Trojan Gene: The Awakening

by Ben Onslow

  Ela’s mother and Jacob are another story. They leave Ela in my care for two weeks and I seduce her. Well, who seduced who isn’t a question they’re likely to ask.

  As for Ela’s cover story, it has as many holes in it as chicken netting.

  I can imagine what is going to happen. Ela’s mum rings Patsy.

  “Hello Mrs Fraser. Thanks for looking after Ela. Can I speak to her?”

  Patsy says, “Ela is at the farm. Jacob was released from hospital early.”

  Ela’s mum, “I don’t remember hearing about an early release.”

  Result: the shit hits the fan.

  Another scenario and believe me, I can come up with at least fifty.

  Patsy rings Jacob.

  She says, “Hi, Jacob how did Jack and Ela cope without the nurse?”

  Jacob says, “No idea. I’m still in hospital.”

  Same result: I’m unemployed, and on my way to University to help repopulate the world. And we’re both in trouble.

  If medical science doesn’t work out for her, Ela shouldn’t rely on being Vincent’s next sidekick. I don’t think the undercover game is going to suit her.

  I turn over and haul the duvet up around my ears.

  I know Ela is about a metre away from me, on the other side of the wall. And we only have two days left before Jacob gets out of hospital. Then the mother turns up, then Ela goes home.

  I think about Joe and Lucinda again, and how all that could happen to us.

  To hell with it, I think and get out of bed. Patsy will get over it.

  I go into Ela’s room.

  “What’s wrong?” she whispers.

  “Nothing,” I say. “Move over.”

  “What about your mum?” she whispers, moving across the bed and lifting up the duvet like she did a few nights ago.

  “She’ll cope.” I curl up around her and pulling the duvet back over us.

  Next morning, we both come out of the room together and Patsy copes fine. Never says a word.

  So, it’s morning and I’m in a foul mood, but pretending everything’s sweet. Ela’s still leaving on Saturday.

  Today she’s going to visit Jacob, then meet me at his house.

  In the meantime, I’m going to the farm, doing a bit of work, dropping some food off to Joe and Lucinda, checking they’re all right. Curley thinks he has things set up so we can move them on Sunday. There still hasn’t been any reaction from Vector to Lucinda going missing. Can’t figure what that’s all about.

  Anyway, by the time I’ve finished work, dinner will be cooked and we’ll have our romantic night together.

  It’s a plan.

  After breakfast, Ela and I walk down stairs. She looks cute,: short white dress, those little black slippers she likes, cloak. Looking like an Elite, all dressed up to see Jacob again.

  Again I decide to leave her to it because, after last night, talking to Jacob has got even more problematic. We stand on the street outside the pub and chat for a while. Then she goes back inside to pack up her gear for tonight.

  I see the Willis brothers across the road outside the dairy again, just like every other morning. They’re eating their breakfast pies, watching Ela and me.

  I can’t avoid them forever and, the way they’re staring, I can see they’ll be ready the next time we meet.

  I watch them for a while, in their black jeans, tight vintage t-shirts stretched to breaking point across their stomachs, holding their pies.

  They stand there looking across the road, watching me back.

  I figure they aren’t going to attack me in the middle of the street so I wander off to get the Land Rover and go to work.

  I start working. Do all the normal stuff: check the glasshouses, feed the dogs, top up the fertiliser in the irrigators, move some stock and so on. While I’m working I think about the Willises, them standing outside the pub like that. I passed Vincent too, going into the Private Bar. Maybe he was going to meet up with them.

  Then I think about this plan of Ela’s. Mum coped just fine this morning, so there’s no need to spend any night at Jacob’s now. And if the Willises come to Jacob’s house looking for me after their meeting with Vincent it would be better if Ela wasn’t there.

  I’m at the back of the farm and still have to check on Joe and Lucinda at the Vault. Once I get near the waterfall there’ll be no service to my Com for the next hour or so. If Ela turns up before I get back to the house, she’ll be there on her own with no chance of a Connect, and Henry and Charlie still roaming free.

