The Quantum Objective Read online

  Evidently, what I need most is to talk. Who knew?

  She couldn’t seem to shut up. I’d better let him sleep, even though he looks like he could run a marathon. She could sense no fatigue. It must be wonderful to be that fit, she mused.

  ‘You know it’s your turn tomorrow. I hardly know anything about you,’ she said.

  ‘Yes, you do. I told you about my job, my parents.’

  ‘Sure, but those are just the basics. I want to know your favourite novel, film, surf spot.

  ‘What’s a surf spot?’

  She did a double take.

  It’s the tan, t-shirt and muscles – they’ve addled my brain. I need to sleep.

  ‘You don’t surf?’ she stood and straightened her pyjama sleeves.

  ‘I don’t even swim…never got round to learning,’ his laugh was gruff. ‘Never been in the sea. You’ll have to tell me all about it. ’

  Who hadn’t been in the sea? Weird.

  ‘That’s okay…you do know you’re a little strange though, right?’

  He stilled.

  ‘Would you like me to leave?’

  ‘What? No! I just…never mind. I’ll get you a pillow and some sheets. Are you sure you’ll be ok on the sofa?’ It now looked miniscule.

  He smiled at her puckered brow. ‘It’ll be very comfortable. I’ve spent many nights in far inferior conditions.’

  ‘Really? You see, that’s what I want to hear about.’

  ‘I don’t think you’d like it,’ he looked away. ‘You better go to bed, the sun will be up soon.’

  But Beth didn’t want to sleep. Didn’t want the connection to end. What if I never connect to anyone ever again? She reached for his elbow, halting his turn.

  ‘Thank you for everything.’ She pressed a palm to his chest, leaning into him. He squeezed it briefly then brushed his mouth against her fingers before gently putting her arm back by her side.

  ‘Get some sleep, Beth. I’ll be here when you wake.’ He smiled with such warmth, the impending wave of humiliation dissipated harmlessly.

  Exhaustion hit Beth like a tank. She rubbed her eyes, too tired to focus on his polite rejection.

  ‘I don’t think I can move.’ He smiled and raised his hands towards her.

  The weight of her body was suddenly more than she could carry. Her legs gave way under a rush of darkness.

  *

  Strong arms caught her slim frame and carried her to her bed. He drew the blanket over her shoulders and sat once more to watch her sleep. Perun still couldn’t believe he’d made contact.

  Chapter Three

  ‘Sooo late!’ Beth shoved dirty laundry into the machine, threw fresh seed into Bohm’s bowl, grabbed a jacket, checked her dress and reached for the blinds at the window.

  She hardly recognised the girl rushing about, but she had to concede it was unexpectedly…fun. She’d always rather looked down on girls who jittered and quaked about boys. Her lip would curl with distaste, then pity.

  Of course, Liam was different.

  He’d slept on the sofa for two weeks, making her crazy. She’d cracked last week. Sculpted muscle and smooth skin had filled her with quivers till she’d crossed the room and firmly planted the kiss she’d been obsessing about. He’d hesitated for only the briefest moment before returning the sweet pressure. It had been completely delicious, terrifying and wonderful.

  Beth grabbed her overnight bag and took a quick final look around the room. Her eyes rested for a brief moment on the vase of bright flowers that still shone their rainbow colours out at her. She shook her head with a smile.

  How does he do it? He must have roped in the cleaner to sneak in fresh blooms. Guess I’ll find out eventually. She rushed out the door and collided with an older couple.

  ‘Ms. Irving?’ The man steadied her and the woman picked up Beth’s bag. ‘This is detective Parker and I’m detective McKinley from the Metropolitan Police. We need to go over your statement again.’ They flashed ID cards.

  ‘Again? Now? Can’t we do it on Monday?’ Beth tapped her toes. ‘I’m already late for um…a meeting’.

  ‘Ms Irving, the autopsies have been completed and the forensic report is in its final stages,’ the detectives exchanged a look that cut through her fluster.

  ‘What? Don’t tell me you guys actually believe my statement now,’ she scoffed, still stung by the way her kidnap claim had been treated.

  Curiosity, though, reopened her door.

  ‘You’d better come in.’

