‘I’m sure you would have,’ said Xec. ‘Too late. Miss Kepple, however, did not seem at all surprised and I think Mr Graham has something special planned for her. Personally though, I think it would be more useful to have you kept for study. I would almost go as far as to say that Dr Newman reached the peak of his creativity and skill with you.’
‘I’ll kill myself.’
‘I doubt it. Even if you had the opportunity you’re more likely to try to escape, but since we know your Achilles heel, keeping you in check will be simplicity.’
Chloe couldn’t deny it. Unless there was some way she could switch off her hearing it was easy for someone to stop her completely.
‘I still want to see my friend.’
‘That door over there, where you saw the nurse exit.’
‘How do you—’ She cut herself off. It had all been a trap. They had all been manoeuvred into this position and trapped.
‘I hope you’re seeing the futility of your position, Chloe,’ he said. ‘Because that will make things so much easier for you.’
She did not respond but walked along the corridor and pushed open the door. Subdued lighting that was focused only on the desk—not occupied—gave the room soft highlights and deep shadows. Three beds were crammed close together in a room not designed to take them, and three figures covered with sheets, all linked to IV feeds.
The first was the redhead, Vanessa Cooper. At the far end was someone Chloe could not see clearly. In fact the shape under the white cloth was barely recognisable as human. But in the middle was the familiar head and face of Melinda.
Chloe almost cried in relief. She squeezed between beds, pulled off her glove and took Melinda’s hand. It was warm and felt the way it always had—perhaps a little rougher. The face and hair were the same.
‘What’s wrong with them?’
‘They are under twilight sedation,’ came the voice. ‘For their own good.’
She looked across at the figure in the next bed. If you ignored the folds of thick skin and the lack of hair, there was a girl’s face in there. You could almost imagine she was wearing a hood. Almost.
‘Who’s she?’
‘The redhead is Vanessa Cooper, the other one is Lucy Grainger.’
That settled it, this wirehead could see her. She tapped on the metal of the cot frame. The high-pitched vibrations filled the room. Without turning around she spotted the camera over the door.
‘What about the other ones?’
‘Other ones?’
‘I know there have been others before.’
‘Oh those,’ said Xec. ‘They died.’
Chloe slid the needle of the IV from Melinda’s arm, careful not to pull it all the way, so it looked as if it was still in place.
‘Did you kill them?’
She slid out from between the beds and moved to Lucy Grainger.
‘I did not kill them. My job is the protection and support of Mercedes Smith.’
‘So how did they die? Is the genetic change dangerous?’
‘Oh, I see, you just care about yourself.’
She let him believe that.
He continued. ‘Some of the early versions were unstable.’
‘Like S.I.D.’
‘Similar, I suppose. The modifications became dominant and wiped out the host.’
‘And later?’
‘Once we have completed our analysis, the asset no longer has any value.’
‘So the answer is yes,’ she said. ‘You killed them.’
She slipped the IV out of Lucy Grainger. It looked as if the hole had been drilled into the hide. Poor girl.
‘And you killed Ali Najjar.’
‘We couldn’t let news of you get out.’
‘You wanted me all to yourself.’
‘That’s right. By the time he had got to your version Dr Newman appears to have fully cracked the techniques and requirements for successful gene manipulation.’
Chloe noticed cotton wool swabs on a small table beside Vanessa. And moved round to that.
‘But you haven’t managed to duplicate his work?’
‘Why do you think that?’
‘You haven’t disposed of these three.’
She had managed to identify only one speaker in this room, and the one camera. The door was flimsy but if it was shut the sonic attack from the wirehead should be ineffective. But he would activate it the moment she acted in a threatening way.
One of Melinda’s fingers twitched. Chloe had no idea how long it would take the sedation to wear off. She hoped it would not be long. She needed to spin this out.
‘I’m obviously different, and Lucy, but Melinda and this one look normal.’
‘Your friend’s differences are internal though impressive,’ he said. ‘But take a look at Vanessa’s teeth.’
‘What?’
