Janus the Arrival (The Janus Trilogy Book 1) (26 page)

   
‘D’ny we’ve been waiting a long time to be
graced by your presence.’ The man told him, in very clear and well spoken
English, as he spread his hands out in a welcoming gesture.

   
‘Come!’ he said, with a voice that exuded
overall confidence. ‘We have so much to discuss, before you return to Earth for
one last time.’ Holding out his hand gently towards him and indicating the
direction they would soon be about to take. Danny sensed absolutely no threat
from the stranger, and felt fully at ease with the whole thing. He walked
without question, behind the man with the long flowing robes, and felt any
pressure he may of had, slowly drifting away entirely. Danny turned to see the
females also following along close behind, as the whole group moved together
and headed towards the entrance of the cave. Even this was a sight to behold in
its own right, as it stood totally flooded in warm glorious, sunlight, which
shone down from high above. Stepping out into the open, and shading his eyes as
he did so, Danny immediately took a large intake of breath. He just stared and
gasped in wonder at the sight of the two enormous suns hovering high in the sky
directly above him. They looked so majestic and his heart cried out at the love
he already felt for both the planet and those around him. He knew what was
happening to him was happening for a reason, and he fully accepted the fact
that he was just about to find out a whole lot more.

Following
the bizarre incident at the building site, all hell had broken loose once the
media had finally caught wind of Danny’s strange powers. Everyone with an ounce
of common sense, knew that it wouldn’t be long before his exact whereabouts was
finally traced to the estate. Rachel had already been told to expect to be
moved that evening sometime, but she certainly hadn’t been informed where they
would be going. Understandably, she was fast becoming fed up with being shoved
around from pillar to post, and she was well aware that tempers were also
starting to get a little bit frayed. The FBI had insisted the boy be moved to a
special research centre out in the States, much to everyone’s concern. They’d
used some half-hearted explanation about having much better facilities to cope
with such matters, but Dana had protested very strongly and wasn’t having any
of it. Happily for her, her boss had clearly taken her side, and was now not
letting anyone get a word in edgeways, as his face grew redder and redder with
each passing moment. In the end, and after much heavy debating, it finally came
down to a hastily agreed stalemate. Yet all of this was temporarily put in
place for the time being, despite them all knowing that the final decision
would eventually be made by the powers that be, whether they liked it or not.

In
Washington DC, the Senate Office Building was buzzing with excitement at the
news. An emergency meeting was hurriedly convened in the justice department’s
plush conference rooms, with key members of the Senate Select Intelligence
Committee hastily pulled together. The meeting took quite a while, with many
questions and answers going back and forth. Fortunately, it was run extremely
well, and as a result, a firm and definite decision was finally reached, much
to the dismay of some of the attendees.

   
When the call
finally arrived back in the UK, Dana let out a huge sigh of relief. It
transpired that Danny and Rachel were to be transferred to the research centre
at Farnborough, near Camberley in Surrey as a temporary measure, until more
definite arrangements could be sorted out. This essentially meant that the boy
would be placed under military protection via control of the British Secret
Service, where he’d initially be classed as a danger to international security.
It was obvious that his powers could prove to be one of the biggest
breakthroughs to mankind since the invention of the microchip. Therefore Danny
was now seen as a very valuable asset that Dana and the rest of the authorities
would do everything in their power to protect.

The
estate was full of policemen at the present time. This was the most that people
living on the estate had ever witnessed there, all in one area. The
plain-clothes officers guarding the flat had just been relieved from their
long, tedious shift, having stood around outside on the fourth floor landing
for the majority of the time. The whole thing seemed to be going on forever,
and by now they were pretty much begging for something to happen, just to
alleviate the boredom. As if their prayers were being answered, the Sergeant in
charge gathered them all together and briefed his men about the military
intervention due to take place at around eight thirty that evening. For those
who were unable to attend, as they were still outside on duty at their posts,
he briefly spoke to them over his walkie-talkie. Placing it back in its holder,
he was finally satisfied having just checked in with the last of his officers.
Everything appeared to be quiet for now, and that was the way he wanted it to
remain, at least until the military finally arrived to collect the boy and his
mother. At least then, they’d be able to get back to some sort of normality.
Some of his staff had already been complaining about the amount of overtime
they’d had to do, but at least they were being paid for doing it. It was far
better than sitting behind a desk from nine to five, plus you never really knew
what the next job would have in store for you.

