“At least they didn’t kill us.”

Clarity of mind was returning. “No, that would’ve brought unwanted attention. Murder is a high priority crime; breaking and entering not so high. They would’ve been able to solve the crime quickly. Wherever you met the lady would’ve been monitored by cameras.”

“What do we do now?”

“Good question.” He didn’t want to tell James that he had a copy of the recordings sitting in the letter box—if it was still there. There was a lack of trust that needed to be resolved.

He picked up the remote control and looked in the battery apartment. Good. It was empty.

<°)))><

The black Mazda was parked out the front of an expensive-looking apartment block not far from where the snatch and grab occurred. They entered the appropriate code and the thick security door opened.

They handed Ava the devices—the main storage unit and a USB device.

“The first device was easy to locate, but the USB was a bit trickier. We found it in a well-thought-out hiding place. Most people hide things in the obvious place like under the mattress or floating in the toilet flusher but these people are good. They hid it in the battery compartment of a remote control.”

She was surprised such things still existed. Good to know apps hadn’t completely taken over the world. Ava always liked the professionalism of her ‘workers’, who knew there would be copies and went about locating them.

She watched the recording on a tablet device. Yes, incriminating. The USB device was easy to destroy; the other device would take a bit more work, but now there was no record of what took place in that barn. Just the memories inside the heads of the girl and the man with her. There were other files on the main storage device. It looked like it was used as a remote backup device, as it included many of Mrs Rose’s personal and work documents. They also became part of the destruction process.

There was concern as her men told her about another man with James. They showed her a photo of the man sprawled out on the carpet: Isabella’s companion. How he ended up in the unit, she had no idea. How did he survive the accident? But the girl was more important. Did she survive too? Ava scanned the news sites for any news of a serious car accident. Two police officers had lost their lives on a dangerous stretch of road outside Healesville. No names had been released. Had she mistaken Isabella for a police officer? If it wasn’t Isabella, where was she?

James had been so nervous. They’d covered a lot of trivia in their discussion—all good for giving him a false sense of a possible relationship. But she never asked him about the girl. She’d believed Isabella to be dead. But pockets of doubts were creeping in. He would know.

She needed to talk to the potato-sack man again.

She found some news on Isabella’s companion. Lucas Fell. He was a prison escapee who’d been taken into custody but had escaped again. He’d been actively involved in the previous use of the technology and the resulting disappearings and deaths, which was why he was in prison. He worked with the professor and the authorities believed the technology had been activated again to aid his escape. Ava was thankful that the media wasn’t giving it massive coverage or else everyone would flock to church again. Why had Lucas escaped? What was he up to? James might know. Just another piece of the jigsaw that she was closing in on.

Yes, she needed to talk to the potato-sack man again.

49 – We meet again 

JAMES FELT SEEDY. They needed to eat, and he needed to go get some food. The small convenience store should suffice. He was struggling, and didn’t want to believe Ava was behind what happened, but who else could it have been?

He walked out of the block of units. The fresh air lifted his spirit. There was something in the letter box for their unit, but he didn’t have a key and besides it was other people’s business, not his.

The buzzer went off as he entered the store and he saw the same shop assistant, still leaning on the counter. He gave James a nod and he responded. There was a hot food dispenser to the rear of the shop. He heard the door buzzer go off again as he reached in and grabbed a couple of meat pies. Someone else had entered the shop; he hoped it wasn’t a hold-up. A natural thought process after what he’d been through.

He heard footsteps. “Hello, James.”

He nearly dropped the pies.

“I didn’t tell you I had an apartment nearby, did I? Amazing, isn’t it? Just dropping in to get some milk, and here you are. Are we still meeting later as planned?”

James watched the eyebrows rise above those beautiful dark eyes.

“Ava . . . ah . . . “

“You’re staying close by then?”

“Ava . . . “

“Something wrong?”

James looked around for a seat. There was a bench out the front. He put the pies back on the shelves, but one fell as his hands were shaking so much.

“No . . . just a bit faint. Lack of food. Could we go sit down?”

“Sure.”

James gave the shop assistant a small smile as he walked out of the shop. Maybe they were considering checking his pockets because of his nervous disposition.

The door gave them a departing buzz.

James took a deep breath. They sat down. The bench was cold. She was staring at him. Hypnotic eyes. Mesmerising. No blinking, just staring at him. Hard.

“Did you get the device?” She smiled.

Lucas said she was behind it all. Was he wrong? If she was behind it all, wouldn’t she have the device and have no need to be here? “We had an incident.”

“An incident?”

“Some people stole the device.”

“Oh no. This could be very bad for me.” She stood up and started looking around and then returned her gaze to James. “This is a complex situation, James, and I’m sorry you’ve been caught up in it. All is not what it seems. Do you know who they were?”

“No, we were ‘put to sleep’.”

“What? Sleeping gas or something? And both of you, you and the other man?”

How did she know about the other man? He let that thought slip away.

“Yep.” He wanted her so much to give him a hug.

“James, it’s all to do with the girl.” She looked around. “I shouldn’t tell you this . . . national security stuff. People aren’t being honest with you. Do you know where the girl is?”

James shook his head. Those eyes it’s like he was locked into them. This was all getting too hard. He wanted to float away.

She placed her hand on his lap. “The girl, James, do you know where she is?”

“No, I don’t. They took her away in a helicopter.”

50 – Snooping

AARON MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO PROTECT ISABELLA as much as he could. He was now at his desk exploring the connections between the Professor and Isabella’s mother. He didn’t have the physical transporting device but hoped there was a blueprint hiding away somewhere, and he wanted to know what the motives of this Perdu lady were. So he explored.

He started with the Perdus. He found an article in an online scientific journal regarding the effects of psychotropic medicines on humans. His interest was due to the author: Anthony Perdu.