Thirty Four Minutes DEAD by Steve Hammond Kaye Page B

second interruption regardless of the powerful source that made it.
    "My team have intercepted twenty-odd corpses from areas of deprivation in the last couple of months. In terms of product relevance we scored blanks. We got au-fait with what a junkie's body ends up looking like and early this morning I thought, ‘here we go again’. This one's different though. As luck would have it and coincidence for that matter, I think Charlotte can help us!   Even for a girl who liked injections so much I feel a strychnine injection to the back of the neck implies the presence of another - a murderer. The dogs just finished her off and had their junk food. She was murdered - you've got your required murder victim Mr Denison. What she has held visually will be in your team's hands Mr Vain. Are Mr Ko-Chai and Mr Tavini in residence yet?”
    "They weren't when I met Mr Denison but I expect they are here now. Are you going to clean her up a bit Mason? Ko-Chai's stomach is not exactly impregnable you know!”
    "How can you clean up a rag doll Mr Vain? I'll do my best to fill in the blanks so as to speak".
    Vain met both Ko-Chai and Tavini together. They had met close to where Vain had encountered Denison. After exchanging greetings Tavini took the lead, saying what both he and Ko-Chai thought.
    "You look like you've seen a ghost man. There's pale and beautiful and she's always the ultimate in female, and then there's you Greg - pale and fucked. Have you spent your ten days in Chernobyl, buddy?”
    Ko-Chai looked a bit embarrassed by Tavini's dark humour but Vain took it in good faith, realising it was just part of Tavini's showmanship. He broke the news of the imminent duty awaiting the MC team.
    " If you thought we might get a gentle run in to our explorations in this Designation fellas, I've got some interesting news for you. I've seen our next corpse - she's here, and take it from me she isn't exactly a pretty picture! I know that you found Julia Venison's wounds slightly graphic Mishimo, but in comparison ‘Charlotte’, as Mason has christened her, is a Jack the Ripper construction!”
    Mishimo Ko-Chai physically withdrew after Vain's words. He was not squeamish when Memory-Camera extraction work was actually being undertaken, but the build up to the explorations often caused him to be physically sick. After his convulsions he was fine and this was the reason Vain had utilised a melodramatic victim description. Vain knew that he had to adhere to this ‘cruel to be kind’ formula on occasions as far as Ko-Chai's MC preparation was concerned. Everyone benefited from a relaxed Ko-Chai, none more so than the man himself. Ko-Chai asked to be excused to visit a toilet, which was in close proximity to their location.
    The three MC team members proceeded to the exploration area. The said area was more cramped than the ‘grand scale’ demonstration arena in Designation B where Venison's HVs had been recovered, but there wouldn't be a sizeable audience on this occasion like there had been on the seminal exploration. As the MC team entered the exploration area Vain was quite surprised to notice that only four MC personnel were ready to view any HV's Charlotte had built. The four in question represented project power to an optimum level though, numbering Denison, Levene, Voight and a tall powerful looking white-haired gentleman who was unfamiliar to Vain's team.
    Levene welcomed the three team-members and Vain was sure that her eyes hung on to his for a fraction longer than the gaze one would associate with a fellow professional. She introduced the white-haired gentleman who was unfamiliar to the team members.
    "Gentleman - please meet Mr Fray of the FBI. He has been recruited into our project ranks with direct responsibility to Mr Denison. He has parity responsibility with regard to myself”.
    The white-haired gentleman smiled in greeting the MC team but it was a cold gesture, as his eyes didn't echo the warmth of his upturned mouth,