The Rising - Chapter 59: 'She's Back'

Agent Becky Clarkson had only one magnetic grenade left but there were still two trucks ahead of her. The soldiers on board were now well aware of her presence and had diverted their attention away from Jane and the doctor, who were still struggling to pull away from the thundering military vehicles on their tail.

That’s exactly what she wanted but she wasn’t prepared to let them use her as target practice for long. Bullets whistled past her and she dropped back, knowing it was only a matter of time until one of them found their intended target.

She took the grenade in her hand and flicked the plastic cap off the end. A red diode lit up to indicate the grenade was primed.

I’ve got to time this perfectly.

With her other hand Agent Clarkson yanked the accelerator and moved closer to the trucks, keeping her head down from the gunfire. When she was confident she was within range, she pressed the button on the end of the grenade. It made a small whining noise that wasn’t audible to her through her helmet but she knew how much time she had.

Three seconds until it turns magnetic.

Becky threw the grenade into the air and hit the brake. The bike slid all over the road and she had to speed up again to re-gain control.

One… two…

Before the grenade hit the road, it changed direction in mid-air and flew towards the truck on the left. There was a clunk as it hit the rear bumper.

Five seconds.

Becky watched from a distance as one of the soldiers on board the doomed truck knelt over the tailgate to see where the explosive had landed. He held onto the back of the truck with one arm and tried to lean over to reach the grenade. He gripped it and tried to wrestle it free but the magnetic force was too strong for one man to break the seal.

Five seconds are up.

The back of the truck exploded in a ball of fire, and the top of the soldier’s body turned into a cloud of red mist that blew away in the torrential rain. The rest of him fell off the back of the truck onto the road. Becky had to swerve to avoid the bloody pair of legs that flailed towards her.

The remains of the flaming truck skidded to the right and crashed into the back of the remaining truck, which lost its grip on the flooded road and spun through one hundred and eighty degrees, coming to a halt in the emergency lane.

Before the soldiers could compose themselves and pick up their weapons, Agent Clarkson hit the accelerator again and zoomed past the wreckage. She pulled her bike up alongside what was left of Jane and the doctor’s car and looked through the driver’s window.

Both the driver and the passenger had shock written across their faces. They stared at her, unsure if they were next on her hit list. Becky pointed forward to indicate they should follow her and moved ahead of their car.

Captain Sayers kicked the truck door open and stumbled onto the road. Two soldiers got out of his truck and ran over to the burning shell next to them. They dragged one of their squad mates out of the driver’s seat. His uniform was on fire and he screamed as they rolled him on the road, trying to extinguish the flames in pools of rainwater.
Sayers lifted his radio. ‘Come in General Graham, this is Captain Sayers.’

‘This is General Graham, come in Luke.’

‘We’ve lost two vehicles.’

‘Did you capture the fugitives?’

‘Negative. We were ambushed.’

‘Was it a lone attacker on a motorbike?’

‘Affirmative. How did you know? Do you know who it was?’

‘Yes. We’ve just found out this second. It’s Agent Clarkson. She’s back.’

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Review: Guilty Pleasures - Masters Of The Universe

My arguments for and against the merits of this relic ofthe 80s are now online at DVDActive.

The Rising - Chapter 58: 'Pull Over Now!'

Jane floored the accelerator and weaved in and out of the traffic. The wet road made manoeuvring difficult and she felt the wheels of the car spinning as they passed over patches of standing water.

Most of the cars on the road were either slowing down or veering wildly across the lanes to get out of the way of the massive trucks that were thundering along the Expressway. Jane had to keep her wits about her just to avoid the panicked movements of the car ahead of her, never mind the firepower that was being unleashed just behind them.

Soldiers of The Brotherhood were hanging out of the passenger windows of each truck, firing their rifles in the direction of Jane and Doctor Owen. They didn’t think twice if their bullets found another target. The sound of tearing metal and screeching tyres drowned out the rain, which was interrupted by regular crunches of metal on metal and blaring horns.

Captain Sayers sat in the lead truck, watching the attack unfold. Don’t kill them, he had told his men, but make sure you scare them and run them off the road.

The car Jane was driving was more nimble than their trucks but they had all three lanes of the Expressway covered and all she could do was swerve across the road from the gun sights of one truck to the other. The back of their car was being torn apart by all the gunfire it was taking but it kept on going. It wouldn’t last forever but they were living by the second, just doing their best to survive with no thought of how they could escape the attack.

Sayers picked up the radio. ‘Jesus Christ, can’t any of you hit the tyres?’

