Red Peaks

by Eton Corrasable

  ‘Are you alright sir?’

  He looks down, either embarrassed or coy, before meeting her gaze.

  ‘Fine, thanks.’

  ‘One of those days huh..?’

  He looks at her ruefully.

  Virgin Atlantic

  Business Class

  21.03

  Except for someone a few rows back, Gilt is alone. The plane flies smoothly. He sits motionless, stares straight ahead, gently clinking the ice in the drink in his hand..

  Hut

  Chamonix

  (19__?)

  9.08

  H___ and F____ O_________ stand by an open door, dressed in hiking gear. F____ holds the swiss army knife H___ gave him. They say goodbye to Gilt, who sits at a kitchen table, his arm in a sling. It is gently snowing outside. H___ and F____ leave and walk away in the direction of the Aiguilles Rouges. Gilt moves to the window and watches their figures grow smaller and fainter, until only the line of their footprints remain, leading up to the mountains beyond, enshrouded in cloud.

  Virgin Atlantic

  Business Class

  24.02

  A pretty and curvaceous brunette dressed in black appears through a mirror separating different classes. Walking carefully down the aisle, she slips into the empty seat next to Gilt, who remains frozen in reflection, ice melted in the drink in his hand. She turns to look at Gilt. Thinking for a moment, she starts to unbutton her jacket, revealing a low cut silk blouse. Leaning over her seat, she gently touches his arm. Gilt blinks and slowly turns to face her. His mouth begins to open. In slow recognition. She tilts her head a little, smiling and leaning forward more. He raises his hand and presents it to her as if it were a gift. Upon seeing the ring gleam gently on his finger, a look of astonishment overcomes her. She tilts back into her seat.

  ‘I don’t believe it..’

  Gilt looks at it and slowly sighs.

  ‘You didn’t know?’

  ‘I’ve only just reemerged-’

  ‘-from...’

  ‘-yes… so you’ll excuse the absence of… formality?’

  ‘Naturally.’

  ‘I’ve missed you.’

  Gilt begins to raise his drink to his lips. He stops.

  ‘What are you doing on my flight?’

  ‘L asked me to... de-brief you..’

  She nudges him, smiling coyly. He turns and gives her a look.

  ‘You haven’t changed.’

  She bites her bottom lip, containing laughter, and holds his arm. As she squeezes, a wisp of pressurised dry ice cabin moisture emits.

  ‘I respect your... decision. It’s so..’

  Gilt raises an eyebrow. She shakes her head slightly, smiling. A bright red light pulses through the plane, suspending them both in animation for a few seconds.

  ‘So..?’

  She slowly closes her eyes. Gilt raises his glass to take a sip, but stops. Holding his drink in his hand, he returns to a frozen state of reflection

  Chapter 2: Subterranean Counterintelligence Blues

  Heathrow Airport

  London

  7.50

  Gilt and S_____ stand silently while they are pulled along an infinite smouldering emerald green corridor. They are wearing overly large square black glasses. An intense volcanic swirl envelops them. Then, after a bright white flash that illuminates their bones, they materialise on a bright, neon-lit airport concourse. Gilt looks twice as he passes a man holding a grey square of mist with “GUILT” written upon it, in a simulation of yellow lightning. S_____ is distracted by a square rectangle of red and purple light in her hand. Gilt taps her shoulder and gestures to the man.

  ‘Subtle.’

  They move towards him.

  ‘Have you ever been subtle about dropping your name?’

  Gilt gives her a look. She looks down at the rectangle, which emits a grey swirl resembling a miniature hurricane. A sound in her ear breaks her concentration. Her head tilts in response, and she recognises something in the distance.

  ‘Hold on. Be right back.’

  She leaves Gilt to walk across the concourse as a man in an unnaturally white suit carrying a case meets her gaze and somewhat robotically begins to turn toward her. As they meet, they exchange a few words. She takes the case that he slowly lifts up, smiles, and gently touches his shoulder, before turning back.

  Black Limousine

  8.15

  S_____ and Gilt sit comfortably together in the backseat as they enter a spiralling chessboard tunnel. She presses a button near her window. It raises a screen that divides them from the driver.

  ‘Now..’

  S_____ makes herself more comfortable, before leaning into Gilt and delving her hand into his jacket. Gilt shifts his body awkwardly away, shooting her a pained, disapproving look. S_____’s head falls back a little. She giggles, and continues feeling inside his jacket, around his left shoulder.

  ‘Ah.. You still wear it. Empty. Poor Gilt..’

  Gilt sights.

  ‘Don’t worry.’

