Free The Lingering by Ben Brown Page B

worry, George, it wasn’t your fault they lost her, so there’s no need to fear losing your job. I fully expected her to disappear.”
    Markus’s face showed more than a little surprise. “You did? May I ask where you think she may have gone?”
    Westbourne reached for a silver box on his desk, and pulled out a cigar worth more than five hundred pounds. He took his time cutting the end, and lighting it. He drew deeply on the brown aromatic delight, and savoured the smoke as it worked its way into his lungs. Finally, he exhaled and replied, “Australia.”
    Markus’s jaw dropped, and Westbourne smiled at his aid’s reaction.
    “How can you be sure, sir?”
    Westbourne stared at his cigar as he rolled it in his arthritic fingers. The pain the simple act caused cut into him, but he savoured it as much as the cigar itself. Pain meant he was alive, and not one of The Lingering.
    “If I were her, that’s where I would go. We know she has the enzyme, and we know the clean are now safe in their protected compounds. The only piece to her puzzle is the blood of an ancient. Ergo, she is heading to Australia.”
    Markus nodded. “As always, you seem to anticipate her every move. What should we do next?”
    “Prepare the company jet. I feel it’s time I visited my Tasmanian facilities.”
    Markus took a step closer to Westbourne’s large desk. “Are you sure that’s wise, sir? You haven’t been well of late, and a trip may not be in your best interest.”
    Westbourne smiled at his aid, but the smile bore nothing but malice. “I said prepare the plane! Making me ask a third time won’t be in your best interest.”
    Markus bowed slightly. “Of course, Sir Richard, forgive me.”
    Westbourne waved him away and turned his chair towards the window.

Chapter 10
     
    Location: HMS Singleton, the Tasman Sea. Coordinates 39.3961° South, 148.0250° East
    Date: June 22 nd 2013
    Time: 1:15 p.m.
    “How are you feeling now?” asked Archer as he moved the bucket of vomit away from Kathryn Bartholomew’s bed.
    “I feel like death warmed up. Seasickness has to be the worst thing in the world.”
    Archer laughed as he passed her a cloth to wipe her slightly green face. “I can think of a few worse things,” he said, “but not many.”
    She chuckled slightly, but it sounded forced. “We’ve been at sea for weeks; you would think I’d be used to it by now. One bit of rough water, and I’m spewing like a fountain again.”
    “Are you going to be okay for the briefing later?”
    She laid her head back on her pillow, and placed the damp cloth over her eyes. “I’ll have to be. Nathan, I want to thank you for being so kind. I know we didn’t really get off on the best foot, but I’m glad we’re getting on better now.”
    Archer stood, and headed for the door. “You’re a member of my team, so that makes you family. When family get sick, you look after them.”
    She pulled the cloth from her eyes, and turned her head to look at him. He noticed she looked a little less green around the gills.
    “Nathan, can I ask you something?”
    “Shoot.”
    “Even after all your years of dealing with them, you and your people seem so scared of The Lingering. Why is that?”
    “Are you kidding? You know what they can do.”
    She raised herself to a sitting position, and the little colour which had returned to her face, disappeared. “I don’t mean you’re afraid to face them. I mean you all seem scared to become one of them. Why is that?”
    Archer moved back towards her. “We’re not afraid of becoming one of them, not exactly. In an effort to eradicate The Lingering, we have all dedicated our lives to protecting the clean. We may not be finding the cure, like you, but we’re doing our bit. We don’t want to become one of those things, not when a cure is so close. You can’t tell me that you would want to be one of them?”
    Bartholomew shrugged. “I suppose one wouldn’t know much about it. I admit, I wouldn’t want to be