Prisoner of Fire by Edmund Cooper Read Free Book Online Page B

he brought soup and milk and bread and cold meat. She ate greedily until he forced her to eat slowly.

9
    D ENZIL I NGRAM WAS a solidextrovert, a pragmatist, a professional hunter. He was also highly intelligent and, as head of the Snatch Group in the Department of Internal Security, politically powerful. He had a P2 rating, which gave him—if he needed it—direct access to Sir Joseph Humboldt.
    Because of a certain question asked in the House of Commons, he had taken personal control of the team assigned to tracing Vanessa Smith. He was now in the process of causing Dr. Lindemann to sweat profusely.
    “You were personally responsible for the training, welfare and security of the girl?”
    “Yes, sir.” There was no way Lindemann could wriggle out of that responsibility. It was all on paper.
    “You clever boys make me sick,” observed Ingram coldly. “Here you are, running a classified factory farm for child paras, and all the security precautions you can develop are electrified fences, guards and dogs.”
    “Security is not my responsibility.”
    “But Vanessa Smith is. You should have known, Lindemann. Even allowing for your Ph.D., you should have known when the girl was going to run. An ordinary prison guard would have known. There’s a remoteness in the eyes, an air of evasiveness, a sense of detachment. It always adds up to escape.”
    “Iam not a prison guard,” retorted Dr. Lindemann. “I am a scientist.”
    “Before this little jape is over,” said Ingram, “you may well be a reconditioned lavatory cleaner…Well, let us see how we stand now. You have now destroyed all records of the girl’s existence?”
    “Yes.”
    “You are sure?”
    “Of course I’m sure—sir.”
    “Good. Because, Lindemann, if there is anything on paper, micro-film or in computer storage that proves she existed, I, personally, will stamp on your balls. At the moment, we are on a no-win basis. Therefore we must play for a draw. If we could find her within the next twenty-four hours, and if she would say the right things, there is a clear win. But my nose tells me that we won’t get her in twenty-four hours and, even if we did, there would not be enough time to brainwash her for public display. Therefore we are left with negatives. We must ensure that the Opposition doesn’t find her before we do. And when we find her, we must quietly take her out.”
    “Why has she become so important?” asked Lindemann. “She is highly gifted, but there are other highly gifted children. She is not irreplaceable.”
    Ingram sighed. “Wrong again, college boy. She is not just Vanessa Smith. She is now a Parliamentary Question. Sir Joseph Humboldt does not like Parliamentary Questions where he cannot score… Now, let us quietly review progress. A farmer saw her stealing eggs. A chopper reported her heading south. What is your contribution?”
    Dr. Lindemann pressed an intercom switch. “Send in Dugal, please.”
    The door opened and Dugal Nemo came into theoffice. He looked very small. His face was pale, his eyes bloodshot.
    Dr. Lindemann brought a chocolate bar out of a drawer in his desk. Denzil Ingram saw the look on the boy’s face and rolled his eyes upwards. “Put the chocolate away, Lindemann. It will make the boy vomit. Can’t you see he’s not one of your Pavlovian dogs?” He turned to Dugal.
    “Now, laddie, what is your name?”
    “Dugal Nemo, sir.”
    “Do you like this place?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Do they treat you well?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Do you like Vanessa?”
    “Yes, sir.”
    “Would you like her to come back? Would you like things to be as they were before she ran away?”
    “Yes, sir. Very much. I love Vanessa and she loves me.”
    “Well, laddie, then we can help each other. I want Vanessa back, too. I don’t love her like you do, you understand. But I think I might like her—when I get to know her. I want to meet her, you see. I want to understand what made her run away. If I can, I’ll put it