Decimation: The Girl Who Survived

by Burke, Richard T.

Chapter 71

  Monday 17th January 2033

  “So you still don’t know where they are?”

  Grolby stared at a spot on the carpet. “My men are still looking, but as of this moment, no.”

  “Well it’s just not good enough,” Rosalind said. “Floyd has been one step ahead of us the whole time. When this is all over, I’m going to need a full review of your security protocols.”

  “If I may say so, Mrs Baxter, our security against external attack was not at fault. The hardest thing to guard against is a breach from inside the company. By fitting the device to your computer, your son effectively gave Floyd the same access to our systems that you have.”

  “I never thought the boy would do anything like this, but even so, you’re supposed to run a daily sweep for bugs. How did you miss it?”

  “Well, Mrs Baxter, it uses a technology where it remains inactive for most of the time. It only starts to transmit when enabled remotely. When we did our sweep, it must have been in its dormant state. In this case, the best method of security would have been to prevent access in the first place.”

  Rosalind Baxter’s eyes bored into Grolby’s face. “So you’re saying it’s my fault for allowing my son to get into my office?”

  Grolby swallowed, but he raised his gaze and met hers. “Well … um … I’d strongly suggest that you keep your office door locked when you’re not there. Rest assured that we’ll perform a check on all other machines in the company just to make sure that no others have been compromised.”

  “I’d expect nothing less. So do you know what data Floyd had access to?”

  “Well he was logged on as you, so we’ve run a scan to see what files were accessed by your account from this machine when we know you weren’t in this office. Clearly, he got into the security systems, which is how he managed to get your son into the basement.”

  “Yes. If that stupid cow hadn’t brought him down there in the first place, none of this would’ve happened.”

  “Well, she’s not going to be a problem in the future.”

  “It was a little public, though, wasn’t it Anders? Couldn’t you have done something – I don’t know – less dramatic? It’ll only draw more attention from the police.”

  Grolby’s jaw muscles twitched. “I try to vary my methods. The police are very good at picking up patterns. I remember warning you at the time that too many accidents in too short a space of time might make them suspicious. You told me to make it look a suicide, which is what I did.”

  “But you’re the expert. It’s not my job to do your thinking for you. Anyway, what else did Floyd get access to?”

  “The majority of the folders he looked at were pretty old, dating from the time his wife worked here.”

  “That stands to reason. He’s obviously obsessed with proving his innocence. There’s nothing on the network for him to find. That was one of the first cleanup jobs you did as I recall. Was there anything else?”

  “He could see all your emails.”

  Rosalind gave a short laugh. “Ninety percent of it’s spam anyway and the rest is day-to-day drudgery. The only thing that might be awkward is the stuff about the girl and her child, but none of the emails mentioned either of them by name. Jason already knew most of it already. So it doesn’t look as though he found anything incriminating?”

  Grolby hesitated before replying. “Well, there was one file that he transferred from your hard drive.”

  Rosalind frowned. “He transferred a file?”

  “Yeah. He attached it to an email and then sent it to a disposable email address. Afterwards, he deleted the message from your email client, but it still shows up on the servers.”

  Rosalind’s frown deepened. “What was the name of the file?”

  Grolby consulted his mobile phone and read off the filename.

  “The file’s password protected, though,” Rosalind said. “That should stop them seeing the contents, shouldn’t it?”

  Grolby returned the phone to his pocket. “That depends. If we’re talking about a fifteen-year-old file then security standards have moved on a long way. Given enough processing power, it might be possible to crack the password.”

  Rosalind stared out of the window for a second or two then turned back to her Head of Security, her face paler than before. “That file contains information that would be disastrous if it fell into the wrong hands. We’ve got to get it back.”

  “May I ask why you kept such sensitive information?”

  “No, you may not,” Rosalind snapped. “I want you to delete all records of that email from the server. I also want you to make sure it’s gone from my computer.”

