‘New life. New identity.’
She shakes her head in refusal. ‘I’m not going anywhere with him,’ she says. She glares at Ben.
‘Sweetheart…’ Ben says.
‘Don’t. Just don’t,’ she says.
‘Look, whatever you two have got to deal with, you can’t do it now,’ I say. ‘Go with them. Start a new life and try to put this behind you both.’
‘How can you say that? We’ve been living a lie,’ Mia says. Tears spill from her eyes again. ‘I just don’t believe this is happening.’
‘I’m sorry,’ I say. ‘I never wanted you to know.’
I hold her for a while then I talk her into collecting what she needs for Freya and herself. She leaves the kitchen with Leon in tow.
‘I’ll join her when she’s had time to calm down,’ Ben says. ‘This is all a total shock for her.’
‘Tell me about it,’ I say.
‘Sorry I pulled a gun on you,’ Ben says. ‘I thought it was for the best.’
‘The dick move was holding my niece while you did it,’ I say.
‘Mike, you’ve got to understand―’
‘No, mate, I don’t,’ I say.
I turn away from him and for once I’m not worried what he thinks of me. I’ve always looked up to Ben. He was an ordinary guy, a good man, who loved my sister. Or so I thought. Now I feel the same disgust as Mia does. I don’t know if she will trust him again after this, but I’m sure there will be a lot of questions first if she does take him back.
The SWAT team searches the house and surrounding land to ensure that no one untoward is lurking. I note that the bike is still there and wonder how Neva got away. She isn’t found on the premises, so she’s either hiding or found some other route of escape.
‘Come with me,’ Ray says, and I follow him, getting into the back of one of the army vehicles. ‘Where were you last night?’
‘Neva ambushed my attackers,’ I say. ‘She got me out of there and to a place of safety.’
‘How come she came to your rescue?’ Ray asks.
‘I’m not going to lie to you about it anymore. She got in touch a couple of weeks ago. Until then, I hadn’t seen her since we brought down the house in Cheshire.’
‘Why did she contact you?’ Ray asks.
‘She said she had information about the missing plane,’ I say.
I don’t tell him that she strong-armed me into giving her intelligence on Olive in return.
‘You should have told me she was in touch,’ Ray says.
‘I thought I could use her data to help our investigation. She was my informant previously, as you know,’ I say.
‘Okay. What did she tell you that we don’t already know?’
I tell him about Solomon Granger and how I suspect he was pretending to be Jay Astor.
‘Did she know what had happened to the real Astor?’ Ray asks.
‘No. I wanted to find out more, so I told her about Angela Carter’s body being found. She was surprised that Carter was dead. She said Granger wouldn’t have killed her. He’s just a hacker. But she was certain he was involved with the hijack of the plane.’
‘Surprised how?’ Ray says.
‘She dropped her guard… It was just a split second, Ray, but I knew she was genuinely shocked,’ I explain.
‘It seems odd that any death would upset her,’ Ray says. ‘Anything else?’
‘The real Astor was gay, but Granger isn’t. I think the real Angela Carter was having a thing with the man she thought was Astor. She probably never knew he was undercover. And, based on the suddenness of Carter’s replacement, she wasn’t involved with the Network either. Neva also told me that Granger had been “radicalised”. Which I thought was odd because it’s not a term she usually uses for the “conditioning” the Network normally does. She implied his handler was playing a double game,’ I say.
‘Maybe Granger tried to turn Angela Carter, but when it didn’t work, they brought in a double to be her,’ Ray concludes.
‘I think that may be the case,’ I say. ‘Either way, we know Carter was being held somewhere for the past six months while the doppelgänger took over her life.’
Ray gave one of the soldiers instructions to take me back to ‘the barracks’.
‘You’ll be there with Mia and Freya until we sort out what to do with you,’ Ray says.
‘I suppose asking to stay in Archive is out of the question?’ I say. ‘But I’m more useful to you there than in hiding.’
‘Is that why you didn’t go with her?’ Ray says.
‘I want my life back, Ray, and I’m not letting the Network take it from me again. Running away would mean they’ve won.’
Ray nodded. ‘Barracks for now,’ he says.
A few more soldiers get in the vehicle and we drive away from Cambridge and across the border to the heart of spook central: Lincolnshire.
Chapter Forty-One
Beth
‘I hate to love you and leave you,’ Beth says. ‘But I have to go home. The last thing I want to do is the walk of shame into work tomorrow.’
Elliot pulls her to him and kisses her on the lips. Having spent the last hour making sure she was having a very good time, he tastes of her.
‘Okay. I promise not to start accusing you of using me for my body.’
Beth laughs. ‘Oh, but I am. And your amazing tongue.’
They kiss again. It’s deep and passionate. Beth begins to regret that she didn’t have the presence of mind to bring spare clothing and a toothbrush with her, but she knows that would have been presumptuous. Most men don’t like women moving their stuff in after just a few dates.
She gets up from the bed and starts to pull her clothes on. At that moment her phone rings.
‘I have to take this,’ she says. ‘Hi, Ray.’
Beth goes out of the bedroom and into Elliot’s sitting room to take the call. Elliot gets up from the bed and pulls on his robe.
