The Delta Chain (46 page)

The “cover” story Kate
overheard, had already been changed. Now it was a bomb threat.
They
’
d escalated the
situation.

Markham and Kate exchanged
looks of disbelief. The “cover” story Kate overheard, had already
been changed, the situation escalated.
‘
Those men are controlling Westmeyer,
’
she said,
‘
and
they
’
re going ahead with their demolition
right now…
’

Markham stared back at
her, momentarily speechless. He glanced at his watch as though that
could offer some kind of help.
‘
The task
force teams can
’
t be far off…
’

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.