Captive Reaction

by Dawn Marsanne

  ‘Christ, what a mess,’ he said to himself.

  At that point, Karolina moaned and her hand went to her chest. ‘I can’t breathe,’ she murmured. ‘Help me, help me,’ she uttered, her mouth open trying desperately to take air into her lungs.

  ‘Get her on the floor,’ shouted Godfrey to the thug of an assistant. Karolina was scooped up like a rag doll and placed on the floor. Godfrey scrabbled in his medical bag for his stethoscope and pulling up her vest top, listened to her heart. He tried several places but could hear no heart beat.

  ‘Her heart’s stopped. Press here on her chest, like this. Do it regularly about a hundred compressions per minute. That’s about two per second. That’s it. Count to thirty then stop.’ Godfrey opened her mouth and checked her airways were clear. He took a deep breath and blew into her chest. Her chest rose and fell. He listened to her chest, then repeated the process, shouting the instructions to his assistant to do another thirty compressions. He could see the chest rising and falling but there was no heartbeat. By now, Godfrey was red in the face, sweat dripping down on to his patient’s vest. After ten minutes he sat back on the floor, spent and shocked. The assistant stood up and went to sit down on the bed at the side of the room, bowing his head. It was over. Karolina was dead.

  Chapter 33

  Cole burst into the room and suddenly stopped. He stared in silence at Karolina’s body which still lay uncovered on the floor.

  ‘What the fuck have you done, Godfrey?’ he shouted, marching over to him and grabbing at his surgical robes, attempting to pull him to his feet. ‘Did you not follow the protocol?’

  ‘What protocol? You mean those vague details in that report? Don’t make me laugh! I must have been out of my mind to go through with this!’ Godfrey was on his feet by now and knocked away Cole’s hands. He walked over to the side of the room, ripped off his sterile robe and started to put on his jacket. He hurriedly collected up his stethoscope and other surgical equipment and stowed them in his bag.

  ‘Don’t blame me, you’re the medic. Not a very good one I might add, considering how many of your patients seem to die!’

  ‘Shut up, you bastard. Just think for a moment, although I know it’s not something you are used to doing!’

  Cole was fuming and pacing back and forth, rubbing his hair. ‘Get out!,’ he shouted at the assistant, ‘and close the door!’

  ‘That prototype drug has never been in human patients before. We only had projections in the report. It might have had some impurity, we don’t know. And to cap it all, we had no idea what the medical history of that poor girl was. She could have had a heart problem or some allergy? Do you want me to continue?

  Cole continued to glare at his partner in crime.

  ‘Well, I’m finished with you. I’ve got photos of this girl and if I go down, so do you. I’ve got photos of your assistants, everything. You’ve just as much to lose as me. I’ve written accounts of what you asked me to do and they are lodged in a safe place, to be opened in the event of me dying in suspicious circumstances. It details everything we ever did together. Goodbye Cole,’ and he left the room, leaving Cole with the body of Karolina.

  **

  Nick checked his data against that of Thierry’s and was delighted to see that he had synthesised the correct material and in good purity. Pat had emerged from the meeting room so Nick went to tell him the good news.

  ‘Pat, have you got a minute?’ asked Nick.

  ‘Sure, pull up a seat.’

  ‘I just wanted to let you know that those conditions I tried for the final step in the sequence look really promising. They give a much cleaner reaction profile,’ and he handed over the data to Pat.

  ‘Well, that’s great Nick, how about the yield?’

  ‘Well, it’s a bit better, still not as high as we would like. But I think it might be to do with the way I isolated the stuff. I think I can work on that. Also, it was my first attempt, so we should be able to do some further fine-tuning of the conditions.’

  ‘High five,’ said Pat, standing up, smiling warmly at Nick.

  Nick looked around feeling slightly embarrassed at Pat’s exuberance. He noticed Dan turn around and look rather churlishly in their direction. Nick was keen to play down his input for the time being. He knew it might ruffle people’s feathers coming into a project and making such an impact even though that was the reason he’d been hired. He thought it would be good if some of the development of the reaction could be shared around the team in order that others might share in the success.

