Contact

by Chris Morphew

  I plugged in the memory stick and the software got to work.

  ‘Find anything good?’ I asked, walking over to the others.

  ‘Just a bunch of forms and stuff,’ Luke whispered, closing the folder he was flicking through and sticking it back on the shelf. ‘You?’

  ‘We’ll see in a minute,’ I said.

  I glanced at the door, then down at my watch.

  4.43 p.m.

  Seven minutes left to find some useful information and get out of here.

  Assuming Reeve’s information had even been reliable in the first place.

  I went back around to his laptop. The desktop glowed up at me, a photo of Ketterley and some woman, hidden behind a mess of icons.

  I was in.

  I clicked through to Ketterley’s documents folder and scanned the list for something useful. But unfortunately, there was no folder called TOP-SECRET METAL DOOR INFO.

  Ketterley’s computer was about as tidy as his desk. Didn’t like my chances of finding anything in this mess. I’d just have to drag as much stuff onto the memory stick as I could and sift through it all when I got home.

  I hit select all and started copying.

  ‘All right,’ I said, going back to join the others, ‘couple of minutes and we should be …’

  I trailed off. For a second, I thought I’d heard a muffled voice coming from somewhere inside the office. ‘Did you hear that?’ I whispered.

  ‘Hear what?’ asked Luke.

  ‘Shh!’ I said, walking out into the middle of the room, straining to hear.

  There it was again. A voice, or maybe two voices, and footsteps.

  I bent down. It almost sounded like they were coming from –

  There was a hiss of compressed air and the floor under my feet started moving. I stumbled back, almost tripping.

  What?

  A square section of tiles, maybe a metre across, was slowly sinking into the ground.

  ‘Out!’ I whispered. ‘Get out!’

  But instead of running for the door, Luke panicked and dived behind the lounge.

  ‘Luke!’ I hissed. ‘We need to get –’

  Too late. Jordan had just crouched down beside him. And whatever was happening with the floor, it was happening now.

  I ducked down next to Jordan and twisted around to look under the lounge. The square of tiles had dropped about five centimetres into the floor and was sliding aside to reveal a kind of chute.

  ‘… should be completed by Tuesday,’ said a no-longer-muffled voice from inside the chute.

  It was Ketterley. I heard the sound of footsteps on metal and a second later, he walked up into the office.

  ‘Good,’ said another, deeper voice.

  More footsteps, and this time they were accompanied by the clank – clank – clank of a crutch beating down on the metal steps. Officer Calvin hobbled up behind Ketterley.

  And, suddenly, I realised I’d probably just got us all killed.

  Ketterley’s laptop.

  It was still sitting open on his desk.

  And my memory stick was still inside.

  Chapter 19

  SATURDAY, MAY 30

  75 DAYS

  Officer Calvin stepped out of the tunnel.

  I wedged myself down further into the gap between the lounge and the wall. Nowhere near enough room for all three of us here. I was pressed right up against Jordan, which usually I’d be all for, but right now all my focus was on making sure my breathing didn’t sound like Darth Vader.

  With another burst of compressed air, the missing tiles slid back into place, hiding the hole in the floor.

  ‘And you’re certain this is going to work,’ Calvin pressed Ketterley. ‘You’re certain this new facility of Weir’s is going to be strong enough to contain him.’

  ‘Nothing certain about it,’ said Ketterley. ‘It should hold him, based what the doc’s been able to figure out so far, but we won’t know until we get him in there and turn it on.’

  Ketterley’s feet stepped closer. I flattened myself down against the floor. There was a squeak of leather as Ketterley sat down on the lounge. Inches away from us. I could’ve reached up and smacked him in the back of the head.

  ‘Anyway,’ he continued, ‘it’s now or never, isn’t it? Rob says he’ll be dead within the week if he doesn’t stop pumping so many sedatives into him.’

  ‘Let him die,’ Calvin grumbled, swaying on his crutch a bit. ‘We should’ve killed him as soon as he arrived.’