  She picks up the briefcase sitting by her legs and rests it on her lap, tapping her fingers on it. Unlocking and opening the case, she reveals a translucent gun and, beside it, a gold cartridge containing bright red bullets. She inserts the cartridge and holds the gun in her hand. Gilt is kindled by a slight boyish delight at the sight of it.

  ‘It uses electromagnetic radiation to activate on the basis of the specific bone structure of your hand.’

  Gilt’s arm lifts up, as if of its own accord, gesturing towards it, his hand slowly unfurling into an open palm.

  ‘L will activate it when he meets you in person, later.’

  ‘Should have known there would be a catch.’

  ‘Never been a big fan of safety measures, huh?’

  He ignores her.

  ‘Ten-thirty this morning. I’m to escort you.’

  She glances at her watch, then tilts back to Gilt.

  ‘That does leave a few hours for R and R..’

  Putting one hand on Gilt’s arm, S_____ leans over and slips the gun inside his jacket, slowly easing it into the holste. She presses her hand against his chest. He carefully removes it.

  ‘I came here to see _.’

  He presses a button near his window. It lowers both his window and the dividing screen. The driver appears almost motionless, arms steering with slow, uncanny precision as the car leaves the tunnel and enters into dark plumes of fog. They clear a little to reveal an empty London street lined with shimmering bronze-leaved trees.

  ‘Stop here a moment will you?’

  The driver’s head doesn’t move. But the car immediately begins to slow to a halt. A golden leaf flutters in through the window, twirling in front of them before falling.

  ‘I think we’ve seen enough of each other for now.’

  She pouts a little, crossing her arms as he opens the door.

  Guy’s Hospital

  London

  9.03

  The hospital building is an almost transparent silver mass, except for the gleaming silver frames of its windows. Gilt appears from out of a cloak of fog and marches up an almost invisible set of stairs, before disappearing through black shape. Approaching a lifeless looking doll seated behind a shiny, Royal blue boulder, he begins to make an enquiry. Their limbs and facial expression jangle into motion in response, with a strange lack of coherence. Unblinking, Gilt calmly nods, registers the information conveyed, and proceeds down a large circular-shaped hallway.

  Critical Care Ward

  9.09

  Gilt approaches a curtain of cloud, beyond which a body lies upon a monolithic black rectangle suspended above the floor. He motions with his hand to disperse the cloud. _ lays there asleep, connected to an intravenous drip. He is withered and bald, with pale bluish skin. Gilt pulls a chair from behind him, seemingly out of thin air, and surveys _’s condition. Then he reclines back slowly. He shuts his eyes. After a moment, as if waking from a deep sleep, he looks around and looks for a clipboard tha
t, after some searching the air around him, finally materialises before him. He flips furiously through its pages, reading the various official notes and their detailed hand-written marginalia. Getting up and and slowing crouching near _’s head, Gilt opens his mouth to speak. But as he begins to, the cloud returns and a hand appears from behind, grabbing his shoulder. Gilt turns and looks up at the nurse.

  ‘He needs sleep.’

  She points and his chair vanishes and reappears against the wall of the room. Gilt nods. The nurse holds out her hand. He hands over the clipboard. It vanishes in her hands. She leaves. Gilt walks over to the chair, and as he sits down, the effects of jet lag begin to take a toll. As his gaze remains locked onto _’s face, his eyelids begin to falter, rising and falling like guillotines.

  10.09

  Gilt is stirred awake by a vague tapping sound. _ eyes are open. They are completely black. He repeatedly mouths something. Wide-eyed, Gilt gets up and moves slowly approaches the bed. As he does so he hears _ faintly whisper. Exerting an enormity of energy, _ lifts his head up further as Gilt gets closer, slowly turning his ear to _’s mouth. The whisper becomes even more faint. Gilt closes his eyes and tries to listen, his face creased with concentration. _’s head falls back into sleep.

  10.12

  Gilt holds his arm up to hail a taxi before it can drive away as it drops off a passenger at the entrance. But as he draws near, someone slips in from behind. Dumbstruck, Gilt watches as the door shuts and the car pulls away into the thick fog. He checks his watch. Then, getting his bearings, he walks into the fog himself.

  10.21

  A red neon sign blinks in the distance of the blinding fog. As Gilt approaches, it reveals itself to be a London Underground sign, above a steep set of stairs. He begins to descend them, they turn into an escalator that takes him deep underground.

