The Delta Chain (34 page)

‘Well then, provided you
can fit on board, I guess we
’
re going to
Northern Rocks,
’
she said to Hank and
Jean.

Walter ambled toward her,
took her hands in his.
‘
I wish I could be
joining you for this-
’

‘You have a family here, a
great big family that needs you. And I wouldn
’
t want it any other way. You
’
ve
done more than enough, Walter.
’

‘Take good care of
her,
’
Walter said with a wink to the
other two.

‘You can bet on
it,
’
Jean said.

Donnelly had driven to an area,
under an overhead pass, from which he knew there would be cell
phone interference. He tapped in the number for Tony Collosimo.

Donnelly loved gadgets.
The micro recording unit was one he hadn
’
t used for a while. Over the past few weeks
there
’
d been dozens of Institute
conversations, secretly taped by the bugs that Collosimo himself
had placed. Donnelly himself was on some of these.

He
’
d easily edited a word from here, a phrase from
there…together with a few smudged or drop out lines, to create the
necessary message. Played over the mobile phone with the crackling,
hissing interference it would sound perfectly natural. It was a
safer way of handling the message than chancing it as a “live”
call.

Tony Collosimo
answered.
‘
Hello?
’

‘Jackson here, Tony.
We
’
ve got…
’
crackle, hissss…
‘
what we need on
Melanie Cail…
’
The recorded voice dropped
away here, replaced briefly by a loud burst of static, then
suddenly, the voice drifting back,
‘…her apartment now.’
Hissss. …
‘
now.
Hurry.
’

‘Jackson?
’

Donnelly allowed the static to
take over once again, as he pressed stop on the device.

As always,
he
’
d planned everything down to the last
detail, even to the point of personally enacting some of the moves.
He knew it would take the security man twenty minutes to drive from
his apartment on the southern side of town to Melanie Cail's
apartment.

Fifteen minutes earlier,
Donnelly had slipped easily into Melanie Cail
’
s apartment through the unlocked door.
She
’
d been in the kitchen, preparing a
meal, expecting Stephen Hunter to visit for dinner and sex.
Donnelly approached from behind, his weapon drawn. Melanie had
sensed a presence and turned.

She had only a moment to
see Donnelly
’
s face before he fired the
pistol at point blank range, the silencer eating up the
sound.

Adam
couldn
’
t mistake the distress in
Costas
’
voice. He decided to drop by
briefly at Barbara Cail
’
s home while on
his way to his recon of the Institute.

John Harrison waited in the
unmarked car as Adam went inside.

‘Thanks for
coming,
’
Costas said as they went through
to the living room. Costas had briefly sketched in the details to
Adam on the phone.

Barbara and Joey sat at the
table with a yawning, recently woken Daniel.

‘I
’
m not able to stay long right now,
’
Adam said.
‘
But I will be back in
the morning and, Daniel, you
’
re quite
safe here so you can relax and take it easy.
’

‘Detective Bennett is a
friend,
’
Costas assured
Daniel.

‘Your pursuers have no way
of knowing you ended up here with Costas and Barbara and Northern
Rock
’
s a big town,
’
Adam told the boy.
‘
Sergeant
Kirby
’
s men at the police station are
already keeping an eye out for those men from this morning.
I
’
m now going to issue a directive that
the matter is one of extreme importance.
’

‘Thanks,
’
Daniel said in a small voice.

Adam sat at the table,
conscious of the need to generate a non-threatening
presence.
‘
I understand
you
’
ve travelled a long way and that you
had a pretty tough day today.
’

‘Yes, sir.
’

‘Hey, Daniel, you can drop
the “sir”. Adam
’
ll do just
fine.
’

‘Okay.
’

‘You were living in New
South Wales, in the country?
’

‘That
’
s right, sir…um, Adam.
’

‘Daniel
’
s told us he
’
s from a place he
calls The Com,
’
Barbara said.

‘What can you tell us
about The Com, Daniel?
’
Adam
asked.

‘Well, I guess
it
’
s a house,
except…it
’
s much bigger than this one.
Has lots and lots of rooms, some that we weren
’
t even allowed to go in to, like the one with the
newspapers from the outside world…
’

Adam exchanged brief,
concerned glances with Costas and Barbara at
Daniel
’
s strange terminology.

‘Why
’
d you come to Northern Rocks?
’

‘I
’
m looking for my friend, Elizabeth. I
’
m worried about her. So when I saw the picture in the
paper-
’

‘Of Elizabeth?
’
Adam prompted.

‘No. Another girl, I
don
’
t remember her name. She left the Com
ages ago, but I knew her face. She
’
s the
girl who drowned at the beach here. I just hoped, that if
she
’
d been in this town, then maybe
Elizabeth was here as well.
’

Adam allowed
Daniel
’
s words to sink in. He could
hardly believe what he was hearing. He put a reassuring hand on the
boy
’
s shoulder.
‘
I
’
ll be back as soon as I can and
we
’
ll get everything sorted out.
Okay?
’

‘Okay.
’

Costas and Barbara saw
Adam to the front door.
‘
We
’
ve had a look through the
boy
’
s journal,
’
Costas said,
‘
and Adam, this
place the kid
’
s run from sounds like some
sort of weirdo religious sect. What do you think?
’

‘It
’
s possible. And, incredibly, this kid
who
’
s come from nowhere recognised our
Jane Doe after every other line of enquiry failed.
’
Adam didn
’
t elaborate
further that the same investigation had also led, via the owner of
the boat and the anonymous phone tip, to
Westmeyer
’
s Institute.

