The Library of Shadows (29 page)

Jon and Katherina crept down the stairs to join the triumphant Pau.

'Please come in,' he whispered merrily, holding the door open for them.

They stepped into the darkness, followed by Pau, who closed the door behind them. Jon reached into his sports bag and pulled out a torch, aiming it down at the floor before he switched it on. They found themselves in a whitewashed corridor with three doors in addition to the one they had just entered by. The panes of the entry door behind them were covered on the inside with sheets of plywood, making it impossible to see in or out. The doors to the right and left were both ajar, and each was adorned with a WC symbol, one for boys and one for girls. The door at the end of the corridor was closed.

'Does anyone besides me think it's odd that the door wasn't locked?' whispered Katherina. Jon agreed.

At that moment a light went on, and the harsh glare reflecting off the white walls made them both squint. Jon instantly spun round. Pau stood behind him with a finger pressed to the light switch inside the door.

'Isn't that better?' he asked without lowering his voice so that his words echoed between the bare walls.

Jon turned off his torch and headed for the door at the end of the corridor. It had white panels and a brass handle. This door was also unlocked, and Jon slowly nudged it open until he could poke his head inside. What he found was yet another hallway, which apparently ran the full width of the front of the school. Up near the ceiling, at intervals of a few metres, were windows that allowed the light from the stars to shine in on the pale walls. A wide-mesh grating in front of the windowpanes cast shadows like a huge spider's web over the floor and walls.

Without opening the door any wider than necessary, Jon slipped into the hallway and motioned the others to follow. Pau closed the door behind them. A series of doors lined the wall they were huddled against, while at the end of the corridor they glimpsed a set of stairs, leading up into the building.

'You mean you still don't notice it?' asked Pau, sounding slightly annoyed.

Both Jon and Katherina said that they didn't notice a thing.

'It's strongest over there,' said Pau, pointing away from the stairs leading up.

Jon turned on the torch and aimed it in the direction Pau had indicated. At the end of the hall another stairway led down yet another level. They crept over to the stairs, with Jon going first, keeping the torch pointed at the floor. Right in front of the stairs was a strong, black iron gate, which stood open.

'I don't like this,' murmured Katherina as she grabbed hold of the gate. The bars were twisted wrought iron, at least two centimetres thick. 'It all seems too easy, don't you think?'

'Maybe they have nothing to hide,' Pau suggested. 'What sort of secrets would a school have, anyway?'

'You're the one who keeps noticing something strange,' Katherina pointed out angrily.

Jon shushed his two colleagues and shone the torchlight down the stairs in front of them.

'You're sure this is the way we should go?' he asked, turning to point the torch at Pau's face.

'Yeah, I'm sure,' replied Pau, holding up his hand to block out the beam of light. 'Can't you sense it? This is where the energy is coming from. Trust me.'

'You've certainly become awfully sensitive all of a sudden,' muttered Katherina.

Jon shone the light back on the stairs and began descending. After a couple of metres the stairs turned sharply round a corner. At the turn, Jon noticed a strange tingling of the hairs on the back of his neck, the same sensation he'd felt the first time he entered the library in the basement of Libri di Luca.

'Okay,' he admitted. 'I think we're on the right track. Now I can feel it too.'

Katherina confirmed that she also felt the energy.

'What did I tell you?' muttered Pau.

Cautiously Jon continued down the stairway. With each step he could feel the energy getting stronger, at the same time as the air got damper and stuffier. At the foot of the stairs was a corridor that led forward a couple of metres before it turned yet another corner. As far as Jon could tell, it ran along the back of the school.

The walls were more rustic in this part of the building, with big uneven patches and exposed granite.

They found two more doors when they turned the corner. The metal door on the right had a peephole of the type that might be expected in the door to a prison cell. The other door marked the end of the corridor and was made of heavy oak with black iron hinges and handle.

Jon peered into the hole in the metal door, but it was too dark to see anything. He pressed his ear against the door and listened hard. When he didn't hear anything, he pressed the metal handle down and opened it.

Inside was a small room, no more than two metres wide and about five metres long. The walls were covered with pale wooden panels. In the middle of the room two big leather chairs faced each other. They both had wide armrests, and over the back of each hung a metal helmet connected to a jumble of wires. With the beam of his torch, Jon followed the wires to where they gathered into one thick cable coming out of the wall. That same wall was dominated by a big window, which provided an adjacent room with a view of the chairs.

