Oh hell, Kate thought. Now what’s happened? ‘Give me a couple of minutes to get dressed,’ she said. ‘Then we can talk.’
‘I’ll wait out here,’ Harley said sheepishly, moving into the hallway and scrutinising the rocking horse. Kate closed the door behind him and tore around the room trying to find some clothes that weren’t scrubs. She dressed quickly in jeans and an old pink Killers T-shirt, and dragged a wide-toothed comb through her hair. She would have liked to put on some make-up, not because she wanted to impress him, but to make herself feel like a functioning human being again, rather than a drone chained to a laboratory bench. A visitor was a visitor, she concluded. Their mountaintop hideaway was already starting to feel as confined as the Big Brother house. She decided against the make-up though, and instead smoothed the quilt flat over her unmade bed. She realised she was procrastinating, in case he was bringing her more bad news.
‘Come in, I’m decent now,’ she said, opening the door again. Harley smiled at her and suddenly traced his forefinger down her face. ‘You’ve got a crease,’ he blurted, and for a moment it was hard to tell which of them was more embarrassed.
‘Er, yes,’ said Kate, blushing furiously. She was angry with Harley for lying to her, even if he had been following orders. The knowledge that he’d let her bring Jack to the States when there was a killer virus that was not contained, as he’d claimed, sickened her. Still, there was something so solid and well-meaning about Harley that she couldn’t help but like him, despite his duplicity.
‘Have a seat.’ She pointed to the wing armchair by the window, drawing back the curtains to let in the daylight, and went to sit on her bed. ‘So, what’s going on?’
‘When did you last talk to Paul?’
‘I haven’t been able to speak to him at all since I got here. There’s no mobile signal, and the only landline is locked in Mein Führer Kolosine’s office. Apparently it has to be a case of life and death before he lets you use it.’
She smiled as she said it so that Harley would know she wasn’t having a go at him – but when he remained grave, her face fell. ‘What? Has something happened to Paul?’
‘I don’t know where he is, Kate. He did a runner from the motel on the first night and nobody’s seen him since. I thought you might have spoken to him.’
Kate jumped off the bed and rushed over to the window, her hand to her mouth, as if she was expecting to see Paul outside in the chicken coop. ‘What?’
‘So you haven’t heard anything from him at all?’
She shook her head. ‘Why did he go?’
‘I don’t know,’ said Harley. ‘He was pissed off that we wouldn’t let him go with you. And I think it’s possible he may try to find you. I have to stress the importance of you not telling him where you are, if you do speak to him – although I’m sure you know that. We need to keep the location of this lab secret. And if we find him, we’re going to have to send him straight back to England.’
‘Good,’ said Kate vehemently. ‘He can take Jack with him. Seriously, Jason, I want them both out of the country as soon as possible. It’s not safe. I’ve asked McCarthy to organise a flight out for Jack. He’s going to let me know tomorrow. But, bloody Paul, what’s he thinking?’ She walked in agitated circles, one hand against her forehead, and then sat down heavily on the bed again. ‘Don’t worry. I wouldn’t have the first clue how to direct him to where we are. “On top of a mountain in the Sequoia National Park” – not a lot to go on, really, is it?’
They sat in silence for a moment or two, Kate trying to process this new piece of information.
‘This is all … too much,’ she said at last. ‘What makes it worse is that we’re really struggling here. Kolosine had this big idea about using my blood, but that didn’t work and … For a long time I’ve felt like I was on the verge of finding a vaccine for Watoto, but having to achieve it in a few days, and with this new strain …’
‘Don’t you think you’ll be able to do it?’ Harley asked in a quiet voice.
‘Given the team we’ve got, and the resources … if anyone can, we can. But we could carry on working day and night and equally not get anywhere. Or at least, not in time to do any good.’
Harley slumped down in his chair, stretching his long legs out in front of him. ‘Not to put more pressure on you, Kate, I know how hard you’re working but – shit – this is …’ His voice faded out for a moment and he seemed to be struggling for composure. ‘It’s … everyone’s worst nightmare, like something out of a disaster movie. Did you hear we’ve had to quarantine LA County? Martial law, total curfew. A zero tolerance, shoot-to-kill policy on looters and curfew-breakers. If things continue this way there’ll be people dying so fast that the hospitals and mortuaries won’t cope. Bodies piling up all over the place. They’re looking for mass grave sites already. And the worst thing is, no one can see how to avoid the same thing being repeated all over the States within a matter of weeks if we don’t find a vaccine. Even with no flights going in or out of the country, the odds of someone having got on a plane with it before the shut-down – well, they’re pretty short, despite the precautions the airports have been taking and the fact that the LA airports closed earlier in the week.’
