Capital Falling Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3]
there?Looking down at my phone, I know Josh will probably be on duty with his regiment so I send him a text message for him to phone as soon as he can. He may be able to shed some light on what the hell is going on, and more importantly, I do worry about him. After clicking send, I start to scroll for Colonel Reed’s number, but Emily shouts from downstairs before I get to find it.
“Dad, are you coming to do my breakfast?”
It’s nearly 7.45am, “One second,” I shout.
I find Reed's number and click dial but immediately there’s a busy tone. ‘Shit’.
I throw the phone onto the bed and grab some clothes to put on, still in my towel. I elect to go with jeans, a casual blue shirt and hiking boots rather than a suit today. I grab the phone from the bed again and try Colonel Reed. Busy tone.
I head downstairs.
Emily is seated at the breakfast bar watching BBC News. She sees me and straight away starts to ask questions about what’s going on, like why are there tanks in London? I decide to be as honest as possible whilst trying not to alarm her too much. I have felt for a while that honesty is now the best policy with Emily; she is that much older now and I want her to be able to ask me questions, even if they happen to be uncomfortable ones. Apart from which, Emily is a bright girl, not fooled easily. I take comfort from the fact she trusts what I say and looks up to me, partly due to my background, so I can answer in a way that gives out the facts but keeps her calm and reassured.
I start to get Emily's breakfast ready, no culinary masterpiece but consisting of two Weetabix with a banana sliced on top and a small sprinkling of sugar, together with a glass of orange juice, prepared freshly from a carton.
While doing her breakfast, I explain to Emily that there is an emergency in the city, that I am not sure what the emergency is exactly. I’m trying to sound as reassuring and casual as possible, and I say the police and army are there to make sure everything is okay.
Then I tell her that she will be pleased to hear the schools are closed all day, just as a precaution.
"But, Dad, we have rehearsals today… and spellings. And anyway, what am I going to do if you’re at work? It’s boring here!"
Emily has a fairly big part in the school play, Annie, and she’s is very excited about it.
"Well, Em, I am not sure if I'm going in to work today. So, we may be able to spend the day together. You could act out your bits for me. Or I can test your spellings. You choose." She doesn’t look too impressed by this news. I can only guess my choices didn’t hit the spot.
Again, I’m looking at my phone in an attempt to get hold of Colonel Reed, but just as I press dial, there’s a knock at the front door.
This time, Reed’s phone starts ringing. He had better answer!
Quickly going through to the hall and opening the door, the phone still pressed to my ear, I find Stacey waiting there on the step. She lives a couple of doors down from us, and she’s the daughter of Jim and Karen, good friends of ours, sorry—of mine. Stacey does have her own key, but always knocks when she thinks I might be home.
Stacey is 18, a lovely warm and friendly girl, a Godsend to me. She helps me with Emily, picking her up from after-school club when she herself finishes school, and looking after Emily until I get home from work.
This, unfortunately, can often be late, in which case, Stacey makes Emily dinner, showers her and gets her ready for bed. If necessary, she’s even put her to bed on more than one occasion. I am honestly not sure how I would manage both work and Emily without this girl. The arrangement suits her too; I pay her for her time—which can be too much time sometimes, unfortunately—and whenever Josh is here, she gets to see him.
Stacey has a rather large crush on Josh, this seems obvious to me. But he seems oblivious to it and to her, even though Stacey is a very pretty girl.
Right now, however, Stacey looks extremely worried standing here, on my doorstep, hopping foot-to-foot. This doesn’t surprise me; both Jim and Karen work in the city and she would have been my next call to see if she was alright. She comes in without me having to ask.
Emily jumps out of her chair as soon as she sees her, shouts "Stacey," and runs over to her, giving her waist a big hug.
"Colonel Reed speaking,” my phone squawks at me as I go through into the lounge for more privacy and quiet so I can concentrate.
"Hello Colonel, it’s Andy Richards. What can you tell me about the situation escalating in London?"
"Andy, I’ve been expecting your call, but there’s not much I can tell you, I'm afraid. We are still waiting for further information," he says in his deep, well-spoken voice.
I have known of and had dealings with Reed for a long time. His reputation preceded him when I first became a Marine, and then he was involved in various operations when I was active SAS.
Although a pompous ass, he is a highly intelligent operator who makes it his business to know all things of significance. That is why, when my boss and Chairman of Orion Securities, Sir Malcolm Cooke, made me Head of Operations at the company, I recommended Colonel Reed as an extremely useful asset. We should try to get him on the payroll of Orion, unofficially, of course, I’d said.
My normal tact with Colonel Reed is to treat him with respect and, to a certain extent to treat the man as my superior officer, just