“It’s quite simple, Dave. You’re a terrorist. You like to use bombs and kill people. We’ve got special rules –” he leaned in – “special rules for fucks like you.”
“This isn’t legal.”
Garrel slammed his palms on the table. David felt like his head and come between two crashing cymbals. He gripped the table, concentrated, forced his mind to turn from the nausea. “Legal? You want legal? How about ‘murder’ for a legal term? You like that one?”
“I told you, I made sure that...people were evacuated first. The fire.”
Garrel grabbed his chin and tilted it upward. The light was blinding. “Why should I believe you? Tell me.”
David tried to pull away but he was too weak. Garrel seemed to be pinching a nerve under his chin. “I wouldn’t hurt anybody.”
“Wouldn’t hurt anybody?” Garrel released his grip and walked away briskly. It was a small room. When he reached the wall, he whirled around. “What about Bruce Shimoda? Remember him? What do you think your bomb did to him? Gave him a light dusting?”
“He was going to die horribly. Eaten alive by creatures you don’t understand. He asked me to kill him.”
“Ah, we’re back to shark story. Sharks that swim on land. Just when you thought it was safe to go for a walk.”
David breathed deeply. Despite his tremors, he could feel that the effect of the drugs had begun to subside. His mind became clearer. “These aren’t fish, damn it. These are animals. They only look like sharks. They’re made of metal.”
“Well, they’re not made of anything, are they? They’re just figments of that computer. And now that the computer’s about as functional as a bag of spanners, where’s your evidence? Because let me tell you, Davie boy, the only evidence I see is that you just murdered a guy, and risked the murder of more than a dozen of my men.”
“I told, I made sure my computer checked that.”
“Your miniature computer. A computer that can hack into an army network. A computer that happens to come with enough explosive to demolish a block of flats.”
“The computer is a prototype. I developed it along with Marquis Future Computing. I do consulting work for them. It’s a new model. I already told you this.”
Garrel leaned against the wall. His energy, like his drugs, began to fade. He now switched from ball of fire to iceberg. David observed the transition. “And this new model comes complete with remote access capabilities and, in case the man on the street needs it, a shit-load of explosives.”
“No. I added the explosives myself.”
“From where?”
“I told you. A man I met on the internet.”
“Any name for this man?”
David sighed. “Yes. He was called Hypno.”
“Did Mr Hypno leave an address, perhaps? A phone number? Webpage?”
“This guy was an arms dealer. He doesn’t work that way. We always met in private chat rooms on the internet.”
“What type of explosive?”
“It’s a liquid-based explosive smuggled from China. It doesn’t have a name yet.”
Garrel laughed and ran his hands through his hair. “At the risk of sounding cynical, how fucking convenient. How did you get the explosives?”
David closed his eyes. He felt much better now, but he wanted to look worse. “Courier.”
“Name?”
“Don’t remember. Anyway, it was a series of couriers, one after the other, each one given a false name and address. No one courier carried the explosives. They all carried components. Dropped them off at the school of chemistry in Oxford addressed to a Professor Macbeth, who does not exist. I collected them at the weekend, on the quiet. Took them back to my house. I assembled the explosives in my garage.”
“How?”
“Instructions from Hypno.”
“When?”
“Three days ago.”
“Why so recently?”
“I’ve only known that Bruce was here since Wednesday, five days ago. When I received that information I knew that was would I would have to do.”
Garrel stubbed out his cigarette and lit another one. “Do what?”
“Kill Bruce.”
“So you came here to murder Bruce.”
“No. Euthanise him. I needed to be prepared.” David was calmer now. It made the lying easier.
“Why such an elaborate method?”
“Well, I wouldn’t know any other way to do it. This way, I could kill Bruce – knowing that was bound to die anyway – quickly and almost painlessly. In the same way, I could destroy the computer. Destroy the technology that made it possible. The technology that, ultimately, killed Bruce.”
Garrel stroked his chin thoughtfully. He drew on the cigarette. “Interesting. I don’t believe it.”
“Why not?”
“Come on, Dave. You have medical training. Even if you didn’t, you’re clearly a resourceful individual.” David smiled inwardly. Garrel was playing the compliments game. Soon he would become the ball of the fire again, and the dance would go on, cha-cha-cha. “You could think of more and better ways to kill Bruce than that. What about an injection of morphine? Or a chloroformed pad over the mouth? Or a bullet through the brain? This is the second time this place has been bombed. Both centred on your own project. Coincidence? My arse. And as for your crusade against technology...frankly, I don’t believe it. Especially not from someone involved in the design of cutting-edge computer agents.”
They spoke for the rest of the day. Garrel softened. He no longer administered drugs. He asked fewer questions, though they were all on target. David managed to glean that they had not found any pieces of Ego. They believed his account of McWhirter’s death but he would be charged with the murder of Bruce and Caroline. The first by bomb, the last by...they were working on it. They leaned on him. They raged a storm around him. At the centre, David was quite calm.
Part II
She rose at six when the sky was blank, unwritten. The night before, she had sipped a martini on her balcony. In the middle distance, the casinos had sent up multi-coloured searchlights, fountains of water and balloons: the Aurora Las Vegas. She had read that Las Vegas was the brightest man-made object visible from space. She preferred the
