“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure. This set of indicators alerts the sentinels as to who is about to enter. Every single user has a unique code to light up their name when they’re inside. It’s the sentinel’s job to monitor traffic and identify possible intruders.”
“Why haven’t they picked us up?”
“They haven’t seen us as intruders. They will now the real Kimber is putting the key in the lock.”
Matt shut down the open files.
“Get us out,” said Matt.
“There isn’t any time. He’s walking in to the vault now, so to speak.”
“What happens if we’re discovered?” asked Lily.
“System lock-in,” replied Toby. “They’ll run a sweep and, no doubt, find the back door we used.”
“We can’t afford to lose access,” said Matt.
“I’m open to suggestions.”
“What if we crash this laptop, sever the connection?”
“Nope, won’t work. It’ll leave traces of code.”
“What about a distraction, a disturbance of some kind?” Matt asked.
“This is a virtual world. None of the fixtures are real. It’s not like we can start a fire or something.”
“I thought you were a techno genius?” snapped Matt.
“Genius, yes, wizard no,” said Toby. “I can’t disappear into thin air.”
“Anyone else,” said Matt to the others. “Someone must have an idea.”
The unhealthy silence offered little comfort.
“Come on, somebody,” he yelled.
“Wait,” said Toby. “He’s stopped.”
“What’s he doing?”
Matt held his breath.
“Would you believe it, he’s answering mail.”
“Go,” said Matt.
Toby hammered the numbers into the keyboard and the door opened. They sped up to the foyer and swept away from the reception desk, past the series of framed paintings on the walls he hadn’t noticed on entry. Collectively they breathed heavily, surreal given the nature of this artificial environment, this virtual world.
“Where’s the freaking door?” said Toby. “I can’t see how to get back into the tunnel.”
Matt pointed to the painting on the end wall.
“Head for that,” he said.
The image came into view, a tall mountain illuminated by the lunar light in the dead of night. He touched at the moon and a dark opening appeared through which Toby’s avatar darted inside.
“How did you know to do that?”
“Retiring into the lunar light,” he said.
“What?”
“It doesn’t matter. Shut down while we decide on what to do next.”
First one in and it felt glorious. There was something uniquely soothing about immersing a body in hot bubbly water. Tense muscles relaxed and worries diminished amid the sensation of being basked in liquid heat. It couldn’t last. One by one his companions filled the adjoining space quicker than he would have wished. It didn’t take long for Johnno to start.
“What’s the plan then, Matt?”
“Toby, what are the options?”
“A minimum of three users have to be online together and agree to it before anything is downloaded. It’s the way they’ve designed the system and we aren’t authorised to change it.”
“That’s not going to happen,” said Rosa.
“Can we print off screen?” asked Matt.
“Possibly, but all you’ll end up with is information printed on blank paper. Without some sort of letterhead it’ll look little more than an elaborate hoax. As I see it we have to get people into the vault to see what’s there.”
“Then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Sounds a little risky,” said Rosa. “We don’t know what’s in there never mind being able to show people around. It’ll take hours because there’s so much stuff to read. Sooner or later they’re bound to realise what we’re up to.”
“Can we jam the door open?” asked Will.
“Maybe,” said Toby. “I can’t say for how long. Depends what they throw at us.”
“And they’ll get a fix on our location,” said Lily.
“They will,” said Matt.
“And they’ll send a small army after us.”
“More than likely,” he answered.
Matt allowed the temporary lull to go undisturbed as his colleagues thought it through.
“We don’t know who’s involved,” said Rosa. “We could end up inviting the wrong people.”
“We know about Kimber,” said Will.
“Nobody else though.”
“We know it’s not the Chinese,” chipped in Johnno.
They fell silent for a while. Matt felt all eyes settle on him, waiting for his lead. He reached behind and tugged the jacket closer, to retrieve the disc Rosa had given him.
“This might help clarify things.”
He slipped out of the tub and they followed to the waiting laptop and he slipped the disc into the machine.
“What’s this?” asked Lily.
“It’s the CCTV footage from the ferry terminal on the day Helen boarded. Whoever killed her had to be on the boat.”
The laptop whirred into action, the screen revealing black and white footage labelled with both the date and time.
“Have you watched it?” asked Lily.
“Yeah, nothing stood out.”
A horde of vehicles trailed each other in an orderly queue to the loading ramp, the faces of drivers and their front seat passengers barely visible. They took their time, eyes focussed on the images on view.