He didn’t expect a reply and didn’t get one. ‘Okay,’ he continued into the radio, ‘Cease fire and hit the lights.’

A huge set of spotlights on the top of each truck illuminated and cast a blinding beam of white light onto the road ahead. Captain Sayers hit the button on the radio to turn it into a loudspeaker.

‘Agent Simpson,’ his voice boomed across the Expressway, ‘Pull over now and you will not be harmed.’

Jane straightened the car’s movement but did not slow down. Captain Sayers nodded to the soldier who was hanging out of the side of his truck. The soldier fired off a short burst that tore through the rear of the car. Sayers picked up the radio again.

‘Agent Simpson, pull over now!’

She slowed the car down and started to pull over towards the edge of the road. The road ahead was almost clear. Everyone on the road had either pulled over or hit the gas to get as far away from the gunfire as possible.

Jane was about to stop the car when there was a loud bang from the truck on the right. Sayers looked out of the window to see it swerve and spin off the road, with smoke pouring out of the back. It smashed through the barrier at the side of the road and fell onto its side as it hit the grassy verge. Jane put her foot to the floor and moved back to the middle of the road.

‘What the hell is going on?’ Captain Sayers shouted into the radio at the other trucks.

‘Grenade, Captain. No casualties but our truck is out of commission. It was a single attacker on a motorbike. Look out behind.’

Sayers turned round to look out of the back of the truck and saw a figure in black on a motorbike speeding towards them.

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The Rising - Chapter 57: Nowhere To Go

Jane opened the boot of the car and found a space for the bag of tapes next to the medical boxes of samples they had taken from The Brotherhood’s base. She slammed the boot shut and ran round to the driver’s door.

‘Do you know where Abbey Tower is?’ Doctor Owen asked her, shouting through the noise of the rain bouncing off the car.

‘No,’ Jane replied, ‘but there’s a road atlas in the car. You can navigate. Come on, let’s go.’

They got into the car and Jane hit the accelerator. Under Doctor Owen’s guidance they got back onto the Expressway. With most commuters now at their places of work, the traffic was moving along at a decent pace, even if the conditions were still wet.

‘Keep on going,’ the doctor said, running his finger along the map, ‘The exit isn’t for a while yet.’

‘What the hell happened back there?’ Jane asked, not for a moment expecting a coherent answer from her companion.

‘Whoever killed all those people must have known we were going there.’

‘Who knows about that place?’

‘Doctor Forrest springs to mind, but why would he give the location away to anyone else if he wanted us to retrieve the tapes?’

‘Are you sure you can trust him? Maybe he’s putting us through all this to set us up.’

‘No, we can trust him. I’ve known him for a very long time. He has my total confidence.’

‘Anyone else?’

‘Apart from Doctor Forrest, you can take your pick of pretty much any member of The Brotherhood. If they saw us deleting the data from Mantek, they probably would have assumed we would try to get the tapes.’

‘But whoever killed those soldiers couldn’t have been from The Brotherhood, and I’m sure that none of them were vampires either. Something else is going on here.’

‘Look, we’ve still got two more stops to make. Whoever this is must be able to help us. Why else would they leave us that note?’

‘I hope so. Otherwise we haven’t got a chance of standing up against another building full of armed guards.’

Jane slammed her fist on the dashboard and yelled obscenities in frustration.

‘What is it?’ Doctor Owen asked.

‘Look at us. We haven’t got a clue what the hell we’re doing. We left The Brotherhood last night with boxes full of samples for you to carry on your work but now we’ve got nowhere to go. We’ve been trailing round the city picking up more of your crap and now we’re blindly going to another random address just because someone wrote us a note. It’s amazing that we’ve stayed alive this long!’

‘We’re out of options, Jane!’ Doctor Owen shouted back, ‘It’s a shitty situation but it’s the best we’ve got.’

Jane cast a look in her rear view mirror. A big black object was far behind in the mist. A few seconds later she looked again. This time the black object was bigger, joined by identical companions on either side.

‘Have you seen the trucks behind us?’ she said.

Doctor Owen turned round. Before he could check out the trucks that were moving quickly towards them, they heard a faint rattle of gunfire. The rear windscreen shattered into a thousand pieces.

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The Rising - Chapter 56: No Missed Calls

‘Room service!’

Dave got out of his chair for the first time since he arrived at the hotel and opened the door to his room. He found himself faced with the concierge, carrying a tray that held a silver platter, a bottle of water and the smallest bottle of tomato ketchup he had ever seen.

‘Jeez, are you doing every job today?’ Dave asked as he let the concierge into the room and watched him place the tray on the end of his bed.

