Theme: Paris Blohm & Steerner ft. Paul Aiden - Fight Forever

Chapter 1

"Hey."

Caradoc blinked once, twice, and faced his partner. "I'm fine."

"I'm not asking if you're fine," Gawain said, tying her coffee-brown hair back in a bun. "I just wanted to talk to you."

"There's plenty of other people."

"Tristan's stealing the limelight."

Caradoc looked across to the seat opposite him, where a blonde man was excitedly recounting the tale of how he escorted Princess Tilde back to Sweden.

"She kept mentioning you, Galahad," Tristan said.

All eyes turned to the figure sitting closest to the ramp on Caradoc's side who just smiled. "You cheeky bastards."

"So I heard some rumours on the way back, and...you like the princess, Galahad?"

Galahad's reply was drowned out by a chorus of laughter. He rolled his eyes and looked back down at the helmet in his hands.

The world around them turned red.

"Helmets!" Galahad ordered.

Caradoc lifted his, and placed it over his head. The heads-up display came to life, blocky numbers displaying his current altitude as well as incoming communications.

The deafening rush of wind began as the ramp opened like a jaw. Caradoc saw Gawain frown as she caught sight of the featureless grey clouds below them.

"I thought you liked skydiving."

"I do. I also like to be able to actually see the target before I jump."

He shrugged. "Fair enough."

The on the wall shone a vibrant green, and Galahad launched himself off it, disappearing into the grey.

In pairs, the Kingsmen dove off the ramp. To Caradoc, it felt like flying. He was assailed by a grey maelstrom, its roar as loud as a lion's, and then suddenly it was gone, replaced by the shrill whistle of wind and the lights of a military compound far below them.

They glided in silence.

At three hundred feet, the red parachute icon appeared in Caradoc's visor. He reached behind him and yanked the cord.

The dark blue parachute blossomed out of his pack, almost the same colour as the night sky, and he was jerked upwards. Below him, more parachutes exploded out of their containers, blanketing his field of view.

Below him, the ground expanded, and rushed straight at him.

Caradoc landed feet-first on the soft dirt, before releasing the chute.

The sound of gunfire reached them. Team One had landed.

Galahad produced a pair of heavy bolt cutters, and snipped away at the wire mesh in the fence. He pulled a section large enough for one man to fit through off, and ducked into the compound.

Gawain signalled Caradoc, and the two broke off to the left, towards a blocky building. There were two men in black military gear, their backs to them and their rifles aimed at the main gate.

Caradoc let loose a short burst from his silenced MP5, stitching a trio of holes into the closest man's back, the uppermost round going straight through the top of his spine.

The other soldier turned, and had three holes drilled into him by Gawain.

He kicked the door open, into an empty stairwell. The gunfire outside was getting closer, the tat-tat-tat of Team One's unsilenced weapons getting more clear by the second.

"Take the second floor," Caradoc ordered, kicking open the first floor fire escape doors, into a corridor with several doors on both sides. Keeping his gun aimed down the hall, he peeked inside the first room.

A soldier was talking on the phone to someone Caradoc couldn't hear.

He ducked and continued along the corridor, checking the room one by one. He was just getting to the fifth one on the left when he heard a door opening.

Caradoc spun, and kicked the soldier in the head, sending him tumbling back into the room he had just come out of. He jumped onto his prone body, combat knife in hand, and pressed its tip into his throat.

He poked his head out of the room's door, just in time to see the soldier who had been on the phone, pistol in hand, squeeze off a round, shouting.

Caradoc pulled a cylindrical grenade from his belt, removed the pin and rolled it into the corridor.

A bright flash in the corridor, accompanied by an ear-shattering bang told Caradoc it was safe to emerge. He ran down the corridor, giving each of the doors a fleeting glance.

Through the second last door, he saw the doctor.

He fired a burst from his gun into the lock ,and kicked the door in. "Doctor Fischer!"

The bearded, bespectacled man raised his hands above his head, shaking. "Don't shoot!"

"We have to leave, doctor. I'm here to help."

Caradoc felt his shoulder jerk back. He used the momentum to throw himself backwards onto the floor, and pulled the trigger on his gun, blowing red holes in the soldier who had shot him.

A hand lowered itself into his vision, and he took it. Gawain pulled him to his feet, looking at the crushed slug that that failed to penetrate his body armour.

"Take the doctor first," he said, waving at Fischer to come over. He slipped into the lab and whipped out a small flash drive, plugging it into the first USB port he saw. The program inside executed itself, and a progress bar appeared on the screen to indicate the copied percentage.

