Chapter 23
James drifted back into consciousness slowly, as if being dragged up from the deepest ocean trench into the half light of shallower waters. His thoughts had slowed to a glacial pace, his senses were somehow muffled and disjointed. When he opened his eyes the light from the bedroom window blinded him and raising his head from the pillow caused a searing pain as if his skull where in a vice.
James sat up and rested his head in his hands until the pain became bearable. He then tentatively swung his legs onto the floor and half opened his eyes, regarding the room through a smudged haze. He vaguely recognised his sleeping quarters in Nan's warehouse.
He then became aware of a dull ache on his upper arm and discovered a large blood stained dressing covering a wound. James prodded it tentatively then slowly rose from the bed, his head swimming and his muscles complaining. He found that he was only able to muster a slow shuffle as he sought out the bathroom which was along an adjacent corridor.
On entering the bathroom James glanced at the mirror above the sink and recoiled in horror at the face that stared back. His eyes were a pinky red colour and his nose and mouth were surrounded by a dried green crust. James called out in shock and distress but his constricted throat only allowed a muted groan to be released. He stared at the wound on his forearm and realisation dawned, sending a chill down his spine.
James lurched from the room and into the hallway his thoughts reeling. How, how could this have happened? He searched his memory of the previous evening but only found a deep, dark abyss in his mind. Shaking his head violently in an attempt to clear the fog surrounding his brain, he shuffled down the long hallway in search of two section. Surely they could help him, could administer the antidote before the carnivorous urge overtook him and he put all of them in danger.
As he neared the door at the far end of the passageway it swung open and through the opening stumbled Kinders, Brains, and Nude Nut, their eyes red, green residue caking their mouths, low groans emerging from their throats. James looked at their arms and saw with despair the same telltale dressing masking what could only be the poisonous bite of their zombie attackers.
The soldiers groaned as they approached him, arms raised and reaching. James stared dumbstruck before a scorning voice sounded from behind him
"You complete piss heads. I let you go for one boys night out together and look at the state you come back in"
James turned to see Molly standing at the door to her sleeping quarters, arms crossed and scowling. He swallowed with difficulty and croaked "Molly...help"
Molly tutted and shook her head. "Sorry, I don't treat self inflicted illness. There is aspirin in the first aid box and plenty of water in the tap" and with that she turned on her heel and walked back into her room.
James turned back to Kinders and the others and grimaced "hangover?" He croaked.
They nodded in unison then Nude Nut put his hand to his mouth and made for the bathroom with some urgency. James watched him go then remembered their wounds. He pointed at Kinders dressing and made a questioning grunt.
Kinders shrugged and tentatively peeled the dressing back from his arm. Underneath was a reddened area of skin and in the middle the image of a love heart crossed by a scroll with 'mum' written across it.
James looked at the tattoo and then at his own arm "oh bugger" he said...
An hour later two section were assembled in the small briefing room they had set up just off the main warehouse space. They all looked terrible, Nude Nut and Dangleberries had their heads resting on the table whilst Mansfield Mike had his face in his hands. Only Smurf seemed to be unaffected by the night before.
They were waiting for Molly who had popped out to the chemist to replenish the depleted first aid kit. James looked around at his men.
"What the hell were we drinking last night?" He asked
"Think we started with lager, moved onto shorts then ended up with cocktails" said Fingers
"Cocktails? Were they the green things we were knocking back at the end?" Asked Brains
"Yep" confirmed Mansfield Mike "I think we invented them on the night. Creme the menthe, vodka, lemonade and two glacé cherries floating on the top. Think we called it a zombie bomb"
"We seem to have got most of it over ourselves" observed James "And whose idea was it to go to the tattooist?"
Two section looked at each other "it was yours sir " said Kinders "I think it was after you climbed on top of that bus stop and sang the national anthem"
"Oh yes, I think I recall... Did I also try and get on the top deck of that bus through the window?" Asked James distantly
Kinders nodded.
James shook his head.
"Do you like your tattoo?" Asked Dangleberries with a smile.
James grimaced "ummm I think the tattooist must have been a bit hard of hearing" he said and thought of the image of Cupid on his arm with the words 'Morley Forever' written below. Surely we would have said Molly...
"Too bloody right he was deaf" said Baz Vegas. "I asked for an anchor and look what I got"
He then rolled his sleeve up and they all stared at the image on his arm. James cleared his throat "amazing how much...detail they can portray."
The noise of the roller shutter door opening came from the front of the warehouse and they all quickly resumed their seats while James strode to the front of the room.
