Time to Leave

As he sat back and watched the streets go by, he knew in his heart that his Uncle was only keeping the promise he made to his friend and King. But there was still a part of Arthur that was more than a little pissed off at the whole mess and being left out of the loop for so long. The same part of him wanted to lash out and make those that stole his family away pay, and pay heavily. But he was thousands of kilometres from Britain and no one in Hong Kong was responsible for his family's destruction. Or so he thought. Arthur realised that he had been in the cab for a long time, and when he looked out the windscreen he saw that they were headed in the complete wrong direction, something was not right with that.

"Hey, where are you going?" He demanded. The driver ignored him for a moment and when Arthur grabbed his shoulder, a large revolver appeared over the front seat and it was pointed at Arthurs head.

"Just sit back and relax, Your Highness. We will have you back in lovely old London Town in no time." The driver said in a strained cockney accent, it was clear he was very nervous.

"Well the gun is a bit much, you must outweigh me by at least fifty kilos, you fat bastard." Arthur jabbed at the man.

"Shut yer smart hole boy or I'll do it for ya." The driver snapped.

"You're too fat the even turn around, pudgy boy." Arthur was getting under the man's skin and now he needed to get the gun away from him. "I bet your mother fed you with a shovel, mind you she was probably fatter that you are." That was the kicker, the man turned to take a swipe at Arthur, he swayed out of the way and punched him as hard as he could muster on the point of the jaw. The man's eyes rolled back in his head and was out cold before he knew what was happening. Arthur could see that he had lost control of the cab and it was careening across the street and was headed for a lamp post at a fairly rapid clip. Arthur ducked down and pushed his feet against the front seat and waited for the impact. When it came it was far more explosive than he had expected and he ended up on the floor. He shook out the dazed feeling in his head and looked over the seat. It seemed that the kidnapper had forgotten his seatbelt and was hanging impaled from a steel rod that was bent out of the post.

"Road safety is very important, my man." He said as he struggled up from the floor and kicked the back door open. It was at that moment that he had a horrible thought, if they were waiting for him outside his building, his Uncle was in terrible danger. He went over to check the pockets of the dead man and he came away with a wallet that had a gold badge in the front part. He was Royal Intelligence, the bastard was sent by his murderous Uncle Harold, another debt to visit upon the bastard. He pocketed the wallet and the revolver he retrieved from the back seat, he was going to have to be smart about this.

He ran through the streets, heading back to his building, hoping against hope that they had not hurt his Uncle Percy, or worse. The people in the street got out of the way of the yelling young man as he put on a heavy burst of speed. Being able to cut across buildings and streets allowed Arthur to make it back to his building faster than it took to drive to the warehouse district where the cab lay mangled on the street corner. He slowed to a walk, stopping at the corner before his building. As he looked around to the entrance, he saw three men standing near three black cars that were not there for some film star. He ducked back around the corner and stopped, leaned against the wall and thought about everything for a moment. His heart was racing and he wasn't sure what was going on, but then his Uncle Percy's words came to him. 'If you are caught by surprise, stop, think about the situation and then plan your response.'

Arthur took several deep breaths and calmed his heart rate, and his nerves. Where was the hole? There was always a hole in any defense that could be exploited. There were three outside the reception, most likely one in the reception, possibly one in the parking garage, and if it were him, at least four possibly five in the apartment. His best course of action was to infiltrate via the parking garage. He turned and ran to the entrance to the building adjoining his own. He had learned years ago that the two building shared a parking garage and he could access his own building from there. He waved a quick hello to the receptionist, she knew him and his secret access very well. He went to the stairwell door and pushed through, it was four flights down to the first parking level, and he knew that there was a window in the door so he could see if the way was clear.

As he expected the way was not clear and there was a rather solid looking women standing near the lift well and the entry to his building stairs. He had to think fast, these were not the sort of people that played games, they were deadly serious and he had a limited amount of time before they heard that their man was a shish kabob on Ling Chou St. He looked through the glass again and saw that the woman was facing the bank of lifts rather than his direction. He opened the door just enough to slip out and hide behind the Jaguar that was parked just outside the door. He waited for a moment and listened, there was no indication the agent had heard him, so he slipped around the front of the car and moved quickly to the big cement post that would hide him from her a moment longer. He was about to make his move when the woman spoke.