Jon found a light switch and turned it on. Fluorescent light flooded the room and all three of them stepped inside. As soon as Jon crossed the threshold, he sensed the energy disappear, as if someone had turned off a switch. Judging by the others' reaction, they had noticed the same thing.

'It must be shielded in some way,' Pau concluded.

'What is this place?' asked Katherina.

'The electric chair?' suggested Pau. 'All teachers must have an urge to use this sort of thing on their pupils once in a while.'

Jon leaned towards the glass pane and peered into the room next door. He glimpsed a series of red and green LEDs, and in the light from the cell he could see a table right on the other side of the window and a row of computers and printers along one wall. On the table stood a computer monitor surrounded by papers and half-empty coffee cups.

'Remer said they had the equipment to measure the powers,' said Jon. 'This must be where they do it.'

Katherina picked up a helmet. 'Very likely,' she said, looking with disgust at the helmet in her hands. 'The shield must prevent the measurements from being disturbed by the energy down here, wherever it's coming from.'

'Okay, Mr and Mrs Sherlock, shouldn't we find out where it's coming from?' said Pau, moving towards the door. 'This place is giving me the creeps.'

'Do you still think this is an innocent school building?' asked Katherina, but Pau didn't answer.

Out in the corridor they again felt the familiar tingling, and it got stronger as they headed for the oak door at the end of the hall. That door wasn't locked either, and it gave them free access to the room they had seen through the window in the cell room. In addition to the rows of computers, the printers and the table with the papers, there was another door leading further into the school.

Jon set his sports bag on the floor and went over to the table to have a look at the papers.

They were covered with graphs, sketches of parts of the brain and rows of numbers, some of them underlined or circled in pencil. At the top of each page was the name and age of the person being tested. Judging by these documents, the latest test subjects were aged ten to twelve. For some of the individuals, the numbers were a measurement of their actual strength, while for others the numbers represented an estimate of the person's expected potential.

'It looks like they can predict the strength of those who haven't even been activated yet,' said Jon.

'Could that be the criterion for admission to the school?' suggested Katherina, who had come over to the table and was looking over his shoulder. Pau stayed near the door, casting nervous glances down the corridor.

'Maybe, but it's hard to imagine how they could take the measurements without arousing suspicion from the parents,' said Jon.

Katherina shrugged. 'There's no limit to what parents will subject their beloved offspring to if it means giving Little Peter a head start.'

'God only knows whether the parents even find out the truth,' said Jon, thinking aloud. 'It's not certain they're Lectors themselves. But what about the children? When are they told? Are the parents informed, or are the kids forced to lie to their mother and father?' He shook his head. 'What would that do to a child?'

'It doesn't sound healthy,' Katherina chimed in. 'They must have more tests than this one to find suitable candidates. It's one thing to possess the powers, either activated or latent, but it's another matter whether the kids are mature enough to join the Shadow Organization.'

Katherina peered under the table and found what she was looking for. She bent down and lifted out the wastebasket. From the wastebasket she removed a number of printouts similar to those lying on the table, folded them up and stuck them in the back pocket of her jeans.

'They won't even notice they're gone,' she said, putting the wastebasket back on the floor.

The monitor on the table was blank, but a quick tap on the keyboard brought it to life. Slowly an image emerged, but Jon was disappointed when it turned out to be a command to enter the computer by typing in a name and password.

'We could use Mehmet's help right now,' he said.

Pau was still standing in the doorway, nervously shifting his feet. 'Shouldn't we get going?'

Jon nodded. 'We're not going to get anything out of this, anyway.'

He went over to Pau and picked up his sports bag. At the next door he nodded to his companions before he pressed down the handle. Pau turned off the light in the room behind them before Jon pushed open the door. It was dark, but Jon could feel a soft carpet underfoot when he stepped inside. After fumbling a bit with the torch, he switched it on and then located the light switch inside the door.

He was standing with his back to the room, Pau stood in the doorway with the crowbar in his hand and Katherina had taken a few steps inside on the carpet. Her eyes were fixed on the far end of the room, displaying both surprise and horror.

'Campelli,' they heard. 'How nice of you to drop by.'

