Black Hand Gang by David Edwards - HTML preview

Chapter 13

Endings or beginnings?

The heroes headed for the AICs. They were careful when they saw groups of ninja, however,

they had lost the will to fight. They were no longer preoccupied with killing children in blind

vengeance since all communication with Twip Twop and MM had been lost. Leaderless,

some were now concerned for their own welfare, the money sent back to support their own

families in Japan, their children. A ninja’s bushido or honour is still intact if their master had

suddenly deserted the cause. This was a temporary severing of a lifelong contract, thus

leaving the warriors unsure about what to do next.

As the children approached the gallery around the roof of level three they could see part of

the walkway had collapsed and was effectively blocking their way down to floor level. They

stopped and looked over the railings set into the gallery. Everything below them was in

absolute chaos. They could see a few ninjas herding wandering children back to the snails to

continue playing “world domination” two. Several AICs were smouldering wrecks, hit by

falling rocks or parts of flying doors from the assault that had now stopped completely.

Smoke hung across the cavern but was swirling into mini tornados as huge draughts of air

penetrated the interior through gaps created by the mass of bombs and missiles.

A dozen ninja emerged from a door leading up to the gallery. They stood blocking the

children’s only way to Techno’s AIC. As the Japanese advanced, the children could see the

tears in their grey uniforms and the blood stained and bruised heads. They were the same

warriors who had been summarily beaten after the octopus attack and now they were out for

revenge. Jack looked around and saw there was no way forward and no way back. Finally,

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they were really in trouble as the Japanese warriors approached with daggers drawn and

shuriken held loosely by their waists. There would be no mistake this time, the children were

going to die to satisfy the ninja’s bushido. Jack searched about again for a less obvious escape

route but there were no handy cables drooping off the walls, nor fire hoses coiled on reels that

they could use to abseil to the floor below. The ninjas were 30 metres away when they

commenced their attack. They ran at full speed towards the friends and were screaming battle

cries in Japanese at the top of their voices.

None of the children spoke. Fear gripped each of them and they knew the impossibilities of

the odds this time. As the first wave of ninjas closed to 10 metres, they raised their flashing

knives high in the air, a first move in the crisscross motion that would slit all the children’s

throats. The children had crouched low and were hoping to minimise the target. Mrs Hines

stood behind them, cradling an unconscious Timmo. The power suits couldn’t help them this

time, there was little space to move and they had no weapons. They were dead meat.

The chatter of a machine pistol cracked loudly from above them and a hail of bullets cut the

first wave of attackers down whilst they were in mid-leap. As the second wave stopped to

search the darkness above, a second hail of bullets killed five more ninja making the

remainder turn and run. A rope coiled onto the floor in front of the children and a man landed

on his feet holding a lightweight American machine pistol.

‘Have a nice day y’all!’ Brett turned towards them, his white teeth set in a giant grin across

his blackened face. The children immediately crowded around him gasping in their relief.

Then the emotion kicked in and they grabbed and hugged him, after all, the yank had saved

their lives. Roger and Kate wiped the tears from their eyes whilst Jack introduced Mrs Hines

and updated Brett on Timmo’s condition.

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‘I’m sorry I was so late guys, you know, had a little trouble outside and all that.’ Mrs Hines

couldn’t understand what was going on and so she asked Brett to clarify how he got in. ‘In

the confusion I made it to the secret Landrover outlet. It was easy to follow them back in after

they had massacred everyone.’

She clasped her hands to her mouth. ‘Massacred? Dear god in heaven forgive their souls.

How many died?’

‘More than a 1000 m’am,’ Brett held her eyes with his own, ‘it was a terrible thing to

witness.’

Mrs Hines patted him on the shoulder. ‘Never mind my boy, you can only do your best.’

Brett continued. ‘Once inside, I followed a tiny passageway upwards and after about an hour

I was directly above you with nowhere to go. Then I saw you here on the walkway and

prepared to abseil down but as I descended I could see you were in the deepest “do do” and

the rest is history.’

‘But the speed of the bullets and number of enemies you took out? It’s downright

impossible.’ Roger was staring at Brett’s gun that hung loosely in the Yank’s strong hand.

