by Hatchett
“Sorry, but we didn’t know that was going to happen,” Daniel advised, “and we need to be quick because I don’t think Mamba would be too happy if he knew we were here.”
“Was he the one standing back and staring?”
“Yes, that’s the one. He’s mad. Sorry Grace, but it’s true. He’s the main problem and he has the ear of the Judge and Jury.”
“I agree,” Grace added.
“He’s Grace’s uncle,” Daniel added by way of explanation. “I’m not sure what we can do for you, but we’ll do our best. We’re severely outnumbered here.”
“How many men or women have you got?” Joel asked.
“Apart from us four, there’s Nelson and Zak then another thirty-five of my men.”
Grace and Isaac looked at each other before looking at Daniel in surprise. “What do you mean thirty-five men?” Isaac asked.
Daniel looked at Grace and Isaac, hoping that he had made the right call and that they really were on his side. “We don’t have time now, I’ll explain later.” Daniel turned back to Joel who was still watching Grace and Isaac carefully, waiting to see what they would do.
Isaac looked at Grace before turning to Daniel and nodding. “Ok, later,” he said.
Joel was satisfied that Grace and Isaac posed no immediate threat and turned back to Daniel. “I can’t do anything from here, so take these.” Joel reached down and pulled what looked like a miniature headphone case from the inside of his boot. The case was only an inch square and less than half an inch deep and looked more like a smaller version of a contact lens case. “Just as well we weren’t searched very well. There are four earphones in there which will put you in direct contact with my colleagues at Heathrow. They’re almost invisible unless someone is specifically looking for them. We have our own, so will listen in and let you know what’s happening to us if we can. There is another set in a compartment under the rear seat of the helicopter if you’re able to get to them.”
“Thanks,” Daniel said as he took the small package and quickly put it in his pocket. “Do your friends know what’s happened to you?”
“Yes, they were watching earlier, and they’ve been listening the whole time.”
“Even now?”
“Yes, Jack says ‘thanks’ and looks forward to talking to you soon.”
“I can’t wait. It might have to be a lot later because I’ve got to drive the truck when we go scavenging for provisions, but I don’t know when that will be. We better go now in case anyone else pays you a visit - it wouldn’t look too good if we were found in here.” They shook hands and Daniel, Rhys, Isaac, and Grace left the cell, summoned the guards, and quickly made their way out of the White Tower.
Daniel looked at his watch and saw that it was nearly 11.30am. “What time are we scheduled to go out?” Daniel asked Isaac.
“Dunno. I think Mamba’s forgotten about it with the arrival of our visitors.”
“We need to get to your cottage and talk, and we need Zak, Nelson and Shauna there.”
“I’ll get them and see you there,” Isaac advised and moved off across the Inner Ward.
Daniel, Rhys, and Grace made their way to the cottage, Daniel taking a good look at the helicopter on the way. It was being guarded and now was not the time to try and get hold of the additional earpieces.
29
Day 5 – 11:30
Tower of London, Inner Ward
Daniel and Rhys sat next to Isaac, Grace, Zak, Nelson, and Shauna around a coffee table in the front room of their cottage. The small case containing the earpieces was sitting in the centre of the table.
Daniel carefully looked all of them in the eye. “I haven’t been entirely honest with you all,” he started, “but I didn’t know who I could trust. Over the past couple of days, I feel like I’ve got to know you far better and now believe I can trust you. I just hope I’m right. I wanted to discuss this before we move onto other things and the item on the table.”
Nelson, Zak, and Shauna looked totally confused but Grace and Isaac nodded for Daniel to continue.
“As you know, Rhys and I are Yeoman Warders, or Beefeaters if you prefer. Although we do tours of the Tower for visitors, we are actually bodyguards and our job is to look after the Tower, which we all know like the back of our hands. All Warders are ex-armed forces personnel and there are thirty-five others of us currently looking after the people confined to the Outer Ward.”
