Thirty Four Minutes DEAD (14 page)

Stowles was still in a pessimistic state of mind on the fourth day of his formatting duties. Voight had delegated him to make 'visual register' lists pertaining to the stored explorations, barring Christopher's bizarre image retention. These lists were very intricate in their construction, listing every visual development, indicating time and space continuums in the process. Stowles was working on Leah's exploration on this particular day, and as he logged visual developments an idea came to him which had foundation in his past and validation with regard to his current circumstances. For the first time Stowles had seen the explorations in a different light - they were marketable as a niche based film commodity!

During his years in the video film distribution sector, Stowles had seen thousands of films, from dominant Hollywood stables to smaller, independent Arthouse practitioners. The latter had occasionally involved images which severely tested the borders of conventional taste and whilst some of the filmic fare were deemed too graphic in their horrific content, some of the more subtle offerings that interspersed mutilations with surreal aesthetics were accepted. Stowles remembered how the distribution company where he worked had initially been very cautious about their acceptance. The films traded off 'snuff-movie' poor quality influences, but they added a post-production visual gloss that made them leading edge with regard to their style. A niche audience soon developed - very loyal in their buying frequency and content to keep buying the same regurgitated filmic recipe. They bought because they believed that people had actually been hacked to death in the film, and the distribution company soon overcame their initial caution as sales soared, spreading their own rumours that ascertained that some of the films were indeed for 'real'. The films were eventually forced out of the marketplace because their ill wind alerted influential public figures and 'obscenity' rooted law suits were being prepared to end the operation of the distribution company.

The films had proved that a market for the grotesque avant-garde existed, and Stowles felt that he could fashion many parallels in the MC project explorations he had in close proximity to him. These would be different though, even more subtle. The 'camera' would die in the films he could distribute.

In the lower levels of Designation B there were state-of-the-art editing facilities. These were primarily used for packaging the explorations in terms of titling and time count displays, but Stowles knew that the potential for his own post-production alterations did exist. He would keep his project colleagues satisfied by producing laser-discs of the explorations but he would also operate his own 'hidden agenda' involving the generation of video cassette master copies. Voight left him alone to work most of the time and he rarely visited the bowels of the Designation where the formatting took place. Laser disc formatting seemed beyond Voight's comprehension and Stowles assumed that this was the reason he didn't closely monitor his work.

Stowles had kept in close contact with some of his former distribution colleagues and one of them had left their former workplace to operate a chain of capital-based video retail outlets. He felt sure that Max Yardley, the aforementioned colleague would be very interested in distributing the kind of video he could compose from the explorations. He and Yardley had been closely involved with the distribution of the 'mock' snuff videos and both had been disappointed when their distribution agency had to pull the plug on this type of film.

Yardley knew nothing of the MC project work undertaken by Stowles because Brynley had honoured the secrecy prerogative applicable to project operations to the full. Now however, Stowles felt let down by the American snub and he decided to make some additional revenue out of the work undertaken by project ranks. He would not hand over copies of the laser discs as they would reveal the names and dates, which would, if located by project security forces, inevitably lead to his execution! Instead, Stowles was going to employ post-production methods to mask MC project identity.

He would soundtrack the build up to the death of exploration victims and would add digitised colour toning where he felt it was appropriate. Stowles was going to include the exploration visuals generated from Julia Venison, Leah and Michael Stark, who's death had been the fourth successful exploration uncovered by the MC team. Stark had been garrotted after a long chase across London and Stowles felt that his storage of heightened visuals were 'too good to miss' as far as his video was concerned.

Brynley Stowles was particularly looking forward to composing a title for his work. He was initially tempted to opt for ‘The Eye of the Beholder’ because it encapsulated the most extreme visual instance - where Leah's one eye registered the devouring of her other eye, by one of the dogs that so ferociously attacked her. Stowles liked the black irony located in this title. His video would have a running duration of just over 73 minutes.

As he commenced work upon his video, Stowles felt a twinge of guilt. He didn't need any extra income as the MC project paid him an excellent salary that made him want for nothing. Stowles was producing his video as an act of revenge, and this quickly removed any feelings of guilt he had.

Stowles started to soundtrack the Venison exploration using a hybrid of musical styles, ranging from Michael Nyman's repertoire to 'Techno' driven dance rhythms.

When characters spoke, the music was brought down in the mix and when Sandford-Everett played his Tamala Motown tape in his car stereo, Stowles reduced his other musical tracks to a very mute level. Stowles chose to further heighten the visuals when Everett had punched Venison in the mouth and when his face was illuminated to eerie effect by his lighter. In both cases he reduced the visual clarity of the background and intensified the contours of Sandford-Everett's face. His reasons for these changes concerned his desire to isolate some images in a more filmic style. Such minimal changes were carried out in relation to all three explorations and the end result kept the rawness of Memory-Camera storage, whilst adding a sharpness with regard to visual clarity. Stowles completed both his project-orientated work and his own master video work within a month. Voight inspected the exploration laser discs and commended Stowles for the work he had undertaken. Then he had a surprise for Stowles.

"Take ten days off now, Brynley. We are not obligated to a tight curfew as we would be if we were undertaking front-line explorations. Mr Denison has given me permission to give my section a break once formatting and other research is completed. You've undertaken your duties to an excellent level and you are fully deserving of the rest period. Spare a thought for the rest of us my friend - our research isn't finished yet!"

