Chapter 30

"You're the leak," Caradoc said. "I don't know how you did it, but you must be."

"Correct," Fischer said. "It was as easy as taking candy from a baby."

"How?"

"There's no point telling you now, since the four of us are going to die."

Gawain pushed him aside and leaned into the radio. "You did all that just to kill us? That's pathetic."

"Hold your tongue, girl," Fischer sneered. "This ship is filled to the brim with antimatter vials and potassium nitrate. It only takes one to set it all off."

"Kingsman will live on after us," Caradoc said. "There's no point in blowing us up."

"Oh, but you aren't the point."

"Then what is?"

"Do I sound like a Bond vi- ah, screw that. It's no use to you anyway. Do you remember the chaos of V-day?"

"Who doesn't?"

"Not to the world. To your organisation. We thought it would be the end of you, finding that Mr. King was one of Valentine's. But you survived. You clawed your way to his base in the mountains and killed him and his lovely assistant."

"Get to the point," Gawain demanded.

"I will. Thing is, without Arthur, your organisation is in disarray. Which is exactly what I intend to do: put the last nail in the lid of the coffin."

"You'll fail."

"Maybe you'll see when I sail this ship into the New York harbour and detonate it."

"And how long until then? It'll take you days to get to New York, and we could just blow this ship before then," Caradoc said. "In the grand scheme things…" He glanced at Gawain. "...our lives don't really matter. It's who we save that does."

"Look out the window."

Gawain scrambled to the bridge viewport. "I don't see anything...oh shit."

"What?"

She turned to him, the blood draining from her face. "There's a fucking battleship out there flying the American flag."

Jonas peered through the scope of his sniper rifle, from his perch in the helicopter. "They're on the bridge!"

"The heck is taking them so long?" Urien asked from the pilot seat.

"I don- holy shit! Urien, land us on the deck!"

"I can't do that."

"Just do it! Now!"

"If we do that, we die. Look in front of us."

Jonas leaned and peeked over the edge of the helicopter door. A large grey shape was cutting through the water towards them. "How the fuck did they get that?"

"I'm turning around. Close the door."

"But Karl- okay, that's fine. I've an idea."

"Is it going to kill us?"

"It might kill everyone."

"Why are you even doing this, doctor?" Caradoc asked. "Is it just to destroy Kingsman? Don't you know what we do?"

"I know precisely what your organisation does, Mr. Beumers. But the problem is, you stand in the way of greater things."

"Like what? Like Valentine?"

"Valentine wasn't exactly one of us. We tried to persuade him, but he was convinced the world was doomed."

"Is that what you do? Save the world?"

"Yes, albeit in a different way than Mr. Valentine. He planned to destroy, while we simply wish to recreate and reconstruct."

"And who's we."

"The Cabal aims to preserve humanity, and if we cannot save the world, we cannot do that. And you're in the way. Enjoy your stay."

The radio switched itself off.

"Are we still jammed?" Caradoc asked.

"We are. Windows are bulletproof, so I can't smash through."

Caradoc stared at the redness that was beginning to creep out of the edges of her jacket. "Val, you're bleeding."

"I know." She unbuttoned her jacket, touching the wound with one hand and wincing. "Shit, must have been the adrenaline…"

"Val, sit down! You're not bleeding out on me."

She plodded over to the wall and slid down it. "You don't have to fuss over me, Dirk. I can take care of myself."

"You don't get it."

"Get what?"

"Val, I love you."

Gawain froze and just stared at him. The expression of shock then morphed into one of anger. "You have the best timing ever."

"I just thought I should say it, before we die. So at least you know." He went and sat next to her. "We could have been a lot of things, you know."

"You were the one who called it off."

"I know that. It's just...life isn't the same without you anymore." His hand found hers on the floor of the bridge. "Please, Val."

She closed her eyes. "I'm sure you remember the reason we broke up."

"Uther? Let him. Three years ago, I woke up, and I found out I was lying to myself, Val. Lying to myself! That I was going to sacrifice you to save the world. Because I can't fucking do it." Caradoc glanced at Karlien, then back at Gawain. "Don't you feel the same way?"

She said nothing.

"Please, Val."

"Our duty-"

"Don't give me any of that crap. You said yourself that if you ever had children, you'd want them to have nothing to do with Kingsman. We can retire, run away together somewhere and do whatever we want."

"If we survive this."

"When we survive this," Caradoc corrected. "Come on, once we deal with this, Uther and Arthur and all of them. It's just us, against them. And we'll win."

"I…" Gawain closed her mouth. Her eyes darted around the room, to Karlien, and then back at Caradoc. "You're right." She leaned in towards him.

He leaned towards her.

"Caradoc!" Merlin's voice came over the radio.

