The Tattooed Man

by Alex Palmer

  ‘How did you get that in here? I thought guns weren’t allowed.’

  ‘They’re not. I brought this one in piece by piece over time and built it myself. I know how to do that. There’s no perfectly secure place. Or only one. It’s called a grave.’

  ‘You’re a very good liar. You weren’t acting when you were talking to me. I think you convinced yourself. That’s you, isn’t it? You can be more than one person. Even if they act in ways completely opposite to each other. No matter what you do, it’s okay just because you do it.’

  ‘Say what you like. It won’t make any difference.’

  ‘Falcon never reopened your operation, did they?’ she said. ‘Not even after they saw that video.’

  ‘They said it was a tragedy but it proved nothing. They told me I’d compromised their secrecy and if I was concerned for innocent lives, the best thing I could do was keep my mouth shut. Just to calm me down, they put me through a charade with these Ministry of Defence officials. I told them my story; they told me it would be taken seriously. Nothing happened. I realised nothing was going to happen. I told my dead companions that I’d just have to do it myself. They would have justice even if it was a rough justice.’

  ‘What happens now?’

  ‘I told you. We’re waiting for someone.’

  ‘Why do you want me here?’

  ‘I told you when I first spoke to you: you made me feel human for the first time in years. This is my last morning on this planet and I want you with me when I go. I’ll look at you and my head won’t be full of the memories I’ve lived with for the last four years. The last thing I want is to die with those thoughts in my head.’

  ‘What happens to me?’

  ‘You won’t feel anything. None of us will. No one’s going to feel the kind of pain those villagers would have felt when they died. We’ll just go to sleep.’

  ‘We?’

  ‘This building is a living thing to Elena. As long as it’s here, it’s going to produce the kinds of things that Jerome was producing. There’s only one way to stop it and that’s to kill it. We’re going to poison the entire building with gas.’

  ‘What about the people here?’

  ‘I wish they’d stayed home this morning, Grace, but they didn’t. I’m sorry but there’s nothing I can do. There are more lives at stake than theirs. Life is just one long gamble and this morning all those people drew the wrong cards.’

  ‘I don’t understand how you can even think that way.’

  ‘You should understand. I’ve already told you why. I’ve been where you can never go. I’ve had all my constraints burnt out of me. I know exactly why I’m doing this. I’ve never seen anything more clearly in my life.’

  ‘This is premeditated. You planned how to get me here.’

  ‘From the time you gave me that injection. I was waiting to see if Harrigan was going to leave your flat this morning. We were fairly certain he was there. We decided if he didn’t leave before a certain time, I’d have to go without you. But he did leave and here we are.’

  ‘You’re no different from the people you’re fighting.’

  ‘Think about that statement. If that’s the case, then it doesn’t matter whose side you’re on. What matters is that you leave behind a blank surface where someone else can start again with something new and clean.’

  ‘That never happens,’ Grace said.

  For a brief second, all the lights went out and then came on again. At the same time, there was a sound like a catch of breath in the air conditioning. In the quick blink of darkness, Grace stood up to run.

  ‘Don’t do anything,’ Brinsmead said, as soon as they could see each other again. ‘You see that mobile on the desk. Press the call button. Let it ring a few times, then turn it off. It’s time to go. Pick up the contract and those restraints and bring them with you.’

  ‘Where are we going?’

  ‘Upstairs. Walk in front of me. Turn right at the main door. If you try to do anything, I’ll have to shoot you even if I don’t want to. For us, it’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of how and when.’

  The main door to the laboratory had opened automatically and stayed open.

  ‘Who’s us?’ she asked.

  ‘Don’t ask questions. Let’s just walk. Quickly now.’

  Grace held the contract in one hand and the restraints in the other. I’m being asked to walk to my execution, she thought. She and Brinsmead faced each other. Give me the gun and I’ll shoot you. I’ll put you out of your misery. Go down fighting, whatever happens.

  ‘Walk,’ he said.

  They went out into the corridor. They’d gone a short distance along the corridor when the door to the laboratory slammed shut behind them.

