Waiting in the Shadows (21 page)

He dialled a second number.

Celia stared at the computer screen and hit the table in frustration.

‘I cannot work out how to get into the hotel site!'

‘There must be a way!' Ruby looked around at Dette, who shook her head.

‘I know much less than Celia about this, I'm afraid.'

‘There is one person who might be able to help me!' Celia said. She picked up the phone and dialled a number.

‘Hello, Vince? It's me, Celia. I know it's late there, but we really need your help!'

‘Celia!' Vince answered. ‘I'm here! Anything I can do!'

He pulled himself out of bed and into his wheelchair.

‘I've got my laptop on now …'

He listened, occasionally commenting as she filled him in on the details of the recent events.

‘OK, I've got the hotel site in front of me now. We need to get into the admin files.'

‘I know, but I just cannot get any method to work!' Celia sounded panicky.

‘Hey, calm down a minute …' he murmured.

‘It could be a matter of life and death!' Celia began to sob.

‘OK,' his voice was calm, ‘I'm thinking like a Non-Lab here!'

He began to key in data, ‘No … not that; but wait … I'm getting somewhere! Are you ready?'

Celia listened and keyed in the instructions he gave her. There was a tense silence in the room as she worked.

‘I've got it on the screen now, Vince!' she cried as she saw a selection of files in front of her. ‘Admin, Sven, and Vlensky.'

‘Well we know Sven is Non-Lab, so perhaps Vlensky could be the errant Lab,' Vince continued. ‘I'll try to work out Sven's password, you try Vlensky's.'

Dette picked up a second phone as it rang.

‘Isaac! Celia is on to the hotel site, trying to gain access to Sven and Vlensky's files. From there Celia thinks they can disable the computers at the hotel.'

‘They have the twins sedated in four capsules at the moment. Lena has unlocked them, but it will be another fifteen minutes before we can get them out safely. Don't let them turn off any equipment until then,' Isaac told her, checking his watch. ‘Lena is copying files from this centre as evidence against Maher and the others. Oh, I'll have to go, someone's coming!'

‘In thirteen minutes' time the twins will be out of the capsules and you can disable the equipment, Celia,' Dette said, looking at the clock.

‘If only I knew who Vlensky is,' she said, ‘then maybe I could have an idea of what his password might be!'

Ruby pictured the CCTV image in her mind.

‘Someone tall, broad shouldered, straight black hair – though he could actually have fair hair. Probably self-opinionated; pretty confident,' she said aloud.

‘You know it sounds a bit like …' Dette began.

They all looked at her.

‘Don't be afraid to speak against anyone. If you are wrong it will not matter, and if you are right it could save the twins' lives!' Celia urged her.

‘Well, Yuri. He could be a bit pompous at times; always saying he was better than the Non-Lab lecturers; that's why he dropped out of college …' She paused. ‘What if it
is
Yuri?'

Celia pulled a scrap of paper towards her and began jotting down ideas, ‘What would he choose as his password, what would he choose?'

‘Quick, go behind that desk! Someone is coming!' Lena told Isaac.

He had hardly hidden himself when the door opened.

‘Lena! Where have you been? I have looked for you everywhere this afternoon!' he said.

‘Oh, I got carried away! Lost track of time! I have been thinking about some alterations we could try out on our friends here,' she pulled out a file and carried it to a desk at the far side of the room. ‘Will you look at them with me?'

‘In one moment. First I would like to try out something myself. I have something to take Johnny's mind off football!' he smiled as he headed for the capsule.

‘No!' Lena cried out. Puzzled Vlensky faced her.

‘I mean … we have already inputted data today. I think we must … wait until tomorrow. His brain will be useless!'

Isaac looked at his watch; still five minutes until the Labs would awaken.

‘Hmmm, perhaps you are right!' Vlensky sat down beside her and looked at the sheet spread out in front of her. ‘But this is the data I gave you!'

‘Yes! Exactly!' Lena turned to the computer, ‘Now, I was thinking we could group the characteristics according to compatibility then input the entire group at certain points; such as the ones I mentioned earlier.' She opened the file on the screen and rotated an image of a human brain.