“Anything, anyone?” asked Will.
The question was answered with a collective shaking of heads and their attention turned to the lengthy queues of foot passengers boarding. For some reason the camera had picked up mostly rear end views of the embarking mass, adding to an already difficult task.
“Shit!”
“What have you seen, Johnno?”
“Go back.”
Toby rewound the image.
“There! It’s the Baresi bitch,” he said.
“Are you sure?”
“I’d know that walk anywhere.”
“I thought you just met her once,” said Lily.
“Once in the hotel,” he said. “I met her another time in a motel outside of London. The bitch bit me.”
“Dare I ask where…?”
“No.”
“Gross!”
“You think that was bad,” said Toby. “He made me stay in the hospital room while they stitched him.”
“I seriously worry about you guys.”
Will, as was his way, introduced a sobering tone.
“Baresi’s CIA,” he said.
“She’s working for Catherine now,” said Matt. “This could change things though.”
“Not for me,” said Johnno after a pause. “Baresi will be at the head of the pack coming after us and I want to be part of the welcoming committee.”
“Right behind you, bro,” said Toby.
Rosa blinked in agreement and Matt looked to Lily next.
“She’s a bad loser. I say we get respect back for Johnno.”
“No pressure then,” said Will to complete the set.
“Until we re-enter you’ve got jobs to do. Lily, I want you to research Kimber including his contacts. I also want you to track his movements and his exact location before we go back in, which will be the early morning hours in his time zone.”
“He might still be active then,” said Toby.
“He’ll be less likely to be logged in at five in the morning than during waking hours. Johnno, you’re job is to strengthen the perimeter defences. Toby is going to spend the next few hours trying to find an effective way to jam the vault door and keep it open.”
“What do you want me to do?” asked Will.
“We need the precise headings of every file in the vault so we can put them into order for showcasing.”
“What about me?” Rosa asked.
“We’ve got something else to do,” he said, using a towel to dry his skin.
“Such as what?” she asked, following suit.
“I’ll tell you on the way.”
Twenty minutes of energy sapping toil and their destination remained some distance away. Matt checked his watch again and muttered under his breath.
“I thought we’d be closer by now.”
“Closer to where?” she asked.
He cursed, the sloping ground proving more troublesome than he’d remembered.
“Matt!”
Lost in thought he reached for an overhanging branch and lost his footing.
“Matt!”
“What!” he yelled irritably.
“I need to rest.”
“Later,” he said.
The sound of her rucksack violently hitting the ground caused him to turn.
“No. Not later, now.”
“Christ, you must really be out of condition.”
“Screw you,” said Rosa.
She leaned against a boulder, out of breath and looking unusually tired.
“I’m not going another step until you tell me where we’re going and why.”
The indignant huff escaping his lips sounded more severe than he intended. He had to say something.
“The rear exit,” he said.
“To the top of a freaking mountain?” she said.
“The equipment at the top needs some attention if we’re going to successfully implement plan B.”
“You could have said that from the start.”
“Yeah, I guess,” he said after a pause.
It brought a smile to her face. Rucksacks repositioned they resumed the ascent, Matt breathing in relief. Not questioning him further meant he could avoid relaying the full details of his plan, a plan he knew she wasn’t going to accept easily. Fortunately this could now wait, until it was too late for her to do anything about it.
Upward progress had been painstakingly slow, Rosa stopping more often than he would have liked. This was something of a surprise to Matt as he’d always known her to be incredibly fit. On their arrival he motioned his breathless companion to the opening in the rock formation and they crawled one by one into the cavern-like space. At the far side rested a number of long and thin plastic encased packages, much like wrapped up tent poles, and a few other boxed items.
“Very cosy,” she said. “What are those?”
“Hang gliders; they have to be put together.”
Rosa soon worked out what he had in mind.
“You are not serious.”
“Two miles along the shore is a lodge. Parked outside is a four by four. The keys are in the visor.”
“You’ve thought of everything.”
“I hope so.”
“They might be expecting us to have another route out.”
“Did you expect this?”
He took her silence to mean she hadn’t.
“Most of their attention will be focussed on shutting down the vault anyway, to prevent too much information getting onto the web.”
Rosa crouched to examine the stored materials.
“I see your maths hasn’t improved. There’s only five.”
“Five is as many as you need.”
“How do you make that out?”
“They’ll find us and arrive in force. We should be able to hold them until dark then move up here, but someone will have to stay behind to give the others a chance.”