  Through the gap under the lounge, I saw him step out with his good leg, pacing across the room.

  Headed straight for Ketterley’s desk.

  ‘Good luck convincing Noah,’ said Ketterley, shifting on the lounge. ‘He’s a candidate, however he got here. And the doc’s right – if his abilities are a side-effect of the fallout, then we need to know about it before we wind up with a whole town full of Crazy Bills to deal with.’

  Crazy Bill.

  That was Dad’s secret project. They had him working on a way to keep Bill contained.

  ‘Please don’t tell me you believe that,’ said Calvin. His feet stopped at the desk.

  I craned my neck but I couldn’t see what he was doing.

  ‘You got a better explanation?’ asked Ketterley.

  Calvin didn’t answer.

  ‘Look Bruce, I know you want him gone. And fair enough after what he did to you. But you gotta be patient. Just let the doc run his tests and then you can do whatever you want with him.’ There was another squeak as Ketterley leant forward and stood up again. ‘You find the report?’

  ‘Yeah,’ Calvin grunted, shuffling some papers. ‘Thanks.’

  He swivelled on his crutch, turning back towards the square of tiles in the middle of the room.

  Then he stopped. I’m pretty sure my heart did too.

  He swivelled back. Looking at something on the desk. Looking at the laptop.

  I heard a click as he leant over and pushed down the monitor.

  ‘You shouldn’t leave this open,’ said Calvin gruffly. ‘Not with the techs coming in.’

  ‘Sorry?’ said Ketterley. He paused, looking back at the desk.

  I stared at his feet. No. Please, no.

  ‘Oh,’ he said, sounding confused. ‘Huh. Right you are.’

  Calvin let go of the desk and started limping back across the room. They were leaving.

  I felt a two-second break in the panic as Calvin’s smashed foot dragged across the floor in front of me. But then he reached the section of tiles they’d come up through.

  And then he kept going.

  Limping across to the other side of the room.

  They weren’t leaving through the hole in the ground. They were leaving through the door.

  And they were going to walk right past our hiding place.

  I gave Jordan a nudge. She got Luke moving, edging his way around the L-bend in the lounge, out of their line of sight. Way too slow.

  There was no way all three of us were going to get around in time.

  Ketterley cut across in front of Calvin to open the door. He was right next to us now. All he’d have to do was look down …

  I glanced back at the others.

  Luke had disappeared around the corner, moving quietly for once in his life. Jordan was following.

  Ketterley pulled the door open.

  Calvin came hobbling past, painfully slowly, like he knew we were here and was just dragging this out on purpose, crutch thudding against the tiles with every step.

  Thump.

  The open door was giving us some cover now, but there was still nothing to stop Calvin turning his head slightly to the right and finding me cowering on the floor.

  Thump.

  Jordan’s feet slipped around behind the other side of the couch.

  Just me left now. Time to move.

  Thump.

  But suddenly it was like my body had other plans. Like part of me knew that trying to move any further was only going to att
ract attention.

  I froze. Just sat there, not taking my eyes off Calvin and Ketterley.

  Thump.

  Calvin was halfway through the door.

  My eyes twitched around inside my head, trying to look and not look at the same time.

  Thump.

  Thump.

  Thump.

  And finally the old cripple was gone.

  Ketterley was still at the door. He threw a glance back out across his office, almost as though he sensed he was being watched. I held my breath, positive we were about to be spotted.

  But then he turned again. Walked out of the office.

  And pulled the door shut behind him.

  I took a moment to call off the impending heart attack, then stuck my head around the corner to give the others the all clear.

  ‘Now what?’ I asked.

  ‘Now we get out of here,’ said Jordan.

  ‘With them outside?’

  ‘What’s your solution? Stay here and wait for them to come back?’

  I didn’t answer.

  ‘She’s right,’ said Luke, standing up. ‘We’re no safer in here than we are out there.’

  ‘Says the guy who dived behind the couch in the first place,’ I muttered.

  ‘Both of you shut up,’ said Jordan, heading for the door. ‘Get ready to run.’

