Scorpion's Vengeance Read online

  Scorpion’s Vengeance

  Chapter 1

  LocationLondon

  TimeTuesday 05.30 (local time)

  There was a slight chill in the air as she stepped out of the apartment block, the trail of moisture was noticeable as she exhaled, the temperature was in single digits, and probably near to zero celsius. Not surprising considering it was autumn, and winter was closing in.

  The first thing she noticed outside (apart from the cold that is) was the traffic, it was pretty steady for the time of morning, any later and it would be its usual diabolical situation, it made her glad that the ‘tube’ (as Londoners affectionately call the London underground rail network) got her to within a few minutes walk of work.

  It also meant that instead of having a horrible commute of at least an hour by car, all she had to do was walk to the local ‘tube station’ at the ‘Elephant and Castle’ jump on the Northern line and ten minutes later she’d be right outside the Bank of England in one of the world's greatest financial hubs.

  But the really great part about the place was, just a short jog from home was some of London’s best attractions. Walk out of the apartment, take a right on Brook street, and you’re right outside the Imperial war museum, with the massive fourteen-inch guns from the front turret of HMS Warspite, one of Britain’s last Battleships to be decommissioned after the second world war on full display.

  Turn right onto Kennington road and first left onto Horseferry road and Lambeth Palace is right there, the official residence of the Archbishop of Canterbury, and a medieval palace in its own right. Head across the bridge and you’re right there, in the seat of power, Westminster Palace, better known as the House of Commons, and the House of Lords, Parliament, and all within a short jog of her place.

  There were a few cars about, but most of the traffic was commercial, trying to make their final deliveries before the six am deadline when delivery trucks need to be out of the urban centres, so as to give room for those crazy enough to try getting to work by car, not that there are many of them in London, ‘congestion’ charges make sure of that either only those who live within the limits drive their cars around, or those addicted to their cars and willing to pay the exorbitant charges for using it, the tube is much easier, and safer.

  Stopping momentarily, she adjusted her beanie, checked her ponytail, no need to hide any keys, the apartment had one of the latest locks with a four-digit keypad system, unbreakable, then again the four-digit code she’d programmed would have been easy to break, it was her birthday, easy to remember and easy for anyone who knew Jane to break into the apartment, if they knew her date of birth that is!

  As soon as everything was ready, everything checked and working, she was off, a morning jog, she was planning to start gently as there were a few main streets to cross, and the last couple of years the local council had been converting the pedestrian underpasses to cycleways, meaning at this time of the morning, she could be dealing with a few maniacal cyclists hell-bent on running anything in their path down.

  After the run it would be a shower, breakfast, and into work by 8 am, that was the plan, the same every morning, she had no idea the change that was going to happen.

  At the end of Hercules street she ‘hung a right’ and started picking up the pace, next stop would be Lambeth bridge, just alongside Lambeth Palace.

  It always puzzled Jane, She worked in the financial world, and was used to opulence, or wealth, but wasn’t the church founded by a poor son of a carpenter? And didn’t he teach “The love of money is the root of all evil?” Yet here was a huge Palace, all for the use of one man! Just didn’t make sense to her really, in some ways’ she was a traditional ‘C of E’ as they said in Britain for the Anglican church, but in other ways, she didn’t really have too many beliefs, apart from the need to be a basically ‘good’ person, yet the church seemed to ‘float’ its own rules, teaching poverty for its members, but wealth for its hierarchy!

  Crossing Lambeth bridge, she turned right, but not the hard right that would take her along the river, and started her run in earnest. Sycamore trees lined the right-hand side of the road, they’d lost about half their leaves so far, a street sweeper was slowly making its way down the opposite side of the street, clearing away the foliage before ‘the powers that be’ surfaced and took charge of the country for the morning, this was the time when only the lowly paid would be working.

  About half a mile further up she took a right, the house of Lords on her left, the imposing tower where Big Ben rang out was on the other side of the building.

