First Activation

“I was making my way out the first night, but you two were outside chatting. You weren’t leaving the front of the house any time soon and started giving me whisky. I watched you leave the house from the upstairs window and started to get nervous. I was relieved to see you both made it back in one piece. When you told me Jerry was alive, I wanted to sneak away the next morning, but Bernie wouldn’t go to bed after his shift.”

“Why didn’t you tell us any of this?” Jack replied.

“I was convincing myself that Genesis Alliance had nothing to with it. It would mean that I played a part if it was true. When Jerry attacked the house and Bernie was killed, I couldn’t deny it to myself anymore.”

Lea leaned back in her seat, put both of her hands on her head and closed her eyes.

Jerry started slowly clapping his feet.

“Ten out of ten for acting, what a crock of shit.”

I ignored him and thought about what we had just been told.

If the whole story was true, and it was certainly plausible, then I could understand Lea’s actions. Most people had ignored an inconvenient truth or two before, especially if it meant having an easier life. Perhaps not ignoring something as big as the plans of Genesis Alliance, but who was I to judge? After mulling it over, I was satisfied with most of what Lea said, but was still annoyed with her for all the lies. As far as I was concerned, we had a bigger fish to fry in Hermitage and needed to stay together as a team.

“So what do you think?” I said to Jack.

“I was about to ask you the same thing,” he replied.

He didn’t sound too upset, so I guessed he was probably thinking the same as me.

Trapped in a moving vehicle together with Jerry and Lea, we couldn’t openly discuss our thoughts, so I tapped Lea on the shoulder.

“Don’t worry about it. I can understand why you did what you did. None of us have any secrets anymore. Let’s just move on and make sure we take care of business.”

“Don’t beat yourself up about Bernie, either,” Jack said. “You didn’t know it was going to happen. We’ve all made mistakes since Friday.”

“Thank God. I knew you’d understand once I’d explained.”

“You guys really are stupid. She won’t let you screw her you know?”

“Jack, pull over, I’ve had enough of him,” I snapped.

“What are you going to do?” Jerry nervously muttered.

“I’m going to gag you; you’ve had plenty of warnings.”

“I promise, I won’t say another word. Don’t you think I’ve had enough?”

The Range Rover stopped.

I opened up the back of the vehicle and took out a folded bed sheet from the corner, and then cut a long piece from the edge. Jack held Jerry’s shoulders firmly against the seat as I tied it around his head, covering his mouth.

Jerry gave a muffled shout; probably an insult but the gag had done its job. Jack climbed back into the driver’s seat and we pulled away.

Jack looked across to Lea.

“So, what do you know about Hermitage? Did you go to a meeting at Hogback Road?”

“I knew about the place because I sent a couple of boxes there, but I never visited. Anthony might be part of Ron’s management team; I think he came along to the team-building day at the Splash Universe a few months ago.”

“Splash Universe?”

“It’s a waterpark.”

“Jesus. A team-building day at a waterpark to organise the end of the world?”

“No, it was an attached hotel that was part of the complex. We had a weekend there and I didn’t hear any talk of killing people. Looking back it feels a bit ridiculous, but at the time, it was just a company event. That’s how Ron ran things, he’s normally pretty casual, but only if you play by his rules.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“I only saw a couple of people cross him during the last two years. And I mean, just disagree with him over minor detail, and they’d be fired.”

“Being fired from Genesis Alliance isn’t the worst thing in the world,” Jack said.

“I said fired because that’s what I thought, nobody ever saw them again.”

“What do you remember about Anthony?” I said.

Jerry moaned furiously for a few seconds, we all ignored him.

“I didn’t really talk to him. He was in Ron’s huddle at the bar most of the time. He kind of looks like Larry David, have you seen him on TV?”

“The skinny, bald guy with glasses?” Jack replied.

“Yeah, that’s him, he never really acknowledged me, but that suited both of us. I used to laugh with Martina about all of Ron’s freaky associates.”

We were starting to build a small picture of Genesis Alliance, although it still didn’t make sense. To find out more about Anthony, we’d have to get Jerry talking again. A task that would be difficult to manage when he seemed to thrive on insulting Lea and winding up Jack.