UKD3: UK Dark Series Book 3

by Chris Harris

  Then there he was.

  Rick strode out of the house, his wife by his side. My pulse quickened with rage as I watched him greet the arrivals like long lost friends. His face loomed large in my magnified vision, and I watched him smile and hold out his hands in an expansive and welcoming gesture.

  I remembered that smile. Every time he had tried it on me I’d thought it was the most disingenuous thing I’d ever seen. Some of the people in the road had been fooled by it and had thought he was the best thing since sliced bread, but he’d only ever tried it on people he thought might be useful to him. He’d been a shameless social climber.

  I had sussed him out early on and, being a terrible big mouth, word had soon got back to him from one of his sycophantic friends that I thought he was a bit of a prat. From that point, he had stopped bothering with me.

  But by the look of it, he’d managed to work his weasel charm on this group of people. He was acting like their leader.

  We watched closely as they all emptied the contents of their rucksacks on to the table. They were clearly a scavenging party offering up what they had managed to find. I imagined his grating voice as I watched him congratulate a guy who’d had some success and watched him glare disapprovingly at someone else, who clearly hadn’t managed to find much.

  His wife stood at his side, thin lipped, and making notes on a pad.

  I thought back to when I’d known them on the road. As a couple, they’d been perfectly suited to each other. Lucy was constantly complaining about everything and reacted to what most of us would call everyday events, such as your child playing sport after school, as a potential crisis. Every time, she seemed to need a cast of thousands to help make it happen. Initially, we had helped occasionally when asked, but it hadn’t taken us long to realise that it was a one-way street and our good natures were being taken for granted. At this point we distanced ourselves and let her get on with it. The last straw had been discovering that while we were looking after her son and giving him tea after school because she was so busy, she’d been going to the gym after work!

  The haul on the table didn’t amount to much.

  As we all knew, most of the available food had already been claimed or scavenged, so if they were relying on scavenging as a way of feeding themselves, they were in trouble. No wonder they’d been watching the food warehouse so avidly. One of their number had seen its contents and they wanted it badly. They had failed twice and now they were having to sit by and watch it being emptied.

  But why was Rick in charge of a group like this? Through the binoculars, I could see that the scavengers were all men and they all looked decidedly unpleasant.

  He’d always been very persuasive, but how on earth had he got them to follow him?

  The men split up. Some of them went into the main house and the rest headed for the accommodation in the outbuildings, at the centre of which was a courtyard.

  Half an hour later, a large fire was lit in the courtyard. That attracted what must have been most of them outside again. Most of them were holding bottles and they all took turns drinking from them.

  The glow from the fire made it reasonably easy for us to make out their faces in the growing gloom.

  A bell rang and they all trooped into the main house for what we could only presume was meal time. A short time later, they gathered around the fire again and continued drinking. A few women appeared carrying more bottles and it was clear from how they were being treated that they were not loved or respected partners.

  As we watched for the next half an hour, things began to make sense.

  The women, who were all young and attractive, were there to serve the men and to provide for their needs. This then, was how Rick had managed to assert control. I pictured his wife hand-picking frightened and vulnerable girls, offering them food and shelter, and then drawing them into what amounted to sexual slavery. I trembled with anger. Some of them were just teenagers. It was uncomfortable to watch.

  Rick appeared and was greeted by a cheer that was loud enough for us to hear from our vantage point. He was carrying another crate of bottles, and proceeded to hand them out to the men, smiling and laughing and looking (to my mind) even more repellent than normal.

  The women (some of them girls really) didn’t try to fight off the advances of any of the men and after another hour or so of drinking, couples were seen disappearing back to the accommodation. Finally, there were only ten men left and they continued drinking around the fire.

  We noticed with satisfaction that not one guard had been posted. By two in the morning, everyone had either gone to bed or had passed out drunk by the dying fire.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Before dawn broke, Paul woke me up so that we could talk things through.

  Although nothing was stirring at the house and we’d have to have been shouting for them to hear us, the three of us sat together looking outwards for any trouble, and speaking in hushed tones.

  Harry, who had been keeping watch while I slept, spoke first.

  “That’s the biggest bunch of idiots I’ve ever seen down there. I don’t know how they’ve got this far!” he whispered incredulously. “They’ve got no sentries, no discipline and absolutely no respect. I don’t know what that Rick’s told them, but if they’re willing to act as his muscle, he must have spun them a hell of a yarn. And as for how they’re treating the women, it’s as bad as anything we’ve seen or heard of.” His voice hardened as his fury built, “I don’t know about you, but I’m for going down there now and taking them all out while they’re sleeping!

  Why do people act like this? Some of those girls down there must be underage. I know something like this can bring out the worst in people, but there just doesn’t seem to be any middle ground; either you pitch in to try to make the best of the situation – be willing to help others and contribute to building something new, or you use what’s happened as an excuse to be a complete bastard and take exactly what you like from whomever you want, and to hell with the consequences.”

  He shook his head, “As far as I’m concerned those men down there fall into the second category and they deserve what’s coming to them.”

