The Shadow Project bh-5 Page 4

  Adam was sweating cold now. Back downstairs, he called and called. Nothing. Checked the garden, the pool. Still nothing.

  Then the phone rang. He rushed over to it. ‘Professor O’Connor?’ said a voice. A man’s voice, calm and soft. The accent was English, educated.

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Professor Adam O’Connor?’

  ‘Who is this?’

  ‘We have your son.’

  Adam almost collapsed at the words. His hands were shaking so violently that he needed both of them to keep the phone clasped tightly to his ear.

  ‘You will follow my instructions to the letter,’ the voice continued. ‘Any attempt to contact the police, any calls or communication with anyone from this moment on, we will know and Rory will die. Any failure or hesitation to do exactly what I tell you, when I tell you to do it, he will die. There will be no second warning. Do you understand?’

  Adam managed a tiny ‘Yes’.

  ‘Good. Now listen to me very carefully.’

  Chapter Six

  In the casualty department waiting room in Valognes, Jeff Dekker got two foam cups of coffee from a machine down the corridor and carried them over to the row of plastic chairs where Brooke was sitting staring into space. He handed her a cup, then slumped down next to her.

  He tried to sound upbeat. ‘Don’t look so miserable. I’m sure he’s going to be OK. We’ll know soon. They should have finished the X-ray by now.’ He took a loud slurp of coffee. ‘Jesus, this is revolting.’

  Brooke sipped hers expressionlessly, as though the finest Blue Mountain roast or liquid shit would have been all the same to her.

  ‘He’ll be fine,’ Jeff said again cheerfully. His plastic chair creaked as he leaned back in it, stretching his legs out in front of him.

  ‘I hope so,’ Brooke murmured, taking another sip of the coffee.

  ‘Though I have to say, he had it coming.’

  She said nothing.

  ‘And Ben hardly touched him, really.’ Brooke snorted. ‘That’s reassuring.’

  ‘Don’t be too pissed off with Ben. He was provoked.’ She paused, biting her lip. ‘You know I’m not pissed off with him. I just wish this whole thing hadn’t happened.’

  ‘You can be sure that Ben feels that way too,’ Jeff said. He shook his head in disbelief. ‘What the hell was eating Shannon anyway? Acting like that—’

  ‘I think this was all my fault,’ she said miserably.

  ‘Your fault?’

  She nodded. ‘Something I said.’

  ‘I didn’t hear you say a thing.’

  ‘Not then. Yesterday, in the car, on the way down.’

  ‘What did you say?’

  She sucked air through her teeth. ‘It was about Ben.’

  ‘So?’

  ‘I think I just mentioned his name once too often, that’s all.’

  ‘You’re saying that Shannon’s jealous. He can tell how you feel about Ben.’

  She turned to look at him. There was a flush of red in her cheeks. ‘It’s that obvious?’

  ‘To me, and everyone else,’ Jeff said. ‘Except Ben, that is.’

  ‘Everyone except Ben,’ she echoed sadly.

  ‘And when he got you to act out the role of the principal, that was too much for matey boy. He saw it as some kind of competition.’

  She nodded. ‘Fighting over the female. Locking antlers like a couple of rutting stags.’

  ‘Except one of the stags didn’t even know what was going on.’

  ‘And it’s all because of me. Damn. I shouldn’t have agreed to it. I’m supposed to be a psychologist, for God’s sake! I’m supposed to know people’s minds.’

  ‘Why don’t you just tell Ben the way you feel about him?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘We’re all grown ups. What’s the worst that can happen?’

  ‘That I’d lose his friendship, scare him away,’ she said. ‘I’d rather have him as a friend than not have him at all. You can’t force someone to love you.’

  Jeff raised his eyebrows. ‘Whoa. Did you just use the L-word?’

  Brooke closed her eyes and sank her head into her hands.

  ‘You’re actually in love with him?’

  ‘For a long time,’ she muttered, not looking up.

  ‘Shit.’

  ‘Don’t I know it.’

  ‘I didn’t think it was that serious. I thought it was just – you know.’

  ‘It wasn’t always. But after a while I realised I wasn’t just flirting with him.’

  Jeff looked confused. ‘So wait a minute. You’re in love with Ben … but you’re going out with Shannon?’

