Lockdown

by Peter Jay Black

  Jack had been so shocked to have made it into the compartment that he’d forgotten about it.

  ‘Can we open it?’ Wren said.

  ‘Not enough time,’ Jack said. ‘We’ll be at the station in a few minutes.’

  Jack and Charlie hurried to the carriage’s side door and helped Wren up to the gripper he had left on the roof.

  The wind was dying down and it was easier for her to make progress. After an uneasy few moments, Wren’s feet disappeared.

  ‘Jack.’ Charlie pointed.

  A couple of hundred metres ahead, they could see their target – Ripley Bridge.

  ‘Go, go, go,’ Jack shouted.

  Charlie pulled out her own set of grippers and scrambled on to the roof of the train after Wren, then immediately spun back and held out her hand. Jack passed her the briefcase and she disappeared for a moment before holding out her hand again. ‘Get up here.’

  ‘It’s too late.’ Jack waved at the approaching bridge. ‘Don’t miss it.’

  Charlie’s eyes went wide. ‘But –’

  ‘I’ll be all right. I’ll find another way. Just get the case out of here.’

  Charlie hesitated, then vanished again.

  ‘Slink?’ Jack said into his headset.

  ‘I’m here.’ Slink’s head popped up above the bridge and three bungee cords dropped over the edge just as the train passed underneath.

  Jack held his breath and looked back.

  To his relief he could just about see that Charlie and Wren had hooked themselves on to the bungee cords and were now hanging below the bridge, swinging back and forth in their harnesses.

  Jack let out a breath. They were safe.

  Now for the next problem.

  He looked ahead again.

  The train started to slow as the station came into view.

  ‘Jack,’ Obi said in his ear, ‘you’ve got company.’

  Three men were standing on the platform. The one in the middle – wearing a leather jacket – stepped forward, his eyebrows knitting together as he noticed the side door to the armoured carriage was open. His gaze met Jack’s. He pointed and said something to his companions.

  Jack pulled back and hurried into the compartment at the end of the passenger carriage.

  The conductor peered through the door at him, his face twisted into rage.

  But he was the least of Jack’s problems right now.

  He reached inside the panel and hit the button on Charlie’s circuit board.

  The door to the outside opened again and he peered out to the platform as they pulled in.

  The three men had drawn guns with suppressors and were waiting for him. Would they really risk shooting a kid in public?

  Jack knew the answer to that was likely to be a resounding ‘Yes’. The Shepherd had warned him about the types of people from whom the Outlaws were stealing the briefcase.

  ‘Jack?’ It was Slink.

  ‘Bit busy, mate.’

  ‘I’ve got an idea.’

  The conductor banged his fists on the door and it flexed outward.

  Jack edged away from it. ‘Better make it fast.’

  ‘You’re gonna have to jump.’

  Jack didn’t understand what Slink was getting at. ‘From the train?’ he said. That was kind of a given. ‘Wait.’ Suddenly he got it. ‘There’s no way I’m doing that.’

  ‘I’ve looked at it and I know it’s deep enough, Jack. Trust me, it’ll be fine.’ Though Slink didn’t sound convincing. ‘We’re almost there and Obi can guide you to us. We’ll be in position in two minutes.’

  ‘I’m not doing it, Slink.’ Jack peered around the door again, back at the station. ‘I’d rather get shot.’

  The lead man stepped forward – his face twisted into a snarl.

  ‘You’ll make it, easy,’ Slink said.

  ‘Yeah,’ Charlie said. ‘Don’t be such a wimp, Jack. There’s no other way for you to get to us.’

  Before the train had come to a complete halt, Jack leapt out on to the platform.

  ‘Oi,’ one of the men shouted.

  Jack turned and sprinted in the opposite direction.

  A muffled gunshot rang out.

  Jack ducked and kept running.

  He jumped off the end of the platform and raced along the tracks. ‘Where is it?’ he shouted into his headset as another bullet whizzed past his ear. ‘Why do people always want to shoot me?’ He was running as fast as he could – his arms pumping the air and his feet pounding the gravel – and was already out of breath.

  ‘We’re in position,’ Charlie said. ‘Obi?’

  ‘I can see him.’

  Jack glanced up at a camera mounted high on a pole, then over his shoulder at the men. All three were chasing him.

