by Mike Essex
“Why?” I asked.
“He stopped one the greatest tragedies of our time, at the expense of his own wife’s life. Plus, he had to give all of the credit to Tobias. He needed to be well paid to keep everything secret.”
“By who?”
“Do you remember Glenn King? The guy who was sentenced to a lifetime in jail after all those files leaked about him funding the Seperationists?”
“Yes,” I replied.
“Well, he paid your father ridiculously well to clean up his mess. In fact, Jill was doing a little digging whilst trapped and she found out that if you follow the building work from The Deck base back far enough it even leads to him.”
“So he’s partly responsible for this?”
“Him and maybe others. There were a lot of redacted files that even Jill couldn’t recover. We heard whispers that many of the richest families in Britain backed the Seperationists in some form but it’s impossible to find enough information to take them all down.”
“At least Glenn is rotting in jail forever. Along with Catherine McDougal,” I replied
It didn’t surprise me that Eli had kept us in poverty all those years when he’d been sitting on wealth. My mother’s death and his refusal to forgive himself for not saving her in time meant he’d been stuck in a spiral of depression for a long time. Perhaps living with nothing was his way of trying to do penance for those acts.
Now he had everything I wondered if he was happy and how he’d feel when I took it all away from him again. Just because he’d saved the world once it didn’t give him the right to try and control it now.
“Ok, this is 150 Garden Drive. The house we want is just down the road,” said Grace as she parked up.
“My soldiers are fifteen minutes away,” said Jacobi. “Do not engage until they get there, do you hear me?”
I looked at Grace and smiled when she pressed a button on her comms unit to disconnect the call.
“Time to go March,” I told him.
He held up the handcuffs and Rex reluctantly uncuffed him. March took the handcuffs in his hands and then flipped them over and ran them over each of Rex’s hands until they clicked into place. He took the comms unit from Rex’s ear and tossed it to the floor.
Rex sighed, this part of the plan being the bit I knew he’d hate. “Don’t try anything Science boy,” he said as March took the gun from his holster.
“Be careful,” I said to the both of them as they left the car.
In the rear view mirror I saw them walk down the street. Rex was keeping his hands low, hidden under his jacket so as to avoid suspicion from passers by, whilst March walked next to him keeping a hand on his shoulder.
As they started to disappear from my vision all I had to go on was their voices through March’s comms unit.
“Do you still trust him?” asked Grace.
“Which one?” I replied.
THIRTY
I heard my ex-boyfriend, who’d betrayed me, and my current boyfriend, whom I hardly knew, stop walking. I knew they must have reached the gate surrounding the house where Eli’s twin was being held.
“Oy,” came an unknown voice, addressing March, over the comms unit in my ear.
The words that March said next could make or break the entire thing.
“I have a prisoner and I demand sanctuary,” said March
“And I demand a million lap dances at Slyfellows and they don’t care,” came the reply. “I don’t know you from Adam.”
“My name is March Stanwood, I work for Eli Keyes.”
“Hey Gus. Gus? Gus! You deaf bast.”
I heard the footsteps of another man approaching.
“This geezer thinks he works for the prime minister. You ‘aving a laff mate or what?”
The other man chuckled and replied. “What did he say his name waz? I’ll look ‘im up.”
I looked at Grace with concern. We got out of the car and quietly ran towards the home in the shadows. Using the shadows as our cover we moved forwards, stopping just a few houses away; close enough to intervene if anything went wrong.
“Look. I know this residence is owned by Eli Keyes,” said March “and I know he’ll be very interested to know that I’ve captured this man.”
“Name checks out, from the blue list,” said one of the men.
“Oh you’re on the blue list, you must be special sunshine,” said the other and then chuckled.
Both men laughed until even March joined in to humour them. Over the laughter I could hear the gate opening.
“Problem is, the blue list ain’t a good thing,” said one of the men.
Grace and I darted towards the gate. I heard the sound of a gun cocking and March trying to talk his way out of it.
As I saw the golden railings that led to the gate I bent down on one knee. Grace knelt down next to me to steady her aim. Without hesitation we fired off a couple of rounds each, dropping the guards to the floor. March sounded startled.
Our guns were silenced but it wouldn’t take long for someone to notice two dead bodies at the entrance to the home. We picked ourselves up and ran towards the others. When we got there March was unlocking Rex’s handcuffs which he handed back to him. March tried to hand Rex back his gun.
“Keep it,” said Rex, “I’ve found something better.”
He leant down and grabbed a shiny looking pistol from one of the guards.
“I have always wanted a desert eagle,” said Rex. “Today is getting better and better.”
We helped the boys move the two guards into their security box by the entrance. March spotted a row of keys on the wall and grabbed the one marked ‘Master’. Meanwhile Grace stared intently at the glowing hum of four little screens, rapidly flicking a switch to change their displays.
“Four floors with twenty guards spread across them and the majority on the third floor up. That’s where our man will be,” she explained. “And…”
She stopped midway through her own sentence and turned 180 degrees towards the house. She fired off a dozen bullets and reloaded before the three guards had even hit the ground.
