Chapter Nine –

‘So it’s at this time I would like to hand over to the Secretary of Defence,’ the Speaker said, gesturing toward Sullivan in the crowded cabinet room, ‘to address the results of the investigation so far.’

‘Thank you Speaker,’ Sullivan said with a nod, getting to his feet and approaching the podium, ‘I have the preliminary results of our investigation into the actions of MI5 with regards to their operational status and current personnel activities,’ he began, turning to gesture at Rhodes who was sat calmly on the bench looking as impassive as always. ‘Dr Rhodes here has been kind enough to join me in working an analysis and his input has been vital; we have found several flaws in the internal security of MI5, indeed through the Secret Intelligence Services throughout our nation.’

***

‘Security detail for Sullivan,’ Jane said, showing the one forged pass she had remaining that wasn’t coated in blood or otherwise ruined from the fight earlier; the guard at the building looked at her doubtfully considering she still wore the nearly ruined suit jacket over the rest of her clothes. ‘I was in Oxford,’ she said by way of an explanation, ‘I haven’t been anywhere else yet, I had to go through the dead.’

‘Rather you than me,’ the man grunted back, nodding her through before speaking again, ‘your other colleague, Antoine or whatever his name is, he went up to the balcony.’

‘Okay thanks,’ Jane said with a smile that quickly faded as she turned and started up the stairs; ‘You’re up Phoenix, sounds like our man Haldis is in the building already on the fast route.’

‘Gotcha,’ Johnston said as he walked in the front door brashly, a gloriously fake identity card clipped to the jacket that he wore which he just flashed at the same guard Jane had gone past, walking straight up the stairs as if it was the most natural thing in the world; and it worked. ‘Better get a move on,’ he said as he continued up the stairs, broadcasting to everyone, ‘I think they’re running ahead of schedule.’

‘Politicians,’ Tim said wryly over the radio, ‘they can’t even fuck up their own downfall correctly.’

***

‘At this time I would like to let my learned colleague take the stand,’ Sullivan said, stepping away and gesturing for Rhodes to come forward; the motion was accompanied by a general movement throughout the room including up in the gallery which Haldis used to disguise the motion of him drawing his guns under his coat. All he was waiting for was the keyword from Rhodes that would signal his go ahead to open fire on his targets, all of whom were marked in his mind now.

***

‘Here goes nothing,’ Tim muttered to himself outside the entrance to the Speaker’s chambers; he’d made it there with little difficulty, using the back routes and only encountering one guard who tried to stop him and was now sleeping it off in a cupboard down the hall. Forgoing his usual throwing knives Tim held a Beretta that Johnston had pulled out of his back up holster, passing it to the other man with a grin as he theorised about the lack of need for one in the next part of the operation. Opening the door Tim saw exactly what he expected, a near abandoned room as the Speaker was away with one man left guarding it; he wasn’t expecting the man to be this person though; ‘You!’ he said, lifting the Beretta without thinking.

‘Wait,’ Paul said softly as Tim raised the gun.

***

‘Okay we’ve got two guards stationed at the bottom of the stairs and a veritable army of them about the place,’ Kenny said to Kestrel, looking at the makeshift map that Johnston had sent out to them via the portable device he’d smuggled inside. ‘Looks like our best bet is to charge straight in, take the two on the stairs and then break off for the lift, it might divert some of them away from the target enough to help us.’

‘Don’t fool yourself,’ Kestrel said as he went through his weapons check carefully, keeping his M24 and Glock out of view from people walking by the car, ‘The second we breach whatever security forces they have in there are going to mobilise on us; we’re just buying some diversion time for the others.’

‘Ray of sunshine you are,’ Jane said over the radio, the palm pilot Kestrel held beeping as she updated the picture with one of her own; ‘If you can get to that you’re okay, maybe wait until you’ve moved off the ground floor first.’

‘You’re either insane or a genius,’ Kenny said to her as he looked through the plan she’d come up with, his eyes taking in all the aspects of the plan.

‘I’m Irish you daft bastard,’ Jane responded over the radio, ‘sure we’re good at that sort of thing.’

‘Got any of that famous luck going?’ Kestrel asked, getting a chuckle in response followed by a double tap on the microphone that was echoed a second later, a code indicating that Jane and Johnston were in place outside the doors to the main entrance. Tim had gone dark the second he came within sight of his target, signing off with what amounted to a farewell to them all; if he could pull it off they’d see him in the cabinet, assuming they made it that was.

