Zero kill, p.21
Zero Kill, page 21
‘Nice turn,’ he told Luke.
‘Thanks! Why do you have so many guards here?’
‘I’m a very wealthy man, Luke, and have many valuable things, so it’s always wise to employ people who can protect them.’
‘They have guns,’ said Luke. ‘I’ve seen them.’
Arkady smiled. ‘You can never be too careful.’
‘You can’t ride the bike in here,’ Hazlett snapped at the boy.
There was a crunch of gravel outside and then the boy’s father rushed inside.
‘I’m sorry, Mr Krupin.’ Darren looked embarrassed. ‘I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again.’
In the great scheme of things, Luke riding his bike down the long, empty corridors – there were parts of the house even Arkady himself had yet to visit – wasn’t such a big deal. Let the boy have his fun.
‘You have my permission to ride the bike inside, but only on the west side of the house.’ He pointed towards the east wing. ‘Not in that direction.’
The boy nodded.
‘And Luke.’ Arkady made a stern face. ‘Don’t break any of my expensive vases.’
‘I’m going to go and get my remote-controlled car!’ said the boy and he flew off down a corridor.
‘Thank you, sir,’ said Darren.
‘Boys will be boys. He’s not doing any harm.’
When the boy and his father had gone, Arkady frowned. ‘Remind me what we were talking about?’
‘Zero,’ repeated Hazlett tensely.
‘Ah, yes. Anthony, my friend, don’t worry about her.’ Arkady clapped him on the shoulder. ‘Everything is in motion now, there’s no going back.’
Kieron came across the reception with a paper cup.
‘Thank you, Kieron,’ said Arkady, taking the steaming coffee.
Walking down the main corridor of the east wing, they arrived at the door with the biometric reader. But when Arkady reached out with his free hand, he clipped the top of the cup, slopping the scalding liquid across his wrist, making him drop it. The liquid spilled everywhere across the tiled floor.
‘You see, gentlemen,’ Arkady said, shaking his burned hand. ‘That’s why I never drink before lunchtime!’
Kieron propped open the door. ‘I’ll clear it up.’
In the ballroom, which Arkady used as his operations centre, his team were at work. By the end of the day that room, and the rest of the mansion, would be abandoned. If they knew what was good for them, everyone would be racing out of the country.
Hazlett repeated the biometric identification on the inner door that led into the vast room beyond the ballroom and walked inside. Instead of letting it shut, Arkady left it open to allow Kieron to catch up when he finished clearing up the spill.
Within the biolab, which dominated the middle of the room, figures moved about in full-body positive-pressure protective suits. Deep inside the clear plastic walls of the structure, a facility for the handling of the most dangerous organisms on the planet, a bearded man hunched over a biological safety cabinet.
Pressing an intercom button, Arkady said, ‘Good morning, Noah.’
Noah Pettifore stabbed a button with a gloved finger and his voice came over the speaker. ‘Did you give any thought to what we discussed?’
‘I regret it’s not going to be possible,’ said Arkady. ‘Not at this late stage.’
‘We need human test subjects.’
‘You have mice, you have rats.’
It was difficult to see Noah’s face behind his mask, but he grunted with dissatisfaction.
Arkady was distracted by a high-pitched whine behind him. He turned to see a remote-controlled car speed through the door and stop at his feet.
‘Mr Krupin!’ Luke raced in behind it. ‘Look how fast it is!’
The boy looked in astonishment at the giant lamps, generators and the room-within-a-room where men and women in white containment suits moved like ghosts.
Another voice shouted behind the boy, and Luke’s father hurried in.
‘Come here, Luke! You were told to stay out of…’ Darren’s gaze lifted in a panic to the alien-looking lab that dominated the space. ‘I’m so sorry, we didn’t mean to…’
Pulling his son after him, Darren turned to go, but Kieron rushed inside, looking flustered. He’d left the door to the operations room open while he had gone to fetch cleaning materials. Chasing his car, Luke had somehow managed to run through both open doors.
Arkady smiled ruefully. He had also been careless; should have known better than to allow both doors to remain open, even for a short time.
