Out of Sight Out of Mind (22 page)

Madison was sitting on the toilet, with the top down. She wrapped her arms around herself, to stop herself from shaking. It didn’t work. Her teeth were chattering. She gritted them as hard as she could.

She knew it all now. And it had to be real. She’d been right inside Jay to get it. No one could hide that well, not even the real Jayston Creed. There was no way that what she’d seen was anything but the truth. Nothing hidden.

He
was
Jayston Creed.

He was sleeping now, downstairs. She’d pushed the right buttons to close him down for a few hours, before she pulled out. He could use the rest, and she needed time alone, to sort out what she’d seen. Felt.

She’d already known some of it. It had been headline news all over the world. For the press, all their Christmases had come at once. They’d torn the heart out of the story, like scavenging coyotes. It had everything. Sinister, reclusive scientist; innocent, suffering victim; beautiful, tragic heroine. Add in the scary mind games, experts running out of control, the whiff of spooks in the background. It was made to run and run.

Madison got up, slipping the bath robe that was hanging on the back of the door around her shoulders, in an effort to get warm. Jay’s scent enveloped her. She screwed up her face, snuffling back tears. She had to focus.

The story wasn’t complex. Three years ago Jayston Creed and his wife, Gina, had set up the ultimate experiment. Two minds, working in tandem, to control a third. A daring, last-ditch intervention to reclaim a friend, victim of a massively debilitating head injury. It had been a phenomenal risk, and a catastrophic failure. The patient had died. Gina had survived two weeks, to die in hospital, her mind, it was whispered, shattered beyond repair. She’d been three months pregnant. The baby wasn’t Creed’s. Jay’s trial for murder opened and closed on the same day. The prosecution offered no evidence. While the press screamed about deals, and cover-ups, Jayston Creed had walked away, presumably into the arms of the security services.

And disappeared.

That was the public story. Now she knew the real one.

Jay lay back, with his hands behind his head, letting his thoughts organise themselves. All the moves were coming back to him. He’d faked sleep, let Madison believe she’d put him out. He reckoned she needed the space. He was feeling a whole lot better. Just having her crisp, clear thought patterns, sorting through the lumber in his head, had grounded him.
No longer alone.

He bit his lip. She had it all now, every last miserable detail. And if she was the rational woman he took her for, she’d run like hell. He hadn’t concealed anything. He hadn’t been in a position to, and anyway he owed her. He’d given her all the what’s and the why’s. All the things he’d never told any of his other interrogators.

There’d been plenty of people asking questions – first the hospital authorities, then the police, and finally the suits from MI take-a-number-from-one-to-ten had arrived, to prod through the debris of three lives. His own colleagues had been the most difficult to handle. They’d all been desperate to find out how he’d managed to screw things up so royally. Initially sympathetic, and willing to close ranks around him, they’d grown increasingly hostile as the press backlash began to wash up at their doors. He’d alienated them all with his refusal to speak, until he had very few supporters left.

He’d told no one what had really gone wrong in that London hospital room. Until today. Someone else already knew though, which was why all this had begun.

He pulled himself off the couch, and padded to the kitchen to fire up the coffee machine.

Madison jumped a foot in the air when the bathroom door swung open.

‘You ready to talk now?’

She gaped at him. ‘You’re not asleep.’

‘Uh … no.’

Why did you think he would be? You’re looking at a master. At
the
master.

‘I made coffee,’ he offered.

‘Is that meant as a bribe or an apology?’

‘Whatever fits.’

‘I could have been naked in here.’ She got up, shedding the robe, and stalked past him.

‘I’ve seen you naked.’

Her glare, back over her shoulder, told him that now was a good time to shut up.

He took the hint.

He’d made coffee and toast, she discovered, when she got to the kitchen. A whole pile of it, neatly buttered and keeping warm under the grill. Her throat felt stiff and the back of her eyes stung.

She swung round. ‘Before we go any further, I want to ask something.’ She saw him brace. ‘What you said, before you went under—’

‘Yes?’ he asked cautiously.

‘What did you mean?’

‘What do you think I meant?’ he hedged.

‘You said you loved me.’

‘Er … Is that a problem?’

‘No, you bloody fool!’ She stepped towards him. His arms closed around her.

‘Could you …?’