  10.25

  Standing inside a busy moving train, Gilt surveys the various people seated inside his carriage. He smiles as he notices a kid nearby opening a box that says ‘Spy Glasses’. Then, suddenly sensing something, he turns around quickly, with deadly seriousness. Nothing. The train comes to a stop. The doors open. They close. The train carries on. Gilt adjusts his shoulders, trying to relax them, still unnerved by the tingling sensation of some kind of innate sense. He notices the kid staring at him through his toy glasses. Looking at them, he goes over and gestures with his hand, as asks if he can borrow them. With a degree of uncertainty, the kid begins to remove them, turning to his father beside him. Gilt smiles at the father

  ‘Please, this will only take a moment.’

  Gilt takes out a luxury pair of sunglasses, placing them into the kid’s hands as collateral. Handing over the spy glasses, the kid stares down with interest at Gilt’s pair. Putting the toy glasses on, Gilt twitches his head a few times, looking up and down the carriage. Then, as if noticing something, he fixes his position, and twitches his head in a more nuanced manner. A little to the left. A little to the right. Smiling, he removes the glasses again, and proceeds to exchange them back for his own. As he does so, he reaches into his jacket pocket to remove a casino chip. He throws it in a gentle arc into the kid’s hands.

  The train comes to a stop. The doors open. Gilt gets out and follows along the platform and past a series of pillars towards a set of stairs leading up to a walkway over to the platform on the other side. He casually turns his head back as he ascends. Amongst everyone else behind him, he catches a glimpse of something moving quickly out of sight, in the corner of his eye. He continues up, crossing over to the other side, and casually walking past the column after column lining the platform as another train pulls in. The doors open. People get off. Gilt slips in front of a pillar. The platform empties again. Gilt looks steadily down. There are some footsteps. The sound of them dwindles, before they become too faint to hear. Another train pulls in. The doors open. Nobody gets off. The doors close again. But as the train leaves, Gilt suddenly swivels his arm around the corner of the pillar. He grabs hold of a wrist. It’s S_____.

  ‘What the devil do you think you’re doing?’

  ’L asked me to keep an eye on you while you were here.’

  ‘Any particular reason?’

  ‘Your protection.’

  His face reacts and he begins to laugh, when two darts whoosh by, hitting the pillar behind, one having scathed S_____’s wrist as Gilt holds in his hand. He pulls her down with him behind the pillar. They listen to the sounds of multiple footsteps approaching from behind them. Seeing an exit sign up ahead, towards the end of the platform, they quickly make a run towards it. More darts rush past them. The black exit door dissolves into smoke as they merge into it and immediately appear on another level. They leap over a set of barriers in front of them and out of the station. The fog outside is slowly lifting like a curtain as they look out into the street. Blurred, faceless men emerge from vehicles parked in either direction. Parked directly ahead is an old-fashioned double-decker bus. The colour and design of it is in a state of psychedelic flux. The driver stands next to its open door nonchalantly - as if in a trance - slowly manipulating a rectangle with one hand whilst casually taking a drag from a cigarette with the other. S_____ quickly approaches the driver and begins to whisper in his ear, touching his arm as Gilt creeps up from behind and unhooks a key from the man’s belt. S_____ begins to pull the driver in for a kiss. The engine starts. Pushing the driver back again, S_____ slips inside as the doors close and the bus pulls away, leaving the driver dazed, mouth open, as the blurred men rush toward him.

  As Gilt drives with some difficulty, pulling at old-fashioned gears somewhat haphazardly, he notices S_____ beginning to lose her balance. With an arm wrapped around the large steering wheel, he opens the driver compartment door. She falls in. As he positions S_____ beside him, darts appear through the driver window, which only just miss her face, lodging into the dashboard instead. Gilt frantically swerves the bus around a corner as he tries to speed up, narrowly missing a cyclist, and then a pensioner. He turns another corner down a long wide street. In the rear-view mirror, vehicles come into view, with arms hanging out of them, holding speer-like guns.

  Probing a compartment above, Gilt flips down an antique map of London and tries to scrutinizes whilst keeping an eye on the streets. Frantically trying to navigate, his wide eyes look straight ahead, then flip up to the map, roll around to the rear-view mirrors. As he turns the bus left into another street, an oncoming vehicle slams into its side, and it begins to fall onto its side. Straining, Gilt turns the rigid steering wheel as much as possible and, as he leans in the opposite direction, as if willing it with his body, he just manages to keep it upright as he makes another turn, and his body automatically leans forward over the wheel in relief, when crashing sound is heard from the rear. Keeping one hand on the wheel, Gilt turns and slowly unlocks the driver compartment door, carefully leaning back. S_____ murmurs something. As a faceless man appears pointing a weapon, Gilt swerves the steering wheel and rams his compartment door open, knocking the weapon out of the man’s hand. Gilt eyes the road for a moment and quickly swerves the wheel. The man stumbles and grips the hand rail, accidentally pressing a button that rings a bell to signal the bus to stop. Gilt presses a button to open the double-doors, slams the breaks, and violently kicks the compartment door open again, which smashes against the faceless man, who falls back and directly through the open double-doors. His body immediately collides with an oncoming vehicle as the bus grinds to a halt. Gilt raises an eyebrow as he leans out and traces the bloody tracks back back to the body, laying crumpled next alongside the pavement where a bus sign stands.

