Chapter Twenty-Eight
Safe House
Matthew would have the image burned into his brain forever. Julia standing in the middle of the road, her feet apart, and a gun in her hand. The coat she wore hung open, and her nurse’s uniform was undone underneath. He could see her body and her black underwear.
“That was Julia!” Matthew exclaimed as he looked over his shoulder. “She was going to shoot at us!”
“Well, it is her car we’re driving!” Jayne replied in a strong Northern accent as she drove down Trafford Road far too fast.
Matthew turned round and saw the red light just as Jayne drove straight through it. He closed his eyes and winced as the sound of horns blaring and tyres screeching filled the air once more. He felt the car swerve, but there was no impact.
Matthew opened his eyes again. “That’s the second red light you’ve ran!” he said in a nervous voice. “Slow down, Jayne!”
“We’ve got to get far away as fast as possible!” Jayne insisted, pressing her bare foot down on the accelerator and going even faster.
“But why? We’ve escaped, haven’t we? They can’t catch us now!”
“They might! I don’t know the range of the radio link in my head, Matthew, and if they try again before you can get re- connected, we’ve both had it!”
Matthew had forgotten about that. He had checked the implant over so many times, but with a multi-layer board, surface mount technology, and custom made integrated circuit chips, they could have hidden away a radio circuit almost anywhere. It might even have been added during the operation to insert the implant in Jayne’s head. However it got there, he would have to do something about it, and soon.
“Okay, okay!” he said. “I understand the hurry! But we need to find somewhere to stop. Somewhere where I can work. I have to rig up a transmitter of my own to get back in touch with the implant. Once I’m re-connected, I can do something with the software protocols to stop any un-authorised data transactions. But in the meantime, Jayne, try to drive a bit slower, will you? The last time you drove a car you had an accident, remember?”
Jayne had a fleeting image of Harvey in her mind. He was sitting on the road in the dark. She forced the image from her mind, but she began to slow down. They were now on Chester Road heading South. When they reached Stretford, Jayne turned left and drove down Edge Lane towards Chorlton. They passed a park and Jayne took another left. She seemed to know where she was going. Soon they were driving down a quiet road with bay-fronted, semi- detached houses on each side of them.
Matthew looked around at the houses. “Where are we going?” he asked her.
“Somewhere where they won’t think of looking for us. Somewhere safe. For a little while at least.” As she spoke, Jayne turned right down another quiet road, and then turned up the driveway of one of the houses. It was painted red and white.
“This is it,” she announced, switching the engine off. “Out you get!”
As Matthew climbed out of the car with his tool-case, Jayne ran up to the front door. Without hesitation, she broke a pane of glass in the window next to the door and reached inside. Matthew watched in shock, not just because of what she was doing, but because the hospital type gown she was wearing left nothing to the imagination when viewed from behind.
Matthew glanced around at all the houses and the many windows, wondering what someone might think if they were watching. He hurried to stand behind Jayne, hoping to block as much of the view as possible if someone was watching. And as soon as Jayne got the door open he pushed her inside.
“Get in quick!” he said, shutting the door behind them.
Jayne trotted up the hallway and looked into the kitchen and the lounge. Then she looked in the front room. There was no sign of anyone. When she turned to look at Matthew, he was still by the door, staring out of the broken window.
“Worried about being seen breaking and entering?” she asked him with a cheeky grin. “I don’t think anyone saw us!”
“It’s not us I’m worrying about, it’s you!” Matthew replied, turning round and pointing at her hospital gown.
Jayne looked down at the gown and her bare feet. “Oh, yeah, I forgot.” She twisted and glanced over her shoulder, noticing for the first time how much of her was exposed. “No wonder I felt a little draughty!” She looked back at Matthew and smiled. “You get to work in here while I go upstairs and try and find something to wear.” She indicated the kitchen before heading for the stairs. “And no peeking!” she added as she passed Matthew in the hallway.
Matthew blushed and quickly averted his eyes. As he went into the kitchen he heard laughter as Jayne ran up the stairs. It was a delightful sound.
Jayne searched the drawers and the wardrobes in both bedrooms before she found something to wear. She was hoping for a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt, but she could only find dresses, skirts and blouses. And although she found some knickers, the bras were all too big for her. Then she found a camisole. That, a white blouse, black skirt, and polka-dot knickers, seemed to be the best combination. She threw off the hospital gown and began to get dressed.
As she was dressing, Jayne called down to Matthew, “How are you getting on?”
Matthew had his tool-case open on the kitchen table and had already made a mess with bits of electrical wire and components everywhere. The parts came from a transistor radio he had found in the lounge. He had broken it open and pulled it to bits. Now he was busy with his soldering iron, working on a circuit board he had pulled out of his lap-top computer, adding the components he had cannibalised from the radio. It looked a mess, but it was going to work.
“I’m doing fine,” he called back. “How about you?”
“I’ll be down in a minute,” he heard her reply. And then, after a pause, “By the way, in case I forget to tell you later, thanks!”
Matthew smiled. “It’s a pleasure,” was all he could think of to say.
Jayne came bouncing down the stairs and burst into the kitchen. She seemed full of life. “How do I look?” She asked, doing a quick twirl.
“You look very good,” Matthew replied, admiring her curves now that she was out of that shapeless gown. The skirt she had found was relatively short, and it showed off her legs very well. Then Matthew noticed her feet were still bare. “No shoes?” he asked.
Jayne shook her head. “None that would fit.”
Matthew remembered the pair of high-heeled shoes in the car and told her about them.
“They’ll fit!” she said, and hurried down the hall. She had hardly got halfway when they both heard a key turn in the front door, and it suddenly burst open.