"...So let's pick that up a bit later Kinders" he said as Molly walked in the room. She looked around the room suspiciously at their innocent expressions.
"Feeling better?" She asked and they all nodded with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
"Ok" said James, let's review where we are. "Kinders, can you take us through mobilisation status"
Kinders then outlined the situation with regard to the setting up of their new base, the equipment they had and the drill they had undertaken. The warehouse was proving an excellent facility with plenty of space for their equipment, living accommodation and offices. There was even a long outbuilding adjoining the main structure which they could use as a makeshift range. They had worked hard over the last week to get the building ready and were now fully operational.
"Excellent" said James "Brains, where are we on monitoring and surveillance?"
The private then outlined the progress of the civilian investigation so far. All three groups of zombie attackers had appeared, attacked passers by, taken those they infected with them from the scene and vanished shortly afterwards. The zombies were all male, between 20 and 35 and their victims had a similar profile. The first group of attackers were Charlton fans on their way to a football match at the Valley ground, the second were a large group of friends on their way to the pub on a Saturday afternoon and the third group were a set of random individuals on their way to various locations, although four were also football fans on their way to a Chelsea game.
"The football link is interesting" said James. "Anything more on that?"
"Well sir" said Brains with some animation "funny you should say that, because there is certainly a football link to the locations of the attacks. All are within a half mile of large football stadia, Valley Ground, Charlton, Craven Cottage, Fulham and Stamford Bridge, Chelsea."
"That is a bit weird" said Molly "what are the police saying"
"Coincidence" shrugged Brains "its inner London, you are likely to be within half a mile of all sorts of things"
"Still worth checking out. Let's see if we can find something to link them." said James
"Sir" said Brains
"Ok, what about the pathogen, who has the capability to produce it in the UK?" continued James
"Anyone with a half decent chemistry set and a stock of pens" said Fingers. "Could be anyone from an A level chemistry student to one of the big pharmaceutical companies"
"Ok" said James "but we know that whoever is behind this has significant resources and influence. The big drug companies are powerful and pack a lot of punch in an election year. Let's see if we can't draw up a list of those with cause to flex their muscle at the moment"
"On it" said Fingers writing some notes.
James then turned to the remainder if the section "The rest of you let's have a full deployment drill at 10.00 hours followed by an equipment check. Dismissed"
With a scraping of chairs two section rose and filed out to their duties. Molly lingered behind and caught James eye.
"You got a sore arm? I've seen you touch it a few times and wince. Want me to take a look" she said
"Oh no, no its nothing. Just a bruise really. It will be fine." Said James hurriedly.
Molly shrugged and followed the others out in to the main warehouse. James checked the coast was clear then pulled out his phone and googled 'tattoo removal specialists London'. He then made a quick note of some details on the screen and walked out into the main space.
The roller shutter door clanked open as he passed revealing Harry and a second equally thick set man standing by the rear of a black van. Harry was carrying a sports bag with a crowbar poking out of the open zip. The bag clanked loudly when Harry put it down, as if it was full of heavy metal tools.
"Morning gents, another delivery?" asked James.
"Yer, that's right" said Harry "new ummm..., shipment just come in" Then he and the other man started to unload a range of merchandise from the vehicle including clothing, electrical equipment, jewellery and boxes of strong spirits.
James watched them for a time then went over to the far side of the warehouse to observe the deployment drill.
That afternoon, Kinders took most of two section into the range for shooting practice, each soldier fixing a silencer to his weapon to prevent the shooting being heard in the wider area. James was planning to join them but Brains called over from his bank of monitors and James joined him.
"Do you have something for me private?" Asked James.
"Not sure sir" said Brains. "I've been going through the CCTV footage taken in the three areas on the days of the attacks. I've looked particularly around the football stadia to see if I can see anything unusual."
"And you have seen something out of the ordinary?" Pressed James
"Not exactly sir, but...well look"
The private tapped on the keyboard and brought up a video of the area in front of the Valley ground. A steady stream of people could be seen approaching the stadium or milling around waiting. There were also a number of fast food vans dotted around with people queuing to buy refreshments before the match.
"Notice this van here sir" said Brains pointing to a red and white transit with a stripy awning and sign saying 'Barry's Burgers'.
"Well if I switch to Stamford Bridge shortly before the last attack..." And Brains tapped away at the keyboard once more to reveal a scene outside a different stadium.
