by Haywood, RR
I looked at the ground and wondered what I should be picking up, but there was nothing there apart from litter. I thought they meant I should be picking the litter up and looked around to see if anyone else was picking it up.
‘Right. Let’s get inside then,’ Mr Howie said. ‘Dave? You coming?’
‘What about the litter?’ I asked him.
‘Eh? What litter?’
‘That litter,’ I said and pointed to an old can of Pepsi.
Mr Howie tutted. ‘Bad, isn’t it. People are just lazy. Anyway, let’s get this done. I think Henry’s having kittens.’
I forgot about the litter and followed Mr Howie across the road to see Mr Henry’s kittens. I hadn’t seen any cats though. Unless Mr Henry picked up some tiger kittens. But they’re called cubs. Not kittens.
‘Paula, let Dave,’ Mr Howie said as Paula reached the front door. ‘Just in case.’
‘Fair enough,’ she said and moved away.
‘Found it then?’ Mr Henry asked, but I couldn’t see the kittens. I wondered where they are and then thought maybe I should go back and clean that old can up.
‘You never switch off, do you, Dave,’ Paula said.
I didn’t know what that meant either. I definitely don’t have an on and off switch though. I would have seen it.
I told Mohammed to come over and said we would do house clearance, and I would be on point. Then, I turned back and waited for his readiness signal when Carmen asked if we wanted a third and ran over to stand behind Mohammed.
‘Er, so’s, what do I do now?’ Mohammed asked.
‘What?’ Carmen asked.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘We’s only drilled with two people entry. Do I keep my hand on Dave?’
‘Yes,’ Carmen and I said at the same time. ‘I’m rear point,’ Carmen explained. ‘I touch you, you touch Dave, and he knows we’re good to go.’
‘Got it,’ Mohammed said. ‘So’s, would that work with like four people entry?’
‘Yes,’ Carmen and I said at the same time.
‘Got it,’ Mohammed said. ‘So’s, would that work with like five people entry?’
‘All the people entry,’ Carmen said.
‘What if you got like twelve people entry?’ Mohammed asked. ‘That’d be like a big conga line or something.’
‘You wouldn’t have a twelve-person entry,’ Carmen said. ‘Not for a property this size. Well, no. There’s actually lots of different methods of entry. I mean, you could put twelve into a house this size, but only if you were expecting serious opposition.’
‘If you were expecting that level of opposition, you’d use another tactic,’ Frank said.
‘Like what?’ Mohammed asked.
‘Like a blo*dy missile,’ he said as the others laughed.
‘You’d split into squads, Mo,’ Mr Henry said. ‘And stack up either side of the door. Say Team Alpha, and then Team Bravo. But you’d designate the entry flow. Team Alpha to go right for instance, Team Bravo to go left or ahead. But it would be covered in the brief.’
‘Ah, okay. Got it,’ Mohammed said. ‘But like, so’s what if you don’t got time for a brief?’
‘That’s a good question, actually,’ Carmen said.
‘That is a very good question,’ Henry said. ‘And it does happen. In which case, you’d use basic cover and manoeuvre tactics. Point stays on point. The second covers the first point of danger. The third covers the next etc. That’s if you are clearing as you go. But if you need rapid entry for, say, an imminent terrorist threat or to detain someone, then, you go in and sweep through at speed. That’s when you’d put more operatives in than a normal pre-planned operation.’
‘Cool, cool,’ Mohammed said.
‘You need to tell Dave you’re good to go again,’ Carmen said.
‘I’s got my hand on his shoulder.’
‘Yes, but we just stopped to have a conversation, so now, Dave needs a signal that we’re ready.’
‘Got it. Er, Dave, I’m good to go.’
‘We’re good to go,’ Carmen said.
‘Dave? Carmen is good to go too. We’s all good to go. Ah, man. I feel stupid now. Like you’s pros wouldn’t say that.’
‘We would,’ Carmen said. ‘It’s fine. As long as the comms are clear, and everyone understands, it’s fine. Okay, try again. Mo, I’m ready.’
‘Dave, I’m ready,’ Mohammed said and patted my shoulder as a bolt behind the door slid back and the door opened, with a woman inside smiling at me.
