When the soldiers were in position and ready to advance on her stronghold she spoke quietly to her ninjas. ‘Now is the time of my discontent. Fire!’ She laughed loudly as the first ferocious salvo killed 300 soldiers. She laughed like a devil when the second barrage took another few hundred men’s lives. But she was the devil herself as she turned the RNT onto offensive aerial mode. There was no special noise to indicate it was activated. The lethal and invisible rays hit the circling planes within seconds and within a few seconds more, the electric wiring of the planes was fried, dripping into the fuselages and eliminating every control available to the brave pilots. Out of the 50 Harriers, only ten escaped to turn tail and head towards the aircraft carriers. The other 40 plummeted towards the ground, the very aluminium making up the wings and fuselages were turning into molten metal as the pilots fell to their deaths. But even the 10 Harriers couldn’t escape her. Although out of range for the RNT, they were flying at a lower altitude than the height of the eastern rim of the mountain. The pilot’s evasive actions meant staying low and hugging the ground. That gave them no room to manoeuvre away from the SAM missiles that appeared out of the hidden bunkers and instantly locked on to the planes. Most of the Harriers were lost within two minutes, eventually only one managed to escape and no parachutes were seen. MM was screaming with laughter as a third and fourth barrage decimated the attacking soldiers, and all the MI6 team could do was to sit and watch the slaughter. They were appalled by the loss of life. Ninety per cent of the US and British soldiers and planes were wiped out and retreated within an hour, a further 5 per cent were lost to the landmines strategically placed by MM’s teams the day before. This left MM plenty of time to head back inside the mountain to deal with the pesky children. She was annoyed that Twip Twop and Biceps had seemed incapable of dealing with five little kids and her ex geek.
Wolf looked across at his boss. J had aged ten years in the last hour. ‘There is only one way in, you know that boss. One way to save all those children.’
J smoothed his grey hair with both hands and sighed. ‘I know what you’re suggesting Wolf. A lone man in a fast vehicle trying the impossible. If we had sent someone into the kill zone late last night, that man might have had a 10 per cent chance of at least getting to the volcano. After that? Who knows what he could achieve, but now we have lost the element of surprise and lost the cover of darkness. Quite frankly, it’s all in the hands of God.’
Wolf touched his arm, he was concerned about J who had the ultimate responsibility weighing heavily on his shoulders. ‘No, not God, The Reason. That’s what we were all taught by Mike, that’s what he told the children at Brecon. J, he died trying to save them, we owe him.’
The satellite telephone on the desk in front of them all had been left on loudspeaker since the failed SAS attack.
‘I’ll do it.’ A tinny voice came out of the speaker and made them all jump. It was Brett who had spoken.
Wolf leaned forward. ‘No Brett, let me go after the children, I can be there within two hours if I use the latest X15 scram jet.’ He drew a deep breath. ‘It was all my idea to send them in there and I feel I owe it to their parents.’
Brett’s voice was crackling. ‘Wolf, you are a brave man and my respect for you has grown over the last few months but you can’t do it. Screaming down to Tanzania at mach seven and at a height of 20000 kilometres takes you away from the heart of our planning and intelligence setup. So you need to be in Somerset house to maintain that. ’
J joined in the conversation. ‘He’s right Wolf. I need your computer wizardry and your brains here in London.’
‘There is another reason sir.’ Brett told the two men. ‘The CIA have a stealth Hummer that I am sat in right now i.e. in Tanzania watching this carnage unfold and totally invisible to anyone...’
‘Another little secret kept from MI6 by the CIA Brett!’ It was J who gently remonstrated with the agent.
‘Yes sir and also a very useful one at the moment. I think now’s the time to move in. I am close to the foot of Kilimanjaro and whilst everyone takes stock of this atrocity, well, I think I can use the delay to get inside.’
J was worried. ‘That will be directly against the orders of our PM and your President son.’
‘And I have never followed orders when it comes to doing the right thing sir.’
J paused a few seconds. ‘Just do it. Report back it one hour.’
