Battle Lines. Will Hill

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      12

      READY TO ROLL

      As Jamie expected, Morton and Ellison were waiting for him in the hangar.

      On time, he thought. That’s a good start, at least.

      The two freshly commissioned Operators were standing at the rear of the black van that had been assigned to Operational Squad M-3. He walked over to them, his boots thudding on the concrete floor, readying himself to say what he needed to say. He had spent the journey up to the hangar trying to decide whether to tell his rookies what had happened to Angela Darcy’s squad; he was far from sure that the extra pressure would be helpful, but was also reluctant for them to start their first mission in the dark about what they were really facing.

      “Operators,” said Jamie, stopping in front of them.

      “Lieutenant,” they replied.

      “Weapons and kit prep complete?” asked Jamie, eyeing their uniforms. He could already see that they were perfect, the result, no doubt, of dozens of checks and re-checks in the dormitory on Level C, but there were protocols to be followed.

      “Yes, sir.”

      “Intelligence analysis complete?”

      “Yes, sir.”

      “Operational parameters clear?”

      “Yes, sir.”

      “Good. Operator Morton, who is our target?”

      “Eric Bingham, sir.”

      “Operator Ellison,” said Jamie, turning to face her. “What intelligence has the target’s identification provided?”

      “A long history of violence, sir,” replied Ellison. “Paranoid schizophrenia, diagnosed more than ten years ago. One conviction for attempted murder, numerous previous incidences of assault.”

      “All of which means?”

      “Shoot first, sir. And keep shooting.”

      “That’s exactly right. Listen to me, do what I tell you, don’t waste time trying to talk to him or bring him in alive. We track him down, destroy him, and move on. Clear?”

      “Yes, sir.”

      “Good. Now listen carefully. An experienced squad, led by one of the finest Operators in this Department, returned to the Loop this morning with two seriously injured members. They were both hurt by a single vampire, one of the escapees from Broadmoor. The squad in question were not in possession of the full facts and paid the price. We will not make the same mistake. Is that clear?”

      Neither Ellison nor Morton replied. Their faces had paled slightly and their mouths were set in thin lines.

      This is it, thought Jamie. They can handle this or they can’t. They’re ready or they’re not. Time to find out.

      “OK,” he said, hauling open the rear door of the van. “Let’s move out.”

      The van sped through the thick forest that lay beyond the perimeter of the Loop, its powerful engine humming beneath its passengers’ feet.

      Operational Squad M-3 were strapped into three of the moulded seats in the vehicle’s rear, their weapons and kit stowed safely in the slots between them. Jamie sat upright in his seat, his feet flat on the floor; he had been in this position dozens of times, and under normal circumstances his faith in the van’s tracking and weapon systems meant that he was almost able to relax. But these were far from normal circumstances; he found himself concentrating on projecting calm to his new squad mates, even though his mind was still reeling at what had been done to Alex Jacobs and John Carlisle.

      He had tried several times to start a conversation with his rookies, but had received only one-word answers; he had eventually given up, leaving them to their thoughts. As a result, the atmosphere inside the van was tense, dangerously so for the early stages of an operation; his new squad mates were obviously wound too tight, but Jamie thought drawing attention to the fact was only likely to make it worse. Instead, he had lowered the van’s control screen and called up a map of eastern England, marked with two moving dots. The black dot was them as they accelerated south.

      The red dot was Eric Bingham, their target.

      He was still in Peterborough СКАЧАТЬ