  ‘Do you think it would be worth calling a short meeting tomorrow so we can all discuss the best way forward?’ asked Nick.

  ‘Great idea, make it late morning as I’ve got another meeting with Matt. He wants to go through some suggestions for an external patent writing company to help out with all the paperwork.’

  ‘Will do, no problem. I’ll speak to the rest of the guys and work out a time.’

  ‘Get Erin to book a meeting room as well, it’s hopeless trying to discuss things in the office area,’ suggested Pat.

  An encounter with Erin was the last thing Nick wanted. Perhaps he could email her or drop a note on her desk instead. He was pleased that today had gone so well and he would be able to relate this to Polly that evening. They’d had lunch together in her office that day and he’d told her how he was hoping to get this key data this afternoon. She had remarked how nice it was to see him so upbeat and enthusiastic about everything. It was a pity that she was going out for a drink with one of her girlfriends tonight, he would have to wait even longer than usual to tell her his good news.

  **

  Jessica was aware of a commotion outside of her confined quarters. It was normally very peaceful although she could occasionally overhear some conversations of her captor on his mobile. There also seemed to be more vehicles coming and going outside compared with her previous two days in captivity. She wondered what was going on and had her ear pressed up against the door in the hope that she could get some clues. Her stomach was rumbling with hunger and she only had a drop of water left in her bottle. She felt a complete mess. She was sure she was beginning to smell. She had been so tense that it had made her perspire more than normal. Her blouse felt stiff under the armpits where it had become wet then dried repeatedly. Her teeth felt horrible and she could tell that the plaque was starting to build up on them. She had lain on her sleeping bag scraping at her teeth with her fingernails to remove the plaque from each tooth and swallowing the residue. How she longed to brush them thoroughly. Her hair was starting to feel greasy and her face likewise. She had moistened a corner of her skirt with her bottle of water and given her face a quick wipe over, that had at least given her some relief. To add to her misery and discomfort her period had started and she had no towels or tampons to use. It was now forty-eight hours since she’d taken her contraceptive pill and so her body had started its hormonal bleed. Her pants were soaked with blood and she had taken off her camisole vest and stuffed it in her pants to soak up the discharge. She felt like a baby again wearing a big nappy. Never before had she felt in such a disgusting state and she thought of the poor girls in developing countries who couldn’t go to school when they had their periods. If she ever got out of this ordeal she vowed to give money to a charity which provided sanitary pads to girls in Africa.

  She then heard more voices outside. Someone shouted something and she heard her guard answer back but it was slightly muffled. Then she heard another voice.

  ‘We’re off up to the house now, OK?’

  ‘Yes, no problem,’ said her guard.

  ‘Now, you’re on your own for a while, so look after that bitch. Don’t let her give you any trouble. OK?’

  Her guard laughed.

  ‘The food’s there, don’t forget to take it into her.’

  They say that eavesdroppers never hear any good about themselves. That may well have been true. However, on this occasion, Jessica had an idea.

  Chapter 34


  At 5 p.m. Dan decided that he had done enough science for the day and went to grab a coffee and a Danish pastry at the cafe. He had no idea what the food would be like this evening and didn’t want to feel light headed with the pre-dinner drinks. When he returned he took his suit carrier and his bag into the toilets to get changed. He gave himself a liberal spray with deodorant and gave his face a quick wash in the sink. He would have liked to have a shower but this would have to suffice. It had been a while since he’d worn his suit and it felt strange. His shirt looked a bit creased but it would be largely covered apart from the collar which looked reasonable. He gave his black shoes a quick polish with a paper towel and finished dressing. He rolled up his tie and put it in his pocket. He would put that on at the last moment.

