A Thousand Small Explosions (31 page)

CHAPTER 94

NICK

Nick didn’t understand why Sally was so averse to accepting pain relief to make her labour a little more bearable.

              For the best part of a month she’d complained of crippling headaches that made her feel sick but she’d been unable to take medication for it. Now she was being offered a cocktail of drugs but was refusing to accept any. Nick knew if he’d been in her position, he’d have taken enough to knock out a hippo, especially after the ninth hour passed.

Watching Sally’s body contort in pain, he wondered if she was trying to prove a point. Nick had been mentally hurt sacrificing his Match for her and the baby. Was her physical discomfort aimed as a punishment towards him? 

During a break in her contractions, Nick took leave of the hospital birthing room to find a vending machine. Sally was the one doing all the work, yet supporting her left him shattered and he desperately craved something sweet. A £2 coin bought him a Snickers bar and a full-fat Coke. A sugar-rush might perk him up. Then with nobody else in the corridor to catch him, he took a few sneaky drags from the e-cigarette he had earlier tucked inside his pocket while they were waiting for the taxi to take them to the hospital.

For a moment, Nick allowed thoughts of Alex to creep into his head and he speculated on how he might be coping back home in New Zealand. He wondered if Alex had started dating again, and if so, who the lucky person was. Then he imagined what it might be like to be with someone new after losing the person you were designed to be with. How could any potential relationship stand a hope in hell when you know you’ve loved somebody else with every inch of your being?

He threw his empty can and sweet wrapper into a bin and made his way back into the room. He was greeted with a piercing scream and the sight of Sally’s feet in the stirrups, legs spread apart and a red and purple bulbous lump protruding from her vagina. The colour drained from his face and his legs threatened to buckle. 

‘That’s it Sally,’ said the midwife confidently, ‘I can see the head, just a few more pushes and it’ll all be over.’

‘I can’t,’ yelled Sally and looked at Nick with such desperation in her eyes, he knew he’d been responsible for so much of her hurt. He regained his composure, held her hand firmly and rubbed her shoulder.

There and then Nick realised that no matter what had happened in the past or what had been taken away from him, the only two people in the world that mattered were in that room with him right now. And he made a silent vow to make a go of his relationship with Sally for the sake of her and the tiny person about to join their unconventional unit.

‘You can do this babe,’ he said softly. ‘I’m here, I’m not going anywhere again.’

‘But what if…’

‘There’s no what if,’ Nick interrupted. ‘I’m in this with you for the long haul. I promise.’ Sally winced as she smiled and Nick kissed her forehead. And with half a dozen more screams and pushes, their baby entered the world.

‘You have a boy,’ the midwife announced as she scooped him up into her arms and placed him on a table to clear his airways. A tearful Nick rose to his feet to get a better glimpse of his son but it was only when the baby was passed to his mother that Sally understood why Nick looked so confused.

Sally’s greatest fear had been realised - the boy’s skin was as brown as his hair.

Before Nick could say a word, the undetected aneurysm that had spent a month growing inside Sally’s head and was the source of her ongoing headaches suddenly burst into life, releasing blood into her brain and causing a massive, fatal stroke.

CHAPTER 95

ELLIE

‘Hello darling, I think it’s time we talked, isn’t it?’

Tim’s voice was carefree and bordering on melodious in tone but undermined by his superficial smile. He leaned back in the chair behind the glass desk in her office and sipped from a tumbler, swirling the ice around. The lead crystal decanter that contained a much sought after Scotch whisky sat atop the drinks cabinet, purposely left out and unplugged for Ellie to notice.

She sensed this was no longer the Tim she’d been head over heels in love with; this was Matthew, an unknown quantity, a man she had yet to meet but one she already hated because he had taken Tim away from her. She fumbled around in her jacket pocket for Andrei’s panic alarm for use in the event of an emergency.

‘I know about the personal alarm you carry and feel free to alert the giant to my presence if you like. I’m not going to stop you.’

Ellie turned to leave her office and press the button before Matthew spoke again. ‘Only if you do, you’ll never find out why I went to all this trouble to fuck with you.’

She stopped in her tracks, and remained with her back to him.

‘And as a scientist who has spent her life figuring out problems, I bet you’re just dying to know why.’

Ellie continued to walk, but turned towards the drinks cabinet and mixed herself a gin and tonic. She straightened her skirt, sat down on one of the two sofas, crossed her legs and waited for Tim to join her on the sofa opposite.

‘How did your meeting at the Soho Hotel go?’ he asked as he made his way towards her. His knowledge of her whereabouts took her by surprise but she refused to let it show. ‘You should get a better password for the cloud account where you and Ula keep your diary. I know where you are and where you’ve been when you tell me you’re at work. Even when you take a day trip to your old labs in Cambridge.’

‘Do you want to get to the point, Matthew?’ Ellie asked calmly.

