Double Check by Malcolm Rose

Author:Malcolm Rose [Rose, Malcolm]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Malcolm Rose
Published: 2013-03-12T07:00:00+00:00

Chapter Fifteen

Luke’s plan to prick Sadie’s conscience worked. But it took two days before she appeared on Luke’s telescreen and asked to meet him face-to-face.

“It’s Thursday,” Luke replied, talking towards her image in his hotel room. “I’ve only got nine days. By that, I mean Everton’s got nine days. Just tell me what you know right now and I can get on with it.”

Sadie shook her head. “I can’t be sure you’re the only one listening to what I say.”

“How do you mean?”

“This signal could be intercepted by... anyone.”

Luke sighed. “All right. I’ll set out now. Where do you want to meet?”

“Well, I’m not at work today. I really like the Design Gallery in Chesterfield. I’ll see you outside it, if that’s okay with you.”

“I’ll find it.”

“You can’t miss it. Just look for the spire.”

****

Luke understood Sadie’s remark when he stood on the green outside the gallery. Straining his neck, he gazed at the enormous tapered tower that pointed towards the heavy sky. The spire did not merely narrow to a high pinnacle. The structure spiralled spectacularly as well, like a helter-skelter at a fairground. The rest of the building was just as chaotic. The stained glass windows were irregular shapes dotted haphazardly on the dark stone walls that bulged outwards imposingly. The whole place seemed to capture the spirit of an architect’s outrageous dream. It was impressive, bizarre and disturbing at the same time.

Luke almost jumped when Sadie walked up behind him. “The famous twisted spire,” she murmured, as if in awe of the design.

“The whole thing’s pretty warped.”

“Mmm. Nice.”

“Do you want to go in?” asked Luke.

Sadie pointed to a bench, positioned on the lawn for the gallery’s admirers.

With his gloved hand, Luke wiped away most of the cold water collected on the wooden slats of the bench. Then he turned to Malc. “Use your laser to evaporate the rest, please.”

Malc did not grumble about the misuse of his functions. Instead he swept an intense laser beam over the bench until it was dry and warm.

Once Luke and Sadie had both sat down and cast their eyes again over the misshapen building, Luke turned towards her. He was eager to hear whatever she had to say. “Well? No one’s eavesdropping here. And Malc’s still not sending details to The Authorities.”

Sadie frowned. “How did you manage that?”

“Never mind. There’s something more important. You want to tell me about Camilla Bunker.”

Sadie shook her head. “Not really. I want to tell you about someone else. A man I knew a few years back. Another computer high-flier. We could have been paired but... It didn’t work out like that. Anyway, we... er... shared a dislike for a few things, like the way identity cards rule so much of our lives.”

Anxious to get to the point, Luke interrupted. “So you decided to buck the system.”

“We worked out what to do together. You know. We agreed what we’d do and what we wouldn’t. It was a matter of deciding what’s a good reason to help someone in a crisis and what isn’t.

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