by Sibel Hodge
I got through my morning’s clients on autopilot, finding it hard to concentrate. I was doing them a disservice by only being partly in the room with them.
After my 11.00 a.m. appointment left, I checked my phone for the hundredth time, to see if Mitchell had left a message. He had, asking me to call him.
‘How’s Lee getting on?’ I asked as soon as he picked up.
‘He’s been systematically going through Regen Logistix’s computer systems and found hundreds of internal documents and medical specs for this implantable nanochip they’ve been working on, plus emails between key members of staff. It all makes for some very scary reading. There’s also more evidence of the security service’s involvement. The CEO, Paul Hughes, has been in regular contact with a guy called Nathan White, who’s a shadow operative with MI5 and has been covering up their mistakes with the help of Glover.’
An angry flush spread up my neck as my mind spun. ‘Did Lee find anything about Klein’s experiments on the students?’
‘No. There are a few mentions of hypothetical situations for testing the chip, but nothing solid. So we can’t prove they’ve actively been implanting the chips in students. Lee didn’t have any joy getting hold of the patient records stored on the university’s database because their system is kept off-line. But I’m pretty sure Klein must be keeping records of what he’s been doing somewhere. Even twisted, clandestine black ops have paper trails.’
‘Maybe I could try and find the records.’
‘How?’
‘They’d only be accessible on the computers in the Watling Centre building, like ours are here. I’d have to break in there somehow and find them.’
‘No way. That’s definitely not a good idea. People are already dying over this. And if they think you’ve made a connection between what’s happening, they won’t think twice about killing you, too. They’ve already been in your office, looking through your files. And Glover saw you at this hospital.’
‘Yes, but they’ll only think I’m a counsellor. They don’t know I know anything. You don’t need to worry about me. I can look after myself. You and Krav Maga taught me well.’
‘I don’t think Klein would keep them at the Watling Centre anyway. According to what Lee’s found, the university aren’t aware of what’s going on. And whether Klein’s using digital or paper records, he won’t want his colleagues to stumble across his illegal tests.’
‘Could he be keeping paper copies at Regen Logistix?’
‘It’s possible, but I doubt Klein would want to go backwards and forwards to their site every time he wants to update the records. He’s more likely to keep them at home. Lee hacked into his home computer, but there are no patient records on it, so he could be storing them on another device that’s off-line or keeping paper copies.’
‘We should try getting into his house first then. When he’s at work.’
There was silence on the other end of the line. ‘We? No. Let me and Lee deal with things now.’
‘I can handle this.’
‘No, not after what happened last time. You thought you could handle that, too. I’m not putting you in danger.’
I stared up at the ceiling, picturing the evil, twisted faces of my kidnappers. Feeling again all the fear and terror I’d gone through. How close I’d come to almost dying. But instead of being broken afterwards, I’d used that fear to make it work for me. I wasn’t going to let that experience stop me helping people. ‘I want to end this before anyone else gets hurt. I owe it to Marcelina. I’m an adult. I can make my own decisions. You don’t need to tell Mum. It’ll be quicker to have two of us search the house, anyway. And even if you say no, I’ll do it without you.’
He exhaled deeply. ‘You’re so like your dad. Stubborn, brave, protective, righteous.’
‘I’ll take that as a compliment.’
‘It wasn’t meant to be,’ he growled, but it contained more love and concern than anger. ‘You’re not going to give up until I say yes, are you?’
‘Nope. You’ll be with me anyway.’
There was a long silence on the phone before he sighed. ‘All right. I’ll meet you at your flat at 6.00 p.m. Then we’ll go through the plan.’
Chapter 41
Detective Becky Harris
I paced the tiny bedroom, trying to calm down. Then I stopped and stared out of the window down to the car park, watching students milling around on their way to lectures or the union, or to hang out with their mates. Going about their everyday life without any realisation that something so heinous could ever touch them. I thought about Vicky, Ajay, Natalie, and Farzad. Innocent victims who’d been used as human guinea pigs by powerful people who thought they were expendable.