‘And I’m sorry, Darren,’ he said sadly.
Darren edged away from the handgun Kieron held unobtrusively at his side.
Bewildered, increasingly afraid, he tried not to look again at the biolab. ‘We didn’t see anything. We… won’t say anything.’
Arkady picked up the remote-controlled car and placed it on the table, then pressed the button on the intercom to speak again to the man inside.
‘Those human test subjects you wanted, Noah,’ he said. ‘We have an unexpected opportunity.’
34
According to Flex’s research, Noah Pettifore lived in a luxury tower block in Kensington. When Elsa arrived there, she was too exhausted to even contemplate climbing up the outside – if it was even feasible; the building was twenty floors of smooth glass – or find another way to sneak inside.
The lobby was as big and soulless as the foyer of a City bank: all geometric lines, sparkling tiled floor and undulating hanging lights. There wasn’t a speck of dust, every polished surface gleamed. An enormous arrangement of flowers was displayed in a giant vase on an incongruous-looking antique table in the middle of the space. An abstract painting with an image as befuddled as the inside of Elsa’s head, all custard smears and raspberry swirls across a stormy grey canvas, filled the entirety of one wall.
The lift doors opened and a woman in a fur coat strode towards the entrance, heels clopping noisily. Both she and the vanity dog with bulbous eyes riding in her Chanel bag regarded Elsa with distaste.
‘I’m here to see Noah Pettifore,’ Elsa told a man sitting behind an enormous desk. He gave her a long look. It had only been a few hours since she’d paddled in the Thames. With her dirty hoodie and leggings, and bloated, sodden trainers, she must have reached Max Saint levels of dishevelment.
‘Is he expecting you?’
Elsa eyed the black bulb of the dome camera above the man. With his smooth skin and salt-and-pepper hair, he was of indeterminate age. His name badge identified him as Valentine, a first name or surname, she had no idea.
‘Yes,’ she lied.
Sitting in front of a monitor, he tapped something on a keyboard. When Elsa leaned over the desk, she saw herself clearly on the reception’s CCTV; her image would be bouncing across the planet, but there was nothing she could do about that.
He picked up the internal phone. ‘What’s your name, please?’
She gave her own name, because out of ideas and energy, she couldn’t think of an alternative. ‘I’m… a work colleague,’ she said by way of explanation.
‘Elsa Zero is here to see Mr Pettifore. Work colleague, she says.’ He nodded, and put the phone down. ‘You can go up.’
‘Really?’ Elsa smothered her surprise. ‘Lovely.’
‘He’s not here, currently,’ said the man. ‘But his wife is in.’
He instructed her to take the express lift to the penthouse apartments. As she stepped inside the mirrored box and the door closed, Elsa saw Valentine pick up the phone. Entombed in the confined space, she stood tensely as the lift rose, half expecting it to become trapped between floors – she didn’t relish climbing the vertiginous shaft to safety; had done it before and didn’t recommend it – or plummet suddenly to the basement, dashing her against the floor. Instead, it rose smoothly to the eighteenth floor to the accompaniment of jazzy muzak.
The door opened to reveal a short corridor of plush carpet, another spectacular flower display in an alcove, and an apartment door ahead. Elsa heard the drone of a vacuum cleaner when she knocked. A young woman opened the door, dragging the machine behind her.
‘I was just tidying the place.’ She leaned forward to shake Elsa’s hand. ‘I’m Dani Pettifore, Noah’s wife.’
She was perhaps twenty years younger than her husband, with curly auburn hair tied back, and a gaunt, anxious face, and she wore a T-shirt, jeans and boots.
‘Let me just get rid of this.’ Pressing a square of panelling, a wall cupboard was revealed, and she hid the cleaner away. ‘Noah didn’t tell me he was expecting visitors. You work with him, you said?’
‘Used to,’ said Elsa. ‘We’re more friends these days.’
Dani nodded vaguely. ‘Okay, then.’
Elsa followed her into a spacious room with an exceptional view of the city. Two sides of the wall in the corner room were glass, and the other two filled with floating shelves of books, framed photos and awards. A large French desk faced the room on one side, the only item on its surface a MacBook.
