Interface: A Techno Thriller (23 page)

"And the project was Tantalus?"

"Actually there were several things I ended up working on, including leading the initial stages of research on a nano material initiative with an even worse project name – Resurface." She rolled her eyes. "But, yes, Tantalus was the big draw."

"And you thought it was a good idea to fiddle with people's brains? Who shut you down? Bern? The government?"

"I don't know who was calling the shots. A team of armed men turned up with paperwork from Bern telling me to do as I was told and keep my mouth shut. I ignored that and I started asking questions. Too many it seems. And Bern wouldn't give me any answers. Kept fobbing me off with one of his execs, Peter Marron."

"The Head of HR?"

She laughed. "Yes, I'm
sure
that's what he is. Anyway, I took myself off on holiday to try and decompress. I hadn't given up. I really thought Tantalus would still go somewhere: that eventually we could use the research to help people. Maybe even people like my sister. I was pretty devastated to have it taken away from me. I knew I needed time to accept it: to adjust to the fact that I'd have to start from scratch with a completely different research direction. Marron was delighted to let me take some leave, so I booked myself into a little resort in the Cayman Islands for a fortnight. It seemed like the best decision I'd made in months – until someone tried to kill me."

"Yet you're still alive."

"I was both very lucky and very persuasive. The assassin wasn't expecting me to take precautions and he triggered the portable intruder alarm I'd rigged in my room. It gave me enough time to grab the small harpoon gun I'd hired as part of my diving equipment."

"Whoa! Bet that was a surprise for him."

"Especially since he just had a knife. The surprise bought me enough time to negotiate. It turns out most hired killers are in it for the money. Who knew? The only thing money couldn't buy was the identity of the person who'd hired him. Of course I now know it was Marron." She ground her teeth together. "Anyway, in exchange for a little extra money he helped me fake my death and go into hiding."

"Why didn't you go to the police?"

"I had no proof of anything. I knew that all I'd achieve was letting whoever sent the killer know I was alive." Lentz shrugged. "My parents were dead by then and I'd always been a workaholic, so it wasn't like I was leaving a lot behind. And I've found plenty of things to occupy me. The first year or two were the worst, but whenever I got bored, I moved somewhere new."

"So what brought you back?"

"I've always kept an eye on CERUS. When I read about Armstrong dying I knew it was no accident. He was such a boring, careful man. The chance of there being a faulty appliance in his house? Almost zero." She shook her head. "I can't believe what they did. What they're doing."

Tom shook his head. "So you came back, and you found me."

"CERUS didn't keep you as secret as they would have liked. I knew immediately you were different." Lentz interlaced her fingers. "And I've just realised exactly how."

Tom frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Only one explanation makes sense. You were picked to be Subject Zero in
this
version of Tantalus because of what was
already
in your head." She looked at him. "The chip they put in all those years ago meant you were perfect."

Tom blinked. "So you
are
saying they did trials on me as a child? That I wasn't just Subject Zero in the current project, but part of the old Tantalus?"

Lentz nodded. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

SEVENTY

TOM CLOSED HIS EYES, RUBBING his temples, feeling the buzz of electricity in Lentz's computers. "They put a chip in my head as a baby?"

"Twenty-five years ago. It must have been then or the scar wouldn't have healed so well."

"Why would my mother have allowed it? Did she even know?"

"She could have been deceived in some way. Heidn once suggested implantation in infancy would be optimal - it would allow neural pathways to form and strengthen as the brain developed. At the time I assumed it was just a theoretical discussion. Apparently I was wrong." She shook her head.

"So why didn't I die like all the adult subjects?"

Lentz shrugged. "Some difference in the way your brain accepted the chip probably. Heidn may have been thinking along the right lines after all – from a purely science-based perspective, I mean. Not a moral one, of course."

"But I've never had any abilities or whatever until now."

"They never progressed your programming. You had an inert chip."

"But how did they find me after all this time?"

Lentz shook her head. "Who says they ever lost you? Perhaps they've been watching you ever since? Why did you choose to work at CERUS, Tom?"

