Hot Zone (Major Crimes Unit Book 2) (12 page)

H
er
father looked at her. “I need to do this, Sarah. It’s time that the right
people were finally made to pay, instead of more innocents.”

“There are people in this room who are innocent,” said
Sarah.

“Ha! Do you really believe that?”

She glanced around the room, at the frightened faces of the
male and female MPs. All of them wore fine suits and seemed only concerned for
themselves. “Perhaps not,” she admitted, “but you open that briefcase and the
virus kills a lot more people than are in this room. You were going to release
it at Heathrow for Christ’s sake. It’s madness.”

For the first time in her life, her father seemed insecure.
His voice lost a measure of its authority and his glaring eyes failed to keep
still. “Something has to change. Releasing the virus at the airport would have
rocked the foundations of the earth. There are a group of powerful men ready to
rebuild a better world, but first this one has to tumble.”

“You sound insane,” she said.

“Not insane, just exhausted. Say what you want about me,
Sarah, but I have never done anything in anger or for revenge. Every bad deed I
have ever done I have done with a clear head and a sense of duty. I’d never
even felt rage until after what I saw them do to that orphanage, and what they
did to you.”

Sarah pointed to her scars and said angrily, “Hesbani did
this to me and I killed him myself. I don’t need anyone to feel angry on my
behalf.”

“A father has no choice, and not everybody is able to earn
their own justice. You are one of the lucky ones, Sarah. All that the other
victims of this country’s militaristic greed have is me. I will bring them
their justice.”

Sarah headed away from the doors and towards her father at
the Speaker’s dais, ignoring Howard’s warning to stay back. She stood before
the Speaker’s chair and looked up at her father. “Killing doesn’t erase
killing. This isn’t what you devoted your life to. In the past, you took
orders, but now you’re making your own decisions, which means that all of this is
on you.”

Her father smiled at her, then actually began chuckling. It
was a sad laugh, one that came before an emotional rupture. “I admit it,” he
said. “You make me proud, Sarah. That’s what you want to hear, isn’t it? I’ve
always been proud of you. Somebody tells you that you can’t do something and
you set out to prove them wrong. The SAS is just the same. I, too, spent my
life doing things that other men told me were impossible. You are a lot like
me, Sarah. I just wish you’d been a man. Think of what you might have achieved
then. Maybe we might have truly served alongside one another. Maybe then you
would not be opposing me. It is a shame.”

Howard stepped up beside Sarah and lowered his gun. “Major
Stone, you have served this country with honour. Don’t end your career this
way.”

“You think history will look upon me poorly?”

“Of course.”

“Guy Fawkes once tried to destroy parliament and he is
remembered as a beloved martyr. I feel, in time, I will be no different, but if
not, I don’t care. All I care about is Breslow admitting to her crimes. If she
doesn’t, I will release this virus and kill everyone in this room. There is no
vanquishing the beast inside this box.”

Breslow folded her arms. “I have nothing to admit to but
doing my duty. My obligation is to the prosperity and welfare of this nation.
Every time a country imperils us it imperils itself. The blood of those Syrian
orphans is on Syrian hands.”

All of the MPs in the room swallowed and grew pale. No doubt
they wanted to see Breslow fall on her sword so that this could be over with,
but Breslow did not bow down to terrorists.

“I admire men like you,” said Breslow. “You do as you see
fit, and there is no shame in that, but the problem is that you’re a man. You
lack any sort of finesse. Like a bull you charge at the red flag and hope to
gore it with your horns. You see, a woman does not charge the red flag, she
holds it so that men like you can chase it blindly until you are too tired to
stand. If you had been a woman, Major Stone, you might have actual been of some
use.”

Major Stone’s face went as red as the hypothetical red flag
and he raised both MP5s at Breslow. The leader reacted quickly, running and
diving behind one of the benches, managing somehow to keep hold of her heels.
Left, standing out in the open, was the leader of the opposition. The gangly
man took the full brunt of the dual machine gun fire. His dark, sunken eyes
bulged from his head and his slanted teeth turned red as blood shot from his
throat. He slumped forwards onto the centre table and knocked the mace onto the
floor, the ceremonial staff needed to pronounce the House in session. Sarah
watched it roll along the floor at her feet and settle in a puddle of blood.