  ‘Don’t go there, Jeff, all right?’

  He shrugged. ‘I think it’s great, though. You and Ben. I can see it. Really.’

  ‘Apart from the fact that he doesn’t seem to know I even exist.’

  ‘You’ve got that all wrong. He loves spending time with you. I can always see he’s looking forward to your visits. He really likes you.’

  ‘But not in that way.’

  Jeff didn’t reply.

  She ran her fingers through her hair. ‘What a situation. Here we are in the hospital because my boyfriend’s been injured and I’m more concerned about the guy who put him there. I shouldn’t even have come with Rupert. I just wanted to see Ben.’ She sighed.

  Jeff paused a moment. ‘I think Ben cares for you a lot more than you think. He just doesn’t know it yet, because that’s the kind of guy he is. But one day he’s going to wake up and see it.’

  ‘You’re not going to say anything, are you?’

  ‘Would I?’

  ‘You’d better swear to that, Jeff Dekker. One word and—’

  Brooke was interrupted by the sound of footsteps on the vinyl floor of the corridor. She and Jeff turned to see the doctor walking towards them. Brooke stood up, looking at him with a mixture of expectation and worry.

  The doctor smiled. ‘No need for alarm,’ he said. ‘There’s no serious damage.’

  ‘But he must be in a lot of pain, yeah?’ Jeff asked hopefully, smiling back.

  The doctor rubbed his chin pensively, glanced down at his clipboard and spent the next minute or so gravely reeling off a long list of medical terminology.

  ‘Ben did all that to him?’ Jeff said, eyes wide.

  ‘Monsieur Shannon is also complaining about severe back pain, and although there’s nothing showing up in the X-ray, it would be prudent to keep him under observation for a few days.’

  ‘Are you saying he can start work again soon?’ Brooke asked.

  The doctor shook his head. ‘Certainly not. Complete rest will be essential for at least three weeks.’

  ‘Shit,’ Jeff said to Brooke as the doctor walked away. ‘There goes Switzerland,’ she muttered. ‘I was afraid of that.’

  ‘Guess we’d better go and break the news to Ben.’

  ‘You go. I ought to stay here with Rupert. It’s probably for the best.’

  Chapter Seven

  Adam sat on the edge of an armchair in the living room at Teach na Loch, head in hands. He reached out for the tumbler in front of him and knocked back the inch of Bushmills malt that was still in it, then grabbed the bottle and swilled some more into it. His head was spinning with shock, the taste of vomit still on his lips from when he’d thrown up earlier on. He’d thought he was never going to stop.

  Now he just felt numb. It was unreal. Lenny Salt had been right. The old weirdo hadn’t imagined it after all.

  The kidnappers’ instructions had been simple. He was to get all his Kammler material together and get on a flight to Graz. He checked the atlas: it was in Austria, near the Hungarian border. They’d given him the name of a hotel in the city, where a reservation had been made for him, and he was to check in there no later than 10 p.m., local time, the following evening. The orders were to sit in his room, speak to no one, and wait to be contacted.

  Adam suddenly felt hot tears welling up out of his eyes. He th
ought of Rory. What were they doing to him? Where was he? Would he ever see him again? He could imagine the look of terror on the boy’s face when they took him, could hear his screams of protest.

  If only Salt hadn’t turned up at the presentation. I’d have been here. I could have done something.

  A thought suddenly crossed his mind. Had Salt had something to do with it? Had he been deliberately planted there to delay him?

  He stood up from the armchair, unsteady on his feet. Walked over to the bookcase across the room and picked up the framed black and white photo of Rory. Sabrina had taken that one, just after he’d turned twelve. They’d gone to London for a weekend and visited her photography studio there. It was such a beautiful shot of the kid. He was smiling and looked so happy in it. Sabrina had a giant blow-up of the same picture on her studio wall. Adam knew his younger sister doted on her nephew – he was the only real reason they stayed in touch.

  Sabrina. What was he going to tell her when she got here? Adam glanced at his watch and winced. Any time now. His hand was trembling as he replaced the picture frame on the bookcase. Another acid lurch in his throat, and he turned and stumbled towards the downstairs bathroom.

