He switched on the recorder. 'If I think he's in danger I'll help you protect him.'
She opened her mouth to speak but then tucked her legs underneath her and sat back in the chair, sipping her coffee.
'Tell me everything,' he said. 'From when you began to feel concerned for your safety.'
'I don't know what I don't know.'
'What's that supposed to mean?'
'It means I can't tell you things about Zina that I don't know.'
'I understand that.' He felt his irritation level begin to rise.
'I'm just trying to be explicit. Am I confusing you?' She placed the coffee cup on a side table and clasped her hands on her lap.
'You're not confusing me.' He counted to three under his breath. 'We're straying from the point.’
'My point was about my grandfather.'
'I told you I'd help you protect him.'
'You said you'd help me if you think he's in danger. I want you to help me if I think he's in danger.'
'That's what I meant.'
'You should have said so specifically. Language is important.'
He sat back on the sofa and tried again to relax. 'I promise to be more precise with my words.' What a pedantic little pain in the neck!
She gave a small, satisfied smile. ‘Thank you.’
For a moment he felt like smiling himself but suppressed the urge. He'd suddenly had a vision of a child in a classroom winning arguments with those around her and smiling sweetly with each victory. A lonely child who had to win to feel superior. He still had the nagging feeling that beneath it all she was playing with him, but she couldn't possibly be faking everything. The events on the mountain road were real. They could not have been staged for his benefit. And she was genuinely concerned for her grandfather. Maybe he was wrong. Maybe she was just finding it hard to trust him. She obviously thought she was in some kind of danger, but how much was still unclear. For the moment he had to take her fears seriously.
‘Do you have any friends you want to contact?’ he said, with what he hoped was a look of concern. The last thing he wanted at this stage was for her to contact anyone except her grandfather.
'I don't want to involve others in my problems,' she said, a little too quickly.
He was relieved at her answer and this time he couldn't suppress the smile. She probably had no close friends. He was beginning to understand Little Miss Byron who used her brain to defeat others and get her way. Perhaps she'd never learned how to make people like her. He felt a twinge of sympathy at this small insight into her character.
'Why are you smiling?' she said stiffly.
No reason,' he said. 'I'm just glad we're making progress. I suggest you call your grandfather.'
'We spoke last night.'
'Is he expecting you?'
'No. I didn't want to tell him I was leaving Silver Springs.'
'Why?'
'I thought Zina might be listening in.'
From what he'd learned about Argentum he wasn't entirely surprised. 'She listens to staff conversations?'
'Not directly, perhaps. But there's a rumour that calls are recorded.'
'If that's true inside the Argentum network, she obviously doesn't give a damn about privacy considerations. That means that outside the network she wouldn't hesitate to track staff phone locations. Tracking software is commonly available these days. She probably knows where you are.'
Ada shook her head. 'I took the SIM card out of my phone.'
Alex felt a slight prick of concern. 'Are you implying I should do the same?'
'Yes. She's probably been monitoring your locations for months, ever since you started reporting on her. As well, the drones would have recorded your licence plate number this morning.'
He sat back, thoughtful. 'Which means she knows it was me up at Silver Springs. She's put two and two together by now, which means she knows you're with me.'
'She can only know for sure if I put the SIM card back in my phone. Otherwise it can't be traced. Until then she's only guessing. She'll assume I got away with you but she can't know for sure that I'm with you now.'
'She'll assume you're with your grandfather.'
'Again, she can't know for sure.'
'If you want to ring him you can use the landline in the studio. She can't record calls on the public network.'
'But she might be able to trace numbers called from here. She has contacts in all the telecom companies.'
The whole thing was becoming too complicated, but he began to feel some sympathy with her situation. The surveillance environment at Argentum must have been stifling. 'Let's just do it the old fashioned way,' he said finally. 'Physical contact. I'll send Tony to talk to your grandfather.'
'He should remove his SIM card first.'
He nodded. He hated cloak and dagger activity. His preference was for fast, direct action, and to hell with the consequences. He had no intention of disabling his own phone. It was too late for that. If Zina sent anyone in search of him he was ready for them. But while he could take risks with his own safety he couldn't risk the safety of others.
'I'll call Tony on the landline and tell him what to do.' He stood up. 'I need your grandfather's address.'
She gave him an address in the inner city suburb of Paddington. When he returned from making the call to Tony she hadn't moved.
He sat down and tried to avoid staring at her bare, brown legs. 'You still haven't explained why you think you're in danger. What kind of danger?'
'I'm not sure. Not yet.'
'Did you feel threatened in any way at Argentum?'
'No, never. Until yesterday afternoon.'
'What happened?'
'I had a conversation with Zina about my work.'
'And?'
She shifted uneasily in her chair. 'It was about the access code I was writing for one of the satellite operating systems.'
'What about it?'
'It's hard to explain.'
He felt his impatience rising. Getting information from her was like trying to gouge a gold nugget from a lump of ore with his bare fingers.
