Cooper scrambles across the bed to the other side, where he switches on the bedside lamp. He’s genuinely shocked, the first time I’ve ever seen him on the back foot.
I have no idea where it comes from, but I snarl at him, hissing like a cat, feral, furious and thwarted.
“Kate,” says Cooper, panting with sudden exertion. “You are endlessly surprising.” He turns to address the soldier in the doorway. “Report.”
“We got them, Sir. Two lorries of kids. Armed to the fucking teeth. We’ve got their leaders downstairs now.”
Cooper nods, arranging his clothes, making himself presentable. “Good. Keep Miss Booker here until I return.”
He leans forward and picks up the knife. As he does so he notices the guns and wags his finger like a teacher remonstrating with a naughty pupil. He holds out his hands and I pass him the firearms. He shoves the handgun in his trouser pocket.
“I’ll deal with you later,” he says, then he strides from the room, closing the door behind him as he goes. I throw myself upon the bed, furious at myself for wasting such a golden opportunity.
I sit and stew for twenty minutes, trying to come up with a plan. Now that Tariq’s forces are captured, Jack’s diversion is the whole of our attack. It’s not going to be enough.
If I do manage to slip away when Jack makes his move, I need to know where to go.
Twenty minutes later Cooper returns, smelling of gunpowder.
“What have you done with the children?” I ask the second he enters.
“They’re safe, don’t worry. They’ll be held until the snow clears then we’ll just ship them straight back to Heathrow. I must say, your friends are a resourceful bunch. Their plan was a good one, and it almost worked. But my men are better.”
He sits on the edge of the bed and throws the handgun onto a dressing table. I see the top slide is retracted, indicating it’s been fired. He follows my gaze.
“You really should have told that Iraqi not to be such a smartass,” he says by way of explanation.
Oh no. Tariq.
He nods in response to the look on my face, and he taps the spot between his eyes.
I fly at him, fists swinging, teeth bared, but he bats me away as if I were a kitten. I tumble to the floor, my foot burning with agony.
“You know, Kate, I think I made a mistake with you. I thought perhaps we could be friends. I see now that I was naïve.”
I spit in his face.
He wipes it away with a sneer. “Your friends are no use to me. The kids I can use. But the adults…” He shrugs. “I think it’s time to end this.”
He reaches out and grabs my arm, pulling me to my feet. “Follow me,” he says and walks out of the rom. I hobble after him. I have to buy some time for Jack.
“What are you going to do?” I shout after him.
“A ten gun salute, I think,” he says over his shoulder.
He hurries down the staircase to the front door. I limp in pursuit.
“Why kill them? They’re no threat to you now.” I know that sounds lame, but even if he pauses for a second to argue with me, it’ll be a second gained. He sweeps out the front door, passing a guard from whom he grabs a fresh sidearm.
I trail after him, beginning to beg. He ignores me. He turns a corner and I hear him declaim: “Lovely day for a shooting!”
I follow him outside into the stark white dawn. I see Lee, Green and a Ranger lined up against the fence, a group of armed soldiers opposite them. Oh god, it’s a firing squad. My knees momentarily go weak with fear.
“Cooper, please,” I say, choking back tears. “I’m begging you, don’t do this.”
He slaps me, Lee protests and a soldier opens fire. For a sickening moment I think he’s shot Lee, but it was just a warning shot.
I’m crying now, pleading with Cooper, barely even conscious of what I’m saying. I step forward and come on to him. I’m sick at myself as I stroke his chest, all the time driven by the voice at the back of my head saying ‘just play for time, just play for time’.
Cooper shouts an order then shoots one of his men, and the next thing I know I’m being dragged across to the fence and stood up next to Lee. I reach out and grab his hand.
I lean towards him and whisper: “be ready to run” but my voice is drowned out by Big Ben’s insistent chime.
The men line up. Cooper joins them. They raise their guns as the clock counts down the final seconds of our lives.
Where the fuck is Jack?
I turn to Lee and we embrace.
Dear God, I may actually die here.
He whispers something to me, but I can’t make it out.
Then my senses explode in fire.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
AS THE FINAL chime pealed I heard a deafening burst of machine gun fire. I braced for the impact, but there was none.
My ears rang as the shooting got louder. Then I felt a hand on my shoulder.
“Put the woman down and fucking run!” yelled Wilkes above the cacophony.
I opened my eyes, totally confused. Jane was already pulling away, dragging me along the edge of the fence to a stone alcove in the far wall where we could shelter.
I tried to make sense of what was happening. Cooper and his men were ranged along the far edge of the fence, backs to the river, engaged in a fierce firefight with a group of young women who were shooting at them from the covered stone walkway down which we’d been marched minutes earlier.
I glanced ahead and saw a figure beckoning us to a doorway. I thought my mind must be playing tricks on me, because it looked like Jack. Jane pulled me sideways as a stream of bullets whipped past us, cutting a straight line in the old stonework. We scurried through the doorway and behind a stone wall, under cover. Green was already there, gun in hand, raining fire on the pinned down firing squad. Wilkes hurried in after us.
Jack shoved a gun in my hand and smiled at me.
“What the fuck is going on?” I shouted above the din.
“I landed in the dinghy,” he shouted back. “I had the bag. Jane got me back in. Voila.” He indicated the groups of armed women and beamed.
It takes a minute for the penny to drop. Somehow Jack has pulled it off and completed our mission — he’s got the kit bag of guns to the women held captive in the Lords and turned them loose.
Jane turned, popped her head above the parapet and sent a burst of fire towards the bad guys. Then she ducked back under cover, leaned over to me and kissed me long and deep.
We only broke apart when there was a huge explosion from behind us. I peered over into the yard to see the last of Cooper’s men pouring through a gap in the wall. They must have blown it open with a handful of grenades so they’d have somewhere to retreat. The snow-covered grass was littered with corpses and red with blood.
I turned to the group that ranged along the walkway.
“Jane, do you know where the kids are being held?”
She shook her head. “One of the committee rooms is all I know.”
“We need to find them as fast as we can,” I said. “There aren’t enough of us to win this, and we’re too concentrated. Can you lead us there?” Jane shook her head.
“I know where they are,” shouted one of the women Jack had released from the Lords. I waved her over to me. She was gaunt and thin, pretty but tiny and undernourished. She had fire in her eyes, though, and she held the gun firmly and with confidence.
“And you are?”
“Jools,” she said. “I heard some noise from one of the rooms we passed on our way here. I reckon the kids are in there.”
“Get them out, get them armed,” I said.