Howard aimed and took a shot at Major Stone, but missed.
Major Stone returned fire and sent Howard into cover. More MPs made for the
doors but were quickly gunned down. Their bodies fell and blocked the doors
from being opened. Sarah stood in the middle of the flying bullets and
screaming MPs and kept her eyes on her father. He had placed the briefcase down
on the Speaker’s desk as he wielded an MP5 in each hand. He was choosing his
shots carefully, picking off the most senior members of the House with single,
precise rounds. The Education Secretary lay on her back, clutching her throat
and making strangling sounds. Most of the ruling cabinet were dead and a good
portion of the opposition, too.

Sarah raced forwards, leaping up onto the centre table and
heading towards the raised Speaker’s dais at the far end, where she leapt into
the air. Her father was distracted, shooting the panicked MPs whilst also
keeping one eye on Howard, the only other armed man in the room. Sarah made it
onto the Speaker’s dais and snatched at the briefcase, grabbing it with both
hands. Major Stone immediately turned both guns on her, but didn’t fire.
Instead he shouted, “Sarah, no!”

Sarah landed back on the floor and immediately started
running.

Howard leapt up and fired, suppressing Major Stone from
retaliating. Sarah made it all the way back to the doors, where she proceeded
to try and drag the bodies out of the way.

“Sarah, is that you?” It was Mattock. His strike team had
arrived outside in the hallway.

“Yes, it’s me. The doors are blocked. My father has killed
half of parliament.”

“That sodding nutter. Is it over? Do you have him?”

“No, I-”

“SARAH!”

Sarah flinched, spun around, looked for her father at the
dais but did not see him.

Howard was hiding in the benches of the sitting government
and he nodded over to the opposite side of the room when her eyes fell on him.
On the opposite side of the chamber, her father had an arm wrapped around
Breslow’s neck and held an MP5 to her temple. The other MPs were huddled in a
group nearby.

“Put down the briefcase,” he demanded. “I will not be
stopped.”

Sarah made eye-contact with Breslow, who seemed entirely
calm despite her predicament. The huddled MPs beside her were clutching their
chests and breathing heavily.

“Just go,” shouted Breslow. “Get that briefcase somewhere
where it can’t hurt anybody.”

Sarah nodded and turned back towards the doors. Mattock and
his men had taken to barging it and there was a slight opening now that was
growing ever wider.

“The briefcase will open as soon as the timer runs out,
Sarah,” her father warned, his confident voice returned, “unless I put in the
code. Put it down and get away from it.” He sounded almost concerned.

“This bitch is going to admit to her crimes or the whole of
London is going to start bleeding from their eye sockets by nightfall.”

For the first time since this whole thing began, Sarah saw
fear in Breslow’s eyes.

“You were always going to release the virus, weren’t you?”
said Sarah.

“Of course. Killing the Government isn’t enough, but with no
one running the country the virus will be unstoppable. The United Kingdom will
become a worldwide charity case. Eventually, the virus will spread worldwide,
the population will diminish and the world will start over, better.”

Sarah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You
want
the apocalypse? What if this virus wipes out the planet?”

“Krenshaw designed the virus to infect only one out of every
two people. At its worst it would merely kill half the world’s population, and
that’s nothing but a good thing.”

“No virus would be able to spread unopposed,” said Breslow.
“We’ll fight it, we’ll understand it, and we’ll win. You cannot hope to change
anything.”

Sarah heard a whisper behind her and glanced back to see
Mattock’s face at the door. He was poking something through the gap at her. She
took it at once and quickly slid it under her shirt and into the waistband of
her trousers. Her father was staring at her but hadn’t seemed to have notice
the exchange.

