Waiting in the Shadows (20 page)

‘OK, I'll arrange for entry permission for you as a part of a small security force involved in the Nobel nomination. God help me if this backfires! Pack your bag and be back here in an hour.'

Abel picked up a small rucksack at his feet, ‘I'm ready!'

Lena had printed out the data Vlensky had asked her to look through. She shuddered. It sounded like a list of requirements for a military organisation, not the characteristics one would like to see in normal, happy, well-balanced people.

She sighed; probably Vlensky was getting a bit carried away with his ideas, she was sure if she made a few comments he would become aware of how … soulless … these new Labs sounded.

She was scribbling a few of her own ideas in the margin when he came in.

‘Ah! Just the person I wanted to talk to!' she smiled. ‘I was looking through your programme plans. I think it would be a good idea to include an appreciation of the arts and an interest in sport because …'

Vlensky shook his head, ‘No need to include that in the new Labs. Those kinds of leisure pursuits are for Non-Labs!'

Lena frowned, ‘Well, I can see the purpose in being able to enjoy one's leisure time …'

Vlensky shrugged, ‘The new Labs will not need leisure time. They will be fully occupied by their assigned roles.'

‘Oh, they seem more like an army than I had envisaged …' Lena said uncertainly.

‘Exactly! An army! With us in control!' he smiled as he downloaded data onto a memory stick. ‘Ready for a little experiment on our Lab friends?'

They entered the small dimly lit room where Milly, Lily, Johnny, and Leon slept, oblivious to their surroundings.

He put a memory stick into the computer at the head of Johnny's capsule.

‘What are you going to do?' Lena asked him.

‘I'm going back to his original programming and inserting extra data, at this point, where you suggested mental abilities could be input,' he said. ‘For the girls, I thought I would try out the opposite – delete some of their programmes at the same point.'

‘Are you sure they will not be harmed in any way?' Lena asked him nervously.

‘Not one hundred per cent, no,' he answered. ‘Let's just see what happens shall we?'

‘I … I thought you said no harm would come to them?' Lena said.

‘Well, there will have to be
some
sacrifices made if we are to achieve a perfect world,' he shrugged and turned back the screen. ‘If this works, we may be able to re-programme some of the existing Labs.'

‘But why would we want to do that?' Lena asked.

‘I told you; the work done at the Centre was just the start of what the future could hold. Look at these Labs, for example; poor specimens! The boys are obviously of low intellectual ability. And the girls! Huh! Their timidity prevents them from participating as useful members of society!' he glanced up at her. ‘So, first we see if it is possible to correct these imperfections. If not their loss will negligible.'

‘Surely the loss of any Lab is far from negligible!' Lena was shocked.

‘There is no space in the future world for second-rate Labs!' he said coldly. He keyed some information into the panel above the capsule. Johnny's body shuddered slightly but he remained asleep.

Lena bit her lip, her brow furrowed.

‘I thought we shared the same vision of the future!' Vlensky spoke softly, but a menacing note crept in as he continued. ‘If you are willing to put up with something less than perfect …?'

Lena looked into his eyes and saw what she had taken to be enthusiasm was in fact more akin to mania. She shook her head.

‘No! Of course not! It's just all happening so fast …' She gave a nervous laugh.

‘Good!' said Vlensky, moving towards the capsule that held Milly and inserting a second memory stick into the screen above her head. Once again, the sleeping occupant shuddered as he keyed in data, then relaxed again.

He walked back to Johnny's screen and brought up an image of the sleeping Lab. He enlarged an image of his head and rotated it.

‘Look!' he cried excitedly. ‘The central area is responding to the input!'

Lena watched a series of red contours spread out into widening circles. She scanned the rest of the image.

‘It does not appear to have affected the rest of his brain activity, as far as we can tell, anyway.'

Vlensky turned to Milly's screen and brought up the image of her brain. At one side a green contour was diminishing.

‘Ha! Success! And this is only the beginning! I have so many other ideas!' Vlensky smiled as he opened a new screen on his laptop.

