The Power of Forgetting (49 page)

They were
moving again. And still we did not speak. Oliver motioned with his
hand for us to follow him and we began to slide along through rows
and rows of shelves. Amber was following swiftly like a ghostly
apparition. We crossed a wider aisle and then slipped between more
rows of shelves marked with “II” and then “I”. Just beyond was
another three sets of double doors, and through the windows at the
tops we could see brighter light. Oliver pointed and held up three
fingers with his right hand. We waited listening. Then he counted
down silently. On the last we swiftly moved across the remaining
space and with little fuss through the last doors.

We all pressed
ourselves against the left wall. I looked back through the window.
There was no movement. We stayed still for a moment, then opened
and slid through into the next space.

Amber
immediately pulled her hood back and loosened the com wires out of
the mouth and ear piece. She seemed quite unaffected by the
stinging coldness. I looked at the wrist viewer; eight degrees.

We went through
the last door and moved quickly sideways into a warmer space that
seemed neutral in colour and barely furnished with some office
desks and chairs. There was a half open locker and something that
looked like it might once have been a sandwich in a bowl in the
middle of the table nearest to us.

Oliver and I
both pulled our hoods back and switched off the com.

‘Shit! That was
close.’

‘You think?’
said Oliver, in the process of pulling one glove off. He stopped
and looked past my shoulder.

‘Now! Tut, tut,
tut!’ said that same oily voice reminiscent of an old geography
teacher I disliked at high school. Oliver raised both hands as I
turned. Amber already had her hands up and behind her head.

There were
eight men and Mr Rimmington. And the eight were pointing guns at
us. Over kill I thought. But I put my hands up anyway, in a show of
compliance. The eight surrounded us and we were herded rather
messily through a maze of corridors to a panelled lounge with
comfortable chairs and huge windows that let in the natural light
of the outside daylight.

My Hands were
locked in cuffs in front of me and I was made to sit down in one
off the chairs. The other two were led to the opposite end of the
room with the heavies, while Rimmington leaned over me grinning
wildly.

‘You are
becoming very predictable.’ He said, then promptly sat down on a
chair opposite me and got out a cigarette. He offered me one but I
shook my head. I must be about ten o’clock to judge by the light.
Suddenly there was disturbance at another door and six more heavily
armed men escorted a little party into the room.

There, looking
sulky and in need of a serious attitude adjustment was Joe and just
behind him was Hanson!

I had got used
to being out smarted by others for one day. So what followed wasn’t
quite as surprising as it might have been.

In another
minute Janey and Lorraine were brought in, and then Davey and
Marcia. She was at her indignant best; struggling quite
unsuccessfully, perhaps just to make a point and distract them as
much as possible. Janey was staring upwards. That was until
Rimmington went over to her.

‘Well done.’
Was all he said, and one of the heavies released her from her
cuffs. No one spoke, but the atmosphere changed subtly. I saw Joe
look at her with disgust and then look away.

Rimmington
quickly looked round as if doing a head count, and then stood
easily with the cigarette in hand. The next minute was tense, as we
heard shouting and quite a scuffle from beyond in a corridor
somewhere. As it came closer I could just make out a few words:
“Experiment”, “Timed out” and “Archived”.

There was I
think a collective indrawn breath when the next person entered, and
Janey seemed quite rattled too. I was thinking why she was doing
this….it had to be a trick to outsmart them… it just must. And I
saw Amber with a rope round her neck like a noose held loosely in
the hand of one of the men. There was Lorraine…. And THEN there was
Lorraine. And it was impossible to tell which was which. Both
looked indignant, both frightened. And both flushed with a rouge to
the cheeks that I had only ever associated with a prolonged and
steamy session in her boudoir. I tried to focus. Failed and then
tuned in to what Rimmington was saying to the assembled group.

‘…. now we are
all here. You may all sit down…’ at this they were all led to a
place and pushed downwards. Only Janey remained standing. She
glanced at me. Marcia saw the look and scowled. Perhaps she was
playing along, and knew what was happening; then again perhaps
not.

