For Claire and Brains the day had started early.
Several weeks earlier Brains had gone to Scott, waving the details of the prestigious science and engineering symposium. He had made the case that some of the technologies being presented could prove useful to International Rescue and asked if he could attend. Scott had readily agreed and once Claire had joined the team the Commander had sourced a second ticket.
Now they were in Tracy Two excitedly circling seminars in the programme while Virgil flew them to the venue. They tried to include the normally cheerful engineer in their chatter but for once Virgil didn't seem inclined to talk. He dropped them off with a few curt instructions about the arrangements for picking them up and returned to the cockpit.
If Claire and Brains had picked up on the strained atmosphere they were too wrapped up in the exhibition to pass comment. If they had turned around they might have noticed their pilot lingering a little longer than necessary to watch them depart.
Inside the conference centre the pair started wandering around the main exhibition space, waiting for the doors to the auditorium to open. The event proper was to be opened with a keynote speech given by an eminent researcher into fluid dynamics and they were keen to get good seats.
Once the doors to the auditorium had been opened the delegates filed in and the exhibition space emptied. Claire and Brains made their way down the steps flanking the tiered seating right to the bottom and claimed a pair of seats front and centre.
The lights dimmed and the lectern on the dais was picked out in the bright stage lighting.
The keynote speaker took to the stage. Claire and Brains drank in every word.
The speech was rudely interrupted as the auditorium doors burst open. The assembled delegates turned in their seats to see what was the matter.
A motley collection of men bearing assault rifles stood in the twin double doorways, their weapons trained on the crowd. Some were dressed in the uniform of the venue stewards, others in unmarked combat fatigues. The hushed silence of the delegates held for a moment until somebody screamed, then panic and hysteria set in.
"Silence!" one of their captors roared. There was a staccato burst of gunfire as a stream of bullets was aimed towards the ceiling.
"Do as you are told and you will not be harmed. On your feet. Move!"
The delegates started leaving their seats and making their way up to the main auditorium exits and their captors.
Claire nudged Brains who seemed frozen in shock. He tried to stand but before he had got halfway up Claire was pulling him down to the floor so they were shielded from sight by the seats. She hoped that the dim lighting and the moving crowd had hidden their action. She put her finger to her lips then pointed under the seats. Brains correctly interpreted her instruction and the pair shuffled through the small gaps between the seat legs.
They found themselves in a dark, hollow space under the seating. The underside of the rising tiers was boxed in above them. The sound of innumerable footsteps as the other delegates climbed the stairs and exited the auditorium reverberated around them.
They waited in silence until the last footsteps had died away and they could no longer hear the shouts of the captors directing everyone else to some unknown destination. They waited several more minutes until they felt safe from the risk of discovery.
Claire tapped her comms and tried to open a link with Tracy Island.
Nothing.
Brains tried his comms.
Nothing.
The pair looked at each other. They were trapped in a building with armed men and no way of summoning help. They were on their own.
A feeling of dread, mixed with an intense desire to get out, settled over them.
Crawling out of the dusty space underneath the seating Claire peeked up towards the doorways. The lecture hall was deserted. She beckoned Brains out of their hiding place and the two of them dashed across the dais towards an illuminated fire exit sign in the back corner. The followed the green arrows along a service corridor. Unfortunately, instead of leading to a simple push-bar door the exit barring their way had a more complex locking arrangement. It was securely sealed.
"Well we won't be getting out this way" Claire groaned as she kicked ineffectually at the door.
"N-n-now what?"
"We try something different. Come on."
She led the way back towards the auditorium and up towards the exits their fellow conference-goes had been herded out of. A quick check assured her that the exhibition hall was also deserted.
Claire and Brains made their way around the perimeter of the room. At each exit to the outside world they tried the doors but all were sealed shut, evidently locked via some central control. At each corridor opening they paused and listened, trying to judge where the armed men had gone.
At the second corridor they struck gold. Voices drifted out of the corridor, spilling from a room about half way along. Fear of discovery urged them to move on but they forced themselves to pause. To listen. It seemed that the terrorists were arguing.
It's bigger than I thought it would be
It's not my fault it won't fit.
We'll just have to make transport part of our demands
Evidently theft of some new invention had been their plan. They were about continue their search for an escape route when the voices started up again.
Where are the hostages?
Got them locked up in D wing.
Any trouble?
That lot? No way. I left Mike and Artem on guard but there is no way they are getting out.
Come on, we need to measure this thing.
An idea struck Claire. To Brains' dismay she slipped in to the corridor towards the voices. Not wanting to be left on his own he reluctantly followed her. As they reached the open doorway she gestured for Brains to stay back against the wall. Checking that the terrorists were all absorbed with the item on display in the room she dashed unseen across the open doorway.
The double doors to the room opened outwards into the corridor. She took hold of the door on her side while Brains, having realised her intention, took hold of the other.
On a silent count of three they slammed the doors shut. Brains hit the lock symbol of the nearby keypad. The terrorists were now trapped.
They paused for a moment as they leaned against the wall. Their heavy breathing having more to do with the rising adrenalin levels than the brief moment of exertion.
