Panic Button

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Authors: Frazer Lee

BOOK: Panic Button

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Panic Button

Frazer Lee

Panic Button

movie

novelisation

Frazer Lee

based

upon the screenplay ‘Panic Button’ by Frazer Lee, John
Shackleton
, David
Shillitoe
& Chris Crow

The author’s moral rights to be identified as the author of the work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved, have you read the Terms and Conditions? No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. Any person who does any unauthorized act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damage.

Cover Design by Gordon Emmanuel

Official Websites

www.panicbuttonmovie.com

www.all2gethr.com

www.moviemogulfilms.com

Panic Button available on DVD and
Blu
-ray

from
all good retailers

Dedication

This book is respectfully dedicated to

the

passengers and crew of
Deppart
Airlines Flight D-665.

May their story be a warning to us
all.

Prologue

One

Two

Six

Ten

Fif
teen

Six
teen

Prologue

Viewed from above, the earth is a schematic, a complex network populated with avatars and their constructs.
Human beings and animals going about their daily business, their very lives hotwired to a web of their own invention.
Every movement, and every choice, a series of variables driven by fateful algorithms - seemingly infinite possibilities narrowed to a fixed set of outcomes.

Let’s open a window on that world.

Let us zoom in and find a city, a termite mound of industry and activity. They look like insects, the people, from this high vantage point. Their buildings are like nests.

Let’s zoom in some more, find one such nest.

Here’s one, a modern redbrick housing block. A black vehicle waits outside, its engine throbbing like a worker drone’s wings. Three insect figures are gathered around, saying their goodbyes.

Full zoom now, and we can see these insects for what they really are.

One

Jo Scott sat back in the limo’s luxurious leather seat as the driver closed the door. She located the electric window button, pressed it, and looked out at the two faces she knew and loved better than anything in the world. Her daughter was the epitome of a miserable eight year-old, frowning and clutching her little pink touch screen phone. Jo’s heart ached. Sophie looked a world away from her already. Leaning out through the limo window, Jo gently held Sophie’s tiny wrists.

“Listen
Soph
, I’ll bring you back something nice, okay? You’ll have fun with Nanny.”

Jo looked up at her mother, Dawn, with hopeful eyes. Dawn smiled gently and placed a placatory hand on Sophie’s shoulder.

“We’ll be fine, won’t we love?”

Sophie nodded, reluctantly. “When you coming back Mum?”

The driver finished loading Jo’s luggage into the boot, clicked it shut. The sound was too final for Jo, who pulled Sophie closer.

“I’m only away for the weekend darling, I’ll be back before you know it. Really.” She closed Sophie’s hands around the little pink phone.
Our lifeline.
“Keep it on you all the time, promise?”

Sophie nodded.

Jo hoped Sophie couldn’t see the tear forming in the corner of her eye, or detect the waver of emotion in her voice. “We can keep tabs on each other. It’ll be fun.”

“But I don’t want you to go.”

The driver climbed back into the limo. “Ready, Miss?”

Embracing her through the window, Jo kissed Sophie long and hard on the forehead.

“I love you pumpkin, you know that?”

Sophie stared down at her feet.

“I said did you know that?”

The little girl’s face began to crack.

“I think
I know that you know
that...” Jo teased.

Sophie was beaming now. “Yeah, I know Mum...”

“Good girl. Well then...”

The limo started to pull away from the
kerbside
. Jo let go of Sophie, who stepped back into her grandmother’s arms.

“Be a good girl for Nanny, okay? She’ll tell me everything that goes on. Don’t think she won’t!”