The pistol fell from Pinkerton’s hand and clattered on the floor. A nano-second later, Pinkerton jumped forward and curled into a ball. He crashed through the remains of the glass panel and rolled along the pavement outside.
Paddy cursed and surged towards the exit with his pistol outstretched.
Despite leaving his suitcase and pistol behind, Pinkerton picked himself up and took off down the quiet street as fast as his legs would carry him.
‘Stop or I’ll shoot,’ Paddy shouted after him. He squinted in the bright sunlight and took aim. But Pinkerton was fast; he was out of range. Paddy cursed and charged after him.
Although Pinkerton was initially fast, he had no stamina and his age was against him. Quickly, he drained of energy and his sprint slowed to a fast jog. Paddy was no runner, but he knew no pain and soon caught up.
‘Stop,’ Paddy shouted breathlessly when he was only a few metres behind. ‘It’s over.’
Passers by moved onto the road to avoid the pair, while onlookers stared in awe at the spectacle. The sounds of police sirens could be heard in the distance. Out of energy and knowing Paddy wasn’t going to give up, Pinkerton slowed to a walk. He raised his hands in the air.
‘Why did you have to kill her?’ Paddy asked pointing his pistol at Pinkerton. ‘Why?’
Pinkerton stopped and turned to face Paddy. His blotchy red face was dripping with sweat. ‘I didn’t mean to,’ he said shaking his head. He sounded almost apologetic. ‘It wasn’t supposed to happen like this.’
Breathing rapidly, Pinkerton strained to keep his arms above his head. Paddy noticed that his left fist was clenched, while his right was open.
‘It’s too late you know,’ Pinkerton said.
‘Too late for what?’
‘For everyone. You’re all dead now. Everyone is.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Paddy noticed that slowly Pinkerton’s arms were lowering, they were now level with the tops of his shoulders. Paddy kept the pistol pointed at his chest.
‘We put it into the drugs you see,’ Pinkerton laughed. ‘Who would ever find it in there? An unregulated substance taken by huge numbers of people without question as to what it’s made up of. They insist on having labels on everything these days, but not on their drugs. No one cares what they mix with that.’
‘You put what in the drugs?’ Paddy asked, he quickly wiped the sweat from his eyes with his sleeve.
Pinkerton shook his head, he looked Paddy in the eye. ‘The virus,’ he hissed. ‘Our virus. The one that will wipe the Earth clean.’
‘Put your hands on your head and get on your knees,’ Paddy ordered loudly. He’d had enough of this rambling madman.
Pinkerton smiled a sickly smile and looked to the sky. ‘No, my dear boy, it’s far too late for that,’ he said. Closing his eyes tightly he quickly moved his left hand to his mouth and threw something in it. He bit down hard and swallowed.
‘No,’ Paddy shouted, he surged forward and grabbed Pinkerton by the arm. But there was nothing he could do other than watch. White froth instantly bubbled out of Pinkerton’s mouth and ran down his chin. Within seconds his head fell back, his legs gave way and he collapsed backwards onto the ground. He lay motionless on the pavement. When his bowels gave way, Paddy knew he was gone.
Chapter 35
0759hrs – Bedfordshire
William awoke and opened his eyes. He saw nothing but pitch black. He could feel that he was lying face down on the floor. His hands were still bound in front of him. As his eyes adjusted, he realised there was a quivering orange glow coming from under the door. He became conscious of a strong smell of smoke.
Ignoring the searing pain in his chest, he pushed himself up and perched on his knees. Instantly his lungs filled with an acrid substance which made him cough. Unable to breathe the thick smoke, he ducked back down onto the floor and tried to draw in some cleaner air. Hoping his rucksack was still where he left it, he crawled under the bed and blindly reached out for it. When his fingers found the material he dragged the bag in to himself. From it he took out the night-vision goggles and strapped them on over his head. There was a bright flash of green in his eyes before the image settled down, then he scanned his surroundings. The room was empty, thick smoke poured in from the gaps in the only door and moved like a river across the ceiling to the back of the room. William held his breath and reached for the door handle. As soon as he touched it he withdrew his hand. It was red hot.
