‘This is Emily,’ Sylvia explained briefly.
Emily nodded but did not speak, waiting for him to say what he had come to say and then, presumably, go away and leave them in peace once more.
‘Let me begin by asking you if you know the identity of your mother,’ he said.
Whatever they might have anticipated, it was not that. Jack could sense the watchfulness and caution that greeted his question. Sylvia’s face was unreadable, while the girl recoiled slightly in surprise.
‘Why do you ask?’
‘It is important.’
‘I do know,’ she said. ‘She is a scientist and her name is Angela Meerson. Sylvia told me when I came here. We have never met.’
‘She has disappeared. I need your help to find her.’
‘Why do you think I could be of any help? I know nothing of her. Nor do I want to.’
‘Nonetheless, it is possible she may try to contact you. I take it she has not done so already?’
‘No. Why are you telling me this?’
‘She works for an institute which operates on an island called Mull in the north-west of Scotland,’ Jack said. ‘You would consider it fairly harmless, I think. Most of its research is on energy transmission. It owns the rights to few people, is largely unarmed. It avoids participation in public affairs and has no position on treatment of renegades such as yourself. I am sure you would not feel comfortable taking my word for it, but I am equally sure you could easily enough confirm what I have said.
‘Your mother seems to have made a discovery of some importance. A few days ago she vanished, destroying all the data on her project before she left. I need to find her before someone else does.
As yet her disappearance is not common knowledge, but when it gets out there are many people who will wish to gain her services and some of them are not pleasant people. I have come partly to obtain your assistance and partly to warn you. If my employer can consider the possibility that the route to Angela might lie through you, then others may do so as well, and they will not be as kindly as us. Have you noticed any sign of increased surveillance in the past couple of days?’
‘No.’
Jack stopped to see how he was doing. It was impossible to say. Neither of the people sitting opposite betrayed the slightest emotion. He rather hoped they would do or say something, anything, so that he could get some clue whether his approach — honesty, if not total openness — was the correct one to take.
‘Thank you for your warning, Dr More,’ Sylvia said. ‘We will take such precautions as we think necessary. Do you have anything else you wish to tell us?’
‘I do. We believe Emily’s mother may have hidden a copy of the data before she vanished. It is possible that she wanted Emily to find it.’
Finally he got a reaction, although only a small one. Emily looked surprised and then sceptical at the very idea.
‘Explain.’
‘We believe it may be hidden in the National Depository.’
‘Why on earth would she hide something there?’
‘Why indeed? If I could find it, or find your mother, I might be able to give you an answer. My employer came up with two possibilities. One is that you are in league with her and that you hid it.’
‘I’ve already told you...’
‘The other is that a person with your skills is one of the few who could find it. I don’t know. It may be a false lead entirely, but it is the only one we have at the moment, and so it is there that I wish to begin my search. Your assistance would be very well rewarded.’
‘Surely you people normally just swoop down with helicopters and assault troops and take whatever you want?’ Emily’s words were hostile, but her voice was not; it was merely enquiring.
Jack smiled reassuringly. ‘We do not have an army, and the security force is little more than a dozen people.’
‘The police?’
‘Then it becomes public. We prefer to recover this information before anyone even knows it is missing. Someone who knows their way around the place would be a great help.’
‘You are aware that people like us are now banned from the building? I have not been into it for a year.’
‘I have the authority to enter.’
‘So you want to go in, get the documents if they are there and — what then? Anything?’
‘Then I can concentrate on finding your mother.’
‘You must realise,’ Sylvia said, ‘that while people in your world concentrate on numbers and facts, we deal in words and emotions. We are as expert in our field as you are in yours. We listen far more carefully than you do. You are not lying to us, but you leave out far too much for us to trust you at the moment.’
‘I have tried to say all that is relevant.’
‘This is not about making the trains run more efficiently, is it?’
‘No. In the wrong hands this data could be exceptionally dangerous for the entire planet. This is not about making money.’
‘When did Angela Meerson disappear?’
‘About three days ago now.’
‘That was when the power failures killed so many people?’
‘I believe so.’
‘A coincidence, I’m sure, but you will understand our caution. People are already blaming us, trying to pretend it was terrorism rather than incompetence.’
‘I can say nothing useful about that. I have come here with a simple task and a straightforward request. Will you assist me, as I ask?’
‘We will discuss this in private, Dr More, when you have gone.’
‘Does it need discussion?’
‘Here everything needs discussion,’ she replied with a faint smile. ‘Be at the main entrance to the Depository tomorrow at nine. If we will help, then Emily will meet you there. If not...’
‘Yes?’
‘Then she will not meet you there, and we will not wish you to come here again.’
That was that. Jack realised he could do nothing now except wait and hope his appeal would have some effect. So he went back to the residence, ordered himself some food and settled down for a quiet night.
His peace did not last very long, however. Less than half an hour after he had arrived, there was a knock on the door. He had taken another indirect route back and arrived tired, and dirty and wet from the grime-filled rain that had been coming down in torrents all day. He wanted a long shower and an even longer sleep. He was annoyed that he had spent so much time on his journey thinking of the girl. Dare he access the files once more to find out about her? Risky. He wanted no direct contact linking him to her, or to her Retreat. But there was no reason he could not send the request through one of his old colleagues to muddy the trail. He had just sent one off when the door lit up to indicate visitors.
He knew exactly who, or rather what, the two men were when he opened the door and saw them standing there. The size, the sureness, the watchful eyes assessing him. The look of faint surprise to see someone who was so unlike most members of the elite they had ever met. More like them, in fact.
‘Dr More?’
‘Yes.’
‘Come with us, please.’
Well — polite, Jack thought, but it would have been interesting to discover how they would respond if he refused. ‘I am just about to get into the shower.’
‘Sorry, sir. Orders.’
‘Under whose authority?’
‘You will be given an explanation in due course. It is a necessary security precaution, I’m afraid.’
Jack liked that ‘I’m afraid’ bit. Conciliatory, regretful, as spoken to a superior. Despite their appearance they weren’t about to beat him up.
‘Oh, very well,’ he said. ‘I don’t want to make your life difficult. Come in though. Give me five minutes. Fix yourselves a drink while I make myself presentable. I’m sure whoever is responsible for all this must be terribly important. I wouldn’t want to appear scruffy.’