Wednesday, June 7th, 2017
London Heathrow Airport
London, United Kingdom
03:00 GMT+2 (01:00 GMT June 7th)
THE PHOENIX
The giant aircraft touched down with multiple chirps on zero nine left.
The rapid deceleration brought the heavy jetliner to a virtual crawl before the aircraft took a right onto the main taxiway and proceeded back the way it had come along Taxiway B. They bypassed the main hub with Terminals 1, 2, and 3, making for Terminal 5 and Link 56 with Bay 505. There, a jet bridge awaited their aircraft. It took several minutes for the jet bridge to be moved into position along the portside and then onto Door 2 even as the twin turbofan engines were shut down for the first time in many hours, plunging the aircraft into relative silence.
Very few aboard had noticed the actual landing as they had been fast asleep in their seats or bunks. There they remained with the interior of the aircraft in darkness for a few more hours. Due to the time zone discrepancy, the younger members had gone to bed very soon after lunch, with the very youngest making use of the six bunks located on the upper deck above the command centre. Within an hour, the older children and teenagers were encouraged to settle down and sleep. Everyone adjusted their seats to a fully flat position before blankets and pillows were passed out by the cabin crew. The interior lighting was dimmed and the glass in almost every window aboard darkened electronically.
The final people to turn in were Dave and Mindy who had said goodnight to the cabin crew before making for their suite.
A few hours earlier...
Tuesday, June 6th
North Atlantic Ocean
East of Newfoundland, Canada
18:00 GMT-3 (21:00 GMT June 6th)
THE PHOENIX
Mindy pushed open the door and she passed through while Dave followed along behind and closed the door behind him.
The master suite was almost full width at a little over fifteen feet from side to side. Six windows provided a view to starboard. The main features of the suite were the king-size bed against the forward bulkhead and the table with two seats over beside the windows. The bed was made from an aluminium frame with a dark faux wood covering. The bedding was, not surprisingly, mauve and purple. Three light fittings mounted horizontally above the bed provided some of the illumination for the suite. Either side of the bed, a small bedside table with single drawer and a lamp, finished things off. Fitted into the purple bedhead were a set of switches to control the lighting from the bed. Above the bed and mounted centrally was a cordless phone, a twin of which was mounted under the windows over the table. A thirty-two-inch widescreen television was mounted in each of the two corners, either side of the windows. Behind the door, a small dressing table with illuminated mirror over sat beside a four-door mirrored deck to deckhead wardrobe. Additional lighting was provided with two light fixtures mounted on the aft bulkhead, either side of a door which opened into an ensuite bathroom. A toilet was mounted to the left while a sink with illuminated mirror over sat centrally. To the right of the door, a brass adorned shower was fitted with space for two adults. A brass rail was mounted on the wall at waist height inside the shower for use in flight.
Mindy slipped off her clothing, retaining her bra and panties, before she slipped under the purple duvet over mauve sheets and she laid her head down onto the purple pillow. Dave joined her, just adorned in his boxers, relishing the soft mattress and bedding. It was a relief for the pair to finally be alone, not to mention beginning their very first night aboard their flying fortress.
"I love you, Dave," Mindy said as she gave Dave a kiss on the lips.
"I love you, too, Mindy."
Dave returned the kiss as the pair slipped beneath the duvet...
Many hours (and two thousand miles) later...
Wednesday, June 7th
London Heathrow Airport
London, United Kingdom
07:30 GMT+1 (06:30 GMT June 7th)
THE PHOENIX
Becky moaned as she rolled over in the bunk, relishing the soft mattress and the warm duvet.
"Becky, time to get up."
The nine-year-old girl opened her eyes and she grinned up at Chloe who smiled back at the sparkling brown eyes. Opposite Becky's bunk, Xiāngxìn sat up, rubbing her eyes as she grinned over at Becky. Chloe moved on down the bunks, waking up Kendra, Anne-Marie, Danny, and Lin. The six youngsters were soon chatting as they swiftly pulled on their clothes and headed down to the main deck. There, they found most of the adults and the older children moving about, preparing for the day, washing and dressing.
