Immediately he heard a cry from Kimberley. It sounded like a cry of pain.
Christ, Slocock’s raping her!
But before he could leap up and go to her aid he realized the true nature of her cries. It wasn’t rape. On the contrary.
Wilson sat there frozen. He didn’t want to listen. Each sound she made cut through him like a hot knife. But he couldn’t switch the intercom off.
“Oh, God… yes… harder… harder… come on, hurt me… harder… yes… ohhhhh…” Her voice rose almost to a scream.
Wilson felt like screaming himself.
They lay limply entwined on Slocock’s bunk, their bodies covered in a sheen of sweat. They were both breathing heavily. Slocock figured they must have used up half a cylinder of oxygen with their exertions. Still, it had been worth it. Hell, yes.
“Hey, Doc, you know you had a pretty rare experience tonight,” he told her.
She half-opened her eyes and looked at him drowsily. “Well, I’ll admit it was good, but it was far from rare.”
“I meant me. That.” He pointed at his penis which lay, still tumescent, against his right thigh. “First time I’ve managed to get it up in ages.”
Her eyes widened with surprise. “Seriously?” He nodded. “Yeah. One of the reasons Marge—my wife—left me. The main reason actually.” He didn’t mind talking about it to her. He felt too pleased with himself to care.
“So how come you were able to just then?”
“Partly you, I guess. And the situation. The excitement first time in a long time I’ve felt really alive.”
“You mean you find being in danger a turn-on?”
“Something like that.”
“You’re full of surprises, Sergeant.”
“So are you, Doctor.” It had been she who’d made the first move. He’d woken up to find her standing naked beside his bunk. “I didn’t think I was your type. And I didn’t figure you for the type who liked it rough.”
“In a way I’m like you. I like to feel threatened. I like men who scare me. But the men I know wouldn’t really harm me.”
“You want to feel safe and threatened at the same time?”
“You could put it that way.”
“I know where I’d like to put it.” He took her hand and placed it on his penis which was becoming fully erect again. “How can you be sure I won’t hurt you for real?”
“I’m 90 percent sure. The other 10 percent is what makes it exciting.”
He was thoughtful for a while, then said, “Know what I’m going to do to you?”
“No. Tell me.”
He told her at great length and in great clinical detail. When he’d finished she nodded. She said, “In my medical bag over there you’ll find a jar of Vaseline. Make sure you use a lot of it.”
Wilson kept listening, still unable to press the switch. His imagination created images to match the sounds that were probably even more outrageous than the reality.
The sound both infuriated him and aroused him to an intolerable level. Eventually they stopped. There was silence for a time and then Slocock started to snore.
Wilson switched off the intercom. And sat staring off into the blackness of the night.
14
Slocock was back in Belfast.
He and his unit were in the Falls Road. They were in full anti-riot gear. Behind them, as back-up, was a Saracen armored car. In front of them was a mob. Kids, mainly, and a few young men. All of them were heaving stones, half-bricks and chunks of pavement.
The rain of missiles was so dense that the sound they made hitting the armored Saracen was deafening. Occasionally one of the men would receive a direct hit and, despite the protection of his helmet, have to be helped away towards the rear of the army lines.
As Slocock watched the taunting mob through his transparent riot shield he itched to have the freedom simply to open up with his rifle.
A different type of missile came hurtling out of the crowd. Slocock glimpsed it as it arced overhead. He saw the red sparks and his bowels went icy cold.
A gasoline bomb.
He had a fear of fire. It was his big weakness.
Paralyzed with terror, he couldn’t move as the bottle shattered in the road right in front of him. The blazing liquid showered over him, setting him alight. He screamed. He woke up trying to beat out the flames engulfing his body. Then he realized he was naked and lying on his bunk.
But he could still hear the stones hitting the armored car!
As he sat up in alarm the light came on. Kimberley, still naked, stared at him with shocked eyes. “What’s happening?”
“I don’t know.” He grabbed for his pants and started to pull them on.
The hatchway was opening. Wilson’s startled face appeared. If it was surprised at seeing Kimberley naked he didn’t show it. “We must be surrounded!” he cried. “We’re being hit from every direction at once, but I can’t see anyone out there!”
Slocock ran to the hatchway, pushed Wilson out of the way, and slid through into the cab. He saw that Wilson had turned the headlights on, and a large area ahead of the truck was clearly illuminated. But there was no one in sight.
And yet even as he peered out he could see numerous round objects hurtling between the trees towards them. The clatter as the things hit the roof and sides of the vehicle was continuous. Then one of them hit the windshield. Immediately there was a large red stain spreading across the glass. A second one hit the windshield, then a third. The stain got bigger.
“Fruit! They’re throwing bloody fruit at us!” said Slocock. He started firing the minigun, spraying bullets indiscriminately. But the barrage of brown, orange-like objects didn’t lessen.
When the gun was empty he switched to the other one.
“Can’t we just drive the hell away from this?” cried Wilson.
The big gun chattered on until it too was empty. Slocock had swept it back and forth round a full 360 degrees. He must have hit some of them out there but the barrage was as heavy as ever. He was stumped.
Wilson, on the other hand, had suddenly started to smile. He had been staring hard at the stuff on the windshield and then his face had lit up. He turned to Slocock. “I’m going out there.”
“Are you crazy? There must be an army of them.”
Wilson continued to smile his annoying smile and said, “An army, yes. But not of people. There are no people out there at all.”
“What the bloody hell are you talking about?” But Wilson refused to say anything else. Slocock, mystified, had no choice but to follow Wilson into the rear section. There Kimberley, now dressed, asked them what was going on.
“We got a couple of hundred people out there chucking balls full of red gunge at us but Buffalo Bill here claims it’s all an illusion.”
Wilson was climbing into one of the suits. Before he put on the helmet he said, “Coming, Sergeant, or are