  By mid-afternoon, I’ve made a decision to put an end to Ela’s plan.

  I get out my Com. Ela is probably on her way to the farmhouse right now. I need to stop her before she gets there.

  I make a Connect and she answers straight away.

  “Hey.” I’m not too sure how to tell her about changing my mind.

  “Hey,” she says. “What’s up?”

  “Don’t go to the house when you’ve seen Jacob. Go back to the pub. I’ll meet you there.”

  “Why?”

  “Change of plan.”

  “Why?” she asks. “Is something wrong?”

  “Jacob doesn’t want you in the house on your own, and I could be a while.”

  “Okay.” says Ela, real easy. Maybe she was having second thoughts too. “How long will you be?’

  “Another hour, maybe a bit longer.”

  “Okay, I’ll see you at the pub.”

  I’m pretty happy about that decision. Ela’s plan was just going to make trouble all round, and at the moment it’s better to keep a low profile. I’m pretty sure the shit is going to hit the fan soon with this Lucinda thing.

  I can’t figure out why it hasn’t already.

  I make a Connect with Curley.

  “Are you almost ready to move them?” I ask.

  “Yeah, all set,” he says. “Tell Joe it’s all on for tomorrow.”

  “I’ll let Joe know.” Maybe we’ll get away with it. Maybe Vector’s record keeping is so poor they don’t notice one missing prisoner.

  Yeah, right.

  I put my Com in the pannier. It’s going to be no use to me for a while.

  28.

  The Vault

  Tuesday 21st Feb 2051

  4:30 p.m.

  I ride to the back of the farm and when I get there I check no one’s around, then stash the bike just inside the bush line. I signal the dogs to stay with it. I figure if I’ve got this far without anyone seeing me there’s no point in advertising my whereabouts to lurking Willises. Mon eyes me, not liking being left behind. Then he flops down flat with a sigh, head on paws, obeying the ‘stay’.

  I get the backpack with the food out of the pannier: mainly fruit and sandwich ingredients. Neither Joe nor Lucinda looked in any shape to cook up a storm yesterday. Lucinda was still pretty weak, and Joe just looked shell shocked.

  I shrug into the pack, then follow the track to the waterfall. The bush whispers around me. Light filters through the canopy, plenty of birdsong, everything is normal.

  But I’m tense, got that something is wrong feeling.

  Dismiss it. Ela’s back at the pub, Joe and Lucinda are safe in the Vault, Curley will get them away tomorrow.

  Maybe I’m just worrying about the fallout from all this. We’ll deal with that when we have to. I’m pretty sure there’s nothing to link us to the rescue. Curley said he’d deleted all the surveillance stuff.

  I get to the clearing and stay on the edge, check I’m still alone.

  No footsteps behind me, birds are still singing, nothing in the clearing.

  It’s all the way it should be. No one else is around. Just the waterfall, the rocks, the trees and the pool.

  But there’s still that nagging feeling of the sky about to fall in.

  I climb up on the rocks. Pull the lever to release the fulcrum. The slab tilts back and I leap down into the entrance area. A shaft of light comes through the opening and hits the heavy metal door.

 
I punch my birthday into the key pad beside the door. The entrance stone slides back into place and that first door whispers open.

  I go into the Vault. It stretches out in front of me, white tiles, glass doors, row upon row of shelves with bins.

  The doors whisper as I make my way through the Vault.

  My boots echo on the tiles.

  I’m about half way through the Vault when I see Joe coming towards me three doors down.

  He’s running.

  Then I see him stop and fumble with the keypad. He barely waits for the door to open before he slides through the gap. Then runs to the next door.

  We meet in the cuttings room. It’s real cold.

  “Thank God.” He wraps his arms around himself and stamps his feet, like Nick does when we’re out hunting. “I was getting desperate. Was going to get some help.”

  “What’s wrong?”

  Joe turns back the way he’s come and starts moving at a half jog. “Cin’s crook.” He gets to the door, stabs at the keypad like he can’t put the numbers in fast enough, messes up the code. I take over, do it for him.