The smell of breakfast soon had everybody moving quickly as, mostly, they were all starving.
The Master Suite
"Morning, Mum! Morning, Dad!"
"Huh..."
"Don't mind us..."
Mindy opened an eye, peering around the suite. She spied the partially closed bathroom door and then she heard running water.
"I think the animals are loose," Mindy muttered to Dave.
"You know where the Tasers are," Dave responded, somewhat tiredly.
Mindy chuckled as she sat up in bed, reaching over to pickup a T-shirt from the floor beside the bed. After pulling it on over her naked body, Mindy stepped over to the ensuite bathroom and she pushed open the door. She chuckled as she saw Stephanie and Anne-Marie in the shower, washing.
"Hi, Mom!" Anne-Marie called out as she washed her hair while copious amounts of steam filled the shower cubicle.
"We didn't think you'd mind," Stephanie said as she finished rinsing off her own hair.
"I don't," Mindy replied. "Is the shower good?"
"Awesome, Mom!" Anne-Marie decided.
"Hurry up, we're next," Mindy said.
The two girls rapidly finished off before vanishing, fluffy purple towels wrapped around their bodies. However, before Mindy could venture into the shower, Jamie and Danny pushed past and jumped into the shower, dumping their towels onto the slightly damp, tiled floor.
"Hi, Mum, Dad."
"Morning, Mom, Dad."
"For the love of...!" Mindy exclaimed, before calming down and laughing as Dave wrapped his arms around his wife.
Finally, a few minutes later, Mindy pulled Dave into the shower and the pair enjoyed a few minutes of fun...
The Dining & Meeting Area
The massive dark oak-veneered table, which was designed to seat sixteen, was arranged with sixteen place settings while a long sideboard under the starboard windows was loaded up with hot plates which were filled with hot food, coffeepots, teapots, as well as cereals, milk, and fruit juices.
Nobody went hungry as they enjoyed plates piled high with food, providing the energy for the day ahead. The bread for toast was freshly baked that morning, and the pancakes were made from freshly prepared batter. The milk for the cereal had been freshly obtained that morning and the orange juice was freshly squeezed. For a change, breakfast passed with little chatter as everyone was busy eating and drinking. Mindy and Dave smiled as their little family sat together to eat. They were not alone as those with parents and siblings aboard tended to drift together for the first meal of the day. Abigail sat with Brad while Shannon sat with Iain, Annabelle, and her parents. Marc joined them. Ariana, Freya, and Eva found themselves with Willow and Kendra. Lizzie and Lauren were with Emily while Jennifer sat with her young daughters. Ruth and Tommy spent most of breakfast discussing Stephanie, much to that girl's annoyance. Lucy spent her time with Hailee, Abby, Mathilda, and Marty. As for Hunter, he joined Curtis and Megan who sat with Saoirse. That simply left Becky who wouldn't venture more than six feet from Chloe and Joshua.
Reg and Arya appeared towards the end of breakfast to offer their 'good mornings' to all before they sat down with Dave and Mindy to discuss upcoming events over a coffee.
Terminal 5
Heathrow Airport
10:45 GMT+1 (09:45 GMT June 7th)
After breakfast was over and the day's plans had been agreed upon, Marty and Abby took charge of THE PHOENIX while Dave, Mindy, Jennifer, Stephanie, Jamie, Abigail, Tommy, Saoirse, Shannon, and Marc disembarked and made for the next-door terminal building.
The group entered the terminal from airside and were met by two Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) employees who provided them all with security passes to allow them to make their way to the underground station deep below the terminal. They boarded a glass-enclosed lift which took them down to the platforms which made up the Heathrow Terminal 5 station on the London Tube. At 11:00 the train trundled into the station, before stopping and opening its doors. The trains were predominantly silver with a broad blue stripe at the bottom and made up of six carriages. The ends and the doors were red. The group of ten stepped aboard the second carriage and they occupied six seats along one side with Stephanie, Jamie, Abigail, and Tommy occupying four of the opposite six seats. Other passengers boarded, most with luggage.
