Sam smiled broadly as Kellie wheeled past him along the hospital corridor, her gown flapping a little to accentuate her bare arms. As he reached down to peck her cheek, she winced at the pain in her side. Sam jerked backwards as though he’d been the one stabbed, but soon a warm smile was beaming back at him like autumn foliage.
‘So, when will the hospital allow you home?’ Sam asked.
‘Later maybe. I’ve got to come back by the weekend to check the dressing and stitches,’ she replied.
‘You were really lucky. The doc told me that the wound wasn’t that deep.’
Sam saw Kellie’s eyes bunch together, the thought causing her to tense up and in turn she let out a moan of pain.
‘Shit, sorry. I’m sure you don’t need reminding,’ he apologised.
Kellie would have liked to say, ‘no worries,’ but his lack of tact had irritated her, and the pair lapsed into silence.
A nurse returned and drew Sam’s attention to the large No visitors during lunch hours sign. She softly whispered that he could stay for five more minutes, before resuming her checks. He glanced at his watch and decided to call time. He needed to check in with the police to give them a statement. He squeezed Kellie’s hand. And chimed, ‘I’ll be back later.’
The questioning had been exhaustive over the weekend, running late into Saturday and covering all of Sunday, but thankfully Kellie had been allowed rest and treatment after intervention by the doctors. Sam walked off the ward and passed a policeman, posted for protection or possibly to contain her, he didn’t know which. Though he felt thoroughly drained, it gave him some comfort. It was out there now: help.
Wondering if he could even be bothered to make the hour-long journey home, he found himself back in a reception area, where he slumped down on a chair along the wall. His eyes closed immediately, and he dropped into a semi-conscious state, his body unable to carry on.
When he woke two hours later, the noise and light around him made him wonder how he could have slept. He stretched and rubbed his eyes. His legs had splayed out into the waiting room and he felt a pang of guilt at causing an obstruction to any passers-by.
Sam felt confident that he had told the security officers everything he could, but a burden remained. Kellie had a history, she had secrets, he hoped he knew the worst, but when her strength returned the security bods would be back, and the questioning would be long and draining. They’d already made repeated mention of the Terrorism Act, which freaked him out, and he wondered if they were about to be whisked off to some UK version of Guantanamo Bay, only to disappear without a trace. He hoped he was overthinking everything but knew he was stuck having to trust the system, and that unearthed so much uncertainty that his stomach was still twitching a nervous dance.
He checked his watch. After his nap he still had another hour before he would be allowed to visit Kellie again. And he still had to find his brother, and Kellie’s sister.
Reaching into his pocket he retrieved a card and dialled the number he’d been given.
***
Arya assembled her team, including Eva. Collectively they were all behind on sleep, but Arya had made sure that everyone had grabbed a few hours. She held two separate paper files, which she placed open before her. It was rare in this modern era to still use paper, but each file contained only a few pages and Arya preferred to lay the sheets this way. Everyone watched patiently as she summarised the two offerings. The first roughly outlined the content of the USB stick they’d recovered. There was a murmur as this exciting news spread through the group.
Arya spoke. ‘We now have a good idea what toxins we are dealing with. What we don’t know is the who, why or when, and I don’t expect an antidote to be available any time soon. How are we coming along with the facial recognition software?’
‘So far we’ve drawn a blank,’ Emile replied.
By the time the security services had raided the pizzeria, the man they were seeking had vanished. CCTV within the eatery was worse than the external sources which had been obscured by rain. The team were following leads but, as always, their resources were getting stretched as the probable pathways multiplied before them.
There was a wave at the window and Paula stepped out to receive a call, returning seconds later.
‘It was Sam. He wants to know about his brother,’ she said flatly.
Despite mounting pressure from the Home Secretary, Cobra and her own boss, Arya responded with practiced calm.
‘Is he still at the hospital? I’ll go and meet him and tell him face-to-face. We owe it to him to explain how James died.’
***
Sam got up from the sofa to answer the door. He knew someone from MI5 would visit with news about James, so assumed they were the ones who'd rung the bell. Giving Kellie’s hand a squeeze, he went to let them in.
A solitary woman stood outside. Her wrinkled skin looked almost reptilian, but she offered a warm smile as she held out her ID for inspection. The name read ‘Arya Durrant.’ Sam checked her security pass before ushering her into the lounge.
‘Have a seat,’ he offered as he ushered her towards the empty sofa. ‘This is Kellie. Can I get you a cup of tea or anything?’
‘A glass of water would be nice. Thank you,’ the woman responded.
‘I’ll get it,’ Kellie offered, ‘you two need to talk.’
Sam grabbed her hand, preventing her from leaving. ‘You’ve just been stabbed. Rest up and I'll grab the drink.’ She sighed and gingerly eased herself into an armchair. ‘Here you go,’ Sam said, as he offered her a glass.
Arya sank into the ample sofa, which seemed to swallow her slight frame. Sam sat at the opposite end, where he turned to hear the news.
‘What happened to my brother?’ Sam blurted before she drink could take a sip.
The woman reached forward and offered a comforting hand as she prepared her response. ‘What I’m going to tell you will be very painful, but I promise I’ll be honest with you and explain everything I can. Someone targeted your brother. I don’t know why they picked the pair of you exactly, but they took James and beat him. This criminal gang wanted to force you into finding some data which we later recovered.’
Sam wanted to know what this mysterious data contained, but remained silent so he could hear the woman out.
Arya took a sip and rested the glass on a table. ‘We are analysing the data we found at Trafalgar Square,’ she continued. ‘I can’t tell you much, but it involves biological weaponry. Unfortunately, your brother’s abductors injected him with a slow acting toxin. We were transporting him in an ambulance when he ruptured internally. I’m really sorry, but there was nothing we could do to save him.’
A stony silence descended as Sam’s hands gripped white together. He couldn’t imagine how scared his brother would have felt when they strapped him to a trolley and dragged him off to hospital. ‘Did he suffer?’ was all he could finally manage.
‘No. He didn’t, but someone else in the ambulance did. The ambulance crew heavily sedated your brother when they took him to hospital. He wouldn’t have suffered.’
‘You said someone else? What happened to them?’
‘The medic who rode with him wasn’t so lucky. Whatever was inside your brother caused contamination, which spread quickly to shut down the medic’s nervous system. I won’t sugar-coat this bit. Our guy had a horrible death, and it is imperative we find these people.’
‘So who did it?’ Sam asked as his voice raised a few decibels.
The woman’s head turned towards Kellie. If the inference wasn’t clear, it was soon after when Arya directed her next question straight at her. ‘We believe this is a gang, which you yourself were a member of. Perhaps you could provide us with a few answers.’
Sam looked at the woman in disbelief. He spun his head, but Kellie’s face had already turned to beetroot as she herself leaned away. ‘Get out!’ Sam demanded as he stood and pointed a shaking arm towards the door. ‘You and your lot questioned her for hours when she needs to recover. Don’t you get it? A bastard stabbed her. She’s the sodding victim here and you should be out there catching him. She’s told you every name she knew, so why don’t you just fuck off and use the information she gave you, instead of coming in here making out she’s a sodding gangster?’
Sam’s outburst seemed to have no effect upon the woman, beyond making her calmly stand and move towards the exit. He was shaking with rage as he opened the door, forcing her to leave, so much so, he could barely hear her parting words.
‘These are dangerous people, Sam. They murdered your brother and we must do everything we can to find and stop them before more people die.’