"Ghost three, go ahead?"

"Three this is one, all clear?"

"Affirmative one, no signs of the boy down here." She replied and the channel clicked off. "What the fuck is he expecting in a damn parking garage?" She swore to herself. She turned back to the lifts and then started looking back up the ramp that lead to the exit, a car was coming down the ramp towards her. She slipped a hand in her jacket, she was clearly well armed, but the car continued down the next ramp to their own parking spot. She sighed and relaxed again, but by that time Arthur was standing right behind her, the noise of the car had drowned out any noise he could have made. The woman started to turn, but Arthur was in motion again, he struck her hard in the throat and she gagged immediately, he spun around the woman and grabbed her head on both sides. Twisting as hard and fast as he could the woman's neck made a loud click and she slumped to the ground dead. Never leave a live enemy behind you, Master Li always taught.

Arthur quickly searched the dead woman and took her radio, he wanted to be aware of anything the enemy knew and be prepared for it. He entered the stairwell and stopped and listened. There was complete silence, Arthur breathed a sigh of relief, stairwells are not the easiest place to take down an enemy covertly. He took the stairs three at a time making sure that he was as silent as he could be, and he didn't want to exhaust himself before he got back to his apartment. It was a relatively long climb and Arthur stopped a couple of times to take in his surroundings. Although the stairwell was concrete, he didn't want to fall over an agent waiting quietly above him. Everything sounded good, so Arthur continued his climb, he had used these stairwells as an exercise course when he was younger and he could climb and descend them blindfolded. He reached the twenty-eighth floor access door and looked through the window, the hallway was deserted and he again sighed his relief, they didn't know about the second apartment. It was where Percival kept all his most important files and not a few firearms. He opened the door and moved quickly to the last door on the right, he entered the code on the button keypad and slipped in before anyone decided to take out their rubbish.

Inside he immediately went to the locked armoury room and again entered his code and the lock sprung open. It was a bit of a stretch to call it an armoury, there were only five rifles and three pistols there, but it was what it was. He dropped the big Webley revolver on the work bench and retrieved the Colt 45 semi-automatic he preferred when he was target shooting. In the draw below the colt were hundreds of rounds of ammunition and several magazines for the weapon. He quickly loaded four and pocketed three, slamming the fourth home in the pistol. He pulled the slide back and chambered the first round then went back to the work bench. His Uncle didn't know it, but Arthur had found the secret release catch under the right hand end of the bench, he flicked it and small draw sprang out of the bench top. Inside were five hand grenades and two silencers especially tooled by his Uncle for the colt and the Walther the older man preferred.

Arthur closed and locked the gun room and went to the closet that was at the end of the hallway, it was the same in virtually every apartment above the twentieth floor. He opened the door and pulled the cord attached to the light. He looked up and saw the ladder leading up through the floor and up to his own apartment. When he reached the trap door at the top he looked through the tiny spy hole that was there to ensure the closet above was empty and the door closed. It was dark and he knew he was safe to open the trapdoor. Once in his own closet, he closed the door and listened very intently at the door for any sounds that were out of place. He could hear the sounds of two men talking, and they sounded like they were searching his room. Gently, he opened the door and slipped out into the hallway, he was about three metres from the door to his room, they had clearly kicked the door open and were rifling through his possessions. For some reason that really pissed him off.

He stepped up the doorway and surveyed the bomb site that was now his room, the two men facing the window and lamenting their own accommodations. He stepped into the room, and before the men were even aware of his presence he put two bullets in each of their backs, he went over and stood over them and shot each in the head to be sure. That was the moment that Arthur realised that killing bad people was something that he didn't find difficult. He had killed four people now and he didn't have the slightest feeling of regret or sadness. He knew that in the long run they wanted to take him back to be killed by his father's brother, so in some ways he was acting in self-defense. He didn't want to kill anyone, and he certainly didn't enjoy it, but if it came down to a him or them scenario, he knew which one he liked better.