At 11:14 the electric train pulled out of the station slowly before it pulled into another station, just three minutes later. More passengers boarded from Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3. Then came an hour of stop-start travel as the train moved along the Piccadilly line, headed for Cockfosters, stopping every two or three minutes to disgorge or entrain dozens of passengers at the likes of Hatton Cross, Hounslow, South Ealing, Acton Town, Earl's Court, South Kensington, Knightsbridge, Hyde Park Corner, Piccadilly Circus, and finally their destination.
The Tube train pulled smoothly into King's Cross St Pancras at 12:14 where they all disembarked and made for the upper levels.
St Pancras Station
London
12:20 GMT+1 (11:20 GMT June 7th)
As they walked the length of the station, making for the Eurostar Departures, just outside M&S Food, there was a loud yell from just up ahead.
"Yippee!"
Any sense of decorum which Stephanie normally tried to show went out of the window as she saw her friend emerge from John Lewis and she ran off screaming loudly.
"Wow, 'lectra!"
"Steph!"
"Oh brother!" Abigail threw in as she watched the two girls hug and giggle.
"It's disgusting!" Jamie conceded.
"Hello, Patrick," Mindy said as she shook hands with the commander.
"Good to see you, Mindy! Electra's been up for hours, driving us all completely round the bend!"
"Hi, Mindy!" Electra exclaimed as she and Stephanie walked over.
"I suddenly feel like I don't have enough insurance," Mindy muttered as she cast her eyes across Stephanie, Electra, Abigail, Jamie, Saoirse, Marc, and Shannon."
"Tell me about it," Jennifer muttered. "I think I felt safer in the jungle."
"I love my granddaughter very much," Patrick chuckled, "but I really need some peace, however, thanks to her and her friends, I have a bloody nightmare still to be ironed out!"
Electra grinned broadly.
"It wasn't my fault his head came off...," the ten-year-old muttered defensively.
"Go!" Patrick grinned. "Behave!"
"Ha!" Mindy laughed. "Like that will ever happen!"
The group of eleven made their way to the departures even as Patrick headed very quickly for the exit.
The Eurostar
12:58 GMT+1 (11:58 GMT June 7th)
The 394-metre long Eurostar pulled out of the station at 12:58.
The British Rail Class 373 power cars effortlessly pulled the eighteen coaches of which the group of eleven occupied almost a third of Coach 11. They all had Standard Premier seating – Mindy had booked twelve seats which meant one was empty. They sat in two groups at one end of the carriage. The two groups of six seats, four and two with the passageway in between, were separated by a luggage rack. Dave, Mindy, and Jennifer occupied a table for four while Shannon and Marc sat across from them. Stephanie, Electra, Abigail and Tommy sat at the other table for four with Saoirse and Jamie across from them. The journey was one of two hours and ten minutes, taking them through the English countryside at over 180 miles-per-hour before racing through the Channel Tunnel and under the English Channel before emerging into France and racing southeast across the country from Calais to Lille before turning east and crossing into Belgium.
Understandably, the youngsters were all very excited and the adults were very pleased when everybody dug into sandwiches for lunch and the coarse language was throttled.
Wednesday, June 7th
Brussels Midi Station
Brussels, Belgium
16:08 GMT+2 (14:08 GMT June 7th)
The train arrived in Brussels, coming to a smooth halt in the station at 16:08 local time.
It took several minutes to manoeuvre the very talkative girls out of their seats and then out onto the platform. After leaving the train, they collected the keys to a trio of Audi automobiles from the Hertz car rental desk.
"Super Cover – oh yes," Dave muttered as he ticked several boxes on the rental form. "Personal Insurance – definitely . . . if Mindy's driving. Premium Emergency Roadside Service – again, if Mindy's driving then . . . yes!"
"You fucking finished, cunt!" Mindy hissed into her husband's ear as Stephanie, Electra, and Jamie did their best not to laugh as Mindy's mood visibly darkened.
"Not yet," Dave chuckled as he needled his wife. "Collision Damage Waiver; oh . . . definitely."
