by Hatchett
33
Day 5 – 15:00
Heathrow Airport, Security Briefing Room
The Leaders sat around the conference table. They had each given a brief report of what they had been doing and Tom Williams had updated them on what was happening in the outside world; effectively the virus had spread all over the UK, but it appeared that the smaller islands like the Isle of Man, Anglesey, the Isle of Wight, and several Scottish islands were still virus free as things stood. Despite some draconian moves – what remained of the Air Force and Navy had been shooting down planes and boats trying to escape the UK – the virus had still managed to cross the channel into continental Europe. Both France and Germany had declared a national emergency and closed their borders. Both countries had been put into quarantine, but it was clear that many people had already fled before the borders were closed. It was feared that the virus would just continue to spread regardless of any measures put in place.
In the UK, the power and television stations were now down, but Tom was still able to track news channels on the continent. He believed it was just a matter of time before they went silent as well.
The Leaders were thankful that Heathrow still had power; it had a direct link to the Sellafield nuclear power plant which was unlikely to stop producing anytime soon, unless there was a major problem. If Sellafield did shut down, then the airport had its own back-up generators and enough fuel to last for years. Communications still worked via satellites but ground based phone networks and cables were down. Tom had managed to track radio chatter from various parts of the country; it seemed that those still alive were going back to basics. Many of the technological breakthroughs over the past couple of decades were now of little use in the new world; it was a sea-change akin to the Ice Age and Bronze Age. Perhaps this was the ‘Zombie Age’.
“Thanks Tom,” Jack advised. “We now need to consider what we’re going to do about the Tower and the people effectively being treated as prisoners there. I’ve been trying to get hold of the Judge but he’s not answering.”
“From what we’ve seen and heard,” Issy started, “I don’t think we’ve got any choice but to use force. That Judge is a waste of space and Mamba is a raving lunatic. He’s just a tyrant like Gadaffi or Saddam Hussain.”
“I have to agree,” said the Major and there were nods around the table. “So, we need a plan. Any initial thoughts?”
“The way I see it,” Dave advised, “we have several problems to overcome; although the Tower isn’t that far, how do we get there? Even when we get there, the place is a fortress and is now surrounded by zombies. I’d rather a water moat; at least we could swim across it. I stand to be corrected but I don’t think anyone has ever breached the place in its entire history.”
“We’ve got the heli’s,” Bear highlighted. “We could use them to get us there and we could even use the Apache’s armaments to tear them apart.”
“There’s a lot of civilians,” Jack cautioned, “so I don’t think we can go in all guns blazing. We need to come up with something a little more subtle. I know it’s stupid in the circumstances, but I don’t like the thought of damaging the Tower. In fact, it could be a very useful satellite base for us going forwards. At some point, we should think about other locations for satellite bases in any case.”
“I agree,” said the Major. “We also need to consider the people in Stepney.”
“They won’t do anything to their own people,” Andy pointed out, “so I think we can worry about Stepney once we’ve solved the Tower problem.
“We need to work with the Warders in the Tower and coordinate a covert attack,” Issy suggested. “That way, we take out the gang without putting the civilians in harm’s way. If we can get there, then I have an idea how it could be done.”
“We can use the heli’s to get there,” Bear reiterated.
“Too noisy,” Issy replied. “It would ruin any element of surprise, although they could take us part of the way.”
“We could get to Downing Street easily,” Jack advised.
“Worth a thought, but that’s still miles from the Tower.”
“It may be our only option,” Jack commented.
“Can’t we just drive there?” Gina asked.
“I can’t see us getting though miles and miles of blocked roads, even if we used bulldozers.”
“We’ve managed to clear some of the local roads,” Gina noted, “and it would be good to create a lane all the way into the city.”
“Yes, but that could take weeks,” Issy replied, “and we don’t have that long.”
“Ok,” Jack said. “I want Issy, Dave and the Major to keep brainstorming and come up with a plan. The rest of us have other things to do.” With that, the Leaders except Issy, Dave and the Major left the room.