‘Good to know everyone’s safe,’ Beth says. ‘See you in the morning.’
‘Work?’ Elliot says.
‘Yeah. Earlier problem now solved,’ Beth explains.
‘Come here, gorgeous,’ he says pulling her into his arms again. He kisses her with small pecks until she begins to think that maybe she won’t leave after all. Then Elliot releases her and makes the decision for them.
‘Let me order you a taxi,’ he says.
Beth pulls on her jacket and picks up her handbag, throwing the mobile phone inside.
‘When can I see you again?’ Elliot asks.
‘I have the kids tomorrow and Saturday night this week. But I’m free Sunday.’
‘Let’s talk tomorrow,’ he says.
He kisses her one final time and then Beth hurries out of the building and into the waiting car. Elliot remains at the door until the taxi pulls away. He gives her a final wave.
On the way home, Beth feels remorseful again. In the space of the week, she’s given her ex full custody of her children, and what has she done with her newfound freedom? She’s started an affair with the new pathologist. Plus, the work she gave her marriage and kids up for has become a second priority after Elliot.
What’s wrong with me? she thinks. It’s like I’ve just discovered sex for the first time.
Her relationship with Callum had been a little tame in that department. Her soon-to-be-ex-husband was fairly traditional in his approach to screwing. Although satisfying for the most part, it hadn’t been too adventurous. In the end their sex life had fallen into a routine of only once a week – sometimes that drifted to two weeks. Beth hadn’t been concerned when it had gone even longer. Callum had always instigated it after that. And although she had got something out of it whenever they did make love, the build-up to it was always a chore.
Unlike Callum, Elliot was enthusiastic, vigorous and unselfish. Beth found him addictive. He was a total distraction though, and when she wasn’t with him, she worried about her lack of interest in anything else. It’s ne
w. That’s all. I’ll get over this. I haven’t been laid this good for years.
Even when Ray had called to tell her that they had Mia and Michael in custody she didn’t feel any particular concern or relief. She’d expected him to do his job, but normally she would have wanted to be part of that to take some of the glory. And that was why she had always loved working for MI5: the elevated feeling of success when you finally caught your bad guy, or solved a crime. Until Elliot, work had always been her passion.
She arrives home and lets herself into the quiet house. The place is a bit big for just her alone, a three-bedroom end terrace, with a small patch of garden that she’d never touched because it was Callum’s department. Callum had really wanted this place back when they bought it, yet he’d been keen for her to take it over almost as soon as they broke up. As though without their marriage the bricks and mortar he’d loved so much no longer mattered. Or maybe it has too many unhappy memories for him. Beth can see that; she had made him miserable for most of their marriage even though she hadn’t intended to.
I’m selfish, she thinks. Callum had said it to her, more than once. That accusation that she didn’t care about anything but herself or the job he hated. And it is true, isn’t it?
Beth makes some hot chocolate using milk from an opened carton in the fridge. It would go off if she didn’t; after all, she wasn’t using as much up as she did when the boys were there.
In her bedroom, she strips off her clothes and drops them in the washing basket, before going into the bathroom and turning on the shower.
She steps in and washes, noting that she’s a little sore after Elliot’s athletics. At first, she was a little scared of having sex with someone else. Partly because she’d been with Callum so long. But now it was freeing. The thought that they could be together in a casual way, or if they became a couple, then that was all they needed to be. No more kids… Just great sex.
I was so comprehensively seen to, she thinks now. Then giggles at the silliness of her thoughts.
Beth has always thought she was very mature, and it is a surprise to think she is capable of such wildness. Like some heroine in a romance novel. She shakes that idea away. Romance has little to do with this. It is too soon to even consider saying the L word to Elliot. If indeed that is how she feels. Though she can’t stop thinking about him, even now.
‘Maybe it will work out between us,’ she murmurs as she gets out of the shower and pulls a towel around herself. Though she knows she’s in no rush to get serious for now.
Patting herself dry she walks back into the bedroom, for the first time in ages not worrying that the boys will catch her naked. It’s such a wonderful feeling, this sense of liberty. She decides she won’t feel guilty about it after all. She’s independent for the first time in over ten years. She doesn’t have to answer to anyone any more in her private life.
I’m feeling guilty, because I’m used to that, she thinks. Callum compounded it. He was always making me feel bad about one thing or another.
Michael would explain it to her in psycho-babble, no doubt. How she’s become conditioned in certain behaviour patterns. He might even say that Callum was abusive with his constant badgering.
With the added pressure of her single status mixed with a growing need to keep her finances stable without another person to fall back on, more than anything she has to keep her eye on the ball now. Work is important.
Beth drops the used towel in the washing basket.
Not as much washing to do now that the boys are gone. Thank God. She reminds herself how much she detests domesticity. At least she’s had a cleaner for the past few years. That was one thing, working full-time, she’s made sure she doesn’t have to do too much of. But weekends always were about Cal and Philip. It is hard work entertaining them all the time and having to take the boys to football – which she hated as it bores her to tears.