She did not have any weapons or show sign of threat, so I did not kill her.
23
Diary of Carmen Eze
By then it was already hot as hell. I think Roy had said it was in the mid 30’s, but the humidity was the thing though. It felt like a weight was pushing down on my shoulders.
Anyway. I was describing what just happened.
Dave had re-traced their steps from two weeks ago to find Milly’s house. (Orphan at the fort). We’d done that then Paula spotted a sign in the window (good spot too).
So Dave was gearing up for a house entry with Mo. I was bored and offered to jump in which sparked an MOE debate. (Method of Entry). Good discussion though.
After that I gave the ‘go’ signal to Mo. Mo gave the ‘go’ to Dave, and Dave’s readying to put the door in when it opens. And oh my god. I thought this day couldn’t get any more surreal. I mean. Tigers? Wolves? A talking parrot? (Who was gorgeous BTW. Green Winged Macaw – ara chloroptera)
But yes. What a day. Then the door to that house opened and this woman was just standing there. But she was only wearing a skimpy bra and knickers and everyone fell silent. I mean you could have heard a pin drop because she was stunning. She even made Marcy look plain. Blonde hair and these piercing blue eyes! Big boobs and long legs and a tiny waist. (I’ve dealt with a lot of Russian honey traps. Some of those women are like supermodels and even my mouth dropped open.) I wasn’t the only one either. But she was just standing there smiling at Dave and then the weirdest conversation I ever heard took place.
‘Hello,’ the woman said. ‘I’m Molly.’
‘I’m Dave.’
‘It’s hot today, Dave.’
‘Hydrate.’
‘What does hydrate mean?’
‘Drink water.’
‘I like water,’ Molly said. ‘Do you like water?’
‘I like water,’ Dave said.
‘I like kittens and puppies. Do you like kittens and puppies?’
‘Henry has kittens.’
‘Can I see the kittens?’
‘Henry has the kittens.’
‘Which man is Henry?’
‘That man is Henry.’
‘Hello, Henry. Can I see your kittens?’
And the rest of us were just staring on and listening while Dave and this Playboy looking woman were yacking on about kittens. (No idea why Dave thought Henry had kittens either).
So then eventually Howie blinked and he was like. ‘What the shit. Are you okay, love?’
And then Marcy said, ‘Oh no you don’t!’ and she was barging him away as though to stop him staring at Molly (Which we were ALL doing).
Then Paula was demanding to know what Molly thought she was doing.
‘I was going to see the kittens. Henry has them,’ Molly said. ‘Do you like kittens?’
‘Jesus. That bloody bra is see-through,’ Marcy said.
‘The knickers aren’t much better,’ Paula said.
‘Dave said we have to himate,’ Molly told them both.
‘Hydrate,’ Dave said.
‘Hydrate,’ Molly said and she was smiling at Dave. Then Dave was staring at her mouth and he was literally widening his own mouth to show her his teeth. So then she was doing the same and they’re both just showing each other their teeth.
‘Seriously! What the fuck are you doing?’ Paula asked. ‘Put some bloody clothes on!’
‘Giles said I shouldn’t put clothes on. He said it’s hot and I sh
ould stay cool.’
‘Fucking world’s gone mad,’ Paula said, and she was shaking her head but then Howie took a step closer and said, ‘Hello, Molly. My name is Howie,’ but his voice was really soft. Like how you’d speak to a kid. Which is at the same time as Henry asked if the girl was retarded. (Total diversity fail BTW.)
‘Hi, Howie. I’m Molly. Do you like water?’ Molly asked, then I realised she wasn’t showing one bit of surprise at a whole crowd of armed people at her door. Which is when the lightbulbs went on for the rest of us mere mortals not equipped with brains like Howie and Henry.
‘I do like water,’ Howie said. ‘Molly. Are you related to Milly?’
‘Milly!’ Molly said with the biggest smile you ever saw. ‘She’s my sister but she went away. I made that so she could remember our house.’ She pointed up at the sign in the window as the smile faded to a look of absolute pain. Like how a kid would lurch from emotion to emotion. Like that. Which is exactly what Molly was being:
A child in an adult’s body.
