by Seth Patrick
‘I’d assume anyone left in the building is either part of Unity or part of security,’ said Annabel.
Jonah waited, then grasped the handle again and opened the door.
It took another minute for Never to lead them to the storage room. ‘DANGER’, a sign on the door read. ‘Storage area. Authorized personnel only. Safety protocols must be observed.’ In smaller print below was an extensive list of safety directives and the words Corrosive, Flammable. ‘Here we go,’ Never said, reaching for the handle.
Annabel shook her head. ‘Won’t it be locked?’
He turned the handle and opened the door a few inches, grinning. ‘I’ve worked in labs before,’ he said. ‘You only lock doors if stuff gets nicked.’ He pushed the door wide.
The store room had ten ranks of ceiling-high open shelving. Behind them, the door closed silently as they made their way along, passing a set of fire extinguishers. Boxes of protective clothing, lab wear and low-tech equipment gave way to electrical and electronic devices. What seemed to be a computer junkyard was along one shelf, and it drew Never’s attention for a moment. At the back of the room, one wall was taken up entirely with four huge metal cabinets, labelled with familiar warning symbols, and dozens of containers. In the corner was a small sink with a single faucet and a bottle of saline wash. Above the sink was a notice with instructions on dealing with chemical injuries. Knowing what he was after, Never opened door after door until he found it. Jonah and Annabel stood patiently.
‘Right,’ said Never, three large bottles at his feet. ‘Sorted. We need something to light it with. There may be flint gas lighters around; if not I can get any handy power socket to make all the sparks we need. You two hunt around. I’m going to get something nasty.’
Jonah squinted. ‘What do you mean?’
‘We want plenty of smoke, but if someone comes along to investigate, we want it acrid. Then maybe they’ll not come close enough to see it’s just a few bins on fire. Anything corrosive will do. The rest’s just detail. Chuck it on carpet, plenty of acrid smoke. Just don’t breathe it.’ He went to open the next cabinet and the door came off in his hand. He balanced it back in place. ‘Oops…’
Jonah shook his head. ‘Try not to destroy the place.’
‘Not my fault if their maintenance people are shit,’ Never said, bending down. He gave a little cheer and took a bottle out. ‘Formamide,’ it said. ‘Highly corrosive.’ The shelf above had smaller plastic bottles of methylated spirits. ‘And one for luck,’ he said, taking one of them, and as he did, he swore, pulling back. The bottle of meths fell from his hands, thudding to the ground. Annabel jumped.
‘Be careful!’ she said.
‘There’s, ah, something in there.’
Annabel and Jonah stared at him, then leaned down to see where he pointed. Tucked in behind the bottles was a small plastic box, wiring visible through the plastic.
Annabel stood. ‘Jesus … is that…?’
‘It’s a box with wires,’ said Jonah, his mind racing. ‘What do you think?’
‘Shit,’ said Annabel. ‘Hannerman must always have had someone on the inside, after all. And if they couldn’t stop Unity from going ahead…’
Jonah thought about Hannerman’s file – an obsessive nature, always having a backup plan. Now that Unity was complete, the only option left was to destroy them all.
‘We stick to the plan,’ said Never, staring at the device buried in all those bottles of flammable liquid. ‘We get the lighters we need, then we set off the fire alarms and make it convincing. They’ll evacuate but we’ll be well gone. Agreed?’
Jonah nodded, but he was torn. He knew that a big part of him wanted Andreas dead. That if he was honest, it might just have been Tess’s presence that was stopping him from torching the building himself. But there was something else. Those with Unity were perhaps the only ones who could ever know what Andreas really was, if only the memories would return to them. Perhaps they were the only ones who could stop him.
‘Agreed,’ said Annabel. She and Jonah walked to the end of the row of shelves.
Then they heard the storage room door click and squeak gently as it opened.
Annabel and Jonah were standing in plain sight of the door. Jonah raised his hand, palm towards Never. Stay back, the gesture said. Stay still.
The woman Jonah had seen in the corridor entered. Shit, he thought. The one that he’d thought looked familiar. The thirst he’d ignored had surely been a warning from Daniel, because he could see it now. Striking features. Almost beautiful, but her eyes too close together, her nose too long and thin. Long blonde hair in the picture he’d seen of her, standing beside her brother.