‘I don’t know … I feel …’ The flash of disappointment in his eyes, quickly masked, made an ache in her heart. But she couldn’t give him anything but honesty. ‘I care about you, Jay. If we make it through this, ask me again.’

His head jerked up. ‘No. You’re not getting—’

She warded off his words with her hand. ‘What happens if we run away from this? We keep running, always looking over our shoulders.’ She shook her head. ‘The only way out is to go through with the plan you made. I’m going to help you, Jay, whether you want me to or not.’

Emotional trauma had the odd effect of making her hungry, Madison discovered. She munched her way through most of the toast. Jay pushed a piece around his plate, trying to persuade her to change her mind. Tension vibrated off him.

‘I saw Gina die.’ His face was set, pale. ‘I realise now that all I felt for her was infatuation. She set out to seduce me and I fell for it. But even with what she did to me, it hurt to watch her at the end.’

‘Then it’s up to you to keep
me
alive.’ Madison licked butter off her fingers.
And me, you.
‘Gina was working for this mysterious company, right from the beginning?’

‘The Organisation. It’s a collection of hundreds, maybe thousands, of companies, some real, some shell – a multi-global. A hydra, with heads all over the world. Into anything and everything that will turn a dollar – preferably a million or two of them. Or a pound, or a euro, or a yen – they’re not fussy. No morals, scruples or conscience. They wanted the mind experiment. Gina must have been recruited a long time before she met me. They collect talent, and she had it. I was looking for a female assistant – a match of Yin and Yang – you were on the shortlist. I saw Gina first. She made a play for me. I was flattered, just plain stupid – mesmerised. I gave her the job, and a wedding ring. We worked together for two years before she chose her moment.’

‘In the middle of the three-way experiment.’ The devastation she’d glimpsed in Jay’s mind came back to Madison, like an echo. ‘Gina tried to take over the experiment – take
you
over.’

‘She came damn close to succeeding. I didn’t see it coming. Our marriage—’ He raised his shoulders, let them fall. ‘We were arguing a little. Going through a rough patch, I thought. But we were still working together. There was no problem with that. You know how it is. That morning everything was fine. Gina was excited, a little scared, energised.’

He breathed, deep. ‘I had no warning. Things were going well. We could have done it. Dan was responding. We were making new pathways, teaching him to function again, using other parts of the brain. And then there was a surge of power. Gina let me see about the affair and the baby, but not who the man was. I still don’t know. Some of the tabloids suggested it was Dan – that what I did to them both was revenge. The fact that they were sketchy on the details of exactly what it was I
had
done, didn’t stop them speculating, or wheeling out so-called experts with their ideas. A lot of former colleagues made the front page on that. You find out who your real friends are.’ His mouth twisted. ‘Dan might have been the father of the baby – he and Gina were quite close, but it could have been any of the men in our circle, or a stranger. I really don’t know.’ He shrugged. ‘It’s not important. The man, the affair, even the child – from what I saw, in those few seconds, I don’t think any of it mattered to Gina – it was just a weapon in her hands. She used it to distract me, long enough to get a hold. She was trying to overwhelm me, to control
my
mind, permanently. Then she could set up whatever experiment she wanted – whatever her masters wanted. She’d been working for them, feeding back information on everything we did, for the entire time I knew her.’ His voice was bleak. ‘I had to fight her – in my old friend’s brain. I thought she was going to kill us both, or drive us mad.’

His voice was low and anguished. ‘I lost it. Threw everything I could at her. Dan died. I blacked out. You saw. When I came round Gina was curled up in a foetal ball in the corner of the room. She couldn’t even speak. And her eyes …’ He shivered. ‘She looked … as if she was already dead … I did that. To my own wife.’ He bowed his head. ‘She came close to killing me, for money, but I’ll always be the person responsible for her death. When the police arrested me, it felt like justice. I wouldn’t give them answers. They had the right man, the one who killed Dan and Gina. They didn’t need to know how. Probably wouldn’t have believed it. I thought I was saving some of my dignity and her reputation … I was a fool. It turned the press against me. Plus there was a subtle campaign of smear and misinformation. People wanted me isolated. I’ve never been sure if that was the bad guys or the good ones. Maybe it was both.’

He spread his hands. ‘The papers did get it right on several counts. The security people persuaded the prosecution that putting me on trial would bring out issues that shouldn’t be made public.’

