when the time came, or use as a deterrent that he could threaten to release if anything suspicious should befall him. It was a dangerous game - but then, that was the business he was in.
Mandrick unclipped his minicomputer from his belt and plugged it into the mainframe lead. He inserted a new storage card into the minicomputer’s socket and downloaded the recent interrogation conversation onto it. After unplugging the minicomputer and clipping it back onto his belt he saved the original conversation to a file.
A gentle beep sounded and he looked at the control panel to see a small red light blinking. It was the secure landline and, knowing who it was, he picked up the receiver. ‘My office is empty,’ Mandrick said.
‘So’s mine,’ a voice replied. It was Forbes. ‘I don’t think our problem has gone away.’ Forbes sounded edgy. ‘Frankly, I’m concerned . . . Can you hear me OK?’
Mandrick was tired of what he considered to be Forbes’s ever-increasing spinelessness. ‘I’m here.’
‘We may have taken this train as far as it’s going to go. I’m getting hints of building pressure within the House. Several Representatives have sent me enquiries. Felix executives have reported probes into their assets, which has to be the work of the FBI. It doesn’t look good.This thing could explode any time.You may have to start making preparations.’
Mandrick sighed to himself. Wasn’t the FBI undercover agent clue enough? ‘I understand,’ he said, allowing Forbes to maintain the illusion that he was in control of everything.
Mandrick found it bizarre how the man did not understand that when jumping from a sinking ship it was a case of every man for himself. Forbes always sounded as if the dissolution of Styx was going to be an orderly evacuation with some kind of convivial reunion afterwards where all the players met for drinks and canapes. He wanted to suggest to the congressman that he should not only be concentrating on his own escape but also how he was going to
‘Doesn’t it bother you?’ Forbes asked after Mandrick’s long spell of silence. ‘You don’t sound concerned.’
‘We knew it was going to end one day.’
‘But not like this. Not now. Of course we considered it. I have my contingency plans. But we never really believed it would happen so soon - at least, I didn’t. I don’t think you did either, did you?’
‘It’s always wise to be prepared.’
‘Then you’re saying you’re ready to go ahead?’
‘Not entirely. I will be when the time comes.’
‘I’m asking you if you’re prepared to carry out the doomsday phase, God damn it - as we discussed?’
‘Of course.’ Mandrick wanted to add that it was a most essential phase of his own plan of escape but he refrained. It was evident the senator could not be trusted and was more than capable of offering Mandrick up to save himself. Come to think of it, that would make good sense on his part.
Mandrick suddenly felt uneasy as the notion took root. It was immediately followed by a tinge of panic as he feared he was falling behind and that Forbes was actually setting him up. He suddenly wondered if he should be making his move sooner than he’d thought.
‘Minimum risk to crew and inmates. I think that’s essential. It’s the ramifications of our actions that will be our undoing.’
‘Of course,’ Mandrick said. Inwardly he was in complete disagreement, wondering if Forbes was just being smart.
‘You must see that if we cover our tracks as best we can then there will be less interest in pursuing us.’
‘I understand,’ Mandrick said, deciding that if Forbes was not subtly trying to entrap him then the man was sounding like an idiot.
‘As long as you do . . . Fine, then. I’ll get back to you as soon as I hear anything else. Do nothing without my say-so. Is that understood?’
‘Of course.’ That was it, Mandrick decided. As far as his suspicions were concerned that last instruction gave Forbes’s game plan away. Forbes was trying to control the final stage of the abandonment of Styx, the doomsday phase, which included both their escapes. Mandrick reasoned that if he was wrong and had misjudged Forbes it did not matter. He could not afford to take the risk and had to stay a step ahead of his boss.
‘I’ll speak to you later,’ Forbes said and the phone went dead.
Mandrick replaced the receiver. The feeling of independence he had once enjoyed while in Styx had turned into one of isolation. The lines of control from the shore had stretched to breaking point as his ship headed towards the void. Mandrick had to scuttle it while he still could.
Since it was now unlikely that he would obtain any kind of insurance against the CIA he would have to fall back on his original plan - which was to devise a scenario that provided substantial evidence of his death without his body having to be found. That was not impossible. It would all depend on the execution of his plan.
As Mandrick got to his feet the door buzzer sounded and he looked at the monitor to see Christine standing outside. She appeared relaxed and confident as usual but as he studied her, zooming the camera in on her face, examining her extraordinary natural beauty, he thought he could detect a trace of tension in her body language.
He checked his watch. Dinner wasn’t for a couple more hours. She was early. An enigma, he mused. His gut feeling told him that she was as much a prison inspector as the pope was. She’d been the first person to talk to Charon when he came around. Charon was a damned spy for someone. The place was probably crawling with spies. But he could care less now. It was time to pull the plug on the operation - an apt way of putting it, he reckoned.
Mandrick considered sending her away but decided that he couldn’t. If she was a spy then the blossoming romance between them was an act on her part. She was planning on leaving that evening but he couldn’t go with her now. Their ‘affair’ would end this night. She was here for something, to give or to take. Perhaps it was to give first and take later. Having his way with her for half an hour or so would not cripple his plan. The thought amused him. He had the weight of the world on his shoulders, desperate to finalise a strategy for his own survival and yet here he was pausing to consider a piece of ass. What a maverick he was. It gave him a feeling of masterfulness, of superiority. He was a true buccaneer, a mercenary to the core, a rebel and adventurer. What could be more heroic than to take a break at such a crucial juncture for a romantic interlude?
He hit the button beside the intercom and as the door hissed, clunked and opened he stepped from behind his desk and into the centre of the room.
Hamlin, followed by Stratton and a guard, led the way down a narrow, sloping, dimly lit corridor. The mould and fungus common to Styx had taken a particularly firm grip of this section of the prison. Dripping lengths hung from rusting ceiling girders and intertwined between the conduit and cables that followed the contours of the walls. Hamlin slipped on a patch of slimy plankton and Stratton only just managed to grab him before he fell on his backside.
‘Thanks,’ Hamlin said, taking a moment to recover and catch his breath. ‘This road is long overdue for a clean-up, Jed.’
‘You know we don’t have enough inmates to maintain the whole place,’ the guard replied.
‘I don’t see why we can’t use the Buttfucks,’ Hamlin said, taking a grimy cloth from his pocket and wiping the sweat from his face and neck.
‘I don’t make the rules,’ the guard said, loosening his jacket. Sweat stains were clearly visible on it around his chest and armpits.
‘If you got rid of these damned plants you could reduce the humidity down here,’ Hamlin argued.
‘And then you guys’d complain about the disinfectant.’
‘It ain’t disinfectant, Jed, it’s industrial-strength weed-killer, ’ Hamlin sighed, as if he had complained about it a hundred times.‘Like we ain’t got enough health hazards down here we gotta soak up that shit.’
‘Quit bitchin’, Tusker, and get movin’.’
‘Just give me a minute, will yer? My old lungs don’t process the air as good as they should. I use the term
