and out over the river.
I cannot slide back into my seat because my hands are still tied behind my back, instead, I have to sit forward, perched close to falling out of the seat, which I am sure Briggs takes great satisfaction in.
As the helicopter rises, my mind races to think where Briggs could possibly be taking me, what orders is he following? One thing I know for sure is that it has something to do with my missed appointment at the hospital.
Epilogue
With the helicopter gaining height, I look out of the hold’s window next to me. As the pilot brings us about, I see the Special Forces troops filing down the beach, aiming for the fast boats; at least that means Karen and Tanya are about to get out of harm’s way.
I feel for Karen, she has lost her soulmate in Jim, the two had the closest relationship I have ever witnessed, they were inseparable. To live with someone and then to also work all day with them, you must be more than just close, right? Karen will take it hard, there is no doubt about that, but I think she will come to terms with her loss, in time. Jim sacrificed himself to save her so that she could live and be with their daughter once more and Karen will come to understand the deep meaning of what he did, and why he did it.
I am confident that the men will make sure they are looked after, not all members of the Special Forces are complete arseholes like the man sitting next to me. In fact, most are the complete opposite and good people. Even if Briggs has given them suspect orders with regards to the women, those orders will be bent to make sure the women are treated well.
If I were to be asked, was the mission a success, I would have to say yes. Jim is a big loss, of course, but we rescued one of Stacey’s parents from certain, and indeed, impending doom. And then there is Tanya, we might have lost Jim, but we saved another.
I strain my neck to try and catch my last glimpse of Josh and Alice on the water below and manage to catch a fleeting one, but they already look so distant. I know Josh, he will be going absolutely ballistic at this turn of events and I can only hope that Alice manages to keep him in check and get him out to safety.
A vibration starts against my right thigh, someone is trying to ring me. I look around the hold to try and find a willing volunteer to retrieve my phone out of my pocket so that I can see who is calling. I feel so helpless with my hands out of action, for fuck’s sake. Odds are on that it is Josh, with a hat full of questions for me, none of which I will have an answer for. The other possibility is that it could be Catherine. Perhaps Josh has called her already to tell her what has happened, and she means to give somebody a piece of her mind.
Whoever it is, they are going to be as frustrated as I am, because the vibrating goes unanswered. I am not inclined to ask any of the men for help, and Briggs would shoot down anyone who tried to help me, in any case.
I suddenly have a terrible thought. What if the military doesn’t just let Josh and Alice sail off into the sunset? What if they decide they have other plans for the two very capable soldiers? Both J
osh and Alice could easily find themselves press-ganged back into active duty, and who knows what terrible consequences that could result in and what about Catherine and Emily, who would watch out for them?
Fucking hell, I think and debate whether to try and get some intel out of Briggs. Don’t waste your breath, I tell myself, he won’t offer anything to ease my mind. I decide to wait until we get to wherever it is that we are going and try my luck with whoever is in command there. It is very doubtful that Briggs would know anything anyway. Despite his superiority complex, Briggs is a small cog in a very large wheel, a dogsbody trained to follow orders, I know, I used to be one.
Opposite me, the two other Special Forces guys take off their helmets and begin to pull off their balaclavas. I am surprised, but not stunned to see that I know one of the men, Corporal Simms sits opposite me, looking at me gingerly. I had an inkling that Briggs’s Corporal was one of the men who took part in the operation to retrieve Sir Malcolm’s safe from the Orion building, his body language and the use of the word ‘Sir’ had raised my suspicions. I wonder what the likelihood is that any of the other men who were on the wharf were part of that team?
“Corporal Simms,” I say, nodding in acknowledgement at the trooper.
Briggs will know full well that Simms and I have history, so there is no point trying to hide it. I am sure the Sergeant’s actions in ordering Simms to disarm me and then to bind my hands was quite deliberate by Briggs. I imagine Briggs got quite a trip out of giving the orders.
Simms nods back at me but says nothing, and I leave it there. Simms is obviously uncomfortable and there is no point trying to rile Briggs up.
The helicopter’s pilot has taken us over the north of the city, I see as I turn my head away and look out of the window. I cannot guess which part of the country I am being dragged off to for certain, but if I had to put my money on somewhere, it would be Porton Down, the government’s Top Secret research facility, where, I am sure, they have some extremely uncomfortable plans for me. My only confusion is, if we are heading there, why is the pilot flying north? Perhaps there is a connecting flight to take me that distance?
Capital Falling | Book 4 | Sever Page 24