  “If you’ll allow me,” Grolby said, coming round the desk. “Would you mind logging in again?”

  Rosalind swiped a hand in front of the screen and stared into the red eye of the scanner. When the welcome message was displayed, she stepped back to give Grolby access to the machine. She identified the location of the file and watched over his shoulder while he typed a sequence of commands.

  “That’s it. It’s permanently deleted from this computer. It’ll take a little longer to purge all record of it from the server. I’ll do that from my office.”

  “No, I want you to do it now.”

  Grolby shrugged. “Okay, but I’ll need to log on.” He entered another set of commands and focused his gaze on the iris scanner. Next, he navigated his way through several layers of menu, muttering to himself as he did so. Finally, he swept his hand across the screen and turned back to Rosalind. “That’s done too.”

  “All evidence of that file must be destroyed,” she said. “If Floyd’s got it, make sure you get hold of his computer and find out if he’s saved copies anywhere else.”

  “You sound worried. Does it contain something I should know about?”

  “Just remember who’s in charge here. If what’s in that file comes out and I go down for it, you’re going down with me.”

  Grolby folded his arms. “The converse is also true.”

  The blood drained from Rosalind’s face and gathered in two pink spots, one on either cheek. Her hands formed into fists, and her body trembled with rage. Grolby took a step backwards. The woman before him might be nearly a foot shorter in height, but the energy coiled inside her lent her the appearance of a dangerous wild animal.

  Rosalind opened her mouth to speak then closed it again. She took a deep breath, held it then exhaled. “Yes … well. It seems our fates are intertwined. If you do your job properly, it won’t come to that.”

  The colour slowly returned to her face. “Now I need you to do something down in the basement.”

  Chapter 72

  Monday 17th January 2033

  Jason held Floyd’s phone in his hand. It was an identical model to the one that Floyd had given him earlier and that Antimone was now using to pay for a taxi.

  “I’m calling the police,” Jason said.

  “Is it still nine, nine, nine?” Floyd asked, taking his eyes momentarily off the road and glancing sideways.

  “Are you serious? What else would it be?”

  “You’ve got to remember I’ve been out of circulation for sixteen years. There wouldn’t be much point dialling nine, nine, nine from inside, even if you had access to a phone. I just wondered if they’d changed it to the American nine, one, one or some such nonsense.”

  Jason shook his head and tapped out the digits.

  “Hello, emergency services. Which service do you require, fire, police or ambulance?”

  “Police,” Jason said.

  “What is the nature of the emergency?” a woman’s voice said.

  Jason hadn’t thought through what he was going to say. “Um … you’ve got to get the police to Ilithyia Biotechnology in Northstowe. My friend is going there. I think they’re going to kill her and her baby.”

  “What’s your name?”

  “Jason Baxter. My mother runs Ilithyia.”

  “And your friend’s name?”

/>   “Antimone Lessing.”

  “How old is your friend?”

  “Look, it doesn’t matter. She’s taking a taxi there now, and she’s in serious danger.”

  “Okay. You said she had a baby. I assume that’s somebody else’s baby.”

  “No, it’s her baby.”

  “So you’re saying she had a baby, and she’s still alive.”

  “That’s right.”

  “And your mother is the head of Ilithyia Biotechnology? What’s her name?”

  “Rosalind Baxter. Why are you asking me this?”

  “You realise that making hoax calls is a serious offence for which you can be prosecuted, right?”

  “For Christ’s sake, this isn’t a hoax call. My name is Jason Baxter, my mother is Rosalind Baxter. Actually, she’s my foster mother. I think she’s going to kill my friend.”

  Jason noticed that Floyd was gesticulating towards him. “Just a sec.”

  “Hang up,” Floyd mouthed.

  “What?” Jason said, frowning in confusion.

  “Hang up,” Floyd repeated, this time out loud.

  “I’ll call you back.” Jason ended the call. “Why did you want me to hang up?”

