Allegro 10
Rated R
Disclaimer: Characters belong to Lloyd, Moore and others
Evey pressed her face to the window and tried to orient herself. She knew they were driving north because the sun was sinking low on her left. In minutes the cab was out of the city. Traffic was too light on the single lanes for Evey to signal to any passing vehicle. The driver drove just over the speed limit while in the city, not fast enough to draw attention, but he made good time when they passed the last cluster of houses and the road stretched out in front of them. Green fields flashed by at 120 kpm. Evey took a deep breath to calm the baby who had been kicking her ribs mercilessly. She put her hand over the spot where a tiny heel was thumping her. Calm down, baby, she thought. Let Mummy think.
Is this a Government job? Could be. I am still wanted. I know that. But this driver? Evey leaned a little to try to see more of his face. His features were heavy and stupid, his jowls sagged nearly to his collar and his ears were large and misshapen. That doesn't really mean anything, does it? I just expect Government men to be in suits. She looked behind her. A small black sedan had been following since before they left the city. It had made no attempt to pass, but remained at a constant two-car distance behind. Four men's heads were visible through the windows. Four men. Men do not ride together in cars. Unless. She leaned the other way to see through the wire and the windscreen. A black sedan was in front of them. Also with four men in it. I see. Evey sat back. Pepper spray is not going to help me this time. This is using a lot of men to arrest a lone pregnant woman. If these were government men, wouldn't they be working with the French? Wouldn't local Marseilles gendarmes have arrested me as I walked into the lobby of my hotel? I couldn't have run away.
No. This is not Government. This is not official. Who else? Who else cares? Who else knows? I must be something about V. The art? The explosives? The money? She looked behind her again. The sun was sinking and soon it would be dark. The car drove over a bridge and Evey looked down at a river far below. I will remember this. Over a bridge, forest to the right, fields to the left. A water tower. No markings. The headlights of all three cars blinked on as the sun sank below the horizon, and still they drove. The air inside the car was cooler now that the sun was gone. Evey crossed her arms over her chest and shivered.
XXX
Dominic waited in the lobby, looking at his watch periodically. At first it was every twenty minutes or so, then every ten. Finally he gave up and just stared at it, thinking. He had seen her get in the cab, and had even written down the license plate.
Dominic had immediately returned to the hotel, ready to wait for her, but when tea time came and went without a blonde woman coming through the doors, he assumed she had stopped at a bistro. I will wait longer, then. She will be tired when she gets back. As the sun went down he frowned. It makes no sense for her to be out shopping after dark. He waited another 30 minutes, then called the cab company and find out where she had been dropped off.
XXX
The Chief Inspector opened his eyes. It hurt to look at things. The light was too bright. He closed them quickly as his head began to thump. A hand touched his thigh, then his shoulder. He tried to concentrate on the men in the lobby. It had taken all of his strength just to get there, he had nothing left.
"Inspector? Can you hear me?"
Part of him was still functioning. He recognized the voice. It was Perry. Finch moistened his lips and rasped out a hoarse, "Yes." He tried to sit up, to open his eyes and respond, but his body defied him. Three days. It only took three days for the virus to take me down. It seemed to him that it had taken the entire incubation period just to get to Perry's lab. He had a vague memory of a hotel room, a hot bath, walking for miles…but I am here now. When he had realized what had happened in Piccadilly…Perry…Perry is talking to me…he had set out for Perry's lab. Focus.
"Inspector. I have called in Dr. Montrose from the Leeds Research Group. He has agreed to treat you. We are giving him access to our files."
Finch squinted, opening one eye as little as possible. "Montrose?"
"Yes. He was in Edinburgh and Dublin colleting data on those outbreaks. He is the best man to call. He agrees we need to keep you out of hospital for now, especially after what happened to Mr. Dascombe. You can stay here in the lab. I have set up the staff lounge as an infirmary. I have placed a bed there for you, Sir. Do you think you can walk?"
Finch moved one leg then the other off the sofa. His head felt heavy; he tried to lift his shoulders. Nothing seemed to work. Moving his legs seemed to use up the last of his strength. I've walked all I can. He heard Perry say to another scientist, "We'll need Angus in here to lift him."
XXX
Evey thought hard. No one knew where she was. No one cared. She looked down at the mobile phone on the seat beside her. It was useless with that scrambler on. They will take it away from me as soon as we stop. She glanced in the rearview mirror, then pushed the tiny phone into the crevasse between the seat and the back. This is all I have, my only link to the outside world, an unfeeling world that goes about its business while I am about to be murdered. That thought didn't frighten her until the baby kicked. Baby…she pressed her hand over her belly where the kicking was strongest. This is a strong baby. V's baby. If he were here…she looked at the back of the driver's head. That man would be dead and the car upside down in the ditch. But he is not here. He will never be here again. No one is going to save me, and no one can save this baby except me.
The car in front glowed red from brake lights. Evey braced herself in the back seat as it slowed to a crawl. The brake lights disappeared as the car turned to the right. Moments later the cab's tires left the pavement, following the sedan onto a gravel road. Evey tried to see out her window, but the night was too dark. Ahead of the sedan in the distance a tiny light grew larger as the approached. Some minutes on the gravel and then she could see an old farmhouse. The sedan stopped, the cab stopped, the car behind them pulled up beside her. We are here. Wherever that is.
