The Invisible Assassin(26)

‘When are you going in?’ asked Jo.

We’re not, thought Jake. Not without doing a lot of serious checking out this place first.

‘Tonight,’ said Lauren.

Jake stared at her.

‘Tonight?’ he echoed.

‘The sooner the better,’ she said. ‘They might move the book somewhere else.’

‘OK,’ said Jo. ‘I’ll have the alarm systems off and the locks undone at eleven thirty. I reckon I can give you twenty minutes before they need to be switched on again. After that, the fail-safe alarm system might cut in.’

‘Will twenty minutes be enough?’ asked Lauren, concerned.

‘It should be,’ said Parsons. ‘If all goes to plan.’

No, it won’t! Jake wanted to yell out loud. We’ll get caught! We’ll get put in jail for life! The guard dogs will tear us to pieces!

‘Is that all right with you, Jake?’ asked Lauren.

Jake did his best to appear casual.

‘OK by me,’ he said.

‘Right, I think we’d better go and make our arrangements,’ said Parsons. ‘We’ve got some serious planning to do.’ He looked at Jo, concerned. ‘If you have any doubts about doing this, Jo, just let me know. We can always try and come up with something else.’

Yes, please, begged Jake. Say you have doubts, Jo!

Instead, Jo shrugged.

‘No,’ she said. ‘It should be fun.’

Fun, groaned Jake to himself. That’s not the word I’d use to describe it.

‘OK.’ Parsons nodded. ‘We’ll leave you to it.’ He was just about to head for the door of Jo’s room, when he stopped and gave her an apologetic, awkward smile. ‘By the way, I told your mum I’d have a word with you,’ he said.

‘Yeah?’ asked Jo.

‘She thinks you ought to get out more. And I agree with her.’

Jo looked at him with distaste.

‘Outside?’ she asked.

‘Yes,’ Parsons said. ‘It’s healthy out there.’

‘There are muggers, rapists and murderers out there,’ said Jo. ‘How can you call that healthy?’





Chapter 12




Their next stop was a small block of flats in Kentish Town. We’re doing a complete tour of London this evening, reflected Jake. Anyone who’s following us is certainly earning their money. Not that they’d spotted anyone following them, but then these people would be professionals.

‘This is where Carl lives,’ Lauren told Jake as they followed Parsons into the courtyard of the small block and then across to a row of garages.

Parsons had unlocked one of the garages and lifted up the door. Inside was a black Mini, and on hooks and shelves on the walls hung tools and equipment: battery chargers, tyre levers, tool boxes, saws; all tidily arranged and even with labels on the shelves detailing the various items.

‘Wow!’ said Jake, impressed. ‘You’re Mr Handyman. And catalogued!’

‘I take care of things,’ agreed Parsons. ‘Not only does it make running a car cheaper, I like to understand how things work.’ He patted the Mini. ‘This is what we’ll go in tonight.’

Jake looked at the car doubtfully.

‘These things are bigger inside than you think,’ said Parsons, clearly reading Jake’s mind. ‘And we don’t want some huge vehicle that’ll draw attention to us.’

Yes, we do, thought Jake. We want a big enough vehicle that will mean the police will get suspicious when we park near the base and tell us to go away. He’d agreed to go on this stupid mission because he knew how much it meant to Lauren, but he broke out in a cold sweat when he thought of what they would actually be doing. Breaking into a high-security research establishment. People got shot for doing that, especially with all the fears about terrorists.

Parsons reached up to a hook and took down a heavy-looking double-handed tool.

‘You’re going to need these. Bolt cutters.’

‘What for?’ asked Jake. ‘Jo said she’d have the locks open.’

‘Yes, but you’re going to have to get into the drain from the culvert to get inside the base. The drain could have a metal grille over it. If it’s made of thick iron bars, you won’t be able to cut through it without attracting attention. Not quickly, anyway. But if it’s just a thick wire grille, those will do.’

Please let the drain have a heavy metal grille over it, prayed Jake. Then we’ll have to pack up and leave.

‘You’ll also need some kind of mask,’ added Parsons as he put the bolt cutters and other tools in the boot of the car. ‘To stop you being identified on the CCTV.’

Jake looked at Parsons suspiciously.