Book Two of Five

Title page

Book Two of Five

David Hughes

ARTHUR H. STOCKWELL LTD

Torrs Park, Ilfracombe, Devon, EX34 8BA

Established 1898

www.ahstockwell.co.uk

Publisher information

© David Hughes, 2015

First published as an e-book in Great Britain, 2015

First printed as a limited edition in Great Britain, 2015

2015 digital version by Andrews UK Limited

www.andrewsuk.com

All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the copyright holder.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination and any resemblance to actual people, living or dead, events or locales, is purely coincidental.

By the same author:

Purple Jade

Cloned Identity

Million Plus One

Hellfire Landing

Different Women, Same Love

Man Talk: The Manual, Born to Be Different

Book One of Five

Osama Bin Laden’s Children

This is about the children of Osama bin Laden. When he was killed in 2011, he was already the father of many children by many women - none would have been registered or listed. They would be hidden away and the males would be groomed and taught by the elders of the Al-Qaeda while being kept hidden from Western eyes. As such it would be possible for them to become the new bin Laden and be spread round the world in different countries and in different jobs, on the instruction of Osama bin Laden, so his death would be avenged with the use of his sons!

Introduction

The year 2034, the location the state of San Diego, California, United States of America. The time is 11 a.m. GMT, world news is broadcasting that there has been yet another shooting at a high school in the state of California. To the avid readers of world news this was nothing new as there was usually some sort of shooting in the USA on a monthly basis. But this news was a bit special as it involved children and the previous year there had been a total review of the security at all the schools and campuses of America. As the event unfolded during the day with news bulletins every fifteen minutes, it was becoming apparent that this was not just the usual upset pupil shooting people because he considered he was not being treated properly or because he had been passed over by girlfriends and had developed some grievance which he considered was dealt with by shooting somebody. It was becoming a major incident when the number of dead reached fifty-four and the number of injured was listed as seventy-eight. The broadcasts published the numbers followed by the scenes being shown of the number of people, ambulances and police vehicles in the area outside the high school. Already the media was fuelling every report and snippet of information they could obtain, invent and elaborate. It wouldn’t be long before the event would be related to gang warfare, terrorist activity, invasion by aliens from outer space and boy-girl fall out. The latest update stated that three army soldiers had been involved in some way. That was something totally new as the nearest army base was some hundreds of miles away.

Chapter One

As the dark day was unfolding into the evening more true facts were emerging from interviews with the police and also now the FBI. It would appear that yes, there had been three soldiers at the high school! The reason for the soldiers being at the school was being told! They were two male soldiers and one female soldier who were retired from combat duties due to their age, and they were part of the army recruiting campaign to boost the dwindling numbers in the American army. And yes, the three soldiers had been found dead at the scene. The pupil deaths were now listed and confirmed as fifty-seven, which was three more than the original estimate due to the deaths of three pupils who were first listed as injured but had died at hospital. The principle and his deputy had been interviewed, but the interview was totally overshadowed by the distressed state of the high school officials and none of the media questions they were bombarded with were answered or could even be answered by the school staff. The media were making assumption after assumption of what had happened and making guess after guess of the causes, with flashbacks to previous shootings at schools and campuses over the last ten years. The news bulletin at 10 p.m. GMT was more honest and factual, and the information was given by the police chief who gave a stern warning to the media reporters that there would be no questions asked until he said so!

The chief was speaking from a rostrum with the high school flag and the USA flag behind him! The rostrum was covered with sheets of paper which were being updated by the other police officials behind him. His voice was firm but riddled with quivers as the emotions of what he felt overcame his words. A media précis of what was said was broadcast on the news channels round the world: The latest news! The event at the high school in the USA state of California at 11 a.m. GMT this morning! After general assembly this morning, pupils who were showing an interest in joining the army stayed behind as the other pupils left the hall and returned to their classrooms. The assembly was then addressed by the three retired soldiers wearing their uniforms of the Marine Corps. After giving their verbal address they left the stage and stood in front of the pupils and gave the projectionist in the ceiling-mounted projector room at the rear of the hall the instruction to roll the film. The film was to show the American army in training and combat action with plenty of bangs and explosions as the American army took over the world. The film had been carefully edited to remove any scenes of violent deaths and injuries, especially scenes of any killings and mutilations. When the film reached the part where the bangs and the explosions were taking place the noise level was very loud and one of the soldiers made gestures towards the projection room to lower the volume.

