Lewis nodded. ‘That makes sense.’ He leaned forward and typed the name Amarta into an open Google search box. He rubbed the back of his head.
‘Are you okay?’ I said.
‘It’s just this headache,’ Lewis said. ‘I’ve had it for a while, now. It won’t go away.’ He clicked on search, then scrolled down the list of hits until he came to a news story.
We read the item together – it was about Amarta’s development of a controversial drug used in fertility treatments.
‘That’s the connection,’ Lewis said.
I nodded, adrenalin rushing through me. ‘We’ve got to find Jamieson . . . fast,’ I said, clicking back to the original list of hits.
‘Here’s the main office address.’ Theo pointed to another link. The office was based on the outskirts of Glasgow.
‘We’ll get a cab as soon as we’ve eaten.’ Lewis rubbed his head again, wincing. ‘It’ll take most of the money we have left, but it’s the fastest way to get there.’
I smiled gratefully at him.
‘But how are we going to get Jamieson to talk?’ Theo said. ‘He’s not going to take us to Elijah just because we ask.’
‘We won’t ask,’ I said. ‘In fact, he won’t even know we’re there. We don’t want him tipping Elijah off that we’re after them.’
‘So what are you thinking we should do?’ Theo stared at me. ‘Break into Jamieson’s office?’
‘We won’t need to break in,’ I said. ‘It’s a workday afternoon. We can just walk through the door and find Jamieson’s computer. There’s bound to be something linking him to Elijah on that. Don’t you see? It’s our best lead to Grace.’
Now both Lewis and Theo were staring at me.
‘What?’ I said.
‘Just walk in?’ Theo said faintly.
I clicked onto another news item which referred to Jamieson’s charity work for an organisation called Kidsbeat. It offered deprived children a chance to get involved in musical clubs, where free instruments and lessons were provided.
‘Kidsbeat are very grateful for Mr Jamieson’s help,’ I said, glancing from Lewis to Theo. ‘This is how they’re going to show it.’
58
Theo
We’d taken a cab to the outskirts of Glasgow and found a café on a high street where Lewis insisted we cleaned up a bit before we headed off to Jamieson’s office.
Lewis had gone to buy the balloons that were part of Rachel’s plan, while I waited for Rachel to come out of the Ladies. She’d already taken more than three times longer than either Lewis or me. I wondered what on earth she was doing but, to be honest, it didn’t matter. I was happy to sit on my own, glugging back a hot chocolate, and trying to work out how I was going to phrase what I wanted to say to her.
And then she walked out.
She was still wearing the shirt from the RAGE boat, but she’d knotted it at her waist and belted her trousers at her hips.
I couldn’t take my eyes off her as she came over.
‘I borrowed some girl’s make up in the toilets,’ she said, matter-of-factly. ‘And her hairbrush.’ She looked round. ‘Has Lewis got the balloons?’
At that moment, Lewis appeared in the doorway, a bunch of silver helium balloons clutched in his hand.
Rachel rushed over. ‘They’re perfect,’ she said.
‘You look nice, too.’ Lewis smiled approvingly.
Rachel smiled back. She whispered something to Lewis. He nodded. Rachel handed him something. I caught a flash of metal, but couldn’t see what it was. Lewis slipped it into his pocket and Rachel kissed him on the cheek.
I followed them out of the café, frowning. What had she given him? And why?
I mean, I wasn’t after any gifts, but I couldn’t help feeling a bit left out.
‘What was that?’ I said as we fell into step with each other on the pavement.
‘Nothing,’ Rachel said. ‘Hey, you know, this is going to work.’
I remembered what I’d been intending to say to her.
‘Yeah, it will work but I want to do it, not you . . . the first part of the plan, I mean,’ I said. ‘It’s safer that way. If there’s anyone in Jamieson’s office who was on Calla they’ll recognise you.’
She stared at me. ‘Well, they’ll recognise you too, won’t they? You look just like Milo, remember?’
