Chapter 11

"The reckoning is nigh, my friends," said the woman in the black dress and black masquerade mask. "At this very moment is our second direct attack on Kingsman. Soon, the Netherlands will be devoid of their influence, as we have previously done with Sweden."

The Briton raised his hand.

"Yes?"

"What country is next on Mr. Hendricksen's list?"

"From what I've gathered, he will cross that bridge when he gets to it. Although, he's shown interest in Germany next."

He put his hand down, satisfied.

The Singaporean was the next one to put her hand up. "Will his operations interfere with Singapore's current trade routes?"

"As always, we try to keep economical impact to a minimum, but we can't account for every eventuality. If it comes to that, I'm sure Mr. Tahal would be pleased to aid you financially until a long-term solution can be found."

The Arab nodded to her from the other side of the circular table.

"Any more questions?"

The South African representative raised his palm. "There will be equality for the people of my continent, will there?"

"Naturally. Once we destroy Kingsman, we will be able to freely operate around the globe. Then your people will get their equality."

The Chinese minister frowned. "But what of Valentine? Have you forgotten that he failed?"

"Valentine didn't operate under our jurisdiction. Call his failure a...a test run, if you will. We know better now." She brushed a loose strand of hair back. "I'll see you all again in a few months, ladies and gentlemen."

They stood up in unison, grasping their briefcases and folders.

"Bon voyage," she said.

Caradoc twisted the steering wheel, sending their Mercedes around the corner, the sound of sirens tearing after them. "See any ramps I can use?" he asked Gawain.

"This isn't an action movie!"

"That was worth a try!" He jammed their car into a narrow alley, but one of the police cruisers kept chase, an officer fitting out the side window at him. His bullets bounced off their bulletproof chassis and windows.

He burst out of the alley onto a busy street, almost t-boning a truck, and resumed his path on the correct side of the road. "They still coming?"

"Yes!"

"Toss a grenade, will you?"

"What, no! We don't kill cops, remember?"

"If we don't kill them, they're going to kill us." He turned off another road, heading out of the city."

"I'm not blowing them up! Just keep driving!"

There was the sound of rotors, and a helicopter appeared in the side mirror. A laser dot glowed the dashboard in front of Caradoc. "Stop the vehicle!" boomed a voice from above. "Stop now or we will shoot!"

Go fuck yourself, he thought. "Val, do we still have ziplocks in the back?"

She held one up next to his face. "Last one."

With one hand, Caradoc pulled his phone out of his trousers pocket and dropped it into the bag. "Yours too."

"You're not seriously going to, are you?"

"You know me; I'm normally serious."

The sniper in the helicopter blew right side mirror off, before the laser dot moved across to rest on one of Caradoc's hands.

He twisted the wheel one last time, and sent the car over the edge of a slope, and crashing into water.

Caradoc opened the glove box, removing two oxygen masks fitted with tanks, and handing one to Gawain. He pulled his own over his face just as the trickles became streams, and the water level rose. He pushed the window lower button, and the bulletproof side window lowered, causing even more water to torrent in.

He put one foot to the other, closed window, and pushed with all his might, launching himself out through the open one.

He kicked and cycled his arms in the murky river water, heading for the opposite bank. The oxygen tank hovering above the level of his head was going to last twenty minutes at most, which in his book was enough time for the police to stop looking in one area.

When the second hand on his watch had gone around eighteen times, Caradoc kicked downwards, creating thrust to lift himself to the surface. He broke out of the water, and to little surprise, the police were had moved down the bank, too far away to see him emerge.

Caradoc clambered onto the bank, removing and tossing the oxygen mask into the water. He sat there for a moment, until Gawain broke the surface as well, climbing up next to him. She twisted her hair, water dripping out of it, and then laid next to him. "That was close."

"We're not out of the woods yet." He stared at the cops patrolling the bank. "What happened to Oberon?"

"I don't know. He was talking to me and then someone was firing a machine gun."

"You think HQ's been attacked?"

"Highly unlikely, but it's not impossible. We've seen what Garth can do with just Jonas, so I think it's safe to assume he's responsible. Still, Sagramore and Oberon and Holly make a pretty good defensive force. Even better if Jonas helps out."

"But he's not back online?"

"He's probably still fighting."

"We should go check on them, just in case." Caradoc pulled himself up, and held out a hand, which Gawain took. He pulled her to her feet.

"I'll go find a car."

"That's a good start. Maybe they'll be waiting for us with snacks."

"They better be."

"You did well, Mr. Hekkers," Garth said. "My boss is pleased."

"Didn't you say bosses last time?" Klaas was pouring himself a glass of iced tea. He needed that, after what he'd seen.

"My bosses are regional."

"What are you part of anyway? How does one find out about stuff like Kingsman?" He sipped the tea.

"We don't have a proper name, but our agents are numerous. Global. To say it simply, we fight for the survival of humanity."

"Like that guy Valentine?"

"Valentine knew us. But he was never really one of us. Always wanted to go along with his own plans. Now he's six feet under. Go figure."

"Next you're going to tell me that you killed him."

"Actually, we were going to. His plan wasn't feasible." Garth's hand touched the back of his neck. "But then that boy - Galahad - did it for us. We didn't even have to lift a finger. Win-win."

