Tunnels 06 - Terminal

he said. ‘As for what’s about to happen, more Limiters may die, and even though they are still blindly obeying the Styx hierarchy, I’d like to think that we can save as many lives as we can. They’re only following the diktat laid down by the ruling class.’
    ‘And the Armagi?’ Parry asked.
    ‘They’re a different matter entirely,’ Eddie replied. ‘I have no qualms about their destruction because I don’t regard them as people . They’re purely biological hardware, machines for killing, produced as a result of the Phase, and they have no useful place on this Earth.’
    Parry nodded, turning to the men in the room to address them. ‘Listen up. All of you switch over to the cameras now. I want you to watch the approaches. Danforth is likely to be showing up with some high-value Styx targets. Keep your eyes peeled for him, because the Old Styx, and even Hermione and the Rebecca twin, might not be far away. And it’s also a priority for Danforth to be extracted alive. He’s already taken enough risks to get us this far, and I want him out of there in one piece.’
    The Limiter drove into the underground car park and began to slow. The vehicle had barely stopped when the Old Styx leapt from it, followed by Danforth.
    ‘What kept you?’ Hermione snapped at them, as she slid from the back seat of the jet-black Bentley already waiting there. Striding across to a doorway, she shouted, ‘Come along, Rebecca, get a move on! And for God’s sake, just you comewith us. Don’t bring your performing monkey with you.’
    As Rebecca Two emerged from the front seat, Danforth noticed that the Old Styx gave her a sharp look. Or, to be more precise, he gave the young blond New Germanian officer behind the steering wheel of the Bentley a sharp look.
    ‘Still it persists, that unholy coupling?’ the Old Styx said to Hermione, as he caught up with her.
    ‘Time for us to bring it to a close,’ Hermione replied, her voice low and cold. She strode through the doorway of the car park and into a dark corridor with a concrete floor littered with puddles of water. ‘It doesn’t do to have passengers,’ she added, shaking her head, her insect legs clicking together where they poked from behind the collar of her thick fur coat.
    Danforth couldn’t be sure because, in deference to their authority, he walked several paces behind Hermione and the Old Styx, but he was pretty certain that the Styx woman’s head had turned ever so slightly in his direction as she’d uttered these words. He knew from the Old Styx that the Rebecca twin’s human companion was frowned upon, but he had the strongest feeling that Hermione had also been talking about him. It didn’t bode well. The Styx woman was unpredictable, and he felt incredibly insecure. He instinctively ran his tongue over the false tooth containing the miniaturised radio, wishing he had an opportunity to send a transmission.
    They went through several more of the unlit corridors before climbing a short flight of steps to a door. As they emerged into the daylight, stepping out onto the pavement, Danforth saw precisely where they were.
    ‘There it is,’ Hermione whispered. ‘One of the last bastions of this country’s pathetic defence system, about to drop into our laps like a ripe plum.’
    ‘GCHQ,’ Danforth said through his gritted teeth. They all kept well in to the side of the street, which passed through several junctions as it ran all the way down to the doughnut-shaped building that he had been so instrumental in helping establish and equip.
    He pointed at the high fence just visible in the distance. ‘You are aware that the outer boundary will be heavily monitored?’ He cast his eyes around the street. ‘Although there’s unlikely to be electricity in the rest of the town, GCHQ has its own geothermal supply, so its systems will all still be up and running.’
    Danforth quickly took in how many Limiters he could see along the street – three or four at the most, all tucked into doorways. ‘And you didn’t consult me about any planned assault, so how much do you know about GCHQ’s defence capability? There will be numerous – and I mean numerous – highly trained armed response units ready to counter any breaches. That capability will have been bolstered due to th—’
    Hermione put her head back and laughed harshly. ‘You funny little human!’ she sneered. ‘Do you think that we care one iota about any of that?’ She turned her attention to