by Andrea Hicks
‘What about Cecily Cunningham? She’s in this up to her neck. And that strange department she’s involved with, the Chamber of Eugenics. It must be involved somehow. And then there’s your parents.’
I nod. It was the subject I didn’t want to explore but I know I must. My father’s actions are where all this started after all. I inhale deeply and close my eyes trying to block it out but their role and their reasons for abandoning me are something I have to face as much as I would like to ignore it. There’s no reason good enough for abandoning a child, then living a lie so that that child will never find them. ‘What are your thoughts?’
‘My guess is they’re in a house chosen by whoever’s handling them. Unless they been paid a great deal of money of course, to keep them quiet maybe, to buy their silence and their anonymity. So they don’t talk about your father’s discovery.’
I look askance at him. ‘Handling them? What does that mean?’
`There are various reasons why someone would have a handler. If they are an agent for MI5 or MI6 for instance, they would have a handler. Most agents are members of the public, just ordinary people who provide information about threats to the UK or important members of our community. Handlers are intelligence gatherers working closely with their team of agents.’
‘Right. So...how would my parents have become involved? You’re not suggesting they’re agents.’
Leo shrugs. ‘I don’t think we’ll know the answer to that until you have an opportunity to speak with them. Maybe your father became interesting to them because of what he discovered. Let’s face it, he could have made a mint out of his discovery. He could have sold the formula and triggers of the formula to governments, either to produce it themselves or to stop other countries from using it first. Or, he must have thought about selling the information to global pharmaceutical companies, but he didn’t. Ask yourself why.’
I think, frowning. Why wouldn’t he sell it to them and make a fortune. Anyone would. To have something like that at your fingertips, a way of saving the human race from every illness known, and maybe some not yet discovered. It had to be worth billions. Then the light-bulb moment happens. I turn the thought around and around, and churn it up, trying to find another plausible reason but I can’t. ‘Because he didn’t need to.’
Leo nods and grins. ‘There you go. You’ve worked it out. Look where he’s living, the car he’s driving, the clothes he and your mother are wearing in the photograph. The image screams money. He’s been paid...a lot...by someone, probably the British government, to sit on the information he has, or at least give it to them so they can sit on it and decide what to do with it. Maybe they needed to buy time...time to make decisions.’
‘So Cecily and MI5 didn’t track me down, chase me down, watch my every move and monitor my connection with others because they wanted me to find him. It’s because they didn’t want me to find him. They didn’t need me to find him for them because they already knew where he was.’ Leo nods again. ‘But what about Cain and Hikaru? Where do they fit in?’
He grins. ‘Think, Nina. Think about what they’ve been trying to do. What you know about them.’
My brain is about fried. I run my fingers through my damp hair and shake my head. ‘Cain is Cecily’s son, and Hikaru is her adopted son. Hikaru had a brother who died of CF which is why Cain’s father, the scientist who worked with my dad, was trying to find a vaccine.’
‘That’s what you’ve been told.’
‘Do you think it’s a lie?’
‘Not necessarily.’
I shake my head. ‘It can’t be right, Leo. If Cecily knew where my father was why did she question me about his whereabouts when Cain took me back to Plan Bee? It doesn’t make sense.’
‘Was there anyone else there when she questioned you?’
I nod. ‘Well, yes. Cain was there, in the courtyard.’ Leo raises his eyebrows and presses his lips together. He clearly has it all worked out but it’s taking me a bit longer. ‘What have I missed?’
‘Cecily questioned you about your father because Cain was there. She wants him to think she doesn’t know where he is because she knows exactly what Cain is planning. Cain is out for himself. He wants to know where your father is and he wants you to be the one to find him. He’s a small cog in a massive wheel, and has no resources. He might have had a mole on the inside of MI5 but it sounds like they abandoned him, or maybe were even reporting Cain’s actions to Cecily. She’s an important woman. You wouldn’t cross her without thinking about it, once, twice then some more. She has power, almost as much as the PM, but he has the last call. Cain has been trying to play with the big boys, dabbling in things way above his pay grade. I’ve checked him out. He’s a minor scientist at Plan Bee, but because his father is Michael Finch and his mother is head of Plan Bee, he thinks it gives him a straight pass to whatever she and the PM are involved in.’
