Under Loch and Key

by Kathryn Cockrill

  Revenge is a bitch.

  ***

  My fingers tapped on the sticky table top of my corner booth at Coffee Cup, eyes fixed on the door. I’d order an iced tea, but it sat, untouched, creating ripples of condensation on the lacquer. The café wasn’t particularly busy but, even so, I’d chosen the seat furthest from the door, backed up against a wall. I guess you could say I wanted to cover my own back now that I knew someone wanted to stick a knife in it.

  A couple of minutes before we were due to meet, I saw Caden saunter up the side of the café; he’d ditched the hoodie and gone back to his leather jacket, warm skin standing out against the black material, his strong jaw holding up another one of his cocky grins. I hated that it looked good. I hated that I had a reaction. I hated that he couldn’t have just been a decent guy.

  He walked in, glancing around the café until his eyes fell on me huddled at the back of the café. I sat up, taking a long gulp of my drink so I could get my rage under control before I talked to him. When he slid into the seat, it took everything in me not kick the chair out from under him. Instead I kept drinking, the sharp bite of the iced tea making my teeth tingle. Caden leant on the table, catching my gaze and I smiled around the straw, biting down. The rest of the café seemed quieter, all my attention now focussed on pretending I didn’t hate him. I had no idea how he’d been able to act for so long so easily. This shit was hard.

  “Hey.” When he spoke, his voice grated in my ears, the previous attraction I’d felt for him stripped away. Have you ever had that? Where a voice feels like grit and needles in your ear drums? Yeah, it’s not particularly pleasant. I realised I hadn’t replied when he kept talking. “You ready to go?” His hand reached out to touch mine, one calloused finger stroking the back of my hand. I jerked my hand away then realised my mistake as his brow furrowed,

  “Sorry. It tickled.” That seemed to appease him at least. Standing up, I grabbed my drink and walked towards the door, heels of my boots clacking on the fake wood floors. The scuff of his shoes followed mine. In the pocket of my jacket, my phone vibrated. I knew without looking that it was from Jake. He’d been messaging me near constantly today; it was like he knew I was about to do something pretty stupid that could possibly backfire. I clicked it on to silent, just so Caden couldn’t hear the relentless buzzing, and shouldered open the door. Outside, the weather had taken a turn for stormy, a faint mist of rain in the air with the promise of downpours.

  Pathetic fallacy at it’s finest. My old English teachers would be so proud.

  I hoped it would at least hold off until we got to the industrial estate and, for once, I had some luck on my side since it did. As we pulled in to the concreted parking, the first of the storm clouds rolled in overhead, an ever-darkening grey. I heard Caden mutter about getting his jacket wet as we got out and rolled my eyes. The padlock and chain were still in place from the last time, the building looking just as desolate from the outside as I knew it looked within.

  “I’m going to check there’s no one nearby” I muttered, stalking off towards the back of the building. I honestly wasn’t sure whether Caden had actually broken in or if he had a key and I didn’t want to find out. It would just rub more salt in the I-was-duped wound. The chicken wire was still bundled in a haphazard ball at the back. I bent down to rifle through, checking any of debris for more information or possible weaponry. I found a cockroach. When I reached the front of the building again, my footsteps sending echoes across the concrete, the doors were open, padlock and chain in a heap on the ground. The same green-hued flickering light sparked between the open doorway. For all I knew that was fake too. I stepped into the room, the damp, stagnant air immediately enveloping me. Caden was waiting just inside the door, hands in his pockets.

  “Where did you want to start? I’d suggest we stay away from the dead-rat-and-blood room. I didn’t get the chance to check out those boxes last time.” He gestured to the far wall that ran up to the edge of the plywood room. I nodded, making my way over to the first table and opening the box. The air inside had apparently turned to dust, billows puffing out into the already cloying atmosphere. Coughing, I fanned it away, smirking when it wafted directly into Caden’s face. The box was filled with pads of paper, petri dishes and syringes. I pushed it to the side and grabbed the next one, working through methodically, each box presenting more of the same thing. Even though GAI didn’t exactly have a mission statement, it was becoming clear that they had a dispensable income. Caden worked through his boxes as well, the only sound in the room a faint buzzing from the persistent light bulb. Eventually all the boxes had been opened and pushed to the side; I glanced around the rest of the dimly lit room, but there didn’t seem to be much more to investigate. I guess that meant it was time to put my plan into action. With a smile, I grabbed Caden’s hand, enjoying the look of surprise on his face.

