Chapter 30
On the Road, England
Thursday Evening, November 2004
That evening Jason St. John drove his family back to London in the Range Rover. He was dressed in one of Lloyd’s old tweed jackets and wore a pair of his ill-fitting shoes. The Three Musketeers were intact. He took the secondary roads, picking the A41 to Whitchurch and Wolverhampton, skirting Birmingham, Coventry, and Bletchlery. They came into London from the west, through Aylesbury and Uxbridge.
They arrived at Stanford House around midnight and found the crowds surrounding the Ministry headquarters rather quiet. Lillian opened the gate to the underground garage with her remote, and Jason parked the Rover without being stopped by a guard. Lillian roused Alex from a fitful sleep in the back seat, and the three of them walked to the main elevator.
“Think we’ll get back to the flat without being seen?” Alex asked, looking at all the cameras.
“We’ve a fifty-fifty chance.” His family groaned at the cliché Jason had used ever since his return from the South Pacific.
They rode the elevator without incident and startled a dozing Thomas Parker. “I thought you were… and Mrs. St. John, you’re supposed to be in Chester.”
“They called. I just went down to help them with their things. I didn’t think I needed to wake you.” Jason gave Thomas a playful punch. “No one will know.”
Jason searched Lloyd’s jacket for his house key before Lillian realized he didn’t have one and pulled out her key to unlock the door.
“How long have you been out here, Tom?” Jason asked.
“Since four this afternoon. They’ve got me twelve on and twelve off.”
“So, you’ve pulled the night shift all week. I’m sorry about that,” Jason told the young man.
“All part of my job.”
Lillian and Alex entered the apartment and Jason pulled Thomas aside. “I like the way you handled things in the dining room last night. I appreciate someone who can grasp a situation and make a reasonable decision. I don’t think you saw me leave to help Lillian and Alex…”
A light started to dawn in Thomas, awakening him to what was going on. “Oh. I had to use the loo.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Jason said as he slipped into his apartment.