The
gang moved into their positions just as instructed. Vicky had waited patiently
until eight o’clock before finally giving the order. So now, under cover of
darkness, which she felt would make the task a lot easier, they were all
finally in place, as planned. A group of five skinheads stood out in the open
close to the entrance of the heavily protected block of flats. They looked to
be going about their usual daily business at first, but as the duty officers
looked on, two of the gang started to jostle playfully with each other. This
immediately caught their attention, and they simply watched out of interest at
first. Then things slowly started to escalate a little as the same two gang
members started to argue amongst themselves. Their voices gradually rose to a
shouting pitch, and that was when the policemen started to get a little
restless, as they watched the exchange become quite heated. Things soon started
to turn quite nasty before it eventually turned to full-on violence. The two
men had begun throwing heavy punches at each other, while the other three just
stood around swearing rather loudly and goading them on. They were acting like
a bunch of wild animals, and within a short space of time, the commotion had
soon attracted quite a large crowd. The two men now sprawled around on the
ground wrestling like utter savages. Every now and again, the odd boot would
appear from the surrounding spectators and slam into one of the shifting
bodies. Originally the plan had been for the fight to look as real as possible,
with neither of them getting too hurt. Unfortunately, one of skinheads had
split the others lip with a misjudged upper-cut, which in turn, had caused his
opponent to retaliate with a heavy blow to the other ones eye. As a
consequence, this had opened up a large split just above his eyelid, which he
wasn’t exactly very pleased about, and then wanted to be the one who got the
last say in the matter. Of course, this wasn’t likely to be the case, and now
the fight was definitely for real. During proceedings, the crowd had moved
closer to the officers, as they followed the two fighting men around the courtyard.
Eventually, the policemen had no choice but to leave their posts, in order to
sort out the problem, before it escalated even further. The ‘Hit-Squad’ as
they’d dubbed themselves, consisted of Vicky, Gary, Ging and two of the more
senior members of the gang, who’d proved themselves on more than one occasion
in the past . Seizing what they saw as their one and only chance, they all ran
as fast as they could towards the unguarded entrance. They scurried into the
shadows, like rats in the night, keeping a sharp eye out for anything
unexpected that they maybe hadn’t allowed for. Ging, who happened to be the
fastest, mainly because Vicky purposely held back, got to the lift first. Once
inside he automatically pressed his finger to the button for the fourth floor,
yet before the lift doors had even closed, the others had already moved on and
disappeared up the stairs with Vicky taking the lead. The officer stationed
outside the lift, stood and looked up at the light display just above the door.
He watched as it sequentially moved through each number until it finally halted
at floor four. No one had signalled ahead as they should have done, and
therefore there was no reason for that to have been happening.

   
‘Don’t let anyone through, unless they
either live on this level or have full clearance.’ His colleague reminded him
in a loud voice, as he stood guarding the door to the flat, just a stone’s
throw away from where he was situated.

   
‘I know!’ he shouted back. ‘You don’t have
to remind me every time some bugger uses the lift, you dopey git, Vincent!’
Moments later the door opened and the officer stared in amazement at one of the
skinheads, who he recognised as one of those from the gang that hung around the
estate. He was face down and wasn’t moving at all, as he lay on the lift floor.

   
‘Hey! Vince! Come and give me a fucking
hand will you? It looks to me like it’s one of those stupid skinheads from that
ruckus that was going on below just a moment ago. I think he’s been hurt.’
Against his will, Vince walked across to take a look at what he was talking
about.