‘But they weren’t the ones who made you disappear?’

His mouth curved, but without amusement in his eyes. ‘They were expecting to, but I had money, enough to buy a new life. A lot of professional acquaintances dropped me like the proverbial hot potato. Can’t say I blame them. Our world is hard enough to manage at the best of times. Eddie Jones, my alter ego, made it clear that our association was over as soon as I was arrested. He’d signed on for a few lecture tours and a bit of glad-handing, not a murder trial. I believe he’s since had plastic surgery – I’m sorry about that.’ He paused, looking into the distance. ‘Now my parents are gone, I’ve no close family, but there were still a few friends left who were willing to help me. They got me started on my journey off the map. After that, I made my own way. To all intents and purposes, Jayston Creed died.’

‘Until you decided to resurrect him.’

‘Until the Organisation did.’

‘This man Alec Calver – you trust him.’

‘He was my chief assistant, and a friend. We collaborated on a number of projects. I’ve never had any cause to doubt him.’

‘He found you.’

Jay nodded. ‘He let it be known, discreetly, that he was looking. I was still in contact with one friend I’ve had since school. He’s nothing to do with the mind-reading community, but he was my link back, through tortuous routes, just in case something came up that I needed to know. I was curious about what Alec wanted, so I agreed to meet him – on neutral territory. He knew more than anyone about what happened in that hospital room. He was first on the scene – he helped me try to revive Dan and Gina, but it was hopeless – they were beyond help. He was determined that he was going to give evidence to support me at the trial, but it didn’t come to that.’

‘He wasn’t one of the ones who got you away?’

‘No, I didn’t want him involved; his association with me had damaged his career enough. But he didn’t give up. When I disappeared, he set about infiltrating the Organisation. They hadn’t given up on the mind-control project. He came to me with the outline of a plan, one that could finish this thing once and for all.’

‘An outrageous plan.’

‘It had to be outrageous to work. Complex. The Organisation is a sophisticated piece of machinery. They like complex. It’s what they do. They have to think they’re in charge.’

Madison gave him a narrow look. ‘The control thing again. Do I have this right? The Organisation now has a one-off, whizz-bang computer that can capture the mind-control pattern. They want to force you to repeat the experiment – getting it right this time. Their plan is to freeze-dry the results, and sell them on to whoever will pay, for whatever purpose they want – terrorism, industrial espionage, whatever. Your plan is that you and Alec will destroy the machine.’

‘Exactly.’

‘And to do this, they had to find you and abduct you. And you let them.’

‘Yes.’ Jay shifted in his chair.

‘And this is where I came in. Because you had to repeat the preparation and conditions of the original experiment, as exactly as possible.’

‘Yes – except that Alec will be the receiver – an adept who can participate if needed.’ Jay grimaced ‘And, as far as the Organisation is concerned, keep me in check.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s recording the
process
that is important, not the detail of the outcome, provided the process works. If we build new pathways in Alec’s brain, they will have the pattern – which can be used anywhere, on anyone.’

Madison waved aside the explanation of what would happen afterwards. She understood the implications. That wasn’t what she needed to know. She pulled in a choppy breath. ‘You had to have a female mind reader. Yin and Yang.’ Now she was getting to the difficult bit. The part that hurt.

‘Madison—’ He’d seen it in her face.

‘I was the one you picked,’ she overrode his interruption. ‘You let them take you. You let them take your memory. I understand that they had to think they were coercing you, but why that?’

His mouth twitched. ‘It was because of you. You’re an authority on memory and connection, known to work with down-and-outs. They sent you a subject you couldn’t resist.’

‘You mean you and Alec sent me a subject I couldn’t resist,’ she corrected. ‘You wanted my curiosity. You engineered my involvement. You were trying to test me—’

‘That was the Organisation’s agenda, not mine. I knew what you were capable of. But it was only part of it. We had to be … We needed time …’ He tailed off, shifting uneasily in his seat.

Madison took a deep breath. ‘Yin and Yang. We had to be co-operating, willingly, to reproduce the experiment. More than co-operating. We had to know each other, to have worked together. Very closely together. We were
meant
to have an affair.’

‘I …’ He met her eyes. ‘I’m not going to lie. The optimum scenario was a female with whom I had an emotional and physical bond.’

