Linwood addressed Pauline. “I take it there’s no letter from Charlie then?”
Pauline couldn’t meet her gaze. “I’m sorry. No. Dean came to see me. Promised me he’d help get me some answers.”
“I’ve already told you what I know. I can’t give you information I don’t have.”
“That’s not good enough,” Dean countered. “You know plenty. How long had you been spying on Thadeus?”
“Jesus, Dean, get a grip. If you’re angry with someone it should be at him. He was the one working against us.”
“And you were the one working in your ivory tower monitoring everything that was going on. What the hell happened at Jodrell Bank?”
Linwood hesitated. She glanced across at Pauline then again at Dean. “I can’t tell you.”
“You can do better than that.”
“I won’t tell you in front of Pauline.”
Pauline looked stung. “Why?”
Linwood shrugged. “You’re a civilian. This is top-secret business.”
Dean laughed. “Don’t give me that bullshit.”
“It’s not bullshit. We’ve got enough to handle without worrying about members of the public getting in the way. She’s nothing to do with this.” And then she stared directly at Pauline. “You need to leave. Go home and stay there until I get in touch with you again.”
“Hang on a minute, she’s not going anywhere.” Dean reminded Pauline of the gun in his hand.
“Dean,” Pauline intoned, “you told me you just wanted me to get Alice here. I’ve done that.”
“And now I’d like you to stay as well. I don’t want you having any second thoughts and fetching that policeman friend of yours.”
“I’ll talk to you, Dean, but I won’t do it whilst you’re pointing a gun at either one of us. Can’t you see there’s more going on here? You’re the last survivor of MI18. I need your expertise. We’ve got stuff down in the Tombs still that can help us. Department 5 is after it and I can’t let them near it. This isn’t the best situation, and God help me, I wouldn’t have chosen to work with you after the stunt you’ve pulled, but you’re the closest thing to an ally I’ve got.” Linwood focused on the man’s eyes, ignoring the handgun. She reached out and patted him on the forearm. “You look knackered. I’ve got somewhere close you can freshen up, then we can begin to put things right.”
Even though she was looking for it, she had no idea if her words were having the desired impact. And then, something changed in his face, his features sagged and he glanced away.
Linwood didn’t miss her chance. She dug her knife into his side and twisted the blade violently. Reaching for the gun with her other hand. Against the odds, he fought back and knocked her knife arm aside, yanking at the blade and pulling it out. Blood stained his hands and a dark shadow bloomed out from the hole in his t-shirt.
“What the—”
She shoved hard, dislodging him from his perch on the bench. He fell backwards, and Linwood grabbed for the gun that he’d dropped and held it unwavering at him.
Pauline was whimpering on the other side of the bench, not sure whether she should run, or duck for cover. Linwood spoke to her without taking her eyes off Dean. “You need to go, Pauline. If you’ve got a number for Payne, call him and tell him to get here quickly. If you haven’t, call 999 and ask to be put through to Southport.”
Pauline moved, slowly at first, then at the sight of Dean on the floor clutching his chest, scarlet blood pouring from between his fingers, she sped up.
“Hurry, get a move on,” Linwood said, chancing a look at the mother with the two kids who were several dozen metres away walking along the path beside the lake.
As soon as Pauline was out of earshot, Linwood spoke firmly to Dean. “I’ve hurt you. I’m not sure how badly but I wouldn’t reckon much on your chances without a hospital. You’re a conniving snake, Dean, using Pauline to get to me after you killed her husband.”
“Ex-husband,” he retorted. Clearly, the wound hadn’t affected the arrogance of this little prick. It took all her self-control to not dig the knife in a second time.
“At one time, he was your friend.”
“He was your friend once—before you left.”
For a murdering bastard, he knew how to get to the crux of the matter.
“None of that is your concern,” she replied.
“But, it kind of is, isn’t it? If you hadn’t left us, maybe none of this mess would have happened. Thadeus could do what he did with Irulal because he had the freedom to act.”
He was voicing concerns she’d been having all week. And that’s what made it hurt. “Thadeus would have done what he did regardless of my being there.”
“He trusted you. Instead of listening to Irulal, he might have come to you instead.” Dean looked pale and Linwood worried that he would not last long enough to tell her what she needed to know.
“What happened with Thadeus and Irulal?”
“What happened?”
“She was destroyed. We blew her up in 1984. How come she came to be back in one piece?”
“I don’t know. He never told us she was still alive.”
“He must have done. What in the world did you think you were doing?”
“You’ve seen the silver?”
Linwood nodded. Thadeus had infected certain individuals with a substance he had some control over. He’d shown her the substance on his own body when she’d confronted him two nights ago.
“He showed me,” Linwood said. “But, he never told me what it was, nor how he could use that against people.”
Dean grimaced. “You know, I think I’m bleeding to death here. If you want me to tell you anything else, you will have to get me medical attention. You don’t want another body on your conscience.”
His hands were now painted in his own blood. She didn’t doubt that he was telling the truth about his injury and much as she wanted to not care about his fate, she found that she cared very much indeed.
