by James Flynn
The professor slowly nodded his head. He scanned the room, people were no longer interested in him, far more concerned with how they could postulate and debate on the sterile birth of such a discovery.
With two loud bangs on the table, Brun brought everyone’s gaze back on him. He looked angered and banged a third time to make sure everyone had fallen silent.. As he looked at the expecting mass his jaw was clenched, the glaze had gone, he looked across all of the faces one by one. Luke sat up in his chair, Chung Su and Beltrano leant forward in theirs … Brun was going to talk.
I stand here as the spokesperson … yet I am the one who does you all the greatest disservice. Brun seemed to wrestle with what his next words were going to be. He flitted a look at Beltrano, who sat stony-faced. After a long pause, he blew out a loud sigh and resolved himself to continue. Truth. Standing in front of all of you I appreciate now the courage such devotions require … my dear colleagues I have not been honest with you. What you have seen tonight, all of it, was happening six years ago.
There was a gasp from the crowd. Brun looked over Luke’s shoulder at Beltrano and Chung Su. He took a final sip of water and placed the glass down, resolutely continuing: Any of you who know him know Professor Vittorio is a man that advocates science as a practical art, so showing inhuman restraint we kept the findings a secret and began work on the real “Universe Changer”, to take a ghost particle and create something completely beautiful, completely new, breeding life from the smallest of simplicities. Vittorio believed in balance, the overwhelming need for the universe to balance itself, Yin and Yang, perfect harmony.
Confused faces flashed left and right, the energy was again picking up. We examined the neutrino in every way possible, we were studying the speed of the neutrinos and from this seismic shift in how we viewed the universe Vittorio and I opened our minds to any possibility … the neutrino must be part of the harmony of the universe … balance.
Brun stopped himself, unsure how to continue. There was a pregnant silence, some of the greatest minds on the planet were whirring and processing, Brun found a way to continue. These studies led us down many paths, the vast majority of which were dead ends. Like our colleagues before us, Bahcall, Davies, and the master of them all, Fermi, we were working off pure neutrino theory. I would like to say that we laid out a simple theory and proved it. That, I’m afraid, would be a lie; what we found was purely accidental, although many would argue that in our world nothing is accidental if you are looking hard enough. Vittorio felt it was the universe’s way of showing us the way. I am sure all of you are very confused.
Brun looked into the distance, his eyes glazing over. Imagine harnessing the most abundant particle in the known universe, giving it a purpose … we achieved it. We breathed life into the neutrino … how? Yin and Yang.
The entire room was now baffled, Brun had wandered into his own world. People heard what he was saying, and each had their own deciphered version of the meaning, but no one was sure.
Tonight will be my last night on the OPERA project, I hereby resign my position. But as my one parting gift I will be publishing our full findings, no exclusions, no lies. We have used the neutrino to create something truly practical that the world can use … I will detail everything, and prove why we believe we have found the greatest discovery of the past 2,000 years.
With that, Brun took his notes and headed for the exit. At first everybody just watched and said nothing, transfixed by what they had just heard. There was so much to take in not even such brilliant minds could register it. Beltrano remained seated, no expression. Chung Su stood instinctively, wanting to follow Brun, the child inside her sparked with curiosity, but her legs refused to move.
Luke was not listening, his attention had been pulled in another direction, his eyes fixed on the back of the room; out of instinct he gently touched the outline of his Sig Sauer. Two men had just entered, within seconds he placed their faces, it was the two men who had followed Brun and Chung Su in the red Nissan. Adapt, focus, reassess.
24.
The guests were now stood furiously chatting and debating. Luke kept his breathing steady, humans are animals by instinct, they can sense agitation and stress. He needed to move, the angle he was positioned at was too open to exposure. He stood and drifted to the right-hand wall.
