Page 40 of 72 Hours

I looked across at Niall. He seemed reluctant to answer that one, and I took the cell off of him. “No,” I said clearly. “Simon’s not here. He left after dropping Niall off. We haven’t heard from him since, either. The last communication we had was with Cissy. There’s been trouble at Judith’s office, and both Judith and Simon....” I paused briefly. “...weren’t around.”

The words were still coming through, but from the shaking of his voice, we could tell Brad was on the move again. “I didn’t realise... must find her, then. Look, Tanner, follow my notes, okay? Have a look at... which files were hacked into, which... e-mails. There was a... attern... no time to... ollow up befor... had to leave....”

“Tell me more,” I urged. “Brad?”

“Got to go... can’t say... kind of... ifficult to explain right... now, not sure... don’t want anyone... wrong idea....”

“What?” Niall nudged at me, trying to get the cell back off me. “Are we losing him?”

“We’ll call the Department if we have to, Brad.” Simon had always laughingly called the Team office the “melting pot” where all information started and finished, all plans were cooked up, and all resource ingredients combined. But if he and Judith had had to leave, I’d escalate it up the line. Someone there must know what was going on. “We’ll get another number for Simon, find out where he is—”

There was no mistaking Brad’s response to that. His voice burst from the cell with a kind of explosive ferocity. “No! Don’t call Simon!”

Huh?

“Don’t call him!” came the cry again. “Mustn’t alert...”

“What? Alert who?”

“Not sure ye...watch who...talk to....”

We stared at each other with astonishment. Niall spoke urgently into the phone. “Brad, it’s someone who knows us, isn’t it? Maybe these attacks aren’t in their area of expertise, but they know enough to be dangerous.”

There was nothing but crackle on the line. Then suddenly it ceased, and Brad’s voice trickled through. “Underpass... losing connec... where’s Joe?”

Startled, I replied, “In the hospital.”

Brad gave a bark of a laugh, clear as day. “Then that’s where Judith will be, won’t it? Watch... rselves....” Then the contact broke completely.

That’s where Judith will be?

I clipped the cell shut. Niall swore softly.

I stood there beside him. The lamp flickered, as it sometimes did, and clicked itself off. We were back in the semi-darkness and silence. It was some godforsaken hour of the early morning, our friends and colleagues were scattered God knows where, and we were plunging ever deeper into this mess and confusion.

And, depressingly, I was still half-hard from the mere thought of Niall’s body next to mine.

NIALL TURNED BACK TO me. His eyes were shadowed, and not just from the loss of light. “There’s nothing we can do until we can contact Judith.”

“Right,” I said. “We’ll try again in the morning.”

“Yes, that’s best.”

I stepped away from him as casually as I could, but the loss of body warmth left me feeling bereft. I realised we were having one of those coded conversations where the sentences appear to make sense but no one says exactly what they mean.

“What did Brad mean about Simon?” I blurted out the words without thinking. It was a while since I’d had someone to talk things through with, and it was worrying the hell out of me. “I still can’t believe Simon has anything to do with it. Surely Brad wouldn’t believe it. He must be beside himself with worry about the guy.”

“No one bothered following up on Brad’s notes,” Niall said. “He said himself that was surprising. If he hadn’t gone out after the hideout himself, it would’ve stayed hidden for who knows how long.”

“And Simon holds all the information,” I said. A miserable thought, but how could I ignore the facts? “Brad knows that, too, of course. He didn’t want to tell us anything before he speaks to Judith. There’s something on his mind.”

“Watch yourselves, he said. Watch who we talk to.” Niall was looking at the cell nestled in his palm, but his gaze wasn’t truly focused. “We’d better get some sleep now.”

Neither of us moved.

“Niall. About earlier....”

“Yes?” He pursed his lips.