SFSD X

Tabula Rasa (5.7)

Max Thump, Rosa, Richard and a third man whom Max had introduced only as Davis, were crowded into the helicopter, the noise battering them into silence. They'd left the private jet at Arviat—there was nowhere for it to land at the Clinic.

Lights marked the landing area beneath them and the 'copter settled on the Clinic roof. The four passengers clambered out beneath the spinning blades, and made a dash for the elevator doors in the turret, Max Thump in the lead. The elevator descended the short distance to the top floor and the doors slid open.

The unexpected sound of gunfire had all four reaching for their weapons. Davis was first out of the lift, fanning his semi-automatic weapon up and down the landing, but there was no-one there. Max Thump made a beeline for the Research Laboratory but before he could enter, they heard the sound of more shots, coming from beneath their feet.

"Find out what's going on below. I'm going to check this floor." Thump issued crisp instructions.

Rosa hesitated for a second, wondering if she should stay here to back him up, but Thump gestured for her to go with the others. He disappeared into the Research Laboratory.

Rosa followed Davis and Richard down the stairs, her weapon gripped tightly in her hand. What the hell was going on here? She couldn't help feeling Max Thump knew a lot more about the activities at Beaumont than he'd let on.

Davis peered around the corner of the stairwell for a minute, then signalled for the others to follow before entering the corridor at a crouching run.

There was a dead man on the floor but Davis passed him with scarcely a glance. Rosa looked down curiously but didn't recognise the face. Was he one of the staff or one of the assailants?

Gun fire spat from the room ahead of them.

Davis advanced, fanning his weapon from side to side until he reached the double doorway. A sign on the wall told them the room was a kitchen. This was evidently the centre of the attack, or siege, or whatever it was. One of the doors lay flat on the floor, riddled with bullet holes while the other still hung precariously from one hinge.

Rosa ran lightly across the open doorway to the other side and peered through the gap left by the hanging door. It was like looking into a war zone.

The first person she saw was dead. There was no question, his head was half blown off. Further away, a trousered leg stuck out from behind an overturned table. She couldn't see the rest from where she stood, but the leg wasn't moving.

The first live man had his back to her. Dressed in the same dark blue trousers and shirt as the dead body, he was crouching down behind a steel cabinet. His gun was pointing forward at a refrigerator which had been pushed out away from the wall. Rosa guessed there was one person at least behind it. They were all caught in a stand-off, except now the cavalry had arrived.

Max Thump appeared suddenly behind her and cleared his throat.

"The game is over, Mr Bond. You are outnumbered, throw out your weapon and come out with your hands up."

"Bond is dead," called out a voice from behind the refrigerator.

"You're lying," said Thump confidently. He'd seen the empty capsule upstairs.

"See for yourself," said the voice. "He's on the floor there right in front of you, by the table."

Thump craned his neck, trying to see. "I don't believe you. Who are you, anyway?"

"My name's Cartwright. Hold your fire, I'm coming out."

A gun slid out along the floor from behind the refrigerator.