Vessel (26 page)

She watched Mikhail
through the open door of his quarters as he slept, as he twitched and frowned. He wasn't a handsome man, but he had a charm that warmed her, made her smile, and she couldn't help but bathe herself in it at every opportunity. Unwittingly, he had thrown the door to her heart wide open, leaving the inner workings bare and exposed, and with the tentative caution of a new-born foal, she relished it. Mikhail stirred, blinking himself awake, and when he saw Sally watching him, he grinned.

'You don't need to keep watch,' he said, levering himself from his quarters.
'I'll be fine.'

'I don't want you getting hurt,' Sally said.
And she meant it. She still felt guilty for leaving him to suffer for as long as she did the first time.

'That's very kind of you.'

Sally drifted over to him. His dark eyes followed her.

'Can I get you any breakfast?' she asked. 'I can bring it to you here
if you like — breakfast in bed.'

Mikhail laughed.
'Okay — that would be nice, thank you.'

Sally was close to him, daring herself to get closer, feeling every digit of each hand and foot tingling with his proximity.
It was a new sensation, and it made her feel more alive than she'd ever felt before. He watched her as she watched him, and she ducked in quick, kissing him on the cheek. She had pulled away before he had time to react, her heart beating like a drum, skin fizzing with anticipation.

'See you
in a minute,' she said, feeling her face flush with heat.

They shared breakfast together, eat
ing and talking and laughing between mouthfuls of sticky porridge, and she told him the story of how she had come to be interested in science.

'After my mother died,' she began, sinking her thoughts back to her cloudy and muddled youth, 'I began to question life. What
was
life? What was the point of it? Why did we have to endure it, generation after generation?'

'Deep thoughts for a six-
year-old.'

'Tell me about it.
Anyway, I had come to the conclusion that a deity was just too far-fetched, left too many holes. I couldn't understand why a god would allow us to live just so that we might suffer for our entire existence before snuffing it.'

Mikhail nodded, watching
her as she spoke.

'But I could see that we weren't the only ones
suffering. I saw a documentary about the plains of Africa, and I remember struggling with the idea that the antelope seemed to exist solely for the lions to eat. I couldn't fathom why all the animals didn't just eat vegetables. Of course, back then I didn't realise that plants were just as much a living cellular structure as the things that ate them, but you can see my train of thought.

'And then it struck me
— for every living thing, there's another, bigger, smarter and stronger than it. From the smallest plant to the biggest mammal, there was a distinct hierarchy that culminated with us humans.'

She
nodded to herself, feeling that her pre-adolescent thoughts were as valid now as when they were free of the corruption of adulthood.

'I
began to understand why people chose to believe in god,' she continued. 'With so much that we don't know, there must be something above us in the hierarchy — something we couldn't understand, just as the antelope doesn't understand why the lion eats it. That's when I decided that I wanted to find that being, trace the hierarchy to the next level, and it's what I've been searching for ever since.'

She
looked at Mikhail sitting in front of her, hanging on her every word.

'And I think that's what I've found.'

Mikhail didn't say anything, looking down at his half-eaten porridge.

'You haven't finished?
' Sally said. 'Are you okay?'

'I'm not really hungry.'

'How are you feeling?'

Mikhail looked at he
r, his face hollow, his eyes sad. 'I'm fine,' he said, but she knew he was lying.

Sally took his food
pouch, set it aside and burrowed in under his arm, and there they floated, not sharing so much as a word with each other for several long, blissful minutes.

'You're right, you know,' Mikhail said out of the blue.

Sally looked up at him from underneath his arm. 'About what?'

'About everything.
Life, the universe — me.'

'I wish you could tell me all about it
.'

'I wish I could too, but
even if I think of it, it …' he trailed off, his last words sounding pained.

Sally wrapped her arm around his back and squeezed him.
'Don't think about it,' she said. 'Don't.'

'There will be someone one day who can, someone who can share the secrets of the universe with you.'

Sally smiled. 'I hope I get to meet them,' she said.

'I expect you will.'

Chapter 26

'Hello?' Sean yelled, his voice hoarse, but still no one came. He had seen shadows flit past the crack of light, but he wasn't sure if they were people or just plants moving in the wind. He was thirsty — very thirsty — and the stench of urine continued to shamefully remind him that he hadn't been able to hold on long enough. His wrists were raw from pulling against his bindings, but the pain was almost numb to him now. He was sure they were loosening; he would try again soon. He'd also discovered he could slide up the post into a standing-up position, but for the moment he sat as he yelled for help and tried to wriggle free. No matter what happened, he couldn't give up. He
wouldn't
give up.

'Hello?' he yelled again
.

* * *

Banin drummed the desk with his fingers, shaking his head. 'Aliens?'

'I know it seems far-fetched,' Aleks said, sensing the
tangible incredulity in Banin's tone, 'but it's true, I swear it.'

'Aliens?' Banin repeated.

'Okay, forget the aliens —'

'Forget the aliens?'

