I span on the spot when the door ripped open. Spring stepped out and stopped in front of me. Her face was inches from mine, blazing red.
“Stupid bitch! You’re going to regret this.”
She shoved me hard against the wall and stormed away, swearing at people to move as she barrelled through. I stared after her, the crowd sniggering and whispering in her wake.
“Next,” Llamp shouted, impatiently.
I shrugged my bag up onto my shoulder and entered the room.
Huge windows lined the back of the classroom. Day light flooded through, giving the situation an unnatural element of forced welcome and comfort. This wasn’t comfortable. The bright sunlight felt like I was on a stage, the spot light focused on me and I had forgotten my words. I stood in front of Llamp’s desk, where she sat with an open file.
“Miss Grove. Sit.”
She didn’t lift her head as she spoke. I sat on the edge of the seat with my knees facing the door, like I was readying myself to escape at any moment. A minute stretched by. It felt like an hour.
“Miss Grove, what did you think of your test?”
My mouth flopped opened and closed with no words. What did I think of the test? I hadn’t considered what I thought of it. I just tried to solve it. I knew I hated the pressure it put me under.
“Ah, I thought it was clever.” I crossed my fingers under the seat, hoping this was the answer she was aiming for.
She raised her head. Smiling. “Clever. How so?”
“Well, the riddle and the location were connected.” I looked out of the window and nodded toward the castle in the distance. “I had to understand both the riddle and what to do physically to solve the whole thing.”
“And that you did.” She held up a piece of paper to read from. “With the help of students Owen Mitchell, Bregus Llewellyn, Ashton Loncastre and Jayendra Suresh.” She looked at me, waiting for a reply.
I lowered my head and sighed. “The instructions on the task said to use all means available. I thought that would include putting a team together from most areas.”
“Indeed it did,” she replied, with a bright smile as she passed me a sealed brown envelope. “Congratulations, Miss Grove. You passed. You placed team members in strategic positions. You weren’t seen and you removed the information before your competitor could use it.” Her wide smile put me even further on edge.
“My competitor?”
“Yes. The tasks you and your fellow students were provided with were doubled. Therefore, when you received your task of climbing the tower, so did another student.”
I looked to the door as if Spring was still standing there. “Spring. She got the same task as me.”
“Yes. I must say she is not best pleased at you for removing the information before she could get to it.”
“But, I didn’t know I was supposed to leave it for her,” I protested.
“You weren’t. You were to treat the task as if it were the real thing. And, in the real world, you would not leave information behind for the enemy.” She leaned over the desk and pushed the envelope closer. “Now, for the next task.”
“Is this a double too?” I asked, determined to know where I stood this time.
“No. This is an independent task over a longer time frame. You are in control of what you research, where you investigate and how you go about it. All the information you need is in here.” She tapped the brown square of paper.
“You will be required to produce regular updates of your progress. From what I have seen so far, you know how to take advantage of the university’s methods. I expect you to excel in this test; I want to see you push yourself and your abilities. Be original, and don’t hold back. You’re training to infiltrate and get what you need. You’re a Mole, use that authority.”
Her eyes fixed on mine, willing me to understand her intensity.
* * *
I stepped out of the room with the envelope clutched in my hands. My feet walked automatically as my mind played back what she had said. I passed. She was pleased and expected me to excel? How the hell had I done that? I was to use my authority?
My thoughts were reeling. I walked without thinking of a destination, when I came to a stop at the campus coffee shop. The polished metal tables and chairs which lined the outside glistened in the sunlight. I lowered myself into a chair and stared into the distance. I had passed the first test. I was staying here at university. For now.
With trembling fingers, I slid the single sheet of paper from the envelope. It was as basic as the first test’s instructions. I read through it three times in the space of one minute, hardly understanding a word. My insides felt like they were sinking.
I was instructed to research a mystery. Any mystery.
I was to choose the mystery myself, along with whatever means I would use to solve it, if possible. I was to be marked against my methods in following evidence, utilisation of assets and formulation of ingenuity. My mind went blank. The instruction note stated six weeks as my completion time, with a number of update meetings along the way. I was glad to be given such a larger timeframe, but that was the only silver lining. What was I supposed to research? A mystery could be defined in so many different ways.
“You lost again?”
I put my hands up in time to stop the Saint Bernard knocking me off my chair. It rubbed its face against my chest enthusiastically, pushing my arms up with its head. I buried my fingers in its thick brown fur, nuzzling my face against the top of its head playfully.
This dog had to be the cutest thing to walk the planet.
“Easy Mendel.” He pulled the dog back and grinned at me. “I didnae get your name last time. I’m Mark. This daft dog is Mendel.” He pulled up a chair and sat beside me.
“I’m Roz,” I said, as I continued to stroke his dog, “nobody slapping you today?”
He rolled his eyes. “Not ma fault. Guess that wasnae the best of introductions.” He held out his hand toward me. “Let’s start again. Hi, I’m Mark.”
I took his hand and shook. “I’m Roz.” I couldn’t help but grin.