  He returned to his desk and it was now 6 p.m. so there were only twenty minutes before he left to walk over to the Senate House. Nick and Hannah were still busy in the lab but Seth had left for the day. Suddenly he heard Hannah shouting something about water and he looked up from his desk. He saw Nick go over to her and then some commotion and they were looking on the floor. Suddenly the lights went out in the laboratory.

  ‘Christ, what’s happened?’ said Dan getting up from his desk. He slipped off his suit jacket so that he could put on his lab coat.

  ‘Where’s it coming from?’ said Hannah.

  ‘What’s going on guys?’ said Dan, going over to where they were standing.

  He could see water starting to pool on the floor in front of Hannah’s fume-hood.

  ‘Have you got any taps running?’

  ‘No, everything is switched off.’

  ‘It must be a burst pipe or joint or something, behind the panelling. Shit, what a pain. It must have leaked into the electrical circuitry, that’s why the power has tripped.’ Dan was pacing around rubbing his head and Nick had started to put some cloths down to stem the tide of water.

  ‘It’s coming out at quite a rate,’ said Nick. ‘We need to get the water turned off and the electrical supply up and running. We’ve got reactions in progress and also the fridge and freezer have switched off, the chemicals will start to warm up.’

  ‘You’re right, I’ll phone up the buildings services and get them to send someone out straight away, it’s an emergency.’

  ‘OK, we’ll try to stop this water running everywhere,’ said Nick.

  ‘Look, let’s use these spare lab coats,’ said Hannah and threw them down on the floor to soak up the water.

  Suddenly Nick looked at the clock and saw that it was almost 6.30 p.m. and Dan had lost track of the time. He was going to be late for his formal dinner. He’d seen Dan make the phone call but then he’d walked off somewhere.

  ‘Look, Hannah, I’ll just be a minute, I need to find Dan and remind him of the time, he’s going to be late.’

  Nick walked quickly down the corridor towards the men’s toilets. Dan wasn’t using the urinals so he must be round the corner in the cubicles.

  ‘Dan, are you in here? It’s nearly half past six!’

  Nick went around and banged on the cubicle doors.

  ‘Yes, I’m in here!’ shouted Dan. The toilet flushed and he emerged.

  Nick looked at Dan. He could see his dilated pupils and he had a wild look about him. There were also a few traces of white powder around his left nostril.

  ‘Thanks, Nick,’ said Dan, pushing something firmly down in his pocket. ‘Fuck, is that the time? I better hurry,’ and he quickly washed his hands and jogged back to his desk.

  Nick followed him, trying to act casually. His suspicions were now confirmed. Dan had been snorting cocaine and that would explain his jumpy and erratic behaviour.

  Dan threw on his suit jacket, locked his drawers and checked he had his phone. He kicked his bag under his desk and started to run down the corridor. Nick noticed he’d forgotten his leather jacket which he’d moved on to one of the adjacent chairs. He ran after him, calling, ‘Dan, you’ve left your leather jacket!’

  Dan stopped and turned around. ‘Oh, shit, I’d forgotten. I don’t really need it. Could you just put it in the cupboard or something? Will do,’ said Nick, ‘have a good evening!’

  Dan was in too much of a hurry to reply. Nick hurried back to find that thankfully the maintenance people had arrived and a panel outside the door was being removed to isolate the water supply. Hopefully, they would be able to clear up and get the power switched back on. He was going to be here quite late into the evening sorting things out and helping Hannah. He was feeling rather stressed, not only due to the recent problems in the lab but also his dilemma about Dan’s drug abuse. He really didn’t feel this could go unreported. Unlike previous incidents where he’d taken matters into his own hands, this time he would go to speak to Pat and then Phil Sweetman. Dan could begin to be a liability if there were any further outbursts like they’d had this week.

