Red Shadows Read Free Page A

trains.
    Entering the station, Griggs's hand went clumsily to his pocket as he purchased a basic transit day pass from one of the automatic ticket dispensers lining the concourse. Following the throngs of post-rush hour commuters, he headed for the anti-grav chutes leading down to the platforms. Reaching the bottom of the chute, he found the platform crowded with bored travellers waiting patiently to emerge from the tunnel. But even as he took his place at the back of the platform, Griggs realised the unseen force guiding him was not yet satisfied.
    His legs moving once more of their own volition, Griggs stepped forward through the milling crowds towards the edge of the platform. As he made his way closer to the edge, he heard a rumbling noise grow louder in the distance as a train sped through the tunnel. Closer, his feet stepped over the red line on the platform floor that marked the minimum safe standing distance. Closer, he felt a warm rush of air hit him, pushed out of the tunnel by the approaching train. Closer still, he took another step, past the edge of the platform, his body pitching forward as the sole of his shoe came down and connected with nothing.
    Griggs fell off the platform, landing painfully on his side on the trackless metal bed of the maglev, directly in the path of the onrushing train. The noise was deafening, the rumble of the train hurtling towards him mixed with the screams of the commuters on the platform, and the shrill shriek of screeching brakes as the train's automated safety systems detected his presence. It was too late. Bathed in blinding light, Griggs looked up to stare into the dazzling headlights of the train as it bore down on him out of the tunnel. His mind granted sudden clarity by the imminence of death, his last act was to move his lips to frame a final despairing question, the sound of it drowned out in the roar of the train. Why, he asked? Why did I do this?
    The train, though, had no answer.

ONE
     
    SEEING RED
     
    A few weeks later...
    The knife was a masterwork of lethal precision. It was everything he could have wanted. Single-edged, with a long, sharp, tungsten alloy blade and a reservoir of liquid mercury concealed in the hilt to add extra weight to every slash and thrust. A Bowie knife, the salesman had called it. "An American classic," the man had said, smiling. "'Course, the damn Judges say you've got to have a permit before you can go buy a knife like this." The man had leant forward, the smile growing quietly sly and conspiratorial, "But I guess we don't have to worry about all that, what with you being a collector."
    Standing in the elevator as it rose slowly towards the thirty-second floor of Kitty Genovese Block, William Ganz put his hand inside his coat to feel the reassuring shape of the hidden knife. The walls of the elevator seemed uncomfortably close and claustrophobic - an unwelcome reminder of all the years he had spent confined in rooms of similar dimensions. But with the knife near at hand, William found he had no reason to let the terrors of his past still rule him. He was free now. Free of the institution and its doctors; free of all their medicines, tests and theories. He was free, and so long as he had the knife they would never cage him again.
    The sound of a soft metallic chime announced he had reached the requested floor and the elevator doors opened before him. Relieved to have space to breathe in at last, William stepped out into the hallway, his eyes scanning the numbers on the line of apartment doors either side of him as he searched out his destination. Brenda Maddens: Apartment 56-C, thirty-second floor, Kitty Genovese Block. In his mind's eye he could see her name on the list he had memorised as clearly as if he were holding it in his hand. Soon now, he told himself as he felt a sense of anticipation rising darkly within him, soon now. He looked at the numbers of the apartments again. Apartment 56-C must be right around this corner.
    "Bad dog!