  “She’s too hot. And when she talks it’s like she doesn’t know where she is.” Joe talks fast as he’s jogging to the next door.

  “What happened?”

  “Don’t know.” Joe steps back from the door, lets me put the code in this time. “She’s in a lot of pain and when I give her a drink she vomits. I don’t know what to do for her. She needs a doctor.”

  We go through the door. Now I’m moving as fast as Joe.

  We get to the kitchen area.

  He goes to the small sleeping area at the back and sits on the edge of the bed. He leans over the bundle there. Murmurs something and strokes the tangle of hair.

  Lucinda rolls over slowly and looks at him as if she isn’t too sure who he is. Her cheeks are really red, and her hair is damp and sticking to her face. “Joe?” she asks, like she’s surprised.

  “I’m back.” Joe picks up a cloth from a chair beside the bed and wipes her forehead.

  She looks over at where I’m standing. “Who’s that?” she asks, sounding real scared.

  “It’s just Jack.” Joe wipes with the cloth again, then brushes the hair off her face with his other hand.

  She closes her eyes, curls up on her side real close to him.

  I take off the backpack, drop it by the door. I go into the room, stop by the bed, study the red cheeks and damp tangle of hair, hear the fast shallow breaths.

  She doesn’t look like she’ll be able to walk across the farm or ride the bike herself.

  How the hell are we going to do this?

  “How long has she been sick?”

  “She was like this when I woke up.” Joe is sitting there on the bed looking at me like I’m the answer to all his prayers.

  But we aren’t going to get the three of us on the bike.

  “I’ll get her to a doctor,” I say, because it seems like the right thing to say. How am I going to manage that? I can’t see her coping with riding pillion.

  “How?” asks Joe.

  It’s a bloody good question.

  “I’ll bring the doctor here.” But who? From where?

  “How long will it take?”

  “A couple of hours.”

  “That long?” Joe says it like a couple of hours sounds a lifetime to him. He looks down at Lucinda, touches her cheek.

  “I’ll be as quick as I can.”

  Joe nods then pulls the sheet up around Lucinda, tucking her in.

  By the time I get to the pub I still haven’t decided what to do. I have to get a doctor for Lucinda, but don’t want to take someone to the Vault who isn’t part of this already.

  I’ve read those war stories full of collaborators and informers.

  And it’s always the fat doctor.

  I wonder about Curley or Nick or Scott, whether they’d know someone.

  I stand there in the lounge trying to figure it out.

  Maybe Mum.

  No. Don’t want to get her involved.

  Maybe Fitzgerald.

  No. Too much potential fallout.

  Who?

  In the end I give in. It’s too big for me to handle.

  I decide to do what I’m supposed to do if I run into trouble – connect with Fitzgerald.

  There’s going to be huge trouble from this for everyone.

  Then I realise I’ve left my Com in the pannier.

  Fuck. What if Ela has tried to connect again? Because in the back of my mind I know she’s not in the pub. If she was here she’d be with me.

  Maybe she’s gone to visit Jacob.

  I push the worry aside. I’ll deal with the Lucinda problem first.

  I use the house Com to ring Fitzgerald.

  “Police Station. Fitzgerald.”

  “It’s Jack. I’ve got that book you wanted. CatchingFire.”

  There’s a real long pause.

  “Where are you?” he says in the end.

  “At the pub.”

  “Are you able to meet me at the back door?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m coming.”

  I’m barely down the steps and by the door when I see Fitzgerald’s car slide into the car park.

  He gets out. “Got the book?” he asks when he sees me.

  “Inside.”

  He follows me without saying anything.

  He’s real calm.

  I’m real not calm. Still no Ela.

  We go upstairs. I feel like I should be walking real slow delaying this. Don’t want to tell him until I’m behind a shut door with him. Figure we are going to need a bit of privacy for this. I’m pretty sure he’s not going to take it well.

  But as long as we’re moving, Fitzgerald seems willing to wait to find out what’s going on.