  For the first time in his life, Jack wished the police would turn up.

  He looked forward again and, keeping his head low, sprinted as hard as he could alongside the tracks.

  A bullet thudded into a tree trunk to his right.

  ‘You’re nearly there,’ Obi said. ‘Ten more metres. When I say, go right, between the trees. There’s a gap in the fence. OK . . . now.’

  Jack darted right, between two pine trees. Ahead was a wire fence with a hole in it. He ducked through and kept running.

  One of the men shouted.

  Jack glanced back and saw that he was caught up in the wire.

  ‘Keep going,’ Obi said.

  Jack scrambled up an embankment and at the top he stopped. ‘Where are you?’ Ahead was the River Thames.

  ‘We’re there,’ Charlie said. ‘Just do it.’

  One of the men shouted again, and Jack spun back to see the three of them were now climbing the embankment towards him.

  ‘Right,’ Obi said.

  Jack ran, reached a low fence and hopped over it on to a concrete path.

  ‘Left,’ Obi said.

  ‘I know.’ Jack had already seen the flight of stairs. He hurried up them and at the top sprinted along the narrow bridge.

  He stopped once he’d gauged he was in the middle and cursed to himself as he climbed up on to the railing. The bridge was at least ten metres above the river.

  ‘You’re doing great,’ Obi said.

  ‘Easy for you to say – you’re back at the bunker, watching this on TV.’

  ‘Kid,’ said a deep voice.

  Jack glanced to his left. The three men were walking slowly towards him and the lead one had lowered his gun.

  ‘Give us the briefcase.’

  ‘I haven’t got it,’ Jack said.

  The man hesitated. ‘Where is it?’

  ‘I’ll show you.’ Jack looked forward and sucked in a deep breath.

  The lead man stepped forward. ‘Don’t you da–’

  Jack closed his eyes and jumped.

  CHAPTER TWO

  As he fell, Jack made his body go rigid, crossed his arms over his chest and pointed his toes straight down.

  He hit the water hard and the shock of the cold made him expel all the air from his lungs. Jack opened his eyes and was greeted by a foggy green haze.

  Regaining his senses, he struggled towards the light above him, clawing for the surface and finally punching through, gasping for air.

  The three men stared down from the bridge. They seemed as surprised as Jack was that he was still alive.

  Jack trod water, looking around.

  Where were they?

  Suddenly, to his left, a miniature submarine cut through the water, heading straight for him.

  Stingray. Jack had never thought he’d be so glad to see the metal death trap.

  The top hatch opened and Wren stuck her head out. ‘Quick,’ she said, beckoning him over.

  Jack swam to her and hauled himself on board. He climbed into the coning tower, gave the men on the bridge a quick wave, then ducked inside and closed the hatch above him.

  Once safely on the seat, he looked around. Wren was sitting behind him. Charlie was at the controls in front.


  ‘Where’s Slink?’

  ‘He stayed topside to make sure you were OK.’ Charlie handed him a towel. ‘We’re meeting him at a rendezvous point.’ Charlie pushed forward on the controls – ‘Diving’ – and Stingray nosed down.

  ‘Hey, Jack?’ came Slink’s voice in his ear.

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘I just want to say, that was freakin awesome. I recorded it on my shoulder cam. Might put it on YouTube later.’

  ‘Don’t you dare,’ Jack muttered as he hugged himself and shivered.

  • • •

  An hour later, Jack, Charlie, Slink and Wren made their way along the tunnels under London – through the abandoned station via Badbury platform, down in the rickety lift and finally into the airlock corridor.

  Charlie typed a code into the glowing blue keypad. The airlock door hissed open and the four of them walked into the main bunker.

  Obi was sitting in his modified dentist’s chair, surrounded by screens. ‘That was a close one.’

  ‘You’re telling me.’ Jack strode to the bathroom, yanked a fresh towel off the radiator and hurried to his room to get changed.

  A few minutes later, he returned to the group as Charlie set the briefcase down on the dining table.

  ‘Well,’ she said, ‘that mission was a lot of hassle. I hope it was worth it.’

  Slink opened the fridge, took out several cans of lemonade and chucked one to each of them.

  ‘Hey, Charlie.’ Jack stared at the briefcase. ‘Can you open the lock without breaking it, or showing any signs that it’s been messed with?’