"There" he pointed to the front half of a van on the very edge of the shot. It was clearly the same van even with only part of the vehicle captured, a small section of the awning and the word 'Barry's' could be clearly made out.
"What about Craven Cottage?" Said James
"Well, the CCTV cameras outside the stadium on that day had a fault and no footage was recorded. But I was looking at a video of the diverted traffic coming off of the A304 just after the attack and I spotted this"
Brains pulled up a video of a busy road junction.
"Wait for it sir" Said he private
James stared at the flow of vehicles being directed off the main road then suddenly there was the same van again turning left to reveal the signage on its side "Barry's Burgers"
"Oh good work private. " said James still looking at the screen. "we may have a candidate for the pathogen delivery mechanism." Then suddenly he spotted something else. "Brains, rewind it again will you, I thought...yes stop there!"
Brains stopped the video, the image freezing just as a large covered truck also turned into the diversion.
James moved closer to the screen "yes, I saw a lorry very similar to that when we were searching for the zombies after the Charlton incident. Can we get good images of the number plates of both vehicles and see what we can turn up from DVLA?"
"Sir" said Brains and started to tap away urgently at the key board. James patted the man on the back and walked across the warehouse to rejoin the firing range detail.
Later the same day, James led some of two section on a PT session which included a run in the local area. On their return they met Molly's Nan, Harry and his helper getting ready to leave in the black van. They were loading various items into a hold all including a bicycle chain, hammer, rope and jump leads.
James strode over " Afternoon. Off out?"
"Yer" said Molly's Nan. "Going to an...AGM of local ummm firms."
James looked at the bag "that's an interesting assortment of knik knacks."
"Stuff for some...team building sessions" replied Nan evenly.
"Oh lovely, I do enjoy a bit of bonding" said James
"So do we" growled Harry with a grin at Nan, then "All set Boss". Nan nodded and they set off.
On entering the warehouse Brains called James over. The major left the rest of two section to warm down and joined the private.
"Sir, I've got something back on the number plates. The van is owned by a catering company 'Barry's Burgers International' and the lorry by a distribution company called 'Just In Time'.
"Any connection between the two" asked James
Brains clicked the mouse "I pulled up their details from Companies House and they are both owned by the same outfit, a conglomerate known as DDC Ltd. who own all sorts of businesses."
"Anything linked to the drugs industry?" Asked James
"No sir, sorry" said Brains "looks like it might be a dead end"
"Excuse me sir" called over Fingers from where the rest of two section were still stretching and towelling down, "but did I just hear DDC Ltd mentioned?"
"Yes why?" Asked James
"Rings a bell" said Fingers with a frown and the soldier doubled away to one of the offices. He returned a moment later with a folder of papers and, setting it down on Brain's desk, started to rifle through them. By this time the rest of two section had wondered over to see what was happening.
"Ok" said Fingers "I did some research on UK drug companies like you asked me to Boss. There are really only three big ones Glaxosmithkline, AstraZeneca and PharmaCorp. Now, they are all struggling a bit for various reasons but PharmaCorp is the worst off and has been looking to go into other businesses to spread the risk like. It's set up a few subsidiaries to do that and one of them...yes here we are, is DDC Ltd" As he said this the private held up a document with the company name highlighted.
James took the paper and studied it. "I think we may be onto something here" he said "good work lads"
Just then one of the monitors on Brains array came to life. "Incoming video call sir."
James accepted the call and Beck appeared on the screen. " Ah James there you are. Sherman asked me to get in touch. He's had another meeting with that mystery man of his, espresso or something, and he thinks that there will be another attack very soon, a big one this time. No other details though."
"Thanks for letting us know Jonathan" said James
"My pleasure dear. Now I'm off to Paris for the grand opening of my new shop there. I'll be back in a couple of days but call me if you need me. TTFN!" The screen went blank.
James frowned and bit his lip. "We can assume the next attack will be in London again, near to a football stadium. Brains how many stadia are there in the greater London area?"
"About fourteen sir including the three that have already been targeted" responded the private
"Far too many to cover at once" said James.
"Hang on" said Molly "my dad had an ice cream van once. I remember he had to ask for a licence from the council each time he wanted to turn up to an event"
"Brilliant Dawes" said James "Brains, can you see whether Barry's Burgers has been issued a licence recently?"
Brains tapped away at the key board whilst the rest of them waited, the tension building.
"Yes" exclaimed the private "Newham has issued a licence for this coming Saturday at ...Upton Park!"
James turned to Molly and smiled. "I think its time I took your dad to that football match I promised him..."