‘Don’t put it like that—like we owe them anything. We are beating their system—the more fed up with us they are, the better. Eventually they’ll just wash their hands of us and let us go.’
Looking at these two dropouts and comparing them to the ones who had returned to Westron, the last element of the mystery fell into place. ‘They’re forming disciples, aren’t they?’ This wasn’t just about straightening out bad behaviour; it was crafting future members of the network, more finely tuned to the needs of the trustees and the others in the network. The parents were useful in their own way but a new cadre of supporters, well trained, loyal only to other UIS graduates, was being propagated for planting in international business and government. That’s why no one was acting like they were being forced: they were all too happy join the gang, being part of the ‘in’ and not the ‘out’ crowd.
‘That makes us heretics in their cult of the beautiful people,’ said Johnny happily.
As Kieran’s eyes adjusted he realized there was a faint light in the bathroom. ‘What’s that?’
‘Old laundry chute. Connects to the linen room above but it’s barred. This place is a health and safety nightmare.’
Siobhan snorted. ‘Like that’s their first consideration. Hi, Mr Inspector, we’re worried about the fire escapes in our torture chambers.’
‘So how do you pass the time?’ Kieran tested the bed frame. It was bolted to the floor.
‘Talking mostly. I think I’ve bored Siobhan with every memory of my fairly depressing childhood.’
‘You aren’t boring, Johnny.’
‘She knows lots of songs, so that’s been good.’
‘Do they drug you?’ asked Kieran. It was odd to have a clear head again after a week of fog.
‘Nah, gave up on that after the first two weeks. I think they don’t quite know what to do with us. The others changed really quickly—like they were ready to see the error of their ways and hurry into the fold of being good little boys and girls. You should’ve seen them in their confession sessions, all crying to be let into the clique of perfect people. But I didn’t. I blew through the first week in a rage—the drug just made me really foul mouthed. I cursed my father every way I could imagine for not thinking me good enough.’
Kieran found that very interesting. He had read that the most resistant minds to brainwashing often had some passion or belief that acted as a counterweight to the pressure to conform. ‘What didn’t your father like about you?’
Johnny laughed. ‘You should ask “what did he like?”. That would be the quicker conversation. I’ve not changed a bit. His main gripe was my politics. He found out I was a member of an activist environmental group and he’s an oil man. Big embarrassment if I chained myself to one of his drilling platforms in the Arctic as I was planning. And that’s where I’m heading the moment I get out of this place—after I’ve launched my court case against them of course. False imprisonment and torture—and that’s just the start. I’m going to use my damages setting up an eco-camp outside my dad’s office.’
‘Johnny spends a lot of time devising his brief for his barrister.’ Siobhan’s tone was warm but gently teasing.
‘What about you, Siobhan? Why have you stuck it out?’ asked Kieran.
‘I guess it’s because there’s a part of me that they can’t touch no matter what they do to me.’
‘She’s a saint, this one. I’ve never met a proper Christian before and I have to say I’m impressed. She even prays for me, which is kind because I’m not on speaking terms with any fathers, including the one on a cloud.’
‘He isn’t on a cloud, Johnny. I wish you’d stop with the Victorian stereotypes.’
‘She says a lot of things like that but she knows I’m only pulling her saintly leg.’ Johnny gave an affectionate chuckle.
‘So why have you been put on the course?’ asked Kieran. He couldn’t imagine why any parent would complain about a well behaved, devout daughter.
‘I want to train as a medical missionary—midwifery.’
‘What could possibly be wrong with that?’
‘My parents are raving atheists and think I should aim either to marry a rich man or enter the family business. They think my faith is all pie in the sky when you die.’
‘What’s the family business?’
‘Military supplies.’
‘Her dad’s Ireland’s best-known gun runner. Name a nasty conflict anywhere on the globe and Mr Green will be there with his kit to make it worse. What about you, Kieran? How did you manage to get kicked down here so quickly?’
