The Devils of Night

The Devils of Night  By Ben Coulter THE DEVILS OF NIGHT TEXT © 2023 BEN COULTER All characters appearing in this work are fictitious. Any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. All Rights Reserved For Cree… Prologue Stansted Airport, England - The Present Day. The cawing of a crow in an overhead branch provided a break from the thunder of jet engines. Magna tried to decipher if it had any significance. He put superstition aside and looked at his wristwatch. 11:11 PM. He refocused on the task at hand. The tarmac. The plane. The escape. ‘We have to get through that fence, onto the runaway and find the plane, it’s ten minutes until take off.’ He rifled through his duffel bag and pulled out a chrome multitool. He gripped the cold steel in his fist as it evoked a memory of the previous owner. Sadness and guilt seeped into his gut like salt into an open wound. ‘There it is! About four back in the queue, right there!’ Danika pointed to the row of planes taxiing on the runway. ‘See it, Magna, the tail number is HV 3366.’ He pushed the negative thoughts from his mind and focused on her words. ‘How did you find that out?’ ‘These plane spotter websites. But it is that plane, I’m certain of it.’ ‘I’m not doubting you, Danika. I’m impressed with how you found all this out. I wouldn’t have a clue how to do any of that. But you’re sure it’s direct to Venice?’ He got up and slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, multitool in hand. ‘Yep, straight to Venice. This airline doesn’t do stops.’ She pulled her rucksack onto her back. ‘Now I don’t mean to doubt you here, Magna, but the cameras and those big lights up there, I’m guessing a sensor will trigger them as we approach?’ ‘Don’t worry, the cameras are in night vision, and we don’t reflect the same light as the faints.’ She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head to one side in reply. ‘It’s like how we struggle to see ourselves in a mirror. It’s all to do with the way the light bounces off us, they’ll only see a diluted image on their screens, not enough to notice unless they’re really looking, and with what’s going on up there...’ He pointed up to the arrivals hall platform and the flashing blue lights. ‘Their focus will be taken up with that.’ ‘Okay, that makes sense, but how about those gigantic lights? Up there!’ ‘They have infrared sensors. But they don’t pick us up either. We don’t give off enough body heat to trigger them.’ ‘How do you know all of this?’ ‘This is what we do, Danika. Or did do, I should say. We broke into places, and we took faints. Bad people. Really bad people. Where do you think all the blood came from? But anyway, we had to deal with problems like this all the time. These are the advantages we have over the faints, and why we did jobs they couldn’t.’ He got up and ran to the fence. The lights pointing down at him remained off. ‘See?’ He smiled back at her. She crept to his side and knelt in the mud. He used the multitool’s wire cutters to clip through the thick links of the fence, creating a small opening at the bottom. ‘And how about getting on there?’ She pointed to their plane, currently third in line for take-off. ‘Just follow me and stay right behind. We need to move quickly, the cameras on the runway aren’t in night vision mode. They can see us, especially with all those floodlights.’ The runway lights were permanently on and blazing down onto the tarmac. He shoved his bag through the hole in the fence and crawled in after it. ‘Wait, Magna! I don’t get it. Then they’ll see us, won’t they?’ He reached through and grabbed her rucksack. ‘That’s why we must move quickly, and we can move quickly, don’t forget that.’ He paused as his lips bent up into a grin. ‘We’re much stronger and much faster than any faint. You know this. Have faith in your strength.’ He motioned his head to the control tower on the opposite side of the runway. ‘It’ll be okay, I’ve worked out the best route to stay hidden from the eyes up there.’ He held out his hand to help her through the hole. She pushed it away with a grin. ‘I can manage, thanks.’ She squeezed through the hole and crouched beside him, focusing on the plane. ‘Okay, are you ready?’ He looked her square in the eyes. ‘Yep. Let’s get the fuck out of here!’ They readied themselves like Olympians before a sprint. The roar of jet engines signalled another plane taking off, whilst their target aircraft moved to second in line. ‘Go!’ He raced along the tarmac zigzagging through fields of light and shadow. She followed close behind mimicking his every step. If they could run in the daylight, if it wouldn’t turn them into a pile of smoking ash, they could have won every gold medal the world had to offer. He slowed his pace when he reached the wing of the plane. He crouched down, hiding from the passenger windows. ‘Look, more cameras!’ She was pointing at two small cameras attached to the underside of the plane, one on the front wheels, and one on the rear. They reached the fuselage as the rear wheels came thundering towards them. ‘They can’t see us from here. The wheels are blocking the view, we need to get up and onto them. Fast!’ He squeezed her hand and controlled his breath. ‘As soon as they’re on us, we jump!’ ‘Magna!’ She was now pointing to four police cars racing down the runway. ‘They must have spotted us, there’s no time..’ Before he could finish his sentence, the wheels were already in front of