Brett unclipped the rope from his harness and holstered his gun as if he were a cowboy.

‘Not impossible, just technology. It’s the latest US special forces gun, used extensively by the

SBS. A bullet-less gun, very light and very effective. It creates a bullet consisting of

hydrogen atoms, well technically oxygen free water. It’s fired as a capsule and shaped into

any requirement by the advanced computer chip. That allows it to be used to disable, kill -

splatter we call it, or to breakthrough walls and doors etcetera. Anyway, I think the science

lesson is over for now ladies and gentlemen.’ Jack told Brett about the route back to level one

and they decided the internal crater in the centre of MM’s palace might be the safest route

out. Firstly, because MM and Twip Twop would be dead at the bottom or long gone as they

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high-tailed it to a safe haven. Secondly, because they could collect Techno’s body and take

him home as a mark of respect.

But the mission wasn’t over yet. Although they were all in a bad way they had to finish and

complete the job.

Brett took point, after all he was the one with the high tech gun. They worked their way back

along the gallery and went down the alternative route to level three and the AICs.

* * *

Roger went into Techno’s AIC and motioned Jack inside. The rest stood guard crouched

around the neighbouring snails that contained a few odd children, very odd really, as they

were still playing “world domination” two. In their minds they had decided that if in doubt,

don’t think, just do what you are told.

Brett urged them on. ‘Little George is in a bad way guys. We need to get him medevaced “A

S A P”.

The two boys stared at the “world domination” screen that flashed in front of them.

‘Have you got the SD card Roger?’ Jack clasped Roger’s shoulder as he sat in Techno’s seat.

Roger pulled the card out of his shirt pocket and placed it on his knee. He had an idea but

wanted to cure the illness before treating the symptom.

Roger sighed. ‘You see all the Facebook feeds? We have to stop 95 brains from working

together somehow. They are still on line and the program is creating havoc across the world

despite them being safe on level four.’

Jack immediately agreed with him. ‘The syntax has already started; having so many children

still logged on is helping it to build into a crescendo of electronic destruction.’

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Splodger pointed at the statistics on the screen. ‘But there are a few less kids online, doesn’t

that help?’

Jack shook his head. ‘No mate. I think Techno devised the program too well. Because the

players hiding in level four didn’t log out, they are still effectively playing. They are

automatically encompassed into the game and so the power of MM’s virus will be as potent

when she unleashes it.’

Roger looked up at him. ‘You think she’s still alive then?’

‘Sure, she could be in another command centre and uploading the virus as we speak.’

Roger had an idea. ‘Why don’t we block all the friend requests? That’s what I do when I’m at

school and weirdoes come on line. You know, people I don’t know, health clubs, gyms and

on-line shopping retailers.’

Jack turned away from the screen. Techno’s two brain huggers were hanging on the wall of

the AIC. ‘That’s brilliant! Why didn’t I think of that!’ Quickly he handed the huggers to

Roger who stared at the sharp points that protruded from the plastic shells. ‘Go on mate, you

can do it. No pain no game and all that baloney.’ Roger pressed the spikes deep into his skin,

deeper than normal as he didn’t have a shaven head. His lips writhed in agony as he bravely

fought the pain. Once they were securely set into his scalp, he grasped the arms of the seat

and started to think his instructions. Roger and Jack watched the images as they flashed at

lightning speed across the screen. Roger was assembling a mosaic of the gamers’ faces, who

were still online and already trading assets.

He murmured as he worked. ‘I’m searching for a common link between them all, something

in their profiles that has nothing to do with The Black Hand Gang but the data about all the

players is tightly controlled and totally secure.’

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Jack pointed at the screen in three places. He was laughing. ‘Look Splodge, many of them

have a perfect taste in music!’

Roger laughed too. A large number had adopted Jack’s San Fran band as a favourite.

‘You mean an imperfect taste in music, I for one hate the band! But for my purposes, it’s truly

perfect. If we can reduce the game capacity by 60 per cent or more it will screw up its

capacity for destruction and stop the world markets from plummeting.’

