Day of Vengeance (4 page)

Intruders

Jack shook his friend hard, but there was no response. He glanced behind him. The men had got off their quad bikes and were standing at the top of the rocky outcrop from where Angus had launched the bike. Slack-jawed, they stared down at Jack and Angus way below. They could not believe their eyes.

Suddenly Angus opened an eye. Then both eyes. He blinked and then he grinned. “That’s what I call big air… let’s do it again, but with the camcorder.”

“One day you’re going to get us both killed.”

“Are they still after us?”

“They’re back up there… I don’t know if they are planning on shooting or clapping. Anyway, your madness has given us at least five minutes on them.”

“If the bike starts.”

Angus remounted the bike. The engine fired first time. He grinned.

“Houston – we have ignition and main engine start.”

Jack rolled his eyes.

Ten minutes later they were safely onto the valley floor and back on tarmac heading down the single-track lane that looped round the back of the big Soonhope School estate.

“Stop!” Jack thumped Angus on the back and he pulled up.

Jack took out his phone. He had another message from VIGIL:

“Where is Emergency Entrance Two?”

“I remember it from training. It’s in the parkland to the west of the school. We’re only about half a mile away.”

“But if there is some sort of raid… is it safe?”

“It’s safer inside VIGIL HQ, with all their high-tech security stuff, than outside. Anyway, those are the orders. Ditch the bike and let’s cut into the woods here.”

A moment later, they were making their way through the dense woodland that fringed the school. They had been taught the main features of the VIGIL HQ security systems and roughly knew the network of underground facilities beneath Soonhope School. It included three emergency exits, which were secreted in various parts of the surrounding parkland.

“I’m sure it’s supposed to be around here somewhere…”

Suddenly they heard a voice behind them. “Looking for something lads?”

Jack swivelled round.

Two familiar figures stood before them – their old friends, Tony Smith and Gordon Macfarlane – part of VIGIL’s elite security team. They looked worried.

“What’s going on?” Jack asked.

“A Revisionist assault on VIGIL personnel. We had the usual remote security detail keeping an eye on you up at Angus’s farm at Rachan, but something’s happened. Their comms are down.
We need to take refuge inside VIGIL.”

Tony reached inside his pocket and pulled out a control device. He pressed a button and a small area in the undergrowth suddenly cleared, to show a circular metal covering set, a bit like a large drain cover, in a concrete base.

“Step back.” Tony pressed the device again and the metal cover formed an aperture in the ground, revealing a steep spiral staircase leading downwards. It was illuminated by a blue glow.

“All clear, on you go…”

One by one, they stepped onto the spiral staircase. The steps began lowering automatically. As they dropped beneath ground level, the aperture closed silently above them, and after a couple of minutes they came to a gentle halt. Ahead of them was a door. Tony pressed the device again and it opened onto a short
metal-clad
corridor lit by the familiar dim blue glow. At the end of the corridor was a circular door with five letters etched on it:

The door opened without a sound, revealing a tubular passageway beyond. There were no markings on the passage walls – no rivets, no seams – it was completely smooth. They moved quietly through the entrance, which resealed itself silently behind them. It was like the inside of an Egyptian pyramid. They started to make their way along the passage.

Tony spoke into his mouthpiece, “Smith approaching Inner Hub. We have Jack and Angus. They are safe. Confirmed safe. Authorisation to proceed to Control Centre.”

Tony’s face drained of colour as he listened to the response on his radio.

He turned back to Gordon, Jack and Angus. “It is not looking good. There are intruders on the upper levels…”

“What?” Gordon said. “But that’s impossible.”

“We’ve taken casualties as well,” Tony added. “Everyone is retreating to the Inner Hub – at least we should be safe in there.”

At the end of the corridor there was a final large circular door, like the entrance to a bank vault. Tony looked up at the
closed-circuit
-TV system and whispered into his mouthpiece again, “Request access to Inner Hub.”

