CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I chose to drive rather than being chaperoned around like a child. I knew they were only doing their job but 37 not trusting me was beginning to grate on my nerves.
Once we'd managed to get a mobile signal, 22 had phoned A1 and updated him on our progress, such as it was. He was now going through the files of the local police force, coroner and hospitals. I'd tried to think of what had happened later on during my blackouts but largely drew a blank. It seemed that I needed direct sensory exposure before things would return in detail. So there was no choice but to keep driving and go to the two motels I'd frequented.
Nobody had yet come up with an answer as to what we would do upon arrival, however. The story that I was an uncle with alzheimers was the best they could come up with on the spur of the moment, but did that mean I had to act the part now? I wasn't sure I was up for that; in any case I had no idea what my behaviour had been like a few days ago and I wasn't sure I could reproduce it convincingly.
I recognised most of the route. I even began to remember some of the things I'd been thinking at the time. I chose not to divulge anything to the others because it all seemed like nonsensical ramblings and I didn't want to give them any further ammunition against me.
I hadn't really had time to come to terms with what had happened to me, or decide how I felt about some bastard messing with my memory. Would it happen again? Was it someone I knew? Was it merely a dry run for getting me to actually do something against my will next time around? I couldn't think of any possible positive outcomes for this situation; not for me anyway.
As we approached the first motel, we began discussing our plans. It wasn't much of a discussion.
"I wasn't here long enough to do any damage, was I?"
"No," said 37, "but we still don't know why you left so abruptly."
"If I remember you'll be the second to know," I said sourly.
"I'm only doing my job, Arthur, we're all on the same side."
"At least one person isn't on my side," I said pointedly, "whoever gave me the nuclear headache." That shut him up.
"Are you getting anything at all?" prompted 45 when I hadn't spoken for a couple of minutes.
"I'm getting flashes of going in. I can remember what reception and the room look like. As to why I came here or left so quickly, still no idea I'm afraid." I gave up keeping my little secret. "I'm starting to remember some of what I was thinking at certain times during the blackout, but it's all jumbled up. Some of the code infected my implant so, and I'm only surmising this, I would have been disorientated by thoughts that seemed to come from nowhere. I have vague memories of being scared. I can only conclude that something I didn't like was going on in my head and I bolted out of fright. My memory is more or less intact now up to a few weeks ago, and I'm sure I've never been anywhere near this place before nor had any possible reason to come to this country when I did."
"Unless you thought you'd done something or were being followed," said 61. "Or maybe it was just random running away through fright, like you said."
"We may never know," said 45, "Anyway, are you getting anything useful from this place?"
I looked again out of the car window towards the small cluster of buildings.
"Nothing significant, no. I'm as sure as I can be that nothing happened here and I was just running scared from the mental confusion."
"We need to find somewhere to stay tonight," said 45. "Adam, you drive to the next town after the one we stopped in before and I'll book us rooms. We'd better not hang around there in case we run into those cops but hopefully just driving through will trigger something for you, Arthur."
37 was just getting into the drivers seat when his phone rang. He threw the keys to 61 and got into the passenger seat.
"Hello, sir. Near fatal head injuries but he's off the critical list. No police involvement. Okay. No nothing at the first motel, we're just making our way to the second. Yes, fine."
He passed the phone to me as 61 accelerated away from the parking lot.
"The boss wants a word."
"Hello? Thank you, sir, a lot better now, yes. It's coming back in patches. I'm certain I was just running scared because of the confusion the virus was causing, you know, like a headless chicken. I don't think there's anything else to it, but we're no clearer to knowing who did this to me and why. I know that's your main concern."
I listened for what seemed like an age while A1 listed all the possible ways in which I could have compromised myself or the agency.
"Surely if I had met anyone interesting and compromised myself they would have killed me, taken me hostage, or at least stolen my sticks to analyse them?"
I said this loudly so that everyone in the car could hear me as well.
"I'm sure I just stayed in the room, sir." I hesitated after his reply. "Well, yes, I didn't know about the incident at the farm until I went back there. But we've already established that I had no visitors at the motel, and didn't leave the room or make any phone calls. Okay, yes. Thank you, sir. Bye."
I handed the phone back to 37.
"He says we're to have a thorough look around the area of the second motel and see if I can remember doing anything before I checked in. If there's nothing then we're to get the next flight back home. He's confident nothing at the farmhouse can be traced back to us."
"That's a relief," said 61. "Let's hope this whole trip has been a waste of time and we don't find anything else."
When we arrived at the second motel I made a suggestion.
"There's no point all five of us wandering around here drawing attention. Three of you drive on to where we're staying and check in."
"I'll drive," said 22, "I don't fancy pretending to be a doctor again."
"I'll stay here with Arthur," said 61, "I need to stretch my legs after that drive."
"Okay," said 45, "any problems let me know. Either way, call in an hour."
I pretended not to notice 37 slip 61 another needle of that bloody elephant sedative. I know he has his mental problem, or whatever we're supposed to call it these days, but this paranoia about me was becoming increasingly annoying.
As they drove away I couldn't help breathing a sigh of relief.
"I don't think there's anything wrong with you," she said.
"Neither do I. Anyway, let's stick to the uncle story. I'm still booked into that room until tomorrow, may as well go in and take a look, see if it jogs any memories."
It took a deeply irritating five minutes to get past reception and the unctuous concern for my health from all members of staff. I suppose they thought they were being polite. If I did have alzheimers I would almost certainly have found it very patronising.
When we finally got to the room the feeling of fear instantly returned. I resisted the urge to run and tried not to panic. After a few minutes it all returned like a wave.
"I can remember most of it now," I told 61, "I spent two days sitting on this bed waiting for something to happen. I had the feeling something bad had happened and I was hiding in here in case it happened again."
"Can you remember what the bad thing was?" asked 61.
"No, just a... a vague sense of disgust."
"Disgust? That's a strange word to use."
I shrugged and went into the bathroom, looked under the bed, opened all the drawers and the wardrobe, switched on the television, opened and closed the window. Nothing I did unearthed any further memories.
"I think we're done here," I said. "We'll have a quick look around the town in case I went anywhere before checking in but I'm sure I'd remember by now if I had. I'm sure the sense of unease and disgust was just more confusion caused by the virus."
We left the room and handed the key back to reception, making a hasty exit before they offered to do a laying on of hands.
Feeling more confident now, I decided to use my implant for the first time in over a week. I went on and looked at a map of the area, zooming in to examine in detail all the places I may have visited. Surp
risingly, something struck a chord. I thought for a moment, a moment too long.
"Something wrong?" asked 61.
I hadn't told her what I was doing.
"Just testing my brain, looking at a map."
"Is there a fault?" she asked anxiously.
"No, nothing like that, but I recognise a name. I can't think why, but I may have gone to a bar."
"But you don't drink?"
"No."
As we turned the corner I reluctantly admitted to 61 that I'd definitely been here a few days ago.
"Well I could do with a drink," said 61, "come on we may as well check it out. We're only doing our job. I can have a vodka on expenses."
We walked into the bar. Yes, this was the place. 61 ordered her vodka and coke and I had an orange juice. I began to finally relax. I was sure that this was the only place in town I'd been to other than the motel room. If nothing had happened here then we could all go home and I could get back to normal.
This delusion lasted just over a minute.
We turned away from the bar to look for a seat and a woman in the corner waved at me.
"Ed, over here."
I only just managed to hold on to my glass, not to mention my sanity, as I remembered what had happened the last time I met her.