Jake thought about it. The whole thing was so far-fetched. But then, everything that had happened had been too much to believe.
‘Who are the other people in your cell?’ asked Jake.
Johnson shook her head.
‘That’s secret,’ she said. ‘It’s only because of what’s happened that I’ve decided to tell you that I’m a Watcher. You getting hold of the book. And Pierce Randall.’
He frowned. ‘How exactly did you know about my meeting with Alex Munro. And everything else that’s happened to me?’
‘I’m a Watcher,’ said Johnson. ‘I’m supposed to keep an eye on the book, and protect it. I wouldn’t be much good at that if I didn’t know what was going on.’
‘So you’ve been spying on me,’ he accused.
‘No. We’ve been watching Pierce Randall as part of our duties.’
‘For how long?’
‘Ever since they got into the Malichea business.’
The way she said it, with a heavily sarcastic tone, jolted Jake.
‘They only want to do good with these sciences,’ he pointed out, stung. ‘Just like Lauren. Surely that’s better than letting all that information lie hidden underground where no one benefits?’
‘Is that what Munro told you?’ She smiled. ‘Yes, he would.’
‘You’ve got a different take on it?’
‘Remember the info on that website. Pierce Randall are interested in just two things: money and power. They want to get their hands on these sciences so they can patent them. Can you imagine if you hold the patent on a cure for cancer! You can hold the whole world to ransom; demand any price you want, and people will pay it.’
‘That’s not true,’ said Jake, shaking his head. ‘Munro told me they want to stop companies doing that sort of thing. They want to put this information out into the public arena, free, so that everyone benefits.’
‘Well, of course that’s what he’s going to say!’ scoffed Johnson. ‘You wouldn’t be on his side if he told you the truth!’
Jake fell silent. I don’t know what to believe, he thought.
‘The book mustn’t go to Pierce Randall,’ said Johnson firmly.
Jake mulled over what she had just said. He looked around him, at the crowd of talking and laughing bikers, his mind numbed by the incessant loud pounding of the music.
‘So you’re saying that Pierce Randall are behind what’s been happening? Carl Parsons and that man being killed in my flat. The attacks on me.’
Johnson looked thoughtful.
‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘My instinct is to say yes, but there are lots of people who’d like to lay their hands on those books and the information that’s inside them. Governments, crooks, terrorists, investment banks. Not all of them are on Pierce Randall’s client list. But one thing’s for sure, whoever it is has used you big time. They used you to get into Hadley Park and get the book out. They obviously thought it would be easier to get it off you afterwards than try to break in themselves.’
‘But how have they known what we were up to? We were very careful.’
Johnson shook her head.
‘Not that careful, particularly with current surveillance techniques. They can track you just by the signal from your mobile phone, even when you’re not using it. You’ve been followed by hi-tech surveillance ever since you got involved. They’ve known where you are at any time, who you’ve met, where you’ve been.’
‘So Lauren and Carl . . .’
‘Carl Parsons was a Watcher.’
Jake stared at Johnson.
‘What?’ he said, dumbfounded.
‘That was why he got close to Lauren, as soon as he found out she was looking for the books.’
Jake’s mind whirled. Parsons, a Watcher!
‘So he was one of your four, your cell, whatever you call it.’
‘No,’ said Johnson, shaking her head. ‘There are some Watchers who float, move around. Sometimes they join a cell for a short while, but generally they go wherever there’s news of problems over a book.’
‘Sort of troubleshooters?’ said Jake.
She nodded.
‘Well, it can’t have been Pierce Randall who killed him.’
‘Why?’
‘Lauren gave the book to Parsons so he could hide it. Whoever killed Parsons must have done it for the book. Tonight, Alex Munro asked me to get him the book. If he’d killed Parsons, he’d already have the book in his possession.’
‘Not necessarily,’ countered Johnson. ‘Maybe Parsons was killed before they could get him to give them the book.’
She looked at her watch.