Tim Lebbon - Coldbrook

He closed his eyes. He was old, and that was fine, and he had lived a life. But others in this place had people up there, many of them living in the nearest town, Danton Rock: wives, husbands, kids.

Like Vic Pearson. A family.

And then Jonah wondered where the hell Vic Pearson had gone.

‘Uri, quickly,’ he said. ‘ Quickly! ’

Uri worked fast, and half a minute later he slid the wireless keyboard across to Jonah. ‘Hit enter to initiate automatic lockdown. You can monitor all lockdown procedures — or switch it to manual — on the schematic behind you.’

‘Thank you,’ Jonah said. But he didn’t look up as they left, and was glad that none of them offered a final comment. As they closed the door he pressed enter, and Coldbrook began closing itself off from the only world any of them knew.

As Vic entered the vehicle garage he heard a distant shout, and then a noise like doves cooing. He paused, pressed flat against the wall with his head tilted to one side. Had he really heard that? Birds, underground? He couldn’t be sure — there wasn’t even an echo now. He released his held breath, the sigh making the garage’s silence seem even more eerie.

There were three vehicles in the large garage area — two SUVs and a military Hummer — and the smell of fuel and spilled oil hung in the air. For a moment the idea of taking an SUV crossed his mind, but he knew that the wide door at the far end of the garage was always kept electronically locked, and that on the slowly curving ramp that rose two hundred feet to the surface there were three other security doors.

He had criticised several times Coldbrook’s design, suggesting that there should be at least two independent escape routes to the surface in case of an accident. To begin with, Jonah had reasoned with him — nothing would go wrong, they were cautious when they built it, there was no risk. But after a while he had simply chosen to respond with the stark truth: if the core was ever breached, none of them would have to worry about escape.

Vic could open the doors on the vehicle ramp but it would take time. And, of the escape routes he’d considered as he made his way here, it was the most observed and the least likely to be successful.

He had somewhere quicker in mind.

‘So long as they don’t go for complete lockdown,’ he whispered to himself, listening again for more voices, and deciding it must have been his own guilt calling after him. He looked around the garage, checking for movement or the dark blue of a guard’s uniform. He was sure that he was alone, and since the alarm had switched off he’d started to wonder just how serious the situation was. If they had it contained in Control, it wasn’t certain that Jonah would seek to lock down the whole facility, because if he did-

Vic. . something came through.

‘Shit.’ Vic shook his head and checked his palmtop. The camera view of Control showed no activity now. He switched back to the thumbnail views and saw a flash of movement in one of the accommodation corridors. The image was too small to make out any detail, and by the time he enlarged it whatever had moved was gone. But. .

Blood on the wall — and his own ran cold.

He switched programs to the schematics of Coldbrook that he’d stored on the computer. He was responsible for the maintenance and adjustment of the unique core containment and, in turn, the breach generator. But he’d made sure that he knew as much as possible about the rest of the facility. He’d never really believed that something would go so catastrophically wrong, but it was always good to be prepared.

Holly , he thought, but he tried to blink her away.

Vic shifted the plans on his palmtop screen. Behind the garage lay one of the three main plant rooms serving the facility, this one dedicated to the air-conditioning systems. Every single external access point would be affected by a lockdown, but if he was fast enough now maybe-

From the main door across the garage he heard the click and snap of metal. He dashed between the Hummer and an SUV and watched from there. He should have known what was happening from the first instant, but his mind was fogged by the stark fact of his betrayal. He was running just when Jonah needed him most, and if he dwelled on that for more than a second he felt physically sick. So he did not dwell on it at all. He focused on Lucy and Olivia.

Across the garage a wisp of smoke rose from the huge door’s securing mechanisms as they melted into lockdown. The smell of burning filled the air, and the acrid whiff of hot metal. The clicks and clanks of warping locks echoed through the space. Vic had always thought such a process was overdramatic, and that secured locking of the exits would be enough in any emergency. But his boss had always been keen on his safeguards.

Jonah’s started! he thought, and he ran for the doors to the air-conditioning room. Once inside he consulted the palmtop again, then dashed for the largest duct that led up through the mountain. There was a maintenance-access point at the base of the duct, sealed with three coded locks. He tapped in the codes and breathed a sigh of relief when he heard the quiet clicks of release.

The metal duct was a little over five feet wide, with a vertical ladder bolted into the inner wall. Vic pulled a head torch from his tool belt and flicked it on, securing it on his forehead before beginning the climb. He went as fast as he could, knowing that he would tire quickly but desperate to get as high as possible before lockdown of the duct commenced. The idea that he might become trapped in here had not even crossed his mind: concern for his family drove him on, and he had confidence in his ability to bypass any secured barriers.

As he climbed he wondered what was going on down below. He knew so little, and that made the fear stronger, a sense that the vast extent of the facility was loaded with threat. Once he was out and with his family he would use the satphone to find out what was happening. Jonah would hate him for running. And Vic was certain that the old man wouldn’t even understand. But they had worked together for eight years and he was confident that Jonah would talk to him.

As he approached the first of the duct’s three fire dampers — an automatic divider that would double as a security barrier during a facility lockdown — it started sliding shut. He speeded up but was too late, reaching the damper just as it snicked closed and its internal mechanisms started overheating and warping. He winced at the acidic odour of superheated metal, but being poisoned was just something else to be afraid of.

So this would be when he’d test how good he was. There were three dampers in the vertical duct to make his way past, all of them now probably sealed shut. Beyond that, he would have to open the surface hatch from the inside and then sneak past the compound guards. And then he’d have to run a mile across the dark mountainside to Danton Rock, and his family. Perhaps once he got there he might allow himself a few seconds to relish the fact of his escape.

Vic braced himself on the ladder, and as he caught his breath he consulted the Palm Pilot. The best way past the barrier was around, not through it. As he plucked items from his tool belt, his satphone started chiming. He plucked it from his pocket and glanced at the screen: Jonah. He turned it off and set to work.

It took three minutes to create the necessary opening in the duct wall and start on the still-hot damper mechanism, and another two minutes to dismount the mechanism itself. Vic twisted and slid it out of sight on top of the damper, then squeezed through the gap. It was a tight fit. His tool belt caught and caused him a moment of panic, but then he was through. Two more to get past, and fifty feet of climbing in between. He hoped to be out of Coldbrook and into the cool night air within fifteen minutes.