“So, Roz. How’re you findin’ the university life?” He patted the dog’s back and it laid down across our feet.
“It’s intense, that’s for sure. It feels like there’s a test around every corner.”
Test was a mild way to put it. With the way my nerves were rattled, it was like they were trying to plough me into an early grave.
“They do like to shit you through the ringer ‘ere, don’t they?”
I laughed. “That’s a good way to put it. I just got through with one task that almost gave me a nervous breakdown. Now, I’ve just been handed another.” I held up the brown envelope which I was yet to understand.
“Och, you just need an outlet. Like runnin’ with a beast of a dog for instance.” He leaned over and patted the dogs head. It leaped to its feet and began pouncing round on the spot excitedly. “Down, ye daft dog!” He pushed Mendel back to the floor, flicking the trails of saliva from his hands.
“He’s gorgeous.”
“He’s a slobberin’ ball of fur, that’s what he is.” He turned back to me and smiled. “I’m sure it’ll get better here. When I first started my uni, I spent the entire first year stressed about gettin’ work in on time, puttin’ enough research in there. You get to the point where you have to remember to live too.”
“You’re not a student here?” I asked.
“I’m doin’ ma doctorate here. I did ma degree and masters back home in Glasgow.”
“What’re you doing a doctorate in?” I asked.
He shrugged. “Genetic surgery. Well, I’m compiling research into applyin’ genetic manipulation as a form of corrective surgery in cases of genetic disorders.”
My mouth flopped open. “That sounds…”
“Not what you were expectin’?” He laughed.
“Not really. Sorry.” My face flushed. I didn’t know what I’d expected him to be studying, but it definitely wa
sn’t that. “So, isn’t that like, trying to change D.N.A.?”
“No,” he shook his head and laughed, like what I said was utterly absurd, “genes are made from hundreds, sometimes thousands of D.N.A. bases. That’d be far too complicated. Ma work focuses on a single gene as a whole.”
“But, isn’t that like, the biological version of rocket science?”
“Thanks for that vote of confidence,” he laughed loudly, causing the surrounding people to turn and stare. “You know, you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover. You dinnae exactly look like a leader of the people.”
“I’m not aiming to be,” I laughed. “So, what do I look like? In fact, don’t answer that.”
“You look like my date for Friday night.” He watched me, unflinching.
I couldn’t tell if he was joking. “Your date?” I giggled a little too loudly.
The surrounding people were now openly watching us. I stared at the woman at the table beside us until she twisted back around.
“What about your friend from the other night?” I challenged.
“Slappy? Think I’m gonna steer clear of her. You seem like much more fun. You have’nae even tried to punch me yet.”
“That’s got to be the worst pick up line ever.”
“Did it work? You goin’ out with me Friday?”
“Just a drink as friends? Nothing else?” I eyed him with a smirk.
He held up his hands, like he was surrendering. “Maybe pizza, but that’s where I draw the line.” He stood and held the dog back as it erupted once again in excitement. He twisted the thick lead around his arm. “Last chance.”
I stroked the dog one last time. “Okay, I’ll go. Meet me here?”
“Eight o’clock. See you then, and…” His words were lost as the dog pulled him away.
I watched him break into a jog, keeping pace with the huge dog. Every face turned to watch as the pair ran along the path and disappeared around the bend.
I sank back into my chair and laughed at myself. What had I just agreed to?
CHAPTER NINE
“Shit, there’s been another one. Not far from here this time.” Owen shouted, as I entered the kitchen.
He held his empty mug up toward me without raising his head from the newspaper. I took it and placed it next to mine, waiting for the kettle to boil.
“It was bigger this time too. Took out nearly three buildings. No report on casualties yet.”
“Do they know who’s doing it?” I asked, as I slotted bread for the two of us in the toaster.
“They’re presuming some new terrorist group. But, no-one’s come forward to claim responsibility yet. There’s too many possible groups to narrow it down.”
I passed him his re-filled mug and sat opposite him. “How many bombs is that now? Two?”
“Three. Getting bigger each time, too. This one was somewhere in the Lake District; looks like it was set right in the middle of a residential area.”
“Oh no, I hope it didn’t get houses.”
“It doesn’t say. Just says it got buildings. According to this report, they’re still trying to get access. Let’s face it, it could be a while. They’re not exactly easily accessible streets in that area.”
I nodded, remembering my one trip to the Lakes when I was younger. It was beautiful. Winding narrow lanes, lined with dry stone walls. Behind every bend brought either a lush green mountain or glistening lake water. It was a place of beauty. Whoever this bomber was, whatever their motive, bombing the Lakes showed they knew the connotations of hitting such a picturesque place. They wanted to disturb the quiet peace of nature. They wanted to show they could turn people’s dreams into nightmares.
Owen pointed toward the counter. “Burning.”
I leaped to my feet to rescue the toast. “You know, you could make breakfast at some point.”
He put the paper down and grinned. “I talk, you toast. Why change a beautiful thing?”
I put the plate in the middle of the table. “Yeah, yeah. So talk, what’re you on with?” I grabbed the jam jar and sat back down.