  ‘No problem,’ she said, taking a sip of her drink. ‘Why?’

  ‘I think we should find out what’s in it.’

  ‘Thank God for that,’ Slink said. ‘It’s been driving me crazy not knowing what’s in there.’

  ‘Me too,’ Wren said. ‘It could be a bomb.’

  ‘It’s not a bomb,’ Obi said. ‘If it was, the way you guys shook it about getting it here, it would’ve exploded by now.’

  ‘He has a point.’ Charlie lifted the case off the table and marched down the corridor to her workshop.

  Jack went over to Obi. ‘Any sign of Hector?’

  Hector’s real name was Quentin Del Sarto and Obi had been monitoring forums, emails and electronic messages, keeping an eye out for him.

  ‘He hasn’t surfaced,’ Obi said. ‘Your program only transmitted his location that one time.’ He brought up a map of America on the main screen – ‘Here’ – and zoomed in on New York.

  Jack nodded. ‘What about his dad?’

  The Outlaws had found out that Benito Del Sarto was not dead but in a coma. So far they’d been unable to locate which hospital he was in.

  ‘No luck there either,’ Obi said.

  Jack let out a breath. ‘So there’s definitely no other way – we have to get to America and track Hector down.’

  Obi looked at Jack. ‘That still leaves us the problem of tracing him once we get there.’

  ‘I know,’ Jack said. ‘One thing at a time.’ Besides, he was hoping that being a few thousand miles away would make Hector feel safe. ‘I’m off to see how Charlie’s getting on. Let us know if you find anything on either of the Del Sartos.’

  ‘Will do.’

  Jack strode down the corridor, turned left at the end, then took a right. Charlie’s workshop was ten feet wide and thirty long. On each side were benches running the length of the room. They were filled with electronics in various states of being taken apart – TVs, games consoles, media players, digital radios – and hundreds of tools, ranging from tiny screwdrivers to huge welding machines with gas tanks.

  Charlie was sitting at a desk at the end of the room.

  As Jack walked towards her, there was a loud beeping sound that made him jump. ‘What the –?’

  Charlie turned in her chair and grinned. She pointed at the wall. There was a laser mounted to a circuit board with a speaker above it. ‘I fitted that yesterday,’ she said. ‘It’s to stop you creeping up on me.’

  Jack frowned. ‘I do not creep.’ He dropped into the chair next to her and looked at the briefcase. ‘Any luck?’

  ‘I was about to call you.’ She pressed the tabs, releasing the locks.

  ‘Wait, wait, wait,’ Slink shouted from the door. He marched over to join them. ‘I hope you weren’t about to open that without us.’

  Charlie rolled her eyes. ‘We would’ve told you what’s inside.’

  Slink made a tutting sound. ‘Sure you would.’ He scooped the briefcase from the desk and strode back towards the door.

  ‘Where are you going with that?’ Jack said.

  ‘Wren and Obi want to see what’s in it too.’ Slink shook his head. ‘And you’re always telling us we’re a team, Jack.’

  Jack and Charlie hurried after Slink as he headed back into the main bunker.

  Slink set the briefcase down on the dining room table and glanced at each of them in turn. ‘Ready?’

  Everyone nodded.

  He opened the briefcase and frowned.

  ‘What’s in there?’ Wren said, peering around the lid to see.

  Slink reached inside and pulled out a velvet bag. He held it up and hefted the weight. ‘It’s heavy.’ He undid the drawstring, opened the top of the bag and pulled the object out. His eyes went wide. In his hand was a huge diamond, as big as his fist.

  It sent a million spots of light dancing around the room.

  Everyone stared, mesmerised.

  ‘Mine,’ Wren said.

  ‘No chance,’ Jack said. ‘We need it.’

  ‘But we could buy our own plane with that,’ Slink said. ‘We wouldn’t need tickets.’

  ‘Yeah,’ Obi said. ‘But there’s no way we’re letting you fly it.’

  ‘We’re not buying a plane.’ Charlie held out her hand to Slink. ‘Can I see it?’

  With obvious reluctance, Slink handed it to her.