34
Day 5 – 16:30
Tower of London, Outer Ward
Daniel manoeuvred the truck through Byward Tower for the third and final time that day and, as the portcullis came back down behind him, he turned left and parked after a few yards. Rhys, Isaac, Nelson, and the gang member jumped out and joined a line of other gang members as they waited to unload the truck. As per the previous two trips, the goods were carried off to the restaurant’s storeroom in the Inner Ward.
Once they had taken everything, Daniel drove the truck up the corridor and parked it in the garage before filling the tank up with diesel. He then closed the garage doors and walked back down the corridor and around Bell Tower on the corner to the gate under the Bloody Tower and back into the Inner Ward. He was tired and sweaty and needed a drink and shower. He headed directly for the cottage he had been using but stopped a few yards from the front door.
Bill and Ben were standing outside. Daniel approached cautiously, wondering what the hell was going on. As he did so, Mamba came out of the door, and seeing Daniel, walked over.
“Good timin’ Danny Boy, I hear you’ve had a good day.”
“Yes, we managed to get a load of stuff, no thanks to you. I take it you wanted us dead by giving us empty guns?”
“Just havin’ a laugh, man. Wanted to see what you were made of.”
“Anyway, what’s going on? What are those two goons doing here?”
“You’re movin’ in with Isaac and the rest of them. The Judge and Judy have moved in here; they found out there wasn’t any pisshouse in the White Tower,” he said laughing. “Oh, and you betta not call them goons to their face if you wanna keep your own intact.”
“Where’s all my stuff?”
“Already been taken over,” he replied. “Don’t worry, we didn’t find any porn or anythin’,” he said, laughing again. “Had a good trip in the helicopter,” he noted.
“Oh yeah? Where did you go?”
“Only back to the estate. Bit quicker than you managed and a lot less trouble. I heard we lost another gang member today,” he added suspiciously as his smile disappeared.
“It’s a dangerous world now and people need to be more careful. Have you heard from Heathrow at all?” Daniel asked to deflect attention. “I bet they’re a bit pissed that you’ve taken their helicopter and their people as prisoners.”
“Fuck Heathrow!” Mamba retorted. “The Judge is ignorin’ them for now. What can they do about it? Fuckin’ nothin’, that’s what.”
“Ok, I need a shower, so see you later Mamba.” Daniel started walking towards his new accommodation, pleased that he had unintentionally managed to get away from the watching eyes and monosyllabic conversations of Ahmed and Dodge. He guessed that they had moved in with Bird and Smiley and that Rhys had also been kicked out to share with Isaac. Before he reached the door to his new lodgings, he heard the Judge call out to him. He turned in time to see the Judge and Jury heading his way.
“What can I do for you Judge?” Daniel asked, “it’s been a long day and I was just about to go and take a shower.
“I want you to show us the jewels,” the Judge replied. “Jury fancies a few new trinkets.”
> This was the last thing Daniel wanted to do, but he forced a smile onto his face and said, “No problem, follow me.”
The Judge fell into step next to Daniel as he started walking diagonally across the grass in the direction of the Waterloo Block, which sat just behind the White Tower. The Jury followed close behind with Bill and Ben either side of her.
“Have you spoken to Heathrow?” Daniel asked.
“Not yet. I’ll speak to them when I feel like it,” the Judge replied.
Daniel let it go and said, “You know there’s over twenty thousand gemstones in the Jewel House?”
“Fuck me!” the Jury squealed, “I could take a bath in them.”
“Most are attached to something,” Daniel qualified, “like St Edward’s Crown or the Imperial State Crown.”
“What’s that then?” the Jury asked.
“St Edward’s Crown is the most important and sacred crown, only ever used for crowning a new King or Queen. The Imperial State Crown is the one the Queen wears at state functions such as the opening of Parliament. You must have seen pictures of her wearing it?”
