‘Roswell, New Mexico,’ said Lauren. ‘Site of a UFO crash in 1947. The bodies were taken for autopsy and the whole thing was kept secret. Still is a secret, officially.’
Jo looked at Lauren admiringly.
‘Hey, you’re cool!’ she said.
Lauren smiled at her. ‘I can’t do cool things like you’re doing,’ she complimented Jo back.
Suddenly a realisation hit Jake.
‘March the fifth!’ he burst out. ‘That’s it!’
The others looked at him, surprised.
‘What is?’
‘The day of the dig,’ he said. ‘The day they dug that thing up and the man turned into that . . . thing.’ He pointed at the screen. ‘That’s what they took into Hadley Park. The book and the man. Or, at least, his remains.’
‘His remains?’ echoed Jo, a note of shock in her voice.
The other three exchanged looks, then Jake said, ‘We have to tell her.’
‘I’m not sure,’ said Parsons doubtfully. ‘We don’t want to drag her into this.’
‘You already have,’ Jo pointed out.
‘Yes, but only so far,’ said Parsons carefully. ‘It’s not right to put you into a . . . ‘ He hesitated, then said carefully, ‘A difficult position.’
‘What do you mean, difficult?’ demanded Jo.
‘Well . . .’ began Parsons.
‘He means dangerous,’ cut in Lauren. ‘They’ve already broken into my place and stolen my laptop and the evidence I had.’
‘And they tried to kill me,’ said Jake. ‘They tried to push me under a train.’
Jo now looked at Jake with awe in her eyes.
‘Cool!’
Parsons shook his head.
‘No, it’s not cool,’ he said firmly. ‘I was wrong to come here with this. And especially wrong to bring these two.’
‘Well, you’ve already done it.’ Jo shrugged. ‘So you might as well tell me the rest.’
‘No,’ repeated Parsons, his tone even firmer. ‘We can leave now, and even if anybody has been watching, we won’t have been here long enough for them to get suspicious.’
‘Maybe Jo can suggest someone else,’ said Jake. ‘Someone who won’t mind being at risk. Maybe someone older?’
He’d said the wrong thing.
‘I’m sixteen, rivet-head!’ snapped Jo. ‘I can do loads of things legally. And you can talk – you don’t even look like you’re old enough to shave!’
‘This isn’t getting us anywhere,’ said Lauren. She sighed. ‘I’m sorry, Jo, but I think Jake and Carl are right. This could be dangerous. It’s all right for us . . .’
‘Why?’ demanded Jo angrily.
‘Because we’re older,’ said Lauren.
Jo glared at her.
‘Queen Victoria took over the throne when she was just eighteen. And she became ruler of over half the world,’ she snapped. ‘And then there was that boy of sixteen who sailed round the world single-handed. So don’t talk to me about being too young for this.’
Jake nodded. ‘She’s got a point,’ he said.
Jo added, ‘And there’s something at this Hadley place you want, right?’
‘Yes,’ nodded Jake. ‘At least, we think there is.’
‘Well, you’re going to need me if you want to get inside the place.’
Jake looked at Jo, really taken aback. Was this girl some kind of burglar?
Jo had turned back to her keyboard and her fingers moved at speed over it. And then, on the screen, appeared an architect’s drawing: a building plan.
‘There!’ said Jo triumphantly. ‘The floor plan of Hadley Park.’
Jake’s mouth dropped open. ‘How did you do that?’ he asked.
‘Easy.’ Jo shrugged. ‘Every building in the country has to register their plans with their local authority. Once you know the address of the place you’re looking for, and what local council it comes under, the rest is easy.’ She gave a mischievous grin. ‘You want the plans for Buckingham Palace?’ she asked.
Jake looked at Parsons, stunned.
‘Your cousin is a security risk!’ he said.
‘Easy!’ smirked Jo. She flicked the keys, and the architect’s plan on the screen was replaced by another, and another, and another.
‘We need to find out where they’ll have likely stashed this thing,’ she muttered. ‘It’s dangerous, right? That’s why the hazard suits.’
‘Yes,’ said Jake.
Jo flicked a key, and the architect’s plans vanished and the list of links about Hadley Park came up again.
‘Let’s see what the chatter says,’ she muttered. Rapidly, she scrolled down, then went to another page, and another, then another.