  ‘What’s happening?’ she asked.

  ‘My lab is being sealed off. The building’s security system allows you to do that. Everything inside it will be protected.’

  All the doors along the corridor were open. They passed a short corridor branching off to the right.

  ‘Elena’s office is down there,’ Brinsmead said. ‘That’s open too. Sam will need to get in there later.’

  ‘Sam Jonas. She’s here. She’s your colleague.’

  ‘She’s my friend. She’s the bravest woman I’ve ever met.’

  They reached a door that opened onto the junction of the northern and southern sectors. The door leading to the south-western sector was closed.

  ‘Why is that door closed?’ Grace asked.

  ‘The entire building except for this sector is locked down. No one can get out of where they are, including the guards at the desk. Don’t worry, they have air conditioning. They can breathe. For the moment.’

  ‘For the moment,’ Grace repeated.

  ‘Up the stairs.’

  They climbed the stairs. At the top, they reached another corridor.

  ‘Along there and in the first door,’ Brinsmead said.

  This corridor had no windows. They reached the door; like all the others in this sector, it was open.

  ‘This used to be Jerome’s laboratory,’ he said. ‘It’s maximum security. This is where the science behind his program was researched. God knows where those researchers are now. Probably scattered all over the world, paid to keep their mouths shut. Look at it. It’s been thoroughly cleaned out. Except for that. That’s useful.’

  Along one wall was a series of photographs of the most common food and cash crops in the world. Wheat, rice, barley, yams, maize, sorghum, potatoes, tobacco, cotton. They dominated one side of the room. The photographs were illuminated from behind, appearing against the backdrop of the light in silhouette. The plants seemed as if they were preserved in fluid, fixed permanently as something dead.

  ‘Go and sit at the bench with your back to those photographs,’ he said. ‘Put the contract and the restraints in the middle of the bench in front of you.’

  She sat down on a stool with the pictures behind her. He stood on the other side, still holding the gun on her.

  ‘How many people are you expecting?’ she asked, looking down at the plastic ties.

  ‘Only two. But I like to be prepared. Now we wait. Don’t talk. All I want is silence.’

  Grace looked around at the concrete shell that enclosed them. Along one wall was a row of empty cages, and there was a faint animal odour in the air, like the one she had smelt in his penthouse. It was a smell of death.

  32

  They climbed up the stairs to the second floor. The last time Harrigan had been here, the door at the top of the stairs leading to the western sector had been locked. Now it was open and the door on the eastern side was locked in its place. They walked down to an empty laboratory.

  ‘Jerome’s lab,’ Sam said.

  ‘There’s nothing here,’ Harrigan said. ‘Why bring us here?’

  ‘Because it’s your grave. And there are people waiting for us. Have a look.’

  At the back of the laboratory, Harrigan saw Daniel Brinsmead, and sitting at a bench
near him, Grace. She was staring at him. He saw the contract and the restraints on the table. What would happen was clear to him. They would be restrained sitting at the table with those ghostly pictures behind them. Then they would be photographed and the picture posted on the Pittwater website with the picture of the dead at Natalie Edwards’ house. Sam would release the gas from the canisters into the air conditioning. She would come up here to be with them. Probably she would set it up so it would go out on the net live. Everything in him refused to let this happen.

  Just behind him, Sam laughed. ‘Danny’s really convincing when he wants to be. Elena will tell you that.’

  Grace and Harrigan were still staring at each other. In their exchange of glances there was a simple communication. They were not going down without a fight.

  Brinsmead had moved to where he had his gun trained on them all.

  ‘Harrigan,’ he said. ‘I’d prefer you were out there, but it hasn’t worked out that way. And Elena. I’ve been waiting for you. How are you?’

  She turned to look at the wall.

  ‘Elena, put your carry case on the bench in front of Grace,’ Sam said. ‘Harrigan, you go and stand near her.’

  Harrigan positioned himself at a short distance from the bench. He stood between Brinsmead and Grace. Sam was more to his left, her gun trained on Elena.

  ‘You were right,’ Grace said to him. ‘He’s a very good liar.’

