The Deadly Game(55)

‘I discovered it!’ stormed Jake. ‘Me and Robert, and a sniffer dog!’

Munro shrugged again.

‘That is debatable,’ he said. ‘Of course, you can always sue us and try and recover the book that way. All you need is a firm of very good solicitors.’ He smiled. ‘But I would remind you that we at Pierce Randall are the very best.’

Munro looked at the CCTV monitors, where Lucy Waning was still turning the pages of the book.

‘It appears to be safe from any kind of toxins,’ he murmured. He smiled. ‘Roger Bacon: “A treatise on changing physical appearances by magic”. I can think of many of our clients who would be greatly interested in the information contained in these pages, and would pay very well for it. We might even have an auction for it.’

Raging with fury, Jake moved towards Munro, his hands clenched tightly into fists.

Munro stepped back and called out: ‘Security!’

Immediately, two tough-looking men stepped into the room. The room, already cramped, now felt like being inside a small lift.

‘I need that book!’ snarled Jake. ‘I need the knowledge of that book to be made public! I put my life on the line to find it! My friend Robert is near death because of it!’

‘And all of that could have been avoided if you’d taken me up on my offer,’ said Munro. ‘What I will do, Jake, is get the dogs off you. We’ll spread the word that we have the book, and you no longer do. The people who are after this book will know that’s true, and they’ll stop chasing you. You’ll be safe.’

‘That book is mine!’ insisted Jake. ‘I found it! It belongs to me!’

‘It belonged to the Order of Malichea,’ corrected Munro. ‘It belongs to whoever takes final possession of it. As our employee, I believe Ms Faure has a very strong claim. I believe, for a start, that it was she who suggested looking at Glastonbury.’

‘Yes, but . . .’ protested Jake.

‘No buts, Jake,’ said Munro. ‘This meeting is at an end.’ Turning to the two security men, he said: ‘Escort Mr Wells out of the building. And make sure he doesn’t return.’

The two burly men stepped forward and grabbed Jake, and hustled him out of the small room. His last sight was of one of the screens, and Lucy Waning’s gloved fingers turning another page of the book.





Chapter 31




Jake stood in front of Gareth’s desk in the large imposing office on the third floor of the Department of Science. He was angry, ashamed at being duped by Michelle Faure and Pierce Randall, and deeply guilty over what had happened to Robert. After he’d been escorted from the lab building at Waterloo, part of him had wanted to run away and hide. But that wouldn’t help Lauren. He needed to get her back to England. And he wanted revenge against Pierce Randall. And so he’d returned to his office, and asked to see Gareth.

‘I’m not even sure why I agreed to see you,’ snapped Gareth. ‘I should have sacked you. I should have had your pass locked out so you couldn’t even get into the building.’

‘I can get you Pierce Randall,’ said Jake.

Gareth scoffed.

‘You can’t even keep one tiny book when you get hold of it,’ he said. ‘And what makes you think we want Pierce Randall?’

‘They want the books out there to make money from. You want the books to stay hidden,’ said Jake.

Gareth shook his head.

‘I told you before all this started, we can live with Pierce Randall,’ he said flatly. ‘We know their position, they know ours. It’s a mutual stand-off. We are not planning on entering into a war with Pierce Randall. It could seriously harm us. We have learnt to live with the status quo, the way things are.’

Jake frowned, puzzled.

‘Then why did you agree to see me?’ he asked.

‘To cut you adrift,’ said Gareth. ‘And to explain to you personally, why I am doing it. You are a liability, Jake. You’ve caused more problems that anyone else over the Order of Malichea. I thought that having you in the department would mean we’d be able to keep a watchful eye on you and stop you doing anything stupid. That obviously isn’t the case, it seems it only encourages you, despite my firm instructions to you to the contrary.’

‘But . . .’ began Jake, about to launch a defence; but he was cut short by Gareth’s expression: anger — kept in check by Gareth’s self-discipline.

‘You will be sacked with immediate effect,’ Gareth said. ‘You will receive three months’ salary as severance. You will not be allowed to work in any government department. If you attempt to publicise the Order of Malichea or the hidden library, you will find yourself in jail.’ His eyes became dark gimlets that bored into Jake as he added, in a threatening tone: ‘And if you persist, worse may happen to you. Do you understand?’