After promising Watton he would return later, Paul joined Rosie in her car to find her looking sombre.
‘You’ve just missed a phone call,’ she said, handing him the plugged-in iPhone. ‘This second. I said hello and they hung up on me.’
He checked his call log – an unfamiliar number, dialled from within the US. He hesitated. Could it be Harley?
‘Did they hang up as soon as they heard your voice?’
‘Uh-huh.’
If it was Harley, trying to trace him, he would surely have tried to keep Rosie on the phone, probably asked some questions about where she was. So who would hang up upon hearing a female voice on the end of his phone?
Shit.
He pressed the number on the screen to return the call. It rang a few times, then the voice he knew better than any other said, ‘Hello?’
‘Kate?’
There was a long pause, during which he wondered if he had misrecognised her. Then she said, ‘Who was that woman?’
He ignored the question. ‘Oh, Kate, it’s so good to hear your voice. I’ve been trying to get hold of you.’
There were waves of annoyance coming through the phone. ‘Who was that who answered your phone?’
He glanced up at Rosie, who was looking in the other direction, making a show of not listening.
‘Someone who’s trying to help me,’ he said.
‘Help you with what, exactly? And where are you? Harley says you’ve done a runner. Nobody knows where you are or who you’re with. What the hell are you playing at?’
‘I’m trying to find Charles Mangold.’
‘What?’
‘It’s my only chance to hunt him down, I’ve got to … Hang on, is Harley there now?’
‘Yes, he’s waiting outside.’
‘You mustn’t tell him what I’ve just said.’
‘What do you mean? You’ve hardly told me anything.’
‘I don’t want him to know I’m looking for Mangold. He’ll only try to stop me.’
‘Or maybe he’ll want to help.’
‘No, Kate, I don’t trust him. He’ll haul me back to San Francisco and lock me in a hotel room until the virus reaches my door.’ He took a few steps away from Rosie. ‘Listen, I’m starting to make progress – I’ve met a guy who used to work for Mangold, name of Jon Watton … But I don’t want to say any more until you promise me you won’t tell Harley anything.’
He heard her sigh. ‘OK, OK … I promise.’
‘Thank you. Listen. I’m in a place called Sagebrush in Ventura County, west of LA. Mangold used to run a company here called Medi-Lab. It got shut down in the early nineties after a big health scandal – a couple of people died in an outbreak of some unnamed virus they were working on. A virus that sounds very like Watoto.’
Kate was quiet for a moment. ‘That doesn’t mean he’s behind this outbreak too.’
‘I know. But think about it – we know he was paying Gaunt and his cronies to create deadly superviruses. And now it seems he was working on Watoto back in 1991. That’s some coincidence. Even if he’s not behind this outbreak, the fact he was funding Gaunt makes him responsible for what happened to Stephen. I have to find him, Kate. It kills me to think that anyone who had a hand in my brother’s death is still walking free. I would have thought you’d feel the same.’
‘Of course I do. You know I do. But you need to be careful. I’d rather you were home in England. I’ve already arranged to send Jack back. I don’t like the thought of anyone I love being in America while this virus is spreading.’
‘I’m not leaving without you, Kate. And not until I’ve found Mangold. How is the research going?’
‘Not brilliantly.’
They were both quiet for a second until Paul said, ‘And how are you?’
‘I’m worried, Paul. Worried to death. This strain of Watoto – it’s so much worse than the one I had.’
‘But if anyone can find a vaccine, you can.’
‘Maybe. But what if no one can?’
‘That doesn’t sound like you, Kate … Kate?’
‘Sorry … I thought I could hear a strange noise – like there was someone else on the line.’
Paul said, ‘Hello? Hello?’ There was a distinctive click.
‘Someone was listening to us. But I didn’t think there was another phone here.’
Paul snorted. ‘You’re in a government facility surrounded by FBI agents. It’s hardly a shock. Probably Harley himself. Shit.’
‘No,’ she said in a whisper. ‘Harley is right outside the door. I can hear him talking to one of the other agents. Hang on – he’s coming in – I have to go, OK? I love you. Please take care. I’ll call you again as soon as I can.’
‘OK, but what—’
She had hung up.
Fucking Harley. Paul thumped the top of Rosie’s car.
‘Hey, steady,’ she said.
‘Sorry.’
‘Everything OK?’
He shook his head and pulled open the car door. Not brilliantly, Kate had said. He knew that meant they were getting nowhere. He watched a young family pass by on the other side of the street: a healthy young couple with three kids and a dog. The boys were playing with the dog, laughing uproariously as it bounded along; the dad stroked his daughter’s hair and held his wife’s hand. They had probably seen the news, knew about the virus that was cutting a swathe through the population of Los Angeles. Did they have any idea how far and fast viruses like this could spread? That if a hidden team of scientists didn’t start to make progress, fast, the life of this family, and millions like them, would be devastated. Wiped out.
Paul clenched his fists. ‘Hey,’ he called out. The dad turned around, polite caution on his face. ‘You should keep your kids indoors,’ Paul said brusquely, crossing the street to talk to them. The little girl looked up at him, startled. ‘The virus is only fifty miles away. It won’t take long to get here.’
The husband and wife exchanged glances, then the man shrugged. ‘It’ll be a storm in a teacup, I’ll bet,’ he said. ‘Like swine flu and avian flu – all over-hyped to sell newspapers and give anchormen something to talk about.’
‘It’s not,’ said Paul, urgently. ‘Trust me. It’s not.’
The parents stared at him as though he was a raving lunatic. ‘Well, thank you for your concern. Come along, kids, let’s go get ice cream.’ They rounded up their small charges and hurried away as fast as they could, as if Paul had threatened them with a pitchfork.
Paul slumped back against the window of a sports equipment store, watching them go, and wondering if they’d still be alive in three weeks’ time. Whether he would be. He liked this world. He didn’t want it to end.