Hard Return

by Rosie Claverton

  He turned to Lewis. ‘You all right here if I go check on Joe?’

  Anchor looked up but said nothing. He was fucking good at that, wasn’t he? Jason hadn’t confronted him, but he had seen how Amy had looked to him for help and got nothing in return. Was Anchor trying to get them all killed so his fuck-ups weren’t discovered?

  ‘Yeah, we’re good,’ Lewis said.

  Jason crossed the corridor, glancing along it to where Gareth was standing watch. Gareth nodded to him, so he wasn’t a complete pariah. Here they all were, playing soldier, as if that suited them better than cook or gardener or Project man. Did Gareth feel as out of his depth as Jason did, guarding a corridor, pretending they knew how to do this?

  Joe was sitting on the bunk opposite where Roshan was laid out, hands clasped together, staring at the floor. Jason perched next to him, as if they were mourners at a funeral, huddled into the pews.

  ‘He should be cremated,’ Joe said, suddenly. ‘He was Hindu and they burn their dead.’

  Jason didn’t think they were really in a position to set fires, so he just nodded.

  ‘He was nice to me. Just…nice. No agenda to him at all. Apparently, he'd been done for smuggling counterfeits – can you believe it?’

  ‘He seemed nice,’ Jason added, though he hadn’t really known Roshan, just been suspicious of how quiet he was.

  ‘I don’t know how this happened.’ Joe held up his hand, to forestall an explanation. ‘Not with those bastard agents – shit happens, y’know – but with Rosh. What the fuck was he doing in the corridor? The last place you'd find him in a fight was in the thick of it.

  ‘Maybe—’

  ‘Pipe down, all right? You didn’t know him. He would never have been out there, not if he had a choice. There was a reason for it. There’s a reason he’s…he’s…’

  Jason tried to look past the grief, the ashamed tears, the quest for his death not to have been pointless. What Joe said did have a flavour of reason to it. Why was Roshan in the corridor? Pansy had been there too – another unlikely candidate for a fight. Had Dreadlock forced them out into the melee? That didn’t seem like his style.

  Stoker and Lewis had been out of the way, escorting agents up into the compound. That left Roshan and Pansy in the Eye Room with Joe, Dreadlock and the Governor. Jason had seen the latter three in the doorway as they'd stood over Roshan, not out in the corridor proper. Would Dreadlock send Pansy and Roshan out into the darkness, when he hadn’t gone himself?

  An uncomfortable thought entered Jason’s mind. What if Roshan had known something? What if the fight had been an opportunity to silence him? It would be the perfect time – what if someone had seized the moment to remove quiet, inconvenient Roshan?

  Jason mentally calculated who was left in the corridor. He had stayed down the dormitory end, knocked aside when the agents had come storming through. Anchor, Nikolai, and Gareth had pursued them. Including Pansy and Roshan, there had been five prisoners in that stretch of corridor at that time. If he assumed Roshan hadn’t slit his own throat, he had four suspects.

  Nikolai was the most obvious candidate, his name cropping up in every suspect list – though Jason now knew he hadn’t pushed him off the roof. He'd also been on the other side of the corridor when they'd found him, shoulder wrenched out of joint, and completely dead to the world. But he could’ve cut Roshan before he'd been taken out.

  Jason was more concerned about Anchor. He was supposed to be one of the good guys, but what had happened with the dormitory negotiation? He could’ve done something, shouted something so they recognised his voice without giving himself away. Maybe Roshan’s death wasn’t ‘seizing the moment’ as much as ‘creating the moment’.

  ‘If there’s a reason, I’ll find it,’ Jason heard himself say.

  ‘You were meant to find my watch,’ Joe said. ‘Look what happened there.’

  Two things sprang immediately into Jason’s mind. The first was that he had found the watch, but because of Lewis’ revelations and breaking through the window, he had completely forgotten about it. The second was that Joe knew who had killed Mole – maybe now that Roshan was dead, he would feel enraged enough to point the finger.