  ‘I wish I’d been wrong.’

  ‘No talking! Elena, open that carry case and then move away.’

  The carry case opened on all four sides to reveal an open-meshed cage. On the tray lay dead white mice, starved around a full feeding bowl.

  ‘That’s the wheat Jerome was growing out at Yaralla,’ Brinsmead said. ‘I’ve been feeding it to my mice and every single one of them has died of starvation. People can find them when they find us.’

  ‘Meanwhile, look at this, Elena.’ Sam took out a flash drive. ‘I’ve digitised your contract. It’s all on here. Our two final statements are on here as well. Now that you’ve given me your ID and password, I’m going to release it on the net. This time I’m going to call it This is where the feast was prepared. We’ll join the dead at the table that you prepared, Elena. You can go out just like your half-brother, Jerome. People will be able to put it all together. Harrigan, you said this would all get swept under the carpet. Well, maybe it won’t now.

  ‘All right, I’m putting those restraints on you all. We don’t have much time. I’ve got to get back to the air conditioning unit and set it up.’

  ‘Is this the part where you stop all those innocent people from breathing?’ Grace asked.

  ‘We’re killing the building,’ Brinsmead said. ‘Call it a war. These people have chosen their side.’

  ‘No, they didn’t. They just came to work this morning.’

  ‘Stop playing for time!’ Sam shouted. ‘Harrigan first. Sit down next to your girlfriend.’

  He didn’t move.

  ‘You said you want to die on your own terms. You’re not giving us that choice,’ he said.

  ‘That’s your problem.’

  ‘No one’s going to call you heroes,’ Harrigan went on. ‘They’re going to call you mass murderers. They could close down Brinsmead’s project because of this.’

  ‘I don’t think so,’ Brinsmead said. ‘When there’s money involved, people can usually forgive just about anything. The Medical Research Institute will take it over free of charge. They won’t knock that back. Now, we don’t have any more time to waste.’

  Before anyone could move, Elena ran forward between Harrigan and Grace and pushed the cage to the floor. It fell with a crash, scattering its contents across the floor. On a hair trigger, Sam fired at Elena. Harrigan, who had a split second to anticipate this, grabbed her and jerked her out of the line of fire. The bullet ricocheted, they all ducked. When they righted, Grace had swept the restraints to the floor and jumped up from her stool and away from the bench. The stool clattered to the floor. Elena had moved back to stand near her.

  ‘Don’t!’ Brinsmead shouted at Sam who had her gun raised. ‘I want her to talk first.’

  ‘What do you mean?’ Harrigan said. He was judging the distance between him and the scientist.

  ‘Elena’s going to talk to a camera before she dies. She’s going to tell the world what Jerome was doing, what Abaris is.’

  ‘No, I’m not.’

  ‘Yes, you are. Sam’s going to make you. Now pick up everything, the both of you,’ he said to Elena and Grace.

  ‘You like ordering women around, do you?’ Grace needled.

  ‘Do it.’

  ‘No. You do it,’ Elena said. ‘You’re going to kill us all. Do your own dirty work.’

  Suddenly she laughed at Sam. ‘Look at you. He’s persuaded you to die for him because of the way he is now. He doesn’t want to live so you have to go with him. Then he wants this woman here because he has some little fancy for her.’

  She looked at Brinsmead. ‘You’re nothing.’

  ‘Don’t you talk to me or Danny like that!’

  ‘Do it!’

  Both Sam and Brinsmead had turned angrily towards the two women. Harrigan launched himself at Brinsmead, smacking him to the floor. In the same instant, the entire laboratory was plunged into blackness. Sam’s shot echoed past his head.

  ‘Did you put that in the shutdown codes?’ Sam shouted. ‘Elena, where are you?’

  Shots illuminated the room like lightning.

  ‘Sam, no. Keep her alive!’ Brinsmead shouted as best as he could with Harrigan on top of him, pressing him down and squeezing the gun from his hand.

  A line of emergency lights began to appear on the floor leading to the main door. A slender female figure flashed briefly as a darker shadow in the doorway. A shot went past her and she was gone.

