Siege

Eighty-one

‘WHAT’S HAPPENING?’ ASKED Ethan, his face etched with fear, as he sat on the bed next to his mother.

‘It’s all right,’ Scope told him, putting a protective arm round his shoulder as the last of the explosions and gunfire from down below faded away. ‘We’re safe here.’

‘What about Mom?’

‘Your mum’s going to be all right too.’

But as they looked down at her, Scope wasn’t at all sure he was right. It had been five minutes since he’d roused her and injected the insulin. He’d managed to get her to take a few sips from a Lucozade bottle he’d found in the minibar, but she’d almost immediately thrown it up, and she was barely conscious. She needed proper medical treatment urgently, and as long as they were trapped in here, she wasn’t going to get it.

He looked over at the TV, wondering what on earth all the fighting had signified. If it was an assault by the SAS, there was no sign of them yet. If they were coming, they were taking their time.

The TV was showing the front of the hotel, as it had done through most of the evening, and the rolling headline at the bottom of the screen said that explosions and gunfire had been heard inside.

Tell me something I don’t know, he thought.

Another rolling headline appeared: UNOFFICIAL SOURCE SAYS SAS STAGING A HOSTAGE RESCUE AND MEETING STIFF RESISTANCE.

‘Are the cops coming now?’ asked Ethan, pushing up closer to Scope for protection. ‘Is that them doing all that shooting downstairs?’

‘It looks like it.’

‘So will they be here soon to help Mom?’

‘Shit,’ Scope said aloud before he could stop himself. A third headline was now rolling along the bottom of the screen: UNOFFICIAL SOURCE SAYS NO ASSAULT TAKING PLACE, NEGOTIATIONS CONTINUING.

This was bad. More than that, it was almost unheard of. There’d definitely been some kind of attack, but it seemed it had been abandoned, which put him, Ethan, and especially Abby in a dangerous position.

‘Why are you saying bad words?’ asked Ethan. ‘What’s going on?’

Scope did something that had always served him well in his military career. He made a big decision under adverse circumstances.

‘We’re getting out of here,’ he said. ‘Right now.’