‘How did you know?’ Owain asked.
‘I’ve seen this plan,’ Lewis said tightly.
He yanked Twofer’s gun away from his unresisting grip and jogged away around the back of the building. The rest of them stood in shock, like mourners at a funeral, awaiting the final words of the minister so they could run away from the spectacle of death.
It seemed like both a second and forever until Lewis returned. He shoved two long rakes into Cerys’ arms and then, keeping his distance from the water, circled around to the door. He hooked the black snake with a wooden-handled hoe, lifting it clear of the water.
‘Use the rakes!’ he yelled to Cerys.
Cerys just stared at them in ignorance, but Catriona grabbed one from her and jabbed it towards the nearest person, jabbing the plastic tines over and under his torso and hauling him out of the water with brute strength. Owain grabbed the other rake and followed Catriona’s method exactly.
‘I’ll get the defibrillator,’ Twofer said, running back towards the gates.
‘Cerys! This man is breathing – stay with him.’
She jerked to life then, stumbling towards Catriona and the downed man. She wasn’t sure if she should touch him, if he would shock her. Only his legs had been submerged in the water, the rest of his body spared, but his breathing was coming too quickly. The smell of burnt flesh assaulted her nostrils.
‘You’re all right,’ she mumbled. ‘It’ll be all right.’
The man’s eyes flew open. It was SD1, the man who had been so cutting to them only a short time before. He looked scared now, terrified – and he reached out to grab her arm. She tensed, but she didn’t die.
‘They’re inside,’ he whispered, voice harsh and broken. ‘They’ve taken hostages.’
Chapter 56: We See Each Other Plain
As soon as they had gone, Amy was on her feet and over by the computer monitors.
‘Can you see them?’ Jason asked.
‘I’m not looking,’ she said.
The application was shutting down, the computer entering hibernation. The server was about to fry. Even if Dreadlock didn’t manage to delete the last files, the data storage would be all but destroyed by the intense heat. Either the fire suppression system was inadequate or the heat in the server was overpowering it. Not that it mattered, because Amy had just lost her access to it with the computers shutting down.
The evidence would soon be destroyed. Except there wasn’t any evidence, was there? Why didn’t Dreadlock know that? Someone in the bunker had covered up the murder he committed and he didn’t even know.
Amy knew she should go after him, bring him to justice – or she could stay here, with Jason, and wait for the dust to settle. Amy knew which option she preferred, and it was the one where she huddled down behind the sofa and hid until it all went away. But this idea of leadership had infected her. She was responsible for this trash fire of a compound, this irredeemably failed experiment. She had come here to get Lewis out and find out who had murdered Mole, to bring him to justice. She was so close to achieving it all.
Was this cowardice or was this common sense? She didn’t know anymore. She couldn’t quite tell where Amy ended and Agent Lane began, which parts of her were a Frieda mask fused to her face, fused to her soul. She had watched Owain march into the night with a machine gun, the man who had left the police force because he didn’t want to be endangered anymore. She didn’t know who he was anymore.
She didn’t know herself.
‘The system is offline,’ she told Jason, who made a sympathetic noise.
With the server gone, she had lost all access to the cameras. She didn’t know what was happening in the compound, or outside the gates. Her communication with the outside world was cut off—
The signal jammer was still in here.
‘I’ll try to call for backup.’
Amy crossed to the metal box that housed Dodger, and found a screwdriver sitting on top of it. No doubt left behind by whoever had undone her previous work. She opened out the casing and, with no need to worry about deception, switched off the machine. The whirring of the fan died away and silence followed.
She took her phone out of her pocket and found only the barest signal. She called the NCA emergency line, but it cut out immediately. She tried again, walking around the room to find better reception. It rang twice and—
The phone was knocked from her hand and skittered across the room, shedding shards of plastic as it went. A broad arm yanked her up against a tall, muscular frame and something cold and metallic settled against the side of her head. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see long matted clumps of hair swinging into her peripheral vision.
‘Me and the boss lady are leaving. Any questions?’
Amy watched Jason slowly stand up, raising his hands above his head.
‘Dreadlock, what are you doing?’
‘Making sure I get out of here alive.’
‘Drop the act, agent – we know who you are.’ Amy used her best Frieda voice, and was pleased when it didn’t shake. The only thing she had to be pleased about right now.
However, that only lead to Dreadlock laughing, his whole body vibrating with it.
‘Oh, I know. You think I can’t sniff out a fellow undercover? I knew there was something odd about you, Jay Bird, but it was only when you had that little fight with Bo… Too early in the game. You should’ve waited.’
Jason was holding his nerve, but his eyes met hers, not Dreadlock’s.
‘Like you waited. Playing the long game, were you? Spying on the Governor.’
Amy felt the metal drop away from her head by a few inches. She darted her eyes right to see it – a thick metal rod. Defector Dreadlock in The Hide with the Lead Piping…
‘You’ve been talking to Joe, have you?’
‘I have Joe’s watch,’ Jason said.
Amy wanted to tell Jason not to be an idiot, not to provoke him, not to show their hand. Just let him walk out of here with her and he'd probably be on his way in ten minutes, leaving her behind. That made the most sense. She had to believe that he still had sense on his side.