Leaving the two dead men in his room, he stepped lightly down the hallway, and when he reached the end, he could see there was another woman sitting on the couch in the living area. She was flipping through a magazine that was on the coffee table and paid no attention to her surroundings. Clearly she was supremely confident that they had enough agents to corral him and his Uncle if needs be. He reached down to grab the radio he had lifted from the corpse in the garage, but he realised he put it on the work bench in the gun room. He chided himself viciously for making such a foolish error, but there was nothing for it now, he was committed. The woman stood and was facing the kitchen area, she was trying to raise the woman in the garage.

"Where is that lazy cur, I will have her arse if she is asleep."

"Actually she's dead." Arthur said stepping out from the hallway. The woman spun around shocked at the unfamiliar voice that came from behind her. But her shock was momentary as Arthur shot her through the middle of the chest and she fell dead where she stood. He swiftly moved over and relieved her of the weapon in a belt holster, then moved to the second hallway that led to his Uncle's retreat. Stepping lightly, he quickly covered the distance to the double oak doors. One was slightly open and there were raised voices coming from inside.

"Look old man, the boy will be coming with us and you have no say in it. If you are really lucky I will kill you quickly and save you a house full of pain." The man said.

"Are you even sure that you can take Arthur, he is a very capable young man, you know." His Uncle replied calmly. Arthur smiled, it took an enormous amount to make his Uncle lose his temper.

"Let's just kill him now and be done with it, Burger picked the boy up in the taxi out front. It was as clean as." The second man said. That's two, Arthur thought.

"We wait for the signal that he is at the evac point, then we kill him. We stick to the plan, I don't want anything to screw this up, clear?"

The lack of reply made it clear that the second man had acquiesced and had fallen silent. Arthur looked through the gap and saw that the leader was standing in front of Percival's desk and was holding a Webley revolver, pointed foolishly at the floor, he couldn't see the second man so he had to be near the couches. Arthur fell back for a moment and played out what he wanted to do in his head, the leader first and then the second man, the surprise should be enough to get them both before they reacted. He considered other options, but none of them played out the way that Arthur wanted. Nodding to himself he stood and moved to the door and grasped the handle, he counted to three and burst in like a gang busters. His first shot took the leader under the arm and smashed through his chest destroying everything in its path. He immediately spun toward the couches and saw the second man turning back from the wet bar, shock on his face and fear in his eyes. Arthur levelled the colt and pumped three shots into the man. He was dead before he could reach for his own weapon. Fool, never put your weapon away when you are in a dangerous environment.

"Well done, Lad. I see you got out of the cab with no injuries." His Uncle calmly said.

"I have a few bruises, but I will live." His Uncle nodded and immediately went to the safe behind six books in the book shelf. Inside there were passports and more money that Arthur had ever seen, Percival saw the look of amazement on his charges face and smiled.

"I have been prepared for this moment for sixteen years. Is there anything you need to gather before we leave?"

"Where are we going?" He asked.

"Home Lad, we are off to Jolly Old London." Percival said, although there didn't appear to be a lot of joy in his voice. "We will use the emergency exit and head to the Kowloon safe house." Arthur looked at Percival, confused at the mention of a safe house. "As I said before, Lad, I have been preparing for this day for sixteen years." He reached into the safe and removed a large ring box and handed it to Arthur. It was a beautiful and ornate design that was clearly hand made. Opening it, Arthur saw a magnificent ring that bore diamonds, rubies and sapphires in the shape of the royal crest. He looked at Percival.

"It was the ring your father was given when he ascended to the throne. He gave it to me before we left London to give to you for your return to the Capitol. Only the true King will bear this ring." Percival explained. Just then the radios in room squawked to life.

"Ghost one, Ghost six, Specter is dead, the boy is free, and he is probably headed to you, over." The two men looked at each other and nodded, it was time to leave.