Through Your Eyes Page 9

  In stepped Smithwick; same forehead, same dark, stinking teeth, smiling inanely. He was a world-class pantomime villain.

  With that he opened the door and dragged her out roughly by the arm.

  "You're, coming, to, see, the, boss, man," he said.

  With that, she was taken in the all too familiar lift up to the 28th floor. The lift door opened, and she looked out at the enormous skyline around her. So this was how the other half lived, she thought. Piped music and the smell of fresh flowers reverberated through the room. When she walked in, she saw the fat man sitting behind an enormous fat desk, furiously tapping away at a keyboard, looking intently at a computer monitor. He said nothing other than look up and give her a sickly smile. He ushered her over to the desk, and offered her a chair next to him. Adjacent to him was a large CCTV monitor. She looked at it, and could perceive a very grainy black and white image of a man sitting in a chair. The image was panning in closer to show more detail. He was attached to the chair with metal restraints, although he wasn't resisting. The reason he wasn't resisting was the fact that one side of his face was hurt, and he was bleeding heavily from it. He appeared to have bruising to his right jaw, with a large swelling that was almost purple. Blood encrusted his lips. He spoke no words; no screams came from him, as he looked like he was unconscious.

  It was Sam!

  In the distance was the figure of another man in a chair. She wasn't sure, but it could have been Steve. He was not moving. He could have been dead. She shivered, but said nothing. She had to wait it out. What were they after? The device?

  "Now, my dear, if you want him to live, perhaps you may prove to be looser with your tongue than he and Steve were."

  The unmistakeable voice of the fat man, even his threats were laden with blubber and waffle.

  Sam had once told her that life was just like going to watch a movie. This was a hell of a nightmare he had taken her to see. She wanted to leave at the interval, and get her money back.

  The fat man smiled back at her

  15.

  She continued looking at the image on the TV monitor. It was Sam, but what had they been doing to him? Did they really believe they would get what they wanted by torturing him? It was hard to believe Novertium would sink this low, but the evidence was irrefutable.

  "Well, Abby, if you want to say anything, now is a good time, otherwise there is no telling what my colleague, Mr Woakes, will be getting up to with Sam!" he said, with a disgusting, disturbing smile.

  "You really are an odious toad. Where are you holding Sam, what have you done with him?" said Abby, looking up at the boss, unblinking and defiantly.

  In the background, the huge figure of Smithwick was looking agitated. He was stepping from one leg to the other, as if he needed to pee.

  On closer inspection, it was apparent it was excitement!

  "Sir, what, would you, like, me, to, do," asked Smithwick. "Maybe, a, finger...or, an, eye?" he chuckled.

  The fat man ignored him and said, "Now look Abby, is it really necessary to be like that? We just want some simple questions answered. We're not that worried that the device has gone. We just need to know what happened in the chamber. We've checked the footage and can't see anything, as it happened too quickly. But what we did see was him talking to you."

  He paused and swallowed, clearing his throat. His three double chins wobbled up and down like stacked pizza dough.

  "So we simply want to know what he told you."

  She looked at him, her green eyes squinted like lasers and eyebrows twisted into knots.

  "I will give you this," she said, raising her middle finger at him. "You can do with that as you wish. I want to talk to Sam, now!"

  "Oh, alright, if you offer me a finger, then that is precisely what I will have to take from you, my dear!" he laughed. "Mr Smithwick, if you would be so kind."

  He gestured with a chubby hand towards Abby and smiled at her.

  She looked in horror at the large man.

  Smithwick took a couple of steps towards Abby and grabbed her hand, simultaneously removing something from his pocket. It was an eyepiece of some sort. He placed it over his eye, clicking a button on its side, a red light switching on over where his eye would normally be. It looked like a laser pointer you would normally see being used in an auditorium during official presentations.

  "Do, you, want, to, see, my, little, red, light?" he asked Abby.