Again, Tony went through the security procedures and the door opened. In a minute they entered the main Taurus Control Centre.

“Glad you are here, gentlemen.”

It was Councillor Inchquin – the Chairman of VIGIL. Next to him stood the Rector, VIGIL’s second in command. Both men looked more worried than Jack had ever seen them. There were two other men in the Taurus Control Centre. Jack and Angus’s friend, Professor Gino Turinelli had his eyes fixed on a closedcircuit-TV monitor and Theo Joplin, the chief VIGIL historian, was tapping manically at a computer terminal.

“What’s our position?” Tony asked.

“Not good,” the Rector spoke gravely. For a moment there, all our systems were overridden; we had no communication. They’ve just come up and it seems that we have four men down on the upper levels. I don’t even know if we were in time to warn all
off-site
VIGIL personnel and their security details. Look…” he waved
them over to a large screen that showed a plan of the VIGIL complex. He tapped on the keyboard and CCTV footage popped up showing views of various parts of the building, including the maze of underground corridors. “We still have two small groups on site, but they’re outside the Inner Hub – and their comms are down. The intruders seem to be able to move through the complex at will – it’s as if they know all the security systems and can override them as they please…”

Jack spoke, “What about Mum – do you know if she’s OK?”

The Rector turned away from the console and looked at Jack, a worried expression on his face. “No news yet Jack…”

“Joplin, have you managed to make any more progress on the scenario?”

“Christie did not have all the details, but he gave us what he could. A Second World War intervention – 1940. We’re waiting to hear more from him… that’s assuming he can contact us.”

“It was Dad who sent us the first warning… up at Rachan,” Jack said. “Does he know why this is happening?”

“Your father has done us a big favour,” Inchquin replied, “but I suspect he’s more concerned for your safety than ours…”

“What do you mean?”

“He has got wind of a Revisionist plan to intervene in history. He says it was something that he and Pendelshape used to talk about a lot in the old days… how to stop the Second World War.”

“Does that mean that Pendelshape is still alive – he didn’t die at Gravelines?” Angus asked.

“He would seem to be very much alive. He must be behind this. As soon as he knows that VIGIL has been defeated and
our Taurus is under their control, the Revisionists will execute their plan.”

“… and this time we won’t be able to do anything about it,” Jack said.

“Correct Jack. Not without our Taurus. We have to prepare to leave.”

“What do you mean, leave?” Jack’s brow furrowed.

Inchquin tried to keep his voice steady, but he wasn’t finding it easy. “What I mean, Jack, is that we have Revisionist intruders. They are already inside VIGIL and seem to have control of our security systems. They are aiming to break into the Inner Hub – and then in here – the Taurus Control Centre. If they do, well, that’s the end of VIGIL – and of us. The Revisionists will have no hesitation in killing us all and they will have a free hand to do what they want. Fortunately, the Taurus systems are isolated from the others. It gives us a breathing space. A final option…”

“Escape using the Taurus,” the Rector said.

Jack was incredulous. “But… if we time-travelled out of here and then they destroyed the Taurus there would be no way of returning. We’d be stuck.”

“It would leave us with one chance. We just might be able to intercept the Revisionists in 1940 and stop whatever it is they are trying to do…”

Jack looked over to the far side of the Control Centre where the Taurus sat brooding behind its blast screen, nestling within its arrangement of complex pipes, cables and access gantries.

“The Taurus becomes a lifeboat, then?”

“…and our only way to stop the Revisionists,” Inchquin said.
“Gentlemen, I fear that it is time to prepare for the worst; prepare to go back to 1940.” He looked at Jack and Angus, “and that includes you two.”

Within minutes, they had changed clothes in the VIGIL transfer preparation area, gathered what provisions they could and loaded them into the special VIGIL backpacks. Already the powerful generators that powered the Taurus were starting up. Jack could feel his heart pumping in his chest.