Jon recognized the voice at once.

It was Remer.

'Get out!' shouted Jon, and took a step towards the door, but Pau didn't budge from the entrance. Instead, he broke into a big grin, and without hesitation he swung the crowbar at Jon's head.

Jon was so surprised that he didn't manage to fend off the blow, and a fierce stab of pain shot through his skull.

Katherina threw herself over Jon's unconscious body. He had dropped like a rock with the blow, as if all his muscles had been loosed at once, leaving gravity to do its work. Blood was pouring from his forehead where the crowbar had struck and running down his cheek onto the carpet. He groaned faintly.

Katherina turned an angry face towards Pau. He stood there with a triumphant smile on his lips and his weapon raised, ready to deliver another blow.

'I don't think that's going to be necessary,' said Remer from the other end of the room.

Pau's smile vanished and he lowered the crowbar.

'I'm sure Katherina here realizes the game is up.' Remer came closer as he spoke and Katherina turned to look at him. He was wearing a black suit with a grey shirt but no tie. His gaze rested on her with no sign of emotion.

'Because you
are
Katherina, aren't you?' he said.

She didn't reply, just turned her attention back to Jon. She stroked his forehead without touching the blood.

'I hope you didn't hit him too hard,' said Remer behind her. 'We need him.'

'He'll live,' said Pau. 'Couldn't be more than a slight concussion.'

'That's exactly what we don't need,' said Remer angrily. 'I told you not to hurt him.'

'I didn't have a choice,' Pau protested.

Remer sighed loudly. 'Do you think you can manage to take care of the girl while the rest of us get ready?'

Pau muttered a reply and Katherina felt a hand on her shoulder.

'Come on, Princess. We've reserved a place for you.'

He pulled her to her feet with his left hand while he held the crowbar in his right. Katherina tried to twist out of his grip but couldn't do it. Two men came into the room and knelt down on the floor next to Jon. One of them was Kortmann's chauffeur, but not once did he look at Katherina. They each took hold of Jon's arms and dragged him out through the door they had just entered by.

Pau led Katherina into the office where he shoved her down onto a swivel chair. Jon was hauled further along the hall and the door closed behind them.

'Where are they taking him?' said Katherina, staring at Pau.

'Not far,' replied Pau and smiled.

Without taking his eyes off her, he reached into a cupboard and took out a roll of duct tape. He turned her round, and she heard him place the crowbar on the cement floor.

That was her chance.

She tensed all the muscles in her body but the instant she was about to leap up from the chair, Remer came into the room. He was holding a gun in his hand. It wasn't especially big, just a little black model with a dark wooden grip, but its very presence changed everything. Even though Katherina knew the Shadow Organization wouldn't stop at murder, up until now the killing had been done by less direct means, as far as she knew. It had been achieved by using the powers – a weapon appropriate to the context – and not with a cold revolver, which seemed strangely out of place in the world of the Lectors.

Pau grabbed Katherina's arms and taped them together, binding them to the back of the chair. Remer sat down at the desk in front of the window and placed the gun on a stack of papers, as naturally as if it were a paperweight. He leaned across the table towards a microphone and pressed a button to turn it on.

'You'd better tie him up properly,' he said, casting a swift glance at Pau. 'We wouldn't want him to get hurt.'

Pau turned Katherina around and taped her legs to the frame of the chair. She glared at him, but he avoided looking at her.

'So you were part of it all along?'

He laughed. 'Don't think I enjoyed it,' he said, sneering at her. 'All your naive piss about reading experiences, literature and "the Good Story". It drove me crazy.' He gave Remer a sidelong glance. 'But now it's over. I've done my job.'

'What about the bookshop?' asked Katherina. 'What about Iversen? And Luca?'

Pau stood up and leaned forward with his hands on the armrests of her chair. He put his face very near to hers. There was loathing in his eyes. He was so close Katherina could hear him grinding his teeth.

'As far as I'm concerned, you can all go to hell.'

Katherina spat in his face and then lurched forward in her chair, but Pau managed to jump back just in time. He straightened up with a grin, wiping his face on his sleeve. Then he took a piece of tape and pressed it hard over her mouth. He stepped back, crossed his arms and regarded his handiwork with a smile. Then he laughed and disappeared into the corridor.