  A grotesque laugh and his teeth were bared like an animal, the colour of grey and brown tombstones. He held her firmly as she tried to squirm and wriggle free from his grasp. She started to scream. All pretences of putting on a brave face had long gone.

  And then the lift made a pinging sound. It had come down from above. She hadn't realised there were levels above this one, she thought this was it; the board of directors’ level. When the lift door opened, she looked at the person open mouthed. She couldn't quite comprehend what was going on, but this couldn't be happening, not in the company they had worked within for so many years.

  He came into the room and kicked the fat boss in the leg. As the boss fell, he kicked him again, but this time firmly in the buttocks. He ushered Smithwick away with a look.

  "Don't treat her like that you fat bastard," he said. "I paid you to get answers to what happened, not to torture her. Besides, she is mine to deal with. Now get out of this office, and take your dog with you," as he gestured at Smithwick.

  Christopher Jonathan Stowe.

  He was a one-time friend and colleague.

  He was supposedly one of the Fab Four.

  He stood over her in an expensive suit and strong aftershave that could have doubled for lavatory cleaner. His face, as ever, was covered in acne, and his double chin had extended out since she saw him last. He was in danger of outdoing the fat boss!

  The treacherous, lying traitor, all this time they thought he had been working with them; when he was one of them all along. He was in charge, the commander of the whole organisation. He was Novertium.

  "Now, come on Abs, let's get all this out in the open and then we can move on. Sam has let us down. He has sacrificed all we have worked for over the last decade, the poor fool now has delusions of martyrdom, or some other such pathetic complex. If you talk to me now, you can save him."

  The Stowe opening gambit was not hugely convincing to Abby's ears. She had always found him to be a first class bull shitter over the years.

  All this time, they had been working for him. She had to say it to herself again, as she couldn't quite get her head around it - He was Novertium. He had always been very jealous of Sam and Abby's professional success. He had always been jealous of their close relationship as well. He had always had designs on Abby, but never had a hope. She was far too sharp, too intelligent and too far into Sam before he had a chance. He was also a geek. His head in computers and the like, and as such, they didn't have much in common other than they were work colleagues. She also found him devious and untrustworthy. He had been a bit of a babble mouth down the years, and had done some damage by not being able to keep his mouth shut. In simple terms he was a show off. That was why Abby had kept some of the work away from him; some of the technology was only known to Sam and Abby and that included the separtacle. This remote beacon was also an amplifier and receiver for the device, and only Sam and Abby knew how it worked. Fortunately, she had heeded Sam's advice and was wearing one right now, a transmitter no bigger than a grain of rice, embedded under her scalp on the back of her head. She was glad she hadn't kept Stowe within their inner circle, as there was no knowing what kind of further damage he might have caused.

  "So what happened, you devious traitor, did you sell out to them, or were you one of them the whole time?" she asked.

  She was looking at him up and down with a classic Abby look.

  Abby continued, "Have you enjoyed torturing your best friend and colleague to within an inch of his life? You will rot in hell!"

  He turned to her and said, "My dear Abby, y
ou think this is about friendship and loyalty? You believe I am financially motivated, perhaps? There are far greater things going on here than you could ever imagine. Actions and inactions, cause and effect. There are things we will do that will change human history. And I firmly believe that you, and he, have already had a glimpse of what is to come. So this is the last time. Tell me what I want to know. Where is the device? Who was in that chamber with Berner? Tell me what happened?"

  Abby didn't need much time to think about it.

  "I'm saying nothing more. I want to see Sam!"

  He didn't say anything. Just turned the CCTV monitor to her. Sam was there, barely conscious. Woakes was standing there with the same piece of equipment that Smithwick had already shown Abby in great detail. It was attached to his eye.

  "If you have nothing more to say then we have to find another way of motivating you. You clearly are not afraid of what we do to you. What about him?" he said, gesturing towards Sam.

  "Ok, Woakes, off you go," he spoke into a microphone.

