CHAPTER 28
Mrs Holliday stepped closer to the screen to get a better view of the Red-Headed Man moving towards the front door in his search for a way into the hotel. "That the person who hurt you?"
"Yes." Vanessa rubbed her bandaging. "The one who took Nancy. Shall we sick Rebel on him?"
Mrs Holliday moved quickly to the door. "Why risk losing our lovely boy?" She took Rebel's collar in one hand and slid the door across with the other. "That'll thwart his plans." She gave the lock button a smack before treating Rebel to a kiss on the head. "Good boy! Quite the early warning system Con's got in you."
Rebel's tail wagged for a second and then stilled. He continued to make the same course, gravelly growl, but quieter than before.
Vanessa grimaced and put a brave face on it. "Well, he's not thwarting me again," she said gamely. "It doesn't look like Rebel will let him either."
Rebel paced slowly to and fro, his eyes trained on the door. Although deaf, his other senses worked fine, were heightened if anything.
"My dear, don't you worry. He won't find us, and even if he does he won't get in - the door's reinforced. If by some miracle he does get in—" Mrs Holliday opened a drawer in the desk and pointed to a gun lying there, "I'll give it with both barrels. I've done it before, and if I'm forced, I'll do it again." She took the weapon and placed it determinedly between their keyboards with a satisfying thud.
"Right, okay. In that case, can you keep an eye on him, while I carry on with this?" Vanessa sat down again at her PC. "I guess, if nothing else, he's not there to interfere with what the guys are doing." She slid the gun to one side to make room.
"That's the spirit."
Vanessa looked up at the CCTV footage and watched Con and James as they lined the staff up under the security camera, the same camera Frank had pointed to and raised his thumb at earlier.
She activated the face recognition program, and expanded the biometric sensor. Con positioned the first person underneath and made her look at the camera. Vanessa set the software to 'automatic' and let it loose - snapping individual shots as new faces were introduced within the grid. The images were stored on a portable data storage device, with the intention of passing the information to the police later to use in conjunction with their own compatible software.
Vanessa thought it wise to update Mark on their current situation. "The psychopath's here."
"Bugger! In the room with you?"
"He's not in here, but he's trying to get into the hotel we're holed up in. Don't worry, we're sealed inside a panic room, he won't be able to find us."
"Sodding heck…a panic room? Only in 'Merica."
She laughed. "I guess if he's here, he's no danger to the others." Vanessa realized she'd lost touch of where the three Hardy men were, and stood to get a closer view. She caught a movement in one of the upper rooms. They were huddled on the floor by a sink, but a table and Joe's back obscured the view. "What are they up to?" she wondered aloud and returned to typing. "Am I right Pandora isn't connected to the internet…the Pandora on the big screen I mean?"
"I just asked that question myself. One of the Dark-Net Army people said after Nancy killed Pandora the last time, the destruction protocol didn't disappear with her, it remained in place. If they upload her she'll peg it, so they daren't do it."
"Peg it?"
"Die, she'll be destroyed."
"Thought so. Could we upload her onto the net from here to kill her that way?"
"I had the same thought, but the PC they used doesn't have the capability. It's a standalone unit and we can't get at it. The only way to destroy Pandora is directly through the PC in the office complex. The team will have to do it."
"My ideal plan had been to destroy her from here and pull the boys out quickly." Disappointed, Vanessa sat back and clicked her tongue. Another bad thought hit, so she returned her fingers to the keyboard. "If the Posse successfully get Pandora to work and then upload her onto the net, will she have the capability to destroy Professor Hope's kill code?"
"Yep."
"Disappointing. The team's only choice is to stay in that case…unless they take the entire unit with them—" she sat back thoughtfully. "A-ha!" she said aloud.
Mrs Holliday's voice cut through, "The Red-Headed Man's in the house, in the dining room."
Vanessa ended her conversation with Mark and joined Mrs Holliday at the monitors.
The Red-Headed man had apparently come to the conclusion he'd entered an empty house, so now wandered freely and arrogantly about.
Vanessa groaned. She'd noticed something he, no doubt, would soon see - the map and blueprints laid out on the table. None of the team had thought to clear them away.
The Red-Headed Man turned to them and processed, ran out the door and into the hallway. They lost sight of him for a moment, but then her reappeared outside and quickly headed down the driveway.
"Oh dear." Mrs Holliday said. "The cat's out the bag."
"I'm phoning Frank to warn them." Vanessa lifted her phone, hit the call button and waited. It went to voicemail. "Hey Frank. The psychopath got into the hotel. We're safe, but he's figured out you're there and is probably heading back to you. Grab the PC Pandora's loaded onto and bring it back here. We can't destroy her remotely. Sorry it's not better news. Be on your guard!"
"Vanessa, look at them." Mrs Holliday whispered, with her hand pressed to her heart.
Vanessa looked up to see Frank and Nancy on the floor coiled around one another kissing, Frank's fingers buried deeply in her hair. Fenton and Joe were looking everywhere but at them. "Aw. No wonder he's not interested in his phone."
"Go on, Frank, mate!" Mark had typed.
"I'm so proud of them for saving her." Mrs Holliday said.
"I'll call Joe instead." Vanessa thumbed the screen and then looked in consternation at Mrs Holliday. "Straight to voicemail." Her hand returned to scrolling. "Dad's." She watched Con on the screen chase the last of the people off the premises before he stopped to talk to James. He didn't react to his phone which also went to voicemail. "Something's wrong."
"Could it be the building itself blocking the signal?" Mrs Holliday asked. "You've only phoned Frank so far while he's outside."
"Erm," Vanessa sat down at her computer and banged out a message to Mark. "I've got zero phone contact to the boys."
