Night stretched all across London. Hyde doubted the city had ever been so dark since World War II. Back in those turbulent years, the men and women who’d stayed had lived with the darkness at night because it was their greatest defense against German bombers.
Now, though, the invaders had somehow gotten into all the power grids and shut them down. The tubes had gone silent, no longer ferrying people throughout the city, and no lights were possible save for oil lanterns and candles. Even those burned at the peril of their owners. The invaders moved at night, seeking out humans and killing them where they found them.
Grudgingly, afraid that he might miss something in his absence, Hyde turned from the window and accompanied the young officer.
Hanging out over a fifty-plus-story drop wasn’t a pleasant experience. DCS Hyde hung on to the ropes around the cage they used to navigate the building.
Since the power was out, they’d had to jury-rig an elevator system. Since adding more weight to the cage only meant more dead weight for the men muscling it up and down to manage, the builders had elected to go with a skeletal frame and ropes. The platform swayed sickeningly and Hyde’s stomach lurched.
Gradually, the platform descended the empty elevator shaft in a controlled fall. Hyde hadn’t made up his mind whether it was worse descending or ascending. Descending felt like one long fall but didn’t take long. But ascending felt like a multitude of short, very quick falls. His heart lurched with every one.
Finally, though, they arrived at the basement level. Going to the lobby was too dangerous because it forced them to go directly out onto the street.
In the basement, one of the armored riot cars that had so far survived the attacks waited. Scars tracked the metal sides and spiderwebbed fractures lined the windows. The snouts of small cannons and machine guns peeked out of gun ports.
The side access panel opened and a young man stepped out. “Chief Superintendent.”
Hyde nodded.
“Mind your head, sir. She’s low.”
Ducking his head, Hyde stepped into the vehicle and was promptly shown to a chair. The armored car was packed with hard-edged men and weapons. From the look of them, they’d all spent time in the killing fields. Haggard and often unshaven, their eyes looked haunted. Hyde didn’t even want to guess what horrors they’d seen.
“Buckle in, sir.” The young man took another seat while Krebs took one beside him.
“Where are you taking me?”
“Orders are to take you to the Central Library. You’ll be met there by Dr. Smithers.”
“I wasn’t aware that Dr. Smithers was there.”
“Recently relocated, sir. They had to have a new morgue.”
“What happened to the old one?”
“It filled up, sir.”
“Oh.” Hyde sat back in his seat and felt the armored car lurch into motion. The morgue had filled up, and that was only with the dead they’d recovered. There had been plenty more that they hadn’t.
The armored car’s transmission engaged smoothly and they accelerated.
Hyde’s anxiety increased because he couldn’t see out of the vehicle. He wouldn’t know if they were attacked until it was too late.
“How have the evacuation efforts been coming, sir?” the young officer asked. He spoke as calmly as though they were out for a Sunday drive.
“We’ve established staging areas,” Hyde answered, grateful for something to take his mind off being exposed in the streets. “But it’s not doing much good, I’m afraid.”
“Really?”
“There’s no way to send the people we get together.” Hyde hated discussing the futility of the exercise. Great Britain was an island kingdom. In the past, that had been a strength. Now it worked against them.
“What about the Chunnel?”
The Chunnel was the thirty-one-mile underground railway that ran under the English Channel and linked Great Britain to France.
“The…invaders seemed to have concentrated some of their forces there,” Hyde said. “They’ve executed the last few caravans we’ve sent that way.”
“No headway has been made toward reclaiming the airports?”
“No.” Heathrow had all but been destroyed in the initial attack. Gatwick and Stansted had been destroyed. No one knew exactly what shape Luton Airport was in.
“Pity. It would be better if we could get the noncombatants out of the area.”
“Yes,” Hyde said. “Yes it would.” Privately he worried that most of the citizens would not escape. Not unless some miracle occurred.
The man tapped the earpiece on the side of his head. “Hold on, sir. We’re about to clear a rough spot.”
Hyde was aware of the armored car’s acceleration. He reached down and took hold of the armrests.
A moment later, the sound of machine guns and cannons roared to life. Then something struck the side of the armored car hard enough to rock it up on one side. Still, it churned through whatever lethal encounter it had run into. The vehicle accelerated violently again, then executed a series of right and left turns.
“Watch it, Joey! Over to your left!” one of the men yelled. “No! Your other bleedin’ left, mate!”
The gunners worked diligently, shifting and jostling as they tracked their targets.
“I hate them ones that can fly like that.”
Hyde got a momentary image of the flying creatures that he’d spotted on several occasions. Only two days ago, he’d seen one scoop a child from the street like a falcon taking a hare. Hyde didn’t know if the creature had killed the child or if it had been the bullets his men had fired. The child was never seen again.
“You’re not hurting it,” one of the men said. “You’re just making it madder.”
The driver jerked the armored car through a series of quick turns. The vehicle jumped and jerked as it scraped along the side of a building. Then everything went quiet again.
“All right,” the officer said, visibly relaxing. “We’re clear.”
But only for the moment, Hyde couldn’t help thinking. They’re still out there.
They stopped at another underground parking garage and Hyde was ushered
