EVEN AS THE guards dragged Spencer into the lab, Martin and Gerald descended the steps from the terrace.
“You!” a severe voice shouted.
The two friends halted and looked down the corridor. Three soldiers were striding purposefully towards them from the main tunnel where a jeep was waiting.
“You, quick!” one of them ordered. “You needed.”
Neither Gerald nor Martin recognised them. They were dressed in the usual olive uniform of the People’s Army, but they had not seen their faces in the base before. Perhaps their duties kept them in the prohibited areas; those units never had cause to come here.
“You, come!” the same man called again. From the four stars on his uniform they could see he was a daewi, or captain.
“What is this?” Martin asked uncertainly. “What do you want?”
“Chief want see!” the Captain shouted fiercely. “You not keep wait!”
Martin’s and Gerald’s faces fell. Their desperate, reckless scheme was collapsing before it had begun. What was going on? Martin had never been summoned so brusquely before.
“Quick! Quick!” the Captain insisted.
“I have to go,” Martin whispered. “There’s no knowing when I’ll get back – or even if I will.”
“Don’t say that!” Gerald hissed.
“Whatever happens, the fog won’t last so you’re going to have to do this on your own. Get Lee to do his thing and you take those kids out of this place. I’ll try and keep them as busy as I can in here.”
The old man’s eyes glistened and he gave the slightest of nods. They both knew they probably wouldn’t see each other again.
“And you… look after yourself, you wonderful, dotty old gentleman. Good luck – it’s been an honour and a privilege.”
“Quick!” the Captain snorted for the last time. He grabbed hold of Martin’s arm and pulled him towards the jeep.
Gerald Benning watched them get into the vehicle. He couldn’t bring himself to shout goodbye. Instead he raised a hand in farewell and, under his breath, sang, “Hearts do not break! They sting and ache.”
The jeep roared off into the tunnels. Gerald turned his back and ran to Lee’s room. There wasn’t a moment to lose.
Lee was still sitting on the bed, staring at the steel cuffs. He didn’t look up when the old man entered, but recognised Gerald by his brown brogues.
“This is not a place you wanna be,” he grunted. “I ain’t got nuthin’ to say. ’Cept Baxter is a ass, I feel like crap, an’ if you think I’m gonna join in with your Christmas glee club, you is missing more than a tinselly tree – but I knows where you can shove one.”
“Never mind about that now,” Gerald said urgently as he cast a wary glance at the four guards chained to the lad’s wrists and prayed they didn’t understand English. “I’m taking the kids out of here, but I need your help.”
Lee raised his eyes.
“You what?”
“Things have changed – drastically,” the old man told him. “That doctor is planning to experiment on us.”
“She already does that, man. She’s got enough out of me to build a spare.”
“I mean she’s going to dissect us.”
“Get outta here.”
“I was never more deadly serious. I’m taking the kids and I’m taking them now, but I can’t do it without you.”
Lee could see he wasn’t joking yet he still gave a snort of laughter. “You’re hardcore crazy, guy,” he said. “You got no place to go and zero chance of getting there and you’re sayin’ all this right in front of my big mirror here, behind which, I am damn sure, is a camera. That’s so lame-ass dumb it deserves its own reality show.”
“Will you help us?”
“Help get you killed? You doesn’t need no help from me. You is on to a sure thing there.”
“Lee,” Gerald insisted. “It’s weapons we need, not attitude.” His eyes flicked either side, to the guards, and he said pointedly, “Those weapons.”
“What you sayin’?”
“I want you to go to Mooncaster and take your friends here with you.”
Lee shook his head. “My posse ain’t goin’ no place,” he said flatly. “Bad enough they have to stalk me here. I ain’t invitin’ them to no twisted Disneyland for an outing. When I go there, it’s gonna be a single one-way ticket.”
“You can’t be that selfish.”
“Watch me.”
“Don’t you care what happens to Maggie and Spencer?”
The boy returned his reproachful stare. “I already gave,” he said quietly. “You’re all deadsauce anyways, you know that – why you draggin’ it out? You’re good as ghosts already, hauntin’ this sad dump day an’ night. This ain’t no life and you got nuthin’ better in front. Get some smarts and give it up. Show’s over for you, been over since we got here.”
“You’re not that bitter,” Gerald replied, refusing to believe him. “I’ve heard and seen how much you adored that shining girl. A heart so full can’t become that callous.”
“Don’t presume to know me.”
“I don’t, but I know what love is like and, from what I hear about Charm, she wouldn’t want you to be this way.”
“End of conversation, old man. My services are not for hire. I ain’t no black cab. Now go get yourselves all killed and leave me be. I got a gut ache. When’s lunch comin’?”
Gerald eyed the rifles one last time and his hopes of escape plummeted. It was no use. The boy couldn’t be persuaded. Was Martin right about him after all?
In the dark, narrow space behind the great mirror, Eun-mi had been watching everything. She checked the video camera was still recording and picked up the old-fashioned base telephone to call her father. A look of gloating satisfaction soured her young features.
At that moment the lights in Lee’s room sputtered and the boy doubled over. He cried out, clutching his heart. His guards began to yell as the chains yanked at them when Lee rolled wildly from side to side. Gerald sprang forward and was shocked to see sweat pouring down the lad’s face.
He dashed into the corridor, but there was no guard on duty at the corner of the prohibited area.
“We need the doctor!” he shouted, trespassing into the forbidden area. “Quickly! I think Lee is having a heart attack!”
Down the passage he saw a discarded mop and bucket and, further along, two soldiers stationed outside the lab. The old man shouted again, but they aimed their Kalashnikovs at him and yammered excitably. Gerald swore at them and hurried back to Lee’s room.
The boy was shivering and writhing in pain. His four guards were shouting and shaking him roughly.
“Get off him!” Gerald snapped, pulling them clear. “Lee, can you hear me? Lee?”
He took hold of the boy’s hand. It was freezing. Above them sparks began to spit from the cables connecting the strip lights and the room skipped in and out of darkness. Lee swung his head round and his eyes bored into Gerald.
“Let go o’ me!” he hissed through clenched teeth as he pushed him away. “You’s gonna get your gats after all. Someone real close by is readin’ the book an’ goin’ to that place for the first time. It’s draggin’ me with it. Don’t you touch me