‘He told me about his father. He’s in a nursing home suffering from dementia, which he said was brought on by stress over Dad.’
‘He would say that, wouldn’t he? And don’t be fooled into thinking he gives a fuck about his dad. It’s the money he’s interested in.’ He rubs his thumb over the inside of his fingers. ‘Think about it logically, Nina. Michael Finch might improve if he’s given the vaccine, or he might be too far gone, who knows what could happen, but money won’t mean anything to him. What’s he going to do with it? He’s in his sixties, probably knackered, and Cece is worth a mint. They won’t care about money. It’s only Cain who has his eyes on that, and he wants you to find it for him. He told you Cecily and Plan Bee would use you as bait to entice your father in. I’m afraid it’s Cain who is using you. It’s why he sprung you from Plan Bee, and why he hasn’t let you out of his sight since. You’re worth an awful lot to him, and I should think he’s spitting chips now that Edward Spencer has had you released from Plan Bee into my care. He was hoping Cecily would do the work for him, by keeping you there and letting it be known you’d been apprehended. What we need to work out is what he’s going to do now. He won’t give you up easily. You’re his only hope of finding Tate Spencer and selling him to the company that’s paying his fees.’
‘What about Hikaru?’
Leo shakes his head. ‘A loose cannon.
‘Okaay, and what can you do with a loose cannon.’
‘The preferable thing would be to stop it before it hits the target.’
‘And we do that how?’
‘Wait until he shows himself,, then take him out.’
‘What?’ He raises his eyebrows. ‘Don’t get squeamish now, Nina. This guy is out for blood. Tom’s been doing some background checks. He’s not a nice guy.’
I swallow hard, realising that Hikaru is more of a problem than I thought, and yet I’ve almost dismissed him from my mind as a minor problem. I’m getting the feeling that was a mistake. Do I want to know what he’s done to make him not a nice guy?
‘What’s he done?’
Leo shakes his head. ‘He’s been done for fraud, embezzlement from the company he worked for, aggressive and bullying drug dealing at his university which by the sound of it wasn’t the worst thing he got up to there. He was sent down and told never to darken their doorstep again. His parents took him away and got him some counselling but he’s a bad person and it seems like they’ve accepted it and almost dismissed him from their lives.’
‘Cecily Cunningham and Michael Finch?’
‘Yep.’
‘But...they’re wealthy and educated. He would have had a charmed life.’
‘Means nothing. Look at Cain. He had a charmed life too, and all he cares about is money.’
‘What was so bad at uni’ that got him sent down?’
‘There was a girl involved, and some other guys. They forced her into a room one night and took turns, wearing masks no less, as if it wouldn’t have been horrific enough.’
The room spins and the ceiling lurches and Leo reaches out for me. ‘Nina! Nina.’ His voice sounds
very far away and then everything comes back into focus and the nauseous feeling gradually subsides. ‘You okay? What was that about?’
‘No, nothing. Nothing. It’s fine. Maybe I need to eat something.’
‘Sandwich? BLT okay? It’s a favourite here.’
I nod and give him a thin smile. ‘Yeah, sounds great. Thanks, Leo.’
He goes into the kitchen and I sink further into the sofa, side-swiped, nauseated, totally shocked. Hikaru. It was Hikaru? He was one of the guys who pinned me down and raped me, then left me sobbing on the floor, in shock, traumatised, feeling like filth, like a nothing. God, it’s just too much of a coincidence, isn’t it? Ridiculous, surely. Why does life do this? The never-ending circles of experiences that collide then intertwine and suddenly it all comes flying back to you because those circles won’t let you escape. They’re the circles of the lives we lead, the many lives. We don’t lead just one, we have different shades and shadows, peaks and troughs. It’s how life is. That bastard took my life and ruined it because he thought it would be a laugh. I remember them laughing, geeing each other up, egging each other on, saying it was the easiest lay they’d had in months and that if you want something you should just take it. Who told them that? Who taught them that that was okay? I never knew who they were; I wasn’t allowed to know although I was never sure if it was to protect me or them, but now I know who one of them is and maybe Tom can help me find out who the others were. Do I want to make them pay? Hikaru will be the first. All bets are off. He treated me like a piece of shit someone left in the gutter. Watch this space.