He concentrated harder. The band’s website was on his screen and he was hacking into the

base HTML code that formed the content. New code was being inserted at 300 words a

minute, the twin brain huggers were warming up due to the insane levels of activity in the

brain beneath them. Suddenly, the screen flicked back to show the 100 gamers’ Facebook

pages. ‘It’s done old chap, now give it a minute or two. My virus is now on the band’s

website and it will contact all of their friends and block them out. As I’ve linked the band and

the “world domination” two app, it will automatically block the gamers from gaming.’ He

pulled the huggers from his head and small drips of bright red blood trickled down his face

and onto his neck. Finally he slumped forward, exhausted by the mental challenge.

It was Jack who noticed first. ‘Oh my god, you’ve done it Splodger!’ The game app’s were

disappearing from the kid’s Facebook pages, one every second. That was when they heard the

groans of disappointment from the adjoining AICs. It was music to their ears. ‘Come on we

need to go.’

‘No wait I have a little twist of my own to play in this pathetic little game.’ Roger inserted the

SD card into the server. He quickly found the code that accepted MM’s virus and replaced

this “acceptance” with a worm. A piece of software that would burrow itself into her viral

code and eat it away, thus making it malfunction and then totally fail. ‘Now she can’t win, no

matter what.’

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Jack helped Roger to his feet and supported him as they stepped outside. The spaces between

the AICs were full of children remonstrating with each other. They were the idiot children

who hadn’t listened to Jack’s impassioned plea earlier. They preferred gaming to safety and

disbelieved Jack’s speech as a fairy tale. Now there was frustration and anger in the air as

they shouted and complained at the failure of their game. A chant started, a commonality

between nations. ‘MM, MM, MM.’ It was raw and grew louder. They had been promised the

greatest day of gaming on earth and now their Facebook pages had gone on the blink. What a

swindle. They wanted to go home, they wanted McDonalds and chocolate, coke and icecream

but looking around them they started to notice for the first time that everything had gone. The

cavern was a place of destruction and death. Gradually the chanting stopped and was replaced

with a tense silence, which was full of fear.

Jack nudged Roger. ‘Can you access the tannoy from Techno’s AIC mate?’ He didn’t answer

Jack, instead he went inside and then handed a microphone out to him.

Jack’s voice boomed out above their heads. ‘Stay still and stay here in the AICs. Listen to me

please. MM is not defeated yet, the US and British armed forces that were attacking her have

been repelled. This is a dangerous area, so stay inside the AICs and wait for rescue.’ The

mass of children had gone quiet and listened intently. Jack’s voice was very persuasive. ‘All

you can do now is turn off all the computers and stay in your AICs. We will get someone in

here to save you as soon as possible. Believe me now, because last time you didn’t!

Remember, I have proven you wrong before.’

He watched as the children turned and headed for the snails. He knew their patience would be

short and so he gathered his friends behind Brett again and they headed towards level one and

escape. The smell of the sulphur fumes had increased. It was hard to breathe in the acrid

smoke but it wasn’t because of the bombs and missiles. The volcano had hidden away its true

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nature. It wasn’t extinct as all the scientists thought, it had been dormant and now seams of

activity had been activated by the force of the explosions. As they climbed the stairs they

could see two brand new magma flows. Fast moving, red molten rock with a hard crust like

apple crumble.

Now they knew they were in trouble.

* * *

A rumble rent the air as they stood next to the ramp leading into the crater in MM’s palace.

They could feel the rocks heating up around them and started to sweat. Timmo was passed

from Mrs Hines to Jack who quickly tied them together as he cradled his brother in his arms.

Then he steadily walked backwards down the ramp into the bowels of the earth, trailing a

safety rope behind him. Brett held the rope taut and Jack used his abseil skills to maintain a

steady descent.

Jack touched his earlobe and Roger heard him clearly on the minrad. ‘Hold it there, we’re on

a flat bit.’ Jack unleashed Timmo and carefully laid him out of the way of the others who

were starting down. There was no sign of MM nor Twip Twop but on the floor to his right he

could see the crumpled body of Techno. Carefully Jack unfolded a blanket taken from MM’s

bedroom whilst on route and laid it over the twisted and bloody body. He didn’t want

Marshall and Mrs Hines to see the mess. Brett and Mrs Hines were the last to land at the foot

of the long ramp. He had doubled up on the abseil to help her down. She immediately went

over to Marshall and hugged him close as he poured tears. The volcano shuddered under their

feet, the heat was intensifying and fumes seeped from numerous cracks in the walls around.

