“Is this what you did to Leech?” he demanded.
When Anna replied, she didn’t look at Jack. Her frown was deep, and she spoke like she was distracted. “Leech was a much more difficult proposition. I needed someone under my tight control to perform instructions and maintain contact for hours at a time. With this fool, I just need him to shoot you.”
“You don’t want to do this. You can’t keep on running. We need to work together if we’re to protect our kind.”
“Protect? You’re a fool if you think we can ever do that. OsMiTech calls the shots. Devan Oster is our jailor, but none of you imbeciles are astute enough to realise that.”
Hardwick moved closer to Jack, the gun arm shaking slightly as he did. Anna had said the connection with Leech had taken time to perfect, and even that had its problems. How much of a hold did she have on Hardwick now? What would it take to break it?
“You were my friend. The day of the remnant surgery you came to speak to both Keeley and me and told us that everything would be fine and that we’d be taken care of. OsMiTech would protect us and you’d protect us from those that might seek to harm us. We trusted you. We believed in you. I still do.”
Hardwick lowered his arm, then spun around in confusion, he’d regained control over his own body. Quickly, he stepped away from Jack and brought his gun arm over to Anna. It was the distraction Jack had been waiting for.
Bringing his hands out of his pocket, he flung the dart he’d retrieved from the night Claude and Becket had attacked him, straight at Anna’s exposed neck. It scratched her cheek, drawing a thin bead of blood.
“What the hell?” She looked down at the dart and shook her head incredulously at Jack’s audacity. “A tranq?”
Hardwick looked confused and glared at Jack before smiling. “Very resourceful,” he said with no hint of emotion and Jack saw in horror his trigger finger flexing. “But, I’ve run out of patience.”
“No!” he lunged at the doctor, bringing the pair of them crashing to the floor. The gun clattered away and Jack brought his hands up to stop Hardwick’s flailing fists from landing on him. Anna staggered, the effects of the tranquiliser already affecting her balance. She was running to the back door when a voice shouted at her to stop.
Burnfield stood in the doorway, leaning against the frame, groggy from the effects of the drugged brandy. “Anna, stop!”
“I can’t stop. Not until you stop chasing me.” She looked back at the two men fighting on the floor. “The Tombs are rising, Jack. Watch your back.” Then she melted into the night.
Burnfield staggered over to the back door, barely able to stand up.
Hardwick gripped Jack’s arms tightly, pressing down with a surprising amount of force. Jack kicked upwards, aiming for his groin, and shoved the doctor away. He had to stop Anna. He grabbed the first thing he could see on the floor and ran to the back door, passing Burnfield who was still trying to stand upright. Looking out into the night, he couldn’t see her. She was gone.
“Watch out!” Burnfield’s warning came just in time. But the bullet hadn’t been meant for Jack. Burnfield fell to the floor as the shot tore through his shoulder. The detective dropped. Jack spun to see Hardwick with his gun aimed and ready to fire again at Jack. He ducked as a second blast ripped through the kitchen, but Hardwick’s aim was poor and even at this short distance he missed. Jack looked at the eye burner in his hand and twisted the power ring. It crackled with blue arcs of plasma and Jack ducked to the left as another shot blasted over his shoulder. Hardwick’s aim may have been poor but given enough chances, he’d get lucky. Jack wasn’t going to give him that chance.
Another metre closer, Jack ducked to the right. Hardwick spun to follow, but Jack moved like a dancer, lithe and nimble, he was beside the doctor before he had another chance to fire. His arm lifted, and he drove the eye burner straight at Hardwick’s left eye and punched hard.
Hardwick dropped his gun and screamed in agony. Writhing on the floor, gripping at the burner, trying to pull it free, but his hands couldn’t grasp the device, his muscles spasming randomly. The screams stopped, but the mouth remained open, silently, desperately yelling for mercy.
But Jack was all out of mercy.