  Paul and I exchanged glances, then nodded in agreement.

  Paul, speaking softly, replied, “I’m with you there, Harry, but we can’t storm in there like Judge Dredd dispensing justice. There are too many of them. We’re better trained and better armed than they are, but if it’s just the three of us, I can’t guarantee success.

  If just one of them took us by surprise, we’d be in serious trouble.

  I suggest we continue our surveillance today as planned, and get an accurate idea of their numbers, habits and routines. Then we can come up with a plan to deal with the bastards!”

  Harry, tired from his long shift, yawned and bedded down in the back of the OP, while Paul and I continued watching. A gentle kick every now and then stopped his snores from getting too loud.

  After the drinking of the night before, we weren’t expecting them to be early risers and they didn’t disappoint. It was after ten before two groups left. We presumed that one group had been despatched to keep an eye on the soldiers at the warehouse and that the others, who were all carrying rucksacks, were going scavenging.

  Of the groups that had left, we counted twenty men in total. After another hour of careful scrutiny, the only other men we observed were Rick and two others.

  As these were by far the largest and roughest looking of all the men we had seen, I imagined that Rick, typically, had made them his lieutenants and given them extra privileges to keep their loyalty.

  Once we’d satisfied ourselves that including Rick, there were no more than twenty three men, we concentrated on finding out about the women.

  They were coming in and out of the house and they all seemed to have their allocated tasks. As before, none of them gave the appearance of being under duress and the men paid them little attention. It seemed to me that they could easily have made a break for it
if they’d wanted to, but something seemed to be stopping them.

  I was mystified. There had been no signs of any children, so they clearly weren’t staying for that reason. I was roused from my thoughts by Paul hissing at me to get my attention. He’d been on main watching duty while I was scanning the perimeter. I turned my binoculars in the direction he was looking.

  Two of the women had left the buildings and were heading straight towards us. They seemed in no particular hurry, and from time to time they would stop to look at a book one of them was carrying, or to uproot a plant or pick leaves from it, placing it carefully in a basket.

  Paul spoke softly, “They’re foraging for food. Sod’s law they’ll walk right into us. Give Harry a kick; we’ll all need to be awake for this.”

  Seconds later Harry was wide awake and alert. A few hand signals from Paul told him everything he needed to know. The OP had been well camouflaged with natural vegetation from our surroundings and netting we had brought with us, so we were confident that unless they literally fell into our laps, they wouldn’t know we were there.

  They stopped about twenty metres away from us, and we found we could make out snatches of their conversation. They were still looking at the book and they were laughing together about whether to add a poisonous plant or two to their collection.

  One of them, still smiling, nodded in our general direction.

  “Let’s see if we can find enough mushrooms from under one of those fallen trees over there to finish them all off. And anyway, I need a sit down and we’re too far away for Rick the Prick to nag us. Come on.”

  To our alarm, she pointed towards the very trees we were crouching behind.

  We looked at each other and sank lower.

  The women settled themselves on the log within touching distance.

  I tried to be as still and quiet as possible. Every breath I expelled sounded to me like the roar of a bellows and every slight movement I made seemed to make a rustling noise. How could they possibly not hear me?

  But they seemed oblivious to any noises and carried on talking.

  The more we heard, the more we understood about their situation. One of the women was comforting the other, because she’d been beaten by one of the men for refusing to do something particularly degrading.

  “Since we left the other group, they’re getting worse. They seem to think they can do what they want to us. We put up with this all winter, because the alternative meant being thrown out and starving or freezing to death. But I don’t think I can take any more. I’d rather risk it out here on my own.”

  There was a pause while her friend digested what she’d said, then she spoke up.

  “Look, I know what you’re saying, but we’ll just be taken by another gang eventually. We’ve seen it happen. I know it’s getting worse here, but at least we know them and what to expect from them. We know the ones who are a bit softer and won’t be too violent towards us. There’s nothing we can do. We’ll just have to put up with it and try to protect the younger ones as much as we can. We think it’s bad for us, but for them it must be really awful. At least we can rationalise what’s happening to us.”

  “Look at Penny!” replied the first woman. “She’s just fourteen! She shouldn’t have to go through anything like that.

  When I was her age all I had to worry about was my school work and the boys I had a crush on. That creep Mike’s got his eye on her you know. I’ve been trying to keep his mind off her, but I don’t think it’s going to work for much longer. The guy’s a pyscho!”

  “Oh my God! So that’s why you’ve been going off with him every night?” There was a pause, and some snuffling and I visualised the first speaker nodding and trying not to show that she was upset.

  “Why didn’t you say?” said her friend, “We would have helped.”

  The other woman cleared her throat, as if she was trying hard to pull herself together, but when she spoke her voice was shaky, as if she was still close to tears.

  “No. It’s my job. I can’t ask any of you to do it. That just wouldn’t be fair. I promised Penny I’d look after her. I can cope with Mike; she won’t be able to. You all do your bit to protect her, but lately he’s been getting really nasty … look, I don’t want to go into details but that’s why he hit me, because I wouldn’t do what he wanted last night.