  I shut the door. He stands there in the kitchen with his arms folded.

  “Start talking.” He looks around the benches. “I can’t see anything catching fire.”

  I mention the raid to get Lucinda.

  He doesn’t take it well.

  “Whose idea was that?”

  I shrug. Then I mention hiding Joe and Lucinda at the seed Vault. Follow up with the news Lucinda’s sick.

  Fitzgerald breathes out slowly between his teeth. “How bad is she?”

  “Real crook. Needs a doctor.”

  “What’s wrong with her?”

  “Joe thinks it’s something to do with them taking the baby. She’s flushed and vomiting.”

  “Vector took the baby?” he asks.

  I nod, and he shakes his head then rubs the back of his neck.

  “She was bleeding when we found her,” I say, like she was just sitting there in the woods somewhere and we happened to come across her.

  “When was that?”

  “Night before last.”

  He doesn’t take that well either. “Great,” he says. “So she should have had medical treatment at least twenty-four hours ago. Anyone else know about this?”

  “No. I called you first.”

  “Good.” He unfolds his arms, taps the Com on his wrist. There’s a Connect flash.

  “Johnson. Fitz here. We’ve got a situation.”

  There’s a mutter from the Com.

  “The pub. We’ll meet you round the back.”

  Then he turns on me again.

  “Where’s Jacob’s grandkid?”

  “She’s on her way here.” She should have been here at least an hour ago. She might have gone to see Jacob before coming here, but it isn’t likely. She wanted a romantic evening. So logically she should be waiting for me.

  Dread hits my stomach.

  “Check,” he orders.

  So I use the house Com again. Try a Connect with her but she doesn’t answer.

  Fitzgerald’s watching me.

  I switch on the Locate and see Ela’s Com is in Jacob’s house. Exactly where it shouldn’t be.

  I can feel his eyes on me.

  I try t
o act real calm. But I’m pretty sure he can see I’m getting twitchier and twitchier.

  I switch off the Com and put it back in the holder.

  “Where is she?” asks Fitzgerald.

  My heart is pounding like it wants to get out and fly.

  “At Jacob’s.”

  “Why?”

  “I don’t know. She should be here.”

  “Go and get her.”

  “Don’t you need me?”

  “No. Johnson and I will deal with this. Go and get Jacob’s kid now. You’ve got some explaining to do when we’ve sorted out this mess.”

  I fly back to the farm to find Ela.

  Every time I see a vehicle coming towards me I pray she’s in it.

  But she isn’t.

  She must still be in Jacob’s house and she shouldn’t be at the farm on her own.

  And then I realise there was no sign of her, or the ESD, when I dropped off the bike and picked up the Land Rover.

  So how did she get there?

  She has to be there. I might forget my Com sometimes but Ela doesn’t step out of a room without taking hers with her.

  Maybe she’s in the house and she’s hurt.

  Tripped over something.

  I can’t believe how many things I can think of that could have gone wrong.

  The sun’s going down as I go along the driveway towards Jacob’s house.

  If Ela’s inside there should be lights on, but there aren’t.

  I stop by the front of the house. Mon runs up the steps onto the veranda and pushes the door open; it isn’t shut properly.

  Ela wouldn’t leave the door unlocked if she was inside. She’s still jumpy after Scott’s party.

  I pause and listen. The whole house is in darkness and silence.

  Something’s wrong.

  The ESD is parked in the garage. The door of the garage is half shut – that’s why I didn’t notice it when I swapped the bike for the Land Rover.

  But there’s still no sign of Ela.

  I go inside and turn the passage light on. Light floods the hall, but no Ela. Nothing out of place.

  “Hey,” I call out.

  There’s no answer. No movement. Only silence echoing back. I could go to the Land Rover and get the rifle but the house feels completely deserted. Only a few of the sun’s rays filter through the leadlight panels in the door. The floor creaks. I walk down the passage. Move slowly and quietly. Push each bedroom door open as I go past. Look inside.