Genius Squad (40 page)

My only chance of keeping safe
, Cadel thought,
is to disguise myself and disappear. Vanish off the radar. Change my name. Take my money and run.

But what would happen to Sonja if he did that? He couldn’t leave Sonja. And he couldn’t take her with him, either: not if he wanted to pass as someone else. Because Sonja would be impossible to disguise.

Oh God, he thought, this isn’t fair. What shall I do? How am I going to solve this? There
must
be a solution!

And he racked his brain, finding no comfort in the muffled coughs and sighs that announced Saul’s proximity. Saul was yet another problem. Quite apart from the fact that he was now well placed to discover the War Room, he would also have to be shielded from Prosper English. Saul was bound to come off worse if the two men were ever to confront each other. Saul would be lucky to survive.

Cadel was calculating the detective’s chances when suddenly, at about eleven o’clock, sleep overtook him. He fell into a restless doze, during which he dreamed that he was a little kid again, riding in a train with his nanny, looking for weaknesses in the rail network. Peering through a window, he caught a glimpse of a familiar face on a station platform. It was Sonja’s face, wearing a lost expression. Before he could wave, however, the train slid past, gathering speed.

And he pressed his forehead against the cold glass, straining to look back.

‘Cadel.’

He opened his eyes. He was awake. But he could still feel something cold on his forehead.

With a lurch of his heart, he realised what it was.

‘Wake up, Cadel,’ a familiar voice drawled. ‘Time to go.’

PART FOUR

THIRTY-FIVE

I’m dreaming
, thought Cadel.
This is just another bad dream
. And he shut his eyes again, willing himself to wake up.

‘Come on, now. Don’t dawdle.’ The cool, precise voice sounded faintly amused. ‘We’re not out of the woods yet.’

Cadel recognised the unmistakable diction of Prosper English, and it made the blood turn to ice in his veins. But the silhouette hanging over him wasn’t like Prosper’s. It looked far more like Zac’s, with its long, straight hair and loose garments.

Confused, Cadel squinted towards the open door of his bedroom, through which artificial light was streaming. He couldn’t see anyone beyond it.

‘Up you get,’ said Prosper – and this time there could be no doubt. His smooth tones were issuing from the lank-haired, hemp-clad figure beside the bed. ‘Don’t bother making a fuss, either, because it’s pointless.’

‘Saul.’ Abruptly, Cadel’s head cleared. He sat up straight, careless of the gun aimed at his temple. ‘Where’s Saul?’

‘Shh.’

‘
What have you done?
’ Fear rose in Cadel’s throat like black bile. ‘Where is he?’

‘In the storage cupboard.’ As Cadel caught his breath, Prosper added, ‘He’s not dead, if that’s what you’re worried about. We couldn’t risk damaging his clothes, so we used chloroform.’ Prosper gestured with the hand-gun. ‘Speaking of clothes, I want you out of those pyjamas. Quick smart.’ And he snapped on the bedside lamp.

Instantly, his face became visible – and so did the fact that he was disguised as Zac Freeman. His mane of greying hair had been tightly confined beneath a blond wig. His thin lips were framed by a false moustache and beard. His bony feet were shoved into scuffed brown sandals.

From a distance, he was probably convincing. Up close, however, there was no mistaking that sharp black gaze or imperious nose.

‘I realise this must be a shock,’ he purred, ‘but you’re going to have to speed things up. We haven’t got all night.’ And he reached for a discarded sweatshirt, which he tossed at Cadel. ‘We have a long drive ahead of us.’

Cadel didn’t ask ‘Where to?’ Of the fifty or so questions that had popped into his brain, he picked the most urgent one.

‘Where’s Sonja?’ he demanded, fumbling with his pyjama buttons. ‘Where’s Trader?’

‘You don’t have to worry about Trader,’ was Prosper’s careless reply. ‘Trader won’t get in our way.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean exactly what I said. Trader won’t get in our way. We had to tie him up, though. To make it look good.’ When Cadel froze, Prosper gave an impatient hiss. ‘Hurry, please, or I’m going to lose my temper.’

Cadel was stunned. He wanted to protest, but couldn’t speak, let alone move. Then he heard another voice from somewhere out on the landing, and his heart skipped a beat.

‘
Saul?
’ he croaked.

‘Shh!’ Prosper repositioned the gun barrel against Cadel’s brow, listening intently. Cadel, for his part, was so frightened that he could no longer hear anything except the loud thudding of his own pulse.

At last Prosper relaxed. ‘No,’ he said. ‘That’s just Alias, making a phone call.’ He stepped back. ‘Get up. Now. I won’t ask you again.’

