Diamond Eyes (47 page)

She followed him a little further to the steel industrial bin. ‘He’s stashing the bag behind there. Ooh!’ She squealed as a blur of claws and fur bolted through her leg.

‘What’s up?’ asked Ben. ‘Did he shoot at you?’

‘No, it was the cat. She scratched him and took off.’

‘Let me take a look,’ said Van Danik. Mira heard a cat growl and spit. ‘I don’t think she likes us either. Back up, little one. Let’s see what you’re hiding.’

‘Nothing,’ Sei said. ‘You won’t find anything back there but the cat.’

‘You sound certain of that,’ Ben remarked. ‘Is that because you think Mira’s crazy now too, or because you’ve already removed the evidence?’

‘Not personally,’ Sei said. ‘However, that evidence
has
been retrieved.’

‘Corporal, no!’ Duet ordered.

Mira heard a rustle, then gasps and shuffled footsteps. Ben wrenched her sideways.

‘Freeze!’ Duet ordered, but Ben had already switched places with her, and now Van Danik and Zhou were in front of her too. She could feel all three men forming a wall between her and Duet.

‘What’s going on?’ she asked.

‘Stay calm,’ Ben told her.

‘What are you doing?’ Sei said forcefully. ‘Stow your weapon, John. She’s an innocent witness!’

‘Witness,’ he agreed, ‘but hardly innocent. She knows more than she should, which means we detain her for the colonel.’

‘Now, hang on!’ Van Danik said. ‘You alreadydragged him over here once and look where that got us. He’s not interested in Mira’s ability.’

‘He will be now, Doctor. Make the call, Karin. From what we’ve just heard, these guys are not only in possession of classified information, they may also be party to selling it on the black market.’

‘Nonsense!’ Zhou protested.

‘Is that so?’ Duet said. ‘Then why did she fail to identify the killer when she could rattle off precise details of everything else? She’s deliberately trying to protect him. I’ll have my sunglasses back now, thank you, Miss Liar.’

‘I’m not a liar, and I’m certainly not trying to protect the killer!’ Mira snatched the glasses off her nose. She felt like hurling them at him, but handed them calmly to Ben, keeping her eyes clamped tightly shut until he could give her the similar-coloured pair that would allow her to see the murder again in roughly a week.

‘I can’t recognise anyone,’ she said, ‘unless I’ve seen them before, and I haven’t seen that killer —
yet.
I won’t be able to match his voice to his face until tomorrow at least.’

Duet laughed. ‘If you could recognise Hawthorn, you should be able to recognise the kid who was practically glued to him.’

‘Private Lockman?’ Zhou asked.

‘No,’ Mira said, ‘he wasn’t here. I told you; the killer asked about him.’

‘That’s hardly convincing, Miss Chambers. In fact, your attempts at diverting blame away from him are fairly glaring.’

‘I am
not
lying!’ Mira shouted. ‘Private Lockman didn’t do it. Find the man with a bullet hole in the left pocket of his jacket and three long scratches on his left wrist, and then you’ll find the killer!’

‘That suggests he’s left-handed,’ Zhou said.

Van Danik gave a fake-sounding cough. ‘That’s enough, Mira,’ he warned kindly. ‘You’re wasting your breath if they don’t believe you by now. But since they insist on detaining us for questioning, I insist they go straight to the top — to General Garland, not Kitching.’

She felt Ben’s hand reach behind him and touch hers with a warning pressure, as if he needed her to stay calm, wait and listen.

‘Damn headset!’ Sei complained. ‘I can’t get enough reception here to call the colonel, but if we’re lucky it may be enough to send a text by phone. In any case, we know where he’s headed. I suggest we meet him back at Sandy Creek … No, don’t look at me like that, Mitch. If you’re innocent, you can speak with General Garland there as well in a week.’

‘Unlock the van, Karin,’ Duet ordered. ‘Here’s the keys.’

Mira heard them fly through the air, clip something and land on the pavement. She also heard a soft noise behind that, near the invisible van, a little like the brief vibration of a mobile phone inside a pocket full of coins. Her stomach churned a warning that rose instantly to her mind as fear.

Someone else is here!

‘Ben!’ she whispered as the side door of the van rolled noisily open. ‘We have to get out of here!’

‘That’s the idea,’ Duet said, closer than she’d realised. ‘Get in.’

Hands clapped, shoes crunched on gravel and Mira knew that whoever was on the far side of the vehicle had revealed himself.

‘Well done!’ he declared. ‘You lose a few points for failing to watch your back, Corporal, but other than that, I’m impressed with your initiative.’