There were a few moments of silence before Zak pointed out the obvious, “So, you’re really a soldier?”
“Yes, that’s right Zak.”
“Why didn’t you fight Mamba?”
“We were caught by surprise. We didn’t think anyone would be coming to the Tower with all the zombies out there. Once Mamba was here, it was too late, so we had to bide our time and wait for an opportunity to act and try and keep as many people alive as possible in the meantime. Not an easy task with Mamba around.”
“Why are you tellin’ us all this?” Nelson asked.
“I believe, and again I hope I’m right, that all of you don’t like what is happening around here; treating people like slaves, killing people for no real reason, forcing some women into sex. I’m sure there are other atrocities which I haven’t seen yet.”
“I would’ve been one of those victims,” Shauna pointed out, “if it hadn’t been for Grace.” She smiled and reached for Grace’s hand. “I’ll do whatever I can to help.”
“Oh man,” Nelson exhaled loudly. “What the fuck can we do? There’s only seven of us, and even with your thirty-five soldiers, we can never stop the gang. They’ve all got guns and there’s some serious nutters around here.”
“You’re right,” Daniel advised. “We can’t do it on our own. But, we may have some help.”
“What do mean?” Zak asked.
“The guys who came in on the helicopter are from Heathrow. I don’t know much about them, but they want to help us.”
“They’re not much fuckin’ use in Heathrow,” Nelson spluttered. “You just saw what happened to those poor sods who decided to pay us a visit. This is a fuckin’ castle, man. How’re they gonna help when there’s no way they can get here.”
“I don’t know yet,” Daniel replied, “but this is where these come in,” he said, picking up the small case. “These are earphones which will allow us to communicate with Heathrow. There’s only four for now, but there’s another four in the helicopter, so we need to try and get them if we can.” Daniel opened the case. There were four tiny earpieces as promised. He took one and placed it in his ear. He then offered one to Isaac, Grace, and Nelson. They took the devices and inserted them into their own ears.
“You just press it to turn them on and off or change channel,” Daniel advised, and they all pressed the device.
“This is Daniel. Is there anyone there?”
30
Day 5 – 11:45
Heathrow Airport, Security Command Centre
Tom Williams was in the Security Command Centre monitoring the feeds from the CCTV and satellite coverage of the Tower.
“Boss, incoming!” shouted one of the surveillance operators.
“Get Jack in here and put it on speaker,” Tom replied.
“This is Tom Williams, who is this?”
“Daniel.”
“Ok Daniel, bear with us a moment, I’ve got a call out for Jack. Everything alright?”
“At the moment, yes, everything’s fine.”
“Good. Ah, here comes Jack.”
Jack entered the Security Command Centre from his office next door and quickly made his way to his seat in the Command Ring, closely followed by the Major.
“Patch this through to the Security Briefing Room so the Leaders can join in as and when they get there.”
“Hello Daniel, this is Jack. I’m with the Major and the Leaders will join at some point.”
“Hi Jack. I’ve got Rhys, Zak, and Shauna with me, but they don’t have earphones yet. Isaac Grace and Nelson have ea
rphones.”
“Hello to you all,” Jack said. “How are my people, Daniel?” Jack asked.
“They were fine when we left, but that was nearly half an hour ago and anything can happen around here in that time. Has the Judge contacted you?”
“Not yet, but he doesn’t know that I know what he’s done. We’ve been watching everything closely and will continue to do so. We saw the seven of you go to the cottage you’re in and we also tracked the one called Mamba to a cottage a few doors down from you.” Jack advised.
Nelson’s eyes widened in surprise. “Jesus fuckin’ Christ!” he blurted out, and Rhys, Zak and Shauna looked at him questioningly.
Daniel held up his hand and noted, “That was Nelson, and this might be a bit new to him.”
“Ok, hello Nelson.”
“H-hello,” Nelson stuttered, looking around the room for hidden cameras. “Can you see me now?”
