The Hard Way by Duncan Brockwell (most popular ebook readers txt) 📕

that she was pretty much facing her. “I’ve got some bad news, Charlotte. The NCA officer informed us this morning that Richard committed suicide in the early hours of this morning. I’m so sorry!”

No! It couldn’t be! Richard couldn’t be dead. “But I only saw him yesterday. He was fine. I mean, as far as he can be when he was arrested, but he wouldn’t kill himself.”

“There are those who believe he didn’t commit suicide, though, Mrs Edwards.” Miller stared at her in the mirror. “There are some who believe he was murdered in prison for whatever that thing is you’re holding. Now, I’m not saying they’re right; I’m letting you know it might not be as simple as it first appears.”

“How did he kill himself?” No way did he off himself, she thought, hugging the bag even tighter. “You said he was in prison at the time.”

“Yes, a holding prison, a place people go when they’re charged and awaiting trial. He was in a cell there, apparently. He died of asphyxiation. They found his bed sheet rolled up, one end tied around his neck and the other to the door handle. I’m sorry!”

Charlotte knew her brother. Richard wouldn’t kill himself. She was still numb after the deaths of Colin and Henry. Lifting the bag, she unzipped the main compartment, stared at the white writing: Prototype. “You’d better be worth it. Both my brothers and brother-in-law died for you, whatever you are.”

She sat in silence all the way back to the station, where the armed police escorted her, Hayes and Miller upstairs to their office. Hayes offered Charlotte a chair in front of a computer. “You want me to put the USB stick in?” She uncapped the metal connector, sliding it in the main terminal.

There was a crowd behind her, as the computer came to life. With Hayes to her left, Miller to her right, stood behind her were two officers.

“Oh, Charlotte, this is Inspector Gillan and Detective Sergeant Jackman. They’ve been helping us on this case, so I asked them to be here.”

Not feeling the need to introduce herself, she said hello, then turned back to the monitor. “There’s a video here, shall I?”

The video showed her brother talking about test number fifteen. She recognised the woman she saw working on the blue Fiesta, the car her brother got into. The footage was now inside the car, as it left the workshop. She and the police officers watched it to its conclusion. Charlotte was none the wiser as to the significance of the test.

“What else is on the stick, Charlotte?” Hayes asked.

The first file she opened was what appeared to be a schematic. Within a minute, she heard murmuring from the officers surrounding her, except she still didn’t understand what it was she was looking at, until it stared her straight in the face.

“Oh my God! It’s a fucking car battery,” Miller clarified, hands on top of her head, elated. “Do you know what this could do for the environment?”

Staring from Miller, back to the screen, she read more. “A dual-celled, self-charging car battery. So? What does it mean?” She went to Hayes for clarification.

“Let’s put it this way, Charlotte, if I’m reading that right, it means your brother’s team have just invented the world’s first self-charging car battery. It means that while one cell is being expelled, the other is charging.”

“So? What does that mean?” The officers surrounding her were so excited, muttering to one another. Only Hayes gave her the time of day.

“It means the blue Fiesta in that video will carry on driving forever, the literal battery bunny. It doesn’t need petrol, doesn’t need charging with electricity like electric cars do now; it will outrun everything on the road. Basically, your brother has invented the world’s first carbon-free electric car that doesn’t require topping up, do you get the importance of it now? He’s solved the world’s car crisis with this little invention. In ten to fifteen years’ time, every car on the planet will be fitted with one of these batteries. Petrol, hybrid, diesel, and electric cars of today will be a thing of the past.”

“He’s done all that?” All she saw was a big ugly black box with a funny-looking thing underneath. “How does it work?”

Hayes moved to a different file. “It looks like they’ve found a way to harness the energy from the wheels, amplify it and store it in the empty cell, like a dynamo. Yeah, that’s what this thing here’s for. It clips under the car, draws energy from the wheels like so. You don’t remember dynamos, do you? The lights that used to work more the harder you cycle? Remember? That was a dynamo, utilising energy from the wheel going around. That’s what this battery is doing, only in a much more sophisticated manner.”

“And both my brothers are dead because of this?” Charlotte didn’t understand, couldn’t. What was so important?

The police officers went quiet. She went to Hayes for support.

“This will piss off a lot of companies,” Gillan said. “Your brother has made a lot of powerful enemies inventing this, Mrs Edwards.”

“What? Why? It’s just a car battery.”

“Oh, it’s so much more than that. This mere car battery is going to change the world for the better for everyone. Richard and his team are heroes, don’t you see?”

“The only problem is petrol and diesel companies are powerful, the owners rich, and they won’t want this seeing the light of day. When their customers hear of a petrol-free or diesel-free car, they’ll bite the owner’s hands off to get one. Just think how much the average driver spends on petrol per year, imagine the saving,” Travis informed her.

“And you think these petrol companies hired someone to kill my brothers?”

“We don’t think, Mrs Edwards, we know.” Miller stood. “We have two of the assassins they hired in custody. They tried to kill us last night, after we left you.”

“Oh God. But that’s good, isn’t it? You caught them.”

“Unfortunately, they’re not working alone.