His mind felt uneasy. She wasn’t going to like what he had to say and he still couldn’t think of the best way to approach the subject. Head sunk back into the palms of his cupped hands he looked up at the ceiling. The bathroom light clicked off and he felt the mattress depress to announce her arrival. Her slender arm slid across his chest, accompanied thereafter by a small head which now rested on his shoulder. They lay quietly for minutes on end, silent and content, locked in their individual thoughts.
“She is a little strange,” said Grace.
“Who is?”
“Maria, that’s who,” she said.
“Why would you think that?”
“She kept staring at me throughout the night. Her eyes followed me everywhere.”
“I don’t think there’s anything to worry about.”
“She didn’t do the same with Jenna.”
“I didn’t notice.”
He could feel a difficult question coming.
“What were you both talking about, over the dishes?”
“Small talk,” he said.
“Is that why you were both whispering?”
“We weren’t whispering,” he said.
“Well if you were not whispering then why could I not hear what you were saying?”
“Hah, so the real truth is you were watching her.”
A little fist prodded into his bare ribs, bringing a broad grin to his face.
“You two are, or have been, up to no good.”
“No, no. You have me far too well trained to even think about fooling around with anybody else. I wouldn’t dare,” he said lightly.
In one graceful movement she lifted her head on to the small hand propped by an elbow, her eyes examining the contours of his face.
“Who said anything about you fooling around? What exactly is going on between you two?”
He turned his head and looked up, into the questioning expression on her face.
“Trust me. My virtue is safe in Maria’s hands.”
“Oh yes, and what makes you so sure of that?”
“Because she despises me with a passion,” he said.
“It didn’t look that way to me.”
Matt took a moment to collect his thoughts.
“I killed her husband.”
The texture of her Guinness eyes darkened alerting him to the fact her legally trained mind was in overdrive, capable of dissecting any loose or careless comment with the precision of a surgeon’s knife.
“The man pictured in the photograph?”
“Yes.”
“When, how?”
“A few years ago when I first got dragged into this damned Milieu thing,” he said. “He was chasing me and ...”
“Does she suspect you in any way?”
“I confessed.”
Her eyes widened to accompany the involuntary sharp intake of breath. He noticed a perplexed look appear in her eyes, the skin of her forehead frowned in bewilderment if not complete shock.
“Have you taken complete leave of your senses? I would have tried to kill you.”
“That was her reaction. She ran away when I admitted it and found one of her husband’s guns. I was as good as dead if she’d pulled the trigger.”
“So why didn’t Maria shoot?” she asked, incredulous.
“I told her my name.”
“Your name?” she said. “I don’t understand, what has your name to do with this?”
“Her husband left something for me,” he said, picking the microchip up off the bedside table and holding it up to her eyes. “He told her to keep it safe until a man by the name of Matt Durham called.”
“I don’t understand. You and her husband were enemies. Why would he leave this for you to find, and why would she keep it after all this time?”
He gazed, long and steady, into the dark, rich texture of her eyes.
“Because she loved him, still does, despite the fact he took her for granted.”
“Even more reason to have pulled the trigger. What possessed you to tell her in the first place?”
He thought for a moment and then sighed.
“I couldn’t handle it, the guilt. For the better part of a week I watched the way she looked after the children, displaying the patience of a saint no matter the demand. I know Maria gives the impression she copes but, underneath it all, she struggles. She suffers because of me, for something I did to her. Maria is right to despise me.”
Her hand rose and affectionately brushed a stray hair from his brow, responding to the shade of guilt that had invaded his sad eyes.
“What else bothers you?”
He raised the plastic chip into the air once more.
“Tillman’s accompanying letter,” he said. “He wrote to suggest he was investigating the same thing I was. It seems I’ve killed the wrong man.”
Grace sank back onto the bed and opened her arms to allow him to nestle into her, the circular motion of her hand to his temple soothing the inner torment. He waited for the next question to be posed. It never arrived.
“What’s on your mind?”
“Why did you ask us to come here, Matt?”
“Must I have a reason?”
“There’s always a reason. I know you. I know how your heart beats. It is to do with the piece of plastic.”