Tom let out a sigh. "I was headhunted. By Marron."
 

Lentz shrugged. "An appeal to vanity is hard to resist."
 

"So why go to all that trouble then try to kill me?"

"Either you didn't work out as a test subject. Or they didn't need you." She paused. "Or you became a risk like I did."

Tom swallowed. "Maybe they found out I've been talking to a reporter. She was in contact with Armstrong then, after his death, she approached me."

"Then she is in grave danger."

Tom gave a laugh. "Oh, she knows. We were both nearly killed by the assassin you saved me from. We'll need to get in touch with her soon, but there's something I need to figure out first. I'm fed up being clueless and defenceless, but there's a way I don't have to be." Tom tapped his head. "Exactly what can I do with this thing?"

"Now that, Tom, is the best question I've heard all day."

SEVENTY-ONE

KATE AWOKE IN A ROOM with two fixed metal beds, a door and no windows. It looked very much like a prison cell and there was no mistaking the heavily-reinforced door. Checking the time, she realised her watch had been taken, as had her other jewellery.
 

She stood up and walked over to the door then proceeded to bang, kick and scream for all she was worth. Approximately thirty seconds later, the door hissed and swung open. Two men dressed in black combat gear and wearing tinted helmets stood in the entrance, guns trained on her.

"What?" snapped the first guard.

"Where the hell am I? Why am I here?"

"We're not authorised to answer that. Are you unwell? Or thirsty?"

"I want to speak to whoever is in charge," Kate said, looking from one guard to the other, sizing them up. Their guns didn't waver.

"They'll speak to you later," said the first guard.

Kate gave them each a vicious glare then stomped back to her bed. The door hissed shut. She listened carefully. There was no further sound from outside, but even such a short interaction with her captors had told her several things. First, she was in a high-tech facility. This room was not really a prison cell but a secure store room. The door sounded like it was vacuum sealed. And it was probably soundproof, which meant they were listening in on the cell via hidden microphones. As for the guards, they were professionals, not thugs. They were polite and methodical. They didn't seem to want to hurt her, but they probably wouldn't be easily fooled.

Finally, she had seen their ID badges. The logo in the corner told her that they were in a CERUS facility, possibly even the Tower. Kate looked at the ceiling. Whoever had her hostage was probably watching and listening right now. He could have just had her killed, as he had obviously planned before. Now, he wanted her for a reason.
 

She stared at the door. What could she do before he arrived?

SEVENTY-TWO

THE BLUE PULSING LIGHTS TOLD Croft he was close to the scene. He guided his car around the bend then pulled to the side of the country road, parking on the grassy verge next to the three vehicles already there. A uniformed police officer met him as he stepped out of his car. The air was filled with wisps of smoke and the stench of charred rubber. The road bore heavy tyre marks, but it was their end point that immediately drew the eye.

The fire had clearly been burning for some time before being extinguished: all that remained of the car was a blackened shell. There was an ambulance parked alongside, but the crew were in no hurry. No lives were going to be saved here today. Six other police staff stood at a discrete distance, watching him with the eyes of people desperate to know more, despite having been told not to ask.

"Sir," said the officer, "we appreciate you coming so quickly."

"I'm not usually called to road traffic accidents. A Code Black? For this? Was another vehicle involved?"

"Not as far as we can tell, Sir. No passengers. It looks like the driver simply lost control."

"Then why am I here?"

"We weren't told. We presumed you
were
." The officer pointed to a twisted scrap of metal on the floor. "The call was triggered when we ran the number plate. We were ordered to stand down."

Croft frowned and crouched next to the remains of the number plate. He pulled out his phone, aimed it at the plate and selected a special app.

"We're going to need forensics to make an ID," said the officer, "but there's just the one body. No cameras of course. If there was a witness, they didn't stop."

Croft nodded. He pointed at one of the wheels, lying separate from the main wreckage. "Expensive car. What's that logo on the alloys? Jaguar?"

