Blackout by Tim Heath

Author:Tim Heath [Heath, Tim]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HCP
Published: 2023-05-23T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter

Thirteen

Marcus ran as fast as his legs would take him, ignoring the frantic calls of Peet, who was fast on his tail.

He ignored the ever-increasing warning sounds coming from his monitor.

He took the escalator upstairs, getting away from the lower floor that was busier, with more people in his way to slow him down. Still, Peet was following, as Marcus rounded a corner, skidding on the tiled floor, desperate to find somewhere to lose his pursuer.

Peet was calling after him, shoppers and shop workers alike straining their necks to see what all the fuss was about, what all the noise was.

Estonians didn’t make a noise in public. Didn’t these two men know that?

Marcus ran through a large clothes store, one he knew had an exit on the other side. He was frantic to not run himself into a corner, into a dead end. Marcus didn’t want a confrontation.

He just wanted to get away.

His heart rate was up. He ignored the monitor, though he ducked down soon after behind a rack of clothes to catch some breath.

Outside in the corridor in front of the store, Marcus saw Peet, who was glancing around. He didn’t enter, instead carrying on. Marcus wasn’t sure if he should double back and leave the way he had just entered, or stick to his original plan and head for the other exit. An exit that, if Peet kept running ahead, he would also surely reach soon.

Marcus stayed where he was for another five seconds, though his presence there was now drawing the attention of the cashier, for whom a man crouching down low and hiding could never be a good sign. Not wanting to cause anyone else reason to sound the alarm, he straightened up. He headed back to the door through which he had just come, checking the corridor outside. There was no sign of Peet.

However, Peet had reached the other exit by then, and looking back, he saw Marcus across the store. Peet called out and came charging towards him. Marcus, thirty metres ahead of him, and with a fresh batch of oxygen in his lungs, set off at speed, getting out of sight. He had about ten seconds before Peet could clear the store, and therefore about eight seconds until he could be spotted by Peet.

He opted for the restrooms, the corridor for these coming after a few metres, enough time to slip into it without Peet seeing. He kept going, deciding against hiding in either toilet—no way out if he was tracked entering either one—and instead he tried the door marked Staff Only. It was locked, a keypad on one side showing he would need a code.

There was nowhere else to hide, so waiting for someone to come out was not an option either.

Peet might pass the corridor any second.

Marcus opted for the only other door, the one marked Väljapääs—the green sign with a figure of a man running through an open doorway enough to tell him that it was the fire-escape, even if he didn’t understand the language.

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