  Just wait. You’ll be even more surprised in a minute.

  In the centre of the room was an old desk chair, the kind with the scratchy fabric. It seemed to be missing all of its wheels, which was even better for me, and no doubt it was slightly mouldy. When we reached it, I pushed Caden back until he sat down, long legs folding, then straddled him. I could only see half his face, the light from the doors letting in a fair amount of moonlight, but it was enough to see that his infuriating smirk was back. I held on to both his wrists as I leant down to kiss him, his stubble rough against my face. The kissing was still, annoyingly, pretty good but this time my mind was clear. I released one hand to reach into my jacket pocket, grabbing one of the cable ties I’d put in there earlier.

  The hand I had let go of moved to my waist, fingers resting in the curve of my waist as he deepened the kiss. I tried not to smile. I braced my free hand behind his head, cable tie curled tightly in my fist until I was sure he was completely distracted. I took my time, moving my kisses down his neck, so my torso was in line with his hips, and when he tilted his head back to let out a little moan, I wrapped the cable tie around one wrist and the arm of the chair, pulling it tight. His head instantly whipped up, hair flying round, the desire replaced by confusion. His momentary pause gave me enough time to tie his other wrist; as I tightened that cable tie, he seemed to realise I wasn’t playing, and his entire face changed.

  The grey eyes that had once been open and welcoming, clouded to storm-cloud grey until they almost disappeared in the dim light. Anger worked its way across in waves, his lips curling and eyebrows dipping. He began to twist on the chair underneath me, the strength in his legs alone enough to buck me off. I stumbled backwards onto the concrete, satisfied that I’d managed to restrain his arms. If I’d cocked up the cable ties, I’d been pretty sure I wouldn’t have had a chance; he would have easily overpowered me and I didn’t even want to think about what would have happened then. In the back of my mind, I was aware that this had been a risk. Or, as Jake probably would have called it, a terrible, absolutely stupid idea. But, the first part had worked. I still had to subdue him in order to get away safely. I had one of the syringes I’d found in a box in my other pocket, along with some mild sedatives.

  The first couple of weeks after Eli had disappeared, my mother had suffered an understandable breakdown and had ended up being hospitalised. In order to help her and to help us keep her from injuring herself, the hospital had given us a few doses of liquid sedatives, meant to be taken diluted in a glass of water. I figured injecting them into the bloodstream would make them work that bit faster. As I pulled the syringe out, Caden started yelling,

  “What the hell are you doing you crazy-” I snorted, interrupting his tirade

  “Oh, I’m the crazy one? I’m not the one who helped kidnap their own roommate and then, three years later, tricked his sister so she couldn’t find him by trying to sleep with her. I don’t think I’m the crazy one in this scenario.” He stilled. I could see the cogs turning, the need to find a way out of this situation written all over his face. He knew I knew and that meant he also knew I wasn’t planning o
n letting him get out for a little while at least. Sure enough, that mask of charm fell over him again, the confident smirk spreading across his face. It was, objectively, fascinating to watch but I hated how easily I’d fallen for it.

  “Look, I know what I did was wrong, but I did really like you. I was only trying to help Eli-”

  “HELP HIM? You fucking kidnapped him you psycho and then covered it up and stayed here in case you needed to cover it up some more. You planted shit so I would play along in your little game. What were you planning to do, kidnap me as well? I imagine you would have if I’d got too close to finding out where GAI had taken him.” The charm disappeared with a roll of his eyes.