‘Pretty much,’ he said, ‘Have you managed to get some rest?’

‘A little.’

Dave signed for his meal and saw the concierge to the door.

‘If you need anything else, just give me a call,’ the concierge said.

‘Thanks,’ Dave said and closed the door on him.

He ran back to his chair by the window and gazed outside, just as he had been doing all morning. The rain was still pouring heavily from the dull grey sky, falling diagonally as the wind got stronger and stronger.

He lifted the lid on his lunch and took the plate full of over-priced cheeseburger and fries in his hands. He hoped he hadn’t missed the car going past in the few seconds that it took to get rid of the concierge. That’s the reason there was always two people on a stakeout, so one could cover while the other went to get refreshments or take whatever type of relief was required.

The television news channels were still reporting on the investigation into the attack on the police station. Unsurprisingly, there appeared to be no progress until Dave heard a reporter’s voice say, ‘We can now go live to the police station. Chief of Police Chris Cameron is about to make a statement.’

Dave moved his chair to allow himself to keep one eye on the road outside while taking in the announcement. The chief appeared outside the police station, walking directly into an onslaught of flashing cameras.

‘Thank you for your time,’ he said, ‘I will keep this brief and I will not take any questions following this statement.

‘I wish to announce the names of the individuals we need to speak to in the course of this investigation. I would encourage these people to come forward to allow us to eliminate them from our investigations.’

Yeah, right, Dave thought, These are the people you’ve got down as prime suspects.

The chief continued. ‘They are Jane Simpson of the World Health Organisation, Doctor Andrew Owen of Mantek pharmaceuticals and our own detectives Dave Thomas and Tom Ryder. All attempts to contact these people have proved fruitless so I am appealing to these people and anyone who may know where they are to call us with information.’

What the hell?

Dave took his mobile phone out of his pocket.

No missed calls. They haven’t tried to contact me.

He had a terrible thought. He called his wife and was relieved when she answered.

‘Dave, where are you? I was just about to call you. Have you seen the news? The police are looking for you.’

‘I know. I’m safe. I’m at a hotel in Blackchapel. Something weird is going on. Where are you?’

‘Blackchapel? Where the hell is that?’

‘It’s up in the mountains. Just tell me, where are you?’

‘I’m at home. Why?’

‘I need you to take the kids away. Rent a car and go up the coast.’

‘What? I’m not leaving.’

‘Trust me, please. We’re in danger.’

‘Danger?’

Dave almost dropped his burger as he got out of his chair. On the road outside, a black car was approaching. The black car.

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, ‘It’s very important. Believe me, you have to leave. I have to go now.’

He hung up, cutting his wife off as she continued her protests, and sprinted for the door.

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The Rising - Chapter 55: Moved Upstairs

Will Harris took the last gulp of his third cup of coffee of the morning. With no help from any of his so-called colleagues, he was getting nowhere and starting to despair.

The Mantek file system had been completely wiped and it was his job to restore all the files from the offsite backup. This was proving impossible because he would need someone from the offsite storage facility to bring the tapes over to him but no one was answering the phone over there.

Will had tried to escalate the problem to his manager but as usual, he had something better to do. Will knew that as soon as someone important decided this was a big problem, his manager would be interested but until then he was on his own. He had half a mind to get in his car and drive out there himself. After all, it’s just outside the city and he could have been there and back in the time he’d been hanging on the phone.

To hell with it, he thought, No one would thank me for it. Time for another cup of coffee.

Will got out of his seat and as he turned round to leave his cubicle, he was faced with a dark-haired woman in a sharp suit and glasses. She had blanked him for the past two years on the rare occasions they saw each other but now she wanted to talk. It was Jodi Carr, his old boss from upstairs.

‘Will, I need you to come with me,’ she said in the unfriendliest way she could.

‘Hi Jodi, how are you?’ he asked in a mischievously upbeat tone.

‘I need you to come with me, Will. Right now.’

‘I can’t. I’ve got to sort out this file system problem. I reported it to your guys upstairs but I haven’t heard anything back so I guess it’s up to me.’

‘This is related to the file system problem, Will.’

‘Well, there’s no answer at the storage facility. I don’t know how I’m going to restore the files.’

‘You won’t be able to,’ she said, ‘We have a bigger problem that we need your help with.’

A bigger problem that they need my help with? This should be fun…

‘What could you possibly need my help with?’

‘This,’ Jodi said and handed Will a photograph. It was a picture of a female with short dark hair, dressed in black running up a flight of stairs with a gun in her hand.

‘Who’s this?’ Will asked.

