Chapter Thirty-Five
Parting Company
“Well, they’re definitely in there,” Rawlston said as he crouched down over the bodies of the two security men by the main gate. “These guys are still warm, so they can’t be too far ahead of us.”
Julia was standing next to him. She had fastened some of the buttons on her uniform at her waist, but it still hung open at the top, revealing her chest and bra. She didn’t seem to care. She had discarded the coat and held her automatic openly as she stared up at the lights on the eighth floor.
“Stop wasting time, Sam, and let’s get up there, or we’ll miss all the fun!” she said eagerly. “Come on!” She headed for the front of the building and Rawlston had to quickly follow after her.
They had just gone through the main entrance when they saw Smith making his way across the lobby towards the car park. He saw them at the same time, and they all levelled their guns and fired at once. Holes were blown into the wall behind Smith as he ran for the entrance to the car park, and the glass doors behind Julia and Rawlston were shattered as they both dived for cover behind the reception desk.
Rawlston fired over the top of the desk as he saw Smith run through the doorway into the car park. He missed, and his bullets knocked chips of wood from the door. “I’ll get this guy!” he called to Julia as he ran after Smith. “You get upstairs and give our resignations to Casarotto! And be careful! She’s slippery!”
Julia got up and shouted after Rawlston, “Hey! Sam!”
Rawlston paused by the doorway to the car park and looked back. “What now?”
Julia grinned at him cheekily. “Fun while it lasted, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Rawlston replied with half a smile. “See you!”
He disappeared through the door, and the grin faded from Julia’s lips as she ran for the stairway.
It was dark in the car park, and it would have been empty except for one Mercedes in a corner. Rawlston paused in a shadow staring at the car, his gun held ready. No, that would be too easy, he thought to himself. But his quarry must be close, hoping that he would head for the car first. But Rawlston wasn’t to be fooled.
Smith was hiding behind a concrete column opposite the car. He watched carefully for any sign of movement as he took his mobile phone from his pocket.
In the computer centre on the eighth floor, Tyler was busy trying to explain to Rosanna Casarotto why he had lost control of Jayne for a second time.
“I can’t understand it,” he was saying. “The connection is still there, and the implant is responding, but nothing’s happening.”
“You can’t blame Hall this time,” Rosanna replied impatiently. “My agent has eliminated him as promised. Now you must regain control of Jayne Middleton at once! Keep her where she is until Smith reaches her.”
Tyler was still typing away as he spoke. “I’m trying! But she isn’t taking any notice! The memory changes I try to introduce aren’t having any effect anymore!”
“If that’s true, then I don’t have any more use for you, Tyler!” Rosanna said, meaningfully. “So think of something. Quickly!”
Terrified, Tyler wracked his brains for an answer. “Yes! Yes! I know! If I can overload the implant, I might be able to knock her out! That’s it! Then all you have to do is find her!”
“Then don’t talk about it, do it!”
“Yes, alright! I will, I will!” Tyler began to type away, his hands shaking.
Williams heard his phone ring and quickly took it from his pocket. Rosanna Casarotto turned to stare at him as he listened.
“Smith says Rawlston and Connors are in the building,” he told her.
“Kill them.”
Down in the car park, Smith had just switched off his phone when he saw Rawlston diving over the bonnet of the Mercedes towards him. He quickly stepped away from the concrete column and fired just as Rawlston rolled when he hit the floor, and also came up firing. Rawlston’s bullets hit Smith in the chest, knocking him back against the concrete column, where he slumped to the ground. But Smith had also been on target, and Rawlston ended up on his knees, clutching at his side.
“Shit!” he muttered as he put his gun back in his shoulder holster and began to probe the blood-stained hole in his shirt with his finger. Then he heard a familiar voice.
“You look like you need a nurse.”
Rawlston looked up in surprise. “What are you doing here?” he exclaimed, then a bullet hit him in the chest and he fell back.
Tyler was still typing away at his keyboard, but apparently with little success. Rosanna was standing over him impatiently.
“Where is she?” she demanded, her South American accent even more pronounced now that she was getting angry. “Can’t you even find that out with your computers?”
“She’s in the building somewhere,” Tyler replied, pausing a moment to wipe the sweat from his eyes. “Downstairs, I think. It’s easy enough to track her. We don’t need the computers for that. We just triangulate on the radio transmissions we receive from the implant.”
“Good! At least we know that we can find her easily now that you have failed us!”
It was an accusation, and it terrified Tyler. “I haven’t failed you!” he insisted. “This is going to work! I promise you! I’ve already exceeded the maximum load of the implant by more than sixty percent! It’s bound to fail soon! Just give me a few more minutes! That’s all I need! Please!”
Rosanna ignored him, walking quickly towards Williams who was standing in the middle of the room. But before she could say anything to him, the doors to the stairway burst open behind them, and a blonde haired woman wearing a nurse’s uniform dived into the computer centre. She fired her automatic while she was still flying through the air, and bullets peppered the front panel of the computer. Tyler was in the middle of it all, and he cried out as he was knocked forward over the computer console, the back of his white coat turning red.
Williams reached for his gun, but he was standing up while Julia was now lying on the floor, and she found him difficult to miss. She sprayed him with bullets and he was thrown off his feet, his gun falling from his grasp.