Bearing in mind they were being monitored, Kieran couldn’t explain his real role at the manor. He would have liked to give them hope that they would soon be released when the YDA turned up to bust the operation. ‘I think I pushed a few red buttons. I like chemistry so I had a look at those pills they were giving us—vitamins by the way, the drug was in soluble form the first night, injections after that. Thiopental. Supposed to make us cooperate. But I didn’t agree with their description of what was wrong with me. Said the wrong thing a few too many times. Told them they were trying to brainwash us—which is an abuse of our human rights.’
‘Good for you. Welcome to the reject zone.’
‘Thanks. Proud to be here. It’s the best accolade they could give me.’
Time crawled while waiting. Pins and needles had set in from holding still. Raven was beginning to think that something had gone wrong. She had almost screamed when a cat walked across the courtyard, triggering the lights. The comforting thing was that there had been no response from any security guards. Isaac had been right: the automatic lights no longer meant an intruder to those inside.
A shadow appeared in the entrance and beckoned. Finally: Isaac had come back for her. Trying to emulate his way of moving, she hurried across the paving, inside at the same moment the lamp flicked on. The floodlight went off again immediately. She guessed it was better not to say anything. Doors would be monitored so they had to get out of the danger zone as quickly as possible. Isaac moved down the corridor towards the kitchens and ducked inside below the counter level. The room was empty, surfaces cleaned for the night, light from the blue fluorescent bulb over the larder bathing the steel tops in fake moon-glow. A tap dripped with a little thud into the deep sink by the industrial washer.
‘We’re safe to talk,’ Isaac said, getting out his phone and texting in a report. ‘I’ve checked the lower floors and aside from the two guys we saw the place seems quiet. I think any other security operatives must have gone with the course participants to the prom. What time does that end?’
Sitting with her knees hugged to her chest, Raven gripped her ankles. ‘Eleven.’
‘So Joe should be back by half past. I want to extract both cleanly, without anyone noticing, OK?’
‘I was hoping you were going to kick butts and take names.’
He smiled and tucked the phone back in his jacket. ‘That comes later, when my boys are safe.’
‘What do you think goes on here?’
Isaac studied her face. Raven got the impression he was weighing her every reaction. ‘Raven, Kieran has been worried all the way through that if you know too much you’ll be put at risk.’
Nice to know there was a good reason for his secrets, but that had to stop. ‘Colonel Hampton … ’
‘Isaac. I’m always on first name terms with people I take burgling.’
It was her turn to smile. ‘OK, Isaac, it is. I’ve just broken in to a private house and intend to do much more than that. Do you really believe a bit of information is going to put me at any more risk?’
‘Good point. OK, here’s what we think is going on. The school is part of a network of favour-exchange—corruption to you and me. The parents are first lured in by the guys here getting hold of their kids, setting them up and persuading the parents it is better to cooperate, do the odd favour or three, than have their children’s lives ruined. In return, the guys here “straighten” the kid
s out, just as the parents would prefer, adding gratitude to arm twisting. Kieran’s theory is that they are using some heavy duty pressure to brainwash the kids here to parental specifications, squashing rebellion and normal teenage behaviour into approved moulds.’
‘Well, that explains Gina. What about Joe?’
‘It sounds like they are using inhibition-reducing drugs to break down their victims in the initial period of their retraining. It can’t have gone far with Joe yet as he’s only been here five days. I’m hoping that under that haze you saw, the drip feed of misinformation won’t have taken root. Both boys were under strict instructions not to take anything like that, but they must’ve been tricked.’
She believed him but it seemed so bizarre—to use powerful drugs on perfectly well young people. Not bizarre—criminal. ‘I think you’re right that it’s not working that well on Joe yet.’
‘How do you know that?’
‘He’s still being nice to me. Everyone else who graduated from this course comes back thinking I’m the spawn of the devil.’
He grinned at the sarcasm in her tone. ‘Ah, yes, brainwashers need an enemy to make their subjects scared and group-focused—to create what’s called a bunker mentality.’