  I crept across to Ketterley’s desk, half-expecting him or Calvin to pop out again from some other hiding place. I pulled the memory stick out of the computer and dashed back to join the others at the door.

  Jordan pulled the door open a crack and peered into the hall. I could hear Ketterley’s coffee machine buzzing in the next room.

  She stuck a hand in the air behind her and counted down with her fingers.

  Three. Two. One.

  And then she was out in the hall and we were tearing out after her.

  We fled past the lounge room without even looking in, and made a break for the front door. I heard a quick snatch of Mal’s mate saying sorry, he hadn’t realised Ketterley was still here, and then we were outside and sprinting down the garden path.

  We were halfway to the gate when I realised that Mal was back up on the roof. He twisted around, reaching for something in his toolbox, and grunted.

  Maybe he saw us, maybe he didn’t. We were already through the gate and onto the bike track outside.

  We didn’t stop running until we were around the corner and halfway down the street.

  ‘You do realise,’ I panted, ‘that one of these days, your famous run-blindly-through-the-path-of-danger manoeuvre is going to get us all killed.’

  ‘Oh, stop complaining,’ said Jordan. ‘They didn’t even have any guns this time.’

  ‘Right,’ I said, ‘well, nothing to worry about, then.’

  ‘Did you find anything on the laptop?’ Luke asked me.

  I unclenched my fist from around the memory stick. ‘Good question,’ I said. ‘Why don’t we go find out?’

  Chapter 20

  SUNDAY, MAY 31

  74 DAYS

  I tore up the path to Luke’s house and hit the doorbell.

  He’d found something. And whatever it was, he’d been too excited to type a coherent sentence about it.

  After escaping Ketterley’s office yesterday afternoon, we’d gone back to my place to start trawling through the stuff on the memory stick.

  All 8714 files of it.

  Invoices and maintenance request forms and photos of Ketterley and a couple of kids who had to be his grandchildren. Kids he’d left behind on the outside.

  The longer we searched, the more convinced I became that there was nothing worth finding.

  When the 7 p.m. curfew rolled around, we still hadn’t found anything useful.

  We split the rest of the files up three ways and agreed to email each other as soon as anything turned up.

  And we kept looking. And still nothing.

  Until about fifteen minutes ago, when Luke had finally struck gold.

  At least, I thought that’s what his email had said.

  guys i fund s/thing! coem ovr here rigt now!1

  I punched the bell a few more times and Luke’s mum finally answered.

  She was tired and angry, but trying not to look it.

  ‘Hey, Ms Hunter,’ I said. ‘Is Luke around?’

  ‘He’s in his room,’ she sighed, like this was a strange and frustrating place for him to be.

  ‘Uh, thanks,’ I said, brushing past her and heading upstairs.

  I knocked on Luke’s door.

  ‘What?’ Luke grumbled from inside.

  ‘Mate, it’s me,’ I said, pushing the door open. Luke was sitting on his bed, staring blankly at the TV.

  150 Satellite Channels COMING SOON!

  Right.

  I walked in and sat down in his desk chair. ‘Jordan not here yet?’

  ‘On her way,’ said Luke.

  I grabbed the remote from the desk and switched the TV off. ‘So … yesterday arvo,’ I said. ‘You and her just happened to both get there early, did you?’

  Luke shot me an exasperated look. ‘Do we have to talk about this right now?’

  ‘Is there something to talk about?’ I asked, skin prickling.

  ‘I already told you there wasn’t.’

  ‘So she was crying for no reason, was she?’

  Luke opened his mouth to answer, then hesitated. ‘She’s been having … headaches,’ he said after a minute.

  ‘Headaches,’ I repeated.

  Was that seriously the best he could come up with? Jordan did not go to pieces over a sore head.

  ‘Fine, don’t believe me,’ said Luke. ‘You know, for someone who took forever to believe all this Tabitha stuff was real, you’re pretty quick to jump to conspiracy theories about your own friends.’

  I was on my feet and charging at him before I even knew it, sick of his lies, sick of him taking what wasn’t his.