"I've just been told the phone signal's being blocked. Although the staff are out of the complex, their tech support are fighting us hard and gaining the upper hand. The new Posse basically have a dark-army of their own and we're struggling to take them down. We've lost the element of surprise. It's a miracle we've kept control of the CCTV. They're trying to take it off us, but they don't seem to be able to. It's lucky I put those security measures in place to stop them."
"The psychopath has left. He's worked out they're at Hope Industries. I need to warn them."
"Blimey!"
"Is there any way we can get the signal back up…could I text them?"
"Won't work, that signal's jammed too. We'll make it our top priority but it won't be easy. They've disabled the satellite link. It's caused a localized outage so all phones in the immediate vicinity will be down. Not landlines of course."
"And no phones at Hope Industries are landlines?"
"Correct."
"Blast! Not that it would be any help, we don't have a landline at the hotel either. Frank had it disconnected." She looked up at the security footage and saw the Hardys and Nancy preparing to exit the room. She knew she would lose sight of them in the corridor beyond. "This isn't good," she said to Mrs Holliday. "If something happens now, they're blind to it. I'm their eyes and ears."
-o0o-
The three Hardy men and Nancy prepared to leave the room.
Frank still retained a tight arm about Nancy's waist in case she became unsteady, but she seemed surprisingly strong. "I'm all right," she reassured him, and patted his chest. "I don't remember a thing." She turned and looked thoughtfully at Joe. "Were you here? Did they bring you here?"
"Weird question, no, been with these guys. Why do you ask?"
"I have the strong feeling you've been close by."
"Nan, your face looks horrific…your eye!"
Her hand roved to the damaged self-consciously. "I saw it. It'll heal. I look like a horror show. You sure you weren't here?"
"Of course I'm sure! You okay?"
"Yes. Confused."
"Did he do that to your face?"
She shrugged and her eyes left his for an instant. "I threw a lamp and slapped him."
Fenton visibly bristled behind her. "Before or after he had you by the throat? He waggled a finger at her neck. "Self-defence, I saw the picture."
"They sent you a picture?" She frowned. "Yes, I remember them taking it now. I'm sorry you all saw it."
"You and Van need to talk," Joe said.
"Why?"
"He hurt her too. She and James were so close to pulling you off the ambulance and Van paid the price."
"No!" Tears welled up. Joe reached out, but she side-stepped his hand. "Don't," she said quietly. "She okay?"
"She will be."
Frank put his hands on her shoulders and pulled her back to him. "I don't care what your face looks like, you look beautiful, and so does Vanessa."
Fenton watched Nancy on the verge of crumbling, humiliated. They needed to get off the subject quick so he jumped in, "Let's focus." He nudged Frank, "What's next, Boss?"
"Killing Pandora," Frank answered. "Hopefully for good this time and remove the threat of the Authority. Then we're gonna catch ourselves a psychopath and make him pay for hurting our girls."
Nancy looked from Frank to Fenton confused. "Boss? Wait - did you put Frank in charge?"
"Yes."
"Good Lord. Who or what's the Authority?"
"They probably don't exist," Frank said.
"What do you mean?"
"Nan, there's so much you don't know. Trust us, we need to kill Pandora as the next priority. I'll explain the rest when we're in a less precarious position."
Nancy didn't ask for further clarification, although her eyes moved in the same tick-tick motion Frank's did as he worked a problem through. Then she suddenly smirked. "Can I just say, before we leave…I've never seen you guys sexier then at this moment? Black's a great look on you."
Fenton guffawed, and Joe opened the door and came face-to-face with the woman strapped to the gurney.
She glared coldly. "Let me off this thing."
"Do you think we're insane? Chief of Police Ezra Collig will release you later."
"Why's it always you Joe Hardy? Why's it always you IN THE WAY!?"
"You, Lady, are a loony tune," Joe retorted.
"No fun, is it?" Nancy put her hands on the gurney, but then stopped and regarded the woman thoughtfully before moving to the woman's legs. She grabbed the woman and in a smooth movement, had one of her ankle boots off.
"Give it back, bitch!" the woman shouted.
"Give it a rest." Nancy turned the boot upside down and tested it against the bottom of her own foot. "Too small." She threw it to one side, disgusted. Then she did what she intended on doing originally and gave the gurney a shove to send it careening to the other end of the corridor as the woman screamed at her.
Frank took Nancy's hand and they walked to the outside door and pushed through. Like Nancy earlier, he found himself face-to-face with Pandora. He stepped forward, gripped the guardrail and looked down at the lower floor.
Con and James were staring back at him. "Tell me you got Nancy?" Con asked.
Nancy came forward, looked over and smiled.
"There you are!" James took a few steps forward until directly beneath and beamed back.
"It's my favorite Bayport cops!" she said. "And looking just as sexy!" She started for the stairs, Fenton dogging her footsteps.
Con and James moved to meet them as they reached the bottom. Nancy flung herself at Con who caught her and lifted her high into a hug before he set her down.
She turned and grabbed James.
"Let me see?" James asked and held her away so he could look at the damage to her face. "I tried to get to you, but they were quicker. I feel real bad about it. It looks sore."
"It is, but it'll heal," she assured him. "I know you did your best and you're here now. My dark knights!"
Fenton grinned stupidly and slid his arm protectively around her shoulders.
Joe slapped Frank's upper arm and began to move down the steps to join them with his brother close behind, but then Frank faltered after a few treads. 'Vanessa's phone!' he realized and headed back.
-o0o-
"No-no-NO! Don't do it, Frank!" Vanessa shouted at the screen as she and Mrs Holliday watched him trip up the steps to go back through the door.
"My dear brother Rob's having kittens here, what's Frank doing?" Mark asked.
"I have no idea."