‘Colonel?’ Duet said, surprised.

‘I just tried to get you,’ Sei said, sounding equally flustered.

Mira frowned, confused too. Colonel Kitching thought she was insane; he didn’t believe she could see anything. So why had he followed them to the alley?

‘Get in the van,’ Kitching ordered.

Ben clasped Mira’s hand to lead the way, his palms sweating. She fell into step behind him, unsure of where the doctors were now, or how they were reacting. The footsteps in front and behind her could have been any of them. She just knew they were no longer shielding her.

Ben climbed into the back of the van without letting go of her hand, then helped her into a seat before taking the one beside her.

‘Turn those Magnums to your foreheads and pull,’ Van Danik said. The back of the vehicle sagged and his voice shifted from being outside to in. ‘You both need a lead lobotomy if you can’t see what’s going on here.’

‘You need to get that flapping mouth under control,’ Duet warned, ‘before it catches a bullet.’

‘Check his left wrist for scratches!’ Van Danik insisted. ‘They were fresh at our meeting last night.’

Silence stretched between the seconds, then many things seemed to happen at once. Ben let go of her and she heard a struggle, a thump, grunting and the shuffle of footsteps. Something went
puh!
like a metal fist into a pillow. Duet grunted as the van rocked and the metal fist hit the pillow again.

‘Karin!’ shouted Van Danik.

No reply, just more heavy grunts and shuffling.

The van rocked and banged violently, as if someone had locked a bull in with them, but the back doors were still open. Mira could feel the fresh air — and smell blood.

‘Ben!’ she cried. ‘What’s happening?’

The window shattered beside her and she screamed. Something heavy hit Ben’s seat and he gasped. Van Danik yelped too, and she felt dampness spray her hand — blood from the smell of it, but whose?

‘Ben?’ she squealed.

‘Run!’ Zhou shouted.

‘Come on, Mira!’ Ben wrenched her to her feet and ushered her roughly out of the van. Her foot touched down on a thick soggy lump, and Ben saved her from falling, lifting her and carrying her away from it, running towards the inn’s back door where he set her down on clear ground.

‘Keep the pressure on,’ Zhou said.

Behind them, near the van, she heard struggling.

‘Karin?’ Van Danik called again, sounding uncharacteristically confused.

‘Get going!’ Sei shouted. ‘I’ve got your back!’

Mira tripped on the steps up to the door, causing Ben to stumble too. Her face touched his shoulder and she smelled blood again, this time on him. ‘You’re bleeding!’ She tried to lift him back to his feet.

‘I’m fine, come on.’

He lunged to his feet, dragging her with him. She bumped through the narrow doorframe crushed close against him then lost her grip again just as something small zinged off the doorway, above her head.

Hands grabbed her from all directions, ushering her swiftly inside and around a corner.

The door groaned as it closed automatically.

‘Keep moving!’ Zhou urged. ‘We have to get help.’

‘Wait for Karin,’ Van Danik pleaded. ‘We can’t leave her.’

‘She’s dead!’ Zhou argued. ‘They both are. Just keep a tight hold on that ear and come on!’

‘Dead?’ Mira clutched at the tablets still concealed close to her chest. ‘But she was so nice to me!’

Her blood pulsed in rising panic as she was pushed and pulled along, but her head stayed numb with shock. Part of her wanted to haul Ben to a halt, but her legs pumped mechanically to keep up with him. She stayed glued to his back as far as the elevators.

‘Stop!’ Zhou whispered, now right in front of her. ‘Kitching’s driver is in the foyer.’

‘Raptis regalitor,’
Van Danik mumbled.

‘We are not royally screwed,’ Zhou said.

‘Then what?’ Ben snapped. ‘We can’t let him see us.’

‘Up,’ Van Danik suggested. He stumbled against Mira and punched the control panel beside her to call the elevator.

‘We’ll be trapped,’ Ben argued.

‘Maybe not,’ Zhou said. ‘Mira, can you jump?’

‘I can cartwheel if that’s what it takes to get away from here!’

‘What did she say?’ Van Danik asked loudly, still sounding disoriented. ‘I think I’ve gone deaf.’

‘Keep your voice down! We have to call the police,’ Zhou said, ‘but not from our rooms. That’ll be the first place Kitching looks.’

‘We need an ambulance too,’ Mira insisted. ‘Ben’s hurt.’

‘No, it’s just a fat lip.’

‘But you’re bleeding! Don’t lie. I can smell it!’

