Spooks

Loss and deception

Chapter Twelve: Facing Death

By Nathan Mullins

Tariq looked to Harry for answers.

"Is that so?" he barked.

Harry, in the agony he felt inside him, turned to Tariq and nodded once.

"It was the result HQ was destroyed, but of course I did it thinking the Prime Minister was in danger."

"It turns out he is not," said their captor, smugly.

"So… why have we been captured and brought here?" asked Lucas.

"Because the people I am in touch with want a victory, not a loss. We want power over your country Harry!"

"And you intend to gain power through having us executed?" Harry plucked up.

"That is so," said the man, his arms now crossed as he stood at the side of the camera crew, lined up in front of the spooks.

"How?" asked Ruth.

"We intend to hijack your satellites, broadcasting your deaths worldwide. Something 'he' would have been proud of!"

"We needn't bother asking who 'he' is," said Harry, turning back to his colleagues. "What I want to know is… what makes you think by having us executed, you will gain power?"

"Harry… you are wasting time. You as well as I know the Home Secretary depends upon your security force, your team. Yes, there are others, but you hold the highest rank. It will spark fear throughout the government, and force him to take action. He will, most probably, wage war!"

Harry tried to break free from his chains, but he found little joy in doing so. They would not budge.

"You're mad!" shouted Tariq, agitated, now fully chained to the wall.

"And…" said the German, checking his watch and tapping a crew member on the shoulder. "We shall begin!"

Dimitri watched Battersea Power station from above. All was still on the ground, and quiet, and something was going on.

Inside… the security guards gathered in the main chamber, that being used as the secret base where an execution was due to take place. The camera's were all set up, the lights also.

Machines had been wired up to the inner technology of the already, oddly advanced workings of the Power Station. Scientist like men in white gowns tapped their keypads in sequence, and then made their report.

"Leader… we've hacked into six satellites orbiting the Earth, and almost every station on the box is ours."

Their leader nodded, satisfied.

Dimitri did as was asked of him by Tariq. He called the Home Secretary.

"Hello Harry, your report is overdue," said the Home Secretary, not giving the caller time to explain who it was.

"Look Home Secretary, this is Harry's colleague. We're on an operation, and Harry's been captured by Germans operating in Battersea Power Station! We need permission to raid the gaff in order to rescue him and the rest of my team!"

On the other end of the line, the Home Secretary slouched in his chair, taking it all in.

"Home Secretary?" asked Dimitri. "Look, I've no time to waste!"

The Home Secretary made his response clear and concise.

"Call the SAS, and get your unit in that power station at once. Whatever's going on where you are, there's something even urgent going on worldwide!"

"Right…" replied Dimitri, "I'm on it, and thank you Sir!"

Dimitri hung up, and so did the Home Secretary, who soon after got on to the Prime Minister.

"David… have you switched on the sky?" he asked, sounding puzzled.

Dimitri gathered his unit together.

"We're going in, and your orders are to shoot to kill. Am I clear?"

His gorilla like men nodded in approval.

As Dimitri jogged down the steps leading from the roof to the lower levels of the building opposite the Power station, he was again, on the phone, to SAS command.

The cameras were Rollin', and the German in charge, was now introducing the audience to those in shot, chained up, and begging to be saved.

All over the world, families were switching off. Children were witnessing something terrible, and so were their parents, and not forgetting the Prime Minister, who was watching in shock.

Meanwhile, Dimitri was charging through the grounds of the Power station. He and his soldiers were spread out and armed.

"It's kill or be killed," he kept telling them.

A security guard jumped out of an exit leading inside the main chamber, gun on blast mode.

"Take him out!" shouted Dimitri's second in command.

A soldier fired on the man, and he fell to the ground, his face landing in the dirt track of a vehicle parked to the side of the building.

Dimitri looked up at the van, and then turned to his unit.

"We didn't see that arrive," he said.

They ran on ahead, took the exit their victim had taken, and rushed on through to where, using his mobile, Dimitri registered the most heat.

"Stand back," he said.

He aimed the machine gun he held at the lock, and fired on it. The door fell backwards, and on the ground, lifeless… were the bodies of MI5's wanted terrorists.

On the cameras were Harry, Ruth, Tariq, and Lucas. They were shooting tape that was not being transmitted to satellites and being played out to billions. Taking the bodies away on stretchers and in black leather bags, were the SAS, who had arrived in the van outside.

"Took your time Dimitri," said Harry. "We were depending on you!"

He was joking of course. But then facing death was a regular occurrence.

"Thank the Home Secretary, he was watching!" said Dimitri.

"I will," said Harry. "And I must apologise for my ridiculous behaviour. It cost us, and everything else… almost everything."

Dimitri looked around, having missed someone out.

"Where's Beth?" he asked.

"I'm here," she said, alongside members of the SAS. They had all been wearing face masks, and after revealing who she was, Harry did begin to wonder who she was working for.

"It's alright," she said. "I took out three security men who were planning to regain the strength their leader had failed to grasp, and gave the SAS safe passage inside."

"Well done," Lucas congratulated her.

They took a moment out for a group hug, and then made to leave, when… Harry, on his way out, received a call from the Home Secretary.

"Harry, would you please explain why I've only just found out about this crazy red alert business and your team being screened to the world. It may have been moments, but do we want the whole world knowing who you are?"

Harry hung up, and stuck his phone in his trouser pocket.

"That's enough of that," he said, to Lucas, who grinned back at him. "I've been moaned at, fired at, almost blasted to smithereens, and he's still yelling at me."

"Ignore him," said Lucas. "How about we all go for some lunch, the SAS are clearing up the mess, and we're free agents again?"

"Free being the word you've clearly chosen to outline our escape, eh?" he said.

"Well, we helped prevent a war, and that's worthy of a cuppa, no?"

"Absolutely Lucas!" he concluded.

With their base destroyed, and Harry's phone switched off, he and his colleagues decided it was time to embrace a good old fashioned mug of hot tea, accompanied by chocolate biscuits. It was their way of moving on, and as spooks, for ever in debt of those retired, or otherwise non-existent, they were grateful.