The Adjusters

by Taylor, Andrew

  “And it’s nice to see Fox making some friends. She never has anyone round any more…”

  “Thank you!” Fox muttered under her breath. Henry wondered if her mother always called her by her nickname.

  “I know it doesn’t look like it, but this used to be the most popular place in town,” Mary Layton said, a melancholy tone to her voice. “The cafe used to be full every evening. That was before Malcorp started buying everywhere up – people don’t seem to go out so much these days.” She looked down at her legs. “And before I had my…problems.” She reached out and touched her daughter’s arm. “Now Fox has to keep things going until I’m better.”

  Fox smiled and touched her mother’s hand. “It’s okay, Mom.” She looked round at Henry. “We’re going to sort everything out. Right?”

  He nodded, surprised to find that he really believed it when he said, “Yes, we are.”

  Five minutes later, Fox led Henry down the stairs again and through the cafe to the door. Mrs. Layton had just finished quizzing him about his mom, where he’d lived before and how he’d met her daughter. She seemed like a nice lady, but Fox had clearly been eager to get him out of there. As she was about to open the door she gave a sharp intake of breath and stepped back into the relative darkness of the shop. She grabbed Henry’s arm and pulled him back too.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  “Trooper Dan,” she replied. A second later the police cruiser passed by on the street outside, crawling along the high street. Behind the wheel, Henry made out the cop’s head turning left and right as he passed, scanning the sleepy town for any sign of trouble.

  “Malcorp’s eyes and ears in Newton,” Fox said quietly. “It’s best he doesn’t see us together.”

  Henry nodded and looked round at her. She was still holding onto his arm and they were pressed close together in the shadow cast by the window frame. Although the cruiser had passed, neither of them moved.

  “What’s wrong with your mom?” Henry asked.

  “Multiple sclerosis,” Fox replied. “It’s a brain disease that attacks the nervous system. Mom was diagnosed six years ago. It comes and goes…”

  “Your dad—”

  “Left us just after she was diagnosed. Can you believe that? He’s got a new family now. But he does send a card at Christmas.”

  “I’m sorry,” Henry said again, not knowing how else to respond.

  “Yeah, so am I,” she said, her voice becoming hard and businesslike again. “Just get to Gabrielle and get us something we can use to shut down whatever Malcorp is up to.”

  “Okay.”

  “Tell Christian Project Alcatraz is a go.”

  With that, she pulled open the door and pushed him out onto the street. As it slammed behind him, Henry started back down main street, blinking in the afternoon light.

  “I’m here to see Christian.”

  The man who had answered the door was wearing a grey suit that looked crumpled from a day’s work, even though it was Saturday. The tie around his neck was loosened and the top button of his shirt was undone. In one hand he held a glass of Scotch loaded with ice.

  “Well, there’s a first time for everything, I guess,” said the man, who Henry assumed to be Christian’s dad. He stepped back and Henry entered the lodge, which was identical in construction to his own, except it was located on the other side of the complex.

  “Christian!” the man hollered after taking a sip of his drink. “You have uh…a…friend to see you.” He looked round at Henry. “You are a friend, right?”

  Henry nodded. There was no response from within the lodge and the man shouted again. This brought the sound of a door slamming and movement from one of the bedrooms.

  Feeling more than a little uncomfortable, Henry cast his gaze over the lounge and was surprised to see that one wall was devoted to a display of sporting trophies. Running, football, swimming awards, they were all there – along with photographs of a confident-looking kid posing with various teammates and coaches, or caught in action on the sports field. For a moment he thought it was Christian, but on closer inspection he saw that it was a different kid, although they looked remarkably similar.

  “My eldest, Simon,” Christian’s dad said upon seeing Henry look over the trophy collection. “He’s at Yale on a rowing scholarship. Quite the sportsman. That’s him with his football team a few years back.” He looked at the picture wistfully. “A real all-rounder. Do you play…uh…?”

  “Henry. I swim.”

  “Outstanding!” the man said with a little too much excitement. “Outstanding! Maybe you could get Christian involved. It would be nice to see him do something other than lounge around on the couch for once.”

  There was an embarrassed cough from the kitchen doorway and Henry looked round to see Christian’s mother standing there. Her hair was tied back in a neat bun and she was wearing an apron smeared with flour. She looked like something out of a black and white sitcom.

  “Christian just hasn’t found his sport yet,” she said softly.

  His dad snorted and took a hefty swig of Scotch. “Well, it’s about time he did. Too bad he doesn’t have more of his brother’s gumption…”

  “Don’t embarrass Christian in front of his friend, dear!” she said, looking daggers at her husband.

  He chose to ignore this and turned to Henry. “You’re a sportsman, Henry. You know what I’m talking about. A young man needs an outlet for his energies! Christian’s problem is…”

  He stopped in mid-sentence, realizing that his son had appeared in the doorway leading through to the bedrooms.

  “Don’t let me stop you, Dad,” he said. “Why don’t you tell him all about what a disappointment I am compared to Simon the super-athlete? Henry may as well know. Everyone else does.”

