By the time Jackson had caught up with Kendal and the others he found them parked on the street corner opposite the entrance to the hospital. They were about one hundred yards from the gate with a guard kiosk.
Jackson joined them in the car, and then noticed his son was missing.
"He's looking for a way in." said Kendal.
"I thought I told you to wait for the authorities!" said Jackson.
"We don't think we can wait." said Kendal.
"Why?"
"Do you see that car?" said Griffin pointing to a limousine that was parked behind the gate. He pulled the file from Kendal's lap and showed Jackson out a photo of Juan and his latest girlfriend being chauffeured to an expensive restaurant. "That's Juan Silva Lugano's car, compare the licence plates."
"If Silva is there." continued Kendal. "Then this must be the right place."
"And if the big launch of Lazarus is tomorrow." added Griffin. "They aren't going to need Bianca, David and Erica that much longer."
"We can't wait." finished Kendal in a determined tone.
Just then the other passenger door opened and Reggie climbed in.
"Half the building is abandoned." he said, a little breathless. "I've got us a way in."
Jackson was still sceptical
"And what if the place is full of armed men?" Jack asked.
"We've dealt with armed men." said Kendal flatly. "They are so close I can't just wait! You can't ask me to."
...
Reggie dived into the trunk before they got started and then handed something heavy wrapped in sacking to his father to hide under his coat.
"Stay close." he warned as they headed off.
They all followed Reggie as he stuck to the opposite side of the street to the hospital building. He made the point to stay clear of security cameras and sticking to the blind spots.
"Is that it?" Griffin asked in surprise, after Reggie stood starring at one particular window that was open the barest crack.
"Yeah." said Reggie. "That's it." He shepherded the others into a dark side alley. "Just stick to shadows until I get back."
Griffin watched as Reggie crossed the street to the fence. He tugged on the wire mesh as if to test it and, after checking the street both ways, launched himself over the six foot fence.
He stood his ground on the other side waiting to see if anything would happen. When he felt it safe he walked up to the high window. He pulled a nearby trash can under it and used it as a step to peer in at the window. He then lifted the wooden sash window fully open. He waited again to see if anything was going to happen. After another five minutes wait he pulled himself inside the window and disappeared.
Jackson watched his son disappearance in alarm. They waited and waited.
"Where is he?" Kendal gasped. "Should we go after him?"
"He told us to wait." said Jackson as he tried not to worry.
Suddenly to their right the fence rattled. Reggie was climbing back over some distance from where he started. Reggie crossed the street back to their hiding place.
"Where did you go? We were worried." demanded Kendal as she swatted him in her annoyance.
"It's as I thought." he said, ignoring her concern. "That whole wing is deserted. I got a door open; that's our way in."
"Good work." said Griffin, impressed.
"But what about the fence?" asked Jackson. "I'm not a young as I used to be."
Reggie grinned.
"And that's why you are carrying a set of wire cutters under your coat. If you are going to go breaking and entering you need the right tools…"
…
Griffin closed the hole in the fence behind them with short lengths of string.
"You've done this before." said Kendal.
"Maybe." said Griffin. He looked to Reggie. "Now where do we go?"
"Follow me." said Reggie, "And remember stick close and stay quiet!"
He led them a short distance along the side of the building and into a fire door propped open with a brick.
They found themselves in a grubby corridor which might once have been white but had long since seen better days.
"Nice place for a laboratory." Kendal muttered distastefully.
"Come on, we have to try and find where the people are." Reggie said, heading off to the right, deeper into the building.
…
They were wandering the corridors for a while. Reggie kept stopping at junctions and then head off again, always to the right.
They got to a cross way. Reggie stopped again and the turned right.
"No wait!" hissed Jackson, "It's this way!"
He was pointing to the left.
"Why that way?" asked Reggie.
"Look at the walls."
"Yeah they're filthy." observed Kendal. "So?"
"So! Look!" Jackson was pointing to a long shoulder height streak that ran along the corridor. Someone has been down this way rubbing against the wall.
"They are here too." said Griffin finding similar marks on the wall in the corridor straight ahead. "You can see in the dirt they were going this way."
"So do we find out where they came from or where they were going?" Reggie asked.
"We could split up." Kendal suggested. "Follow both ways. We'd cover more ground that way."
"I'm not sure." said Jackson and Griffin almost together. Both were worried about safety.
"Griffin can take care of me." said Kendal. "Look the more ground we cover the more likely we are to find them."
"She's right dad." said Reggie. "And I know Griffin can handle himself."
They said quiet goodbyes in the passage way before they split up. Kendal and Griffin followed the trail straight on to see where it led; Jackson and Reggie turned right to find out where the trail originated.
…
In the operating theatre David had managed to persuade Mr Campbell that he only needed to give Erica a small injection of the Orpheus serum to prove its effectiveness. Rather than Erica having to endure a spinal injection, she was going to be given the drug in a small dose into her right arm. There was some bustle from the observation room over the operating room as Dr Norrell was escorting in a large man in a slick black suit. When the stranger had taken his seat Dr Norrell gave a nod to Mr Campbell.
"Carry on then." instructed Mr Campbell, nodding in turn for Mr Salt to come forward with two of David's vials. "Or do you need me to leave the room this time?" Mr Campbell asked with a smug grin.
"No," said David. "I just want to do this quickly so we can get back to Bianca."
David wiped Erica's arm with alcohol in preparation for the injection.
"Are you ready?" David asked Erica as he carefully filled the syringe.
"Just do it!" said Erica staring ahead to a point on the wall.
"Here goes."
Suddenly there was a bustle in the observation room and a man rushed in to hand Dr Norrell a note.
