Silent Night - By Tom Barber Page 0,79
was starting to take its toll.
‘I’m so cold,’ she whispered slowly, shaking. Archer rubbed her arm slowly with his right hand, trying to generate some warmth as best he could.
‘Someone will find us. Just hang on.’
Silence.
They both looked outside. The laboratory air still had that yellow haze, laden with the virus.
‘Thank you,’ she said quietly, trembling.
‘For what.’
‘For saving my life. For a while, anyway.’
Pause. Each moment of conversation was followed by longer moments of silence.
‘Dad said we were going to die. He was right.’
‘We’re not going to die. Someone will find us.’
‘Who?’
‘Someone.’
Pause.
She nestled her head into his chest, mist coming out every time they both exhaled.
Archer didn’t tell her, but he was worried.
Downtown, still outside Tonic East, Josh withdrew his phone from his ear and looked down at the screen, confused. Just as she was climbing into a car with Jorgensen and Shepherd, Marquez noticed Josh’s hesitation and paused. She stepped out, slamming the door and turned to Shepherd, who was firing the engine.
‘I’ll ride with Josh.’
Shepherd nodded, pulling off the handbrake and the Ford moved off. Marquez walked over to Josh, who was trying to make the call again.
‘Everything OK?’
‘I can’t get through to Archer.’
Marquez noticed the tone in his voice.
‘I’ll drive,’ she said.
THIRTY SEVEN
All conversation in the freezer had stopped. Maddy was huddled in under Archer’s arm, wrapped up in the folds of her coat. All their movements had slowed, the cold making them sleepy. Archer was feeling warmer which he knew was a bad sign. It didn’t matter that they had cheated the virus. If they didn’t get help, they would both be dead in fifteen minutes.
Suddenly Maddy spoke.
‘I’m sorry.’
‘For what?’
‘For being…so hostile to you today.’
Pause.
‘I just…’
She paused again. The cold was fragmenting her sentences. Talking was becoming harder and harder.
‘He died…And I wanted it to be…someone’s fault…other than his.’
Silence.
‘And I never…got a chance…to say…goodbye.’
Pause.
‘He must have been…so scared.’
Every time she exhaled, her breath turned to mist as the temperature condensed the water vapour.
Archer didn’t reply.
He just hugged her close, both of them shaking.
A long moment of silence followed.
‘Tell me…about you.’
He looked down at her. ‘What…do you want…to know?’
‘Anything. Tell me about your family….Do you have…any… brothers or sisters?’
‘A sister.’
‘What’s her name?’
‘Sarah.’
‘What about…your parents?’
‘They’re gone.’
Silence.
‘How?’
‘My mother had cancer. My father was…murdered.’
Pause.
‘I didn’t get to…say goodbye either.’
Silence.
Frost had gathered on the edges of their clothing and in their hair. There was a rustle as Maddy tilted her head, looking up at him. He met her gaze.
She was pale.
‘I just…realised something.’
‘What?’
‘I don’t even know your name.’
He forced a smile. ‘Archer.’
‘No…I mean…your first name.’
He looked down at her. Her lips were looking blue.
‘Sam… it’s Sam.’
He felt her move into him slightly closer. He felt warm, and sleepy.
Talk, idiot.
Stay awake.
If you fall asleep, you won’t wake up again.
‘Hold on,’ Archer whispered. ‘Won’t…be long now.’
They sat there in silence.
Shivering.
Waiting.
*
Having pulled up outside the building, Josh and Marquez moved into the lobby seventeen floors below. The night security guy was at his desk, engrossed in a New York Post. The guy flicked his eyes up from the rear pages then looked back down.
‘What floor is Flood Microbiology?’
’17 and 18,’ he said, not looking up from the paper. ‘You got an appointment?’
Annoyed by his attitude, Marquez pulled her badge and showed it. ‘We don’t need one.’
That got his attention. He snapped up in his seat, putting the paper away. ‘I’ll buzz you in.’
‘Thank you.’
Inside the freezer, Archer’s eyes were just about to close when he saw movement the other side of the lab in the main corridor.
It looked like Josh and Marquez.
Both figures were staring at him, pressed up against the glass, Marquez with her phone to her ear. Josh was up close to the glass, shouting something, but Archer couldn’t make out what he was saying.
Shit, I’m dreaming, he thought.
It can’t be them
They’re downtown.
Under his arm, Maddy had gone quiet and still. She wasn’t shivering any more.
I’m dying, he thought.
No, you’re not. Keep your eyes open.
I’m about to die in a damn deep freeze.
I’ll just close my eyes.
Just for a second.
THIRTY EIGHT
Sergeant Jake Hendricks was a fifteen-year man within the NYPD who took great pride in two things in his life. He had never taken a shortcut. And his five-man team were renowned as one of the toughest groups inside the entire Police Department.
His fierce hatred for any illegal activity stemmed from when he was a kid. He’d been walking home from the movies with his father on Halloween night when they were set upon by a gang on some sort of initiation.