‘I know. I’ve been trying not to think about it, to stay focused and not panic.’ And not think about it reaching Dallas. Or London, Kate thought. ‘There haven’t been any more terrorist attacks, have there?’ she asked, chewing the skin around her thumbnail.
‘No. And no more messages. But we haven’t got any closer to finding the people responsible.’ He sighed. ‘Anyway, sorry to have to give you something else to worry about. But we need to try and find out where Paul’s got to. Can you call him? I’ll get you on to the landline downstairs,’ Harley said.
‘With pleasure,’ Kate replied grimly.
Harley stood up and rolled his head around, an audible cracking sound coming from the back of his neck. ‘Ow,’ he said, rubbing it. ‘I need some sleep.’
‘Sleep here for a bit if you want, after we’ve got this call done,’ Kate offered, gesturing towards her bed. ‘I can hang out with Junko next door – and I’m back on shift in an hour, anyway.’
Harley looked longingly at her bed, then shook his head. ‘Thanks, I’d absolutely love to, but I’ve got way too much to do. We’re still trying to find out who planted the bomb at the hotel … I’ve got to go straight to the BIT office in San Francisco after this. Come on then, let’s try and call Paul.’
When Kate and Harley knocked on Kolosine’s office door, he flung it open and stood glowering in the doorway, his arms crossed.
Harley stepped forward and held out his hand. ‘Jason Harley,’ he said. ‘I don’t believe we’ve met.’
‘I know who you are,’ said Kolosine, looking disdainfully at Harley’s outstretched arm. ‘I won’t shake your hand, thanks – best to maintain a minimum of contact in the current situation.’
‘Right. So – can I ask how your work is going here?’
Kolosine rolled his eyes. ‘I’m sure Kate’s already told
you. We’ve got nowhere. Her blood was useless. Next question?’
‘We need to use the phone,’ Harley said firmly.
Kolosine huffed but stood aside to let Kate into the office. She felt his eyes on her as she grabbed the receiver of the old-fashioned office telephone on the desk and began to dial Paul’s number. She turned her back on Kolosine and held the receiver tightly to her ear. As she waited for Paul to pick up she heard Harley say from the doorway, ‘I apologise for the situation with the phones, but I’ve arranged for an engineer to come out tomorrow to install some new lines and sort out the internet access.’
She tuned out Kolosine’s grumbling reply. After what seemed like whole minutes of silence, Paul’s automatic answerphone message clicked in without the phone having rung first. ‘It’s switched off,’ she called to Harley, who was hovering outside. Kolosine, to her relief, had now disappeared off somewhere. It felt wonderful just to
hear Paul’s voice, but her pleasure was tinged with anxiety – Paul never turned off his phone.
The beep signalled for her to leave a message. ‘Hey, darling, it’s me. Been dying to speak to you all week – there’s no signal here, internet’s down, but I’ve finally got to use a landline – and you’re not picking up! Please call me straight back on this number, Paul, please, I’m really worried about you.’ She squinted at the number handwritten on the telephone’s label and read it out. ‘I’ll be waiting for your call for the next half hour, then I’ve got to get back into the lab. If it’s busy, try again – I need to hear your voice, OK?’
When she hung up, she realised that she had tears in her eyes, and Harley had moved away discreetly. She sat down in Kolosine’s chair and rang again and again, in case Paul had been on the phone, causing it to go to voicemail, but the same thing happened every time.
She dialled Vernon’s number instead – might as well make use of unfettered access to a phone – and had a perfunctory conversation with him about Jack and then insisted that Vernon fetch Jack from next door, where he was playing with Bradley. When she heard Jack’s voice, she thought he sounded a little shifty, as though he was about to do something naughty. He asked for the address of the lab so he could send her a postcard.
‘On top of a mountain, darling,’ she said. ‘But don’t worry about the postcard. Write me an email instead. And Jack – you will be a good boy for Dad, won’t you?’
When they eventually said their goodbyes, it took Kate some time to compose herself, during which she continued to try Paul’s number, automatically redialling over and over. She looked around Kolosine’s office – anything to take her mind off Jack. It was very obviously a temporary base, with no personal effects whatsoever, just a packet of Lucky Strikes, a pen, a calculator and a Wildlife of Sequoia calendar from 2007 on the desktop.
She was doodling on the corner of the calendar with the pen, when suddenly, on about the thirtieth redial, she heard the soft burr of an international ringtone instead of the click straight to voicemail. She jumped, and held her breath, twirling her finger through the old-fashioned telephone cord. The ringtone ceased, and a woman’s voice, American and husky, said ‘Hello? Paul’s phone.’
Kate was too shocked to speak. She held the receiver away from her ear as the voice repeated, ‘Who’s there? Hello? Hello?’