After it Happened Boxset: 1-6 Omnibus Edition, page 51
Leah braced herself and maintained her position until Dan turned a wide half-circle, selected drive, and accelerated away. She flicked on the safety catch and held the gun vertically as she slid back down into the passenger’s seat to stare at him.
“The car had been moved. It was an ambush,” he said, looking straight ahead.
Leah thought for a second, absorbing the news before her logical brain calculated the appropriate response. She reached for the CB but stopped herself just as Dan opened his mouth to deny her using it.
“They’ve got his Defender, and his radio,” she said aloud, figuring it out.
“Yeah,” he replied, wondering with fear who “they” were.
He drove them fast back to the house, stopping at the gardens and the farm to summon everyone back to the safety of the house.
The sun was sinking when he called the Rangers and the council members to cram into Ops. A worried buzz of excitement had spread among their group. Dan stopped that dead in its tracks with his first words.
“Joe’s been captured. They have his weapons and his vehicle, so NO CB RADIO USE AT ALL.” He let that sink in. “I don’t know how and I don’t know who, but there was a deliberate blockage on the road – here,” he said as he quickly scanned and jabbed his finger at the site on the large map on the wall.
People craned to see the location, like it made a difference to them.
“There was blood on the road,” he finished.
“Who took him?” Marie asked over the stunned silence in the small room.
“I don’t know. Possibility that it’s someone we’ve already encountered is slim; the group who attacked us are all dead, the ones we attacked I highly doubt could have found us, and the bikers we met took too much automatic fire to risk this, if there are even any of them left. This was carefully planned. Someone targeted us.”
As soon as he said those words aloud, he met Marie’s eyes and the flash of understanding between them made him feel cold in his stomach. She raised an eyebrow in silent question, looking for corroboration of their joint epiphany.
“The Welsh,” he said to the group, receiving more silence in return. “They see it that we attacked them, then they followed us and found our home. You all know what they wanted with their little farcical visit, and we sent them away with a promise to kill them if they came back.”
Again, nobody spoke for a few seconds. Rich cleared his throat. “Regardless of who it was, what do we do about it?” he asked.
“We find them and we get Joe back. We can bargain with them, give them a few weapons if needs be just to get them to leave,” said Kate.
“That won’t work,” Leah said quietly. She stood a little taller and raised her voice in volume and confidence. “It won’t work because they don’t want to force a deal. Look at what they did; they picked off a single Ranger and now they have weapons and can listen to our radios. That’s strategic. They are cutting the head off the snake.”
It was Dan’s turn to stare in stunned silence. Thirteen years old and wiser than most in the room in some ways. He couldn’t fault her logic, as always.
“I think she’s right,” Lexi chimed in. “It’s the only way to take over this place, to take out the few fighters and force obedience on the rest. We’ve proven what happens to anyone attacking in force before,” she added, like any of them had forgotten the murderously one-sided battle.
“Options,” Dan said, a familiar question to his Rangers, but the civilian contingent in the room stuttered as though something profound was expected of them each.
“Make contact on the radio, open a dialogue,” said Neil, more subdued than ever.
“Set up OPs in each direction under darkness,” said Rich, suggesting that two of them hide and observe the roads for any sign of the unseen besieging force.
“I’m in favour of negotiating,” said Andrew, ever acquiescent.
“I’m in favour of finding every last one of them and putting them against the wall,” spat Jimmy vehemently. It was unlike him to show anger, which betrayed just how scared he was.
As Dan was considering action over inaction, assault over negotiation, the radio crackled into life.
“Are you listening, boyo?” said the smug voice.
PAROLE
Steve had to hope that Mitch wouldn’t turn him in. He only had the Sig on his chest and three magazines, so any kind of gunfight was likely to end quickly with him sporting some very unfashionable holes in his torso. He had to try and distract the soldiers enough so that Emma could slip away in their Defender and get far enough south to hide from them.
Hopefully he could convince Richards that she wasn’t worth pursuing, that he was the prize and he would stay to fly his helicopter as long as they let the girl go. He considered asking this instead of planning her escape, but the risk of refusal and her imprisonment was too high.
He had slipped through the lines of tents to whisper to Emma through the canvas. Twice he bumped into people, pretending on impulse that he had been drinking. It worked, so he kept up the act and looked for the sentry who was trying to casually dog his steps around the camp.
“I want to see Richards. Take me to him.” He invested the instructions with as much officer-like privilege as he could, seeing the ingrained obedience tug at the man.
“The captain,” he said stiffly, “is not to be disturbed in the evenings.”
“Rubbish, man,” he snorted at him, “and you will call me ‘sir’,” he said as he walked past him, brushing his shoulder and striding towards Richards’s office with the sentry scurrying after him. He didn’t know where the other one was, but hopefully causing a commotion would bring him out to support his fellow soldier.
It worked. He was effectively blocked at the doors inside the large hangar and was attracting a bit of a crowd. The soldiers tried the respectful route, calling him ‘sir’ and gently asking him to keep his voice down, but soon they had to resort to shouting over him as he completely ignored them. That raised the noise level sufficiently to draw out Richards, who demanded to know what all the commotion was.