Electra was the first to crack, bursting into laughter closely followed by Stephanie and Jamie, all three ignoring Mindy's angry glare.
..._...
The two Audi S8 Quattro saloons were almost identical with only the SQ7 being different.
Dave grabbed the one painted in a deep blue metallic and he was joined by Jamie and Tommy. Mindy took custody of a deep grey metallic Audi and she was joined by Stephanie, Abigail, and Electra. That left Jennifer with the light grey seven-seat Audi SQ7 where she was joined by Saoirse, Shannon, and Marc. Everyone mounted up so that they could get on the road as they had a very tight schedule ahead of them. First, before they could go about their mission, they needed to arm themselves. Now, Mindy had been very tight-lipped about how they might acquire weapons which had annoyed Stephanie as she liked to think that her adoptive mother told her absolutely everything. Mindy did tell Stephanie almost everything, but she liked to keep a few secrets – besides, annoying her daughter was good fun.
After a twenty-minute drive, Mindy turned into an industrial estate and she expertly navigated the maze of roads before stopping outside a set of very rusty steel gates. After a two second pause, the gates swung open, noiselessly on well-oiled hinges.
Mindy accelerated forward into the darkness before passing around the back of a non-descript warehouse and reducing her speed.
Mindy Box E034/198
16:48 GMT+2 (14:48 GMT June 7th)
The non-descript warehouse appeared deserted and would not have normally attracted even a second's attention from passers-by . . . which was exactly the point.
As the three vehicles approached the warehouse, Marty remotely commanded the steel roller shutter at the left side of the building to open, just as he had done with the steel gate. The very moment the third vehicle had passed through, the shutter closed and only then did the interior lighting snap on. Instead of dreary, old-fashioned arc lighting, state-of-the art LED lights illuminated a large expanse of red-painted concrete, white-painted brick walls, and not very much else. The only items present in the entire warehouse appeared to be a sextuple arrangement of six twenty-foot containers gathered in the very centre of the floor. They were arranged in a block of three by two and they were securely welded to one another. Once the three cars were parked, Mindy stepped towards the steel access door at the end of one of the containers and as she reached out her right hand, there was an audible clunk and the door locks released.
Mindy heaved open the heavy door and she stepped inside.
..._...
Mindy was followed by a succession of confused kids.
"Oh, wow!" Tommy announced as he found himself in a comfortable-looking reception area which also screamed 'kill-zone' to the boy's experienced mind.
Tommy followed Mindy through another steel door which was fitted with a smaller hatch in the middle for passing out equipment. The boy stopped and gaped at a large sixteen-foot by twenty-foot space equipped with steel bunks, steel tables, and steel chairs. The entire space was very spartan and all items were covered in a protective plastic covering.
"Over there are unisex toilets and washing facilities," Mindy explained, pointing into the far corner. "The main area through that door is the armoury. There is a small galley over there, and that door leads to a storeroom and the computer core for this facility."
"She's right," a voice stated, and Tommy grinned up at a large forty-inch TV mounted on the wall. "After Mindy's European rampage, last year...," Abby explained from the TV.
"It was not a 'rampage'!" Mindy cut in indignantly.
"No, not at all!" Stephanie offered derisively as she joined Tommy.
"We established a number of secure weapons caches around Europe, just in case Mindy should wake up one morning and choose to go on the rampage again...," Abby continued.
"Like she did, just last week," Dave interceded with a broad grin.
"We call them Mindy Boxes!" Abby finished.
"I wanted to call them: Mindy's whoops I just invaded another sovereign country by going on a rampage box," Dave quipped. "But it was a little bit longwinded, so we kept the name short . . . like Mindy."
"It was not a 'rampage'!" Mindy repeated even more pointedly.
"You keep telling yourself that," Stephanie chuckled as she patted Mindy's left arm.
"They're awesome, Mum," Jamie commented as Abigail and Electra nodded approvingly.
Jennifer and Saoirse were poking around the galley and they began making some coffee and tea for everyone with the assistance of Shannon and Marc.
..._...
Mindy had been dead against it, but Stephanie, Jamie, and Electra had persisted to the point where Mindy was on the verge of killing someone.
