Chapters (45)
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Prologue
- 2046
- One
- Two
- Three
- Four
- Five
- Six
- Seven
- Eight
- Nine
- Ten
- Eleven
- Twelve
- Thirteen
- Fourteen
- Fifteen
- Sixteen
- Seventeen
- Eighteen
- Nineteen
- Twenty
- Twenty-One
- Twenty-Two
- Twenty-Three
- Twenty-Four
- Twenty-Five
- Twenty-Six
- Twenty-Seven
- Twenty-Eight
- Twenty-Nine
- Thirty
- Thirty-One
- Thirty-Two
- Thirty-Three
- Thirty-Four
- Thirty-Five
- Thirty-Six
- Thirty-Seven
- Thirty-Eight
- Thirty-Nine
- About the Author
Terror grips them. The lack of questions. The lack of any human interaction from the men in balaclavas renders them as monsters.
Alpha waits. His men wait.
‘We don’t know anything,’ the man kneeling in front of Bravo blurts. The sound of his voice invokes a response and the other three sob and cry out. Pleading for their lives. Begging not to be killed.
‘I promise,’ the man in front of Bravo sobs. ‘It was a job . . . just a job . . .’
The five men in balaclavas stay silent, but as one they turn to look at him. That tiniest motion spurs him on. He nods at them. Staring up and round while gasping in fear and pain.
‘We got picked up . . .’ He nods again, he keeps nodding. ‘In a van . . .’
‘Blindfolded,’ the man in front of Echo whimpers.
‘Yeah, blindfolded,’ the man in front of Bravo says. ‘Said we couldn’t see the location. Said it was secret . . . prototype detention centre . . . Hans said they paid well . . . said it was an easy gig . . .’
The five stay silent but show they are listening by simply watching the man. That gives him hope. That small glimmer of hope that he is doing the right thing and he rushes on, speeding up to get the words out.
‘Was, er . . . was underground . . . a bunker . . . concrete . . .’
‘Fruit,’ the one in front of Echo says.
‘Fruit!’ the one in front of Bravo exclaims. ‘They had fruit on a table . . . er . . . tables and chairs made from wood . . . big room . . . English guy with black hair . . . another German guy translated . . . said they had three prisoners . . .’
‘Detainees,’ the one in front of Echo adds.
‘Yeah . . . he said that . . . he said detainees . . . said they might be violent so we had to be ready and just wait . . . he was giving the brief when the three came in . . . two men and a woman . . . big man called Harry . . . had a beard . . . he told us to fight him . . . told us to fuck our mothers . . . he was English . . .’
‘Said it in German . . .’
‘Yes! He said it in German . . . told us to fight him and fuck our mothers in German.’
‘Woman was . . .’
‘Fit . . . like pretty. Really pretty. Dark hair. Dark eyes . . .’
‘Hard as fuck . . .’
‘They were.’ The one in front of Bravo keeps nodding and swallows quickly. ‘The big one . . . Harry . . . he went nuts. He attacked us . . . the woman joined in . . . ragged us senseless . . . then the last bloke came in . . .’
‘Drugged them . . .’
‘We did . . . they had needles . . . they injected them in the neck . . . we were fucked. Like, three dead and, and . . . and, like, they took us out in the van and, like . . . we were so fucked-up but they put the blindfolds on again . . .’
‘That’s it . . .’
‘It is. I swear it. I swear on my mother’s life. I swear it . . .’
‘I know.’ The man in front of Charlie coughs the words out. He lifts his head. His eyes baleful with hatred. He looks round at the five men staring down at him. ‘I took my blindfold off . . .’