We’ve got to keep our movements quiet and speech to an absolute minimum.
‘Now that I’ve given you the basic outline of the raid, I’m going to talk you through each step in detail. If you have questions, ask them now, not during the operation.
‘The equipment needed for the raid has already been loaded into the dinghy. It will be launched off the back of this vessel with an electronic winch. Obviously, the engines have to be switched off before we can do this safely …’
Dana stifled a yawn as her brain struggled to absorb the stream of facts.
39. BENEATH
James had underestimated the Survivors’ ability to fend off the TAG units. He’d expected things to get hairy when he’d seen the Survivors’ arsenal, but not in his wildest dreams did he think the commandos would lose a ship and be forced to back off before getting a man on the ground.
With hindsight, he realised that the Survivors would have had little trouble getting hold of grenades, mortars and other heavy weapons. A smuggler could choose from thousands of kilometres of deserted Australian coastline on which to land a boatload of weapons that could be purchased in dozens of war-torn countries around the world.
Twenty minutes after the crash, smoke still poured out of the helicopter’s mangled chassis. The surviving soldier, who’d fallen from the first helicopter and extinguished his flaming clothes, had been peeled off the ground and dragged inside as a hostage.
There was much less smoke around now and the air inside the education block had completely cleared. Lauren and Rat had tipped one of the desks on to its side and pushed it around like a snowplough, sweeping all the broken glass to one side of the room.
James peered through a shattered window. After the explosion there had been people running everywhere, but now the Survivors and their weapons seemed to have retreated into buildings and tunnels.
‘What do you reckon?’ James asked. ‘Looks pretty calm out there now, shall we risk a move?’
‘Are you sure we’re not better off here?’ Lauren asked. ‘We’ve got no idea what’s going on in the tunnels.’
James shrugged. ‘I can only see this ending one of two ways: either the Survivors are going to surrender and we all walk merrily out of the front gate – which seems unlikely – or those bad-assed soldiers who just lost twenty of their colleagues are gonna wait until they’ve got reinforcements and some armoured vehicles and then they’re gonna storm this place.
‘Whether that happens tonight, tomorrow or at the end of a long siege, I don’t want to be sitting in a building made from wood and plasterboard.’
Lauren nodded reluctantly. ‘I guess you’re right. But Rat, you know this joint, are you sure there’s not a secret passage or some other way out of here?’
Rat shook his head. ‘This whole place is built for a siege. The turrets are the only way in or out.’
‘So we’re agreed,’ James said. ‘Let’s move.’
James led the way down a short corridor between two classrooms. He cautiously opened the door on to an outdoor landing and studied the shadows below before setting off down the metal steps.
An ammunition cartridge inside the burning helicopter chose that moment to pop and the three kids raced down and hit the ground at the bottom. It sounded exactly like they were being shot at.
‘False alarm, I think,’ James said warily.
‘I hate this,’ Lauren whispered, holding a clammy hand over her heart.
Rat knew the way, so he took the lead on the thirty-metre dash, crunching across a path strewn with broken glass before heading down a flight of metal steps cut into the ground. When they reached the thick metal door at the bottom, Rat rested both hands on the rubber handle and pushed down. The mechanism clanked, but he shoved hard and it wouldn’t move.
‘You want me to try?’ James asked. ‘I’m stronger than you.’
Rat shook his head. ‘You won’t do it. The bolts must have been put on inside.’
Lauren tutted. ‘Isn’t there another way in?’
‘I doubt it,’ Rat said. ‘Every second or third building’s got a door out back that leads down into the tunnels, but if this one’s been locked I’d guess that they all have.’
‘So now what?’ Lauren asked, looking at James.
‘We could try a couple more doors,’ said James. ‘If not, we’ll have to go back to the classroom. Maybe we can pile up the tables and make some sort of shelter, or something.’
Lauren looked at her brother like he was an