Doctor Who_ Warlock - Andrew Cartmel [56]
If she could get free, the ceiling would be the way out. Ace began making detailed plans, plotting a route. It was one way of managing her fear.
‘Was this place a barn once?’ she said. Her voice sounded strange, echoing in the big empty room. Her mouth was dry and Ace wondered if the warlock was beginning to have an effect.
‘Sure,’ said Maxine, her face coming back into focus as she moved away from Ace and went over to check the video camera that faced them, standing on a low tripod on the concrete floor. ‘It was part of the original farm, just like the one where we found you last night. That was quite a surprise for you, eh?’ Satisfied with the camera, she went back to where Ace sat beside Jack and Shell, all strapped in their chairs.
‘It certainly was,’ said Ace, trying to sound polite. She didn’t want to antagonize the woman. Not while there was a chance to learn something from her. But Ace’s voice sounded strange even to herself. Maybe the echo was in her head and not in the barn.
‘The other barn’s mostly for storing equipment, doing repairs, maintaining vehicles. That kind of thing. And that’s where the generator room is.’
The generator. It made sense that an installation like this would have its own power supply. Ace fixed the thought in her head. She suppressed the urge to get more information about the generator room. She didn’t want to create suspicion.
Maxine bent over Shell and Jack, checking that they were securely strapped in and immobilized. ‘This is the medical section. It’s also the place where we process the new livestock before moving it to the labs.’
‘Livestock? Meaning us?’ said Jack.
Ace bit her lip. She hoped he wouldn’t get Maxine angry before they learned everything they could from the woman.
But Maxine seemed unperturbed. ‘Not at all.’ She indicated the interior door set in the whitewashed wall. It was made of opaque pebbled glass and was abnormally wide. ‘That’s where we process the livestock. Through there.’ Ace filed this fact away, mentally congratulating Jack. Maybe the glass door would be a viable alternative to the roof.
‘What’s in the boxes?’ said Ace. All around them were metal shelves stacked with cardboard cartons. They absorbed sound, giving the concrete and metal room a soft acoustic. Ace had a pretty good idea what the boxes contained but it wouldn’t do any harm to confirm her suspicions.
‘Drugs,’ said Maxine. ‘Everything from aspirin to antivirals. Most of the testing we do is for pharmaceutical companies and this is where we store the stock. This building and the lab are the two secure units.’
Maxine finished checking the straps that kept them in the chairs and turned her attention to the chairs themselves. They were old‐fashioned reclining dentist’s chairs, bolted to the floor. She adjusted the angle and height of each pair so they faced the camera squarely. ‘We want to record the expressions on your faces. Feel free to speak to the camera at any time and record your impressions.’
‘There’s one impression I want to record right now,’ said Jack. ‘But it involves a blunt Anglo‐Saxon verb and you wouldn’t like it much.’
Maxine went over and switched the video camera on. ‘Listen,’ she said. ‘It’s only natural that you’re upset. But you got yourselves into this. There’s no one else you can blame.’
‘Want to bet? I blame you.’
‘You’re tense, you’re upset, you’ve got no idea of what’s going to happen to you. That’s understandable. I sympathize. No, I really do.’ Maxine adjusted a small comb in her thick black hair. ‘You know, I was going to do a drug trial myself. I volunteered. I knew it was dangerous but I needed the money. It pays pretty good and of course there aren’t any other jobs around these days. But then Dieter discovered that I had a PhD. When he found out I could cook too that settled the matter. He likes his food, does Dieter. His food and his clothes. He offered me a full‐time job.’
‘How can you do it?’ said Jack.
‘Come again?’ Maxine frowned. She held the comb in