“Pauline’s calling for the police. They’ll bring an ambulance.”
He didn’t look convinced. “Not good enough,” he said, shaking his head. “I need treatment now.”
“How did you get here? You got a car?”
“No, Pauline has though. She’s parked on the road.”
Linwood glanced in the direction Dean was indicating. “Come on then. You can talk as you walk.”
He got shakily to his feet. A grin appeared on his face.
Linwood felt like an ice cube had been touched to the back of her neck.
“Get moving.”
He did as she requested, shuffling and wincing. He was taking her back along a different path, the way that Pauline had travelled a couple of minutes ago. This seemed to be clear of strangers.
“I was back down in the Tombs yesterday. Almost got killed by a Faceless.”
Dean shook his head. “The Faceless were nothing new. Thadeus had been building up a collection of them over the last few months. Now and then, one of them would get sent out on a mission and we’d never see them again.”
“But where did they come from?”
“Does it matter?”
Linwood had checked the missing person’s reports for the area. They were fractionally higher than other towns of a similar size but nothing that would have set alarm bells ringing.
Dean had slowed. He was leaving a trail of blood behind.
“Tell me what you know about the Faceless,” Linwood asked.
“Thadeus never told us much. They were his pet project.”
“They were people once. He had them abducted.”
“There wasn’t anything I could do about that.”
“You knew he was working with Irulal though. You knew how dangerous that was.”
“He didn’t talk about Irulal. He never mentioned her at all. We thought he was using some of the research and tech we kept in the strongroom to help him sort out his cancer.”
Linwood tried not to think about
the cancer that Thadeus had been going through. She’d lost a sister to pancreatic cancer two years ago and knew how terrifying it was. It could never be an excuse though. Thadeus knew he was playing with fire when he started down this route.
“You might not have known about Irulal, but you knew about the Faceless. He was using them as suicide bombers. That didn’t faze you?”
He looked at her like she’d slapped him and in that instant, there was something different about him. The man she’d used to know was still there, his compassion not completely obliterated. “I didn’t want this. I wanted to go back to how things were before Operation Snowflake. He showed us what he’d done with the Faceless. He said they were dying, and he’d saved them.”
“You believed him?”
“I had little choice. It didn’t matter. By that time he’d already infected me with this silver. I wasn’t likely to go anywhere.”
“Did Thadeus ever indicate that it would be possible to restore a Faceless to how they were before?”
“Still thinking you can save them? He never talked about it. It doesn’t mean it’s impossible though.”
“There’s one thing I don’t get. If Thadeus was controlling the Faceless when he was alive, who’s doing that now he’s dead?”
Dean looked confused. Clearly, something he hadn’t spent much time considering. Dean had stopped walking now. He made a move like he was falling, and Linwood, stepped in to help him.
He swung around as she approached, shoved her backwards, and grabbed the gun from her hand. Immediately, the injured man was injured no more. The front of his clothes was still covered in blood, his hands too. But, the anxious face had been replaced with the cold steel of a man who once again held the upper hand.
“Get up,” he snarled.
Slowly, she complied. Unconsciously, her eyes darted to either side, looking for an escape route. If she could make it into the trees she might stand a chance of evading him.
“You’re perhaps wondering why I’m not concerned about the hole you’ve put in me,” he said dryly.
“I assume it’s something to do with the silver. If the silver is a special collection of these nanites that Thadeus was using to control you, it stands to reason there are other things they could do, like bodily repair.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Nice conjecture.”
“Are you not concerned with what else it’s doing to you?” she said as she got to her feet.
He looked uncertain. She liked that.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re aware of what happened at Jodrell Bank?”
“I watch the news. I’ve seen the video.”
“That was Irulal. She didn’t die in the Tombs. She took over Cindy Harding’s body and used that to open a dimensional schism to allow her own kind to come through and invade. It was stopped but only in the nick of time. She told me and Thadeus that the Shun nanites are in all of us. When she transmitted her signal from Jodrell Bank, it was the nanites within us that were reacting, changing us, preparing us for the Shun. Her people were going to take our bodies as hosts.
“You’ve got more nanites than the rest of us. OK, so they’ve strengthened you, helped you in times of bodily damage, but what else are they doing to you? And more to the point, why are they still active? I saw how they were used to kill Carey. Thadeus ordered them to do it. Well, who’s ordering the ones in you to act?”
“No one,” he replied, but he looked uncertain. “They act on their own.”
Linwood frowned. “Really? That’s not clear from the evidence we’ve got.”
“But Thadeus is dead. Are you suggesting that Irulal isn’t?”
“What if she isn’t dead? What if she’s able to control you?”
“No one’s controlling me,” he retorted.
“But, you can’t be completely sure.”
He looked about him then, concerned that they were being watched.
“On your feet.”
“Where are we going?”
“You’ve got a car?” he asked. “We need to keep moving.”
27
7th May 2013
Despite the gun, she wasn’t afraid of Dean. She’d worked with him too long, had grown too used to his arrogance to be intimidated by him now.
