Hot Zone (Major Crimes Unit Book 2) (7 page)

“Why do you even care?”

Ollie became flustered before he managed to answer. “Guess
it’s just nice having someone new around. Gets a bit tiring being surrounded by
vicious killers night and day.”

“I’m a vicious killer,” she said.

Ollie nodded. “Less vicious, and that makes you a saint
around here.”

Sarah chuckled. “What have I got myself into?”

“A dysfunctional family.”

“Yeah,” she said. “The Manson family.”

T
he
Earthworm was abuzz despite the late hour. Since the MCU had its funding
renewed, a major recruitment operation had been put into place. The tail
section of the facility was now fully manned by twenty-eight data analysts who
used the very latest in technology. Their surveillance capabilities were on par
with America’s NSA and the hardware it ran on was newer than anything NASA
owned. In less than a year it would be obsolete, such was the nature of
surveillance technology.

The Earthworm’s middle section housed the infirmary, the
dorms, and a host of offices and training rooms. Any member of MCU could access
this area, but Howard kept on going until he was at the head section, where
only Level 1 operatives could enter. He pressed his thumb against the scanner
and went inside. It was like entering the belly of a great beast. Soft lighting
merged with the blinking switches of whirring computers and all four walls were
lined with monitors displaying graphs, charts, and various other readouts. In
the centre of the electric grotto was the MCU’s senior team: Director Palu,
Strike Team Leader Mattock, and Dr Jessica Bennett. Howard, too, was part of
that leadership team.

Jessica got up and hugged him, not unusual since they’d
worked closely together over the last few months. “I’m glad you’re okay,” she
told him. “You sounded bad on the phone.”

Howard gave her an affectionate pat on the arm. “It’s not
pretty at Whiteknight. I prefer traditional terrorists who just blow things up.
At least that’s quick and final. The people I saw at Whiteknight are suffering,
not knowing if they’re going to live or die. Krenshaw was going to give an even
more protracted death sentence to a bunch of children. He was going to infect
them all with HIV.”

“Have we confirmed that yet?” Palu asked him, looking grim
yet indefatigable as ever.

Howard nodded. “I got the call from the lab ten minutes ago.
The tests were positive, which means Dr Hart, who was trying to help me, might
be infected.”

Jessica obviously saw how devastating that fact was to him,
because she ushered him down onto a chair as though he were an invalid. “HIV is
very treatable these days,” she told him, “and there’s no guarantee Dr Hart
will be infected anyway. Early treatment might prevent the virus taking hold.”

Howard nodded. “I hope so. Let’s just catch Krenshaw, then
I’ll feel better.”

“That’s the plan,” said Palu. “And we have leads to that
effect.”

“Is it true you saw Sarah?” Mattock asked Howard.

“Yes.”

“Blimey. I was sure the lass was dead. Glad she’s not.”

Howard was glad to see Sarah alive, too, but not under such
circumstances. “We don’t know what she’s involved in. She helped kidnap
Krenshaw.”

“If she’s really with her father,” said Palu. “Then it can’t
be anything good. We’ve received some unofficial reports from local Intel that
Major Stone hasn’t just gone rogue, but has allied himself with our enemies.
Our Iranian ambassador was assassinated eight months ago at a time when Sarah’s
father was rumoured to be in the country. A local resistance group swears Stone
did it. The resulting turmoil led to the embassy being abandoned and our people
ousted, something the Iranian government no doubt enjoyed immensely.”

“I know Major Stone,” said Mattock. “Served under him in
Afghanistan and Iraq. He’s an unlovable sod with barely a care for anyone, but
he lives by his honour. If he’s gone rogue, then it’s for a reason he deems
valid. If he’s helping foreign governments, it’s because he thinks it’s for the
greater good. His men will be following him because they believe in whatever
cause he has sold them.”

“Sarah, too?” said Jessica.

Mattock nodded. “It’s her father. As much as he’s a
cold-hearted sonofabitch, it’s obvious the poor girl loves him.”