There was a loud bang from the other room, a moment later another, then another as the ammunition succumbed to the heat. When the image of the boxes of explosives flashed into his mind his heart jumped into his mouth. Time was running out and there was no way out.
Lying close to the floor, he took several deep breaths and held it. He grabbed the rucksack and rose up slightly. The heat was intense on his head and back. Noticing the way the smoke moved, he followed it towards the opposite end of the room until he reached the cabinet. It was hard to make out, but he was sure that the smoke was being sucked down behind it. As he moved in closer it became clearer. Thick wisps of smoke drifted down from the ceiling, along the back wall and went behind the cabinet where it seemed to vanish.
William wasted no time. Gritting his teeth and bearing the heat, he grabbed the back of the cabinet and heaved it over. Binders, books and folders scattered onto the floor. Much to his satisfaction there was a small round hole in the wall behind. After throwing the rucksack ahead of him, he squeezed through and clambered into the next room.
It was cold and pitch black, but at least the air was breathable. His night-vision goggles struggled to find any photons to enhance, he switched the infrared torch on. Through the hazy cloud of smoke that had permeated into the chamber he could see that he was not in a room, but in a narrow manmade tunnel. The old cobbled walls were uneven, the wooden supports looked rotten, some were broken. The old escape tunnel from the castle, William presumed. He took out his dagger and sawed furiously at his bindings. He was soon free of his bondage.
There was a loud explosion from where he had just come from, quickly followed by the sound of falling debris. A thick nauseous smoke billowed into the tunnel. He recognised the burning smell; one of the grenades must have exploded. It was followed by several loud cracks as more ammunition went off.
Spurred into action, William took off down the rickety tunnel at speed. A few metres down he passed under a narrow shaft that was cut into the ceiling. All the smoke was sucked up into it where it disappeared. Beyond the shaft, the cool, crisp, clean air was pleasantly welcoming. William jogged up the slight incline for about one-hundred metres before he finally reached the end: a dead end. He found a set of stone stairs that rose only a couple of metres until they stopped at the roof of the tunnel. William climbed them and examined the ceiling with his night-vision. There was a flat stone slab above the very top of the stairs, it seemed to be the only obvious exit point. He placed his back under it and pushed as hard as he could. Nothing moved. With the blade of his dagger he stabbed into the edge of it and sawed along the sides. Loose soil fell out from the gaps, he dug the blade in as deep as he could and removed as much loose dirt and stones as was possible. Positioning himself once more under the slab, his calves burned as he pushed up with all his might.
This time something gave way. The slab moved upwards an inch and then stopped. After a moment of rest to catch his breath, he removed the night-vision goggles, wiped the sweat from his eyes and tried again. He heaved. This time the slab began to move higher, bit by bit, inch by inch. A thin beam of sunlight sliced through the dusty air into the tunnel. Through the thin gap he could see grass and sky, he could smell fresh air, it was filled with the sweet fragrance of the summer forest. He pushed the slab until the gap was big enough to climb through. After throwing his rucksack through to the surface he hoisted himself up.
The bright sunlight caused him to squint. When his eyes adjusted he found himself surrounded by shrubs in the quiet forest at the edge of the old castle ruins. The
stone slab was covered in soil and foliage. He’d been lucky to have moved it all, the area was covered with huge stones that had been part of the old castle wall. If any had fallen on the slab, he would have been trapped. He spotted the farm track by the side of the old castle and began to walk towards it.
The silence was broken by the racket of a helicopter, it shot past above the tree tops. William watched it bank over the trees and climb upwards. He had no doubt as to who was in it, but there was nothing he could do to stop them.
There was a loud explosion from the direction of the bridge. A huge fire ball rose into the still morning air. A series of smaller explosions continued afterwards as the rest of the ammunition released their fury. Watching the pillar of smoke rise, William took out his phone and called Sarah’s mobile. There was no answer. He threw his rucksack over his shoulder and followed the track all the way to the mansion. When he arrived at the deserted house, he called the office once more.