  “I was supposed to lead you to a dead end. Then I could leave. Not before I’d had my fun of course.” The words were spat at me, the merciless grin a clear indication of what fun he had had in mind. I began filling up the syringe with the sedative, refusing to respond to his comment. He watched me with barely disguised hatred burning in his eyes. Once the vial was empty, I dropped it on the ground, the glass tinkling as it rolled across the floor, glad for the second time that the chair didn’t have wheels. In my rage fuelled haze of planning, I hadn’t taken into account how I would get the sedative into him before he managed to spin the chair and kick me but since the chair couldn’t easily be moved, I was feeling a bit more confident that this would work.

  His eyes followed me and as soon as I went behind his back, he twisted, trying to scrape the chair around. The plastic against the concrete floor was not a nice sound. I waited a couple more seconds, part of me enjoying this a little too much, then grasped the back of his neck and plunged the needle in just to the right of his spinal cord. He jerked, trying to leap away from me but, with his hands tied, he couldn’t do much other than squirm. Once the syringe was empty, I let it fall to the floor, the same as the vial. It wasn’t that I wasn’t worried about him escaping. I knew he would eventually, but by then I would be way ahead of him. I just knew that he wouldn’t go to the police when he was working for a company that shouldn’t legally exist. He would have a hard time explaining that. Not to mention he broke into an evidence room and this building. We both knew I had a lot of stuff against him. So, I wasn’t worried about fingerprints, not really. Within seconds, the sedative had begun to take effect, his head lolling forward, the struggling stopping. I moved back around to the front of him, his lidded glare still resolutely focussed on me; crouching down in front of him, I placed a hand under his chin, tilting his head up. Even his eyes were struggling to stay open now; I only had a couple of seconds.

  “Anything you want me to pass on to your co-workers when I find them?” He tried to snap his head back but only succeeded in dropping his chin to his chest. As his eyes closed, I didn’t think he would answer but before the sedative claimed him, he muttered,

  “You won’t find them. They’re under lock and key…” the rest of the sentence melted away, his head now completely unable to support its weight. I shrugged, standing up. That would knock him out for a while. I knew he had a phone in his jeans, and it didn’t take me long to find it, pocketing it so he couldn’t contact anyone when he came to. Another scrap of paper fell out with it; I opened it to find what I guessed to be another red herring he had been planning to plant. I crumpled that up and threw it on the floor; then, because I’m not a complete bitch, I took out a bottle of water and a cereal bar and left them at his feet. Hopefully by the time he came to and got out of the cable ties, I would be a lot further ahead, maybe already with Eli before he could alert them. Satisfied, I made my way out of the building. The rain was hammering down outside, soaking the concrete to a dusky black and in the distance, I could hear claps of thunder. I closed the doors and looped the chain back through the handles, clicking the padlock into place before running over to my car.

  Once I’d climbed in, soaked to the skin even though it was only a short run, the reality of what I’d done began to hit me. Part of me, the part that recognised this was a point of no return, debated going back and bringing him with me, hoping he didn’t find some way to overpower me and contact GAI. The other part, the part that was vengeful on behalf of her brother and herself, told me he was lucky I didn’t do anything worse. I wasn’t sure which part of me was right.

  Focus. Kincraig.

  I took a couple of deep breaths, the rain-damp air clinging to my throat and backed the car out of the carpark.

  I’m gonna find you Eli, I promise.

  Part Two

  Scotland

  Chapter 6

  There was no time to waste. As soon as I got back, my damp, dusty clothes shoved into a corner of the wardrobe, I opened up my browser. It turned out that figuring out what Kincraig meant wasn’t the difficult bit. A quick search revealed that it was a village in the Scottish Highlands about an hour from Inverness. A village was still a vague location and, unfortunately, there was no neon flashing arrow labelled ‘GAI Secret HQ’.

  I spent an hour looking at satellite imaging, trying to identify where you would stash an underground organisation headquarters. I doubted it would be based in the village pub. Nothing on the imaging filled me with confidence. As far as I could tell, it was a quaint village with a few shops, some pubs and a wildlife park next door. Frustrated, I turned my attention to searching for abandoned buildings in the nearby area or old industrial buildings, but again, there was nothing. I was 99% sure Kincraig was actual intel and not another red herring. Caden hadn’t had any idea I was listening to his conversation, so I had to be missing something. Like a really big something.