‘Right then,’ Kenny said to Kestrel, taking a deep breath and putting a door on the handle of his car, ‘let’s go get that murdering bastard?’

‘I’ve heard worse war cries,’ Kestrel replied with a sombre grin, nodding a salute to the other man which was returned.

***

‘...and so ladies and gentlemen it appears that this faction of agents were associated with the highest echelon of powers within MI5,’ Rhodes said, looking around at the faces of concern that surrounded him and smiling inwardly as he continued speaking, ‘and it was this that allowed them to gain trust, and turn that trust against us in the display of devastation we saw earlier today.’

Up in the balcony Haldis’s hands tightened on the grips of the Mark 23 and Smith & Wesson as his eyes flicked around the chamber, watching the various reactions to the speech that Rhodes was making, drawing near to the point where he could act.

***

Kestrel and Kenny’s plan went to hell straight away as they walked through the doors and straight into two guards who were going to act as replacements for the ones they were aiming for; the two men didn’t hesitate, Kenny whipping his rifle around in a vicious arc as Kestrel ran for the stairs, pulling his Glock out. The butt of Kenny’s M14 slammed into one man’s chin, knocking him out cold as Kenny reversed the swing and clubbed the other man in the head as well, accompanying it with a snap kick to send him flying backward, sliding over the polished floor of the foyer.

Kestrel met the other two guards as they came down the stairs toward him, spinning around with his leg out to sweep one man to the floor, the flailing guard knocking himself unconscious as his head hit the bottom step with a resounding crack that echoed throughout the spacious room. Sliding across the polished floor at knee height Kestrel rugby tackled the second man as he went for his sidearm, slamming him to the floor and then pinning him with his knee, a swift punch to chin and he was also out for the count.

Ignoring the screaming that had started the two men ran for the lift entrance, Kenny just in front as the first gunshots rang out, spraying up chunks of marble around them as bullets slammed into the floor; as he ran Kenny heard Kestrel grunt in pain from a hit and felt heat flare along his own shoulder as a bullet tore through his combat overalls and tore through a thin layer of skin underneath. Two armed men charged out toward them as they neared the lift, one from each side, and Kenny reluctantly lifted his Glock, firing two shots off before anyone else could react and dropping the men to the floor, both of them screaming as they clutched at the bloody remains of their knees. Dropping to his knees Kenny slid along for a few feet, grabbing the Browning that one of them had dropped in his spare hand before rising and running on, now spraying bullets around the areas that other gunmen appeared from, making them duck and trying not to hit the guards; after all they were just doing their duty, the same as him.

‘Work or we’re fucked!’ Kestrel said under his breath as he ran, lifting his Glock and shooting the panel of the lift as they were less than twenty feet away, hoping the short circuit would work in their favour. Sure enough the door started to open as the two men sprinted toward it, both of them now firing back at their various assailants but still under heavy fire that produced numerous near misses as they moved along. By the time they were six feet away from the doors they were fully open and waiting, on the verge of shutting again as the two men dove forward, Kenny yelling as another bullet hit him in the shoulder, this one more fully than the other, spraying blood out as a mist in the air as he and Kestrel passed into the lift, slamming into the far wall before the Raptor agent kicked out at the control panel and hit the button for the second floor.

Squeezing off a few more shots from their prone position the two men stopped only when the doors shut, lying there breathing heavily for a moment as they took in the situation. ‘You alive?’ Kestrel asked, wincing as he brought his hand away from his side and found blood on his fingers.

‘Mostly,’ Kenny said, standing up and massaging his shoulder gingerly, instantly regretting it as pain lanced up and down his entire arm. As Kestrel stood Kenny started looking around the lift for the access panel that Jane had found on the dodgy schematic she had obtained and found it set in the ceiling above; ‘Better move quickly,’ he said to the other man as the noise of a general alarm started to sound in the building, some guard finally deciding to alert everyone to their presence.

***

Rhodes faltered as the alarm went off, his speech interrupted as a general murmur of concern went off around the room, the politicians gathered there talking among each other as they looked around. ‘Oh hell,’ Rhodes said, turning and speaking to Sullivan, ‘I guess they are that mad after all; Haldis, if you would,’ he said loudly turning and waving an arm toward the row of senior politicians sat in front of him.

