The Key

20

Liv was sitting up in bed, straining to hear the sounds outside in the corridor.

The footsteps had come from the right, so that was the direction she needed to head when she got out of the room. There was a loud, single rap on the door and she pulled the sheets tight around her neck as it started to open.

The priest stepped into the room and she immediately felt the dread expand within her. The nurse followed and walked over to switch off the call light that had summoned her. ‘You OK?’ she asked in accented English, automatically pulling a digital thermometer from her pocket and placing it against Liv’s forehead.

‘Yes, fine, I think — I just need to ask you something.’ The nurse pressed a button to get a reading and the thermometer beeped. ‘When I was admitted, what happened to all my stuff?’

‘Personal items are stored in property office behind reception.’ The nurse studied the display on the thermometer, then grabbed Liv’s wrist to check her pulse.

‘So how would I go about getting them back?’

‘You sign when you leave.’ She counted the heartbeats then let the wrist drop, looking into Liv’s face for the first time since entering. ‘Anything else?’

‘Yes…’ Liv glanced over at the priest, as if embarrassed about what she was about to ask. ‘Can you tell me how I’m doing, you know — medically.’

The nurse plucked her notes from the wall holder and studied the file. ‘Some hormone imbalance — oestrogen levels very high, but not dangerous. You have high temperature, nausea. Maybe you have some virus. Big concern is memory.’ She flipped to the end and read through the psychiatrist’s notes. Liv had tried to make them out for herself but they were written in Turkish. And much as she wanted to leave this place, there was no point in making a run for it if she was going to drop down dead a hundred metres from the door.

‘Psychiatric report is good,’ the nurse said. ‘They only keep you here for observation.’

‘What drugs am I on?’

The nurse scanned the notes and shook her head. ‘No drugs. Just rest and observation.’

Liv was surprised at this and didn’t entirely believe it. There was far too much weirdness going on in her head for her not to be doped in some way.

‘So in theory, I could carry on as normal,’ Liv said, watching the nurse’s face for the slightest twitch of a professional lie. ‘I mean, there’s nothing I should avoid — going on a plane or scuba diving, for example?’

The nurse glanced at the priest and shrugged. ‘You do what you like.’

‘Thank you,’ Liv said, the words coming out like a sigh of relief.

‘Not a problem. Anything else?’

‘Yes, there is one more thing,’ Liv said, throwing the sheet off to reveal she was fully clothed. ‘I’d like to discharge myself — immediately.’

Liv had already grabbed a bag from the floor and was halfway to the door when Ulvi’s brain caught up with what was happening. Instinctively he moved to step in front of her, but she side-stepped him and squeezed through the open door.

Outside in the corridor the police officer rose from his seat and stepped towards her. ‘Back in your room.’

‘Why?’ Liv said, looking calmly up into his face.

‘Because… you’re not well.’

‘That’s not what the nurse just said.’ Liv glanced over her shoulder to where the nurse now stood. ‘And I’m not under arrest, am I?’

The cop opened his mouth to say something then seemed to think better of it. ‘No,’ he said.

Liv smiled and cocked her head to one side. ‘So would you step aside, please.’

He looked down at her, an internal debate raging in his head. He came to a conclusion and stepped aside.

‘You must stay here,’ the priest said, his words sounding like an order.

‘No,’ Liv said, already walking away. ‘I really mustn’t.’

She swung her bag over her shoulder and marched quickly away in the same direction she had heard the nurse arriving from.

Ulvi watched her go, weighing up his options. If he followed her now he could shadow her, wait until she was far away from the crowds, in a hotel room maybe: isolated; unobserved. It was tempting. But the other two targets were still here which meant so was the bulk of his mission.

He watched Liv reach the junction in the corridor and disappear round it.

In his mind he played back the events that had just taken place in the room, slowing them down, analysing them, then smiled as he remembered something Liv had said to the nurse.

She had asked if it was safe to fly.

He didn’t need to follow her after all. He knew exactly where she was going. He hoped there were other agents in the field with him. His loss would be their gain. He pulled his phone from his pocket and carefully tapped out a text to his controller.