Chapter Eight
Li
Hex had somehow managed to secure a meeting room for us.
'How did you manage to convince Abigail to let us use this?' Paulo asked, waving his hand at the surrounding area.
Smiling, Hex said, 'I didn't.' He dumped another load of files onto the long table in the centre of the room and added, giving Paul a meaningful look. 'But she won't know, will she?'
Paulo grinned back.
It was amazing, the transformation in all of us. Now we had something to do, a goal to work forward to, we were all smiles and happy faces again. Except for Alex. My smile disappeared.
The door swung open and Amber, Mara and Neil bustled in, closely followed by a more hesitant Alex.
'Alex!' Hex exclaimed. 'What're you doing- I mean-'
'Shut up, Hex,' Amber said lightly.
Sitting in the chair next to Paulo, Alex shed a little light on why he was with us. 'Abigail's forcing me to take leave so I'm helping with intelligence.' He mumbled something under his breath that sounded like, 'Anything to keep me busy.'
Neil, who'd just sat down, nodded in confirmation. Mara remained silent, highly unusual for her, and I found myself frowning in concern.
'Hey. What's up?' I said softly as she sat next to me.
She gave a tiny shake of her head and forced her lips into a smile. 'Doesn't matter.'
Amber was standing at the head of the table, tapping a folder impatiently, so I let it drop for the time being, resolving to find out what was troubling Mara later on.
'Right.' Amber stepped to the side so we had a clear view of the whiteboard behind her. 'I went and had a quick word with Jasper before I came here.' Out of the corner of my eye I saw Hex wince. 'He told me that he got his initial suspicions from a man by the name of Seamus; he's a prisoner as well, but I don't know why he was he sentenced. Intelligence-' she looked to Alex, Mara and Neil '-I'd appreciate any info on him you can dig up. Now, Jasper has reason to believe that the men we are targeting have-' Amber stopped and let out a brief puff of air. 'Jasper told me that the men we are targeting have created a machine that can see into the future.' Amber turned to Hex as we all gaped at her. 'Is that possible?'
Hex looked thoughtful before walking over to the whiteboard, marker in hand. He started to draw on the board and then stopped, recapped the marker and faced us. 'I'm explaining this once, so listen very carefully. Don't interrupt me. Any questions, wait for the very end.'
Gosh. It was like being back at school.
Hex scrawled on the whiteboard, talking as he went. 'The universe is curved, okay? A curve that goes on forever.' He stepped back, as Amber had done, and printed on the board were a few diagrams and a couple of names. 'To head off track for a moment, six years ago a man by the name of Gerard Helton was working on designing a lens. I found out about this from someone- you don't need to know who- and did a bit of investigating myself. Helton's plan was to create a lens that was so powerful it would be able to see around the curvature of the universe. So-' Hex drew a circle on the board and jabbed his finger at it '-Helton's theory was that if you were able to see around a curve that went on forever, you would end up back where you started. Almost.' Hex traced the circle with his finger. 'The only difference would be that instead of looking at yourself now, you'd be seeing yourself in the future.'
There was silence while Hex sighed, noticed the thick black marker staining his finger and then tried to wipe it off.
'So,' Amber said eventually, 'what you're saying is that this Seamus guy- and Jasper for that matter- could be right. It's possible to create a machine that could see the future.'
Hex made a so-so gesture with his hand. 'In theory. But, keep in mind that this was six years ago. I never managed to find much on Helton or the lens, so I can't be certain it worked or what he did with it if it did. Any more questions? No? Good. Alex,' he added, 'can you make it a priority to find as much information on Helton as you can? Run him through every check possible after we're finished in here.'
Alex nodded, then paused before saying, 'I'm not actually meant to be here, so I just have to be a bit careful. I'll do what I can, though.'
'Thanks.' Hex addressed Mara and Neil. 'You two. You've still got the list of names I gave you?'
Neil fished about in his pocket and pulled out the folded piece of paper. 'We'll run the names as soon as we're done here.'
'Great.' Finished with his explanations, Hex stepped aside, letting Amber take the floor again.
She seemed a bit bewildered, but carried on regardless. 'As you can see-' she poked the whiteboard '-we have a list of targets we need to be focusing on, but that's about it. We need more information, but Mara and Neil are dealing with that, right?' She waited for them to nod before continuing: 'The names Jasper provided us with are Lucas Hart, Christopher Adlam, Parker Hurst, Riley West and Alistair Payton. He's also written down Imogen Weller, Naomi Fryer and a huge question mark.'
'Question mark?' I echoed.
Amber slid the paper towards me. 'No idea what that means. Maybe there's someone else involved, but he doesn't know a name.'
I studied the sheet. There were two columns, the first lot of names Amber had mentioned jotted down in one and the second lot in the other. 'Do you think he might have separated the names for a reason?'
'Can I see?' Paulo stretched his hand out and I passed him the paper. 'What if he's separated them because the two women he's mentioned- Weller and Fryer- aren't involved?'
'So why bother writing them down?' It was great to hear Alex's voice again. He sounded curious, not resentful or hurt.
It was Hex's turn to scrutinise the paper. He went around and peered over Paulo's shoulder. 'I think what Paulo means is that they might be involved with the men mentioned as opposed to the actual machine.'
'That's a possibility,' Amber said. 'We'll probably know more once Mara and Neil have done a bit of digging. Moving on. Hex, sit down.' She moved across and pointed at a different area of whiteboard. 'Jasper also included a little note with the files. Apparently three of the targets- Hart, West and Payton- are checking into the same hotel later today. Coincidence?'
I gave a groan. 'Surveillance,' I guessed.
'Got it in one, Li.' A map was pulled from a box on the floor and pinned up on the board. Amber tacked several brightly coloured dots to it. 'We'll have two vans. One here-' she pointed to a blue dot and then moved to a pink dot '-and one here. The hotel is the orange dot. Mara, Neil, Alex. If any of you want to help with this, you're more than welcome to.'
The three of them quickly shook their heads and Paulo gave them a thumbs up. 'Wise move,' he said.
Amber shot him a poisonous glare. 'Li and I will be in one van and Hex and Paulo, you'll be in the second. If you can, Hex, it'd be a good idea to see if you're able to hack into the security tapes for inside the hotel. Li and I will be just watching who comes in and out.'
Hex scoffed and looked offended. 'If I'm able to? I could do that with my eyes closed.'
My hopes had fallen at Amber's last sentence. 'Well that sucks. Can this get any worse?'
Amber smirked and I realised that yes, it could get worse. 'We'll find something to do, Li. We can... chat.'
I groaned again. 'Can I swap with Paulo please?'
Hex quickly said, 'Nope. Paulo's with me.' I glared at him and he shrugged, his face contorted as he tried to hold back a laugh. He mouthed what I thought was Sweet revenge at me. I ignored him.
'Is there anything else you need to tell us, Amber?' Neil asked.
Amber consulted her notes and the board. 'I don't think so... Actually, can you get a picture of each of the targets please? We'll need them for the surveillance tonight so can you bring them to me as soon as you have them?'
'Sure.' Neil nudged Mara, who seemed to be off in her own little world, and they left with Alex.
I looked back at the whiteboard but Amber was in the way. She gave another grin. Surveillance, already boring and tedious, suddenly seemed a lot more painful than normal. Trapped in a van with Amber for God knows how many hours, with no chance of escape... I winced. This wasn't going to be fun. Awkward, yes. Thrills a minute, not a chance.
