The hard stare was back. ‘Perhaps we’ll never know why Kyle removed it. It was probably faulty, he was halfway through a repair when his illness overcame him. That’s what the record will say. This is important; I need you to agree that’s what happened.’ He perched on the desk, still staring at me, but the anger had gone.
‘I’m just an oik so I don’t really understand what you’re on about. I’m not sure that’s what my record will say.’
‘You mention this to anyone – I mean anyone – and I’ll have you up on charges. Count yourself lucky you’re going home tomorrow instead of to a cell.’
I nodded, though I knew full well I’d be staying until the job was done.
There was a knock at the door. ‘Come.’
Alice opened it but remained on the threshold. ‘Captain, Dr Clay is asking for you.’
‘Stay in your room,’ he said to me, switching off the speaker and ushering us into the corridor. ‘I don’t want to see you until morning.’
Alice raised her eyebrows but I said nothing. The three of us walked together through the connecting passage into the next hut. At the far end of the corridor Hurley strode towards us, bottle in hand. Demeter shuffled behind him, finally in from the cold.
Alice stopped when we reached her bedroom, tapping my arm. ‘In here while I grab my stuff.’
I hovered in the doorway, leaving Greenbow to march onward. He stood aside to let Hurley and Demeter pass, and as they crossed I slid into the room.
Alice smiled warmly. ‘Sounded like you needed rescuing.’
‘Greenbow knows something’s up,’ I said. ‘But I don’t know if he’s stupid or clever.’
‘Stupid,’ she replied, stuffing a jumper into a rucksack. ‘What did he say?’
‘He saw us talking. I fed him some bullshit, pretty sure I threw him off the scent. If he asks, we worked together previously on the design for the HADU.’ She frowned. ‘Okay, I might have implied a bit more than that. But more importantly, he checked the fuse on the doors.’
‘Shit,’ she whispered. ‘Well, it doesn’t take a psychic to work out something’s rotten here.’ She looked past me and dialled her voice up an octave. ‘Viktor, how’s that southern quadrant looking?’
Demeter threw his hands up in despair, shuffling off again as Hurley entered.
‘Fizzy wine’s all gone, probably a blessing,’ he said. ‘I’ve got some real alcohol – in the form of Kentucky bourbon – in my room. Hold this.’ He handed me the empty bottle and clapped a hand on Demeter’s shoulder, nearly knocking his gas mask off. I crossed to the door and watched them walk together as far as Hurley’s bedroom. Demeter plodded on alone, stopping at the radio room. I felt sorry for him. He hunched, a smaller, deflated version of the vibrant man I’d seen that morning. Not surprising, considering the poor guy had been out on the cliffs for hours in the freezing rain. I remembered yesterday he’d come in, decontaminated, changed straight into a fresh suit before grabbing a snack and heading back out. You couldn’t fault the man’s work ethic.
‘Demeter works too hard sometimes,’ Alice said, reading my mind. ‘Barely has time to eat, hardly sleeps.’
‘You know he was on about spirits this morning?’
‘Spirits?’ She frowned.
‘Of the island.’
‘I told you he was the one to watch. One of these days he’s gonna snap.’
I shrugged. ‘Maybe he already has.’
She nodded, grabbing a magazine from the bedside table and pushing it into her bag. ‘I’m telling you, he’s bookies’ favourite for offing Kyle.’
At the very far end of the corridor Demeter knocked on the door to the radio room. Alice looked up, saw me watching.
‘He’ll be making his report with Gambetta,’ she said. ‘Speaking of whom, did he tell you what he saw this aft?’
‘Gambetta? I’d be the last person he spoke to.’
‘He’s okay, you know, once you get to know him. You just got off on the wrong foot.’
I smirked when I remembered literally knocking him off his foot was our first meeting. It faded just as quickly when I wondered again whether that almost got me killed.
