Vortex

Chapter Twenty

Joseph walked implacably down the concrete corridor.

He knew there wasn't much time. Not because of Ben and Annie and what they had to do, but because of himself. The pressure was building up inside his head; his hands were shaking; he was becoming enshrouded in the black cloak of paranoia. He recognized the warning signs of a psychotic episode only too well. It would happen in minutes or hours; but he knew it would happen. He had to get to Lucian before the shadow fell over his mind and he became helpless.

But first there was something he had to find.

He had seen it before, when he was with the others and they were peering into rooms in this underground warren. He had made a mental note then, but trying to find his way around this maze was an impossibility. He'd know the room when he stumbled upon it, of course, but until then he had only one option: to try every door he came across, and hope that he didn't run into any of the men his brother was commanding to help him in his twisted plan.

The last three rooms he had looked into had been empty. Keep focused, Joseph, he kept telling himself. It won't be long now. You're nearly there. Keep focused.

He stopped, thinking he had heard footsteps. Maybe he had, maybe he hadn't. Maybe they were in his mind. It felt like people were watching him. 'Maybe they are watching you, Joseph,' a voice seemed to say in his head in a light, sing-song way.

He clenched his jaw. 'Get out of my head,' he said out loud. 'You're not there. You don't exist.'

And once again he was surrounded by silence.

Joseph looked around. He had stopped by another door, the only one in the particularly gloomy corridor in which he found himself. He listened carefully to check there was nobody talking on the other side; when he heard nothing, he opened it and peered in.

When he saw what was inside, he smiled to himself. He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him.

There was a light switch on the wall — a very old-fashioned one — and it illuminated a single bulb hanging from the ceiling. On the far wall of the room was a mass of metal shelving, groaning with equipment. The right-hand side contained electrical equipment — wire, switches, batteries. The left-hand side housed several large boxes. On a number of these, written in red letters, were the words Joseph had been looking for: 'DANGER: SEMTEX.'

He knew why Lucian needed to have Semtex. The plastic explosive was used to harden steel that had a high manganese percentage — no doubt that was what he had used to make the components of his terrible weapon. But Joseph had a very different use for it. A more destructive use. A use that would ensure that Vortex could never be remade. At least, not by Lucian. Without hesitation, he went to work.

Making the radio-controlled switch would not prove to be an intellectual difficulty for the old man; what made it harder was the fact that his hands were still shaking, and the equipment he had found required certain adjustments. He soon managed it though, and then he turned his attention to the plastic explosive. He was going to require a large amount of Semtex, and something to carry it in. His eyes fell upon a small silver flight case. He opened it up to discover that it was empty. That would do.

Minutes later, he had loaded several pounds of Semtex into the case. He inserted the two electrical probes of his makeshift detonator into the plastic explosive, closed the case, and then picked up the detonator control he had just constructed.

Once that was done, he allowed himself a moment's silence. His last moment, before he took the greatest risk of his life: the risk of turning himself into a dead man walking.

He took the push-button switch firmly in his right hand, and without further hesitation pressed it down. The moment he released it, the Semtex would explode, and there was enough of the stuff to bring down the whole bunker.

With grim determination, he picked the flight case up in the other hand, then stepped out into the corridor.

'Release it,' the voice said in his head, but Joseph ignored it. It took a great effort of will, but he ignored it. Instead, he started to shout at the top of his voice. 'Where is Lucian?' he bellowed. 'Take me to him. Take me to him now!'

Several times he called, and his voice echoed around the concrete corridors. It did not take long for him to hear the hurried patter of footsteps approaching, and this time he knew without question that they were real, not figments of his damaged imagination. Seconds later, two soldiers came running up the corridor towards him, assault rifles at the ready.

'Get on the floor,' one of them shouted.

'I won't be doing that,' Joseph replied. He held the switch in the air. 'The moment I let go of this, several pounds of high-grade plastic explosive packed into this case will explode.'

The soldiers' eyes widened.

'You must understand that I don't want to harm you, but I will release it unless you do exactly what I say. Do you understand?'

'Y-y-yes,' the soldiers stuttered.

'Good. Now take me immediately to Lucian.'

The soldiers nodded, turned and started to walk down the corridor.