He sighed, and rocked back on his buttocks, cursing under his breath. "Great, great timing, Merlin!"

"Your problem. Your friend Jonas just called me with the most batshit insane plan I've ever heard."

"What?"

"He's going to swoop in and pick the three of you up, and fly out."

"There's a huge-ass battleship right outside, remember? He's not going to make it."

"That's why we're going to use Michael as the bait. Once they start shooting at him, Jonas can go in and get you."

"But Mich-"

"Is willing to sacrifice himself for the sake of the world. Shame, he would have made an excellent Kingsman."

Caradoc glanced at his partner.

"Do it," Gawain said. "But don't pick us up. Get Karlien out of here, and we're going to go below decks to try disarm the bombs."

"No," Merlin said. "We can launch a missile at the ship to take it out."

"That's even worse," Caradoc cut in. "It'll blow up the Americans. Then what? World War Three? No, the Cabal - Garth's people - they're probably going to nail this on us. You have to let us try."

"That's okay, but you only have an hour. After that. I'm blowing the ship."

"Thank you. Can you unlock the door?"

"Not unless you can find a USB port to plug me into the ship's systems."

"Well, the bridge's been sacked. As in, someone's gone over it with a sledgehammer makeover."

"Just a functioning one will do."

Caradoc ducked under the console, but saw no ports. "Come on," he muttered to himself and he pushed apart debris and broken glass from the displays.

"Got it!" Gawain produced a flash drive on a Kingsman keychain and plugged it in. It made a soft beeping sound as Merlin connected.

"Ah," Merlin said. "I can open the door, and I can stop the engines."

"Just do the first one," Gawain said. "If you stop the ship, they'll know something's wrong."

With a heavy sound, the wheel on the bridge door turned.

Caradoc pulled the door open, and looked at Karlien. "Jonas is coming to pick you up, okay? Follow me."

She nodded and tailed him out into the corridor, and down the stairs. He opened the door to the deck, just as the black Huey he had arrived in lowered itself close to the deck, and Jonas reached out.

Karlien grabbed his hand and was pulled up into the aircraft.

Caradoc gave Jonas a thumbs-up, and watched as the helicopter ascended, tilting towards the port once more. He re-entered the superstructure, drew his pistol and stared down the steps that led into the belly of the ship.

"Time to end this," Gawain said.

"Okay, Mike, I got Karlien, you can move out of there now."

"Doesn't matter; I'm fucking screwed."

"What?"

"There's a LaWS on the deck."

"What?"

"Laser weapons system, designed to take down aircraft. It's turning towards me right now."

"Holy shit."

"I'm not going to make it."

Jonas pursed his lips, holding Karlien close to him. "I'll see you when I see you, Michael."

"Same here."

Then, there was only static.

Caradoc discharged his weapon at the same time as Gawain, hitting Fischer multiple times in the chest, in unison. The scientist fell on his back, his laptop skittering out of his hand and across the floor.

Caradoc crouched next to him. "Doesn't feel so nice, does it, doc?"

"F-f-f-fuck y-you," Fischer managed, before going limp, his eyes staring at the empty space beside Caradoc's face.

Gawain picked up the laptop, flipping it open. "Needs a password."

Caradoc tossed her his own flashdrive, which she plugged into the USB port in the side. The screen flickered, and became black space with text running down it. After a minute, a dialogue box popped up.

Biometric security. Put his finger on the touchpad.

Caradoc grabbed Dr. Fischer's stiff hand, and placed his index finger on the little rectangle at the bottom of the touchpad.

The lines on the screen ran again, and the drone of the ship's engines ceased, and the ship came to a stop.

He stood up, smiling at Gawain. "I don't know about you, but I'm glad it's over." He gave Fischer's head a little kick.

"It's not over," she said. "The Cabal is still out there."

Another box appeared on the screen:

And Garth escaped.

"But," Caradoc said raising a finger. "I think we've more than earned our rest. So I'm going to call it quits for this week!"

The laptop beeped. "Not so fast," Merlin said. "I've got a lead on the other members of this Cabal."

"What?" Gawain asked.

"The ship that was airlifted from Singapore. It's used only by the military, so we should investigate who exactly sent it here."

"Let the team there handle it," Caradoc said. "How long until you can pick us up?"

"Well, Jonas' helicopter just ran out of fuel, and Michael's...Michael's dead, so about an hour. Why?"

"Nothing. Thanks you." He slammed the laptop screen down on the keyboard, putting it into a sleep mode.

"What now?" Gawain asked, crossing her arms.

"Well…" He took her hand in his. "A lot can happen in an hour."

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, shut up," she muttered, and locked lips with him.

The End

"Mr. Harker, isn't it?"

...or is it?

Epilogue coming soon.

Ending song: Luke Shay ft. Jeremy William - Up and Away