‘You may not be aware, Commander,’ Elena said, ‘that everything Daniel is achieving here is in the public domain. Millions of people stand to benefit from his work. I’m very proud we have it under our aegis.’
Glancing past Brinsmead, Harrigan saw Sam Jonas two steps behind, watching them closely, taking in every word, every nuance. Between her and Elena, he saw Elena’s second bodyguard, a man in his mid-thirties who had not been introduced. Why in a building as secure as this should Elena feel the need for two bodyguards? All of them seemed to be positioned as if they were taking their places for some obscure dance, the outcome of which he could not foresee.
‘You’re interested in investing in LPS, Commander?’ Brinsmead was asking him.
‘I’ve been considering it,’ he replied.
‘I’m sure Elena will give you a very thorough introduction as to what you’re putting your money into. Are you expecting good returns?’
‘I’d call that putting the cart before the horse.’
‘No one invests without a hope of return. You must have thought about it.’
‘I’d consider everything here to be a long-term investment,’ Harrigan replied.
‘This project certainly is,’ Brinsmead said in his whispered voice. ‘I’ve set it up so that anyone properly qualified could take it over if something happened to me. It could even be shifted to a new laboratory if need be.’
‘No one else would have your driving force,’ Elena said. ‘What would make you leave something you’ve put so much work into, at such a personal cost?’
‘Something none of us could foresee, Elena. Call it an attempt at insurance against unexpected blows of fate.’
Harrigan couldn’t work out if this was sarcastic or a warning. He felt there was a barb in the words and assumed Elena had as well. Given the way he looked, Brinsmead must have had some knowledge of unexpected blows of fate.
‘Why don’t we take the commander up to the roof? He can see what he’s buying into,’ Brinsmead said.
‘I had planned to do that. Now seems to be a good time.’
‘I’ll get rid of my coat,’ Brinsmead said.
Harrigan watched him walk into his glassed-in office near the main door and hang up his lab coat. His actions were slow and awkward, the movements of someone who dealt with pain as a matter of course. His office, on display to the room, was painstakingly ordered and plain without any hint of personal decoration. Outlined in the glass with the lights on him, his marked face seemed stripped to its essentials. There was nothing to cushion the impress of the bone beneath his damaged skin; everything had been burnt away. Harrigan was suddenly aware of Elena, standing close by. She was also watching Brinsmead, her face expressionless, almost cold. Throughout the tour of the laboratory, there had seemed no warmth or rapport between them.
She turned to see Harrigan watching her. ‘Shall we go?’ she said with an immediate smile.
She led them out of the laboratory into a roomy elevator, where she pressed the button marked Roof. When the doors opened, they stepped out onto a wide viewing platform. Harrigan could see the rest of the industrial estate shimmering in the midmorning heat. The huge metal sheds and cheap brick buildings appeared like toys in the distance.
‘This is the best way to see the building,’ Elena said. ‘As a whole, not disconnected parts. I love this building. I see it as a crystal snake biting its tail. I’ve watched over it ever since it was on the drawing board. Years of hard work have gone into this.’
Seen from the viewing platform, the building resembled a slice taken from a multifaceted diamond where each facet connected into the next. The garden at the centre was a startling mix of live greens while the interlocking panes of its glass roof formed an arched pattern against the grey walls.
‘Everything inside those walls is cutting edge,’ Elena continued. ‘The waste-disposal systems, sewerage, the air conditioning, water recycling, energy efficiency, everything. Here, we’re researching the regeneration of nerves and skin, the restoration of motor-skill functions, the repair of brain damage. The possibilities are limitless.’
‘You have a very sizeable investment here,’ Harrigan said.
‘You don’t build anything of value without that kind of an investment.’
‘It is a sizeable investment,’ Brinsmead said, at the same time. ‘You could say that any number of people have put their lives into this building, including myself.’
‘I’ve put mine into it,’ Elena said. ‘I was happy to.’
‘This building isn’t just an inanimate object to Elena,’ Brinsmead said to Harrigan. ‘To her, it has the status of a living thing. It means more to her than most other things that are living.’
It was an offensive thing to say about someone standing next to you. Elena moved away without looking back at Brinsmead.
‘It might as well be alive,’ she said. ‘It’s a very complex structure. Its design might almost be said to have given it an intelligence. Planning it was one thing. Standing here seeing it achieved is another. It’s the best thing.’
Questions were in Harrigan’s mind. Attempting to bribe a senior police office might seem trivial when you had something as significant as this at stake. But why would Elena Calvo risk anything on this scale by involving herself with chancers like Stuart Morrissey, Nattie Edwards and Jerome Beck-people with histories that tainted everything they touched? If their activities did threaten hers, would she be prepared to remove them so cold-bloodedly? If her focus was the regeneration of the human body, why involve the organisation with crop research?
‘Can I ask why you came to Australia?’ he said. ‘Aren’t we out of the mainstream here?’
‘Don’t undervalue yourselves. The land here is cheap, the country is one of the most stable on earth, there’s an educated workforce. Your government was very welcoming, which also helped. I came here because the doors were open. I feel freer here than I have anywhere else. Location isn’t as important as it used to be. The world is a global village now, communication is instantaneous. We can video conference around the world with ease whenever we need to. Quite a number of people working here have come from other countries; other people will join them. I’ll build this facility up until it’s in the first rank anywhere in the world. Now let’s go downstairs. We have business to discuss.’
Pure steel, he thought. She has a backbone of pure steel. No one runs a business like this without it.
He glanced at Sam. She was silent, watching. Behind her was Elena’s second bodyguard, always in their company. Brinsmead’s strange face drew his gaze in much the same way the dead had when he’d seen them seated at the table at Pittwater. You couldn’t help but be drawn to stare at something so wrecked. Harrigan looked from Brinsmead to Sam to Elena. There was no way to know what their separate motives towards each other might be. For all he knew, they were three thieves forced together, each planning the other’s death. He followed Elena back into the lift without speaking.
15
When they were downstairs, on their way to Elena’s office, Brinsmead turned to Harrigan. ‘May I sit in on your meeting with Elena today, Commander?’ he asked. ‘I may be able to answer questions on the scientific side in more detail than she can. If you’re going to invest, I’m sure you’d like to know all sides of the operation.’
‘I asked the commander for a private meeting, Daniel. I don’t think he was expecting your company.’
‘I don’t mind if Dr Brinsmead joins us,’ Harrigan replied, curious to see how this strange dance between the two of them might work out.
Elena seemed to be teetering on the edge of saying that wasn’t going to happen when she changed her mind. ‘Then let’s go in,’ she said.