Dunbar pulled himself agonizingly upwards, using only the tips of his fingers, then managed to scramble in ungainly fashion into the flat section. He crawled slowly along to the far end and found himself up against a wire grille; but he was inside the building. He pushed hard against the grid and it sprang off, enabling him to crawl out into a wide, shallow metal basin. The noises all around him said that he had pigs for company. He turned round to encourage Douglas, who emerged a few moments later, seemingly using a curse for each foot of the way.
‘This is where they keep the pigs,’ said Dunbar.
‘You don’t say,’ replied Douglas sourly.
Douglas turned on his torch. They were standing in the sluice for pig waste. There were two large taps on the wall beside the pipe exit. Dunbar turned one on and started to wash himself down, then waited while Douglas did the same.
‘We’ll probably die of pneumonia now,’ said Douglas, wringing out as much water as he could. ‘But it’s better than smelling like that.’
The two men made their way out of the pig-house and into the main corridor of the building. The lack of windows meant they could use the torch freely, although they didn’t risk turning on any of the main lights. There were several small laboratories, one large one and finally what Dunbar was looking for, an office equipped with computer facilities. He turned on a desk light and started looking for useful information. There were several letters on the desk addressed to James Ross, so he knew he was in the right place. He searched the desk drawers that were unlocked, but there were no disk storage boxes there. The bottom drawer was locked. He asked Douglas for help.
Douglas knelt down to examine the lock and smiled. He brought out what looked like a series of metal spikes and selected one. He looked up at Dunbar as he twisted and turned the spike, all the time feeling for what was going on inside the lock.
‘And… Abra… cadabra!’ he announced as the lock turned and clicked.
Dunbar pulled open the drawer and found a plastic computer disk box. Each disk was meticulously labelled, something he put down to Ross’s nature and something he was extremely grateful for. He put to one side those concerned with accounting and record-keeping and kept the ones marked ‘Experimental Data’ with relevant dates. He turned on the computer.
‘How long are you going to be?’ asked Douglas, anxiety in his voice.
Dunbar reached inside his jerkin and brought out a plastic bag containing several blank disks. ‘Not long,’ he replied. ‘I just have to copy these.’
‘I’ll take a look around,’ said Douglas.
‘Don’t move anything,’ cautioned Dunbar. ‘We don’t want anyone to know Santa’s been.’
Dunbar made copies of the three data disks, switched off the computer and put everything back as he’d found it. ‘That’s it,’ he said when Douglas had returned. ‘Can you lock the drawer again?’
Douglas looked at him as if it was the strangest request he’d ever heard, but complied. He had slightly more trouble locking the drawer than he’d had unlocking it, but it eventually clicked and everything was as it had been.
‘Let’s go,’ said Dunbar.
As they left the office and started to make their way back down to the pig house, Douglas said, ‘Do you notice anything strange?’
‘What?’
‘Take a good look, then think back to how the building looked from the outside.’
Dunbar did as he was bid, shining the torch all over the walls. ‘What?’ he asked.
‘Part of the building is missing. I twigged it while I was having a nose around. Look at the length of the place.’ Douglas swung the torch to and fro. ‘Now think about the length from outside.’
‘You’re right,’ said Dunbar. He pointed the beam straight ahead. ‘That must be a false wall.’
‘If there’s no access from the outside, there has to be a door in here.’
They walked over to the end wall and started searching for a way through.
‘Strange,’ muttered Dunbar, running his hands over the wall. ‘Seems unbroken.’
‘Crazy,’ agreed Douglas. Suddenly something he had touched caused a panel in the wall to slide back. It startled him and he dropped the torch, which went out, leaving them in darkness.
‘Christ! What’s that?’ exclaimed Douglas as the sound of grunting filled their ears.
‘More pigs, I suppose.’
‘Don’t smell like pigs,’ replied Douglas, cautiously entering the new part and reaching to the side to feel for a light switch. ‘Where is the bleeding thing?’ he murmured as he failed to find one.
Dunbar inched his way along the wall, guided only by the sound of Douglas’s voice. He froze suddenly as Douglas let out a scream that rent the air.
‘What the hell…? Where are you?’ gasped Dunbar. He reached the entrance and felt for a light switch. He found it and clicked it on. Douglas’s face was contorted with pain. He had unwittingly reached into the steel-barred cage of a large female ape. She had grabbed his arm and bitten it and was now trying to tear it off. Douglas’s eyes pleaded for help; blood was streaming down his arm.
Dunbar attacked the ape as best he could, punching at it through the bars, shouting at it, trying to distract it, but the animal kept hold of Douglas. Dunbar looked around for something to use as a weapon. He saw the torch that Douglas had dropped just outside the opening in the wall and retrieved it. One particularly good blow to the animal’s head made it release its grip and stumble backwards. Dunbar was able to pull Douglas away.
Douglas sank to the floor, shivering with shock.
Dunbar did his best to staunch the flow of blood, using two towels that he retrieved from a wash-basin at the far end of the room. As he was applying one as a tourniquet, he became aware of his audience. There were five apes in the room. All were female and all were pregnant. Despite the distraction of the moment, he couldn’t help but notice that all of them had scars across their bellies as if they’d had Caesarian sections, yet they were all still swollen in pregnancy.
Douglas clutched weakly at his neck and muttered something Dunbar couldn’t make out. He leaned closer.
‘Omnopon,’ murmured Douglas.
Dunbar suddenly realized what he meant. He reached inside the man’s shirt and found a little bag of the painkiller Omnopon hanging from a leather thong round his neck. ‘Old habits die hard,’ he said. Douglas must have served with a Marine Commando unit at some time: this was standard operational practice. He administered the drug to Douglas and took off his jerkin to make it into a pillow for his head while he thought what to do next. At that moment he heard the front door open. ‘I’ll be right back,’ he whispered. He stood up and clicked off the light.
‘I’m telling you, I heard a bloody scream,’ said an animated male voice.
‘It was your imagination,’ replied a calmer voice. ‘It was something on the radio.’
‘It was James fucking Last on the radio.’
Dunbar pressed himself against the wall, trying to decide what to do. Both security men had come to have a look, so there was still some doubt in their minds. It sounded as if only one man had heard something, so the chances were that they hadn’t yet reported anything. If he could close the wall panel, the guards might go away without finding anything amiss; unless, of course, they decided to search the whole building routinely. He was feeling for the button when Douglas tried to move and let out a loud moan. The game was over; the guards came running.
Almost without thinking, Dunbar pulled down his balaclava and ran towards them as the main lights came on. The two men were taken by surprise. One had hardly opened his mouth when Dunbar hit him sharply on the left side of his chin and he went down like a felled tree. The other turned to run for the door, but Dunbar caught him and dropped him with a blow to the side of his neck. He lowered him to the floor and dragged him back to lie beside his companion. He had been as restrained as possible. He wished them no harm.
Dunbar ran back to see to Douglas. The painkiller was doing its job, and Douglas was conscious and calm, sitting up, holding the towel against his arm.
‘Can you stand?’ asked Dunbar.
‘Sure.’ Douglas tried to get up, and succeeded with some help from Dunbar. Dunbar put his jerkin back on. ‘Put your good arm round my neck.’