Along the corridor Demeter banged harder on the door to the radio room. The reply mustn’t have been to his liking as he shook his head and shouted something back, breaking into muffled Russian cursing. We ducked in as he looked round, then back out to see the door open. He stuck his head in, gesticulating wildly, pushing the door roughly, barging his way into the radio room. The wall shook as the door slammed behind him. At the same time the other door in the hut opened and Hurley popped his head out, grinning, obviously enjoying the argument going on next door. Regardless of how Alice felt about Gambetta, I hoped Demeter was tearing him a new one. Age wouldn’t matter, I was sure the tough Russian could hold his own, wouldn’t be intimidated.
‘Alice, come choose your poison!’ Hurley shouted.
Great choice of words.
Alice tapped my arm and nodded in the other direction. I followed her gaze down the corridor to see Greenbow waiting, looking back.
‘Probably better if Greenbow doesn’t see us together right now,’ she said.
Next to him, Marie poked her head out of her room, saw us, then withdrew it sharply, slamming her door. I was anxious to get into my own room; I needed to change, the pistol felt conspicuous without the baggy suit. I couldn’t risk anyone noticing it, could do without the questions right now. I left Alice to it. Greenbow turned and disappeared round the corner in front.
I’d just reached the connecting tunnel into my own hut when there was a sharp crack. Time stopped as it echoed around the base, bouncing between the plastic walls and on down the corridors. An unmistakable sound, from behind me.
I spun, hand automatically moving towards my gun. Back up the corridor Alice was already running for the radio room.
I took off after her, shouting at her to stop, reaching under my jumper, flicking open the holster’s safety strap.
Hurley was frozen in his doorway up ahead. ‘Was that a—?’
‘Gunshot!’ I shouted, tearing along the corridor towards them.
Hurley dashed from his room as I approached his door. I sidestepped but we collided, I slammed painfully into the wall, cracking my elbow on the window ledge. Hurley fell, flailing, his bulk taking me with him. I struggled to pull myself free. Down the corridor Marie had reappeared and started walking towards us. Alice grabbed the door handle to the radio room.
‘Wait!’ I shouted, pushing Hurley off.
She looked at me, turning the handle, throwing open the door to the radio room, stepping inside. I got out from under Hurley, scrambling to my feet. Alice screamed, backed out of the room, hit the wall, leaned against it, breathing hard.
I checked she was okay, turned my attention to the doorway. I could already see enough to know it wasn’t pretty. I withdrew my pistol, held it down low, and stepped into the room.
Chapter Twenty-eight
At point-blank range, a 7.65mm hollow point bullet makes a hell of a mess.
The far wall was painted in blood. It dripped from the desk, pooling on the floor, a dark mirror spreading in all directions. It ran down the window, flickering in the strip light, reflecting murky pink flashes across the walls. A whiff of burning hung on the blood-scented air, almost chewable. I screwed my eyes shut, fighting back bile.
The radio on the desk crackled, spitting static. I gripped the doorframe, opening my eyes. The handset was dangling by the wire, clanging against the leg of an upturned chair. Holding my pistol down in front so Alice couldn’t see, I stumbled around the spreading red slick to switch off the set. I lifted my jumper, pushed the pistol into the holster, looked back at her in the corridor. Sweat beaded across her paper-white face.
‘Is he dead?’ she asked.
The question seemed ridiculous given the size of the hole in Gambetta’s head, but it wasn’t the time for sarcasm so I just nodded. She sank to the floor.
&nb
sp; Hurley appeared, sliding down next to her. ‘Where is he?’
Since Gambetta was laid out at my feet I assumed he was referring to Demeter.
‘No idea.’ I shrugged. ‘Room’s empty.’
‘Gambetta’s dead!’ he shouted, then shot off down the corridor, spreading the news. ‘Demeter’s killed Gambetta. He’s gone out the window!’
More shouts sprang up from further along the base.
‘He’s outside!’
‘Gone out the window!’
‘Lock the doors!’
I gave my best shot at a sympathetic smile to Alice. She rocked, eyes darting, settling on the body, drawing her legs under her chin. Clearly corpses were a novelty to her. I’ve never been good with empathy, but I guessed Marie would be along soon to absolve me of that responsibility.
‘I’m shutting the door.’
She nodded.
I closed it, leaning back, massaging my eyes. Lack of sleep had taken its toll on my critical thinking but my senses had sharpened. No fear now, the scent of blood had awakened something deep within. Time to work.