“Who do you have in mind?”
His lack of response provided the answer. Rosa spun on her heels and glared into his eyes.
“No, Matt,” she said sharply.
“I’m the obvious candidate.”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
“The pursuit will be fast and furious, the physical demand likely to trigger an attack like yesterday. The only decision the team could make would be to leave me behind and continue the escape.”
“Bullshit.”
“Not quite the considered response I’d hoped for.”
“It’s a load of macho bull. I’ll make the ultimate sacrifice for the good of the team crap. What is it with men and your inherent capacity to do stupid things?”
“Sooner or later they’ll have to leave me, in the open and exposed. I wouldn’t be able to hold the pursuing pack for long without any cover. Far better I stay in the lodge and slow their advance from there to give the team the best prospect of a successful escape,” he said.
“Then I’ll take your place.”
“It has to be me. You drilled it into my head often enough it’s the weakest team member, the one with the lowest chance of survival, who is left behind. And who am I to disagree with accepted practice?”
“And if you suffer an attack while trying to provide us all with cover? What possible use would you be then to man or dog, Mister know it all?”
“The lodge is well stocked with alcohol.”
“You’re going to fight them off pissed? That’s a piece of really smart thinking.”
She rose to her feet and walked to the opening, propping her hand against a protruding rock while she looked down at the steep slope. It could only have been a matter of seconds but felt like minutes before she spoke again.
“You could talk to them, explain the situation. They’ll be able to compensate, make the necessary adjustments to get you up here. They follow you. We all do.”
“They won’t be able to compensate for me.”
“What is wrong with you?” she asked, turning to face him. “You’ve been off it since we arrived at the lodge. Got a death wish or something?”
“Of course not, it’s the best plan for getting as many of the team to safety as possible.”
Disbelief found its way to her angry face.
“What’s going on in that head of yours? You’ve been lost in your own thoughts since we left Maria’s. And why bring me here? Any one of us is more than capable of putting these things together.”
“This is the most important job.”
“Screw you, Matt Durham.”
“That’s twice you’ve said that to me recently.”
“And it was meant both times. Tillman would have never done it this way.”
“I’m not John Tillman”
Rosa left her position at the opening, swiftly approaching with eyes glowering. Whilst he’d anticipated the conversation would be difficult in the beginning he hadn’t expected her clenched fist to cross his jaw. He spat out the resultant blood and returned a puzzled gaze, unsure at first how to respond to the unexpected violence.
“What the hell was that for?”
“Think you’ve thought of everything, don’t you?”
“I think so.”
“You realise if we succeed Catherine could end up being tried and sent to prison?”
“What can I say? It’s a hard life. Catherine knew what she was getting in to.”
“And Ilsa?” she said sharply. “What do you think is going to happen to her?”
“The authorities will probably look after her. Anyway, the file I read about Catherine doesn’t seem to implicate her too strongly.”
Her shoulders raised then dropped in tune with a deep sigh of seeming frustration.
“For a clever man you have a remarkable capacity …”
“For not seeing what is right in front of my eyes, yeah, I know. It’s been said already.”
Eye contact was met with a fierce, yet exasperated, glare.
“What?” he snapped.
“She’s yours, Matt. Ilsa is your child.”
Instinctively he averted his gaze to hide the numbing effect of the revelation. He felt as though the air had been sucked from his lungs, rendering him immobile.
“Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Try engaging your brain for a change. Catherine emerges from the Chinese undergrowth after single-handed rescue by the one and only Matt Durham and, hey presto, alm
ost nine months later she gives birth to a daughter. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to work out who the father is.”
Realisation dawned and he looked out at the skies in search of salvation, cursing at the irony. Parenthood was a profession he’d studiously avoided giving consideration to until recently. The plague of infertility cast upon him represented no more than an irritant at the time, something to rise above. Now he’d discovered he’d fathered a child, with a woman not of his own choosing. And there would be no others.
“How could you let it happen?”
He was still trying to take it in.
“We were running for our lives, in China. After travelling downstream all night we found a small island in the middle of the river and decided to rest. While we were talking Catherine told me the story about Eva-Maria and got upset. I tried to comfort her.”
“And a free screw is all part of the service of the Matt Durham rescue agency is it?”
“I wasn’t thinking clearly,” he snapped.
“What was there to think about? There you are, in the middle of nowhere, with a scantily clad woman gagging for sex. How could you possibly refuse?”
