by Trish Moran
He nodded and slowly opened his eyes.
‘That’s the first time we have had to use Non-Lab medical facilities,’ Celia said.
‘Mmmm. Do we have many Labs studying medicine?’ Abel asked.
‘Four are taking Open University courses in medicine in the Compound. They want to go to medical school next year. And there are about ten more free-living Labs studying at university in London, Cardiff, and Birmingham,’ Ruby told him.
As Celia and Ruby helped him into his bed, Abel squeezed Ruby’s hand.
‘I never thought I’d say this to a Non-Lab,’ he smiled at her, ‘but I would not have managed without you, Ruby. I would not have been able to remain reasonable.’
‘I’m glad you’re OK, Abel,’ she said. ‘Do you need any painkillers?’
He shook his head. Ruby and Celia waited until his breathing showed he was asleep before they crept from the room.
Chapter Twenty-one
‘Lily, Milly!’ he stopped in front of them. ‘What a surprise meeting you here!’
‘Oh, hello! We didn’t know you were in London!’ Milly smiled.
‘I had to collect some equipment from a place nearby,’ he told them.
‘We’ve just finished work and are on our way home,’ Lily added. ‘Come back to the house with us! The boys will be so glad to see you!’
‘That would be great! I have my work van just around the corner. If you don’t mind sitting in the back …?’
‘Not at all!’ Milly said.
‘It is better than walking in this rain!’ Lily laughed.
‘What work are you doing now?’ Milly asked as they walked around the corner. ‘Hey, look who else is here!’ she added as a young woman appeared beside the van.
The next morning Ruby looked up as Abel walked into the office.
‘Abel! You are looking so much better today!’ she smiled. ‘How is your wound healing?’
‘I am feeling fairly well, though a little weak still,’ he replied.
‘I’m so glad you are OK, Abel. I was so worried about you! I mean, we all were!’ Ruby said.
Celia burst into the room, ‘Ruby! Oh, Abel, I’m so glad you are feeling better! Sophie has been on the phone. It might be a fuss about nothing, but … well, she was worried enough to ring me. Lily and Milly did not come home last night. It seems they left work at the usual time, but they never went home.’
‘Perhaps they stopped off to see some friends on the way.’ Abel suggested.
‘That’s what I said to Sophie. But it is unlike them. They are quite shy girls,’ Celia continued. ‘And they would have phoned the others to explain their plans.’
‘Have they phoned all the people they know around there?’ Ruby asked. ‘Labs and Non-Labs?’
Celia nodded.
‘It’s not like Lily and Milly to behave like this,’ Ruby frowned. ‘They’re only just getting used to working among Non-Labs. It is unusual for them to venture very far without one of the other Labs with them.’
‘Perhaps they decided it is time they spread their wings a little?’ Abel suggested.
‘Maybe,’ Ruby said, unconvinced.
‘Phone Sophie. Tell them we will be with them in an hour!’ Abel said.
‘Are you sure you are well enough?’ Celia asked.
‘I will get dressed. Perhaps you could drive, Celia,’ he said as he left the room.
When they arrived at the house, Ben and his housemates were also there.
‘Should we call the police?’ Joe asked.
‘Yes, though there is no need to tell them the girls are Labs at this stage,’ Celia suggested. ‘It could have far-reaching effects on the other Labs living under false IDs in the community.’
Ruby, Sophie, and Megan headed for the police station.
‘We can’t just sit here!’ Ben jumped up. ‘We could retrace their steps since they left work.’
‘Yes, you and Lucy could do that. The rest of us could split into pairs and call at any other likely places the girls may have visited,’ Celia added. ‘Abel could remain here to take any phone calls.’
By noon, they were still no nearer finding out what had happened to the two girls.
‘Surely the girls will come to no l harm. At least they’re together,’ Ruby sounded as if she was trying to convince herself.
‘They are quite naïve,’ Joe said as Oliver nodded.