  Most tourists think of Big Ben, the most iconic landmark in London as the big clock tower you see on just about every postcard from London, but Big Ben actually is the massive bell inside the tower, and at thirteen tons, it lives up to the name! The tower has another name, the Elizabeth Tower, named after the present Queen, and in honour of her Diamond Jubilee celebrations.

  Reaching the Thames, she turned right again and was just hitting her stride something caught her eye, something floating in the river.

  “What the?” was her first thought, “What is that?” she stopped to take a closer look, “Oh my God!” she screamed, her hand shooting almost involuntarily to her mouth as the thing turned over, slowly, seemingly reluctantly as if it didn’t want to reveal itself, staring back through lifeless eyes was one probably the most gruesome thing she had ever seen.

  Chapter 2

  Location Bay of Plenty off the coast of New Zealand

  Time. Monday 0500 (local time) and 12 hours ahead of London.

  “You are aware” Jacko shouted into the headset, “the mission is over, you are aware of that aren’t you?” he tapped Carol, the pilot on the shoulder as he spoke.

  They were at fifty feet, touching two hundred miles an hour, and heading for the coastline. No navigation lights

  “Sorry Captain” Carol almost laughed, “in case you didn't know, you're not supposed to be here, that means I've got to get you outta here with no one knowing you were ever around, get my drift?” she had a cheeky grin.

  'Black ops’ or Covert Ops aren't just about getting in without your enemy knowing you're coming, they're just as much about getting out again without anyone knowing you've been there! Literally 'keep 'em guessing’, that means the 'exfil’ can be just as hairy as the 'infill’ and Carol was loving every second of it, it's not often she got to push her 'cab’ to its limit (and we'll beyond what the manufacturer said it could do).

  Jacko turned back, the rest of the team were busy, Mac, Smithy and Joey all had their weapons stripped, and were busy cleaning them, Sandy was poring over the laptop, checking files, from the look on her face, he wasn't even sure it'd registered that they were airborne. Sam and Hene were at the back, slightly dazed look on their faces, ‘with what they’ve just been through, no wonder’ he thought to himself. He was surprised and encouraged how well they were holding things together.

  He keyed his mike again. “How far to our destination?”

  “Fifteen minutes until we're over land” Carol replied, “then about forty minutes”

  “Bird off the Starboard” The co-pilot spoke the warning, the set of navigation lights seemed to be heading straight for them and coming in really fast. “Closing fast, break right, BREAK RIGHT” the second command was almost a shout as Carol yanked the controls hard right, all Jacko saw were stars as the aircraft went into the steep turn.

  “What the” Mac's reaction was instinctive, he grabbed for the bulkhead, not really necessary as they were all strapped firmly in, and the centrifugal forces would hold them there anyway, “what the hell boss? I'm looking at the bloody ocean!”

  “Thank your lucky stars you can still see it, and aren't in the bloody stuff” Carol cu
t in, she glanced at the co-pilot, “thanks for that”

  “Eagle one, this is eagles nest” they all heard the call, it couldn’t be a good thing, ‘Eagle’s nest’ was where ‘Mildred’ was, someone was changing things, and that was never good.

  “One go ahead” Carol replied on the radio.

  “Go to channel one”

  Everyone was listening, they were still working through cleaning the weapons, but there was a sense of urgency, Carol had told them at the start that channel one was the scrambler channel, “You know, just in case” she’d said. Now, whoever it was wanted to speak to them without even the professional ‘snoops’ listening in, that was reserved for only the most important. It didn’t bode well for whatever they had to say.

  The co-pilot reached out with his left hand, turning a dial on the central console they heard nothing at first, then a voice came on the line, they’d heard it once before, at the start of the op, but five of the seven recognised it straight away.

  “Captain, I presume you can all hear me?” the voice asked, it was female, and from the sound, she was an older middle-aged woman, one used to being in charge.

