“So Dunwoody’s men can’t use them get any further down either. It would be the same situation, only in reverse.” Sherman chewed his lip thoughtfully. “Both forces have enough people to hold their positions but neither have the strength to mount an assault.”
“That’s right,” Barn agreed. “It’s a stalemate.”
“What do you suggest?”
Barn wrinkled his brow. “The black dots and the green dots both want to kill us. We can’t get past them, and even if we could we’d never get back again.”
“I could have told you that,” Nulce grunted.
“Let’s hear what the kid has to say,” Sherman said, shooting his subordinate a warning glance. “You can have my head examined when we get out.”
“We have to break the stalemate and get them all moving downwards, so that they’re trapped in the lowest level. I just don’t know how.” Barn hugged his knees. “I’m not smart like the rest of you.”
“Then treat it as a game,” Jimmy leaned close to Barn and put his arms around the boy’s beefy shoulders. “Like it was chess. As far as I know, May Rose doesn’t even know how to play chess.”
“Aye? Well I bet she does now,” Dave started, but Jimmy made a slicing motion with his hand to shut him up. Nulce gave a heartfelt groan.
Jimmy stood up and faced the baby faced killer.
“And I wouldn’t refer to Barn as the ‘fat kid’ again,” he said with a wicked grin. “Grand masters aren’t afraid to sacrifice their own pieces to win. You might find yourself the first pawn removed from the game.”
Nulce held the boys gaze, pure malice in his eyes.
“Enough. We’ll play it by ear.” Sherman strode between Jimmy and Nulce. “Mr Hicks, you’re with me. Madrid, you take Simon. Darren, you’re with the fa… I mean you go with Barn. Nulce and Dave will make up the last pair.”
“Dinnae try yir name callin wi me either, Baby-face.” Dave wiggled his knife at Nulce. Or ye’ll get malkied.”
“Say what?”
“Let’s get moving before we end up killing each other,” Sherman snorted, holding out his hand to Dave. “And give me that damned knife.” He grabbed the blade and stuck it in his pocket. “The next child, or adult, who gets lippy◦– I’ll shoot them myself.”
“There’s something odd about the green dots.” Barn was still studying the handcom. Why hasn’t May-Rose told them to take off their security tags? I mean, she doesn’t know you guys are here but, you know, just in case Dunwoody’s men try to track them?”
“I hadn’t thought of that,” Jimmy admitted.
“And how come there are so many of May-Rose’s men still gathered in the lowest level?” he continued. “They might just manage to overwhelm the opposition if they all charged at once and they’d have to try if she ordered them using that voice of hers.”
“What do you think that means?” Darren asked gently.
“I’m not sure they want to get out.” The boy struggled to his feet and wrinkled his brow. “It’s like May-Rose is only pretending to try and escape.” Barn’s concentration was now absolute and he seemed hardly aware of the others in the room.
“She’s not committing all her forces because she isn’t really trying to get to the surface,” he said finally. “She’s up to something else entirely.”
“Then it’s high time we threw a wee spanner in her works,” Dave grunted. “So, have ye got a plan or not, big man?”
“Yes.” Barn said. “I think I do.”
19.05
The party left the West Wing and trudged towards the main complex. The children flinched every time they heard gunfire, but the adults ignored it. So did Barn, who was staring at the handcom as he walked and talking softly to himself.
There were only two buildings directly above the main complex, the Administration Block and the Maintenance and Vehicle Depot. The group stopped outside the main door of the latter.
“Now’s the time for yir great strategy,” Dave said, nudging Barn. “Nae pressure, like. It’s just that all oor lives depend on it.”
Barn pulled at his lip.
“Mr Sherman, sir? You, Mr Nulce and Mr Darren should take me, Dave and Jimmy to the Administration Block.”
“Darren is my first name.”
“Yeah,” Madrid added. “And if you call me Missus, you’ll know all about it.”
“Yes, Sir,” Barn replied uncertainly, and Madrid curled a pretty lip in resignation.
“What’s in the Administration Block?” Sherman was peering round the corner of the Depot but there was no sign of life. Everyone was below ground, battling it out.
“Elevator One,” Barn replied. “Like Jimmy said, all the lifts are staggered to make an attack more difficult. So it’s the only one with an entrance above ground and just goes to Level One, outside the Ops Room. We need to climb down the shaft and get out there.”
‘And it won’t be guarded,” Jimmy added. “Because Dunwoody’s men aren’t expecting anyone entering from above.”
“That’s not gonna get us very far,” Nulce protested. He was taking his rifle apart as he spoke, checking each part
“The Ops room has a reinforced door.” Barn said.
“So what?” Nulce was reassembling his gun with startling fluidity. “Remember there’s a SWAT team in one of the corridors and more of Dunwoody’s men on the stairs at the other end. As soon as we leave the Ops Room and try to go anywhere else, they’ll cut us down.”
“They won’t be there.” Barn said confidently. “A good chess player always creates a diversion before he can make a check.”
“What diversion is that?” Nulce scoffed. “You gonna send Madrid along dressed as a schoolgirl?”
Madrid narrowed her eyes.
“Evolution just passed you by, buddy, didn’t it?”
Barn punched 1234 into the console beside the Vehicle and Maintenance Depot door and it slid silently open. The group found themselves looking at a long concrete floored garage. A dozen army trucks, draped in tarpaulin, lurked in the gloom. Barn pointed to rectangular metal doors set into the floor.
“That’s a loading bay with a ramp leading to Level One, so personnel can transport equipment directly into the base. It won’t be guarded either cause, like Jimmy said, nobody is expecting an attack from above. Our code will open it and Madrid and Simon can go down that way and head for the Ops Room.”
“We’ll walk right into Dunwoody’s men before we get there.” Simon took a step back in alarm. “What? You got something against me Barn?”
“Not if you send your pawns out first.” Barn pushed a switch on the wall and fluorescent strips in the roof sputtered into life. The entire garage was suddenly lit by a sickly white light.
“Those are the pawns.” The boy pointed.
Lining the walls were dozens of metal drums filled with petrol.
“There extinguishers and couple of asbestos suits with in case of emergencies,” Barn said. “Madrid and Simon can put them on, open the loading bay, tip over the drums and light the petrol. Then they follow the fire to the Ops Room. Limited air in the corridors and the base fan system means the fire will travel like a wave. It will destroy everything in its path but everything behind that wave will soon be extinguished.”
He shrugged.
“They should make it without getting burned up. In theory, anyway.”
“Holy Hell,” Nulce breathed. “What a stroke of brilliance.”
“Aw man,” Dave choked out. “That’s awful cold!”
“You’re not playing with chess pieces!” Simon agreed. “We’re talking about human lives! Mine included.”