‘With pleasure,’ Haldis muttered to himself, standing up and lifting the two guns he held, aiming them toward the targets that Rhodes had specified.

At the same moment Johnston and Jane charged into the room, the latter putting an elbow into the face of a guard as he tried to grab her, ‘Everybody DOWN!’ Johnston yelled, lifting his gun and aiming at Rhodes as he ran forward. Scuffling with the guard cost Jane a few seconds so she wasn’t as far across the room as the other man when the first shot rang out, but it wasn’t either of them who fired. On top of the balcony Haldis had moved forward to the guard rail, shoving aside the people now screaming all about him as he leant over the edge and opened fire on Johnston, hitting him seven or eight times with bullets from both guns, dropping him to the ground in a tangle of limbs as his momentum carried him forward.

‘Ah shite!’ Jane yelled, seeing Johnston fall to the ground, leaping forward and turning around in mid air so she was facing the balcony, firing her Sig Sauer at the space where Haldis should have been but only hitting the guard rail as the assassin ducked away from the shot. Spinning around Jane was in time to see a guard leap at her, tackling her as she tried to stand so they both fell to ground under the cover of the balcony.

Standing up with his Sig Sauer aimed at Johnston, Nigel had been about to fire when Haldis’s fusillade took down the Raptor leader; ignoring Jane as she was tackled by the guard Nigel turned his gun on the nearest one of Rhodes’s targets, offering the man his pitiless smile before squeezing the trigger. The first knife hit him in his gun arm, burying itself deep in the muscles that ran along it and then lodging in the bone, causing the Sig Sauer to fall to the ground unused as Nigel’s fingers lost all ability to hold the gun. Yelling in pain he turned to see Paul and Tim standing in the doorway behind the Speaker, Paul moving away as Tim threw a second knife that spun toward Nigel with what looked like infinite slowness as the man considered moving away. It wasn’t really moving that slowly and slammed into the man’s shoulder with enough force to throw him backward into two screaming politicians sat behind him.

Moving around the Speaker’s chair and pushing the old man sitting there out of the line of fire Tim was ready to through his next knife into Rhodes’ neck as the man looked on in astonishment, he was moments from throwing when his shoulder exploded from a shot up on the balcony, spinning Tim around and knocking him to the floor, the knife skittering away.

Paul saw Haldis moving on the balcony and made a split second decision; although ultimately the more dangerous of the two Rhodes wasn’t armed, Haldis was and had shown no restraint in using them so far; at least two guards with multiple gunshot wounds were sprawled among the mass of screaming people on the balcony. He was about to move to the balcony when he caught sight of Tim, the other man holding his shoulder as he hid in one of the benches; ‘Finish it!’ he yelled at Paul.

‘I’ve known about Mike for years,’ Paul said as Tim was about to pull the trigger on the Beretta, MI6 has been tracking Rhodes and his activities for some time, but they’ve never been able to come to fruition by any means; we never stopped him though. Now it’s time to do that,’ he finished, spreading his hands wide to show the lack of weaponry.

‘But Matt, and Kate, and all the others,’ said Tim, waving the gun at Paul, trying to get any reaction out of the man besides the sheer calm face he was presenting.

‘All worth it to get me into Rhodes inner circle,’ Paul replied harshly, ‘and now I’ve done that we’re in the here and now, with nothing between us and him but that corridor,’ he said, pointing toward the entrance to the cabinet chamber. ‘Let’s end this.’

Snapping out of his reverie Paul lifted the Beretta that Tim had given to him; he’d never use a gun he’d said and so far he’d managed to live by the rule, but this was different. Sighting on Rhodes he reminded himself of the dead; in specific Tess who he had thought lost for so long, only to find and lose her in the same instant. From the corner of his eye he saw Haldis lining up a shot at him but he didn’t care; Paul pulled the trigger. The shots that Haldis aimed at Paul didn’t hit their mark and neither did those that Paul sent at Rhodes, in the latter case the man dived aside before he could be hit; Sullivan was not so lucky, the man catching one in the forehead and then collapsing back down in his seat.