  ‘You got off at the wrong stop.’

  Gilt gets back into the driver's seat. As he closes the compartment and starts the engine again, another crashing sound is heard from the back. Gilt turns to the map again, and, after eyeing the road ahead, steers the bus into a long straight road. Grabbing S_____’s hands, he places them onto the wheel.

  ‘Take over will you?’
>
  Still muttering, her eyelids fluttering, S_____ opens her eyes a little, attempting to look ahead, her head drooping forwards. As Gilt leaves the compartment he immediately encounters another faceless man. The bus swerves a little and speeds up dramatically as both men struggle to stand, let alone fight, each other. A violent swerve throws them both to the floor, after which their attention is seized by the incoming, grey stone fortified building that S_____ is about to crash everyone into. Gilt screams at S_____ to stop. Muttering, she casually applies the brakes. Gilt frantically leans into the compartment and takes control of the wheel. Tyres screaming, the bus turns abruptly, just missing a head-on collision, stopping alongside the building. Gilt notices another pair of hands on the wheel next to his, and turns to see the faceless man leaning over next to him. Gilt quickly reaches for his gun. His holster is empty. Then he feels it pressed against the side of his head. A ghostly wisp of a smile appears within the faceless blur as it turns to him. Gilt’s eyes shut. There is an empty clicking sound. Gilt tries not to smile.

  ‘Nothing personal old chap. I can’t shoot either.’

  As if performing a magic act, Gilt reveals three darts from the dashboard and proceeds to nail them into the blurred man’s neck, who instantaneously stumbles robotically. As the man falls to his knees, Gilt sees two more running blurred figures as they reach the double-doors to the bus. Grasping hold of the wheel, Gilt places his foot on the accelerator. S_____ is reclined back, asleep. As the bus pulls a faceless man’s arm, carrying a dart-gun, slowly forces its way between the seal of the double-doors. Gilt manages to close the driver compartment door as darts fire and bounces off its perspex screen. He struggles to stay in control as more vehicles crash into its side and back. It begins to lurch dangerously. There are loud piercing sounds. Its tyres are being punctured. One of the front tyres comes off. Gilt squints at the road and flits his eyes up to the map once more, where his finger pinpoints something and, with one more turn, leads the bus onto a road leading directly to a bridge over the Thames. Vehicles seem to automatically appear from out of the mist on the other side of it. The bus engine audible moans, as if conscious of the limits to which it has been taken. As it approaches the bridge, Gilt turns to look into the dark crater where the MI5 building once stood. The grinding tireless wheel screams. Sparks fly up into the windscreen. Gilt steers the bus onto the pavement, as the remaining tyres fall apart entirely, and the metal wheels screech deafeningly together. With all his strength, Gilt swerves the bus against the side of the bridge. Pulling the driver window down, he quickly reaches for a half-empty water bottle from the dashboard. He puts his arms around S_____. As he leans with the bus as it tilts, a long green bolt shatters the windscreen and penetrates the driver compartment, stretching out from a vehicle in the distance. Gilt instinctively pushes against it, as the crystalline form begins to soften and wrap around them, the bus creaks and topples over, crashing them into the river below. As the bus sinks, Gilt pulls S_____ with him through the window, and she begins to regain consciousness. They dive downwards together. After a while, the final bubbles of air ebb from their mouths. Gilt carefully opens the water bottle to his mouth, and then S_____’s, then lets it drift away. Finding his gun from inside his jacket, he twists and removes the handle and empties a flashing red sphere into his hand. As he loads it into the chamber he looks up to see a dark green tentacle appear from above. It approaches and then consumes the rising water bottle. Then it begins to probe deeper. Gilt twists the handle of his gun back into place and points upwards. He grips tightly onto S_____, and fires. The red sphere propels out slowly, before exploding into a force field, creating a radiance that rumbles intensely. Together they are propelling downwards at speed. Gilt slowly redirects the gun against the strain of water rushing up against them as they fall deeper. His hand glows red from the gun, which directs them further into darkness. S_____ has lost consciousness. Gilt feels the last particle of energy in his body extinguish. The gun drops out of his hand and drifts further down, its spherical glow growing fainter and fainter, until finally there is total darkness.