As she walked, she kept the conversation going. Pauline would get through to Payne one way or another and having the police here would help in apprehending Dean. Not essential, but helpful. Dean kept the gun in his jacket pocket, but he was fast enough to get it out if he needed to. Her best bet now was to delay him and to use this time to milk him for information.
“Why did you set this meeting up? I’d have thought I’d be the last person you’d want to see,” Linwood asked.
“All in good time.”
“I don’t think either of us has the luxury of time. I’ve got Department 5 breathing down my neck, and you,” she glanced at his injury, “well, you’ve got enough going on.”
“Department 5... How times have changed. I remember when they were the amateurs, but bit by bit they've stolen the limelight from you haven’t they?”
Linwood couldn’t deny it. For years they’d been the ones struggling to understand their remit and deal with their first alien encounter. But after years of investment and attention it had been Department 5, not MI18, that had become the go-to team for the security services.
“Department 5 will be leading the fallout from the Jodrell Bank Incident. I’m going to make sure they become the best they can be.”
“You can’t trust them, though. Jaq Petro is tough. I can’t believe for one moment she’s on board with the idea of working with you.”
“So far, we haven’t killed each other.”
“And does she know you’re meeting me?”
Linwood considered lying but didn’t see what would be gained. Instead, she shook her head gently.
Dean continued. “I’ve heard things about that team. They’re in bed with TALOS. I’d give them a wide berth if I were you.”
“If you know something, you should come and talk to us.”
He laughed. “That will never happen.”
They were out of the park now and onto the main road. Traffic was light and the only people she could see were an older man and woman walking a pair of black springer spaniels across the road, up by the next set of traffic lights. Too far out to be of any use to her, but maybe that also meant that they were far enough away that she could act without risking any members of the public.
“I’m not so sure you’d kill me. You can put the gun away,” Linwood said dryly, her heart beating faster.
“Maybe I don’t have to kill you. Perhaps, I’ll just put a bullet in your shoulder and see how you like that.”
Urgent footsteps behind them as a newcomer approached. Linwood turned her head at the same time as Dean and saw Pauline hurrying towards them, a concerned look on her face. “Wait, where are you going?” Pauline cried.
Dean stopped. He flashed the gun discreetly so Pauline could see that he was in charge once again.
Linwood weighed up her options. There weren’t many left. Pauline being here made matters more complicated. “I’m happy to go with you, Dean. You’re no good to me locked up in a police cell.”
“That’s not what you said ten minutes ago.”
“Ten minutes ago, I didn’t know you had so much information about the Faceless. I can’t trust Department 5 and I may not trust you. But I know you.”
“Better the devil?” he snorted.
“You don’t want to be left in the wings watching this all turn to shit.”
Dean turned to look at Pauline and there was now something different about his face. A softening.
Surely, Linwood thought, he wasn’t about to come clean. This wasn’t the time.
Pauline’s face was flushed and Linwood felt pity for her then. The grieving widow who’d been caught up in things she couldn’t possibly understand. Dean had always been the most complicated person o
n the MI18 team, and his infection with the silver was only ever going to tip him one way.
“I’m sorry for what happened to Charlie,” he said, looking Pauline in the eye. “It wasn’t meant to happen like that. If he hadn’t been so stubborn...”
Linwood closed her eyes. She’d suspected. Payne had told her what happened during the meal when Charlie had been shot by an unseen sniper.
“Dean, now’s not the time,” Linwood said softly and pointed to the end of the road. “My car’s down this way.”
No one was listening to her. Pauline’s brow furrowed. Her eyes flicked to the ground, to Dean’s face, to the hand bulging under his jacket.
“Thadeus needed the information Charlie was about to give up. I couldn’t say no.”
Pauline’s face turned to stone. “You murdered Charlie?”
His silence was all the confirmation she needed.
Pauline slapped Dean’s cheek with a whip-like crack.
But, she wasn’t finished. “You bastard!” she swore, punching him on his chest, lashing out with frustration.
It all happened so fast.
“Get off!” he shouted at Pauline, and he tried to shove her back, away from him. It was clear from his posture that fighting wasn’t in his plan. He just wanted to get away, but when the shot rang out and tore through the quiet and Pauline fell to the floor, Dean could only stand over her in shock.
“I didn’t...”
And maybe he hadn’t. But that didn’t lessen the impact.
Linwood got down beside Pauline, but, she could see that it was too late as soon as she saw the blood spilling around her back.
“It’s OK,” she lied. “It will be OK.”
“I’m sorry,” Dean said, then he was gone, running away from the pair of them, leaving Linwood alone to sit by the dying woman, wondering how on earth she’d messed this up so badly.
28
7th May 2013
It had been a long day and Max was glad when the sky began to darken because he’d have a legitimate excuse to go to bed and forget about this nightmare for a few hours. Tiredness had come to him several times during the day but his instinct was to stay awake and be prepared. Despite being treated well, his lack of privacy and his isolation meant his paranoia was increasing by the hour. If Linwood had arranged to put him in here, then why hadn’t she been to see him yet? Why hadn’t they put Payne in containment? He’d had close contact with the Faceless.
The Faceless Stratagem (Tombs Book 2) Page 13
