Chapter Thirty-Three
Down Sizing
“They’ve definitely been here,” Julia said as she held the discarded hospital gown out to Rawlston. “I found it in the bedroom. She must be dressed.”
“Yeah, but they’re long gone now,” Rawlston replied as he and Julia were standing in the kitchen of Sandra’s house.
“You make it sound as if it was my fault!” Julia said.
“Well, of course it is!” Rawlston told her, his hands on his hips. “If we had came here first, we’d have got them!”
“Oh yeah! And if you could hit a barn door with that gun of yours, they wouldn’t have got out of the car park in the first place!” Julia retorted, poking him in the chest.
“Ha!” Rawlston exclaimed. “You were the one that let them get passed you, not me!”
“And you were the one that wanted to play hide the sausage!”
“Yeah! Well, okay!” Rawlston was deflated. He put his gun back into his shoulder holster. “Come on! Let’s get back to MedTec. Maybe we can find a way to trace that implant in her skull.”
All the way back to Salford Quays, Julia moaned about her missing car. Finally Rawlston had had enough. He pulled the car over, parked it, and twisted around in his seat to face her.
“Will you shut your God damn mouth moaning about that fucking car!” he almost shouted at her. “If you mention it one more time! Just one more time! I promise you that if we do ever find it, I will personally stick it in a car crusher and squish it! You got that? Good! Right!”
As Rawlston started the car once more, Julia sat with her arms folded in the passenger seat and developed a childlike pout. She looked really hurt, and she was silent for at least two minutes. Then she muttered under her breath, “But it’s my car....”
“Aaaaarrrggghhh!!”
When they reached Salford Quays, it was to find the MedTec building totally engulfed in flames. There were three fire appliances in attendance and several police cars were dotted around. Waterfront Quay was cordoned off by policemen standing by a temporary barrier, and there was absolute pandemonium in the background as firemen ran about with hoses as they fought the fire.
“Oh shit,” Rawlston muttered as he and Julia sat in their car a safe distance away, watching the show.
“What do you think’s happened?” Julia asked him.
“I guess Ben’s got the push. For this to have happened someone must have come over here from Stateside. That means it must be someone high up.”
“Casarotto?” Julia suggested.
Rawlston nodded, still watching the fire. “Yeah, that would be about right.”
Julia turned to stare at Exchange Quay, the building standing tall a short distance away, the two radio masts on it’s roof bathed in green light.
“She’ll be in the computer centre,” she said, thoughtfully. “Do you want to try for it? It’s either that or do a runner, and we both know that’s a non-starter.”
Rawlston turned to stare at Exchange Quay with Julia. “Yeah, why not? The pension was lousy, anyway.”
Glen Tyler was getting very worried. He hadn’t heard from Ben Watkins since he had returned to the MedTec building, and now it was plain for all to see that he wasn’t coming back.
The MedTec building was on fire.
Tyler and his staff all stood at the window staring out at the disaster. They were so engrossed by the view, that none of them noticed Rosanna Casarotto and her two companions emerge from the lift until they heard the sound of her heels on the floor.
When Tyler saw her, he almost lost control of his bowels right then and there. His voice shook as he forced a smile on his face and said hurriedly, “W-why, Rosanna! What a pleasant surprise! I didn’t know you were in England!”
“You weren’t supposed to,” she replied disdainfully, and turning to her two companions, she added, “Mr Smith, Mr Williams, please introduce yourselves to Mr Tyler’s redundant staff.”
The two men produced their heavily silenced guns and there was a sudden fusillade of thuds. All around him, Tyler’s white coated technicians fell to the bullets with a splash of red. In a couple of seconds, Tyler was the only one left standing, rooted to the spot, and rigid in shock.
“Thank you, gentlemen,” Rosanna Casarotto said in a calm and pleasant voice. “And now to business.” She raised her hand and hooked her finger at Tyler, beckoning him to come closer.
Tyler came slowly forward, his whole body shaking as he stepped carefully over the bodies. When he was standing right in front of her, Rosanna held her hand up towards him, bringing him to an abrupt halt. She was like a magician, moving her victim by sheer force of will.
