I nodded, suffering an acute case of déjà vu as my mind went back to that complex near Aylesbury. It seemed a lifetime away to me just now. I suppose it was, my previous life. Recalling the computer room on the same level there, I wondered whether they had a similar set up here.
“Check each room,” I said.
The first was a store room, the second an office, while the third and fourth were large rooms, some thirty metres long and twelve metres wide. They both contained workbenches upon which lay what appeared to be electronic components. We were about to leave the last room when we heard voices in the corridor. There wasn’t a lot of room to hide, but we managed to before the door opened. I squeezed under the workbench and Mike was scrunched up between a cabinet and the wall.
Two men entered, I could only see their feet. One wore black leather brogues and the other had on cheap trainers, the type that cost under £10 at a well-known supermarket.
“The blow-back was caused by the power surge,” one said. My blood ran cold, as I’d remember Hugh Standing’s voice anywhere.
“I agree, professor, but I believe that if you run a trickle charge through instead of a steady current, the build-up will be averted.” The second voice was a new one, so I assumed that the brogues were Hugh’s, and the other man, with the non-British accent, was the wearer of the cheap trainers.
“Then how can we ensure the device has a correct charge when required?”
The conversation went technical, but I did gather that all was not going as well as expected. They fiddled with some of the components as I tried not to get cramp in my left leg. Then the door opened again and a third man joined them. His shoes were very high quality brown leather, and his suit- trousers appeared to be Kashmir.
“That was disappointing, professor, you assured me that it would be working by the end of the day!” he said, his educated accent only just giving away his non-English roots.
Was this Azif Bin Haffir?
“I said that, yes, but then you said you’d equip my lab with the state of the art technology, not this heap of rubbish. Besides, I’m a virtual prisoner, how am I to know you’ll keep your end of the bargain?”
“You will just have to trust me. If you hadn’t made such a mess with the British, you’d be somewhere warmer and far more effective. But, I’m afraid to say, they’ve found us.”
“What do you mean?” Hugh, asked, his voice sounding reedy and thin.
“We captured two spies, one man and a woman, dressed like Special Forces and snooping about the island. They must have come over on the supply boat.”
“Oh my God! We have to get away!”
“Don’t be a fool. If they sent just two, it means they know nothing and are just looking. You have time to finish the task and we will leave on the helicopter as soon as you’re done. The rock will be destroyed and the two spies will never know what happened.”
“Who are they?”
“Hopefully, my friend Mohammed Barak is finding that out right now.”
“What should we do?”
“Do, professor? You get back to work. I have sufficient men and equipment to defend this island against a full assault, so just carry on and do what I’m paying you to do.”
At that moment a pair of combat boots attached to a guard appeared and the man spoke to Haffir in rapid Arabic. I caught enough to learn that our escape had been discovered.
Haffir swore and turned to Standing.
“Go, professor, get a move on and get this confounded device working. We leave in one hour, whether you are ready or not!” He then left hurriedly with the guard.
Standing and the other man were left.
“Here, take this condenser and see if it will reduce the current to the power-pack,” Hugh said.
The other man left and I could hear Hugh tinkering with something on the workbench above me. I waited for a minute and Hugh turned to collect something from the other end of the room. Taking the opportunity, I eased out from under the bench, stretched and crept up behind him. I wasn’t feeling particularly fond of this man, so I simply hit him on the back of the head while his back was turned. He went down like a sack of potatoes.
I checked and made sure he wasn’t dead, even if he was, it wouldn’t be the end of the world, if anything, it’d make our lives much easier over the next few hours.
I went over to where Mike was, and found him unconscious. They must have beaten him harder than either of us had thought. I dragged him onto the floor and tried to revive him. He came round groggily, staring at me blankly. Gradually, recognition returned and he tried to get up, groaning in the process.
“What happened?”
“You passed out. How do you feel?”
“Like shit, but I’ll be okay,” he said, looking at the crumpled professor. “Who’s that?”
“That is professor Hugh Standing.”
“Did you kill him?”
“No, but don’t tempt me.”
“What the hell are we going to do with him?”
“Can you fly?”
“No, you?”
“A bit. Come on, I suppose that’s going to be the only way off this rock. Oh, by the way, they know we’ve escaped and are going to set the rock to explode in a little while.”
“Shit, anything else I should know?”
“Not that I can think of, come on!” We grabbed the professor between us and made for the door. I opened it a crack and saw a guard stationed by the exit door next to the stairs.
I took a step back, opened the door and let the professor fall out of the door onto the corridor floor. The guard ran up the corridor, immediately bending over the prone figure. Soon, he too was unconscious and Mike dragged him into the room with us. Without a glance, Mike slit the man’s throat, and we picked up the professor and stumbled towards the stairs.
“We may have to shoot our way out,” I said.
“I’ve done it before,” he said.
“Yeah, me too, but I’d rather not have to.”
The first two flights of stair were clear, but judging by the sounds of running feet, they were both behind us and in front of us. I dropped a couple of grenades down the shaft to dissuade those behind us from getting too keen. Someone above us had a similar idea, and I watched in horror as a grenade, minus a pin, rolled down the steps towards me. I simply reacted and kicked it down below. The multiple explosions were very loud and set my ears ringing again. Someone screamed from below. That was a good sign.
An amplified voice boomed down the stairwell.
“You cannot go anywhere, give up, otherwise we will have to kill you.”
“Go fuck yourself, Haffir!” I shouted.
“How unpleasant. So, you know my name, that is really quite unfortunate, as I can’t leave you alive now, can I?”
“We have Standing!” I shouted.
“He’s done everything I’ve asked. We can finish his project whether he’s alive or dead. In fact, you’d be saving me the trouble if you killed him.”
I turned to Mike. “If you were going to blow this place, where would you set the charge?”
“Down below, as deep as I could. It’d split the rock wide open and remove all the evidence.”
“There are two stairwells, so those below us have probably managed to get out and are now waiting for us topside.”
“How’re they gonna get them all off?”
“The trawler. Haffir will leave in the helicopter, but only once he has the necessary data, and then the others will go by boat. It will probably take a while to get here, say an hour or two at the most.”
“But the data and equipment will be down there,” he said. Nodding back down the way we’d come.
“Right. So that’s where I’m going. You stay here and keep them busy, while I see if I can sort out the bomb and find Haffir.”
Standing groaned and came round, staring in terror at us. I suddenly had an urge to be naughty.
“I am Captain Natasha Bruninski, Professor, of the Russian Federation Naval Special Forces. My colleague and I are here to liberate you from the Arabs.”