Edwards frowns, beating a soft percussion on the steering wheel with his fingers. “If you’re right about the people who are paying him…”
“I am right.”
He stares through the windscreen at the concrete walls, and the low ceiling with its sprinkler fittings. “Eve, listen to me. There are enough dead people in this story. I don’t want you and Dennis Cradle adding to their number.”
“I’ll step carefully, I promise you that. But I want this woman, and I’m going to get her. She killed Viktor Kedrin on my watch, she killed Simon, and she’s killed God knows how many other people besides.”
He nods, his expression grave.
“She’s got to be stopped, Richard.”
Richard is silent for a moment, then sighs.
“You’re right. She has. Do it.”
When Eve gets home, Niko is sitting at the kitchen table making calculations in a notebook. The table is littered with electrical components and cooking ingredients. He looks tired.
“So,” he asks her carefully. “Did you find what you were looking for in that file?”
“Yes,” she says, kissing the top of his head, and subsiding into the chair next to his. “We did. Thank you.”
“Excellent. Can you pass me that glass beaker?”
“What exactly are you doing?”
He attaches two wires to a multimeter with alligator clips, causing the needle to swing wildly. “I’m making an enzyme-catalysed fuel cell. If I get this right, we should be able to charge our phones using icing sugar.”
“I’m sorry I’ve been so distant, Niko. Truly. I want to make it up to you.”
“That sounds promising. Perhaps you could start by putting the kettle on?”
“Is this for the experiment?”
“No. I thought we might have a cup of tea.” He sits up and stretches out his arms. “It’s over, then, that project you were working on?”
Behind his back, she takes the Glock 19 pistol from her waistband holster and transfers it to her bag.
“No,” she says. “It’s just beginning.”
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Luke Jennings is the author of the memoir Blood Knots, short-listed for the Samuel Johnson and William Hill prizes, and of several novels, including the Man Booker Prize–nominated Atlantic. As a journalist, he has written for The Observer, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, and Time. Visit his website at lukejennings.com.
Also by Luke Jennings
Fiction
Breach Candy
Atlantic
Beauty Story
Nonfiction
Blood Knots: A Memoir of Fishing and Friendship
The Faber Pocket Guide to Ballet (with Deborah Bull)
Children’s Fiction
Stars (with Laura Jennings)
Stars: Stealing the Show (with Laura Jennings)
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