The Insulators by John Creasey Read Free Book Online Page B

Taylor’s replacement has had a few more days to settle down.”
     
    “We’re still being watched,” Philip whispered.
    With a glint in her eyes, Janey retorted: “Perhaps we always will be.”
    “You’d be condemned to half a life here, even with me.”
    “If this is half a life,” Janey said, “I’ve never lived at all before!”
    They laughed, spontaneously. Everything they did and said indicated that they were becoming happier and happier, and except in flash moods of fear as to what would happen if Philip tried to escape, Janey was thoroughly happy.
    Paul Taylor’s replacement was an ‘older’ man, in his forties. Already mostly grey, he had a big bald spot, grizzled sideburns which were like mutton-chop whiskers, and he had a bushy moustache which had more of its original auburn colour than his hair. His pointed chin was clean-shaven and shiny. He was very broad but shorter than medium height, and he moved briskly although handicapped by some trouble in his left leg, which made him limp, and also made him turn towards the left with great care; either his hip joint moved more easily that way or he was in pain.
    His name was Killinger – Eric Killinger. He spoke good English but with a foreign accent which it was hard to place. His specific job, as Paul’s had been, was to test and analyse the oven and the synthetic materials from which the crystals were made, before passing the crystals to Janey who in turn prepared the containers for the ovens.
    Occasionally Janey glanced over at him expecting to see Paul, and was suddenly overcome by what had happened, feeling a sharp pang of remorse that she could be so content. Yet she was. Philip seemed just as happy, and except for those flash moods of remorse and the stabs of fear about Philip’s preparations for escape, she was untroubled. There were times when she asked herself whether she would be prepared to settle for this life for all time, and even though she always dismissed the thought, knowing that she would become homesick for the outside world, she was certainly prepared to live in this vacuum for a long, long time. Philip seemed to become more and more absorbed in their loving and their living. He still kept his own one room apartment but spent most of his time with her. The nightmare of the attack on Paul had receded so that even when the mental image came it did not hurt; guilt quite died away.
    Every now and again the noise ceased and brief spells of silence came, but they no longer brought shock. One struck as they were leaving the laboratory just before six o’clock, a later working day than most, for Leadbetter had come in from an interview with Ashley and Parsons and some other VIP Ashley looked brighter than he had for a long time.
    “We are getting nearer,” he said exultantly. “There were pieces of lead which did not melt in some of yesterday’s batches, Janey.”
    Her heart leapt. “But that’s wonderful!”
    “It is indeed. And the whole of the team is to be congratulated and rewarded. We are to get a bonus of ten per cent on our salary, and the week after next, we shall have a longer break than usual from work.”
    Janey thought, a holiday ? But no one asked whether they would be able to leave The Project area. There was excitement in all of them, particularly in Freddie Ferris, who had lost some of his nervousness during the past week.
    They were going into the tunnel passage when the noise stopped and the walls and the floor went utterly still. Killinger raised his hands in alarm; it was his first experience of the ‘silence’. After missing a step, Philip tucked Janey’s arm beneath his, and quickened his pace.
    “Come on! I want every minute I can have with you!” He pressed her arm tightly; and in her room before she cooked a simple dinner, his embrace seemed to have an additional touch of passion. But it wasn’t until afterwards that she suspected why.
    “If we ever go out into the cold, cold, world, you’ll be