Ewan’s mouth dropped open, and his blinking increased. Salter, despite his helpless situation, had struck him where it hurt: right in the conscience. But Salter said no more, perhaps aware that the strategy of hurting his captors would not help him escape his situation.
‘I can’t stop the AME shield from being raised,’ Salter continued, ‘and no matter wh—’
‘Oh, we know,’ said Alex. ‘For all your sins, and despite all the horrific things you’ve said yes to during your employment with Grant, you’re still a generic nothing-special vehicle port officer. We’re not expecting you to help that much. We do need your keycard though.’
‘It’s in my left pocket. Take it.’
Kate’s hand rummaged through Salter’s left trouser pocket and emerged with his keycard. Salter began to gasp in even more erratic, panicked breaths, and Ewan understood why. Without that card, Salter was no different to a clone soldier, or even one of the rebels. His life in the upper floors of New London was over.
‘OK,’ Salter said, tears emerging in his eyes, ‘make it quick.’
‘Oh, we don’t like killing humans,’ answered McCormick. ‘Unless it results in saving the lives of more humans. And we don’t need to kill you, so we won’t.’
‘Sir,’ said Alex, ‘not to contradict you in front of the enemy, but—’
‘He won’t give us away. He’s dead the moment he speaks. He’s let rebels into New London and given them access to the higher floors. Grant won’t let him live.’
McCormick’s right, Ewan thought. If one bit of information spills out from Salter’s lips, Grant will probably save him for Oliver Roth.
‘But I can offer you a deal,’ McCormick continued. ‘It involves us staying undetected, and you staying alive. Win-win, I’d say.’
‘I’m listening,’ Salter gasped. Ewan was astonished at how quickly this man complied with their every demand. For a man with no good options, Salter seemed to instinctively know where his best chances of survival lay.
‘You leave this room,’ McCormick began, ‘unarmed and without your keycard. Carrying nothing but your radio, and the radios from the two clones on the floor. You use the authority you still have in Vehicle Port Three, take a van of your choice and leave New London, sheltering in a nearby village away from Grant’s forces but within radio range.’
‘I can actually recommend a nice little bungalow—’ said Alex, before Ewan shushed him.
‘In return,’ McCormick continued, ‘you keep all three radios by your side and check in whenever commanded.’
‘Which is every fifteen minutes tonight,’ said Ewan. ‘I took the dead clones’ radios at Oakenfold so they wouldn’t detect them missing. Had to check in so many times on the way to New London, I almost wish I hadn’t bothered.’
‘Once the night is over,’ finished McCormick, ‘you can live out the rest of your days in the English countryside, away from Grant’s brave new world. How does that sound?’
Salter nodded.
‘Wait,’ said Kate, ‘you’re just going by trust? How do you know he won’t give us away the moment he’s out of sight?’
‘Because,’ Ewan said, ‘when Grant finds out what he’s done, he’s dead. What do you think, Arnold? Is it worth giving your life to reveal our presence?’
‘No. Now please, just let me get out quickly.’
The soldiers backed off, and McCormick passed the dead clones’ radios to Salter. Even unrestrained, Salter didn’t move a muscle, perhaps magnetised to the table through fear.
‘Here,’ said Alex, tossing a little green box towards him. ‘Have a med-kit for your hand. No hard feelings, mate.’
Salter tried to catch it, but it slipped through the remains of his wounded hand.
‘Right,’ said Ewan, ‘let’s head off. The Central Research Headquarters and the Experiment Chamber are both on Floor F. Alex and I will take that.’
‘Wait—’
‘And no, Alex, you’re not doing your lone wolf thing again. We can’t afford the risk. Sir, you and Kate can take the data servers and the paper archive, since Floors P and R are next to each other.’
‘Learn the alphabet, Ewan,’ said Alex.
Ewan didn’t waste time checking whether Alex was right. It would do him no good.
‘One thing I’ve been meaning to ask,’ said Kate. ‘Even if we destroy all those things, won’t all the border points still be around the Citadel? Can’t they get something back from them?’
‘Border points don’t contain software,’ answered McCormick, ‘they just respond to a remote computer. Trust me, Grant trying to extract data from a border point would be like looking for files inside a printer that just printed them.’
Ewan nodded, pretending to understand. At his side, Alex opened the exit door and wandered straight into the corridor without checking for enemies.
‘Alex!’ snapped McCormick. ‘Where’s your concentration?’
Alex looked up and down the corridor. Once he knew the coast was clear, he rolled his eyes at his allies.
‘I’m a clone, remember? Why would I need to be careful walking around my own corridors? I don’t even know we’ve got intruders yet. Come on, Ewan.’
Ewan fought his way past the blatant demand from Alex, and forced himself to hold his tongue since Salter was listening in. McCormick passed him the rucksack, after reaching inside to remove the cigar-shaped little detonator which he passed to Kate.
‘Salter,’ said McCormick, ‘aren’t you supposed to be going somewhere?’
Ewan looked back at Salter, who hadn’t moved a millimetre from his position on the table.
‘Yeah, get out of New London,’ said Alex, as Salter’s legs woke up and slid off the table towards the floor. ‘And quick, before you throw up again.’
Salter obeyed. He tucked the two clone radios into his pockets, double-checked that he still held his own, and left Office 35 to flee for his life.
With the enemy no longer watching, Ewan’s emotions ran straight to the front of his mind. He stared at McCormick, finally coming to terms with the fact that they were separating.
He must have looked openly afraid. There was fear in McCormick’s eyes too. Fear and love.
‘Take care, my boys,’ McCormick said with a smile on his face and in his voice. At the door, Ewan smiled back like he had once done to his father.
‘You too, sir,’ Ewan answered. ‘Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.’
‘There’s nothing you wouldn’t do for the British people, Ewan. So I can assure you I won’t.’
Alex walked further down the corridor, blank-faced and confident once again. It hurried Ewan and McCormick’s goodbye, and Ewan briefly hated him for it.
Nonetheless, Alex’s haste was necessary. And all being well, Ewan would see his mentor again at the end of the night anyway.
All being well? He thought to himself as he left McCormick and Kate to chase Alex down the corridor. We’ve got to avoid losing a war tonight. All being well is a bloody tall order.
Chapter 17