Jessica frowned. “Don’t think ‘poor girl’ is an appropriate
way to describe Sarah Stone. She has bigger chestnuts than you do.”

Mattock grinned. “Bloody right she does, but she’s a good
egg deep down, I know it. Whatever monkey business her father’s into, she’s
probably just been dragged along for the ride. Especially after what one of the
analysts showed me.”

“What?” Howard quickly asked.

Mattock nodded at Jessica. “Show him.”

Jessica tapped a command into the laptop in front of her and
one of the wall-mounted monitors started playing a video.

“We did what you told us to do,” Mattock explained. “We ran
checks on all of Major Stone’s men who went AWOL with him. We got a hit on an
active mobile phone at the time Sarah went missing. It was unregistered, but we
ran voice analysis against all of Major Stone’s men and managed to match a
phone call from Corporal Patrick Rattiger. His military record reads more like
a rap sheet. At the time of his desertion he was up for court martial, accused
of slaughtering unarmed prisoners taken from the ranks of a Taliban outshoot.
He cut off both their hands and left them to bleed to death from the stumps.
The mobile phone we traced is dead now so we can’t track it, but on the day
Sarah went missing, Rattiger made a call outside Forest Glade Cemetery.”

Howard recognised the name immediately. “That’s where
Bradley was buried.”

Bradley was a former colleague who had died during a
previous mission when the Earthworm was attacked. He had been intending to quit
but never got the chance.

Mattock pointed. “This is a CCTV feed from an office
building across the road. Look at the top left of the picture.”

Howard leaned forward. “That’s Sarah! She was at Bradley’s
funeral?”

“Looks like it,” said Jessica. “I don’t know why she didn’t
come join the rest of us.”

“Maybe she was planning to,” said Mattock. “But watch what
happens.”

Howard was agog as he watched Sarah’s father appear, flanked
by two brutish men. Sarah didn’t see them until it was too late. She was struck
on the head and bundled into the back of a familiar-looking black van, gone
before she even knew what was happening.”

“Her father abducted her? But why?”

“We don’t know,” said Palu. “Nobody currently knows what is
going on with Major Stone. He is a completely unknown entity since he went
rogue. Sarah, however, is still one of us, until we know otherwise. I don’t
care how brief her time on this team was, she helped us, and without her
efforts the MCU would be no more. We owe her.”

Jessica sat back in her chair and folded her arms. “I agree.
I did everything I could to find her, but this is the first chance we’ve gotten
to find out what really happened to her.”

“I’d like to bring the lass back into the fold,” said
Mattock. “She’d be much better off with us than her old shite of a dad.”

“Then what’s our next move?” asked Howard.

It was at this point that Palu smiled. From his laptop he
brought up some info on one of the monitors. “The phone that led us to the
cemetery stayed in use for another three days. Listed here are the location
that calls were made from. Many are from within Greater London.”

Howard scanned the list and looked for something to jump out
at him. “Are any of these rural areas, or maybe even industrial parks?”

Palu went back to his laptop and spent a few minutes without
saying anything. Eventually, he spoke. “There are none rural, but there were
six calls made from an area named Leeson on the outskirts of Watford. It’s
listed as having several warehouses and factories in the vicinity.”

“Any of them abandoned?”

Palu tapped in some more commands then looked up with an
eyebrow raised. “Yes. M.Hickman Springs has been listed as untenanted for over
eighteen-months.”

Mattock looked at Howard. “You thinking it’s some sort of
hideout?”

“If Major Stone is a wanted man he needs somewhere to lay
low. This warehouse might be where he’s going to ground between missions.”

Mattock put his hands on the desk, went to stand up. “I’ll
get a team together.”

Howard waved him back down. “No. I don’t think we should go
in hard. I don’t want to risk Sarah being a casualty. I’ll go in alone.”

“No, you bloody won’t,” said Jessica, more partial nowadays
to British slang than her own American. “You don’t know how many men Major
Stone has with him. It’s a foolish idea.”

