‘Hasn’t changed since he was last there.’
Most of the terminals show only vague signs of life. Only one has a fully luminous screen. A large chair sits before it. On the table in front of it is an old fashioned green lamp, a mug of dark liquid, and a pile of real paperwork. Gilt approaches a control panel next to a glass door. Beyond it is a ladder leading down to the laboratory floor. He taps the keys on the panel. Each of his fingerprints remain, before flashing red and fading away.
‘It is hardly safe. And besides. We don’t have high enough clearance.’
‘Who does?’
‘L.’
‘Does L believe this is at all connected to his condition?’
‘I don’t know.’
Gilt pushes his face closer to the glass, trying to scrutinize the terminal further.
‘Gilt. What did _ tell you?’
Gilt turns to her and scratches behind his ear, remaining silent. Sy____ raises an eyebrow.
‘Secrets...’
Gilt walks back and calls the lift.
‘Service would be nothing without them.’
Chapter 4: Red Herring
Outdoor Restaurant
Lausanne Airport
Switzerland
7.00
Shielding their eyes from the sun, Gilt and Syl___ scan the tables. An airplane lifts noisily off on the runway behind them. Gilt puts on his sunglasses. A discreet hand gesture catches their attention. It’s ____x, a few tables down. Getting up from his seat, he approaches them both. They all shake hands before sitting down together.
Airport Car Park
7.13
Gilt, Syl___ and ____x walk past rows of parked cars, searching. Gilt takes out the slim silver case and opens it to reveal the constellation. They freeze as a car next to them shimmers rapidly. They get in. Gilt deftly maneuvers the car around, drives them around to the car park entrance, and turns into a main road. Syl___ rides shotgun. ____x sits in the back. Gilt notices him half-smile via the rear-view mirror.
‘Back in the fold..’
Gilt meets his eyes through the mirror and raises his eyebrows a little.
‘Temporarily.’
____x shrugs back.
‘Either way. It’s good to see you.’
Syl___ turns back to ____x as if looking at a new person.
‘Didn’t you help him play against...?’
____x’s eyes widen, before meeting Gilt’s eyes again.
‘...at Casino ______? In M_________?
____x’s eyes glaze over, like a robot whose motor functions have stopped, before slowly relaxing back into his seat and turning to look out through his window into a white wintry blur.
‘That was a tough game.’
‘Almost killed me.’
Syl___ smiles coyly, biting her lip a little and turning to Gilt, who briefly returns her look before returning his concentration back to the road as snow flurries down.
‘Maybe I’ll tell you the story some time.’
____x removes a map from his jacket. Unfolding it, he hands it forward to Gilt, who takes a hand away from the wheel to reach back for it. He places it before him on the dashboard.
‘The facility is based not far from Saint-Gingolph. Should take around an hour.’
____x nestles his head and closes his eyes.
‘Let me know when we get there. I can give more specific directions.’
8.15
Gilt drives around the curve of a glistening lake and looks out toward the mountains beyond, when a small black rectangle catches his eye on the opposite side. He waves his hand over part of the dashboard and the bottom of the car vibrates. The tyres mutate before he turns off the main road and begins to approach the square in the distance.
Research Facility
Saint-Gingolph
8.21
The building appears to have only vague three-dimensionality, otherwise seeming to be one large flat square of black. To the right of it there lies a large frozen pond, behind which is the tip of an ever-widening forest. Gilt parks the car, steps out and walks around, opening the door for Syl___. ____x lets himself out. A car appears from behind the square and slows to a halt. ____x approaches and gets in, after which it promptly drives away. Syl___ and Gilt approach the smooth, windowless building. Gilt retrieves the silver case, stopping to think for a moment. He grits his teeth. Syl___ taps him on the shoulder and walks ahead of him.
‘It’s okay. I took the liberty of doing this bit of your homework myself.’
