Seven
The five and Tango Two check weapons as the heli flies low over the lawn. Alpha readies himself on one side. Bravo on the other. Charlie, Delta, Echo and Tango Two wait between them.
A tap on the arm. Delta motions for Tango Two to lean in. She bends forward so his mouth is next to her ear.
‘Mother’s watching us,’ he shouts over the noise of the rotors above them, his hand lingering on her arm. She looks at him as he points skyward, and nods. The abstract notion settles for a bare second that something in low orbit in space is now watching them in perfect clarity and detail, and that signal is being fed to Mother right now.
She swallows and draws a deep breath. She took the shittiest deployments on offer. She did the worst, the very worst. The nasty, dirty and bitter jobs that no one else would touch. She killed, tricked, lied and fought her way through all of them in service to her country and for a career she was dedicated to. The pressure made her worried she was already getting too old and that she should have been a One years ago. It felt like nothing she was doing was making any difference, but now she is being watched by Mother, who also knows her name. This is it. This is the time to impress.
She thinks about the information Alpha just gave her. A time machine is in existence and in use. That makes this mission the most important there ever has been and possibly ever will be. She glances round to the five, feeling the thrill inside at being in such exalted company and catching Delta as he winks before turning towards the door. These men are almost godlike in the way the others view them. They have commanded armies and run operations of a scale that would make most generals balk. There is nothing bigger than this right now, and she is at the front as it happens.
‘Target premises ahead.’ The voice of the pilot comes calmly through their earpieces.
‘Roger that,’ Alpha replies. He waits for the heli to get closer and spots the units moving through the woodland bordering the house. A tap on his shoulder. Charlie waving for him to look up and ahead at the two attack helicopter gunships coming in from the opposite direction. Alpha nods.
The heli turns and drops with such speed the six feel their stomachs flip, heave and turn over as it manoeuvres to face back towards the house. An instant view gained of the open French doors and signs of movement within.
‘Armed people inside that room,’ the pilot relays before moving the heli forward towards the designated balcony.
‘MOVE FAST NOW,’ Alpha orders into his radio. ‘Secure the targets . . . Pilot, get us in position.’
‘In five,’ the pilot says calmly, adjusting the stick in his hands to ease the thrust as he gains the space over the balcony. ‘Deploy ropes.’
‘Rope out,’ Alpha says.
‘Rope out,’ Bravo says.
Both of them release their coils that fall to hang down from the sides of the craft.
‘In three . . . two . . . one . . . Deploy deploy deploy . . .’
Alpha grips, pulls out and drops at speed with the thick gloves gripping the rope to control his descent. Bravo matches his rate on the other side, and as soon as the gap is created, Charlie and Delta come sliding down. As Alpha and Bravo land, Echo and Tango Two rappel down. The whole thing takes but seconds. The pilot watches closely and yanks the stick the second the last pair land to give lift as the heli roars and sails up and away.
Echo rushes in, a small shaped charge is taken from a pocket and stuck to the lock on the double doors. ‘Clear,’ he says.
‘Clear,’ Alpha says as the others duck and turn away.
The explosion is only small but enough to destroy the lock and enable Bravo’s right foot to kick the doors in. Weapons up. Lasers activated that hold steady as they pour through Roland’s bedroom towards the door as the first shots are fired.
Miri hears the heli drop and knows the fast ropes are being deployed. She sees the attackers coming across the lawn and knows the same numbers will be coming at the sides and front of the house. She glances up at the military gunships looming larger by the second, and from all these things she gains the measure of their opponent that must be the British government deploying with all its might. An image of a world map flashes in her mind that narrows down to the small county of Hampshire, which contains the British naval base of Portsmouth and the squadrons of Royal Marines and Special Forces units. Instant concern that this opponent is too big to take on. Only the US and Russia can surpass the Brits when they set their minds to something – and right now, that something is a man in the cellar of this house, and that man cannot, under any circumstances, be given over to any government. In the same whirling stream of conscious thought, she considers that her own side consists of a drugged-up Commando from the Second World War, an equally drugged-up police officer and an insurance investigator. Bad odds. Damn bad odds.
‘Your son,’ she says quickly. ‘Priority . . . Take us to him now.’
‘Who are they?’ Roland asks, backing away from the windows.
‘Now!’ Miri says, aiming her pistol at Ria’s head.
The dull explosion reverberates through the house as Echo blows the doors on the middle floor. Glass smashing from somewhere else. Voices shouting. Helicopters thudding. The pressure grows.
‘No, please!’ Susan screams, rushing in front of Ria with tears streaming down her cheeks.
‘I’ll show you,’ Ria says.
‘Now . . . go . . . go . . .’ Miri says, her voice clear but hard.
They pile into the hallway and down towards the atrium lobby, hearing boots thudding on the floors above them and doors being kicked open. Ria leads them on from the lobby into a huge drawing room resplendent in ivory-coloured sofas and armchairs. Thick rugs on the floor and a huge crystal chandelier hanging from the centre of the ceiling. Safa and Harry run with the group, both with pistols still out. Miri winces from the pains in her hips and back.
‘Call him . . .’ Ben says. ‘Tell him to get to us.’
‘No phone,’ Ria says. ‘Bertie won’t use one.’
‘He’ll hear the heli and come out,’ Safa says, rushing to gain the front position.
‘Cellar is soundproofed,’ Ria replies.
‘Hold,’ Safa says as they reach the next door.
‘No time. Go,’ Miri says.