‘And what now, then?’ she said, brushing his hand aside. ‘What’s the plan to get out of this mess?’
He folded his hands in front of his face, prayer-like. ‘I’ve asked SJ and Dread Boy to come up, I want—’
‘Don’t you dare get her involved in this mess.’ The photo toppled as she jumped up from the table. ‘She’s due in three months.’
‘Easy, tiger,’ he said, his hands held up. ‘I need to know if we can trust him. I know she’s solid.’
‘His name is Bo, Helix. You won’t choke if you say it.’
‘Alright, alright. Can we trust him? That’s what I want to know. If he’s going to run around the village blabbing about what’s going on, I need to rethink the whole thing and I don’t have time for that.’
‘Yes!’ Gabrielle folded her arms. ‘Yes you can trust him. He’s not going to do anything to jeopardise the village or us. Satisfied?’
He pushed up from the table and wandered over to the log burner. ‘Can we stick the kettle on?’ he said. ‘These sorts of things are always best discussed over a brew.’
Gabrielle took a stoneware jug from the windowsill. ‘Mint or nettle?’
‘I was rather hoping for Earl Grey.’
She filled the blackened kettle and slid it over the hot plate. ‘Don’t hold your breath.’
He rested his hands on the tops of her arms. Leaning in, he pressed his lips to the pale skin of her neck. ‘I really like it here,’ he breathed.
‘I’ve missed you so much.’
He pulled her close. ‘Earlier on,’ up by the pit. You said you didn’t know what you wanted.’
‘Oh no,’ she gasped. ‘That wasn’t about you. I didn’t mean… I was being melodramatic.’
‘And that you were exhausted?’
She sighed. ‘For a moment it felt like I was back in London. At the Observatory. With Justin. That was exhausting. And seeing him out here…’ She pressed her cheek to his chest. ‘I could listen to your heart forever.’ She drew a deep breath. ‘Could you ever see yourself living out here permanently?’
‘Nothing much keeping me in London now,’ he said, his hands sliding down her back. The job will go to shit now Yawlander’s gone. That’s if I’ve still got a job.’
She looked up into his eyes. ‘You didn’t answer my question.’
He leaned in and kissed her.
‘Aye, aye,’ SJ called from the door. ‘We can always come back if you like.’ She slung her poncho over the back of one of the fireside chairs, sniffing the air. ‘Smells like rutting roe deer in here.’ She slumped into a chair. ‘Ignore me. My sense of smell is all over the place. I could smell a fart in a thunderstorm at the moment. Oh good, you’ve got the kettle on.’
Gabrielle greeted her sister with a kiss on each cheek before turning to the door. ‘Come in, Bo, no need to hover over there. Make yourself comfortable. Helix, grab a chair for Bo.’
‘Sure. Here you go,’ Helix said, turning a chair out from the table. ‘Take a load off.’
Bo stuck to the room’s perimeter as he shuffled to the table. ‘Thanks.’
‘Right. What’s up?’ SJ said, her hand resting on her bump.
Helix slipped off his jacket, taking a moment to gather his thoughts. The atmosphere in the room thickened as he summarised the key points. SJ’s normal bright countenance dulled with each detail, Bo’s eyes grew wider, his beard preening and bead twiddling more frantic.
‘Jammed between the proverbial rock and a hard place, I would say,’ SJ offered. ‘Poor Ethan. Fuck.’
Bo rubbed his hands up and down the legs of his trousers. ‘So, what are you going to do?’ He leaned across the table, pulled the net curtain aside and smeared the condensation from the window. ‘Are they going to come for you?’
Helix accepted a cup of nettle tea from Gabrielle with a nod and half a smile. ‘That’s why I wanted to talk to you guys.’ He sniffed the tea and put it on the table. ‘We’re going to have to leave.’
‘No.’ SJ said, sitting forward, her hand on Gabrielle’s knee. ‘You only just got here. What about the school, the surgery? We need you. I need you.’
Gabrielle dropped to her knees next to SJ. ‘I know, and believe me, the last place I want to go is back to bloody London.’ She held SJ’s hand. ‘But Ethan’s in trouble. You heard what Helix said.’
All eyes turned to Helix. All of his training and experience told him that a half-baked plan was worse than no plan at all. But it was all he had at the moment. ‘Wheeler knows something that could help us.’
‘Justin?’ SJ scoffed. ‘We all know that the only person Justin is interested in helping is Justin.’
‘The last time I spoke to Ormandy, she was convinced that Ethan and I had something to do with Yawlander and Blackburn’s deaths.’ He turned to Gabrielle. ‘You saw that broadcast. There’s something Wheeler knows. It’s significant enough to trade halo-confinement for banishment. It could give us an edge.’ He sipped the tea, gave a half-nod of approval and took another. Taking his jacket from the back of his chair, he pulled the cover away from the graphene panel in his jacket sleeve. ‘You there, Sofi?’
‘Yep,’ came the reply from the jacket.
‘Have you found anything coming out of Bristol that Wheeler could be tapping into?’
‘Nothing. All data links hit a brick wall at the perimeter. Unless he’s got a couple of baked bean tins and a very long piece of string.’
‘Satellite?’
‘Possibly but—’
‘But have you checked?’
‘It’s complicated. And I would need to be looking at the exact moment he was using any kind of satellite comms. Given the number of satellites orbiting the planet it changes constantly. I can establish sniffers but it’s going to take time and—’
‘Time’s the one thing we don’t have. OK stand by.’ He ran his hand over his hair. ‘At least we know he’s not going to be