This hadn’t occurred to me. ‘But still—’
‘No, Theo.’ Rachel’s expression hardened. ‘The Aphrodite Experiment is something to do with me. And so is Grace. I’m not staying behind.’
She stalked off.
I shook my head. Well, at least I’d tried.
I tipped my face to the sun. It was still a beautiful day – except that it wasn’t. Somewhere across the Atlantic my mother was insanely worried about me. And with good reason. RAGE was still out there – and so was Elijah. And Daniel was dead. A little boy with my genes had been murdered so that an ageing man could live. Worst of all, I could have prevented his murder.
If Elijah had taken my heart, he wouldn’t have needed Daniel’s.
I closed my eyes against the glare of the sun. I couldn’t let myself feel the pain of that. I couldn’t let myself feel anything but anger, which I had to channel into helping Rachel. She was the only thing that mattered. And she wanted to save Grace.
I was going to help her do that, or die trying.
I opened my eyes, startled by the sudden realisation that I was prepared to die.
It would be better than living with the guilt I felt over not saving Daniel.
Ahead of me, Lewis staggered slightly as he walked, stumbling into the road for a second. I caught his arm.
‘Are you okay?’ I said.
Rachel was at his side in an instant, her face full of concern. ‘Lewis?’
‘I’m fine.’ Lewis rubbed the back of his head again and handed the balloons to Rachel. ‘Take these.’
Rachel took the balloons.
‘You don’t look fine,’ I said.
There were beads of sweat on Lewis’s forehead and his eyes looked a little unfocused.
‘Maybe you should get yourself checked out,’ I said. ‘Like at the hospital?’
‘No,’ Lewis snapped. ‘It’s just a headache. Now come on.’
Rachel shot me a sympathetic smile then hurried after Lewis, the helium balloons bobbing along behind her.
I followed them, a deep feeling of foreboding in my gut.
59
Rachel
We stood outside Jamieson’s business headquarters while I went over the plan one more time.
‘Is it clear?’ I said, feeling anxious.
‘Sure.’ Theo gritted his teeth. ‘Let’s get on with it.’
I glanced at Lewis. His face was clammy and there were dark rings under his eyes. He’d just bitten Theo’s head off for asking if he was okay, but it was obvious something was really wrong with him. He kept rubbing the back of his head and every now and then he seemed to stumble as he walked.
Still, there was nothing I could do about that. And, right now, I had to focus on getting inside Jamieson’s office.
‘Good luck,’ Lewis said.
Theo squeezed my hand. He looked like he wanted to say something. I’d kind of snapped at him when he offered to go into the office in my place. I hadn’t meant to, it was just hard to carry on pretending I was really cool about what I was doing, when the truth was I was totally freaking out inside my head.
I squeezed Theo’s hand back and smiled, then took a deep breath and walked through the main office front door.
It was a small, gleaming reception area – lots of white surfaces with a bunch of lilies on the reception desk. I went up to the middle-aged lady behind the counter. She was groomed and lipsticked and smartly dressed in a blouse and what my mum refers to as ‘slacks’.
She smiled as I indicated the balloons.
‘These are from Kidsbeat as a present for Mr Jamieson after his party last week,’ I said.
; ‘Thank you, dear.’ The receptionist reached out for the balloons, but I held them away.
‘We all gave money for them ourselves,’ I said, with a frown. ‘Me and some of the others. I want to give them to Mr Jamieson personally. He said it would be okay if I ever came to see him.’
‘Of course, dear,’ the woman said in a conciliatory tone. ‘Just sign in and you can take them up to his office on the third floor. His PA will meet you up there.’
I quickly signed myself in, using a false name, and headed for the lift. I clocked the security camera focused on its doors and held the balloons between me and the lens as I stood waiting for the lift to arrive. I gripped the bunch of balloons more tightly, my palms sweaty around the nylon string.