Sutherby’s words echoed in my ears. You have to give it up and go home.
I flopped onto my bed and stared up at the ceiling for a few minutes, agitation vibrating through every cell. Then I leaped up again. I needed a coffee. Something to calm me down.
I tucked my hair up under a baseball cap and pulled the peak down before heading to the union, hoping to avoid being noticeable in case Sutherby’s wife, Anthea, was on campus anywhere. I kept an eye out for her but thankfully didn’t spot her.
I took some deep breaths as I queued in the coffee shop, hoping to bump into one of the students I’d met in the last few days—someone normal who could take my mind off this mess for just a few minutes. But I didn’t see anyone I knew as I took my double espresso shot to the corner of the room and sat down.
As I stared into space, the sounds of the students’ chatter dissipated into the ether around me as my brain raced. How could I just pack up and go home? If I didn’t try to stop them, where would it all end? They had a highly dangerous technology tool for ultimate population subjugation. For creating effective killing machines. The heinous possibilities were endless. It was madness. It was—
The sound of silence seemed to penetrate my thoughts then, something out of place, out of kilter. I glanced up and refocused, spotting Farzad’s girlfriend, Amy, in the queue a few metres away. She was on her own, her face blotchy and red. Some of the other students in the queue nudged each other and started whispering about her. It was obvious Amy was trying to ignore them as she stared at the floor, her shoulders hunched and stiff. And maybe she would’ve been able to, until Shakia sauntered through the door and spotted Amy, a nasty smirk tugging at her mouth.
‘Quick, keep the knives under lock and key!’ Shakia said in a loud voice.
Amy froze for a moment. Then a loud sob erupted from her, and she rushed out of the shop, tears dribbling down her cheeks.
I leaped up from my seat, strode across the room to Shakia, and stopped inches away from her face. ‘First of all, Amy has done nothing to deserve that horrible comment, so you’re completely out of order there. I’m sure you think you’re better than everyone else, but I can assure you, you’re not.’ I treated her to one of her own signature glares up and down. ‘And you’ll find that out when you get into the real world, out of your little student bubble, where you think you’re the queen bee. And secondly, I hope—I really hope—you’re never in the same position as Amy, where your life is devastated, and you need some compassion and support. Because it’s not a nice place to be. And as you’ve just proved, there are a lot of not nice people to keep you company there.’
Shakia’s jaw fell open with surprise. I didn’t wait around for her retort. I hurried away to find Amy as the other people in the queue sniggered. When I got outside the union, Amy was running across the path towards the student car park. I legged it after her, calling her name, wanting to try to comfort her.
I caught up and ran in front of her, forcing her to stop. ‘Amy, you don’t know me, but I wanted to tell you I’m really sorry about everything. She shouldn’t have said that to you. You’re hurting, and none of this is your fault.’
Amy stood there, her gaze on the ground, panting hard.
‘Can I help in any way?’ I bent my head so I was in
her sightline. ‘Are you okay?’
She looked at me with stricken eyes. ‘I thought I could handle being here, but I can’t. It feels like everyone’s blaming me for what Farzad did, and I don’t know what… what to do or what to say.’
I nodded. ‘I know. Maybe you should take a few days off away from here. Be with your friends. Your family. Someone who can help support you.’
Amy sniffed then nodded. ‘I wanted to try to carry on as normal. I wanted to be at the flat in case Farzad came back. But… I can’t handle this. I think you’re right. I think I’ll go back to my parents’ house for a while.’
‘It might help you. Do you need a lift anywhere?’
She blinked, sending tears snaking down her cheeks. ‘No. I’ll be fine. But thank you for checking on me.’ She blew out a breath, turned, and scurried away.