Yes, Hannerman did have someone on the inside, all this time, he thought. And God knows how she managed to do it.
The woman was Hannerman’s sister. Julia.
When Felix Hannerman had died he had taken himself out of the reach of revival, just as his colleagues had done. But it hadn’t been a last, pointless statement of defiance, Jonah realized. He had known he was badly injured, maybe close to death. He couldn’t risk being captured or revived. He had killed himself to protect their last hope. His sister. Waiting until all of Unity was in one place.
And just like Jonah and the others, she had waited until the building was at its quietest, its residents least alert. Until they were most vulnerable.
Julia Hannerman saw them. ‘Don’t move,’ she said, her voice timid and wavering.
‘Please, Julia. We can help you,’ said Jonah. ‘Lower the gun.’
34
‘Please. I know who you are, Julia. My name is Jonah Miller. They’ve been keeping us prisoner.’
Julia Hannerman took a step forward to allow the door to close behind her. ‘I know. I know everything that goes on here.’
‘This is Annabel Harker. You know what happened to her father.’
Julia Hannerman looked down momentarily. Guilt? Jonah wondered.
‘Please,’ Annabel said. ‘We just want to get away from here.’
Julia’s gun dipped down for a moment, but she raised it again, determination visible on her face. ‘This is the only way. They’re all here now, all sleeping five floors above. The fire system is disabled. External security overrides are inactive. All the fire exits have been sealed.’ With her free hand she reached into a pocket and produced a handful of empty tubes, which she threw at Annabel’s feet.
Annabel picked one up. ‘Cyanoacrylate,’ she said. ‘Superglue.’ She laughed gently. ‘You glued the fucking doors shut?’
‘My brother thought of everything,’ said Julia Hannerman. ‘He was always thorough. Every plan had a backup. Everything covered. I wasn’t sent here just to watch, just to find out what they were doing.’ She reached into her pocket again and pulled out a small black plastic box, a switch on the front beside a white button. She flicked the switch, and a red light appeared beside it. She put the box to her mouth, pulling out an aerial with her teeth. ‘Our goal was to stop their leader from coming through. To allow that could be the end for us all, but with only me left there was no choice. Let it come and burn with the rest of them.’
Jonah’s eyes widened. ‘I know what you think you’re doing, but there are innocent people here. Not just us.’
‘Collateral damage. Sacrifice.’
At the words, Jonah could feel anger boiling inside him. That was how Julia Hannerman thought of it, and that was how she thought of Daniel Harker. ‘Andreas is the only one we have to stop, Julia.’
‘They all have to burn. The exit on this corridor is the only way out, and I’m the only one who can open it. I have incendiaries throughout the building. When I’m sure they’ve done their work, I’ll be using that exit so I can stand and gun down anyone who comes through the fire. You keep out of my way, then maybe I’ll let you follow. At a distance. But don’t think I’m going to reconsider sending those things back to hell.’
* * *
Crouched on the ground, Never had been st
aying as quiet as he could while he picked at the stopper on the bottle of corrosive formamide by his feet.
He looked over to Jonah, and Jonah nodded: time for a distraction. He removed the lid from the bottle. The floor under the shelving units was clear. He set the bottle on its side, then rolled it under the bottom of the shelves. It kept going, liquid glugging out as it went. Clouds of choking fumes reached Never’s eyes and throat. He coughed, taken by surprise at just how severe the effect was.
Julia Hannerman heard the cough, then heard the bottle thunk against the wall near her. She turned, seeing the clouds of white smoke billowing from the floor, caught by the fumes like Never had been. Coughing, she turned back, but Annabel was already bearing down on her, clutching at the gun. It fired, hitting the ceiling, the noise deafening in the enclosed space. Jonah lashed out, his fist connecting with Julia Hannerman’s face.
She fell backwards, her head striking the metal shelving. She lay on the floor, one hand in the corrosive liquid, unconscious.