“It was nothing like that. She was upset, distraught.”
“You took advantage of a vulnerable woman?”
“Catherine is hardly the vulnerable type.”
“I won’t let you use that as an excuse.”
Salvation continued to elude him. Even the ground below his feet refused to open up and swallow him whole.
“Being chased is a permanent adrenalin rush. You can’t let your guard down for a second. Then there was the intrusive, sapping heat and humidity. It makes for a heady cocktail I guess. One of those things,” he said.
Rosa approached and stood in front of eyes.
“Except now you have a daughter.”
He had a child. Christ, he had a daughter. Yet instead of rejoicing he felt numb.
“The plan goes ahead,” he said.
“That’s your answer? Nothing’s changed. You have got some kind of death wish.”
“I promised I’d end this and I will.”
“Is that what this is all about, guilt? You think sacrificing your own life is going to suddenly make everything in Maria’s world miraculously alright.”
“I gave my word and I’m going to keep it.”
“Then finish what Tillman started and you’ve kept it. No more no less.”
A shake of the head was the best he could muster.
“And what about Gratia?” she asked.
“What about her?”
“I thought you made a promise?”
“I’ve been released from my promise. And I don’t recall her rushing to my side when I was fighting for my life.”
“Give me strength,” she said. “The minute I told her what had happened she drove all night from Munich to be at your side. After a week of twenty four seven care I had to peel her off you.”
“What? Maria didn’t ...”
“Maria didn’t what,” she said.
“Nothing,” he said. “It doesn’t matter.”
“Even after I dragged her away she called every day to see how you were getting on.”
“I didn’t hear the phone ring. And she could have asked to speak to me.”
Rosa sighed in frustration.
“Maria told Gratia you insisted upon not speaking to her, that you wanted to be left alone,” she said. “We used the next few weeks trying to find out what happened to the rest of the team while she set about getting hold of the CCTV footage for when you finally recovered.”
History began to blur in his mind.
“I challenged her about working for Catherine and Gratia as good as admitted it.”
“Gratia wasn’t spying on you. All she agreed to do was tell Catherine if you didn’t keep to your side of the bargain and stay out of Catherine’s business. Gratia didn’t want you to get involved again, given she ended up in prison and you nearly got yourself killed last time. I wouldn’t blame anybody for taking that stance.”
“And that’s why she went back to Schafen I suppose?” he said sarcastically. “It was all for my benefit and had nothing to do with satisfying her own need for grandeur and material gain.”
She raised her eyes to the roof in exasperation at his choice of words.
“Gratia went back because it was the only way she could think of getting the CCTV footage for you. The ferry operator also handles sea freight and Gratia worked it so that she could award them a ridiculously generous contract in return for the footage. She couldn’t tell you the real reason for her return because you were with Catherine at the time.”
He was beginning to feel a little foolish. Not for the first time in his life when mistakenly suspecting Gratia’s motives in doing things he couldn’t comprehend.
“That doesn’t explain Tillman.”
“What about Tillman?”
“She and he used to be lovers. Maria confirmed as much and Gratia refused to deny it.”
Rosa’s glare softened and the texture of her eyes relaxed in tone and definition.
“Gratia was introduced to a man called Jason Taylor, not John Tillman. I was there. She was his operational target and mine was Johannes. Our job was to get up close and personal to persuade them to sign up to a project Tillman was involved with. He didn’t say what it was and it soon became obvious to me that bedding Gratia was more than part of the job as far as he was concerned. The man was obsessed but she cleverly kept him at arm’s length throughout the op and that’s why he raped Lily, in frustration.”
“What?”
“I was out with Johannes on the night. Gratia had already excused herself from the evening through a prior engagement, visiting her father. Tillman asked Lily up to his room on the pretext of reviewing operational progress not realising he had another agenda. Flattered at first she didn’t see any immediate danger and played along. The moment she tried to back out he forced himself on her. Lily told me the next day. She’d waited up all night for me coming back. I took it up with Tillman and we argued. The man had no remorse, none whatsoever. That’s why I eventually quit. Tillman was a pig.”
“Lily didn’t challenge me when I raised it.”
“She thought you were talking about the same thing. I put her straight when you weren’t listening.”
“You seem to do a lot of that, talking about me when I’m out of earshot.”
“Well if you put your brain into gear before opening your mouth I wouldn’t have to.”
He’d gone beyond feeling foolish.