'Not so quickly,' Joseph instructed. 'I'm an old man. I cannot keep up.' The soldiers steadied their pace a little, though they still walked with agitation, throwing nervous glances back at Joseph as they led him along the maze of corridors to Lucian's room. Once there, they knocked.

'What is it?' Lucian's voice called impatiently.

The soldiers walked in, followed by Joseph.

'What do you wa—?' Lucian's question faltered as he saw his brother enter the room.

He was wearing a brown overcoat, and had a briefcase on the table. Flight Lieutenant Johnson was with him. They looked as if they were just preparing to leave, but when Lucian's eyes fell on his brother, he was unable to hide his shock.

'I thought you were—' he started to say.

'Sir!' one of the soldiers interrupted. 'You have to listen to me. He's got a bomb. He has Semtex loaded in that case, and he's carrying a detonator.'

'He's right, Lucian,' Joseph agreed.

Silence fell on the room.

'He's bluffing,' Flight Lieutenant Johnson whispered.

Lucian ignored his sidekick. 'Show me the explosives, Joseph,' he said calmly.

Slowly, his hands still shaking, Joseph placed the flight case on the table and opened it. Lucian's lips went thin when he saw the huge amount of Semtex that was loaded inside. He nodded his head slowly.

'Don't do anything foolish, Joseph,' he said carefully. 'We can sort this out. We can come to an arrangement.'

'An arrangement?' Flight Lieutenant Johnson hissed. 'What are you talking about. He's a madman.'

'Shut up!'

Lucian shouted.

Joseph ignored his abrasive brother. Instead he turned to Johnson. 'A madman?' he murmured. 'So they have been telling me for many years. But there are different kinds of madness, are there not? The madness that inspires someone to develop a weapon that could kill millions, for example. There are enough such weapons in the world, without madmen creating more.' He glanced at Lucian as he spoke, then turned to the two soldiers. 'How long do you need to evacuate this bunker?' he asked.

The soldiers looked at each other. 'Five minutes,' one of them said uncertainly.

'You've got three,' he said, before turning to Johnson. 'You, go with them. Get everyone out and well away from the area. Do you understand?'

White-faced and sweating, Johnson nodded his head.

'Go!'

The three of them left, leaving Joseph alone, finally, with his brother.

Ben's muscles were burning.

He and Annie were sprinting as fast as they could, both of them easily matched as far as speed was concerned; but the men following them had longer legs and were catching up.

'Don't stop,' he gasped at Annie. 'If we stop, they'll either catch us or shoot us.'

Annie didn't reply, but her look of agonized exhaustion as she continued to run alongside him said it all. She was feeling the same pain throughout her body that Ben was; she too was at the mercy of her willpower as they struggled to break through the pain barrier and reach the forest up ahead where at least they would have a chance of hiding. A chance of surviving.

Ben allowed himself a quick glance over his shoulder as he ran. The soldiers were further behind than he thought, which gave him a surge of momentary relief. They had stopped. But then he saw why. One of the soldiers raised his weapon and pointed it in their direction.

'Get down!' he screamed at Annie, pulling her heavily to the earth even as he spoke. They hit the ground just in time — a shot echoed around the countryside, and Ben was sure he heard the bullet whizzing over his head. Looking back, he saw the men had started to run towards them again.

'We need to keep going,' he said breathlessly. 'Run in a zigzag — it'll make us a more difficult target.'

'It'll slow us down too,' Annie puffed.

'Yeah, but I've got an idea.' They started to run again, weaving in and out. As they did, Ben reached into his combat trousers and pulled out the gun he had taken from the soldier driving the truck. 'I hope this thing's loaded,' he gasped, before turning to look at the men following. He flicked off the safety catch, stretched out his hand, aimed just above the heads of the three men chasing them, and fired two deafening shots.

The men shouted in surprise and alarm, then hit the ground. Ben and Annie upped the pace, ignoring the shrieking pain from their muscles. They had to get to the forest, and quickly.

Behind them, the soldiers pushed themselves up to their feet, but no sooner had they done so than Ben fired another couple of shots, forcing them back down to the ground.

'We're nearly there!' Annie shouted. 'We're nearly at the trees!'

A shot rang out behind them.

'Keep going!'