After a minute, the body stopped moving. Jack bent and grabbed hold of the tool, switching it off as he did. The eye underneath had burnt and evaporated. Nothing left. Hardwick was dead. But, Jack wasn’t finished. Determined that this man wouldn’t be getting a chance to plead his case from beyond the grave, he switched the device back on and stabbed at the other eye. The battery pack gave up within seconds, but that was enough to destroy this eye as well.
When it was over, Jack left it in there, not caring anymore about the man whose actions had brought about the loss of the life he’d once had. No, once enjoyed. It was a life worth living, and now, all he could hope for was to kick through the embers and find something left.
A moan from the other side of the kitchen reminded him that Burnfield had taken a bullet. He rushed to the man’s side and saw with horror the blood pouring from a wound on his shoulder. The man was still breathing.
“Edward, hang in there. Help’s on the way.”
11:28 PM
Jack traced his finger around the eye socket and noted the tender spots. The OsMiTech medics had done a good job in removing Ella’s eye and replacing it with this artificial one. The two women sat across from him on metal stools, checking readings on their tablets and occasionally taking instruments out to examine the new eye with. Ella’s had been removed and placed in a memory box. He wondered whether it would ever get to a remnant keeper after what he’d already reported. Her murderer was dead, he’d told them that, but the way the recall had happened hadn’t been done by procedure. Jack was still waiting to hear what the outcome of his interfering in evidence would be. There was every chance they’re rip up his licence, and he’d find himself back at OsMiTech waiting for reassignment.
“Look to the left,” the first medic said. They’d introduced themselves but Jack hadn’t been paying attention. He’d been more concerned at the time with what they would do for him now that his own eye was no longer available to be reinserted.
The solution was to give him a prototype from OsMiTech—a new prosthetic design that could be connected to the optic nerve and serve the wearer as well as their original. Unfortunately, they hadn’t quite perfected the look of the thing and when they’d first shown him this completely blue design with a green iris, he was taken aback. There was no way he could ever hope to blend in with that in his head. But, the colour it transpired was part of the design and not some weird afterthought. This was an eye better than he had before. Connected to his HALO and other open network systems, it could act as a second screen; a heads up display that he could access with no one else seeing what he was doing.
“Look to the ceiling,” the medic instructed. Jack did as he was told, noticing that a message had scrolled over the bottom of his vision as he did so.
“Something’s happening,” he told the medics excitedly. “I see text.”
“That’s the system calibrating. It’s just connecting to your device. You’ve got your HALO haven’t you?”
Jack held up his hand to show them the network ring.
“Good. Things will settle soon. I’d like you to come to OsMiTech for a full check-up. You’ve been through a lot.” The second medic, with her softly spoken voice, and youthful figure, could only have been in her early twenties. She looked down at her datapad. “Are you OK to come with us now?”
Jack shook his head. “No. I’ve too much to sort out. It will have to wait.”
The medics glanced at each other, then the first nodded almost imperceptibly. She looked at Jack and she smiled as well. Jack wondered if they’d taken lessons in bedside manner. He wished he could speed time up and make them leave.
“Can I go now?”
“Of course, we’re done. We’re heading back to OsMiTech ourselves. Do you need a lift anywhere?”
&nbs
p; “No, I’m good. I’ve someone to meet.”
Finding out where Burnfield was recuperating was the first thing he tried to use his enhanced eye with. As soon as the medics had left and he’d stepped out into the hospital corridor, he found the hospital AI flashing a welcome message in his vision. He spoke into his HALO and asked the AI where he could find the detective. A line appeared in his vision that he followed to the second floor and a quiet room in a busy ward. A policeman was waiting outside the room. Jack wondered whether he’d be permitted inside, but as he approached a woman exited. She frowned. A stray tangle of hair fell across her cheek and she tucked it behind her ear, sighing.
