The Passengers(32)
‘Our third passenger, you might recognise. It’s actress Sofia Bradbury, seventy-eight, a star of stage and screen for seven decades. She is married to husband Patrick, they are childless, and she has dedicated much of her spare time to raising millions of pounds for children’s charities and hospitals.’ To everyone’s surprise, Sofia gave the camera a smile and a wave.
When Passenger four’s face filled the screen, Libby’s heart raced again. ‘Jude Harrison is twenty-nine years old, a former computer programmer for a car manufacturing company. He has no partner, no dependents and is currently unemployed. He is also presently homeless and living out of his car.’
Libby drew in a long breath – the homeless part of his description having come out of the blue. She noted Jude’s eyes shifting away from his camera, embarrassed. What had happened to him in their time apart that caused him to live in his vehicle? This time, she looked beyond him and spotted empty pizza boxes and fast food cartons next to a rucksack, all spread out across the seats behind him. For the first time, she noticed a sadness in Jude that ran deeper than his current circumstances. She had seen the same look before in her brother Nicky’s eyes.
‘Passengers five and six are husband and wife Heidi and Samuel Cole, both forty years of age,’ the Hacker continued. ‘They are parents to children Beccy and James, aged nine and eight. They have been married for ten years. Sam runs a refurbishment and construction company while Heidi is a police officer in the Bedfordshire constabulary.’ Libby’s heart went out to their children and hoped they had been shielded from what was being broadcast. The couple appeared as anxious as one another. She couldn’t decide if having your partner trapped in the same life or death situation as you would be a comfort or more stressful.
‘And finally, Passenger number seven is Shabana Khartri, thirty-eight, a stay-at-home mother of five who is married to husband Vihaan, an alleged people trafficker. She moved to the UK when she married at eighteen and has lived here ever since. She has never worked and does not speak English.’
How much does she understand about what’s happening around her? Libby asked herself. By the way she wrung her hands and kept her eyes tightly shut, Libby assumed Shabana was only too aware that she was caught up in something awful.
‘Now, jurors,’ the Hacker continued, ‘without discussing your decision with your colleagues and based only upon the information I have presented to you, it is decision time. One by one, please tell me which Passenger you are choosing to send to their death.’
Chapter 24
Libby turned her head towards the rest of the jurors. By their blank expressions, nobody else appeared to know how to respond to the Hacker’s request for the name of a Passenger to send to their death. She cleared her throat to speak first.
‘You’ve only given us an outline of these people; that’s not who they are,’ she began. ‘You can’t expect us to decide who should die based on a pencil portrait.’
‘I think you’ll find that I can and that I just have,’ the Hacker replied. ‘Now who would like to go first?’
Libby gave a dismissive wave of her hand. ‘No, I am not participating. You might have the Passengers under your control, but you don’t have me.’
‘Do I really need to remind you of what happens when you don’t do as I ask, Libby? Thanks to Jack, there are pieces of Victor Patterson still falling from the skies. I have no hesitation in re-enacting that moment with the aid of your friend Jude. So, I’ll ask you again: who would you like to pick first?’
‘Number two – Bilquis,’ said Jack, taking the room by surprise. He folded his arms defiantly. ‘Well, someone had to get this charade moving,’ he added. He fixed his gaze on Muriel as if to cajole her into a decision.
‘It is with a heavy heart that I choose Bilquis too,’ said Muriel quietly.
‘Bilquis,’ repeated Matthew.
‘Bilquis,’ said Fiona.
Libby watched the screen as a helpless Bilquis covered her mouth and wept.
‘And you, Libby?’ the Hacker asked.
She looked at each Passenger in turn, but there was not one candidate who deserved to live or die more than another. It didn’t matter whom she picked as neither she nor the public vote would make up the majority. Bilquis had already been handed a death sentence so she chose the person with the least number of years ahead of them.
‘Sofia,’ she said and, like the other jurors, she couldn’t bring herself to look up at the face of the person she’d picked.
‘Thank you,’ said the Hacker. ‘It doesn’t take a statistician to point out that it’s an almost unanimous decision, but Cadman, out of interest, could you reveal the results from social media please?’
Cadman looked to one of his team who mouthed the word ‘sent’ before Cadman examined his tablet. ‘My algorithms tell me the Passenger the public would most like to die is the same as the jury’s choice – Bilquis.’
Libby and Matthew were the only jury members whose eyes returned to the wall where Bilquis was now the main image. Gradually, the volume grew louder and louder until her distress and pleas for mercy were impossible to ignore. Muriel clamped her hands over her ears.
‘Please,’ Bilquis begged in broken English. ‘Please, change your minds … I am a good woman, I want to be with my daughter again, let me tell you what I do to help others and you might think diff—’