  Christian’s dad looked as if he was about to snap back in response, but then he merely shrugged and walked to a bar in the corner to fix himself another drink. Christian turned his angry gaze on Henry.

  “What do you want?”

  Christian flopped onto a beanbag in front of a TV in his bedroom that was playing a PS3 game. Henry hung back at the doorway and looked over the room. Compared to Christian’s scruffy, goth image, it was surprisingly neat and ordered. Books lined the walls and a study desk in the corner was piled with school textbooks. He turned his attention to Christian, noticing that the evidence of his altercation with Steve’s gang from the day before was coming out as a nasty bruise under his left eye.

  “Well?” Christian demanded, pressing the PS3 controller to resume his racing game. “This had better be good.”

  “I went to see Fox. She showed me the stuff you’ve collected about Malcorp.”

  “And?” Christian didn’t remove his eyes from the screen as he took a corner at high speed.

  “I believe you.”

  Christian paused the game again and looked round at Henry.

  “I’m starting to believe you. Something weird is going on here.”

  “Really?” Christian asked. “You didn’t seem too enthusiastic to get involved before.”

  Henry stepped into the room and closed the door. Feeling more than a little stupid, he said, “Fox says Project Alcatraz is a go.”

  For the first time that Henry could recall, a grin broke Christian’s face. “I knew you’d come round!”

  Clapping his hands together, he moved to the door and shot the bolt. Then he went to his desk and pulled out a roll of documents that was taped to the underside. Henry joined him at the desk as Christian spread out what looked like a map.

  “This is a plan of the Malcorp complex,” Christian explained, waving a hand over the sheet. “It shows the location of all the external security cameras. We can use it to get to the medical centre without being picked up by the bad guys.”

  “Where’d you get this?” Henry asked, before answering his own question. “Let me guess. Stolen from your dad.”

  “From his briefcase, actually.”

  “What
is he, head of security or something?”

  Christian shook his head. “He’s in non-human resource management. Whatever that is.”

  Henry studied the map. It showed every building in the complex, along with the location of the cameras. There were other underground buildings marked as security substations. “What are those?” he asked.

  “Underground security bunkers. Emergency communication stations in case something happens at the complex. But let’s just worry about the medical centre for now.”

  “What about once we’re inside?” Henry asked. “We won’t be able to avoid the cameras then.”

  “Don’t panic,” Christian said. “My dad is always bitching about security around the complex – how just about anyone can walk in most places if they’ve got a pass. The lobby’s unmanned at night and half the guards are like that guy Hank on the front gate. They fall asleep at their posts, so they’re not even watching the cameras most of the time.”

  “Let’s hope they’re sleeping tonight,” Henry said. “Or Project Alcatraz is gonna be over real fast.”

  “I know I haven’t been giving you much time, kiddo,” Jennifer said as she placed a dish on the draining board. “But now things are getting settled at the lab, I promise I’ll be around more.”

  “I’m fine, Mom,” Henry said. He picked up one of the plates and wiped it with a towel.

  “I know it can be difficult settling into a new place… A new school…”

  “Mom, I’m fine.” The last thing Henry wanted was to worry her about what was going on. He still half thought Fox and Christian’s idea was crazy. What would his mom say if she knew he was thinking of breaking into the medical centre that evening? Although it wasn’t really breaking in when they had Christian’s dad’s key card, was it…?

  “Because you know if you were having any kind of problems, you could talk to me about them.”

  Henry looked round at his mother. She gave him an embarrassed smile.

  “The principal gave me a call about your progress.”

  Henry felt his face redden. “What did he say? That I’m some kind of special needs case?”

  “No, Henry. Just that you had some catching up to do.”

  “Mom, there’s something not right at Malcorp High.”

  She raised an eyebrow. “Come on, kiddo. Just because they have higher academic standards than that rundown place you used to go to in the city.”

  “I liked that school.”

  Jennifer Ward dried her hands on the towel and placed them on her son’s shoulders. “It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Nobody’s saying you’re stupid—”

  “Oh, thanks!”

  “Principal Carpenter even said you might qualify for a special programme they run to help new kids get up to scratch.”

  Henry took a step away from his mother. “Special programme?”

  “Yeah,” she continued. “Extra classes and the like. He wants to talk to us next week about getting you signed up.”

  “Signed up.”

  “It’s no reflection on you, Henry, really. The principal says that most new kids sign up for the programme within a couple of weeks.”

  Henry backed towards the door to the lounge. “I’m going out this evening. Is that okay?”

  Jennifer Ward’s face fell. “Sure, but—”

  Henry turned and left, not wanting to hear any more. Malcorp was already trying to sell his mom on the special education programme. And that meant only one thing.

  Time was running out.

  Henry and Christian moved silently between the trees lining the lower levels of the hill where the medical centre was located. At 9 p.m. the sun had gone down and the road leading up to the centre was deserted.

  “The only camera we have to worry about is the one on the gate,” Christian said as they stopped near the wall. “It’s monitored by the central security room. The cameras around the building aren’t watched at night. Security’s slack.”

