**
The section didn't normally work on a Sunday but they were expected to turn up that morning at 9 for a short training exercise. It was a drill to oversee the evacuation procedures on the underground using new state of the art electronic communication equipment. It had been scheduled for a Sunday in order to refine the procedure without causing the resultant panic that could result from carrying out an exercise on a busy weekday.
Jo and Ros had been first in that morning – both turning up at ten minutes early. Malcolm and Harry weren't far behind. Lucas was the last of the team to enter the Grid, at 8.59 sharp.
"Yours I believe," Jo said quietly, handing Lucas the black leather wallet once the rest of the team were occupied with other tasks.
"Oh," said Lucas, "I was wondering where that got to – I was thinking about calling you earlier to see if you had it. Thanks."
Jo nodded, but didn't reply.
"How'd it go with Toby? Did he keep you up last night?", he asked, noting her tired expression.
"What? Oh, no, he was good actually," she said distractedly. "I dropped him off earlier this morning."
He looked at her more closely. She looked pale as well as tired.
"Are you feeling ok?," Lucas asked. He'd asked her that a lot recently, it had to be said, but he hadn't really had any grounds to be concerned. This time he thought he might.
"I'm fine," replied Jo. Her voice sounded listless, while her thoughts were a million miles away.
Lucas nodded but made a mental note to keep a careful eye on her for the rest of the day.
**
Elizabeta found that she wasn't bored as she might have expected at home alone. She found herself quite happily browsing through Lucas' cd and book collections, noting that his tastes seemed to have matured from what she remembered.
After selecting a rather intriguing sounding Russian novel from his bookshelf, she got up to make herself a cup of tea then settled down on the sofa, curling her legs up underneath her to make herself at home. After half an hour she became restless and quietly put down her book in order to stroll over to the kitchen to look through the cupboards as she began to consider what Lucas would like for lunch.
**