Part 23 (2/2)

Adam is walking ahead, and slows down when he reaches the junction with the main pa.s.sageway. His right shoulder rubs against the metal wall, he stops, then swings round the corner quickly with his pistol raised.

There's a buzzing sound as the ceiling lights come on ten metres away. It sounds like a large parrot climbing the bars of its cage. Adam lowers his gun and tries to breathe through his nose.

The barrel of his pistol is moving slightly in time with his raised pulse.

The sudden light makes Joona's migraine flare behind his eye. It's not serious, but he still has to lean against the wall for a moment before following Adam.

The lights in the main pa.s.sageways are evidently activated by motion-sensors.

Joona looks up at one of the security cameras. The dark lens s.h.i.+mmers enigmatically.

The pipes running across the ceiling click. But otherwise the bas.e.m.e.nt is completely quiet.

They reach a side-pa.s.sage and once again there's a clatter of tiny claws as a section of lighting comes on in the main walkway.

They turn left, walking past rows of sealed storerooms, and pa.s.s two shabby sofas as the lights go out behind them.

'We ought to reach his area soon,' Adam whispers.

Indirect light from an electronic lock some way ahead makes the storerooms seem to bulge out into the pa.s.sageway.

Adam pauses to listen.

There's a drumming, rattling sound somewhere. They can both hear something hard knocking against metal.

Then everything falls silent again.

They wait several seconds before continuing to move forward into the darkness.

There's a sudden sc.r.a.ping sound, then a metallic noise far in the distance. Joona points up at a camera in the ceiling: the lens has been covered with duct-tape.

Adam stops before he reaches the next main pa.s.sageway, moves his pistol to his left hand, wipes his right palm on his trousers, gives his hand a shake, then takes a firm grip of his gun. He notices that some gold glitter from the woman in the hotel room has stuck to the sleeve of his jacket, and glances quickly at Joona, focuses and darts round the corner.

The ceiling clicks and ticks along the pa.s.sageway as the lights come on in quick succession.

The walls, floor and ceiling are bathed in sharp light, but beyond the lights there's nothing but blackness. Even though the pa.s.sageway runs another fifty metres or so, only the first ten are visible.

'Stop,' Joona says quietly behind Adam.

They both stand completely still in the illuminated pa.s.sageway. A drop of sweat falls from the tip of Adam's nose. Joona leans on his stick, feeling strangely dizzy.

The brittle knocking sound starts up again in the distance, a high-frequency metallic buzz.

Suddenly the lights in the main pa.s.sageway go out when the sensors can't detect any movement. The two men stand motionless, staring into the darkness. Up ahead there's a faint glow across the floor, from one of the side-pa.s.sages.

The light vanishes, then returns in the same sequence: three longer flashes, followed by three short ones.

The strange drumming sound echoes again, followed by something hitting a metal wall. It's much closer now.

'What do we do?' Adam whispers.

Joona doesn't have time to answer before the ceiling lights at the very far end of the main pa.s.sageway come on.

A young woman is standing in the middle of the gangway, swaying. She's wearing nothing but a pair of dirty tracksuit bottoms and a padded jacket. Her feet are bare, and her hair looks matted.

She's tied round the waist with thick steel wire, which snakes off into the side-pa.s.sage next to her. When she takes a step forward the wire makes a metallic rattling sound against the walls behind her.

Her right arm is moving strangely, twitching and then moving away from her. There's a black band round her wrist. It looks like someone's tugging the band.

She steps towards them. Her arm sinks and suddenly there's a large shadow behind her. A huge dog with a b.l.o.o.d.y ear appears at her side. Its black leash hangs limp in her hand, and leads behind her back and up to the dog's neck.

The huge dog is a Great Dane. It reaches her chest and must weigh twice as much as her.

The dog moves nervously, twitching its head anxiously.

The woman says something and then drops the leash on the ground. The dog leaps forward and picks up speed rapidly in the pa.s.sageway. The huge animal is getting closer to Joona and Adam with powerful, silent movements. Its muscles ripple across its back and loins as the lights come on, section by section.

They move back and raise their guns just as the lights go off at the far end of the pa.s.sageway.

The young woman is no longer visible.

The sound of the animal's claws and its panting breath is getting louder.

They run into a side-pa.s.sage, past padlocks that s.h.i.+mmer in the light from the main pa.s.sageway, but fifteen metres in their way is blocked by a barricade of furniture and removal boxes.

Now they can hear barking from another direction.

A sharp pain flares behind one of Joona's eyes. It's as if a hot knife-blade is being pushed into his head, and when it gets pulled out again he can't see for a few seconds.

The pain of his migraine almost makes him drop his gun.

The dog slides on the cement floor, comes round the corner, catches sight of him and speeds up again.

Joona raises his pistol, blinks hard in an effort to see properly, but the sight on the barrel is trembling too much.

It's too dark, but he fires anyway. The sound of the shot multiplies off the metal walls and concrete. The bullet misses and ricochets between the walls.

The dog is approaching with powerful bounds.

Joona blinks and can just make it out in a series of flickering images, its pointed ears and s.h.i.+mmering muscles, shoulders and strong thighs. His stick clatters to the floor as he rests his shoulder against the corrugated metal of a storeroom door and takes aim again.

'Joona!' Adam cries.

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