Saoirse, ever the pragmatist, tried to persuade the girls and Jamie that nothing good could come from digging up the past. Only, a part of the girl could see where the younger Predators were coming from; they simply wanted some form of closure. Saoirse agreed that it could be dangerous, but Stephanie, Jamie, and Electra were adamant about going. Mark and Shannon offered to go along to keep watch.
Finally, Mindy gave in and the group of seven boarded the Audi SQ7.
Former Urban Predator Training Facility
19:45 GMT+2 (17:45 GMT June 7th)
It had been Stephanie's idea but the other two had joined in readily.
The facility had been closed down, well over a year previously, and then cordoned off to prevent any unauthorised access by members of the public. The facility was scheduled to be torn down, but the government was concerned about anyone finding out what had actually occurred in the building, so it had simply remained cordoned off. Very little had been disturbed in the months since it had last been occupied. The facility had been created under the noses of the Government with only certain members of the intelligence service being even vaguely aware of its existence, if not the actual role it played in destroying the lives of so many young children.
Breaking in was not a problem for any of them. While Shannon and Marc kept watch in the darkness outside – neither of whom was very keen on entering the place anyway – Mindy, Stephanie, Jamie, Electra, and Saoirse broke the chains securing the main entrance doors and they passed inside. The place was a mess with discarded clothing, general rubbish, used medical equipment, and evidence of weapon's fire, scattered all around. Dust and dirt was prevalent with the smell of damp in the air. Together, they walked through the corridors, Mindy's eyes wandering everywhere as their torches danced around the walls, floors, and ceilings.
They had been in the building just four minutes when Stephanie had suddenly frozen, and then she had begun to shake from head to toe. Mindy's mind quickly figured it out and she turned to see Electra looking just the same and frozen to the spot. Then Stephanie bolted, and the girl ran off into the darkness, navigating with unerring accuracy and never once running into a wall or a door.
Electra followed her friend just two seconds later, leaving Mindy, Jamie, and Saoirse to take off in pursuit.
..._..
After pounding down several corridors, Saoirse found the two girls.
"In here!" Saoirse called out as she skidded to a halt on the linoleum floor.
Mindy did the same, backtracking to a wooden door with bolts fitted top and bottom. Inside, Mindy was stunned to see what appeared to be four jail cells made up of vertical bars arranged into a square in the centre of the room. Stephanie was on her knees beside one of the cages. Inside the cage, a solitary stained mattress lay amongst the dust. Mindy never said a word as she stood just inside the doorway to the room.
"This is where we first met. This is where a frightened little seven-year-old first met an abused eight-year-old during April 2014."
Mindy looked down to see Electra standing beside her.
"When they brought her in, I thought she was dead. They stripped her naked and I could see that her body was covered in welts, bruises, and blood. To make things worse, one of the instructors kicked the girl in the chest – I heard a rib or two give way."
"Vicious little yellow bitch, aren't you?" Stephanie said, remembering their first meeting.
Electra stepped forward and she knelt down beside Stephanie. Mindy left them, both to their memories as she stood with Jamie and Saoirse. Mindy looked around the depressingly morbid room and she considered that while her childhood had been unconventional, the three girls with her had endured much worse, in retrospect. After a few minutes, Electra stood up and she left the cage, stepping over to where a solitary wooden chair sat by the wall.
"This is where I spent my days," Electra explained as she sat down on the chair. "I would sit here and watch the Predators during their punishment. I would feed them and give them water. I was in charge and they had to obey me."
"I made a deal with the little yellow dweeb," Stephanie said quietly. "I promised to behave if she was nice to me."
"That was the same day she was publicly strapped," Electra said. "Seeing her strapped scared the hell outta me."
"Then the silly bitch got herself into trouble and was thrown into the next cage," Stephanie explained.
"I refused to rat out Stephanie for training me."
"Then came the showdown with Abigail which got Electra her greys," Stephanie finished.
"Me and Abigail spent a long time in cages just like this in our facility in America," Jamie said quietly.