‘Brilliant! I knew I could count on you, Lena!' He sprang up. ‘But let's make it more realistic! Let's get up an image of one of our Lab friends here. The real thing!'

He headed for the capsules and suddenly stopped.

‘What has happened?'

‘What is it, Vlensky?' Lena's voice sound shaky.

He ran towards the capsules shouting, ‘Johnny's capsule; someone has unlocked it! They are all unlocked!'

Isaac sprang from behind the desk and pushed Vlensky over as he ran past. Both men fell to the floor, knocking down a pile of books and glass slides.

Vlensky pulled himself to his feet, ‘What are you doing here?'

He grabbed Isaac's collar and pulled him up, raising his fist threateningly. Lena ran to the two men and grabbed Vlensky's arm.

‘No! No! Url! We can't do this anymore! We must stop, before it is too late!'

Her companion glared at her, ‘You? You are in on this, too?'

He shook off her arm and threw Isaac to the floor. He fell heavily, wincing as he crashed into a desk. Winded, he looked up to see Vlensky pull a metal bar from the remains of the desk and raise it over Lena.

She rolled to one side as the bar crashed through a chair near her. Vlensky upturned a case of glass containers on top of her and headed for the capsules once more.

Grimacing with pain, Isaac pulled himself up and threw himself on to Vlensky, pinning his arms to his sides. With a strangled cry Vlensky wrenched him off and flung him to the floor once again. Isaac shielded himself behind the desk as a hail of equipment rained down on him.

‘You will
not
stop me now!' Vlensky screamed. ‘No Lab or Non-Lab will stand in my way!'

Isaac saw the lid of a capsule move. He picked up a piece of wood and began to walk towards Vlensky.

‘We will! We will! Give up now!' he muttered.

The second man faced him and laughed, ‘You think you can stop me? You don't stand a chance!' he moved menacingly towards him.

From the corner of his eye, Isaac could see a figure sitting up in the capsule. A second one was also opening and another figure climbed out and slipped out of sight. The white hooded outfits they wore made it hard to identify them.

‘The place is surrounded! There's nothing you can do!' Isaac kept on talking as the first figure crept up behind Vlensky.

‘Really?' Vlensky turned swiftly as he heard a sound behind him.

After a brief struggle, the figure was overpowered. Vlensky pulled down the hood to reveal Johnny's face. Smashing a glass bottle he held the jagged end to Johnny's throat. ‘This gives me a bit more bargaining power now, doesn't it?'

He edged backwards towards the door, ‘If anyone gets in my way …'

There were shouts outside the door and Abel and Jake came running in, followed by the two policemen, both holding guns.

‘Get them to out of here!' Vlensky shouted at Abel.

As he nodded at them they stepped back out of the room reluctantly.

‘Yuri? What are you doing?' Abel shook his head in disbelief.

‘Just building a better future for the Labs. Not the second-class life you had planned for all of us!' he spat out. ‘Johnny's coming with me. You want to see him again, you listen to me. I need transport out of here, by air. Tell them!'

Jake looked at Abel and went outside to the waiting police and security guards waiting there.

‘I've collected enough data to set up my own place! I don't need anybody to help!' Yuri looked down at Lena's unconscious figure, ‘No one understands! Lab, Non-Lab – you're all pathetic! Call yourself a leader, Abel? You are willing to accept any crumbs that fall off the great Non-Lab leaders' tables! The Centre was the start of something great!'

Isaac could see a small, hooded figure edging towards Yuri; their eyes met. He cleared his throat.

‘What makes you think you can build a better future on your own, Yuri? Wouldn't it be better for all the Labs to pull together? Many are working with Non-Labs; we're all getting somewhere …'

‘No! There are too many substandard Labs! I will build a perfect world. Get rid of the flawed Labs. Only the best will survive! Has transport been arranged?' As he glanced towards the door the figure jumped up, pulling the glass from Yuri's hand and pushing Johnny's head to one side. Isaac leapt forward and pulled Johnny out of the way as Abel threw himself on top of Yuri.

There was a scream as the two remaining capsules were pushed open and one of the figures leapt upon the bloodied rescuer.

