The Delta Chain (47 page)

The entry doors to the
sub-level?

‘We can get down from
here,
’
she called to the
others.

Being the heavier of the
two, Markham gave the young scientist a leg booster. Hunter
scrambled through the panel space, Kate grabbing hold of his
shoulders and pulling from her end. She seemed to be finding energy
and strength she didn
’
t normally
possess.

‘The next
bit
’
s going to be tricky,
’
Hunter said to Kate.
‘
You and I are going to have to pull Brian up.
’
He was still catching his own breath as he said
it.

‘We can do it.
’
Kate was in hyper drive, oblivious to her
injury.

‘No time,
’
Markham called up to them.
‘
You need to find Adam and find a way out. Get
help.
’

‘He may be right-
’
Hunter began.

‘All three of us are
getting out of here now.
’
Kate was
adamant.
‘
Come on, Brian.
Let
’
s do this.
’

It took another minute, sizing
up the situation, before they were ready. Hunter and Kate knelt
beside the open panel, reaching down through the space. Markham
took several deep breaths and then launched himself, leaping up so
that the tips of his feet were propped against the thin metal rail
that encircled the car at shoulder height. He reached upwards as he
did.

None of them had their
co-ordination in tune the first time and Markham fell back, landing
on the balls of his feet.

On the second attempt Kate and
Hunter grabbed hold of his shoulders as he jumped. Straining every
nerve end and muscle, and summoning impossible reserves of
strength, they pulled him close enough that he was able to shove
his arms through the space and take hold.

He
’
d barely dragged his whole body through the opening, saying
thanks, when the world went mad.

‘Are you okay?
’
Adam asked the girl.

Her eyes were swollen,
face drained of colour. But Adam noticed she
wasn
’
t coughing and wheezing, deprived of
oxygen, in the same way he had been. He took off his shirt and gave
it to her to cover her nakedness.

‘Yes…I
’
ve been through this…before.
’

‘I
’
m Adam, I
’
m a detective, and
I
’
m going to get you out of here.
Okay?
’

‘Uhhh.
’

‘What
’
s your name?
’

‘Elizabeth.
’

‘Thought so.
’
As soon as the last of the water had run out,
Adam had pulled Elizabeth through the opening. Both were still
breathing heavily. Elizabeth fell into the arms of the boy
who
’
d saved them.

Adam, too, placed an arm
around the young man
’
s shoulders.
‘
We owe you our lives, Daniel. But
what…
how
, is it, that you
’
re down
here?
’

‘I don
’
t know how I got here. One minute I was in the back yard
with Costas and Mrs. Cail and Joey and the next I woke up in a
corridor here, near some kind of docking space.
There
’
s a van and a massive truck in
there.
’

‘And this is the friend
you
’
ve been looking for.
’
Adam looked from Daniel to Elizabeth and back
again.

‘Yes.
’

‘Well, next step for us,
let
’
s find a way out of here.
’

‘I can show you the place
where the truck and the van came in. It
’
s
back through there, near another …kind of cavern, like this one,
but a little smaller.
’

‘There
’
s another one?
’

‘Yes. With crocodile
pits.
’

Elizabeth
’
s eyes shot open with
fright.
‘
Crocodiles. Why would there be
crocodiles down here?
’
Before either Adam
or Daniel could respond all three were pushed off their feet by a
sudden, invisible, body slamming force, the chamber plunging
instantaneously into darkness, a deafening roar exploding like boom
boxes in their heads. Hitting the ground with such force, Adam had
the bizarre sensation the whole earth had risen up, slamming into
his body on all sides, an angry netherworld that
didn
’
t belong here, in the real world,
but in the dark, twisted, surreal other reality of some Grimm
fairytale.

He lost consciousness.

The Institute erupted in a thick
cloud of granite, glass and metal, whipped into a whirlpool as the
structure collapsed on itself. Like an earthquake, where the
shelves of earth beneath the surface shift and slide and collide
with one another, so the levels and sections of the building broke
into thousands of fragments, large and small, flung against one
another as they crumbled.

Over thirty people, staff and
police, ran as the building fell. Few had reached a safe distance
as flying chunks of debris started crashing down around them.

Ron O
’
Malley was with the patrol cars scattered about the
perimeter. He reached for the police radio, shouting at the
dispatcher:
‘
Where are the emergency
services!
’

His eyes never left the
disintegrating Institute. This wasn
’
t
like one of the controlled demolitions he
’
d seen in the past. Something was wrong. Fires had broken
out, shrapnel had spewed out too far, parts of the building still
stood.

Asquith
’
s men hadn
’
t been ready, he
realised.

Chunks of the structure leaned
and groaned, slabs of brickwork and giant shards of glass broke
away and toppled at random.

They
hadn
’
t been
ready.

Sirens heralded the arrival of
the emergency services.

O
’
Malley wondered if they were too late. If
they
’
d
all
been too late. The
Institute
–
and its secrets
–
was gone.

And there was no sign of Adam
Bennett.

