The Reviver (43 page)

The damn thing was just too new.

‘Bollocks’, he said, and knew it was time to give up. He considered risking a look around nearby offices for other machines but decided he’d been fooling himself. If their phones were set up to prevent abuse, he thought, then chances were good that Web access was restricted too.

He powered the machine down, then was suddenly aware of how much time he’d spent working on it. As the thought hit him, he heard footsteps in the corridor outside the office. He took a cautious peek out the window.

Two guards. Every muscle in Never’s body started to tighten.

They stopped a little way down the corridor and started talking about the imminent start of the football season and the first Pittsburgh Steelers game against the Cleveland Browns. Almost holding his breath, Never waited.

The guards changed topic to how much they were looking forward to their share of the celebratory food that night, and how much alcohol they could ‘borrow’, something which brought a smile to Never’s lips in spite of his nerves. No better time to get away than when your guards are half drunk.

‘I’ve got to do an exterior sweep now,’ said one. ‘I’ll see you later.’

‘Yeah, OK,’ the other replied. ‘Time I checked on Geary, anyway.’

His smile plummeting away, Never turned and spotted the shifted ceiling tile in the far corner. He took a deep breath and moved.

*   *   *

The applause settled as Barlow addressed them.

‘Ladies and gentlemen, champagne has been arranged. We will begin the process of resuscitation now. Over the next forty minutes, Michael’s temperature will be brought slowly up, his blood supply restored. Only then will we allow his heart to beat once more. There will be little to see until then. After that, our celebrations will begin upstairs. Michael will be kept unconscious for another hour, then he will be carefully monitored until we’re happy that he is fully recovered. Then he’ll join you all at midnight, to complete the festivities. Please, first, if you would, some appreciation for my colleagues…’ He gestured around the chamber at the medical staff. After the applause, he switched off his microphone and got back to work.

The door to the observation area opened and trays loaded with champagne were carried through. As the drinks were distributed, the room grew noisy with excitement again.

Annabel and Jonah watched the medics busy themselves below, readying Andreas for his careful resurrection. Tess was watching from the side of the chamber, Pru Dryden next to her. Barlow stood in a far corner, unmoving.

‘You think this was real, Jonah?’ asked Annabel. The guard sitting between them had stood to stretch his legs, and it was the first time they could talk with any privacy since being brought there.

‘I could
feel
it, Annabel. Something came through but not what I’d seen before. Not something evil…’

He stopped, sensing a noise on the edge of hearing. A whisper, again, as he had heard during the revival.

But this time the whisper became a laugh, distant and cruel. He looked around, alarm on his face.

‘What is it?’ said Annabel.

‘I don’t know.’

He knew she sensed nothing. He glanced around. There were no signs that anyone else was sensing it, either. The whisper grew.

He felt a shadow fall across him. He could feel movement, around and beneath.

It’s below me,
he remembered Ruby Fleming say. The sensation of movement intensified, and he could feel it shoot upwards, and around, then down again. The whispering was horribly loud.

‘Oh God…’ he said. Something else.
Something else had come through.

Annabel grasped his arm. ‘
What is it, Jonah?
’

He looked at the people in the room. Not one person seemed alarmed. Not one person seemed distracted. He stood and moved to the glass window. Looking down into the chamber, he saw the look of distress on Pru Dryden’s face. She was seeking something out, eyes darting this way and that.

Jonah placed his hand on the glass, and Pru looked at him. They could recognize each other’s fear.

The sound grew until he was overwhelmed by it. He sagged, leaning on the glass window and on Annabel for support.

He felt movement again, behind him. Something huge, dark and predatory loomed into his mind, then shot past. He fell to his knees, gasping for air. There was a smell, suddenly. A stench of rot.

Annabel helped him up, and he stared down into the chamber again, desperate to see.

Pru was staring at Andreas’s body. Tess was talking to her, concern in her face.

Jonah looked at Andreas. The whispering continued, words within it but hard to distinguish. The words grew louder, until at last he could make them out.

We see you,
the words said.

Andreas’s hand twitched, clutching repeatedly until the arm fell from the table. One of the medical staff called out and ran across. Others joined him.

All Jonah’s strength fell away. The Elder had come through, but something had followed it.