"I am so sorry," Mindy said, not knowing what else she could say, and Electra and Stephanie nodded without saying a word.
"Guys!" a voice shouted as feet came pounding down the corridor.
"What is it?" Mindy asked Shannon.
"I think we may have a problem," Marc commented.
"What sort of a problem?" Mindy asked.
More feet could be heard pounding up the corridor.
"That kind of a problem," Marc replied as he indicated the corridor behind him with his left thumb.
..._...
Mindy peered out into the corridor, past the boy, and she saw six men, all wearing body armour, heading in their direction.
"I think we may just have walked into a trap," Mindy mused as she pulled out her Glock from the concealed holster in the small of her back.
"Who are they?" Stephanie asked, an H&K pistol held in her own right hand.
"No fucking idea!" Mindy responded before she looked down at Stephanie and Electra. "Is there another way out of here?"
"Yes," Electra stated as she waved her own H&K pistol in the vague direction of another door which Mindy had overlooked in the far corner of the horrible room.
Electra bolted for the other door and she kicked it open before she vanished into the darkness.
"Take a left," Stephanie advised as she followed her friend.
Saoirse and Jamie went next, leaving Shannon and Mindy to follow on behind. However, the men burst into the room before Mindy and Shannon could vanish. Bullets clanged against the bars of the steel cage from the attackers' submachine guns. Mindy and Shannon ducked down, returning fire with their pistols.
"Halt an und kapituliere!" a voice shouted.
Mindy looked at Shannon who simply shrugged – neither spoke German but they got the gist of the order.
"Nein! Fucking nein!" Mindy bellowed back, hoping the enemy got the gist.
"Töte sie!" came the response and the bullets came thick and fast.
"What the fuck are you two doing?" Stephanie grinned from the door. "Try this."
Shannon caught the small explosive hand grenade and grinned.
"Ready?" Shannon asked Mindy who glared at the grenade which had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"Throw it!" Mindy ordered.
Shannon pulled the pin and paused for almost a full second before she launched the grenade at the far doorway, the explosive device striking the floor, then bouncing to hit the wall before spinning to a halt on the floor beside one of the men."
"Granate!" the man bellowed before he tried to escape the device which suddenly detonated in a bright flash, the explosion rocking the building and bringing down copious amounts of ceiling.
Mindy and Shannon fled.
..._...
Mindy had no idea where she was being led.
She was very aware that she was being led into the depths of a building which had had a part in creating Stephanie and Electra, making them what they were. The place creeped her out no end and she wanted out. Nevertheless, she followed the Predators into the dark depths of the forbidding building. After a few minutes of fumbling about in the darkness and entrusting her life to a ten-year-old and an eleven-year-old, Mindy sensed trouble. Only Shannon had sensed it too and with exquisite timing, she turned on the spot and fired off a single round. In the flash of the gunshot, Mindy caught sight of three men just a few yards behind them, creeping through the darkness. One man fell, his head exploding as a result of the collision with a nine-millimetre bullet travelling at more than seven hundred miles-per-hour. The other two men dove to the ground, rolling and coming up, torches on their submachine guns igniting and searching for targets. Only, their targets were all highly skilled and they and also hit the floor, rolling out of sight.
Carefully, the two men stepped forwards into what could only be an ambush, however, they trusted that their body armour would save them. A man could dream... Shannon expertly wrapped her arms around the shoulders of one man as he passed. Her legs wrapped around his waist even as she stabbed him in the throat, above the body armour, twisting the blade and shredding his windpipe. The point of the blade pierced the backbone and the man dropped like a marionette whose strings had been severed. Shannon rolled away as more men flooded the corridor, torches flashing. Marc took the other man, duplicating Shannon's attack but using a pair of knives, one for the man's neck and the other for his groin. Marc escaped most of the hot blood which spewed forth and on which one of the running men skidded before crashing to the floor. His body armour did not help as Jamie plunged a blade into the mercenary's face, killing him instantly as the blade penetrated the soft cartilage of the nose and entered the base of the brain. A quick twist to make sure, and Jamie pulled out his blade, wiping it off on the man's clothing as he moved off into the darkness.