Ben yelled, and with gritted teeth they made a final spurt for cover, crashing into the forest with an explosive breath of relief.

'We need to hide,' Annie gasped. 'But where?'

Ben looked around them. He knew they only had seconds to make a decision.

'Here,' he said. He looked up — the canopy above him was thick. 'Our best bet is to climb up a tree on the edge,' he said. 'Even if they expect us to do that, there are hundreds of trees here, so it will be nearly impossible for them to find us. Follow me.'

They ran along the edge of the forest a little way until they found a tree suitable for climbing. 'You go first,' he urged Annie, then watched as she scaled the tree with cat-like skill. Within seconds she was hidden in the upper branches. Ben tucked the gun back into his combat trousers, then launched himself at the tree trunk, following the route that his cousin had so deftly taken. There were plenty of footholds, and he was several metres up before he heard the sound of voices nearby. He looked above him — not far now until he was out of sight — and kicked his foot into the next foothold to propel himself upwards. As he did, however, the gun slipped and fell to the ground. The moment it hit the earth, the weapon went off with a loud bang that nearly caused Ben to lose his grip and fall from the tree.

'What was that?' he heard someone shout. The voice was much closer than he had expected, and he scrambled desperately to the top of the tree, where Annie was waiting for him, her face white with concern.

'What happened?' she whispered.

'The gun,' Ben replied. 'I dropped it.'

More voices from below. It was difficult to tell exactly where they came from, but they weren't far away, that much was sure.

'If they find it—' Annie breathed.

'I know,' Ben replied. 'If they find it, they'll realize where we are.' He looked seriously at his cousin. 'I'm sorry, Annie,' he said. 'I don't see a way out. If these people think we know about Vortex, they're going to want to silence us.'

He looked around uselessly. In the distance, through the trees, they could see the remains of the burning truck where the ruins of the device were slowly melting away; and beyond that he thought he could make out the hut that concealed the entrance to the underground bunker where they had left Joseph.

Poor Joseph. So keen to confront his wicked brother, he would be at Lucian's mercy yet again. Ben shuddered to think about it, before snapping back to their own predicament. He could hear people moving around at the bottom of the tree.

'The gun,' he heard a voice say. 'The kid must have dropped it. They must have climbed up here.'

Ben closed his eyes. 'It looks like Joseph's not the only person who has no more places to run to…' he whispered.

A minute passed, and neither Joseph nor Lucian spoke. The two brothers just looked at each other, drinking in the sight of the faces that they had not seen for so long.

'I don't want to kill you, Lucian,' Joseph said finally. 'But you will do as I say, or I will detonate the bomb.'

'What is that you want me to do, Joseph?' Lucian asked tersely. A bead of sweat ran down his face.

'I want you to come with me. We will leave the case of Semtex here, and together we will walk out of this place. I want you to promise me that you will never again use your knowledge to devise something that will harm so many people, and I'm going to trust you to keep that promise, though I do not know what you have done to deserve such trust. We will then destroy this place, so all the remnants of your work will be gone.'

Joseph's ultimatum hung in the air between them.

'You need to take control of yourself, Joseph,' Lucian said after a moment, his voice trembling slightly. 'I know you're angry, but this isn't the solution.'

Joseph clutched his finger down firmly on the detonator. 'What you mean, of course, is that it isn't your solution,' he replied.

'It's the solution of an unhinged mind,' Lucian said sharply. 'Fight it, Joseph. Fight it, and think.' He took a step closer. 'You are struggling with your demons. I can see it in your face. Let me help you.'

'Take another step towards me, Lucian, and I will release my thumb without hesitation.'

Lucian trod carefully backwards.

'Fifty years,' Joseph continued. 'Fifty years you stole from me the day you decided that I would be a suitable subject for your experiments.'

'They weren't experiments, Joseph. We knew what the drugs would do. We were saving you from yourself. Do you really believe we were working alone? The intelligence services knew what we were doing, and if you had blown the whistle they would have killed you. My way was much better. It was for your own good.'

'My own good?' Joseph smiled, and appeared to be thinking for a moment. 'You're right. My mind is clouding over. It has been for the last few days. Occasionally I snap out of it, but soon I will be out of control. It's my medication, you see. I don't have it, and without my medication, the world is a dark and frightening place.'