‘Sarah,’ he said quickly when the call was finally answered, ‘it’s me. I need you to organise a lift, urgently.’
‘William, it’s Paddy. I’ve got some bad news.’
Chapter 36
1135hrs – Bedfordshire
From the grounds of Rockcliffe Hall, William watched as the Chinook approached from the distance. Its familiar sound was comforting. As it approached he saw the large dome on one side of the fuselage, it was a powerful camera designed for long distance surveillance and target acquisition.
When the huge helicopter landed on the grass by the front of the house, the rear door opened, but the engines remained on full power. An armed soldier dressed in full combat gear appeared from the ramp and waved William in.
As William boarded he saw several people sat on the benches along the narrow fuselage. He recognised Paddy, but there was a bespectacled, balding civilian that he didn’t recognise and five anti-terrorist troopers dressed in black combat gear.
Nodding a hello to Paddy, William took his place on a seat opposite. He eyed the various weapons that the troopers clutched. There were black KAC PDWs, a short but highly accurate assault rifle that fired six-millimetre armour piecing rounds, a couple of Heckler & Koch MP7 sub-machine-guns fitted with silencers, and a Heckler & Koch G36k with a grenade launcher attached. Several hand grenades, and smoke grenades were fastened to their bullet-proof vests. Large combat rucksacks, or Bergens as they were known, were tucked under their seats. This was a unit prepared for close combat.
William turned his gaze to the bespectacled stranger who forced a smile at him. He couldn’t help thinking how out of place the worried looking little man was.
‘You’re a site for sore eyes,’ Paddy shouted. He handed William a set of ear defenders.
As he put them on, William turned to look outside and caught his reflection in the small window. His face was blackened by soot and soil, there were spots of dried blood on his cheeks and chin. Paddy raised his hand to his throat mic and spoke an order to the pilot. A moment later the helicopter lurched into the air, banked at an acute angle and accelerated southwards.
‘We’ve got some catching up to do,’ Paddy said to William once he had switched his headset on.
‘Tell me about Sarah first,’ William demanded.
‘Our suspicions about Pinkerton were right, but I was too late to act.’ Paddy shook his head. ‘Sarah walked into his office just when he was clearing out, permanently. He’d gone in to submit a false report on the IMS, his last cowardly act of betrayal. The bastard has been running circles around us.’ Paddy’s hardened face then softened for a moment, he knew how well William and Sarah had got on. ‘He shot her at point blank range. She died instantly – no pain.’
Expressionless, William stared out of the window at nothing in particular. Wisps of cloud shot past the window, far below was a sea of greenery, the land a patchwork of farms. ‘Another waste of a good life,’ he murmured.
‘He tried to escape on foot, but I caught up with him,’ Paddy explained. ‘Cornered and defeated, the shameless traitor topped himself with a cyanide pill before I could do anything.’
‘Coward.’
Paddy nodded. His steely gaze remained fixed on William.
‘What was in the IMS report?’
‘Ollie picked up on it immediately,’ Paddy said. ‘It was misdirection on the virus case, more bullshit designed to delay our good work. We’ve pulled it now and sent out an alert to the community with the real threat assessment and all the intelligence we have.’
‘Which is?’
Paddy took a deep breath and sat back. ‘Ollie tracked one of the target phones to New York; he’d hacked into it and scooped the GPS data. From that he worked out where the suspect lived, and then from that, who he was. I put a friend from the Company on the case without Pinkerton’s knowledge.’ Paddy grinned at William. ‘Call it an independent review. As you’d pointed out, Pinkerton had been resistant to the whole idea of using other agencies, and it didn’t sit well with me either.’
‘So what happened? Were they keen to do the job?’’
‘Oh yeah, my guy there loves it, any excuse and he’s out there. The CIA team followed the target to a city marina where he picked up a case from a millionaire’s cruise boat, and then went straight on to an upmarket hotel. Five people visited the room shortly afterwards. Each was picked up when they left and taken in to custody for a rapid debrief.’
‘Did they talk?’
