The Delta Chain (40 page)

‘Don
’
t see how. I only found out myself, from your lot, this
morning.
’

‘Is it possible,
’
Adam changed the subject,
‘
that there
’
s
PC
’
s in a building like this, interacting
with the network, but not showing up as “linked” on the control
board?
’

Reardon
’
s reply came with a wink.
‘
Adam,
if one thing
’
s certain in computers
it
’
s that anything is
possible.
’

‘I
’
m serious, James.
’

‘Simply a matter of
programming a suppression cloak on those connections,
’
Reardon said.

Leaving Reardon, Adam and
Markham inspected the goods lift. It was situated along a
rabbit-warren corridor that wove its way behind the labs. There was
no reason for anyone to walk the far end of the corridor unless
they were heading for the goods lift. And there was no reason to
use the lift, unless equipment was being transported.

Heading back to the front, they
encountered Kate.

‘Just had a look over the
goods lift,
’
Adam said.
‘
Only shows buttons for the ground and the two
upper levels. But there
’
s another,
unmarked button, lower down on the panel.
’

‘We expect,
’
Markham added,
‘
that
if the lift receives only limited use, and as the button is
unmarked, the general staff wouldn
’
t even
know of its existence, let alone have pressed it.
’

‘I had no idea there was
such a button,
’
Kate admitted.
‘
But then I
’
ve rarely
been in that lift.
’

‘I
’
ll check it out,
’
Adam said in a
lowered voice.
‘
Presuming it leads to the
hidden level, I
’
ll take a brief look
around and establish it
’
s safe for a team
to go in.
’

Kate took a firm hold of
his arm.
‘
I
’
m
sorry about last night. Overtired, over-reacted…
’

‘Forget it. Besides,
I
’
m the one who was out of
line.
’

‘Be careful, Adam.
I….never thought everything would lead back here, that it could
come to something like this. Please, no chances, no risks.
Just be careful
.
’

Costas was sickened by the
way in which the words of the gospels had been taken and twisted.
Young minds brainwashed into thinking the evil way was the right
way, the way of Jesus
–
when in fact
nothing could be further from the truth. And yet, thought Costas,
wasn
’
t that the devil
’
s MO: to deceive.

He rested his gaze on the
young man sitting on the grass. Daniel was looking to the distant
hills and the sky. Despite his upbringing and his conditioning by
the cult, Daniel had a strong, natural streak of independence.
Costas sensed a goodness at the core of the boy
’
s soul
–
Daniel had fallen in love
with a girl and had broken free to search for her, even though it
went against the grain of everything he
’
d
been raised to believe.

Detective Megan Shorter had been
in touch to say that a special police team, trained in counselling
young victims, would be arriving shortly in Northern Rocks.

Costas would be allowed to go
with Daniel to the safe house, to stay with the boy while his
situation was being assessed.

Barbara came up alongside him
and linked her arm with his. Costas squeezed her hand reassuringly,
smiling at her with warmth and concern.

After learning of her
sister
’
s death, Barbara had simply held
onto Costas, burying her head in his chest and crying until she was
spent of tears. Costas understood her sense of guilt and
frustration at losing the sister with whom she
’
d had such a troubled relationship.

Barbara had said very little
about those feelings, focusing instead on the fact that the funeral
would need organising, and relatives would need to be advised.
These were the painful things that lay ahead of them.

She looked toward Daniel.
Minutes before he
’
d been kicking a
football around with Joey. The boys had been getting in a bit of
play before the rain hit.

‘I
’
ve been given an extraordinary opportunity here,
’
Costas said,
‘
to show
him the true ways of righteousness, not the lies
he
’
s been fed by these
Keepers.
’

‘What kind of people would
do this sort of thing?
’

Costas shook his head
despairingly.
‘
The
devil
’
s own.
’

The
devil
’
s own had implicit instructions.
Erickson, assisted by Tannen, was to take the boy to the Institute
sub-level.

The tiny darts, fired by the
skilled marksman, found their marks. Within ten seconds, Costas,
Barbara and the two boys were unconscious, slumping over from their
sitting positions in the back yard. They would be out cold for at
least an hour.

The men moved in quickly,
lifting Daniel between them and half carrying, half dragging him to
the front of the house. Erickson waited as a lone car passed, then
he checked the street. No one on the sidewalks, or in the gardens.
Further along the street a taxi pulled up and the driver went
toward the front door of a house, facing away from them.

‘Now!
’
Erickson said. They bundled the boy into the van, Erickson
keeping his eye on the street. The cab driver had gone into the
house. All else was quiet.

Erickson
couldn
’
t see the woman who waited in the
back seat of the taxi, cloaked in shadow.

Jean Farrow could
see
them
. She watched with idle curiosity as the distant figures of
two men assisted a younger male into the van. She saw them look up
and down the street before driving away at a moderate
speed.

Their arrival was swift and
smooth, like avenging hawks swooping in.