O
’
Malley and his team moved through the bewildered crowd
looking for Westmeyer and his senior executives. Paramedics
attended to the staff members who
’
d
received injuries. The wail of sirens was constant now, together
with the babble of voices - emergency workers shouting commands -
and long, low booms of thunder. O
’
Malley
realised for the first time that rain was falling. When had that
started?

What a mess, what a blasted
mess.

A dishevelled young
woman
–
she was the front lobby
receptionist and one of the first out of the building - was talking
with Detective Mike Stanley. O
’
Malley,
picking up on pieces of the conversation, turned toward them. She
was saying she
’
d seen Westmeyer and
Donnelly in a small group heading toward the southern perimeter of
the grounds. She hadn
’
t paid much
attention, there
’
d been people
everywhere, and the security guys had been issuing instructions to
most of the staff.

O
’
Malley was on his phone again, this time to Wal
Hester.
‘
Wal, I need you and Megan to
lead a couple of units to the south of the Institute.
It
’
s a hilly area, rising above the
nearest curve in the main road. You
’
re on
the lookout for a group of middle-aged men in suits.
Westmeyer
’
s mob. Not sure what
they
’
re doing, just make sure they
don
’
t take off.
’

‘On our way,
’
said Hester.

James Reardon had been one
of the last to leave the building. He hadn
’
t really believed the PA announcement. These things were
usually the result of some hoax.

It had been a million to
one chance that Kate had retraced his steps and discovered he was
the true source of the virus. Nevertheless it showed him he was
vulnerable. In the event this was a prank and everyone came back
later, he wanted to be certain he
’
d
deleted his trail from the computers, so he hurriedly did that
first. He was aware of the people rushing by outside his office, to
the exits. He was not aware that Kate and Markham had gone against
that flow.

He finished his deletions and,
escorted by the security man who was rounding up the stragglers,
left the building. They were half way toward the perimeter when the
force of the blast hurled them from their feet.

Reardon was bruised and
stunned, but otherwise okay. It was in the immediate minutes after
that, as he worked his way through the crowd, that he came to
realise Kate wasn
’
t there.

Surely
she
’
d left the building. But if
not…?

He was the one
who
’
d sent Kate here in the first place.
It was because of him she
’
d involved
herself so deeply in the dramas surrounding this damn Institute.
He
’
d already lost Rhonda Lagan;
he
’
d only wanted to play a part in
digging further into the hidden activities here.

He spoke to the police officers,
listened in on the radio contacts.

He realised, with dawning
horror, that Kate, Markham and Adam Bennett were missing.

The force of the explosions
rocked the lift cavity, snapping the cables. The lift car plunged
the remaining distance to the bottom of the shaft with Kate, Hunter
and Markham clinging to the top.

Losing his grip, Markham slid
across the roof and over the side.

His agonised cry echoed through
the cavity as he fell between the plunging car and the wall of the
shaft.

Granite showered down from
above.

In the sub-level chamber, flames
sprang from the ruined control panels. Water trickled in some
places and gushed in others, flowing from the burst pipes, creating
tiny rivers that ran through the now misshapen corridors.

Adam woke and, although groggy,
took in the surrounds. Even in the flickering light from the flames
he could see the layout of the chamber had changed. Random sections
of the ground above had caved in, carving the sub-level labs and
passageways into a maze of sawn-off areas, some connected, some
not.

He called out for Elizabeth and
Daniel. The shifting of the ground had flung them like rag dolls,
separating them in the darkness. He heard the girl call back, then
Daniel. He moved cautiously toward the sound of their voices. As
his eyes grew more accustomed to the fitful semi-darkness, they
came into his view.

They were both in a state of
shock, eyes wide, faces without expression.

He helped Elizabeth to her feet
and Daniel staggered over to join them. Adam saw that the girl had
a black eye. Both were covered in blood. He looked down at his arms
and through the jagged tear in his trousers and saw blood on
himself as well. Water coursed around their ankles and they heard
the rumble of further explosions and crashes from overhead.

‘What…happened?
’
Daniel asked.

‘At the very least,
I
’
d say some kind of massive explosion in
the building.
’
Adam knew that meant the
whole area was unstable. He had to get the kids out. But he also
knew the sub-level was most likely cut off. Which meant they were
buried.

‘Wait right here,
’
Adam told them.

The girl was on the verge
of hysteria.
‘
No! Don
’
t leave us-
’

‘It
’
s all right. I
’
m just going to
check around the periphery of the area here. But
I
’
m going to keep you both within
sight.
’

Daniel was already sizing
up the ruins.
‘
There are ribbons of
light, Adam.
’

‘Yes. Some are from small
fires. I want to see if there is light coming from possible exit
points.
’

‘The rear dock,
’
Daniel reminded him.

‘I know. But right now we
don
’
t know which direction that is, or
whether we
’
re still connected to that
section.
’

Adam walked tentatively toward
the edges, some of the areas too dark to make out, other spots
appearing to alternate between slabs of metal pushed out of shape
and fragments of the stone walls, cracked and jutting forward. He
was reminded of gargoyles, poised to leap from hidden places.

Something Daniel had said before
the explosion nagged at him.