Capital Falling | Book 4 | Sever Winkless, Lance (most popular ebook readers TXT) 📖

It is not the soldiers he is talking to, however. The boy’s words bring movement behind him and a man moves into view behind the glass, followed by a worried-looking woman.

The man pulls a boy who must be his son away from the window and puts him behind his legs, only for the boy’s head to pop sideways around the side of the legs. Neither of the parents seem to know what to do, they just stand behind the glass staring at Jason and Tyrone.

It is Jason who takes the initiative; he puts his hand to his mouth and moves his mouth in an eating motion.

“Always thinking with your stomach,” Tyrone teases.

“I’m bloody starving mate.”

“Me too, to be fair,” Tyrone agrees.

Behind the glass, the man looks at the woman for a moment and they talk. Below them, the boy's mouth moves too, hopefully encouraging his parents to feed the two soldiers. Turning back to Jason and Tyrone, the man nods and that is all the invitation the two men need.

“I’m going to ask you to stay out there, if that’s okay?” the man says through a gap he has opened in the patio doors.

“Yes, we understand,” Jason replies. “This is Tyrone and I’m Jason. Sorry for dropping in like this, things got a bit out of hand.”

“Indeed,” the man says. “I’m David, and my wife will make you some sandwiches. Is ham okay?”

“Our favourite,” Jason replies with a wry smile.

“You talk funny,” a little voice says from behind his father’s legs.

“Bob, don’t be rude,” David tells his son.

“That’s okay,” Jason says. “I’m from Scotland, that’s why I talk like this,” Jason tells the boy, looking down at him.

“What’s Scotland?” Bob asks.

“Bob, be quiet!” his father says. “Go and see if your mother needs any help.”

“Dad, I want to talk to the army men.”

“Now, Bob!”

Bob sulks off into the house, giving David a chance to asks Jason and Tyrone what is going on in his city. They tell the worried-looking father and husband what they know, which doesn’t ease his worries any. The only advice they can give the man when he asks what he should do, is that they should stay locked inside their house. Try and ride it out and wait to hear what the government says.

David’s wife passes out a plate stacked with sandwiches for the two men, who, now seated on garden chairs, devour the pile quickly. They wash the food down with glasses of water they have been given. Bob watches them eating intently through the glass, eyeing their rifles with wonder.

The sandwiches eaten, Jason and Tyrone discuss their next move. Debating whether to carry on over the fences and through the gardens or whether to go through David’s house and carry on through the streets.

“I’ll ask if we can go in to recce the street out of their front windows,” Jason tells Tyrone. “If it looks clear, we’ll go out the front door. There’s still loads of fences to go and we’ll be knackered by the time we reach the end of the road.”

“I think you’ll have to insist,” Tyrone replies looking a bit too comfortable in his garden chair.

Jason gets up off his chair, picks up the empty plate and glasses and approaches the patio doors. Inside, David sees Jason coming and gets up off his sofa, where he has been keeping an eye on his unexpected visitors.

“Thanks, they were just what the doctor ordered. Please thank your wife,” Jason says as the patio door opens, and he hands over the crockery.

“Our pleasure, will you be off now?” David asks.

“Yes, but I need to ask another favour. We need to come inside and check out the street, to see if we can use it instead of climbing over fences.”

David looks apprehensive by the request, glancing back to his wife. “Okay,” he finally says, “but can you leave your weapons outside?”

“I’m afraid that won’t be possible, but we won’t be inside for long. You have my word,” Jason replies as Tyrone approaches Jason’s back as if to enforce the issue.

Without saying another word, David pushes the door open and stands aside. Jason steps quickly across the threshold before he changes his mind and Tyrone follows him in. An excited Bob is whisked up off the floor by his mother, who immediately sits back down on the sofa, holding her wriggling son tightly so that he cannot escape, no matter how much he protests.

Jason nods a greeting to David’s wife and smiles at Bob, who must be in total awe of the two burly soldiers in full combat gear and with guns towering over him in his house.

David brings up the rear as Jason and Tyrone head straight across the lounge which runs the length of the house. He hovers behind the two intruders in his home as they take up positions at the front window overlooking the street.

“See any movement?” Jason asks.

“Nothing, it’s deadly quiet out there,” Tyrone answers, immediately regretting his use of the word deadly, what with the young boy in the room.

“Agreed, let’s move then,” Jason says, turning to their host. “Can you let us out of the front door please?”

David leads them out of a door on the left. Neither of the soldiers says a word to David’s wife or Bob as they go. Their heads are elsewhere, psyching themselves up, ready to head back out into harm’s way.

There is a slight pause at the front door as Jason and Tyrone do a weapons check. David looks on nervously as the weapons make unfamiliar metallic sounds that echo around the enclosed space, his hand hovering over the front door latch.

“Ready?” Jason asks, workman like.

Tyrone nods and David automatically turns the latch and opens his front door.

“Good luck,” David says as they leave, and they return the words to him before David shuts the door behind them.

The street is eerily quiet, despite the constant sound of gunfire that hangs over the city. A smoke haze clogs the air, making the day appear