  ‘Could Roshan’s death be linked to Mole’s?’

  Jason expected to be told to shut up again, but when he looked over at Joe, he seemed puzzled.

  ‘I thought Mole was… I don’t know anymore. What happened to Bo and Rosh – that don’t make any sense. Maybe you could say what happened to Bo was just a bit of a prank that went wrong – unless it was you?’

  ‘It wasn’t,’ Jason said evenly.

  ‘Yeah. When I thought about it a bit, I realised it weren’t you. But we haven’t had nothing like that the whole time I’ve been here – and I was here after the first month, or so they tell me. Now we’ve got two dead men and one carried off, all in just weeks. If they’re not related, it’s a hell of a coincidence.’

  ‘So…’ Jason said slowly. ‘If you told me who did for Mole, we could—’

  ‘It’s not him. It can’t be. Leave it, will you?’

  ‘You want to be next, Joe?’

  Joe’s expression was hard, the tear tracks fading.

  ‘If I talk, I will be.’

  Chapter 49: Self-rescuing Princess

  Amy’s head was killing her.

  She could feel a lump forming where she'd hit the wall, the swelling causing her hair to stick out and the whole room to swing in lazy circles. The last thing she needed was a concussion, when her only asset was her brain.

  She was being held in the canteen area of the bunker, but she wasn’t being guarded. There was someone in the corridor who occasionally walked up to peer through the door, then left again. She had just been left alone with an endless supply of caffeine and biscuits. The privileges of rank.

  When she could stand up without swaying, she made herself a cup of tea and rammed half a dozen chocolate digestives in her mouth. The feeling of sickness intensified, but she kept them down. What now? Her plan had been a disaster. She had a second chance to get it right, but how?

  First things first – she needed access to a computer. She felt completely vulnerable without it and she would think so much better with keys beneath her fingers. If Pansy had Owain’s laptop, the only other options were her laptop in the office, the computers in the Eye Room, or the computers in the Hide. The laptop in the office seemed like the only viable option, but how would she take out the corridor guard?

  Where she wanted to be was the Security Hide. It might feel like abandoning ship, but she would be leading the free agents and able to coordinate a rescue attempt instead of playing the hostage. But the prospect of reaching that little hatch at the end of the darkened corridor filled her with dread. It wasn’t just the corridor guard, but all the prisoners in the Eye Room too. She had seen what had happened to the agents who had tried to run past there, bruised and battered women laid out on the floor – and they'd had darkness on their side.

  Darkness. The power had gone out just prior to the invasion. Which meant that above her, in the compound, there was a way of taking out the power. It might be in Pansy’s super-charged access account, but she could find a way in if she had enough time. Even if she didn’t have quite enough, she could still move freely and perhaps make contact with the agents who had been sent up.

  She looked up and saw the guard looking in. She picked up the throw from the back of the threadbare sofa and made a show of laying it out, stacking up cushions at the end nearest the door. As he walked away, she stuffed a few more cushions under the blanket and headed for the exit. It would hopefully survive a second glance, but she didn’t need the illusion to last for long. Any time it could buy her would be well-spent.

  She opened up the door, saw the guard still had his back to her, and stepped across the corridor into the kitchen. The pantry was wide open and a ladder w
as hanging down made of sheets, leading into a dark narrow space above her. No time to panic.

  The ladder swayed violently as she stepped on it, competing with the spinning of her head. She stopped, closed her eyes, and waited for her body to settle. She counted to thirty before, eyes still closed, she began to climb. She counted 42 cloth rungs, before light surrounded her eyelids and her head brushed the top of a cupboard.

  She stretched her foot backwards and found the floor, reaching up to haul herself back and into…another kitchen. She didn’t have time to linger and marvel at the similarities, though. Opening the door, she crossed the corridor into the room straight opposite.

  This room was not the canteen. It was more like a conference room or the boardroom of a run-down company from the 1980s. The large table was tattooed with ink, and the chairs were in a state of disrepair. There were ageing sheets of paper tacked up everywhere, with crude maps and checklists and fragments of at least half a dozen different plans for escape.