  “You should listen to yourself,” Floyd said. “You tell them that your friend and her baby are in danger from your mother. No woman has survived childbirth for what, sixteen years, and yet your friend has a baby? I don’t think I’d believe you.”

  “So what do you suggest?”

  “I think we need to take a different approach. They’re never going to accept that Antimone is alive. If they bother to check the records, they’ll find out that she reportedly died in childbirth two weeks ago. But they’re still after me.”

  “How does that help?”

  “Tell them that I’m at Ilithyia.”

  “If they didn’t believe me the first time, what makes you think they’d buy that?”

  “You’ve got a point. What if you mention the name of the policewoman who’s after me? Can you remember her name?”

  Jason racked his brains. “I’ve got it: Karen Atkins.”

  “I take it you don’t know her number.”

  “No. I can call nine, nine, nine again and tell them I’ve got information for Karen Atkins on your whereabouts.”

  “It’s worth a shot. Just try to remain calm and think about what you’re saying.”

  Jason inhaled deeply and dialled again. This time, a man’s voice answered, and he requested the police.

  Before he could explain the situation, the responder said, “I’ve got a record of a call from this phone three minutes ago. It’s been classified as a hoax. You do realise it’s a criminal offence to waste the emergency services’ time.”

  “This isn’t a hoax. My name’s Jason Baxter. I’m with a man named Daniel Floyd who’s wanted by the police. We’re on our way to Ilithyia Biotechnology in Northstowe.”

  “Daniel Floyd, you say?” asked the man, the suspicion evident in the tone of his voice. The sound of keys being tapped came down the line. “I’m showing an active arrest warrant for a man of that name. Why are you going to Ilithyia?”

  “To confront my mother. Look, if you don’t believe me, call Karen Atkins. She knows all about Mr Floyd. We’re going to be there in …” He glanced across to the driver.

  Floyd held up the fingers of both hands.

  “… about ten minutes,” Jason continued.

  “I need to make some calls,” said the man. “Will you be contactable on this number?”

  “Yes, but we’re not waiting outside. When we get there we’re going in, so you better be quick.”

  “I strongly urge you to wait for the police to arrive. I’ll try to contact Ms Atkins. Somebody will call you back shortly.”

  Jason stabbed the disconnect button. He turned to Floyd. “Do you think they believed me?”

  Chapter 73

  Monday 17th January 2033

  Grolby entered the lift behind Rosalind. “What’s this job?”

  “I want you to move some things from the basement to the incinerator.”

  “What things and why do you need me to help?”

  “You’ll find out soon enough. I need somebody who I know won’t blab.”

  “Okay, that sort of work. What about your assistant? Why can’t he do it?”

  “Stefano? I let him go home. Anyway, he doesn’t know what’s going on.”

  “I wouldn’t be so sure,” Grolby said then lapsed into silence.

  The lift doors slid apart. Rosalind strode down the corridor, the security chief trailing a couple of paces behind. She barged through the swing doors at the entry to the emergency ward and stopped to survey the three occupied beds. Grolby almost bumped into her.

  A nurse sat at a desk to the side of the room. “Hello, Mrs Baxter. What can I do for you?”

  “How are the patients?” Rosalind asked.

  “At the moment they’re all sedated. Dr Perrin was going to perform some tests.”

  “I see. Where is Dr Perrin?”

  “He’s in his office, I think.”

  Rosalind spun on her heel and retraced their route.

  “Is there a problem?” Grolby asked, but Rosalind didn’t reply.

  She passed the lift and continued to the door labelled ‘Chief Scientist’. She shoved it open without knocking. Nigel Perrin sat behind his desk, his head in his hands. Resting on the desk in front of him was an injection gun. He looked up at the sudden intrusion.

  “I couldn’t do it,” he said in a monotone.

  “For Christ’s sake,” Rosalind said. “I don’t get it. You’re happy to experiment on women we’ve dragged off the street, make them pregnant and watch them die when they give birth, but you haven’t got the balls to do what needs to be done now?”

