The Passengers(83)

A camera focused on the largest of the cars, which Libby recognised as Sofia’s. Her gullwing doors remained closed. A technician reached to open them and as their hinges stretched, a small, panicked dog scampered out and ran blindly past them. The technician moved closer to the interior until his camera picked up Sofia. Her unconscious body was slumped across the rear seats. Quickly, she was pulled from her car and placed upon the ground until a stretcher arrived. ‘Do we have a pulse?’ Libby heard a voice shout, but the answer was muffled. The cuffs of Sofia’s jacket and her hands were streaked with blood.

There was one vehicle left, and Libby was beside herself. ‘Why hasn’t Jude got out yet?’ she wept.

‘Perhaps he’s in shock,’ offered Matthew. ‘People react in different ways to extreme stress. Maybe he just needs a moment to get his bearings.’

‘But the Hacker could still detonate his car.’ Libby lifted her head towards the speakers to address the Hacker. ‘Where is he? Why have you turned the dashboard cameras off? I want to see him.’

The Hacker was now completely silent.

When Muriel went to take Libby’s hand again to offer her reassurance, it was snatched back. Libby felt hot thorns prickle her skin and spread across its surface as her breath shortened. A panic attack felt imminent but this time she didn’t think she could gather the strength to minimise its impact. ‘Please tell me what’s happening,’ she begged.

‘Libby, look,’ said Matthew and her eyes darted back to the screen and Jude’s car. Another figure inside a blast suit twisted the handle to open the door. Libby’s heart thumped hard and fast, terrified that the Hacker had one last trick up his sleeve. Then slowly, the door opened. Please be okay, she repeated to herself. She bit her bottom lip so hard that she tasted blood.

The technician moved slowly, leaning half his body inside the vehicle. However, the camera was attached to the other half of his chest and was pressed against the bodywork, covering the lens. ‘Move!’ she yelled.

Eventually, he pushed himself further inside Jude’s car until the camera captured the entire interior.

It was empty.





Chapter 56





Libby stared at the vacant space inside Jude’s vehicle, her eyes as wide open as her mouth.

‘Where … where is he?’ she gasped and turned to the jurors.

A bewildered Fiona stared back at her, eyebrows arched and shaking her head. Libby looked to the rest of the room in the hope someone else might be able to offer her an explanation. But they were all just as equally dumbfounded, including Jack. ‘Did we miss him in the dust cloud?’ Libby continued. ‘Did he get out and run and we just didn’t see it?’

‘Someone would have spotted him, I’m sure,’ Matthew replied.

‘Then where is he?’

‘I’m sorry, I have no idea.’

Fiona pointed to the screen. ‘Look at the back seats of his car. Didn’t Jude have a rucksack and empty food boxes spread across them? Why are they now empty?’

Libby reached for the rim of the table and grabbed it to steady herself.

‘Take deep breaths,’ said Matthew. ‘Could someone get her some water please?’

‘I’m okay, I’m okay,’ insisted Libby but it was clear to all that she wasn’t. One of Cadman’s assistants obliged and Libby gulped down half a bottle without hesitating.

‘You’re dehydrated,’ said Matthew, ‘and probably a little in shock too.’

Libby looked back towards the screen and into Jude’s empty car. She racked her brain, trying to come up with an explanation. If he hadn’t escaped, there could only be one.

Jude had never been a Passenger.

‘What’s happening over there?’ asked Fiona suddenly, and pointed to the top left-hand side of the screen. Elsewhere, a fire truck had pulled away from the scene and collided with two parked cars. A second truck followed suit, seemingly travelling of its own accord. It was pursued by a handful of cars nudging one another to get out of tight parking spaces. Meanwhile some made it a few hundred metres up the road before they collided with other cars. Some accelerated to faster speeds before hitting random objects. More appeared to be targeting groups of spectators, forcing them to drive to safety.

The footage suddenly returned to a helicopter above the city. Every few seconds it focused on another crash and before long, cameras struggled to keep up with the frequency.

Without warning, a news anchor’s voice returned to the speakers. ‘And we are getting unconfirmed reports of a series of collisions on roads across the country,’ she began. ‘Eye witnesses are telling us they’re seeing cars, vans and buses, some with and without Passengers, driving head-on into other vehicles.’

Suddenly from the street outside came a bang followed by the sound of glass shattering, muffled screams and panicked yelling.

Libby felt any remaining colour drain from her face. ‘This was the Hacker’s plan all along,’ she said in a low voice, the words barely able to escape her constricted throat. ‘It wasn’t to make the Passengers collide, but everyone else instead.’





PART THREE – SIX MONTHS LATER





Chapter 57





WORLD EXCLUSIVE!