  *

  The detectives declined the mandatory offer of tea and crowded the sofa while she perched on a chair.

  Keep this brief, she pleaded silently. Liam would probably wait for hours, but it’s so rude and the library is a good 15-minute walk. How can he not have a mobile? Perhaps I can call the front desk…

  ‘Ms. Irving…’ McKinley’s sharp tone seemed unwarranted. I’m doing them a favour here.

  ‘Sorry, go ahead.’ Focus, she thought, or they’ll be here ages.

  Detective Parker was poised, notebook open.

  ‘Let’s start with your belief that the people in the van were professional kidnappers. How did you come to that conclusion?’

  ‘They kidnapped me.’

  She hoped the questioning would improve. ‘They did it very well. They were efficient, calm, well prepared, or perhaps rehearsed or experienced, I don’t know. But I do know they weren’t a bunch of amateurs.’ Beth raised expectant brows. ‘So, who were they?’

  Parker didn’t look up from her pad. McKinley was poker-faced.

  ‘We’ve not been able to identify them as yet. In fact, we can’t even get a trace from the vehicle. It’s becoming a very unusual case, Ms. Irving. That’s why we’re here.’

  ‘No trace…as in no registration? There must be clues, it seemed like a pretty sophisticated set-up inside.’

  ‘I thought you were blindfolded?’ McKinley looked down at his notes, ‘how much of the inside did you get to see?’

  Hadn’t he read the statement?

  ‘Before I was blindfolded, I saw a faint fluorescent light that I believed came from a computer screen. That’s how I saw the man in the mask, and chrome fittings. It’s all there…in my statement.’

  ‘What makes you think you were not the intended target?’ McKinley’s gaze was intent.

  Beth laughed.

  ‘Why would anyone want to kidnap me? I’m a nobody. They must have wanted an heiress or some such person from the club I’d just left. It was a case of mistaken identity.’ She shrugged.

  ‘But, you said yourself, these were highly skilled professionals. Would they have made such a sloppy error?’ McKinley sat back against the sofa and crossed his ankles.

  Beth frowned. She couldn’t deny the logic.

  ‘I looked rather different that night. Not my normal attire…’

  ‘Ms. Irving, are you not famous, in your own way, for your intellect?’ Parker spoke for the first time. Her voice was quiet and calm. ‘Your work involves cutting edge atomic research, doesn’t it?’

  Beth sighed.

  ‘Just because I made the papers a couple of times does not make me famous. I’m just another physicist really. My IQ isn’t so rare and there are people within 10 miles of here that score higher, I assure you. I just achieved more at a young age because…I didn’t do anything else. I liked my work in mathematics,’ she shrugged, ‘and why kidnap me? If someone wanted to know something from me, they would only have to ask. I’m not harbouring any secret information. That’s why I’m confident it was a mistake.’

  She smiled. ‘Is there anything else I can help with or can we wrap up? I really do need to go.’

  ‘There is one final thing.’ McKinley shifted in his seat. ‘Your hospital records showed you were admitted with only minor cuts and bruising…’ he met her gaze, ‘yet forensics revealed large amounts of your blood at the crash site.’

  They watched closely.

  Beth shook her head, ‘Sorry, I misunders
tood. Something about my blood?’

  ‘Your blood was found at the crash site, in large quantities. The DNA has now been verified.’ Parker spoke slowly.

  Gooseflesh scaled her arms.

  ‘Well, clearly a mistake has been made,’ Beth pointed down at her body, her stomach churned.

  The visitors didn’t respond.

  ‘What do you want me to say to you?’ Hot prickles rushed up her back, ‘yes, I bled all over the road? I evidently did not. You need to get your people to redo their work.’

  She stood and shoved the chair back.

  ‘I did that already. Three times.’ McKinley rubbed his face and looked up at her, ‘and there’s more.’

  He flicked through his notebook.

  ‘The driver…his autopsy revealed a haemorrhagic stroke. That would have been unusual in a fit young man, but turns out he also simultaneously had a heart attack and suffered from what is described in the report as end-stage pancreatic cancer.’

  Beth sat down again, her brain unable to do anything useful with the information. She rubbed at a sudden headache.