The four of us moved in on the guards and hid their bodies in the bushes by the front of the house. The door was wide open now, practically inviting us inside.
“The entrance way should be clear,” said Grace, which was enough to encourage me inside. I wanted to dash up to the third floor but everything I’d seen from my training told me not to. Taking out the floors one by one was the best way to ensure we’d get in and out safely.
“How many?” I whispered to Grace.
“Just two more on this floor,” she replied.
There was no sense in us splitting up. We took to the corridors the four of us together, two watching the front and two watching the back. If a single guard saw us before we saw them they could radio the others and our position would be given away.
I led at the front with Grace, carefully breaching each of the rooms until we were sure no one was inside. We found the two guards chatting to each other in an extravagant library. Grace shot the first one before he could look up from his copy of Moby Dick, whilst I took out the other as he reached for his gun.
March and Rex waited outside whilst we checked that the two guards weren’t going to get up again. If Eli’s twin wasn’t here then we’d have a lot of blood on our hands for nothing. Using the master key March locked the door so no one would find the guards.
Although Grace had only seen two guards on this floor, from the cameras, we quickly breached the other rooms so we could be certain. Heading up the stairs to the second floor, via a large central staircase in the entrance to the house, left us exposed momentarily. We each took a floor to aim for, with March aiming down at the ground floor in case we’d missed anyone.
We made it to the next floor without seeing anyone else.
“Three guards,” said Grace, quietly.
The first guard was patrolling the halls and was easily taken out while his back was turned. Whilst I was he
lping Grace to move his body we heard the quiet sound of a gunshot as March took out a guard as he turned the corner. When we’d hidden our guard in one the rooms the boys did the same with theirs in another. We locked the doors to each room.
“Don’t get cocky,” said Rex to March. “I know you’re not trained for this.”
“I know enough,” replied March.
We made our way through drawing rooms, games rooms and endless bedrooms until we found the last guard. It was almost too easy taking him out whilst he sat on the toilet trying to play a game on his phone. Better still we didn’t even have to move him.
With the second floor secure we made our way to the fourth so we could be certain it was safe to head to the most guarded floor. As we made our way up the staircase I caught a brief glimpse of the third floor and a guard walking away from me. I had a clear shot but left him for later. It wouldn’t have been safe to leave his body there whilst we cleared the fourth floor.
“Three,” said Grace as we reached the fourth floor, which by my count would leave ten guards for the third floor.
Rex proved to have the quickest draw when he came face to face with one of those guards. The two spotted each other at the same time and only Rex survived. As the guard’s body hit the floor we realised we’d made a mistake tackling the floors this way. His body landed heavily, shaking the floor and no doubt catching the attention of those below us.
We heard the sound of men shouting to each other and quickly breached the remainder of the rooms on our floor. Two more guards hit the ground as they fell, each of them giving away our positions. We heard the ‘thudding’ of boots closing in on us. Instinctively we decided to stay away from the main staircase and instead waited at the back of the building, in the hope that the guards would split up.
We found two rooms that slightly faced each other and split up into our two groups. Rex and March took one, Grace and I took the other. We left the doors open and aimed outwards, each group looking a different way down the corridor, hidden just enough so that anyone walking past wouldn’t see our faces.
In contrast to us the guards were far from quiet as they stomped their way through the building. I could hear them radioing their colleagues, the ones that we’d already dispatched. After a few unanswered calls they knew something wasn’t right. They slowed down their pace and made an effort to be quiet but we already knew they were out there. Neither side had the advantage of surprise any more.
I controlled my breathing, a trick I’d been taught long ago. I’d come a long way since my training at Smyth West police station. I took deep, long breaths in and out of my noise, filling my brain with oxygenated blood to help me focus.
As my stress levels started to wane I concentrated a little more on my minor view of the corridor and could better steady my gun. I took in a deep breath and then in one glorious exhale fired the gun eight times.
With my clip of ammunition exhausted I ducked around the door and reloaded. Grace guarded the hall, firing out the bullets she had left and when she ran out the two of us switched places. I surveyed the damage; two bodies lay on the floor on our side and one on the other. I had no idea which of our bullets had hit their target, all that mattered was they were dead.
For a minute the bullets stopped flying as both sides contemplated their next move. We couldn’t see them and they couldn’t see us. Grace re-joined me at the door and I scanned what little I could see of the hallway, the tip of my gun moving along with my head. I saw the glimpse of something round heading towards us at a great speed. It was far too big to be a bullet.
Acting on instinct I jumped up grabbing the object in my hand and without a second thought I threw it back the direction it had came. The grenade exploded before it had even touched the ground. I heard a couple of guards react to the explosion and hoped it had taken out at least another one of them.
“We have to go,” I said to Grace, and sensing an opportunity the two of us moved from the room, walking past the boys’ room. They almost shot us in the confusion but once they realised what had happened they quickly followed. We waited at the end of the corridor, the boys looking one way and us looking back where we’d just come from.
