Tunnels 05 - Spiral

he thought about the gang who had terrorized the smaller children at Highfield High School. “Speed and Bloggsy necked cider and smoked cigarettes all the time. They’d done the whole lot, hadn’t they, and that was more than a year ago!”
    “They had girlfriends, too,” Chester said wistfully.
    Will still had a faraway look in his eyes. “If you think about it, Churchill led the country through the Second World War, and right now you and I are stuck in the middle of this war with the Styx. We’re pretty important, too. Who knows — without us, the country might not have a chance of winning. So don’t you think we have a right to do what we want? Don’t we owe it to ourselves to polish off what’s left of his brandy?”
    But Chester dropped the cigar back into the box and closed the lid. “Tell you what, Will, when we do win, let’s come straight back here and smoke our heads off and get really bladdered!” He stuck his hand out. “Deal?”
    “Deal,” Will agreed, shaking his friend’s hand, then putting the brandy and cigars away again.
    They were interrupted as the intercom system emitted a clear tone both in the room and outside in the corridor. “Everybody is to report to the Hub immediately. I say again — everybody is to report to the Hub immediately,” it ordered.
    “That’s Danforth, isn’t it?” Chester said as he angled his head to listen to the voice.
    Will nodded. “If she shows up, I hope Elliott’s forgiven him. She’s in a funny mood, and he got a little carried away with the scalpel when he was investigating her.” As they walked back toward the stairs, Will added, “In fact, I don’t like to think what would have happened if nobody else had been there to stop him.”
    “Yes,” Chester agreed. “It’s odd really, because although he doesn’t look like much, when you get to know him better, he’s actually a really scary little man.”

    Drake was laying out a variety of items on the desks as everyone converged on the Hub.
    Will and Chester arrived first and were watching as Mrs. Burrows, Mr. and Mrs. Rawls, Colonel Bismarck, then Elliott and Stephanie turned up. The two girls were chatting enthusiastically to each other as though they were long-lost friends.
    “Here they are,” Chester muttered to Will as he twisted away from Elliott and Stephanie. “Looks like they’re getting really matey.”
    “And Danforth’s keeping well out of the way,” Will observed, watching the Professor, who had his eyes glued on the screen of one of his laptops. “I’m telling you, I really wouldn’t be surprised if Elliott has a pop at him when she gets the chance.” Will switched his attention to Parry and Sergeant Finch, who were both busy talking on satphones.
    “Form a line, please,” Drake said. “The quicker we’re done here, the quicker we can move out.”
    “Where are we going?” Chester asked, as he and Will found themselves at the front of the queue.
    “London,” Drake answered, preoccupied with inserting a small glass cylinder into a stainless steel device, then rolling up his sleeve. “Just in case anyone has misgivings about the shot I’m giving all of you, I’ll go first.” Cocking the mechanism, he placed it against his upper arm, and when he pulled the trigger, it made a small
click
. “Didn’t feel a thing.” He smiled.
    “But we’ve all had the vaccine for Dominion,” Chester pointed out. “So what’s this for?”
    Drake cleaned the end of the device with an alcohol wipe, then cocked it again. “We haven’t seen any deployment of the Dominion virus yet, but the Styx have some other nasties they might unleash on the population,” he replied.
    “How do you know?” Will said.
    “Because I snitched a load of specimens before Chester and I totaled the Laboratories in the Colony. Some were locked away in a special vault, so naturally I had to have them. And I asked a contact to analyze the different pathogens I came back with. On the basis of his findings, he manufactured a vaccine cocktail against all of them.”
    Will unbuttoned his cuff and pulled up his sleeve. “Come on, then. Better safe than sorry,” he said.
    Drake hadn’t been lying — the shot wasn’t painful. After he’d administered it, he led Will to the next desk. “Special Forces radio with a throat mike,” he told the boy, handing him one of the units. “Chester’s used a similar model before, so he can show you how it works.” Drake then dipped his hand into a