dead.
'Fucking deathwish Terminator shit,' muttered Tariq.
I chambered another round and kept moving without acknowledging his sour disapproval. I thought: this must be what it feels like to be Rowles.
'Stryker,' I barked at Jamal, who was halfway down the stairs. He nodded and ran to the vehicle, still jammed in the front door. I heard gunfire but didn't look back as Tariq and I walked into the school, guns raised. Past the staircase was a passage that led to the kitchen and the courtyard beyond it. Just as I was reaching forward to open the door, it swung open. I fired without hesitation, putting four rounds into the stomach of the soldier before me. Tariq opened fire beside me, sending a hail of bullets over the head of the falling soldier, wiping out the two men behind him. They fired back even as his bullets hit, but their shots went wide.
The second door on the right was the kitchen, and I ran inside. I could see a polythene tent. Inside it, Matron was directing Sue from her wheelchair as the nurse leaned over the kitchen table working on Dad.
'Time to go!' I shouted.
'We need two minutes to stabilise him,' Jane yelled back.
A burst of gunfire came from behind me.
'No problem,' I said, turning and opening fire at the soldiers coming towards me.
So help me, I smiled as I took their lives. Then Tariq and I walked on, looking for more.
Jane
The third and final bullet landed with a clang as Sue dropped it into the small metal dish.
'What now?' she asked.
'His left lung's collapsed,' I said. 'He's drowning in his own blood. We need to aspirate. Have we got a tube of any kind?'
Mrs Atkins stepped across to a metal trolley cluttered with implements. She rifled through it and then waved a piece of clear plastic tube.
'Great. Sue, you need to puncture the lung and shove that in.'
Sue took up her scalpel and got to work. I leaned forward so I could shout in John's ear.
'John, John Keegan. I need you to concentrate, John. Focus on my voice. I need you to take a deep breath, okay? Very deep, when I say. Can you do that?'
His eyes flickered and he moaned. I took that as a yes.
'Ready,' said Sue, holding the tube, which now stuck out of his side.
'Now, John, breathe deep,' I said, willing him to obey.
He gasped, then sucked air in through his mouth. It bubbled and gargled in him, then the tube filled with blood and the lung drained its load on to the floor.
I breathed a big sigh of relief. 'Good.'
There was the sudden shocking sound of gunfire from somewhere in the building. Sue and I exchanged worried glances, but she shrugged. Not our problem yet.
'What next?' Sue asked.
'Now let's patch and seal. We need some superglue. There's some in a tupperware box under the sink.'
The gunfire resumed, louder and closer, as Mrs Atkins retrieved the small tube.
'Now glue the entry wounds together. I've a feeling we're going to be moving him before we're finished.'
Sue was a calm and efficient nurse. When all this was done with, if she wanted to stay, I'd train her up as a doctor. We needed all the doctors we could get.
'Done,' she said.
'Mrs Atkins, roll him over. Sue, come here.'
The door crashed open.
'Time to go,' yelled Lee.
'We need two more minutes to stabilise him,' I shouted. I think he replied, but it was drowned out by gunfire. Then he was gone.
Mrs Atkins had rolled John on to his side so Sue and I could examine the exit wounds. One in particular bothered me. I reached into it and ran my gloved finger around his insides.
'Shit,' I muttered. 'Sue, glue the other two but this one you're going to have to make an incision, widen it, then go in and tie-off the artery. Can you do that?'
'Yes, Ma'am.'
The sound of gunfire was moving around the outside, to the courtyard. It was relentless and heavy; whoever Lee and the others were holding off, there were a lot of them. A sudden explosion blew in the windows and made Sue scream as one wall of the polythene clean-room came free and tumbled to the floor. She recovered her wits quickly and proceeded, her teeth gritted with determination.
She looked up and said 'Done' the second Lee and Tariq ran into the room.
'Can we move him?' gasped Lee.
'Yes,' I replied. 'Sue, can you…' But she already had the wounded man in a fireman's lift.
Tariq leaned out of the door and let off a stream of fire then said: 'Now!'
He went first, Sue and John behind, then Mrs Atkins pushing me in the chair, as Lee brought up the rear, firing short bursts to cover our retreat.
We left the corridor and came out into the main entrance hall. The armoured car was still stuck in the doorway, but the gun on top was pointing outside, laying down suppressing fire at the moat bridge.
Tariq climbed up on to the roof, then Sue and he manhandled John through the hatch and down into the car. I could see Sue talking urgently to Tariq as they worked, then she turned and leapt down, running past us all, back into the school.
'Where the hell is she going?' I shouted.
'Tell you later,' replied Tariq, his head poking out of the hatch. 'Now get in here.'
Lee and Mrs Atkins carried me up as Tariq fired past us, and I made an ungainly entrance to the car. Lee was still firing as he closed the hatch above us.
'Go!' he shouted. Tariq put his foot down and tore us free of the doorway, reversing across the bridge, turning, and sending us speeding down the drive.
The Stryker started to clang as bullets raked the shell, but Jamal kept going and eventually the firing faded away in the distance. Once he was sure we were clear, he switched on the satnav and we headed for Fairlawne.
John was laid out on the bench opposite me and as our pursuers fell away I saw that he wasn't breathing. Lee was already performing CPR as Mrs Atkins held his father steady. Lee's face was splattered with blood and tears as he breathed and beat the life back into his dad. Eventually he shouted 'Got him,' and I saw John's chest rise and fall as he began to breathe again.
Situated outside the village of Shipbourne, the Fairlawne estate is a huge area of land once owned by the Cazlet family, horse breeders to the crown. Bought by a member of the Saudi royal family in the eighties, the Palladian house was fully renovated and restored. It even had a swimming pool. In many ways it was a better site for St Mark's than Groombridge – bigger, better equipped and closer to Hildenborough, where we had friends. But we chose Groombridge because of its moat, which we thought made it easier to defend. Now that we'd abandoned our second home in a year to enemy forces, it didn't seem like the smartest choice.
We were able to drive up to the front door without Tariq reporting any signs of life. Good, they'd been following my instructions. Secrecy was the best defence.
As long as we'd evaded pursuit – and Jamal, who'd both been watching the road behind us through the periscope, assured us that we had – then we should be safe, for a time at least.
Lee popped the hatch and climbed out, and a few minutes later a gang of boys had gathered to help me out.
I was home.
John had coped well with the journey. He was still unconscious but he didn't seem to be in any discomfort and his breathing and pulse were strong. When I looked up after checking him over I saw Lee watching me anxiously. Just for an instant I could see the frightened boy hiding behind the brutal facade. I gave him a smile of reassurance.
'He'll be fine,' I said. But I was lying. I needed to get him into surgery again as quickly as possible, and this
