The Last Enemy(59)

‘It seems that Gemma stayed in a Pierce Randall flat in London overnight, and then returned to Sevenoaks. She got Dan’s message telling her you were all going to Platt Castle, so she went along in the hope of seeing what you were up to. She arrived in time to find Guy’s crew burying three bodies.

‘Then she phoned Sue Clark to tell her what was happening, and where. She told Ms Clark there was no sign of any of you at the place, but she’d found Dan’s motorbike.’

‘She thought the bodies were us!’ exclaimed Lauren.

‘At first.’ Gareth nodded. ‘But, after the kids had gone back to the castle, she scraped the earth off the faces of the bodies.’

‘Wow!’ said Lauren. ‘That took some guts.’

‘Young Ms Hayward is a very brave person,’ agreed Gareth. ‘When she saw it wasn’t you, she phoned Sue Clark again and said she thought you must be locked up somewhere in there. She is someone it would be useful to have on our side. I think there’s a future for her in our organisation.’

‘And, after the phone calls, I assume Sue Clark swung into action,’ said Lauren. ‘Those special forces soldiers who turned up to rescue us.’

‘Pierce Randall have some expert resources at their disposal, including their own private SWAT teams,’ said Gareth. ‘It was a Pierce Randall team who rescued us. And, as I’m sure you realised, once we were free I got them to alert our own people and told them to go to Laker Heath and deal with Guy.’

‘They arrived just in time,’ said Jake. He added, ‘They killed him.’

‘What would you have preferred?’ asked Gareth. ‘We could have locked him up, but sooner or later some smart lawyer would have got him released, and then he would have been a very serious and dangerous problem once more.’

‘I saw The Index,’ said Jake. ‘It was in the hangar at Laker Heath.’

‘Really?’ said Gareth in a dry tone.

‘How long has it been there?’

‘I’m not really able to disclose any information regarding The Index,’ said Gareth, ‘but let’s just say our people were ahead of you.’

‘So why didn’t you take the Journal at the same time? That was at the chapel as well.’

‘The Journal of the Order of Malichea is of little interest. The Index is what people are after.’

‘If you’ve had The Index all this time, then you know where all the books are hidden,’ said Lauren accusingly. ‘So why all that business, for so long, of following us around and seeing if we found any of the books?’

‘To stop you, of course,’ said Gareth. ‘And, if you did find any, to take them off you. The books have to stay hidden for the common good.’

‘You haven’t thought of recovering them all and stashing them in that hangar at Laker Heath, along with the others you’ve got there?’ asked Jake.

‘Jake, there are hundreds and hundreds of them!’ said Gareth. ‘Many of them are safe where they are, spread far and wide, hidden, and protected by the Watchers. That way they stay safe. And with a helping hand from MI5.’





Chapter 30




Jake and Lauren were driven back to their flat by Gerald. As they arrived, he told them, ‘Don’t worry, your flat is quite safe.’

‘You’ve been inside it?’ queried Lauren.

‘Some of our people did a scan of it,’ said Gerald. ‘They haven’t interfered with anything, I can assure you, we were just making sure no one had left any nasty surprises for you.’

With that he drove off. Jake looked towards their flat.

‘Think we can take his word for it?’ he asked.

‘Yes,’ said Lauren. ‘With Guy dead and those kids locked up, I think we can say we’re safe.’

‘We’ve thought that before, and were wrong,’ pointed out Jake.

‘But The Index and the Journal have been found and are in a secure facility. Once everyone knows that, the game’s over.’

‘No it’s not,’ said Jake. ‘The books are out there, still hidden. And now that Pierce Randall know where The Index is . . .’

‘You think Gareth told Sue Clark?’ asked Lauren.

‘No, but it’s a lead, isn’t it? And the only one that we’ve got,’ said Jake. ‘Which means Pierce Randall will be pulling every string and pushing every button they can to get their hands on it.’ He shook his head. ‘It’s not over. It’ll never be over.’

As they walked along the pathway towards the block of flats, Jake’s gaze caught their parked Mini Cooper. The side panel in the bodywork was still dented, the headlight was still broken. Lauren saw the gloomy expression on his face.