The Alex King Series by A BATEMAN (free ebook reader for ipad TXT) 📕

“Within the next hour,” Marnie said. She had a weather program running on a monitor. The computer tower sat on the floor amid a bundle of cables and an internet hub. Ramsay had requisitioned it from the reception. Marnie was running everything through a guardian program at GCHQ. “It’s set to last for over twelve hours, before heading east towards Archangel in Russia.”

“Can we assume this hunter team will come here?” Ramsay asked.

“You can bet on it,” said King. “I’m not sure if those two guys made it, but I suspect there’s more in any case.”

“We will need to hold them off until we can extract,” said Rashid. “What have we got?”

King took out the Walther. “I only have one round for this,” he said. He had the two men’s utility vests. Both were stab-proof and contained a Makarov pistol and two spare magazines as well as a tactical knife and one vest still contained a torch. There were four magazines for the AK74 assault rifle. “These even the field a bit. I’m bagsying a pistol…”

“Bagsy the other!” Rashid said.

“And that’s it? Bagsy? What are you both, ten?” Caroline shook her head.

Rashid smiled. “Then learn to bagsy quicker,” he said to her, then looked at King. “I’ve got four cartridges for the rifle,” Rashid said. “Two inches above for two-hundred-and fifty metres,” he said to King.

King nodded and tossed over the bullet he’d taken from the man’s rifle on the hill. “Point three-oh-eight,” he said. “So now you have a full magazine.”

Caroline snatched a vest off King and took out the Makarov. “I’m overruling your pathetic bagsy with my own,” she said to Rashid. “You’ve got the bloody rifle.”

Rashid frowned and looked at Ramsay. “Is there a precedent in MI5 for an overruled bagsy?”

“Oh, bloody grow up, the pair of you!” he snapped.

King smiled. “I’m convinced somebody on the hotel staff will have a rifle for bears or wolves,” said King. “Ramsay, you can ask. You seem to have an in with whoever you got the computer from.”

“The manager,” he said. “Huss, the owner is a strange one. And he was talking to that man with the hooked nose who we think stole the laptop. Conspiratorially, so.”

“Agreed, I saw that too,” said Caroline. “What about staff? How many are left on the premises?”

“I’ll find out,” Ramsay answered. “I’ll see how many paying guests decided to stay as well. Are we recruiting?”

King shook his head. “I’m not sure. It’s a trust issue. We need more equipment to defend ourselves, though,” he paused, sipped some of his tea. “I’ll find out where the maintenance chaps are and whether they have anything in their units. There’ll be a hut or workshop. It’s too remote here to rely on going back to town to buy things or have them mended.”

Marnie looked up from the monitor and said, “There’s more from GCHQ regarding Porton Down’s findings. This virus can’t be caught like a cold. It’s a first-strike weapon. A way to degrade a nation and cause chaos. The only way to become infected, after initial airburst, is for it to spread itself. The degradation of the subject and subsequent hunger issue is one thing, the infected infecting others through primeval instinct. Or, to encounter an infected subject’s blood, saliva or semen. The virus bonds with human DNA to enter phase two. Without phase two, the initial airburst simply disperses. Weaponised, it fires and forgets. The people do the rest. Without their DNA, it can’t incubate and will die.”

Caroline shook her head. She nursed a black coffee. Her colour had returned, but she felt tired, and looked it. “Who thinks of things like this?”

Ramsay didn’t tell her of his knowledge that both Britain and America had been trying for years. He sipped some of his coffee and said, “So, what first?”

“Call room service and get the poor woman some food and drink,” said King. “I’ll wait outside and take it. I want to talk to her. While I’m doing that, Neil I think you had better talk to the manager about staff and guests. Get a list or manifest of who they are and the rooms they’re occupying. And I want to know where this chap is you suspect of stealing the laptop. Have a word about a rifle or shotgun for bears. There must be something with people going out into the forest. Maybe it’s time to lay our cards on the table and bring the bombing of the ice hotel into it to persuade him further. Explain who we are and that the person we are protecting is under threat,” he paused, realising he was jumping way ahead of the hierarchy order, but he was the field expert here, not Ramsay. He looked at Rashid and said, “You look for vantage points. Somewhere to spot anybody coming. And exits as it would help if we could leave quickly if we must. Marnie, you’re doing cracking work. Keep a line running with GCHQ and push the Porton Down angle. We need to know more about this virus.” He stood up slowly and reached into his pocket. His ribs were sore, and his actions were both slow and deliberate. He gave her a piece of paper. Caroline had bandaged his knuckles, they were split and bruised from punching through the cracked ice. “And I’d like you to get that sorted for me, as well. You’ll need Director Amherst for that.”

She took the piece of paper and looked at it. She glanced at the others, but they knew enough about intelligence work to operate under their own brief. If King hadn’t shared, then it was probably better not knowing. She slipped it into her pocket and opened an email. She looked back at King. “GCHQ have sent back the photos the asset took. I haven’t told them they were lost, just