‘That is Agent Becky Clarkson. She has reappeared this morning. That picture was taken at the offsite storage facility less than an hour ago. She murdered everyone there. When our people got there, the dead bodies of the men were all neatly piled up and all the tapes were gone.’

Will was stunned. She was back. After two years, he thought he’d never hear anything from her again.

‘You were closer to her than anyone here.’

‘Close to her? I worked with her a few times but I wouldn’t say we were close.’

‘You’re the best shot we’ve got at bringing her in before anyone else gets killed. Pack up your things. You’re being moved upstairs.’

‘What, permanently?’ he asked, with hope in his voice.

Jodi didn’t answer his question. ‘Follow me.’

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The Rising - Chapter 54: Virex

‘How long will it take to get there?’ I asked.

Jackson looked in his rear view mirror at me. ‘A little while, so make yourself comfortable.’

I checked the backs of my hands. They had turned a strong shade of pink in the short time it had taken us to run to the car, but my skin was now back to normal. I couldn’t imagine how the incredible healing power of the vampire virus would ever cease to amaze me.

I looked out of the window and watched the city rush past me and turn into countryside. The events that were unfolding were not what we were expecting when Skinner had the idea of officially registering me as a vampire. We had thought it would help my safe passage should we run into any bloodsuckers, but now we were being taken to their home. As it turned out, carrying the head of Commander North around with us had worked – we were about to find out so much more about what was going on. But at what cost?

I had many concerns going round in my head. The biggest worry of all was what the vampires knew about us without asking any questions. The vampire driving the car had worked out the whole situation at the outpost just a matter of seconds after he had arrived. Without saying a word, he had known who we were and whether we posed a threat to him or not.

Can he read our minds? Can he tell what I’m thinking now?

‘What’s going to happen to those men we left back there?’ I asked.

‘Don’t worry about them,’ Jackson said, ‘You’re not the first rebirth to go crazy after your first taste of blood. You won’t be the last, either. You only broke their bones. Their bodies will heal in time. If you had removed their limbs, it would have taken a lot longer to repair the damage. It’s their job to look after guys like you so I’m sure they won’t hold a grudge.’

‘Wow, us vampires are a friendly bunch, aren’t we?’ I quipped, trying to figure him out.

His stony face cracked a tiny smile. ‘Up to a point, new boy. Up to a point.’

He shot another glance at me in the mirror. ‘How was your first taste of blood?’

I wondered if he knew how I felt. Does he know how sick I feel after drinking the blood of a child, no matter how sweet it tasted and how much it quenched my uncontrollable thirst?

‘I can’t remember,’ I lied.

‘Do you remember why you went crazy?’

‘I would have preferred my first feed to be a little older.’

‘I understand. Get used to it though, new boy. When you have to feed, you don’t have a choice. Boy, girl or some old dear doddering along the street, they’re all the same to you now.’

I looked out of the window again and let his words ring in my ears. When you have to feed, you don’t have a choice.

As the hours went by, I was beginning to think there was no way back for me. Even if the doctor could finish work on the treatment, was I too far gone to turn back? I had already tasted the blood of two people and slaughtered more. As time ticked by, I was becoming less and less human.

The box containing Commander North’s head sat on the back seat next to me. Our ticket into the underworld. I knew The Brotherhood would be looking for us and I thought of Jane and Doctor Owen, hoping they were safe. In a perverse way I was happier to be with the vampires than on our own. I knew that at least if The Brotherhood found us, we would have a better chance of surviving their attack. Safety in numbers.

Jackson asked Skinner about what had happened the previous day at The Brotherhood’s regional headquarters. I took Jackson’s advice and sat back in my seat to get comfortable. As I tried to stretch my legs out, my feet hit something under the seat in front. I looked down and saw a small plastic box. Intrigued, I gripped the box between my feet and slowly drew it out into my foot well.

I was surprised at what I saw. The box was full of individually wrapped syringes, each filled with a yellow liquid. The plastic packaging around the syringes was printed with the word ‘Virex’. The yellow liquid looked exactly the same as the treatment Doctor Owen had given me. I was confused. This was too much of a coincidence.

If this is the same treatment I received, what is it doing in the back of a vampire’s car? And why is it packaged with a brand name?

I knew I had to get a sample of this back to the doctor. He would certainly want to check this out for himself. With Jackson still talking to Skinner, as quietly as I could I bent over and lifted two syringes out of the box and slipped them into my sock.

My actions had been quick enough not to warrant another glance in the mirror from Jackson. I sat back and watched the countryside go by, trying to work out the significance of my discovery.

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