“No, you’re indoors,” Jack replied. “We are only able to see outdoors unless we can rig up internal cameras. However, we can see your heat signatures on the infra-red.”
Nelson calmed down and focused back on Daniel.
“Any ideas on what we’re going to do, Jack?” Daniel asked.
“Sit tight for now. My guys are watching carefully with a view to coming up with a plan to help you. The more information you can give us the better because pictures don’t tell the whole story. We should be able to hear whatever those with an earpiece hear, providing it is turned on and is not too far away from the source.”
“What do you wanna know?” Nelson asked, getting into the spirit of it.
“We have rough numbers but need to know more about the hierarchy.”
“The what?” Nelson asked confused.
“The leaders and the set up.”
“Oh, well there’s the Judge and Jury, ‘though they don’t do much. Then Mamba and the other lieutenants; Ahmed, Skelly, Dodge, Bird and Smiley. We lost two on the way over.”
“Ok, we’ll get a fix on them and keep them monitored. What about the rest of the gang – I assume it is a gang?”
“Yeah, we’re the 39 Stepz. We’ve got around a hundred gang members here and a few more back home.”
“We know about Stepney and are keeping an eye on that as well. Any idea how many gang members are in Stepney?”
“Around twelve. We got family there too. What’s gonna happen to them?”
“Whatever we come up with, we’ll try and keep them safe. Is everyone in the gang?”
“Nah man, just the men, but not the old ones. If they carryin’, then they’re gang.”
“Thanks Nelson. Daniel, it looks like Mamba is heading your way; he’s just left his cottage. We’ll talk again later.”
“Ok, later Jack. Nelson, give your earpiece to Rhys for the time being.” Nelson did as he was asked as a loud knock came at the door.
“Pinky? Perky? You fuckers in there?”
Grace stood up and walked across to open the door. As it was opened, Mamba pushed his way in and stood staring at everyone.
“What the fuck are you lot doin’?” he shouted.
“Just having a drink and a chat,” Daniel replied. “We were waiting to find out what you wanted us to do and we didn’t think you’d want to be disturbed.”
“You got that right,” Mamba stated with a leer on his face. “But you got work to do. Let’s go.” With that, Mamba turned and left the cottage, the rest following in his wake.
Mamba walked across to the main lawn where the helicopter was sitting. “Gonna take a ride,” he advised. “Get me the pilots,” he ordered two of the guards.
As the two guards walked off, Mamba turned to the others. “Shauna and Grace, you’re comin’ with me for a ride. The rest of you can go scavengin’ for food and other stuff. Get the truck and go. Ahmed and Skelly are at the gates and they’ll let you through. Don’t come back empty handed! Oh, you betta take these.” He handed Daniel a sack. “It’s the stuff we took off the visitors. Don’t do anythin’ I wouldn’t do,” he added as he walked away.
31
Day 5 – 12:15
Tower of London, Inner Ward
Daniel, Rhys, Isaac, Nelson, and Zak walked away from Mamba in the direction of the gate under the Bloody Tower, taking out the weapons from the sack and handing them around. Guards opened the gate as they approached to let them through and the five of them turned right and followed the corridor between the inner and outer walls to the North East corner and the garage where the vehicles were stored.
The originally white armoured truck was a little battered with dents at the front and back, and reddish-brown stains all over the front grill and paintwork. The engine block remained untouched, which was the main thing.
The vehicle had been re-fuelled and the five climbed aboard before Daniel took it down to the first portcullis at Byward Tower. “Any ideas?” he asked. Rhys and Isaac were sitting in the front with him, with Zak and Nelson in the space behind them.
“I say we find a supermarket, pile in and help ourselves,” Zak suggested.
“We need to be careful because we don’t want to open a gap which allows zombies to follow us in, and we won’t know if there are any zombies inside. I think we need to assume there will be,” Daniel added.
After passing through Byward Tower they moved along the drawbridge to Middle Tower. As they approached, the portcullis was raised and although they passed underneath, they couldn’t go much further on the other side.