‘Is that what we have? An optimum scenario?’

‘Madison, don’t.’ He leaned across the table to take her hand. ‘You know it’s not like that. And if you don’t, you should. When I started this—’ He paused. Madison could feel him weighing his words. ‘You were an unknown woman, a means to an end. I was at absolute rock bottom when Alec came to me. I’d turned my back on my whole life – faced the fact that I would probably never use any of my powers again. It was a chance. Something I
could
do. A kind of restitution. It looked— It was simply moves to be made – counters on a board. In a few weeks you’ve turned that around. You know it’s true. You’ve seen inside my head. I had no idea, Madison, that it was possible to change so much. I don’t know what else to say, except that I’m sorry.’

‘You took an appalling risk.’ Her voice wavered. ‘What the hell were you thinking of? You gambled your memory on my skill.’ The enormity of it made her whole body shudder. ‘Your identity. What if I hadn’t been able to get you back? If I’d done damage, blundering around in the dark? I could have harmed you beyond repair.’

‘Ten months ago, it didn’t matter. My life wasn’t worth anything to me, except as a weapon for bringing down the Organisation. Jayston Creed was less than nothing. I never expected to love you.’

Madison put her hands over her eyes. Fear swirled around her. To do this she had to trust Jay. With her life. And if she didn’t— ‘If I’m not a part of this, if they find out you tricked them – they’ll kill you, won’t they?’

Horror grasped her heart, and squeezed. ‘That’s what you were thinking when you left here. You were going to draw them away from me.’ His silence told her it was true. ‘They’ve been watching us.’ She remembered the cat’s paws down her spine, the feeling of being observed. ‘They’ve been monitoring my work at the lab, changing my results there, or at the test centre. They have someone on the inside.’

‘Not at the lab itself, as far as I know. Contractors – maintenance or cleaners maybe. And … at the apartments – probably Scott.’

Madison shivered. ‘He might be willing to provide information, for money. Scott likes money. But they don’t know we’re here?’ Prickles of apprehension were running down her spine again, the illogical temptation to keep checking over her shoulder.

He shook his head. ‘I don’t think so. There’s no record of this place. No one knew we were coming here. We’re off the radar. At least—’

Her chin came up as he hesitated. He was rubbing the scar at his elbow. ‘Alec and I … I didn’t tell Alec everything. I … I wasn’t confident about what would happen. How he might react …’ He hesitated. ‘I organised some private backup.’

‘Security services backup?’ She let out a long sigh when he nodded. ‘Do they know you intend to destroy the machine?’

‘Not exactly.’

‘Jay – how many ends are you playing against the middle?’

‘As many as it takes. The thing is … This is a tracking implant.’ He indicated the scar. ‘
They
know where we are.’

‘Oh.’ She digested the information. ‘I see. Theoretically, they’re the good guys. But of course, they want the machine as well.’

‘I have that impression.’

Madison felt slightly sick. ‘Once the Organisation knows that the wall is broken, they will be coming for us?’

Jay nodded. ‘I imagine that’s why the decorators arrived early at the lab – increased surveillance. They probably have someone else at your apartment, too.’

‘The heating contractors,’ she confirmed absently. ‘So,’ she went on shakily, ‘we have to complete an experiment that has never been done successfully, double-cross the bad guys
and
the good guys, wreck a computer, and get out with a whole skin. I can’t believe I just said all that.’

‘You can still back out—’

‘And if I do, how long will you last? The Organisation will just move on to the next woman on your list. Or they’ll kill you. They’ll kill you whatever happens.’ She could see the certainty, with appalling clarity. ‘There was never going to be a way out for you, was there? Once they got what they wanted, captured on the computer, they’d kill you, to make sure that you never repeated it for anyone else. And probably me, too.’ Her voice cracked.

‘There was a plan B. After we’d wrecked the thing, or if we couldn’t take the machine down, Alec was to get you out. That was why I needed backup from the security services. I didn’t tell Alec, but that was the point when they were to step in. I don’t know how it would have worked.
If
it would have worked … I gambled with all our lives. I think I was a little mad. Can you forgive me?’

Madison swallowed hard, willing the fear away. It retreated. Not far, but enough. But she wasn’t quite ready to answer his question.

‘You gambled most on me. That you could make me part of your scheme. That you could use me, the way Gina used you.’