‘That’ll do,’ Doug said. ‘Let’s go.’
They followed Arnold through to a small room containing no more than a refrigerator, sink, kettle and a door that led off to a tiny bathroom. Doug reached into his other pocket and pulled out the remainder of the rope that they’d used to tie up Steele. Then he guided Arnold into the bathroom, instructed him to sit on the floor with his back to the basin and secured his arms to the pipe, while Sam taped Arnold’s mouth shut.
At last Doug put the gun away and stepped back. ‘So far, so good,’ he said. ‘Keep it up, Arnold, and this will all be over very soon.’
Arnold glared at them over the top of the thick wodge of packaging tape that covered half his face, but he didn’t try anything.
‘Watch this,’ Sam said, and led Eva back to the reception area. He reached under the desk and pressed something. There was the hiss of a hydraulic piston and the vending machine slid to one side, revealing a chamber with metal walls.
‘Neat,’ Eva said and gave a nod of approval.
‘The lift takes us down to the lab on the bottom floor,’ Sam said. ‘That’s where they store the Tetradyamide.’
Doug came up behind them. ‘I’ll wait here in case we have company,’ he said. He took his coat off and pulled on the jacket of Arnold’s security uniform, which had been hanging on the back of his chair. It was a poor fit; the zipper barely closed over Doug’s belly and a couple of inches of hairy forearm stuck out below the sleeves.
‘Almost, but not quite,’ Eva said.
She returned to the bathroom to find Arnold straining against his bonds. He flinched as she entered and stared up at her with a mixture of resentment and guilt.
Eva scooped the cap off his head. ‘I need to borrow this. You don’t mind, do you?’
Arnold tried to complain, but only produced a muted growl through his gag.
‘Thanks, thought not.’
She returned to the reception desk, placed the cap on Doug’s head and took a step back to admire the result. ‘Perfect,’ she said. ‘If someone comes, try to hold them up, okay?’
‘I’ll do my best, sweet pea.’ Doug smiled and slid his gun under Arnold’s book, which lay tented on the desk. ‘You kids better get going.’
Sam was standing in the elevator already, his hand over a black plate set next to three buttons on the wall. As Eva approached, he pressed his palm to the plate and the edges flashed red.
He slammed his fist against the wall and turned to her, shoulders trembling. ‘Dr McHayden always put her hand on this plate to operate the lift. It must read your palm print or something, but it won’t accept mine. I don’t know what else to do, Eva.’
‘Is there another way down?’ she asked.
‘What, you mean like a fire escape or something? No, not that I know of. I think we’re stuck.’
‘Maybe, maybe not.’ Eva stepped out of the elevator and went back to Arnold’s desk, where Doug was busy cleaning his fingernails with a matchstick.
‘That was quick,’ he said.
Eva ignored him, nudged the mouse of Arnold’s computer and began tapping away at the keyboard, her fingers a blur.
Sam arrived by her side. ‘What’re you doing?’
‘Accessing the elevator’s control system,’ she said without looking up. ‘There must be a way to override the palm scanner in case of an emergency. Most systems have an automatic trigger built in to prevent people using the elevators in the event of a fire. If the elevator is between floors, it will automatically descend to the lowest level. Obviously you wouldn’t want someone stuck between floors with a fire blazing through the building.’
‘No, obviously not.’
‘All I need to do is recalibrate the controls to make the system think the elevator is between floors, then if we trigger the fire alarm it should take us down to the basement level.’
‘You can do that?’ Sam asked.
Eva stepped back and grinned. ‘I already have.’
4
‘Are you sure this will work?’ Sam asked as he stood next to Eva in the lift.
She gave him a sideways glance. ‘I’ve never done anything quite like that before, but, yeah, in theory it should.’
He didn’t like the sound of the words ‘in theory’ and suspected they were about to trap themselves in the lift, but unfortunately it seemed to be the only way they had of reaching the lab.
‘You ready?’ Doug called from out of sight in the next room.
Sam took Eva’s hand. ‘Do it!’