  He was bent over the toilet bowl, retching vomit and whiskey, when a smooth female electronic voice announced through the hidden speakers: ‘You have a visitor.’

  Sabrina Connor paid the taxi driver, got her bags from the back and watched as the car turned and disappeared out of the gates. She looked up at the house, shielded her eyes from the bright afternoon sunshine, and smiled. She was looking forward to this break. Seven whole days away from London, the hustle and humidity and bad air, her capricious celebrity clients. Perfect. And it was great to be able to spend some time with Rory – she hadn’t seen him since Christmas. This time she might actually beat the little smartass at chess.

  The door opened. Adam stepped out to greet her. When he came up and hugged her, it was more tightly than usual. She could smell the sharp tang of mouthwash on him, and when she broke the embrace and looked up at her elder brother, she could see his eyes were a little pink.

  ‘You changed your hair again,’ he said.

  She ran her fingers through the spiky red highlights. ‘I like it like this. You OK? You look a little wired.’

  ‘I’m fine. Just working hard.’ He smiled weakly. ‘Come inside. It’s good to see you. Want a drink?’ He picked up her bags and ushered her inside.

  ‘Coffee would be great. Oh, here. I got you something.’ She unzipped one of her bags and took out a little package. ‘Happy birthday. Forty-five.’

  He took it. ‘Forty-six. And it was nearly two months ago.’

  ‘What a close-knit little family we are. Well, aren’t you going to open it?’

  He tore the wrapper. ‘Handkerchiefs.’

  ‘Irish linen,’ she said. ‘Had to scour London for them. I got them embroidered, too, see? Adam O’Connor.’ She exaggerated the ‘O’.

  ‘I know you think it’s stupid, me changing my name. But it’s important to me. It’s heritage.’

  She shrugged. ‘Do what you want. Fine by me.’

  ‘Nice hankies.’

  ‘Kind of a lame present, huh?’

  ‘No, really. I like them.’

  Sabrina glanced around. ‘Where’s Rory?’

  ‘Tennis camp,’ he replied instantly.

  ‘Tennis camp? You’re kidding me, right?’

  Adam shook his head. ‘Nope. Tennis camp.’

  ‘When?’

  ‘I drove him up there yesterday.’

  ‘Where?’

  He made a vague gesture with his hand. ‘Up in Donegal.’

  ‘They even have things like tennis camp in this place?’

  ‘Whatever they call it. Activity holiday, something like that. Why, you think we’re all bog paddies living in mud huts out here?’

  ‘Oh, give it a rest with the whole Irish thing, Adam.’

  ‘Anyway, so he’s at tennis camp.’

  She shrugged. ‘Fine. It’s just I thought he hated sports.’

  Adam headed for the kitchen to put some coffee on. ‘You know what kids are like. One of his friends plays and so he wanted to have a go. It’ll do him good. Get him away from that damn chess computer of his.’

  ‘When will he be back?’

  ‘Couple of weeks.’

  Sabrina made a face. ‘Jesus, Adam. You didn’t think to tell me about any of this before? I was really looking forward to seeing him, you know.’

  He sighed. ‘Look, the truth is that I totally forgot. I was meaning to call you about it ages ago. It just slipped my mind. I’m sorry.’

  ‘I spoke to him on the phone not long ago, and he never said a word about going to any tennis camp.’

  ‘Well, you know Rory. He moves in mysterious ways sometimes. Like I said, I’m really sorry.’

  ‘I’m sorry too.’ She sighed. ‘Just disappointed, that’s all.’

  The coffee was beginning to bubble up in the percolator. Adam took two mugs from the shelf and poured it out for them. Sabrina settled on a stool at the mahogany breakfast bar and sipped her coffee. She felt soft fur brush her leg, and a Siamese cat jumped up on her lap. ‘Hey, Cassini.’ She stroked the cat and it rubbed its head against her.

  ‘You’re the one visitor he doesn’t bite,’ Adam said, pulling up another stool. ‘He likes you.’

  She forced a smile. ‘Anyway, here I am. Rory or no Rory.’

  ‘It’s really good to see you, sis. Really good.’ She watched him. ‘Is something wrong?’

  ‘Like what?’

  ‘I don’t know. You just seem a little tense. Things going all right here?’

