12:35 AM
KIT1 was fighting down panic. His brilliant plan had collapsed2 in ruins. Now there was no way the robbery would go undetected until the staff returned to work after the holiday. At most, it might remain a secret until six o'clock this morning, when the next shift of security guards arrived. But if Toni Gallo were still on her way here, the time left was even shorter.
If his plan had worked, there would have been no violence. Even now, he thought with helpless frustration3, it had not been strictly4 necessary. The guard Susan could have been captured and tied up without injury. Unfortunately, Daisy could not resist an opportunity for brutality5. Kit hoped desperately6 that the other guards could be rounded up without further nauseating7 scenes of bloodshed.
Now, as they ran to the control room, both Nigel and Daisy drew guns.
Kit was horrified8. "We agreed no weapons!" he protested.
"Good thing we ignored you," Nigel replied.
They came to the door. Kit stared aghast at the guns. They were small automatic pistols with fat grips. "This makes it armed robbery, you realize that."
"Only if we're caught." Nigel turned the handle and kicked the door open.
Daisy burst into the room, yelling at the top of her voice: "On the floor! Now! Both of you!"
There was only a moments hesitation9, while the two security guards went from shock and bewilderment to fear; then they threw themselves down.
Kit felt powerless. He had intended to enter the room first and say, Please stay calm and do as you're told, then you won't get hurt. But he had lost control. There was nothing he could do now but string along and try to make sure nothing else went wrong.
Elton appeared in the doorway10 of the equipment room. He took in the scene in an instant.
Daisy screamed at the guards: "Face down, h?nds behind your backs, eyes closed! Quick, quick, or I'll shoot you in the balls!"
They did as she said but, even so, she kicked Don in the face with a heavy boot. He cried out and flinched11 away, but remained prone12.
Kit placed himself in front of Daisy. "Enough!" he shouted.
Elton shook his head in amazement13. "She's loony fucking tunes14."
The gleeful malevolence15 on Daisy's face frightened Kit, but he forced himself to stare at her. He had too much at stake to let her ruin every-thing. "Listen to me!" he shouted. "You're not in the lab yet, and you won't ever get there at this rate. If you want to be empty-handed when we meet the client at ten, just carry on the way you are." She turned away from his pointing finger, but he went after her. "No more brutality!"
Nigel backed him. "Ease up, Daisy," he said. "Do as he says. See if you can tie these two up without kicking their heads in."
Kit said, "We'll put them in the same place as the girl."
Daisy tied their h?nds with electrical cable; then she and Nigel herded16 them out at gunpoint. Elton stayed behind, watching the monitors, keeping an eye on Steve in reception. Kit followed the prisoners to BSL4 and opened the door. They put Don and Stu on the floor next to Susan and tied their feet. Don was bleeding from a nasty cut on his forehead. Susan scemed conscious but groggy17.
"One left," said Kit as they stepped outside. "Steve, in the Great Hall. And no unnecessary violence!"
Daisy gave a grunt18 of disgust.
Nigel said, "Kit, try not to say any more in front of the guards about the client and our ten o'clock rendezvous19. If you tell them too much, we may have to kill them."
Kit realized, aghast, what he had done. He felt like a fool.
His phone rang.
"That might be Toni," he said. "Let me check." He ran back to the equipment room. His laptop screen said, "Toni calling Kremlin." He transferred the call to the phone on the desk at reception and listened in.
"Hi, Steve, this is Toni. Any news?"
"The repair crew are still here."
"Everything all right otherwise?"
With the phone to his ear, Kit stepped into the control room and stood behind Elton to watch Steve on the monitor. "Yeah, I think so. Susan Mackintosh should have finished her patrol by now, but maybe she went to the ladies' room."
Kit cursed.
Toni said anxiously, "How late is she?"
On the monitor, in black-and-white, Steve checked his wristwatch. "Five minutes."
"Give her another five minutes, then go and look for her."
"Okay. Where are you?"
"Not far away, but I've had an accident. A car full of drunks clipped the rear end of the Porsche."
Kit thought, I wish they'd killed you.
Steve said, "Are you okay?"
"Fine, but my car's damaged. Fortunately, another car was following me, and he's giving me a lift."
And who the hell was that? "Shit," Kit said aloud. "Her and some fellow."
"When will you be here?"
"Twenty minutes, maybe thirty."
Kit's knees went weak. He staggered and sat in one of the guards' chairs. Twenty minutes—thirty at the most! It took twenty minutes to get suited up for BSL4!
Toni said goodbyc and hung up the phone.
Kit ran across the control room and out into the corridor. "She'll be here in twenty or thirty minutes," he said. "And there's someone with her, I don't know who. We have to move fast."
They ran along the corridor. Daisy, going first, burst into the Great Hall and yelled: "On the floor—now!"
Kit and Nigel ran in after her and stopped abruptly20. The room was empty. "Shit," said Kit.
Steve had been at the desk twenty seconds ago. He could not have gone far. Kit looked around the half-dark room, at the chairs for waiting visitors, the coffee table with science magazines, the rack of leaflets about Oxenford Medical's work, the display case with models of complex molecules21. He stared up into the dimly lit skeleton of the hammer-beam roof, as if Steve might be hiding among the timber ribs22.