“If Sarah is there, I can get to her in private and try to
find out what’s going on. If Krenshaw is there, going in quiet is far better
than provoking a firefight. If he unleashes another of his diseases then at
least only I run the risk of being exposed.”

“You’re assuming Krenshaw is free to act. He is a captive of
Major Stone.”

Howard grunted. “I’m not assuming anything after what I’ve
been through today.”

Mattock still looked ready to get up and leave, but he
waited for Palu to speak. “Your call, guvnor.”

Palu let out a deep sigh and knitted his fingers together.
“This has been a very long day for you, Howard. Are you sure you wouldn’t like
to sit this one out?”

“I’m fine. I’ll rest after I speak with Sarah.” He took a
deep breath and let it out in a long, drawn out sigh. “Look, I brought Sarah
into the MCU, and if she’s in trouble then it’s my fault. I need to get to
her.”

Director Palu shook his head. “You’re not going alone. Take
Jessica with you as back up and stay in radio contact with Mattock’s team who
will remain close by. The moment things even look like they’re turning sour,
Mattock moves in.”

“Jessica doesn’t have the experience for this,” said Howard.

Jessica didn’t react because she probably agreed with him.
She’d only been on a handful of missions, and none had gone flawlessly,
although she had handled herself well in all.

“I know Jessica is a little green,” agreed Palu, “but if
you’re having to watch out for her, you’re less likely to take risks. That’s
why she’s going with you.”

Jessica spoke up now. “I want to see Sarah safe and sound as
much as you, Howard. You need backup.”

“Okay, fine, but I’m leaving now, so get ready.”

“I’d suggest wearing a vest,” said Mattock. “Major Stone’s
men are trained warriors and I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they’re
well-armed.”

“Yes,” said Palu. “I expect you all back here alive, so
prepare for the worst.”

Howard got up and went over to the door. “One thing you can
never prepare for is the worst.”

“Then prepare for lots of highly trained psychopaths trying
to kill you,” said Mattock.

Howard smirked. “Now
that
I can prepare for.”

He left, taking Jessica with him.

S
arah
lay on a cot bed in an oily room full of sharp edges. Perversely, she missed
the comfort of the mock bedroom her father had held her in for the four months
prior. Originally, the cot bed had been side-by-side with several others in
another room, but Ollie had dragged it into a separate room for her to get some
privacy away from the men. She didn’t know if it was a condescending gesture or
one of kindness, but she couldn’t deny that she would not have enjoyed sleeping
next to the likes of Rat. Not that she could sleep particularly well on her own
either. In the windowless darkness, she couldn’t even make out her own arm in
front of her. It was cold and her skin was grimy, both things non-conducive to
sleep, yet she had managed a few hours during the early hours of morning and
was fading off again.

Before she had chance to sleep more, she was eventually
snapped awake from the gruff holler of her father’s voice. She sat up on the
bed, disorientated and groggy. The back of her throat and nose seemed fused
together and her eyes wept with tiredness, but she was a solider, and as any
soldier was trained to do, she shook the cobwebs free and got her head in the
game. She pulled on her boots and slipped out into the warehouse’s main floor,
where she realised that she was the last to arrive. The other men noticed her
tardiness but said nothing. Her father, however, glared. The group were all
dressed in their civvies, ready to blend in with the crowds.

Dr Krenshaw had been brought before them and looked
remarkably well for a prisoner. Despite his ordeal, he was smartly dressed and
still had his briefcase. The man’s colourless eyes were unmoving above the bony
crags of his cheeks and for a moment he took on that familiar corpse-like
appearance. This was the man MCU wanted, which meant he was dangerous. She had
helped a fugitive escape custody and was now about to smuggle him out of the
country.

Rupert nodded to Sarah and handed her a bottle of water,
which she swigged from gladly. Spots and Graves blanked her, standing to attention
already as they eagerly awaited instruction. Rat, as always, shot daggers at
her. His shoulder was patched up beneath his shirt, causing a bulge, but he no
longer favoured it. The glazed look to his eye was probably due to whatever
strong painkiller he had also taken yesterday.