  The red light fired up and started to inch closer towards Sam's arm. She looked on in horror as it got closer and closer, until it started to scorch his shirt.

  And then burning flesh.

  "Stop, please stop, leave him alone!" she screamed.

  "I see I have your attention, now," he said smiling.

  The fat boss and Smithwick had now returned to the room, both beaming at the awful sight on the monitor. They were getting off on the vision of pain in another human being.

  "Now, Abs, get talking!" said Stowe.

  "Well, I don't know anything. Sam was in the chamber, I was outside. Why do you think I know anything more than you?" she spluttered.

  Stowe smiled and nodded. He said, "Do you think we're really that stupid? We saw him speak to you after he came out of the chamber. He told you something. He gave you instructions!"

  At this point, the lights went down in the room. The power for the whole level seemed to temporarily drain. The monitors went down. Silence. Just static. In the distance she could hear voices that were panicking, it was apparent this blackout was affecting a large part of the building. The only thing she could think of were the myriad of power sensitive experiments in the basement. They had taken years of painstaking work and effort, and were about to be ruined at any moment. Even the back-up generator had failed. Where was the power going?

  And then she saw it. Well, actually there was a sound that preceded it. It was like the sound of a far-away wind blowing through trees, and the branches and leaves bristling away, basking in its power. Then there was an odd smell; a kind of sweet aroma reminding her bizarrely of apples cooking in a distant oven. She thought of apple crumble.

  And gradually, Abby's eyes lit up. In the space of ten seconds, she had gone from feelings of utter despair, horror and fear to a new feeling. It was familiar, a feeling of uplifting hope and happiness. It was like she was floating in air, being lifted by an invisible force or perhaps by a presence. She looked around, then realised to her astonishment that she was being physically lifted up about eight feet in the air. Green and golden lights filled the room, and it was impossible to see through them. Ribbons and curtains of energy ebbed and flowed around Abby like the Aurora Borealis, but their origin was not from the sky. Smithwick was below, flailing his arms at her, trying to get at her like an ape. Despite the grave situation, she found this incredibly amusing, but more so, because she was almost intoxicated with this sensation of rising. As she continued to look down, their faces started to disappear, and there was a new presence around her, but this was within the ribbons of light. She looked around and could see a face that smiled at her...

  Then suddenly the monitor and power came back on in a flash. And she was gone, along with the flashing lights and magical levitation act. Smithwick leapt around the room continuing his gorilla impersonation, but Stowe and the fat boss stood still, as if unimpressed with the cheap light show.

  "Where did she go?" asked the fat boss, as he cowered from behind the fat chair.

  Stowe had stopped in his tracks and was now looking at the CCTV screen of the interrogation room where the Professor was being held. It was difficult to interpret the wry smile on his face. He was either blissfully happy or absolutely furious.

  Stowe said, "She has gone for now and I am sure this is the good Professor's doing. We need to follow them both. We need to find out where they are going. We need to retrieve the device."

  "What do you mean, the Professor? Isn't he downstairs with Woakes answering our questions? And Sir, how can we follow? They hold all the cards, they have the device! How can we possibly locate it?" said the fat boss.

  Stowe smiled and simply said, "They thought they were the clever ones with their technology on the side, hidden under my very nose. Little did they know that I had technology on the side as well, granted it's not in the same league as what they have created, but it will allow us to track them."

  "I see," gulped the fat boss.

  He had looked at the CCTV now and realised what Stowe had been looking at; something had happened in the interrogation room.

  "Get Woakes together with Smithwick. Tell them they are going on a little adventure. There is another lab that even Sam and Abby were not aware of."

  Stowe smiled and paused, thinking to himself.

  He then said, "We call it Ruth, and that is where my teams have created other more helpful technology."

  "Tell them to buckle up, for they are going on a retrieval mission. One that they are going to enjoy very much! It will be an operation through time," he added.

