SATURDAY, MAY 30
75 DAYS
Officer Calvin stepped out of the tunnel.
I wedged myself down further into the gap between the lounge and the wall. Nowhere near enough room for all three of us here. I was pressed right up against Jordan, which usually I’d be all for, but right now all my focus was on making sure my breathing didn’t sound like Darth Vader.
With another burst of compressed air, the missing tiles slid back into place, hiding the hole in the floor.
‘And you’re certain this is going to work,’ Calvin pressed Ketterley. ‘You’re certain this new facility of Weir’s is going to be strong enough to contain him.’
‘Nothing certain about it,’ said Ketterley. ‘It should hold him, based what the doc’s been able to figure out so far, but we won’t know until we get him in there and turn it on.’
Ketterley’s feet stepped closer. I flattened myself down against the floor. There was a squeak of leather as Ketterley sat down on the lounge. Inches away from us. I could’ve reached up and smacked him in the back of the head.
‘Anyway,’ he continued, ‘it’s now or never, isn’t it? Rob says he’ll be dead within the week if he doesn’t stop pumping so many sedatives into him.’
‘Let him die,’ Calvin grumbled, swaying on his crutch a bit. ‘We should’ve killed him as soon as he arrived.’
Through the gap under the lounge, I saw him step out with his good leg, pacing across the room.
Headed straight for Ketterley’s desk.
‘Good luck convincing Noah,’ said Ketterley, shifting on the lounge. ‘He’s a candidate, however he got here. And the doc’s right – if his abilities are a side-effect of the fallout, then we need to know about it before we wind up with a whole town full of Crazy Bills to deal with.’
Crazy Bill.
That was Dad’s secret project. They had him working on a way to keep Bill contained.
‘Please don’t tell me you believe that,’ said Calvin. His feet stopped at the desk.
I craned my neck but I couldn’t see what he was doing.
‘You got a better explanation?’ asked Ketterley.
Calvin didn’t answer.
‘Look Bruce, I know you want him gone. And fair enough after what he did to you. But you gotta be patient. Just let the doc run his tests and then you can do whatever you want with him.’ There was another squeak as Ketterley leant forward and stood up again. ‘You find the report?’
‘Yeah,’ Calvin grunted, shuffling some papers. ‘Thanks.’
He swivelled on his crutch, turning back towards the square of tiles in the middle of the room.
Then he stopped. I’m pretty sure my heart did too.
He swivelled back. Looking at something on the desk. Looking at the laptop.
I heard a click as he leant over and pushed down the monitor.
‘You shouldn’t leave this open,’ said Calvin gruffly. ‘Not with the techs coming in.’
‘Sorry?’ said Ketterley. He paused, looking back at the desk.
I stared at his feet. No. Please, no.
‘Oh,’ he said, sounding confused. ‘Huh. Right you are.’
Calvin let go of the desk and started limping back across the room. They were leaving.
I felt a two-second break in the panic as Calvin’s smashed foot dragged across the floor in front of me. But then he reached the section of tiles they’d come up through.
And then he kept going.
Limping across to the other side of the room.
They weren’t leaving through the hole in the ground. They were leaving through the door.
And they were going to walk right past our hiding place.
I gave Jordan a nudge. She got Luke moving, edging his way around the L-bend in the lounge, out of their line of sight. Way too slow.
There was no way all three of us were going to get around in time.
Ketterley cut across in front of Calvin to open the door. He was right next to us now. All he’d have to do was look down …
I glanced back at the others.
Luke had disappeared around the corner, moving quietly for once in his life. Jordan was following.
Ketterley pulled the door open.
Calvin came hobbling past, painfully slowly, like he knew we were here and was just dragging this out on purpose, crutch thudding against the tiles with every step.
Thump.
The open door was giving us some cover now, but there was still nothing to stop Calvin turning his head slightly to the right and finding me cowering on the floor.
Thump.
Jordan’s feet slipped around behind the other side of the couch.
Just me left now. Time to move.
Thump.
But suddenly it was like my body had other plans. Like part of me knew that trying to move any further was only going to attract attention.
I froze. Just sat there, not taking my eyes off Calvin and Ketterley.
Thump.
Calvin was halfway through the door.
My eyes twitched around inside my head, trying to look and not look at the same time.
Thump.
Thump.
Thump.
And finally the old cripple was gone.
Ketterley was still at the door. He threw a glance back out across his office, almost as though he sensed he was being watched. I held my breath, positive we were about to be spotted.
But then he turned again. Walked out of the office.
And pulled the door shut behind him.
I took a moment to call off the impending heart attack, then stuck my head around the corner to give the others the all clear.
‘Now what?’ I asked.
‘Now we get out of here,’ said Jordan.
‘With them outside?’
‘What’s your solution? Stay here and wait for them to come back?’
I didn’t answer.
‘She’s right,’ said Luke, standing up. ‘We’re no safer in here than we are out there.’
‘Says the guy who dived behind the couch in the first place,’ I muttered.
‘Both of you shut up,’ said Jordan, heading for the door. ‘Get ready to run.’
I crept across to Ketterley’s desk, half-expecting him or Calvin to pop out again from some other hiding place. I pulled the memory stick out of the computer and dashed back to join the others at the door.
Jordan pulled the door open a crack and peered into the hall. I could hear Ketterley’s coffee machine buzzing in the next room.
She stuck a hand in the air behind her and counted down with her fingers.
Three. Two. One.
And then she was out in the hall and we were tearing out after her.
We fled past the lounge room without even looking in, and made a break for the front door. I heard a quick snatch of Mal’s mate saying sorry, he hadn’t realised Ketterley was still here, and then we were outside and sprinting down the garden path.
We were halfway to the gate when I realised that Mal was back up on the roof. He twisted around, reaching for something in his toolbox, and grunted.
Maybe he saw us, maybe he didn’t. We were already through the gate and onto the bike track outside.
We didn’t stop running until we were around the corner and halfway down the street.
‘You do realise,’ I panted, ‘that one of these days, your famous run-blindly-through-the-path-of-danger manoeuvre is going to get us all killed.’
‘Oh, stop complaining,’ said Jordan. ‘They didn’t even have any guns this time.’
‘Right,’ I said, ‘well, nothing to worry about, then.’
‘Did you find anything on the laptop?’ Luke asked me.
I unclenched my fist from around the memory stick. ‘Good question,’ I said. ‘Why don’t we go find out?’