‘Give it to me.’
Dreadlock’s breathing was harsh against her cheek. She could smell alcohol. Her brain threw up crime statistics about intoxication and violence, even though she tried to make it shut up. She had to think. Why couldn’t she think?
‘It’s not here,’ Jason said. ‘It’s out wandering around in the woods. Tough luck.’
Another laugh, this time shakier. ‘It doesn’t matter. The server’s gone.’
‘The evidence hasn’t,’ Jason said. ‘We’re all still here and we know what you did.’
‘You don’t know shit.’
‘You murdered Mole.’
‘He died of exposure.’
‘He drowned in the kitchen sink.’
There was a dull clunk as the end of the pipe hit the floor. Dreadlock’s arm was slack around her. If she wanted to, she could run. And he would run too, far away, never caught. She stayed still, quiet. Wait for it.
‘You dragged his body outside and left it the garden.’ Jason’s voice was hard – but deathly calm. ‘He knew too much, did he?’
‘It was an accident.’ Amy barely heard the words, and she was standing right next to him. ‘I only meant to scare him a little. He panicked and I guess I panicked too. Then he was dead.’
‘You think Agent Haas will forgive you?’
‘I just want out. That’s it. Everyone inside gets their records erased, right? Why not me?’
‘You were there to protect them.’ Amy spoke without thinking and then couldn’t stop. ‘The mistake you made was becoming one of them.’
‘I was there to protect the experiment. There was never meant to be governors or guards. Martin wanted to play by his own rules. I had to stop him.’
> The tone of his voice told her that he still believed that, perhaps even as far as believing he had good intentions on the road leading up to Mole’s death. That the coverup was part of the same higher plan: the experiment above all else.
Amy stepped away from Dreadlock and faced him. He looked worn. He fiddled with his hair, which made him seem nervous and uncertain. More a young agent than a hardened criminal.
Then, suddenly, he returned to life. Lifting the pipe, he brandished it in front of him. Jason grabbed Amy’s shoulder and yanked her back towards him. They circled slowly, until Dreadlock was close to the door. To his freedom.
‘I did it,’ he said, almost wonderingly. ‘We finished the experiment.’
From nowhere, Stoker barrelled into his side, seizing and twisting Dreadlock’s arm until he cried out and dropped the pipe.
Then, he wrapped his arm around his neck and snapped it.
The body fell to the floor, with Stoker looking calmly at both of them, making no move to run. He was barely even out of breath.
‘I liked Mole,’ he said.
Chapter 57: And Now, the End Is Near
Lewis peered through the blinds that concealed the broken window, spying for the cops on his fellow prisoners and the agents who had tormented them. He was having quite the day.
Of the agents Pansy had electrocuted, two were dead, three were unconscious, and one was crying in agony. Lewis was finding it very difficult to care. He wanted to feel something for these men, injured in the line of duty, but this wasn’t an ordinary nine-to-five. They had chosen this life, this assignment. They had come here tonight to murder men he had called friends.
Pansy was a piece of work, he knew that. But Gareth and Joe? Anchor, it turned out, was one of Them, but he hadn’t seemed all that bad on the face of it. Were they all going to have to die here tonight? Was he going to play a part in ending their lives, in this room where they’d played cards and shared drinks and lived? He didn’t know if he could. He didn’t know if it was right.
Once upon a time, he'd wanted to be in the military. When they were fifteen, he and Jason had seriously considered it, even going to one of those recruiting fairs. Then his uncle had sat him down and told him about Iraq, the first time round. About how many people he'd seen die for no good reason. How many people he had killed for nothing but sand. Lewis had known then that he couldn’t kill a man. The closest he had come since was placing his hands around Jason’s neck, but that felt like a very long time ago now. He had been a different man then.
‘What can you see?’ Cerys hissed at him.
The four prisoners were sitting around a table, using one of the torches for light. They had barricaded the doors with tables, expecting the assault to come from the front, over the bodies of the downed security agents. The agents they had captured were on the floor, in silence. Lewis counted six. They looked frightened. All of them, agents and prisoners, looked frightened.
If any one of them was a good shot, they could probably kill the prisoners before they could hurt an agent. There probably wouldn’t be casualties on the agent side. It could all be nice and quick, job done, thank you very much.
‘They’re waiting,’ he said, voice equally low.
‘We can’t,’ Owain said, decisively. ‘We have no time to waste here.’
The smell hit him. Lewis looked around for the source, and saw the bright red cylinder placed between the agents on the floor. Another special from Pansy, had to be. He'd always come up with the cruel and unusual plans.
‘He’s got an open cannister of gas in with the hostages,’ he said. ‘We can’t use the guns.’
‘That was the only advantage we had,’ Catriona said, numbly.
‘We have to move,’ Owain said, urgently.
Lewis gritted his teeth, dropping his handgun into the dirt, and crawled over the windowsill. He had never been lightfooted and his drop to the floor would draw attention. He had to be up and running within a couple of seconds. How far away from the window were they? Who should he aim for? Would someone else take him out first? Should he grab hostages?
Too many questions. No answers. No time.