Jack hesitated, nodded at the woman and attempted a smile. She glanced up at his forehead and left without saying a word. Jack entered Burnfield’s room. Equipment beeped beside him. Little displays tracked his heart beat and respiration and whatever state he’d expected the detective to be in, he hadn’t expected him to be sitting up in bed, writing reports on his datapad.
“Don’t mind Tamara,” he said.
“Tamara?”
“My wife.”
“I thought you were in a bad way.”
“I’m fine. It was a graze.”
It hadn’t been a graze. There had been enough blood on Jack’s clothes that night to dispel that lie.
“You’re stronger than you look.”
“Oh, thanks. I’ll try and find a compliment there somewhere.” He smiled and put the datapad to one side. “I appreciate your saving my life. Whatever happens now, I want you to know that I’ll do all I can to stand by you. One man to another.”
“So, now I’m worried. What have they told you?”
Burnfield gestured to the chair beside the bed and Jack sat down. “There’s going to be an enquiry. But, I guessed you already knew that would be the case. The National Prosecution Service isn’t likely to pursue you over Hardwick’s death and they’re happy that the district office can conduct this enquiry for them. I think they’re just pushing paper, doing what needs to be done to demonstrate a full and fair justice system is in place.”
“It doesn’t help that I’m a telepath.”
“Oh no. That makes it far worse. The ATL has done plenty of damage to your reputation. Once details of this come out, you can bet your life that Growden and his gang will milk this for all it’s worth. But, I’ll make sure you’re looked after. Plus, it helps that you’ve got the full weight of OsMiTech behind you. Any word from their legal team yet?”
“No. I’ve a meeting scheduled with my appointed solicitor this afternoon. They’re meeting me at my house.”
“Probably going to tell you to keep your mouth shut and not speak to the police without them being present.”
That was what Jack expected. OsMiTech and the Telepath Crime Unit were hardly good bedfellows. If they knew that he was sat here talking to the head of the district’s agency they would drag him back to OsMiTech and keep him there until all of this blew over.
That’s assuming it would blow over. After all, he had killed a man. You don’t just sweep that under the carpet. Yes, he’d done it to save himself and Burnfield, but had he done too much? He could have brought the man down without killing him.
Jesus, whose side are you on?
Jack hoped the NPS weren’t going to go after him with a telepath legal team. With doubts like those, he might as well just walk into a cell and tell them to throw away the key.
“What about Anna?”
“Anna’s gone. We couldn’t find any trace of her. Our drones were out of the area as you suggested—”
“—she’d have never come at all if she saw police drones in the area.”
Burnfield raised his hands. “Yes, it’s fine. I know. I agreed to it. But, it means we had no way to track her once she left Hardwick’s. She’s gone. We’ve frozen her bank account so she can’t access any money.”
“She’ll have another. She knew this might happen.” And she had. She’d spent most of her adult life waiting to duck back into the shadows where she was safe.
“No one’s been back to her apartment. We’ve had drones sweeping the area looking for her.”
“She’ll be out of the district. Probably left the country by now. Looking for another man like Hardwick to give her a new identity.”
“Then she’d better have a shitload of money hidden away. Anonymity is not cheap.”
What must it be like for her? Leaving it all behind to start a new life. But, perhaps it wouldn’t be as difficult for her as it would for a normal telepath. As a prime, she had good control over Leech. True, there had been moments when she’d lost that control and that’s what largely led to her downfall, but what if she could find someone more agreeable to her suggestions? How easy would it be to walk into another person’s home and take over their life, or get them to hand over their life savings?
“Anna’s name hasn’t been in the news feeds.”
“She’s officially redacted. Code twenty-six. No one must know that she is out there. To all intents and purposes, Gwenith McKean died fifteen years ago. She has to stay that way. In our reports, it was Anna that did this, working with an accomplice. No mention of any special ability she may or may not have.”
“You can’t keep that information secret. It will find a way out.”
“Not from you or I it won’t. Not unless we want to spend the rest of our lives in jail.”
“She did all of this because of something she thought the Weis had.”
