Present day
Michael’s security detail is good, but Neva picks up on them on her second night in London. They have a routine of moving SUVs around, one of which takes Michael and two more are decoys, with a fourth one following Michael’s vehicle. This is the giveaway. Even so, Neva is pleased to see so much effort being put into Michael’s protection.
Since they’d parted, she had wondered if Ray would insist on putting him into witness protection. It’s more than likely that they tried. But she’s not surprised that Michael refused to go to ground, even though he’s still in danger. He wouldn’t want that. After all, he revels in his work.
She follows the fourth SUV now at a distance and on a motorbike she’s procured to make it easier to go unnoticed.
The SUV heads from Central London and out towards Wembley. Neva stays back as far as she can until the car joins the North Circular. Then she speeds up and keeps the car in her sight.
They end up in Richmond. A small house on a little street not far from the park. All of which is familiar to Neva as she spent many months in the past hiding out in and around areas of London.
She speeds past the SUV as they park up, then she takes a turning at the end of the road and drives away. She dumps the bike a few streets away and then returns to continue her surveillance on foot. When she reaches the house, the SUVs have gone and another car sits conspicuously outside. Michael is nowhere to be seen, but she assumes he’s inside, tucked away, safe for another night.
Neva uses this opportunity to examine the other houses on the street, looking for either an empty property or one whose occupants have gone away but her luck isn’t in on either count. She turns her attention to the street behind this one instead, and the house that backs onto the one that Michael is in. She counts the number of houses that lead to Michael’s, then she goes to the next street and does the same. After that, and unobserved, she focuses her attention on this house. It’s a clone of the one Michael is in but, as Neva knows, the exterior won’t reflect the interior of the other house, as Michael’s one is likely to have security cameras everywhere and a panic room.
This house however is currently empty as, judging by the lack of lights on inside, no one is home yet. Making sure she isn’t observed, she slips into the small front garden and goes around the back, wending her way into the yard. As she’d hoped, it backs up onto the house Michael is in.
From the safety of the trees and bushes that divide the two gardens, along with a four-foot fence, Neva examines the safe house’s back garden and takes note of the motion sensor security lights at the back. She can see two cameras, moving as they pan the whole plot.
The lights come on as another security guard walks around the garden. He’s smoking a cigarette and Neva thinks this is more of an opportunity to take a break than a necessary breach check. But the light gives her the opportunity to see the back door and windows. It also confirms how difficult it will be to get to Michael here.
Neva hears a car pulling into the drive at the front of the house she’s in. She ducks back around the side, watching from the darkness as a man in his early 20s gets out and goes inside the house. Once he’s gone in, she hurries down the small drive and back onto the street unobserved.
Even though she’d easily found the safe house, Neva understands that the only way she can get to Michael is if she encourages him to ditch his security to meet her.
She turns on her phone and dials the last number she has for him, which was the burner phone that Ray had given him in the safe house that they’d shared together.
She pauses before pressing the call button. Will Michael still be angry with her? Or has he calmed down enough to hear her side? Neva mulls over again how she feels about Michael’s acceptance that she lied to him. In his shoes would she have thought the same about her? His lack of belief in her is a betrayal because trust was crucial between them. Neva has struggled with it ever since she divorced herself from the Network. But Michael had been some form of stability from the moment they met. If he agrees to meet her, she knows she can trust him. But will he trust her again? And if he doesn’t, how will she feel? Angry? Hurt? Disappointed? Neva will feel all of these emotions: they are a waterfall inside her now, hard to stop from flowing in and around her. Even harder to process. She’s afraid: another rejection from Michael will bring the delicate balance of her equilibrium crashing down once more. She doesn’t know how much more of her can break down before there’s nothing left.
Neva sighs. Remembering the connection they’d once shared, she makes the decision to risk his rebuff and calls the number. It is the bravest thing she’s ever done. Her heart leaps with adrenaline as the phone rings out then goes onto a messaging service. She’s both relieved and disappointed as she listens to Michael’s voice telling her to leave a message.