Lucian's eyes narrowed, and Joseph could see hope in his face.

'But the clouds have not yet fully descended,' he continued. 'Some things are clear, and one of them is this: that if there is one person in the whole world who is not fit to judge what is for anyone's own good, it is you, my brother.' He spat the final word with distaste. 'But I am giving you a final chance — a chance to redeem yourself.'

Lucian's lip curled into a sneer. 'Redeem myself? If you believe that I want redemption, you are stupid as well as insane. You have no idea of what I have done. You have no idea of the things my mind has achieved.'

'Ah,' Joseph purred, 'Vortex, you mean? A grand name for such an evil device. I'm sorry to tell you, however, that by now Vortex will be destroyed, or at the very least in safe hands.'

Lucian blinked. 'Destroyed?' he repeated. 'Impossible. It's on its way to the delivery point as we speak.'

Joseph shook his head. 'Not if Ben and Annie have anything to do with it,' he said softly.

'Ben and Annie?' Lucian laughed. 'Those kids? Don't be ridiculous.'

Joseph shrugged. 'Clearly I have more confidence in them than you do. All this, however, is rather academic. I am going to destroy this place, Lucian. Whether or not you come with me is up to you.'

A tiny smile of triumph flickered over Lucian's face. 'But you won't leave me alone with the bomb, Joseph,' he taunted. 'You know I will just remove the detonator. If you try and kill me, you'll kill yourself in the process.'

Joseph raised an eyebrow. 'All that intellect, my brother, and you truly suppose that that hadn't crossed my mind?'

Lucian's eyes narrowed. 'You won't do it,' he whispered. 'You won't sacrifice your life to get back at me.'

'To get back at you, Lucian? Haven't you been listening to a word I've said? What I'm doing is not to get back at you. It's to protect the thousands of innocent lives that you would destroy if you were left unchecked.'

He closed his eyes briefly, then looked back at Lucian. His brother was scared now. Terrified. It gave him no pleasure, but there it was.

'Besides,' Joseph said, his voice cracked now, and trembling, 'do you call this hollow existence you have left me with a life?'

The question remained unanswered as a wave of indecision crashed over Lucian's face.

'Please, Lucian,' Joseph begged. 'Please. You know what the right thing to do is. This can end now. I don't want revenge, and I forgive you for what you have done. Make the right decision, Lucian, for once in your life.'

His brother was looking down at the floor now, his shoulders slumped. Finally, he moved his head up. His lips were thin; his face was white.

'OK, Joseph,' he whispered, his voice suddenly frail, betraying his age. 'You win. I'll come with you.' And with that, the elderly scientist stepped towards his brother. As he walked past the suitcase he paused, as though contemplating doing something; but a quick glance at Joseph, his finger firmly on the detonating button, clearly persuaded him otherwise.

Joseph looked towards the door. 'You go first,' he said. 'I'll follow.'

Lucian nodded, and stepped towards the door.

What made Lucian do it, Joseph would never find out. Perhaps he thought he could overcome his brother; perhaps the thought of his laboratory being destroyed, with all the research and secrets that it contained, was too much for him. Whatever the reason, as he approached his brother, Lucian hurled himself towards Joseph. They fell heavily to the ground, and Joseph felt his brother's hand clasp firmly over his own, pressing down on his thumb so that he could not release the button.

'Get up!' Lucian hissed as they struggled on the floor. 'Get up and walk to the suitcase. We're going to disengage that detonator.'

Lucian had the upper hand, and with all his might he dragged Joseph up to his feet. 'You're as crazy as you ever were,' he whispered as he did so. The old men staggered slightly as they stood up. Joseph found that the room was spinning, and it was all he could do to keep his attention focused on his button thumb, which Lucian was keeping firmly pressed down. But as they edged awkwardly towards the flight case, their legs became tangled and they tripped. As they fell, Joseph's head cracked hard on the corner of the table.

Instantly he went limp and lost consciousness.

Lucian fell too, pulled to the floor by the dead weight of his unconscious brother. And as he did so, he lost all sense of co-ordination. His knees buckled, and his hand slipped from over the thumb of his brother.

The detonating button made a small click as it was released, and that click was the last sound Lucian Sinclair ever heard.