  Grabbing a notepad and paper, I decided to start over. Whenever I’d had a big school project, Eli had always told me to start by looking at the big picture, then narrowing it down until you figured it out. I had spent a lot of time stressing about essays because I would always get bogged down in the details; most of the time Eli would find me at 3am, banging my head on the kitchen table and would have to lead me gently to my bed before telling me he would help me with it in the morning. He always did. So that, Eli’s logic, was my best bet.

  I had two big pictures; GAI and Scotland. The company and the only location I had to go by. I started first with GAI; they were ostracised, funded by a billionaire and hadn’t been heard from publicly since 2016. Some of their research included animals, stem cell research and embryos. I sat and stared at the paper for ten minutes, trying to find something in what I knew about GAI to spark some inspiration.

  Nothing.

  Sighing, I turned onto a new page and wrote Scotland.

  Think bigger picture. What is special about Scotland, particularly the Scottish Highlands, that would make it useful to GAI? It’s remote, that’s for sure. Not easily accessible in the winter months. Lots of free roaming wildlife. Lochs, mountains… wait.

  I thought back to what Caden had said before he fell unconscious, something about GAI being ‘under lock and key’. Given how cocky he was it would make sense that he would try and say something cryptic. His clear lack of faith regarding my intelligence meant he probably expected I would have taken lock and key to mean a physical lock and key, but it could have been a homonym. Loch would have more relevance to Scotland. I feverishly began to search for Lochs near Kincraig, my fingers flying over the keyboard, the prospect of getting one step closer to GAI spiking excitement through me. Unsurprisingly, that excitement fast came to a close when I realised just how many Loch’s were near Kincraig. If you went as far as Inverness, even more.

  This was hopeless-

  “It’s never hopeless Ari!” Eli laughed at me from the other side of the kitchen table, pages of notes spread around us. I glared at him from behind the curtain of hair I’d pulled over my face. The rest of the house was dark, the clock on the oven blinking neon grin numbers at us. It was 3am. I had less than 6 hours to get this finished and I had nothing.

  “Sometimes things are hopeless Eli. I should just accept it. This essay is doomed!” I rested my head on the kitchen table, back in the
same position Eli had found me in half an hour ago. There was silence for a moment before I heard the chair scrape against the kitchen floor. Seconds later the notebook was pulled out from under my face, smushing my nose into the wood table. “Hey, ow!” I cried, sitting up and rubbing the end of my nose.

  “You’re fine Ari, don’t be dramatic,” his eyes were skipping over my notes, the same intensity he had when working on a project reflected in his face now. Eli was only ever serious when he was figuring out a problem and right now, the problem was his little sister’s inability to plan her essays in time for the deadline. He flipped the page over and grabbed a pen from the table, feverishly scratching at the paper. I already knew I wasn’t going to be able to decipher his notes but also knew that Eli would stay with me until the whole essay was written. He’d probably write some of it himself.

  “Okay, so, you’ve got a start here. But you’ve focussed on the wrong topic to use as your main point. If you spin this quote this way you can focus on a bigger picture and have a lot more evidence to use. It won’t be the most individual essay ever but it’ll be decent and easy enough to write…” I stared down at the paragraph of spiked handwriting that, actually, did make some sense.

  Maybe there was some hope if Eli was involved.

  “Ari? You okay with this? You’ve only got a few hours to write it,” he interrupted my train of thought. I blinked up at him for a brief moment before grinning.

  “Yeah, this is great Eli. Thank you. I don’t know what I’d do half the time without you here to help me. Even if you are annoying the other half of the time,” I stuck my tongue out as Eli shot me an easy grin.

  “Anytime sis. I’d go to the ends of the Earth to help you. Well, maybe to the end of Scotland,” he teased.

  “Hmm, I might go to, say, Yorkshire for you,” I shot back, letting out a yell when he flipped my hair back into my face. “Oi! What was that for, you idiot?”