‘Hmm. I would suggest terminating the experiment here, for today,' Lena said in an even tone.

‘Lena! There is no room for useless sentimentality!' Vlensky looked at her.

‘No, but why waste reasonable specimens? It will not be easy to obtain new ones for further experiments,' She was jotting down data in a notebook as she replied and he could not see her facial expression.

‘You are right,' he conceded, removing the memory sticks, ‘I've a few more ideas I want to try out! Go and see Sven. He is getting curious about what we are doing here. Get him talking; get some more data from him. Do anything to keep him busy and away from this laboratory.'

Lena nodded and left the room. She stopped at a glass door where she could see Sven bent over a microscope. A computer screen flashed images in front of him. She paused then decided she would tell Vlensky she had spoken to him, but he had seemed too immersed in his work to even notice her presence! It had happened before! She went to her room and grabbed her phone and purse; then pulling the long cream scarf over her head and around her face she headed for the town centre and the hotel that Isaac and his companion had entered.

How is it going? Any news? V.

Nothing new.
Celia had replied to his email.
No further sightings of the Lab. And we have followed up all the leads that Isaac has given me on the business interests Maher is involved with in Laqaar. I wish I knew what to do next!

He replied immediately:

If only I could help! Perhaps you could forward any business names and I will see if I can make some enquiries. I don't suppose I'll have any more luck than you have, but I feel so helpless sitting here! V.

Celia highlighted and forwarded him the list of business interests Maher had in Laqaar.

Hope you can find out something useful here. Thanks. C.

I just hope I can be of assistance. It must be late there. You should get some sleep. I'll get back to you in a few hours. V.

I
am
tired. I'll speak to you later. C.

As she walked back to her apartment she gave a wistful smile. Vincent Craig was a source of strength for her during this difficult time.

Lena stood in the same place she had hidden before, watching the entrance of the hotel. She glanced at her watch; she had been there for nearly two hours. Vlensky or the others might question her whereabouts. She would have to think of a good story to cover herself.

Just then Isaac and his uncle climbed out of a taxi outside the hotel. They turned as they heard her call out. Isaac hurried over to her.

‘I can't believe we've found you!' he held onto her hand as if he was afraid she would disappear again.

Lena glanced around anxiously and pulled them back into the dark side street. Jake looked wary.

‘No! I mean you no harm!' she told them. ‘I am thinking of your safety. And that of Johnny and Leon and Milly and Lily!'

‘How do we know she is telling us the truth?' Jake asked his nephew. ‘We don't even know who she is!'

‘I am a Lab!' she pushed up her sleeve to reveal a tattooed code. ‘There might not be very much time! You must trust me! Please!'

Isaac looked at her, ‘Where are the twins? Are they all right?'

She bit her lip, ‘At the moment but we must act quickly! Come with me, please!'

‘Give us the details and we can decide what we will do from there,' Jake suggested.

Isaac shook his head, ‘No, Jake, if the twins are in trouble; we must go straight away!'

‘You won't be much help if you walk into a trap, Isaac, think lad!' his uncle warned him.

Isaac looked at Lena, ‘Where are they now?'

‘At the Cactus Flower Hotel,' she said. ‘It is not really a hotel; it is just a front for the new research centre. Vlensky has already started some experiments on both sets of twins! We must stop him going any further!'

‘We'd better phone the police!' Jake said, pulling out his phone.

Lena put her hand over his, ‘You must not do that! Maher has planned for such an event and can cover his tracks easily! He has the local police force eating out of his hand. It will be our word against his. And time is running out for the twins!'

Isaac looked at his uncle. ‘I'm going with her!'

‘Then let's go!' his uncle replied.

Lena hurried ahead of the two men. She stopped a short distance from the research centre and drew them behind a large floral display. Isaac looked at the glass building with ‘Laqaar Medicentre – Director R. Maher' on a large sign above it.

‘It doesn't look much, does it?' he said, watching several people, some mothers with young children, coming and going from the building.