"Aston Martin," replied the officer with a half-smile. "Big difference."

The phone buzzed angrily in Croft's hand. He stood up, turning away to read the display.

He read it again.

"Bad?" asked the officer.

"Depends on your perspective. We're going to need to secure this scene. And you'd best get your superintendent down here."

"What?" The man tugged at his moustache. "Can I tell her why?"

"So I can brief her before the press conference."

The officer considered this for a moment. "Just whose car was that?"

Croft sighed. "Someone whose death will be headlining the evening news."

SEVENTY-THREE

HEAVY SPATS OF RAIN STRUCK hard against the glass, whipped by the wind, but inside CERUS Tower there was only the faint whisper of the climate control. Bradley stood in his office, trying to make sense of the phone call he'd just received. Throughout his time at CERUS, throughout his plotting with Celia, one thing had been ever present, dominating his goals: as constant as the Northern Star – or so he had assumed. Yet it seemed that was not the case.

There was a knock at the door and Holm and Marron entered.

"What's going on?" Holm asked. "Your PA wouldn't give me any information."

"Because I didn't give her any."

"What?" Marron asked. "I don't have time--"

"Where's Heidn?" asked Bradley. "He's supposed to be here too."

"Not answering his phone," replied Holm. "Is William not joining us?"

Bradley sighed. "I just had a call from Celia Bern about a call
she
got from the police." He paused. "Early this morning William's Aston Martin went off the road near his house and caught fire."

"What?" gasped Holm.
 

"There was a body inside, badly burned." He lowered his head. "They believe it's him."

"No!" Holm cried. "It must be a mistake."

"This is going to be all over the news within a couple of hours, but I wanted you to hear it from me first."
 

Marron walked over to the window and looked out. "We have to keep pushing ahead."

"Are you kidding?" Holm asked. "We can't just carry on, as if nothing has happened."

"William would have wanted us to. We can still save CERUS and his legacy." He hesitated. "And there's the little matter of what Leskov will do to us if we let him down."

"But he'd understand? Surely?"

"I think he will expect delivery on time. What do you think, Neil?"

Bradley swallowed. "I think he will respectfully ask that we continue."

"Whatever your views," Holm said, "you've forgotten one big problem with what we need to do next. We don't have any more test subjects. The last one died overnight."

Marron stroked his chin. "I've learned that William ran a prototype trial. There is a Subject Zero: a twenty-five-year-old male who has not suffered the problems experienced by the other four."

Holm blinked. "That's... unexpectedly great news."

Bradley frowned. "That doesn't make any sense. How did he get a separate trial moving so quickly?"

Marron shrugged. "William always liked to have a back-up plan, and he usually kept them to himself."

"But why would he have kept it a secret? And what's different about Zero that he lived?"

"I can't explain what Bern did, let's just be glad that he did it. I'm having Zero brought to the Tower as soon as possible."

"I'll speak to the Professor," Bradley said, "and ask him to get ready to run some tests."

Marron shook his head. "We can't wait for the old man. We need to push ahead with all possible speed: get this over and done with. Holm can figure it out. I have a task for you, Neil, that's going to take all your attention: I want you to assume the role of acting CEO."

"Aren't you the ranking executive?"

Marron snorted. "I'm no leader. The company needs someone who can steady the ship. Are you up to it?"

Bradley straightened. "I'll do my best."

"Good. You should make an internal broadcast: announce the tragic news and that, as a mark of respect, CERUS Tower is closing for seventy-two hours. We need the building empty." Marron placed his hand on Bradley's shoulder. "The fastest way to get this over with is to get Leskov to come to us. We'll use Zero to prove Tantalus works. Then we get paid, he leaves and it's all over."

SEVENTY-FOUR

MARRON GRIPPED THE SMALL PADDED case as he marched down the corridor on Level 71. He should have dealt with his prisoner much earlier, but his attention had been diverted by matters that only he could attend to. It meant he had very little time to obtain the reporter's cooperation, which was why he had brought the case.