Dad smiled. ‘It was your mum’s idea.’
I turned to Mum, surprised.
‘You’ve already lost one sister,’ Mum said. ‘I don’t want to keep you from another.’ She looked quickly away, but for a tiny fraction of a second I saw the vulnerability in her eyes.
I swallowed. Mum and I would probably never be close, but she did care about me. I could see that now. Under all her stupid rules and criticisms and advice about how I should behave, she cared.
‘You said there were three things, Ro?’ Dad said gently.
But at that moment the nice policewoman knocked on the door and called us into a meeting in a private room next door.
Theo and his mum, who’d flown to Scotland after he’d called her last week, were already in there. So was Liza Mitchell and the US agent who’d organised Theo’s relocation last year, Drew Scott.
Scott was a portly middle-aged man with an ill-fitting jacket and slightly droopy eyes. Next to him, Liza Mitchell seemed energetic and trim in her smart grey suit. She smiled at me as I walked in. Theo didn’t look up.
Scott spoke first.
‘We’ve already taken all the statements we need concerning Lazio’s death. We’ll want you again, later on, to testify . . .’ he glanced from me to Theo, ‘. . . but for now you’re free to go home.’
‘Don’t we need new homes?’ Theo’s mum sat upright in her chair. Her lips were drawn into a thin line. She looked furious, though I wasn’t sure who with.
Theo carried on staring at the floor.
‘No, there’s no need to move you to a new location,’ Scott went on. ‘With Elijah Lazio dead, the main threat against you is removed. The agent who sold details of Rachel’s whereabouts has confessed and been charged – so he’s no longer a danger. And all our intel confirms what Amanda Lennox told Rachel, that RAGE’s current agenda is to fight ongoing scientific work, not the results of that work.’
‘So we’re all safe now?’ Dad said.
Liza Mitchell smiled. ‘The risk assessment suggests you no longer qualify for our protection, though we still strongly advise caution about your genetic heritage.’
‘You mean the fact that Rachel and I are clones?’ Theo said, looking up at last.
He kept his gaze on Liza Mitchell as he spoke. He sounded as tight-lipped and surly as his mum.
My heart sank. Why was he so angry? This was all good news, wasn’t it? If there was no security reason to keep us apart and we could all go back to living in London, then Theo and I would be able to see each other whenever we wanted.
Why didn’t he look pleased?
‘We will still need you to be available to our research teams,’ Liza Mitchell went on. ‘But the check-ups will only take place every six months. That doesn’t need to affect where you live.’
Mum sat back in her chair, a smile curling round her lips. Dad reached out and squeezed her hand.
‘So we can go back to London?’ Dad said.
‘Absolutely,’ Mitchell said. ‘To be honest that suits us very well. We’ve been in touch with government scientists from both the UK and the US . . . we’ve emailed them some of Lazio’s notes on this Eos protein Rachel carries.’
I looked up in alarm.
‘There’s absolutely no risk to you, Rachel,’ Mitchell said reassuringly. ‘In fact it looks as if the Eos protein was a blind alley. As you saw, it offers some health improvements but only at the cost of terrible pain.’ She sighed. ‘Elijah Lazio was, undoubtedly, a genius. But there are other experts in this field and our preliminary findings suggest Lazio was wildly exaggerating the Eos protein’s value, not to mention underestimating its cost.’
I nodded, glancing round at the others. Mum and Dad looked relieved. Theo had gone back to staring at the floor so I couldn’t see his expression. Beside him, however, his mum still seemed furious about something.
Drew Scott cleared his throat. ‘The one thing we must insist on is that any discussion of what you saw and heard in Lazio’s lab remains confined to those sessions. For your own safety.’
‘What about the Apollo clone?’ I said. ‘What’s going to happen to him?’
There was an uncomfortable silence.
‘A doctor examined him. His body was in terminal shock from the pain he had endured. I understand he passed away an hour ago,’ Mitchell said gently. ‘A proper burial will follow after the post-mortem is complete . . .’
That was something, I supposed. At least he was no longer suffering. In my head I could still see the pain in that clone’s eyes.
I suspected the sight would prey on my mind forever.
‘So when can I take Theo home?’ his mum asked.
As she sat forward, her long, dangly earrings jangled like wind chimes. Theo sat, rigid, in his chair. He was still staring at the floor.
Surely this was where he was going to jump in and say that he wanted to see me? Which was the third – and most important – thing I wanted for myself.
But Theo said nothing.