I took in the details. I’d not been in this room before, but like all the other huts, the walls and floor were seamless grey plastic. It’ll make the clean-up easier. Government-issue shelving ran the length of the walls on either side, spots of blood already drying on cardboard boxes piled high. A TV was positioned on the shelves, angled towards the desk; the CCTV from the main entrance, but it was switched off.
Standing behind the door was a filing cabinet similar to Greenbow’s. I gave a handle a pull but it was locked. The only other furniture was the desk under the window and the upturned chair next to the body. I couldn’t see a gun, which ruled out suicide – though it was obviously murder.
Gambetta lay on his back in the middle of the room, one arm pointing at the shelves, the other submerged in blood by his head, as if he’d had an arm up, trying in vain to protect himself. The amount of blood was staggering; I hoped his watch was waterproof.
I knelt to inspect the wound. The shot had entered his left eye, the other stared at me. His face was bloody and not from the gunshot, a stream still trickled from his nose and a cut on his cheek. I touched my fingers to his neck out of habit, obviously, no pulse.
The bullet had removed a good deal of his skull before slamming into the ceiling above the window where a hole punctured the plastic cladding, surrounded by a splattering of matter I could only assume was brain. I traced the path of the bullet, concluding Demeter had fired from the hip.
Where the fuck was he?
We’d been in the corridor right outside when he’d entered, seen them arguing, heard the shot, entered a few seconds later to find it empty. Except, of course, for the warm body in the middle of the room.
It was obvious how Gambetta had been killed. It was equally obvious who’d killed him. What wasn’t obvious was how he’d escaped the room. There was nowhere to hide and I began to doubt my own memory, because despite their assumptions I knew he couldn’t possibly have escaped out the window. Just a short time earlier, I’d screwed that same window shut from the outside.
I pulled the hip flask from my pocket. Had I really screwed this window shut? I thought I’d done them all, but had I been mistaken? I took a swig and crossed to the window, avoiding the pool of blood.
The missing key was still sticking out of the lock. Fuck. That must be it – I’d misjudged it somehow, a random error on my part allowing Demeter to escape. I gave the handle a pull, it opened millimetres then stuck fast. I had screwed it shut. The sound of rain intensified as droplets sprayed inside. I noticed more water on the floor, from where the window had been opened previously. Demeter must have wrenched the window open to make his escape, but the screw had dug in and held, preventing it opening further. I pushed the other way, shutting it with a click, then crossed to the door, avoiding the blood again.
It opened before I reached it, Greenbow edging into the room. Marie and Alice peered around him, moving back as he shut the door. The grip of a pistol protruded ominously from a holster on his belt. Browning Hi-Power, standard issue; he’d taken his time getting here because he’d gone to tool up first. I stepped aside, revealing the full extent of the mess. Greenbow recoiled.
‘So,’ he said, eyes widening as he took in the scene, ‘Demeter was our saboteur, eh?’
‘Dr Scarlet, in the Radio Room, with the pistol.’
‘But why kill the frog?’
I didn’t answer.
‘And he’s definitely gone?’
‘Nowhere else he could be hiding,’ I said. No reason to complicate matters. Yet.
‘Out the window, then.’
‘Any idea how he got hold of a key?’ I asked, pointing at the window lock, wondering if it was the one Gambetta had been using or yet another missing key.
‘I… no…’ He struggled to take it in, realising the implication. ‘I need to check.’
Greenbow was pale, making no attempt to move from the door, and I realised that for all his bluster he’d probably never been in this kind of situation before, never seen anything as grim.
‘Shot at close range,’ I said, ‘beaten, too.’
‘Beaten?’
‘Punched, or hit with something. Broken nose. There are fresh cuts and marks on his cheeks that would’ve turned into nasty bruises if the bullet hadn’t got in the way of his circulation. Look at his knuckles.’
‘What does it mean?’
‘He was fighting with Demeter.’
‘We need to report this,’ said Greenbow.
‘That’ll be difficult.’ I nodded towards the smashed radio. ‘I’m guessing whatever his motive, he’s destroyed the radio to cover his tracks. Is the TV normally off?’ I pointed at the CCTV unit.