In the first instance it was because Kenny and Kestrel abruptly fell through the ceiling of the chamber, sliding down on assault ropes with their guns opening fire on the balcony as Haldis lined up his shot on Paul. The shot that killed him came from one of them although no one could tell, he was hit by so many as the two men opened fire, but the bullet that pierced his skull and blew his brains all over the place was the one that counted at the moment. In the last seconds of his life Haldis had enough time to stare in astonishment at the two men rapidly descending from the ceiling before he fell lifeless over the guard rail and to the floor below.

‘FUCK!’ Kestrel yelled as his rope suddenly snapped, the cord torn by a shot that one of the guards in the chamber had fired, flailing wildly he just missed the hand that Kenny threw out toward him, his fingertips grazing the other man’s before he fell. His path took him straight down onto the front row of seats, his back hitting the back of the seats with a sickening crack before he rolled off and onto the floor unmoving.

Underneath the balcony Jane thrust the palm of her hand into the side of the guard’s face as he tried to get a grip on her shoulders; the blow knocking him sideways where he cracked his head against the wall and fell to the floor stunned. Standing up Jane managed to time her movement with Nigel as he also stood with his Sig Sauer now aimed at Kenny as he finished his descent to the floor; Jane didn’t hesitate, ignoring the people now bustling around her she lifted her own pistol and let a quick snapshot fly. The bullet flew straight and true, flying through the air missing everyone except Nigel, slamming into the side of his chest and piercing his lung as the bullet fragmented inside his chest. The security chief had enough time to put a hand to his wound before he fell to the ground, the Sig Sauer skittering away and ending up in front of Rhodes as the man looked up.

Picking up the Sig Sauer Rhodes stood up and opened fire without hesitating, hitting Jane twice in the chest and knocking her backward amid the crowd of people running about; he was about to turn and fire on Paul when Kenny finally landed, bringing his rifle up and aiming it at Rhodes chest. There was a moment when Rhodes was torn between opening fire on Paul and swivelling to fire at Kenny, and it was that moment that cost him as the other man squeezed the trigger on his M14 and sent a bullet at the scientist. Despite the chaos of the situation it seemed to everyone that the only shot they heard at that moment was the one from Kenny’s rifle as Rhodes staggered backward, blood spreading across his chest from the neat bullet wound that had appeared there.

Turning the Sig Sauer on Kenny the scientist fired three times, staggering over sideways as he did before falling out of view; Kenny fell as well, hit in the leg by one of the shots, the blow powerful enough to spin him over sideways and knock him to the floor. He lay there for a few moments, listening to the screaming and Paul shouting commands at some of the security staff now flowing into the room, calling for everyone to stand down and stop their engagements; a second later he was also screaming for a medic to come and attend to Johnston after finding the Raptor leader still alive.

Kenny was quite content to lie there when a hand grabbed him by the shoulder, pulling him upright so he was leaning against the front row of the cabinet seats at which point Tim sat down beside him, a bandage tied over his shoulder. ‘You want to get that looked at,’ he said to Kenny, pointing at the wound in his leg as he adjusted his bandage to sit down more comfortably and then letting silence descend as they looked across at the bench where Rhodes had fallen, blood from his chest wound acting as a macabre decoration on the surfaces in front. ‘You shot Rhodes,’ Tim said eventually, turning and looking at Kenny with a strange look on his face.

‘I shot Rhodes,’ Kenny said with a nod, ‘is it odd that I’m not thinking of him as Mike?’

‘Not really,’ Tim said, turning back to stare at the bench, ‘I stopped thinking that a few hours ago, it doesn’t want to settle really.’

They sat there for a few more minutes without saying anything until Paul joined them, offering a small salute to the both of them with a small smile on his face; ‘Kestrel should make it, he’ll be in a cast but it’s just a shattered vertebrae, Jane is going to be fine as well... Johnston died on the way to the hospital, he lost too much blood.’

‘What are they going to do about this?’ Kenny asked, gesturing around at the cabinet room that was slowly becoming quieter as the last politicians were evacuated and cleanup crews started to move in to process the scene.

‘Last thing I heard is that the Prime Minister is thinking of delivering Rhodes’ speech,’ Paul said, crouching down and turning a piece of plaster over in his fingers as he spoke to them, ‘a few alterations about who the real enemy is, who the heroes are.’

‘Heroes, eh?’ Kenny said, looking between the other two as Paul offered him a hand up, ‘I like the sound of that.’