Simon Toyne - The Tower - Part Three

‘Is that where the helium leak happened?’ Franklin asked.

‘Yup, that’s the cryo lab – biggest vacuum testing facility in the world. They got a test room there where they can suck every molecule of air right out of it and freeze it down to space temperatures. We use it to test all the expensive hardware before it gets launched, make sure it won’t break up in space.’

Something tightened in the pit of Shepherd’s empty stomach. ‘What are you testing in there now?’

‘Mirrors.’

‘What for?’

‘Same thing we’ve been testing all year – James Webb.’

Franklin jerked forward in his seat. ‘Driver, you need to take us over there right now.’

‘Now wait a second.’ Ellery swivelled round. ‘This is my facility. You can’t just come here and start ordering people …’

‘Yes I can,’ Franklin cut him off. ‘That’s exactly what I can do. Start driving, son.’

The driver obeyed, throwing the wheel hard over and sending the Explorer into a sharp U-turn. Ellery opened and closed his mouth like a landed fish but said nothing. Ahead of them the cryo lab swung back into view, leaking thick clouds of helium vapour like the whole place was ready to blow.

‘When did the leak happen?’

‘The alarm went off ’bout a half hour ago.’

‘And had you spoken to Professor Douglas by then?’

‘Excuse me?’

‘Had you told him we were coming?’

‘No. I’d spoken to him but I didn’t say what it was about.’

‘What did you say exactly?’

‘I said some people had been asking for him, but I didn’t say who.’

‘And when was this?’

‘Just as soon as I got off the phone to you.’

Franklin shook his head. ‘Driver, you need to get us over there as fast as you can.’ The Explorer lurched, pushing everyone back in their seats as the driver floored the accelerator.

‘What the hell is this about anyway?’ Ellery growled, trying to claw back a bit of authority.

‘Those mirrors you’ve been testing, are they expensive by any chance, difficult to replace if they got broken?’

‘They cost about fifteen million dollars apiece. They’re precision-engineered and coated in gold. We got six of them in the chamber at the moment.’

‘Really? Well there’s a very real chance that right now, while everyone else is standing around outside, Professor Douglas is inside using his car keys to scratch his name on them.’

The speeding Explorer crunched to a stop just short of the building, sending the crowd of bunny-suited lab techs scattering. Franklin was out of the door before it had even stopped. Shepherd had clipped his safety belt on out of habit and was now cursing as he fumbled to release it. He opened the door and ran round the car, the freezing air like razors in his lungs.

Franklin stood to the side of the main entrance, listening. Shepherd noticed he was holding his gun. He undid the buttons on his coat and reached for his own, falling in line behind Franklin and standing slightly away from the wall like he’d been taught. Franklin turned and beckoned Ellery over.

It all felt so familiar to Shepherd from his recent intensive training that he had to remind himself this was not a simulation and the bullets in his gun would not fire paint. Also, the man they were looking for with drawn guns was his old professor, a man he respected more than pretty much any of the long procession of people who had lined up to cram knowledge into his head. Professor Douglas, with his sharp, kind eyes and his boy-scout enthusiasm. Professor Douglas who was a vegetarian because he couldn’t bear the thought of a living thing having to die on his behalf. Professor Douglas – suspected terrorist, wanted by the FBI.

Ellery joined them in a rustle of goose-down parka, his eyes darting around. Nervous. ‘Tell me about the building,’ Franklin said, keeping his eyes on the door. ‘Where are the exits?’

‘There’s this one and a fire exit out back.’

‘You need to get someone round there to cover it. What about inside? Tell me about the layout?’

‘The layout is kind of tricky.’

‘Then you’ll have to come with me. I don’t want to get lost in there. Shepherd, you cover the rear exit.’

‘We’re going inside?’ Ellery looked like he was going to pass out.

‘I can guide us,’ Shepherd said. ‘I worked in this building for a while. There’s a door leading away from the lobby to a changing room. From there you pass through a scrubbing station and an airlock to get to the central chamber. The coolants are fed into it from storage silos on the far side of the building. They come in through deep underground pipes to aid the insulation. If there’s a leak then it will probably be in the main chamber.’ He looked at Ellery for confirmation. He badly wanted to go inside and be there when Franklin confronted Douglas, for the Professor’s sake as much as anything.

Ellery nodded, all his earlier bravado now gone. ‘That’s about the size of things. You’ll need access codes for the doors but they’ll all be the same because the system is in evac mode. It’s star, four zeros then the hash key.’

Franklin nodded. ‘OK. You go organize your men to cover the exits. We’ll go in the front and try and flush him out.’

Ellery nodded and hurried away. Shepherd watched him go, taking in the crowd beyond him – the emergency vehicles, the shivering people – his senses made sharp by adrenalin and fear. In the distance he noticed that the trees were heavy with snow and what looked like black fruit. A car door slammed and the fruit took flight, rising in the air like a column of living black smoke, thousands of migratory birds flying out of season and resting on trees that had never known snow. Nature turned on its head.

End of days.

‘Ready?’ Franklin said.

No – Shepherd thought. ‘Yep,’ he said, turning back to the entrance and raising his gun.

‘Good, ’cause you’re on point.’ He stepped around and behind Shepherd so the front of his body was tight to his back – nuts to butts . ‘Cover and move,’ he murmured, ‘just like in Hogan’s Alley.’

Except the bullets are real – Shepherd thought. The bullets are real.

Then he stepped forward and opened the door.

Shepherd went in low, sweeping the entrance lobby from left to right while Franklin stayed high and swept in the opposite direction. It was exactly as he remembered it, a row of five chairs stretched along the far wall below a huge picture of the space shuttle, a water cooler in the left corner with a waste bin next to it half full of paper cups, a heavy door to the right with a thick window built in at head height and HazMat and Radiation symbols below it. Nothing else.

He stepped forward and moved across the foyer, heading for the door and repeating the training mantra over and over in his head: Check and move, check and move.

Franklin stayed close enough to make them a single entity with two sets of eyes and two guns.

Star, four zeros then the hash key. Through the door. It swung shut behind them with the suck of rubber seals, cutting off all sounds from outside. In the quietness they heard something new, a low, steady hiss as though a huge snake was waiting for them somewhere inside the building.

Shepherd stepped to the side of the door – gun in front, heart pounding – and scoped as much of the room beyond as he could through the small window. The gowning room was all white tiles, bright lights and shelves full of rolled-up suits and gloves. There were some full suits hanging like ghosts on the wall, which made his finger tighten on the trigger.