Part 39 (2/2)
”Well, I'm clean. I walked ten metres in the rain from my car to the apartment building, so I got well and truly washed. Shoulda took shower gel.”
”That's nice. Listen, I'm just driving some friends home.”
”In what, a submarine? Good luck, pal.”
”Cheers. If we start floating, I'll send up flares. How's the training course going?”
”Really good. I was hoping you'd chat with a couple of the newer guys, give Vikram a heads-up on some of the security modules.”
”Uh... well, so long as you weren't thinking of tonight.”
”Vikram's c.r.a.pping himself on quantum triple entanglement, tell you the truth.”
”Don't tell me, he's teaching it tomorrow. Afternoon or morning?”
”Morning.”
”Jesus.”
”So what time do we expect you?”
”Exactly when I get there.”
”Fair enough. Out.”
”Yeah.”
He drove on.
”So who's Tony?” asked Suzanne. ”Besides an old friend, clearly.”
”Tone runs the outfit that gives me most of my work.” He glanced back at Richard. ”Not this kind. Corporate training.”
”So where are they based?”
”Right now, the basha's in Docklands.”
”Basher?”
”Basha. Base of operations. Military jargon, but it's just a corporate flat. Short-term hire, kind of thing.”
”You're kidding.”
”It's close to the investment bank where the programme”
”I mean, you're kidding about driving to Docklands tonight, through this. It's going to take long enough to reach Kilburn. a.s.suming you are are taking Richard and me home.” taking Richard and me home.”
Up ahead, a cla.s.sic internal combustion car, owned by someone rich, was stranded in water. Josh's car lacked the low exhaust that made old vehicles vulnerable; but the water looked deep, so he stopped and backed up anyway. Then he hooked a right, taking a detour.
”Your place first, then I am going to see Tony, because that message wasn't what it sounded like.”
”Ah.” Suzanne's tone was knowing. ”I wondered why you tensed up. That's why I was curious about Tony.”
”His phone and mine should be secure, but perhaps he was standing someplace where his voice could be heard. The thing is, he talked about Vikram as though he was one of the newbies, needing advice. But Vik wrote the book on quantum crypto, knows it better than me.”
”What's the Barbican?” asked Richard from the back seat.
”A big jumble of buildings,” said Josh. ”There's a waterway, theatres, and really expensive apartment towers, all in one kind of estate. You've never walked through it?”
Richard shook his head.
”So that's where they film Knife Edge Knife Edge?”
Suzanne's eyebrows were raised, and she was smiling. Josh could understand that.
Phobia cure: job done.
She was amazing.
”Only the finals,” he said over his shoulder. ”They seal the place off and make it look like a bad urban landscape. There are running fights, some between rival teams, pairing off the fighters. Some are fighters that left the show in earlier rounds, brought back after online voting from the audience. If they've healed up, that is.”
He thought about that, still driving.
”Can I take this out?” Suzanne reached for the phone. ”Josh?”
”Sure.””All right.” She extracted the handset from the dashboard, and handed it over the seat-back to Richard. ”Look it up, if you like. The Barbican.”
”Oh, thanks.”
Josh continued to mull over the logistics. As a nexus point, it would be ideal. That was why security would be ma.s.sive.
”Are you OK?” asked Suzanne.
”Thinking things over.”
But he kept most of his attention outside, as the car surfed across a dip, then ascended to wet but unflooded tarmac.
”It used to be owned by the City of London,” said Richard. ”Now the Barbican Centre is owned by... by Tyndall Industries.”
Josh felt his mouth move.
Tyndall. Who'd have guessed?
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