Logan Asquith and his team
were ferried by chauffeur-driven limousines from Brisbane to
Northern Rocks. At the Institute
’
s entry
gate, Donnelly took the place Collosimo would have assumed,
escorting the visitors to Westmeyer
’
s
office. The staff had simply been told potential investors would be
meeting with the management.

Asquith was jet lagged,
anxious over the information he
’
d
received en route, and champing at the bit for action as he strode
in.

‘All the data on Delta
Chain needs to be backed up to the HQ mainframe.
’
Asquith addressed Westmeyer in rapid-fire
speech, literally ignoring Donnelly.
‘
I
’
ve brought techs with me
experienced in this sort of thing. We
’
ll
need to use the resources of the entire network immediately. There
are secure ISDN lines being set up now for the transmissions.
William, I
’
m going to need Hunter and his
team to drop everything and assist.
’

Westmeyer stayed calm and
presented his view persuasively. He
’
d
been taken aback by Asquith
’
s hostile
entrance but didn
’
t want to over-react.
He didn
’
t see the need for another
“relocation.”

‘Logan, I had no idea you
were going to come madly rushing in on this. I wanted to talk the
issues through with you first. There are strong reasons to
reconsider-
’

‘William, this happens
now, and believe me we haven
’
t got much
time. The Delta Chain data must be fully transferred so the
operation can be completed elsewhere, and the Institute must be
evacuated and destroyed, totally, today-
’

‘What?
’
Westmeyer rocketed out of his seat, all pretence at calm
gone.
‘
Destroyed? For
God
’
s sake, Logan, why…?
’

‘The Feds have found links
between the Institute, the drowning victims and the croc hunters,
both here and in Florida. There
’
s a Task
Force in Northern Rocks right now, ready to tighten the
noose.
’

Westmeyer slumped back in
his chair.
‘
My God…
’

‘I
’
m also informed there
’
s a runaway
here, from Vender
’
s loony
farm.
’

‘Erickson
’
s gang have located
him,
’
Donnelly said.
‘
They
’
re bringing him in
now.
’

‘That
’
s the first piece of good news I
’
ve had in forty-eight hours. He
’
ll have to be eliminated, along with the building. There
can be no loose ends.
’

All of a sudden Westmeyer
felt very weary.
‘
Our other work
here…
’

‘Not important. It can be
started from scratch and exists primarily, to create the façade
that the Institute
’
s engaged in a
multitude of projects. Delta Chain is the only one of vital
interest to us.
’

Deliberately turning his
back to Donnelly, Asquith continued:
‘
There
’
s several things we need to
discuss once you
’
re fully relocated,
William. Your team have collectively dropped the ball on this.
Police have been allowed to unravel far too much when it
shouldn
’
t have been remotely
possible…
’

Donnelly had been
associated with Asquith
’
s projects since
their Vietnam days. He didn
’
t like being
ignored and excluded like this. He wasn
’
t
responsible for the way events had careened out of control. He was
the one responsible for ensuring the project had come as far as it
had.
‘
Logan-
’

Asquith cut across
him.
‘
Later, Jackson.
’
He moved closer to Westmeyer.
‘
Call Hunter. We need to move
now
.
’

AAT-ATA-TGA-GTA-…the
decoder scanned the DNA strand just as a conventional scanner reads
a barcode. Only this was the barcode of life itself and the blood
molecules under scan had been spliced and recombined, the latest
sequence in a line of tens of thousands. These were not the
DataStorming
‘
virtual
’
experiments but
‘
actuals
’
that DataStorming had flagged for extremely high
success potential.

Whilst the DataStorming
program conducted thousands of the virtual experiments each week,
Stephen Hunter and his assistants conducted dozens of
‘
actual
’
experiments,
using the lab mice and the stored rodent blood.

It was, thought Donnelly,
a brilliant combination of lab work and computer power, driving the
scientific vision of an inventive mind. And he, Donnelly, had been
the
‘
general
’
who
’
d ensured the entire
operation had been able to run so smoothly for so long. An
essential cog in the wheel, he deserved to be respected more than
Collosimo, or a dumb thug like Erickson.

Leaving
Westmeyer
’
s office, as Hunter arrived, a
fuming Donnelly went straight down to the sub-level. Before the end
of the day it would all be gone; reassembled later in a different
place with different operatives surrounding Westmeyer, for the
final phase.

But there was still time now,
before the “relocation”, to conclude the final experiment and
record the data.

Donnelly had kept his own
private stash of discs containing the Delta Chain data. It was his
insurance policy should he ever be cut out of the loop. He knew
there
’
d always been a chance of that with
Asquith and his Nexus buddies, despite their long association. To
them, everyone was expendable, including Westmeyer, but especially
the rest of them. If he were pushed aside, if Asquith
wouldn
’
t reconsider, then Donnelly would
sell the data to the highest bidder.

He instructed the sub-level team
to proceed as fast as possible.

He thought back over the years
of meticulous planning, at the intricacy that kept the whole
process so secret. The lab teams upstairs knew only what was
essential to their own tasks. All staff working with Hunter had
been given differing briefs and worked on selected portions of the
experiments. They understood there were various end results of
medical significance being sought.