Tunnels 05 - Spiral

replied.
    “Mrs. Burrows?”
    “Yes, Parry,” she said gently. “Why ever not?”
    “Elliott — sorry, I forgot that you also need to be granted British nationality. Answer me, please.”
    “Yes,” she said.
    “Sweeney?”
    “Yes, boss.”
    Parry then addressed Will and Chester, who confirmed their agreement.
    “Stephanie?” Parry said.
    “Like, yes,” she replied.
    “Right,” Parry said. “You should be aware that if any one of you leaks information regarding this matter, under the Defense of the Realm Act, you will be liable to summary automatic execution without trial or any form of legal recourse whatsoever.”
    “Execution?” Mrs. Burrows said.
    “I’d have full authorization to kill you,” Parry answered matter-of-factly. And from the tone of his voice, everyone knew he meant it. “After the nuclear disarmament treaty of 1972, it was resolved by a secret subcommittee within the Ministry of Defense that we were leaving ourselves at a howling dis-advantage. So . . .”
    Parry directed his flashlight beam into the corner of the room.
    There were ten metal containers there, shining dully.
    “Huh?” Stephanie said, wholly unimpressed after all the buildup.
    “We stuck a few TNDs away in here,” Parry said, “for a rainy day.”
    “TNDs?” Will asked.
    “Thermonuclear devices,” Parry explained.
    “Nukes . . . he’s talking about nukes!” Drake said, staring at the containers. “And he’s got to be bloody joking!”

    Parry and Sergeant Finch, armed with his ever-present clipboard, went around both the arsenal and the secondary cache, marking chalk crosses on the crates that contained the most potent explosives. Bit by bit, these were then loaded onto a trolley, which was pushed to the stairwell. Will and Chester took over from there, finding they had the unenviable task of lugging each crate up the eight flights of stairs to Level 2, where another trolley was waiting for them.
    It was hard work: The wooden crates were heavy, and the boys were suffering from the lack of air. As they labored up the stairs with the umpteenth crate between them, Chester seemed to be oblivious to the rope handles cutting into his hands. They finally cleared the stairs with their crate and placed it carefully on the trolley with all the others.
    Leaning against the wall and breathing heavily, Will caught his friend’s eye. Chester gave him a broad grin as if he hadn’t a care in the world.
    “You OK?” Will asked him.
    “Just pleased to be doing something,” Chester replied. Regardless of the way he seemed to be coping, Will was concerned about him, but there wasn’t much he could do right now.
    Chester mopped his brow. “Where’s Drake got to? I say we take this load to him ourselves.”
    “Sure,” Will agreed.
    With Will pulling and Chester pushing, they wheeled the heavily laden trolley down the corridor. One of the wheels had begun to squeal plaintively. “Reminds me of when we were emptying the wheelbarrow on Highfield Common,” Chester remarked.
    As they came to the end of the corridor, they steered the trolley through a doorway and into the utility room Drake had identified. He’d said it was their best bet to punch a way through the mountainside.
    The room was already piled high with crates, and Drake was in the process of embedding pencil-sized detonators into each one, which were connected by a skein of cables.
    “Cool,” Drake said, glancing at the trolley. “I’ll unload it myself if you want to get on.”
    “How many more do you need?” Chester asked, looking at the stacks of crates beside Drake.
    “Enough to fill this room, then the one next to it,” Drake answered. “I reckon that’s another twenty or so trips with the trolley.”
    “Twenty!” Chester exclaimed, laughing in an exaggerated way. “Cool — we’ll keep ’em coming,” he added as he left the room. They could still hear his laughter as he passed down the corridor, slapping the wall and saying “More, more, more!”
    “He’s not himself,” Drake pronounced in a low voice, frowning.
    “Are any of us?” Will shot back.
    “Well, keep a close eye on him, won’t you, Will?” Drake said.

    It took the best part of a day to prepare the two rooms. Finally, Drake walked the distance up the stairs and into the Hub, a drum rotating in his hands as he played out a cable behind him.
    Parry had been concerned that even if the explosion blew a way through, it might also bring down the ceiling of Level 2