Alex Palmer: The Tattooed Man

Harrigan had been watching Elena’s face in those few seconds. It was unguardedly calculating, almost shrewd. If asked, he would have said she’d got one past Sam.

‘I’m watching what Elena’s doing. What’s this all about?’

‘Elena is shutting everyone in, including the guards at the main desk. Even the emergency exits will be locked. Don’t worry. The backup systems will kick in. They’ll all have air, they can go to the toilet. They just can’t get out.’

‘Why do that?’

‘So they won’t interrupt us.’

‘They can phone people,’ he said. ‘They can call the police.’

‘They can call whoever they like. No one can get in or out. They can send email messages too. We’re not monsters. We don’t mind people talking to their loved ones.’

‘Elena,’ Harrigan said, ‘this is a suicide pact. You’ve got nothing to lose.’

‘You shut up!’ Sam shouted, and shot a bullet past his head. He froze. It embedded itself in the wall behind him. ‘You keep your mouth shut from now on. Yes, it’s a suicide pact, which means I can kill you any time I want.’

‘What do you want to die for?’ Harrigan said. ‘You’re young, you’re fit.’

‘Yeah, and I can spend the rest of my life in gaol for breaching national security, or one day some thug Elena’s father has sent after me will find me. These are my terms. I’m dictating here. This world is a dead place. I’m cleaning a little bit of the shit away before I die. Elena, what the fuck are you doing? Okay, the shutdown’s just happened, I can see it on the screen. Everyone wait.’

The lights went out and then came on again almost immediately. There was the sound of the air conditioning changing.

‘Good girl,’ Sam said. ‘We’ve got three hours now. That’s how long the lockdown lasts without being reinstated. Now, open up the north-western sector. Open all the doors and lock them open.’

‘Why?’ Elena asked.

‘The idea frightens you, does it? Who knows what we might find if we can go wherever we want? For your information, Harrigan, no one’s in this sector today. All the admin staff are home. The IT staff are offsite and Danny’s shut down his project for the weekend. Otherwise, it’s only the CEO’s suite and the animal house over here. That’s a good combination, isn’t it? Also, we shouldn’t forget the air conditioning unit.’

At that moment, all the doors around them snapped open automatically and stayed open.

‘Now we wait,’ she said. The silence was oppressive. Elena’s phone rang. Sam took it out of her pocket. ‘Danny. He is here. Good.’ This time, she turned the phone off before putting it back in her pocket. ‘Okay, next step. Danny’s lab. Wait five minutes, then lock it down and put it back on its emergency air conditioning. I want you to seal it off from the rest of the building.’

‘Why?’

‘Just do it! When you’ve done that, you can put the rest of the building back on the main air conditioning unit.’

They waited for five minutes, barely breathing.

‘All right, do it. Good. Finally, we’re ready. Harrigan, there’s a package on the floor beside you. Open it.’

It had been addressed to Dr Brinsmead. It was large and tightly packed.

‘I need a knife,’ he said.

‘Forget it. Use your hands.’

He managed it, and found himself looking at a series of canisters. He looked up at Sam.

‘It’s gas,’ she said. ‘Elena, get over there next to Harrigan. Both of you pick one up and walk. You know the way, Elena. The air conditioning unit.’

‘You’re not going to do that. You can’t,’ Elena said. ‘Whatever you think of me-’

‘Shut up! We’re going to put this building out of action. When we’re finished, it’ll be so toxic it’ll never be used again. Everything except for Danny’s lab. When someone’s able to get back in here, what’s inside that lab will be okay. They can pick up his project and keep it working somewhere else. But the rest of this place is Abaris. We’re stopping you now, once and forever. That’s why we don’t care if we die. We’re taking you with us.’

Harrigan heard Elena draw in her breath with a sharp gasp. She was staring at Sam.

‘How many other people are here?’ he asked.

‘Do you want to die now? Because if you do, keep asking questions like that. Now pick up one of those canisters and get going.’

For a few seconds, he didn’t move. Then Elena bent down and picked one up.

‘I’ll do it,’ she said. ‘But they’re heavy. I can’t move very fast.’

‘Move as fast as you can.’

Harrigan took her hint and matched his pace to hers. Just as they were about to walk out, he glanced back. He saw Sam pick up the car keys and put them in her pocket. They walked along a corridor to the air conditioning unit and set the canisters down as requested. It took three trips, there and back. Harrigan looked around at the room and then at the small deadly canisters stacked in a neat row.

‘What are you going to do? Release it into the pipes? Where are we when that happens?’

‘You don’t have to know. Back to the delivery dock.’

He stepped outside. He was thinking. Rush her. If he did that now, all he would do was die. Look for an opportunity. He had noticed Elena had been moving more and more slowly. Maybe she was planning something that needed time.

‘Move it!’ Sam snapped.

Harrigan glanced down the corridor. Unlike the others, this corridor curved around like the edge of a sliver of moon.

‘Isn’t that the animal house down there?’ he asked.

‘We’re not going in there. Hurry.’

Once back at the delivery dock, Sam did a quick check of the console.

‘It’s all working. Good. Elena, you see that metal box over there, the one with a handle. Pick it up.’

The box, an enclosed version of the small cages used to carry animals, was sitting against one wall.

‘How did that get in here?’ Elena asked.

‘Danny put it there last night. He can get in everywhere. Lucky us.’

‘Is he here?’

‘He’s waiting for us. What did you expect?

Elena picked up the box and they walked out.

This time they went past the corridor to the air conditioning unit and the animal house and on to the foot of the staircase. Harrigan stopped and glanced back at Sam. Her expression was not so much calm as businesslike.

‘What are you waiting for?’ she said. ‘Get up the stairs.’

He was waiting his time. Not the end-time she had decided on for him but the moment of his own choosing when he would take her on. He would have to make that opportunity happen soon. There was almost no time left.

Grace walked slowly into the office. Brinsmead moved to one side to let her sit in a chair.

‘I’m sorry, Grace,’ he said. ‘I’m really not going to hurt you if I can avoid it.’

She laughed. ‘Then why are you pointing a gun at me?’

‘That’s only if you don’t cooperate. You’re too nice to look at, I don’t want you to be damaged. If you cooperate, you won’t be. We have a little time to wait. We might as well be civil to each other.’

‘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.’