The shadow is here.

His vision darkened. He caught Will Barlow’s face, a trace of a smile, of cold triumph. Barlow’s eyes moved up until he was looking right at Jonah.

We see you,
the whisper said again.

Jonah fell.

33

‘Is he OK?’

It was the guard’s voice, impatient rather than concerned. Jonah opened his eyes and tried to stand, panicked.

‘Steady!’ said Annabel, holding him. ‘He fainted. That’s all.’

Jonah looked around, disoriented. They were in the corridor now, not the observation room.

‘They brought you out,’ explained Annabel. ‘Didn’t care for the disruption.’

Jonah was given a few moments to recover, then he and Annabel were led towards the stairwell to be taken down to their office prison. As they turned a corner, Jonah saw a group of people exit a door. Medical staff, with Tess and Pru Dryden among them, heading in the other direction.

Jonah broke away and ran towards them, the guards too slow to stop him.

‘Tess!’

She stopped, clearly tired but not distressed. Pru, on the other hand, looked ill.

‘Jonah,’ Tess said. ‘Please, stay here, I’ll talk to you in a moment.’ She continued on with the medical staff, talking to them. Jonah caught Pru’s eye, though, and she stayed where she was.

‘You heard it,’ Jonah said to her. ‘You sensed it.’

She was pale. She said nothing, lowering her head.

He leaned in and whispered to her: ‘Get out of here, Pru. Get out.’

She looked up at him, confusion and fear in her eyes, then walked on.

Tess returned. ‘You saw what happened? A reflex movement. No cause for concern.’

‘Something was there, Tess. At first, when your Elder came through, I felt something good pass through us all. It was real.’

‘And it wasn’t malevolent, Jonah.’

‘No. It wasn’t. I believe you, Tess. I believe what you told me.’ She smiled at him, still wary. ‘But
after
the revival …
something else came through.
The same thing I’d seen before, Tess. The same thing Eldridge warned you about. Couldn’t you sense it?’

Tess’s smile dropped. ‘Enough, Jonah. There was nothing. You’re wrong.’ She walked away. He didn’t think she was lying; she really hadn’t felt it. He’d assumed any reviver would have been able to, but he and Pru were the only ones who had. He wondered why. Recent exposure to the BPV variant, perhaps, or maybe the Unity process itself had damaged Tess’s abilities?

‘Pru Dryden sensed it too,’ he called, but Tess wasn’t interested. ‘Ask her. And watch Andreas, Tess. Watch him.’

Then Will Barlow emerged from the same door. He looked at Jonah, and Jonah could tell: he knew. He knew about it all. Of course he did. Who had guided the process all this time, steering everything to this point? Who had chosen the reviver for the job? It must have been a reserve group, revivers this creature could
use.

Jonah wondered how long Barlow had been engineering events. The whispering that had plagued Victor Eldridge had surely been embraced by Will Barlow long ago.

Barlow walked on, then turned for a moment, smiling. For once, the smile reached his eyes, and Jonah shivered at the darkness he saw in them.

*   *   *

‘Christ, Never,’ said Annabel as the door was closed and locked behind them. ‘What the hell happened to you?’

There was a long angry scrape down Never Geary’s neck, dotted with red where the scrape was deep enough to bleed.

‘That’s nothing,’ Never said. ‘Get a load of
this.
’ He pulled up his shirt. All down one side, the same deep scratches. ‘I had to rush back. I almost got caught. It’s amazing how much faster you can move if you ignore personal safety. How did
your
entertainment go?’

Jonah looked him in the eye.

‘Oh shit,’ Never said.

‘But why now, Jonah?’ said Annabel. ‘They’ve done it so many times. What was different about this one?’

‘I don’t know,’ Jonah said. ‘Maybe it needed the Elder to get through. Whatever the reason, I felt the same creature again. And I think it’s inside Michael Andreas.’

*   *   *

By 6 p.m., Jonah was watching the clock, thinking that Andreas would surely be awake by now. The tension among the three of them was intolerable.

Then at eight, Tess came.

‘Michael wants to see you,’ she said. Jonah found himself frozen. Annabel got up. ‘Just Jonah,’ Tess added.

He looked at his friends, and they looked back. Their expressions didn’t fill him with confidence: people looking at a condemned man. ‘Wish me luck,’ he said.

