The Delta Chain (38 page)

Hank, on the other hand,
was
busy. He
’
d only recently returned from a meeting with the editor of the local newspaper. He
’
d organised to share their facilities for a small fee. Now he was tapping away on his laptop and planning to call his old employer in Chicago.

Although a strong and independently minded woman, Jean had never been impulsive. Well, she thought, there
’
s a first time for everything.

She picked up her handbag and, as Hank spoke on the phone, his gaze settled on the view beyond the balcony, she left the room and went to Reception .
‘
Could you call a taxi for me?
’
she asked the girl behind the counter.

‘Where
’
d you like to go?
’

‘The Westmeyer Research Institute.
’

Adam and Markham arrived at the Institute at 10AM and called first on Reardon. The A.B.C.S. boss was glued to his bank of monitors, one hand holding a mug of coffee, the other darting over mouse and keyboard.

‘It
’
s incredible,
’
he said to the two men as though they
’
d been with him for hours,
‘
we installed the network here with specially created “firewalls”. Melanie Cail must
’
ve sneaked on to the laptop in Stephen
’
s apartment, and created the hole through which she later launched the virus.
’

‘So she certainly knew what she was doing,
’
Markham commented.

‘That
’
s the thing. She must
’
ve been a real cyber- head to handle this. It
’
s the kind of thing I
’
d expect from people like Rhonda and Kate, but not your average small town journo. And that
’
s exactly what she intended, that once our investigation reached this stage we
’
d believe it was the work of one of our own. Goes to show you can never be sure….
’
He swivelled in the chair to face them.
‘
Heard about these deaths. One mystery solved, another one rears its head for you guys.
’

‘Did Collosimo say anything to you,
’
Adam asked,
‘
about suspecting Melanie of the sabotage, or about confronting her?
’

‘No.
’

‘Could he have known,
’
Markham wondered,
‘
that the ping ID was traced to Melanie
’
s PC?
’

‘Don
’
t see how. I only found out myself, from your lot, this morning.
’

‘Is it possible,
’
Adam changed the subject,
‘
that there
’
s PC
’
s in a building like this, interacting with the network, but not showing up as “linked” on the control board?
’

Reardon
’
s reply came with a wink.
‘
Adam, if one thing
’
s certain in computers it
’
s that anything is possible.
’

‘I
’
m serious, James.
’

‘Simply a matter of programming a suppression cloak on those connections,
’
Reardon said.

Leaving Reardon, Adam and Markham inspected the goods lift. It was situated along a rabbit-warren corridor that wove its way behind the labs. There was no reason for anyone to walk the far end of the corridor unless they were heading for the goods lift. And there was no reason to use the lift, unless equipment was being transported.

Heading back to the front, they encountered Kate.

‘Just had a look over the goods lift,
’
Adam said.
‘
Only shows buttons for the ground and the two upper levels. But there
’
s another, unmarked button, lower down on the panel.
’

‘We expect,
’
Markham added,
‘
that if the lift receives only limited use, and as the button is unmarked, the general staff wouldn
’
t even know of its existence, let alone have pressed it.
’

‘I had no idea there was such a button,
’
Kate admitted.
‘
But then I
’
ve rarely been in that lift.
’

‘I
’
ll check it out,
’
Adam said in a lowered voice.
‘
Presuming it leads to the hidden level, I
’
ll take a brief look around and establish it
’
s safe for a team to go in.
’

Kate took a firm hold of his arm.
‘
I
’
m sorry about last night. Overtired, over-reacted…
’

‘Forget it. Besides, I
’
m the one who was out of line.
’

‘Be careful, Adam. I….never thought everything would lead back here, that it could come to something like this. Please, no chances, no risks.
Just be careful
.
’

Costas was sickened by the way in which the words of the gospels had been taken and twisted. Young minds brainwashed into thinking the evil way was the right way, the way of Jesus
–
when in fact nothing could be further from the truth. And yet, thought Costas, wasn
’
t that the devil
’
s MO: to deceive.

He rested his gaze on the young man sitting on the grass. Daniel was looking to the distant hills and the sky. Despite his upbringing and his conditioning by the cult, Daniel had a strong, natural streak of independence. Costas sensed a goodness at the core of the boy
’
s soul
–
Daniel had fallen in love with a girl and had broken free to search for her, even though it went against the grain of everything he
’
d been raised to believe.

Detective Megan Shorter had been in touch to say that a special police team, trained in counselling young victims, would be arriving shortly in Northern Rocks.

Costas would be allowed to go with Daniel to the safe house, to stay with the boy while his situation was being assessed.

Barbara came up alongside him and linked her arm with his. Costas squeezed her hand reassuringly, smiling at her with warmth and concern.

After learning of her sister
’
s death, Barbara had simply held onto Costas, burying her head in his chest and crying until she was spent of tears. Costas understood her sense of guilt and frustration at losing the sister with whom she
’
d had such a troubled relationship.