‘Christ,’ said Annabel. ‘Her hand.’ The skin on Hannerman’s left hand was raw red and starting to blister. Annabel grabbed a bottle of saline wash and paper towels from the sink in the corner and set to work, taking the hand out of the formamide and squirting the saline over it to wash away the corrosive. Meanwhile, Never took a second bottle of saline. He stooped and righted the formamide bottle, carefully replacing the lid. Then he emptied the saline bottle along the length of the spill. The ventilation in the room was keeping on top of the fumes, but it still stung to breathe.
Her work done, Annabel reached under the shelf and picked up Hannerman’s gun and remote from where they had fallen. She pocketed the gun and passed the remote to Never. ‘Switch that off.’
‘Uh … what?’ asked Never, staring at the remote he was holding. Annabel reached over and flicked back the switch Hannerman had enabled. The red light on the remote disappeared. Wary, Never pushed the aerial back down and slid the remote into his pocket.
Julia Hannerman moaned.
Jonah spotted rolls of duct tape on one shelf and took one. ‘She’s coming round.’
By the time she had, he’d wrapped half of the tape around her legs and used most of the rest to secure her arms behind her back, around the base of one thick metal shelf leg.
‘Don’t be stupid,’ Julia said. ‘Let me go. You know they have to be stopped.’
Annabel looked her in the eye. ‘How do we get out of here?’
‘This may be the only chance to get them! Andreas and his people are all asleep. I made sure. I drugged as much of the champagne as I dared. Only Andreas’s whore was awake when I checked, crying to herself in the empty room.’ Julia Hannerman smiled, her face twisting with spite. ‘I think she must have realized what she is.’
Annabel shot a glance at Jonah, and he could see that look for what it was – Annabel was gauging his reaction. She looked back at Hannerman. ‘Tell us how to leave. We’re taking you with us. How do we get out?’
Julia Hannerman said nothing.
‘Then fuck you,’ Annabel snapped. ‘We’ll get out ourselves.’ She grabbed the remainder of the duct tape and covered Julia Hannerman’s mouth, wrapping the roll round the back of her head three times. Then she put her hand in one of Hannerman’s jacket pockets, searching. When Hannerman’s eyes lit up with anger, Jonah knew Annabel was on to something. She tried the jacket breast pocket and struck gold: out came what looked like a security swipe card.
They hurried down to the isolated fire exit, at the end of a short corridor around a corner. Annabel handed the card to Never. ‘Go on,’ she said. ‘Knowing her brother, we might not have long.’
Jonah stared at her. ‘What?’
‘You saw how defiant she was.’
‘Right…’ said Never, worry dawning on his face. ‘Trussed up and she didn’t even try to talk her way out. Still confident. She knows something we don’t.’
‘Exactly,’ said Annabel. ‘Everything might just be on a timer. Another backup.’
Tess is still in there, Jonah thought. In an instant he’d made the decision. He ran back toward the centre of the building.
‘Wait!’ Annabel shouted. ‘Jonah!’
‘Give me five minutes,’ Jonah shouted back to them. ‘Then go without me.’
* * *
Jonah moved quickly but with caution. He took the stairwell to the top floor, two steps at a time, slowing down on the last two flights as his legs started to complain.
He glanced down the corridor. It was the one he’d walked down, with Tess that afternoon, obsidian doors still latched open and the corridor stretching to infinity. There was nobody around. The only light he could see came from the room they’d been setting up for the celebration. He hurried down to it and looked through the door window. There she was. Alone, in a chair near one of the tables that were loaded with empty bottles and glasses and half-full plates, the lights now dimmed. He opened the door, wincing as the hinge squeaked.
She looked up and wiped tears from her cheeks. ‘Jonah?’ she said, wide-eyed. ‘Something’s wrong with Michael. He should have rested for longer. That was why. I told him it was too soon, but…’
He pulled the door shut behind him and walked over.
‘I’m getting you out of here,’ he said, keeping his voice low.
‘He … he was confused, Jonah. The look in his eyes kept changing. And then … and then once he turned to me, took my hand and asked me to help him. He looked so scared. He said he was drowning. Why did he say that? We left the room and he looked at me and smiled, and it was so cold. Then he just laughed and went back inside…’ She fell silent.