With a guard in tow, Tess took Jonah up to the top floor – the sixth – in an elevator. Jonah raised an eyebrow when they emerged. What he’d seen of the building so far was tailored for use as a working research facility. The top floor was clearly the executive upgrade, luxury on display, ready to impress visitors with the sheer profitability of the whole biotech venture. The corridor they emerged into seemed huge, and was decked out in polished steel and black granite. It was broken up by obsidian double doors, all of which had been latched open. Mirrors at either end gave it the impression of stretching to infinity.

‘Did you watch him, Tess?’ Jonah asked.

She smiled at him with confidence. ‘He’s doing well. In every way.’

Jonah was keeping his eyes peeled for any rooms that might have exterior windows, in case he could see how the building was situated. Annabel had known the rough location of the facility, but if they did manage to get out, what they did next depended entirely on what surrounded the building. Busy road nearby, then no problem. Isolated, private location? Not so good. Being on the lowest floor, any glimpses outside they’d managed to steal had shown little but the corner of a parking lot and a wall of trees and shrubs.

Half way along, one spacious room had its doors open. Inside, tables were being loaded with upturned champagne glasses. Huge windows on the far wall caught his eye, a grand piano angled in front of them. Most had their blinds closed, but one gave the glimpse he needed. Buildings. Roads. Traffic. Sparse, but at least the facility wasn’t stuck out in the boondocks.

‘Champagne, huh?’ said Jonah, his voice flat. ‘Looks like Unity parties hard.’

‘We’re saying good-bye to many good friends tonight. Most of the people who’ve helped us won’t be coming to our retreat. And for those of us who are, it’s one last fling before we leave our old lives behind for good.’

He gave her a non-committal look, but there was a knot of fear in his stomach. Part of it was the thought of seeing Andreas. Part of it was fear for Tess.

They reached the door at the end of the hall. The guard walking with them stood with purpose to one side of it.

‘Please,’ said Tess to Jonah. ‘Michael’s been up talking to us all for some time now, and he needs to get some sleep before tonight. He wanted to see you again and apologize. You don’t appreciate how much your negativity hurts him.’

He wondered if she’d told Andreas about Jonah’s reaction after the revival. ‘I’ll be gentle.’

They entered. Andreas was lying fully clothed on top of a bed and stood when they came in.

Will Barlow was standing in the corner. He gave his usual half-smile to Jonah, but Jonah’s eyes were fixed on Andreas’s. He looked tired, certainly, but Jonah saw nothing
wrong
in those eyes. Nothing lurking. Maybe … maybe Tess was right.

‘Jonah,’ Andreas said, smiling. He held out a hand, but Jonah didn’t take it. It might be the only way to know, he thought, but he wasn’t ready for that.

‘If you’ll excuse me, Michael,’ said Tess. ‘I’ve got things to sort out for later. Promise me you’ll get some rest.’

‘I promise,’ Andreas said. ‘You go on.’

Jonah watched her go, not wanting to be left here on his own. The door shut behind her.

‘When do you let us go?’ Jonah asked.

Andreas sighed. He seemed nervous and disappointed. ‘Can’t you see this isn’t a
bad
thing, Jonah? There’s no reason to be afraid of us.’

‘When do you let us go?’

Andreas shook his head. ‘All right, all right. Tonight, Unity celebrates completion. At midnight, I’ll present myself to the others. We’ll be complete as a group for the first time and will let our old selves enjoy the moment, with a drink and a dance. Frankly, though, I’ll be begging off early and going to bed. Everyone else in Unity is ten years younger than me and right now I’m feeling it…’ The fond smile that appeared on Andreas’s face was falling on barren soil. Jonah was watching with nothing but suspicion. Andreas sighed again. ‘We leave tomorrow. You leave the next day, and you’re free to tell whoever you like. Tell them everything.’ He sat on the end of his bed and rubbed at his forehead. ‘Jonah, I wish I could explain this to you, just how important these few days have been. How important they
will
be. For everyone.’

‘I thought you didn’t
know
that yet.’

‘We … we don’t understand the importance yet, Jonah, not fully, but this … This is first contact, don’t you see? Whatever they have to tell us.’