‘We have all Labs in London and in all the other areas looking out for them,’ Abel said. ‘Simon and Isaac have also promised to do the best they can.’
The young men made several more trips around the neighbourhood during the next few hours.
Finally, as they had almost given up hope, Ruby, Sophie, and Megan were called to the police station to look at some CCTV images.
‘Yes, that’s the twins!’ Ruby said excitedly.
‘Who’s the man with them?’ Megan squinted at the screen at a young man who was wearing a baseball cap pulled low over his face.
‘I can’t see much of his face,’ Ruby answered, ‘but they seem to know him.’
They watched the three people smiling and chatting together as they walked along the road near where the girls worked.
‘This was taken at five forty-five,’ the police officer told them.
‘They finished at the office they work in at 5.15,’ Ruby told them.
‘Have you spoken to the other people who work there?’ Sophie asked the policeman.
‘Yes; no one noticed anything unusual. They said the twins left at the normal time. Two other girls walked as far as the tube station with them, then Milly and Lily continued along the road as usual. The girls didn’t talk about their evening arrangements; in fact the girls said it was quite hard to make conversation with the twins as they are rather shy.’
Ruby nodded, ‘They are.’
‘After leaving the police station, they walked along the same route and stopped at the point where the twins were filmed talking to the young man with the baseball cap.’
‘What can have happened to them?’ Ruby said. ‘Who did they meet there?’
‘Well, the police are going to show the CCTV footage on the news; who knows; maybe someone somewhere will have something to tell us,’ Oliver said.
A week later Johnny and Leon were walking home from college. Johnny opened the newspaper he was holding until he reached the article he was looking for.
‘Still no news of Milly and Lily,’ he looked at the photos of the two girls.
‘The story isn’t even front-page news anymore,’ Leon replied, looking at the paper over his shoulder as they walked along the road. ‘What can have happened to them?’ ‘They can’t have disappeared into thin air! Someone must know something!’ Johnny replied.
They both looked up as a girl stepped in front of them.
‘Johnny! Leon!’ she smiled at them. ‘Am I glad to bump into you!’
‘Hey!’ Johnny smiled back. ‘We haven’t seen you since … oh …’
‘It must have been that party; at Ben’s place,’ Leon said.
‘Anyway, what are you doing here?’ Johnny asked her.
She sighed, ‘I recently moved into a flat near here and I’ve just bought a new television. They delivered it to my home; but only as far as the front door!’
‘Lead us to it!’ Leon told her.
‘No job too big!’ Johnny joked. ‘Where is it?’
‘Just behind that white van,’ she said.
‘Hey, look who else is here!’ Leon said as a figure stepped out from behind the van.
Dette toyed with a pen as she spoke on the phone to Celia.
‘I’m probably just overreacting; but after the girls going missing, I can’t help it.’
‘Johnny and Leon are a lot wiser about life in the Non-Lab world than the two girls, Dette,’ she answered.
Dette shrugged, ‘That’s what Keith said when I phoned him. I know they do stay out overnight sometimes, but we all agreed, after Milly and Lily, that we’d phone each ot
her so no one would be worried. And they haven’t!’
‘Let’s give them until this afternoon. They have been known to find an excuse to skip college lectures, but they never miss football training. If they do not attend, we will have to give serious consideration to the matter.’
‘And if they do attend I will give them a serious talking to!’ Dette said. ‘I will phone you from college later.’
Ruby looked at Celia. ‘Do you think …?’
‘Come on now!’ Celia said breezily, ‘Dette is overreacting! You know what the twins are like, Ruby!’
‘You’re right, Celia,’ Ruby gave a tight smile. Mentally she was compiling a list of people, Labs and Non-Labs, who might have an idea where the twins could be.
By two o’clock that afternoon she was seated with Dette and Keith adding names to the list.
As Abel put down the phone, he ticked another name off the list beside him. He redialled and repeated the action.
Two hours later they had exhausted all the names they had collected together.