I reached the third floor, the lift doors opened and a smiling woman in a navy suit appeared. ‘Hello there. I’m Mr Jamieson’s PA. Reception phoned up to say you were coming. His office is this way.’
As we crossed the open-plan office, I gazed around, carefully holding the balloons close to my face. With its desks and chairs and shelves and filing cabinets this looked like a totally normal office. Several people looked up at me and my huge bunch of balloons as I passed. For the first time since I came up with my plan, I started to doubt if it could possibly work. There were just so many people around . . .
I sent Theo a text showing the number ‘3’ as the PA led me out of the open-plan area and into a short corridor. She turned into a small ante-room complete with a desk and two sofas. It led through to another office.
‘Mr Jamieson is through there,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell him you’re here.’
I breathed a sigh of relief. At least this office was private. Maybe there wouldn’t even be a security camera. I looked around. Damn it, there was. Just to the right of the door, a lens was trained on the entrance to Jamieson’s private office.
The phone on the desk rang as the PA passed it. If everything was running to plan, that phone call was from reception . . . The PA answered, her fingernails tapping impatiently against the desk as she listened.
‘What?’ she said, sounding exasperated. ‘He’s already up to his eyes . . . he wasn’t in the office until . . . Fine, I’ll tell him . . .’ She put the phone down and turned to me. ‘Wait here.’
I leaned against the arm of the small sofa opposite the desk. I was gripping the balloons so tightly my knuckles were white.
I watched the PA cross into the inner room. A balding, round-faced man was sitting inside at a glass table, going over some papers. He looked up, blinking behind his glasses. It was the Don Jamieson from our internet search.
‘There’s a man downstairs,’ the PA said. ‘He’s complaining about something . . . says he’s got a message from an Elijah Lazio.’
Don Jamieson’s mouth dropped open. His eyes flashed with shock . . . and recognition.
My heart thudded.
‘He won’t come up and he won’t pass this message on to anyone but you personally,’ the PA went on. ‘Reception are asking what you want to do.’
Jamieson stood up, banging into the table. His face had lost all its colour.
‘I’ll go down,’ he said.
They both came back into the outer office. Jamieson scurried past me and out of the door. I ducked my head, hiding behind the balloons, but he was so intent on leaving the room, he didn’t even seem to register I was there.
The PA sighed and went to her desk. ‘Sorry about that,’ she said. ‘Hopefully he won’t be too long.’
I held my breath, waiting. Come on, Theo.
At that precise second, the fire alarm rang.
‘For goodness’ sake,’ the PA muttered. She stood up and picked up her handbag. ‘Come on, we have to go downstairs.’
‘I’ll leave the balloons here,’ I said, looping the strings round the sofa cushion.
‘Right.’ The PA ushered me through the door. We walked back to the open-plan office. The people inside were all heading for the stairs. As the PA joined the crowd, I hung back. A few seconds later she turned, looking for me, but by then there were at least twenty people between us.
I gave her a thumbs up and pointed towards the stairs, to show I was right behind her. She nodded distractedly from across the office. Keeping my face turned away from the security camera, I headed back towards Mr Jamieson’s office.
‘Didn’t we have a drill last Monday?’ I heard one man say, as he headed for the stairs.
I moved further away, round the corner. The fire alarm was still blaring out, a harsh screech above my head. I counted to ten in my head then crept back inside Mr Jamieson’s office. Keeping my head bowed, I raced across the room, grabbed the balloons and let them float up towards the security camera that was trained on the door into Jamieson’s private room.
I checked the camera was totally covered, so no one would know I’d come back, then scurried into Jamieson’s office myself.
How long did I have? Five, ten minutes?
I needed to make every one of them count.
60
Theo
Setting off the fire alarm had been easy. I’d waited outside the building, my hood pulled low over my head to avoid any security cameras outside, while the receptionist was busy with Lewis. He stood at the desk insisting he had a message for Jamieson from Elijah.
