Steven raised both his palms in a placatory gesture. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said. ‘You’re not being held. I asked them to bring you here for your own safety.’
‘My safety,’ said Jane, her anger giving way to something more circumspect. ‘What does that mean?’
Steven sat down and took both her hands in his. ‘Michael D’Arcy was murdered earlier today in St Thomas’s Hospital,’ he said.
Jane’s eyes searched Steven’s, trying to make some connection between the news and her own predicament. ‘How awful,’ she said.
‘I take it you didn’t tell anyone he was there?’
‘Of course not,’ said Jane. ‘Who would I tell?’
‘You were the only person outside of Sci-Med who knew where he was,’ said Steven.
Jane looked at him as if she couldn’t believe what she was hearing. ‘I don’t think I understand,’ she said. ‘What are you suggesting?’
‘That your home phone has been tapped,’ said Steven, having seen all he wanted in Jane’s reactions. ‘Someone has been listening in to all our conversations.’
‘Oh my God,’ said Jane, letting her head fall down on to her chest.
‘You made me promise to tell you everything,’ said Steven.
Jane nodded but more in trepidation than conviction.
‘I told you over the phone about going to see D’Arcy unannounced. They beat me to it. I told you over the phone where we were going to squirrel him away and they got to him and finished the job. I told you over the phone about the agent George had been working on,’ said Steven.
‘And?’ asked Jane.
‘There’s a chance that they may see you as a potential problem…’
Jane looked as if she were about to go on to overload. ‘Are you saying that someone may try to kill me?’ she asked in a very small voice.
‘It’s a possibility,’ said Steven. ‘Maybe a remote one but we didn’t want to take any chances.’
‘But I only know what you and your organisation know,’ Jane protested weakly.
‘I thought that too,’ said Steven. ‘But John Macmillan pointed out that they might be afraid of you going to the papers with what you know. He has a point.’
‘Who’d believe me?’ said Jane.
‘You’re the wife of a former Porton Down scientist who was recently found murdered,’ said Steven. ‘They might very well run it just to see what happens.’
‘So what happens now?’ asked Jane, now visibly angry.
‘I think you should move out of your home for the time being,’ said Steven. ‘Just until we get to the bottom of this.’
‘Move out,’ repeated Jane as if it were a death sentence. ‘Leave my home, my friends, my job… and go hide somewhere?’
‘Steven came round to Jane’s side of the table and put his arms on her shoulders. ‘I know,’ he whispered. ‘I’m so sorry I got you into this. I’d do anything to turn back the clock and give you your life back but there’s nothing anyone can do now. Hang in there and we’ll come through this together.’
‘A brighter tomorrow,’ said Jane, her voice tinged with sarcasm. ‘If I live that long.’
‘I won’t let anything happen to you; I promise,’ said Steven. He brought Jane to her feet and held her tight. Jane felt the weapon under his left arm as she reciprocated. ‘Oh my God,’ she murmured. ‘If I were a braver person I’d make some kind of Mae West joke but I’m not. Right now I’m a very scared person.’
Steven kissed the top of her head. ‘Let’s get started,’ he said.
‘I take it you’re going to let me pick up some things from my house?’ asked Jane as they got into Steven’s car.
‘Of course,’ said Steven. This had not been his intention but he saw that denying her might be a step too far after what Jane had been through. In the current situation some clothes and a few personal possessions might well assume an importance beyond their actual substance.
Steven turned the car round and parked it in the street as they wouldn’t be staying long. He waited downstairs while Jane got some things together, looking out of the window while he waited.
From upstairs he heard Jane call out, ‘This is crazy. What will all my friends think if I just disappear? What about the school? My classes? Look, I really don’t think I can do this.’
‘Everything will be fine,’ Steven replied. ‘I’ll get you a mobile phone and you can call your friends. Just don’t tell them where you really are. Invent a sick relative in Yorkshire.’
‘It sounds like you’re used to this,’ Jane called out.
‘Not really,’ said Steven distantly. His attention had been caught by a car going past the end of the drive. Unless it was identical to one that had passed a few minutes earlier it was on its second circuit of the area. The thing that chilled him was the fact that it was a blue Range Rover.
‘Jane,’ he called out.
‘What?’
‘Come down, will you?’
‘I’m not quite fini — ’
‘Just come down.’
Jane heard something in Steven’s voice that made her comply without any more comment. ‘What is it?’ she asked as she came into the room behind him.
‘I think we may be about to have company,’ replied Steven without turning away from the window.
‘You mean we’re too late?’
‘A blue Range Rover has passed the house twice in the past five minutes. I think it may have been the same one that turned up in the car park in Ramsgate.’
‘Just tell me what to do,’ said Jane. She sounded calm and collected and it drew a nod of approval from Steven. ‘Make sure all the doors and windows are closed and locked,’ he said. He had barely got the words out before the Range Rover passed the house again, slower this time. Steven saw from behind the curtain that it held two male occupants.
‘All secure,’ said Jane as she returned.
‘I think they’ll go for a knock on the door,’ said Steven. ‘With a bit of luck they may not know that I’m here with you. I left the car outside.’
‘What do you want me to do?’ asked Jane.
‘When they knock try to delay them. Call out that you’re just coming and then wait for my signal.’
Jane nodded. They were both watching the end of the driveway. After what seemed like an eternity one man appeared at the entrance to the drive. He was wearing a smart suit and carried a briefcase in his right hand. He had a clipboard under his left arm, He put down the briefcase and examined the clipboard as if checking address details.’
‘Damn,’ said Steven. ‘Where’s the other one? There were two of them in the car.’ He told Jane that he was going to check the back. ‘Keep an eye on him,’ he said. ‘Let me know what’s happening.’
Steven hurried through to the kitchen, keeping his body below window level until he’d reached the far wall where he could straighten up to sneak a sideways look outside. A shadow moved somewhere in the garden and he dropped down again. He thought he understood the plan. The man at the front would divert Jane’s attention while the other gained admission through the back.
Steven pressed himself up against the wall and watched as the figure outside etched a circle in the glass next to the back door with what he guessed was a diamond-tipped marker because of the scratching sound it made. It was done expertly and in one continuous movement, something that gave Steven a clue as to the quality of the opposition he was facing. The man outside stretched sticky tape across the etched circle before tapping it lightly and removing it to leave a hole six inches across.
The doorbell rang and Jane called out, ‘Just a minute.’
Steven watched a man’s arm come in through the hole in the glass and reach up to unlock the Yale. He let him unlock it, and then allowed him to open the door slowly and take his first step inside before catching him hard on the left temple with the butt of his gun. He reached out quickly to grab the man and stop him falling noisily. He lowered the unconscious figure to the ground.