'Try me,' he said. 'I'm not completely clueless about software. And since I started investigating Argentum I've read enough about commercial satellites to know that client security is a high priority. Were you writing code to breach security?'
He read the surprise in her blue eyes.
'How did you know that?' she said.
'Why else would you feel in danger unless you thought you were doing something illegal?'
She frowned with concern. 'The code will allow Argentum and any satellite owner who knows about it to access client data stored on the satellite. Government, banks, insurance companies. Their data won't be safe.'
'At a guess,' he said drily, 'that probably breaks one or two international laws. Can't experts detect code like that?'
He immediately felt sorry for asking the question. Her look was withering.
'Not the way I write it,' she said.
Naturally. How silly of him to doubt the abilities of Miss Einstein. He eased back on the sofa and for the second time counted slowly to three. 'But why did you feel the need to run away like you did? Why didn't you just resign in the normal way?'
'Zina made certain implied threats.'
'What kind of threats?'
She unfolded her legs and sat up in her chair, unsettled. 'I can't explain it. I felt frightened, that's all. She's never spoken to me before like that, and I've known her all my life. She sounded like another person. And then there was the way Striver Twist spoke to me.'
'Twist? Head of security?'
She nodded. 'He's Zina's right hand man. No one likes him. He's creepy. He spoke to me when I came out of Zina's office. He almost sneered, as if he knew something that I didn't. I'm sure he was controlling the drones that were chasing me last night.'
'Why did you ever go to work for Zina if you felt uncomfortable around her?'
'My grandfather recommended it, despite being
unhappy with Zina. She stole many of his ideas. He felt I'd be safe with Jason.'
'Zina's husband?'
'Yes. I was happy enough at first. We're almost family, after all. But then after Jason died on that trail run in the mountains, the rumours started. Some of the staff said that Twist was mixed up in his death, and that Zina was behind it. I didn't believe it. I couldn't see any logic behind it. Then yesterday it started to make some sense. Maybe Jason was aware of what Zina was trying to do and was fighting against it. That's why I began to feel afraid yesterday.'
'It was Jason Stone's death that got me interested in Argentum,' Alex said. 'I covered the investigation. I watched Twist during the coroner's inquiry and I was convinced he was hiding something. He was seen in the area at the time. The death by misadventure verdict didn't sound right to me. And around the same time I heard about a Russian connection through some government contacts.'
'Nikolay Tursunov?'
'You know him?'
'Not really,' Ada said vaguely. 'He's like a ghost. Now you see him, now you don't. All I know is he represents some of Zina's European business associates. Anyway, after Jason's death, Zina changed. She became more isolated, hard to talk to. And then she got me involved in looking for ways around the satellite security systems. Harmless stuff at first, but then she started to feed me design instructions for the code I told you about.'
'Can you prove your claims about the code?'
Another stupid question. He felt the blue-eyed stare again.
'Of course,' she said.
'You mean you have copies?'
She was silent for a moment. 'I'd prefer not to say.'
He took a deep breath and once again counted to three. 'Miss Byron. Ada. I'm on your side. If we have to go to the authorities at some point, what you're telling me will mean nothing without some evidence of your claims. You understand that, don't you?'
She nodded but didn't speak. If she really was in danger and she had copies of the code, she was right in thinking they were her only protection against Zina. Obviously she didn't yet trust him enough to tell him everything. He wasn't yet sure he trusted her either. They were at a temporary stalemate on the code topic, at least. He decided to sidestep it for the moment.
'A broken genius,' she said suddenly.
'What?'
'That's what my grandfather said once about Zina. He called her a dangerous, ambitious woman. A broken genius.'
'I want to talk to your grandfather. If Tony can contact him we'll visit him. Is that what you want?'
She gave a quick smile that made her look momentarily girlish. Was he finally winning her over? Everything she'd said so far seemed to fit with what he knew about Lorenzina Stone and her company. Maybe he could relax now. A visit to her grandfather might open her up a little more. Maybe he would see another side of her there that would help him lose the nagging feeling that she might be playing him for a fool. If she was somehow plotting against him under Zina's instructions he couldn't so far figure out how she might be doing it.
He wanted badly to believe her. The story she was telling was big. A large, influential company with friends in high places involved in illegal activities with criminals and possibly a foreign government? If he handled it right he might even win a TV journalism award. He did it once before, years ago, when he was starting out. But since then all he'd had was a series of near misses. He needed to make a splash again, and the fair-haired, blue-eyed kid sitting opposite, smiling sweetly, was about to hand it all to him.
'I want to ring my lawyer,' she said suddenly. The smile still lingered, but she'd lost the girlishness. 'I think it's a good idea that I know where I stand in this matter. Don't you agree?'
He tried not to show his annoyance at this unexpected hiccup. This was not a good development. In his line of business, sources talking to their lawyers invariably caused trouble. For him.
'The fewer people who know where you are, the better,' he said.
'I can trust her.'
A female lawyer. Even worse. 'How long have you known her?'
The blue eyes glared at him. 'Not that it's any of your business, but we went to school together.'