The dust had cleared from the grenade and another guard had been added to the pile on the floor. We took out two more that had come to see what had happened, balancing out the size of our group with theirs.
Noticing a lot of sound coming from the floor below us March recommended that we head down to the third floor. Despite their differences Rex agreed and we made our way back to the main staircase. We reached it just in time to look down on two guards walking a man towards the front door of the house. A couple of other guards fired towards us, pinning us back at the edges of the stairwell.
“Emmie,” said Jacobi in my earpiece. “Three men are leaving the building towards a parked car are you in pursuit?”
“No,” I replied, whilst my friends sprayed bullets towards the guards below. “Is your team outside?”
“Negative, we’re five minutes out,” he replied.
“We’ve got to go,” I told the others.
The four of us jumped over the stairwell in unison, weaving amongst each other down the stairs. I felt the force of a bullet hit my chest, winding me as it ricocheted off the bullet proof vest. By the time I looked up again the two guards were down and my friends were dashing towards the door. I lunged into a run and followed them out.
I arrived at the door to see Grace fire towards the car. I shouted out for her to stop but it was too late. The bullets pierced the tyres and the car started to skid. The driver attempted to regain control but the tyres lost their grip and the car veered head first into the gate.
I watched in horror as a man was thrown through the window of the car, his bones crushed by the gate as he smashed into it.
THIRTY ONE
The four of us made our way towards the car, unsure who had survived the crash. If Evan was the one impaled on the gates then Eli would be dead as well and as satisfying as that would be it wouldn’t save Tom.
The engine was in flames and smoke was flooding its way inside the car through the shattered windshield. If the fire didn’t kill them the smoke definitely would. Through the smoke and blacked out windows it was impossible to see who had survived.
I grabbed a rock and smashed the right side rear window. As I watched it fall away I felt someone grab my wrist and try to pull me inside. With my free hand I reached for my gun and aimed blindly into the smoke. Aiming to the side of my hand I fired at the unknown attacker until he let go.
March, who had been inspecting the body on the gate shouted to me that it wasn’t Evan. Either Evan was still in the car or I’d just shot him in the face.
“Evan? Evan? Can you hear me?” I shouted through the smoke.
A weak groan came back from inside of the car, followed by a fit of coughing.
I reached my arm inside and unlocked the door. Grabbing at the handle I tried to pull it open. It had become compressed from the crash and refused to budge. With the help of my friends we forced it open, allowing more of the smoke to escape but still leaving a dark, smoke filled void inside.
Without any thought for my own safety I plunged head first into the car in an effort to find Evan. The smoke choked me and I couldn’t speak or call out for Evan. I climbed over the body of the man I’d just shot, hoping that he was really dead. Unexpectedly I felt a hand grab my shoulder and pull me towards the other side of the car. Assuming that it must be Evan, I moved my body towards them. I could hear them coughing violently.
The unknown person grabbed my hand and moved it towards a thick strap. I pulled at it and realised it was his seat belt, which refused to budge. Reaching for my hip pocket I retrieved my knife and cut through the seat belt, being careful not to cut the man trapped underneath it.
Once the seat belt gave way I felt my body get pulled backwards, as Rex dragged me out of the car. I felt the air rush into my lungs as I made it outside again.
> “What are you doing?” I said to Rex. “Evan is still in there!”
“He’s not worth dying for!” said Rex, pointing to the flames that had grown at the front of the car.
I pushed Rex away and turned back towards the car. One hand emerged, followed by another. I grabbed one hand and Rex grabbed the other. Together we helped drag the man from the car.
As he emerged from the car he coughed repeatedly and then sucked in deep breaths of air. From his face I knew he had to be Evan, it was scary how much he looked like Eli, they were almost identical.
We got Evan away from the car, just in time to see it explode in a ball of fire, throwing us all backwards onto the floor. As my vision cleared I saw a group of armed men surging through the hole in the gate that the car had made.
I turned over to see Evan in agony next to me. As the soldiers closed in I used what I thought might be my last chance to communicate with Eli.
“Do you feel your brother’s pain?” I said to Evan, knowing he’d be in a Tether event with Eli. “I am coming for you Dad.”
I was pulled away from Evan before I could finish my message. Kicking and screaming I shouted out “Let Tom go!” until a voice crackled in my ear.
“It’s ok,” said Jacobi. “We’ve got you.”
I turned around to see the man who had helped me to my feet. It was Carter, one of Jacobi’s soldiers I’d met in Q-Whitehall many years ago. The last time I’d seen him, he had seemed like a scared teenager, unprepared for war and now he was leading this group of soldiers. Jacobi had changed him.
“It feels good to save you for once,” said Carter.
The medics moved in to help Evan, whose head was badly injured, but I wasn’t done with him yet. I leant back down over him, staring directly into his eyes.
“I’m sorry Evan but Eli needs to feel this,” Evan winced from the pain he was in. “Eli, we have a way to hurt you now. No matter where you are or what you are doing we can hurt you and if we decide we can kill you.”
I batted away one of the medic’s needles.