Burnfield shrugged his shoulders. “All of Nikoli’s papers have been seized by the Department for the Regulation of Telepaths. We’ve no idea what Anna wanted.”
“But whatever it was, it was worth her risking her identity over.”
“Was it a risk worth taking? She’s lost her anonymity.”
“Do you think she might—” Jack started, looking Burnfield in the eye.
“What? Come after you?” He shook his head. “Why risk it? She can’t believe you haven’t told anyone else. She has to believe she’s unmasked.”
Jack leant back in the chair, closing his eyes and resting his head on the back of the chair. “It’s such a mess.”
“I can probably sort out protection for you, if you’d like.”
Jack sighed and opened his eyes. He smiled wanly at the detective and shook his head slowly. “I think whatever happens next, we’re all going to need it.”
Friday, 10 May 2115
11:36 AM
The funeral had been hard. Not for Jack, who no longer seemed to have that pain in the pit of his stomach that he’d carried for the last seven days, but for the rest of Keeley’s family who’d turned out in force to say goodbye.
His tears had come the previous night, lasted for three hours until he sobbed himself to sleep. Upon awakening, he felt oddly dry, spent. That was exactly what he needed to see himself through the service.
Her parents kept their distance. He thought it unlikely that he’d be speaking to them again anytime soon. With their daughter gone, there was now no longer a need for them to associate with a telepath. Jack thought they’d find some comfort in that at least.
Ethan was the only family he had left but sat on a row towards the back of the congregation.
The hillside looked down on the memorial garden where Keeley’s ashes were being scattered. Not knowing what she might prefer, he’d agreed to the vicar’s suggestion that the rose gardens would be appropriate. Jack had nodded and smiled politely and then walked away, leaving them to it. Keeley was gone. What they were scattering wasn’t her.
A breeze rolled along the ground, tickling the daffodils and pushing against his legs, sending shivers up his body. The temperature had dropped, and as he watched the congregation finally disperse from the rose garden, he pulled the thick collar up on his overcoat and closed his eyes. He should go. There was a lot to do. Her clothes needed packing and sending to the charity shop. He needed to produce information for the bank and submit files to the insurance compan
y. He’d considered selling the house. Now, with Keeley gone, it wasn’t a home, not the home they’d moved into together, nor the potential home for the children she’d wanted.
A security drone buzzed by his ear, getting close enough to take a photo of him before scooting off to the departing mourners. It might have been just his imagination, but it seemed that their presence had increased.
Try as he might, Jack couldn’t shut out that he was to blame for this whole chain of events. If he’d reacted better to her announcement that she’d applied for a pregnancy licence without his knowledge, she might not have agreed to buy the information from her source Rasputin. Whomever he was, he also had a lot to answer for. Burnfield had traced the money transfer on Keeley’s account but it went to a black account outside of their jurisdiction. There was no way of tracing him. He wondered whether Rasputin knew what he’d instigated by feeding her with such information? Did it actually matter? Keeley’s side project in writing up a new history of the rise of telepaths in society would have been a great success. A section on the role that Gwenith McKean had played in society would have been key and Keeley would have been foolish to not follow up any lead to her whereabouts. None of this was Keeley’s fault.
Over in the distance, beyond the treeline, Jack could see the top edge of the OsMiTech headquarters. They might be able to help him. If he could just admit to himself that this was more than he could handle on his own. But, would they want to help him? What would they say if he were to admit to meeting Gwenith McKean? Burnfield had told him the meeting had been classified code twenty-six. Talking about it, would see him in jail with no chance of getting out.
A noise disturbed Jack from his thoughts and he looked across to see that Burnfield had taken up the chair alongside him.
“I’m sorry.”
“What for?” Jack replied, feeling deep inside that there was a tremendous lot the detective should be sorry for.
“Shitty day. I’m sorry.”
Jack nodded then looked away, back to the rose garden where they’d scattered her.
The Remnant Keeper (Tombs Rising Book 1) Page 23