"What the hell is going on, Charlotte?" Dr. Skeffington said first thing he entered the holding cell, followed by three emergency medical technicians.
"He's been seizing for the past four minutes," she answered quickly as two of the EMTs took over trying to hold Lane steady. "At first tonic spasms, now more relaxed, breathing is regular, pulse is elevated, mydriactic pupils."
The doctor looked at the patient, held in place by constant trembling. "What happened, what did you do?"
"He complained about sore eyes, I just gave him some eye drops. Sodium chloride, standard." She sounded defensive.
"Stand back," Skeffington instructed, and Harris listened immediately. The doctor leaned in, saw white foam at the corner of Lane's mouth. The tremors were still going, catapulting Lane upwards every couple of seconds only to let him slump back again immediately. Skeffington shone his penlight into Lane's eyes. They were black. His pupils were so wide that there was barely a trace of pale blue anymore. It looked so unnatural that it was downright frightening. There was no reaction to the light either.
Then the trembling stopped abruptly.
The EMT reacted at once. He set up the monitor he'd been carrying and quickly connected the electrodes to Lane's chest.
"We'll intubate," Skeffington said with a glance at the flat line representing Lane's currently non-existant heartbeat. "I need an IV with adrenaline and sodiumbicarbonate."
Things happened quickly, Skeffington and his team functioned like clockwork. But after several minutes of CPR, the doctor had to admit that it was pointless.
A single blood-red tear made its way across Lane's face from the corner of his right eye, still staring vacantly with huge black pupils.
Skeffington looked up at his EMT. He saw something like repressed shock, probably a mirror image of his own expression. He looked back at the monitor, still a steady flat line. The Chief Medical swallowed, got a grip on himself and checked his watch. "Time of death: 10:04 PM."
No one had noticed that Charlotte Harris was gone.
/\/\/\/\/\/\
"These are commendable goals, Prime Minister," Chief Sudbury said.
"With the right resources, I think most of this could be achieved within two years," Faust agreed, nodding at the paperwork in front of her.
"So you would say it's achievable?" he made sure.
"Definitely," Faust said before Sudbury could reply. She quickly looked at her superiour, but the other woman smiled, unaware of any faux-pas.
"The public is going to love it," Sudbury said. A phone started ringing. "You'll excuse me. If someone calls on this number, it's bound to be important."
"Of course," the Prime Minister said.
"Sudbury," she answered the call. Despite her dark complexion, she seemed to pale a little. "I understand. I'll be there shortly." She ended the call and stood up. "I'm sorry, but we're going to have to finish this some other time. Agent Faust, you're with me. LaFière escaped."
/\/\/\/\/\/\
Charlotte Harris walked along Embankment. She was already past Lambeth Bridge when she took off the glasses and the wig and threw both into a rubbish bin, along with a small empty plastic phial, a crushed soda can that smelled faintly of chlorine and a miniature charge. She never stopped walking. When she was a couple of metres away, she heard the device detonate with a hollow sound. The fire was contained by the metal bin, the smell of burning synthetic hair would dissipate soon among smog and salty river-air.
She took a right, away from the river. The car was parked not far off from the Waterloo tube station. Only once she was out of the city and heading on the motorway before the road blocks would go up, she made the call.
"Are you out?" Elaine asked.
"Already on the road, twenty minutes and I'm at the plane."
There was something like a sigh at the other end, possibly of relief.
"The weather is good, so I'll be landing in about three hours."
"I'll pick you up outside the city."
"I'll see you there."
"Wait," Elaine said when she realised she was about to hang up. "How'd it go?"
Skye Holt allowed herself a smile as she accelerated. "Mission accomplished."