Jack looked around. ‘Where’s Kate?’

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The minrad sounded in his ear. ‘I’m not coming down Jack. over’

‘What? Why ever not?’ He forget to say over.

‘Because I have a feeling and I need to follow it through, over.’

He was exasperated as the others heard half a conversation. ‘I know you and your psychic

rubbish but you need to come down so we can all escape.’

‘No, you’re wrong. I’m going to take a gyroscope. Sorry Jack, I just have a feeling ok?’

‘No it’s not flipping okay. Wait one, over.’ He turned to Brett. ‘She wants to take a gyroscope

flight so I’m going with her.’

Brett looked at the remarkable young man. ‘Just do it. See you outside.’ As Jack started to

climb the rope with his feet scrabbling up the rock wall, Brett turned to the others to lead

them down the dark passageway yawing in front of them. ‘Come on you lot and don’t ask,

just do.’ After a fifty metres, Brett spoke quietly. ‘Listen up everyone, we need to beat it real

fast okay?’ They all nodded or mumbled yes. ‘I’m sorry Marshall, Mrs Hines, we have to

leave Techno here and let someone else come and collect him.’ They understood. Time was of

the essence.

It took Brett and the rest an hour to reach the Savannah and they immediately collapsed in the

fresh air whilst Brett jogged away to fetch the Hummer. Behind them the mountain rumbled

and a bright red patch appeared to their right. They could see very little as the sun dropped

below the horizon and left a red-yellow streak of sky that silhouetted the dark trees.

* * *

Jack was exhausted by the time he reached Kate. She helped him over the ledge and he lay

gasping on the floor.

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‘I’m sorry Jack, I have to follow my feelings. You know that don’t you?’

His voice was weaker now they were alone together. ‘I trust you implicitly Kit Kat. Help me

up.’ She pulled him to his feet and they set off at a jog towards sector two, level three and the

gyroscopes.

* * *

The Hummer’s lights came closer and Brett arrived back at the group. All of them were so

exhausted that they could barely climb in. Timmo was now in a coma, the pain was too much

for his tiny body to cope with.

Brett spoke quietly. ‘Steady down guys, your bodies are full of adrenaline. Inside the packs

on the rear shelf, you’ll find some emergency rations and water. If you eat and drink it will

help you settle your bodies down.’

‘How far to Outspan Brett?’ It was Marshall, he had been in a stupor for nearly two hours

since his brother’s death. Now the chance of some reality had brought him around.

‘Not far, maybe an hour at the most.’ Brett lurched forward and turned on the stealth devices.

The W12, 10 litre engine was super quiet and super efficient thanks to the hydrogen stored

under their armour plated seats.

Roger was sat next to the yank and watched the gauges. ‘I think I’m dreaming. I’m sat in a

stealth Hummer doing 100 kilometres per hour across a dark savannah and just know that we

are safe. How is that?’

Brett let the auto-drive do most of the work as they careered along. ‘It’s so easy boy.

Expansion and cooling is the clever bit, not the fuel itself and that needs computer power,

which we have in abundance.’

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‘But hydrogen powered...how on earth does that happen?’ Roger was totally gob-smacked.

The yank continued, ‘we do have hydrogen gas stations to serve BMW’s in California now.

Have you not read about it Ponsonby-Smythe?’ They all knew he was joking, taking the

Mick. When Roger couldn’t reply he assumed not. ‘In that case, that’s a first!’ They all

laughed and that was when the heavy machine gun opened up from the hillock to the south of

them. Bullets bounced across the armour plating and cracked the windscreen but the Hummer

kept moving. Brett flicked the auto-drive to manual and turned hard left and away from the

ambush.

They hadn’t banked on MM and Twip Twop reaching their Maasai friends and they didn’t

know about the sonic radar on top of the volcano that had pinpointed their position. Madame

Musseine sat in the Maasai chief’s hut. It was full of electronic gear that was being fine-tuned

by Twip Twop. He radioed to the tribesmen and gave them a new bearing for their fire. The

heavy machine gun ripped out again and two small rockets headed through the night sky.