Thankfully the jailhouse vibe of the building was more than just aesthetic. An angry banging sounded as the terrorists attempted to break down the door but the locks and reinforced steel held firm.
"We still c-c-can't get out through. And there are at least t-t-two others s-s-somewhere."
That was a definite problem.
"If only w-w-we had our equipment. W-w-we could s-s-soon break out of here." Brains sounded deflated after their moment of triumph.
As if a lightbulb had been switched on Claire realised that was the answer. Breaking out. She grabbed Brains by the hand and dragged him back toward the exhibition space.
"So what if we don't have access to International Rescue kit. Look around. We are at one of the leading science exhibitions in the world. There has got to be something here we can use."
She grabbed one of the large scale floor plans off a display board settled them down in a secluded corner, well hidden from D corridor where at least two more of the terrorist group were based.
D corridor itself was dominated by a large seminar room. The conference organisers had kept the room free as a refreshments area with space for the delegates to network. She surmised that this room had now been commandeered as a temporary prison.
She and Brains reviewed the floor plan, marking off stands and exhibition rooms they wanted to pilfer for supplies.
The first step was to be able to defend themselves and neutralise the remaining terrorists.
A trip to the medical sciences zone furnished them with some anaesthetic and hypodermic needles. With a bit of improvisation Brains managed to construct some viable tranquilizer guns. They wouldn't be particularly accurate but Brains and Claire knew they would have the element of surprise on their side. As long as they could shoot from close range the darts should find their mark.
They crept between the display stands, keeping low as they headed to where the other delegates were being held.
Claire and Brains moved as silently as they could. The hearts pounded in anticipation.
D corridor was an L-shaped affair with the doors to the seminar room out of sight around the corner. Voices drifted towards them. It sounded like just two men and they were evidently bored. They moaned to each other about being left on guard duty. A task they clearly felt was pointless with everyone securely locked up.
They didn't realise their lives were about to get a lot more interesting.
Brains, who at least had some training on a more traditional tranquilizer gun, stepped around the corner and fired his makeshift invention twice in quick succession. The surprised expressions on the guards' faces went slack as the anaesthetic entered their bloodstream. Their weapons, which they hadn't even had time to raise, fell to the floor with a clatter. Two unconscious bodies quickly followed.
Claire and Brains ran forwards and bound the men securely. The men were now dead weights. The scientists were glad the floor was so highly polished as the dragged them out of the way and dumped them in a side room.
Brains stood sentry at the corridor corner while Claire ran back to the now unguarded doorway. She punched at the key pad but the doors remained stubbornly locked. Scared voices called out from inside but she was unable to free the prisoners. The thick doors muffled their words but she could tell something was wrong
She called for calm and asked for a single spokesperson to give an update on their condition. Evidently one of the delegates had attempted to tackle their captors on the way in and had received a blow to the head with a rifle butt. The wound was still bleeding and the man clearly needed medical attention sooner rather than later.
Hurrying back to Brains she relayed the situation. As a doctor his main concern was now for the man on the other side of the door. Priorities had changed. Freeing the hostages became more important than overall escape.
"C-c-can you open the d-d-door?"
"No. Electronics aren't really my thing. You try."
They swapped over and for the first time in her life Claire found herself holding what could loosely be termed as a weapon. She knew the tranquilizer gun wasn't designed to kill. That was probably just as well. Her initial fear had turned to anger towards those that had engineered this situation. Theft of intellectual property and inventions was a topic that riled her like no other. The tranquilizer gun was held firm and steady in her hand as she pointed it down the corridor.
Brains was soon back with her. The disappointment of failure clearly etched on his face.
"I-I-I can't override the system. I n-n-need to get in there though. I'm s-s-seriously worried about the injured m-m-man."
"Then we just need a Plan B"
Claire led the way back into the exhibition space.
"Can you rig some sort of fuse?" she asked as she gathered up various materials.
"Of c-c-course. Physical or electronic?"
"Physical. If radio signals are down we don't know how a remote detonator will perform."
"Hang on. D-d-detonator? What exactly are you p-p-planning."
Claire waved a block of putty at him. The grin on her face was quite intimidating.
"I've found me some plastic explosives. This should get us through the door."
Brains stepped quickly backwards. "Is that w-w-wise?" The putty was making him highly nervous.
"Look, I trusted you not to kill anyone with the anaesthetic doses. I need you to trust me on this. I spent ages playing with variants of this stuff as an undergrad."
With all the materials gathered together they made their way back to D corridor. Working quickly and quietly Claire carefully pressed the putty into strategic points around the door frame and lock. Wires were then inserted into the putty blocks. It took several minutes before she was happy with the configuration and amounts of explosives.
Claire instructed everyone inside the room to move to the far end and shield themselves with upturned tables. She and Brains then retreated around the corner of the corridor. With the fuse primed and ready to go she tripped the ignition switch.
The sound of the explosion reverberated down the corridor and smoke billowed towards them.
As soon as the smoke cleared slightly Brains took off towards the seminar room and the man he now viewed as his patient.
Claire realised that it wasn't just the sound of Brains running that she could hear. More footsteps headed her way.
She raised the tranquilizer gun in anticipation.