~
Emma heard the shouting and knew she had to move. The Land Rover was big and unfamiliar, and she didn’t look forward to having to drive it, but it was her only way out and she had no desire whatsoever to stay here. She stole out of the tent as quietly as she could, keeping to the shadows and making for the car park area. She reached the car and hit the fob to unlock it; the six orange flashing bulbs which would have lit the area like a muzzle flash thankfully didn’t illuminate due to the fact that all six had been removed to maintain the low profile they enjoyed. The electrical sound of the locks whirring and the click as the driver’s door opened still sounded impossibly loud to her.
She climbed in, again in darkness, as the interior lights were switched off, and forced herself to relax. She leaned across the seats and retrieved the gun from the glove compartment, picking up Steve’s machine gun and putting it on the seat next to her. She had little idea how the handgun worked and had forgotten most of the lessons she had been given. She had even less of a clue about the big rifle with its bulbous barrel and telescopic sight. Maybe she would just use it to scare people if she had to.
She started the big diesel engine and cringed at the sudden noise. She didn’t wait to see if the engine had attracted attention but drove straight for the trees where she remembered coming in and hoping to find the way south.
Luckily, the Defender was a big, robust vehicle. Her driving had not been great as they headed north, but now it was worse due to the darkness and the fear. She glanced off a few trees and took heavy hits from branches as she swerved through the darkness. After a few hundred metres when the trees closed in, she had to resort to turning on the headlights, which meant stopping to find the switch. The rear lights also had their bulbs removed, so she crept forward with sidelights on at the front and hopefully only the noise of the engine to track her by.
There was no sign of any pursuit, and as she pulled out onto the road, her confidence grew. She put the lights onto full beam and accelerated onto the pitted tarmac as she headed south. She planned to go for as long as she could before hiding the big car off the road. Nervously, she kept glancing in the rearview mirror, expecting the imagined chasers to bear down on her at any minute. She had no idea how long she drove for, frantically checking forwards and backwards for danger. The sun began to rise and the realisation that she had been travelling for hours gave her renewed hope. It also brought a crippling tiredness, making her look for a place to hide.
~
Steve’s distraction worked perfectly. The sentry who was lurking in the shadows watching Emma’s tent hadn’t seen him creep to the back and whisper to her, but he had heard the noise of his friend arguing with the pilot. His friend was clearly losing, and he had to make a decision: he chose to give his mate backup. Unwittingly, Emma had slipped from the tent no more than five seconds after the soldier had turned away to deal with the valuable pilot. Richards stopped shouting as soon as he made eye contact with Steve. He knew his soldiers were being played.
“Where is the girl?” he barked.
Mitch ran in at that point, and Steve’s heart fell at the thought that he had betrayed them and stopped Emma’s escape.
“Sir,” he said as he stopped short and threw a hasty salute. “Car’s gone. Don’t know when.”
Richards turned to the sentries and fixed them both with a malevolent stare.
“Damn you, both. Get out!” he snarled.
“Sir,” they chorused, and fled.
The captain forced himself to breathe and speak calmly.
“Congratulations,” Richards said with forced formality as he looked hard into the older man’s eyes.
Steve let out a sigh of relief. “I’ll fly your helicopter and I’ll not try to escape,” he said, resigned to his fate. An idea struck him, which he hoped would appeal to this petulant control freak. He slowly took his sidearm from the holster and turned it to present to Richards. “You have my parole,” he said formally.
Richards stared at him. Ancient ritual dictated that he should respect the word of a fellow officer and treat him as a gentleman, that he should politely refuse the offer of the surrendered weapon. He was too angry. He snatched the gun from Steve and fought with every muscle in his body not to give in and whip the polished metal hard across his face. He turned on his heel and stalked away in rage.
CHANGE OF PLAN
Pat had to think on his feet. At first he couldn’t believe his luck that the first one to come their way was the one who had killed his boy.
That elation soon evaporated when he didn’t wake up after the baseball bat had cracked his head. He lay flat on his back, snoring in short shallow breaths. Pat had no idea that the impact of the heavy wood had caused two fractures in Joe’s skull and a dislocation of the third and fourth cervical vertebrae. The subdural haematoma was getting larger and putting more pressure on his brain, which had already suffered unrecoverable trauma from the injury and the total lack of care. The spinal dislocation was worsened when they dragged his unconscious body off the road – irreparably paralysing him – and tried to remove the evidence of their ambush.
Pat had watched through binoculars from a round loft window as Dan knelt in the spot where Joe had fallen. He had hoped to extract information from Joe, but his limited medical knowledge put the unconscious man into the category of “completely fucked”. He had to evolve his plan to keep ahead of the dangerous man in the middle of his binoculars.
He decided to use the radio and scare them, to threaten them, to let them know they were all dead and that he would be the deliverer of that fate.
He inspected his new weapon, an automatic rifle that he brandished in front of his boys as the weapon that killed one of their own. He promised it would return that favour, which prompted their cheers, quickly subdued to keep from the noise leading to their detection. He promised a promotion to whoever killed that evil dog too.
