SINÉAD, NORTHAMPTONSHIRE
‘I don’t think it’s much further,’ Sinéad told Taylor as her car came to a halt at a set of red traffic lights.
They were leaving Northampton town centre and growing ever closer to their destination when Sinéad tried to predict what might happen once she reached the safe house. How would Karczewski and the other Minders react when she appeared with a five-month-old baby? Her reasoning wouldn’t matter; it was completely against protocol. But as long as Taylor was away from Gail and Anthony, that was all that mattered. She could only hope Karczewski would accept that she’d had little choice.
Minutes later, Sinéad’s car climbed a steep hill until she reached the rear of Great Houghton village. She located a private road stretching down a slope and towards a stack of farm buildings. She pulled up alongside a gate and pressed a buzzer. A green light flashed but no voice came. Instead, an illuminated screen invited her to scan both irises and input a fifteen-digit code she’d memorised. Only then did the gate open and allow her to approach the farm.
Sinéad parked in front of a cattle shed next to a shiny off-road vehicle, at odds with the mud surrounding them. She gave the farmhouse the once-over but the reflective glass windows and solid metal doors made it impossible to glimpse inside. ‘I promise you that you’re safe now,’ she assured Taylor with a confidence she didn’t really possess.
The front door automatically opened and she and Taylor cautiously ventured inside. A gentle breeze took her by surprise, nipping at her eyes and forcing her to keep blinking. The door closing triggered lights to illuminate asuburban home, not the hi-tech space she’d imagined was hidden behind its traditional facade.
‘Hello?’ She spoke but there was no response. She made her way through the dimly lit living room and into a dining area. Shrink-wrapped plastic covered the furniture, sofas and walls. In the next room was a kitchen, leading into a pantry and an old-fashioned larder. They too were all covered in thick dustproof sheeting.
‘We must be the first ones here,’ she muttered aloud and tried to open a window to release the musty smell. It wouldn’t budge and she didn’t know the code on the digital lock attached to it. When Taylor began to whimper, Sinéad glanced to her watch and assumed it must be feeding time. She placed the car seat on a kitchen table, rubbed her eyes and turned the tap on to wash her hands, only nothing came out of it. She opened the fridge door to see if there was any bottled water but it was empty and unplugged.
‘Why would there be nothing waiting for us when they recalled—’
But Sinéad wasn’t afforded the opportunity to finish. Instead, she felt someone behind her grab her hair, yank her head backwards and jab something sharp into her neck. The room started spinning as she fell to the floor.
Chapter 51
EMILIA
The woman’s head twitched as the effects of the anaesthetic began to wear off. A line of saliva stretched from the corner of her mouth and ran down her chin as she groaned.
The injected dose had knocked her unconscious for an hour; enough time for Emilia to arrive, accompanied by Bianca, Adrian and an assembly of faces she hadn’t been introduced to. It had also given them time to bind their victim to a chair with plastic restraints. Clear transdermal medical patches were affixed to her wrists, neck, fingertips and chest to monitor her vital signs.
Outside in the farmyard, Bianca and Adrian’s team waited by their cars. Inside, it was now just Emilia and, according to her National Identity Card, Sinéad Kelly, although Adrian had warned it was likely a false name. Her real self would have long been buried.
So far, Sinéad was the only one of the four to have accepted Emilia’s recall message as genuine. She had been located on the approach to one of the few safe houses that Bianca’s surveillance team had identified and monitored with drones and field operatives. She had kept to herself that she knew the faces and the locations of the other three. Something was warning her not to show her hand just yet.
Emilia took advantage of their time alone to study Sinéad’s appearance. The only unusual thing about her was the small clumps of missing eyelashes which left her eyes naked. The rest of her appearance was so unassuming and ordinary that Emilia questioned what Sinéad had done or what she was privy to, to warrant such drastic attention. Emilia had also asked the same question of herself many times. Who had she been for terrorists to need her help? And was it a life she really wanted to return to when this was all over?
Neither Adrian nor Bianca offered an explanation as to why they wanted to find Sinéad or the three missing others. She just hoped that, for Sinéad’s sake, she told them everything.
Suddenly, Sinéad’s eyelids fluttered, then opened wide, startled. Emilia pressed the earpiece and microphone she’d been given deeper into her ear canal. Sinéad tried to move, to no avail.
‘Where’s the baby?’ she asked.
‘She’s outside with the others. She’s safe.’
‘I want to see her.’
‘I’m sorry but you can’t, not yet.’
The two women regarded one another until Emilia noticed a flicker of recognition cross Sinéad’s face.
‘You know me, don’t you?’ Emilia asked, eyes narrowing. Sinéad didn’t answer. ‘I’m familiar to you, I can tell.’ Again, she remained silent. ‘Look, I really need your help, Sinéad. I need you to tell me who I am and what you know about me.’ Sinéad’s face remained deadpan. ‘I’m sorry that you’re in this position but I had no choice.’
Sinéad focused directly on her captor. ‘We all have choices. You’ve chosen to be a traitor.’
It was the second time Emilia had heard the word used as a weapon against her. First, from the figures chasing her through the grounds of Ted’s estate, and now from Sinéad.
‘A traitor? To whom?’
‘To yourself and your country.’
Emilia took a step back. ‘I have no choice,’ she said. ‘I know they are bad, bad people because I’ve seen first-hand what they’re capable of. So, please, for your own sake, just comply. I don’t want to see anyone else get hurt.’ But Sinéad simply looked away. Emilia knelt in front of her so their lines of vision were level. ‘Something happened to me that means I don’t have any memories from earlier than three weeks ago. I was told that you and three others can tell me who I am. And if you do that, I’m sure I can talk the others into letting you go. Have we met before?’
