Gathering up his work, he placed it in his cubicle then headed back to the main desk to ask them to keep the Harvard dictionary in their secure vault. He may as well go and meet Rebecca, see if she could cheer him up. He had just got to the front door when Jane called him back.
‘Julius. I forgot, there’s a postcard for you as well. I didn’t see it in the pigeonhole.’
She waved a garish postcard with a local pub on the front, festooned in hanging baskets. Julius smiled, remembering the many times that he and Charlie had tumbled out of that pub at closing time. Taking the card, he wondered who on earth in Cambridge would be sending him a postcard. Turning it over, his heart stuttered as he saw Charlie’s confident scrawl across the rear.
“Franklin’s hungry. Look up Lucky.”
What the hell did that mean? Julius gave Jane a quick hug, tucked the postcard into his jacket’s inner breast pocket and headed back to the exit, feeling happier than he had in days. He wondered what Neith and her team would do if they knew about the card. She had said they were monitoring him, but it wasn’t like they could track his heart rate or anything. He laughed, thinking about how they would have reacted in the past fifteen minutes, when first he thought the book was the egg, and then he discovered an actual clue from Charlie.
Stepping out onto the street, the low wintry sunlight blinded his eyes for a minute. He decided to take the back streets rather than try to navigate the bikes and tourists with the sun in his eyes. Checking his phone, he saw it was 1pm. For once he wasn’t going to be late meeting Rebecca, although he suspected he would be a poor conversationalist. Who was Franklin, and why were they hungry?
According to the postmark, Charlie had posted the card on the day he died, here in Cambridge. So, either the night before he left for London, or that morning, Charlie had posted Julius a postcard with an obscure message on it. Why? Julius could only think of one logical explanation. Charlie had hidden the egg and left Julius a clue as to its location. Deep in thought, Julius popped out of one of the lanes, once more into the blinding sunlight, and was startled by a strong hand grabbing his arm.
#28 Neith – Beta Earth
I had just been recalibrating the gun’s harmonics when my wrist brace buzzed. Julius’ tracker had just identified an anomaly. I flicked up the hologram and called Clio and Ramin into the room. Paul was in the town following down another lead. Everyone’s wrist brace would have pinged, so at least he knew to be ready in case we called him. We gathered around the laptop, where I had already pulled up the more in-depth readings from Julius’ implant.
‘What just happened?’ asked Ramin.
‘Massive spike in heart rate but seemed to calm down very quickly.’
‘Where is he?’
‘In the library vaults, he’s been there all morning. He went to collect something which made his heart race, but then nothing.’
Clio pointed at the location section of the screen. ‘Okay, he’s stationary again. I’d say he’s sitting down now. Alpha waves are engaged, cortisol levels are low. Looks like something intrigued him for a bit, but now he’s sad again.’
‘False alarm then. Come on, this is as good a time as any to take a break.’ We headed to the kitchen and began to throw things together for a quick lunch. ‘Clio, where are you on cross checking my research? Anything I missed?’
Clio laughed. ‘You seem to have failed for the umpteenth time to recommend me for awesome partner of the year award. But other than that, it all looks pretty acceptable. Although your filing remains slapdash.’
I grinned, grateful for her levity. ‘Ramin? Anything in Paul’s work?’
Ramin looked concerned. ‘There’re a few things, but I’m not sure yet. I think I want to run them past him first.’
‘Don’t be an idiot,’ said Clio. ‘If he’s screwed up we need to know about it, and now. Not after he’s had a chance to cover it up.’
‘Enough, Clio. If Paul has screwed up, he’ll own it. He won’t try to weasel out. Ramin, what have you found? Clio is right. It can’t wait. If Paul has made a mistake he can explain later, but if it means we have an active breach we have —’
All three wrist braces chimed and I broke off what I was saying and flicked up the hologram again.
‘Bloody hell!’
‘Look at that heartbeat. Adrenaline is spiking. Alpha waves erratic.’
‘Where is he?’
‘Main reception. Now leaving the building.’
I called Paul. He had also seen the spike and I told him to go and get eyes on Julius but to hang back until I joined him. I returned my attention to the other two.
‘Do you think he has the egg?’ asked Clio.
‘Possibly. Ramin, stay in the house, full obs on all personnel. Clio, with me, but hang back as far as you can whilst retaining visuals. I’m going to “bump” into Julius and find out what’s happening.’
Grabbing my coat, I ran out of the house and casually began jogging into town. Ramin was in my earpiece giving me a running update.
‘I think you need to speed up, Julius’ route is erratic.’
‘What?’
‘He keeps nipping down little lanes. It looks like basic counter-surveillance moves.’
‘Is he running?’
‘No. But, nope... He’s just turned again. He is definitely not taking an obvious route to anywhere.’
‘Okay. I’m going to be there in five minutes.’
If he thought he was being followed, then he probably was. I sped up from a jog to a run, dumping my long puffer coat