‘You want to know? Look at her teeth.’
Chloe was reluctant to invade the girl’s privacy and person but it meant she could lean over her and detach the IV. She reached up to the girl’s mouth and gently pushed back her lips. The canines were significantly larger top and bottom while the ones further back were also pointed. She managed to pull the IV out but it came all the way. There was no way she could take the time to put it back in properly. She laid it against the girl’s skin and hoped the wirehead wouldn’t notice.
Melinda twitched again.
‘What sort of teeth are they?’ she asked as she moved further up the bed and swiped some cotton wool from the table.
‘What are you doing?’
‘I don’t know what—’
The loudspeakers screeched. She slammed her hands over her ears again, this time shoving cotton wool into them.
Chapter 29
Mitchell
He stared at the floor buttons; which one? There were almost sixty floors and they couldn’t try each one.
‘What are you waiting for?’ said Dog.
‘You choose one,’ said Mitchell. ‘Each one is as good as any other. Apart from the bottom ten or so which are used as offices. The top one is Mercedes Smith’s suite and this lift doesn’t go that far.’
‘You’re well informed.’
‘I’ve been here before.’
Jason’s hand snaked out and he pressed the thirtieth. The doors slid shut.
‘We’ll be able to smell if the scent of the girls gets stronger.’
‘We’re inside a steel box,’ said Mitchell as the lift climbed.
‘Do you have a better idea?’
‘No,’ he said. ‘But by the time you smell it we’ll be past it.’
They fell silent as they passed the twentieth and the numbers clicked up.
The lift came to a halt and the doors slid open. The floor was dark except for an occasional blue light. It was cold too.
Mitchell glanced at Jason but he shook his head.
‘And we haven’t passed it?’
Another shake of the head.
That left another thirty floors. Jason pressed the forty-fifth. Halfway again? That made some sense. But even as the doors slid shut the lift button went dark and the fifty-first came on.
‘Did you do that?’ said Mitchell.
Jason shook his head. Mitchell pressed the forty-fifth again. The light did not come on.
‘Something’s controlling the lift,’ said Dog.
‘That’s not going to be good for us,’ said Mitchell and checked his gun. ‘You stand that side, Dog. I’ll take this.’ He glanced up at the grid in the ceiling. He pointed at Jason and then up. ‘If you can block the light as well, that would be good.’
Jason scaled the wall and in a moment was hanging from the ceiling. It wasn’t entirely clear how he was doing it, although his fingers were entwined with the grid.
Mitchell stepped to the side as the lift came to a halt and the door slid open.
Nothing happened except another wave of cold air flowed in.
‘Can you hear something?’ said Mitchell.
&nb
sp; ‘Too bloody right,’ said Dog. ‘Loud. High-pitched. Glad I’m not there, blow my bloody ears out.’
‘Where?’
‘Next floor? Next but one?’
‘Up or down?’
Dog moved closer to the gap between the lift and the outer doors. Tilted his head.
‘Up.’
‘That’s where they are.’
Mitchell piled back into the lift.
‘Not me, mate,’ said Dog. ‘I told you. That noise will blow my ears.’
‘How about Chloe?’
‘Hers too.’
‘Exactly. She’s there and under attack.’
Mitchell hit the button for the next floor. Nothing happened. He pressed it again and harder.
‘Someone doesn’t want us on that floor.’
‘Lament,’ said Mitchell. ‘He must have found the floor. He’s the one that brought us here and he doesn’t want us to go up in the lift.’
Mitchell checked all directions.
‘The stairs are this way,’ said Mitchell. ‘Come on.’ He left the lift and scanned the nearby doors. There was one marked with the Emergency Exit symbol. He pushed through into it and found the stairs. Jason flashed past him.
‘I can’t,’ said Dog. ‘The noise.’
‘It’s not in here,’ said Mitchell. ‘We’ll figure it out when we get up there. If you can’t follow us, you can guard our backs.’