‘Come with me, Tess.’
She shook her head. ‘He needs me. He’s confused. He’s still recovering.’
‘Tess, something else came through. It’s inside him. But right now, you need to come.’ He held out his hand. She reached out to take it and then froze, looking over Jonah’s shoulder.
‘Mr Miller,’ said Will Barlow from the doorway. ‘I’m afraid the party’s over.’
* * *
Annabel and Never stood by the fire exit, waiting. Annabel didn’t know how to feel. She’d watched Jonah run into danger, putting himself at risk for a woman who’d been a key part of this whole damn thing. Right now, she wanted to punch him.
‘Why did he go back for her?’ she said.
‘One thing you should have learned about Jonah by now: he’s a principled fucker. It’s not usually so fucking infuriating. She’s an old friend, massive bitch or not. But you saw the look on his face when Andreas called her in and she explained how it was. Let’s just say I don’t think you have any competition there. If it helps.’
‘It’s not like that.’
‘So you two keep saying.’ He looked at his watch, then shook his head. ‘Fuck it. Julia said all the alarms are off. We can at least have the door open and ready.’ He swiped the card in the reader by the door. The small LCD display said, ‘CODE.’
‘Fuck,’ said Never.
Annabel looked at him. ‘Can’t we—’
‘What?’ said Never, despairing. ‘Guess? Hack in?’
‘I was going to say, since the alarms are out … can’t we just find a window to smash?’
He paused, then grinned. ‘I owe you a drink,’ he said.
* * *
‘They liked you, Jonah,’ said Barlow. He was slurring his words, unsteady on his feet. As he entered he picked up one of the few remaining full champagne glasses, raised it and drank. He pulled the door closed behind him and twisted the latch. ‘There was something different about you. Special. They broke through to you, you see, when you revived that psychologist. What was her name?’
‘Alice. Alice Decker.’
‘Yes! They even spoke to you. It pleased them. Unexpected, but liberation, however brief, is always glorious. Especially after so long in the darkness. I think they hoped you would prove to be our reviver. They thought if you’d been the one, they would come
through strong. Much stronger than they did in the end. But you couldn’t take your medicine…’
Jonah looked around at Tess. She was still sitting with a deer-in-the-headlights stare.
She spoke. ‘Wh … what’s wrong with Michael? What did you do to him?’
Barlow looked at her pityingly, then sat beside her. ‘Oh, Tess, the times we had. You know, ever since you were chosen, I watched you with such care. I didn’t know how long it would be before you understood. I tried to talk Michael out of letting you be the second to attempt Unity, especially after I made sure the first didn’t survive.’ He looked over to Jonah. ‘You see, the one you spoke to in Underwood, it knew, or soon would. It was close to remembering, close to discovering the truth. One death was easy. More could prove harder, but the next was so much weaker, I thought we’d have plenty of time, and I was right. Of all those who reached Unity and survived, Tess has the strongest within her, and she still doesn’t know. But I’ve been ready to take care of Tess ever since she came through the procedure. Just in case she started to remember and ruin everything. I’m glad I didn’t have to, Tess. I want to enjoy you again.’
She stared at Barlow. ‘What’s inside him? What’s inside me?’
‘Ah! Understanding. Finally. But I’m not supposed to tell. They want to tell you themselves.’
‘“They”, Barlow?’ said Jonah. ‘Who are you talking about? The rest of Unity?’
Barlow smiled. ‘You know who I mean. You saw it, Jonah. I could tell. When you shook Michael’s hand, you felt what it was. We are what we eat, Jonah. They are all they have ever consumed, and they will take you too. They. It. All the same. One and many. Legion. It will take you, and you will be one with it.’
Jonah took Tess’s hand. ‘Come on, Tess. We’re going.’
Barlow laughed, standing. ‘Guess again.’
Jonah stared at this man, a man he’d always disliked because Tess favoured him. ‘How long, Will?’ he said. ‘How long have you been playing lapdog?’
‘Longer than you think. And my reward will be eternal. I’ll be favoured. Granted every pleasure, while the unworthy suffer.’