“What space–time vector are we setting?” Joplin asked.

Inchquin sighed, shaking his head, “All we have from Christie is London, June 1940. Go for that. Gino – prepare the time phones and lower the blast screen. Taurus will be powered up shortly.”

“Comms is back up!” Tony announced, one hand cupped over his ear. “It’s Belstaff and Johnstone! They say they have managed to defeat a group of intruders on the second level and they’re coming through to help us.”

Inchquin clenched his fist. “Yes,” he hissed. “It might not be over yet…”

“They’re nearly here – outside the Control Centre. Shall I open the door?”

“Do it.”

The heavy door at the far end of the Control Centre swung open and through it marched Belstaff and Johnstone. Like Tony and Gordon they were part of VIGIL’s security team, but as they marched into the Control Centre, Jack could see from the looks on their faces that something was wrong. Very wrong.

Johnstone barked an order, “Everyone on your knees!”

For a moment, they did not understand the command.
But then Johnstone fired a volley of automatic fire into the ceiling.

“Do as I say!”

“What are you doing?” Gordon boomed.

But Johnstone’s response was instantaneous and deadly. He levelled his weapon directly at Gordon and fired once. The round ripped into Gordon’s chest and he was hurled backwards.

They all dropped to the floor.

The Rector looked up at their assailants. “What is the meaning of this?”

“Never you mind – just do as I say.”

Jack knelt next to Angus. The situation was desperate.

“We’re going to tie you lot up and then finish clearing the complex. Do exactly as you are told.”

“Traitors! You swore an oath of loyalty to VIGIL,” Inchquin seethed through his teeth. “We’ve still got others on the outside… you don’t stand a chance. Give up now.”

Johnstone laughed, “Everything’s taken care of. I’m afraid it’s all over for you lot, sir. We have already started Phase Two.”

Jack glanced behind him at the Taurus – it was only five metres away and the blast screen was already down. The word he had used a few seconds before flashed through his mind again:

Lifeboat
.

Surreptitiously, he caught Angus’s eye and nodded towards the Taurus as Belstaff and Johnstone started to tie up the others. It was only half a chance, but it was all they had.

Jack whispered out of the corner of his mouth, “When I say ‘go’ you hit the blast screen control, I’ll grab the time phones…”

Angus looked back at Jack with a glint in his eye.

“GO!”

Jack and Angus dived towards the Taurus. Johnstone looked up, levelled his weapon and fired without hesitation. But Jack and Angus were already halfway across the room and Angus had already thrown the blast screen control switch. The giant window accelerated upwards from its housing in the floor and the bullets ricocheted uselessly off it. Jack grabbed two of the preconfigured time phones nestling in their pods. He initiated the synchronisation procedure and set the countdown to fifteen seconds. They scrambled up the entry gantry into the waiting Taurus.

In front of them, the small heads-up display was already counting down:

Around his feet, Jack saw shimmering eddies of light. The atmosphere within the Taurus structure was also changing and, outside, the Control Centre appeared darker and fuzzier. Jack could make out Inchquin, the Rector and the others looking up at them and the prostrate body of Gordon lying to one side. Belstaff and Johnstone were battling with the blast screen control panel and suddenly it started to come down. They raced towards the Taurus… But the countdown continued relentlessly.

Belstaff stopped, aimed his weapon up at Jack and Angus and fired. Jack saw the spent rounds spit from the side of the weapon.
In their position up on the transfer platform, Jack and Angus were sitting ducks. Jack recoiled, waiting for the bullets to rip through his flesh. But then something extraordinary happened. Jack could actually see the bullets as they entered the atmosphere of the Taurus Transfer Chamber. Miraculously, the bullets slowed down, as if they had entered a jar of treacle. As they slowed, they distended until they looked nearly a foot or so long. In a moment they stopped completely and just hung there in the air of the Taurus Transfer Chamber. The nearest was only millimetres from Jack’s heart.