There was a tinkle of breaking glass and then the lights went out and the lift doors closed. Sam held his breath. With a jolt, they started to move.
The doors opened onto a scene that resembled the engine room of a sinking ship. The only illumination came from dim emergency lighting overhead, which cast everything in an eerie green glow. Water gushed from sprinklers set in the ceiling, spattering off the workbenches and drenching the floor.
‘This way,’ Sam said and pulled Eva after him.
Together they ran down the length of the lab to the small room off the back, their feet splashing through puddles. The medical cabinet was in the far corner.
‘This is it,’ Sam said, turning to Eva. ‘We made it.’
Before she could say anything he pulled her close and kissed her. As their lips met, Sam knew that everything would be all right again. He would save Chrissie. He would prevent the nightmarish future in which he was kept McHayden’s prisoner and stop her from recreating his injury in other people. Except now he realised that in order to gain these things there was something he must give up. He broke away from Eva and stepped back, holding her at arm’s length.
‘What’s wrong?’ she asked.
‘Once I get the drugs in that cabinet it will change everything.’
‘I thought that’s what you wanted.’
‘Yeah, but not everything that’s happened since the plane crash has been bad. If I do this, if I go back and change what’s happened these last few weeks, you won’t remember. You won’t remember any of this.’
She brushed his cheek with the back of her hand. ‘That’s what you’re worried about? I might not remember, but it won’t change the way I feel.’
‘But everything that’s happened since you arrived―’
‘Can still happen. You just need to come and find me.’
He kissed her again, longer this time.
Eventually it was Eva who broke away. ‘I don’t mean to ruin the moment or anything,’ she said, ‘but shouldn’t we hurry?’
‘Good point.’
Sam knelt by the cabinet and tried the handle. The door wouldn’t budge. A terrible thought occurred to him: every time he had seen Fairview or McHayden open the cabinet, they had always done so with a set of keys.
‘Well?’ Eva asked, kneeling beside him.
‘It’s locked,’ he said, wishing Doug was with them. A carefully aimed bullet in the casing of the lock would definitely open the door, but Doug was upstairs, and even if Eva could reprogram the lift to take them back up, all of the computers had already been soaked by the sprinkler system.
‘We need to find another way to open it,’ Eva said. She turned and ran back into the main chamber of the lab, returning a few seconds later dragging a bulky metal stool behind her. ‘Here, try this.’
Sam took it and, gripping the edges of the cushioned seat, swung the stool so that the heavy base struck the door of the cabinet. Shock waves reverberated up his arms and a loud clang like someone striking a gong echoed through the room.
He lowered the stool to inspect the damage. The door was dented, but remained firmly in place.
Sam swung again and again. On his fourth attempt the bar of the lock snapped and the door flew open. He dropped to his knees and stared inside the cabinet.
It was empty.
5
It had all been for nothing. Everything Sam had done that evening had been in the pursuit of an empty dream, a mirage that from a distance had offer
ed salvation, but once reached turned out to be no more than heat reflecting off the sand. There was no Tetradyamide and therefore no way of undoing what had happened. By trying to protect those he loved, Sam had inadvertently brought about their downfall. Chrissie was dead and there was nothing he could do to bring her back. And now he and Eva were trapped.
He stood and stared at her. Her damp hair hung to her shoulders. Water trickled down her face and arms, dripping from her fingertips and chin. She had tried to help him, and by doing so had been dragged into the very heart of the misfortune that had overtaken his life.
Sam opened his mouth to speak, but realised there was nothing he could say to make up for what he had done.
At that moment the sprinklers stopped. With a flicker the green emergency lighting was replaced by the harsh glare of fluorescent tubes. Sam and Eva stepped back into the main lab, water lapping about their shoes. At the far end of the room the lift doors closed and the mechanism began to whirr.
‘What’s happening?’ Eva asked
‘They’ve switched the fire alarm off,’ Sam said. ‘I think someone’s coming.’