  Chapter 35

  Jessica had no idea how long had elapsed since she’d overheard the conversation between her captors. She estimated about an hour. However, it had given her ample time to set her plan in motion. She removed the bloodied vest from her underwear and soaked it in some of the urine in the bucket. It felt like a disgusting thing to do but she was desperate. She then wrung it out over the opening edge of her sleeping bag and on the floor next to it. She now had a bloody pool of liquid on the tiles. Placing her fingers in her vagina she brought out more blood and smeared it around her neck and over her wrists and hands. It was a horrible thing to do but necessary. She didn’t care how she looked, it would wash off when she became free and that was what she was totally focused on. This was her one chance and she needed to give it her best shot.

  She had no idea when her meal was about to arrive but it could be anytime soon, so she lay down in the sleeping bag with her arms on top, her right one resting in the pool of watery blood she’d created on the floor. She had no idea how realistic it looked but she hoped at least it would have some shock factor. She lay still and strained her ears willing them to hear footsteps. Her heart was racing and it was hard not to over breathe. She needed to be very still for when Scott, as she now knew him entered her cell.

  After what seemed an age she heard the familiar sound of the key in the lock. Her heart threatened to burst out of her chest cavity. She was pleased that it was covered by the sleeping bag, otherwise, she was sure that the rapid beating would have been visible. The door squeaked open and she heard footsteps take a couple of paces into the room. They stopped.

  ‘Fuck! Oh, shit!’ and the tray fell to the floor.

  She dared not open her eyes yet. Scott came over to her, ‘What have you done you stupid bitch,’ he shouted and she felt his arms start to shake her.

  Suddenly she opened her eyes wide and tried to focus on the face which was about a foot from hers.

  ‘Ahh!’ he shouted in shock, leaning back slightly.

  She quickly removed her right hand from the sleeping bag. Holding the pen as firmly as she could and using all her might and accumulated anger she thrust the pen into his left eye socket.

  Scott made the loudest scream she had ever heard. He was crying out, rolling around on the floor in agony. She saw that blood had started to spout from his eye socket and run down his face but she didn’t wait. She ran out of her cell and quickly looked around for the outside door. It was straight ahead. She drew back the bolt on the door and turned the handle. It didn’t budge, it was locked. Jessica was frantic. Scott must have the key in his pocket. She would have to return and try to get them from him. This was a nightmare, she had sensed freedom but it still eluded her. Suddenly she realised that the screaming and shouting had stopped.

  She crept back towards the room and saw the prone Scott lying on the floor. He must have passed out with the shock. She went up to him and searched his pockets. This caused him to stir slightly and he began to mumble. Jessica found the keys in his right trouser pocket. Her hands were shaking as she ran to the door. She had trouble holding the bunch of keys bu
t somehow she managed to unlock the door. She relaxed against it as she felt the mechanism turn. Throwing open the door she stepped outside. The fresh air was so wonderful. By now it had gone dark so she felt that at least she had that in her favour. She started to make her way around the building and then stopped suddenly. She should lock Scott inside. That way if the rest of the team returned it would delay the discovery. After a few seconds she was on her way, but which way should she go? She looked around in the gloom and decided to head for the woodland to her right. She hoped and prayed that she could navigate her way back to civilisation.

  **

  By 7 p.m. the maintenance men had managed to find the source of the leak and had isolated that particular section of piping. An electrician had also arrived and was checking all the circuits with his multimeter and his other box of tricks. They had switched off the electric socket in Hannah’s fume-hood and had switched back on the supply to the lab. Providing no short circuits occurred in the next ten minutes or so they were happy that all was safe. Tomorrow they would send more plumbers out to repair the pipework and the electrician would return to check out the wiring and sockets.

  Nick felt exhausted. It had been a long day and the shock of catching Dan in the act of snorting cocaine or at least just having snorted some was starting to trigger a headache. Nick just longed to get out of the building and to return to the comfort of his house.

  ‘Right, all seems OK now, mate,’ said the electrician as he removed his lab coat. ‘Where shall I put this?’

  ‘Oh, I’ll take it,’ replied Nick, hanging it up on a hook and waiting for the plumber to do the same. ‘Thanks very much, we’ll see you tomorrow I guess.’