“I forgot about the bus,” Daniel advised. “We need to move it first. Rhys, take the wheel.”
Daniel hopped out of the truck, feeling a little vulnerable being out in the open outside the Tower. There were hordes of zombies all around, thankfully on the other side of the railings and the bus. The question was how to move the bus without letting the zombies in. As he was pondering the situation, Skelly shouted down from the ramparts.
“You need help?”
“We could do with a couple of strong guys to help us get provisions.”
“I’ll send two down.”
Daniel was still considering the best way to get the truck out without losing the bus when two burly gang members joined him.
“Can either of you drive?” The man to his left nodded.
“Ok,” Daniel said. “You can stay here and move the bus.” He turned to the other one, “you can get in the second cabin though the door on the passenger side.” The guard moved off and Daniel heard the side door opening and closing as he joined Nelson and Zak. Turning back to the other gang member, Daniel asked, “Can you move the bus forwards, so we can squeeze through the gap, then as soon as we’re clear, move the bus back?”
The gang member nodded and stepped through the central door of the bus and made his way to the driver’s compartment, wary of the broken windscreen and the close proximity of the zombies on the other side.
Daniel rushed back to the truck, opened the driver’s door and asked Rhys to scoot back across the seat. “Wasn’t needed in the end,” he explained as he started up the truck.
The bus started up and slowly moved forwards, creating a gap for the truck to fit through. The gap was quickly filled with zombies, but they were blocked by the front of the truck. Once the gap was wide enough, Daniel pulled forward, smashing the zombies out of the way, and crushing some beneath the vehicle.
As soon as he saw the truck move in his rear-view mirror, the bus driver stopped the bus and put it in reverse, ready to close the gap once the truck was through. The truck disappeared, so he quickly reversed until the bus was in its original position. He then turned it off, left the driver’s compartment and headed along the aisle to the middle door and back to the Tower. As he stepped off the bus he was hit from the side by a zombie who had managed to get through the gap. The zombie had been knocked over by the truck and although it had banged its head a few times on the underside of the truck as it tried to get back up, the truck had passed over it without any major damage. The zombie had then managed
to get to its feet and move out of the way before the bus closed the gap; more luck than judgment. No one on the rampart had seen the zombie until it was too late.
The zombie took a large bite out of the gang member’s face and continued snapping away as they fell to the floor. Shots rang out and the zombie and gang member lay still, blood pooling on the floor beside them.
The group in the truck had heard the shots and wondered what they were for. Daniel looked in his mirrors but couldn’t see anything so assumed the guards on the ramparts had been taking pot shots at the zombies. He was about to ask Isaac to use the walkie-talkie to find out what was happening when he realised they had left it behind. “Let’s hope we don’t have any problems,” he muttered.
“Why’s that?” Rhys asked.
“We didn’t bring the walkie talkie,” Daniel replied. He drove the truck through the gap in the bollards and followed Lower Thames Street back to the main road. Daniel knew the area well as he had lived there for several years. He knew there was no point in turning left as there was nothing but office buildings leading into the City, unless he planned to go all the way into the West End, which he wasn’t. Therefore, he turned right onto Byward Street and headed back towards St Katherine’s Dock.
There were a few shops, restaurants, and franchised lunch outlets on the left-hand side as they moved along, but five-day old sandwiches wouldn’t be much use to them, nor would shoe repairs, a card shop, a printers nor a coffee house. Rhys spotted a pub which Daniel had forgotten about, despite frequenting the place on numerous occasions.
“We’ll bear that in mind if we’re having a party,” Daniel advised.
“Thought it might be good for everyone to let their hair down, if you get my drift,” Rhys replied.
“I see what you mean,” Daniel replied, “but a supermarket would be better.”
“But possibly busier too,” Rhys added,
“Good point. There’s a newsagent-cum-off-licence there. What about that?”
“Good opportunity to practice without too much danger before we try something bigger.”