Bill stared at the former doctor to the Elite. ‘What the hell are you doing here?’
Jameson pushed past him and entered his apartment. Bill quickly shut the door and locked it. With the power down, the doors no longer had their usual security measures.
The doctor stopped in the middle of the room and turned around. He assessed Bill and Laura for a moment. ‘You two look like you’ve been through the ringer.’
‘You could say that...’ Bill folded his arms. ‘Where have you been conveniently hiding out?’
‘The hospital.’
Bill shook his head and smiled. ‘We were there. You weren’t.’
‘You didn’t look hard enough for me.’
‘Okay, so how did you get past the barricades? Nobody in or out of the city.’
‘You could say I walked in right under their noses.’
Bill didn’t understand. He uncrossed his arms. ‘Then how?’
‘The tunnel to the hospital?’
The hell he did. ‘Last time I checked the only way in and out was blocked and flooded with anti-gravity. As far as I could tell, that’s still in place.’
‘Bill, the anti-gravity machine broke down a couple of years ago. And the Elite sent their Conditioned to help me create a new tunnel around your blockade. I’ve been using that access route for as long as I’ve been treating the Elite. They needed me to have unfettered access in and out of the city.’
Laura sat down on the sofa. Bill slumped next to her, feeling weary all of a sudden.
Jameson remained standing. He stuck his hands in his pockets, looking unusually bright and ready for action.
The doctor hesitated a moment. ‘I... knew this was coming.’
Bill stood. ‘Excuse me?’
Jameson fanned his hands. ‘I’m not part of it, but I’ve been spending a lot of time with Harvey over this virus issue.’
‘Do you know where he is?’ asked Laura.
‘No, but I have an idea. New Tokyo.’
This was too much to process. Bill pulled out a chair from the dining table and slid it over to the doctor. He pointed for him to sit. ‘How about you go back to the beginning? Start with when you realised Harvey was up to something and didn’t tell us.’
Jameson dragged the seat closer and perched on the edge of it. Bill sat back down.
The doctor released a heavy sigh. ‘It was straight after we’d administered the vaccine. Harvey had his samples from the Indigenes and was keeping the vials under close surveillance. Wouldn’t let me touch them. Wouldn’t let them out of his sight. He kept quizzing me about the procedures I’d performed on the Elite and Conditioned.’
‘What does he want with that info, exactly?’ asked Laura.
‘I don’t know but he told me not to go anywhere, said he’s going to need me. I sensed something was up when he locked the door to the lab and told me to call him when I needed out. I think he may have had people watching me.’
‘If he needed you, why didn’t he take you with him?’ asked Laura.
‘He didn’t want to babysit me, I guess. He had a coup to organise, half a dozen base stations to take offline...’
Laura shook her head. ‘So he needs you for what—more experiments? On whom?’
‘Maybe and I don’t know.’
Getting inside the mind of Harvey Buchanan would take longer than they had. Bill sensed that whatever Harvey had planned, he would enact it fast.
‘Perhaps he wanted Jameson to work at his clinic,’ he suggested, but it sounded weak. ‘With the Elite dead, his skills could be put to better use elsewhere.’
Laura frowned. ‘You mean another clinic? Because the one we just checked was cleared out.’
Bill wished he knew.
To Jameson, he said, ‘Is he setting up operations in New Tokyo?’
‘He didn’t say.’
Bill returned to an earlier part of Jameson’s story. ‘We checked the hospital today and found the main door to the lab unlocked. How did you evade Harvey without tipping him off about the tunnel?’
‘After he locked me in, I picked the lock and made it look like I’d escaped. The Elite taught me how to make myself invisible.’
‘And you’re sure he doesn’t know about Deighton’s tunnel?’ Bill asked.
While Harvey would not have been on Exilon 5 when it was created, he must have known about Deighton’s obsession with safety.
Jameson shook his head. ‘Certain. He returned that evening and was livid. Kept asking his men where I’d gone. He didn’t even know to check for the tunnel in the containment room. Harvey has never gone in there voluntarily. I heard him working at the console. He was downloading files, I think.’
‘Or uploading something,’ said Laura. ‘The screens were blank. We couldn’t check what state he’d left everything in.’
Bill replayed the events of the last few days. ‘Things were too quiet. I assumed everything had returned to normal. Then Harvey paid me a visit yesterday. Spouting off his usual nonsense about how I owed him his clinics.’
Jameson grimaced. ‘Yeah, he returned to the hospital that day in a bad mood. He was throwing things around, making a nuisance of himself. I told him he’d helped all he could with the vaccine and I didn’t need him anymore.’
‘That must have gone down well.’ Bill leaned back.
‘He said I’d got it the wrong way around, that it was me who would be expendable soon. That’s when he locked me in.’
‘Did you leave straight away?’ asked Laura.
Jameson released a heavy sigh. ‘I hid all night in the tunnels. I didn’t know where to go other than the city, but without knowing what he needed me for, I couldn’t risk running into his men up top. So I stayed put. I waited for Harvey to return and say he was giving up on me. Except he didn’t show. Three of his team did—late this morning. It sounded like the power cut out. Someone said after that it was done. Then I waited a little longer until I was sure the coast was clear. I heard you and Laura come in and check the place, but I didn’t want to tip you off. For all I knew, it was you who’d commanded the power to be turned off.’