"Hold it." said Mr Campbell, seeing the disruption. David stopped before the needle broke the skin.
They all turned to watch Dr Norrell turn white, speak briefly to the man in the suit, and then hurry from the room. The man in the suit, his face like thunder, rose slowly from the chair and followed.
Mr Campbell turned to one of the guards.
"Find out what's happening." he commanded.
The guard left… and didn't return. Ten minutes past.
"What do I do?" David asked, aware the longer time passed the longer Bianca was being left alone.
Mr Campbell waited in silence for ten minutes more and then he sighed.
"We shall escort you back to your cell as a temporary measure. We will proceed when they are ready."
…
"Wake up! Wake up now!" Marissa's voice was screaming in her ear.
Bianca opened her eyes to try and get her bearings. She rolled over to see three men starring down at her. One man had the phone in his hand.
"No." she gasped, reaching out to stop him. "Please no, not the phone! They have to find me."
…
Kendal and Griffin followed the scrape marks along the dark corridor. The marks stopped suddenly but Griffin spotted a hand print and then more scrapes on the opposite wall.
"Whoever came down here was struggling." said Griffin. "I've been making the assumption they were carrying something but now…"
"Bianca?" Kendal asked. "If she escaped far enough to make a call…"
She sped her pace but Griffin grabbed her arm and stilled her.
"We still have to be careful. We don't know what we are going to find."
They followed a few more twists and turns, only to hear voices ahead.
Kendal didn't understand the conversation but Griffin was listening carefully.
When the voices had passed griffin gave Kendal a grin.
"It is Bianca. Come on we need to follow them."
The voices were following a similar path to the scrapes on the wall. Finally they stopped at a corner to see two men enter a room where a lot of shouting was going on.
"Now what?" Kendal asked. She had caught the flash of a gun holster on one of the men who had entered. They weren't ready for that kind of confrontation.
"We wait for back up?" Griffin suggested.
…
David put his arm round Erica's shoulder as they were marched back to their cell. He could tell she was preoccupied with thoughts of her daughter.
"She's going to be alright." he said. "Trust me!"
It was a shock to find the cell door open; an even bigger shock to find Bianca's bed empty and her sheets torn to shreds.
"What have you done to her?" David exclaimed. "I did as you asked!" He turned and grabbed Mr Campbell by his jacket lapels and forced him back against the wall. "Where is she?!"
Mr Salt's punch caught him on the side of his head and sent him reeling. The adrenaline was coursing through David's veins now though and he lashed back with a punch of his own, missing his mark and catching the door frame with his fist. Mr Salt's next punch doubled him and he collapsed to the floor.
"Hey!" exclaimed a voice behind them. "Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!"
Mr Campbell and Mr Salt turned at the voice, but it was Erica who cried out in recognition.
"Jackson! Reggie!"
Reggie's charged at Mr Salt with his shoulder, catching the larger man in the gut, and both men fell back into the cell.
Mr Salt recovered quickly and struck back. Reggie was quicker though. He aimed a punch at Salt's head which Mr Salt ducked. Reggie simply turned with his follow through and caught him with his elbow instead, fracturing the guy's nose with a satisfying crack.
Reggie then took two steps back.
He wasn't being gentlemanly though, giving Mr Salt a moment to recover, he was getting a run up for his next strike. Mr Salt fought back with some very experienced boxing moves, most of which met their mark, but Reggie's experience was a little broader. When Mr Salt's next punch came, Reggie twisted and caught the wrist under his arm, grabbed the hand and twisted for another loud crack which left Mr Salt screaming in pain.
Mr Campbell watched the scene around him, his eyes widening in horror. He'd lost control. Mr Salt was out of commission. Erica were sharing a fierce hug with one of her rescuers and he suddenly found himself in the path of the other, grim faced and covered in blood.
He held up his hands.
"I surrender." Mr Campbell squeaked finding himself alone and vulnerable.
David was on his feet again scowling angrily at his captor. He swung a right hook that caught Mr Campbell in the jaw.
"Not excepted." David muttered.
Mr Campbell turned to Jackson, now holding his jaw.
"You're a reasonable man." he began to say but Jackson's fist flying his way silenced him.
"Not that reasonable." muttered Jackson.
The punch turned Mr Campbell's head and this time he saw the flat of Erica's hand rushing towards him. A Kane woman's slap, backed up by all the anger of a wronged mother, is not something you can quickly recover from.
He slid down the wall stunned.
"Where is she?" Erica demanded as he looked back, dazed, "Where's Bianca?"
...
Guido stepped back as the woman reached for him, scrambling for the phone. He'd had orders not to touch her and not to let her go. He joined the others by the desk as the woman struggled to her feet. She stumbled and it was only when she straightened up for a second time, he realised that she had grabbed his security baton.
She was talking to them and waving the baton in a threatening manner but he didn't really understand what she was saying. He turned to Herbert, he knew English enough to read his US newspapers. Herbert's jaw dropped,
"I know you!" he exclaimed, pointing at the woman.
"What is she saying?" Guido demanded, wanting to know why his security officer looked like he had seen a ghost.
"She's dead." he explained. "But she's not dead!"
Guido was saved by any more confusion by the arrival of Dr Norrell and the bigwig visitor.
"Clear the room!" Dr Norrell demanded.
"No." said the bigwig reaching into his pocket. "We don't need witnesses."
…
Griffin and Kendal both recoiled from the five gunshots.
"What the hell!" Kendal exclaimed trying to race to the door, Griffin restrained her.
"Are you in such a hurry to die." Griffin demanded. "We don't even know if she's in there!"
…
…