Just before we go to our rooms at midnight I notice Leo looking pensive as though he’s somewhere else.
‘What is it, Leo. You look deep in thought.’
He keeps pulling at his lip and he narrows his eyes as though he has decided on something. ‘I’ll find you some joggers and a jumper to wear,’ he said. ‘I think you should sleep in them.’
I start to chuckle and I’m about to make a joke until I see he’s deadly serious. ‘Why?’
‘Just call it a hunch. It might be nothing but it’s just a feeling I’ve got. We might need to move fast.’ I nod and don’t ask any more.
At 4.30 a.m. my phone goes off. Blearily I pick it up and click. It’s Ava.
‘Ava?’
‘Nina!’
Her voice is strangled, high pitched, almost screaming. ‘Ava, what’s happened?’
‘He said if you don’t come now I’m dead. You must come, Nina. He says you’re the only one who knows where Tate Spencer is. Please come, Nina. I’m terri....’
The phone is snatched away from her. ‘You’d better get here. I’m fucking sick of pussyfooting around with this. Get here if you want her to be okay. And be prepared to talk.’
‘Hikaru.’
‘Who else?’
I get out of bed as I talk and make my way to Leo’s room. ‘Why didn’t you grab me when you saw me in the underground.’
‘In front of the other commuters. Yeah, okay. How stupid do you think I am?’
‘I’m beginning to wonder?’ I rap on Leo’s door. ‘Don’t hurt her, Hikaru. She’s done nothing to you.’ I switch my phone to speaker as Leo opens the door, his hair ruffled and his face groggy with sleep. ‘Don’t recognise me, do you?’
‘Why should I? You’re nothing to me.’
‘Oh, I’m aware of that.’ Leo grabs my hand and as we go down the winding stairway and reach the second landing, he knocks on Tom’s door. Tom opens the door and comes out onto the landing as if he was expecting us. ‘We’re on our way, Hikaru.’
‘We?’
‘Of course, we.’
‘No way. Just you, Nina. Don’t bring those other dickheads with you. Just you.’
I glance at Leo and he nods. ‘Okay. Just don’t do anything until I get there.’
‘That depends on you.’ He clicks off, and Leo, Tom and I start to run.
As we run, Leo makes a phone call. ‘I need a car. It’s an emergency. Armour plated.’
I glance at him, breathless as we get to the garden door and go out. ‘Armour plated? What the hell are you expecting?’
‘I like to be prepared.’
I breath in deeply and widen my eyes. ‘Obviously.’
Chapter 24
Leo turns the vehicle into the narrow road leading to the apartment block and parks at the end where we can’t be seen. The Volvo XC90 armoured car is built like a tank. If nothing else I feel utterly safe in it. It’s when I get out of it I’m worried about. Leo glances across at me in the passenger seat.
‘You’re going to have to get out of the car and walk towards the apartment on your own.’ I nod, my breathing shallow in anticipation, each breath in quick succession. I’m nervous, terrified. I know what this guy is capable of and I’m not sure I believe him when he says he doesn’t know who I am. Maybe he always did. Maybe he planned this from the get-go. I just don’t know anymore. I can’t be sure of anything. ‘I’ll be near, okay?’
I look into the back seat. ‘And Tom?’
‘Waiting.’
‘For?’
He reaches into the glove compartment and pulls out two revolvers, passing one to Tom and one to me. ‘You might need this. If you do, use it. I have clearance.’
I’m horrified. ‘Yeah, but I don’t. And what about Tom? If we use them we could be done for illegally handling firearms, or if we use them, worse.’
‘You won’t. You’re completely safe. I have clearance from the top man.’
