Ben's muscles were burning.
He and Annie were sprinting as fast as they could, both of them easily matched as far as speed was concerned; but the men following them had longer legs and were catching up.
'Don't stop,' he gasped at Annie. 'If we stop, they'll either catch us or shoot us.'
Annie didn't reply, but her look of agonized exhaustion as she continued to run alongside him said it all. She was feeling the same pain throughout her body that Ben was; she too was at the mercy of her willpower as they struggled to break through the pain barrier and reach the forest up ahead where at least they would have a chance of hiding. A chance of surviving.
Ben allowed himself a quick glance over his shoulder as he ran. The soldiers were further behind than he thought, which gave him a surge of momentary relief. They had stopped. But then he saw why. One of the soldiers raised his weapon and pointed it in their direction.
'Get down!' he screamed at Annie, pulling her heavily to the earth even as he spoke. They hit the ground just in time — a shot echoed around the countryside, and Ben was sure he heard the bullet whizzing over his head. Looking back, he saw the men had started to run towards them again.
'We need to keep going,' he said breathlessly. 'Run in a zigzag — it'll make us a more difficult target.'
'It'll slow us down too,' Annie puffed.
'Yeah, but I've got an idea.' They started to run again, weaving in and out. As they did, Ben reached into his combat trousers and pulled out the gun he had taken from the soldier driving the truck. 'I hope this thing's loaded,' he gasped, before turning to look at the men following. He flicked off the safety catch, stretched out his hand, aimed just above the heads of the three men chasing them, and fired two deafening shots.
The men shouted in surprise and alarm, then hit the ground. Ben and Annie upped the pace, ignoring the shrieking pain from their muscles. They had to get to the forest, and quickly.
Behind them, the soldiers pushed themselves up to their feet, but no sooner had they done so than Ben fired another couple of shots, forcing them back down to the ground.
'We're nearly there!' Annie shouted. 'We're nearly at the trees!'
A shot rang out behind them.
'Keep going!'
Ben yelled, and with gritted teeth they made a final spurt for cover, crashing into the forest with an explosive breath of relief.
'We need to hide,' Annie gasped. 'But where?'
Ben looked around them. He knew they only had seconds to make a decision.
'Here,' he said. He looked up — the canopy above him was thick. 'Our best bet is to climb up a tree on the edge,' he said. 'Even if they expect us to do that, there are hundreds of trees here, so it will be nearly impossible for them to find us. Follow me.'
They ran along the edge of the forest a little way until they found a tree suitable for climbing. 'You go first,' he urged Annie, then watched as she scaled the tree with cat-like skill. Within seconds she was hidden in the upper branches. Ben tucked the gun back into his combat trousers, then launched himself at the tree trunk, following the route that his cousin had so deftly taken. There were plenty of footholds, and he was several metres up before he heard the sound of voices nearby. He looked above him — not far now until he was out of sight — and kicked his foot into the next foothold to propel himself upwards. As he did, however, the gun slipped and fell to the ground. The moment it hit the earth, the weapon went off with a loud bang that nearly caused Ben to lose his grip and fall from the tree.
'What was that?' he heard someone shout. The voice was much closer than he had expected, and he scrambled desperately to the top of the tree, where Annie was waiting for him, her face white with concern.
'What happened?' she whispered.
'The gun,' Ben replied. 'I dropped it.'
More voices from below. It was difficult to tell exactly where they came from, but they weren't far away, that much was sure.
'If they find it—' Annie breathed.
'I know,' Ben replied. 'If they find it, they'll realize where we are.' He looked seriously at his cousin. 'I'm sorry, Annie,' he said. 'I don't see a way out. If these people think we know about Vortex, they're going to want to silence us.'
He looked around uselessly. In the distance, through the trees, they could see the remains of the burning truck where the ruins of the device were slowly melting away; and beyond that he thought he could make out the hut that concealed the entrance to the underground bunker where they had left Joseph.
Poor Joseph. So keen to confront his wicked brother, he would be at Lucian's mercy yet again. Ben shuddered to think about it, before snapping back to their own predicament. He could hear people moving around at the bottom of the tree.
'The gun,' he heard a voice say. 'The kid must have dropped it. They must have climbed up here.'
Ben closed his eyes. 'It looks like Joseph's not the only person who has no more places to run to…' he whispered.
A minute passed, and neither Joseph nor Lucian spoke. The two brothers just looked at each other, drinking in the sight of the faces that they had not seen for so long.
'I don't want to kill you, Lucian,' Joseph said finally. 'But you will do as I say, or I will detonate the bomb.'
'What is that you want me to do, Joseph?' Lucian asked tersely. A bead of sweat ran down his face.
'I want you to come with me. We will leave the case of Semtex here, and together we will walk out of this place. I want you to promise me that you will never again use your knowledge to devise something that will harm so many people, and I'm going to trust you to keep that promise, though I do not know what you have done to deserve such trust. We will then destroy this place, so all the remnants of your work will be gone.'
Joseph's ultimatum hung in the air between them.
'You need to take control of yourself, Joseph,' Lucian said after a moment, his voice trembling slightly. 'I know you're angry, but this isn't the solution.'
Joseph clutched his finger down firmly on the detonator. 'What you mean, of course, is that it isn't your solution,' he replied.
'It's the solution of an unhinged mind,' Lucian said sharply. 'Fight it, Joseph. Fight it, and think.' He took a step closer. 'You are struggling with your demons. I can see it in your face. Let me help you.'
'Take another step towards me, Lucian, and I will release my thumb without hesitation.'
Lucian trod carefully backwards.
'Fifty years,' Joseph continued. 'Fifty years you stole from me the day you decided that I would be a suitable subject for your experiments.'
'They weren't experiments, Joseph. We knew what the drugs would do. We were saving you from yourself. Do you really believe we were working alone? The intelligence services knew what we were doing, and if you had blown the whistle they would have killed you. My way was much better. It was for your own good.'
'My own good?' Joseph smiled, and appeared to be thinking for a moment. 'You're right. My mind is clouding over. It has been for the last few days. Occasionally I snap out of it, but soon I will be out of control. It's my medication, you see. I don't have it, and without my medication, the world is a dark and frightening place.'
Lucian's eyes narrowed, and Joseph could see hope in his face.
'But the clouds have not yet fully descended,' he continued. 'Some things are clear, and one of them is this: that if there is one person in the whole world who is not fit to judge what is for anyone's own good, it is you, my brother.' He spat the final word with distaste. 'But I am giving you a final chance — a chance to redeem yourself.'
Lucian's lip curled into a sneer. 'Redeem myself? If you believe that I want redemption, you are stupid as well as insane. You have no idea of what I have done. You have no idea of the things my mind has achieved.'