And the rest of us are murmuring, oh god, and sharing looks.
‘Milly’s okay. We know where she is,’ Howie said. ‘But Molly, listen, who else is here with you?’
‘Giles. He’s my half of a brother. But his friends live here now. Pete and John. And Terry and Adam and Dekkie. He has bad breath.’ She said that in a whisper with a grossed-out expression. ‘I don’t like it when he kisses me.’
‘Oh god,’ Marcy said. ‘Look at her body.’
I leant round Mo to see properly and saw the bruises all over her. Grip marks mostly. Handprints on her breasts and thighs. Another one around her neck. She’s fair-skinned and no doubt bruises easily, but still. The placement of them was obvious.
Not that Molly seemed to care. She just burst out laughing when Meredith pushed to the front and asked if she could stroke the doggy.
She then dropped down into a low squat which is when we saw the love bites on her shoulders and back. Like these vivid red welts all over her.
Jesus Christ. I’ve never felt anything like it. It was like the air was charging. It sounds stupid now. But that’s what it was like. There was this energy or whatever pouring from Howie. And his eyes! They were so dark.
‘Molly, I need to ask you a question?’ Howie asked. His voice had dropped too but he was trying to keep it light. ‘Is that okay?’
Molly nodded and said she likes questions. ‘But not hard ones though. Giles and his friends ask me hard questions. They said I’m stupid. They said I have to do things if I get them wrong.’
‘What things?’ Paula asked.
‘They make me wash the dishes,’ Molly said, like all sulky. ‘And I have to clean the toilet.’
‘Oh, thank god,’ Paula said.
‘And I have to put their willies in my mouth and foo-foo until the yucky stuff comes out. Urgh! I hate that.’
Then this guy shouted inside and this guy appeared. ‘Molly! You opened that bloody door? I said don’t open it you daft bitch! The zombie things will… Oh shit. Who are you lot? Are you the army? No way. Is it over?’
‘Are you Giles?’ Howie asked.
‘Eh? What?’
‘I said are you Giles?’
‘Giles? No, I’m Pete. Giles is asleep. Hang on. GILES! The army’s here. It’s over. Fuck me. Is it done?’
‘That’s Pete,’ Molly said.
‘Did Pete put his willy in your mouth too?’ Howie asked and that energy I said Howie had? Well. It went into overdrive. I can’t even explain it. It’s like time slowed down or something stupid. He just had this aura. And that guy Pete was blinking at him, and the fear was crawling all over his face.
‘Eh? What? What the… No, hang on a sec-.’
‘He did,’ Molly said with a gag.
Then BANG! Holy shit. Howie moved so fast. Let me say that right now. He had Pete off his feet and pinned to the stairs inside the house faster than the rest of us could blink and he was driving these punches into the guy’s head and Dave was sweeping in past him to another subject male grabbing a sawn-off shotgun in the front room.
‘GUN!’ Dave shouted, but the perp still tried to draw the weapon before Dave put one through his head.
I mean. We train for this and even I was caught out. Only for a second though. Then I’m pushing Mo out of the way and going inside with Frank behind me.
‘Me and Carmen sweep. Dave hold,’ Frank said while Howie was calling Pete a fucking cunt and punching him in the head.
Frank went ahead towards the kitchen and a subject male coming out of the toilet pulling his trousers up and trying to grab a police rifle and getting the McGill double tap for his troubles. ‘Kitchen. One down,’ Frank said.
By then I was in the other front room to a subject male coming awake on a sofa. The guy was bathed in sweat and the room was dark and filthy and stank like a crack den with empty cans of beer and bottles of vodka everywhere. I clocked the pistol on the table as the perp looked at it and told him to stay still. ‘DO NOT MOVE.’ But he went for it. I double tapped his COM and got one through his head. ‘Living room. One down.’
‘Ground floor clear,’ Frank said then I got back to Howie just as another subject male appeared at the top of the stairs.
‘What the hell!’ the guy was shouting. ‘Pete? Giles?’
‘ADAM!’ Pete shouted as Howie landed another sickening punch into his head, slamming his skull back into the edge of the stairs. Then he ripped the guy off the floor and threw him outside into Clarence.