‘Edward Spencer?’ He nods, and I realise there’s more at stake than I knew. ‘What’s this all about, Leo?’
He rubs his eyes with his fingers and then his chin. ‘We’re protecting populations, Nina. Human and bee. And when we’ve done what we have to do, it’ll be explained to you.’
‘Do you know?’
‘Not all of it, but you need to go. Try and keep him talking. Don’t rise to his bait. Make him think you’ll do anything to save Ava.’
‘I would.’
‘Right, but best not to tell him where Tate Spencer is. Hikaru wants information from your father and he won’t care how he gets it. You need time to speak with your parents, to reconcile with them. Don’t let him take that opportunity away from you after all this time.’
I open the car door and slide out onto the pavement, tucking the revolver into the waistband of my joggers. There’s no one else around, and there are no lights on in the apartment where I know Ava is being held. I can only pray that he hasn’t done to Ava what he did to me, or even worse. I’m frightened. Really scared of what I’m going to find when I get there. Ava’s an innocent, as was her sister. I don’t want to let them down.
I push the outside door to the apartment block, not expecting it to open, but someone has left it on the latch. The lobby is lit by a dim wall light that flickers on and off. The sound it makes is annoying, but more than that it casts shadows in the stairwell and I feel my breath catch in my throat. Hikaru could be hiding anywhere, not necessarily in the apartment. What would I do if I were in his position? I’d secure Ava by tying her up, then gag her so she couldn’t call out a warning. Then I’d wait on one of the landings in the dark and surprise the person I’m waiting for, grab them and force them to tell me what I wanted to know. Hikaru is a sly bastard. Am I thinking like him, or am I thinking like me? Will he expect me to have worked out what his plan is? It’s impossible to know. I just have to trust my instincts.
I take each flight of steps slowly, my hand on the back of my waistband where the revolver is digging into my butt. Am I prepared to use a gun? Could I kill someone? I think I could if I wanted to protect someone, or I was scared enough.
The landings have the same kind of lighting, on a sensor so they only light up when someone is on the stairs, apart from the dodgy one in the lobby. This could be handy. If Hikaru is on the stairs the lights will come on, but similarly, they will also point out where I am. So far, the coast is clear, and within moments I’m
at the front door of the apartment with no sign of Hikaru. I tap lightly on the door which opens almost immediately. Hikaru is behind it, holding a revolver which is pointed towards me.
‘Go into the lounge,’ he says, lifting his chin.
‘Where’s Ava?’
‘She’s in there, and don’t forget I’m right behind you with a gun pointed at your head. If you try anything I’ll blow your brains out.’
I walk towards the lounge. ‘But then you won’t get the information you want.’
I hear him shrug rather than see it. ‘I don’t have it now, but I’ll get it, one way or another. Mother will help me if I say the right things to her, promise to be a good boy, but I’d rather do it without her input. She’s too domineering. She thinks she controls everything, but she’s never controlled me.’
‘So I hear.’
The lounge is empty. I turn back to Hikaru but he pushes me towards a dining chair in the middle of the room. ‘Sit down and keep your mouth shut.’
‘You said Ava was in here. So where is she?’
‘I’m right here.’ The bedroom door is ajar and Ava stands in the opening with a pistol trained on me.
‘Ava?’
‘Not very bright are you, Nina. You fell hook, line and sinker for the dead sister routine.’
A wave of shock makes the roots of my hair prickle and I feel my blood run hot through my veins. ‘Ava, what are you doing?’
‘Getting what’s rightfully mine.’
‘Which is?’
‘Compensation.’
‘For what?’
‘Stress, loss, grief. The death of a much-loved sister. You name it.’
‘But you said...’
‘I know what I said, but Hikaru pointed out that if it wasn’t for your damned father I would still have my sister. I went through hell when she died, my mother has never recovered, and it’s all down to him. We’re going to get our revenge, me and Hikaru, together, by making sure Tate Spencer doesn’t live long enough to ruin someone else’s life, but not before he’s given us the trigger to the vaccine, and we can’t get that without knowing where he is. And we think you know where we can find him.’