  In the corner, there was her prize – an ancient desktop computer.

  She crossed the room quickly, aware that the camera in this room was just above the door and that someone might be monitoring the feeds. The computer was off following the power cut, but it booted relatively quickly for such a doddery old piece of tech. It was running Windows 98 and Amy couldn’t believe the NCA portal even allowed a login from such an outdated operating system. Maybe Pansy had found a workaround.

  Amy found herself admiring his ingenuity, as the portal loaded automatically – and logged her in. She blinked at it, then glanced across at the computer tower. No USB slot, only floppy disk and CD. She got up and circled the tower, checking the back. In one of the old school USB ports, she found an NCA passport.

  It looked like an ordinary USB drive, except it carried the tell-tale imprint of a white crown. Amy verified the logo and shook her head. How had Pansy got hold of an NCA passport? Unless Anchor had given it to him, or there was a second agent in the compound – perhaps even Pansy himself. Though if he was working undercover, it was a pretty deep cover from what she had seen.

  She returned to the computer and found the account’s access was essentially unlimited. Everything from environmental controls to the minute details of human resource files, this account could access them all. Had Pansy’s fellow prisoners known he had this kind of access on them?

  The temptation to read was very high. All those answers at her fingertips. But anyone could be watching her right now, so she needed to move fast. Reluctantly, she tore herself away from the prisoner files and went back to environmental management.

  She found the emergency power breaker. One button press and it would be done – lights, camera, exits. At the last moment, she instead went into settings – and restricted account access to passport-only. She wished she could be there to see Pansy’s face when he tried to reactivate the power and failed to even log in.

  Amy grinned and shut down the power.

  Chapter 50: The Darkest Hour

  The room was plunged into darkness and a woman screamed.

  ‘Shut up, bitch.’

  Jason heard Nikolai’s shout from across the corridor. Joe gripped onto Jason’s arm and they stood as one, edging towards where they thought the door was. Once the door was open, the red emergency lighting showed them their feet if nothing else. Across the way, Anchor and Lewis lurked in the doorway.

  ‘What the fuck is Pansy playing at?’ Lewis asked.

  ‘The fucking NCA are here!’ Gareth shouted from down the corridor. ‘We’re under attack.’

  ‘They can’t be!’ Pansy screeched. ‘They fucking can’t!’

  It looked like Frieda was going to show after all. Jason wasn’t sure if he was relieved or more worried by her presence. She was ruthless and he had no idea where she stood on this whole situation. Was it more important to keep the secret or more important to get her agents out alive?

  ‘That boss girl is missing,’ Stoker shouted, his deep voice carrying easily. ‘She can’t have gone far. Who’s with me?’

  Lewis looked at Jason, but he quickly looked away. The urge to hunt for her was overwhelming, but he had to trust that she knew what she was doing. With that new piece of intel, it was much more likely that she had shut down the power and was working against Pansy’s computer skills. Jason would bet on Amy any day.

  ‘Everyone stay calm and stay where you are.’ The Governor sounded weak after Stoker’s booming shout. ‘We’ll restore the power soon.’

  Nikolai shoved Lewis out of the way and stepped into the corridor, hand massaging at the bruised muscles around his shoulder.

  ‘I have had enough of this,’ he declared. ‘Governor doesn’t trust me. I don’t trust him.’

  He stepped back into the room and returned with a torch and one of the agents, dragging her by her long dark hair. She was trying to hold it together, but there was fear on her face. No amount of training could prepare a person for this.

  ‘What are you doing, Nikolai?’ Anchor asked him, a warning tone in his voice.

  ‘I take this girl to the hatch and I shout until they let me out. If they don’t, I break a finger, and I break more until they open the hatch. Very simple. Very effective.’

  He didn’t wait for their response, just started down the corridor with his prisoner. Jason stepped forward, but Anchor was faster. He brought his club down on Nikolai’s head at full strength, felling him instantly and splattering blood on the terrified woman he was holding.