He didn’t wait but headed up the first flight, shadowed by Jason. The ear-piercing screech was louder but not emanating from this floor. They went up the next one. Even for someone without enhanced hearing the noise was loud and painful. He thought it had been going on for a long time. If it had been to simply disable Chloe surely a short burst would have been enough?
Then the lights went out.
Chapter 30
Chloe
The noise destroyed her acoustic sense and scrambled her coordination but the cotton wool muffled it a little. She tried to remember her plan. What was the first step?
Shut the door. The door was behind her. She forced herself to open her eyes. Her natural reaction had been to close them against the attack, but she needed to be able to see. She was on her hands and knees. She crawled to the door and butted it with her head. It swung shut; if there was a click she was in no state to hear it.
The overall volume diminished as she shut some of the speakers out. There was still the one in here. Something landed on her back and flattened her. She tried to roll but the weight on her was too much. She felt hands grabbing at her forearms.
She was vulnerable. Getting her hands beneath her before they could be pinned, she pushed up and got to her hands and knees again. Something bit at her neck. Vanessa?
Whoever it was put their arms around her in a bear hug, but it wasn’t solid. Head still reeling from the noise, Chloe clasped her hands together and lifted them above her head. In the same motion she got up on one leg as the weight fell from her. She leapt for the opposite wall. Twisting in mid-air as she flew across the room. The speaker was there, in the top corner of the wall.
As she closed on it the noise battered her. But she grabbed it, turned upside down with her feet against the ceiling and put her complete body into ripping it from the wall. It came away easily but still screeched as the wires tore down the flimsy wall material. In the moment she was inverted she could see that it was Vanessa who had attacked her. And was getting to her feet, a pained and dazed expression on her face.
She must still be half-under the sedation and the sound had driven her to attack.
Chloe did not blame her as she wrapped the wire round her hand and ripped it from the speaker.
The sound cut off—at least inside the room. Chloe dropped to the floor as Vanessa charged. It lacked any finesse and, much as she regretted having to do it, Chloe easily sidestepped and, grabbing Vanessa’s arm, pulled her round and into the wall. As she bounced, Chloe threw her to the floor and immobilised her, using the cable from the loudspeaker to tie her wrists behind her back.
Her head still ached from the aftermath of the noise. Outside the door it was still screeching. Chloe grabbed the chair from behind the desk and swung it at the camera. The lens shattered. The unit dangled from the ceiling.
‘Untie me, you bitch!’ The word bitch came out slightly slurred with more of a sss sound in the final syllable. Vanessa was struggling to get herself on to her feet but seemed uncoordinated.
‘You’re still under the effects of the drugs,’ said Chloe. ‘I’m here to rescue you. If you don’t calm down I’ll put you back under.’
‘Chloe?’ came a weak voice from the beds.
A grin she could not suppress took over Chloe’s face and she jumped across the room to land at her friend’s side. She yanked the IV drip all the way out and let it fall. She wrapped her arms round Melinda. When Melinda didn’t reciprocate Chloe loosened her grip.
‘I promised I’d find you,’ she said.
‘Did you? I don’t remember.’
‘Yeah, well, you weren’t there. But I did.’
‘What’s that noise?’
‘Utopia Genetics’ wirehead trying to stop me. All he’s done is give me a headache.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘Doesn’t matter, it would take too long to explain. We just need Lucy Grainger to wake up and we can see about getting you out of here.’
Melinda clung to Chloe’s arm as she turned in the bed and sat with her legs dangling over the edge.
‘Probably need to find you some clothes too.’
Melinda looked around. ‘Why is Vanessa tied up?’
‘She attacked me.’
‘She does that.’
‘How do you feel?’
‘Bloody terrible,’ said Melinda. ‘Thirsty. Maybe hungry.’ She focused on Chloe. ‘How are we doing, really?’
‘Pretty bad.’
‘Would it help if I killed the noise?’
Chloe frowned. ‘It would help, but how?’
‘Was that you?’ Melinda said pointing at the wires dangling from the wall. ‘Help me over there.’
‘You should rest.’