   
‘How the hell did he get past the officers
downstairs?’ he asked, but while both officers were momentarily distracted,
Vicky led the others quietly past them to the flat. Everything was going exactly
according to plan so far. She then moved sideways in order to let Gary through,
so that he could do his business. Using a set of skeleton keys, and after just
three attempts, he finally felt the lock give way, just as he wanted. Then, as
silently as they could, the four figures warily entered the hallway and then
closed the front door as quietly as possible behind them. In the meantime, back
outside, the two officers remained completely unaware of what had just happened
while their backs had been turned. They’d both assessed the situation together
and mutually agreed to send the lift back to the ground floor with him still
inside. Vince had put his first aid training to the test, for the first time in
ages, and having located a healthy pulse in his neck, he decided without a
doubt that the guy would definitely live to see another day. Sticking to
procedures by radioing ahead and barracking their colleagues for letting him
past in the first place, they promptly returned to their earlier positions. Meanwhile,
down on the ground floor, the officers stood and waited for the lift doors to
open, wanting to see the face of the stupid bastard that had managed to get
through them.

    
‘
Boo
!’
The waiting policemen all jumped, as Ging came bursting out, much against their
expectations. They thought he’d still be lying on the floor, looking half dead
from what their colleagues had told them. Yet he dodged them with complete
ease, and then disappeared into the crowd of onlookers, most of who were still
in the process of leaving the scene.

Vicky
took the lead again and held her finger to her lips, indicating for the others
to remain silent. They moved ahead gazing into each doorway as they passed,
checking to see if anyone was there. A voice from the room at the far end
suddenly alerted them, so they all stood still and looked to Vicky for
instructions. Watching her signal to move on the count of three, she used her
fingers and as the third was raised, they all rushed forward like a troop of
crack commandos who’d been specially trained for the exercise. The kitchen door
flew open so fast that Rachel and Danny both stood absolutely frozen to the
spot.

   
‘Who are you?’ Rachel demanded out loud.
‘And what the hell do you want?’ The intruders totally ignored her protests and
moved much closer. Gary spun her around and seized then her from behind,
groping one of her breasts in the process. Rachel did her best to turn back,
but the man’s grip was far too powerful for her to make any difference.

   
‘Keep your filthy hands to yourself you
dirty bastard!’ she screamed, just before the woman who was with them, turned
to face her and swiftly slapped her across the face. Rachel recoiled partly in
shock, as the blow stung her left cheek and caused it to redden almost
immediately.

   
‘Run Danny run! Go and get help!’ she
shouted, before receiving another slap for her troubles.

   
Danny simply ignored his mother’s cries,
and stood dead still whilst glaring
hard at
the cropped blonde haired woman who now stood before him.

   
‘So I guess you’ve come to try your luck
again have you?’

Everyone
else in the room looked completely puzzled at that, but Danny kept glaring and
continued.

   
‘Don’t you recognise her mum? This is the
same woman who tried to grab me when we were at that place out at Bracknell?’
Suddenly Rachel stiffened and became quite scared for both of them. This was
the very same woman that Dana had warned the authorities to watch out for. She
was the very reason they’d been provided with so much protection and been trussed
up here in the first place.

    
‘For goodness sake! When’s this bloody
nightmare ever going to end?’ She asked accusingly. Gary loosened his grip on
Rachel as she was hit across the face again. He knew Vicky was pretty tough,
but she was certainly going a bit over the top this time, he thought.

 
   
‘Alright! Let’s stop prating about with all
this,’ he shouted across at Vicky. ‘Why don’t we just find the goods and go
before the pigs turn up and catch us in here?’ Vicky immediately turned on
Gary. Then, daring to look her straight in the face, he certainly couldn’t fail
to notice the amount of anger that flared in her eyes.

   
‘Shut the fuck up you stupid prick, and
just do as you’re told,’ she warned him.

   
‘Up yours!’ he replied with a likewise
gesture of his finger. Gary was normally used to giving orders rather than
taking them, so he instantly released his grip on Rachel and then set off along
the hallway in a huff.

   
‘Keep an eye on these two for a minute,’
she ordered the two remaining gang members, who were now a little unsure of
what to do, and who exactly they should be taking their orders from.

Poor
Vicky had finally started to crack under the strain. Janus had been
continuously fighting her from the inside all this time. Now, having realised
that she was very close to the edge, especially knowing that the vast majority
of human thoughts and feelings she’d held on to had almost entirely
disappeared, she knew that she’d no longer be able to bar his way. Vicky had
felt her control beginning to slip and recognised that she’d been so much
easier to manipulate over the last few days. Now Janus was finally ready to
return, although she certainly wasn’t about to give up without a fight.