Katherina twisted and turned her arms, trying to loosen the tape, but to no avail. It just bit into her skin, and she would have screamed in pain if Pau hadn't taped her mouth shut. In despair she slumped, noticing that tears were welling up in her eyes. How could they have been so naive? Pau's return should have aroused suspicion, at least enough to keep him out of their plans. But they'd been too concerned about Kortmann's death. She shook her head, as if to shake off the tears. She had to stop it; now was the time to focus all her energy on getting out of this situation. She let her eyes sweep over the room, looking for something she could use.

Remer was studying the computer monitor on the desk and not paying any attention to what was happening at the other end of the room. Katherina was able to pick up only scattered fragments of what he was reading, but it sounded like sheer nonsense. Technical terms, numbers and phrases she'd never heard before, all blended together. Every once in a while Remer peered through the window and signalled to someone in the adjacent room.

From her position Katherina couldn't see directly through the pane, but she sensed that a light had been turned on and that someone was moving around in the room behind the glass. She had no doubt about who had been tied up in there.

By bracing her feet against the base of the chair, she tried to stretch out the tape around her ankles. It gave ever so slightly, just enough to revive her courage.

'Okay,' said Remer into the microphone. 'You'd better leave the room. Now we just need to wait for him to regain consciousness.'

Pau and someone else came back into the office, going over to sit down on either side of Remer. Kortmann's chauffeur hadn't returned.

During the next fifteen minutes Remer apparently ran through a number of preparatory steps and tests on the computer. Pau followed along, occasionally casting a glance at Katherina. The other man looked through a stack of papers, giving brief, routine-sounding replies as Remer asked about 'RL values', tension levels, and 'IR-blockades' – concepts Katherina was unable to decode. In the meantime, she concentrated on working at the tape wrapped round her feet.

'He's back,' said Pau suddenly, and the three men turned their attention to the room behind the glass.

'Good morning, Campelli,' said Remer into the microphone. From a speaker they could hear Jon mutter something incomprehensible. 'I regret the rather hard-handed welcome, but it looked as if you were about to leave us before we had a chance to talk.'

'Pau,' they heard from the loudspeaker, spoken as if it were the answer to a puzzle.

Remer laughed. 'Pau, as you call him, has been in my service the whole time. A product of this place, you might say. He once attended this school and sat in the very chair where you're sitting now, wearing the same helmet.'

'Where's Katherina? What have you done to her?'

'Relax, Campelli,' said Remer. 'The young lady is right here.' He nodded to Pau, who went over to Katherina and rolled her chair over to the window.

On the other side of the glass Jon was sitting in one of the two chairs, tied up with plastic handcuff strips round his arms and ankles. The blood on his forehead had dried and a dark bruise had appeared where the crowbar had struck. When he saw Katherina, an expression of relief washed over his face.

'As you can see, she's unharmed,' Remer went on. 'So far.'

'What is it you want, Remer?' Jon asked, without taking his eyes off Katherina.

'Cooperation. That's really all,' replied Remer. 'A small demonstration to show us what you're capable of, and then an open-minded attitude with regard to my organization. There's a great deal we can offer a man of your talents.'

'What makes you think I want to be your guinea pig? Do you really expect me to participate voluntarily in your experiments?'

'As a matter of fact, I do,' said Remer confidently. 'Anything else would be unwise.' He patted Katherina on the shoulder, and she flinched at his touch. 'As I said, we have a use for her.'

Jon clenched his teeth. 'And if I agree to your experiments, will you let her go?'

'Naturally,' replied Remer. 'That's the deal.'

'It's no good,' said Jon, squeezing his eyes shut and obviously in pain. 'I'm incapable of reading anything right now. You can thank your lapdog for that.'

Remer leaned forward to give Jon an intent look.

'He's bluffing,' exclaimed Pau. 'I didn't hit him that hard.'

Remer shot Pau an annoyed glance and leaned back in his chair.

Jon opened his eyes and stared straight at Remer. 'If you let Katherina go, I promise to stay here until I'm able to do your test,' he offered.

'I'm sure you'll do your best,' said Remer, picking up the gun from the table and showing it to Jon.

Katherina shook her head vigorously but she could see the dismay in Jon's face. The sight of that shabby little object underscored that this was a filthy hostage situation and not a negotiation.

