Andrew Morgan - Vessel

‘Uh huh,’ Banin said. ‘Okay. Thank you for your help. Yes, thank you. Goodbye.’ He hung up, then cautiously holstered his pistol. ‘You were right.’

Bales smiled, bowing his head a little. ‘Thank you.’

‘But what about kidnapping me?’ Sean blurted. The whole scenario was slipping away before his eyes; he could see Banin walking away and leaving him and Aleks for Bales to do with as he pleased before it even happened.

‘Sorry, kid,’ Banin said. ‘Nothing I can do.’

Sean’s frustration was turning into anger. ‘And Sally? I suppose there’s nothing you can do for her, either?’

‘Look,’ Banin said. ‘I don’t know who Sally is, but I’m here to investigate the death of Lev Ryumin. I’m sorry about all this, I really am, but I’m as much use here as you are. I’m leaving.’

Banin held up his hands, and turned to leave. Bales raised his pistol, cocked it and Banin stopped.

‘Where do you think you’re going?’

Banin turned back in slow steps to face Bales. ‘What are you doing?’ he said, sounding almost peeved. It didn’t seem like the first time he’d had a gun pointed at him.

‘I told you,’ Sean said. ‘He means to kill all of us.’

Bales whipped the gun round at Sean, the cracks of madness shining through his polished exterior once again. ‘Don’t play innocent,’ he said. ‘This is all — your — fault.’

An itch in the back of Sean’s mind urged him not to give in. Looking between the pistol’s barrel and Bales’ face, he chose the words he wanted to say, picking each one with care as if they had a direct connection with the trigger. ‘You were right,’ he said, saying it slow and clear. ‘And I was wrong. There’s something else going on here that I don’t know about.’

‘Okay, Bales,’ Banin said, reaching for his holster, but Bales’ sights were on him with vicious precision and speed. Not yet, Banin, not yet , Sean thought. He needed to get Bales back on him.

‘I don’t think you want to do that,’ Bales said. ‘Why don’t you put that on the ground and kick it over here.’

Banin hesitated, then did as he was told. And then there were three , Sean thought.

‘You’re damn right there’s something else going on here,’ Bales said, pistol pointing back at Sean. ‘And you nearly wrecked all of it. Decades of hard work and preparation, and I wasn’t going to let what happened last time happen again.’

‘And that’s why you want to destroy UV One, isn’t it?’ Sean said.

Bales’ pistol wavered, then steadied. ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’

At that, the mental picture Sean had built up over the past few weeks of investigation shattered, falling to the ground in a thousand pieces. He stared at Bales, and Bales at him, his grey eyes revealing the truth: he really did have no idea what Sean was talking about.

‘Pitch twelve degrees, alignment with target confirmed,’ said Taylor, concentrating hard. ‘MRM Two is in visual range.’

‘Copy, Soyuz,’ replied CAPCOM. ‘Looking good our end. Ten metres, one zero.’

‘Pitch two degrees, yaw one degree. Forward thrusters fire, one second burst.’

‘Forward thrusters fire, one second,’ Wilson confirmed, executing the command. The deceleration made both their helmets bob forwards.

CAPCOM: ‘Eight metres.’

‘Eight metres, copy. Roll one degree. Pitch one degree.’

‘Target aligned,’ Wilson confirmed.

‘Seven metres. Holding course.’

‘Soyuz, looking good.’

‘Copy, TsUP. Wilson, fire forward thrusters, one second, on my mark,’

‘Copy, forward thrusters, one second on your mark.’

‘Five metres, Soyuz.’

‘Five metres, copy. Mark.’

‘Firing forward thrusters, one second.’

The last few metres went by without issue, the elongated probe of Soyuz sliding straight into the docking port. The two met, and the self-locking clamps hit home without so much as a jolt.

‘TsUP, we’re on dry land, thank you,’ Taylor said, relaxing. His brow prickled with sweat.

‘No problem, Soyuz. Good docking. Much better than the simulator.’

‘What? Not this crap again!’

CAPCOM laughed. ‘Radio in when you’re ready for departure.’

‘Copy, TsUP. Oh, and bite me.’

‘Copy, Soyuz, bite you.’

Taylor snorted. ‘That was easy. I don’t know why they have these automated systems. More to go wrong than a good old-fashioned human being.’

‘It was a nice approach, I have to say,’ Wilson said.

‘Thanks. Now, let’s get to work.’

‘But —’ Sean said, ‘what are the explosives for?’

Realisation flooded into Bales’ face, and he chuckled it back, as though Sean had told him an amusing pun. ‘Oh, that,’ he said. ‘A small explosive, to disable Progress and keep Fisher up there with UV One. Nothing more. I know what you think of me, Sean, but you’re wrong. You’re all wrong. But it doesn’t matter, because soon you’ll all be dead, so you wont be able to damage my life’s work any further.’

‘Wait,’ Sean said as Bales took a step towards him. Bales waited, but Sean hadn’t really thought anything beyond telling Bales to wait. He looked at Aleks, whose wide eyes held no salvation, then at Banin, who jerked his shoulders in a tiny shrug.

‘I’m waiting,’ Bales said, ‘and I’m running out of patience.’

Think, Sean, think.

‘There are three of us and one of you,’ Sean said finally.

‘I have a gun, Sean.’

‘Yes, but you can’t shoot all three of us. Two, maybe — but three? Chances are one of us will escape.’

‘Exactly,’ Banin said, and Bales re-aimed at him. ‘All it takes is one of us to escape and you’re done.’

‘I’d shoot you as you ran,’ Bales said. ‘There are open fields in every direction for at least a mile.’

‘You might miss,’ Banin said.

‘I’m a good shot.’

‘That’s what, a nine millimetre? Good accuracy close up, but with some distance? Even good shooting won’t make up for that.’

Banin was stalling well, but Sean couldn’t see it working for long. They needed to do something else to last more than a few minutes.

‘And if one of us is going to get away,’ Sean said, and Bales swung back to him, ‘your little secret will be out. Everyone will know about UV One and Sally Fisher, every last little detail. And you won’t have the chance to do anything about it, because when more police come for you, I expect they’ll be shooting to kill.’

Bales shifted his stance, looking anxious. ‘Get on the ground, all of you.’

Aleks started to bend down, but Banin held up his hand to stop him. ‘Stay where you are,’ he said. ‘Bales—you’ve lost. Aleks is right there in the doorway. If you shoot me or Sean, he’ll get out and you won’t be able to catch him. If you shoot Aleks, I’ll be on top of you before you know it. One of us is leaving whether you like it or not, so you might as well let us all go and call it a day. I promise you’ll never hear from us again, and we won’t ever speak of this to anyone.’

Sean watched as Bales considered the idea for a moment, then lowered his gun. ‘Okay,’ he said. ‘Then you leave me no other choice.’

As quick as the crack of a whip, he levelled the gun and filled the room with almighty thunder. The thunder came again, and then silence. Sean had dropped to the floor. The smell of gunpowder was acrid in his nose, overpowering the damp wood smell of the barn.

‘Is everyone alright?’ Sean heard Aleks say. The sheer volume of the gunshots seemed to have jarred his vision and he blinked to try and bring it round again.