The Delta Chain (44 page)

Staff began to move tentatively, with disbelief, out of the labs. Talking amongst themselves they filed past Markham and Kate, ignoring the front lifts and taking the stairwell. The lift doors sprang open and one of the security men stepped out.
‘
Okay, people, that
’
s the way, keep it orderly, and keep moving. Once outside, move to the area in front of the parking station.
’

‘I won
’
t just leave Adam down there.
’
Kate pushed off down the corridor, pressing against the staff coming from that direction. Within minutes the floor would be cleared.

Almost immediately she ran into Stephen Hunter. He had separated from Westmeyer and Asquith, briefly remaining in his lab to gather some personal papers while they took the rear lift to the ground floor.
‘
Kate, what are you doing, wrong way.
’

Kate saw no further reason to maintain the pretence.
‘
Go on, Stephen, run, save your own cowardly skin the way I imagine you always do, you…you
bastard
.
’

‘What?
’

‘I know all about your secret sub level or whatever it is. I know you and Westmeyer and your visitors are blowing the place to pieces. Adam Bennett is down there and I
’
m not leaving him. If we don
’
t get out then that
’
s just a little more blood on your hands, isn
’
t it?
’

Hunter reached for her.
‘
Kate…
’

She lashed out viciously, causing him to step back.
‘
Go to hell.
’
Tears filled her eyes but they were nothing compared to her anger. She swept past him and through the corridor to the rear lift. Markham had caught up to her.
‘
Kate, let me go for Adam. You need to leave with the others…Kate, he
’
d want you to be safe.
’

Her finger stabbed furiously at the signal button. Hers and Markham
’
s eyes locked.
‘
I
’
m not leaving without him.
’

The voice on the speakers again:
‘
A final call, all staff, if you
’
re not already moving, please vacate the building immediately.
’

There was a chime as the lift door opened. Kate and Markham rushed in but before the door slid shut, a hand appeared, stopping it.

Stephen entered the lift.
‘
I had no idea Adam was down there. But if he is, I can help you find him.
’

Hank seated himself in front of local editor Eddie Cochrane. A young reporter stuck his head through the doorway.
‘
Eddie, the cops just had a distress call from the Westmeyer Institute. They
’
ve had a threat from some anti-biotech group who claim they
’
ve planted a series of bombs.
’

‘It
’
s happening faster than I would
’
ve believed,
’
Hank said.

‘Let
’
s get over there.
’
Eddie moved swiftly from behind his desk.
‘
Crikey, all my years in this town, I
’
ve never seen anything remotely like this.
’

Twenty minutes later they arrived at the outer gate along the Institute
’
s perimeter. At the same time, regional TV and radio news vans, and police patrol cars from all over the neighbouring districts, were pulling up. News of the distress signal had spread like wildfire.

Hank stepped from Cochrane
’
s car and looked over on an amazing sight. Dozens of staff members spilling out all over the grounds. He was stunned to see Jean in the crowd. Hank ran forward.
‘
What in the world are you doing here?
’

Jean patted his arm with one hand as he clutched the other.
‘
No time for that now. But on the way here I saw a boy being bundled into a van. The van came here and I called in the police…but now…
’

‘A terrorist bomb threat. I know, Except, I doubt they
’
re really terrorists.
’
Hank surveyed the scene.

‘I haven
’
t seen the boy anywhere…
’
Jean was saying.

Hank had the sickening impression it was all too late.

The water gushed out of the tubes, swirling violently around Adam and the girl, filling the tank rapidly. Adam lunged time and again at the sides, putting the full weight of his body into the slam, and smashing his clenched fists against the glass. As he did he had a vision of the girl in the morgue, with her bruised, clenched fists, frozen at the moment of death by muscular spasm. Now he and the girl were sharing the same fate. He felt an overwhelming sense, not just of fear but of failure. He was an officer of the law. He should
’
ve been able to save this poor girl.

He guessed she was Elizabeth. Daniel
’
s Elizabeth.

His fists struck the chamber walls again and again. Useless. Industrial strength double glass.

The girl knew this. She
’
d been through the ordeal several times before. She knew this was the last time…She was cowering to the side of the tank. The torrent of water thundered down, covering their heads.

Adam pushed himself up on his toes, straining his neck, gasping for air before sinking back below the water level. The tank was almost completely full. Faces flashed across his line of vision; His parents; And Kate and Brian.

And the wide, mischievous grin of a small girl.

Coming to get you, ready or not
.

Alana.

The irony became clear as the sound of crashing water ended, the tank now full.

He was drowning.

Asquith
’
s group had left the building and, moving away from the rest of the evacuees, travelled via the back of the parking station to the extreme southern side of the grounds. From here they tramped over small hills of scattered brush to join the main road. Asquith had arranged for his people to pick them up in the hired cars and whisk them away to Brisbane Airport.

They reached a bluff from where Renshaw, donning binoculars, could see the action surrounding the building.
‘
Looks like a bomb squad, moving in…
’

‘We
’
ve allowed more than enough time.
’
Asquith keyed numbers into his cell phone. The detonation team was further back in the hills.