Celia picked up the phone as it rang.
‘Isaac? Any news? No, nothing here either … Yes we may have to … We will discuss the situation now … Yes, thank you,’ she replaced the receiver and looked at the others.
‘No news. Isaac, Simon, Ben, and the others will continue to check out places they might have gone to. They’ll phone if there’s any news,’ she looked at Abel, ‘He asked if we’d told the police about the twins and the girls being Labs. He feels it might be relevant.’
Abel sighed, ‘I think he may be right. I have made an appointment to see Inspector Fells, who is in charge of the investigation into the disappearance of Milly and Lily.’
‘So you did not think to inform us of this fact at an earlier date, Mr Abel?’ the inspector’s face was grim. ‘We would have looked at this case in an entirely different light!’
‘And how many other Labs are living under assumed IDs in our community?’ his second in command, Detective Inspector Thomas, added. ‘I think we are entitled to know the identity of all these people!’
‘Perhaps we could discuss this point at a different time?’ Abel gave an impatient shrug. ‘What matters now is finding out who is involved in the kidnapping of these four Labs!’
The DI began to make his objections but Inspector Fells interrupted him.
‘I think Mr Abel has a point, Thomas; our priority at the moment is to find these youngsters.’ He turned to Abel. ‘The Labs have not always been made welcome in our society, have they? You yourself were the victim of an attempted murder only a short while ago. The police still have no evidence of who is responsible for that attack, though there were rumours it was someone from the Forever England group.’
Abel nodded, ‘And it was a few days later when the girls went missing. The two events could very well be connected.’
‘Sven and Baxman also disappeared nearly two months ago. There has been no trace of them either, has there?’ Inspector Fells turned to the DI, ‘I would like you to collect all the information you can on the investigation into their disappearance, Thomas.’
‘I’ll get on to it right away, sir.’
As Thomas left the room, he turned as the inspector called his name.
‘And we won’t be revealing to anyone that the missing youngsters are Labs. Not until I’ve spoken to the Prime Minister with Mr Abel here.’
‘So, no news yet?’ Vince asked Celia that evening.
‘Nothing. I’m so worried, Vince! What can we do?’ she sobbed.
There was a pause.
‘I’ve thought about the fraud cases I have dealt with in my line of work. The first thing we always did was make a list of all the people the company had any dealings with. You need to check out all the subscribers, donors, pharmaceutical companies, equipment providers – anyone with a connection to the Centre.’
‘I’ll divide these up between us and get on to them straight away,’ Celia said as she jotted down notes.
‘And is there a list of phone calls made to and from the Centre around the time it closed?’ he said.
‘Yes, yes, there is one!’ Celia sounded hopeful.
‘Do you have access to it? Or can you gain access, somehow?’ he continued.
Celia looked down at her memory stick.
‘Yes, I do! Thank you, Vince! I’ll go through it right now myself We could make a list of the people that oppose us!’
‘Look at supporters of the Centre, too, Celia. They may have made new plans of their own,’ Vince added. ‘And get back to me with any news, any time of the day or night!’
Abel entered the Centre office late that night.
Ruby, Celia, Dette, Keith, and Isaac looked up eagerly, but their faces registered disappointment as he shook his head.
‘The police have no leads whatsoever at the moment,’ he sighed. ‘I looked at some CCTV footage. It shows the boys walking along the main road near the shopping centre. There was a teenager, could be male or female, wearing a baseball cap pulled down to hide their face, in the background further up the road.’
‘It could be the same person the girls spoke to!’ Dette exclaimed.
‘It could be anybody!’ Abel told her.
‘Anyway, we can’t just sit here!’ Ruby’s eyes were red-rimmed. ‘Who knows what is happening to Johnny and Leon, and the two girls!’
Dette nodded, ‘You’re right! There must be something we can do!’
Abel sat down and pulled a sheet of paper towards him.
