The Industry by Rose Foster

Author:Rose Foster
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Published: 2012-08-29T04:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

THE MIO

Desmond scanned the street several times before allowing Kirra out of the shadows of the complex and into the balmy night air.

‘Walk slowly,’ he instructed.

Kirra frowned. She’d have expected him to say the opposite. After giving the street another check she slowed her pace. Desmond, who looked around once he realised he was striding ahead, gave her a beleaguered look.

‘Not that slowly,’ he said. He took her elbow. ‘That looks ridiculous. You will draw attention to yourself that way. Just be calm. Be natural. Look as though you’ve never done a thing wrong in your life and walk with me.’

Kirra fell into step at his elbow, feeling stupid. He rounded a corner, unlocked the dark green sedan parked there, and bundled Kirra into the passenger seat. He perused the street once more, seemed to decide the coast was clear, and climbed into the driver’s seat.

Desmond drove back towards the bar and halted the car a block away from the police tape now strung up around the area. Kirra could hear people shouting orders, and the odd siren still rang out. Broken glass and bits of furniture lined the footpath outside the bar, where police were treading carefully, taking notes. A crowd of excited onlookers had formed, and she peered past them to see an ambulance with a covered body on a stretcher inside it. She shuddered. Mai was amongst all that, and Kirra had no idea whether she was living or dead. She could have been the body on the stretcher for all Kirra knew.

She looked at Desmond from the corner of her eye. His brow was lined, his eyes weary and worried. He seemed calmed by the presence of police though. After a moment they drove away, Desmond maintaining a tight grip on the steering wheel and Kirra took this as a sign not to ask where they were going. They entered what she guessed was the business district of Madrid, with skyscrapers and office buildings standing like sleeping giants amongst the stars. She glimpsed the occasional street sign at junctions but gave up trying to glean any information from them. Desmond didn’t seem to pay attention to the signs at all. He seemed to know precisely where he was going.

He finally turned into a car park beneath a towering glass building. All the levels of the car park were vacant, except for the very last. Getting out, Kirra looked around at the hundreds of cars lined up in neat rows. Mystified, she followed Desmond into the elevator and watched, thoroughly confused, as he hit a small black button marked U4.

‘U?’ she asked. ‘Underground?’

‘What else would U stand for?’

Desmond didn’t look at her as the doors closed, folding his arms as they descended even deeper into the ground.

The elevator eventually gave a sharp ping and the doors slid open with surprising speed. Kirra leaned forward, looking out into what seemed to be an ordinary reception area with rough brick walls and thick crimson carpet. Lamps with polished

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