  "W-w-what do you mean?" stuttered the fat minion.

  "We have another device, you moron. But it's a one way ticket!"

  16.

  And then there were lights.

  Golden and green.

  Ribbons of light everywhere, and one of the ribbons was holding her hand. She then felt something on her other hand; she could feel the device.

  A figure was looking at her. It was Sam! She couldn't describe her joy, but how had he got here from the interrogation room? And then she remembered the message from Sam in the chamber room, and as the ribbon took hold of her, she started to understand some of what had just happened.

  This wasn't her Sam, or at least not the Sam she had been talking to today. This was a Sam from somewhere else, a certain youth and innocence about him that she could discern, even from within this alien ether. With time, she started to move with the Sam like presence, and this movement was smooth, not a physical movement, but what they had always imagined it would be like in the research and subsequent practice runs.

  Smooth and exact. Milliseconds or an eternity? Time may have stopped as far as she was concerned.

  "Abby, do you understand why I have taken you? We need to go now and look forward. Your Sam sacrificed himself for you. I am the Sam that will try not only to fulfil both his ideas and plans, but to also do something else for him that is of vital importance. But, beware, we have many obstacles in our way. Please come with me, and do not grieve for him yet. We have too much left to do," I said, in my grand and important voice.

  "I understand, I will come with you, but I cannot call you Sam, as you are not the Sam I know," she replied.

  And then all had stopped, and it took a little time to take in our surroundings. We were in an enclosed dark space. The insides were covered with the type of wall paper you often see in an Indian restaurant, and the little light I could discern was coming from about twenty feet away through a narrow break within some wooden boards. The ceiling was a chocolate brown colour, similar to the appearance of old style pubs, stained from heavy smoking over fifty years.

  A disused house, pub or shop, I thought? But I had an overwhelming knowledge of where I was; I was certain this was the same road as Siris' shop. How I knew this, I did not know.

  I looked at her. I had finally met her.

  Abigail, I thought. The green eyes. Pursed lips. Determined look. The woman of my dr
eams. Gemma. She was staring back at me with a look that could only be described as incredulous. She was looking very dizzy, and had immediately sat down on the dusty floor next to me, but at no time did she take her eyes off me.

  And the only thing I said was the first thing that came into my stupid brain.

  "You looked exactly like the little girl in the Exorcist when I pulled you up. I was expecting swearing and green vomiting!" I said, smiling at her.

  Gemma, I thought to myself.

  I stared at her and was trying to imagine what she was thinking. Perhaps it was along the lines of, 'She looked at him in wonderment. This guy, astonishing man that he was, getting her out of the very bad situation she was in, and although her real Sam was in dire peril, this Sam was amazingly brave and handsome.'

  She turned to me, tenderly, with a big smile.

  She then said, "Let me get this straight. You're asking about my resemblance to a fictional character from some pathetic horror movie? Are you retarded? Are you really that stupid, you complete moron?"

  Maybe she wasn't quite like the Gemma of my dreams as I landed with a crash, and realised that she perhaps wasn't as happy about my heroics as I thought she might be. She wasn't as scary as this in my previous encounters or even when I had met her through the device.

  "I just like movies," I said, meekly. "Just trying to make you smile."

  "Well, listen up, Neo," she said, eyes like steel. "I don't give a rat's arse about you and movies. Where are we going, what is going on and how can we save my Sam?"

  I said, "Look, I'm, um, a bit new to all this. I know I've got a lot of explaining to do, but I've seen what Professor Sam and I need to do. It's all about the device. It's needed somewhere else, sometime else, to prevent a catastrophe. This is all very stressful for me as well you know, so I was just trying to lighten things up a bit. Up until a week ago, I was just a normal geeky guy, until I kind of got this device given to me by some guy after I'd met you on a date."

  I immediately regretted saying the last words and bit my lip. Did I mention I was not that great with one liners and talking to girls?