“We won’t be coming back here,” said Major Stone. “So if you
want it, bring it. Ollie has our exit packages. Get your papers and be ready to
leave in ten.”

Sarah hung back while the men gathered around Ollie. The
last time she had served alongside men like these, she had been their captain.
Now she attempted to remain unnoticed, feeling completely out of her depth.
When the group dispersed, Ollie nodded at her to come over. He held out a
bundle of papers, which she took, surprised to see that it was a passport with
her face and first name but a different last name —
Reid
.

“It’s fool proof,” Ollie told her.

“How did you get these so quickly?”

“One of your father’s contacts in the city. I went out and
got them while the rest of you slept.”

“You must be knackered?”

Ollie smiled. It wasn’t just his hair that was grey but his
entire face, yet he seemed to beam bright whenever he smiled, and he had the
same glinting emerald eyes of her father. “I haven’t had a good night’s sleep
in ten years.”

Sarah ran a finger over her scars. “Yeah, I get that.”

Banded together with the passport was a one-way ticket to
Libya and a credit card in the name of Sarah Reid. Whoever her father’s contact
was possessed impressive speed and skill.

Dr Krenshaw headed after her father as he marched towards
the warehouse’s exit and Sarah frowned, thinking the so-called prisoner should
be tied up or under guard. Her father was walking with Krenshaw casually like
an old friend. They even seemed to be chatting.

“What did Krenshaw do?” Sarah asked Ollie.

“Made a bunch of people sick. Did you catch the news about
the Ebola outbreak in Reading? That was him. I hear your mates at the MCU are
after him.”

Sarah nodded. “I ran into one of them. Krenshaw must be
pretty bad if MCU are hunting him down.”

“He’s just about the worst,” said Ollie. “The type of coward
who relies on viruses and diseases to do his dirty work deserves to be put
down.”

“So what the hell are we doing with him? Why are we getting
in the way of his capture and punishment?”

Ollie laughed and patted her on the shoulder, leaving his
hand there and saying, “For the money.”

Sarah screwed her face up. “There has to be more to this
than money.”

“Not really. Money allows us to be choosier with our next
mission. We can’t always fight the good fight, Sarah.”

“There
is
no good fight if we help men like Krenshaw
evade capture.”

“Life isn’t black and white. I wish it was because then I
would know if I was one of the good guys or one of the bad. Tell you the truth,
I think I might be a little bit of both, but my intentions lean in the right
direction. I’m sure you understand that.”

Sarah hated to admit it but she did. “I guess we should just
try to be more good than bad.”

Ollie headed off in the direction her father had gone. Sarah
realised she was the only one left in the warehouse now and considered the
prospect of staying behind. Sure, Howard had seen her and she had impeded his
operation, but she knew the man. Howard would listen if she went to him, but
doing so would betray her father. If she did that, she wasn’t so sure she would
get to carry on living. She was under no illusion that her father lacked the
ability to show affection, but she had begun to feel that he could at least
grow to respect her. Betraying him now would undo all she had accomplished in
the last twenty-four hours.

She just couldn’t do it. Her father had served his country a
lifetime longer than she had and it would be wrong to second-guess his motives.
He said he was doing what was right, and she had no reason to doubt him.
Killing bad guys had been her father’s entire life, placed ever above his own
personal desires. Major Stone deserved trust, not just from her but from
anybody who ever served under him.

Sarah swallowed her doubts and hurried out of the warehouse,
where everyone else was gathered in the floodlit courtyard. The sky overhead
was black and the wind whistled through the battered drainpipes of the
building. Krenshaw climbed inside the back of one of the jet black vans of his
own volition, a leather briefcase clutched tightly against his chest. Rat and
Graves hopped in beside him. Ollie took the driver’s seat of the second van
while Spots and Rupert jumped in the back and pulled closed the sliding door.

Sarah’s father came up beside her and motioned to the
long-snouted e-type Jaguar. “You’re riding with me,” he said.