‘No, Maher has even leased out three of the ground floor suites to newly qualified doctors at very low rents. He thinks it makes the place seem more authentic,' Lena told him. ‘That is not the building we want, though. The real work is done at the hotel. Come!' she led him through a maze of narrow streets to the outskirts of the small town. They stopped at a distance from the large, impressive marble hotel building. Encircling the entire building was an ornamental moat with a dazzling display of brightly coloured flowers. There was only one bridge across it, leading to the main entrance.

‘How are we going to get into it?' Isaac asked her. ‘It's completely cut off apart from the main doors.'

‘Not completely,' Lena told him. ‘We needed private access away from the eyes of our host.'

She led them stealthily to an overgrown area near the back of the building. At a border of tall rushes, she stopped and faced the two men

‘We must be very careful here! Security is very tight! Wait for me.' She crept forward and disappeared from sight.

‘I'll go in, Jake,' Isaac held up a hand to silence his protests. ‘Wait here and if I'm not out in an hour come looking for me. With reinforcements if possible!'

The older man shook his head, ‘I don't like this at all!'

‘Try to get hold of Celia and Abel,' Isaac said as Lena reappeared, beckoning him to follow her.

He found himself in front of a concealed doorway. Lena swiped a card and the door swung back. Inside they found themselves in a narrow tunnel which led to a metal door. Lena inched the door open and they stepped into an empty corridor. There was the sound of machinery nearby. Isaac was pushed into a small, dimly lit room as Lena pressed her finger close to her lips and left him there. After a few moments the door was reopened.

‘Help me!' Lena whispered, pulling an inert figure behind her.

‘He's not …?' he began.

‘Dead? No, he'll probably come around in about an hour,' She pulled her scarf off her head and used it as a gag. ‘They usually took that long at the Caves. Put on the jacket – it's a bit tight, but you can leave it open.'

She pinned the unconscious man's ID card onto the jacket, smudging the photo with dust.

‘That should cover you,' she said.

She peered out through a chink in the door.

‘The coast is clear. We have to go past Sven's laboratory, but he will probably be too busy to notice us! The whole place is bugged, so do not ask any questions until I tell you it is safe to do so!'

They both slipped out of the room and made their way down the corridor. Lena exchanged a brief greeting with a man dressed in overalls who acknowledged her and gave a cursory glance at Isaac.

As they made their way up a flights of stairs a second man in a security uniform appeared and stopped them.

‘Madame Lena, Mr Vlensky was enquiring about your whereabouts a short time ago.'

Lena tapped her forehead. ‘I forgot! I promised I would call him! I was caught up in my work! I will go and see him straight away!'

The man nodded and continued on his way.

Lena hurried along the corridor and paused outside a glass door.

She breathed a sigh of relief, ‘Good, Vlensky is not here!'

She led Isaac to the small side room where the twins lay sleeping in their capsules.

‘Johnny, Leon, girls!' Isaac cried, reaching for the first capsule lid.

Lena laid her hand on his arm.

‘We must ready them for awakening before the capsules can be opened.'

‘How long will it take?' Isaac looked down at the sleeping figures.

‘Half an hour. Their bodies need to be reacclimatised to our present environment,' she took a deep breath as she keyed in data on the screen above the head of each person. Then she undid the lock on each one.

‘Are you sure they will be OK?' Isaac whispered.

‘Not absolutely. We must hope!' she replied. ‘In this room it is safe. You may phone your friend. He will be worried about you.'

Isaac had hardly dialled Jake's number when his uncle answered.

‘Isaac! Are you OK?' Jake cried.

‘I'm fine. Any news from Celia or Abel?' he asked.

, ‘‘Celia and her friends at the Centre seem to have everything in hand.' His uncle explained how the situation was developing in the UK. ‘In fact, I am waiting for Abel and the police officers to arrive any time now.'

‘Good. We have another twenty minutes before the twins can be awakened,' Isaac said looking at his watch. ‘Don't let anyone do anything before then!'