Gilt stands and watches as Syl___ carefully examines the enormous thing. After a while, she touches a specific part of the smooth matt surface. The part of it that she touches reads her fingerprint, before making her whole body glow. A doorway appears before her, revealing a dark passage. Gilt joins her at the entrance. They both peer in quizzically, then tentatively begin walking into the darkness. They emerge into one large light grey square room filled with cabinets that surround one long central table, upon which piles of folders of documents lay scattered. Amongst a dozen people obliviously bustling around and interacting with cabinets, paperwork and each-other, one man’s attention is distracted by their appearance. Placing a file under his arm and adjusting his glasses, he walks toward them, trying to smile.
‘Hello. You must be Gilt, and Ms Tr____? Bill Mayhugh. Pleased to meet you. Let me get you something to drink. Coffee?’
Mayhugh gestures to two seats at the long table.
‘Won’t be a moment.’
Mayhugh negotiates other staff as he moves toward a corner of the room. Sitting down, Gilt and Syl___ move aside some of the
paperwork on the table in front of them. With a somewhat weary look, Gilt scans the room.
‘I could do with a real drink.’
Mayhugh returns, placing two cups down on the table and taking a seat next to them, leaning forward excitedly.
‘We’ve been very busy of late, as you know. The unusual readings we’ve been looking into have proved something of...an interpretive challenge, shall we say..’
Syl___ raises an eyebrow, leaning forward a little, perhaps in mock-dramatic fashion.
‘Until now..?’
Mayhugh stifles a grin.
‘Right. Yes. Quite..’
MI5
London
7.27
L finishes a meeting with someone in his International Klein Blue office. They get up to leave. L shakes their hand. As his office door shuts, he presses a buzzer from under his desk. A crackle of sound is heard.
‘Sir?’
‘Do I have anything else?’
‘No sir, that was it for today’
‘Thank you __________.’
Opening his desk draw, L removes a black book. Thumbing through the pages, he pauses at one in particular. Placing the open book face down on the desk, he opens a lower draw, from which he removes a glass and a bottle of scotch. He pours himself a generous amount. Sipping from the glass, he holds it to his chest, tilting his head back. He runs a hand through his hair.
Research Facility
Saint-Gingolph
8.30
Mayhugh gesticulates to Gilt and Syl___, talking animatedly. They try to listen intently, but both begin looking increasingly lost as to what exactly is being explained. After a while, Syl___ raises her hand to politely interject.
‘Please, uh, indulge us with something … a little more suited to...’
‘Sorry. You’ll have to excuse me. Professional habit.’
Gilt scratches his neck and tilts his head.
‘Forgive me. But what exactly is it that you have discovered?’
Mayhugh looks around the room, a little hesitant. Gilt and Syl___ turn frown at each other. Mayhugh raises a hand, which forms a fist, before releasing a forefinger.
‘Look - I’ve just finished screening out the last bits of white noise from the results, and printed them. In 3D. None of the others have seen yet..’
He discreetly gestures for them to rise, and
, somewhat perplexed, they follow him to a door on the other side of the room that runs parallel to the passageway they first entered from. Mayhugh taps a panel next to a door on the right and the door opens to reveal a deep red passage.
MI5
London
7.31
L stands alone in a lift as it descends. The doors open. He walks out and approaches the glass panels, looking through them to the terminals below. His attention is focused on the single illuminated monitor. Taking the black book from out of his jacket pocket, and returning to page he came to in his office, he holds a finger down on a part of it and approaches the control panel to the glass door.
Research Facility
Saint-Gingolph
8.32
Mayhugh leads Gilt and Sylvia down the passage, turning a corner at the end to arrive at a tinted glass door. He breathes into a panel beside it. Some mist emits back from out of it and the glass slides open. The door shuts silently behind them as they enter. Mayhugh points to the small 3D models sitting on a table. Syl___ is drawn speechlessly toward them like a tractor beam. Gilt inspects them closely alongside her, peering and twisting his head in a bird-like manner, before turning quizzically back.