The die was cast. It was now up to Brett to save the children. The two Englishmen had grown to respect the American and now they silently wished him well. In the end they were working together to save the world economy, to save civilised people’s way of life, to save a hundred innocent children.
This was the last chance for the world and the last chance for Roger, Kate, Marshall, Timmo and Jack.
* * *
There was a second good thing to come out of the failed attack. By the time that Techno, Kate, Marshall and Roger reached level two and the entrance to the prison, there were no guards around. In the midst of the bombardment and counter-attack, it was deemed safe to leave the sole prisoner locked behind the outer and the inner doors.
Marshall looked enquiringly at his brother. ‘Do you know the code?’ Techno pictured Biceps pressing the keys the day before and stepped forward to repeat the sequence. The door opened slowly and Techno leaned in to make sure there were no guards about. Everything was quite in the white corridor beyond.
He turned back to Kate and Roger. ‘Stay here and stand guard whilst we fetch mum okay?’ They nodded back and he set off with Marshall. Within two minutes they had returned safely. Mrs Hines was white with emotion, her eyes were staring with fear. Kate ushered the whole group away from the prison and made them take cover behind a stack of green drums containing diesel for the Landrovers.
Roger leaned his back against a drum and squeezed his earlobe to activate the minrad. ‘Jack where are you? Over.’
The reply was crystal clear despite Roger’s earwax. ‘Closing on the stage gallery in level three. Over.’
‘We have Mrs Hines now and we’re hiding on level two. Where do we meet? Over.’
Jack was thinking ahead. ‘I’m going to lead the kids to the stairs that take them down to Octopus city. Meet near the entrance on level one. Over.’
Roger knew it was a good idea immediately. No one went into level four and it was so deep the kids couldn’t be harmed by stray bombs or rockets.
‘Great idea Jack. All understood. Over and out.’ He turned to the others and told them the plan. ‘Let’s move now, whilst it’s quiet. We can hide on level one.’ Roger immediately took point and headed upwards with the rest in single file behind. There was only one drawback to the plan. Where was Madam Musseine and the vicious Twip Twop?
* * *
Jack stood next to Timmo on the gallery above level three and looked down. The children were milling like ants around the AICs. None of them knew what to do. Above them was a heavy pall of smoke that made Jack and Timmo’s eyes water as they were the closest to it. The assault may have failed but there must have been a few fires raging in the volcano but it also stank of sulphur. Below them, they could see lumps of rock dislodged from the roof during the pounding. The damage was heaviest around the engineering section where they had the most doors and corridors that led to the outer shell of the volcano. Some of the children were hysterical, but some were already dead.
Jack explained his plan to Timmo. ‘I need to persuade them to shelter in level four as it is probably the safest place to be. There’s no giant octopus to worry about. It’s deep and away from MM’s fighters and the best thing is it has no blast doors or access to the exterior in case another bombardment kicks off.’
Timmo added to his brother’s idea. ‘If we go to level four via the staircase on level one we still need some weapons bro.’
‘Okay, you and I can stop at level two on the way and steal some of the ninja’s weapons. If I pile them on top of you and the wheelchair we can carry loads.’ Jac
k turned to the microphone on the stage that jutted out from the gallery. He waved his arms to draw the children’s attention as he spoke.
‘Listen to me you lot. Here! Up here!’ He repeated the call three times until he saw many had stopped moving and were staring up at him in deep shock. ‘The US and British armed forces have attacked the volcano because Madam Musseine is a wanted and dangerous terrorist.’ Many of the heads below were shaking in disbelief. He paused. What could he say? I’m a secret agent working for MI6 and we are in the midst of the world’s greatest terrorist plot. No way, they wouldn’t believe him. It needed to be a simple message that satisfied their immediate needs.
Timmo prompted him. ‘They’re scared and hungry bro. Use that.’
Jack turned up the speaker volume on the console by the microphone. He dropped the pitch of his voice and slowed it to give a powerful statement of fact. ‘You are in grave danger. You can see the dead lying around you. Head for the yellow door marked 777 and follow the stairs. We will meet you there and show you where to shelter until you can be sent home to your mums and dads.’ A few started to walk to door 777. He added. ‘There will be McDonalds and KFC served in the safe haven in one hour.’ The trickle became a stampede as they followed each other like sheep.
