The Disappearances

  ‘Where did you meet this man, Raffy?’ Linus asked then, his voice devoid of emotion. ‘How long have you been planning this?’

  ‘We met at the Settlement, didn’t we, Raffy?’ Thomas smiled.

  ‘So you’ve known all this time?’ Evie gulped, felt herself choking. ‘You knew that you were going to lead him to us all this time?’

  Raffy didn’t blink. ‘I did what I had to, Evie. You’ll see that one day. You’ll see why I did it. I had to get you away. I had to—’

  ‘I will never see that,’ Evie shook her head, tears pricking at her eyes. ‘I will never see, I will never understand, and I will never forgive. Never, Raffy. Don’t you see that? Don’t you see what you’ve done?’ She glanced over at Lucas, who was staring at Raffy wide-eyed in disbelief. He caught her glance and immediately his eyes changed; they were filled with hunger, with love, with all the things he’d hidden because of his brother, things he’d tried to resist, things that he hated himself for succumbing to. But he wouldn’t hate himself any more.

  Raffy stepped towards Evie. He looked like he’d been punched in the face. ‘No, Evie,’ he said desperately, shaking his head, moving towards her, reaching out to hold her arms, her shoulders. ‘No, don’t say that. Don’t …’

  ‘I’ve said it,’ Evie said. ‘And I meant it.’ She pulled away, unable to look at him, unable to face what he had done, what Raffy had done because of her.

  And suddenly Raffy wasn’t next to her any more; he was running at Lucas, fire in his eyes. ‘This is all your fault,’ he shouted, throwing Lucas to the floor. ‘You had to take the one thing I had, didn’t you? I hate you. I’ve always hated you …’ He hurled himself at his brother, kicking and punching him with such malice that Evie found herself screaming and rushing towards him; she and Benjamin managed to pull him off, but still Raffy wouldn’t stop kicking out.

  ‘Raffy,’ Benjamin said, firmly, and grabbed his hands, pulling them behind his back and turning him so that he was unable to move. ‘That’s better,’ he said. ‘Let’s just cool it, shall we?’

  ‘Let me go,’ Raffy seethed. ‘Let me go. I want to go. Evie. Tell them to let me go.’

  But Evie said nothing. Instead she shook her head and walked towards Lucas. ‘No, Raffy,’ she whispered. ‘No.’

  ‘Nice action,’ Thomas said to Benjamin. ‘You’re looking well, my friend. Very well.’

  ‘I am not your friend,’ Benjamin said quietly. ‘I have never been your friend.’

  Thomas shrugged. ‘So come on, Linus. Enough of this sideshow. Let’s get down to business, shall we?’

  Linus was pacing around rubbing his head, shaking it from side to side, muttering loudly. He looked up at Thomas, then shook his head again. ‘No,’ he said. ‘No. It isn’t possible. No. No …’

  But Thomas just laughed. ‘Linus, I told you a long time ago that anything is possible. You should have believed me then. You should be grateful. Don’t you see what I’ve done for you? Created the perfect environment. Everything you said you needed. I even gave you a car, left the keys in the ignition for you. And how about Ilsa, my G4 Benning 8? Isn’t she great? Aren’t you impressed?’

  His eyes looked manic, terrifying. Evie shrank backwards. Linus, meanwhile, was staring into mid-air, shaking his head. ‘But … how? No. No, I won’t … It can’t be,’ he was saying, his face ashen, his eyes darting around but not focusing on anything, as though he were somewhere else completely.

  Thomas rolled his eyes impatiently. ‘Linus. This is getting boring. Look, let’s just get down to brass tacks, shall we? I need you to reboot your System. Get it working again. That’s all. Do that, and we’re good. Do that, and we’ll all walk away and enjoy the rest of the day.’

  And then suddenly Linus’s face changed again. Became calm. He looked Thomas in the eye. ‘I … I can’t do that,’ he said, his voice low. ‘I changed the code. Can’t be restarted. It’s dead.’

  Thomas shrugged. ‘I was worried you’d say that. So then we go with Plan B. Actually my favoured option, if a little risky.’

  ‘And that is?’ Linus asked.

  ‘You come with me,’ Thomas smiled. ‘And build me a new one. Because either way, I’m getting my hands on the System. You owe me, Linus. And I’m here to collect.’