“Don’t think so,” the Jury responded with a thoughtful frown on her face. “Anyway, its no use to her anymore. She’s probably zombie meat like the rest of the population.”
They left the grass and re-joined the path and headed towards the central entrance to the building, with its square clock high above the ground showing the time as twenty to five. There was a large thick wooden double-door about nine feet high, with barred glass above which held the legend ‘The Crown Jewels’ in large gold lettering. The doors stood open, so Daniel walked straight into the double height hallway and heard gasps of surprise from behind him.
The hall had a black and white marbled floor leading to a set of wide, red-carpeted stairs with gold bannisters which led up to the second floor. The top half of the walls, equivalent to the second floor, were adorned with massive paintings of court, church, and Godly scenes. The lower half of the walls held smaller paintings and decorations, interspersed with double doors leading off to other rooms. There were gilt edged chairs and tables lining the wall, together with pedestals holding busts of famous historical people.
“The jewels are spread across most of this ground floor,” Daniel advised. “Where do you want to start?”
“The crowns of course!” the Jury ordered.
Daniel led them off through the first door on the left and made his way towards where the main treasures were displayed. Along the corridor they passed display case after display case, containing all manner of gold, silver, and jewelled treasures; swords, orbs, maces, trumpets, rods, staffs, spoons, rings, dishes, flagons, tankards, candlesticks, cruet sets, punch bowls and ladles. There were also various robes and other articles of clothing. The list of items seemed to go on and on there were many different varieties of each. The display cases were all brightly lit, and it was difficult to take everything in. Indeed, when Daniel reached his destination and turned around, he found the Judge and Jury had stopped some distance away, admiring something which had caught their attention. Daniel waited and eventually they dragged themselves away from the display and quickly caught up to him.
“This is the Royal Collection,” Daniel advised, pointing to a large brightly lit display case. It contained St Edward’s Crown, the Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign’s Orb, the Sovereign’s Sceptre and Rod together with a few lesser objects.
“I wanna try one on,” the Jury advised.
“All the cases are alarmed,” Daniel replied.
“I don’t give a shit!” the Jury shot back, “turn the fuckin’ alarms off then.”
“OK, wait here,” Daniel advised as he set off back down the corridor.
The Judge and Jury marvelled at the treasures while Daniel was away, oohing and aahing at each new discovery. Bill and Ben just stood like statues a couple of yards behind them, oblivious to their surroundings and completely uninterested.
After some minutes they heard Daniel retracing his steps back to them. “Are the alarms off?” the Judge shouted.
Daniel waited until he reached them before replying. “Yes, the alarms are now off.”
The Judge headbutted the glass of the display case but nothing happened.
“That won’t work,” Daniel cautioned. “The glass is strengthened. Here, let me,” he added as he moved around the display case to the rear and opened it.
“I want the crown,” the Jury ordered.
“And I want that stick,” the Judge added.
Daniel carefully lifted the Imperial State Crown with two hands and brought it around to pass to the Jury. “This Crown has two thousand nine hundred and one precious stones including the Cullinan II diamond weighing in at three hundred and seventeen carats, the St Edward’s sapphire, the Stuart Sapphire, and the Black Prince’s Ruby. It weighs just over a kilogram.”
The Jury tried it on as Daniel went back around the case to retrieve The Sovereign’s Sceptre, before bringing it back and handing it to the Judge. “This Sceptre has the Cullinan I diamond, the largest top quality cut white diamond in the World at just over five hundred and thirty carats.
“Fuck me, this thing’s heavy!” the Jury stated as she took the crown off. “I’m not wearin’ that!”
The Judge was twirling the Sceptre, watching as the light reflected off the massive diamond near the top. “I’m keepin’ this,” he advised to no one in particular.
“If you don’t need me anymore, I’m off for a shower,” Daniel advised, and started moving towards the exit.
“Yeah, no problem, thanks man,” the Judge replied.
