After a moment’s deliberation, the five of them are walking down the corridor to the stairs under the close supervision of their guard, the Lance Corporal.
Emily holds her brother's hand all the way and her grip tightens when they exit the stairs into the bustle of the departure lounge.
Although still busy, the lounge has thinned out since Josh and Alice came through it a while ago. Thankfully, however, the food is still being served and they head straight for it. There are plenty of tables to choose from after they have been served and Catherine points out a possible one.
“Josh, Alice!” a call comes from their right.
Sergeant Dixon is standing next to a table with his hand in the air.
“Who is that?” Catherine asks.
“That is Sergeant Dixon and his SBS patrol, the ones I mentioned upstairs.” Josh answers.
“Okay, you go ahead and tell them to be discreet before we follow you over,” Catherine tells Josh, turning her back on Emily who is beside her with her tray of food, so she doesn’t hear.
“I’ll go, you stay with Emily,” Alice says quietly to Josh, before walking off in their direction, her tray of food out in front of her.
Josh puts his tray of food down when he reaches them, before he greets his SBS comrades.
“Good to see you all,” Josh says as he shakes the four men’s hands. “I thought you would be gone by now—where are the other lads?”
“They were reassigned before they had a chance to finish their nosh. Terrible luck for them,” Dixon says, smiling from ear to ear about the misfortune of his SAS counterparts. “You were lucky to catch us. We are off now, just had time for dessert and after-dinner coffee though.” His smile broadens.
“What’s your assignment?” Alice asks.
“Can’t say, my dear,” Dixon answers.
“Top Secret, is it?” Josh asks.
“No, they just haven’t told us yet, just been given a time and a place to report in. Anyway, forget that, who is this lovely girl?” Dixon says, bending down to Emily, who still stands with her tray, which Stacey takes off her.
“This is my sister Emily.”
“Ah, I thought it must be, nice to meet you, Emily, I’m Dixon, I knew your father, he told me you were a lovely brave girl.”
“Don’t you have a proper name?” Emily says, recoiling slightly from the big, scared SBS operative.
“Ha-ha, straight to the point just like your father. I do but people just call me Dixon.”
“Nice to meet you, Mr Dixon,” Emily says shyly.
Dixon laughs again. “Nice to meet you too, Emily. Right, we better be on our way.” Dixon says as he stands up straight.
The four men gather their gear together and say their goodbyes.
“Look after your brother, Emily,” Dixon turns and says as they go.
“How did he know Dad?” Emily asks.
“He was on the mission when Dad died,” Josh says, unsure if it was the right thing to say.
“Oh,” is all Emily says before she sits down at the table with her food.
Major Rees glances at his watch with some trepidation, regretting the amount of time he had told Colonel Reed it would take to sift through all the files and information laid out in front of him. He now wishes he had added more time to his estimate.
Lieutenant Winters had instantly seconded another conference room close to the command centre to work from. He was also in the process of assigning a team to the task and arranging the requested equipment to be delivered. That didn’t change the fact that now Rees had laid all the evidence out on the long black conference table, he was sure more time would be needed, time that wouldn’t be forthcoming.
Sadness and regret that Molly, his brilliant and trusted Lieutenant, isn’t here to assist him hits Rees and then the guilt of her death washes over him. She had warned him so many times of her misgivings with the operation to vacate the old storage facility. She had urged for the operation to be halted, revaluated and new wide-ranging precautions to be adopted. Not an hour before the disaster happened, she had burst into his office demanding that the operation be halted and saying that it wasn’t being carried out safely. He had agreed with her concerns, had even protested to his superiors—but in the end what did he do? Instead of stopping the operation and refusing to carry on, he had followed orders, had ordered Molly to continue with an operation that he knew wasn’t safe.
Nobody was holding him responsible for the disaster; his protests had been lodged with his superiors and were on record. The disaster, the viral outbreak and all that is now following are being blamed on a forklift driver and a young contractor fainting. Those are the CCTV images being shown by the news outlets to explain how the disaster happened.
No mention of piss-poor planning, cost-cutting or incompetent management. The cover-up is in full swing, everyone is covering their arses and that include Rees. He knows that his weakness and incompetence is to blame for the whole catastrophe. He is responsible for Molly’s death and untold numbers of others. He was in charge of that facility and the guilt hangs over him like a crushing weight.
When the time is right, when he has done all he can to try and stop the outbreak, he will confess to his responsibility, confess and be damned to his fate, as he deserves.
That time is not now, though. Now, he must use all his knowledge to stop the outbreak. There are few people who have his background and understanding of the type of virus spreading in the general population. He knows how they work, and he knows the consequences if it isn’t stopped. To give himself up now would be selfish. He must carry his burden and fight the virus, not for redemption. He is beyond redemption, so his only motivation now is to kill the virus.
Major Rees looks again at the