‘But me? What threat do I pose?’
‘It’s you for the moment but there’ll have been others before you.’
She realized he was right. A couple of other scholarship students in the years above her had dropped out early, making no secret of how they disliked the snobbery in the school.
‘It’s what you represent, rather than you yourself. Confidence, sassy, self-made … ’
‘Don’t forget poor and blue-collar.’
‘That too. You and the others in your position have been used to make these insecure rich kids fear that they will be found out as inadequate as they are all about inherited privilege and unearned wealth.’
‘That’s stupid.’
‘I know, but people have been brainwashed to believe far more ridiculous things, like the Heaven’s Gate community who thought they were going to be boarding a spaceship trailing the Hale-Bopp comet.’
‘What happened?’
‘It was in 1997; thirty-eight people and their guru killed themselves to catch a lift.’
Raven found it hard to credit that anyone could be that misguided. ‘Were they crazy?’
‘Absolutely—but only because they had fallen for the brainwashing techniques of a madman. Real life is weirder than anything you’ll read in fiction. Brains do buckle under the wrong pressures. Given enough time, most people can be made to believe black is white.’
She rubbed her shins. ‘Do you think Kieran’s OK? He won’t have changed?’
‘The science suggests people with ingrained beliefs resist the best. Kieran believes strongly in logic and reason. I’d like to see the man who could make him do anything that doesn’t satisfy those measures.’
Yet he’d learnt to dance for her, hadn’t he? That hadn’t been rational.
A crunch of gravel outside broke the quiet. ‘That’s the minibus parking up out the back. They must’ve dropped the students at the front already. We’ll give them a few minutes to clear the foyer, then we’ll go in search of the boys. Joe told me the name of their rooms—Cavalier and Pagoda, on the first and second floor respectively. We’ll fetch Joe first, then go up and get Kieran.’
‘What if the boys haven’t got the evidence you need to shut this place down?’
‘Raven, I’m not leaving them here. Their safety comes first.’
It was a huge relief to hear they weren’t to be sacrificed for the job they were doing. ‘How are we getting them out?’
‘I’ve got a team assembling at the perimeter. If we get the boys that far, then my men will take over. I can bring the team in if there’s an emergency, but I want to try this first, going under the radar. The safety of the other young people has to be considered. Armed men storming the place might produce casualties. I don’t want to risk the innocent.’
It had to be asked. ‘Who are you, Isaac?’
He grinned. ‘I’m on the side of the angels, Raven.’
She sincerely hoped so or she was screwed.
The light flicked on, slowly illuminating. Ironic that Heath and Co. had put a power-saving bulb in their cell: torment teenagers and save the environment at the same time. Kieran readied himself, noticing that the other two did so, slipping out of their beds and standing with their backs to the wall.
The door opened and Heath strode in, accompanied by Mrs Bain and the Russian trustee, Kolnikov. That wasn’t good. He had expected these two to keep their distance from the actual dirty work at the manor.
Mrs Bain pointed at Kieran. ‘There he is.’
Kolnikov rolled on the balls of his feet, bar-room brawler stance. ‘What is Colonel Hampton to you?’
‘He’s my godfather.’ Kieran licked his lips, remembering he hadn’t had anything to drink for quite some time. He was trying not to give in to fear that help would not arrive in time.
‘How did you meet him?’
‘At a maths competition.’ Truth.
‘What do you do for him?’
‘I don’t do anything. He’s sponsoring my education.’
Kolnikov closed the distance and used his muscular hand to pin Kieran to the wall by the neck. They stood eye to eye as the Russian examined his face. ‘He’s lying. He knows more than he’s saying.’ He dropped his grip and stepped back.
Mrs Bain folded her arms, her fingers playing an anxious tune on her sleeves. ‘I’m so sorry, sir. The boy was vetted, as all my students are. His sponsor, Hampton, came up clean.’
‘Of course he did. So would I if you did the same process on me. It is only because I called in a favour that I know all is not as it seems.’
‘How did you find out?’
