The Invisible Assassin(14)

‘They already sent me a message of sorts,’ said Jake. ‘Someone tried to kill me.’

‘What?’ Lauren looked at Jake, disbelief on her face. ‘Oh, come on . . . !’

‘No, I’m serious,’ said Jake hastily. ‘Someone tried to push me under a train this morning at Victoria.’

‘The platform must have just been crowded,’ said Lauren. ‘People always push.’

‘That’s what I thought,’ agreed Jake. ‘But someone definitely pushed me, not just a little push, but a hard push. And they did it twice.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘I must admit, I still wasn’t completely convinced it wasn’t just some accident, or some lunatic, until you told me about your burglary.’

Lauren and Parsons exchanged looks. Then Parsons said, ‘I know it sounds far-fetched, but there have been instances of the government shutting people up by arranging accidents.’

Jake looked at Parsons in surprise. This was support from a very unexpected quarter.

‘But why would they burgle my flat?’ asked Lauren.

‘Because you know about the Order of Malichea,’ said Parsons. ‘Jake doesn’t. It’s a warning. They don’t want you helping him to find out more.’

‘Why should they think I would help him?’

‘You already were,’ pointed out Parsons. ‘You said to Jake you’d email him the information you had about the Order, remember? You told me so.’

‘Yes, but I only told you and Jake,’ said Lauren. ‘So how would they know that?’

‘Bugs,’ said Jake. ‘Eavesdropping equipment. Telephone taps.’

Parsons nodded. ‘That’s quite possible,’ he said.

‘No, it’s not,’ Lauren said. ‘I said that to Jake in the precinct in front of the British Library, out in the open air, and unless the table we were sitting at was bugged . . .’

‘Directional microphones,’ said Parsons. ‘State-of-the-art surveillance equipment. Parabolic mics. You can pick up a conversation in the open air from fifty metres. Even further with the latest technology.’

Lauren looked shocked. She shook her head. ‘But how would anyone know that we were worth bugging?’

‘Because of what happened to me this morning, getting kicked out of the department,’ said Jake. ‘It was me they were bugging, waiting to see who I contacted. And I contacted you.’ He gave an apologetic sigh. ‘I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to drag you into this. Well . . . I did, but I didn’t think it would lead to this. I’m really sorry.’

‘I’m not,’ said Lauren.

Jake looked at her in surprise.

‘But . . .’ he began. Lauren didn’t let him finish.

‘I’ve always wanted to write a book about the Order of Malichea. This is all about what you could call “lost sciences”. Science books that the Order hid hundreds of years ago because the sciences in them were deemed “dangerous” by the powers that be. As far as I knew, all the evidence about the Order of Malichea and their lost sciences was circumstantial, stories with some evidence to back them up, but nothing tangible. Nothing solid. This is solid.’

Jake frowned, puzzled.

‘I don’t get you,’ he said.

‘The event that happened in Bedfordshire, the building worker turning into something weird,’ said Lauren ‘You saw that.’

‘Yes,’ said Jake. ‘I swear I did.’

‘The attempts by this boss of yours . . .’

‘Gareth Findlay-Weston.’ Jake nodded.

‘. . . by him to persuade you it was all a hallucination. And now this burglary, my laptop and my notes on the Order of Malichea being taken as a warning. It means there is hard evidence, and someone’s got it, and they don’t want it being known about as real instead of just some . . . weird stuff.’

‘You’re jumping to a bit of a conclusion,’ said Parsons doubtfully.

‘I am – a logical conclusion,’ said Lauren.

‘A circumstantial conclusion,’ challenged Parsons.

Good, thought Jake. Please argue between you.

‘I know what’s happened so far points to that, but there could be another explanation which we’re missing, because we don’t have all the information,’ insisted Parsons. ‘And there’s another thing . . .’ and he began to look around, concerned. ‘We’ve just agreed that it’s likely your conversation outside the British Library was bugged. So what’s the betting the same people are listening to us at this very moment?’

Lauren and Jake exchanged concerned looks. Parsons was right. Then Lauren’s expression changed to one of angry determination. It was an expression Jake recognised all too well. It was the expression she’d had on her face when she’d told him he could go to hell after she’d found him with the bridesmaid.