“I need you to get away from here, Sarah. That briefcase is
going to open whether you like it or not. I never did much for you, but I’m
giving you the chance to save yourself.”

“I already have a containment unit on the way,” said Howard.
“We’ll secure the briefcase and dispose of it. It’s over, Major Stone.”

“Is it? I’ve lost track of time. The virus could be released
in the very next minute. How quickly do you think your containment unit can get
here?”

Howard swallowed so loud that it echoed in the chamber.

“Give me Breslow and I’ll leave,” said Sarah. “You want to
save me then let all of these people go and I will get far away from here.”

“Sarah, I’m not negotiating.”

Breslow sniggered. “How novel. A terrorist refusing to
negotiate with
us
.”

Major Stone growled and let off a shot into the crowd,
hitting an anonymous MP in the face. That was the last straw. The group of MPs
bolted, leaping over benches and chairs, trampling one another and throwing
each other aside in a bid to get to the doors. At that same moment, Mattock’s
team forced their way through the doors and began gathering the MPs to safety.
Howard leapt from cover and joined Sarah in the middle of the chamber by the
main table. “It’s finished, Sarah. I understand if you want to get out of
here.”

She shook her head. “No, it’s not over.”

Major Stone still held the muzzle of an MP5 to Breslow’s
head. “You want the PM, then hand over the briefcase.”

“Why?” asked Sarah. “If it’s set to go off, then why do you
even want it?”

“To make
sure
it goes off.”

“You’ll get sick, too. Is that how you want to die? Of a
disease?”

“It’s nobler than most the deaths I have seen.”

“Okay,” said Sarah. “I’ll give you the briefcase and you
give me the Prime Minister.”

For once, Breslow kept her mouth shut. The horror had
finally broken her resolve and she wore the vacant stare of a frightened
hostage.

Her father nodded. “I’ll meet you in the middle. I want your
man to toss his gun aside.”

Howard shook his head. “This isn’t happening. You’re not
getting the briefcase and I am not disarming.”

Sarah moved close to Howard and spoke into his ear. “It’s
okay. He won’t shoot me. Mattock passed me a gun. Play along and I’ll end
this.”

Howard looked uneasy, but he threw aside his gun. “Fine, but
the moment you try to leave this building, Major, they’re going to take you
out.”

“I’m ready to meet my end. Just hurry this up.”

Sarah headed into the middle of the room and waited for her
father to meet her.

Winter, 1984

“Hush now, sweetheart, it’s time to
go to sleep.”

Five-year old Sarah fought to keep her eyes open, because
she knew that once they closed she would fall asleep and her daddy would leave.
Soon he would be leaving for work and she was going to miss him. How would she
fall asleep without him there each night? How could she sleep without hearing
him sing to her?

“It’s okay to close your eyes, Sarah. I won’t be leaving for
a few more days and then I will be back home again before you know it. They’re
sending me to a place called Iraq where it’s really sunny and there’s lots of
sand. I’m part of a very special team that will keep me safe and bring me home
to you and your mum. You don’t need to worry. You are my angel. The best thing
in my entire life, but I have to go away to work so that I can give you
everything you need. Just be a good girl and go to sleep and tomorrow we can go
and feed the ducks at the pond.”

Sarah yawned, but continued to keep her eyes open. Her daddy
was the strongest and bravest daddy of them all, and she didn’t want him to go.
But right now she was so tired.

“Sing to me, daddy.”

Her father kissed her forehead. “Of course.
Lullaby and
good night, with roses bedight

With lilies o'er spread is baby's wee bed…”

Five-year-old Sarah was asleep before she knew it.

Her father was gone the next day, his unit leaving earlier
than expected. When he came back, he was never the same.

M
ajor
Stone stepped out from around the Speaker’s dais, dragging the Prime Minister
with him. She went willingly, apparently eager to exchange her life for
something that might well end it anyway.

“It’s your last chance to stop this, dad.”

Major Stone looked at his daughter and grunted. “You can’t
stop a bullet once it’s been fired.”