In the short
silence that followed, I heard a clock ticking. It was over a
mantel piece and said that the time was five to twelve. The face
had roman numerals and I thought about that familiar thing at the
back of my mind. Something old…. something I knew like the scent of
roses, like the resin and the dust. I closed my eyes, listening. I
pressed my mind to feel the presence in the room. To discern the
people there… and then as if I was seeing for the first time I
knew; what it was that Janey was doing. The deal was to let the
others go. Rimmington was, like many others of his kind not
interested in people for their own sake. He was practical and
needed what he wanted then he could get rid of the evidence. But
there’s the catch. A traveller could take an elaborate revenge on
him. He had to get me to this place. I could feel it… an inhibiting
field, to stop a jump from being made. I opened my eyes. Janey was
now sat down, with papers spread out on a little table in front of
her. Here Rimmington sat also. She pointed at something on the
papers. He beckoned one of his men. They came with a case, about
the size of a paperback novel. They gave it to Janey.

‘I will need
proof.’ she said.

‘Of course.’
said Rimmington, he indicated that Marcia should be brought
forward.

‘No,’ said
Janey, ‘Not her.’ Janey knew, as well as any of us that Marcia was
not a good test for the deprogramming. She had too much knowledge.
It would be hard to say if it had worked or not.

‘Joe.’ said
Janey.

Joe was prodded
out of his seat. He seemed to be trembling with terror at this new
development. Janey was super cool. I knew what kind of control she
had. But this seemed superhuman. Joe was almost crying; ‘No…no.’ he
appeared to be saying. He must think that they were going to shoot
him. Janey stood. And then went to Joe. She put her hand on his
shoulder. I noticed that she touched his neck with her fingers just
for a moment. Then she leaned forward and whispered something.

His face
changed, and he immediately seemed a lot calmer. But the thing she
had done… a slight of hand, so swift. I hoped that no one had seen
it but me; some transference of thought or intent to Joe. And there
was the word spoken that would break the programming.

‘How do you
feel?’ asked Janey.

‘I….’ Joe
seemed startled, as if he was waking, ‘I don’t remember.’

‘That’s fine.’
said Janey, and turned to Davey, ‘Now you.’

‘That was not
agreed.’ Rimmington said quickly.

‘I see,’ said
Janey, ‘you expect a further demonstration?’

‘No, I expect
you hand over the information now.’

‘No.’ said
Janey.

I saw Marcia’s
expression shift slightly. It was odd. It was really odd. Everyone
else seemed surprised, as if they sensed that Janey’s allegiance
was really with them. But Marcia didn’t seem to be taking it the
same way. She edged closer to Janey. And I felt a prickle of
something at the edge of my mind.

‘very well,’
said Rimmington calmly, ‘I will do as you wish. Then you keep your
side of the deal. That is if your noble brother agrees to it.’

They all looked
at me. And Rimmington nodded. The men moved quickly and unlocked
everyone’s cuffs. Amber was still held by one of Rimmington’s men.
‘And what about this one?’

‘The copy?’
Rimmington seemed dismissive, ‘Who would like the copy? Only one
careful owner?’

‘I will.’ I
said.

‘Ah!’
Rimmington smiled widely like a shark, ‘I see that she is what you
call…. a “dream come true”. And this would suit you. But the thing
is that you are my prize Mr Arden. And the little Lady will have to
get someone else to claim her.’

Amber looked
quite neutral as they released her and pushed her into the middle
of the room.

‘No? No one
wants this fine specimen?’

I think they
were all unsure whether any move at all would cost them their lives
and remained still mainly looking downwards.

‘I’ll take
her.’ said one of the women. It was Lorraine…. Or was it Lorraine?
But the one who spoke seemed so cocky; so sure of herself; and
there was a feral glint in the eyes that spoke of dark nights under
a full moon, of naked dance, of blood and cruelty. She took the
girl by the arm and made as if to lead her out.

‘Just a
moment!’ said Rimmington sharply.

‘Yes of
course.’ said this Lorraine.

One of the men
ran a scanner over Amber; ‘Blank now.’ He said.

‘Just as well,’
the Lorraine character said, ‘I wouldn’t want to be spied on now
would I? I hope this is the end of it. You know I’ll come back and
do something else you don’t like; if it isn’t to my liking.’

