Chapter 29

Pacing the living room, Theo ran his hands over his head and cursed into the empty space. He hadn’t found anything remotely useful, and now Marc wasn’t answering his calls. Nothing from Sam either. He took out his phone and called again. Nothing.

He wanted to kick something, to punch the wall. Why had he allowed himself to become so frustrated by that woman? What was wrong with him and why had his head gotten all messed up? That was not what he wanted and even if it was, he didn’t want it like that. He didn’t want to be denied and teased he just wanted to fuck. That wasn’t even what he should be thinking about. He should have been sitting at the computer looking for Ben but it had been a waste of time. After an age clicking through cameras and seeing a mixture of depravity and banality. Office workers working, pornography being made. Sometimes it distracted him, when one of those women in pencil skirts bent over or a man licked her heels. Mostly it just angered him to see these people living their lives and doing their jobs like nothing was wrong, like the world was fine and life was easy. Maybe it was easy for them, how could he ever know?

Only Trish left to call. Theo tried but didn’t even get a dial tone, just a message that she was not available. Where the hell was everyone? What happened?

The sole logical answer: CaliaCorp. Theo went back to the computer and sat down. The cameras filled the screen. He clicked through them, wondering how pointless it would be this time.

Except this time, he found something. Sam, walking out of an elevator on one of the highest floors. She snuck, crouched low. Theo switched cameras and saw CaliaCorp security were wandering that floor. They passed her by without noticing and she kept moving deeper into the building, past huge desks and lavish couches. The camera was labelled ‘VP suite’. It seemed they had plenty of luxury at the top. Sam moved through a door and Theo lost her. No camera left on that floor picked her up.

He hoped she’d be ok, but security was everywhere in that building. Did they know she was there? Were they looking at the cameras too? Probably no-one looked that closely but what automated systems were there to spot intruders? There had to be some advanced face detection or something. Theo wasn’t so strong on that stuff, Marc would know, if he could be bothered answering his phone.

Theo switched to looking elsewhere, scanning for something familiar, someone he knew. It took a few moments, but this time he did find someone. It was Trish, holding onto the bars of a cell on one of the lower floors. What had they done to her? What had she done? Theo hadn’t even known there would be cells in the building. Why would an office block have them? Was it a film set? Trish would never shoot a CaliaCorp scene, of course. Would she? Maybe she was just doing the same disappearing act as Ben.

Or maybe, Theo thought, it was time to be a man. The person he knew he was. The person he wanted Aisling to see.

Maybe instead of waiting for Sam to get caught and end up in a cell with Trish, he should go down there and find them both and get everyone out of there. Ben too.

Theo leapt up from the desk and rushed outside.