‘Ahh, it’s the first time you’ve called me that and I think I like it, Ells! Do you know why I picked the name Timothy, by the way? It’s biblical, apparently. It means “honouring God.” And that’s who you think you are, isn’t it? Some God-like figure who should be honoured?’

Ellie shook her head. ‘Don’t be so ridiculous.’

‘Discovering your little gene, telling people who they should be spending the rest of their lives with… it certainly appears like you have a God complex.’

‘I’ve heard this kind of accusation before, it’s nothing new,’ Ellie sighed. ‘So let’s not waste any more time. What do you want from me? There has to be a point to all this and money is the obvious motive. You’re probably expecting me to pay you off or you’ll threaten to sell your story of our relationship to the papers.’

Matthew took another sip from his glass. ‘Nope. Try again. I’m not the kiss and tell type.’

‘I have no idea what “type” you are.’

‘Well then let me tell you. I, my darling bride-to-be, am the type of person who is going to destroy you and your business.’ He gave her a grin and held his glass aloft, like he was offering her a toast.

Ellie shook her head and rolled her eyes. ‘And how will you do that?’

‘We’ll get to that in good time. But first I have to say, I find it a little offensive that you didn’t recognise my mum from that photograph I put in your engagement book.’

‘I meet a lot of people and I haven’t seen your mum in over a decade. And that was a very old photograph; she looked very different then.’

‘Yet she was one of the first guinea pigs who took your test. I’d have thought that would’ve made her a little more memorable. But I guess you were so wrapped in yourself back then that you don’t even bother to give credit to the little people who helped make you.’

‘Your mum was a lab assistant - one of many, many lab assistants and she very rarely worked with me. Do you remember every person you worked with more than ten years ago?’

‘I remember everything.’

‘Well good for you.’

‘Do you recall what the results of her Match Your DNA were?’

‘Of course not, because it was very early on so I can only presume that she had no confirmed Match back then.’

‘And what about my dad?’

‘Your dad? I didn’t even know he existed until two hours ago.’

‘My dad was one of your early test subjects too. And when Mum did a test on his DNA it turned out they weren’t a Match. Then as the ball started rolling and you made the test available to the public, Dad discovered he had a Match out there. And at a time when my parents should have been thinking ahead to their retirement, he was packing his bags to move to Scotland with a complete stranger.’

‘Matthew, I am not responsible for…’

Matthew placed his finger on his lips to shush her. ‘I’m not interested in hearing the corporate line or your usual bullshit about how you are not to blame for destroying people’s lives.’

Ellie became visibly agitated at not being heard when she tried to defend herself and her discovery. However, she let Matthew continue.

‘In the space of a few months,’ he recalled, ‘Dad had sold the family home, Mum was forced to move into a flat and eventually she lost her job because of her alcohol dependency. Do you have any idea what it’s like for a son to have to change his mother’s knickers because she shat them when she was paralytic? Or to pick her up from the police station because she’d been arrested for being drunk and disorderly in a supermarket?’

Ellie wanted to shake her head but refused to give him the gratification.

‘Of course you don’t,’ he said. ‘Then just when she reached her lowest ebb, she was Matched with somebody.’

Ellie paused then placed her drink on the table. ‘Well what’s your complaint then? Everything worked out for her in the end.’

‘You’d think so, wouldn’t you? Bobby Hughes was his name,’ Matthew continued. ‘He seemed like a good guy at first and she fell for him hook, line and sinker like Matches are supposed to. But he was a manipulative bastard and she was so desperate not to be alone that she agreed to do anything he asked of her including turning a blind eye to the fact he liked underage girls.
Very
underage girls, judging by the three thousand photographs police found when they seized his laptop. He tried to claim they were already on the computer when he bought it from eBay and Mum believed him – she paid his legal bills and took out loans for him right through his court case. But when he was banged up behind bars, she was left with nothing but final demands she couldn’t pay back. And all this was because of a test that you’re responsible for.’

It would have taken someone with a much thicker skin than Ellie not to feel pity towards Matthew’s unfortunate mother.

‘You, sitting here in your ivory tower, have no idea what it’s like watching someone you love transform into something else right before your eyes, do you?’ he asked.

Ellie shot him a withering glance. ‘You think?’

‘I’m not talking about me, this is different,’ he continued dismissively. ‘I’m talking about watching a strong, intelligent woman disintegrate into a physical and emotional mess. She was passed out drunk when she set herself on fire with a cigarette, she burned alive… she was so badly burned that I couldn’t even identify her body.’

Matthew folded his arms defiantly while Ellie took a sip from her drink then cleared her throat.

‘There are millions of couples across the world who have taken the test and found they aren’t Matched,’ she began, ‘but they’ve stayed together because they’re in love. I didn’t force your mother to test her DNA, I asked for volunteers and she was one of many. We always have and always will warn volunteers of the risks of taking the test and tell them that if they have any doubts whatsoever then they shouldn’t do it.’

‘And millions of people are told how dangerous sugar is but they’re still obese, aren’t they?’