His eyes never left the two men; up this close he could see them a lot clearer than through the window of the Nissan. The one closest was around five-foot-ten in height, he sported thick black curly hair down to his ears, his skin was a coffee brown and his build was slight, Luke didn’t like the eyes; they were narrow and black, darting around nervously. The second man had split off and was moving along the far wall. He was around the same height as his compatriot but had a shaved head, and his tanned face was narrow and gaunt. He mouthed something at his colleague, Luke focused on the lips…they are speaking Farsi. He stored the information.
They were looking for someone, Chung Su. Luke’s brain processed everything in front of him. It was a brazen move to show up and enter such an event, it didn’t make sense. How did they get in? The men circled the room. Chung Su was chatting again with the Carabinieri at the table, but Luke saw her notice the man with the shaved head. Her eyes widened slightly and without thinking she recoiled in her chair … she recognises him, she has seen him before. Luke knew time was critical, they would spot Chung Su very soon; the fact she was sat down was all that hid her.
He didn’t like the odds, the room was packed with innocent people. He glanced at Brun, the professor was stood with a gaggle of people around him. He looked back at Chung Su, she was now standing and saying something to the Carabinieri, she looked petrified. To Luke’s amazement she didn’t take the officer with her as she grabbed her coat and backed away through the crowd.
Chung Su was Luke’s priority, driven by the instinct that she was a key player. As Chung Su backed terrified through the other guests the man on the far wall spotted her leaving. He waited until she exited then swiftly moved after her.
Are they armed? What are they carrying? Are there more waiting outside? Luke worked at lightning speed, trying to find a strategy. The second man now noticed his colleague heading back toward the entrance. Luke hugged the wall as he moved behind the pair. Pinned to the wall at head-height as he passed were three sorry-looking balloons. A thought rushed through his mind; he gripped one of the balloons and squeezed tight. The balloon popped with an almighty bang, everyone turned to see what had caused the noise. Luke kept his eyes on the two men’s hands, they went instantly to their waistbands; they are armed.
Group 9 trained its operatives so that they could bypass normal thought processes, everything was an instinctual reaction, if the normal decision process and logical rationale of fear could be disrupted then they could act with freedom. In that moment Luke was the embodiment of that training; he burst forward from the wall, taking large steps, driving between the two converging men. He no longer cared about cover; he had to get to Chung Su before they did.
The men looked bemused as Luke came crashing through; he kicked the double doors open and sprinted out after Chung Su.
***
Luke tore at his shirt, pulling out the Sig Sauer, checking magazine as he flicked the safety off. The handle felt fat in his hand due to the extra magazine he had strapped on, seconds matter.
His heart was beating fast as he took the steps two at a time. He was about to blow his cover, and with two Carabinieri officers in the vicinity it may be a mistake, but it was a risk he had to commit to.
The night air hit him like a glass wall as he crashed through the doors, reminding him he had left his coat in his haste. He assessed the scene in seconds. Chung Su was stood in between the doorman twins about ten paces from the entrance. All three turned to look. Luke never slowed, he pounded toward the trio; the twin with the earring was the first to move, attempting to stand in front of Chung Su. If you have multiple targets deal with the one who moves or speaks first, they have started
thinking, and thinking is dangerous. The twin caught the gleam of the gun, but it was too late. Luke used his momentum to drive his knee hard into the first twin’s crotch, connecting with soft tissue. The twin grunted loud with pain. Luke grabbed the earring and yanked down hard, ripping through the earlobe and pulling it clean off. The grunt turned to a scream. Luke smashed the gun barrel down behind the bleeding ear and the doorman dropped to the floor, silent.
It all happened so fast that Chung Su and the remaining twin were still rooted to the spot. Luke brought the pistol to bear, firing a shot through the remaining twin’s calf muscle. He crumpled to the floor in shock and pain; it was a clean wound straight in-and-out, designed to immobilise not kill.
Chung Su took off running, trembling with fear and intense cold, her breath catching the light, her heels scraping along the floor. Luke didn’t waste time shouting, it wouldn’t have halted her. It took no time to close the gap. As he came up behind her he cupped his hand over her mouth and pulled her head into his chest. He was forceful, shock and fear cripple people and he needed her to be alert to what he was saying. He picked her up off the floor and half-carried, half-dragged her away from the lit car park. She struggled and writhed against him.
