“Go back now. You’re safe.”
“But why? What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure, Isabella. I go where I’m told to go and do what I’m told to do. I’m not privileged to know what the future holds. But go. We may meet again.”
Isabella stared at the man. “Why don’t you come with me?”
“No, Isabella. I must continue my hike. Who knows what’s around the corner and what wonders of nature await me?”
She watched his eyebrows rise and he gave her a warm smile.
“Go, Isabella. It’s all okay.” He waved her on.
<°)))><
There was safety in numbers. The telecommunication workers, hearing that there was possibly a villain in the vicinity, contacted the appropriate authorities, and then transformed into a SAS team. One sat on the roof of their truck keeping lookout while the others placed themselves strategically around the property.
Lucas and Isabella sat on the bottom step of the verandah. Waiting. They’d made the call. Isabella had recovered her overnight bag from her Grampa’s house, as she couldn’t wait to get into some other clothes.
Lucas stared at the man on top of the truck. “I hope the lady’s gone, because that man on the truck is an easy target.”
“Yeah, I agree. I’m sure she’s gone but I’m happy they’re keeping a lookout.” Isabella rummaged through her backpack. “You sure this is what you want to do, Lucas?”
“It is, Bella. But I’ll miss you.”
“Why don’t we just zap ourselves to the Bahamas or somewhere like that?”
“We could do. But they would track us down.”
Isabella stopped rummaging and let out a sigh. “We can’t do that anyway. I can’t seem to find the device. I’m sure it was in my backpack.”
She looked towards the hill they climbed. Something made her think the device was up there somewhere. She noticed James heading into the bush. His shoulders hunched. Isabella looked to the greying sky and felt her eyes tear up.
39 – Mad scientists, bushwalkers and soldiers
WHEN AARON FITZPATRICK THOUGHT OF MAD SCIENTISTS, he thought of movies and fictional technology. But he knew the technology he was dealing with here was real, and he believed the intentions of this invention were good-spirited but those involved lost their way.
His phone vibrated. He retrieved the phone and looked at the message. Team returning to site A as contact established with granddaughter. He’d just been briefed on the other incident at the girl’s parent’s house and now she had reappeared back at her grandfather’s house. Why had she returned there? He wanted to know more but that could wait till he finalised the task at hand.
Aaron returned his attention to the man on the other side of the table: the mad scientist, the grandfather. They’d finally caught up with the man who developed the amazing technology that his department so desperately wanted to get their hands on. Intelligent people often had a look about them, as though they radiated intelligence. An image of a photo of Albert Einstein popped into his head. Yes, this man fitted into that category. He had an alert expression and his keen eyes were moving quickly, taking in this new environment.
The man’s eyes steadied on Aaron. “Is my daughter safe?”
Aaron saw the man’s lips move but didn’t catch what he said. It dawned on him that he was still engaged in the process of psychoanalysing.
“Sorry, what was that?”
“Is my daughter safe?”
He would answer that question when he knew the answer.
“Why wouldn’t she be?” Aaron asked. The man went silent. Aaron watched the man’s eyes. It was like some kind of retreat took place.
“I’m sorry, I meant my granddaughter. My daughter is dead.”
Now the popular fiction character of an absent-minded professor came to mind. “That’s okay, but I ask again, why wouldn’t she be safe?”
“They killed her mother and now they’re after her.”
‘They?”
“The people my daughter worked for.”
“We’ll come back to this,” Aaron raised his eyebrows and looked up towards the CCTV camera in the corner of the ceiling and gave a small nod. He wanted that killing remark noted and followed up.
“You’ve been on the run for a long time.”
The professor nodded slowly. “It’s all a waste of time.”
“You hid your tracks well. But then again, with that technology you can jump from place to place.”
“It’s all a waste of time.”
“Not really. It’s incredible what you’ve done.”
“You don’t understand. It’s all a waste of time. I don’t know any more. I have trouble putting my pants on in the morning. You know, sometimes I try and put my legs into the sleeves of my shirt. So thank you for the compliment about the device, but I couldn’t make another one.”
This man may well have some memory problems. “That’s not an issue. We can reverse engineer the device. The only problem is that we’ve been unable to locate the device or devices.”
“That shouldn’t be a problem. It was in a bag in my home.”
“But it is a problem. As I said, we’ve been unable to find the device.”
“It’s in the bag. Isabella’s got the bag.”
Did he send Isabella back to the property? He wanted to check. “And where could we find Isabella?”
“I think I sent her back home. Thought that would be the safest place. But there was a contingency and I just can’t remember where that was.” He licked his lips. “Could I have some water, please?”
Aaron looked around the room. No water, how remiss. He looked up to the CCTV and raised his hand as if to have a drink. While they waited, Aaron thought about the connection between water and the brain. Fuel for the brain. Water might help the memory, clear the fog.
A man dressed in camouflage uniform brought in a jug of water and two glasses. Aaron thanked the man, poured water into the glasses and handed a glass to the professor. The professor took a few sips.
“I think I may have given them the GPS back to near where I lived.” He took another sip. “I think that’s where they’ll be.” He stared at the water in the glass. “I tell you this because I’m tired and know someone else had to look after my granddaughter. I did get someone to help, but can’t remember who.”
Was this man’s memory being affected by the current events? He remembered sending his granddaughter back. Aaron was curious about the connection between stress and dementia. His phone vibrated. He looked at the screen and nodded.
He looked up at the man. “We’ve found your granddaughter. She’s okay. We’ll look after her for you.”