This weekend, though, she is looking forward to seeing them and assuaging the guilt of giving them up without a fight. She now has the urge to make it all up to them. She’ll spoil them when they are together and they’ll see the best of her from now on, because the time she’ll spend with them won’t be marred by resentment or tainted with bitter arguments. All of which were upsetting the boys, and herself, which wasn’t good for any of them.
‘It’s for the best,’ Callum had said and for once she knew he was right.
Beth pulls back the duvet. She feels like sleeping naked, something she hasn’t done for years. The thought of it makes her feel decadent, but oh, the freedom to do as you please!
She turns the light off, then snuggles down into her favourite sleeping position. She feels sated and relaxed and happy. She drifts off thinking of Elliot and the fun they are both having.
A short time later, Beth jerks awake.
She’s sure she’s heard the distance chime of breaking glass. She switches the light back on and pulls her robe over her naked body. She looks around for her phone and remembers it is still in her handbag which she left downstairs.
She walks to the bedroom door and opens it as quietly as possible. Then she steps out onto the landing. She listens at the top of the stairs but hears nothing. Thinking she is imagining things, she returns to her bedroom. As she crosses the threshold, she experiences an odd sensation and shudders as though there is a shift of air around her.
Someone grabs her from behind.
Beth tries to kick backwards and is rewarded with a grunt as her heel meets with her attacker’s shin. Then a cloth is pressed over her nose and mouth. She holds her breath, trying not to breathe in the sickly-sweet smell of the chloroform. But as she struggles against her attacker, she soon wearies from lack of air. She’s forced to breathe, and then the substance takes her down and down into the blackness.
Chapter Forty-Two
Ray
‘Hello, Ray,’ says a smooth female voice.
‘Beth? It’s a bit early, isn’t it? Is everything okay?’
‘This is not Beth, but I do have her phone,’ the woman says. ‘And I do have Beth. In fact, she’ll be spending some time with me until you give me Michael Kensington.’
‘Neva?’
‘How interesting that you should think I’m her,’ says the woman. ‘Though she was moulded from the same caste as myself. No, I’m not Neva and it is unimportant for you to know who I am. But I have Bethany Cane and she will remain with me until you give me Michael. I’ll be in touch to arrange the exchange.’
The woman terminates the call and Ray is left staring at his phone.
‘What’s the matter?’ asks his wife, Sherrie.
‘Work…’ Ray says getting up out of their bed.
He goes out of the bedroom and into the kitchen, where he dials Beth’s landline. The phone rings out, but no one answers.
Going back into his bedroom, he pulls on the clothes he was wearing the day before. He leaves the room and goes back downstairs, then he phones Leon.
‘Meet me at Beth’s and get uniform over there too,’ he tells him.
‘What’s happened?’ asks Leon.
‘I’ll explain when I see you,’ Ray says, aware that Sherrie is in earshot.
‘I’m on my way.’
Sherrie comes downstairs while he’s searching for the car keys.
‘I have to take this. It’s an emergency,’ Ray says.
‘What’s going on?’ she asks. She’s unused to Ray being called away so early, even though he’s often home late.
‘Nothing you need to worry about,’ he says.
Sherrie frowns as she notices that Ray is wearing his gun holster again. He meets her eyes and shakes his head to try to allay her fears.
‘You know I can’t tell you anything.’
He exits the house via the door adjoining their garage and then he takes the small car out onto the currently quiet street.
Ray arrives at Beth’s house before the police and Leon. He parks the car out front. Beth’s car is there. Unused, as it is most of the
time, because the tube is so much easier to get anywhere in London.
Beth’s end terrace house has a small front garden and a pathway that leads around to the back. From the front, the house appears to be locked up. Ray follows the flagstone path around the side. He discovers a broken window in the back door. Pulling on some gloves he tries the door: it is unlocked. He goes inside and searches the house, room to room, calling her name.
In Beth’s bedroom, the duvet is thrown back, the light is switched on, but there are no signs of struggle.
Another car pulls up on the street. Ray cracks open Beth’s bedroom curtain to see a police car and a taxi arrive at the house. He goes downstairs and opens the front door. He lets in two uniformed police officers. Leon gets out of the taxi and joins them.
‘Our colleague has been abducted,’ Ray explains. ‘We need this place thoroughly searched and dusted for prints. I’ll get my team in for that but I need you to keep the street clear.’
‘Yes, Sir,’ says one of the constables. They go outside and take up position to ward off any spectators.
‘Looks like they got in round the back,’ Ray says to Leon. ‘They called me from Beth’s phone so we need to set up a tracker on it. See if it tells us anything.’
‘I’ll call in our team,’ Leon says.
After he makes the call, he joins Ray inside Beth’s house.
‘What did they want?’ asks Leon.
‘To exchange her for Michael.’
‘They must really want him, to have gone to such lengths,’ says Leon.
‘What I don’t understand,’ Ray says, ‘is why now? Why didn’t they come after him sooner? He’s been a sitting duck for the last six months.’
Leon shakes his head. ‘It’s all weird.’
As the street wakes up, curious neighbours gather outside. The police officers do what Ray called them in for and disperse the crowd.
Elliot Baker arrives a short time later. He gets out of his car and flashes his ID to the police officer standing by the cordon.
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