“Listen to me! Listen! I do not want to hurt you, I-do-not-want-to-hurt-you. The men you saw do want to hurt you and I am trying to stop that happening.”
He had no idea if his words were being understood, she didn’t cease the struggle. The wounded twin moaned on the floor, but soon he was drowned out by shouts and screams. Luke guessed the other security employees had heard the shot and were responding. The shouts suddenly intensified and glancing back he saw the two Asian men spill out of the entrance. He arrived at a sleek-looking Mercedes parked up near the tree-lined frontage, but he knew the moment he let go of Chung Su she would be gone.
The first bullet went high, the bang followed by the familiar fizzing noise whipping past Luke’s right ear. Using his momentum Luke pulled Chung Su behind the frame of the car and they both collapsed onto the floor. The window blew out above their heads as both men opened up with their pistols. Chung Su screamed into Luke’s hand.
“Listen to me! I can protect you but you have to do what I say? Understand?”
A bullet thumped into the car. Chung Su could not get a grasp on her thoughts, she was freezing on the floor, and the bang of the guns struck terror into her heart. She did not know if what the man was saying was true but she had no choice, she nodded.
“Good, I am going to let go of you, but I need you to stay still and low, understand?”
Chung Su nodded.
“Ok.” Luke let go of her, she was shivering incessantly.
Luke swivelled and brought the Sig Sauer up in one motion. He peered above the window line and saw that the two men had taken up position off to his right, attempting to cover off the exit road. Luke spat two bullets at them. Both missed due to his firing position, but they caused the pair to back further toward the trees. A volley of bullets sprayed the car.
Getting into a fire fight was a bad idea, it burnt up time, effort and Luke didn’t know how much ammo they were carrying; they may have the capability to play this game all night. He absorbed his surroundings, to his left there were three further Mercedes parked up, behind them was the main Observatory building, lit eerily with an orange glow. To his immediate right lay the tree line and darkness: toward the two aggressors, front and right, was the exit driveway back onto the road. His ideal scenario would be to make it to one of the Mercedes and drive out, but the odds were against it, they would have to cross the killing ground, nothing to offer protection. Luke discarded the thought and began piecing together various other scenarios, analysing their likely success rates.
Another round of bullets thumped and fizzed into the car. Judging from the trajectory the pair were moving slowly round to the car’s rear, looking for a clear shot and simultaneously blocking the driveway. Luke fired two shots over the boot of the car, it was not intended to be accurate, just to discourage them from moving too far. Luke eyed the dark tree line; he knew the wooded area could not be more than fifty metres deep, at which point it would come out onto the small access road he had observed earlier. The darkness appealed, if he had been alone it would be his top choice – get into cover and disappear – but Chung Su complicated matters.
More gunshots rang out in the night. Luke’s brain flickered, alerting him. The shots had not come from the same position. They had come from their left; Luke pressed himself against the floor and looked under the car frame. Positioned behind one of the Mercedes was Officer Beltrano unloading with a pistol, judging by the shape and tone it was a modern Beretta. Beltrano was not firing at their position, he was letting off rounds at the two Asian men. Luke didn’t have time to question it, his decision was made for him; he grabbed Chung Su, pulling her to her feet and disappeared into the trees.
He tensed his body, waiting for the bullet to hit him in the back, but as he turned for the briefest of moments he saw that Beltrano had been joined by Delvechi and they were concentrating their fire on the area where the Asians had last been seen. Beltrano looked over at Luke and their eyes met, but the officer did not change his firing line. Luke turned back and followed Chung Su into the darkness.
