The Darkest Day

SIXTY

They ascended the stairs at a normal pace. They had no need for stealth — their enemies would expect to hear footsteps inside the building — but Victor kept his gait careful so as not to rush into danger.

At the top of the stairs, he emerged on to the building’s first floor. The stairwell door opened on to a corridor shrouded in darkness. No lights were on overhead and no light emanated under doorframes leading off the corridor. He waited, listening.

As with the basement, he decided not to clear it for the sake of time spent against the chances of enemies present. He knew for certain enemies were on the floor above him as of two minutes ago. He turned to Raven and pointed up with a thumb.

They backed off and climbed the last set of stairs to the building’s top floor, hearing the sound of movement and talking before they had reached the stairwell door.

With the stock of the UMP firm and comfortable resting in the crook in his chest where his pectoral muscle met the anterior deltoid, eyes peering along the iron sights, he used his left hand to work the door handle and ease the door open.

He could not disguise the noise of the jamb clicking or the hinges creaking, but both were quiet enough to not draw attention from the two men he saw.

They were standing five metres away, side on to him, talking to one another. One was leaning back against the wall behind him, arms folded. The second stood opposite, holding a UMP by the barrel while the stock rested against the flooring.

Victor shot the first man above the ear with a double tap, switching aim to the second as he recoiled in shock and horror, the contents of his teammate’s skull pan splattered over his face, and dropped him with another two rounds before he had even processed what was happening.

The UMP fired heavy .45 calibre rounds. The mess was considerable.

Victor dropped to one knee in the open doorway. He would not have done so if it hadn’t been for Raven covering the rear, but he wanted to be low and in a firing position should any other enemies appear ahead.

The gunfire would generate surprise, then fear. The men inside the room would be shocked into inaction, but someone would investigate — either the bravest man or the weakest-willed, pressured by his comrades.

Victor wasn’t sure which quality the man possessed who opened the door to check, but a double tap blew off the top of his skull.

The body dropped in the doorway, creating a useful obstacle to prevent those inside closing the door.

‘Go,’ he called to Raven.

She rushed ahead of him while he covered her advance, keeping close to one wall and out of his line of fire.

Victor dashed over as soon as she had reached the doorway and charged in, UMP entering the room first, already firing on full automatic before he had acquired targets, Raven an instant behind him — he went left; she went right.

The two guys inside the room were stunned by panic. The closest had been caught by the blind shots and was stumbling backwards when Victor saw him. The second, further away, was bringing up his gun. Raven dropped him with a triple tap of rounds to his centre mass.

Which gave Victor an extra split second to deal with the shot guy, who had dropped his primary weapon and was reaching for a backup. One squeeze of the UMP’s trigger made sure he never reached it.

‘That’s eight,’ Raven said. ‘So Halleck sent exactly half his crew to collect my body. I’m going to take that as a compliment. Or maybe it’s one to you. When will they realise you aren’t going to show?’

Victor said, ‘Soon.’

A radio worn by one of the dead guys crackled to life and a disembodied voice said, ‘This is Courier, how’s it looking at the LZ? Over.’

Raven looked at it, then him. ‘What do we do?’

He shrugged. ‘I didn’t hear any of them speak. They might have a code.’

‘We can’t ignore it.’

The voice said, ‘This is Courier. Respond, please.’

‘What do we do?’ Raven asked again.

Victor took the radio from the floor and pressed send. ‘You’re clear for landing, Courier.’

There was no response.

‘Does that mean they bought it?’ Raven asked.

Victor shrugged. ‘I don’t know. If they believed me, they’ll land out front. But if they didn’t they’ll make sure they’re out of range; they’ll hit the deck about a hundred metres from the terminal building.’

The radio crackled into life and Halleck said, ‘Nice try, but no sale.’

Raven took the radio from Victor and replied, ‘How are you, Jim? It’s been a long time.’

Halleck said, ‘Go to hell.’

‘That’s no way to talk to a lady. Where are your manners? I’d have expected humility, or maybe some begging. It’s over, Jim. I’ve won. I have your bomb.’

Halleck laughed. ‘It’s a little early to gloat, Constance. You have nothing.’

‘What are you flying in?’ Raven asked. ‘The bomb is outside. The blackout has cut the power to the city. What have you been waiting for? You already have enough explosives to take down a skyscraper. You can’t possibly need more.’

‘What do you think I am, a lunatic? I’m not going to take down a skyscraper. I’m no terrorist, whatever you think of me.’

Raven said, ‘Two tons of plastic explosives on a truck says otherwise.’

Halleck said, ‘Let me talk to your new partner.’

‘I’m here,’ Victor said, taking the radio.

‘I didn’t know you were so stupid as to fuck with me,’ Halleck said. ‘Now, you’re never going to get out of this country. You’ll be hunted to the ends of the earth forever more.’