‘Milly! Milly! Are you OK?' she cried, tearing strips of her suit into makeshift bandages which she wound around her twin's hand.

A sudden crash caused them all to look around.

Abel had been flung back against one of the capsules which had collapsed on top of him. The next moment the doorway was filled with police and security men. Amidst the shouts and crashing of glass, Lena opened her eyes and gave a weak smile as she watched Yuri slip out of the door.

‘So we missed all the action!' Dette was saying a few days later as they all sat around in the Centre office. She smiled at the people around her.

‘We found out that Celia and Vince had been pretty busy themselves!' Abel smiled.

‘Yes, when Rafe Maher sent out the order to destroy certain documents on the Laqaar Medicentre computer system, he found he was too late! Celia and Vince had already barred access to the system and emailed copies of incriminating files to Scotland Yard!' Isaac slapped his thigh; then grimaced in pain. ‘I wish I had your quick healing powers!'

‘One thing that bothers me is that Yuri escaped,' he added.

‘He will not be able to contact Braxman or Sven this time,' Celia said.

‘Are they both being held in custody?' Ruby asked.

‘Braxman is in a high-security prison block. Sven is in a psychiatric prison unit,' Celia told her. ‘Neither will be granted bail before the trial. I doubt if Sven will ever be released.'

Lena, who had gone back to her old name of Fiona now that she was no longer part of Yuri's scheme, gave a sad smile, ‘Sven cannot be held guilty for his part in all this. He lives in another world; a real mad scientist!'

She pulled two memory sticks from her pocket. ‘And Yuri does not have the data he thinks he has. I substituted blank memory sticks for his own. I do not think he represents a future threat.'

She passed the memory sticks to Abel and looked at him.

‘I was surprised that you did not inform the police of my role. Why did you tell them I had been planted there to monitor Yuri's activities?'

‘The same reason you did not inform the police of Yuri's escape route, Fiona. We could not hand a Lab over to the Non-Lab justice system. They do not understand all sides of the story. And we could not let a Lab be incarcerated in a Non-Lab prison. We have already been imprisoned by Non-Labs!' Abel answered.

‘And we don't think you will be a threat to any Lab in the future,' Leon added.

Fiona shook her head, ‘No, I … I was so foolish, so blind! But I could never cause harm to another Lab!'

Isaac shrugged as the other Labs nodded in agreement.

‘You Labs certainly stick together.'

‘Milly, you were so brave!' Lily said, looking in admiration at her sister. ‘I have never seen you so fearless before!'

‘Yes, I surprised myself!' Milly grinned. ‘I don't know why I was so reticent before. We must be more assertive, Lily!'

Her sister gave a weak smile, ‘Yes.'

‘Thank goodness you were feeling brave!' Johnny said, rubbing his throat.

Silence spread over the company as they all considered the events of the last few days. Johnny pulled a plaster off his finger and began to whistle softly.

‘What's that you're whistling?' Leon asked him.

‘Brahms violin concerto,' Johnny replied absently, ‘Sort of soothing, isn't it?'

Leon gazed at him with an incredulous expression.

‘How do you know anything about Brahms or violins?' he gasped.

Fiona sat forward, ‘Yuri inputted extra data into your brain. And for Milly he extracted something, your timidity. Hence your new strengths, or interests.'

‘Does that mean you are not so good at football?' Leon asked his twin.

Johnny's jaw dropped, ‘Come on! Let's go and find out!'

Ruby stood in the doorway watching the two boys playing football with some of the Labs from the Compound. The others were deep in conversation with Fiona on the experiments Yuri had carried out. She became aware of someone standing beside her.

‘His new interest in classical music has not affected his football, has it?' she said to Isaac.

‘No,' he replied. ‘When I think back on all that has happened since I first confronted you about the number of twins you knew! I didn't know what I was letting myself in for! And I bet you had no idea what the future held for you when you first met the Labs, did you, Ruby?'

‘Not at all,' she laughed. ‘But I don't regret a single thing about my life now.'

‘Nor me. They are a wonderful group of people. Just look at what Celia can do with a computer! She's amazing!'

They both looked up as Abel joined them.