  ‘Look, I appreciate that you’re trying to make sense of this, but I’m unsure how I can help? I have no answers. All I know is I was taken, in a crash I don’t remember because I was unconscious, and now I’m fine. Do you want to speak to Liam again? As the only witness, he might have a better chance of assisting you.’

  Parker and McKinley started.

  ‘Liam Bancroft?’ Parker rapidly flicked through her notes. ‘The man who accompanied the ambulance to the hospital. He gave a brief statement on the day and disappeared. Are you saying you have some way of contacting this man?’

  ‘Yes, as it happens I do. I’m about to meet him actually. We…formed a relationship over the last few weeks.’ She blushed when McKinley’s eyes narrowed to slits.

  ‘So, let me get this straight: Mr. Bancroft, sole witness to this unusual event, has since become your boyfriend and is waiting for you now…somewhere nearby?’ He was leaning so far forward Beth thought he might fall off the sofa.

  ‘Yes.’

  Parker and McKinley shared another glance. It was beginning to wind Beth right up.

  ‘What can you tell us about Mr. Bancroft?’

  ‘Why don’t you just ask him yourself? I’m already late.’

  She stood; they followed.

  ‘This’ll be interesting,’ McKinley said. ‘We’ve been trying to locate him for two weeks without success. Has he been staying here?’ He took in the room more closely.

  ‘Yes, which probably accounts for your difficulties. He’s not been in London or Brighton at all.’

  ‘We know. We tried the Brighton address he gave on his statement - they’d never heard of him,’ Parker watched her. ‘And we couldn’t find any record of a Liam Bancroft that matched even one of the details he gave us. Not in Brighton or anywhere else.’

  Beth paused at the door with a wry smile.

  ‘I assure you Liam is not a figment of my imagination. I’ve been with him every day. He was at the hospital and you have his statement. There’s been some administrative mix up, perhaps the spelling of his name. When you meet him, you’ll see for yourself that he is as gentle as a lamb and the antithesis of a suspicious character.’ Relief gushed through her at finally getting them out of the flat.

  They’ll meet Liam, clear up their records and we can have a lovely weekend away. Beth locked her front door, swung her bag onto her shoulder and strode off. The visitors followed close behind.

  *

  New York, United States

  The tattoo, now free of its scab, was the soldier’s pass. He emerged from the narrow tunnel, eyed the crew waiting in the sanctum and rolled down his sleeve. There were nine people gathered in the candlelit room; he recognised three.

  He fixed his cuff and stood close to the long stone altar that dwarfed the intricately carved walls. His eyes adjusted to the light and he took in the lion-headed relief that loomed large before him. Stone flames maned the fierce features.

  A concealed door in the wall slid open for a slim-suited man who stepped onto the platform and surveyed the group. Silver hair fell against an unlined forehead. He flashed perfect teeth in a smooth smile and lifted open arms in welcome. His cool gaze rested briefly on the soldier.

  ‘Friends, brothers, old and new, welcome to the heart of Providence. You have been given your duties and it’s time for you to deliver. The path ahead is perilous. The birth of a new power is imminent and it shall be ours to wield. Those usurpers who would steal it from us will be cut down. Do not mistake their strength for true power. They have neither the authority nor the will to deliver Him as we do.’

  He leaned against the altar. His tone shifted from formal to friendly. ‘We’ve had confirmation that the final cards are being dealt. We are prepared for success.’ A pearly glimmer split his lips in a smile that made the solider long for Khoen’s rage. ‘They don’t stand a chance.’

  He straightened and waved the group towards the open doorway. ‘Let us begin.’

  The soldier fell in line. Sometimes he really hated his job.

  Chapter Four

  ‘Damn it, honey B!’ Mimi yelled through the mail slot. ‘Open this damned door or I swear I’ll call someone buff to knock it down. Shall I call the cops?’ She flexed her hand. Her knuckles were going to look like plums. The search for a knocker unveiled a pile of wet newspapers and unopened milk bottles. Her frown deepened.

  There was another chirp from the birdie beyond the door.

  What in all hell is going on? First she won’t answer my calls because she finally discovered something more interesting than math and now she’s having some sort of breakdown. No doubt lover-boy’s involved. Maybe he was married or something… didn’t seem married though.

