Tunnels 06 - Terminal

Old Wilkie were following as Chester entered the hallway, where he paused for a moment. ‘I can’t stay in this place,’ he said. ‘I’m leaving.’
    ‘Please don’t be so hasty, Chester,’ Parry implored him.
    ‘But where will you go?’ Stephanie asked in a small, frightened voice.
    Chester was still beside himself with fury as he yanked the front door open and stormed through it.
    ‘You can’t leave like this. Let’s talk, then you can decide what you want to do,’ Parry said, the steeliness returning to his voice as he and the others joined the boy outside.
    ‘Why won’t you wait a moment … and hear what Parry wants to say?’ Stephanie begged. She was standing there with tears in her eyes, the blanket still around her shoulders.
    Chester had been striding away, but came to an abrupt halt and wheeled around. ‘No! I’m warning you – don’t any of you try to stop me!’
    ‘You don’t know what you’re doing, Chester. You’re not yourself,’ Parry said, taking several steps towards the boy, and reaching out his hand.
    ‘Stay back!’ Chester said, bringing up the shotgun.
    Old Wilkie was slowly edging around to the side.
    Parry took another step. ‘I knew nothing of it in advance, but let me explain what Danforth was trying to achieve, and in the scheme of things how important it is to us.’
    At the mention of Danforth, Chester screamed, ‘I don’t give a stuff about any of that. And I don’t even want to ever hear that stinking traitor’s name again.’
    ‘Danforth’s done the impossible and successfully infiltrated the Styx. He’s put his neck on the block – he’s been risking his own life, because he’s been working for us. What he’s doing is vital for our intel,’ Parry argued.
    ‘Yeah, well he’s not much cop at it, is he? He didn’t warn you that our Prime Minster was about to be sucked down a hole, did he?’ Chester countered.
    ‘He isn’t always able to get messages thr—’ Parry began, but was interrupted as Chester began to shout, because he’d suddenly noticed how far Old Wilkie had moved around to his side.
    ‘No, you don’t! Trying to come at me from different directions, are you?’ he accused Old Wilkie and Parry. Chester hiked the shotgun towards the sky and fired one barrel over Old Wilkie’s head. The report of the shot echoed all around.
    Old Wilkie was holding his hands up to show he was unarmed. ‘I wasn’t trying anything,’ he said.
    ‘Like I believe you. Don’t move another inch! Any of you!’ Chester threatened.
    ‘I wish you hadn’t done that,’ Parry said under his breath.
    ‘Why – because your soldier boys will come running?’ Chester said.
    ‘No, because it will carry for miles. The Armagi might pick up on it,’ Parry replied.
    ‘Oh, yeah, sure. There’s nothing around here. You’re just trying to put the frighteners on me,’ Chester sneered. ‘Well, I couldn’t care less any more. The Armagi can h—’
    One moment Old Wilkie was there, hands still raised, the next he was hurtling through the air. He came to rest halfway between Chester and Parry, face down and unmoving.
    ‘Gramps!’ Stephanie shrieked.
    Old Wilkie moaned. His clothes were ripped up his back, revealing that the flesh had been lacerated.
    ‘Jesus!’ Chester muttered.
    Where Old Wilkie had been standing was something almost transparent as the winter sun refracted through it. The height of a man, when it had touched down on the frost-covered grass it had barely made a sound.
    The Armagi had slashed at Old Wilkie with the edges of its bat-like wings and now tucked them away behind its back. They could have been made from glass the way they caught the light.
    One of Parry’s satphones began to vibrate. Chester guessed that it was the nearby SAS team waiting with the helicopter, and that they had heard the shot. But Parry certainly wasn’t going to answer it. Instead, barely moving his lips, he murmured to Chester, ‘You’ve got the only weapon here, laddie.’
    But Chester didn’t react, paralysed with shock.
    Except for its black compound eyes, it was difficult to make out the Armagi’s features on its beaked head because internal organs of varying translucency were visible inside its skull. Fluid seemed to be coursing around veins or arteries, and something with a dirty green hue throbbed at the top of its cranium. But it had turned its head to Parry as he spoke, then began towards him.
    ‘Chester … CHESTER!’ Stephanie