  “Rosalind, be careful what you say,” Perrin said, nodding at Grolby who stood awkwardly behind Rosalind.

  “He’s in this as deep as we are,” she snapped, “as he reminded me a few minutes ago. So you’re just going to sit here feeling sorry for yourself?”

  “The injection gun’s loaded if you want to do it. I can’t do this anymore.”

  “Can’t do what anymore?”

  “I’ll help you develop the cure, but then I’m leaving. You won’t need me after that. You’ll have what you want. If you’d like to buy my shares at the current market price, you can have them. I’ve just had enough of all this.”

  “Jesus, Nigel. After all the years of effort and sacrifice, now of all times you want to quit?”

  Perrin glared at Rosalind. “My mind’s made up. I’ll help you this one last time, and then that’s it. No more.”

  “We’ve worked together for twenty years and finally, when we have the prize in our sights, you just want to walk away? If you see this through, we’ll both be billionaires.”

  “Multi-millionaire or billionaire, what’s the difference? I’m not like you. I want to spend time with my son. I want to be able to look him in the eye without feeling ashamed.”

  “Come on, Nigel. Pull yourself together.”

  “Sorry, Rosalind. I’m not going to change my mind.”

  The silence built between them. Finally, Rosalind sighed in resignation. “Okay, I see I’m not going to be able to convince you to stay. If that’s your final decision, I accept the offer to buy your shares, as long as you agree to remain until the cure’s developed. It’ll take one or two days to raise the finance, but no more than a week. I hope you know what you’re giving up.”

  “I’m going away for a few days with Max. It’ll take that long to synthesize the latest treatment anyway. I just need some time off from this place.”

  Rosalind looked thoughtful. “You are going to come back, aren’t you? I can’t do this alone, at least not at this critical juncture.”

  “Of course,” Perrin said, nodding eagerly, “but I’m not going to inject those women. I couldn’t live with myself if I did that.”

  “Okay, it’s a deal. I’
ll clean up this situation. You spend a few days away, let’s say no more than six. When you get back, we transfer the shares. That should give me enough time to get the money together. You stay on until we have a proven drug for the Orestes virus. How does that sound?”

  “Good, good. It’s a real weight off my mind.”

  “So, this is already loaded, is it?” she asked, reaching for the injection gun.

  “Yes, everything’s set up. Just press the trigger.”

  “Right. Come on Anders, we’ve got some work to do.”

  Rosalind left the room clutching the medical instrument in her hand, Grolby trailing a few paces behind her.

  They had reached as far as the lift doors when Grolby called from behind, “Mrs Baxter, can I have a word?”

  Rosalind halted and spun around to face her Head of Security. “Yes, what is it?”

  “Well … I’ve worked for you for many years. I’ve taken a lot of risks on your behalf and performed a large number of criminal activities. I want some of Dr Perrin’s shares.”

  “You mean buy, right Anders?”

  “The thing is I don’t have much spare cash at the moment. I want you to give me some – for free.”

  “Let’s get this straight, Anders. You expect me to buy his shares then just hand them over to you?”

  Grolby lowered his eyes to the floor. He swallowed then met Rosalind’s gaze. “Yes. If what you say is true, and you do have a cure, the shares are going to increase massively in value. After what I’ve done for you, it’s only fair that I benefit from that.”

  “You already have share options, Anders. You’ll benefit like everybody else who works here.”

  “Yeah, but a few thousand shares isn’t going to change my life. I’m sure you can afford to let me have more than that. Two hundred thousand more, for example.”

  Rosalind barked a short laugh. “You want me to buy two hundred thousand shares and just give them to you for nothing?”

  Grolby frowned. “Didn’t you just say that our fates were intertwined? If I understand correctly what you’re planning, I’m about to become an accomplice to murder.”

  “Jesus, Anders, you’re responsible for far more than five deaths, so don’t play all innocent with me.”