  44

  There was silence for a few minutes. Then Benjamin spoke. ‘Linus isn’t going anywhere,’ he said, his voice menacing. He moved forwards, towards Thomas, towering over him.

  ‘Yes, I am,’ Linus said then, and Benjamin swung round, still holding Raffy.

  ‘No,’ he said.

  ‘Yes,’ Linus replied, reaching out to touch Benjamin’s arm, to squeeze it. Then he met Evie’s eyes and for a moment he held her gaze, then he looked away. ‘I have to go,’ he said. ‘Don’t you see? This started because of me. I have to go with Thomas.’

  ‘Just like that?’ Evie demanded, her voice sounding brittle under the strain. ‘After everything he’s done?’ She could feel Lucas behind her and she reached her hand back; Lucas immediately caught it, held it, pressed his fingers against hers. She wanted to fall against him, be enveloped by him; she wanted to pretend nothing else mattered except the two of them pressed against each other, together. But she didn’t. Everything else did matter. It mattered a great deal. She and Lucas would find their moment later. Later …

  Linus was still pacing, his eyes distracted, darting around, apparently unable to focus on anything. ‘But I can see now that Thomas and I have some unfinished business. It’s been the System all this time. That’s what it’s been about. What it’s all been about. From the beginning. I should have seen, I should have realised. I was looking at everything else, everyone else, and not where I should have been looking … At myself. I should have … And we shut it down. We …’ He stared at Thomas. ‘How did you do it? Convince the world that the UK didn’t exist any more?’

  Thomas smiled. ‘So much radioactive waste,’ he said with a little shrug. ‘Such a shame, it was a great country until the Horrors.’

  ‘And they didn’t happen anywhere else? At all?’ Linus asked.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Benjamin interjected. ‘What didn’t happen anywhere else?’

  ‘The Horrors,’ Linus breathed.

  Benjamin’s face creased in confusion. ‘I don’t know what you mean. The Horrors were global. They were killing each other in Europe. Everywhere. They were dropping bombs. Japan wiped out half of China. I saw it with my own eyes.’

  ‘You saw what Thomas wanted you to see. Everyone did,’ Linus said, turning back to Thomas. ‘So what, a complete communication blackout?’

  Thomas’s face lit up. ‘Total,’ he said. ‘It was genius. And I’ve never been able to tell a soul. Can you imagine? All that work! And no one has any idea.’

  ‘Wait,’ Benjamin said, his voice deep and resonant. ‘Wait a minute here and talk slowly. Linus, what is he talking about? What’s going on here?’

  Linus shook his head as if unwilling to speak. Thomas smiled. ‘Linus is just beginning to understand what I masterminded. A global war that didn’t exist. A country that the rest of the world believed to be destroyed by nuclear weapons. A country that itself believed contains the only survivors. It’s really quite brilliant when you think about it.

  ‘And all this. For what? To what end did you destroy so many lives, Thomas?’ Linus asked.

  Thomas looked baffled. ‘For the System, of course,’ he said. ‘So you’d build the System. So it would be ready to roll out. I was on the brink, Linus, I really was. And then you pulled the plug. Most inconvenient.’

  ‘Most,’ Linus looked at him incredulously. ‘So all this time you’ve been playing your little game and it never got out? Your secret was never discovered? That’s impressive.’

  ‘Information,’ Thomas shrugged. ‘It’s easy, really. If you have information on people, you own them. And I own a lot of people. Including you. So maybe we should get going. Back to the real world. To do what you should have d
one a long time ago.’

  ‘You’re taking me off this island?’

  Thomas laughed. ‘Don’t you get it? This island doesn’t exist any more, not as far as anyone else is concerned. Just you wait, Linus. What you’re going to see … It’ll blow your mind.’

  Linus took a deep breath. ‘You know, Thomas, it’s a lot to take in. What you’ve just told us.’

  ‘I know,’ Thomas said, his eyes shining beadily. ‘And the tragedy is that no one will ever know. Apart from you. And obviously you won’t be allowed to tell anyone. Or see anyone.’

  ‘Obviously,’ Linus said. ‘But before we go, how about we catch our breath a bit? How about some tea for the road?’

  Thomas raised an eyebrow. ‘I don’t think so, Linus. It’s time to go.’

