This wasn’t the thing that mostly caught Aleksey’s attention, however. Austin was flanked by the two men who’d been working on the garden, and they were both carrying pistols. And they seemed confident they knew how to use them.
They looked right at home in the armoury, too.
At home.
In his fit, Neil had said:back home. Wherever they’d taken him, he’d called it home. An ex-soldier. And here was the barracks. Hishome.
Aleksey saw his error, but it was too late. He put an arm out to ease the shocked woman back, but even that movement brought the barrel of one of the guns up to point at him. He knew the short-range accuracy of a Walther PPK and kept very still.
Max stumbled forwards a little, his hands out, pleadingly. ‘Austin? What the hell is this? What are you doing?’ The second gun swung towards him, and he stepped back sharply.
Austin pointed his finger and screamed, clearly hysterical, ‘Where is it? Where the fuck is it?’
All three of them glanced at each other astonished. Austin was screaming athim. Aleksey held his hands up, genuinely mystified. ‘Me? I don’t have anything. What are you talking about?’
‘Tim Watson told me you were here! I just fucking got off the phone to him! The chimera! Our fucking chimera! I had it packed in the case. That fucking fat kid was talking talking talking at me, and your snotty little rug rat was in the garage alone! It was in the case; I shut the case; now it’s not there! She’s fucking taken it.’
Max began to breathe in and out forcibly, then bent and put his hands on his knees. ‘What have you done, Austin? What have you bloody done?’
Rachel suddenly shouted, ‘Him! What haveyoudone? Max! Don’t tell me you made that thing again! Max!’
‘I’ve got the vaccine, Rach.I’ve finally done it. We’ve trialled it! It works!’
‘What? That’s fantastic! You’ve—?’
‘Shut up! Shut up both of you. You! You arrogant Russian fuck.Where the fuck is your daughter!’
Aleksey turned his head slightly to one side, and blew out his breath. He was picturing the scene. The electric car return. The agitated man. Miles with his questions. And Molly. What had Molly been doing? She’d been trundling her little unicorn around, talking to him. He licked his lips. ‘Are you telling me that my daughter has…?’ He literally could not finish the question. As with looking up into the sky for Ben’s fiery death, he did not have the hubris to say the words that would conjure this horror into the world.
Molly had the third horseman of the apocalypse in her suitcase, and with it she could usher in the end of the world.
‘An island! That annoying kid said he was going to an island with no cars! Where the fuck are they? It’s supposed to be with Maddy for the finishing ceremonies!’
Max raised his head. ‘You were going to release it? You and your crazy witch of a wife were going to literally release it? Austin, please, tell me you’re not planning to do this.’
‘You bloody fool, Max. Omnicide! Omnicide! How many times do I have to tell you! It’s the only way this planet is going to survive. We’ve only got a few years left before it all burns!’
Rachel eased forwards, her arms outstretched. ‘Please, tell—’ She was seized by one of the men. He held the pistol against her temple, his other arm around her throat.
She froze, terrified.
Aleksey had one card, he reckoned. Score one for paranoia. Only he knew where Molly actually was. And there was nothing any of these insane people could do to get that information from him.
‘Why did you work so hard on the vaccine with me? If you’ve been planning this all along! I don’t understand!’ Austin turned his gaze from Aleksey back to Max at his pitiful questioning.
‘What do you mean?’
‘You’ve been vaccinated, Austin! For God’s sake. Just like Wright and Bailey here. Yeah, guys? We’ve all been vaccinated! Maddy too—you both had it! Why?’
Austin twitched his head as if something had stung him. ‘Well, someone needs to survive the extinction.’
In other circumstances Aleksey might have laughed. He felt it bubbling up, a sort of hysterical disbelief. He had to end this somehow and get to Molly. That was all he had, knowledge and hope.
Apparently not. Max sighed, a long drawn out reluctant sound. ‘I know where she is.’
Aleksey rounded on him, but Rachel was suddenly thrust violently towards him, and he caught her instinctively. By the time she was on her feet, the gun was aimed unwaveringly at him.
Max gave him a pleading look. ‘I’m sorry. But maybe I can do something…Austin, please, just listen…’ He got a gun butt to his nose, and it began to stream. He bent over, pinching it, and choked out, muffled by blood, ‘The island is one of the Scillies. Where your fucking loony wife is. Ben told me all about it at dinner—showed me some photos.’ He glanced apologetically to Aleksey. ‘He’s obsessively fond of you, I’d say. Spent the whole evening talking about you. Sorry.’