Caradoc walked around the steel cube on the central table, his eyes tracing the wires that came out of its top and around it. He put a hand on it, and jerked away. It was cold, even through his gloves.

"What's this?" he muttered to himself, leaning over it to look inside.

A cylindrical container, made of glass, was attached to the inside of the cube. A much smaller sphere was suspended inside it, a shiny black colour.

"Dirk!"

He turned around to see Gawain standing at the door he had shot in.

"Is it done?"

Caradoc glanced at the screen, where the progress bar was just advancing past halfway. "Still a bit to go. Take a look at this."

Gawain stepped into the room, and towards the cube. "What is it?"

"I'm guessing a weapon of some sort. Poor doctor was forced to make it or something like that."

"It can't be good." Gawain tapped the glass cylinder with a finger. "Maybe we should take it."

Caradoc wrapped his arms around the cube and heaved. It didn't budge. He reached his fingers down the sides of the cube.

The bottom edges of the cube were welded to the steel table.

"Who sticks a weapon to a table?"

"Lift the whole table?"

"Seems like it's bolted down."

Gawain pulled the USB drive out just as the progress bar filled completely. "We can ask the good doctor later. Come on." She skipped out the door.

Caradoc grabbed the glass cylinder with both hands and yanked. Still, it refused to move out of its place.

A blue light came on inside the cube.

He let go and headed for the door.

A steel shutter had been placed over it, impeding him. "Shit." He banged his fist on it repeatedly. "Valerie!"

He heard footsteps on the other side, and then Gawain's muffled swearing through the thick steel shutter.

"Is there an override or something?"

"I don't see one."

A high-pitched hum emanated from the box. "I think it's a bomb!" He grabbed another table, which wasn't bolted, and covered the box with it.

The hum was growing louder.

He shoved a shelf at the central table, and pressed himself into the cover of the room, facefirst.

Even after he'd closed his eyes, there was a bright flash.

Klaas Hekkers looked down at the smartphone in his hand, and frowned. "I'm sorry," he said to the cute blonde sitting opposite him. "I've got...business to attend to."

"Aw, can't you stay?"

"He shook his head, flashing her a smile. "I wish I could." He pocketed his phone and waved at his driver, who brought the limo up to the sidewalk.

He winked at her before entering the car.

"You got that?"

"Yeah," said the suited man in the backseat. "Who's stupid enough to try hack you?"

"Stupid people don't realise they're stupid. How quickly can we restart everything?"

"An hour or two. Then you'll be back with her."

"Scratch that, I don't like her hair."

"Whatever you say, sir. Shall I schedule another one?"

"Friday."

Hekkers watched the pillar-like profile of his skyscraper come into view. He took a sip of water from a bottle, and opened the door.

The lobby would have been mistaken for a hotel's if not for the numerous armed guards standing around. Hekkers turned off the red carpet, past the statue of a golden bird rising from a flame and into an elevator in the right wall, inserting a key into its slot, and turning it.

The "Penthouse" button lit up.

The first thing Hekkers saw when the elevator opened was a body. One of his personal guards, shot in the head and slumped against the kitchen counter.

"Hello, Klaas."

His eyes flickered to the man shrouded in shadow, sitting on a chair that had been moved into the centre of the room, and the light above it turned off. "What do you want?"

"To be your friend."

Hekkers' hand moved towards the lobby button.

There was a thump and a hole appeared in the elevator wall just beside where his head was. "Don't press it, for your own sake. Step out of the elevator."

"How'd you get in here?"

"Step out. Of. The elevator."

Taking a deep breath, Hekkers moved one foot out, then the other.

"I sent you a message," the man said.

"I get a lot of messages every day."

"But your security staff won't, since I've put the cameras on loop."

"Who're you?"

"Check my message."

Hekkers slowly removed his phone from his pocket, and checked the messages. He came to one that was sent that morning:

Phoenix Securities Compound Attacked

"I've read this a hundred times."

"So have my bosses. I understand your company was paid to protect a very valuable asset."

"You didn't tell me he was being hunted."

"Mr. Hekkers, I know who might be behind that."

"Who?"

"Kingsman."

"What's that?"

"If I tell you, what are you going to do?"

"Wipe them off the surface of the Earth."

Although he couldn't make out any features, he could feel the man smiling at him in the darkness. "Very well, Mr. Hekkers. Are you going to stand there or are you going to grab a chair?"

Hekkers reached over the kitchen counter and procured a stool, setting it just outside the radius of darkness around the man.

"Are you ready?"

He nodded. He neither trusted the man, nor knew why he was doing this, but he knew what the alternative was. "Tell me about this...Kingsman."