‘Nevertheless, the data is inside you. Your level of synaesthesia was borderline which in all likelihood is thereason for the prominence of your Echoes. However, you displayed aptitude in your determination, loyalty and self-preservation amongst many other things. And you can salvage this situation by leaving your hotel room, climbing into your car and pressing the ignition button.’
‘And leave my son behind to be hurt again?’
‘You cannot trust yourself to know what really happened. You still have time to do what is best for him and for your country, and leave.’
Bruno was and had become many things. But above all else, he was a parent. ‘No,’ he said quietly. ‘Not until I know Louie is safe.’
Karczewski slipped on his glasses and shrugged. ‘I hope you change your mind – for everyone’s sake,’ he added and then disappeared.
As more hours passed, the Echoes began to reappear, one by one. Some were more vocal, begging him to flee, while others hurled insults at him. The one thing they all had in common was that they wanted to survive. And without Bruno, they couldn’t.
By mid-afternoon, Bruno’s stomach began rumbling. Still focusing on his phone’s screen, he opened the door to his hotel room to walk two streets to the nearest supermarket. He glanced at the outside through a corridor window when he spotted Louie’s attacker disembarking from a bus. As he paused to rummage through his bag, Bruno sprang into action. He sprinted through the hotel and the reception doors, across a car park and then into a road until he was metres away from his mark.
The assailant was much taller and broader in the flesh than he appeared on CCTV, but Bruno wasn’t intimidated. The first blow from his hammer hit the man on the back of the neck. He used such force that his victim dropped to his knees.
Next, Bruno used the weapon with short sharp thwacks against his ribs and the man rolled to his side. Then Brunopushed him onto his back and mounted him, grabbing either side of his head and slamming it against a concrete kerb.
‘Stop, please stop,’ the man begged breathlessly. He tried shielding his face with his arm as Bruno raised the hammer over his head.
‘I saw what you did to him,’ Bruno hissed, flecks of spit landing on the man’s face.
‘I didn’t do anything!’
‘Then why do I recognise you?’
‘I’m a temp, I’ve never worked here before. I promise.’
‘You’re a liar! I saw you hitting my son. I watched you through the cameras. He’s just a little boy.’
‘I don’t even know who Louie is.’
‘Then how do you know his name?’
The man realised his error and covered his face again as Bruno hit him twice more. Bruno heard a shuffling of feet behind him as his imaginary audience approached. Any last-ditch attempt to beg for mercy would go unheeded.
‘No, wait,’ the man cried.
‘Wait for what? What could you possibly say to stop me from killing you?’
‘I was paid to do it!’
Bruno hesitated. ‘Paid by who?’
The man’s eyes flicked to Bruno’s right, as if looking in the direction of the Echoes. But as Bruno turned his head, there was just one person behind him, and that wasn’t a hallucination.
‘By her,’ the man said.
Chapter 63
EMILIA
Bruno and Emilia sat opposite one another, each staring the other in the eye, neither wanting to be the first to show weakness and look away.
His arms and legs were restrained by metal cuffs as he sat in the back of the vehicle Bianca had assigned Emilia. He had put them on himself while Emilia pointed a loaded gun at him that she had swiped from a car at the safe house following Sinéad’s murder.
Emilia knew time was of the essence and that she had only minutes to interrogate him before Bianca and Adrian arrived. After that, Bruno’s fate beyond her car was likely sealed.
‘Do you know me?’ she began as the doors closed. Her tone was more assured than when she had first confronted Sinéad. Bruno eyed her up and down.