6
Sam and Eva crouched behind one of the long workbenches, their arms wrapped around each other. He thought back to the day in late summer when they’d hidden from Brandon at the mall in Montclair, remembering the smell of Eva’s hair and the warmth of her body pressed close to his. In the months since he had lost his father and now his sister too, but for whatever time they had left together, Eva was Sam’s and he would do everything in his power to protect her.
He peered around the side of the workbench. The sound of the lift’s mechanism stopped and the doors slid open. Staring angrily about the room, McHayden strode out with a walkie-talkie in her hand. A guard followed closely behind. He was dressed all in black and had a snub-nosed machine gun slung on a strap over his shoulder. Taking slow, careful steps that sent small waves rippling out, he edged down the side of the lab. McHayden waited by the lift, her hands on her hips as she surveyed the water damage with an air of sadness.
‘Sam?’ she called. ‘I know you’re here. Come out, it’s over.’
Eva tugged at Sam’s sleeve. ‘What can you see?’ she whispered.
He turned to her, his finger pressed to his lips, then peered out again.
McHayden waved to the lift and, after a brief pause, Doug staggered out with his hands on his head, another guard driving him forward with a gun in his back. As they stopped next to McHayden, Doug raised his head. A line of blood ran down his cheek from a swelling above his left eye.
The first guard took another step closer. In a few more strides he would reach the end of the workbench.
‘It’s over,’ McHayden said again. ‘I realised you might try something like this when you decided to run and therefore had all Tetradyamide removed from the lab. Come out, Sam. You have to the count of ten, otherwise your friend here dies and we’ll find you anyway.’
‘She’s got Doug,’ Sam whispered to Eva.
Her eyes filled with panic. In the distance McHayden started to count, her voice high and cheery, as if it were a game of hide-and-seek. ‘One…two…three…’
Eva tensed like she was about to stand, but Sam put his hands on her shoulders. ‘Wait here,’ he said, ‘I’m going out.’
Slowly he drew himself up and stepped from behind the workbench. The guard edging towards them spun on his heel, cocked his weapon and held Sam in his sights.
‘I’m here,’ Sam said, moving away from Eva’s hiding place. ‘You can stop counting.’
The corners of McHayden’s mouth curled up in satisfaction. She waved at the guard behind Doug to lower his gun. ‘A sensible decision. And how about your little friend?’
‘Friend? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Dear oh dear, must we really continue to play these little games of yours? The lab is rigged with a separate alarm system, Sam. I knew that you were here the second you stepped out of the lift. I’ve also seen the girl on CCTV, in addition to what you did to Arnold. Congratulations for bypassing the palm scanner, by the way. If there is a flaw in the building’s security then it is best I know about it. Now, I’ll ask you again – the girl, Sam, where is she?’
Sam locked his jaw and squeezed his lips together.
‘Have it your way.’ McHayden nodded to the first guard, who was now almost level with Sam. The guard lowered his machine gun to his hip and fired a short burst across the back of the room. The noise was deafening as bullets cracked tiles and ricocheted off metal surfaces.
‘Nooo!’ Sam yelled and clamped his hands over his ears.
McHayden motioned to the guard and he lowered his gun. Doubled over, Eva rose from behind the workbench, her body trembling. Sam rushed to her side and helped her upright.
‘That’s better,’ McHayden said. ‘Haven’t you learned that it’s far easier to give me what I want the first time I ask for it? If only you had done so from the beginning, none of this would even be necessary.’
‘You’ve got what you want now,’ Sam said, glaring up McHayden as Eva shivered against him. ‘I’m here. I give up. You win, Dr McHayden. You can let my friends go.’
She sighed. ‘My dear boy, I’m afraid it’s no longer that simple. I had held such high hopes for you. We could have achieved so much, working together as one, but you’ve proved beyond doubt that you would make an inadequate operative. Luckily for you, you still hold considerable value to the Tempus Project for research purposes, and that is the only reason you’re still alive. Your friends, on the other hand, present an entirely different conundrum.’ She glanced to the guard nearest Sam and Eva. ‘Bring the girl to me.’