  “Yes ma’am” Jacko replied, “We’re all here”

  “Good” the voice came back, “then I don’t have to waste my time repeating myself, sorry about this, but a formal debrief isn’t going to happen at this stage”

  ‘Shit’ no one said the word, but that’s exactly what everyone was thinking, whatever was going on meant that this op wasn’t over, but what the hell can be next?

  “We’ve got so much information” the voice went on, “it’s going to take months to put everything together, but some of what we got we’ve got to get our arses into gear and move on it, and I mean now!”

  “Figured that,” Joey thought he whispered it, but the ‘voice’ heard it and cut him off.

  “Glad you’re with us Mr Metcalfe, how’s the wound?”

  “The jacket took the bullets” Jacko silenced Joey with a glare and a finger over his lips, “Just a couple of bruises, that’s all, besides, where there’s no sense, there’s no feeling right Joey?” he joked, it brought smiles from the rest of them, even Joey enjoyed the joke.

  “Glad to hear it” Mildred’s voice came back, “we’re going to need every one of you in this, and that includes the two police with you!” she didn’t refer to Sam and Hene by name, she didn’t know their names, but that didn’t matter.

  Sam and Hene had been sat trying to comprehend what they’d just been through, Police training prepares you for a lot, but what they’d just done was in a different league. Yes they’d used firearms, and there’d been times when Sam had drawn hers in the line of duty, but this had been a full-fledged firefight where they’d been shooting to kill with every shot, and the team had been absolutely ruthless, but what had thrown them was the fact that none of the team seemed too concerned they’d just been in a life or death firefight. The voice mentioning them snapped them back to reality.

  “As I said” the voice went on, “we’ve got to get your arses into gear, otherwise we’ll lose the momentum, at the moment, we’ve got an enemy that’s wounded, but from what we can make out, they’re a long way from being finished, and if we don’t move fast, they’re likely to strike back and do it hard!”

  “Roger that ma’am” Jacko cut back in, “and you need from us?” he left the question unanswered.

  “I’m going to need you to deliver a message for me” the voice came back, the helicopter had banked nearly ninety degrees and was heading straight for the Coromandel Peninsula, it was going to be an interesting flight. “The two police, with you, Sam and Hene isn’t it?”

  “Yes,” both of them confirmed.

  “You’re still officially with the police” the voice replied, “but as of this moment, you’re officially on stress leave, you’re actually going to work directly with me, a new task force that the Prime Minister will set up as soon as I’ve put the paper on their desk, and yes, they’ve already agreed to it, you’ll be working for me on the legal side of things officially here in New Zealand, at least that’s what the papers will say, reality is you’ll be running ‘backup’ for the team, and just about anything else I can think of”

  Sam and Hene just looked at each other, Sam was a good cop, even got noticed by her bosses, but this was way beyond even her paygrade, whoever it was, clearly had some pull!

  And that phrase "that's what the papers will say" kind of bothered her, made it sound like there was more to things than even Mildred was letting on.

  “As for the rest of you” the voice went on, Jacko and Mac, a vehicle’s waiting on the tarmac for you, it’ll take you to a waiting C130 that’ll fly you back to Aussie as soon as you’re aboard, from there, you’ll board a flight to London, papers and passports will be given you when you get to Sydney, Should take you about twenty-four hours all told”

  Silence, they all knew what this voice was getting at, and it wasn’t good, clearly, something was going on, “Might I ask why?” it was Mac asked the question, no one liked the sound of what was going on.

  It took a few moments for the voice to reply, “We need to get the information to Sir Michael, but can’t use the normal channels”

  “We’ve got a leak to haven’t we?” it was Sandy who cut in, “Not just a mole, but one that could blow the whole thing, isn’t that right?”

  “Whoever it was,” the voice came back, “fed your names and details to the ship, that means the whole organization knows who’s hunting them! And as far as I know, only three people knew whom you were, all three can be accounted for, and they didn’t pass the information, so it has to be someone working in the secure comms networks!”