‘Nice one bro! But where’s the food coming from?’
‘I dunno but we can select a few helpers when we get up to level one.’ He grabbed the handles on Timmo’s wheelchair and spun him around. They needed to move fast before the children hesitated or worse still, a new bombardment began.
Timmo sat with bazookas and machine guns across his lap as the gamers filed past and headed down to level four and safety. He had tried to count them in but as the queue died away he could only estimate about 80 had passed him.
‘Hey, Irish!’ Jack had spotted the boys who wanted to fight in the restaurant earlier in the week. The biggest of the bunch came closer, he respected Jack since their little incident. ‘They say you Irish boys are as tough as they come. Is that right?’ The lilting tones of all four Irish boys swore they were tough. ‘In that case you are now in charge. Take these bazookas and machine guns.’ The Irish boys grabbed the weapons in excitement. ‘Listen, this isn’t a game right?’ They nodded their assent and so he showed them how to arm the guns, to flick off the safety catches. ‘Only use them if all else fails.’ He shouldered the bazooka and showed them how to fire it and not to blow their own heads off. ‘Whatever you do, stay in there and wait to be rescued. Meanwhile, two of you need to go and get this lot some grub.’
‘How long do we stay down there English?’
‘Give it 48 hours. If the combined armed forces of the American and British can’t get in and release you by then...well, do what you can to escape.’
‘Good luck English.’
Jack turned and smiled at the boys. ‘It’s not about luck.’ They looked doubtfully at him. He looked them individually in the eye. ‘It’s about you doing your best.’ They all ducked as bullets whistled around their heads and ricocheted off the rocks above them. Three ninjas were 200 metres away and closing fast. ‘Get through the door and lock it now, forget the food yeah!’ He pushed them through and heaved the steel door closed with his shoulder before making his way back to Timmo. ‘We need to leave now. There’s also a fire fight happening over the other side of the chamber so it must be Roger and Kate under attack.’
‘Okay bro, let’s go and help them out.’ Jack crouched in front of Timmo. He could see his younger brother was terrified. ‘We’re going to get through this Timmo. Do you trust me?’
‘I trust you Jack, come on, let’s go and kick some arse.’
Jack wagged a finger at him, ‘you naughty boy, wait until I tell your mother.’
Timmo laughed, he loved the way his brother took the tension out of situations. ‘Let’s go bro!’ He pointed his thumb in the direction of the fire fight and they quickly edged their way around the inner walls of the cavern towards the deafening noise that came from the centre of MM’s bed chamber.
* * *
Techno had joined Roger as he poised at the edge of MM’s personal quarters on level one.
‘The stairs to the octopus cavern are about 400 metres away, exactly opposite us. Apart from the odd visit up here, I have no idea of the layout.’
Roger was terse. They had just avoided a second group of ninjas, more by luck than judgement. ‘That doesn’t help when Kate and your family are relying on us. Come on, think! Is there anywhere to hide over there and how the hell do we avoid theses ninjas?’ Techno didn’t want to tell him the answer. ‘Make a decision Techno!’
‘It’s not a decision Roger as decisions are about choice.’
‘You are joking?’ Roger instantly knew what Techno had in mind. ‘We have to go through her personal quarters?’
‘There is no choice.’ Techno went to tell the rest to be on guard as they commenced weaving their way through the labyrinth of rooms with Roger in the lead. Techno knew the accommodation was perched around a central hole which was 100 metres across and 200 down but he had only seen it once. As they entered the labyrinth, he pulled Roger back and took over the lead. Quickly they moved forward. Mrs Hines was at the rear with Kit Kat beside her, both for protection and to give Mrs Hines some confidence. Kit Kat had already exchanged recipes for cup cakes with her and they were now debating the quality of M and S sausages versus Morrison’s. They had to be shushed by Marshall, a quick reminder of the danger they were all in.