Kieran did not like the fact that they were discussing this freely in front of them. It meant they didn’t think it mattered what the three of them heard.
Kolnikov took a cigar out of a pocket and lit up. ‘Our new recruit, the American Defence attaché, Carr, was negotiating in favour of my company in the Ministry of Defence today.’ He blew a plume of smoke in Kieran’s face. ‘I’d asked him to find out how useful Hampton might be to that contract; instead, being well trusted by the Brits, he discovered that Hampton was not even a civil servant.’
‘What is he?’
‘My contact didn’t know. Said it smelt like special ops to him but no one was saying any more.’
‘Do you think this boy’s part of it, or is it just a coincidence?’
Kolnikov turned away, dismissing Kieran. ‘I have been successful in my career taking the attitude that there is no such thing as coincidence.’
‘Do you recommend we move to Plan Beta?’
Kolnikov stubbed out the cigar on Kieran’s bedpost. ‘That is exactly why we put you in charge, Meryl. You always see one step ahead. Yes. We close down this branch of the operation until we’ve dealt with Hampton.’
‘But sir, we’ve guests already in the system. We’ve only done the first of two weeks!’ Heath protested.
Kolnikov raised an eyebrow and Heath shut up. ‘They will have to be seen to at a later date. You will be redeployed to Los Angeles. The programme there is going well. Make the arrangements, Meryl.’
‘Of course, sir. What do we do about these three and the other boy?’
Kolnikov gave a roll of his shoulders. ‘Remind me of the parents. Hampton we can discount.’
‘Green and Minter.’
‘No one we need worry too much about. Good. Arrange something plausible.’
Mrs Bain rubbed her throat. ‘Are you authorizing me to use … to dispose of the evidence?’
‘That’s exactly what I’m doing.’
Once Raven and Isaac left the kitchen, she sensed that there were more people in the house than before. It wasn’t that she could see them, but the building just sounded fuller—doors closing, voices at
a distance. Fortunately, they didn’t encounter anyone and got to Joe’s room with no problem. Isaac tried the handle. It wasn’t locked. They slipped inside, closing the door softly behind them.
Joe was lying face down on the bed. He’d not managed to change, only remove his shoes, dinner jacket and tie. He was asleep.
Isaac shook him by the shoulder. ‘Hey, Joe, time to go.’
‘Wha—?’ Joe stirred.
‘Find his shoes, Raven.’
While Isaac levered Joe upright, she scrabbled under the bed to retrieve some trainers. She hadn’t realized how difficult it was to get footwear on an uncooperative person until she tried to wrestle his floppy feet inside them.
‘We’re getting you and Kieran out of here.’ Isaac threw Joe’s arm over his shoulder and heaved him to his feet.
‘Key’s … trouble, man,’ Joe slurred.
‘Yeah, we get it. Come on, Joe, time to wake up.’
‘How’re we going to get both of them out of here if Kieran’s as bad?’ asked Raven, propping Joe up on the other side.
‘That’s a question that you won’t have to answer.’ Mrs Bain stood in the doorway flanked by four security guards. ‘Well, well, this is a surprise. Colonel Hampton, I presume?’
A square-jawed man with white hair walked in behind her. ‘Is this him?’ He spoke with the rolling vowels of a Russian accent.
Isaac lowered Joe to the bed and readied himself to fight.
‘So it would seem, sir.’ Mrs Bain gestured to the security men to fan out, guns pointed at Isaac.
‘The girl?’
‘Another of my students. Nobody of any importance.’
‘Good. Secure him.’
Isaac’s eyes flicked from man to man, assessing the weaknesses, his hand going to an inside pocket.
Swearing sharply in Russian, the large man brushed past his guards and grabbed Raven, pulling a handgun on her. A moment too late, she tried to twist free but he held the muzzle to her temple. ‘Stay very still or I will shoot.’
She froze.
‘You can’t fight your way out of this, Hampton, you can see you are outnumbered.’
Storm and Stone Page 23