XXX
Dominic's hand shook as he flipped his mobile shut. That was no cab. He fought to keep his fear from shutting his mind down. I was almost there. I was ten meters away. Where to now? Was it Massey? Who else? He bet his head over his chest as he went through the list of operatives he knew were on Evey's trail. Each one was accounted for. He had checked up on each man's status this week, all but Massey. It has to be Massey. He calmed himself with a deep breath, remembered his training, and separated his heart from his brain. He gathered his thoughts, isolated his fears, and itemized the procedures. Sitting in the lobby of the Hotel Bompard, Detective Sergeant Dominic Stone flipped the mobile open again and pressed a button, then put the phone to his ear, his face hard. Time to go to work.
In a London laboratory an abandoned mobile chirped.
XXX
Evey held tightly to the door handle. She knew she would not be able to stop them from pulling her out of the car, but it gave her a feeling of control, a little comfort knowing that for a few seconds she would be firmly in place. Faces appeared in the windows. I am an animal in a cage. A torch shone through the glass and made her turn her face away from the bright light. Then the door opened. The fresh air revived her, blew her dress up around her knees. The door behind her opened as well. She released her grip on the handle lest she fall into the gravel. Strong arms hauled her out of the car and set her on her feet. More hands pinned her arms behind her. A heavy cockney voice barked an order.
"Get 'er mobile, Jake, and smash it on the rocks." English. They are English. "An' bring in 'er bag."
Evey felt thin cords being wrapped around her wrists behind her back. She looked at the house as two men turned her and steered her towards the cottage. A rectangle of light appeared as someone opened the door. She looked over her shoulder at the car. Did they find the phone? In the cab two men were busily digging around in the back seat, tiny baby shirts and booties and sleepwear were strewn along the gravel outside the doors. Evey had to turn back to the door when they pushed her forward; she was forced up the two stone steps and shoved into the cottage.
Inside the cottage it was warm and bright. She was pushed through the kitchen into the main room by the fireplace. An older man with grey at his temples and tiny eyes stood before the window, a nasty grin on his face. Obviously he was delighted about something. About me. He bowed, more mocking than polite. His voice was deep, but there was no accompanying refinement in its tones. He nodded rudely toward her belly. "Miss Hammond. I see you were enjoying yourself some nine months ago." He had a broad northern accent.
Evey narrowed her eyes. What is this all about? "Who are you?" she asked him, keeping her voice steady.
"My name is Peter Massey, but that doesn't matter. What matters is that you are here now, and it is payday."
"What are you talking about?" Evey twisted her head, trying to see the men who held her.
"We are talking about you, Miss Hammond. You know the security codes for the basement room where the art is held. You are the only one who knows the codes. I would like to be the second person to know them."
"That's it?" Evey was incredulous. Yes, she had locked the Shadow Gallery behind her as she left. But a determined man with an acetylene torch could get through in a day at the most. Stupid to spend months looking for the codes from me. She felt a wave of contempt for this man, Massey. What an imbecile.
Massey seemed taken a back by her reaction. She saw suspicion cross his forehead and settle in his eyes. "You have the codes. I know you do. Give them to me, and I will release you. It is that simple." He said these words, but his voice told her he was lying. He is not going to release me.
Evey tried to remember the codes. Do I even know them now? Yes. She remembered. So. I give him a string of numbers and the cab drives me back to the hotel? No. And if I don't tell him? The baby kicked her. She looked at Massey sideways and said, "Forty two, eleven, twenty six, fifty."
Massey laughed. "You think you are very clever, Miss Hammond, but you are simple-minded. For the last five months the Fingermen have been running their computers on that security system. Day and night for five months, the codebreakers have been at it. Did you know that the system the terrorist set up changes the codes constantly? The computer will never catch up with it. It is not a matter of a few numbers, Miss Hammond. I need to know the master code to the programmer's box. I have to stop the terrorist's computer from changing the codes long enough to allow the cryptologists to get a match. I would like that code please. It is not a string of numbers, and the bomb will not forgive a wrong entry."
Evey's knees shook. What did you do, V? A bomb? No. V would never…would he? Did he? No. Maybe he did. He had never discussed the security system with her beyond giving her entry codes and showing her how to use the comlink. The comlink was in her satchel in the hotel. Is that what they want? It is. She could not hide the fear in her face. The comlink controls the programmer's box. The comlink holds the master code.
Massey saw her. He grinned; his face broke up into wrinkles and square yellow teeth. "Yes, I see you understand. There must be a device, like a key, that holds the complex programming for the system. Where is it?"
"Not in 'er bag, Boss."
"No." Massey took a step toward her. "No. Not in her bag. In a safe perhaps? In Geneva? The hotel safe, with your diamonds?" He loomed over her, she smelled his armpits, and his supper on his breath. "You are worth half a million pounds to me right now, Miss Hammond. That's how much your government has put on your head. But the code to enter the basement is worth many times that. I think," Massey put two heavy hand on her belly and squeezed hard. Evey felt the baby erupt into violent movements. "I think we can come to an agreement." He looked past her to the men waiting in the doorway behind her. "Get the ropes and the truncheons. And you, Hornsey, yank the battery out of that cab."