Whiteout(113)

"Feel this wind," Stanley said. "The droplets will disperse before they can do any harm."

"To hell with it all," Kit said, and he threw the bottle high in the air. Then he turned around, jumped over the low wall, and ran full tilt at the cliff edge a few feet away.

Stanley jumped after him.

Toni caught the perfume bottle before it hit the ground.

Stanley leaped through the air, hands stretched out in front of him. He almost got Kit by the shoulders, but his hands slipped. He hit the ground, but managed to grab one leg and grip it tight. Kit fell to the ground with his head and shoulders jutting out over the edge of the cliff. Stanley jumped on top of him, holding him down with his weight.

Toni looked over the edge, down a hundred-foot drop to where the sea boiled among jagged rocks.

Kit struggled, but his father held him down, and eventually he became still.

Stanley got slowly to his feet and pulled Kit up. Kit's eyes were shut. He was shaking with emotion, like someone in a fit. "It's over," Stanley said. He put his arms around his son and held him. "It's all over now." They stood like that on the edge, with the wind blowing their hair, until Kit stopped shaking. Then, gently, Stanley turned him around and led him back toward the house.

* * *

THE family was in the living room, stunned and silent, still not sure that the nightmare was over. Stanley was talking to the Inverburn ambulance service on Kit's mobile phone while Nellie tried to lick his hands. Hugo lay on the couch, covered in blankets, while Olga bathed his wounds. Miranda was doing the same for Tom and Ned. Kit lay on his back on the floor, eyes closed. Craig and Sophie talked in low voices in a corner. Caroline had found all her rats and sat with their cage on her knees. Toni's mother sat next to Caroline with the puppy in her lap. The Christmas tree twinkled in the corner.

Toni called Odette. "How far away did you say those helicopters

were?"

"An hour," Odette replied. "But that was then. As soon as the snow stopped, I moved them. Now they're at Inverburn, waiting for instructions. Why?"

"I've caught the gang and I've got the virus back, but—"

"What, on your own?" Odette was amazed.

"Never mind that. The important man is the customer, the one who's trying to buy this stuff and use it to kill people. We need to find him."

"I wish we could."

"I think we can, if we act fast. Could you send a helicopter to me?"

"Where are you?"

"At Stanley Oxenford's house, Steepfall. It's right on the cliff exactly fifteen miles north of Inverburn. There are four buildings in a square, and the pilot will see two crashed cars in the garden."

"My God, you have been busy."

"I need the chopper to bring me a bug, a miniature radio beacon, the kind you plant on someone you need to follow. It has to be small enough to fit into a bottle cap."

"How long does the transmitter need to operate?"

"Forty-eight hours."

"No problem. They should have that at police headquarters in Inverburn."

"One more thing. I need a bottle of perfume—Diablerie."

"They won't have that at police headquarters. They'll have to break into Boots in the High Street."

"We don't have much time— Wait." Olga was saying something. Toni looked at her and said, "What is it?"

"I can give you a bottle of Diablerie, just like the one that was on the table. It's the perfume I use."

"Thanks." Toni spoke into the phone. "Forget the perfume, I've got a bottle. How soon can you get the chopper here?"

"Ten minutes."

Toni looked at her watch. "That might not be fast enough."

"Where's the helicopter going after it picks you up?"

"I'll get back to you on that," Toni said, and she ended the call.

She knelt on the floor beside Kit. He was pale. His eyes were closed, but he was not asleep: his breathing was shallow and he trembled intermittently. "Kit," she said. He did not respond. "Kit, I need to ask you a question. It's very important."

He opened his eyes.

"You were going to meet the customer at ten o'clock, weren't you?"

A tense hush fell on the room as the others turned and listened.

Kit looked at Toni but said nothing.

She said, "I need to know where you were going to meet them."

He looked away.

"Kit, please."

His lips parted. Toni leaned closer. He whispered, "No."

"Think about it," she urged. "You might earn forgiveness, in time."

"Never."

"On the contrary. Little harm has been done, though much was intended. The virus has been recovered."

His eyes moved from side to side as he looked from one family member to the next.

Reading his mind, Toni said, "You've done a great wrong to them, but they don't yet seem ready to abandon you. They're all around you."

He closed his eyes.

Toni leaned closer. "You could begin to redeem yourself right now."

Stanley opened his mouth to speak, but Miranda stopped him with a raised hand. She spoke instead. "Kit, please," she said. "Do one good thing, after all this rottenness. Do it for yourself, so that you'll know you're not all bad. Tell her what she needs to know."