Julius stood up so fast that he had to pick up his chair, and he was standing by the door before Ramin had finished his question.
#23 Julius – Beta Earth
It was only a short drive out to Milton, but even so Julius was glad it was Ramin driving and not Paul.
‘She's a bit cavalier, isn't she?’
Ramin tried to reply, thinking through the meaning of the unfamiliar term.
‘You know, always running ahead, not asking for opinions, doing things without asking,’ said Julius.
‘Aha, yes. ‘In the tree’.’
Now it was Julius’ turn to pause, confused.
‘Monkey in the Tree. A Monkey. One that runs ahead, pays no attention to others. Dances to their own drum.’
‘Oh, yes. That describes her. Are you lot French then? I still don’t have much of a handle on you guys.’
Ramin laughed. ‘The less you know, the safer you are. Anyway, cavalier isn’t quite the right term. In the tree is a compliment. It means she's a leader, a fighter. She sees ahead and plans alternatives in a gunshot. She’s like a Major or General on a battlefield. She leads from the front, inspiring and protecting.’
‘You need to brush up on modern political warfare. Since when do leaders lead from the front?’
‘Fair enough. Maybe like a knight or king, from days gone by?’
‘Oh God how mortifying,’ said Julius. ‘I've been rescued by a knight like some damsel in distress.’
Ramin laughed. ‘You'd look good in a dress, you've got the legs for it.’
‘Distress. A damsel in distress. Not a dress. But thank you.’
‘You're welcome.’
As they drove on, Julius began to relax in Ramin’s company. He wasn’t sure what to make of the strange team. Every time he thought he had an idea of who they were, they did something to confound him. He was still reeling from the death of Charlie, but he had to trust someone.
‘Can I ask a question?’ he asked.
Ramin smiled whilst swerving to avoid a cyclist. ‘Damn, why do they fill the road full of moving targets. Sorry, carry on.’
‘How well do you all know each other? You four, I mean?’ Julius wasn't sure if he should say anything or if he was making his position even more vulnerable. So far though, this team appeared to have saved his skin rather than flayed it. But still, there was something wrong with them in a way that he just couldn't put his finger on.
‘Forever! Well, Neith and I have literally known each other since childhood. She and Clio became firm friends in the first year of training and Paul joined our unit as my partner two years back. He and Neith have an on again, off again relationship, and we have worked as a team of four a few times. You're safe with us.’
Avoiding another cyclist, he looked over at an unconvinced Julius. ‘Is there a problem?’
The last few days had been a paranoid nightmare for Julius. He liked the strange girl that summoned nightmares and flicked him goofy thumbs up, in a church of all places. He didn't like the fact that no one had her back, and so he decided to trust Ramin.
‘In the churchyard, when you and that mad woman drove me away, I was watching the fight from the back window of the car. Neith was watching the car when she was punched in the back of the head.’
‘Hmm.’ Ramin nodded, scowling. ‘You told us this already?’
‘The thing is, I did see who hit her. It was your team member. Paul.’
There was silence, then Ramin looked across at Julius. ‘No, I think you must be mistaken. He's too good a fighter.’
‘It wasn't an accident.’
‘Okay. Then you must have got the men muddled up. We were all wearing black. There is absolutely no way he would deliberately attack her.’
Julius fell silent. He knew what he saw, but he wasn't going to press the point. Ramin was adamant, and Julius didn't want to make his own situation any worse.
As they pulled up at the house, Ramin got out first and asked for his house keys, telling Julius to wait in the car. He let himself in, and a few moments later returned and waved for Julius to join him. Julius watched as Ramin attached a few tiny cameras to his front and back door, and then two more from the front and rear bedrooms, looking over the street and the back-alley. He then downloaded an app on Julius’ phone and showed him how to monitor the cameras.
‘Call us if you need anything,’ he said, ‘and honestly, Paul is one of the good guys. That was a pretty intense scene back there. Easy to get confused.’
Julius nodded and watched as Ramin drove away. One thing he knew for sure was that Paul had sucker punched Neith, and the minute he did, the other men had stopped fighting.
#24 Neith – Beta Earth
No matter how many pills and potions, hot baths and hot toddies you take, a blow to the back of the head stays with you. I was completely fed up. There was no way I should have allowed a Beta operative to get the drop on me like that. Only their truly elite fighters were a match for us, and this lot were acting like local wallies. I was cross and grumpy, and too much was going wrong in ways I hadn't foreseen. I needed to shake off this sense of impending doom.
‘Clio, grab your coat, we're going to the pub. Ramin, keep a watch on Julius’ tracker and keep monitoring all the local airways.’
When Ramin had administered the analgesic to Julius’ bruises, he had slipped in a subdermal tracker. It would monitor the man’s heart rate, chemical additives, adrenaline levels, location, basic stuff that would alert us if anything started to go wrong. It also had a mic so we could monitor all his conversations. The AI tracker would monitor all the usual stuff, and only alert us if it heard anything worth paying attention to. They were