Walking out onto the spacious balcony, Elsa looked directly down at the street at the front of the building; the miniscule figure of Saint was sitting on a bench, where she’d told him to wait.
‘You have a nice place.’
‘Thanks.’ Dani rolled her eyes. ‘It’s all a bit masculine, but Noah lived here long before I came along. I was about to make a coffee, would you like one?’
Elsa shook her head. ‘I’m fine.’
When Dani left the room, Elsa looked at the books, which were mostly scientific, with long, dry titles she didn’t understand: Understanding the Genome, A Life in Genetic Medicine, Functional Biology, Synthesis and Evolution.
Some of them were written by Noah Pettifore himself. Tim Mabey had described him as a pioneering synthetic biologist. When she’d asked him what that was, he admitted he didn’t know, but said Pettifore was a superstar in his scientific field, because of his cutting-edge research in sequencing DNA. Flex had done a thorough search on Pettifore earlier, and had come up with this address for Elsa.
She looked again at the scientist’s face on a jacket cover. Pettifore’s glowering eyes, furrowed brow, thick beard and thinking man’s pout suggested a man who took himself very seriously.
There were obsessively neat stacks of science journals and magazines, Biology Today, Double Helix, Genome Editing; commendations from universities and global think-tanks; certificates awarded by prestigious scientific bodies and institutions she’d never heard of.
And there were plenty of other framed photos of Noah Pettifore. Meeting politicians and business leaders; shaking hands with a UK cabinet minister and a far-right US senator. In one image, Pettifore stood with a diminutive man with a confident smile. Scowling in each and every photo, Pettifore didn’t look particularly impressed by any of the encounters.
Several photos were missing on the wall, and there were gaps on the shelf. But Elsa finally found a single image of Noah and Dani, taken at a function. He wore a tuxedo and she had on a sleeveless dress, which revealed a tattoo snaking down her left bicep.
‘Is he going to be back soon?’ asked Elsa.
‘He just popped to the dry cleaner’s,’ Dani called from the kitchen. When Elsa went to the doorway, she was tapping something on her phone.
‘There! I’ve told him you’re here.’ She placed the phone down. ‘I was just about to make a coffee, want some?’
‘You just asked me.’ Elsa smiled flatly. ‘But I don’t think I’ll stay.’
Standing at the central island, almost obscured by the pots and pans hanging above the hob, Dani said, ‘Don’t be ridiculous, he’ll be home soon.’
‘I’ll be honest, Dani. I’m not getting very good vibes from you, or this whole set-up.’
‘Why not?’ asked Dani in surprise.
‘Let’s start with your tattoo in the photo out there, the single one I could find of you and Noah.’ Elsa nodded at Dani’s bare arm. ‘You don’t have one now.’
‘Oh, that!’ Dani said too brightly, as if she was pleased Elsa had noticed. ‘I had it removed. Laser treatment!’
‘There are other photos missing from the walls, so I’m guessing whoever placed you here didn’t get the opportunity to insert your face onto any other images.’ Elsa looked around the pristine kitchen. ‘I don’t think you’re his wife, or that anyone’s lived here for weeks. No offence, but you’re not very good at this.’
Dani moved along the counter slowly. ‘Not very good at what?’
‘Pretending to be someone else. Is it your first time?’ Elsa nodded at the phone. ‘I imagine whoever it is you contacted will be here soon, so I had better go.’
‘You can’t,’ said Dani in a strangled voice.
The young woman’s responses had taken a funny turn. Dani, or whatever her real name was, was out of her depth. Elsa felt bad for the girl. With a bit of training and preparation, she’d be better equipped to handle the situation.
‘I’m guessing you’re not a field operative, you’re probably a desk-jockey in an agency bureau at whatever embassy and they’re short of people on the ground. Your instructions were to come here, wait for me to arrive, then keep me here. You’re scared, I understand that.’
‘You mustn’t leave,’ Dani said in a panic as Elsa turned to go.