'Okay,' said Jon. 'What do you want me to do?'

'What you're so good at doing,' replied Remer. 'Reading stories.' He nodded to Pau, who left the room.

'First let her go,' Jon demanded.

Remer laughed. 'Now you're being naive, Campelli. The girl stays until we get what we need.'

The door to the cell was pushed open, and Pau stepped inside with a book in one hand and a knife in the other.

'Bastard,' snarled Jon.

Pau laughed as he stepped closer, making sure that Jon saw the knife by holding it up with two fingers.

'Watch out, Jon,' he warned. 'You wouldn't want to get hurt again.' He fixed his gaze on a spot above Jon's left eyebrow. 'Ouch, that looks ugly. Does it hurt?' Pau smiled broadly.

Jon yanked at his arms but they were firmly strapped to the armrests of his chair. He sank back, fixing hostile eyes on Pau.

'So are you going to turn the pages for me?'

'Oh, no,' said Pau. 'I'll be out of here long before that.' He stuck the book in Jon's right hand.

Jon looked down at the cover.

'
Frankenstein
?' he exclaimed with surprise.

From her position near the table, Katherina could see that the book was a paperback edition, as worn as a copy someone had taken on summer holiday. She also noticed that she couldn't pick up anything from Jon's reading of the cover. As they had earlier discussed, the cell room must be shielded in some way.

With one hand Pau gripped Jon's left forearm, pressing it down against the armrest. He used his other hand to cut off the plastic strips holding Jon's arm. After cutting through the bands he swiftly stepped away, out of Jon's reach.

Jon shook his free arm. He grabbed the plastic strips on his other arm but couldn't pull them off.

Pau laughed. 'Forget it, Jon. You can't do it.' He turned round and went out of the cell, followed by Jon's scowling gaze.

'Go ahead and start,' said Remer.

Jon shifted his glance to the window and Katherina gave him a brief nod. Pau came back into the office and stood behind the others at the table.

'Do you have any favourite passages?' asked Jon scornfully.

Remer shook his head. 'It doesn't matter where you begin.' He pressed a couple of keys on the keyboard, and the image on the screen changed to show a number of oscillating curves that slowly rolled from right to left. There was no appreciable fluctuation.

Jon shifted his hold on the book so that he was gripping the spine with his bound right hand and was able to turn the pages with his left. He opened the book to the middle and began to read.

For Katherina it was a strange feeling to hear Jon reading aloud. Up until now she had always been with him when he read so that she could simultaneously receive, but now it was only his own voice she heard, while the book itself remained silent. It was like listening to audio books, which were also devoid of any of the energy with which a reader or a book itself might charge the text. Yet Jon was an excellent reader, and if the circumstances had been different, she would have enjoyed the story. Katherina tried with all her might to stretch the tape round her ankles even more. She felt a little jerk as the tape gave way, and she cast a frightened glance at the others. But they were all staring intently at the monitor on the table and hadn't noticed a thing.

The oscillations on the screen had begun to move. A green line at the very top of the monitor displayed sine-wave oscillations, an image of what Katherina surmised was the fluctuating pulse made by a transmitter's powers. Underneath was a red trace that rose steeply as Jon worked his way through the text.

'Five point one within three minutes,' said Remer, impressed.

Pau sniggered.

The red trace flattened out and stabilized at a level above the halfway mark on the screen.

'Seven,' declared Remer. 'Is he holding back?'

'Well, there aren't any fireworks yet,' said Pau.

Remer leaned towards the microphone, but just as he was about to say something the green sine wave changed shape. The fluctuations increased in tempo, like a metronome shifting gear. At the same time the red line made an almost vertical leap and was now close to the top of the scale.

'Ten,' exclaimed Remer in astonishment.

Behind the glass, Jon seemed apparently unaffected. Only the beads of sweat that were slowly trickling down his forehead revealed the effort he was making.

The fluorescent lights on the ceiling above him flickered erratically a couple of times until one of them suddenly went out, while the two others shone even brighter. Even though the cell room was bathed in light, the glare seemed to be diminishing around Jon. Gradually a sphere formed around him, creating a darker space than in the rest of the room, and sparks and tiny flashes seemed to be racing over the surface of the sphere. Soon they could no longer see him because of the darkness and the increasing energy discharges.