The Sixth Day (A Brit in the FBI #5)(115)

She shook her head. “Honestly, I am much more worried about security outside than in. Ben can go inside with Melinda and your dad. Let’s stay out here. I’m sure Penderley’s people will be happy to have you around.”

“Maybe. I agree about our staying outside—we can keep watch.”

They were expected. The Range Rovers were ushered through the gate into the courtyard, then thoroughly examined. When all was clear and they were out of the cars, Nicholas and Mike looked immediately at the sky. They saw nothing of concern. Ben trotted up.

“Ben, Mike and I are going to stay out here. You’re our extra layer of security inside. If anything feels off, don’t question, yell out.”

Ben nodded, passed out comms. “Adam is monitoring everything. If there’s trouble, you’ll know.” Mike put hers in, tested, heard Nicholas and Ben loud and clear.

Adam said, “Good morning, lady and gentlemen, the temperature is twenty degrees Celsius and the skies are blue—a magical surprise. All is nominal on the field. Play ball.”

They all laughed and split up to their stations. Mike and Nicholas watched Ben and the rest of the team head inside the massive Parliament building. Nicholas saw his father pointing them out to the guards at the doors, knew he was letting the men know they were to be allowed inside, without interference, should the need arise.

Mike asked, “If something happens in there, do you know how to get to them?”

“Oh yes. My grandfather has spoken in the House of Lords a number of times. I used to be allowed days off school to come watch.” And again, he remembered his first visit.

“I sometimes forget one day you’ll be Baron De Vesci, a peer of the realm, and wear a wig and talk on the floor.”

“Let’s all pray by the time that happens, they will have done away with the wigs. Come with me, I want to show you something.”

They listened to their comms as the updates from Ben came in.

“The Queen has arrived.”

“The PM and the president are here.”

“The session is starting.”

“All is well, they’re speaking.”

“Estimate we’ll be done in fifteen minutes and on our way out to the terrace for the reception.”

Mike followed Nicholas out of the courtyard, to the Thames and Westminster Bridge. They were under the shadow of Big Ben for a moment, then they were walking out onto the bridge.

Nicholas pointed to the canopied terrace of Westminster. She saw guards patrolling.

“Last year, a security assessment found terrorists could get from the river into the Commons Chamber in less than five minutes. A resilience test. It was a massive failure, or a massive success, whichever side of the fence you’re on.”

“You’d think they’d secure this area first. I see only a dozen guards. Anyone could come up with a boat—”

“—or a drone.” He shrugged. “I know I’m being paranoid, but for some reason, it still doesn’t feel secure, it’s—”

“Nicholas, look! There, at ten o’clock.”

They saw a dense cloud moving toward them, impenetrable, like a thick fog bank spilling down the river. Only it wasn’t a cloud. Nicholas tapped his comms, shouted, “Alert one, alert one?! A sky full of drones. Ardelean is coming!”

She vaguely heard the responses and calls begin, everyone going on alert. Mike watched the mass grow closer, heard the massive whine of thousands of rotors.

“Go! Go!” Nicholas pulled her from the rail, but she couldn’t help it, she looked back as they raced across the bridge toward the Parliament courtyard.

They saw a nightmare. The cloud was becoming more detailed as it drew closer. Soon they saw the birds, then the drones of every size, rotors whirring, flying in lines ten drones wide. They were being led down the Thames by Ardelean’s falcons, flying in a V, and Mike would swear the lead bird was the bitch who’d attacked them yesterday.

She heard shouts and looked west, more drones, coming in fast, and from the east and south, even more.

She saw the water churning beneath the northernmost cloud of drones. She pointed, pulled her weapon.

“Look, Nicholas, the speed boat. It’s Ardelean! He’s leading his army.”

Mike started shooting at the boat, emptied her first magazine before Ardelean got within range.

“We’re bloody surrounded!”

Her heart sank. There was no way to win this fight, and she knew it. It didn’t matter, she slapped a fresh magazine in place, yelled in her comms, “We need as much air power as we can get out here. Every weapon needs to be trained on the skies. The drones are coming in too fast for us. We need real armament.”

She heard voices, shouts, orders. She shut her eyes, praying, then started firing into the sky.





CHAPTER EIGHTY-THREE


Hot metal rained down as bullets hit drones. Mike, Nicholas, SWAT teams, armed police, everyone was shooting into the sky.

Nicholas slapped an M4 into Mike’s hands, and she went down on one knee beside him.

“Nicholas, the terrace, look! They’re wiping out the security there.” They ran toward the center of the bridge, dodging the barrage of bullets, the grenades. Her ears rang with the incredible battle sounds, the screams, and her eyes watered at the acrid smell of smoke. She jerked at his arm. “Nicholas, how do we stop them?”