Page 16 of Mann Hunt
It only took Declan a few seconds to reach Charlie, who was standing, hands clenched to his chest, eyes bugging out from his head. Declan’s first reaction was to laugh. He always found it funny when men screamed like little children. But that look of complete terror on Charlie’s face…
“Look at me, Charlie!” Declan called out, hoping his voice would distract Charlie from whatever had scared him. It worked. Charlie’s head turned so he was staring directly at Declan.
“Charlie…what is it? What happened?” Declan asked.
“The box,” Charlie squeaked out, pointing to something on his desk. “It’s an…ear?”
“What?” Declan replied, walking towards him. He was close enough now to see into the plain cardboard shipping box. Inside it lay a bloody, severed human ear. Beside it he saw the shipping receipt from Mrs Attwal.
“What has she done?” said Declan, before he realised. “Wait—this can’t be right. An ear won’t do me any good. I need the finger.”
Charlie continued to stare at him in shock.
Declan picked up the box and shook it. From underneath the ear, the distal portion of a human finger rolled out. He picked it up to examine it. Relieved, he said, “Thank God.”
Charlie screamed again.
“Charlie, it’ll be all right. I can open the computer now that I’ve got the finger,” he said, holding it up for him to see, as rationally as if he were stating that water was wet.
Charlie dropped into his chair.
Declan said, “You’ll be all right. Just give me a minute.” He returned to his office.
Declan placed the box on his desk, then moved to the wall on the left. He opened a closet door to reveal a large safe which stood as high as his chest. Fiddling with the combination lock, he opened the heavy steel door. Next to his handgun and a few boxes of ammunition sat Attwal’s computer.
He took the finger out of the box and ran it over the fingerprint scanner on the laptop. He hoped the finger was fresh enough. If they’d waited too long to get it to him, the fingerprint could have deformed enough that it would be unrecognisable. A second later, the screen came to life and Declan was able to access the computer desktop.
“Does that sort of thing happen a lot around here? Receiving body parts, I mean.”
Declan looked towards the door. Charlie stood there, pale and shaking.
“Come here and sit down,” Declan said.
Charlie made his way to the chair farthest from the finger but remained standing behind it. Declan pulled a flask out of his desk drawer and poured some amber liquid into a glass.
“Here,” he said, giving it to Charlie.
Charlie took a healthy gulp, then coughed up half of it. “Sorry,” he wheezed.
“Puppy,” Declan said, smiling as he discreetly placed the finger back in the box. “Now, come here,” he said, patting the back of his chair. “Sit.”
“I am not a dog,” Charlie muttered, as he sat in Declan’s chair.
“Good boy.” Declan put his hand on Charlie’s shoulder. He continued, “I need you to do whatever you have to do to disable the fingerprint reader on this machine. I have to be able to boot it up without Mr Attwal’s…help.”
Charlie worked at the keyboard for a minute before turning to Declan, smiling. “There. That should do it.”
“Should, or will?”
“Definitelywill.”
“You’re here for a good reason, Mr Watts.”
Declan looked at Charlie and saw that the colour had returned to his face. The shock of the finger incident was starting to wear off.
“I want you to search through the computer and locate the data files,” Declan said. “The ones I’m interested in will have the keyword ‘Monarch’. Either in the folder or file name. Maybe in the contents. I’ll be right back.”
Declan picked up the small cardboard box and went to the kitchenette where he put the finger and ear in the freezer on ice. He doubted they would be of any use to Mr Attwal at this point but, just in case…