Stowles was taken aback. The break would give him time to contact Max Yardley, but he had deposited his master-video in a 'locked confine' section of the editing suite and he had programmed it 'locked' for another two weeks. He had decided to utilise the ‘D39 codicil’ option for storage and Denison and Fray could only break into this form of security as far as project members were aware.

Stowles met Yardley the day after his Designation B departure and although he didn't have any video-based visuals to show him, his description of the applicable imagery did greatly interest his former distribution colleague. Stowles didn't confide any MC project information to Yardley but concentrated on describing the drafted visuals that he had drawn when he got home. Being a fair artist, Stowles could convey the images to an accurate level and he had even 'touched in' colour to make his rendition more aesthetic. The three chosen images consisted of Sandford-Everett's 'wild' face in close-up, the dog with Leah's eye in its mouth and two of Stark's tormentors closing in on him.

Yardley had continued to monitor the niche Horror market that he and Stowles had discovered at their previous place of employment and it had grown considerably, being strengthened by animated Japanese offerings of a macabre nature. He did trade some mock snuff movies through 'under the counter services' and he felt that the visuals that Stowles could supply would be ideal for this type of selective demand. Yardley was particularly taken by the idea surrounding the 'camera's death.' He felt this more subtle approach moved things forward in several ways. He liked the idea of selective gore as opposed to the 'bloodfest' type of film that was so abundant in the marketplace, and he felt that the suspense build up prevalent in the visuals Stowles had described would increase the retail potential of this type of stock. He and Stowles preferred to refer to this new type of video as 'executions' instead of films, as this phrase seemed to encapsulate what the visuals represented to a better level. On occasions Stowles found it hard to keep quiet about his MC project work but he managed to resist firm workplace details, referring to his supplier as 'Phase 9'. Yardley didn't care who actually supplied the material. He was just content to envisage the high income levels that would be generated by this type of merchandise. Before leaving Yardley's house, Stowles agreed to hand over the first video-master to Yardley within a month. He couldn't be precise in his arrangements because he was unsure about the project commitments that would await him when he returned to Designation B. Yardley's parting line promised Stowles a healthy return for his supply.

As Stowles returned home on the Jubilee Line, his thoughts turned to his chosen method for retrieving his video from Designation B. MC project staff had to enter and leave Designations through screened areas where staff inspected their clothing and luggage. One in every three personnel was chosen for a holistic X-ray on random occasions, and thus Stowles deemed the risk element too great to ignore. He hadn't been through the X-ray scanning for some time and the likelihood of being chosen was increasing on each occasion. Concealing a small videocassette within his body would also be physically dangerous and Stowles felt that he had suffered enough physical torment in his life without trying that risky option! Stowles planned to survey the internal perimeters of the Designation B gardens during relaxation periods when project operations resumed because the exits to the grounds were unscreened, and he felt sure he could establish weak links in the surveillance camera monitoring that fed twenty-four hour pictures back to the security nerve centre.

Stowles became increasingly desperate in his logistic thoughts with regard to getting his video package out of the Designation, and when he started envisaging himself throwing the package over the security fences into the adjacent woodland he realised that a more secure method must be devised! He still felt that the Designation grounds held the answer concerning the successful extraction of the video from the site, but as yet he was unsure about the precise application pertaining to any plan. Stowles felt sure that time was on his side though, and he was confident that the precise mechanics concerning an extraction method would be determined by him in the next few days - albeit with him working from afar in his St John's Wood residence.

Stowles disembarked at St John's Wood underground station. He enjoyed living in this affluent area of London for a variety of reasons. A central factor concerned the relative silence which pervaded the place. Although the St John's Wood region was a 'stones throw' from the city, it was a temporal retreat in many ways, being blessed with an atmosphere that was more akin to a village or small town. Stowles lived in a majestic three-storey residence which was situated quite close to the tube station. The house was way beyond his needs space-wise, but it was useful for his huge collection of films and 'point of sale' cinema displays - these were his family in effect. During inclement weather Stowles took a taxi to his house but on mild October evenings like that night, he would always walk the short distance. As he commenced his twenty-minute walk, Stowles felt far more positive than he had done for some time. The therapeutic silence of St John's Wood eroded some of his project determined bitterness to a level. Stowles glanced at his watch, which registered 21:33 and he then became aware of some footsteps a short distance behind him. The sound had cut the silence and they were the only human presence that Stowles had encountered since leaving the station. He partially turned round to see if he could discern the identity of the individual in the streetlight but the figure was further behind him than he had envisaged, and all Stowles could determine was that the individual was very tall in their build. They wore dark, probably black clothing.

Stowles then heard a second series of footsteps approaching the road he was walking down, from a side street some thirty metres in front of him. He started to feel a bit uneasy. Out of the silence had arrived two fellow pedestrians and Stowles crossed to the other side of the street in a bid to create some distance between him and the two other walkers. As he looked back across the street, the second person came into view - albeit through streetlit illumination. This man was shorter than the first figure but he was powerfully built and his determined stride seemed aggressive in its intent. He crossed to the pavement that Stowles was walking down and the fugitive broke into a half-run.

Stowles was impeded quite considerably by his disability and all the pursuer had to do to keep up with him was increase his gait to a brisk walking speed. Stowles was starting to perspire when his pursuer spoke.

"Nice video, Brynley".

For the first time in his life, Stowles ran. Fear was his spur as he raced down the road like there was no tomorrow. As he increased his speed he felt a series of sharp pains in his back, which were agony to endure but he kept going not fully registering the pain. Stowles knew that if he was caught, he would feel a far greater pain, and so he made a courageous effort to maintain his speed as the pursuer started to close the distance between the pair.