Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [102]
For Dieter, the tiny signal was a dog running up a hill.
He was saying farewell to the clients when it happened. It had been a superb lunch. Maxine had excelled herself. And also, in all modesty, his own choice of wines had been splendid. Dieter had sat at the table, looking at the remains of the huge meal, reflecting what a fine word that was. Splendid. Such a very English word.
Dieter was fond of the English and he loved his current job. Plenty of fresh air, the beautiful Kentish countryside. Excellent food, thanks to Maxine. Living close enough to Canterbury and London to buy decent clothes, but rural enough to take pleasure in nature. And of course the money was fine, and would remain fine, providing he could go on finding new clients, new markets.
And so Dieter had topped off a magnificent meal with a final devastating dessert wine, smoky and syrup‐sweet, a glorious autumn gold in a bottle so deeply chilled that ice crystals had begun to form in it.
Then he’d shaken hands with the people from the drugs company and wandered out onto the circular driveway to bid them farewell. Their cars had pulled away and driven through the old farm gates and Dieter had stood there waving cheerfully, and that had been the end of it. Perfect end to a perfect day. Or at least, it should have been.
But instead of immediately returning to his office, Dieter had decided to go for a stroll. So he turned away from the big farmhouse and walked towards the pond. That was when he saw the dog.
He recognized it as one of the animals which had been scheduled for processing that day. It should have been secured in the laboratory kennels by now. But there it was, running up the gently sloping hills behind the lab building. Such a simple thing. A dog on a hill on an autumn day. But even then, before he went to look in the lab or the barn, Dieter felt a chill in the pit of his stomach.
Even then Dieter knew that this could spell the end of everything.
He heard the sound of a car and the hiss of tyres on tarmac and turned to see Sean pulling up outside the big farmhouse in his van. Dieter turned and hurried towards the driveway.
Sean looked up as he climbed out of the van. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘Up on the hill,’ said Dieter. ‘One of the animals has escaped. Fetch us weapons, please.’
‘But we want him back alive, surely.’
‘Please fetch us weapons. And for Pamela and Maxine also. You and Maxine check the barns. Pamela and I will go into the lab.’
If Dieter had known what he was going to find, he would have let someone else go into the lab.
* * *
‘What’s the matter with them?’
‘I don’t know. They’re breathing. They’re alive.’ Maxine looked up from the tattooed girl strapped in the chair. ‘Their pupils still respond to light so there’s still a certain amount of brain activity.’
‘You could have fooled me,’ said Sean. He had finished unbuckling the fat bearded man and the girl called Ace. They remained eerily still in their chairs. If you watched carefully you could just about detect their breathing, a slight rise and fall of the chest. ‘They’re like vegetables.’
When he and Maxine had first come into the barn Sean had thought the prisoners were faking it. Playing dead so they could make a break for it. But their utter lack of response soon had him convinced. Now he joined Maxine and helped her remove the straps on the tattooed girl. Her skin had a waxy pallor that made the tattoos stand out brightly. It was a singularly unhealthy skin tone. Her lips looked dry and chapped. Her body smelled of sweat and the liquorice stink of warlock. Sean put a hand on her face and gently lifted her eyelid. Her skin was slightly cool to the touch. The eye he revealed was empty of consciousness or character, staring up at him with a chilling blankness. He let the eyelid sag shut again.
They arranged glucose drips on the three inert bodies, as Dieter had ordered, then switched out the lights and locked up. It felt eerie leaving