‘But this is still all just... speculative?’
‘Guess we’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?’
There is the sound of footsteps. They grow louder. Gilt turns to see a figure appear behind the tinted door, then turns to Mayhugh.
‘It’s ok. Just a member of the research team.’
The figure behind the door activates a speaker system and a voice makes an announcement. Mayhugh nods to himself.
‘Sorry. Forgot about the final analysis. It’ll only take half an hour or so.’
Mayhugh walks up to the wall behind the models and presses a button. A large glossy monitor begins to flicker.
‘You can familiarise yourselves with my full report here, if you like.’
As Mayhugh taps the screen, a mass of small white text begins to scroll on a dark blue background.
‘There. It’s all yours. Now..’
As Mayhugh leaves, Gilt and Sy____ approach the screen, staring
at it blankly, before turning to each-other. Gilt winces then smiles.
‘How about that drink?’
Syl___ looks him over.
‘What have you got?’
‘It’s in the car.’
8.37
Gilt and Syl___ appear from the deep red passage. Syl___ bites her lip. Eyeing Mayhugh as he speaks to a colleague, they discreetly cross the main room towards the entrance passageway.
8.39
Syl___ closes the car door and sits next to Gilt. He starts the engine and begins to drive around the frozen pond, with an eye towards the edge of the forest on the other side of it. Syl___ braces herself as the car grinds to a halt again. Backing up again, Gilt instead drives straight toward the pond.
‘Gilt?’
He makes a specific gesture towards the dashboard and charges the car forward with full force. A set of skis appear on either side of it as the car leaps smoothly from the snow to the frozen surface of the pond. Syl___ looks out of the car window, following the trail left by the skis.
MI5
London
7.40
L descends the ladder down to the terminals below. With trepidation, he walks toward the one illuminated monitor screen. He sits down at the large chair in front of the computer, and contemplates.
Research Facility
Saint-Gingolph
8.40
Syl___ sits on a fallen tree, looking out across the lake, to the research facility beyond. Gilt closes the car door holding a bottle and clutching two glasses. Ruffling a hand through his short, elegantly grey-blonde hair, he takes a seat next to Syl___. They both look over their shoulders for a moment at the sound of a howl in the distance. The sound lingers in the air. As they turn back, nudging closer together, Gilt pours a drink for them both.
MI5
London
7.41
The monitor screen displays an old-fashioned password ‘login’ screen. Inside it, a single vertical line, the text cursor, gently flashes. L slowly arranges his hands over the keyboard.
Research Facility
Saint-Gingolph
8.41
Staring out across the lake, Gilt holds his glass in both hands, as if it were a source of warmth. Syl___ places a hand on his shoulder.
‘Please won’t you tell me … what was it … what did _ tell you?’
Gilt remains still, eyes blank, as if frozen in animation. Syl___ studies his face, getting closer, as if inspecting an inanimate object, when Gilt’s mouth opens a little.
‘It’s..
Aiguilles Rouge
Chamonix
(19__?)
11.32
H_____ falls away from the side of the mountain, arms outstretched. Snow falls as he descends.
Research Facility
Saint-Gingolph
8.41
..personal.’
MI5
London
7.41
L slowly begins to type ‘Aiguilles Rouges’ into a password
window. He types the last letter and moves a finger over to the
‘enter’ key. A ghostly smiling image of [REDACTED] appears next to the password window. L’s finger hesitates, hovering over the key.
Research Facility
Saint-Gingolph
8.42
Gilt looks down at his glass, lost in reverie. Looking out beyond the lake, Syl___ notices a vehicle approach the facility. Four men in black get out and approach the building.
MI5
London
7.42
L presses the ‘enter’ key. Nothing. Sighing in disappointment, and relief, L relaxes back in the large chair for a moment, before starting to get up to leave the terminal area. But as he does so, he notices a countdown has appeared at the bottom of the screen: [REDACTED] days, [REDACTED] hours, [REDACTED] minutes. Sitting back again, L feels a faint surge from the rectangle inside his jacket, which becomes bright. As he struggles to remove it, a green spiral of light manifests from it. L stares at it, blinking. The spiral transforms into a vapour.