The next moment the three soldiers seemed to collapse and fall down! This action caused uproar and applause from the pupils who thought it was all part of the show! Then more groups of pupils started screaming and falling down! The other pupils laughed and applauded as they thought they were copying the action of the soldiers! But the screaming and the falling down was becoming more widespread and serious. Blood was being sprayed about and it soon became evident this was not fake blood - but real! Pupils nearest to the exit doors were trying to open the doors. Panic was building up to a crises!

Because the army soldiers had been rehearsing after school time the previous day and the film had been run so that all the staff had become aware of the noise of the gunfire and explosions, the staff closest to the assembly hall did not react to there being a problem, so nobody went to see what was going on in the hall.

What had apparently happened was that when a passing member of staff had eventually noticed that the exit doors to the hall had all been locked by hockey sticks being jammed into the handles, he noticed that the people in the hall were trying desperately to open the doors which were vibrating with the pressure from within the hall. The staff member took his time to remove the hockey sticks as he thought it was just somebody playing a prank to keep the pupils in the hall with the loud explosions and noise of the film. When he finally opened the door he was knocked unconscious as the doors burst opened and the screaming hysterical pupils ran out of the hall.

Some of the pupils ran screaming down the hallways and the sudden commotion alerted the adjacent classroom staff to take notice! Screaming and hysterical pupils leaving the building alerted the two security officers at the main gate to enter the school to find out what was going on! It took some hours before the extent of the problem was to be realised! Because some of the pupils had left the school, the numbers of pupils could not be recorded accurately, so some were listed as missing and probably dead. So the school had to be searched, hospitals and ambulances had to be investigated and parents notified. It would be several days before all people were accounted for! The media had been alerted by the parents of some of the pupils who had left the school in fear and had literally run home to escape the carnage!

The FBI had been summoned by the interview the chief of police had given and they were taking over the investigation! The school security officers were taken away and interrogated by the FBI! Their account was that the sudden appearance of screaming pupils literally running for their lives at the school main entrance had caused them to enter the building and make their way to the hall! There they had found mounds of pupils dead or seriously wounded but still alive, and they had tried to apply first aid. Other staff members had then appeared! It was not apparent what had caused the injuries as many of the victims had different wounds to their bodies! It was only when the officers had both phoned for ambulances and helped the victims that they noticed the three dead soldiers. They could tell from their injuries being different from those of the pupils that they were probably gunshot wounds! Then they called the police, although the police had already been notified by the calls for ambulances! Within a short time the school was being swamped by emergency vehicles and it would take some time for the police to control the traffic flow as the emergency vehicles were themselves swamped by the pupils’ parents arriving, as well as the media and fire department! From the information the police officers were able to put together from the traumatised pupils, the local squat team had made their way up to the hall projector room. The room was found to be empty! The projectionist was nowhere to be seen! The squat team did find several used bullet cartridges and two live grenades discarded on the floor but no weapons! So they assumed a rifle had been fired from the projection room as well as grenades being dropped on the pupils in the hall below! At first it was possible the projectionist was not the actual perpetrator and it was assumed he had probably been in the hall, so until all the school personnel and pupils, dead or alive, were accounted for there could be no blame attached to anyone! Three days later the FBI were able to issue a wanted warrant for the school projectionist because he was the only person who had not been accounted for. He had just disappeared and despite his photo being broadcast on the media networks with advice to contact the authorities, he had not surfaced! The FBI had added speculation to the man being a fugitive as they had stated they were not looking for anybody else relating to the carnage at the school.

Chapter Two

The FBI had set up a task force to deal with the worst shooting ever recorded in the history of the USA.

The early task force finding was that the man, named as Bradley Thomas, was an American citizen, a twenty-nine-year-old man who had no previous criminal record. He had been appointed in 2030 as the school projectionist and doubled as general handyman! In the past four years he had been an exemplary employee! The FBI had ascertained that on that