  “Holy crap” Joey let out a few more choice words as well, “that means every”

  “Every signal we sent, every word we reported back, all got given to them, not only that, but every detail about us, they have, and they probably know that we know!” Jacko let that sit for a moment then began again, “They know everything about us, we know diddly squat about them!”

  “Hence the ‘old school’ face to face” the voice came back, “and that’s where you come in Captain”

  The rest of the flight went off without a hitch, better yet, no one needed a 'puke bag’ despite seemingly Carol's best efforts, she was quietly impressed at the way the team handled themselves. It never entered her head they had other things to think about.

  They approached the coast with little let up from the pilot, there was a trust there, very few pilots could pull off the kind of flying she'd done on the 'intercept’, she'd got them there without the enemy having a clue.

  Contrary to what the movies say, no helicopter has a 'stealth mode!’ Sure, some have noise suppression technology on the engines, but the 'dead giveaway’ is the 'thwack’ the rotor blades make as they move forward. The rotors, when they’re moving forward are actually travelling at twice the speed of the aircraft, that means two hundred miles an hour, the blades are doing four hundred. Anything going through the air at four hundred miles an hour makes a hell of a noise!

  There are only two things can help reduce that noise, terrain and wind, sound carries 'on the wind’ so come in 'upwind’ of the location and they aren't going to hear you, throw in some terrain blocking the way, and they've got no chance of spotting you.

  “Two minutes,” Carol turned and gave Jacko a smile. Everyone began re-assembling their weapons, Smithy was first to finish.

  He could see landing lights, from the 'black’ all around, it looked like they were in the middle of nowhere, that's exactly where they were.

  Ten minutes later, they were on the ground, Carol didn't even bother shutting the aircraft down, she just turned slightly in their direction, keyed the mike and smiled, “Boss girl wants to see you, off you go!”

  Somehow, it felt like being dragged into a school principal's office for some event you were involved in, but not responsible for! They were in the middle of nowhere, by the lack of
even starlight near to where the horizon should be, they were in a clearing, and from the smell, it was a pine forest, but other than a small building they'd caught a glimpse of, there wasn't anything, not even transport waiting for them.

  'All will be revealed’ he thought to himself, but what came out was, “Okay folks, let's move”.

  The doors slid open, Mac and Joey were first out, Mac ran from the right-hand side, heading for the 'two o'clock’ position, Joey went from the left to the ten o'clock, both stopped just outside the rotor disk and went down, into a kneeling position, ready to return fire if it turned to crap and was an ambush, Smithy, Sandy and Jacko watched, covering, weapons at the ready, fingers on the trigger, safeties on, even though it was supposed to be a 'safe’ area, it paid to be cautious.

  Next was Sandy, she made sure Sam and Hene went with her, they joined Joey's side of the aircraft, but a good ten feet further away and spread out themselves, close enough to be seen, but too far away to be 'taken out’ by any incoming fire. Next was Jacko followed by Smithy, as team Sniper, Smithy often got the job of covering everyone else's arse in a firefight, he was nearly always last to move.

  As soon as Smithy was clear of the disk, Jacko turned and gave her the ‘thumbs up’ sign, he heard the whine increase as Carol brought her up to ‘lift-off speed’, the aircraft lifted off smoothly, the nose dipped slightly as she used the rate of climb to increase her speed leaving the clearing, no lights came on as she left.

  The light was just starting to filter over the eastern horizon as the world began to wake up, it was waking up to a very different situation. The light was starting to show, just as noise from the engines on the aircraft faded.

  The most vulnerable time for any military unit is just before the dawn, that’s when the men and women who’ve worked all night keeping the unit safe are tired and ready for rest, but the new men and women, those just coming on duty, aren’t fully ‘up with the play’ and literally ‘half asleep’, it’s the time when the soldier needs to be at their most vigilant, everyone on the team knew it, and all were watching, waiting, relaxed yet ready.