The drones and the helicopters began to pull back for their own safety as each Passenger’s car entered the derelict wasteland from five different angles, all in perfectly straight lines. Their speeding tyres threw up white and grey clouds of concrete dust. Jude’s eyes were now open, but he wasn’t looking at what was to come. He was staring into the camera lens.He’s looking to me, Libby thought.He wants me to be the last face he ever sees. She forced the biggest smile while her eyes swam with tears. She held her free hand to her chest, right above her heart. Jude did the same.
0.009 miles.
‘Three seconds left,’ said the TV anchor solemnly. ‘May God be with them.’
Libby braced herself until, without warning, each car suddenly turned sharply in a perfectly choreographed manoeuvre before their brakes were applied, bringing them to a skidding, dramatic halt.
Chapter 55
Libby released her hand from Muriel’s grip and clutched the neckline of her own blouse.
‘What’s happening?’ Fiona asked. She pushed her glasses back up her nose and stepped closer to the screens to try and make sense of the images.
‘I … I don’t think it’s happened,’ said Muriel. ‘I don’t think they’ve collided. There’s no explosion, no fires, there’s … nothing.’
Footage from the inside of each vehicle vanished, leaving only images taken from outside. However, the swirling smog of rising dust meant that from drones, helicopters and the satellite feed, the area was cloaked under a thick grey and white blanket.
Everyone’s focus shifted to street-level cameras as news crews zoomed in, desperate to capture the moment the air that was dense with debris and dust finally dissolved. Libby watched anxiously as army and emergency services vehicles approached the Passengers’ cars, reticent to step too close, too quickly, in case they belatedly detonated. Then footage switched to just five screens, each one taken by bodycams attached to five army bomb disposal technicians. They wore thick, blast-proof heavy body armour and took tentative steps. Time felt as if it were standing still until they reached the cars the world had spent the last two and a half hours fixated by.
The technician leading the team raised a gloved hand in the air and the others stopped instantly. His finger pointed to each car and all five squared up to one vehicle apiece. The only sound coming through the speakers was their deep, husky breaths behind their oxygen masks. Then, without warning, the same noise was emitted by each car. It was a simple click.
‘What was that?’ whispered Muriel.
‘I think their doors are unlocking,’ said Matthew.
As the dust began to fade, the jurors listened intently as the first Passenger threw their door wide open.
‘Who’s that?’ Libby asked as a figure emerged from the vehicle and into the cloud like a ghost.
‘I can just about make it out … I think it’s Sam Cole,’ Matthew replied. A bodycam focused on a face and confirmed Sam’s identity. Once out of the car, his head turned quickly as if to search for Heidi’s vehicle, but before he could locate her, he was bundled away to safety.
‘Where’s Jude?’ Libby asked, the words nearly clogged in her throat.
‘I don’t know but I think that’s Heidi,’ said Muriel pointing to a second vehicle. Her exit was more tentative; her eyes were shut tight, as if she was still expecting her car to explode at any moment. When it didn’t, she dared to open an eyelid and became startled by the heavily armoured technician taking her by the arm and hurrying her away from the scene.
Next, a bodycam caught Claire, who was struggling to pull herself out of her car. She stretched out her arms for help and once eased to safety, more figures clad in blast suits ran to her aid and carried her by stretcher to awaiting ambulances.
Two vehicles remained. Libby’s eyes flicked from one to the other waiting to see Jude. The tension was unbearable.
A camera focused on the largest of the cars, which Libby recognised as Sofia’s. Her gullwing doors remainedclosed. A technician reached to open them and as their hinges stretched, a small, panicked dog scampered out and ran blindly past them. The technician moved closer to the interior until his camera picked up Sofia. Her unconscious body was slumped across the rear seats. Quickly, she was pulled from her car and placed upon the ground until a stretcher arrived. ‘Do we have a pulse?’ Libby heard a voice shout, but the answer was muffled. The cuffs of Sofia’s jacket and her hands were streaked with blood.
There was one vehicle left, and Libby was beside herself. ‘Why hasn’t Jude got out yet?’ she wept.
‘Perhaps he’s in shock,’ offered Matthew. ‘People react in different ways to extreme stress. Maybe he just needs a moment to get his bearings.’
‘But the Hacker could still detonate his car.’ Libby lifted her head towards the speakers to address the Hacker. ‘Where is he? Why have you turned the dashboard cameras off? I want to see him.’
The Hacker was now completely silent.
When Muriel went to take Libby’s hand again to offer her reassurance, it was snatched back. Libby felt hot thorns prickle her skin and spread across its surface as her breath shortened. A panic attack felt imminent but this time she didn’t think she could gather the strength to minimise its impact. ‘Please tell me what’s happening,’ she begged.
‘Libby, look,’ said Matthew and her eyes darted back to the screen and Jude’s car. Another figure inside a blast suit twisted the handle to open the door. Libby’s heart thumped hard and fast, terrified that the Hacker had one last trick up his sleeve. Then slowly, the door opened.Please be okay, she repeated to herself. She bit her bottom lip so hard that she tasted blood.
The technician moved slowly, leaning half his body inside the vehicle. However, the camera was attached tothe other half of his chest and was pressed against the bodywork, covering the lens. ‘Move!’ she yelled.
Eventually, he pushed himself further inside Jude’s car until the camera captured the entire interior.
It was empty.