Paddy laughed and grinned with satisfaction. ‘I think the threat of a little water-boarding had them chattering away pretty quickly.’
‘So who were they?’
‘Three lowlife drug dealers from different city gangs and two chinless wonders who said they regularly bought from the target. Turned out they supplied to the high and mighty. Lawyers, bankers, celebrities – you know the type.’
‘And who was the target?’
Paddy leaned forward as if it somehow enhanced his voice. ‘Get this. A city lawyer with a clean record. They raided the hotel room in the night and picked him up with the rest of the gear. All two-million dollars worth, so they reckon.’
William’s whistle was drowned out by the noise of the engines. ‘So how does it link to our case? Don’t tell me this is a drug war?’
Paddy shook his head and narrowed his eyes. ‘Oh no, it’s much, much worse than that.’ He tilted his head to the man sitting next to him. ‘This is Max Redwood, a senior scientist from the Defence Labs. I’d better let him explain the rest of it.’
Hesitantly, Max pressed the transmit switch on his headset. His eyes darted furtively from Paddy to William. ‘I analysed the data files your office sent over, the ones from the virologist. They contained the genetic code for a deadly genetically engineered virus.’
‘So we heard,’ said William. ‘What’s new?’
Max went on to describe the two phases of the virus, how it spread from victim to victim and how it gruesomely finished off its quarry.
‘Nice,’ William said looking at Paddy who was unusually silent. An uneasy feeling was brewing in his stomach as he pieced the information together.
‘There are victims already, William,’ Paddy added solemnly. ‘Only in the cities so far, but in several countries. It’s started, we’re already too late. No thanks to that traitorous bastard.’
‘There are only a dozen or so victims, but the CDC is on full alert for a pandemic of catastrophic proportions,’ Max added. ‘It’s what we call scenario three – a global outbreak of a lethal virus with no known vaccine.’
William looked from Max to Paddy. ‘They’re using the drugs to spread it, aren’t they?’ he quizzed.
‘Yes, it was found in the cocaine from the New York job. And that certainly wasn’t the only batch.’
‘The virus was contained in microscopic dissolvable capsules,’ Max explained. ‘It turns the drug pink.’
‘Which is what they’re calling it on the streets all across the uncivilised world,’ Paddy added sarcastically. ‘There are
hundreds of police reports about it. It’s the latest recreational phenomenon.’
‘The perfect bio-weapon,’ William stated coldly, but sounding oddly impressed. ‘Illegal but widely used, no one asks what’s in it, it’s not regulated or checked, and there are countless volunteers from all walks of life waiting to distribute it to the willing masses at a moment’s notice. Genius.’
‘And many addicts won’t even admit that they use it,’ Max added. ‘Which makes awareness and deterrence programmes pretty useless.’
‘And the wealthy, high flying, chinless idiots will spread the infection across the globe like wildfire,’ Paddy said.
Something occurred to William. ‘Hades said something to me in the bunker, “For it is because of these things that the wrath of God will come upon the children of disobedience.”‘
‘The Epistle to the Colossians,’ Max recalled. ‘It’s a quote from the bible.’
William nodded, he’d thought as much. ‘I think he sees himself as a saviour. He’s justified his actions and believes that he’s acting for the greater good – his greater good.’
‘What, the extermination of our race?’ Paddy snorted.
The team felt their stomachs rise as the helicopter rapidly lost altitude. The G-force increased for a moment as the Chinook banked and rose again. Max turned even paler and placed his hand over his mouth. Paddy glanced at Max from the side and suppressed a smile.
‘So what’s the plan?’ William asked. ‘How do we stop this?’
‘Global vaccination,’ Max stated, his voice was shaky. He removed his glasses and dabbed at his watery eyes with a folded white handkerchief. ‘It’s the only way. The CDC and the WHO have extensive plans for this kind of scenario, both overt and covert. The ball is already rolling, vaccine factories and emergency medical centres are being set up the world over. All we need now is the vaccine.’
‘But there’s a problem,’ Paddy added. He grimaced and sucked his teeth.
The Secret of Hades' Eden Page 29