Then Adam was at the top of the stairs in this pair of filthy white underpants and a look of horror. ‘Oh fuck. No, listen… Hey! Listen to me! No… Hang on. Whatever she said… We didn’t do it! I didn’t do it. Stop it. STOP IT!’
And that perp – Adam – he was screaming out and trying to drop and supplicate but Howie was up the stairs and battering him down with punches to his head. Then a bedroom door opens and another subject male stared out with the blood draining from his face.
‘Giles!’ Adam shouted, but he was spraying blood and teeth, and Howie literally dropped Adam and charged at Giles. Lifting the guy off his feet to launch across the room with the pair of them falling over this single bed. I was behind Howie and saw the room was filthy. The bedsheets were all stained with shit and piss and blood and there was sexy underwear all over the floor. Like crotchless knickers and PVC bras and sex toys and dildos and used condoms and tissues. But Howie just went at Giles. Driving him over the bed then he pinned him against the wall with a hand to his throat.
‘What did you do?’ Howie’s asked. ‘Your own sister. WHAT DID YOU DO?’
I couldn’t help it. We’re trained to stay cool. But that heat. The humidity. Everything we’d been through. Hearing the diaries that morning and seeing that poor girl Molly in the doorway. I just snapped and kicked a huge dildo at the guy and I was screaming at him and calling him a sick fucker while Frank is pulling me back.
And that Giles? Trust me. It was written all over his face. The sick fuck couldn’t think fast enough to lie. Then Howie drew his knife and stuck it in the perp’s gut and started twisting it while holding the guy by the throat. The guy wriggled and coughed blood over Howie’s face and I thought Jesus, I do not want to die staring into Howie’s eyes when he’s like that.
Giles though? Fuck him. He had that coming, and if Howie hadn’t of done it I would.
Then it was done and Giles just slid down to the floor and I turned around on hearing something and saw Adam still on the floor at the top of the stairs being held by Henry with a handful of his hair.
And so Howie walked out past me. Past Dave and Frank and he took Adam from Henry and pushed his pistol to Adam’s head as the guy pissed himself in fear while making these animal noises.
Howie shot him and I heard the guy outside being held by Clarence screaming out and looked down the stairs just as Clarence lifted the guy off his feet and snapped his neck.
And truthfully? The whole thing was probably less tha
n a minute. Then Henry was just staring at Howie and everyone was silent.
I’m telling you. This is a new world. A very strange new world.
24
Diary of Paula
Then, Howie was inside, and I think he stabbed Molly’s brother in the stomach just before he shot Adam in the head. Then Marcy and I turned Molly away just before Clarence killed the guy who opened the door and threw him back inside like he was trash. (Which he totally was.)
Molly though? She didn’t blink an eye throughout the whole thing. She didn’t even flinch at the gunshots. She was crouching down hugging the dog.
Anyway. I got inside and went upstairs to find Howie in the bedroom surrounded by sex toys and used condoms and dead bodies. (But then when aren’t we surrounded by dead bodies now?)
I think the worst thing (for me anyway) was seeing Molly’s handwritten sign on the bedroom door.
Mollys Room: Keep out!
No Mens!
It was just so sad. The thought of her making that sign while those filthy men took turns.
Then I looked at the sign on the door again and realised it said Molly’s Room. And not Molly and Milly’s room.
We worked out that Milly must have been taken into care by social services and Molly was left behind because she was an adult. (Poor sod.) Then H remembered Milly saying she lived with someone called Carly and he asked Dave if he remembers that, but Dave did that thing and said, ‘remember what?’ to set Howie off. I swear Dave does it on purpose. But it seemed to work though because it stopped Howie from looking like he was going to murder everyone.
Then Marcy (ever the patient one) was shouting up the stairs and asking what was going on.
‘Milly didn’t live here,’ Howie called down.
‘Er. Don’t tell me we just killed the wrong people.’
‘Eh? No! We think Milly was taken into care,’ Howie said.
‘Thank god for that,’ Marcy said. ‘Hang on. Charlie? Ask Molly if Milly was taken into care. Charlie’s asking her, Howie.’