However, all too soon she was woken by the sound of a spirited rendition of the cancan. She opened her eyes, lying bewildered for just a moment, while struggling to remember where the heck she was and what the heck was going on. She felt as if she’d only been asleep for five minutes. Eventually she realized that the cancan music was the somewhat inappropriate ringing tone plumbed into her burner phone. She struggled onto an elbow, registering as she did so that daylight had arrived, and glanced at the clock on the wall. It was just after seven thirty a.m.
She picked up the phone and squinted at it, bleary eyed. She couldn’t even read the number which had appeared in the display panel. Was it safe to answer? Surely it had to be safe. Nobody could have traced the phone to her that quickly, if indeed they ever could. And only Ed had the number. It must be him calling. It was him.
‘Hi Sandy, how are you?’ he began.
‘Oh, never better,’ she responded ironically. ‘Not quite awake, actually...’
‘Sorry if I woke you. I just wanted to make sure you’d got back to New York OK, and to check that you and Connie were all right.’
Ed sounded cheery. Surprisingly cheery, Jones thought, considering the state he’d been in the previous evening.
‘All’s well,’ she responded obliquely. ‘Don’t know quite what to do next, though.’
‘Maybe you don’t need to do anything.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Have you seen the news yet this morning?’
‘No.’
Instinctively Jones looked about her for the remote control to the TV.
‘The police have confirmed that the explosion was caused by a bomb, but they’re blaming animal rights protestors.’
‘They’re doing what?’
Jones tried to clear her head. She wasn’t fully functioning yet.
‘It’s a long story,’ Ed continued. ‘Tune in to a news channel and then you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. Point is, RECAP wasn’t the target. That seems almost certain.’
‘Well, maybe...’
‘This is an official police statement released to the media, Sandy. Not a tabloid exclusive. And it makes sense. I did think last night that you and Connie were getting a bit carried away with your conspiracy theory, you know.’
‘Perhaps,’ Jones muttered vaguely, aware that her voice sounded hoarse.
‘I also think Connie should tell the authorities exactly what happened and come home to Princeton, I really do. Look, can I speak to her?’
‘Uh no, not yet.’
Jones really wished she’d kept her mouth shut about Connie. Meanwhile she decided to lie. She didn’t have a lot of choice.
‘She was asleep when I got back. I haven’t had a chance yet to tell her you know she’s alive.’
‘Ummm.’
She thought Ed was about to challenge her. He didn’t. Instead he continued with another near instruction.
‘All right. But you can fly home to England now.’
Jones was confused. She felt uneasy. Why was Ed saying this?
‘I, uh, I’m not sure—’ she began hesitantly.
‘There’s no reason for you not to,’ Ed interrupted. ‘I really believe that. After all, you’ve never had any evidence to back up any of what you said last night, have you? Just all that stuff from Connie about the Internal Revenue and the sprinklers, and strangers lurking in shadows. Connie can be a bit fanciful, you know. I mean, you probably have to be a bit fanciful to have run the RECAP project for all those years.’
She knew Ed was right about Connie. Perhaps he was right about the other stuff too. It probably was all getting to be a bit James Bond, in her head at any rate.
Not for the first time since it had all begun she considered the sheer unreality of events since her arrival in America. Everything had happened so fast, she’d just been swept along on the wave. She’d been running around playing spy games. In the cool light of a New York morning, it suddenly seemed all too likely that Ed was right and the whole thing had been nothing more than a misguided fantasy.
As she yawned and stretched her way to complete wakefulness, Jones also realized suddenly just how much she wanted that to be the case.
She remembered what her mother always said about things looking different in the morning. Yesterday had been a crazy, emotional, roller coaster of a day, beginning with what she had assumed to be a kidnapping through being confronted with a still alive Connie, and ending with her thoroughly unsatisfactory meeting with Ed.
Yesterday, Connie’s conspiracy theory had seemed absolutely real. Today, lying in that quiet double-glazed loft, a peaceful hidden-away space in the heart of one of the busiest and noisiest metropolises in the world, Jones found it hard to believe any of it was real.
There had been crazy moments yesterday when she had almost enjoyed playing spy games, buying burner phones, stalking Ed and surreptitiously meeting up with him. Today she just wanted to go back to being plain old Dr Sandy Jones.
‘Look, I’ll talk it all through with Connie again,’ she said. ‘But she seems so sure...’
‘Of course she’s sure. Have you ever known her be uncertain about anything? Even Paul had moments of doubt about RECAP over the years. Not Connie. She doesn’t do doubt.’
Jones laughed.
‘Look,’ Ed continued. ‘You know I told you about my cop pal? Well, I called him after watching the news. He confirmed the reports absolutely. Says the animal rights angle is rock solid. The police have no doubt now that the bomb was planted by extremists protesting against animal experiments at Princeton...’
‘I didn’t know there were animal experiments going on at Princeton.’
‘No. It’s not widely known, and that’s deliberate, apparently. Hardly surprising when you see what happened once certain people did get to know about it.’
‘I’ll talk to Connie,’ said Jones. ‘Ring me again later. And don’t forget to use a call box.’
‘Yes, sure,’ Ed replied.
Just a little absently, Jones thought.
‘Oh, and Ed,’ she added. ‘The rules haven’t changed. I know it must be tempting, but you really mustn’t tell anyone about Connie yet. OK?’
‘Of course not.’
‘Speak later then.’
She ended the call and switched on the TV.
The new revelations about the explosion had made the lead item on every news channel. The ABC breakfast news report seemed unequivocal.
It is now confirmed that the massive explosion at Princeton University four days ago was caused by a bomb. Forensics and fire service experts have found evidence that an explosive device had been concealed in a laboratory on the first floor of the university’s Science Research Block. However it is believed the target was almost certainly the Ivy League school’s little-known animal research department on the floor above, and the bomb was placed in a room on the lower floor simply because it was more easily accessible.
New Jersey State Police have revealed that they have information indicating that an as yet unnamed breakaway animal rights group was responsible. PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) and SHAC (Stop Huntingdon Animal Cruelty), the two major animal rights organizations which campaign internationally against vivisection, have both denied direct involvement, but refuse to condemn the bombing.
‘Princeton has been secretly conducting horrific experiments on live animals for many years, and the more we have learned about these experiments, the more we have come to regard them as unacceptable,’ said a PETA spokesman.
It is not known exactly what experiments animals are used for at Princeton. However, university sources report that research into pesticides and food additives is involved as well as medical research, and that live animals — mostly rats and guinea pigs, but occasionally other animals more likely to provoke an emotive response, including cats and rabbits — are also used for teaching purposes.