Nigel and Daisy ran along radiating corridors, opening doors.
Kit's eye was caught by two stick figures, male and female, on a door: the toilets. He ran across the hall. There was a short corridor leading to separate men's and ladies' rooms. Kit went into the men's room.
It appeared empty. "Mr. Tremlett?" He pushed open all the cubicle23 doors. No one was there.
As he stepped out, he saw Steve returning to the reception desk. The guard must have been in the ladies' room—searching for Susan, Kit realized.
Steve turned around, hearing Kit. "Looking for me?"
"Yes." Kit realized he could not apprehend24 Steve without help. Kit was younger, and athletic25, but Steve was a fit man in his thirties, and might not give up without a fight. "Something I need to ask you," Kit said, playing for time. He made his accent more Scots than was natural, ro make sure Steve did not find his voice familiar.
Steve lifted the flap and entered the oval of the desk. "And what would that be?"
"Just a minute." Kit turned away and shouted after Nigel and Daisy. "Hey! Back in here!"
Steve looked troubled. "What's going on? You lot aren't supposed to be wandering around the building."
"I'll explain in a minute."
Steve looked hard at him and frowned. "Have you been here before?"
Kit swallowed. "No, never."
"There's something familiar about you."
Kit's mouth went dry and he found it hard to speak. "I work with the emergency team." Where were the others?
"I dont like this." Steve picked up the phone on the desk.
Where were Nigel and Daisy? Kit shouted again: "Get back in here, you two!"
Steve dialed, and the mobile in Kit's pocket rang. Steve heard it. He frowned, thinking, then a look of shocked understanding came over his face. "You messed with the phones!"
Kit said, "Stay calm, and you won't get hurt." As soon as the words were out of his mouth, he realized his mistake: he had confirmed Steve's suspicions.
Steve acted quickly. He leaped nimbly over the desk and ran for the door.
Kit yelled: "Stop!"
Steve stumbled, fell, and got up again.
Daisy came running into the hall, saw Steve, and turned toward the main door, heading him off.
Steve saw that he could not make it to the door and turned instead into the corridor leading to BSL4.
Daisy and Kit ran after him.
Steve sprinted26 down the long corridor. There was an exit toward the rear of the building, Kit recalled. If Steve made it outside, they might never catch him.
Daisy was well ahead of Kit, arms pumping like a sprinter27, and Kit recalled her powerful shoulders in the swimming pool; but Steve was running like a hare, and pulling away from them. He was going to escape.
Then, as Steve drew level with the door leading to the control room, Elton stepped into the corridor in front of him. Steve was going too fast to take evasive action. Elton stuck out a foot and tripped Steve, who went flying.
As Steve hit the ground, face down, Elton fell on him, with both knees in the small of his back, and pushed the barrel of a pistol into his cheek. "Don't move, and you won't get shot in the face," he said. His voice was calm but convincing.
Steve lay still.
Elton stood, keeping the gun pointed28 at Steve. "That's the way to do it," he said to Daisy. "No blood."
She looked scornful.
Nigel came running up. "What happened?"
"Never mind!" Kit shouted. "We're out of time!"
"What about the two guards in the gatehouse?" Nigel said.
"Forget them! They don't know what's happened here, and they're not likely to find out—they stay out there all night." He pointed at Elton. "Get my laptop from the equipment room and wait for us in the van." He turned to Daisy. "Bring Steve, tie him up in BSL4, then get into the van. We have to go into the laboratory—now!"
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1
kit
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| n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物 | |
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collapsed
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| adj.倒塌的 | |
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3
frustration
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| n.挫折，失败，失效，落空 | |
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4
strictly
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| adv.严厉地，严格地；严密地 | |
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brutality
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| n.野蛮的行为，残忍，野蛮 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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nauseating
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| adj.令人恶心的，使人厌恶的v.使恶心，作呕( nauseate的现在分词 ) | |
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8
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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doorway
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| n.门口，(喻)入门；门路，途径 | |
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flinched
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| v.（因危险和痛苦）退缩，畏惧( flinch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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prone
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| adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的 | |
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amazement
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| n.惊奇，惊讶 | |
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14
tunes
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| n.曲调，曲子( tune的名词复数 )v.调音( tune的第三人称单数 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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malevolence
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| n.恶意，狠毒 | |
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herded
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| 群集，纠结( herd的过去式和过去分词 )； 放牧； （使）向…移动 | |
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groggy
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| adj.体弱的；不稳的 | |
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grunt
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| v.嘟哝；作呼噜声；n.呼噜声，嘟哝 | |
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rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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abruptly
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| adv.突然地，出其不意地 | |
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21
molecules
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| 分子( molecule的名词复数 ) | |
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ribs
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| n.肋骨( rib的名词复数 )；（船或屋顶等的）肋拱；肋骨状的东西；（织物的）凸条花纹 | |
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cubicle
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| n.大房间中隔出的小室 | |
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apprehend
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| vt.理解，领悟，逮捕，拘捕，忧虑 | |
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athletic
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| adj.擅长运动的，强健的；活跃的，体格健壮的 | |
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26
sprinted
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| v.短距离疾跑( sprint的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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sprinter
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| n.短跑运动员，短距离全速奔跑者 | |
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pointed
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| adj.尖的，直截了当的 | |
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