  ‘She’ll be heading for her office to reverse the lockdowns. I’ll get her,’ Sam called. Her running footsteps were muted on the floor’s soft linoleum. The emergency lighting was growing stronger.

  ‘Alive!’ Brinsmead tried to shout.

  He dropped his gun. Grace, who had hit the floor during the shooting, grabbed it. Harrigan got off him and Brinsmead rolled over onto his stomach, gasping in genuine pain.

  ‘Get me one of those restraints,’ Harrigan said to Grace. He tied Brinsmead’s hands behind his back and left him on the floor. He searched him quickly. ‘He doesn’t have another gun. Let’s get out of here.’

  ‘Are you going to leave him here?’

  ‘There’s nothing else we can do. Where’s the contract? Let’s go.’

  ‘It’s gone,’ Grace said. ‘Elena must have it. She doesn’t stop thinking.’

  They left Brinsmead and ran for the door. Outside, the corridor was lit only with a single line of floor lights. The length of it was otherwise in solid darkness.

  ‘Where to?’ Grace asked.

  ‘The air conditioning unit,’ Harrigan said. ‘I want to see if I can shut the door, or at least keep them out. Then we head for the delivery dock. All we need is silence and a bit of darkness to get there.’

  ‘And another gun. That wouldn’t hurt.’

  They reached the bottom of the stairs. The door to the eastern sectors was still closed. Beside them was the corridor that led to the animal house. Ahead, they had a clear view through to the delivery dock. The area was lit only by floor lights while the location of the emergency exit was given by a green sign. That door was shut. The surrounds, including the corridors, were in deep shadow.

  ‘Can we open that door?’ Grace asked.

  ‘It’s a fire door. There should be a way to open it from the inside. Down here first.’

  They hurried along the curve of the corridor as best they could in the dark. At the air conditioning unit, Harrigan tried to pull the door closed. Suddenly it gave way and almost knocked him backwards as it slammed shut. He tried it; it had locked on closing.

  ‘They can’t poison everyone now.’<
br />
  ‘Can they open it?’ Grace asked.

  ‘Elena can. But I think she’d let them shoot her first this time. Let’s get out into the open air.’

  They went back to the junction of the corridor opposite the delivery dock. They stopped, standing back from the main corridor, listening for the sounds of anyone approaching. There was silence. Before they could move forward, the fire door opened inwards. A man walked into the space of the delivery dock, leaving the door open behind him. Bright sunlight, a glimpse of the outside world, appeared. Even in silhouette, Harrigan knew the short, dark-haired man immediately. Du Plessis shut the door and the outside world was gone.

  In the shadows of corridor they couldn’t be seen and instead watched him. He carried a gun in one hand. In the other, he held his mobile phone. It showed a small pinprick of blue light on its display. He was tracking someone. Brinsmead, Harrigan decided. Elena Calvo must have finally had enough. He turned in their direction, apparently heading for the stairs they had just come down. Harrigan and Grace withdrew silently back into the darkness of the corridor. They waited but he didn’t come to where they were.

  ‘DP,’ Grace whispered.

  ‘Is that what you call him?’

  ‘It’s what Brinsmead calls him. What’s he doing here?’

  ‘My guess is he’s after Brinsmead,’ Harrigan said. ‘Elena’s been playing for time throughout. There was a message on her phone earlier. Despatch. 45. CPT. I think it was from DP saying he was on his way to get Brinsmead and where it was going to happen. She was waiting for the lights to go out, but I think she might have been waiting for him as well. It was about forty-five minutes ago.’

  ‘Didn’t Sam work it out?’

  ‘Elena’s like Brinsmead—she can lie convincingly. It was signed S. I don’t know what that stands for.’

  ‘Saviour,’ Grace said sarcastically. ‘He’s not coming after us.’

  ‘He might do if he gets both Sam and Brinsmead. I don’t think Elena would be very sentimental about either of us ending up dead.’

  ‘She can’t just kill us. The security guards know I’m here.’