“Mr Tyler, I am afraid you have created a minor problem for us. One that you must now,” she waved her hand in front of his eyes in a sudden flurry, “—undo! Yes? Good! Please come back to your computers. I believe the implant will be back within range of your radio link by now, so all you have to do is get reacquainted with Jayne Middleton’s brain, and persuade it to bring her back here to us. Can you do that Mr Tyler? Or is your usefulness to the Corporation, like those of your assistants, now at an end?”
Tyler swallowed. He was nervous and sweating, but he knew that to admit defeat was to give up living. “If Hall can be stopped from interfering, then I think I can do it,” he said in a quaking voice.
Rosanna began to lead him back to the computer console. “Don’t worry about Hall, we’ll deal with him.” As she spoke, she clicked her fingers, and Williams immediately pulled a mobile phone from his pocket. He dialled quickly, and spoke purposefully to the person who answered.
“Get rid of Hall. Now.”
“Are you sure that this is a good idea?” Matthew asked as he sat in the passenger seat of the BMW, his lap-top on his knee. Jayne had already got out, and had come around the car to lean on the door by the open window.
“Don’t worry about me!” she told him with a wide grin. “I’ll be fine! I’ve done this sort of thing before, remember?”
“No you haven’t! Julia has! It makes a difference!” Matthew pointed out anxiously.
Jayne wasn’t to be deterred. “Julia, Jayne, what’s the difference? They’re both me! I can do this, Matthew! I’m telling you! Just you make sure that Tyler doesn’t interfere, and I’ll do the rest.”
Matthew still wasn’t impressed. “I still think we should wait for the police!”
In reply, Jayne quickly reached through the open window, grabbed him by the ears, stuck her head into the car, and kissed him hard on the mouth.
As Matthew stared at her in surprise, she tugged at his ears and said, “Don’t you get killed while I’m away! I’d miss you! Anyway, you’re the only friend I have!” Then she grinned at him again, and suddenly she was gone.
Matthew sat alone in the car. Jayne had parked it on the other side of the Irwell River where it passed close to Exchange Quay. It was hidden in the shadow of the Metrolink bridge that crossed it on the way to Eccles. Matthew stared across the river at the tall building, and the lights on the eighth floor. There seemed to be a lot of smoke coming from somewhere, but from his position down by the river, he couldn’t tell from where. He watched as the smoke billowed around the building in the failing light. It would be dark soon. Jayne had been gone for only a few seconds, and he was already as worried as hell.
The lap-top on his knee suddenly bleeped at him, and Matthew almost jumped out of the car. He held on to his chest and stared down at the screen, seeing the message it displayed.
C:WINDOWS>MISS ME YET?
Matthew shook his head and typed his reply.
C:WINDOWS>You frightened the life out of me! Don’t do that!
C:WINDOWS>THEN PAY ATTENTION, NERD! THINGS COULD GET NASTY AT ANY MOMENT. AND KEEP A LOOK OUT. IF ANYTHING LOOKS SUSPICIOUS, GET GOING!
C:WINDOWS>I’m not leaving without you!
C:WINDOWS>AND I DON’T WANT TO COME BACK TO FIND YOU DEAD! SO GET INTO THE DRIVING SEAT, AND DON
’T ARGUE!
C:WINDOWS>Okay! Okay! I’m in the driver’s seat! I’m going to start the monitor program now. You might feel a bit funny, but I don’t want Tyler to sneak anything in before we’re ready. Hang on.
C:WINDOWS>run MONITOR
MONITOR RUNNING
NO INTERRUPTS
C:WINDOWSMONITOR>I DIDN’T FEEL A THING.
C:WINDOWSMONITOR>Good. By the way, I love you.
C:WINDOWSMONITOR>NOW YOU ARE BEING A NERD. BUT I LIKE ITTTZ!
Bad command or file name
MONITOR TRIGGERED
INTERRUPT=1
MEMORY TYPE=LONG TERM
SUBJECT=PHYSICAL TRAUMA
“Tyler!” Matthew exclaimed, and his heart went cold as he saw the message on the screen. One of the new programs he had written was designed to catch any new memory instructions and identify them. So far it had worked, and only just in time, too. Matthew began typing furiously on his keyboard. He had to start another program now, and quickly. One that would counter-act what Tyler was doing, leaving Jayne’s memory unaffected. Or, at least, that was how it was supposed to work. But where Jayne was concerned, Matthew was no longer sure of anything.