He braced himself to jump.
The lights suddenly came on, blinking awake and flooding the room with light. Lewis froze, hanging through the window, sure he was about to be seen. The curtain wafted in front of his face. He held his breath.
‘The server must be online,’ Pansy said, standing up from the table. ‘They’re toying with us. I need my computer.’
‘Sit down,’ Anchor growled. ‘Your computer is out there. We’re staying in here.’
‘What is going on in there?’ Owain whispered urgently.
Lewis waved a hand at him to keep quiet.
‘What happened to the laptop?’ Gareth asked.
Something heavy thudded against the floor. ‘Bricked. I need my computer.’
The lights went off, and they all fell silent. Lewis breathed. He slipped down onto the floor of the room, lying flat on the floor like a snake on its belly. He commando crawled along the edge of the wall, heading for the shelter of the nearest table.
The lights flared to life, glaring down on them once more.
Lewis swung his legs behind the table, his torso concealed. He glanced back. Cerys was underneath the window, back arched like a cat.
Anchor was staring straight at her, open-mouthed. Then, he looked away.
The lights went out.
‘What if they just decide to wait us out?’ Joe said, sounding nervous. ‘We didn’t bring in any supplies and, with this fucking light show, we won’t sleep. Three days and we’ll all be dried out and drowsy.’
A hand touched Lewis’ ankle. He flexed his foot in response, before moving on to the next table. Like baseball, except there were far better ways to get to third base.
‘They wouldn’t risk the hostages,’ Anchor said, firmly.
‘We killed their agents,’ Pansy said. ‘They’ll want revenge.’
Lewis felt the tension increase. He peered between the legs of a chair and saw Anchor turn to Pansy with a look on his face that resembled Death itself.
‘You what?’
‘Pansy, what the fuck have you done?’ Gareth said, wary, angry.
They didn’t know.
Another touch on Lewis’ leg. He moved. His destination was the table next to the prisoners’, right next to the barricaded door. As long as the lights stayed off…
‘This is a fucking war!’ Pansy said, still on his feet. ‘They set us up to die here, the first wave of the genocide. I’m not going to wait for them to take me out. “If the tanks succeed, then victory follows!”’
‘They don’t want to fucking kill us!’ Gareth yelled. ‘We’re lab rats to them. They just want to see how the whole thing plays out.’
‘Yes! It’s all a test! I passed their fucking test!’
Pansy was still shouting, his face growing redder. Lewis saw he was moving towards the gas cannister – and something metal was glinting in his hand. He was on the other side of the room. He would never get near him in time.
‘It’s not personal, you idiot,’ Joe said.
‘Can’t you see? They put us in with the blacks and the gays, to see what we'd do. To see who would win the war, who would become corrupted. That’s the experiment. They want to know who’ll win. Well, look at the last men standing. We fucking showed them.’
‘It was you who did for Bo,’ Anchor said, slowly. ‘You killed Roshan.’
‘What? It was the filth that took out Roshan.’ Gareth sounded disbelieving, horrified.
Lewis tensed. It had been Pansy who had thrown the Molotov cocktails, who had marked Lewis, Ben, and Jason for death. He'd been the one to goad Ben into pushing Jason off the roof. They’d all almost died because of Pansy.
‘He’s a Nazi,’ Anchor said.
‘You’d know, wouldn’t you?’ Pansy said. ‘You’re one of Them.’
Joe and Gareth turned their attention to Anchor.
Pansy stood next to the hostages – and raised his lighter in the air.
‘I don’t want to die,’ he said, his voice shaking. ‘But I will if I have to. To show those fuckers who’s in charge here. The Jews running this thing – they’ll get the message.’
That’s when Jason jumped down from the ceiling and all the lights went out.
Chapter 58: Murder in the Dark
Amy’s plan had been to wait. Jason’s was to dive straight in. In the end, they had compromised.
Jason had half a second to register the surprise on Pansy’s face before the lights went out. He surged forward, throwing his body in the direction of Pansy and forcing him across the room. The lighter fell to the ground with a thud – but no spark.
He heard the clang of metal as someone kicked the gas cannister. The torch started moving towards the door, the rush of fleeing people registering with him at the same time as a rush of cold air – from an open window.
And Pansy slipped from his grasp.
‘Fucker! Get off me!’
Joe’s yell came from behind him and Jason turned. The lights were still out, a bubble of light around the doorway, where people were trying to haul aside the tables. Everywhere else in the room was black as night. Jason could feel people around him, but he couldn’t see any of them.
Someone grabbed at his sleeve and he stopped himself striking out.
‘Miss me?’ He could hear Cerys’ grin.
‘How’d you find me?’
‘Your head’s a reflector.’
Suddenly, he was knocked aside, a heavy weight landing on him. He was a reflector and he was loud – a target.
‘You’re a fucking traitor too!’ Gareth yelled in his face.
‘Better than a fucking Nazi!’ Jason yelled back.
Abruptly, the weight was gone from him, Gareth disappearing as if he'd never been there.
‘Cat, get a zip-tie on him and put him with the other,’ Owain said, and then he was gone.
Hard Return Page 26