Sarah sighed and lifted up the briefcase with one hand. With
the other she reached behind her back and gripped the handgun Mattock had given
her.

“Hand Breslow over.”

“First, place the briefcase on the ground.”

Sarah exhaled, wondering if she had the ability to do what
she needed to do. She knelt down, placing the briefcase on the ground, and then
remained in a crouch, gripping the gun behind her back and willing herself to
spring up and unload a bullet into her father’s face while she had the chance.

“You probably think I won’t shoot you,” her father said.
“Even when you pull that gun you have. Wrong”

Sarah raised an eyebrow and managed to utter one word.
“What?”

Her father levelled the MP5 at her and pulled the trigger.

Sarah’s vision curled inwards and spun. She hit her head on
the floor and was aware of nothing but her pulse beating in her temples. She
looked to her side and saw Howard running towards her father, but he was shot
before getting anywhere close. He pin wheeled around and disappeared behind the
first row of benches.

Major Stone looked down at his daughter without sympathy. “I
really am proud of you,” he said, “but better men than you have tried to take
me down and failed.”

Then he grabbed Breslow around the neck and began moving
away with her, taking the briefcase with him and keeping the MP5 against his
hostage’s head.

Sarah lay on the floor bleeding while Howard moaned nearby.
She heard Mattock shouting, but it eventually changed to an order for his men
to back off. There was no chance the cockney sergeant would take a risk with
both the briefcase and Breslow’s life on the line. Major Stone was well
protected, even with a dozen guns aimed at him.

Eventually, one of Mattock’s men broke free and came to
Sarah’s aid. He checked her over with his gloved hands, looking for damage.
“You’re okay,” he said. “You’ve taken a slug in the shoulder, but you’ll be
fine.”

Sarah didn’t feel fine. The pain in her upper body felt like
her bones were being pressed. She had been wrong about her father — he would
dare to shoot her, but not fatally it seemed. Howard was okay too and he
recovered enough to come help her to his feet. His vest had taken the full
impact of the slug, which had been fired at him from some distance, and he had
only been winded. Thank God they had both heeded Mattock’s earlier warning to
wear vests.

“We have to get after him,” said Sarah, wincing as she held
onto her shoulder.

Howard nodded. “Hell yes, we do. This is Wilder,” he nodded
to the member of Mattock’s strike team who had come to their aid. A young man
with messy blonde hair and fuzzy stubble — the
Milky Bar
Kid
all
grown up. “Wilder, this is Sarah Stone. She’s with us.”

Wilder nodded. “Mattock is already in pursuit. Special
Branch snipers have been on the roof for the last hour. Major Stone has no
place to go. He can’t escape.”

“He doesn’t want to escape,” said Howard. “He’s ready to die
and wants to take the whole world with him.”

Wilder nodded as if he understood. “Then I saw ‘a new heaven
and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and
there was no longer any sea.”

Sarah stared at Wilder in confusion until Howard explained.
“This is no time for bible quotes, Wilder. The Book of Revelations can wait for
another day.”

Wilder nodded. “Amen, brother.”

They headed back out into the hallways, leaving behind
bloody footprints and memories of carnage. Even if they managed to stop Major
Stone, nothing would ever be the same. Today would be a bloody entry forever
etched in the history books. The Parliamentary Massacre of 2015, committed by
her father, Major Jonathan Stone, father of Captain Sarah Stone. Now, Sarah
would be ostracised for her lineage as well as her face. Her father was a worse
man than she had ever thought him to be. She would be doing the world a favour
by being the one to place the full-stop on his life.

They headed out of the building and were met by a Police
cordon held by countless officers keeping back the crowds. Blinking flash bulbs
went off like disco lights, even in the bright afternoon sunlight. Her face
would be on tomorrow’s papers — the disfigured daughter of a traitor — but none
of that mattered right now. If Krenshaw’s virus got out, there would be far
more for the papers to worry about than today’s bloodshed.