He hurriedly excused himself and
joined Harrison in the car.

Collosimo parked around
the corner from Melanie Cail
’
s apartment
block, then walked to the building. He didn
’
t see Donnelly
’
s vehicle and
presumed the other man had done the same
–
parked somewhere inconspicuous.

But what was going on? Why had
Donnelly called him to meet here?

He approached the open front
door. He could see nothing unusual. There were no sounds…

He moved slowly into the
apartment, drawing his weapon. He was approaching the kitchen
doorway when Donnelly lunged at him, embedding
Melanie
’
s kitchen carving knife straight
into his heart. The shock had barely registered on
Collosimo
’
s face as he toppled back,
blood beginning to run from the corners of his mouth. He was dead
before he hit the floor.

To investigators, the scene
would appear exactly as Donnelly intended: they would speculate
that Collosimo had gone to the apartment to confront Melanie Cail
as being the saboteur. The investigators would assume an argument
ensued. They could only guess Melanie became hysterical, charging
at Collosimo. Her fingerprints were the only ones on the knife.
Collosimo must have fired his pistol in self- defence. They would
be left to surmise that the blade sliced into his heart as his
bullet entered her skull. A tragedy with two players, neither alive
to tell the tale.

Donnelly reached down and
exchanged Collosimo
’
s pistol for his own.
Both were registered to the Institute and Donnelly had already
altered the computer records on which executive had been issued
with which weapon. Both men were registered to carry a firearm for
security purposes.

Melanie
wouldn
’
t be around to deny having been
the saboteur. No more sensational reporting. It would be much
easier to convince Asquith to step back, and allow the final stages
of the project to run their course.

It was a shame to have had to
sacrifice Collosimo. But essential.

Donnelly had placed calls
earlier from Melanie
’
s phone to
Collosimo
’
s, and vice versa. On each
occasion he
’
d done this when neither of
them were in their respective homes. The calls had gone unanswered,
picked up by their answering machines, but would show when police
accessed phone records. It established a fake link between the two.
It provided circumstantial evidence, on top of the double murder,
that they could have been conspiring together.

It stopped any further
scrutiny of the Institute, and Collosimo wasn
’
t important in the grand scheme of things.

Donnelly thought the same
of Erickson and Stephen Hunter. Not important in the grand scheme.
He didn
’
t like it when others, close to
Westmeyer, began to have more of a say in the decisions.

Ultimately, he liked to keep the
real control to himself.

Casually he returned to his car
and drove away. He imagined the wail of sirens that would approach
later, after Stephen Hunter had made the discovery.

Joey spent some time introducing
Daniel to the Nintendo. Daniel fumbled for a while with the console
and with the terminology on the screen. Before long, playing a game
of battleship warfare, he was manipulating the joystick so that his
ship avoided the enemy whilst firing off cannon blasts.

‘Now
you
’
re getting the hang of it,
’
Joey said.

‘You think so?
’

‘Sure. Boy, I
can
’
t believe you didn
’
t have any of this stuff, not even TV, in that
place.
’

‘Our Carers taught us all
these things were evil. But…well, you sure seem okay, Joey. You and
your folks have been great.
’

‘There
’
s nothing wrong playing a game or watching a show,
’
Joey said.
‘
And I tell
you what
–
I can
’
t believe you wrote all that stuff in that journal.
There
’
s years and years of
stuff.
’

‘Yeah.
’

‘I
’
m no writer myself. If I have to write an essay for school
then I
’
m pushin
’
it to come up with half a page. But
you
–
incredible…
’

‘I guess it was the only
way I could say what I was thinking, without getting into
trouble.
’

‘That sucks.
’

Daniel looked at his new
friend as though such a comment was a real revelation to
him.
‘
We were brought up believing the
outside world was corrupt, that we were being protected from it and
prepared for a special future
–
the
chosen family for the return of Christ. But I never felt any real
sense of caring from our Keepers and Carers, not the way it is
here.
’
After a brief pause, he
added:
‘
It feels good here.
’

Joey stared back,
Daniel
’
s words equally a revelation to
him.
‘
But I don
’
t think it says anything like that in the Bible.
That
’
s not what true Christians are
supposed to be like.
’

Their attention was
diverted back to the game as an explosive sound signalled that
Daniel
’
s ship had received a direct hit
from the enemy. “FINAL PHASE
–
GAME LEVEL
3. FINAL WARNING” flashed on the screen.

‘That sucks,
’
said Daniel, imitating Joey
’
s words with a grin.

Watching from just beyond the
doorway, Barbara smiled and then headed back into the dining room.
Costas, restless and on edge, was thumbing through the journal
again. He handed it to Barbara, open at one of the most recent
entries.