  Linus shook his head. ‘Thomas,’ he said, ‘what you’ve just told me … What I think you’ve told me … What you’ve asked me, it’s a lot to get my head round. I think we all need a moment. And I need to say goodbye to my friends. So let’s have some tea. Just one cup?’

  Thomas stared at him uncertainly. ‘You’re kidding me, right?’

  Linus shook his head. ‘You’ve got us covered. We can’t go anywhere. I’ve agreed to go with you. So let me have some tea first. You’ve waited this long. You can wait a few minutes more, can’t you? We can be civilised about this. Let’s be civilised, Thomas.’

  Thomas scrutinised Linus’s face, as though searching for a clue, searching for a sign. Then, apparently giving up, he shrugged. ‘I guess,’ he said. ‘But you’re right about not going anywhere. Just remember that there’s a helicopter right outside, an army of men just waiting for my command to rush in here and …’ He smiled. ‘Well, I don’t need to go into detail.’

  ‘No, you don’t,’ Linus said lightly. ‘Evie, you want to give me a hand?’

  Evie nodded tentatively and followed Linus into the kitchen; Thomas watched them like a hawk as they boiled the kettle, collected mugs together and washed them, then put tea bags in the teapot and poured the water over it.

  ‘Breathe,’ Linus whispered to her as she stirred. ‘It’s all going to be okay. Don’t worry.’

  Evie did worry, because things weren’t going to be okay – they would never be okay again. But she forced a smile, tried her best to act like everything was normal, like the world wasn’t crumbling under her feet.

  ‘Sugar?’ Linus called out.

  ‘Not for me,’ Thomas said.

  ‘So, shall we sit down?’ Linus led them all to the area just behind his computer where cushions were scattered on the floor. ‘It’s not much,’ he said. ‘But let’s at least try to be comfortable, shall we?’

  They sat, Evie next to Lucas, who was next to Benjamin, who was next to Linus. Opposite them, a few feet from Evie and Linus, sat Thomas, Raffy still in Benjamin’s grip.

  ‘Sit,’ Benjamin ordered him, his booming voice making Evie jump; Raffy sat, behind Thomas, facing away from the group, shooting looks at Evie every so often, who did her best to ignore them.

  ‘So,’ Linus said then, looking at Thomas, his blue eyes now clear, his face relaxed. ‘Tell me.’

  ‘Tell you?’ Thomas asked. He looked down at his tea. ‘Swap cups,’ he ordered Linus.

  Linus shrugged and swapped. ‘I’m not trying to poison you,’ he said. ‘I’m not stupid.’

  ‘And nor am I,’ Thomas said with a little smile. ‘So, what do you want to know?’

  ‘Everything,’ Linus said, looking at him intently. ‘Everything from the moment I left Infotec until right now.’

  ‘Infotec?’ Benjamin asked.

  ‘The company we used to work for. Well, I say work. I was there for a couple of weeks on work experience,’ Linus said.

  ‘I for Infotec?’ Benjamin said then, looking at Thomas. ‘Your ring. The one the policeman wore? The pin you gave me?’

  Thomas looked very pleased with himself. ‘They were my idea,’ he nodded.

  ‘You’ve been pretty busy,’ Linus said. ‘You’ve done an awful lot.’

  ‘I have,’ Thomas agreed. ‘Yes, I have. But I did it for you. For us. For the System. It’s what you said you needed. What you said would never happen. I did it, Linus. I did it all.’ His eyes were glistening almost manically, Evie found herself thinking and she edged backwards; she felt Lucas’s arm stretch around her and it comforted her.

  ‘So tell us,’ Linus said quietly. ‘I bet you’ve been itching to tell someone. Tell us. Tell us what you did.’

  Thomas thought for a moment, then he smiled, his whole face lighting up. ‘But you know, Linus. I just did what you told me to do.’

  ‘What I told you to do?’ Linus asked quietly.

  ‘Of course!’ Thomas grinned. ‘You said you needed a small community who wanted a System that would control them. Cut off from the rest of the world. I thought about shipwrecking some people but it wouldn’t have worked – I tried it, putting in a fake “you” to see if they’d buy it and they didn’t. And anyway, I didn’t just want to create the perfect envir-onment to build your System; I also needed the rest of the world to need it too, eventually. The Horrors was just the perfect thing. Created your little group of survivors, the perfect little community for you. But it also created fear everywhere else. And when people are scared, they forget all about liberty and turn to surveillance, to armies, to anything that might protect them. The world is ready for your System now, Linus. The world is ready to be controlled beyond anything anyone thought was possible. And guess who’s going to be the one controlling everything? Guess who’s been controlling everything ever since you walked out of Infotec?’