  ‘What the fuck are you lot doing down there?’ Gareth shouted.

  They waited, all frozen in shock at what had just happened.

  ‘I’m looking for my glasses,’ shouted Joe.

  Jason remembered to breathe. They were all on the same side now, united in hiding Nikolai’s unconscious body and protecting the agents. Joe bent down to collect the torch, while Jason dragged Nikolai into their makeshift morgue. He heard Anchor talking softly to the girl in the corridor, his hands cupping both her shoulders, and coaxing her back into the dormitory where she'd come from. Jason wondered if he knew her.

  Joe followed Jason with the light and they both peered at the wound on Nikolai’s head. It wasn’t bleeding much and he was still breathing, but he probably needed an A&E department. Wordlessly, they shut the door and left him in the dark, returning to the other dormitory.

  ‘What’s the plan?’ Jason asked, the light beside him meaning he couldn’t see beyond his small circle of light.

  ‘Do you know the code to get into the…place where the guards are?’ Anchor asked.

  One agent sniffed. ‘Why should we—’

  ‘Yes.’ The woman who Nikolai had taken looked straight at Anchor with unwavering conviction, despite the other woman’s furious signals.

  ‘Good. We’ll cover for you and wait at the end of the corridor.’

  ‘We are not opening the hatch for you.’

  Jason had a lot of respect for the feisty one.

  ‘I didn’t ask you to,’ Anchor said, voice calm.

  ‘We’re not getting out of here, are we?’ Joe asked, sounding resigned.

  ‘Not yet,’ Anchor replied.

  ‘Yeah, save the girls, seems legit. Let’s do it.’

  ‘The torch will keep the others night blind,’ Jason said. ‘Me and Joe will walk up with it. You two stay back, pretending to be on guard. We’ll join you when we can.’

  Jason couldn’t see any expressions, but he heard Anchor’s hesitation. As an NCA agent, he was used to giving the orders, not following them. He could pretend in a situation where he was undercover, but he must find it galling when Jason knew his identity and still took charge.

  ‘Are you girls ready?’ Joe asked.

  ‘Keep a couple of feet behind us,’ Jason added. ‘Stay out of the circle of light.’

  ‘Will this work?’ She was still staring
at Anchor, looking to him for answers.

  ‘It’s the only idea we’ve got,’ said the feisty one. ‘Let’s go then, before you all change your minds. I’ve had enough of macho men today.’

  ‘Try living with them for six months,’ Joe grumbled.

  Jason turned towards the door again, with Joe beside him, and stepped out into the corridor. It was like that old Greek myth, about the guy who led his girl out of Hell but couldn’t look at her.

  ‘I hope the Eurydices are following,’ Joe said under his breath, and Jason grudgingly admitted that he'd misjudged him.

  ‘Stay where you are!’ Gareth shouted. ‘The Governor told you to stay put!’

  ‘I need to talk to him,’ Jason shouted back. ‘It’s urgent.’

  There was a small conference by the others, which Jason and Joe couldn’t hear. He felt someone draw nearer to him, and he reached back to touch her arm.

  ‘Not yet,’ he murmured.

  ‘Come on up then. Be quick about it.’

  Jason and Joe started moving again, and Jason lost contact. They had to be following. They had to trust him. As they drew closer, Jason saw that it was Gareth and Pansy who were standing out in the corridor now. Joe stepped past them and stood more towards the kitchen, his light close to Gareth. Jason stood opposite the door of the room with the computers, hoping he was giving enough room for the women to pass behind him.

  ‘What’s this urgent business then?’ Gareth asked.

  ‘It’s Nikolai,’ Jason said. ‘He must’ve been hurt worse than we thought, hit his head or something. He can’t stay awake.’

  ‘Fuck Nikolai,’ Pansy said, with surprising venom. ‘NHS wouldn’t touch him anyway.’

  ‘What the fuck are you talking about?’ Joe asked.

  ‘We can’t get him out is what I’m saying,’ Jason said. ‘We'd have to carry him.’