Making his way back to the hotel, he found groups of nervous guests and staff members looking towards him for leadership as he got closer to the main entrance. The protest group had somehow intermingled with everybody else, and the crowd verged on panic. A couple of bewildered security guards waved their flashlights, telling the remaining ones still loitering outside to get into the lighted area of the lobby.
He saw his friend Muli Tharoor holding an ice pack to the side of his head, talking to the resort’s general manager just behind the glass doors. Vaikom and Muli had gone their separate ways after they had barged into the power plant’s control room and tied up the lone attendant manning the electrical controls before shutting down the generators. Muli’s task was to organize the protest in front of the hotel while Vaikom would continue his mission of sabotage throughout the whole area.
Muli nodded to him as Vaikom walked in past the glass doors, dropping the wrench on the manicured grass just before he got inside. “Over here.”
“You are hurt,” Vaikom said when he walked up to his colleague. “What’s with all the screaming?”
Muli shook his head. “I saw Morgenstern and tried to stop him from leaving, but his chief of security smashed my head in with his gun. As far as all this panic goes, I’m not sure.”
Rakesh Budrani still wore his tan suit, not a wrinkle out of place. “I must ask you to stay here while I go and try to get the power back on. The Lakshadweep administrator is very scared and he has locked himself in his suite upstairs.”
Vaikom held up his index finger, wagging it in front of the general manager’s nose. “You cannot tell us what to do. We came here to protest what you’ve done to this once peaceful archipelago.”
Rakesh sighed. “Look, I am not going to argue with you about this subject right now. Several guests and staff have already been killed and we must get the power back. If we do not then it could end up as a massacre.”
Vaikom’s bushy eyebrows shot up. “What?”
“You heard me,” Rakesh said tersely. “Someone out there is killing people, and he is using the darkness as cover. ”
Muli blinked his eyes slowly as if he was in a daze. “I… I saw one of the bodies. It looked like it had been torn apart by a tiger.”
Vaikom frowned. “So you have captured animals here too?”
Rakesh wearily gestured at him to stop. “No, no, no. There are no animals here, it was prohibited in the contracts.” He paused before continuing. “But I cannot say for certain what’s on the private side of the island. Perhaps the power outage may have let some killer beast loose.”
Muli looked at his friend. “I think it might be good to tell him what Franklin told us.”
“Do you know where Franklin is?” Vaikom asked him.
“No,” Muli said. “I have not seen him since we separated.”
“You both must tell me everything,” Rakesh said. “I asked Morgenstern what was going on at the other side of the island, but neither he nor his people ever told me anything.”
Vaikom looked into the general manager’s eyes to let the other man know he was telling the truth. “We brought a British journalist with us on the boat. He told us there is a secret laboratory full of crazy scientists hidden in the private part of this island. They are being led by someone called Lady Frankenstein, according to his newspaper.”
Rakesh remembered reading about her in the newspapers. “Dr. Lauren Reeves? Yes, I have heard of her. She created some sort of genetic monster and it killed one of her colleagues in the United States a few years ago. Last I heard she was driven to personal bankruptcy over lawsuits.”
Muli nodded. “That’s her. Franklin said he was going to the other side of the island to try and get some pictures to prove she’s there.”
“Whatever is out there only seems to attack people in the dark,” Rakesh said. “If we could get the main power back up, perhaps the light will keep it away. The satellite link and cellular tower are also out, so we cannot call for help.”
Vaikom held his hands up. “That’s not my doing.”
“I did not say it was,” Rakesh said. “Apparently telecommunications were switched off a few hours ago, to prevent the family of the missing guest from contacting the American embassy in the mainland, no doubt. Mr. Erskine wanted the grand opening to go smoothly.”
“He was the one who hit me,” Muli added.
“Where is he now?” Vaikom asked.
“Last time I saw him he was escorting Mr. Morgenstern to the helicopter pad,” Rakesh said. “They’ve both probably left by now.”
“So it’s just us here,” Muli said. “The working class have become the rich man’s sacrifice once again.”
Rakesh placed his hands on his hips. “Look, we need to get the power back up. I sent in two of my engineers and gave them my master key to open the power plant, but they have not returned, nor can I contact them.” He pointed to the two young men. “If you both truly care about the people here then you must help me. My staff are too afraid to go out there, and I will not risk their lives.”
His words hit Vaikom hard. He couldn’t help but feel guilty for all the deaths since it was his plan to sabotage the power. Looking away, he felt a sudden wave of responsibility to right a wrong.
Muli was more of a follower than a leader, and he bit his lip. “What do we do?”
Vaikom glanced at him before turning to look back at the general manager. “Very well, I shall accompany you to the power plant.” He placed his hand on Muli’s shoulder. “Try to get the others back onto the boat. We’ve done enough.”
Rakesh knew there were many guests holed up in their rooms upstairs, and he couldn’t leave until everyone in the resort was evacuated. Taking a small flashlight out of his coat pocket, he gestured towards the front entrance. “Let us hurry.”
41
BY THE TIME NICK DIRKSE and Quentin Everett had gotten to the front door of the guest cottage, the nearby areas had already emptied. The other guests around them had run screaming off to the main hotel building or had locked themselves inside their respective bungalows, cringing and hiding in fear.
When Nick used his keycard to open the front door and stepped inside he found his wife and son waiting for them in the living room, their bags packed. Cathy got up from the couch and ran up to him, and they hugged each other.
“Thank God you’re both safe,” he said. “Everyone is panicking back at the hotel.”
Cathy nodded. “We got a call from the desk intercom, telling us to stay inside. What’s going on?”
“I believe Lady Frankenstein’s new monster might be on the loose,” Quentin said.
Scott’s eyes opened wide. “A monster? There’s a monster out here?”
“I’m afraid so, lad,” Quentin said. “On the other side of this artificial island is a private lab of some kind. My paper was tracking the whereabouts of a Dr. Lauren Reeves, a top genetic scientist who dabbled in such things, and I suspected she was holed up there.”
Cathy looked in his direction. “Mr. Blaise, do you think those scientists kidnapped my daughter?”
“Sorry. My real name is actually Quentin Everett, and I can’t really answer your question until I’ve made my way over there.”
“I’ll be going with him to check it out and see if Kim’s there,” Nick said. “Stay here and lock the doors.”