My earphones go quiet for a moment.
"I'll see what more I can find out. Stay on this channel. And God help us all."
"Keep me informed on the results with the computer, Colonel," I insist.
"Understood, over and out."
I look over at Dan and see that he is trying his best to hide back a snigger, something that he is failing to do. Strange snorts emanate from his throat.
“What the fucking hell are you finding so funny?” I ask him in all seriousness. I am not really in the mood.
“I was just thinking that the Colonel does have a point, to be fair to him.”
“And what point is that?”
“That you have a bloody cheek. You’ve just basically fucked the Colonel—and everyone else—over, and then you convince him into giving us more intel again.”
I try to think of an argument against it, but I can’t, I just feel a smile spreading along my face. “Okay, agreed. He might have a fair point.”
And we both start laughing.
Our laughter soon subsides, however, since, in front of us, the four spires of the Tower of London are now clearly visible. We pass the Walkie Talkie building on our left and HMS Belfast sitting on the river to our right. Thankfully, no smoke comes from the old Tower, in fact from this distance, the area seems disturbingly quiet and I don't like the look of it. Colonel Reed has already said that there has been no communication with Josh's battalion for at least the last couple of hours, and at the moment, there seem to be no troops or movement that would indicate they are still there.
Taking us in lower and breaking right, we fly over the shore of the river, giving us a clearer view of the Tower and its grounds. A Challenger tank is stationed on the wide walkway between the Tower grounds and the river, in line with Traitors’ Gate in the middle of the Tower’s outer walls. The tank’s long main cannon is pointing in our direction but does not move. The tank is abandoned, looking like an exhibit being displayed outside at a war museum or something. There are numerous Rabids around the Challenger, however, and in the surrounding area, most shuffling along in no particular direction as if they have lost their aim and energy.
We are close now, and almost all at once, the Rabids stop their shuffling and lift their heads looking; something has got their attention. They are all following a new sound that has caught their interest, the sound of the Lynx coming towards them. I take the Lynx across the front of the Tower and then around between the Tower and Tower Bridge, circling around the grounds. Taking it nice and steady, we fly following the outside of what was once the Tower’s moat. Now long devoid of water, an expanse of grass borders the outer walls and turreted defences of the Tower.
What we see does not give us any confidence that Josh's battalion is still in control of the Tower inside or outside its walls. Rabids are all around the grassed moat, and the noise from the Lynx is getting them excited. They are moving quicker now as if the Lynx’s noise recharges their energy levels. They climb onto anything they can, onto benches, onto the smaller outbuilding and the Challenger, trying to get closer to us, some jumping up into the air towards us, arms reaching up as we pass over them.
They are inside the Tower's walls too, both the outer and inner walls, dozens of them and they now seem to be trapped in there. Did the Rabids surge to get over the outer wall as they did to break into the Orion Building, or was a gate open? Rabids are jumping at and up the walls at the front by the closed entrance gates, in some futile attempt to get out so it doesn’t look like they got through an open gate. Now, the high walls trap them and there aren't enough of them inside to build high enough to get back out.
The Tower’s inner grounds are teaming with Rabids and inside the inner wall, they are running manically everywhere, over the greens and all around the famous central White Tower. Many of the buildings that surround the Tower seem overrun. Queen’s House certainly is; the half-timbered Tudor house’s windows are smashed and the doors wide open. The Tower itself seems to be sealed up, the wooden stairway that leads to the main entrance into the Tower has several Rabids on it and more are at the door at the top of the stairs, clawing at the heavy wooden door, trying to get inside.
Bodies are strewn across the ground, too many to count, inside both walls. Josh's battalion must have put up quite a fight in there but from what we are seeing now, that battle was ultimately lost.
What fills me with dread, though, is that many of the Rabids that roam are dressed in army uniforms, body armour and all. Some still have their helmets on whilst others have their rifles swinging around their bodies like unwanted toys. A deep fear grips me; any one of these Rabid soldiers could be Josh but no matter how much I strain to see, they are too far away to tell from this distance to see if he is amongst them.
“Don’t jump to any conclusions, Boss.” Dan is obviously seeing and thinking the same as me but trying to stay positive for me.
“The last we heard from him was that he was guarding the bridge,” I manage to say to Dan as positively as I can.
I take the Lynx around a full circle of the Tower’s grounds. Josh had last reported that he had been tasked with guarding Tower Bridge now directly in front of us. The