‘Why?’ Victor asked. ‘Eight of your guys are dead. The other eight are the other side of Brooklyn. The bomb’s outside. It’s not going anywhere. When it blows up, it’s going to damage nothing but soil. No one’s going to spend resources trying to track down the most incompetent terrorist in the world, are they? You really should have just found a way to hire me to kill Raven in the first place and saved us all a lot of bother.’

Raven huffed, ‘You charmer.’ Then she frowned and said into the radio, ‘What were you planning to do?’

Halleck didn’t answer.

‘What are you delivering?’ Raven asked again.

‘I’m surprised you haven’t worked it out before now, Constance. You were always so smart.’

‘If you’re not using the explosives to bring down a building, then what’s the point of it?’ Raven said. ‘Then it’s nothing more than fireworks. You blow it up on an empty street and the damage will be minimal. We’re talking a massive crater and a thousand broken windows. So what? That’s not going to start wars. If the explosives aren’t for demolition, then you planned to use them as a delivery system. What for? A chemical weapon? Biological? Radiological?’

Halleck didn’t answer.

‘It’s the last one, isn’t it?’ Raven continued. ‘That’s why you needed to cut the power to the city. That’s why you needed the blackout: Manhattan has a whole network of sensors to detect radioactive material. With the power down, you can drive the truck straight into the middle of Wall Street and set off a dirty bomb.’

‘You got there in the end, but too late to make a difference.’

Raven said, ‘You’re a maniac.’

Halleck’s voice came through the radio, loud and angry. ‘It’s a goddamn dirty bomb, not a nuclear weapon. They’re a world apart. Dirty bombs have been tested by the Department of Energy and you know what? They don’t do shit. You would have to live within the original blast radius for months to have any chance of getting radiation sickness. They’re a tabloid weapon. They’ve invaded the public consciousness, but no one in the know rightly fears them. Like I said, I’m not a monster. The explosive is going to do more damage than the plutonium. This is a scare weapon. This is a true terror weapon. I have no intention of butchering millions of my own people. I’m a patriot.’

Raven said, ‘A patriot willing to bomb his own country at the behest of those looking to profit from war.’

‘I’m no altruist, that’s true. But who out of us three is? So don’t play that card. I work for a consensus of powerful individuals and corporations. But no one can pay me enough to wipe out a city. That’s not what this is about. Every month a terrorist plot is foiled. People have stopped caring. They care more now about having to wait in line at airports. People are idiots. They need reminding about the realities of the world and the people who don’t like them. Better I kill a few dozen and scare a few hundred million than the alternative.

‘This is not a weapon of mass destruction,’ Halleck continued. ‘This is a wake-up call. The blackout isn’t just to allow us to get the bomb into position. It’s to stop people coming on to the island, to keep them at home. It’s to limit the casualties. We’re going to see panic; we’re going to see people scared; but the only long-term effects will be psychological. The price tag for clearing up the mess will be huge, but there are private operations ready and willing to step in and sort it all out in record time. For a nice fee, of course. But that’s capitalism. It’s the reason we’re not living in caves. People want redistribution of wealth, right? You know what that’s called? It’s called subsistence. It’s called your family starving to death if it doesn’t rain enough. Capitalism brings prosperity and it brings stability. Without it, it’s anarchy. So yes, I’m doing my own version of good. Everyone benefits this way. That’s democracy. That’s freedom.’

‘You’re insane,’ Raven said.

‘You may not agree with me, but everything in this life is a question of balance. If everyone with a smartphone traded it in for a cheap handset and donated the rest of the money to charity, there would be no world hunger. Are those people responsible for world hunger if they don’t? Of course not. Their fathers’ fathers paid in blood and death for them to enjoy their lives. You get nothing for free. Either you earn it or someone earns it for you. There are finite resources; there is finite time; there is finite will. For one person to be fat and happy, another must be thin and miserable. We’ve done too well in the West. We’ve poked the hornet’s nest of the Middle East several times and we’ve only had to deal with the occasional sting in return. My sponsors want to sell their bombs and planes and tanks and bullets. For that, we need war. And war is a good thing. Human progress has followed war. If we live in peace and harmony we grow weaker and weaker until someone strengthened by conflict comes along and takes over. Then we become a footnote in history. It’s happened to every empire. It’s my job to make sure it doesn’t happen to us. We will not go gentle into that good night. We will make the night hide from us.’

Raven said, ‘But you won’t. You’ve failed. You’re a —’

Victor took the radio off her and said, ‘Quiet. Listen.’

The thrum of helicopter blades reached Victor’s ears. Raven heard them an instant later. He walked towards the window, and peered out. He saw no sign of an approaching helicopter, but it was near.

Victor said, ‘Halleck was stalling.’