‘I wouldn’t do that,’ said Bill.
Jameson smiled. ‘I guessed as much.’
‘Then what, you headed for the city?’
‘I didn’t have much choice. I reckoned, with the power down, it would be chaos and I could blend in easier.’
Laura turned to Bill. ‘If Harvey doesn’t know about the tunnels, maybe that’s a good thing.’
Bill rested his arms on his legs as her thought sunk in. ‘So you’re saying we should use the tunnels to get around?’
‘Why not? It might give us an advantage.’
His hands shook. He could really do with a coffee right now—or something stronger.
‘One of the branches leads to an old water service entrance in the park next to the docking station,’ said Jameson.
That was one problem of how to get around sorted, but Bill hated not knowing Harvey’s real plans. ‘Tell me about his operation in New Tokyo.’
‘I don’t know anything about it,’ said Jameson with a shrug. ‘He only mentioned it was easier to get lost in the bigger city.’
‘But you said he’s gone there. Is he commanding a team of renegades?’
‘That was the impression I got.’
‘What about the Indigenes?’ asked Laura. ‘Is he working with them?’
Jameson slid his gaze to her. ‘I don’t know. I never heard what they were planning after the power went out.’
‘They’re probably looking for you,’ said Laura. ‘That could be why the city is on lockdown.’
‘Possibly.’ Jameson nodded. ‘But I could be anywhere and they know it.’
‘So you came here...’
‘I took the chance you might know what he’s up to.’
Bill wished he did. ‘Harvey is on a mission. It might be a solo one, but with the base stations out from under our control, we’re all sitting ducks. He’s got us by the throats.’
Laura sighed. ‘So what do we do now? If we use the tunnel to get out of the city, then what? Where do we go from there? To New Tokyo? Should we take a team with us?’
Bill would not walk everyone into a trap. He needed more information. ‘Let’s hold here and wait for Gunnar to get in touch. Some of my ITF troops have sided with Harvey. I don’t know who we can trust anymore.’ He could use extra backup right about now—from a race with more skills than he had. ‘I wish I could reach Stephen, see what’s happening there.’
‘I could go check in with him?’ suggested Laura.
He hated the idea of splitting up. ‘Not now. Not while we’re surrounded.’
She refused to let the idea go. ‘They wouldn’t see me. I could use Deighton’s tunnel. I’d be out and back before you missed me.’
Her idea had merit, but the thought of her heading out alone sent a deep shiver down his spine. ‘No, if we use the tunnel, we all go.’
His DPad shrilled loudly, making him jump.
He checked the caller ID and whispered, ‘It’s Gunnar.’
His heart pounded thickly in his chest as he connected the call and enabled speaker mode.
‘Gunnar, we’re here and listening. What do you have?’
‘Bill, word is the residents are blaming the Indigenes and Conditioned for the power outage.’ That had always been a possibility. ‘If we don’t manage the message correctly, they’ll push back, possibly show up at the ITF.’
The residents weren’t his concern right now. ‘Let them think what they want. What about Harvey?’
‘No sign of him, Ben or Jameson.’
‘We find him, we find Ben. But a small bit of news. The doctor’s here, with us.’
Gunnar’s voice lifted in surprise. ‘There? How?’
‘A long story that we should discuss in person. Do you know what’s happening in the other cities?’
‘Similar lockdowns. One of our underground operatives reported back heightened activity near the entrance to New Tokyo.’
‘That’s where Jameson says Harvey was headed.’
‘So that’s where we go,’ said Gunnar.
‘That’s where I go. I need you here.’
Laura made a noise, like going alone wasn’t an option.
Gunnar made a similar one. ‘No way, Bill. You want to get into New Tokyo, you’re going to need me to do it.’
‘And me,’ said Jameson.
‘All of us,’ added Laura.
Bill stared at the doctor. He didn’t see how it was possible to move with him. ‘Harvey’s got people out looking for you.’
‘I know, but he won’t find me. I’ve been working for the Elite for years. I know how to disappear when I want to.’
The two men stared at each other, neither backing down.
Bill relented with a sigh. Leaving him here wasn’t an option, either.
‘Fine.’ To Gunnar, he said, ‘Ask the rest of your team to stay here. I want to know if anything changes in this city, if anyone tries to make a move against the ITF. Julie can handle things there but I’d feel better knowing they had support.’
‘Sure,’ said Gunnar. ‘And where will I be, Bill?’
‘Head to the ITF and speak to Jeff, the IT guy on the fifth floor. Ask him for data on any buildings raised by Deighton back in the day. They have the best security and probably have isolated power supplies. Susie should still have access to secondary information. There’s a service tunnel in New St James’ Park, close to the docking station. We’ll meet you there in an hour.’
‘Sure.’ Gunnar paused. ‘Who’s Susie?’
‘Don’t ask.’