  But you know what? He’s a cowardly little worm at heart. Once he’d knocked seven bells out of me to prove he was the boss, he didn’t push me again to do what he wanted.”

  Her voice tightened with anxiety, “Penny won’t be able to refuse. I’m frightened he’ll kill her if he acts out one of those sick fantasies of his.” She paused, and this time the other woman could think of nothing to say in response. Finally, the first woman spoke again, “It’s how I rationalise it, you see. I’m doing it to protect her, so what I’m doing is right.”

  She broke down in tears.

  I moved my head slightly. I could see the two women hugging each other for comfort.

  I was deeply depressed by what I’d heard. The women here had obviously been left with no choice but to resort to the oldest trade in the world to ensure their own survival. But they were still clinging on to their sense of pride and had enough kindness and humanity in them to want to protect the more vulnerable girls in their group.

  It took several minutes for the first woman to calm down and then the conversation resumed.

  Paul nudged Harry, and I recognised their hand signals. Paul wanted to grab them and haul them into the OP.

  It was a risky thing to do, but we were some distance from the hotel so it seemed unlikely that anyone there would hear or see anything.

  Paul held up his fingers and silently counted down to three.

  On one, Paul and Harry jumped up and in one smooth movement, clapped their hands over the mouths of the women and dragged them backwards into the shelter.

  Their muffled screams and wide fearful eyes showing their shock at the sudden change in their circumstances.

  I got to my knees ready to help.

  The woman Paul had grabbed suddenly arched her body, and taking him by surprise, wriggled out of his grip.

  Twisting round abruptly, she kneed him firmly in the groin and as he rolled away in agony, locked his head in a vice-like grip while landing blow after blow on him with her flailing legs.

  I didn’t know what to do.

  Paul, highly trained in all forms of self-defence and unarmed combat, had been bested by this woman in the space of a few seconds, and was now in danger of being throttled to death.

  His face was changing from red to purple, as each kick from her legs forced more of the remaining air from his lungs.

  I looked over at Harry. In stark contrast, the woman he was holding seemed to have frozen in terror. His hand was still clamped over her mouth but she was making no effort to free herself. She seemed to be hypnotised by the sight of her friend, who was still managing to maintain her choke-hold on Paul.

  Pulling my Glock from its holster, I pointed it at the woman and said as loudly as I dared, “Stop it! We’re here to help you!”

  The first woman glanced at me but barely seemed to register what I’d said and made no move to release Paul, who appeared to be losing consciousness.

  Knowing that the gun’s safety was on, I leaned forward and pointed the gun at her head.

  “Stop it!” I said, loudly this time. “We want to help you.”

  This time she looked at me properly, and for the first time she seemed to take in her surroundings. She stopped kicking Paul, but kept her arm around his throat.

  Still pointing my gun at her, I said softly, “Do you think you could let my friend breathe now? He’s gone a very nasty colour. I know it may not look that way, but we really are here to help you.”

  I looked over at the woman Harry was still restraining.

  “We still need you to be quiet, so if Harry takes his hand away from your mouth, will you promise not to scream?”

 
She nodded, her eyes still frightened. I looked at the other woman.

  “And you, Boudicca! If I put my gun away, do you promise not to beat up the SAS captain anymore?”

  Harry couldn’t help but smile at my comment and some of the tension seemed to dissipate a little.

  She nodded and released the pressure on Paul’s throat. Paul was incapable of doing anything but roll away and gasp for breath.

  Harry released the other woman and she immediately crawled to the other one. They held each other for support.

  We sat in silence for a full minute while we all calmed down.

  Paul’s attacker spoke first, her voice harsh and suspicious.

  “Who are you, and where the hell have you come from?”

  I looked at Harry, who merely nodded for me to respond.

  “We came here because of Rick,” I explained. “I’ve got a personal score to settle with him.”

  She looked at me, as if weighing me up, “How do you know Rick? Did you work with him for the government?”

  The shock on my face was clear to see.

  “Government? Look, I don’t know what he’s been telling you all, but he worked in insurance! Some boring job. I could never be bothered to pay any attention to him when he was trying to tell me how important he was.”

  She shook her head emphatically. “No! He worked for the government. He knew exactly what had happened and what cars to get working. He helped to form the group and protect us from the rogue government forces that were trying to take control.”

  I shook my head in disbelief. “I can assure you everything he knows, he learned from someone else - mainly me by the sound of it. But we haven’t got time for that now. Will you be missed if you don’t get back soon?”

  “I doubt it. We’re running out of food, so his bitch of a wife gave us a book on foraging and a basket each and told us not to come back until they were full. She does nothing herself. We have to look after her and her two brats like they’re royalty.”

  The women had calmed down enough to pay more attention to us. It was obvious that they recognised Harry, but couldn’t quite take in the fact that it was him. I remembered how surreal it had felt for me on first meeting him.