The viciousness of the sudden attack had given the attackers pause.
..._...
Five men moved very slowly down the corridor which gaped ahead of them.
They were all very aware that their colleagues had died horribly at the hands of those who they were supposed to be capturing or killing. Even worse, all but one had been mere children. How could mere children cause such horrible injuries and death? As far as they could tell, not a single one of their targets had been injured, despite their own heavy losses and in response, their tactics had changed somewhat. They were all mercenaries – paid soldiers – and rather than going in guns blazing, they had switched to close quarters combat. Instead of sub-machine guns, they were bearing knives and pistols. They moved as a group, covering one another, eyes seeking to penetrate the gloomy darkness all around them. Their ears were attuned to the slightest sound, but there was none, which was most disconcerting to the mercenaries. Somewhere up ahead, there were six people waiting to kill them – it was just up to the men to shoot or stab first. The group of five men paused at a junction in the corridor. To the left, the corridor vanished off into the darkness. To the right, a set of double doors sat partially ajar. Straight ahead, a single door stood open. Closer inspection identified a large commercial kitchen through the single door ahead, with a large dining hall through the double doors.
The team separated, with two men stepping into the kitchen and the remaining three heading into the dining hall.
..._...
The kitchen and everything in it was covered in a thick layer of dust.
There was the unhealthy stench of mould from plates and dishes which had been simply abandoned many months before. The current state of the normally shiny stainless-steel counters would have given a health inspector a heart attack. As the two men moved silently across the fired-ceramic tiles, they were careful to sidestep broken crockery and scattered cutlery. There were a myriad of places in which someone could hide, and a myriad of potential ambush spots. In fact, one of those ambush slots was occupied, and one of the attackers found out the hard way that he had missed the spot as a knife came out of the shadows and plunged deep into his right thigh. The man resisted the urge to scream out as he turned to find a dark form jumping out at him.
Electra punched the man in the face as she cannoned into him. She kicked the deeply embedded knife with her left leg, eliciting a painful grunt from the large man whom she had selected to ambush out of the darkness. As she held on to the man's body armour with her left hand, her right hand came down with an appropriated twelve-inch kitchen knife held in her fist. With perfect aim, Electra brought the knife down so that it struck the man just below his jaw, the sharp point slipping vertically inside his body armour and plunging deep into his chest. The man bellowed out in agony as his heart was severed in two. Electra jumped off the collapsing body and she rolled across a vacant countertop before vanishing back into the darkness.
A few yards away, near the doors which led from the kitchen into the dining hall, Stephanie moved faster than she thought she was able as she raised a slim fighting knife with an eight-inch blade. She plunged the blade downward, her vantage point atop a large gas range allowing her to strike from above to the least protected part of the man's body armour. Her adversary was large and highly skilled, but Stephanie had agility and surprise on her side, not to mention that she was fighting on familiar territory, so to speak. Stephanie knew every square inch of the facility in which she had been incarcerated for almost a full year of her short life. In her mind's eye, she saw the unknown attackers as Urban Predator instructors. That very thought gave her a blood lust and adrenalin rush which gave her almost superhuman strength beyond that of a mere eleven-year-old girl.
The blade dug deep into the shocked man who found himself rapidly overtaken by developing events. The pain was unbearable, but he was a fighting soldier and he fought back, throwing his attacker off and sending her crashing into a pile of discarded pots and pans. The maddened mercenary advanced on his shorter attacker, his own combat knife raised. Stephanie was astounded that the man was still able to fight with a blade dug deep into his chest, however, she fought on, scrambling to her feet, knowing that if she remained still, even for a moment, she was dead. Her attacker appeared frenzied and angry, the astute girl noticed as her eyes sought out alternative weapons, even as she scrambled for safety. She grabbed hold of a large saucepan in her right hand and she took it across the man's face. The man grunted in pain as his nose was smashed but he still did not go down.
"You have got to be kidding!" Stephanie exclaimed as she scrambled off the counter and down the length of the kitchen with the enraged bull chasing after her.