‘I can’t do it from here.’
‘What?’
‘Just don’t let me fall over, my legs feel like jelly.’
Chloe held her as she slid on to the floor, then gave Melinda an arm to lean on.
Vanessa spoke. ‘Melinda, we’re friends, tell her to untie me.’
‘Probably should,’ said Melinda. ‘She’s got a good nose and, well, she kills people.’
‘I know,’ said Chloe. ‘I saw her handiwork back in Alderley Edge.’
She was reluctant but if Melinda said it was okay, she would take it on faith. Vanessa had pulled the knots tight and it took a bit of work to loosen them again.
Melinda meanwhile shuffled to the wires and grabbed the ends of each.
‘Not sure how you’re going to feel about this, Chloe. But I’m a freak.’
With that she closed her eyes and grunted.
The lights went out and the only sound was the ringing in her ears where the shrieking attack used to be.
‘Too much, I only meant to fuse the speaker system.’
‘How...?’
‘Like I said, Chloe, I’m a freak and I can make electricity. I’ll understand if you don’t want to be my friend anymore.’
Chloe took a moment to snap her fingers and was pleased that noise hadn’t disabled her acoustic sense again. She finished untying Vanessa who immediately turned over and tried to slash her nails at Chloe’s eyes. Chloe blocked, grabbed the wrist and turned Vanessa on her front again, twisting her arm until she squeaked.
‘It’s okay,’ said Chloe. ‘I can see in the dark. Total dark. Just like this Vanessa Cooper—’
‘Vix,’ she hissed.
‘What?’
‘She wants to be called Vix—you know, like Vixen.’
‘You’re not serious?’
‘She’s part fox.’
‘If you’re Vix, then I’m Sable Fury—no Dark Fury. Look, Miss I-Don’t-Care-What-You-Call-Yourself, I can see you, I can see everything you do, I can see three-sixty in the light or the dark. You can’t surprise me and I will always beat you. So stop trying! Okay?’ Chloe reinforced her words by twisting the girl’s arm even more. ‘There’ll be plenty of other people to fight, you know, real enemies with guns. We’re the same, we’ve had our lives fucked up by some bastard who thought he was being clever. We’re on the same side, stop fighting us and start fighting them.’ Then she added under her breath. ‘What’s wrong with these bloody canines?’
She let go of ‘Vix’ and stepped back smartly. The girl got up slowly.
‘What are you talking about, Chloe? You too?’
‘Long story. Right now we need to get out of here. We might have to carry Lucy.’
‘You’ll be lucky. She weighs a ton. That’s solid muscle, solid bone and god knows how much leather hide.’
Chloe sighed and clicked her fingers. Nothing had changed in here but she wasn’t so sure about outside. With the power out, the wirehead might send in troops.
‘There’s something out there,’ said Vix.
Chloe tapped the metal of a bed. ‘No, there’s nothing outside the door, or in the rooms around us.’
‘Further, I can smell men.’ Vix bolted for the door, and found it.
‘Stop!’
But she was out and gone.
‘Oh great,’ said Chloe. She watched her progress as long as the sound waves reached her.
‘Are the beds are on wheels?’ said Melinda. ‘This is just an office, how did they get us in here?’
Chloe checked. ‘Yes, shift the desk, we’ll take her on that.’
‘This is crazy,’ said Melinda.
‘Tell me about it.’
Chapter 31
Mitchell
Must be the right floor.
He looked across at Jason, held up his hand and counted off three fingers, then spread his hands as if asking a question. Would he understand? How good was his sense of smell, really? Could he tell people apart at a distance?
Jason climbed the wall and crawled across to a position above the door, putting his face near the crack. It was unnerving the way he did that, almost as if the wall had become the floor. It was disorienting.
Why had the lift stopped at the floor below? Someone was helping them and the only person with that kind of power would be Lament. That meant he had discovered the floor and guided them close. Stopping at the lower floor was natural caution. He must have taken out the lights as well, and that weird alarm, whatever it was.
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