Tunnels 03, Freefall Read Online Free PDF Page B

Burrows shouted as her sister hung up on her. She held the telephone away from her head and fumed at it. "You silly cow, Jean!" She was just about to redial when she spotted the rake-thin form of the matron bustling down the corridor.
    Mrs. Burrows replaced the receiver, whipped her credit card from the slot, then stepped in front of the grey-haired woman. On the spur of the moment she had decided what she had to do.
    "I'm leaving."
    "Oh, yes? Why's that?" the matron asked. "Because of Mrs. L's death?"
    Uncharacteristically for Mrs. Burrows, she seemed at a loss for words. She opened her mouth but didn't speak as she remembered the patient who had contracted the Ultra Bug, a mystery virus that had swept through the country and then the rest of the world. But whereas most people were laid low for a week or two with chronic eye and mouth infections, the virus had somehow got into Mrs. L's brain and killed her.
    "Yes, I suppose that's probably part of the reason," she admitted. "When she died so abruptly, it did make me realize how valuable life is, and how much I've been missing out on," she said finally.
    The matron inclined her head sympathetically.
    "And after all these months with still no news of my husband or son, I've been forgetting that there's one member of my family left -- my daughter, Rebecca," Mrs. Burrows said. "She's staying at my sister's, you know, and I haven't as much as spoken to her in months. I feel that I should be with her. She probably needs me right now."
    "I understand, Celia." Nodding, the matron smiled at her, adjusting her wiry grey hair, which was gathered into an immaculately-arranged bun.
    Mrs. Burrows smiled back. What the matron didn't need to know was that Mrs. Burrows was damned if she was going to leave it entirely to the police to find her missing husband and son. She was convinced that the unidentified woman who had come to see her was the key to what was going on, and might even be Will's abductor. The police kept telling Mrs. Burrows they were 'on the case' and 'doing everything they could', but she was determined to begin her own investigations as well. And she couldn't do that in here, with just a public payphone at her disposal.
    "You know it's my job to advise you to speak to your counselor before you leave, but..." said the matron, glancing at her wristwatch, "that wouldn't be until Monday, and I can see you've made your mind up. I'll get the release forms from my office right now for you to sign." She turned to go down the corridor then paused. "I have to say I'm going to miss our little chats, Celia."
    "Me, too," Mrs. Burrows replied. "Maybe I'll come back one day."
    "I hope not, for your sake," the matron said, continuing on her way.

    * * * * *

    "We've got to find Elliott," Chester said as he took a few reluctant steps.
    "Hold on a second." Will started to lift an arm and then made a noise, as if he was in great pain.
    "What is it?" Chester asked.
    "My arms, shoulders, hands," Will complained. "Everything hurts like hell."
    "Tell me about it," Chester said, as his friend managed to raise his arm all the way to his neck with another stifled moan.
    "I want to see if this still works." Will began to untangle the night vision device, which had been pushed down around his neck during the fall.
    "Drake's lens?" Chester said.
    "Drake?" Will gasped, immediately stopping what he was doing. "Remember what the Rebeccas said -- do you think they were telling the truth, for once?"
    "What... that it wasn't him you shot?" Chester asked hesitantly. It was the first time he had spoken to Will about the shooting on the Great Plain, and he felt distinctly uneasy now that he had.
    "Chester, whoever it was that the Limiters were torturing, I honestly think I missed him by a mile."
    "Oh," Chester mumbled, as Will looked thoughtful.
    "If they had caught or killed Drake, the Rebeccas would have rubbed my face in it," Will reasoned.
    Chester gave a small shrug. "Maybe he didn't escape them, and