We got back in the car. Ellen turned to me.
‘What did you make of that?’
‘I think the guy wanted a trapdoor in the goddamn floor to get rid of us,’ I said darkly. ‘But the problem is, even if there is a trapdoor in GhostWallet, his anxiety may have nothing to do with these nationalists. He may simply be thinking: if something’s happened to Lawrence, I could be next.’
‘But he could be mixed up in it,’ Ellen replied adamantly. ‘That could’ve been guilt we saw in there.’
I grunted. ‘Equally, there may be no trapdoor, he may be completely innocent – and we’ve just managed to spook him.’
A contemplative silence.
‘Well, we have two choices,’ I said at last. ‘One: we march back in, and use tougher measures to get answers. This, of course, may be fruitless, as he may have none. What’s more, if the nationalists are using him, and find out we’ve given him the squeeze, it could tip them off we’re on their case.’
‘The other option?’
‘The other option’s to cut out the middleman.’
Ellen raised an eyebrow.
‘It’s quite simple. If there’s a trapdoor in GhostWallet, then it stands to reason that, given the opportunity, they’d use it to track you down again. So, if we were to go to some hidden destination, use GhostWallet, and have the nationalists show up – well, not only would it resolve the trapdoor question, but it’d also give us a chance to ambush them, and get some answers straight from the horse’s mouth.’
Ellen stared at the glove-compartment.
‘What do you mean by “us”?’
I set my jaw. While I could pretend as though I was still just taking things one step at a time, and could extricate myself with impunity at any point, I knew this was a delusion. And yet, I still couldn’t bring myself to walk away. And I knew why – I’d allowed myself to start caring about Ellen.
But it was more than that: I wanted retribution for the horrors I’d seen. Wanted to prevent more of the same. Wanted a piece of the action.
‘I mean us,’ I replied resolutely.
She gave a small nod. ‘Let’s turn the tables on these motherfuckers.’
I strummed my fingers on the steering wheel. ‘Now, what we need is a location that’s isolated enough that they’d definitely come for us, but not so isolated that it’s clearly a trap.’
‘How about a holiday home?’
‘Perfect. Let’s head to, say, Joshua Tree. Then let’s break into a house – that way, there’ll be no possibility they could infer our location through other means – and use their residential internet connection.’
‘Then what? Capture the lot of them?’
‘Depends how many show up. But if there’s more than two, I think there’s only so many prisoners we can take.’
Ellen shot me a solemn look. She understood what I was driving at.
‘While ideally we’d want to put these guys to the sword as soon as possible, I think we should hold off a few hours, and fly in Vannevar Yeung. Yes, another attack may be imminent, but a third man will massively increase our chances of actually pulling this off.’
‘Fine,’ said Ellen. ‘If you trust this guy, I do too.’
I reached over, and rummaged through the glove compartment – where I’d left the cell. But when I pulled it out and examined the screen, I found something unexpected: Vann’d tried to call thirty minutes ago, just after we’d left the car.
I showed Ellen.
‘No text message or voicemail?’ Ellen inquired.
I shook my head: ‘He wouldn’t have wanted to leave a trail.’
I dialed Vann back. But then, once more, I met the unexpected: voicemail.
‘That’s not good,’ I said.
‘What?’
‘Can’t get through. It may mean his phone’s out of battery, or dead – or countless other innocent things. But there’s also a chance it’s something more sinister. There’s a chance that, because of his links with me, the authorities have been surreptitiously watching him in the hope I’ll make contact – and perhaps he was calling to warn me we’ve been caught out.
‘Worst case, it could even mean his phone – and therefore my number – have fallen into the wrong hands.’
‘So what do we do?’
‘Best to play it safe. Let’s remove the battery, so the phone can’t give our location away. In two hours, I’ll replace the battery, and try him again.’
‘Does that mean we put the plan on ice?’
‘No,’ I said decisively. ‘If, in two hours, Vann picks up, we can delay. But for now, we have to work on the basis that Vann’s out of the equation, and push on alone.’
‘Fine by me. And I think fine by Arjun, too.’ Ellen gestured towards a window of The Hive. Arjun was peering into the darkness.
I fired up the engine and headlights – which caused Arjun to move skittishly out of sight – and powered back onto the main road.
Then I thumbed on the radio. It was the news:
‘…has been confirmed that there has, indeed, been another double murder – this time, in Springville, California. We’ll have more details as they emerge…’