  Charlie examined the diamond and then pulled a phone from her pocket. She typed and scrolled for a few seconds, while muttering under her breath. Finally she said, ‘I’ve got it.’ She held up her phone so they could all see the screen. It showed a picture of the diamond on a velvet pillow. ‘It’s called the Alexandra Diamond – just over forty carats.’

  ‘What’s that mean?’ Wren said.

  ‘It means it’s worth millions,’ Slink said in awe. ‘Maybe billions.’

  ‘It’s stolen,’ Charlie said. ‘According to this, it was nicked from a private collector over a year ago.’

  ‘He might not realise it’s gone,’ Slink said, his eyes still transfixed by the diamond.

  Charlie snorted. ‘Sure.’

  Jack took the diamond from her and slipped it back into the bag. This seemed to break the spell it had cast on everyone. ‘We’d better take it to the Shepherd before he thinks we’re keeping it for ourselves.’

  ‘Jack . . .’ Charlie watched him tighten the drawstrings. ‘I’m not comfortable with this.’

  ‘With what?’ he said.

  ‘Well, you know me.’ Charlie glanced round at the others. ‘I’m all for pinching stolen goods from bad guys, especially when they’re so shiny, but are you sure we shouldn’t hand this over to the police?’

  ‘Are you nuts?’ Slink said. He clicked his fingers. ‘I’ve got it – we should break it up into little diamonds and sell them instead. It makes it easier to shift.’ He made as if to walk to Charlie’s workshop. ‘I’ll get a hammer.’

  Wren looked shocked. ‘Break it?’

  Jack shook his head. ‘Slink, we’re not doing that.’

  Slink grinned.

  Jack turned back to Charlie. ‘We don’t have a choice right now. We have to take it to the Shepherd.’ He eyed the briefcase. ‘Wait – can you fit that with a tracker or something?’

  ‘Yeah, but why – ?’ A smile spread across Charlie’s face as she seemed to grasp what he had in mind. ‘OK, I’ll get on it.’

  ‘Thanks. But you’ll need t
o be quick,’ Jack said. ‘We have to leave in thirty minutes.’

  Charlie grabbed the briefcase and ran down the corridor to her workshop.

  ‘Still reckon we should keep it,’ Slink muttered.

  • • •

  Jack and Charlie walked through the main entrance to the British Library, a mostly red-brick building, with angled roofs and hundreds of windows.

  Jack checked his phone. ‘OK, this way.’

  Two men stood guard either side of a door that led to a reading room.

  One of them held up a hand. ‘Off limits.’

  ‘We’re here to see the Shepherd,’ Jack said.

  The men exchanged a glance. Then one of them stepped forward. ‘Arms up, sunshine.’

  Jack raised his hands above his head and the man patted him down.

  Satisfied Jack wasn’t armed, the guard checked Charlie then stood back and opened the door.

  The reading room wasn’t large, and in the centre was a desk and four chairs.

  On the other side of the desk was a man in a tailored pinstripe suit. He had a clean-shaven, narrow face and neat red hair, parted on the side.

  He smiled as Jack and Charlie entered, but it didn’t reach his eyes – his overall expression was as blank as a poker player’s.

  One of the men went to step inside, but the Shepherd waved him off.

  As soon as the door closed, he looked at Jack. ‘You must be Achilles.’ The Shepherd had a posh voice, as though he worked for the Queen. His gaze moved to Charlie. ‘And this must be . . . Pandora?’

  Charlie nodded and the pair of them sat opposite him.

  The Shepherd adjusted his tie. ‘I’ve heard that you succeeded in your mission.’ He held out a hand. ‘May I?’

  Jack put the briefcase on the table and slid it across to him.

  The Shepherd rested his hands on top. ‘Do you know the combination to the lock?’

  Jack shook his head.

  Nice try, but he wasn’t stupid enough to fall for that.

  The Shepherd set the code, undid the clasps, removed the velvet bag and slid out the diamond. He held it up to the light. ‘Breathtaking.’ After a few moments he glanced at Jack and Charlie. ‘Don’t you think so?’

  Jack shrugged. ‘We try not to think.’

  ‘How very wise of you.’ The Shepherd slid the diamond back into the bag, put it inside the briefcase and fastened the clasps again. Finally he took a breath and looked from Jack to Charlie. ‘Was the mission easy? Any problems I should know about?’