The Fornax Assassin by J.C. Gemmell

Author:J.C. Gemmell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Mysteries & Thrillers
Publisher: J.C. Gemmell
Published: 2023-06-28T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Ten

Mystery Monster

Brewski

6% ABV

BRANT TOUCHED HER keycard to the lock and swung the double doors open, ushering Medwin into the bright auditorium. The venue was cold, and the overhead lighting harsh. All signs of the prime minister’s engagement were gone, and the shallow stage was bare. They had entered at the side of the room, at about the midpoint of the raked seating. Medwin walked along the row of seats until she reached the centre aisle, where she stopped, glancing at the stage and then over her shoulder at the technicians’ booth and the adjacent electrical store.

There were easily twenty-five seats on each side of the aisle, ten rows to the front and another ten to the rear of the auditorium. Medwin couldn’t fathom why a remote military outpost needed such a facility. She marched down the carpeted steps, occasionally taking two at a time, until she almost collided with the waist-high stage. The stairs she remembered from the video footage were gone, so she pushed herself up, twisting round, so she was sitting, facing the empty chairs. ‘Bring me the tablet,’ she called to Brant as she clambered to her feet.

It was a little challenging to position herself without the scenery from the prime minister’s speech. Medwin studied the footage on the handheld screen, occasionally shuttling backwards or forward until she was sure. ‘He was roughly here,’ she said, glancing at her feet. The stage appeared clean, as she had expected, and she was about to walk away when she spotted two pieces of undamaged blue-black tape stuck to the floor. Medwin wound the footage forward, watching the prime minister crumpling to the floor and blood seeping from his clothes. Oddly, the cleanup crew had not lifted the tape when they washed his blood away.

She looked across the auditorium, wondering how she would have coped if she had to speak to a thousand people. Medwin flicked between the various pieces of footage until she found a view of the prime minister’s audience. Kim’s team had processed the footage, making the people easier to see. The room had been full of reporters. She zoomed in on different areas, but those watching were consistent, hundreds of uniform people and none of them military personnel. She thought about her journey to Fornax Island: one of twenty people on a rib. ‘How did they all get back to the mainland?’ Medwin asked Brant, but the petty officer did not appear to grasp her question and remained silent. She had a clear line of sight to the audio-visual booth, precisely as she expected. ‘Can you unlock the storeroom?’

Brant nodded and walked up the aisle. By the time Medwin caught up with her, she had opened the door. ‘The jeep’s ready,’ Brant said casually. ‘We have a tight schedule today.’

There was little of note in the electrical store. The back wall housed green-grey metal cases, which Brant said powered the lighting and other equipment. On her left was an empty workbench with two crates stacked underneath.

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