'Forget the aliens. There's something in space that Bales is trying to destroy, and he won't stop at anything to do it.'

'Uh huh.
And what's that got to do with me?'

'H
e's wiping out anyone that stands in his way.'

Aleks
searched Banin's face for any sign that he was getting through to him, but he wasn't sure. 'And that includes Lev Ryumin. But worse, I think Bales is going to do it again.'

'To who?'

'A journalist called Sean Jacob.'

Banin sighed a long, drawn out sigh, and held his hands up in defeat.
'It sounds like I've barely scratched the surface of this crazy picture,' he said, 'but I've got a case to solve and you're the only clue left.'

A little prickle of flame leaped in Aleks' chest.
'So what now?' he asked.

'We find Bales.
'

Before Aleks could ask,
But how do we do that?,
Banin was on the phone.

'Hi, can you get a twenty-four hour
ANPR scan of all government vehicles — foreign included — and let me know the results, please? Thanks.'

He hung up.

'We have a list of all the diplomatic vehicles and their registrations,' he explained to Aleks. 'Run that through our number plate recognition cameras around the city and we can get a rough idea of where those vehicles are and where they're going. It's not fool-proof, but it's a start.'

The phone rang.

'Banin. Uh huh. Okay. Yep. Thanks.'

'That was quick,' Alex said after Banin hung up.

'It's all digital now,' Banin replied, waking his computer with a wiggle of the mouse. 'I'll print it off.'

He
went to fetch the printouts, holding a thick wad of paper on his return. Each page had a map with circles on it, some numbered and some greyed out, and underneath each map was a list of information.

'Here,' said Banin, handing Aleks half the wad and a pen. '
Each page is a different vehicle, and each circle is a camera. The numbered circles correspond with an ANPR trigger, and the time of the trigger is listed below. The greyed out circles are cameras that haven’t been triggered. Trace the route on each map and make a note of any extended stops, plus the time the vehicle passed its last camera. This is a week's worth of data, so look out for suspicious vehicle behaviour — frequent journeys out of town, spending a long time in a single location, that sort of thing.'

Aleks did as he was told. Most of the vehicles
didn't seem to have moved at all in the last week. Some had been out into central Moscow and back a few times. All fairly normal. Others had left Moscow completely, and a few of those had not yet returned. That last set of vehicles was the one Aleks piled up separately. By the time they were finished, that pile contained seven vehicles.

'Right then,' said Banin, leafing through the
sheets. 'This one is a prison van, so I doubt it's going to be that … this is the Mayor's car — I doubt he has anything to do with this …'

He
continued to read through the sheets, stopping at the last. 'Hmm …' he said, brow wrinkled in thought.

'What?' said Aleks, leaning over the desk to see.

'This is an imported US vehicle, and it seems to have passed one ANPR camera along the highway south out of Moscow, but not the next one a mile later. It must have pulled off at these warehouses and stopped. That was half-an-hour ago.'

'That
could be him.'

Banin nodded, still looking over the print out.
'I think you might be right.'

'Shall we go
check it out?'

'
Whoa there—since when did you become the partner I never wanted?'

'It's either that or you arrest me, because if you leave me here I'm straight out the door. You'll never see me again.'

Folding the paper and putting it in his pocket, Banin grumbled to himself as he eyeballed Aleks.

'Fine,' he said at last. He
stood, grabbed his jacket, and beckoned Aleks to follow. As they walked back down the stairs, Banin adjusted his pistol holster, stopping at a landing halfway down a floor.

'Let me tell you something
before we step outside into the free world,' he said. 'You're under my supervision and, like you so eloquently put, you should be in bracelets, so if you even think of making a run for it I'll shoot you deader than dead.'

Banin may have been shorter than Aleks, but that didn't
make him any less frightening.

'Understood,' Aleks said
, holding his hands up in submission. 'After all, I came here to you in the first place, didn't I?'

'Yes
. I suppose you did. But that doesn't change anything.'

Banin started
down the stairs again, then stopped, turning back to Aleks, finger pointing. 'And if I find out this story is a bunch of bull, I'll shoot you dead for that, too.'

Aleks swallowed and nodded.
'Sure …'

'Good. Let's go.'

They climbed into Banin's rusted car and set off at breakneck pace. It seemed that Banin knew his way around a steering wheel like he did the backstreets of Moscow. The back tyres squealed as Banin hurled the car around another tight corner, dodging a lorry coming the other way that honked at him. Banin gave his hidden lights and siren a short blast and the lorry stopped its honking.

'Idiot …
' Banin muttered.

Aleks stayed quiet, thinking it best not to correct Banin on his understanding of right of way.
They peeled away from the city and onto the freeway, which shot bullet-straight due south and into the countryside. Bridges whipped overhead, Banin pushing the old car far beyond any kind of comfortable — or legal — limit, blasting his siren at any car dawdling in front. Aside from the roar of the wind and engine, the journey was a silent one, Aleks quite happy not to distract Banin from his frightening speed. As late morning became early afternoon and the clouds rolled in, Banin took an exit off the highway that turned into a overgrown, bumpy track.