“Just the usual inscription and firewall bypassing stuff. You?”
I huffed dramatically. “Another test.”
Owen grinned and playfully jumped up and down in his seat. “Ooh goody. What do I get to hack this time?”
“Who said anything about hacking? I don’t even know what I’m doing yet.”
“How can you not know? You’ve been given the test haven’t you?”
I handed him the envelope. I had been carrying it around with me since I left my bed, unable to stop glaring at it, like it would somehow reveal what I was supposed to do.
“I have to choose a mystery to solve.”
“Awesome!” He shouted, and yanked the paper free. He read it through and returned to his giddy state. “This is so awesome. You could do anything with this. You have to have me in your team again.”
“If I have a team, I would love for you to be on it. But, first I need to find something to research.” I gulped my coffee, wishing I had a bigger mug.
“Lochness monster?” Owen said. “The true identity of the tooth fairy?”
I laughed and nearly gagged on my toast. “Yeah, can see that going down well. No, it has to be something that involves everything we do here. It has to stand out. You heard what Llamp said, not everyone gets through. We have to do something which’ll keep us here.”
“Like hacking.” He cheered, pumping his fist.
I glared at him over my mug and he huffed back.
“Fine. Something boring and serious. Spoil sport.”
“It’ll have to involve finding evidence and piecing theories together.”
“Something that will take all of us to solve. You know we’ve got to keep Bree, Ash and Jay in the group.”
My chest tightened at the thought of doing any kind of test without them.
“I think Bree would kill you if you didn’t.”
I watched a bird out of the window, tapping my chin as I considered possible mysteries.
“I’ve got six weeks to do it in, so they obviously expect it to be in-depth.” I turned to look Owen in the eyes. “What could I possibly research which involves everything we do and is big enough to stand out?”
“Something current, which will capture Llamp’s attention. Having something current will help with my superior hacking skills too.”
“I’m serious, Owen.”
“So am I. If we go for something current, I can hack almost any system. Almost every organisation in the country does everything digital, which means, we can get access to pretty much anything we need.”
I filled the kettle again without thinking. Was private information really so easy to find? And, what about the laws we would be breaking? I laughed at the thought of Llamp’s face if I gave not wanting to break the law, as an excuse for not getting information. Use all means available. I knew that included stretching the laws of privacy, of confidentiality, to breaking point. We were training to be the best. The Consummate, as she put it. We were training to be undercover agents, not law abiders.
“You really think you can get into any system? Undetected?”
He sighed. “Most. Not all. So long as we don’t look into something where lots of money is stored and involved, we should be fine. Money always means higher security.”
I let out a long sigh, audible through the still kitchen. “So, the big question: what should we research?”
Our eyes fell to the paper. The head line stood out like a beacon, calling us to attention. The answer was right there. The evidence to discover, the urgency of the mystery, this was more than enough to study.
“The bombings?” Owen said, a mixture of awe and nerves in his tone.
My heart thumped. “I know, it’s big, but we’re being marked on the work we do, not the result. We don’t have to actually find the bomber, just research possibilities.”
I couldn’t hold back the excitement. The bombings were c
urrent. They were a mystery which involved research. There could be leg work for my Wolves, surveillance for Jay, it had everything. I had a target. Given, it was a terrifying and overwhelming target. But, it was my target, and it was solid.
* * *
It was after lunch when I arrived at my only lesson of the day. I had been dreading this since I had seen it sprawled across my time table: Physical Training. I had gone months here without the need to join a gym. Why the hell they felt the need to add one now was beyond me. I was supposed to be doing sociology and psychology, the workings of the mind, manipulation and intelligence; that was my area. Why did I need to do P.E.? Wasn’t that all forgotten with school?
I stood by the side of the enormous hall, feeling out of place in my tracksuit. The room was filled with mats, cones and strange looking square pads. I heard a high pitched laugh and looked with annoyance to see Spring, flicking her hair like she was on an imaginary catwalk. She was surrounded by a gang of eager looking girls. All with a wide grin spread across their flawless faces. They pointed at people waiting with me in the group, their shrill laughs ricocheting off the hall walls. I turned my back on them and tried to block out the sounds of their ridiculous blabber. That girl seriously got my back up.
“Moles,” a man shouted, from the door. He was wearing a blue tracksuit with a whistle around his neck. “Make a line.” He held out his arm to indicate position.
We all scrambled to comply.
“They call me Tooth.” He grinned. It looked painful. “The time has come for your training to step up. You work in intelligence. That’s all well and good. But, every Consummate agent must be able to defend themselves. Every agent must have the strength to stand, run and fight.” He looked at each of us in turn. “Know this, I am not only here to be your physical training instructor, but your life trainer. Here, you will learn stamina; you will endure more than you ever have. Here, you will rise to your potential, then surpass it.” He placed his fists on his hips as he appraised us. “Now, I want ten laps of the perimeter. Go.”
Trials in Walls of Ivy (Triskelion Trilogy Book 1) Page 8
