The Passengers(82)
‘The vehicles are less than thirty seconds from one another,’ the news anchor announced. ‘And we can see from the helicopter camera that the Passengers are all now within sight of each another.’
Cameras drew in closer to Sofia’s charred, dented vehicle leaving the dual carriageway and approaching the wasteland. Next, Libby recognised Jude’s car travelling along a different road and towards open gates and fencing that had been hastily torn down. Heidi’s car followed, then Sam’s and finally Claire’s came into view.
‘Each vehicle is estimated to be travelling at sixty miles an hour,’ continued the news anchor. ‘Level Five cars contain more safety features than traditional vehicles, but because there are far fewer accidents, they are built from lighter weight and lower cost materials. So at that speed and with the deployment of the standard twelve airbags each car contains, the odds are still very much against a Passenger surviving. And as each vehicle is likely to contain explosives, fatalities are inevitable.’
0.4 miles.
Libby clenched Muriel’s hand tighter. ‘The Hacker lied about us allowing one to live,’ said Muriel tearfully, her fingers trembling. ‘The vote meant nothing. He’s going to kill Claire too.’
Libby wasn’t listening. Jude was now the sole focus of her attention. I could have saved you, she thought. I know I could if the Hacker had given me the chance. And then you could have saved me too.
0.2 miles.
The drones and the helicopters began to pull back for their own safety as each Passenger’s car entered the derelict wasteland from five different angles, all in perfectly straight lines. Their speeding tyres threw up white and grey clouds of concrete dust. Jude’s eyes were now open, but he wasn’t looking at what was to come. He was staring into the camera lens. He’s looking to me, Libby thought. He wants me to be the last face he ever sees. She forced the biggest smile while her eyes swam with tears. She held her free hand to her chest, right above her heart. Jude did the same.
0.009 miles.
‘Three seconds left,’ said the TV anchor solemnly. ‘May God be with them.’
Libby braced herself until, without warning, each car suddenly turned sharply in a perfectly choreographed manoeuvre before their brakes were applied, bringing them to a skidding, dramatic halt.
Chapter 55
Libby released her hand from Muriel’s grip and clutched the neckline of her own blouse.
‘What’s happening?’ Fiona asked. She pushed her glasses back up her nose and stepped closer to the screens to try and make sense of the images.
‘I … I don’t think it’s happened,’ said Muriel. ‘I don’t think they’ve collided. There’s no explosion, no fires, there’s … nothing.’
Footage from the inside of each vehicle vanished, leaving only images taken from outside. However, the swirling smog of rising dust meant that from drones, helicopters and the satellite feed, the area was cloaked under a thick grey and white blanket.
Everyone’s focus shifted to street-level cameras as news crews zoomed in, desperate to capture the moment the air that was dense with debris and dust finally dissolved. Libby watched anxiously as army and emergency services vehicles approached the Passengers’ cars, reticent to step too close, too quickly, in case they belatedly detonated. Then footage switched to just five screens, each one taken by bodycams attached to five army bomb disposal technicians. They wore thick, blast-proof heavy body armour and took tentative steps. Time felt as if it were standing still until they reached the cars the world had spent the last two and a half hours fixated by.
The technician leading the team raised a gloved hand in the air and the others stopped instantly. His finger pointed to each car and all five squared up to one vehicle apiece. The only sound coming through the speakers was their deep, husky breaths behind their oxygen masks. Then, without warning, the same noise was emitted by each car. It was a simple click.
‘What was that?’ whispered Muriel.
‘I think their doors are unlocking,’ said Matthew.
As the dust began to fade, the jurors listened intently as the first Passenger threw their door wide open.
‘Who’s that?’ Libby asked as a figure emerged from the vehicle and into the cloud like a ghost.
‘I can just about make it out … I think it’s Sam Cole,’ Matthew replied. A bodycam focused on a face and confirmed Sam’s identity. Once out of the car, his head turned quickly as if to search for Heidi’s vehicle, but before he could locate her, he was bundled away to safety.
‘Where’s Jude?’ Libby asked, the words nearly clogged in her throat.
‘I don’t know but I think that’s Heidi,’ said Muriel pointing to a second vehicle. Her exit was more tentative; her eyes were shut tight, as if she was still expecting her car to explode at any moment. When it didn’t, she dared to open an eyelid and became startled by the heavily armoured technician taking her by the arm and hurrying her away from the scene.
Next, a bodycam caught Claire, who was struggling to pull herself out of her car. She stretched out her arms for help and once eased to safety, more figures clad in blast suits ran to her aid and carried her by stretcher to awaiting ambulances.
Two vehicles remained. Libby’s eyes flicked from one to the other waiting to see Jude. The tension was unbearable.