“Wow, okay.” As a child, Sarah had not even been allowed to
look at her father’s prized classic, so to be getting inside of it was an
honour, yet she couldn’t help but bring something up. “A little conspicuous,
don’t you think? Aren’t we about to flee the country?”

“Plates are false and the car is registered to a ghost. It’s
more conspicuous to be driving around in a pair of black vans that have already
been spotted by the MCU, which is why the men can go ahead and we’ll follow
behind.”

“I’m honoured to be in the non-expendable car,” she said.

Her father grunted. “Don’t be. I know that if my men get
captured they won’t speak. I want you with me.”

Sarah rolled her eyes. “God, you can’t consider me as
anything but a liability, can you? Is it just because I’m a woman, or is there
more to it?”

“It’s just because you’re a woman.”

Sarah’s mouth dropped open, but anything she was about to
say was cut off by the roar of the Jaguar’s engine. The two black vans headed
out of the courtyard and her father began to follow. They were just about to
head out onto the main road, when they were forced to slam on the brakes.

Three black Range Rovers skidded in front of the courtyard’s
exit, blocking any escape.

Major Stone gripped the steering wheel tightly. “Damn it!
It’s your friends from the MCU. Did you contact them?”

Sarah growled. “No, I didn’t.”

Sergeant Mattock and a group of men she didn’t recognise
leapt out of the Range Rovers and immediately aimed their assault rifles. 
The sides of the two black vans opened up and Sarah’s father’s men leapt out
and opened fire. Krenshaw scurried into cover near the warehouse but couldn’t
get inside since the door had locked behind them. Under the harsh glare of the
floodlights, he looked once again like a grimacing corpse.

Sarah ducked down beneath the dashboard. Her father opened
his door and slid out into cover behind it, pulling out his Colt Commander and
letting off a series of eardrum-busting shots.

“I’m not armed,” Sarah said, flinching as more gunfire
rattled the very air around her.

“Why the hell not?” her father demanded.

“We’re heading to the airport,” she said. “I didn’t think
guns were appropriate.”

“In the glove compartment.”

Sarah flinched as the windscreen shattered and rained glass
on her. “What?”

Her father bellowed at her. “In the goddamn glove
compartment.”

Sarah fiddled with the catch and yanked the glove
compartment open. Inside was a Mac-10 and two magazines. An unwieldy and
unsophisticated weapon, but perhaps the ideal thing to keep hidden inside a
glove compartment. She punched one of the magazines into the handle of the snub
nosed machine pistol and crawled out into cover. Bullets pinged the classic
Jaguar and she could almost hear her father wince every time it was hit. The
MCU were raining down Hell on them. Major Stone’s men gave the same in return,
letting off round after whizzing round from their own pistols and revolvers.

Sarah snuck a peek over the car door she was kneeling behind
and saw Sergeant Mattock. He was aiming shots carefully, not, as yet, lining up
kill shots, seemingly more interested in suppressing the enemy than killing
him. It was a stupid tactic and not something Mattock would not do ignorantly.
Ollie was blind-firing around the back of one of the vans, squeezing his eyes
shut in fear as he pulled the trigger on a shiny revolver. He might not have
been the solider the rest of the men were, but he was keeping his ground all
the same. Rat was an entirely different animal. He was smiling gleefully as he
unloaded round upon round into one of the MCU’s black Range Rovers. Spots and
the older man, Graves, had similar expressions on their faces, but her father’s
final man, Rupert, was completely blank, returning fire like a robot and
showing no emotion of any kind. Sarah had seen men like him before, the ones
who entered a daze under fire and let their training take complete charge of
their actions. A pure soldier — not good, not evil, just thoroughly trained to
do a job.

“Sarah, take the blighters out,” her father shouted at her
from the other side of the car, bellowing through the open interior.

Sarah looked at the Mac-10 in her hands and realised she was
in a firefight. She couldn’t stay in cover while her comrades took heavy fire.
She was going to have to get involved. It was time to commit herself to her new
family. She leapt up and pulled the trigger.

Mattock didn’t see her until it was too late.