Her father was walking through the crowd, pushing Breslow
ahead of him, the briefcase held beside him. No one tried to stop him, for all
the officers understood the risk of being the one to pull the trigger.

Wilder let out a whistle. “There must be a hundred fingers
on triggers right now, but not a single one brave enough to pull.”

“Nobody wants to be the one to miss and hit the PM,” said
Howard.

Sarah kept back, wanting to see what her father was
planning. Was his plan only to ensure the briefcase opened? Was Breslow his
insurance to ensure he lived long enough to see it? Was the virus really so
infectious that it would spread regardless of where it was released?

Major Stone headed down the road slowly, moving his eyes in
all direction and making no sudden movement that might prompt a deadly
response.

“Let the PM go,” Mattock bellowed from the front of one of
the police units through a microphone.

Major Stone turned back to answer. “Sergeant Mattock, you
should know most of all what I am fighting for. You’ve seen.”

“Too right,” he said. “And I much prefer it to watching
innocent women and children dying. You knew the risks when you signed up. War
is bloody, but we’re working our way out of it. It’s men like you and Hesbani
who ensure we never get to wash our hands clean of blood.”

Major Stone didn’t allow himself to be distracted further
and started moving faster along the road. He was heading in the direction of
Westminster Bridge. The traffic had been halted at the far end and the road and
on the opposite bank of the Thames. The way was completely clear. Sarah broke
free of Howard and Wilder and headed after her father. The two men went after
her, but kept a few feet back, not yet knowing what she planned to do.

Her father was almost in the centre of the bridge when she
finally caught up to him, out of breath and still bleeding from the gunshot
wound in her shoulder. Helicopters swirled overhead with the black silhouettes
of snipers hanging from them. The tops of nearby buildings also sported the
tell-tale flashes of long-range rifle scopes. Major Stone would be hit from a
dozen directions if he let go of Breslow for a single second.

It had to happen here, Sarah decided, in the centre of the
bridge where there were no innocent bystanders.

“Daddy, stop!”

Major Stone stopped and turned around, dragging Breslow
along like a rag doll. “Don’t force me to shoot you somewhere serious, Sarah. I
may be many things, but I wouldn’t like to be the type of man who kills his
children. Tell your men to back off, too, or I’ll execute the PM right here.”

Howard and Wilder heard and kept their distance.

“You don’t have to shoot me,” said Sarah, “and I don’t want
you to. I just want this all to be over. I understand why you’re doing this.
I’m tired of the way things are, too. It’s all wrong. The wrong people are
getting hurt all the time, while the guilty get rich in safety. But don’t you
see the hypocrisy of this? I don’t give two shits about Breslow, but if that
virus gets out then a lot more children are going to die than in that Syrian
orphanage. Have you even thought about that?”

“I’ve thought about nothing else, but they will die to
ensure a better future.”

Sarah tried to straighten up, but her wounded shoulder would
not allow her. She settled for taking a knee and facing her father from lower
down. “You sound like a fundamentalist,” she said. “You sound like the type of
men you used to hate.”

“Perhaps I do. It’s probably because I discovered they are
just men and nothing more. That is the great lie the government sells to its
public, Sarah. They make the other side seem like monsters, and believe me,
some of them are, but many are no different to us. The only thing different is
the colour of their skin and the word they use to describe God.”

Sarah shook her head. “You’re blind.”

“My eyes have never been more open. Any moment now this
briefcase will open and things will change forever. It’s your last chance to
get out of here.”

“Give me Breslow and I will. There are snipers everywhere,
dad. Giving up Breslow is the only way you get to walk away from this.”

“I don’t want to walk away from this.” Her father shoved
Breslow in the back, but not towards Sarah. He sent the woman toward the
bridge’s barrier, keeping his gun on her. There he ordered the PM to climb
upwards and once she was perched precariously on the barrier, he vaulted up to
join her. It had afforded the snipers the brief opportunity to shoot, but none
had.

Major Stone put the MP5 to Breslow’s temple and held the
briefcase over the Thames with the other.