“One day you’ll cut yourself with that razor sharp mind,” he said.
“I’m still waiting.”
“It’s the key which unlocks everything, gives us the chance to find out once and for all who is behind this Milieu thing. You must want to know what’s on it.”
“No.”
“You’re not serious?”
“History has taught you nothing. Either that or you have for some incredible reason chosen to ignore the warnings of the past. This Milieu conspiracy has almost taken your life on more than one occasion. Why disturb what we already enjoy for a piece of plastic? You should turn it over to Vogel and be done with it.”
“What? You don’t even like the woman.”
“I don’t. She is devious and deceitful. But surrendering it to her will prevent you from getting more deeply involved than necessary. You were tasked only to recover the missing virus and return Rosa. Have you not done it?”
“Yes … and no.”
“What sort of answer is that?”
“The right one,” he said. “I found her and she got away.”
“Are you going to renew the search?”
“I have to. That’s the contract.”
“Then nothing has changed, the task remains the same. Locate her and the virus, then surrender the microchip and be finished with the matter once and for all.”
His reluctance to respond told her he’d come to a different conclusion, and the atmosphere between them altered almost at once. He felt her body tense, the inner apprehension mount, as she readied for the next exchange.
“You shouldn’t do this,” she said eventually.
“It’s not as simple as that.”
“Why is it not that simple?” she asked.
“I told Maria I would end what her husband had started. It’s the least I can do.”
“I understand why you feel the need to make amends, and I sympathise with her plight, but you should not put yourself at risk for this woman.”
“There should be little risk. And I made a promise.”
“You made a promise to me also.”
She was right, he had.
“I’m going to keep my promise to both of you. But this is about more than settling an old score. This is about second chances, the opportunity to finally get to the bottom of this conspiracy. Call it instinct or a sixth sense but something is telling me I have to do this. And I know I’ll never be able to properly settle until I finally uncover the truth. This little bit of plastic is the key to answering everything.”
“How do you know? Have you read what’s on it?”
“That’s the curious thing. It doesn’t reveal anything about the consp
irators directly. It does, however, point to a hidden place which I assume holds the information.”
“So what is on the chip?”
“Acres of scientific papers about the virus, which Maria has volunteered to investigate as she’s a trained virologist,” he said. “Who knows, she might even come up with a workable antidote? Apart from that the rest of it is Tillman’s personal log talking about the various people he’d met.”
“Does he mention any names?”
“That’s the other curious thing. He isn’t specific about any individuals apart from one particular woman he appeared to be besotted with.”
“Has Maria read her husband’s log?”
“She read enough to be hurt by his apparent feelings for this woman.”
A lull followed and he assumed she was trying to make sense of the information he’d provided.
“Now I am more convinced than ever. You should give it to Vogel,” she said.
“I can’t.”
“Yes, yes you can.”
Matt swore he could hear the noise of a running motor, the sound of her mind in top gear.
“Why didn’t Vogel ask Will to find Rosa?”
“He has conflicting interests. The people Rosa is with are his old team, Vega One, and Catherine doesn’t want to run the risk of him being tempted into siding with them and neither do I. It could ruin everything between him and Jenna. Do you want that?”
The exchange had stirred her penetrative mind and he understood more searching questions were on their way.
“You think after one of their number were murdered on the ferry that you can knock on their door and ask them to return the virus, just like that?”
“I should be able to talk Rosa round okay but the others might prove more of a challenge, particularly the one Tillman was sleeping with.”
“What makes you say that?”
“He described the woman in his log, talked of the hue and youthfulness of her skin. It’s the perfect description of Lily.”
“Does Maria believe it is her also?”
“Yes. And talking Lily round will be difficult as she’s the type who shoots first and asks questions later. It would have been useful to know the identity of Helen Nash’s killer. That would be a real peace offering.”
“You’re talking as though you believe they would release the virus.”
“No sane person on the entire planet would release it. Will’s friends might be a little wayward in their thinking but they’re not mad.”
“Why do you say that?”
“If they believed there wasn’t an effective antidote the threat to release it would be meaningless, as good as signing their own death warrants. If they thought an effective antidote was available then, again, the threat is meaningless as the antidote would be issued to those listed for survival which wouldn’t include them.”