I watched her go, a mixture of anger and sadness for her and hatred for those responsible burning in my throat. And then I made a decision. I couldn’t give up. Not when I was so close. Go home and forget about kids dying? Forget about all the victims’ family’s lives being blasted to smithereens? No sodding way. Sutherby might’ve been following my career, but he didn’t know me at all. I was going to do exactly what I’d already planned. Nail Professor Klein, Hoodie Guy, and whoever else was involved.
I stomped back to my room, trying to work out where to go from here. I had to somehow get my hands on Klein’s patient records, because I was certain there had to be some. The only question was where would they be? At his home? Or at the Watling Centre? The chance of finding them depended on whether the university itself was involved, or whether Klein was procuring test subjects without their knowledge. MK-Ultra testing had been done on students with the full participation of some of the colleges and universities involved, so even though there was nothing listed in the university’s promotional research bumf, they could still be at the heart of it. I needed to rule out the possibility the records were not on site before I broke into Klein’s house to look for them there.
And then what? If I did find evidence, who could I even take it to if the investigation had been shut down? Especially when Klein seemed to be untouchable and ultra-protected.
As I opened my bedroom door and stepped inside, I tried to think through possibilities about who I could turn to when I did get my hands on the evidence. But I came up with nothing.
Best not to think that far ahead, girl.
I just had to concentrate on getting the first part right. If I worried about how I could possibly expose everything on my own with no resources and without the law behind me, then the hopelessness would drag me down. So I decided to worry about the rest of it later.
I sat down at the desk and rubbed at an angry vein throbbing in my temple. I had hours to kill until my 3.00 p.m. appointment with Klein, so I opened up my laptop to do some more research in the hope I could find out about who he might be working with and who had actually produced the nanochip.
Half an hour later, my phone buzzed with a text from Sutherby: Have you left yet?
I stared at the screen and clenched my jaw as my fingers roved over the keys: Just packing up my stuff now, sir.
Then I threw my phone on the bed and got back to work.
Chapter 42
Toni
After my last client of the morning left, I told Janet I was heading off for my lunch break, but the last thing on my mind was food. I’d well and truly lost my appetite. Instead, I went to the university’s gym to blow off some stress.
I dumped my bag in a locker and headed for the treadmill. There were only a handful of people inside. A girl taking a selfie, pouting into the camera as she sat at one of the weight machines at the other side of the room. A guy on a stationary bike with earbuds in. Two guys on rowing machines next to each other, watching the TV screen which showed a news reporter standing in St Peters Street, relaying yet again what had happened the previous day with Farzad Nuri. Not surprisingly, the incident had made the national news, and the latest report was that the stabbing victim had died, Farzad Nuri remained at large, and it had been classified as a terrorist attack.
I narrowed my eyes at the screen and shook my head. So that was the spin Glover and his MI5 buddies were putting on it now?
Disgusted, I looked away from the TV as rage charged through my veins. I put in my earbuds and clicked through a playlist on my phone until I found something energetic and powerful. I turned up the volume, letting Pink’s voice explode, before putting the phone in my pocket.
I started at a slow walk and gradually upped the pace until I’d done ten minutes of warm-up. Then I headed to the free weight benches and picked up a couple of dumbbells. I spotted myself in the mirror, watching my technique as I went through a range of arm exercises. I returned them to the rack, picked up a barbell, and screwed on some weights before settling on a bench to start some chest presses.
I’d done two sets when Curtis’s face loomed above me. His lips moved as he said something, but I couldn’t hear him over the music. I set the barbell on the rack above my head, sat up, and pulled out my earbuds.
‘Hi,’ he said with a half-hearted smile.
I took in his toned arms on show in the vest top he had on and said, ‘Hi.’ I hadn’t felt like smiling when I’d walked in the gym—too many sick and twisted things had happened—but I did now. It happened automatically, and I could see again why Marcelina had had a serious crush on him. He was gorgeous without being arrogant or cocky. Relaxed in his own skin. He had a genuinely sweet, kind vibe about him.