‘Everyone’s after me right now, Dani, and there’s a reason for that. It’s because I’m very, very dangerous. Which means you’re advised to let me walk out of here, or I’ll probably end up having to kill you.’ Elsa shrugged. ‘And I don’t want to do that.’
‘You have to stay.’ Dani braced her arms against the counter and gasped. ‘I’m not allowed to let you go!’
‘Take a deep breath,’ said Elsa. ‘And don’t even think about—’
Dani launched herself at a drawer, pulling out a P229 handgun. But Elsa snatched one of the pans hanging over the central island and swung it in a single fluid motion. The metal made a clear bong sound when it connected with the woman’s head. She dropped to the floor, the weapon skittering across the tile.
Elsa picked it up, checked the thirteen-round magazine, and left the kitchen. She had just got into the central hallway when the front door flew open and Joel rushed in with the receptionist Valentine, guns pointed at her.
Elsa fired once, twice, and flung herself back into the kitchen. The two men shot back, and retreated out of the door.
‘Elsa!’ Joel shouted. ‘Come on out!’
‘I thought you loved me, Joel.’ Elsa’s heart banged in her chest, all her instincts screamed that she wanted to kill him. ‘That’s what you told me.’
‘Oh man.’ He spoke in that unfamiliar American accent. ‘I’m still crazy about you, I just wish the feeling was mutual!’
‘And yet here you are trying to kill me – again!’
‘It’s not what I want,’ he said.
‘I’m all cut up about your feelings.’
‘I knew you’d get here sooner or later, Elsa. It’s why I love you so much.’
‘I can’t believe I was taken in by you,’ she said bitterly, thinking of her children.
‘We were good together, Elsa.’ Joel spoke with what sounded like genuine regret, but his voice was getting closer. ‘You were the best job I ever had.’
Tired of his treacherous bullshit, she swung back into the corridor and fired again. Joel and Valentine scrambled back the way they came.
‘Has anyone done anything to you in the last forty-eight hours, Elsa?’
‘Sure, Joel, I’ll just answer all your questions,’ she called sarcastically. The only way out of the apartment was through the front door. Which gave her two reasons to kill him. ‘Fire away.’
‘Please, Elsa, it’s important. Any tests? Have you been given any injections?’
Elsa thought of Camille coming at her with the stubby needle in the lift of the Soho hotel, and then on the way to Dougie’s house…
‘Taking my blood,’ she said, as much to herself as Joel. ‘Is that what you mean?’
She heard Joel whisper to Valentine, and then he called, ‘That’s not great news, Elsa, but it changes everything. It means we don’t have to kill each other. I’m coming in, Elsa, don’t shoot!’
Elsa twisted from behind the door and aimed at Joel, trying to contain the rage she felt for him, as he walked steadily along the hallway, hands above his head.
His voice cracked nervously as he said, ‘I’m unarmed, baby, don’t kill me.’
‘I will if you call me baby again.’
‘I’m no danger to you,’ he insisted.
She aimed at his chest, her finger trembling over the trigger. Joel looked even worse than she did, his right cheek burned to a slippery pink wax where she had mashed it into the hot grill at the restaurant.
‘We’re back on the same side, Elsa,’ Joel told her tensely. ‘Killing you now would be pointless.’
‘Killing you would be highly satisfying.’
‘Hey.’ Joel smiled sadly. ‘We had some good times, too.’
She would never forget that their whole relationship had been a lie, a monumental betrayal of trust, and a gateway to catastrophe for her family.
‘We need to get out of here,’ he said. ‘I can explain everything on the way. Everything’s changed for you now. Trust me, you’re safe.’
Camille had promised her the exact same thing. Elsa had been safe with her former friend right up until the moment she had tried to have her killed.
‘You want to know what this is all about, Elsa? I promise you, it’s going to blow your mind…’ Joel approached slowly, his eyes fixed on hers, hands held high. ‘The reason for this whole nightmare.’
Daring to hope, she realized too late she had lost focus; a knife was pressed against her throat from behind.
‘Now who’s the amateur?’ Dani hissed in her ear, and Elsa knew she was dead.