Madam Musseine had allowed her imagination to flow for her design of accommodation. It was opulent and vulgar when compared to the basic partitioning of the technician’s and the captive children. Each corridor followed the natural rocks and so most of them were trench-like as they curved backwards and forwards across the floor of the cavern. They were lit by electric lights shaped as ancient torches and the explanation for this came as they entered the first giant room. By using the ancient rock formations, she had created an Egyptian temple, complete with stone columns that were as grand as the Temple of Luxor by the River Nile. The friends paused by the stone altar at the centre of the room and stared upwards. The roof was so far above them that they couldn’t make it out in the gloom. There was no noise and no people, a sinister place to worship herself.
What the friends didn’t know was the Landrovers had returned through the secret tunnel at the foot of the mountain and were now parking in level two where Twip Twop was waiting to report to MM.
‘Let’s go!’ Roger pushed Techno ahead of him and they headed down a dark corridor with a gentle breeze in their face. ‘Why this wind Techno?’
‘Don’t worry, there’s a central crater that leads to god knows where. It must be coming from that.’ Roger thought about it. If there was air coming in from the outside, maybe it was an easy way to escape. They continued to move quickly and were walking around the edge of the crater when his thoughts were shattered by the first bullets splattering against the wall slightly to his left. 130 metres away a group of Ninjas had emerged from a tunnel with MM with Twip Twop standing menacingly behind.
‘Over there, behind the outcrop of rock!’ Roger’s command was lost in the noise of the ninja’s second burst. Again they missed their targets, luckily the friends were just out of the accurate range of the minimi machine guns. Mrs Hines was crying and sat with her head on her knees in the shadow of the giant boulders.
Kate had left Marshall to comfort his mum and so she drew close to Roger and Techno. ‘We are dead without any weapons. I suggest we surrender.’
Techno looked contemptuously at her. ‘You don’t surrender to Madam Musseine you silly girl. She takes no prisoners, do you get it? Get fled or get dead!’ She did get it and sat back in shock. They were going to die. ‘Don’t move!’ Techno sprinted from behind the rock and back to the corridor they had emerged from. It was a brave action as a dozen rounds were sprayed around him. Any one of them could have killed him but all fell short. He disappeared into the gloom; they thought
he had fled. But after thirty seconds they saw his face grinning from the corridor exit. In his arms were four machine guns. He took a deep breath and ran around the crater to get back to them but there was no cover and the ninjas were much closer now. He took a bullet in his left leg and jolted with the pain but after staggering he managed to keep running and was within a few metres of them. Mrs Hines was crying with her hands clutched around her mouth as she helplessly watched her boy. Then another bullet caught him in his right shoulder and this time he fell to the floor. As he landed, he thrust all four guns their way so that they slid and bounced to the outcrop for them to pick up.
Roger shouted. ‘Come on Techno, crawl this way.’ But Techno was in a bad way and teetering on the edge of a ledge with a 200 metre drop. He struggled onto his knees and started to move towards them. That was when Kit Kat saw Jack emerge from a tunnel behind MM and her henchmen but way above the attackers. He and Timmo were separated by a long slope of smooth rock that ended in the midst of the ninjas.
Madam Musseine prodded the men forward with her gun and screamed at them. ‘Get them! Move you cowards.’ But it was she who was a coward as Roger and Kit Kat emerged from behind their cover and started to shoot on automatic. Three ninjas were hit and fell to the ground as their training paid off. They took careful aim again and another two ninjas were hit. The remaining attackers grabbed the bodies of their fallen comrades and sheltered behind them whilst lying on their stomachs and shooting over the top. MM sat out of range against the closest wall and urged them forward, calling them weak and cowardly in Japanese. One ninja hung back, he had lost his bottle and so Twip Twop raised his gun and shot him in the back of the head for his cowardice. It was a sufficient incentive for the others to race forward from behind their fallen comrades. Their machine guns were at waist level and firing continuously, forcing Roger and Kit Kat to duck back behind their rock. MM watched in delight, now for their revenge on the nasty little English kids. She noticed Techno crawling close to the precipice and took aim with her own gun. Techno was straining his neck up off the floor to focus on his brother’s eyes as Marshall urged him forward with waves of his arms.