Singapore Sling Shot - Andrew Grant [36]
I was near the tunnel entrance. The trench was ramping up to ground level. The mesh was gone from above me. I stopped moving with my head just below the edge of the concrete wall. When I emerged it would be at a jog. I checked that the key to the door and the alarm code were in the zip pocket of my top.
I bellied forward a half metre. Now I was at the very edge of the tunnel but still below the level of the cameras. To my right were two buildings and ahead was the road leading on up towards Fort Siloso Square. There were several low-voltage lamps dotted about but no serious security lights. The glow from the city had lightened the gloom to a grey-on-grey tone. It was like looking out through a window on a dull day through a layer of thick gauze.
To my left the road curved down to The QuarterMaster Store. A long line of trench mortars was set above the road. Behind the squat, wide-mouthed guns a footpath ran across the face of the hill. Off this was the bridge that led to the top level of The QuarterMaster Store where the surrender rooms are situated.
In total I had about a hundred yards to travel. I estimated ten seconds to open the door. Twenty more to disable the alarm. A minute to get orientated and find Lieutenant-General T Numata’s waxen image. Another thirty seconds and I would be on my way back to the water, hopefully well ahead of Lu’s guys.
What is it about smokers? Okay, I’m a smoker, but there are times when you need to fight the urge, and this was definitely one of those times for me. However this was obviously not the right time for the man in the trees up ahead of me, just as it hadn’t been for the one I’d taken out down at the fire control tower. I could see the ruby glow of the cigarette back in the trees. The goon wasn’t bothering to shield it. This was just another idiot on Thomas Lu’s payroll. The guy was possibly only seventy metres from the ramp into the surrender rooms. He could be at the door in a matter of a minute or less once I went in.
I lay motionless, trying to get a handle on this. I hadn’t figured that Lu’s men would be so close. Seventy metres is far too close for comfort. This guy would probably let me go in and then follow me, if not into the building, onto the bridge at least. There he would probably try to nail me coming back out. If Lu had one man hidden this close, how many more did he have staking the place out?
“Plan two,” I whispered. The voice-activated headset sent my verbalised thought out to Sami.
“Say again.”
“Just talking to myself,” I replied. “Sami this is going to be fast and loud and dirty. Start back right now.”
“Roger.”
Sami was gone. I was alone and I was shit scared. This was not going to be pretty in anyone’s book. I was going to be killing some guys and they were going to be trying to kill me. Problem was this wasn’t the Thai or Cambodian jungle, this was Singapore. Guns and gun battles, especially those resulting in death, were not going to amuse the powers that be, and that most assuredly was a fact.
“Fuck it. Let’s do it!”
I get to my feet and started for The QuarterMaster Store. My jog became a sprint as I raced down the pathway behind the mortars and crossed the bridge, fishing the key to the door out of my pocket as I went. I could sense rather than see movement in the shadows on the hillside above me. I was tempted to hit the landing, go down the steps to the lower level, wait for this clown and take him out before I opened the door, but there would be others coming. Speed was my friend, my only fucking friend right at that moment.
There was a dim light on the landing, but I snapped on my headlamp as I reach the door. The key went in easily enough but it wouldn’t turn. I applied more pressure, praying that it wouldn’t break. Finally, the lock snapped back and I was in. I was moving as quickly as I could. The beam from my headlamp sliced through the pitch-blackness inside the windowless room. I ignored the alarm