What was going on? We’d had that whole conversation just a few days ago about wanting to see each other . . . about not letting our parents keep us apart.
Why didn’t he say something now?
I racked my brain and could only come up with one possible reason for the change: was the fact that I’d lied to him about liking Milo sinking in, making him question us being together?
If we’d been on our own I’d have tried to speak to him but here, in front of the two agents and all our parents, it was impossible, so I kept my gaze on his face, willing him to look at me . . . to give me some clue as to what he was feeling.
But Theo just stared straight ahead.
100
Theo
‘Another coupla days and you’ll be flying home.’ Drew Scott grinned that big stupid grin of his that I remembered from when he was setting us up in Philadelphia last year.
Man, he was annoying.
‘Good.’ Mum sat back with a satisfied smile.
I could feel Rachel’s eyes boring into me. I knew she was wondering why I hadn’t asked about us seeing each other.
The truth was, that after the conversation I’d just had with Mum, I wanted to hit something so badly that I didn’t trust myself to speak.
‘There won’t be any problem with us . . . er, me and Theo . . . travelling now, will there?’ Rachel said.
‘Well, we’ll want to know where you go and keep a track on your movements, but no . . . most destinations will be fine.’
‘So we can see each other?’ Rachel persisted. ‘I mean, visit on holiday?’
The atmosphere in the room grew tense.
‘I’m not sure that’s such a good idea,’ her mother began.
‘I agree,’ Mum added.
I gritted my teeth.
Rachel was looking at me again.
I took a deep breath.
‘I’m not going back to America,’ I said. ‘I’ll be sixteen in a month. I don’t want to be at High School. I want to be in a sixth form at home.’
‘But we have a life in Philadelphia,’ Mum said.
‘No,’ I said. ‘You have a life. I want to be in London.’
The UK agent, Mitchell, and Scott exchanged glances. Everyone else was looking at me, including Rachel, but I kept my eyes on Mum.
‘The money the government paid us when we went to the States last year will be enough to send me to college in London, won’t it?’ I went on. ‘Maybe even accommodation? And I can work, get a job . . .’ I turned to Rachel’s dad. ‘I know I took your money to find Rachel with and I promise I’ll pay you back.’
‘That doesn’t matter now, Theo,’ Mr Smith said.
His wife pursed her lips.
‘None of this is the point . . .’ Mum drew herself up.
I could see she was getting ready for a full continuation of the row we’d had earlier.
‘It’s not about the money or even the legal position,’ Mum went on. ‘I’m your mother and I want you with me.
You’re being very selfish.’
That was rich.
‘I’m being selfish?’ My voice rose.
‘Perhaps everyone could just calm down?’ Mitchell suggested.
‘I am calm,’ I said. ‘I’m just telling you what I want. I’m entitled to do that, aren’t I?’
‘Of course,’ Mitchell said, soothingly. ‘And there’s really no reason why we can’t fix you up with a school in London but—’
‘What about me, Theo?’ Mum said.
‘I’ll visit in the holidays,’ I said, looking down at the floor. ‘Or you can visit me. And I can do all the genetic check-up things then, as well. But I’m not going back to Philadelphia to live. I’m almost sixteen, Mum. You can’t make me.’
A tense hush descended on the room.
Mum’s lips tightened into an even thinner line.
‘Why, though, Theo?’ Drew Scott was frowning . . . concerned. ‘Is it school? Friends? Tell us why you don’t like Philadelphia.’
‘It’s not that I don’t like it,’ I said.
I could feel everyone looking at me. I kept my eyes on the floor.
‘Well, what then?’ Scott sounded bemused.
I took a deep breath.
This was it. My chest tightened. Suppose I’d misjudged her? Suppose she wasn’t interested any more?
‘I want to live in London so I can be closer to Rachel.’
As I spoke, I looked up and met her eyes at last.
And in that moment I knew that if I had to live the whole of the last year again with all its threats and terrors – from nearly being murdered to give Elijah a new heart, to saving Rachel from a living death – I would go there like a shot.
Because the look in her eyes was unmistakable.
‘Rachel, what do you think?’ her dad said faintly.
‘That’s what I want too.’ She beamed at me. ‘More than anything.’
‘For goodness’ sake,’ Mum muttered.
Across the room, Rachel’s mother whispered something that sounded suspiciously like, ‘He’s not exactly a good influence.’
I didn’t care.
Whatever happened, we weren’t going to let anyone keep us apart.
Not ever again.
Blood Ransom Page 27