  ‘You reckon I’m stupid?’ I said, grabbing at his shirt. ‘You think I don’t –?’

  ‘Wh – Peter, what is this?’ Luke held up his hands to block me.

  I stumbled back and hit the carpet.

  ‘Peter, c’mon,’ he said, getting up, ‘just settle down for a minute, okay? You’re acting like –’

  ‘Screw you, mate!’ I grunted, aiming a foot up at his stomach.

  He jumped back and grabbed my leg out of the air.

  ‘Should I give you boys a minute?’

  Jordan was standing in the doorway. She stared down at me, then up at Luke.

  He dropped my foot and sat back on the bed, glaring at me like I was the unreasonable one.

  ‘Hi,’ I said, getting up and straightening my shirt.

  ‘Yeah, hi,’ she said, like she didn’t know whether to laugh or give us both a time out. She turned to Luke and said, ‘Your mum’s in a great mood. I take it you talked to her about Montag?’

  ‘He was here last night,’ Luke spat. ‘I got back from Peter’s and found him talking to Mum on the doorstep.’

  ‘What did she say?’ Jordan asked, sitting down on the end of the bed.

  ‘She tried to deny it all,’ said Luke. ‘She told me Montag was here for “work reasons”. I asked her if sucking his face off outside the medical centre was for work reasons as well, and she went off at me for not respecting her privacy.’

  ‘Because she was being so private about it,’ said Jordan.

  Luke shrugged. ‘So, yeah, we’re not talking a whole lot at the moment.’

  Jordan frowned.

  Right. Of course. Instant sympathy for all of Luke’s problems.

  ‘So do you want to show us what you found?’ I asked, wanting to see it and get out of here.

  ‘Right,’ said Luke, getting up, apparently putting the fight behind him. Easy enough when you’re the one getting everything you want.

  He opened his laptop and the screen flashed on.

  ‘I can’t believe it took me so long to find this,’ he said, clicking thr
ough a bunch of folders until he got to a slide show file labelled Network Schematic, last modified sometime last year.

  The first slide was a map of Phoenix.

  ‘That’s the map they gave us all when we got here,’ said Jordan. ‘The one that came in the welcome pack.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Luke. ‘Well, here’s what they don’t show you in the welcome pack …’

  He clicked to the next slide. A bunch of grey boxes appeared on the map. Rooms. One in every major building in town.

  ‘That’s Pryor’s office,’ I said, pointing to one of the boxes.

  ‘Right,’ said Luke, tapping the screen. ‘Pryor’s office, Ketterley’s office, that room in the Shackleton Building …’

  ‘Montag’s too,’ said Jordan. ‘All the rooms with the security doors.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Luke. ‘And check this out.’

  He clicked again.

  A thin grey line stretched out from each of the boxes, shooting across the map, towards the centre of town. The lines all came together in one place.

  The Shackleton Building.

  ‘Tunnels,’ I said.

  ‘Uh-huh,’ said Luke. ‘Look.’

  The next slide was a computer-generated side-view of the Shackleton Building, with all the different departments and offices labelled.

  There was a grey section marked out underneath the building, below ground level. An underground room where all the tunnels met up.

  ‘What do you reckon it’s for?’ I wondered out loud. ‘What are they keeping down there that’s so –’

  ‘Not down there,’ said Luke. ‘Up here.’

  He pointed to a tunnel leading out of the room. A tunnel that went straight up.

  Luke traced along the path of the tunnel with his finger. It rose into the air, up through the middle of the Shackleton Building, and came out at the top floor.

  ‘But we’ve already been up there,’ said Jordan.

  Luke had a weird look on his face. ‘No, we haven’t.’

  ‘Mate, what are you talking about?’ I said, exasperated. ‘Where do you think we were last Sun –?’

  And then it clicked.

  The top floor of the Shackleton Building that Dad had shown us last weekend was actually not the top floor at all.

  There was another floor above it.

  A floor you could only reach by coming in through one of those underground tunnels.