Alex Palmer: The Tattooed Man

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.’

‘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.