An old school chum female lawyer. He could see disaster on the horizon. The lawyer would probably advise her schoolmate client to avoid the nasty male journalist at all costs and go home to Grandpa. Just when he thought he was making progress. Quick action was required, but he had to remember that she did actually have rights.
He summoned up his most charming smile. 'Ada, I understand your concerns. I've been through this before with others in your situation. You're a whistle-blower. You might not like the term but it's common these days. And we have access to lawyers at Millenium TV who specialise in this field. They're up to date on the latest legislation. Their job is to protect both of us, you and me.'
The blue eyes glowed with suspicion. 'I know how it works. They'll look after you. They won't care about me.'
'No. That's not how it works. They're independent. They have their own reputations to think about. I suggest you talk to them first. If you're not happy, then you can talk to your lawyer friend. Zina can't get to our lawyers. They're too influential. But she might just get to your friend if she ever finds out about her. You might be putting her at risk. Please think about that.'
She chewed her thumb and stared at him. Now she looked like a child again, losing the canny adult persona she'd projected only minutes earlier. What kind of a woman was this that he'd netted and brought home? Did she have some kind of split personality? More importantly, had he convinced her with his argument?
'I want to talk to them now.'
He slumped back, relieved. 'Let's visit your grandfather and then I'll take you to our lawyers.'
She nodded and crossed her arms, apparently satisfied with the answer.
'I want to think,' she said.
Which meant, he assumed, she had no desire to continue their present conversation. Fine with him. Did she switch off like that in front of everybody when she wanted to go into thinking mode? Her eccentric behaviour was becoming more fascinating as the hours wore on. Anyway, he had some thinking to do himself.
He went into the studio and spent half an hour making notes using her recorded comments. The story was beginning to form in his mind. He even had a working title for it. Conspiracy at Silver Springs. A touch melodramatic but good enough for the moment. And it was accurate. International crime, a company attempting to silence a whistle-blower, a midnight rescue on a mountain road. Good enough to keep even his father happy.
Damn! The old man was due back from Melbourne today. Or was it tomorrow? Would that complicate things? No. He might even provide some help. They'd had their share of arguments but his father was smart and experienced. Except when he got his teeth into something and tried to take over. Well, he'd worry about the old man when the time came.
In the meantime, had young Einstein done enough thinking? He went back into the lounge. She was still sitting in her chair, arms crossed, blonde head down. He was reminded again of how attractive she was in her unguarded moments. It was only when she was fully alert to those around her that she seemed to surround herself with a defensive shell.
A buzzer sounded in the kitchen. 'That's the front door,' he said, as she stirred from her reverie. 'Probably Tony. Collect anything you need and we'll be on our way.' He went into the kitchen and pressed a button on a control panel on the wall.
Tony appeared in the lounge a few seconds later carrying his camera and other equipment.
'I went to your grandfather's house,' he said. 'I knocked on the door, rang on the bell, tapped on all the windows. No sign of him. Your grandfather's gone.'
CHAPTER 4
Ada froze in her chair. The anxiety that had been lurking at the back of her mind since late yesterday when Striver Twist had made his veiled threats now became something real and fearful. Where was her grandfather? Was the explanation something innocent? Had he simply gone out somewhere briefly
and might even now be back in the house?
Marlowe was watching her closely.
'Where's your landline phone?' she asked.
'In the studio,' he said and led the way.
She followed him down the hallway. His broad, solid back gave her a quick feeling of reassurance, welcome in the circumstances. It was the small lift she needed right now to quell the alarm in her heart.
Was she wise to use the landline? Zina might have arranged to monitor all calls from this number but a single call couldn't reveal much useful information. She had to risk it.
She rang her grandfather's landline number. It rang out. She tried his mobile number. Only the sound of her grandfather's soft voice on his recorded message. She hung up without speaking. He'd either switched off his phone, which was unlike him, or he was unable to answer it. Why? She realised her hand was shaking. She also realised Marlowe was still watching her closely. A little too closely, almost as if he was looking for signs of acting.
She felt a small surge of anger, followed immediately by a feeling of helplessness. How dare he doubt her intentions! She'd been honest with him about everything so far. Did he think she was some kind of spy sent by Zina to lead him astray and wreck his investigation? She forced herself to calm down. It didn't really matter what he thought for the moment. She had to accept that she needed his help right now. She would consider his distrust later and then figure out a way to give him hell for it.
'No response?' said Marlowe.
She shook her head, trying not to glare at him.
'There could be a simple explanation,' he said. 'But we need to get into the house. Do you have the key?'
'Of course.' She tried to sound cool, but the feeling of apprehension had quickly returned.
Tony had come into the studio. 'I spoke to a neighbour. She said she was woken by a commotion this morning, around dawn. Cars coming and going. But when she went to look she didn't see anything.'
Ada went completely cold at this new piece of information. She tried to stop her imagination working overtime.
'And something else,' Tony said. 'Maybe it doesn't mean anything, but when I drove away from the house I saw a black car parked almost opposite. The driver was a blond man with glasses.'
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