“The first wave moves out at 1000 hours as I said and they will be moved into position by transport. Surveillance is showing that the infected have slowed their spread slightly, they seem to be taking their time as they reach each new area of the city, as they move outwards. So, they are still far enough inside the original cordoned off area within the boundary of the North Circular Road and the first troops will be dropped at eight insertion points in the West and North West of the city.
“Once in position, those troops will start to fan out on foot and in hardware, clearing the streets as they go, building to building where necessary. They will have massive air cover as you will have seen and we expect to push the infected back and into the open, hopefully in numbers, where they will be eliminated from the air where possible. As the troops push the infected back, we expect them to move out into the open and move East towards the Eastern part of the city, which has been fortified to eliminate them as they reach those areas.” The Lieutenant finishes his briefing just before we pull up the buildings.
“How many troops are going in the first wave?” I ask him.
“There will be approximately forty-five thousand troops going in.”
“That doesn’t sound enough,” I hear myself say, almost to myself.
“There are another thirty-five thousand that will be moved into position immediately after the first wave, to do any clearing up and to bolster the first wave, and there are a further twenty-five thousand on standby… these figures don’t include the air support,” the Lieutenant informs me.
“Okay, thank you, Lieutenant, only time will tell I suppose, but it sounds a bit dicey to me,” I tell him, without offering anything constructive. Lieutenant Winters applies the hand brake to the Defender and we all get out.
The noise of helicopter engines and rotor blades slicing through the air reverberates around us, coming at us from all the engines being tested, which are not far from us now and the noise hits the buildings we have just pulled up by and bounces back to hit us for a second time. Without saying anything, Lieutenant Winters walks off in the direction of the building, leading the way to the hangar that will be our base for the duration of our mission.
He opens a door into the building that has a large roller shutter next to it, and goes straight in with me and Dan following close behind.
As we enter, the majority of the noise from outside is cut off and we find ourselves in a big but not massive aircraft hangar, which at some point must have housed one or, at the most, two light aircraft. The hangar is now mostly empty, with a few old oil drums, tools, various other items and rubbish scattered around the perimeter walls. The central area, however, is mostly clear. That is apart from the equipment, on trollies that have been brought in, as the Lieutenant had said, along with tables and chairs.
The tables have comms equipment and two computers on them, complete with computer towers, mice, keyboards and monitors; one of the monitors is turned off, but the other is on, showing a view over London. Seated in front of it, not looking at the monitor but looking at me, is Josh.
“Joshy boy, you sneaky little bugger,” Dan says as Josh gets up and comes over to us. “How long have you been here?”
“Twenty minutes or so after you left, they came to get me and Alice. I’m not sure where they took Alice but they took me to get fresh kit and then brought me here and told me to wait for you to arrive,” Josh says, just before I pull him in for a hug.
Josh does look smart in what is definitely a brand-new combat uniform, boots and all. For a second I wonder if Colonel Reed was bluffing the whole time about sending Josh in with the first wave, but then I realise if I weren’t here, that is exactly where Josh would be now.
“Don’t worry, son, Alice will be joining us shortly too. Isn’t that right, Lieutenant?” I say turning to him.
“I will get onto that, Captain, but you are going to need more boots than we have here to complete your mission and time is not on our side so I suggest we look at options?” he says quite bluntly.
“Agreed, Lieutenant; what Special Forces teams are available? I presume you had one or two lined up in the event I didn’t take the mission?”
“You are correct, Captain; give me a minute to check which teams are still available and haven’t already been deployed,” the Lieutenant says, getting his phone out of his pocket and walking away from us to make his calls.
“What mission, Captain?” Josh asks.
It feels strange him calling me Captain but I understand he won’t want to be calling me Dad, especially if he is going to be surrounded by the almost mythical Special Forces operators.
“You know I was supposed to bring Sir Malcolm’s safe from the Orion building yesterday? Well, we have been tasked with retrieving it today and the mission needs to underway by 1500 hours,” I tell Josh.
“I am surprised you have agreed to take on that mission; what about Emily, have you told her yet?” Josh says looking a bit confused.
“Let’s just say Colonel Reed made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, and no I haven’t told Emily yet, but as soon as preparations are underway here, I will go and see her.”
“What offer? Must have been something important for you to agree and leave Emily again. She is not going to be happy; she was upset when they came to get me.” Josh is looking even more confused now, and who can blame him?
“I don’t want to go into the ins and outs now Josh; we need to concentrate on the mission ahead of us,