Research Facility
Saint-Gingolph
8.43
A man exits the facility. The approaching men open fire. Syl___ and Gilt rush toward the car.
MI5
London
7.43
L falls off the chair. Body shaking. His eyes entirely black.
Research Facility
Saint-Gingolph
8.43
Gilt removes a device from the glove compartment. Syl___ eyes it somewhat warily.
‘What’s that?’
‘Sorry. Can’t afford to lose another.’
‘Huh?’
Gilt steps out of the car. Through the open door, he turns to her.
‘Give me some time. To take care of it.’
He slams the door. It seals as it shuts. Syl___ immediately struggles to open the door on her side, which will not open for her. Gilt squeezes a trigger on the device in his hand three times. ‘10:00’ appears on a display inside the car above the central rearview mirror. Syl___ sits staring at him through the car window, in a state of astonishment.
8.45
Gilt jogs around the pond towards the entrance to the facility.
8.51
Turning his head, he peers down the open passage, then ducks in low. As he disappears inside, another car pulls up to the building. A man in black gets out and walks through the entrance.
8.52
Gilt rolls into the main room and crouches behind a tall cabinet close by. He looks around. The room is littered with bodies. Peering round the edge of the cabinet, he sees the four men leaning over a computer monitor that has been placed upon the long table. As he shifts from behind the cabinet to target and shoot them, he narrowly misses a bullet from behind, which hits the cabinet instea
d. Gilt races toward the opposite side of the room. Sparks flash around him as he reaches the deep red passageway. Bullets cascade off the rounded sides of it as he hurtles down it and as he turns the corner at the end of it, one grazes an arm. Crouching on the floor, Gilt tilts his gun in readiness in one hand while reaching for the device from the car with the other, which he proceeds to squeeze three times.
As two henchmen appear round the corner, Gilt shoots. Nothing. The two henchmen stand pointing their guns at him. It feels like time is standing still. Gilt stares at them for a moment, frozen. They stand before him, blinking, like characters in a cartoon. Gilt quickly notices a sign upon their faces. They are straining and looking furtively at their weapons. Looking down at the device in his hand, he realises that it isn’t the one from the car. It’s the one he lifted from _’s workshop. As the henchmen reposition their guns as blunt instruments, Gilt squeezes the device again, and they almost comically freeze again whilst lunging forward, as everyone’s weapons emit three ascending tones. Gilt smiles before shooting them both.
‘Sorry. Not very sporting of me, was it?’
Holding the device in one hand and his gun in the other, Gilt walks down and steps out from the red passageway. He squeezes the device once as a man appears from behind a cabinet raising a gun. Becoming infuriated whilst attempting to fire, he points it downward to check it. Gilt squeezes the device again. The man involuntarily shoots his foot. Gilt shoots him in the head, killing him instantly, before squeezing the device again. Two more henchman appear, both pointing their guns at him in confusion, stepping closer, wary of the device in his hand. Gilt eyes the device, and notices some text gently flashing upon it. Smiling, he rips off the trigger button and throws the device down the deep red passage. One henchman goes after it. Gilt enters into a physical fight with the other, man to man. Picking up the device, the henchman looks up at the sound of a body hitting the floor in the central chamber. The other man is lying at Gilt’s feet, their twisted head facing them. Gilt calmly begins walking away down the entrance passage on the other side. The henchman attempts to activate the device, which vibrates in his hand. Raising his gun, he aims and fires. Nothing. Noticing that the trigger is missing, he begins to look around frantically. Then he notices the writing that is flashing on its side: ‘50 metres’. As if something occurs to him, his head tilts up, and the device drops and rolls out of his hand, as a bullet enters his skull.
Red Peaks Page 4