He stepped towards Eva with his hand outstretched. Swinging wildly, Sam lunged at him before he could reach her. The guard reacted in an instant, stepping to one side and catching Sam’s fist in midair. In one slick, precise movement he twisted Sam around and yanked Sam’s arm up high across his back. Sam cried out as his shoulder joint exploded with pain. The guard released him and shoved him in the back, sending him toppling forward. For a split second Sam saw the metal edge of the workbench rushing to meet him before he smashed into it, and the next thing he knew he was lying face down on the floor, gulping water.
By the time he’d staggered to his feet again the guard had already dragged Eva kicking and screaming to McHayden.
It was too late. There was nothing he could do to help her. He thought of his grandparents, waiting for news that would never reach them, and of Lance. What would become of him?
Sam reached up and touched his forehead. His hand came back sticky with blood. ‘You can’t hurt them,’ he said.
‘No? And why, pray tell, is that?’ McHayden asked.
‘Steele. Lance has him and unless you release my friends, he’ll kill him.’
She gave a rich, hearty laugh that filled the room. ‘My-oh-my, you’re not attempting to blackmail me, are you? Perhaps you deserve some credit for trying, but if by “hostage” you mean the man locked in the boot of the company car parked just outside this building, then your bargaining position is considerably weaker than you imagine. Lance Asquith was apprehended a half hour ago. He is the prime suspect in the murder of Christina Rayner.’ She reached into her handbag and pulled out a clear plastic evidence bag containing Steele’s pistol. ‘It was most accommodating of you to return the murder weapon. I’m sure it will prove extremely useful in constructing the prosecution’s case against Mr Asquith.’
‘Oh,’ Sam said, feeling a dark weight grow in the pit of his stomach. McHayden was right: it really was over. He was out of ideas, without a single move to make. Even if he gave himself up, it was now too late to save his family and friends. As McHayden had told him, he should have just given her what she wanted from the very beginning.
‘So you see, my dear boy, there really is no point in resisting any longer. You belong to me and, like it or not, together we will achieve great things.’
‘You�
�re mad,’ Sam said.
‘Who’s to say? Others may call me inspired, and after my precognitive operatives have established a new order of things, there will be few who’ll question my authority. Now, returning to the issue at hand, I have your friends to deal with. You realise I cannot allow them to live, knowing what they do.’
‘Get screwed, you crazy bitch.’
Her jaw dropped in mock surprise. ‘How very rude! I am most offended. Still, in a way you’ve done me a favour, bringing everyone together in the same place at the same time. It makes our dilemma that much easier to solve.’ She raised the walkie-talkie to her mouth. ‘Mr Clarke, I think it is time to call on your unique set of skills. Bring Lewis Fisher and his family to the lab.’
7
Lewis had no idea how much time had passed since his house had been stormed by six men brandishing machine guns with flashlights attached to the barrels. He’d stood there, paralysed by fear and only vaguely aware of his father crouched by his side, blubbing like a small child who’s dropped his ice cream. One of the men had hung back while the others swept through the house. They’d returned in a matter of seconds, one carrying Connor and another dragging Lewis’s mother.
The man who’d hung back stepped forward and pulled off his ski mask. He had short grey hair and stubble.
‘What do you want?’ Lewis’s father had managed between sobs. ‘If this is about the money I owe, then I’ll pay it back, every last penny!’
The man had casually lowered his gun, unclipped a black baton with a pair of metal pins sticking out of the top and shoved it into Lewis’s father’s neck.
‘Lewis Fisher?’ he asked, turning back.
Lewis stared at his dad’s convulsing body for a second before looking up and nodding.
‘Good,’ the man said, then raised the baton again and pressed it into the side of Lewis’s neck.
Although Lewis had never been stung by a bee before, this was what he imagined it would feel like to be stung by one the size of a small family car. Every muscle in his body tensed in the same instant. He was briefly aware of standing on his tiptoes before his legs gave way and everything went dark.
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