‘Blow it away,
’
Asquith said into the phone.

Donnelly
’
s last act, before leaving the building, had been to shut down the entire computer network from the over-riding control booth in the security office. The network ran all the building
’
s mechanical, electrical and digital systems.

It would have pleased Donnelly no end if he
’
d known that Kate, Hunter and Markham were in the rear lift, between floors, when the system shut down. He would
’
ve been delighted if he
’
d heard the screech of the cables slamming to a sudden stop.

Half a floor above the sub-level, the elevator car
’
s abrupt stop sent its three inhabitants crashing to the floor. The lights went out and there was a moment of total darkness. They lay stunned, catching their breaths. The side of Kate
’
s face had connected with the floor, cutting and bruising her cheek and forehead.

The battery-operated emergency light came on and Kate found herself blinking through drops of blood that rolled off her forehead and onto the bridge of her nose. But it didn
’
t take her long to snap back into focus: she was stuck in a lift, hanging between floors.

Trapped.

Erickson hopped behind the driver
’
s wheel in the front cab, turned the ignition and pumped the accelerator. The engines rumbled into life. He wanted the engine running so that as soon as the dock doors were open he could back up the slope at high speed. He didn
’
t want the truck sluggish, with any chance of stalling on the way out.

Switching the gear to reverse, he inched the truck back, its rear almost touching the huge doors.

He jumped down from the rig and sprinted across to the control console, mounted on the east wall. It was at the very moment he strode toward that wall that, just one flight above, Jackson Donnelly shut down the building
’
s systems. Donnelly, acting on orders from Asquith, did not stop to think, or consider, that the rear doors wouldn
’
t already be open.

Erickson knew none of this. He punched the keys on the console as the lights went out. Nothing happened. He repeated the action.

Still nothing.

Anger rising, he returned to the rig for a flashlight so he could look over the console for the problem. What had happened to the Goddamned lights? He rummaged around, found the flashlight, and shone its thin beam ahead of him across the dock floor. It was then he realised
–
no lights, no console action
–
the system had been shut down from above. He wasn
’
t going to be able to open those doors and the elevators would be useless.

Why had that idiot Donnelly, not allowed him more time? Had any of them even given thought…

He pulled out his cell phone, dialled Donnelly.
‘
Service to this area temporarily unavailable,
’
came the recorded message, as though to mock him.

He should have gone up with the others, stuck to Asquith
’
s plans, kept it simple. He dialled the number again and again, cursing to himself louder and louder each time.

Blinking through the water, eyes stinging, Adam became aware of a shadow beyond the glass of the tank. His lungs were bursting, his heart thumping like a hammer against an anvil. He could feel the girl behind him, limbs flailing.

He strained for a clearer vision of the shape beyond the glass. Was he imagining it? Was this how it ended? Hallucinations, visions of ghost-like wraiths…

He heard a sudden whooosh! but could not determine its point of origin. There was a powerful tug, like a rip in the water below.

Pulling down.

His vision blurred, lungs about to explode.

All of a sudden the water was rushing away, the gurgling sound thundering in his ears. Adam looked down to where the entry panel had been opened, releasing the water. He forced himself to hold on. Just a little longer.

The water level receded faster and faster. He grabbed hold of the girl, pointed to the tank
’
s doorway, and tried to indicate to her that she should keep her mouth closed until the air was free to fill the tank once more.

In desperation, Adam looked again to where the latch had been unfastened.

The figure behind the glass came into focus and Adam could scarcely believe his eyes.

‘What the hell
’
s happened?
’
Kate rasped, forcing herself shakily back to her feet.

Hunter was furiously pressing the EMERGENCY HELP button on the wall panel.
‘
Even if this works I don
’
t suppose there
’
ll be anyone to hear it.
’

A dazed Markham was also on his feet, steadying himself. He looked toward the ceiling.
‘
We can get out through the roof panel,
’
he said.

‘Then let
’
s do it,
’
said Hunter.
‘
There can
’
t be much time.
’
He and Markham boosted Kate up so she could grapple with the panel. Once she
’
d managed to push it open she propelled herself up, clambering through and onto the roof of the car. There was a splinter of light coming from somewhere above, enabling her to look around the lift well. She could see they were just below the ground level, not far from the bottom of the lift shaft. Something was glinting, metal perhaps, beneath the elevator car
’
s underside.

The entry doors to the sub-level?

‘We can get down from here,
’
she called to the others.

Being the heavier of the two, Markham gave the young scientist a leg booster. Hunter scrambled through the panel space, Kate grabbing hold of his shoulders and pulling from her end. She seemed to be finding energy and strength she didn
’
t normally possess.

‘The next bit
’
s going to be tricky,
’
Hunter said to Kate.
‘
You and I are going to have to pull Brian up.
’
He was still catching his own breath as he said it.

‘We can do it.
’
Kate was in hyper drive, oblivious to her injury.

‘No time,
’
Markham called up to them.
‘
You need to find Adam and find a way out. Get help.
’

‘He may be right-
’
Hunter began.

‘All three of us are getting out of here now.
’
Kate was adamant.
‘
Come on, Brian. Let
’
s do this.
’