Capital Falling Trilogy Box Set [Books 1-3]
as if I was still serving in the British Army. Whether I was or wasn’t serving was immaterial; there was a rank-based etiquette you just never crossed, and it didn’t stop with discharge papers. I found that adhering to this, on the whole, has obtained the information we required whenever needed. Not that it’s been often we’ve had to call on him, but the occasional operation Orion’s been involved in has required some ‘inside’ information in order to get the job done.This, however, is a different situation. An extremely serious situation is unfolding in London as we are speaking, and I need to know what bearing it may have on the company, but more importantly, on the safety of my family.
"Reed," I say, dispensing with Colonel, "please don't take me for a fool. I hired you for a very specific reason. You make it your business to know exactly what is going on in this type of situation. You are compensated very well and very discreetly to provide information when we need it and we expect information to be forthcoming when asked for, especially in a fluid situation as is happening now. Neither of us will benefit from that arrangement or that discretion failing."
The line goes silent and, just for a second, I’m unsure if I have overplayed my hand; is he going to call my bluff and hang up?
But then—no.
"N—N—Now, Andy,” he says. I have never heard the Colonel stutter before. But my ploy works, and the information comes pouring out like blood from a stab wound. ‘Andy, the…the information I have is that the release happened at a Top-Secret storage facility in the city early yesterday evening. The release was a virus, a virus in some way related to Rabies. Once the virus was released, the facility was very quickly compromised, resulting in a fire and in the virus escaping the facility."
"I see," I respond, "and exactly how did it escape?"
After a short pause, the Colonel speaks. "The staff became infected and some, somehow breached security and..... escaped from the building."
"How infectious is this virus and how many people currently have it?" I ask.
"The virus can only be transmitted through the exchange of bloods, we are therefore very confident of containing it quickly, but we have no current numbers on infected cases."
"Maybe it's time to leave the city?" I venture.
But the Colonel grimly says, "You cannot leave, there is a press blackout on this at the moment, but North London is now in quarantine and under martial law. Anyone inside the North Circular can no longer leave, the Thames and all bridges crossing it are closed. Anyone attempting to leave will either be turned back, detained, or shot. The Prime Minister will be making a statement to that effect anytime now. This is only a precaution, you understand."
"What!" I nearly shout at him. "How can they possibly quarantine the whole of North London? That would take the deployment of every member of the Armed Forces, home and abroad?"
"That is exactly what it is taking, Andy. Troops are already in place from every part of the UK to enforce the quarantine. As we speak, every serving member of the UK Armed Forces overseas is either in transit or awaiting transit back to the UK. All operations have been cancelled with immediate effect. Afghanistan, Iraq—cancelled. Our troops in Germany, Australia, Canada, the US, everywhere, are all recalled. Even seventy-five percent of the troops currently based in the Falklands will be back by 0900 hours tomorrow morning. On top of that, the whole of the Royal Navy has been recalled to base, apart from our submarines, for tactical reasons."
This time, it is my turn to pause and go quiet. I'm flabbergasted.
All I can say is, "They can't possibly move that many troops that quickly." But again, the Colonel has the answer.
"The Royal Air Force is, of course, taking the brunt and excelling, and the Yanks are—as always—pulling out all the stops to help, as much as secrecy will allow, as well as a select few other Allied Air Forces. Christ, even the French are helping, and we have chartered every private plane required, available or not. Oh, and the government has just re-nationalised Heathrow Airport which is now effectively our Forward Operating Base, to be called FOB LHR." With that, he says he has another call coming through. And he is gone, like the rapid blow-through of a gust of air that has left behind it a bad smell on the wind.
I am completely stunned and stand there in the middle of my lounge, staring into space, my mind processing. I quickly pull my thoughts together and focus, my well-trained discipline returning.
Chapter 4
I go back to the kitchen to find Emily sitting with her iPad on the kitchen table, playing one of those online games, probably involving some kind of bird. Stacey is seated next to her in conversation on her phone.
Stacey sees me enter and hastily says into the phone, “Oh! Andy is here now,” and she points the phone at me, making clear it’s an order for me to speak into it. “It’s my mum.”
I take the phone from Stacey and put it to my ear.
“Hello, Karen.”
“Andy,” Karen says to me in a panicked voice. “I’m at the office with Jim; we got in early this morning because of that new contract we told you about. And now we are stuck here. Do you know what’s going on, apart from what they are saying on the news? We are high up here, but it looks like there are riots in the streets below.”
Instantly, I decide to tell them all that I’ve just learned from Colonel Reed. Their daughter is with me after all, and whatever is going to happen in the next few hours, I am now responsible for two young ladies.
“Is Jim there? You both need to hear this.”
I go back into the lounge and virtually tell them both exactly