Tunnels 05 - Spiral

immediately knew that something wasn’t right. Even with the current levels of civil unrest and heightened security, this was rather excessive for an elderly man out for a drive.
    The soldier at the barrier waved him down and came over. “Can I ask what your business is, sir?” he demanded brusquely.
    “I’m on my way to fetch my granddaughter from a party,” Harry lied.
    “Your granddaughter. Really. Would you mind stepping from your vehicle, sir, and keep your hands where I can see them,” the soldier ordered.
    “Is there a problem up ahead?” Harry asked, trying to see the road past the barrier.
    The soldier’s voice grated with impatience. “Get out of your car.” He brought his assault rifle to bear on Harry. “Now!”
    Harry climbed out, holding his hands in front of him.
    “Up against the vehicle,” the soldier said, twirling a finger to indicate that Harry should face the other way. “And spread your legs.”
    Harry complied as another soldier joined the first and began to give him a thorough pat-down.
    “I see you’re Parachute Regiment,” Harry said. “You’re a long way from RHQ.”
    The soldier searching him had finished checking his legs all the way down to his boots and now quickly straightened up. He grabbed Harry roughly by the shoulder and spun him around. “And what would you know about that, Gramps?”
    Harry was unruffled. “Because I was in the Paras, too. I served from 1951 t —”
    “Show me some identification,” the soldier snapped.
    Harry slowly took out his wallet and handed it over. The soldier found his driver’s license and examined it. “Harold James Handscombe,” he read. He oozed disdain and had a way of looking away immediately after he’d spoken to show how little Harry meant to him.
    But then the words came that Harry was dreading.
    “Stay there,” the soldier with the assault rifle said. “We’re going to give your vehicle the once-over.”
    Alarm bells were ringing like crazy in Harry’s head, and his nerve endings tingled as if raw electricity was passing through his body.
    “Of course,” he said, as he glanced at the driver’s seat, calculating how long it would take him to reach the Browning Hi-Power hidden under it. The timing would be tight, and even if he did manage to retrieve his weapon, the odds weren’t stacked in his favor; he’d have to disable the nearest soldier first, then deal with the other two.
    It was a long time since he’d shot anyone, but the old instincts were never far away. One thing he knew for certain — the situation was going to turn nasty. For Harry, this was more than just a hunch — he was acting on all his years of being in tight corners.
    The soldiers’ eyes were slightly glazed; if Parry hadn’t briefed him about the Styx and their mind-control techniques, Harry would have guessed the men were on drugs. And the way the soldiers were conducting themselves was completely beyond the pale.
    The soldier was moving around the front of the car. “The trunk’s open?” he asked.
    “It is,” Harry said. But before the soldier even reached the trunk, Harry knew there was no way that he wouldn’t discover the mobile detector, the GPS, and eventually the handgun under the driver’s seat.
    The soldier had reached the passenger door and was opening it.
    He bent to look under the newspaper in the footwell.
    As he registered the modified Geiger counter, he opened his mouth to shout a warning to the other soldier.
    Harry knew the game was up.
    He moved as fast as his less-than-agile body would allow him.
    As he pivoted around on the ball of his foot and reached toward the driver’s seat, in the corner of his eye he saw something curious.
    The soldier with the assault rifle simply folded to the ground. And as Harry stooped to peer at the other man through the car, he saw he was sprawled on the road.
    Harry stood up. Even the soldier in the Viking was slumped over the heavy machine gun.
    Eddie, and three of his men with tranquilizer rifles, stepped down the snow-covered verge toward the incredibly confused Harry.
    “Professor Danforth thought you might need some help,” Eddie said.

    Half an hour later the call came in. It was Eddie. Parry stood beside Drake as he spoke on the satphone. When the call was over, Drake briefed his father.
    “We’re onto something. Eddie found Limiters and teams of compromised soldiers manning checkpoints on the roads into the industrial estate. The area was completely tied up,