“Why didn’t Gratia put me straight about Tillman herself? She had plenty of opportunity.”
“Perhaps she thinks her private life before she met you is none of your business.”
“Except this was Tillman we’re talking about. Of course it was my business.”
“Gratia doesn’t seem to think so.”
The wheels of considered thought finally started to turn.
“If Johannes was your target then that means …”
“I liked him, liked him a lot,” she said.
“Then why make him think there was more to it, even after the Austrian op? The way you greeted him when we landed in Europe suggested ....”
“I knew he could help us.”
“It was a ploy, a deception?”
“Like I said, I liked him. He was a good man.”
“I wish I understood you, Rosa Cain,” he sighed, after a few moments thought.
Rosa retreated to the other side.
“How did you get all this stuff up here?” she asked.
“There’s a salt mining company close by who happen to have a helicopter.”
“So that’s where you and Will disappeared to for half the day yesterday. I’ll bet you didn’t crash out while you were shifting this stuff.”
“Will did most of the work.”
“Does he know there’s only five here?”
“I didn’t point it out.” r />
“Why only five anyway?” she asked.
“I figured we’d have found out by now which of the team, if any, was working against us.”
“And you haven’t?”
“No. I don’t think any of them are.”
“So who intercepted Helen?”
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
Rosa began to unpick one of the packages.
“The least you could do is to show me how to put one of these things together. What’s this?”
He crouched to examine the object framed in wire mesh.
“Lightweight motor,” he said. “It’s easy to fit.”
Their hands brushed together as they worked.
“It should be me,” she said. “I’m the better candidate to cover the retreat because ...”
“It has to be me. You know it does.”
“No, it doesn’t have to be you.”
“Yes it does, and I’ve told you why. That and the fact you are all my responsibility. I nearly got everyone killed before. It won’t happen this time, but I can’t do it without your help. Will you do this for me, Rosa?”
“So now I have a choice?”
“No. I thought if I asked you nicely this time you wouldn’t hit me again.”
She was silent for a few moments.
“I expected more of a goodbye than just being given a crap job to do,” she said, angrily tossing a piece of torn cardboard to the far end of the cave.
He raised a hand to her cheek and smoothed it against her flawless skin. The soft and gentle smile as he looked into her eyes filled with affection.
“This is the only way I can say goodbye,” he said.
Her questioning blue eyes blinked and narrowed, and then widened in glorious technicolor.
“My God,” she said.
“What now?”
“Matt Durham is finally in love.”
For once easy conversation with Rosa felt beyond him and he could do no more than offer a shrug.
“The only question is who with?”
It should have been an easy question to answer. Somehow it didn’t feel that way.
“We’ve been through a lot,” he said. “And I’ve lost count of the number of times you’ve appeared out of the blue to save my sorry ass.”
“Obviously a complete waste of effort,” she said, looking away.
He recalled the evening in Toronto where they had dined and danced under a warm night sky, beneath the glittering stars. A fleeting moment in time, a magical encounter, one he would always remember. A warm night in Canada was how he described it to her once, much to Rosa’s confusion.
“It makes sense for me to be rear gunner,” he said.
“Only to you,” she answered. “And I still don’t see why it has to be me who stays up here.”
“I told Stefan I’d get you home.”
“Not another commitment?”
“No, not this time,” he answered with a smile.
“That’s a bit worrying then.”
“How do you make that out?”
“You only succeed when you make it a promise.”
Time seemed to come to a halt. Nothing stirred, not even the gently blowing breeze outside appeared able to break the spell. The lack of noise felt eerie, strange, and he wondered if this was a true description of a deathly silence. God knows, he’d soon find out.
“I appreciate the offer to get in the sack with me though. It was a nice touch.”
“Don’t get ahead of yourself. It’s all I could think of to try and change your mind you stubborn, awkward excuse for a man.”
The blue eyes reappeared, smiling but sad all at the same time. If there was ever going to be a moment to surrender to this impossibly beautiful woman with the heart moulded from pure gold then this was it. And God knows it had crossed his mind enough times.
“I’ve heard it said that some things are better left to the imagination, avoids the risk of disappointment,” he said.
“I’d have soon told you.”
Her blue gaze fixed in amusement on his face, his lack of movement betraying the thoughts now swirling around in his head. Rosa leaned forward and placed a hand to each of his cheeks.
“You don’t have to do this you ridiculously heroic fool,” she said.
Chapter Thirty Two
The Conversation