‘This is what we discussed today – first Sven and Baxman went missing …’
‘But I don’t think anyone would kidnap them, Abel!’ Ruby interrupted.
‘No, but they may be involved in the kidnapping of the twins shortly afterwards,’ he said. ‘The police, and I think they are correct, are assuming that the same people are responsible for the disappearance of both the male and female twins.’
‘That could be it!’ Keith said. ‘If we could locate Sven and Baxman, we may be on the trail of the twins!’
‘Why would they want them?’ Dette said softly. ‘Could they possibly be continuing their research … as they were doing at the Centre?’
‘We must find them soon!’ Ruby cried.
‘Vince suggested we take a look at the phone transcripts of calls made when the background of the Centre was made public. Perhaps that would give us some clues,’ Celia suggested.
‘But all those details have been removed from the Centre system,’ Dette said. ‘We don’t have access to them now.’
Celia pulled the memory stick from her pocket and inserted it into the computer, ‘I made a copy of some files I needed for a … personal enquiry.’
The others gathered around her as she opened a file on the screen. She scrolled down until she came to a folder titled ‘Communication’. As she clicked on it ‘Access Denied – Managerial Level Only’ appeared on the screen.
‘How can we get managerial permission?’ Ruby asked.
‘We can’t,’ Celia said simply. ‘We’re not supposed to have any of this information.’ She frowned, then typed a password and tried unsuccessfully to open the folder again.
‘Hmm!’ she murmured to herself, ‘Try to think like a Non-Lab!’
After two more attempts, she gained access.
‘Phew!’ she smiled, ‘Another wrong attempt and the file would have locked itself!’
They looked at the screen to see several more folders. Celia clicked open one labelled ‘Phone Transcripts’. There were several folders, each one dated. She clicked on the most recent date and scrolled down through a long list of messages mainly from disgruntled subscribers with complaints on many subjects, including demands for repayments, queries about medical treatment, and such subjects.
‘That’s not really important news,’ Abel pointed out. ‘We already know about these complaints. Many have been dealt with by the newly appointed management.’
Celia scrolled down further then stopped.
<
br /> ‘Look, here’s a different kind of message.’ She read out:
A message for John Baxman,
It’s a great blow to the future of medical development worldwide to witness the closure of the Centre for the Development of Medical Advancement, halted by the foolishness of a committee of ignorant, uninformed pen-pushers! I just want you to know I remain a stalwart supporter of your company and ideals and will be happy to voice my opinions publicly.
Gerald Hardgrave
She scrolled down further. ‘And this.’
My Dear Mr Baxman,
I was very disappointed, although not too surprised, to hear of the closure of the Centre. When man is capable of making such remarkable medical advances one must expect the less gifted to view such developments with trepidation. I only wish that such a remarkable institution as yours could be given the chance to develop and stride forward unfettered in a country that could appreciate such genius and the benefits it could provide to all mankind. I would like to assure you of my loyal support.
Rafe Maher
‘While I continue to look through the phone transcripts, Dette and Keith, find out some background information on anyone we list as possible supporters of Baxman,’ Celia suggested.
‘We could begin by Googling them,’ Keith said as Dette turned to a second computer.
‘I’ll give Isaac a ring. He may know something about these people,’ Ruby reached for the phone.
By the end of the afternoon, Celia has found ten more messages supporting the Centre’s work among the many letters of complaint.
‘Four of those sound as if they are from rather disturbed minds,’ Celia said, reading out:
‘“ I have always believed it is possible to breed a race of super monsters which we could keep in harness until the day we have to face the inevitable attack from space. Together we can save planet earth! ”’
‘That could be the kind of person we are looking for,’ Keith sighed.
Chapter Twenty-two
Two men pulled the trolley into the dimly lit room.
‘Pull it alongside the capsule,’ he said in a low voice. ‘Gently!’
The occupant of the trolley was gently lifted into the capsule. He flicked several of the switches on the monitor nearby.