As he was leaving the building, Daniel heard glass shattering and shook his head in disgust. He quickened his pace; he just wanted to get away from them.
35
Day 5 – 17:30
Tower of London, Inner Ward
On entering the cottage, Daniel saw that his assumptions about the re-allocation of lodgings was correct.
“Here he is,” said Rhys, “we were just beginning to wonder where you were. Grace saw you talking to Mamba on the lawn, so we expected to see you ages ago.”
“Yeah, I got collared by the Judge and Jury who are now proud owners of the Crown Jewels,” Daniel replied to confused stares as he walked past everyone in the direction of the bathroom. “I need a shower.”
“Plenty of hot water and towels,” Zak added as he passed.
“Thanks. Rhys, can you speak to Heathrow and find out what they’re up to while I get cleaned up?” he called out over his shoulder.
“Will do. Heathrow, are you there? This is Rhys”
Rhys, Isaac, and Grace had earpieces from the original case but having retrieved the second case and leaving one device with Samata, the other three were given Nelson, Zak, and Shauna so they were all now on the same channel.
“Here Rhys, hold a minute,” came an anonymous voice through their earpieces, “Issy and Dave want to speak to you and are on their way.”
A few minutes later, Issy and Dave came online.
“Hi Rhys, this is Issy and I’m with Dave. Is there a problem?”
“Hi guys. No, no problems. What made you ask?”
“Usually we speak to Daniel.”
“He’s fine. He’s just taking a shower and asked me to find out the latest. Just so you know, Shauna and Grace retrieved the second case of earpieces so we’ve all got one now. This includes Isaac and Zak’s mum back at the Green Park Estate, so she’s our eyes and ears there. Samata, are you there?”
A few seconds passed before they heard “I don’t think this is workin’….”
“We can hear you Samata,” Rhys advised.
“Oh, good. I was speakin’ but no one answered so I pressed the thin’ again.”
“How’s it going at the Green Park Estate?” Rhys asked.
“No change really, people are getting’ bored and a few disagreements have broken out, but the guards restored order and everyone’s back to doin’ their own t
hin’ again.”
“Ok, good. Issy, you wanted to speak to us?”
“Yes, Dave and I have been working on a plan all day and we think we’ve got a solution.”
As she was speaking, Daniel came back into the room, his hair still wet from the shower. “Hi Issy, Dave, I’m back.”
“Hi Daniel, good to hear you,” Issy replied. “I was just saying that we’ve spent all day trying to figure out how to remove the problem and we think we can do it, but we’ll need your help from the inside.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Daniel replied. “No one has ever breached the Tower throughout its entire history, so you’d have had to do something very special without any help.”
“See, I told you,” Dave put in. “I was telling the other Leaders that we couldn’t just walk in, unless we blew up the entrance and walls of course. But then, the zombies would also have access and innocent people would be killed.”
“So, what’s the plan?” Daniel asked.
36
Day 6 – 7:30
Tower of London, Inner Ward
In cottage number 4, they had finished breakfast and were preparing to go out; Mamba had ordered more scavenging for that day.
After the discussion with Heathrow the previous night, they had all settled down, had a few drinks, discussed the plans, and played some cards. It was a bit cramped with seven of them in a two-bedroom cottage which was built for four, or six if there had been a sofa bed. Isaac and Grace had one bedroom, Daniel and Rhys had the other. Shauna had taken the sofa, so Zak and Nelson had made themselves a bed on the floor. It was better to be cramped and together than comfortable and separated.
It had been agreed that Rhys would pretend to be unwell, so that he could stay at the Tower with Grace. The two of them were tasked with getting in touch with the other Warders and letting them know what the plan of action was. It was felt that this would be a lot easier with Grace around as no one was likely to question her due to her relationship with Mamba. Zak would replace Rhys and Shauna would replace the gang member from the previous day. That way, they wouldn’t have to be too careful about what they said when they were out and about.