Clumsily, Cadel scrambled out of bed. As he shed his pyjamas, and put on his clothes, Prosper kept talking.

‘You need a haircut,’ he remarked, ‘which is probably fortunate, all things considered. Good thing you haven’t grown much. I’ll just check those pockets, if I may. We wouldn’t want you messing with a mobile phone.’

‘Where’s Sonja?’ Cadel repeated, peering into the long face that hovered above him.

‘Are those your shoes? Really, Cadel, what disgusting objects.’

‘
Where is she?
’

‘In bed. Asleep. Presumably.’ With one foot, Prosper pushed the shoes towards Cadel. ‘I must admit, I’m looking forward to meeting the famous Sonja.’

Cadel swallowed. ‘You leave her alone,’ he said hoarsely.

Prosper raised an eyebrow.

‘My dear boy, do you really think that’s an option?’ he murmured. ‘She
can’t
be left alone. That’s the whole point, isn’t it? And since Trader will be tied up for the next few hours, we’re going to have to take her with us. Otherwise she might hurt herself. Fall out of bed, or something.’ He glanced impatiently at Cadel’s illuminated bedside clock, which displayed the digits 11:53. ‘Besides, she’s our cover story. We’re supposed to be whisking her off to hospital.’

‘They’ll never believe it.’ Cadel spoke as calmly as he could, though his hands were beginning to shake. ‘Those police will never let you walk out of here with me. Not even if you
are
disguised as Zac Freeman.’

‘Is that so?’ Prosper said, before raising his voice. ‘
How’s it going, Alias?
’

‘Nearly there,’ came the reply. And suddenly a figure appeared, framed in the doorway.

It was Saul Greeniaus.

For a split second, Cadel lost his bearings. He felt disoriented. Then Saul said, ‘What do you think?’, and Cadel realised that he wasn’t looking at the detective after all.

On the contrary, he was looking at a very good impression of Saul. A pseudo-Saul, complete with shoulder holster.

‘Not bad,’ was Prosper’s opinion. ‘What do
you
think, Cadel? You know the man. Is there anything we’ve missed?’ When Cadel didn’t respond, Prosper studied his stricken face. ‘What’s the matter? You’re not going to be sick, are you?’

‘Hello, Cadel.’ It was unutterably strange, to hear Alias’s bland voice issuing from Saul’s mouth – though on closer inspection, that mouth was just a little too wide to be Saul’s. And those eyes weren’t really big enough. ‘Nice to see you again, after all this time.’

Alias was wearing brown contact lenses, a really trimmed wig, and thick-soled shoes to give him height. He was also wearing Saul’s shirt and trousers.

At the sight of these garments, Cadel nearly lost control.

‘I take it you used
his
phone?’ Prosper was addressing Alias, who nodded. ‘Good. Excellent. And the
polizei
didn’t seem suspicious?’

‘Not really,’ Alias replied. ‘A bit startled. I told them to stay put, and watch the house.’

‘Well done.’

‘I told them Cadel insisted on coming with us.’

‘Well, let’s hope there isn’t some kind of clearance code that we should know about.’ Prosper nudged Cadel in the ribs. ‘Is there?’

Cadel was so preoccupied with his own despair that he’d missed the previous exchange. He had to clear his throat before answering.

‘Is there what?’ he said.

‘Does your friend Saul Greeniaus use some kind of password when he’s giving orders?’ asked Prosper, and Cadel mumbled, ‘I don’t know.’

‘We’d better get a move on, then.’ With a second nudge, Prosper urged Cadel forward. ‘This whole thing could blow up in our faces any minute.’

Together they moved out of the room and onto the landing. Here Cadel discerned a very faint, vaguely chemical smell that reminded him of something. He also spied a stack of strange boxes near a puddle of familiar clothes.

These clothes came as such a shock that he lurched to a standstill.

‘Cliff!’ he breathed, then rounded on Alias. ‘You came here as Cliff!’

‘Dyed my crew-cut,’ Alias agreed cheerfully. ‘And stuck a bit of padding here and there.’

‘Where is he? Where’s Cliff?’

‘For God’s sake, Cadel!’ Prosper snapped. ‘We can talk later! Right now we have to go.’

On his way downstairs, Cadel tried desperately to think. But fear was clogging his brain paths. And he was distracted by a nasty, nagging, chemical odour, which seemed to follow them as they descended, and made him feel slightly ill. It wasn’t until he had reached the ground floor that he finally realised what the smell was.

Having once been exposed to a rag soaked in chloroform, he wasn’t about to forget the stink of it.