He held a hand to his mouth. ‘I think that’s the least of our worries.’
I crossed to the shelves to pick a thin screwdriver from a rack, looking at the hole above the window. I stood the chair up in the blood slick under it.
‘Don’t touch anything,’ said Greenbow. He’d gone fully green and had no intention of helping.
‘I doubt we’ll be getting a forensics team in here for a while, let’s see what we can find out.’
I stood on the chair, digging the screwdriver into the jagged hole. The low-velocity round had expended most of its energy pulverising Gambetta’s skull, tumbling its merry way through the air rather than punching neatly into the ceiling. As a result the dull metal was visible just beneath the plastic. I stabbed at the cladding, tearing it back, finally popping the misshapen lump out. I tossed it to Greenbow, who had to remove his hand from his mouth to catch it.
‘What do you think?’
‘A bullet?’
‘Small calibre. If I was forced to guess I’d say 7.65 mil Browning?’
He shrugged, throwing it back as I climbed off the chair. I placed it on the desk next to the radio. ‘Where’s everyone else? Right now?’
‘Dash has sealed the door. Hurley is checking the rooms. Clay is still in the common room. Marie is taking Alice there, she’s shaken up.’
‘I’m not surprised. We need to get back there, right now.’
‘Yes, yes…’ His voice tailed off as he put his hand back to his mouth, only too eager to leave.
I followed him from the room, and as he went to his office to find what I already knew – that the key had come from his drawer – a couple of fresh questions whirled in my head. Why would Demeter want Gambetta dead? I wasn’t overly enamoured with the guy but unless I knew for sure he was responsible for the incinerator stunt I wouldn’t have blown his head off. There was no long-standing grudge between them as far as I could see, they’d been talking together fine earlier.
But the far more important question right now, the one only I was pondering, was; if I’d planned to murder Gambetta in that room, how would I have got out?
Chapter Twenty-nine
The rest of them were waiting in the common room, Alice, still pale and
fidgety, sandwiched between Marie and Hurley. Having piled tables against the door to the HADU, Dash now stood guard at the window, fairly futile given the darkness and lashing rain, but I suppose it helped morale. Clay looked worse for wear, though still managed to clutch a glass of Scotch. Away from the blood and gore Greenbow had regained his composure. He stood in the centre of the room, cleared his throat.
‘Owing to the unprecedented situation, I am assuming military command of X-Base.’
Clay murmured but Greenbow was undeterred. I decided to stay quiet, see how it panned out; I could always jump in if needed.
‘As you know, we have a murderer on the island. For reasons unknown at this time, Viktor Demeter has killed Eric Gambetta. I’ve inspected the body for myself – Gambetta has been shot at close range with a pistol. Demeter is obviously armed. Fortunately, as I am also armed, there is no cause for alarm.’
‘Why?’ cried Marie. ‘Why would he do this?’
‘I haven’t yet determined the underlying motive. However, we know he and Gambetta argued, and it looks to me like he gave him a good hiding before shooting him. He then destroyed the radio to cover his tracks.’
‘Where the heck is he?’ asked Dash, eyes flitting between Greenbow and the door.
‘Knowing the shot would raise the alarm and rouse my attention, he fled the room via the window.’
‘But how did he get out the window?’ Dash persisted.
Greenbow coughed, clearly embarrassed. ‘Somehow he evaded security. There are two window keys missing from the locked drawer in my office.’
Two? My ears pricked up, but I realised I had the other missing key; all keys accounted for.
‘Makes sense he’s disappeared,’ said Alice, looking at Hurley. ‘Remember what Gambetta said? When he came back for radio duty, he told us what he’d seen this morning.’
‘What did he see?’ I asked.
‘Off the eastern cliffs.’
‘Spit it out!’
‘Divers. He saw divers out in the bay.’
Chapter Thirty
I’d seen Gambetta returning to the base earlier that evening, while I’d been on stake-out outside. According to Alice he’d wasted no time telling her and Hurley what he’d seen before reporting to Greenbow, getting him to call it in. Divers, one on the rocks below the cliffs with more heads disappearing beneath the waves.
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