Loud, rude and aggressive, with glassy eyes and his face all pallid and sweaty, he looked convincingly unhinged. He thumped his fist against the company logo, a pattern of swirling lines around the name Amarta, which was embossed on the front of the reception desk. A moment later he started gesticulating wildly, then began pulling wires out of the security panel on the wall beside the desk.
‘It’s all “Big Brother is watching you”,’ he was shouting, as the screens showing the view from all of the security cameras in the building fizzed into darkness.
As the receptionist rose from her chair, looking alarmed, I slipped inside, past the reception desk and into the corridor beyond.
The receptionist was so intent on making Lewis leave the building that she didn’t even notice me.
‘I’m calling the police,’ she shouted.
I reached a fire alarm and swiftly smashed the glass to set it off. A harsh screech filled the air. Seconds later, people started milling towards me along the corridor.
I glanced over my shoulder. In the distance Lewis was limping out of the front door. I slipped into the toilets for a minute, then, when it sounded quiet outside, came out and raced along to the stairs at the end of the corridor.
Rachel’s text had said ‘3’, which meant Jamieson’s office was on the third floor. I pounded up the stairs two at a time then flew through the open-plan office. Jamieson was too senior not to have his own private room, wasn’t he?
I saw a door and raced through it.
There. Along the corridor, glancing around, I spotted the dangling balloon strings several doors down. Rachel looked up as I ran into the room.
She was seated at what must be Jamieson’s desk, in an anally-tidy room, examining his computer.
‘Found anything?’ I said.
‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Look at this.’
61
Rachel
‘What is it?’ Theo said, peering over my shoulder. He wrinkled his nose. ‘I don’t get it, that’s just a medical report.’
The shriek of the fire alarm was still piercing through my head. Ignoring it, I pointed to the name and date at the head of the report. Lab Three. Aphrodite.
‘It’s her medical report. Grace’s. It says these are preliminary tests. Done this morning.’
Theo’s eyes widened.
‘Does it say what tests? Has Elijah hurt her?’ he said.
‘I don’t know . . . I don’t think so.’ I scanned the report again. It was written almost completely in medical jargon. I only recognised a couple of references – one to blood type, which was ‘O positive’, the same as me, and the other to Grace’s date of birth – which was given as yesterday evening.
/> As I stared at the report, the fire alarm stopped. The sudden silence seemed to buzz in my ears. Panic rose in my chest. This document might prove that the connection between Jamieson and Elijah went right to the heart of the Aphrodite Experiment. But I was no closer to finding out what that experiment was about . . . or how my DNA was involved . . . or where Grace was . . .
‘Listen.’ Theo moved to the door.
Desperate now, my eyes raced over the medical report. There had to be something here . . . some clue . . .
‘Rachel,’ Theo hissed. ‘There’s someone coming.’
I looked up, as the unmistakable sound of footsteps raced towards us.
62
Theo
Rachel stared at me, her eyes wide. I rushed over, grabbed her arm and dragged her under the desk. We sat, squashed against each other. I could feel the frantic thump of Rachel’s heart vibrating through her back.
The footsteps grew closer and slowed.
‘I’ve left the screen open showing that report,’ Rachel whispered.
‘Sssh.’ I peered out through a crack in the desk. Two men were standing in the doorway. I could only see their legs, but it was obvious they were examining the balloons, which Rachel must have placed over the surveillance camera.
‘I told you I saw something moving.’ One of the men tugged at the strings and Rachel’s bunch of helium balloons drifted into view. ‘It must have been these.’
‘We’re supposed to be looking for the girl who brought them, remember?’Another male voice.
The two men moved closer to Jamieson’s inner office door. There was a pause while they looked into the room.
Rachel and I froze under the desk. Seconds passed. They felt like minutes.
At last one of the men spoke. ‘There’s no one here,’ he said. ‘She must have gone down a floor. Let’s go.’
I held my breath as their footsteps died away.