Barbara had said very little about those feelings, focusing instead on the fact that the funeral would need organising, and relatives would need to be advised. These were the painful things that lay ahead of them.

She looked toward Daniel. Minutes before he
’
d been kicking a football around with Joey. The boys had been getting in a bit of play before the rain hit.

‘I
’
ve been given an extraordinary opportunity here,
’
Costas said,
‘
to show him the true ways of righteousness, not the lies he
’
s been fed by these Keepers.
’

‘What kind of people would do this sort of thing?
’

Costas shook his head despairingly.
‘
The devil
’
s own.
’

The devil
’
s own had implicit instructions. Erickson, assisted by Tannen, was to take the boy to the Institute sub-level.

The tiny darts, fired by the skilled marksman, found their marks. Within ten seconds, Costas, Barbara and the two boys were unconscious, slumping over from their sitting positions in the back yard. They would be out cold for at least an hour.

The men moved in quickly, lifting Daniel between them and half carrying, half dragging him to the front of the house. Erickson waited as a lone car passed, then he checked the street. No one on the sidewalks, or in the gardens. Further along the street a taxi pulled up and the driver went toward the front door of a house, facing away from them.

‘Now!
’
Erickson said. They bundled the boy into the van, Erickson keeping his eye on the street. The cab driver had gone into the house. All else was quiet.

Erickson couldn
’
t see the woman who waited in the back seat of the taxi, cloaked in shadow.

Jean Farrow could see
them
. She watched with idle curiosity as the distant figures of two men assisted a younger male into the van. She saw them look up and down the street before driving away at a moderate speed.

Their arrival was swift and smooth, like avenging hawks swooping in.

Logan Asquith and his team were ferried by chauffeur-driven limousines from Brisbane to Northern Rocks. At the Institute
’
s entry gate, Donnelly took the place Collosimo would have assumed, escorting the visitors to Westmeyer
’
s office. The staff had simply been told potential investors would be meeting with the management.

Asquith was jet lagged, anxious over the information he
’
d received en route, and champing at the bit for action as he strode in.

‘All the data on Delta Chain needs to be backed up to the HQ mainframe.
’
Asquith addressed Westmeyer in rapid-fire speech, literally ignoring Donnelly.
‘
I
’
ve brought techs with me experienced in this sort of thing. We
’
ll need to use the resources of the entire network immediately. There are secure ISDN lines being set up now for the transmissions. William, I
’
m going to need Hunter and his team to drop everything and assist.
’

Westmeyer stayed calm and presented his view persuasively. He
’
d been taken aback by Asquith
’
s hostile entrance but didn
’
t want to over-react. He didn
’
t see the need for another “relocation.”

‘Logan, I had no idea you were going to come madly rushing in on this. I wanted to talk the issues through with you first. There are strong reasons to reconsider-
’

‘William, this happens now, and believe me we haven
’
t got much time. The Delta Chain data must be fully transferred so the operation can be completed elsewhere, and the Institute must be evacuated and destroyed, totally, today-
’

‘What?
’
Westmeyer rocketed out of his seat, all pretence at calm gone.
‘
Destroyed? For God
’
s sake, Logan, why…?
’

‘The Feds have found links between the Institute, the drowning victims and the croc hunters, both here and in Florida. There
’
s a Task Force in Northern Rocks right now, ready to tighten the noose.
’

Westmeyer slumped back in his chair.
‘
My God…
’

‘I
’
m also informed there
’
s a runaway here, from Vender
’
s loony farm.
’

‘Erickson
’
s gang have located him,
’
Donnelly said.
‘
They
’
re bringing him in now.
’

‘That
’
s the first piece of good news I
’
ve had in forty-eight hours. He
’
ll have to be eliminated, along with the building. There can be no loose ends.
’

All of a sudden Westmeyer felt very weary.
‘
Our other work here…
’

‘Not important. It can be started from scratch and exists primarily, to create the façade that the Institute
’
s engaged in a multitude of projects. Delta Chain is the only one of vital interest to us.
’

Deliberately turning his back to Donnelly, Asquith continued:
‘
There
’
s several things we need to discuss once you
’
re fully relocated, William. Your team have collectively dropped the ball on this. Police have been allowed to unravel far too much when it shouldn
’
t have been remotely possible…
’

Donnelly had been associated with Asquith
’
s projects since their Vietnam days. He didn
’
t like being ignored and excluded like this. He wasn
’
t responsible for the way events had careened out of control. He was the one responsible for ensuring the project had come as far as it had.
‘
Logan-
’

Asquith cut across him.
‘
Later, Jackson.
’
He moved closer to Westmeyer.
‘
Call Hunter. We need to move
now
.
’

AAT-ATA-TGA-GTA-…the decoder scanned the DNA strand just as a conventional scanner reads a barcode. Only this was the barcode of life itself and the blood molecules under scan had been spliced and recombined, the latest sequence in a line of tens of thousands. These were not the DataStorming
‘
virtual
’
experiments but
‘
actuals
’
that DataStorming had flagged for extremely high success potential.