yards away.
He squinted one eye at the tinny voice coming over it: 'You okay... you okay?' Annoying.
EIGHTEEN
Jessica Werner waited on the gurney in the Blind School lab as Ellis Kendell conferred with the clinic doctor. Kendell gave a final nod, as if to confirm he had the procedure clear, then turned to Jessica.
‘Now if you manage to talk your mother out of this appointment with your doctor – put her mind at ease through our clinic here – great .’
‘Okay, yeah. I'll give that another shot.’
‘But if not, at least there's a contingency plan.’ Ellis looked at the doctor, who held up a pill bottle.
‘Take two of these three hours before the appointment: these will give
blood and urine markers consistent with hemeralopia.’ He then held up an eye-drop bottle. ‘And a drop of this in each eye just an hour beforehand. These will give the right dilation level – and the light will in fact hurt your eyes for a while.’
‘Yes. Okay.’ Jessica looked between the two bottles, hoping she’d got the instructions clear.
Alex Culverton's limousine was parked in a deserted warehouse district, shadows heavy in the fast fading dusk light.
A grey car pulled up behind and a dark-suited man got out.
An FBI agent, despite being a deserted area he fired an anxious glance around as he approached Culverton's limousine. Alex Culverton and Coby were sat in the front, so he slid into its back seat.
Alex appraised him for second in his rear-view mirror.
‘So, what news? What have you been able to find out about this teen
kid?’
Alex’s voice fed through a speaker grill to the back. The FBI agent was fazed by it for a second, finding it odd that Alex had chosen to stay in the front by his driver. Last time they’d met they’d sat in the back of the limousine together. Thick plate glass separated them.
‘Not much, I'm afraid. Whoever he is he's buried deep. Deeper than any internal department I've ever come across.’ Those eyes stayed steadily on him in the mirror.
After a second Alex smiled dryly. ‘So despite the line you fed me before about being able to find out everything – you obviously have your limitations.’
The voice through the grill was odd, unsettling. The agent held a palm out.
‘I told you about them putting tabs on you after the air-crash, didn't I? But that brings up another problem now. I start digging deeper, someone's going to pick up the connection between us.’
Alex nodded; thoughtful. ‘If in fact they haven't already done so.’
Alex nodded to Coby and he started the engine.
The agent’s brow knitted. Were they going somewhere? Alex stared at him again in the mirror.
‘But good of you to confirm what I already suspected: that you've outdone your usefulness. I like a man who is honest.’
The agent at that moment got the first whiff of fumes, and realized that the exhaust was feeding into the back. He tried the side door: locked ! He leant forward, banging on the glass separating them.
‘What the hell, Alex! Come on !’
Alex's stare in the mirror was impassive. Coby had spent an hour before leaving bypassing the catalytic converter with a tube, then the complication of the FBI van trailing them. It had been vital to lose them before this meeting now.
‘.... A man who let's me know where I stand.’
Panic now from the agent as the air started getting short. He banged harder on the glass.
‘Fuck's sake, Alex – let me out of here! Out !’
Alex turned on a CD. Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Spring , started playing. Alex shifted his gaze from his rear-view mirror to ahead, relaxed into the music drowning out the pleas and banging behind him.
The agent took out his .38 and fired at the partition glass once... twice . Only faint surface starbursts.
Frantic, choking now with the fumes, he fired four more shots into the side and back windows too: the same, only surface penetration. The glass was bullet-proof inside and out.
Alex turned up the music, started
He squinted one eye at the tinny voice coming over it: 'You okay... you okay?' Annoying.
EIGHTEEN
Jessica Werner waited on the gurney in the Blind School lab as Ellis Kendell conferred with the clinic doctor. Kendell gave a final nod, as if to confirm he had the procedure clear, then turned to Jessica.
‘Now if you manage to talk your mother out of this appointment with your doctor – put her mind at ease through our clinic here – great .’
‘Okay, yeah. I'll give that another shot.’
‘But if not, at least there's a contingency plan.’ Ellis looked at the doctor, who held up a pill bottle.
‘Take two of these three hours before the appointment: these will give
blood and urine markers consistent with hemeralopia.’ He then held up an eye-drop bottle. ‘And a drop of this in each eye just an hour beforehand. These will give the right dilation level – and the light will in fact hurt your eyes for a while.’
‘Yes. Okay.’ Jessica looked between the two bottles, hoping she’d got the instructions clear.
Alex Culverton's limousine was parked in a deserted warehouse district, shadows heavy in the fast fading dusk light.
A grey car pulled up behind and a dark-suited man got out.
An FBI agent, despite being a deserted area he fired an anxious glance around as he approached Culverton's limousine. Alex Culverton and Coby were sat in the front, so he slid into its back seat.
Alex appraised him for second in his rear-view mirror.
‘So, what news? What have you been able to find out about this teen
kid?’
Alex’s voice fed through a speaker grill to the back. The FBI agent was fazed by it for a second, finding it odd that Alex had chosen to stay in the front by his driver. Last time they’d met they’d sat in the back of the limousine together. Thick plate glass separated them.
‘Not much, I'm afraid. Whoever he is he's buried deep. Deeper than any internal department I've ever come across.’ Those eyes stayed steadily on him in the mirror.
After a second Alex smiled dryly. ‘So despite the line you fed me before about being able to find out everything – you obviously have your limitations.’
The voice through the grill was odd, unsettling. The agent held a palm out.
‘I told you about them putting tabs on you after the air-crash, didn't I? But that brings up another problem now. I start digging deeper, someone's going to pick up the connection between us.’
Alex nodded; thoughtful. ‘If in fact they haven't already done so.’
Alex nodded to Coby and he started the engine.
The agent’s brow knitted. Were they going somewhere? Alex stared at him again in the mirror.
‘But good of you to confirm what I already suspected: that you've outdone your usefulness. I like a man who is honest.’
The agent at that moment got the first whiff of fumes, and realized that the exhaust was feeding into the back. He tried the side door: locked ! He leant forward, banging on the glass separating them.
‘What the hell, Alex! Come on !’
Alex's stare in the mirror was impassive. Coby had spent an hour before leaving bypassing the catalytic converter with a tube, then the complication of the FBI van trailing them. It had been vital to lose them before this meeting now.
‘.... A man who let's me know where I stand.’
Panic now from the agent as the air started getting short. He banged harder on the glass.
‘Fuck's sake, Alex – let me out of here! Out !’
Alex turned on a CD. Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Spring , started playing. Alex shifted his gaze from his rear-view mirror to ahead, relaxed into the music drowning out the pleas and banging behind him.
The agent took out his .38 and fired at the partition glass once... twice . Only faint surface starbursts.
Frantic, choking now with the fumes, he fired four more shots into the side and back windows too: the same, only surface penetration. The glass was bullet-proof inside and out.
Alex turned up the music, started
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