‘By that logic, everyone who suffers a diet-related heart attack, stroke or high cholesterol could claim compensation from the estates of Henry Nestle. Anyone hit by a car should be able to sue the family of Henry Ford or Karl Benz. Where does it end? At some point, people have to take responsibility for their own actions.’

‘And at what point do you take responsibility for
your
actions, Ellie?’

‘My actions have put homophobia, racism and religious hatred on the edge of extinction because a Match doesn’t recognise sexuality, colour or whatever God you choose to celebrate. It has united people of all faiths and persuasions in a way we never thought possible.’

‘But you’ve divided just as many people by creating a ‘them’ and ‘us’ scenario; those who are loved by design and the rest who’ve been made to feel their relationships are less worthy. Do you not see a parallel between what you have done and what the Nazis did to the Jews? The Nazis eroded them, piece by piece until they were a ravaged minority and treated like vermin. Is that your aim for un-Matched people?’

‘You’re more deluded than I thought.’

‘Or is it just about making money? You don’t care what chaos you cause just as long as your vintage Alexander McQueen coat pockets are lined?’

‘Are you kidding me?’ Ellie replied in disbelief. ‘Since when have I been motivated by money?’

‘There are plenty of people making and saving money because of you. Matched couples get bigger tax breaks, better life insurance deals, they’re more productive at work because they’re happier at home so they’re offered better jobs. For the un-Matched, suicide rates are higher, as are divorces and depression…’

‘…both of which actually began to fall last year as more and more people find happiness with the person they were designed for. Domestic violence against both men and women has also dropped.’

‘Only because people are too scared to report those kind of crimes and to risk never finding a love as powerful as the one they have with their physically and mentally abusive Match.’

‘You can throw as many figures at me as you want, but you cannot deny one thing. Match Your DNA exists, whether you like it or not.’

‘I don’t, and it’s not going to be around for very much longer.’

‘That’s not your decision to make.’

‘I know. That judgement belongs to the people. And the people always prevail.’

‘What are you talking about Matthew?’

He stood up and stretched his arms behind him. ‘Another drink?’ Ellie shook her head. She watched as he helped himself to a second whisky, then brought the decanter with him and placed it on the table. She followed his every move, unable to recognise the man before her as the man she loved. Everything about Matthew was different from Tim, from his arrogance to his facial mannerisms and even the way he sat. She wondered how hard it must have been to maintain this façade in her presence for so long.

‘Even now that you know what kind of person I am, you’re still in love with me, aren’t you?’ Matthew said, standing with his back to her, the ice cubes crackling as the whisky oozed over them. Ellie didn’t respond. ‘I thought so. It’s not much fun having someone play God with your life, is it?’

‘Don’t kid yourself, you’re not playing God. You’re being just as manipulative as the man who conned your mother. Only I’m not weak like her and I’m not going to let you destroy me. I’m always going to love you because it’s in my DNA to, but I’m never going to like you and after today, we will never see each other again.’

‘With all the contempt you have for me, you still have all your faith we’re a Match, don’t you?’

‘Yes, of course we are, and Christ knows I wish we weren’t.’

‘You see, that’s the funny thing, Ells. Because we aren’t Matched and we never have been.’

Ellie narrowed her eyes. ‘What do you mean?’

‘You’re a woman of science yet you were so desperate to be coupled that not for a single moment did you doubt your results.’

‘I was not “desperate to be coupled”. I had a perfectly happy life before you.’

‘You dated a series of wealthy tossers, you made up excuses not to see your family and all you had to keep you company was your work. With me, you had everything which is ironic because in reality, I am nothing to you.’

‘Of the 1.7 billion people who’ve been tested, there hasn’t been one reported mis-Match...’

‘… until now. You and I are a mis-Match because I hacked into your servers and security programmes to manipulate our results.’

‘Rubbish,’ Ellie replied, baulking at the notion and folding her arms indignantly. ‘Our servers are more secure than almost every major international company across the world. We receive so many attempts at hacking that we have the best software and team money can buy to protect our interests.’

‘You’re right about some of that. But what your system didn’t take into account was your own vanity. Do you remember receiving an email some eighteen months ago with the subject “Businesswoman Of The Year Award”? You couldn’t help but open it.’

Ellie did remember reading the email because it had been sent to her private account that only a few people had access to.

‘Attached to it was a link you clicked on and that opened to nothing,’ Matthew continued. ‘Well, it wasn’t nothing to me, because your click released a tiny, undetectable piece of brand new tailor-made malware that allowed me to remotely access your computer and work my way around your files. Everything you had access to, I had access to. Then I simply replicated my strand of DNA to mirror image yours and sat back and waited for you to get in touch. That’s why I came for a job interview a year ago, to learn a little more about the programming and systems you use. Please thank your Head Of Personnel, Kat, for leaving me alone in the room for a few moments with her laptop while she searched for a working camera take my headshot. That was a huge help in accessing your network. Oh and tell her to frisk interviewees for CCDs next time – they’re pocket sized gadgets that, when turned on, render digital cameras useless.’