Darkness Girl: Trickster God

Chapter Fifty-Five: Trust Exercise

Latimer let them into the investigator headquarters through an ancient roller door that shook as it opened and sounded like it was already broken. There was a rust streaked sign above the door that said 'delivery entrance'. Ashcroft waited until the door stopped shuddering, and drove the car down a concrete ramp that led to an underground carpark. Beside her, Regan sat with her arms folded, staring out the window as if there was something about the bare concrete walls that held her attention. Sarafina and Forester sat in the back seat. Ashcroft looked at them in the rear view mirror, and saw them shift nervously. Sarafina saw Ashcroft watching her and tried to force a smile. 

Ashcroft hadn't told them why she wanted them to come, or what they were doing at the investigator headquarters in the centre of the city. Latimer had been angry when she'd told him that she wanted to bring them, but Sarafina and Forester were the only people she'd seen with the ability to exert even a modicum of control over Regan. That alone was reason enough to let them come. 

Ashcroft parked the car, and Latimer met them at a freight elevator at the far end of the carpark. He glanced briefly at Sarafina and Forester as they approached, but if he was still angry he kept his feelings hidden. 

'I couldn't bring you in the main entrance,' he said. 

'You don't trust your colleagues?' said Ashcroft. 

'I don't want unnecessary questions.' 

The doors to the freight elevator opened and spilled weak, yellow light onto the concrete floor. Latimer held the door, then followed them in. When they were all inside, he pushed a button for one of the basement levels. The elevator jolted a little as it started its descent. It had a faint smell of motor oil and rubber that seemed to have soaked into the walls. Latimer looked at Regan expectantly. She stared straight ahead at the brushed steel doors with a carefully blank expression. 

'I've shouldered a lot of risk in setting up this meeting,' he said. 'I still don't see why.' 

Regan's expression didn't change. 'You don't need to understand the reasons. You just need to do what you're told.' 

Latimer rubbed his eyes with his finger and thumb. 'As you say. Will this convince you to trust me?' 

'We'll see.' 

The doors opened onto a low corridor with white walls, and a floor carpeted in industrial grey squares. There was a constant whir of fans coming from somewhere far off that made the air feel thick and heavy. They followed Latimer through a confusing maze of identical white turns, past doors with small metal plaques that had descriptions like 'Plant Room' and 'High Voltage'. Bunches of multi coloured cables held together with zip ties ran along the ceiling and occasionally disappeared into the roof. Ashcroft felt like she was walking through a brightly lit catacomb. 

Eventually, Latimer stopped outside a door labelled 'Observation Room B2-05'. He knocked on the door, and it was opened by a barrel chested man with close cropped hair and a charcoal grey suit. He nodded at Latimer as he stepped out and closed the door behind him. 

Latimer looked at Regan. 'This is Walsh. He'll take you down to the interview room. The rest of us will watch from in here.' 

'I don't need a guide.' 

'Walsh is here to make sure that everything runs safely.' 

Regan glanced at him. 'He looks it.' 

'Walk down the hall and wait outside the door. I'll unlock the door from inside the observation room. When you hear the lock release, you can enter. Once you're inside, follow all of Walsh's instructions. If he says you're done, you're done. That's it.' 

'Sarafina and Forester should go with her,' said Ashcroft. 'You and I can watch from the observation room.' 

Latimer shook his head. 'Mockingbird has agreed to meet Regan only. It's too late to make changes now.' 

'Does it make a difference?' 

Latimer's voice became hard. 'Mockingbird is my most delicate source. I'm sticking to the plan.' 

Latimer opened the door of the observation room for Ashcroft and the others, and motioned for them to enter with his head, while Regan walked down the hall with Walsh. When they were all inside, Latimer closed the door and plunged them into darkness. 

Ashcroft found the sudden darkness and silence inside the observation room unnerving. It took a few seconds for her eyes to adjust to the dim light. One wall of the observation room was made of glass. Ashcroft guessed it was a one way mirror. Through it, she could see a long cream coloured interview table and some empty chairs. A single, feeble light at the centre of the room formed a spotlight on the middle of the table, but the rest of the room was in shadow. 

'I don't see your informant,' she said.

'Mockingbird is cautious. You don't survive in this business for long by trusting people.' 

Latimer pressed a large button on the wall, and a moment later, a door at the back of the interview room opened. Ashcroft briefly saw Regan and Walsh outlined against the light of the corridor as they entered the room, before the door closed behind them. The sound of the door opening and closing had a fuzzy, recorded quality to it. Ashcroft realised that the observation room was sound proofed, and all of the sounds in the interview room were being picked up by small microphones on the table and piped through to speakers on the wall. 

'I came to meet with someone,' said Regan from the darkness. 'Come out of the shadows.' 

There was a moment of silence. 

Ashcroft waited for Mockingbird to respond, but instead, there was an angry, electronic noise and suddenly the fluorescent lights in the interview room burst to life. The room was filled with unforgiving white light. Even in the observation room, Ashcroft had to shade her eyes as the light hammered against her darkness adjusted vision. Through the brilliant brightness, she heard Mockingbird's voice come through the speakers on the wall. 

'You've gone through a lot of trouble to meet with me. I wonder what you hope to achieve, my frosty angel.'