| |
I ran out the front door and kept on running. Cassandra’s house was two streets back from the beach, and I didn’t stop until my shoes crunched on the coarse sand.
Too late, I realised what this would look like to Lexi. My brother would never have stormed out like that. He was as tough as the sand beneath my feet. Nothing that Lexi had told me would have put him off the job. Would she think I was going soft? Would Cassandra tell her the truth about me?
It had started to drizzle, and a gusty onshore wind blew the salty scent of seaweed in from the Irish Sea. I cradled my head in my hands. Odell needed to know about this, that was my first thought. Cassandra had lied to him too. She’d gone rogue. She was so far out of line that she couldn’t even see the line. Odell and I needed to pull her back.
He’d be awake by now. I rang his number. The phone rang out. No answer.
Shit!
I had no-one to turn to. Cassandra had gone behind my back. She’d also hatched the most reprehensible scam I could imagine. Up until then, I believed I could handle her. Now I realised I couldn’t.
She’d trapped me. Cassandra, with Lexi’s help, had put me in an impossible position. She hadn’t told Lexi who I was, but she was threatening to. What would that mean for Janus Angelica? Or Odell? Cassandra and Lexi might take over the firm together and expose me as the imposter. She already told Odell that we needed to think bigger. Would she get rid of him too?
Lexi was a ruthless operator. When I contracted her to take care of Charles Ward, she’d sorted it without a second thought. She was cruel, dangerous, and reliable. And I’d put Olly in the firing line because I hadn’t kept my stupid mouth shut.
Olly!
What had I said to Lexi and Cassandra? Had I given away anything that would help them find him? My chest tightened at the thought.
The waves of the incoming tide crashed at my feet, spraying my trouser legs with white foam.
Cassandra had betrayed me by keeping the true nature of the Warbreck Tower job from me, and forming an alliance with Lexi. I needed an ally, but I’d lied to everyone I knew. How I wished I’d told Odell the truth about my identity sooner. He was the one person I did trust, yet he was the person I’d lied to the most. All the times we’d played squash and eaten dinner together, he thought he was talking to Peter Black, the man he owed a debt to.
How would he react when I told him the truth?
For eighteen months, I’d let him believe I was someone else. What right did I have to expect Odell to welcome the truth?
I kicked a plastic bottle that the tide had brought in. Whatever the impact, I needed to come clean with him. Even if it risked the only friendship I had, Odell needed to know what Cassandra and Lexi were planning.
I dialled his number again. It rang out. I texted him, telling him to call me straight away. Then I trudged up the beach back to my car.
The drive from Cassandra’s house back to my mansion in Formby is only twenty minutes. As I drove past the Armed Forces Altcar Training Camp just outside Formby, the Bluetooth in my car buzzed and I answered without looking at the caller ID.
“Odell?”
“No, it’s Olly.”
“Oh, right. Hi, Olly. I was expecting someone else. Where are you?”
“I’ve checked into a hotel and I’m laying low. I’ve not seen either of my tails yet. Hopefully they’ve no idea where I am.”
Shaking off the disappointment that the caller wasn’t my friend, and hopefully ally, Odell, I refocused on Olly’s predicament. I got him into this mess and my confrontation with Cassandra and Lexi did nothing to reassure me that I’d get him out of this jam alive.
“I’ve seen Lexi Baryshev, but it’s also got more complicated.” I took a deep breath. “How many beds are there in the Blackpool Hospital?”
“About eight hundred. That’s why it was so important that we got the water back on. Remember it’s the only hospital in the region. And it’s got some specialist wards, like the cardiology unit.”
I didn’t need reminding. The risk was etched in my mind’s eye – I saw nurses unable to do their jobs and doctors locked out of critical patient files. It was all because I’d let Cassandra do this job.
“Why are you asking about the hospital?”
“Don’t worry about it. Look, I’ll fix this,” I said, sounding more confident than I felt. “By the way, do you think the guys chasing you can track where you are? Did they follow you?”
Olly thought for a minute. “They couldn’t have followed me, I don’t think. Maybe through my phone number. Do they know that?”
“I’ve not told anyone, but they can probably find it. Shit! Lexi has a very wide network of contacts – she knows your name and where you work. Getting your number won’t be hard for her.”
Olly cursed at the other end of the line. “I should have thought of that! I’ll hang up and buy a burner phone. I’ll text you the number – ”
He hung up before he’d finished speaking. I stared out the windscreen, barely registering the road ahead.
I was responsible for Olly’s safety, having got him into this mess. If I hadn’t driven him to the water tower, I’d have known nothing about it, and he’d be oblivious to the issue. But, I consoled myself, if I hadn’t helped Olly, I’d have no chance to save the Blackpool Hospital.
That gave me the kick up the arse I needed.
I was Saint Peter – my version, not my brother’s. I had the resources to make a difference and I’d do it for Olly and the patients at the hospital.
Firstly, I needed details of Lexi and Cassandra’s plan. Maybe then I could undo the disaster I’d created.
Frankly, nothing could be worse than it was right now. I was complicit in the large-scale cyberattack on the very heart of a British institution. I’d unleased a vendetta-driven criminal on Olly, and Cassandra could betray me at any time.
Now was my time to fight back. I needed to know more about the hospital attack and find a way to stop it. But mostly, I need an ally. Someone to stand beside me, who wouldn’t betray me.
There was only one person I could call. And this time, I’d tell him the truth straight away, beg his forgiveness for lying to him, and ask for his help to stop Cassandra’s most despicable scam yet.
I called Odell’s number again.
It rang out.
I looked at my watch. Nearly 10 AM – Odell should be awake by now. Hell, he’d probably be in the office. I tried the main office line, but they’d not heard from him.
I was helpless and hopeless. I balled one hand up in my hair and squeezed so tight it hurt, then floored the accelerator and headed home.