‘Naturally.’
said Rimmington, and waved a hand. The two disappeared from the
room. And then there were the remaining group in including Hanson
and Lorraine herself. She seemed to be crying and looked at Oliver
who just remained impassive and very still indeed. I remember that
they hadn’t frisked us. And thought about how quickly we could get
to the guns.

‘And now. Just
one small matter to clean up.’

‘Yes.’ Janey
straightened.

‘My dear,’
don’t be so innocent. ‘I know that you thought you could fool me.
But it is obvious that you would try to double cross me should you
ever be put in this…. impossible position.’

‘What position
is that?’ I asked.

‘Mr Arden,’
said Rimmington, ‘your sister has made a deal for the life of you
all and your friends in exchange for the information I require. I
give you the deprogramming codes, and you give me; or rather your
sister gives me the formula.’ And then you all go home.

‘Well….’ I
began.

‘But,’
Rimmington interrupted, ‘here’s the thing. She has been messing
around, and she thinks that she can do a little extra thing to my
lovely computer system. But it really is naïve to consider
yourselves that clever. You’re not you know!’

Two of the men
stepped forwards and forcibly bent Janey’s head backwards. Everyone
reacted. But no one dared move.

‘Easy now.’
That was Oliver.

‘Mr Reece is
correct,’ Rimmington was amused, ‘easy does it. Now who will give
me the correct formula; before I cut her pretty little throat?’

‘Shit! Oh
Shit!’ Davey was saying.

‘Very good…’ he
flicked a finger and one of the men held Davey rather firmly from
behind.

They jerked him
a couple of times and then he said quite clearly something that
sounded mathematical and complicated. He looked sick.

‘Now that
wasn’t so hard, was it?’ Rimmington waved his hand again and they
were released.

‘And now you
will leave. All of you.’

We started to
move. ‘Except him.’ Rimmington pointed at me.

‘Very well.’ I
said.

‘No!!’ Janey
screeched, ‘that wasn’t in my deal. You’ve got what you need. Now
let us go!’

‘You are free
to leave,’ said Rimmington matter of factly, ‘but he stays.’

‘It’s okay.’ I
said, ‘Just leave. It will be alright.’

‘No!’ Janey
looked agonised.

‘Janey!’ I
spoke quickly, ‘listen to me. The window is open. You must fly. Get
the others to safety. Get them to the river. You can do it. Please…
do it now. There’s still time.’

She saw my
face. And then I knew. There was little time indeed. Mr Charles
knew it too. Janey had set it to run. It was double cross on top of
double cross. She saw the future and it was not bright. But I was
confident that I could get myself out of this one without any
bother.

Marcia didn’t
seem as compliant to the situation. She was boiling with a furnace
heat that seemed volcanic. And then the whole room turned to a
frenzy, as Marcia leapt towards the others, and the guards moved
suddenly too.

I saw the glint
of a knife edge and someone pushed me to the ground. Davey.

‘Jared! Duck!’
he said. I dropped instantly onto my stomach as Marcia swung the
knife round in an arc.

She leapt
toward Janey. The blade pointing upwards, the aim would be a death
blow. It was micro seconds. And I saw every single one of them.

Like a crack of
thunder, a sound deafened me. My head was singing and I stayed
low.

I turned my
head and saw a spreading pool of blood. Everyone was shocked and
barely moved for two seconds. Then everyone stood, as Oliver slowly
lowered his arm to his side. Cool, impassive, and cold. There was
the body. There she was; a dead horrible mess on the carpet.
Rimmington staggered back. He looked at Oliver; who stared solidly
back at him.

‘Take him. And
come with me.’ Rimmington sounded as if he was choking. Janey stood
holding her left arm, where blood dripped downwards.

‘Joe. Help
her.’ said Oliver. Joe went to Janey, took her to one side and
slinging down his pack, quickly got out the things for a swift
bandage. Oliver did not move. He seemed like a great bear; a
terrifying figure. The light level started to drop and a rumble of
thunder was heard. Lights came on in the room automatically.
Rimmington waved the men away from us all. He backed off. There was
no doubt in anyone’s mind that Oliver would shoot the next person
who didn’t comply with Janey’s instructions.