  ‘Things are fine.’

  ‘Thought maybe you’d heard from Amy or something.’ He snorted. ‘Who? No, I don’t think so.’

  ‘How’s business?’

  ‘Business is great.’

  She touched his arm. ‘Look, I know that you and I aren’t that close. But you’d tell me if something was wrong, wouldn’t you?’

  Adam forced a laugh. ‘Don’t be silly. You know I would. I’m just a little tired. I’ve been working late a lot the last couple of weeks. New project.’ He paused. ‘Speaking of which—’

  She glanced up. ‘What?’

  He hesitated. ‘I have to go away too.’

  ‘What? When?’

  ‘Tomorrow morning. Something really important just came up. There’s this conference in Edinburgh, and someone dropped out, and I’ve got to speak in their place, and, well…’

  ‘I just love your sense of timing.’

  ‘I know. But you’re more than welcome to stay here. As long as you like.’

  ‘All alone?’

  ‘You’ve got Cassini for company. And you don’t even have to worry about feeding him or letting him out. All automated. The house takes care of everything.’

  ‘Wonderful.’

  ‘You should have everything you need. But if you need to go out for anything, the password to open the front door is “Constantinople”.’

  She raised an eyebrow. ‘Constantinople?’

  ‘Just say it into the sensor. It’ll recognise any voice. And if you want to lock the guest bedroom door, just tell the house “lock” and it’ll hear you. OK?’

  ‘Yeah, like I’d need to, out here.’

  ‘And if you lock it, I’ve set it up so you just say “Cassini” and it’ll unlock again. It’s the same password for all the bedrooms. Popular security feature. We never use it ourselves, though.’

  She glared at him. ‘Fantastic, bro.’

  ‘Look, I’m really sorry. There’s nothing I can do about it. Just bad timing, like you said. Why don’t you call Nick? Maybe he could come over and join you.’

  ‘Nick and I aren’t together any more. Not since he started screwing the model I used in his last shoot.’

  ‘That’s a real shame,’ Adam said absently. He bit his lip. ‘Listen, I’ve got to go and get my things sorted out for this confer
ence. Help yourself to more coffee. See you in a little while, OK?’

  Sabrina watched him leave the room. He definitely seemed odd. She poured herself another cup and sat stroking Cassini. ‘Tennis camp,’ she muttered.

  Chapter Eight

  When Jeff walked into the office at Le Val, Ben was slamming down the phone. He sat down heavily in his desk chair, clapped his hands to his head and swore loudly.

  ‘Listen, Ben, I’ve got to tell you something. The doctor said—’

  ‘I already know what the doctor said,’ Ben replied without looking up.

  ‘You’ve spoken to him?’

  ‘I didn’t need to. Shannon’s lawyer’s just told me. Multiple contusions, possible lower back injury, out of action for at least three weeks.’

  Jeff looked perplexed. ‘The bastard’s been talking to his lawyer? Already? From his hospital bed?’

  Ben got up from the chair and went over to the window. ‘Not one to waste time. He’s threatening to press charges. Grievous bodily harm.’

  ‘Nothing that grievous about a bit of a twisted elbow and a couple of bruises. Shannon can take it.’

  ‘Tell that to the lawyer,’ Ben said. ‘But that’s not all.’

  Jeff was quiet for a second as the meaning sank in. He swallowed. ‘He’s suing us, isn’t he?’

  ‘For loss of earnings,’ Ben said, still gazing out of the window. Over the roofs of the facility buildings he could see the trees beyond. He so much wanted to be there. Hidden deep within Le Val’s sprawl of woodland was the tumbledown ivy-covered ruin of an old church that for the last seven hundred and fifty or so years had been home to the wild creatures of the forest. It was a place Ben loved to go and spend time away from everything, just him and the stillness of the sun-dappled woods, the whisper of the trees and the sound of the doves nesting in the remains of the steeple. At this moment, all that seemed infinitely beyond his reach.

  ‘As in one point two million kind of earnings?’ Jeff asked quietly.

  Ben nodded. He tore himself away from the window, went back to his desk and reclined in his chair. ‘The Swiss gig will have to be cancelled. Which basically leaves Shannon and the rest of the team out of a job. And I’m responsible for that.’