  He took a sip of tea, and looked around the group. ‘The thing is,’ he said, ‘it was so easy. So incredibly, scarily easy.’

  ‘What was easy?’ Lucas asked stiffly.

  ‘The Horrors,’ Thomas replied. ‘All I had to do was light a few matches, and soon the forest fire had taken hold.’

  ‘Blowing up my estate, you mean?’ Benjamin asked, his voice choking with emotion. ‘Killing innocent people.’

  Thomas shrugged. ‘That was a low point. A wasted effort,’ he said. ‘But it didn’t matter, not in the great scheme of things. You were just one of many, Devil. You know it’s very easy to assemble an army, if you know what it is that people want, if you know who they are, what their insecurities are, their hopes and fears. People are so easy to manipulate when you know everything about them. Pathetic really.’ He glanced over at Linus. ‘But that’s the point, isn’t it? Know people and you can do what you want with them, control the world!’

  Linus smiled encouragingly at him. ‘So you started the Horrors,’ he said. ‘Then what?’

  Thomas narrowed his eyes. ‘I’m not telling you everything, Linus. I’m not giving away all my secrets.’

  ‘Okay,’ Linus shrugged. ‘Fair enough. But how about the City? I’m guessing you were behind that, too?’

  Thomas smiled broadly this time. ‘Oh, the City,’ he said, his eyes gleaming. ‘That was quite something. I wanted to approach you direct, of course, but I was nervous, in case you didn’t see things the way I did, in case you … changed your mind. So I watched and waited, made sure that you were okay, looked after, made sure you had what you needed, kept an eye on you. All the time, Linus, I was looking out for you. And then, soon after the Horrors had finished, I stumbled across Fisher. I was watching you, and you met with him. I quickly found out what he’d proposed, what the two of you were planning. And I made it happen! I made the City happen, Linus!’

  He had the same childlike expression, and Evie suddenly realised why. He was looking for Linus’s approval. Looking for him to say ‘well done’.

  ‘But you didn’t build the City,’ Linus said carefully. ‘We did that.’

  ‘Oh, you did the manual work,’ Thomas shrugged. ‘But I did what it took behind the scenes. I spread the word, made it sound convincing, made Fisher sound like a guru instead of a nutcase. I made sure the City had water, food, everything it nee
ded. Made sure it had generators. You ever wonder about the resources the City had?’

  Linus shook his head.

  ‘No!’ Thomas said triumphantly. ‘Because you were too busy building your System, just like I knew you would. I created the perfect environment, Linus. I made the impossible possible.’

  ‘And then we turned off the System. And you started to panic. You sent your men into the City to restart it. Only they were discovered, weren’t they? By those young people. So you killed them. Every single one,’ Linus said, his voice suddenly very serious.

  Thomas looked at him incredulously. ‘Of course!’ he said agitatedly. ‘We had to get it working again. And we couldn’t be disturbed, couldn’t have people asking questions. When the System was up and running no one asked any questions; no one ever went where they weren’t supposed to be. So we had to get rid of them.’ He smiled to himself. ‘Of course, the Brother was all for it. Thought he could use the Disappearances to stir up fear, to help overthrow Lucas. That last one, the one you escaped with?’ He looked at Lucas triumphantly. ‘The Brother used her disappearance as proof that you’re a murderer.’

  Lucas’s face flushed with anger.

  ‘Not that it matters either way,’ Thomas shrugged then. ‘You led me to Linus in a roundabout way. That’s all I’ve ever been interested in. You’re remarkably elusive, Linus, when you want to be.’

  ‘Which is always,’ Linus said, a little smile playing on his lips.

  Thomas turned to him, his eyes shining. ‘And there we have it. I’m a genius, you have to admit.’

  ‘A real genius,’ Linus nodded slowly.

  ‘So,’ Thomas said then, clapping his hands together. ‘Lovely though it’s been to catch up like this, you need to come with me now.’

  ‘And where is it that we’re going?’ Linus asked. ‘Your camp on the coast?’

  Thomas raised an eyebrow. ‘Oh no, that place is being dismantled as we speak.’

  ‘And will it show up again on the map now?’