He called for hush and climbed into the Land Rover that was hidden inside the barn which had become their temporary headquarters and housed his advance invasion force.
“Are you listening, boyo?” he said into the microphone speaker attached by the coiled wire to the radio on the dash. Silence.
He pressed the button again and chuckled with an evil confidence he summoned from deep within him.
“I know you’re listening,” he said smoothly, “and I know you’re missing a soldier. I warned you this would happen,” he finished. He hadn’t, but he didn’t know who else would be listening either; better to sew a little misinformation into the enemy and have them turn on each other. Still no response.
“I’ll be in touch. Sleep well,” he said as he replaced the mic.
CONTROLLED RESPONSE
Three people tried to get to the radio at once, forcing Dan to stand in front of it and hold them back. He turned to dial up the volume and tried to listen to the serpentine voice creeping from the speakers.
“QUIET!” he yelled, turning back to look at the radio. He heard the sign off, the threat heavy in the final words.
He turned to the concerned congregation in front of him and had to act fast or suffer a loss of leadership. He had to take charge before too many suggestions were made. Better to do something than nothing.
“Nobody leaves the house. Everyone with training is to be armed at all times,” he said, to give himself more time to think. Stating the obvious in a confident manner usually settled the nerves of people who, deep down, just needed to be led. “That was a goad; nothing more. They want us to panic and fracture, as that way we’ll be easier to pick off. Everyone spread the word and keep the people calm, but don’t give too much detail. Rangers with me, please.”
He turned and poured himself a coffee, allowing time for his instructions to be followed without having to stare anyone down. He heard shuffling movement, and after the first gulp of the warm drink, he turned to see Leah, Lexi, Rich, Neil and Marie still standing there.
He opened his mouth to ask them to sit, not contesting Neil’s and Marie’s presence at all, but was cut off.
“Don’t even try to send me out,” Marie said. “I need to know what you’re planning. I know that look!”
Dan opened his mouth to say he had no intention of banishing her when Neil spoke up.
“And you’re down two soldiers with Steve away, so I’m staying too,” said Neil.
“Sit down,” he said. They sat.
“Marie, I want your input because you’re not going to like what I’m going to say. It’s safer for me to tell you here so they can protect me.” The joke served to soften the atmosphere slightly, but not much. The Rangers stayed silent, not wanting to get in between the two biggest hitters in the room.
“Neil,” he said, turning to the man he’d known longest who still lived. “Thank you. We need you. Rich should be able to get you some kit afterwards.” He looked at Rich, who gave a single nod. Not a problem.
He resisted the urge to rub his face and scrub away the tiredness and the stress; he must remain in control for all of them to see.
“Leah, Lex, Neil, I need you to rest in shifts and keep sentry on the house. Leah, you have Ash.” By deploying his dog to her side, he made it clear that he was going somewhere that required stealth. That wasn’t lost on Marie, who sat forward to object to whatever he was planning. He shot her a look, and despite all her fire, she knew when to not push back too far.
“Rich. Your observation point idea is good. Are you up to it?” he said, trying not to look pleadingly at the Marine.
“Not a problem,” Rich said with his characteristic can-do style.
“We’ll go out on foot and look for activity with night optics. We need to stay out until full light, but it won’t be in both directions.” That got their attention, as Dan had clearly realised something that the others hadn’t. “It’s absolutely the right thing to do if we’re dealing with trained opposition, but these are amateur thugs; I think they’re set up close to where the ambush was.”
It was a big gamble, but one that he hoped would pay off. In his own mind, he was sure that Joe was as good as dead already; Patrick’s vehement claims about his actions made it clear to him that he had to be seen to punish Joe for killing one of his own, otherwise his pack of feral rats would turn on him. People like that had to show results because their leadership was based on fear and retribution more than respect and confidence in ability.
Dan’s purpose now was to find the infestation and clear the nest. If Joe was still alive, then that was good, but he still prepared himself for the worst.
He pulled the map of their area down to the table and showed them where the site was, describing it in as much detail as he could.
“Buildings?” he asked Leah.
The young girl put down her coffee cup and shut her eyes, hands rising from the table as she mimed out the layout from the mental picture she conjured in her mind.
“Walled yard to the left, entrance just before the wrecked cars. Trees and thick hedge to the right, blind crest of the road a hundred metres ahead. Fields each side.” She dropped her hands down and opened her eyes, back in the present.
The realisation that such a young person could effectively provide cognitive recall was astounding, even more so that she had never been taught to. Dan supposed it was just another side effect of her upbringing; it didn’t cross her mind not to be able to flick through the mental snapshots she had taken.
“So, we need a vantage point without going near the buildings,” he said.
“One behind the hedge on the crest and another on the bend in the ditch,” said Rich. Dan deferred to him on this, as his experience of setting up OPs and ambushes far outweighed them all collectively.
“OK. Leah, can you break out a set of the old one-to-one radios and earpieces?” he asked. Better to have some form of communication between himself and Rich than risk being discovered when the time came to signal their departure. “There will be no contact between us and the house until we get back in person,” he said, hoping that they would get back but not wanting to voice unhelpful fears.