‘That’s Mitch,’ Zhou explained. ‘A bullet nicked his temple. But don’t worry, Mira — head wounds often bleed a lot. He was so close to the trigger, it’s knocked him silly. I’m more concerned about his eardrum after the compression wave … Where the hell is that elevator?’

‘But I can smell blood on Ben!’ Mira persisted.

‘Overspray,’ Ben told her. ‘There’s some on you too.’

Mira searched his chest urgently with her hands. ‘You’re not hurt?’

He scooped her fingers together and kissed them. ‘Would I lie to you?’

She blushed, relief sweeping over her, soon replaced by a warm, yearning ache to wrap her arms around him.

The elevator chimed and the ghostly doors opened. Out strode the ghost of the killer! He walked through Ben towards the foyer, seeming to stare briefly right at her. He was wearing a fresh jacket.

The invisible fire exit door opened. Mira heard it — just as hands grabbed her and pulled her into the lift.

‘About time!’ Zhou cursed under his breath. ‘Which button closes the doors?’

Mira saw the ghostly version of it — stamped also with Braille — and pushed it.

K
itching reached the elevator too late. He shouted in frustration and kicked the doors. Staff and patrons peered out from the restaurant, all staring at him.

‘Call police!’ he shouted to the maitre d'. ‘They just killed two of my people!’

His driver jogged into the corridor from the foyer. ‘Sir?’

‘Lock down the building! I want MPs and a spec ops team here, a.s.a.p.!’

Mira hurried through the gymnasium with Ben and the others, and waited at the railing beside the pool, exactly as Ben positioned her, with both hands firmly gripping the steel barrier. Just like the railings at home, she could see the floor that supported her so high in the sky; in this case, five storeys above the alley. Looking down through her glasses, she wasn’t nearly so scared of heights now she could see the structures supporting her. The gap across to the next building seemed only a short skip and leap away.

Ben let go of her hand, and she heard grunts and shuffling. Further away, sirens sounded, getting closer.

‘Are you doing what I think you’re doing?’ she whispered.

‘Stay there,’ he warned. ‘We’re helping Mitch across first, then we’ll come back for you.’

‘But I can —’

‘Stay there,’ Zhou agreed. ‘The building may not have moved in the last week, but you’re still blind to your own body.’

‘Yes, but —’

‘Quiet!’ Ben whispered. ‘Two cops just came into the alley.’

Mira frowned. She waited until she heard the others make it across to the roof of the neighbouring building, then she hurried further along the railing to avoid bumping into them, swung over the safety barrier onto a slim ledge and leapt across the narrow void.

‘Hey!’ Ben whispered.

‘I mightn’t be able to see my body, but I’ve had more than a decade to learn how to handle it.’

‘Oh, yes? And how did you know the cops weren’t looking up?’

‘Oh …’ Her heart sank to think that in trying to help, she might have made matters worse for them. ‘Sorry.’

‘Forget it.’

He ushered her towards a fire exit and she closed her eyes as he led her into a cold concrete stairwell where their footsteps echoed.

‘Ooh! Stairs!’ She skipped down the first flight ahead of them, keen to make Ben proud of her again.

‘Hey, don’t scare me!’ he warned instead. ‘You promised.’

‘I’m being careful, look.’ She patted the rail to show that she hadn’t let go of it, but steadied her pace as well and fell into step beside him.

After three flights, Zhou began to lag behind. ‘My legs aren’t enjoying this.’

‘Slide down the rail,’ Van Danik suggested.

‘What a fun idea!’

‘Mira, please don’t,’ Ben whispered. ‘Karin died saving you back there. Have a little respect, okay?’

‘Died saving
me?
Why?’

She fell silent, her body still bouncing down the stairs like a ball beside Ben, but her mind numb. She couldn’t imagine why anyone would consider her life to be more valuable than their own.

‘This was a stroke of brilliance,’ Ben said, as if he didn’t realise how hard he’d slugged her emotionally. ‘Who’s the genius?’

‘Private Lockman,’ Zhou said. ‘Before he was reassigned.’

‘Framed for murder, more like it,’ Ben replied. ‘Like we will be.’

‘Not if we skip town on my hog,’ Van Danik said. ‘Just as soon as I can sneak it out from the car park … Oh, sorry,’ he added, as he bumped into Mira. ‘My balance is shot. And these stairs aren’t helping.’

‘Your logic is groggy too,’ Zhou said. ‘There are four of us, and your muffler might as well be a loudspeaker.’

‘I won’t abandon my hog. Not to
them!’