  Mimi’s radar was rock solid when it came to that sort of thing. A chain rattled on the other side of the door and anxiety blew out of her lungs.

  Thank God. This drama just isn’t like her. The door swung wide and she followed the retreating blanket draped over Beth’s shoulders.

  Look at those gruesome leggings. There’s nothing worse that skinniness wasted on the unfashionable. This was the kind of horror she was wearing the first time I saw her, debating with the dumb traffic warden…and it hadn’t even been her car. But that’s my honey B – just can’t resist the pull of idiocy. Always has to get involved. Lucky she grew up here; I know places a geek with attitude wouldn’t have made their teens.

  ‘Ok sister, what’s the drama? Richard called asking after you. He said you missed not one, but two meetings.’

  She placed her bag next to the sofa where Beth had flung herself and took a good look. Her stomach dropped.

  ‘Holy shit. What’s happened?’

  Beth’s skin was pale, her eyes glazed.

  Did someone die? Surely not Liam…maybe the dad?

  ‘Are you sick?’ She touched her forehead. It was cool and clammy. Beth shook her head slowly.

  ‘Where’s Liam, honey B?’

  She flinched.

  ‘Tell me.’

  All this can’t be because she’s been dumped. It’s only been a few weeks since they met. Beth lay back on the sofa and covered her face with her hands. Mimi watched in silence for a minute then went for some water.

  ‘No chance of emergency vodka round here,’ she mumbled. She brought back two water glasses along with a large bar of chocolate she’d sourced from the fridge. A little bed of cushions on the floor next to the sofa served as a seat.

  With loud crackles, she opened the wrapper and handed a chunk up to Beth. After a long pause, Beth uncovered her face and took the chocolate.

  I knew it! Her only real weakness. Nothing can break her faster than a bit of chocolate, especially the hard stuff. 80%. Sounds lethal and tastes like shit, but the Brainbox likes it, so here goes nothing.

  Mimi took a large bite and pulled a face at the wall opposite. She snuck a glance and saw Beth glumly nibbling at her piec
e.

  Yuck! She grimaced at the packet in her hand. Seriously, this is gross. No wonder she’s skinny. She tossed it over her shoulder onto Beth’s lap.

  ‘So…you know of course that you’re better off without him. He may have been a blisteringly sexy, charming, life-saving hottie, but if this is what he does to you, honey B, you don’t need it.’

  The continued silence forced Mimi to turn around.

  ‘Did he take your tongue with him?’

  Beth opened her mouth to speak and then shut it. Mimi stretched her neck and cupped her ear.

  ‘Well? Hello…Earth to Ms. E. J. Irving. Anyone home? You really look like crap, my friend. When was the last time you had a shower, or ate? How long’s he been gone?’

  Beth’s gaze lifted from the blanket on her lap. It looked like there was thinking going on. The glazed stare had been replaced by a fierce focus she’d only ever seen with Beth. Mimi glanced down at the chocolate with new respect. Maybe there’s something there after all.

  ‘I’ve made a decision.’ Beth was solemn.

  ‘If it’s that you’ll never have sex again, it’s a lie. Told myself that one a few times,’ Mimi smiled.

  Beth’s mouth wobbled. Well, it’s a start.

  ‘So, what happened?’ Mimi took a sip of water, surreptitiously washing the bitter chocolate down.

  ‘I don’t have a bloody clue,’ she said. ‘The police were here. They told me they didn’t know who he was, that they couldn’t find him, or any record of him.’

  Mimi frowned. ‘You mean like an illegal immigrant or something? Did he run from the police?’

  Beth shrugged. Or at least Mimi took it for a shrug. Her shoulders barely moved. They looked weighted down.

  ‘I told them they were being ridiculous, he was my wonderful new boyfriend and offered to take them to see him.’ She rubbed her tired face with a slim hand and a loud sigh made Mimi jump.

  ‘You should have seen their faces when he wasn’t there. We waited two hours. I never knew humiliation could feel like that. I think it was also the confusion that made it worse.’ Beth narrowed her gaze at the wall. ‘I know the world is full of fools, but surely none greater than I in that moment. They asked for a phone number, an address, a friend, any kind of concrete reference for his identity. It felt like their scorn was peeling my skin off.’