‘I’ve never seen you in here before,’ he said.
The first thought that came into my head was that I hadn’t seen him there, either, but that was obviously too lame a comeback, so I just said, ‘I usually come before work or afterwards, but I needed to de-stress.’ I sat up and swung my feet onto the wooden floor.
He sat next to me, hunched over, forearms resting on his knees, staring into space. ‘Yeah, I know what you mean. I’ve just got back from the hospital.’ He shook his head. ‘Did you hear what happened?’
‘No, what?’
‘Marcelina… she’s… um…’ He took a deep breath then turned to look at me. ‘She died.’
I gasped. ‘No.’ Even though I now knew that what had happened to her wasn’t my fault, tears sprang into my eyes. The tragedy had been set in motion by others with no conscience weeks before she’d even set foot in my office, but it still didn’t make the news any easier to hear. Maybe I couldn’t have saved her. But I could still save others from the same fate.
‘It happened about five minutes before I arrived. Some kind of complication from the head injury. A sudden bleed.’
‘I’m so sorry. Do you want to talk about it?’ I blinked back the tears, trying to remain strong, calm, and professional.
He shrugged. ‘Not really. I just wanted to let off some steam in here. Are you okay, though? You look really sad.’
‘I’m fine. But thanks for asking.’
Our gazes met. And in that moment, I felt a connection with him, an unexpected attraction I’d never felt before. It was like a warm breeze against my skin, a feeling of possibilities, happiness, and hope. I could feel a good energy about him on a deep level. He felt safe.
‘I mean, it seems like you care a lot about everyone else,’ he said, still looking deep in my eyes. ‘But it must be tough doing your job.’
‘It’s just what I do. It’s what I’ve always wanted to do.’ I smiled.
‘Yes. But is there anyone caring for you?’
I swallowed and looked away.
‘We all need people to talk to. And I was wondering… look…’ He ran a hand over the back of his neck then glanced down at the floor and back to me. ‘Do you want to go for a drink? Or… a coffee. Something. Uh, you know, if you’re not busy. Or whenever.’ He scrunched his face up with embarrassment. ‘I’m sorry. I’m making a mess of this.’
‘No.’ I reached out and touched his arm, a tingle of excitement d
eep in my core. ‘You’re not messing it up at all.’ I wanted to say yes in a way I’d never wanted to say yes to anyone. But I shouldn’t be happy when Marcelina and the other students were dead. I couldn’t be happy until I’d stopped them doing it again. I didn’t want any distractions. So I stood up and said, ‘I’d love to. But not right now. There are some things going on, and… well… it’s complicated.’
He stood, too, giving me another half smile. ‘Of course. No pressure. I’m not going anywhere.’
‘Thanks for asking me.’ I made a show of looking at the time on my phone. ‘I need to get back to work.’ I left him there, feeling a twinge in my stomach, but I couldn’t tell if it was longing or overwhelming sadness about Marcelina, or both.
I headed to the changing rooms and texted Mitchell to let him know what had happened to Marcelina. He sent a reply telling me not to do anything stupid and he’d see me later.
I emerged from the building fifteen minutes later after hurriedly showering and dressing, my gym bag hiked over my shoulder. As I walked down the path towards the union, the terrace was packed with students, eating, laughing, and texting friends. Life carried on as normal for them. Normal, but for how long? If Klein and his cronies got what they wanted and continued with their sociopathic plans, we’d all be programmed robots.
I stopped outside the Watling Centre, looking up at the windows. Was Klein up there now, laughing to himself because Marcelina was dead?
I took a grounding breath and headed back to the counselling block, rage curdling in my stomach. Phil was talking with Janet in reception as I arrived. He took one look at my face and asked if I was okay.
‘Not really. I just heard that Marcelina died.’ I fought the tears back again, and my heart sped up, thumping against my rib cage.
