The five men left the office silently. Andy switched his torch back on and highlighted the electronic main entrance keypad on the wall while the others crouched down, one holding stun grenades the others pointing weapons at the entrance. Steven entered a four-number sequence he’d taken from the card. He hadn’t chosen it at random, but had deliberately picked Thursday’s number because he remembered it had been a Thursday when Barrowman had escaped in the car belonging to the MI5 agent he’d murdered. If he’d driven straight to Moorlock and initiated the coup, the code might not have been changed after that. Wrong. A red LED flashed and nothing happened.
Very aware that he was about to make his second and last attempt before explosives came into play, Steven entered the code for Friday. The LED stayed dark and, after an agonising pause, mechanical levers obeyed electronic instructions and the door opened.
Andy held his hand up as it became apparent that the well-lit corridor stretching out before them was empty. He and Steven exchanged glances that spoke of good fortune. They could hear voices, but they were coming from the far end. Laughter was present in the sound, another good sign. Andy signalled to the soldiers that they move along both sides, listening at doors. He and Steven led off.
Steven was first to hold up his hand. The others came to a halt while he listened more intently. He turned and silently mouthed the words, ‘A woman.’ Putting his left hand on the door handle and holding the Glock pistol in his right he waited for a soldier with an automatic weapon to sidle into place beside him. The door wasn’t locked. It swung open to reveal a single occupant, a weeping middle-aged woman whose clothes were ripped and her hair a tangled mess. She turned her tear-stained cheeks towards the two armed men, her eyes wide as if expecting some new horror to unfold.
Steven replaced his weapon and approached the woman. ‘Who are you?’ he asked gently.
The woman appeared surprised at the question, her eyes examining Steven’s face as if totally confused.
‘You’re safe now,’ Steven assured her. ‘Who are you?’
‘Lillian Leadbetter.’
‘MP?’
The woman nodded.
Steven questioned the woman as quickly and as kindly as he could. He asked if Lawler and Barrowman were in charge.
‘They killed Dr Groves in front of my eyes. Animals... sheer bloody animals... I hope they rot in hell.’
‘Is there another woman here?’
‘A doctor, yes, the woman Barrowman brought here. She’s been forced to treat Lawler.’
‘Treat him?’
‘He was attacked by two of the others and badly injured. They were drinking. Barrowman was furious, he shot them both.’
‘Where is she treating him?’
‘I don’t know.’
‘Everything’s going to be all right but we need you to keep quiet. Okay?’
The woman nodded.
‘We can hear voices, where are they all?’
‘End of the corridor, to the right. They drink and play cards...’
Steven whispered what he’d learned. Andy said, ‘You look for your lady, we’ll spoil the party.’
They made their way to the end of the corridor where the soldiers turned right and Steven went left, listening at each of the four doors he found there. He thought he heard movement behind the third door and readied his weapon before opening it quietly. Tally turned to look at him, turning away from the unconscious man she had been tending to and whom he presumed was Lawler. Her face was pale and withdrawn. She looked as if she hadn’t slept for days and wouldn’t have known what day of the week it was. She stared at him as if wondering if she was seeing things.
‘Hello,’ he said softly.
‘I knew some day my prince would come...’
‘Always the smart one-liner,’ said Steven, his face breaking into the first genuine smile for days. He holstered his weapon and moved towards her, but, as he did so, the deafening sound of prolonged gunfire broke out. Lawler was shocked out of sedation and took in the situation quickly. He pulled Tally across the bed on top of him, holding her neck in the crook of his arm as Steven levelled his pistol at him.
‘Drop it.’
Steven hesitated, his mind furiously assessing the situation. Lawler was weak and he was unarmed...
‘Drop it or I’ll bite her throat out.’
Steven looked at Lawler’s snarling mouth and saw it was all too close to Tally’s neck. He dropped his shoulders in resignation and made to drop the gun on the floor, but, at the last moment, he spun the Glock in his hand and shot at Lawler’s feet in one clean movement. Lawler screamed in pain as a bullet smashed through his metatarsals and Tally took advantage of his distraction to break free and fall down flat on the floor. Steven’s second shot killed Lawler... and, if it didn’t, his third certainly did. Steven helped Tally to her feet and wrapped his arms around her.
After a few moments of just holding each other Steven said, ‘I think it’s all over, but I have to check.’ He let Tally go and took out the Glock again before slowly opening the door and risking a quick look out to find a man pointing a gun at him. It was Andy, taking the same precautions over someone who was opening a door. ‘All right?’ he asked.
‘All over,’ came the reply. ‘You?’
Steven brought Tally out to receive an impromptu round of applause from the soldiers who had joined Andy. Tally looked beyond them and asked, ‘Does anyone need my help in there?’
The soldiers looked at each other before Andy said, ‘That’s a very kind thought, doctor, but no... no one.’
They were joined by armed police officers who had been let in by the soldiers who had uncovered the code for the front entrance and opened it.
After brief discussions, reports were called in by the senior men to the Home Office, the Ministry of Defence and other involved parties interested in hearing that a dangerous and hugely embarrassing situation had been resolved.
Despite Steven’s protestations Tally insisted on comforting Lillian Leadbetter while they waited for an ambulance to arrive. She however, declined medical attention for herself. Steven called John Macmillan to give him the information he would require for a clean-up operation to be launched. Of necessity, he had to limit details to the number of dead and leave it at that apart from highlighting the particular horror of Groves’ death and the murder of all staff save for Staff Nurse Clements who was with the inmates when the soldiers intervened. He had died with them.
‘The police have been detailed to take you and Dr Simmons home while I see to things.’
‘Thanks.’
‘Are the soldiers from 22 SAS still there?’
Steven looked round and saw only policemen. ‘No, they’ve gone.’
‘It was ever thus,’ said Macmillan.
Steven and Tally were taken back to London at high speed in a comfortable five series BMW using blues but with no need for twos. Tally slept with her head on Steven’s shoulder for the whole journey while Steven’s eyes remained wide open, transfixed by thoughts of the past few days.
‘We’re home,’ he murmured as the car slowed and turned into Marlborough Court.
‘Are we... are we really?’ Tally whispered sleepily.
Steven thanked the driver with a nod and the man responded in kind.
Tally seemed to recover some energy when the door closed behind them. ‘I think we could both do with a drink,’ she said. When she didn’t get a reply, she turned to find Steven looking at her. He wasn’t smiling. ‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
‘When are you going to stop?’
‘Stop what?’ she asked.
‘Playing the brave little lady who takes everything in her stride, it doesn’t wash with me...’