Sarah got up off her knee and took a step forward. “What are
you doing?”

“Any sniper shoots me and the virus goes into the river,
along with Breslow’s brains. People will be drinking it all in their tea by
nightfall.”

“If I have my way,” said Breslow, seeming to come out of her
frightened stupor all of a sudden. “The snipers will leave you wounded so I can
take you alive. Then I’ll have you tortured and your head put on a spike over
Tower Bridge.”

Major Stone grunted. “How draconian. Use my head as a
football for all I care, once this is over.” He lowered his weapon for a
second, and began fiddling with the briefcase’s dial.

“I thought it was on a timer,” said Sarah. “You were
bluffing”

Major Stone clenched his jaw, still fiddling with the dial.
“You thinking that this thing is set to blow is the only thing that has kept me
alive. Don’t worry, though. I’m about to open it right in the river.”

Sarah made eye-contact with Breslow, who understood
immediately. The PM clenched her hands together and swung them like a hammer
into Major Stone’s guts. He doubled over, more in shock than pain, but was
distracted long enough that the Briefcase fell from his hands and clattered on
the road. Breslow threw herself from the barrier, landing face-first on the
hard surface of the road. “Shoot him,” she screamed. “Shoot the sonofabitch.”

Sarah raised her gun and aimed it at her father’s chest, but
she didn’t pull the trigger — couldn’t.

Major Stone smirked at her. “You just can’t shoot your old
man, can you?”

“Give up.”

“Not in this lifetime.” Major Stone pointed the MP5 at
Breslow and pulled the trigger.

But not before Sarah had pulled hers.

The shot was close enough that the round went clear through
Major Stone’s chest and left him tottering on the barrier of the bridge. He
looked at Sarah in shock, his lips sliding back and forth soundlessly, his eyes
flickering. He placed a hand to his bleeding chest and then removed it to take
a look at his blood. With a chuckle he then spoke to his daughter, “Well done,
man. Well done indeed.”

Then the snipers fired from a dozen direction and sent Major
Stone’s dancing body plummeting into the Thames where his body floated and went
still.

There was no time to think before scores of men came running
up the bridge from both banks. Howard and Mattock came and took a hold of Sarah
first, making sure she didn’t faint and that no one could take her away. But
she was okay and waved them off.

“You just shot your old man,” said Mattock, although he
sounded more than a little supportive of the act.

“Are you okay?” Howard asked her.

“I’m fine.” She stood back while a group of space-suited
gentlemen scooped up the briefcase and placed it inside a plastic crate with
great big seals that clamped down around the edges.

“Did the briefcase go off?” asked Howard. “Did it go off?”

Sarah shook her head. “He was bluffing. The timer was never
set after we left the airport.”

Mattock huffed. “If I’d know that, I’d have taken his bloody
head off myself an hour ago.”

“Yeah,” Sarah said, walking over to the edge of the bridge
and staring down at the water below. Her father’s lifeless body was being
dragged into a police boat like the rotting carcass of a seal. His illustrious
career ended in ignominy.

Breslow approached her with a pained limp, rubbing dirt off
her suit and combing stray strands of hair back behind her ears. “You’ve saved
the day again, Miss Stone. Seems like I need to have you on speed dial.”

Sarah didn’t smile at the comment. Her expression was blank
as she spoke. “The men from my past seem to have a habit of causing trouble and
dragging me into it. If you had any sense you’d lock me up and throw away the
key.”

“Nonsense. This country needs women like you to put men in
their place. In the House of Commons, I can hold my own, but it’s good to know
that when things get tough, there’s a bitch as tough as me who knows how to use
a gun.”

Sarah looked down at the gun in her hands and found it to be
an ugly thing. “Half of Parliament is dead.”

“Yes,” said Breslow, followed by another, more thoughtful,
“Yes.”

The PM was eventually ferreted away by her frantic servants,
so Sarah went on over to Howard. She held her wrists out in front of her and
said, “I’m ready to face the music. I was part of this.”