'This seems pretty secluded,'
he said, and Aleks silently agreed with his observation.

Ahead, a pack of dilapidated warehouses came into view, the corrugated sheet walls flaking with rust. A large sign hung over the road, peeling to
the point of near-indecipherability. It seemed to indicate the warehouses were once home to a car assembly plant.

'I'll park up here
and we'll walk in,' Banin said, pulling up behind a small shed. He turned the car so it was facing the exit and killed the engine. When they got out, Aleks noticed how quiet the place was — eerie even. The rush of the motorway they had left not a few minutes ago was made silent by the crest of the hill between them and it. Rusted shells, stacked up on top of one another, were dotted about the open space, memorials of a dead industry. Grass sprouted from between bricks and through concrete, the consuming power of nature swallowing this abandoned place up whole.

Following Banin, Aleks
crept towards the first warehouse. As they approached it, they saw a black SUV parked up around the corner of what looked to be an old paint shed. Banin nodded at the SUV, drew his pistol, and they moved on. The warehouse door was ajar and, indicating to Aleks to stay outside, Banin slipped into the shadow. Aleks waited several long moments before he returned, shaking his head.

'No one
's here.'

They continued their sombre tour
of the car graveyard, Banin checking every warehouse, each time coming back empty-handed, until they reached a chain-link fence at the far perimeter. Banin holstered his pistol, looking out at the hilly fields beyond.

'Th
is place is deserted,' he said. 'They must have been here at some point, but they sure as shit aren't here now.'

'
Why did they leave the car here?'

Banin shrugged.
'Probably to throw us off the trail.' He turned his back to the fields. 'We should go. We don't have a warrant to be here.'

Aleks wanted to
stay, to look some more, but deep down he knew there was no point. There really was no one here. Dejected, he turned to follow Banin, who had already begun his retreat, when something caught his eye. 'Banin, wait — what's this?'

Banin
turned to look at what Aleks was pointing at: a part of the chain-link fence was missing. The shrouding shadow of the trees either side made it hard to see, but as they approached, it was obvious it had been cut. Banin, frowning, stooped down and ran his fingers through the dirt.

'That
's about a big enough space to fit a quad-bike,' he said, and Aleks looked down to see a pair of faint tyre tracks. He followed them with his eyes; they headed towards a barn poking up between the cleft of two hills about a half-mile away. As he watched, the wind picked up, and the faint buzz of an engine blew in with it.

* * *

Even through the pain, Sean continued to cry out, his throat dry and his lungs burning. If he stopped, he knew he would miss that one fleeting chance to get someone's attention, someone who would continue on their way without ever knowing he was there, tied up, alone. He was sure that his bindings were indeed loosening: his right hand moved further into the loop of rope now than it had done when he had first awoken. But he'd passed the numb phase, and now the raw agony doubled with every attempt to pull his hand through.

'Hello …
?' he yelled with weak indignation, coughing the last syllable into the fuggy air. So expectant was he not to hear a response that he braced his throat for another yell, almost missing the sound of a small engine buzzing towards him. He held his breath, concentrating hard to hear if the noise was getting louder — it was. A jolt of excitement fired him up, and he slid his way up the post to stand upright, his joints and wrists screaming in unison. Hopefully it was a farmer coming to get something from his shed, who would then discover him and free him, but even as he thought it, he knew it wasn't true.

The engine got louder
— a bike engine perhaps — and it pulled up outside. It cut out, and footsteps headed his way. The small crack of light went dark, and the sound of a chain being unthreaded from between two metal handles clattered in his ears. Sean had wanted to be found, had been calling out to be found, but now he held his breath as he waited in terror, knowing that whoever had the key to the chain's lock would surely be the same person that locked him up in the first place.

The door opened, flooding
a blinding white sunlight in, and he turned his head away until his eyes adjusted. Cautiously, he looked back, and the doorway dimmed as the silhouette of a figure filled it, walking towards him with slow, easy strides.

'I wondered when we
'd finally meet,' the voice said.

'I know who you are,' Sean said
with as much ferocity as he could muster, despite his stinging throat.

'I don't doubt that, not for a second. In fact
I'm glad you know who I am. That means you know I'm serious.'

Sean looked at the man, catching
a flash of grey hair atop a tanned face, set with narrow, piercing eyes. 'Bales …' he whispered.

Bales, hands clasped
behind his back, did not stop in front of Sean. He continued walking, wandering around Sean, circling him. 'You've become quite a nuisance to me,' he said from behind. 'And so has Aleks.'

Sean tried to twist round to
see him, but his bindings held him fast. 'Where is he? What have you done with him?'

Bales completed his loo
p, coming around into Sean's view again. He stopped in front of him, hands still behind his back, a wicked smile on his face. 'He's safe — don't worry. Safe and secure.' His eyes flashed. 'For now. He'll have you to thank when he's not.'