He had a decision to make, and quickly. Either call somebody to alert them or switch off his phone and disappear, risking oblivion. He wrote a text to a trusted friend but then quickly deleted it. The indecision galled him. He wasn’t used to it.
But it was too late. He couldn’t get his thumbnail to slip the button up to turn it off, because he heard somebody in the hall and his hands suddenly turned greasy with panic.
The door handle turned, and he looked around him, in no doubt about what was going on. He went to the window and opened it, peering down into the alley below to see how far the drop to the street was. It was too far; he’d twist his ankle at the very least, and worse if he landed badly. He thought aboutJamie’s smashed body on the atrium floor and Sandy wailing over him. The prospect of pain immobilised him.
The only other option was to hide.
But that was pathetic. If the person on the other side of the door was sent by the same people who’d killed Jamie Robbins for speaking out, he’d have to fight. But he was only a keyboard warrior not a real one. Inside his head he said a silent apology to Jamie. And to Angelina. And his dead unborn child.
‘I’m sorry,’ he whispered.
He crouched under the table and pulled a rug his way to cover his body.
All his kit was on top of it, and he made a last-minute decision. He crept out from under the table just as the door opened fully and a figure stood in the doorway. He removed a USB from the main MacBook and swallowed it, as the light flipped on and he covered his eyes, then he felt something slam into his head and he hit the floor like one of the wrestlers Jamie used to show him on WWE network. They’d laughed at them, but the serious side was too awful to ignore. He’d written a piece on the drugs they took to make them look that big. Drugs endorsed by Hampton-Dent.
As the blows came thick and fast down on his body, all he could think of was Angelina’s face and the last thing he said to her.
‘I won’t let anything hurt you,’ he’d promised. Hoping she’d tell him where it was. Then the look Jamie gave him the last time he saw him, rifling through his stuff in his room at the Heron Hall Hotel.
The look of a broken promise.
Betrayal.
As his head hit the floor, curiously he felt no pain. He’d gone numb with submission. Anaesthetised by guilt.
And now he was happy he’d never found what Angelina had hidden because his death would be worth nothing to them.
Chapter 54
Paul searched the wardrobe for something to wear. He had no idea how long he’d been in bed for. He turned on the TV and saw that it was Sunday afternoon.
He’d lost several days of his life, and he felt familiar anger rushing up from his toes.
He pulled on a pair of shorts and a thin sweater and looked around. His mind whirred and he no longer knew what was true or false. He couldn’t distinguish reality from fiction. He looked through the closed curtains and saw where he was.
All he knew for certain was that he needed to get away.
Hemustget away.
He went to pull on some trainers, but he felt the overwhelming desire to throw up and he made it to the bathroom just in time to retch over the toilet bowl. When he stood up, he felt dizzy, and he doused his face with water from the tap. His face was hot, and he looked at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes were sunken and dark, and his cheeks were grey-looking. He looked fifty years old. Sweat covered his brow and his hair was scruffy. The worst part was the mental questioning. His head was never quiet. It was as if an alien had invaded his brain and spoke to him constantly, telling him he was useless, weak and phony.
He went back to the bedroom and took a swig of fluid from his water bottle, scrunching up his face. He knew what was in it and he was aware that it was harming him, but he couldn’t help himself. He’d seen addiction in many of his friends, but he’d never thought it would grip him again so easily. He believed he was stronger than it.
In control.
But their product was poisoned.
It had been a game-changing creation. The balance of vitamins, special isolates and plant additives was a momentous step forward – no, a leap – for the industry and they were charging ahead with the new revolution in supplements.
But FairGro wanted to go one step further.
Paul wiped sweat from his forehead, and he couldn’t tell what was tears and what was perspiration. The feeling of complete hopelessness overwhelmed him, and he wished Jamie was still alive.
He’d been outside at Heron Hall when Jamie’s body hit the floor, but he hadn’t been able to recall how he got there. The night air had been cooler than the previous few days and he’d worn a loose jacket. He was out there getting some air after their argument.
Another one.
He’d passed the assassin on the stairs and recalled being struck by how ordinary he seemed.
