A loud screech comes from somewhere and a few seconds later, there is a massive bang, sounding like it’s coming from behind the wall at the back of the office. Quickly opening the office door, I immediately see that everyone is on their feet and coming toward me.
“They are trying to get through the stair door!” Catherine shouts toward me.
Shit, shooting the glass and all the noise I have been making must have stirred them, alerting them to our presence up here. The door is locked and barricaded; surely; there is no way the Rabids are going to get through it before we have flown out of here?
“The door will hold,” I reply.
They stop when they reach me, all looking worried. Emily goes to come over to me, but I tell her to stop and wait with Stacey.
“Andy, over,” my radio sounds.
“Receiving over.”
“The roof is secure, good to go, over.”
“Copy that, clear the area.”
This is it!
“Wait here, everyone. I’ll be back in a second, then there will be an explosion, so be prepared for it,” I tell them, showing them the grenade in my hand to make my point.
Running back into the office and jumping back on top of the sideboard above the safe, I immediately pull the pin on the grenade and place it in the recess, turn, jump back down and run back out, pulling the office door shut behind me. Moments pass, then an explosion hits. I fucking hope I see daylight up there when I open the door again.
Through the dust, sunbeams are piercing through from all around but, thank God, some of them are coming from a fresh hole in the ceiling; it isn’t big but it’s big enough.
“Move, everybody.”
We move through the dust and over to the opening above. I grab a coffee table on the way and put it on top of the sideboard under the opening, to help us climb through. The noise coming from behind the wall at the back of the office is now severe. There is no mistaking that the enemies that have just slaughtered the people I left downstairs, are now targeting us.
“Catherine, you’re first,” I tell her.
She climbs easily onto the sideboard using my shoulder to steady and push herself up while I hold the coffee table so it doesn’t slip. Dan’s face is at the opening and he helps to pull her through the hole and up onto the roof. Stacey is next, then Lindsay, and then I get onto the sideboard. Stan picks up Emily and passes her to me and I lift her up to Dan, telling her how brave she is.
I jump down and Stan gets up, passing the holdall that he thankfully brought with him up to Dan.
“Wait there, Stan, I nearly forgot the bloody computer!”
The computer tower is under Sir Malcolm’s desk but as I go to pull it out, I see it is locked to the floor by a steel housing with a dial-coded padlock locking it, for fuck’s sake!
The banging is constant and heavy coming from the stair door, getting worse all the time. I could be wrong, but it sounds like there is a cracking noise every time they hit the door. Is the lock giving way? I pull out my Sig, aim at the padlock and shoot. The lock disintegrates, the housing opens easily and I rip all the wires out from the back of the computer.
After passing the computer to Stan, I rush over to the office door and close it, but there is no way to lock it without Sir Malcolm's key. I push and pull Sir Malcolm’s desk over against the door, then stack stuff up on top of the desk to the door handle so it can’t be pushed down. This measure won’t keep anyone out for long, certainly not an army of Rabids, but it is better than nothing and could buy us some valuable extra time if they do break through onto this floor.
Climbing through the hole, the feeling of the evening sun on my face feels good, and Emily comes straight over to me as I stand. She wraps her arms around my waist, hugging me tightly. Sending my daughter away and leaving her will be heartbreaking, but Josh is out there somewhere.
I put a hand on her head, the sun warming my back and I look out over London, a city that now looks so unfamiliar to me.
Chapter 16
Emily relaxes her grip on me and looks up; her eyes are red, her face is dusty, and her hair is now a tangled mess, but she smiles.
“Are the helicopters still coming to get us, Dad?”
I look at my watch: 17:49 hours. I turn and look towards Heathrow Airport where I assume the helicopters are flying from. The smoke in that direction isn’t as heavy as over central London. It is affecting the view, however and together with the sun in my eyes as it starts its slow dip towards the horizon, I can’t make out if any of the air traffic in visual range is coming in our direction.
“That’s what they said, sweetie. They should be here in about ten minutes.”
I’m just praying that Colonel Reed is sticking to the agreement or we could be in really serious trouble up here. Banging is already resonating from the steel rooftop door, and we haven’t got anywhere else to escape to if the Rabids breakthrough, either through that door or the barricaded one below.
Stacey sits looking forlorn with the others, all apart from Dan who stands keeping a close eye on the rooftop door, his M4 at the ready. We walk over to the others and Emily sits next to Stacey. Giving Catherine a look to get up and come with me, I go over to Dan and she joins us.
“When we can