Marshall saw the tell-tale glow first. ‘Hit the brakes!’ Brett slammed his foot onto the brake

pedal and lifted off the accelerator. The computer took over and stopped the heavyweight

truck in less than 20 metres and that saved their lives as the rockets hurtled across the bonnet.

‘Do you need a little help yank?’ Wolf’s voice came over as warm and friendly from 10000

kilometres away. The signal was pure, as if he was sat in the Hummer with them.

‘Hey Limey! “Bout” time you showed up. I guess you could join in now having missed the

party!’ Brett could always rely on Wolf.

‘In that case I suggest you hit it and head direct for Outspan as the attackers have about five

seconds to live.’ The Predator drone high above them had sent a sidewinder earthwards a

minute before. The explosion lit the night sky and the RPG and bazooka fell silent. A second

explosion took out half a village nearby.

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‘What the hell was the second hit?’ Brett glanced at the horizon where the huts were ablaze.

‘The control centre. We traced the radio waves from the hit team to the control centre. If we

are lucky, some big wigs are now barbecued.’ No one answered, they hoped she was gone but

one never knew with such a cunning enemy.

The Hummer had slowed to 30 kilometres per hour, its run flat tyres weren’t designed to go

faster and three out of four tyres had been hit by bullets. However, the auto repair rubber

compound had got them out of trouble and they were heading home.

* * *

Jack and Kate reached level three and slowed to a walk. There was debris everywhere and no

people. The reason was obvious. A huge tongue of molten lava was creeping across the floor.

Half the AICs were on fire as the lava licked its way around them, slowly crushing them in its

midst and carrying the burning debris forwards. Sector two was being devoured by another

lava flow which had consumed half the gyroscopes already. But they saw the hangar door

was open, probably because the technicians were escaping down the mountainside. They ran

to the nearest gyroscope and strapped themselves in.

‘Are you ready?’ He turned to look her in the face. She was terrified. ‘Don’t answer, we’re

going now.’ Jack gunned the engine and altered the flight lever, he wouldn’t make the same

mistake. He kicked the brake off and they sped towards the door but they could see there was

only a few metres of runway free from the lava. The thirty seconds for take-off felt like

minutes. They were both choking on the sulphurous fumes and pouring sweat in the heat.

‘Jack,’ she screamed into his ear and clung to his strong shoulders, ‘look, the lava!’

He had seen the problem, there was no concrete left by the door, only hot lava that would fry

the tyres and make them crash to their deaths.

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‘Hold tight!’ He looked at the speed dial, it was too slow to take off, or was it? There was no

choice, he left his pull back on the joystick until a metre before the running red rocks and felt

the gyroscope judder as it clipped the lava. They were a metre off the floor but not safe, in

another 20 metres the rotor would smash into the top of the hangar door.

‘Jesus wept, hail Mary mother of God.’ Kit Kat wasn’t Catholic but it helped to pray, the only

other alternative was to close her eyes and not see their end. So she did and then jerked them

open in fear as Jack thrust the joystick down and literally bounced the machine under the

door and over the ledge to freedom.

Kit Kat was quiet behind him. ‘See Kate, I trusted your instincts and we made it.’ She was

pouring tears and leaned forward to hug him tight and give him a giant kiss on the side of his

face. They laughed together as he gunned the engine to its maximum rpm and started a slow

dive to try and find their friends.

Jack pressed his earlobe. He imitated a US rapper as he chanted across the airways. ‘We is

Jack and Kate and we is doing great!’ There was a peal of laughter from the gang in the

Hummer.

Marshall rapped back. ‘Good on you, did you have pooh, cos we am sure you need the loo.’

‘Too true Marshall, we certainly did more than wet ourselves.’ Jack was laughing as he

replied but his pants were damp.

Brett called urgently. ‘It’s not over yet you guys, stay alert, over.’ Jack and Kate scanned the

ground below, they couldn’t see the Hummer as it was shielded but the tell-tale dust cloud

behind it was a dead give-away. Now even the CIA couldn’t stop that.

‘We are behind and above you guys, stay cool and we will search ahead to see if there are any

enemies lurking, over.’ Jack surged forward and started to sweep in a large circle