|
|
Chapter 17
He went straight past the stairs back to his room and out of the door where he'd been initially led into the building the night before. Straight in front of him stood the airstrip where they had landed, he could see the plane they came in on some two hundred yards to his right. Just behind it stood what looked like it must be a hanger, with a little tower just above it. Apart from that there was nothing but countryside in his view.
He walked to his right and made his way around the building. It was laid out in an E shape, with the dining / assembly area stuck onto the end of the middle prong of the E. From what he could tell, the entire building was for accommodation, and had the look of a Holiday Inn about it. As he made his way round the building he had seen another building stood just opposite the assembly hall, and he made his way back towards that.
As he made his way back the nagging feeling that he'd been here before entered his mind. Some of the surrounding countryside seemed familiar, as did the other building he was heading for. As he got closer to the building he was certain that he had been here before, and that he'd been here in a work capacity. If he wasn't mistaken he'd done some security work here. When he got to the front of the building his thoughts were confirmed. He had been here before and he'd installed his own security and entrance system to the building, and the entrance pad in front of him bore the legend SAsec, the name of his company. The name was a private joke to himself, and stood for Sod All Security, though he'd not told anyone else what it meant. He stood at the entrance and tried to remember where this was. It must have been one of his early installations, as the entrance pad was a series one model, and he hadn't used any of them for over 5 years. It took a couple of minutes and then it came to him. He was on a remote Scottish Island, he couldn't remember the name of the island, but knew that it was in the Outer Hebrides somewhere, and that when he came to install the system, it had been a torturous car and ferry ride to get here. There certainly wasn't an airstrip on the island then, and the accommodation block wasn't there either, that's what had made him take so long to realize where he was.
That's where he'd seen the man behind all this before. No wonder he'd recognized the face and the voice, he'd worked for him for a month setting up all the individual access moves for the entrance pad, and the numerous other pads for various "secure" parts of the building. He knew that the man had been rich and famous in his own right, but still couldn't recall a name. He looked at the entrance pad and decided that he wanted a look around this building, and so set about letting himself in.
Normally the entrance sequence consisted of three parts. First of all there was the access card, at the time years ahead of the game, in that it was set up like the modern chip and pin cards that were being introduced by financial institutions only now. This would then bring up a key in pad which was set up in a four by four way using the hexadecimal notation of 0 to 9 and A to F. They had to enter a 6 digit code, which then brought up the third part, which was unique to his company, a signature move. Based on computer games, each user of the system could set up a move that only they knew and that they could repeat. However he didn't have an access card, but he could use the back door that he'd built into the system for emergencies, and he set about over riding the system.
Thirty seconds later the door opened, and as it did, there, just inside the door stood the man. it then hit him who it was. Norbert Granville, the head of Granco, a multinational conglomeration, with business ventures in every sector that you could think of, and a number that you couldn't. There he stood, almost as if he was waiting for him, and he probably was, there was bound to be some hidden surveillance camera watching him. Then Norbert spoke.
"Good Morning. I always wondered if you built a back door into your systems, and now I know. If you weren't such an honest man, you could make a very good living as a thief. Your system is excellent of course, that's why I chose you to be a part of my bigger project."
“There will be plenty of time for you to look around the rest of my facility here later. Though it has to be said that you won’t notice a great deal of difference in the layout from when you set up the security systems here, and of course you may recognise one or two of the other parts of the facility here from when you were implanted. However now isn’t the time to give you the tour as I have more pressing matters to deal with you about. You can of course come back any time you want, seeing as how you have access to the building that I can’t deny you, I can’t exactly stop you doing it, can I?”
“True,” he replied, not moving.
Norbert continued, “As it is at the moment, I need to escort you back to your room and have a few serious words as there seems to be a little matter that we need to sort out.”
“Shall we?” Norbert indicated to walk back in the direction that he had come from.
They walked around the side of the building in silence, with Norbert watching him with a half smile from a half pace behind him, and with two meathead bodyguards just behind them. They went back into the accommodation building, and up to his room. Ignoring Norbert and the goons, he went to the fridge and got himself a Pepsi and went and sat on the bed.
“So then, Granville, what’s so pressing?”
Norbert leant against the side of the desk smiling, “For someone who doesn’t know just what he’s up against, your remarkably calm. What a difference 48 hours make.” He nodded to one of the goons, who turned and went back out of the door. Norbert continued. “The reason I’m here is because of the little matter of the gun you’ve brought in with you. I need to relieve you of that, as I really can’t afford any loose cannons wandering around at this stage of my operation. Would you like to save me the trouble of searching for it, or shall I have my friend here start looking?”
He sat there desperately trying not to show any emotion, and tried to compose himself before he started speaking, as he needed not to give any more away than was entirely necessary. “It’s in the drawer of the desk.” He managed in as even a voice as he possibly could.
Norbert leaned over and opened the drawer, and pulled out one of the glocks that he had retrieved on the plane. At that moment the door to his room opened again, and before he could see who it was, he heard a voice he recognised say, “That’s not the gun I gave him.”
“Andrea!” He exclaimed, “What are you doing?”
Norbert laughed softly before speaking, “It’s amazing what you can do with a great plastic surgeon, and a good cover story. I’m afraid that we’ve not exactly been straight with you. We’ve seen time after time that you’re capable of overcoming the control of the implant, and so I thought I’d take out a little insurance. This isn’t Andrea, the sister of your beloved Claire. Let me introduce Michaela O’Riordan.”
“Top of the morning to you,” Michaela exclaimed in a broad Irish accent as she took a bow. He just glared at her not saying a word.
Norbert continued, “I’m sorry to inform you that Andrea passed away a couple of years ago in a car accident. It was a story that got a bit of press over here in Europe, but failed to make the US, so we thought that we’d use it as an opportunity to have someone who could get through your personal defences, and had Michaela transformed, not that she’s complaining of course, she’s much more beautiful now than before we started.”
His mind swam, was it really hopeless? What could he as one man do against such organisation and planning? He was well away with his thoughts and could only vaguely make out that there were voices continuing around him. He shook his head to clear it, and managed to blurt out, “What?”
“Where is the other gun, the one Michaela gave you.”
“Who?” He asked to buy himself a bit of time, he needed to remember which gun was where, as if he gave them the location of the other glock he was finished.
“Andrea, Her!” Norbert said pointing at the created likeness of Claire.
“It’s in the same drawer as you got the last one from, just further back, I’m surprised you didn’t see it when you got the first one out”.
Norbert opened the drawer fully and pulled out the other gun, he held it up and looked at the woman.
“Yes that’s the one.”
Norbert turned back to him, “Anything else to declare? One in the fridge? Or the wardrobe?”
“No, that’s it. How am I going to deal with more than two guns? Use my tongue to pull the trigger?”
“So, the sarcasm returns, no I don’t think that you have any more, I was surprised that you managed to pick up the additional one without being noticed, but we live and learn. I shall leave you now to sort out ready for lunch and this afternoon’s briefing. I’m sure you have a few things to think over. I look forward to seeing you later, and to working with you.”
With that he moved away from the desk and headed out the door, closely flanked by the two goons. The woman carried on standing where she was looking at him.
“Just what the fuck do you want?” she went to open her mouth but he continued and cut her off, “Whatever you have to say, do us both a favour and save your stinking, lying breath and get the fuck out of this room, before I break a habit of a lifetime and actually hit a woman.”
She stood there, still looking at him, and went to say something, but before she could get it out he screamed “GET OUT!!” and started to get up from the bed. She turned and bolted from the room, and he flopped back on his bed and started to cry.