***
Chung Su felt bruised from the intense shivering, her whole body felt numb, her head was spinning and with every step her heels caught on the twisted twigs and rough ground. She couldn’t see where she was putting her feet, and had no idea where she was heading. Stopping and leaning against a tree she could see her breath rise in the beams of moonlight coming through the canopy. Just as she was about to set off a hand locked around her arm and then another wrapped around her waist.
“Do not panic, I am not trying to hurt you. I will release you, but if you want to stay safe then we cannot waste any time, we have to keep moving together. If you understand, then nod.”
Chung Su nodded, not knowing what was best.
“Good. I am going to release you, do not run. I will lead, take my arm and follow the path I take, keep your steps high. Understood?”
Chung Su nodded.
Luke let go, he moved around the tree and knew he needed to adjust their course by bringing them slightly eastward to hit the small road. He moved in front and guided Chung Su’s hand to the crux of his left arm, his right stayed loose by his side, Sig Sauer in hand.
He could feel her breath shortening as her chest tightened; he knew she wouldn’t have long before hypothermia would begin its early stages. His first priority was to get them out of the trees. He took long steps, keeping his feet high to avoid catching roots and other foliage. It was not a dense woodland but jungle principle applied. Less speed, more haste. He moved them along smoothly and even-paced. His eyes were slowly adjusting to the moonlight but his main sense was going to be hearing. The gunshots had stopped which either meant people were dead or they had escaped. If anyone was tracking him then he would hope to hear them long before they could be seen.
His thoughts moved to Brun, the professor had just changed everything. He had revealed information that Luke knew should not have been discussed, but it fit with Luke’s feeling that the professor had been holding something back. He had no idea how that would impact Professor Vittorio’s safety or even Brun’s own, if he could have he would have taken Brun and Chung Su but it wasn’t possible and Chung Su was his priority at this point. She was here for more than just a science gala – she had attracted some serious attention. Why did Beltrano not shoot at us?
A crack jolted Luke back to the present; he halted and put his hand on Chung Su’s shoulder. Another crack echoed. Luke went down onto one knee, and Chung Su instinctively followed. A third crack sounded, this time closer. Luke let go of Chung Su and propped himself up on both knees; he felt the cold damp mud through his trousers. He closed his eyes and took slow deep breaths, gripping the gun with both hands and extending it out in front. In the dull light his eyes would only pl
ay tricks; he trusted his ears far more in this environment. This time there was a rustle off to Luke’s right. He swivelled and pointed his gun in that direction. It was a rhythmic rustling, the footsteps of someone attempting to move quietly, he estimated around twenty metres away. Luke forced his body to stay relaxed, he would have to let the person get closer before he acted, he couldn’t afford any misses.
The rustling crept closer and closer. Luke filtered all extraneous noise and focused in on the steps. The footsteps belonged to one person, they were moving west to east in a diagonal across Luke’s position. The steps were now ten metres away. Luke was starting to shiver, he remained still, arms following the direction of the steps. There was a loud crunch as the individual pressed down on a group of twigs, Luke pulled the trigger, giving two bursts in the direction of the noise. A loud scream pierced the air. Before Chung Su could react Luke was up, grabbing her arm and setting off at a run, trailing her behind.
The tree line stopped abruptly at a small raised platform dropping down to the road. Luke jumped down and lifted Chung Su down behind him. The road was silent, without the canopy the moonlight was bright, bathing the whole area in a silvery light. To their left the road disappeared back up toward the main entrance to the Observatory. Straight in front open fields stretched away, the lights of Teramo shining in the distance. Luke got his first clear sight of Chung Su. Her hair was dishevelled and her skin looked pale in the dull light; he could see her eyes were glazing over as she fought her trembling limbs.
They were exposed on the road. Luke grabbed Chung Su and guided her across to the edge of the field, a steep slope dotted with hedges ran away down to the open plain. Chung Su’s heels clicked as she awkwardly ran across the road. Luke knew they would have to cover the distance to the town on foot; even if they could flag down a car in such a remote place it was too much of a risk. He looked over at Teramo, it was a long way to travel so unequipped. There is always something available, improvise.