"So why now? Why target Kingsman now?"

"Because now they're getting in our way."

"Your way of what?"

Garth turned to Klaas, an eyebrow raised. "Do I look like a Bond villain, Mr. Hekkers?"

"Actually, you kind of d-"

"I'm not a Bond villain. Do as you're told and keep to that. Otherwise, you know what we're capable of."

"What about Jonas?"

"That boy has so much potential. But I think it's time we sacrificed a bishop."

Klaas said nothing.

"Of all the cars you can hotwire, you choose this one?" Caradoc slammed a palm on the top of the dashboard of the Mini Cooper he was driving. "No offense, but it looks absolutely horrendous."

"The police won't suspect a thing. That's the point."

"Still, couldn't you have gone for the Lamborghini?"

"Something that expensive probably has a laser-cut key lock. And there's probably some sort of hotwire protection in place. We'd just die of old age before we got it started."

"You know how you keep making valid counter-points to me? I hate that."

Out of the corner of his eye, Caradoc saw Gawain smile.

The approached the castle, nothing looking out of place. "You're right; they probably handled it," Caradoc said. "Wait, what's-" His breath caught in his throat. He opened the car door, and took one step at a time towards the automatic doors, which were jammed.

An arm was between the doors, preventing it from closing. And connect to the arm was Sagramore, a particularly large hole in his chest.

Gawain pulled the door open, slipping inside.

"Val!" He gave Sagramore one last look, and entered the castle, pistol in his hands. Gawain was ascending the stairs, her gun in front of her.

Caradoc ran towards her, and got to the top just to see Gawain taking over behind a column.

Three of Harker's mercenaries were crouched on the ground, aiming their rifles down the corridor where Oberon's lab and office was.

He shot one of the in the head, and ran towards the other two. As they turned to the sound of his first shot, he used his momentum to fall towards the floor shoulder-first, rolling past them and stopping in a crouch. He shot both of the mercenaries in the head in rapid succession.

"Oberon!" Gawain called, moving down the corridor.

Holly poked her head out from behind another column. "Oh my god you're here!" She hugged Gawain. Her eyes were red-rimmed.

"Where's Oberon?" Caradoc asked, picking up an assault rifle and aiming it down the corridor.

"He got shot so I locked him in the office. Sagramore-"

"I know," Caradoc said. He back towards the office door and turned the knob.

Oberon was leaned against a desk, clutching his bleeding stomach. His eyes were closed, but his chest rose and fell, still breathing.

"He's lost a lot of blood," Caradoc said, pressing two fingers to Oberon's pulse. "We have to stabilise him."

"Give me a moment," Gawain ran out and into the lab.

Caradoc kept his hands on Oberon's neck, applying pressure to reduce blood flow. "Holly, where's Jonas and Dr. Fischer?"

"They took Dr. Fischer. Jonas went after the guy in the suit."

"The guy in the suit? Klaas?"

"Not Klaas. Someone else."

Gawain re-entered the room with a medical bag, and unpacked it, removing the gauze from inside and wrapping it around Oberon's neck.

Caradoc removed his hands, and pointed to the camera in the corner of the hallway. "We should be able to get something off the records. Holly, with me." He and Holly climbed the spiral stairs to Sagramore's office.

At the door, Caradoc stood for a long moment, before turning the knob and entering. The fireplace had been extinguished, and a pool of blood had gathered around a pair of dead mercenaries at the foot of the table.

Shaking his head clear, Caradoc went to one of the bookshelves and tossed out some books over his shoulder, revealing a large LCD touchscreen in the back. "What time did they get here?"

"Ten minutes ago," Holly said.

Caradoc turned the monitor on, displaying a multitude of folders containing video files. He tapped on the folder with today's date, and the the video of the current hour. He scrubbed the progress bar through, to ten minutes ago.

The video was split into four sections: the front yard, the first floor, the second floor and the third floor. In the first, he saw almost a hundred men approaching the front door, and then in the second section climbing the spiral stairs.

The third floor camera showed soldiers taking cover at the base of the stairs to Sagramore's office, and someone out of frame - Sagramore - firing down at them.

Then he saw the suited man.

He was thin and pale and wore glasses, and carried the Beretta with the silver suppressor that Jonas described. The Frenchman.

In the next few seconds, the Frenchman was a blur, leaping off the wall of the stairwell. Sagramore tumbled down the stairs, bleeding and shooting at the soldiers taking cover. He ran down the stairs, appearing on the second floor camera, then the first.

At the first floor, he quickly dodged the mercenaries' fire and eliminated them, before going to the door. The front camera showed twenty-odd men waiting outside, driving him back in with a fusillade of gunfire.

Then Sagramore turned around, and the Frenchman shot him with an assault rifle, the bullets going straight through his suit.

Caradoc replayed the last few seconds a few times, then turned off the monitor. Then he turned it on again and zoomed in on the footage, to the point where the Frenchman's face was most visible. He took a screenshot and saved it onto the cloud.

"Who's he?" Holly asked.

"We're about to find out. Oberon taught you some computer stuff, yeah?"

"Yeah."

"I want you to run a facial scan on him. He looks familiar, somehow. And one more thing."

"What is it?"

"We need a new place. HQ isn't safe anymore."