‘Right,’ said Prosper. ‘Now, where’s Sonja? In there?’

‘No!’ Cadel halted again. He felt the gun barrel prod at his spine. ‘Please. Just leave her.’

‘I can’t. I’m sorry.’

‘
Please
.’ Cadel’s voice cracked, and the next thing he knew Prosper’s left arm was draped around his shoulders, while Prosper’s gun had come to rest against his cheek.

‘Don’t be silly,’ Prosper gently advised. ‘She’ll be perfectly safe with me, as long as you do what you’re told.’ Seeing Alias pause just ahead of them, Prosper barked, ‘Go on, then! Go and get her!’

‘Oh. Right,’ said Alias, and disappeared into Sonja’s room.

‘So this is the plan,’ Prosper continued, turning back to Cadel. ‘We’re going to walk out of here, and get into the policeman’s car. Alias will be driving. I’ll be holding Sonja. If you do anything to alert that surveillance team, it’s Sonja who’s going to suffer.’ Without warning, he lowered his gun, and inserted it into his waistband without engaging the safety catch. Cadel realised, with astonishment, that the safety catch had never been
dis
engaged. ‘I’m not going to shoot you,’ Prosper confessed, a little ruefully. ‘I couldn’t bring myself to do anything of the sort. But I’ll happily shoot Sonja if you give me the least bit of trouble. You understand that, don’t you?’

Cadel nodded.

‘Good.’ Prosper stooped, so that his mouth was almost level with Cadel’s ear. ‘Incidentally, you can look as distressed as you like – don’t worry about that. You’re supposed to look distressed when your best friend’s being rushed to hospital.’

‘You didn’t hurt Saul, did you?’ Cadel couldn’t restrain himself. The question erupted out of him, despite all his best efforts.

Sure enough, Prosper didn’t like it. He narrowed his anthracite eyes. After a long pause, he said, ‘What if I did?’

Cadel bit his lip. Though he remained silent, the answer was written all over his face.

‘As a matter of fact, I didn’t need to hurt him,’ Prosper revealed. ‘Alias always gives a flawless performance, and we were both of us hiding behind armfuls of boxes. Your friend didn’t suspect a thing – he opened the cupboard door for us. I just had to jump him from behind with my chloroform.’ Prosper’s sneer exposed one razor-sharp canine tooth. ‘What a fool.’

Cadel said nothing. To argue would have been risky – and in any case, he was concerned about what was happening in Sonja’s bedroom. A loud
clunk
worried him so much that he started forward. But he didn’t get very far. Prosper caught and held him before he’d advanced more than a few steps.

‘Easy, now,’ said Prosper.

‘I just want to go in!’

‘You don’t have to. They’re coming out.’ Prosper’s embrace was like a harness or a straitjacket, encircling Cadel from behind. ‘See? Here they come.’

Cadel gasped. Alias had emerged from the bedroom with Sonja, who was dangling from his arms like a wet towel. Every muscle in her body was limp. Her head lolled, and her eyes were closed.

She was unconscious.

‘
What have you done?!
’ Cadel cried.

‘Shh!’ Prosper braced himself as Cadel tried to break free. ‘A touch of chloroform. That’s all.’

Cadel caught his breath. ‘
Chloroform?
’ He was appalled.

‘It makes her easier to manage,’ Prosper explained. ‘She’ll be awake in a couple of minutes. So calm down, and be good.’

‘I couldn’t spare the time to put on her street clothes,’ said Alias. But Prosper appeared to take this unfortunate development in his stride.

‘That’s okay,’ he said. ‘Pyjamas will be more realistic. Are you all set?’

Alias gave a nod.

‘Cadel? Are you going to behave?’ Prosper muttered. ‘It wouldn’t be very nice for anyone if we ended up besieged in this place, would it?’

Cadel shook his head. He couldn’t speak.

‘Right, then. Let’s go.’ Prosper shifted his grasp, so that he once more had his arm draped around Cadel’s shoulders. When they emerged through the front door together, it must have seemed from a distance that he was trying to comfort the anxious Cadel, who kept glancing back at Sonja in a very convincing way.

Their hurried exit was also convincing. (As Prosper said, during their sprint towards Saul’s car, ‘You don’t muck around in a medical emergency.’) Within seconds Sonja had been loaded into the back seat, and Cadel had followed her. Alias then started the engine. Prosper joined Cadel in the rear of the car.

Zac’s van was parked nearby, but Cadel didn’t get a chance to comment on this until they were rolling down the driveway.

‘You took Zac’s van,’ he said.

‘It’s very distinctive,’ was Prosper’s reply.