I picked up my coat, threw my satchel over my shoulder, and sprinted towards the door.
“Where are you going?” Penny called.
“Saint Pancras. I have a train to catch.”
Chapter69
Sunny
My heart was thumping as I picked up my phone and scrolled down my contact list to the letterL. I was the kind of nervous you get when your whole body feels cold, your fingers don’t work, and your hearing goes funny. Full jelly bean–dick territory. I found Ludo’s name and hit the call button.
“Here we go,” I said. Karma and Leaf gave me two thumbs up.
It started to ring. My hands were shaking. I could feel my pulse in my balls. Which is probably cause for alarm, now that I think about it. Karma gestured for me to take a deep breath, and I did.
“Sunny! I’m so glad to hear from you!” My heart nearly burst a valve just at the sound of Ludo’s voice. “You’ll never believe this, but?—”
“Ludo, I’m sorry to interrupt. I know we have a lot we need to talk about and, I promise, we will. But right now, this is more important. Carstairs, Windhoek, Popov—they all stand to make a fortune if the nuclear plant goes ahead. I have all the evidence. The entire paper trail. But someone needs to put the questions to Carstairs.”
“Do you mean me?” He was quick on the uptake today.
“Yes, Ludo, I mean you. I’ve sent you all the documents to your personal email address in a file transfer link, along with lists of questions for Carstairs and Popov. I’ve done all the legwork.” Karma cleared her throat. “Sorry, Karma and I have done all the legwork. We just need someone with access to Carstairs to ask the questions. The story is all yours if you want it.”
There was silence on the other end of the line. Well, not silence. It was actually really noisy. But Ludo wasn’t saying anything.
“Why don’t you ask her yourself?” Ludo said.
“Ludo, don’t be like that. Please. I’m sorry I haven’t replied to your messages, but?—”
“No, no! I mean Carstairs is giving a press conference at the Newton Bardon site at two o’clock. Literally, why don’t you ask her yourself?”
I looked at my watch. We had half an hour. My brain was already on logistics. If we drove foot to the floor in Leaf and Karma’s Prius and didn’t get stuck behind a tractor on the country roads between here and the M1, we could just about do it.
“Thank you,” I said. “Thank you, Ludo. I will.” I began piling up paperwork into a stack. “Just a sec.” I relayed the information to Leaf and Karma. Leaf grabbed the car keys; I gave Karma the pile of papers and grabbed my pen and my notepad with my questions on it. We made a dash for the car. When I was strapped in, I put the phone back to my ear.
“You still there?”
“It’s so good to hear your voice,” Ludo said, and I thought he might be crying. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear from you again.”
“I’ve been going to message you.” I was breathing heavily, heart pounding, adrenaline coursing through my body.
“You’ll never—” He cut out. “I’m actually—” He cut out again. “Be there in just?—”
“Ludo, you’re breaking up.” Leaf spun the wheels, sending gravel flying everywhere.
“I didn’t know where?—”
“Listen, Ludo, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you after the press conference.”
I hung up. Karma plugged her phone into the CarPlay system as we sped down the driveway.
“We need some car chase music,” she said, and put on theDukes of Hazzardtheme tune. Did she always have that lined up in case she needed car chase music? All signs pointed to yes.
Chapter70
Ludo
Idashed out of Leicester train station and nearly got cleaned up by a cyclist whizzing past. Who puts a cycle path that close to the entrance of a major transportation hub?