Stephanie figured that she'd bitten off more than she could chew, but she had no choice but to finish the bastard off. She was also wondering where Electra had got to – the girl was in the kitchen somewhere. An idea was forming in her mind, but she was unsure if she could pull it off on her own as she made for a row of enormous fridges fitted against the wall at one end of the kitchen. She knew from past experiences that the last one in the row had a gap between it and the wall – never mind how she knew; that was a story for another time. However, when she got there, and scrambled in behind the fridge, she found someone already there.
"What...?" Stephanie asked.
"I knew you'd need help with this," Electra said simply as she braced her back against the wall and then placed her feet high up at the back of the giant fridge.
Stephanie just grinned as she did the same. They could both hear the approaching attacker, and he did not seem very happy for some reason or other.
"Du verdammte Schlampe! Ich werde dich ficken auseinander reißen! Ich werde dich bluten lassen. Ich werde dich Leiden lassen..."
"What's he saying?" Stephanie asked Electra. "You speak German."
"You don't want to know," Electra responded. "Push!"
Both girls pushed with all their might, using their strong thigh muscles to angle the fridge forward about thirty degrees before they both shoved with the last of their strength and the fridge teetered past the point where gravity took over and the 160-kilogramme kitchen appliance tipped forward. Their target never noticed the appliance crashing down atop him until it was too late for him to do anything about it. The man was big, but the kitchen appliance was bigger, and the man was knocked to the ground, the fridge crushing him from the chest downwards. Stephanie and Electra tumbled down from the wall, atop the back of the appliance. Stephanie fell closest to the mercenary.
As far as she was concerned, the man was out of the fight, and she did not give the bastard a moment's thought.
..._...
Meanwhile, in the dining hall, Mindy, Saoirse, Shannon, and Marc were busy with the other three men.
Mindy was in her natural element; she loved the darkness. The tactical advantages tended to outweigh the obvious disadvantages. Much the same applied to the three Predators. They had been trained to take every advantage and the darkness was just an advantage, nothing else. The dining hall was just that, a mass of tables and chairs, mostly in disarray. The furniture aided the ambush as it was all but impossible to see anybody hiding thanks to the many steel legs. The three men advanced in a loose arrow formation. Their eyes were everywhere, front, sides, behind, below - just not above. The ceiling above them was partially collapsed in places – water damage from burst pipes. Shannon knew that the water pipes for the fire main ran through the ceiling over the dining room – it was a standard design for the Urban Predator facilities – and a host of smaller red pipes ran off the main with another medium-sized pipe heading for the sprinklers in the kitchen. Shannon used the pipes to hang from as she transited the dining hall, keeping the unknown attackers in sight as she went. Then, when the reached the right point, she released a hand, grasped her knife, then she rotated and dropped.
The man to the left was struck by Shannon from eight feet above his head. The weight was nothing much, but it was a surprise, and the man hated surprises. Shannon did not give the man time to respond as he fell to the side, cannoning into a table and several chairs. By the time Shannon had struck the floor, the man's throat was bleeding heavily from the blade in Shannon's right hand and he never stood back up. The crash of the furniture was the signal for Marc and Saoirse to attack. Saoirse took the point man in the side of the head with her fist before she kicked him in the face. The man was not having any of it as he gave Saoirse a kick of his own, sending her crashing into another group of chairs and a table.
"Fuck!" she announced loudly as she lost her grip on the knife in her hand which skidded away into the darkness.
The man grabbed Saoirse by the ankle, and he threw her across the floor where she skidded into a wall with a crash. Marc jumped out of the way of Saoirse as he stabbed his own target – the man on the right flank – in the side of the neck. He missed on the first strike, catching the shoulder but striking home as the man came around, a mass of blood spraying out from the severed carotid artery. Jamie grabbed Saoirse and he helped the older girl back to her feet as Mindy entered the fray, jumping off a table and grabbing the large oaf around the neck, twisting savagely as they struck the floor, and snapping the man's neck.
"That all of them?" Jamie asked.
"I think so," Mindy said as she looked around.
Then Mindy froze as she heard a spin chilling scream coming from the direction of the kitchen.