‘Still?’
I nodded.
‘Is it back?’ She looked over her shoulder.
‘No. Something else.’
I called him again. Again, nothing. Finally and very reluctantly, I called Major Guthrie.
‘Good God, don’t you people ever sleep?’
‘Major, is the Chief with you?’
‘Well, I hope not, I’m in bed.’ A pause. ‘Isn’t he with you?’
‘No.’ I took a deep breath. ‘And I can’t raise him. What did he say when he left you?’
‘He was going to Sick Bay. To see you.’ I could hear him thinking. ‘Stay where you are, Max. I’m on my way.’
I sat at the station and tried to think. Where could he be? There was no way he wouldn’t return to check on me. Something had happened. Guthrie turned up about twenty minutes later. In uniform, this time.
‘No one has entered or left the building since quarter past seven this evening and that was a just couple of techies coming in. Did he say anything to you about feeling unwell?’
‘No. Presumably there was no issue with disposing of – that thing?’
‘No, none. We stayed and watched it burn away. On my instructions, Mr Strong kept the incinerator running for another thirty minutes. Farrell said he was going to see you and disappeared. I followed a couple of minutes later, so I didn’t see which way he went.’
We traipsed down to the basement and found Mr Strong. ‘Twice in one night, Major?’
‘Can’t stay away, Mr Strong. Is the Chief still here?’
‘Good heavens, no. He left about an hour ago now.’
Back up the stairs, I slipped into the paint store, just in case he’d felt the need to visit his hidden pod for some reason, but it was empty. We visited his room. Also empty. Now I really began to worry.
Mrs Partridge wasn’t in her office, but the Boss was in. Did he never stop working?
He looked up as we entered. ‘There seems to be a lot of activity in my unit tonight, Major?’
How does he know these things?
I sat while Major Guthrie reported on the evening’s events. When he’d finished, the Boss sat silently for a while. ‘No trace at all?’
‘None, sir.’
‘And he definitely intended to return to see you, Dr Maxwell?’
‘He said he’d see me in ten minutes. That was over an hour ago.’
‘That’s not like him,’ said the Boss. ‘And there’s no trace anywhere?’
‘None, sir.’
He stared at the papers on his desk and then came to a decision.
‘All right. Major, turn out the unit.’
‘Yes, sir.’ He left the room.
‘Stay here, Max.’
I sat in one of his armchairs and pulled my jacket around me. I was cold.
Three minutes later, every alarm in the building went off.
Chapter Six
I sat quietly as events raged around me. I had thought about returning to my room, but here in his office I could hear the reports as they came in, so I stayed quiet and hoped he had forgotten about me. Fat chance. During a momentary lull, he said, without turning his head, ‘You checked the paint store?’
‘Yes, sir.’
He nodded and carried on with whatever he was doing.
This was the elephant in the room. He and Chief Farrell were from the future. They’d been sent back to start St Mary’s and keep it, us, and by extension, the future St Mary’s, safe and secure. The Chief had his own pod that he kept, camouflaged, at the back of the paint store. Now he’d disappeared, but his pod was still here. He would never leave his pod. I had a bad feeling about this.
People came and went, reporting failure. After they’d drawn a blank with work areas, the search moved to staff rooms and private areas. They finished just before dawn, and as soon as it was light, they moved outside. By mid-morning, every square inch of St Mary’s had been searched. I had long since fallen asleep and someone had tossed a blanket over me.
The sound of voices penetrated my light doze, I opened my eyes to see the Boss, Guthrie, Dieter, Peterson, and Professor Rapson seated around his briefing table. I could tell from their faces that they’d had no success. I struggled out from under the blanket.
‘Sorry, sir. I’ll make myself scarce.’
‘No, please join us. We’re just discussing our next move.’ I sat down and someone passed me a mug of tea. I was cold, stiff, and a little scared.
Major Guthrie put down his tea and sat forward.
‘I think,’ he began, but we never did find out what he thought, because at that moment we heard running footsteps and voices raised in Mrs Partridge’s office. The door crashed open. It was Polly Perkins, Head of IT, flushed with running.
‘Sir, we’ve found something!’
‘Where? What?’
‘Gents’ toilets down by Hawking. Writing. Maybe a message.’
The Boss stood up. ‘Guthrie, Maxwell, and Peterson, with me.’ We set off. ‘How was this missed in our first search?’
Polly replied, ‘You’ll understand when you see it, sir.’
The toilets smelled the way men’s toilets always do. Like a hundred wet tomcats had died in there. We looked around.