Fat chance! He was the only person in the unit to have more yellow disciplinary sheets in his file than me. Despite eating like a horse, he remained small and slight and his hair stuck up in spikes around his crown. He’d been involved in the disastrous Icarus Experiment last year, tumbling off the stable roof with his wings well ablaze. He’d thudded heavily into the paddock, panicking the horses who took exception to small, burning humans dropping on them from a great height. Running for his life and looking anxiously over his shoulder, he’d run slap bang into a horse’s bottom and knocked himself senseless. The entire unit lay face down on the ground laughing. Even the Boss uttered something between a snort and a cough. The security section clubbed together and sent a Get Well Soon card to the horse, who promptly ate it. That’s St Mary’s for you.
The Boss stepped forward. ‘You will all have seen the disturbing images brought back by Miss Maxwell and Mr Dieter. The purpose of this mission, therefore, is to return to the Cretaceous and disrupt, with extreme prejudice, whatever is occurring there. To this end, I want chaos; I want noise, confusion, and maximum damage. I don’t want them to know what’s come out of the dark and hit them. We go through the place, destroy everything in our path, and get out. After twenty minutes, we’re gone. You may shoot to defend yourselves but otherwise just scare the living daylights out of them. I want survivors returning to the future with such tales of blood, terror, and carnage that no one will ever want to try this sort of stupidity again. Major.’
Guthrie pointed to the contour map. ‘We land here in a V formation, about twenty yards apart. Pod Three will be at the apex and will contain an EMP device. On landing and on a given signal, a directed pulse will be fired at the compound. It’s non-lethal, but highly destructive. At a low level, it will jam any electronic systems. A stronger pulse will corrupt computer data and a powerful pulse will fry any electronics within range. It will immobilise vehicles; knock out communications, electronic doors – the lot.’
He continued. ‘Because of this, Pods Five and Six will be slightly behind Three. Pods are Faraday cages, but, to be on the safe side, will power down immediately. Peterson, Black, and Maxwell, you will shut down your pods on landing; all coms, everything. As soon as the compound goes dark – and it will – power up again, get to the doors and wait. Maxwell, you will not set foot outside. Guard your pods, have them in a state of readiness, and wait for your teams to return. We will not be hanging around.
‘Security section, as soon as the pulse is fired, you’re up. You go through their main gate here. Chief, you and I go to the left, along here. Murdoch, your team to the right, along the perimeter here, and Ritter, your team goes straight down the middle. Stay in your groups. They will be blind, confused, and helpless. We come at them from all directions. Don’t get yourselves shot. That’s an order.
‘Right, study the layout; get it straight in your heads. You’ll have night visors, but do it anyway. If you can’t get back to your own pod then get back to someone else’s and advise your team leader. Does anyone have any questions?’
I raised a hand. ‘What about the captured animals?’
Barclay said, ‘Weren’t you listening, Maxwell? The EMP device will lock any electronic door systems. You don’t need to be afraid.’
I swear I’ll swing for that woman one day. ‘You misunderstand me, Izzie. Do we free them, sir? Or leave them in their cages?’
The long silence answered that question. I wasn’t happy and nor were Kal and Peterson. We shifted our feet and prepared to argue. The Boss intervened. ‘Should it be necessary, we will do what we can afterwards. While the attack is in progress they are probably safer in their cages and we certainly are. I appreciate your concern arises out of your training.’ (Ha, Barclay, swivel on that!) ‘The matter will be addressed.’
We spent three hours studying the available data and talking it through.
We drew our bits and pieces of kit and rehearsed our moves to get the timings right. I made sure I got a painkilling shot for my knee. We had a bit of a meal, a final briefing, and then we were ready to go.
This was my first combat mission ever. I was acutely aware of my own heartbeat. Even though I wouldn’t be leaving the pod – and now the actual moment had come I was grateful for that – I still had nerves. I looked at Kal and Peterson alongside me – a little quiet maybe, but quite calm. Well, if they could do it, then so could I.
We marched down the long corridor, now brightly lit. I could see Guthrie and Farrell ahead and Murdoch and his team stumped along behind. I could hear Weasel and Markham bickering about something. All the colours seemed very bright and all the sounds very loud.
We split up in Hawking and I got to Number Six. Murdoch and his team filed in behind me. I started the usual checks, glad to have something to think about. On the other side of Hawking the Boss and Farrell had their heads together over a scratchpad. They exchanged a few quiet words, heads close together. They stepped back, paused, and then shook hands. Possibly only I knew how important this moment was for both of them. Not long now.
I jumped up and down in my unfamiliar night gear, flexing my arms and checking my weapon.
And then we waited.
I counted my team again: Murdoch, Whissell, Evans, and Markham. They were checking themselves, their equipment, and each other.
I said, ‘Are you guys going to be OK on your own, or would you like me to come with you to hold your lunch money?’
Murdoch looked at me. ‘You?’