  Henry nodded, eyeing the two-and-a-half-metre-high wall. “Okay, we’ll go over the wall.” He began to move…

  “Hey!” Christian hissed.

  Henry looked round.

  “You might be able to jump that wall, but I’ll need some help!”

  “Come on,” Henry said, running to the edge and cupping his hands to give the other kid a boost. Christian clumsily put his foot on Henry’s hands and tried to reach the top of the wall.

  “It’s higher than it looks!” he whispered as he struggled to pull himself up.

  “Just climb!” Henry hissed, giving him a push. Christian made the top, albeit with a lot of fuss…and promptly fell over the other side with a small cry of shock. Then there was silence.

  “Christian!” Henry called, as loud as he dared. “Are you okay?”

  “I think I landed on my phone.”

  Henry shook his head and took a few paces back from the wall. He ran, caught the top with both hands and pulled himself over in a single motion. He landed on the other side beside Christian, who was rubbing his back with a pained look on his face.

  Henry looked towards the main entrance of the building. Like Christian had suggested, there was no sign of any guards on patrol.

  “Are you sure that’s going to work?” Henry asked as Christian removed his dad’s key card.

  “We’ll soon find out.” He took out another item – a small digital recorder – and checked it over.

  “Where’d you get that from?”

  “Fox. She used to be involved in the school paper back when there was a school paper. Fancied herself as a proper journalist or something.” Looking satisfied the machine would work, Christian slipped it back in his pocket. “She thought we could use it to tape what Gabrielle has to say.”

  “Well, let’s just concentrate on finding her first,” Henry said, suddenly wishing Fox was there with them. There was something calm and collected about her manner that would have steadied his nerves. He couldn’t escape the feeling that they were about to get into serious trouble – who knew how Mallory would react if he caught the sons of two of his employees breaking into one of his buildings? And what would it mean for his mom’s new job? But then he remembered everything that had happened since he’d started at Malcorp High…all the weirdness and frustration…and he knew he had to get to the bottom of whatever was going on.

  “Let’s go,” Henry said and they moved towards the main entrance. There were no cars or buggies parked out front. Henry eyed the closed-circuit TV camera as he silently pushed through the heavy front door into the reception area. He hoped Christian was right about no one watching the security feed. Like his last visit to the centre, the interior of the marble-lined reception felt several degrees cooler than outside. The globe lights in the ceiling had been dimmed slightly, probably because the centre was closed for the day. Nothing moved.

  “Over there,” Henry said, nodding towards the door that led into the main part of the building. They ran across to it and Christian held the key card above the reader.

  “Fingers crossed,” he said and swiped the card.

  A green light flashed on the side of the reader. Henry grabbed the door handle and pushed. It opened and they stepped through into the anonymous corridor beyond.

  “We made it!” Christian hissed excitedly in his ear.

  “We still have to find Gabrielle,” Henry replied, looking at the corridor stretching into the distance. “If she’s here, that is.”

  “She’s here.”

  Henry led the way down the corridor, past the unmarked doors on either side to a set of double doors at the end. They pushed through into another corridor with turnings to left and right. Henry tried to remember the way he’d been taken on his previous visit to the centre and came up blank.

  “Look!” Christian said, indicating a sign on the wall opposite. It was a basic map of the medical centre marked Staff Evacuation Plan. It showed their location in relation to the three wings of the building: patient care…operating theatres…research labs.
“I guess we head for patient care.”

  Henry nodded and studied the map. The quickest route to the patient care area was to go straight ahead, through the operating theatres. It would take them right to the other side of the building, but he suddenly felt very out of place in his jeans and T-shirt. They hadn’t run into anyone yet, but there had to be someone around in the building. If there were patients, then there would be nurses or doctors in the centre round the clock. They needed to find some way to blend in a little better.

  A solution presented itself as they reached the end of the corridor. A sign before another set of double doors read Masks and gowns must be worn before entering theatres. On the other side of the door a line of green surgical gowns and masks hung on a rack.

  “Perfect,” Henry said, grabbing one of the gowns and tossing it to Christian. The gowns covered their bodies from shoulders to ankles, hiding their clothes. Henry slipped a mask over his nose and mouth and looked round at Christian, who had done the same.

  “You look stupid,” Henry said.

  “Look who’s talking.”

  “If we bump into anyone, just keep your head down,” Henry ordered. “Hopefully they’ll just think we belong here.”

  Christian nodded and they started forward again. The corridor had widened out here, and there were signs pointing to various operating theatres on the walls. They went through another set of double doors and found themselves passing a long observation window that looked into a darkened operating theatre. Henry peered through the glass, making out the shapes of machinery and racks of surgical tools in the dimness.

  A door flew open and the lights in the theatre flicked on without warning.

  Just in time, Henry grabbed Christian’s shoulder and pulled him to the floor so they couldn’t be seen through the window. On the other side of the glass it was possible to hear muffled voices and the sound of a trolley being wheeled into the theatre. Christian pulled Henry’s arm and nodded his head towards the other end of the corridor, but Henry gave him a hand signal to stay put. He wanted to see what was happening on the other side of the glass.