“Then there is no real threat. Their situation is the same either way, with or without an effective antidote.”
“Logical I guess,” he said.
“So why would Vogel’s people need to infiltrate this group at all?”
She had a point.
“Where are you going with this?” he asked, after a pause.
“Do you not think it is strange to be provided with this new information now, after all these years, and from a person you had previously regarded as an enemy?”
“I told you, I got it wrong about Tillman,” he said.
“Is it coincidence to be directed to someone who happens to have a background in virology? A person who has chosen not to kill you for a crime committed against her family.”
“You think I’m being played?”
“You should not dismiss the possibility.”
He gazed intently into her sparkling, inquisitive eyes. This surely was a conspiracy theory too far.
“I seem to recall meeting someone by chance once before who agreed to make the resources of their company available to me, providing anything and everything I needed just when I needed it.”
A wry smile appeared on her face.
“You hit lucky as I remember,” she said.
“Perhaps I’ve got lucky again.”
The smile evaporated into a look of concern and she placed a hand to his masculine chin.
“Think of it, Matt. We know how manipulative the people that Vogel works for can be. And they know your heart too. Guilt can be a powerful motivator to try to correct a mistake, but some will use this remorse as a means to secure their own agenda. I understand your desire to make amends to Maria but it is not possible to right every wrong in the world.”
“You really don’t like Catherine, do you?”
“She shows you the side of herself she wants you to see, and no more. Vogel is not as she presents herself to you. She uses and misuses people to get what she wants.”
“Sounds like the sort of requisite skill any self respecting high flying business executive would need.”
“I am serious,” she countered. “Vogel does not value you the way she would have you think. Her interest lies purely in what you can do for her and cannot be trusted.”
“Sounds a little harsh to …”
He felt her finger press against his lips.
“No more discussion about Catherine Vogel,” she said.
“You raised the subject.”
“And now we should drop it.”
He’d never heard her criticise others before.
“So if Maria is working on the virus,” she said, “why have you brought the rest of us here?”
“Jenna needs to keep the kids occupied while Maria works on it and I need someone to help me in the search for Rosa and with some computer programme stuff. Will seemed like the obvious choice.”
“And I’m here because?”
“First and foremost I think we’re still under surveillance back home so I wanted to make sure no-one else was listening in to this conversation. More importantly I wanted to explain the situation to you directly, face to face, so you’d understand and hopefully agree.”
“It seems to me you had already decided what you were going to do before we arrived.”
He made a point of catching her gaze and smiled, moving a hand to gently stroke at the long dark tresses falling around her shoulders.
“And I missed you, Gratia Fuchs,” he said softly.
She blinked several times at the admission though chose to withhold a returning smile.
“My name is Grace, Grace Fox. And if you really meant what you have just said then you should leave Maria alone and surrender that piece of plastic to Vogel.”
Not the answer he expected and it took him a few moments to recover.
“I’ve booked us both on a flight to London tomorrow,” he said, breaking the silence.
“Why?”
“Maria needs reference materials and I thought you might enjoy a recreational visit.”
“I might not wish to go to London,” she said “It has been a long journey to get here, very tiring.”
He grinned at the pretend objection.
“I thought Oxford Street shopping agreed with you, as did a night at the theatre.”
“You think I can be bought by filthy lucre and the promise of gluttonous excess?”
“No, not bought. Maybe encouraged,” he said.
“Where would we eat?”
“Anywhere you want.”
“Then I guess I must reluctantly accept,” she said. “What time is the flight?”
“We need to be at the airport for seven thirty.”
They slipped back into silence. She rolled over and pulled the covers to her shoulders.
“What are you doing?”
“Going to sleep,” she answered. “We have an early start.”
He realised she meant it. Dropping to his back he looked to the ceiling, feeling more than a little anxious at her curious lack of warmth.
“What is the real reason we are going to London since I’ve only just arrived?” she sudde
nly asked.
“Catherine has given me an unlimited budget and I want to use it,” he said. “And you like London.”
That and the belief he needed to put as much distance between her and Maria as possible.
Chapter Twenty
London Calling