The pair were astonished to find Xavier on the sofa, the phone to his ear, chattering away in French. As soon as he saw them, he ended the call, put down the phone and looked up at his hosts.
‘That was Jean-Claude,’ he said.
‘How on earth did you get him on the phone?’
‘I didn’t. He called you and as I happened to be using your phone I spoke to him. I had let him know I was with you and he looked your number up on the orders database.’ Xavier shared this information as though it was the most pedestrian thing in the world.
Joe sat down heavily on the arm of the sofa.
‘I’m a bit confused. How exactly did you let him know you were here?’
‘With this,’ said Xavier, tapping behind his ear. ‘The Mark 16s have a built-in receiver/transmitter. It’s one of the many touches of sophistication in this model that mark us out as more than just a spare-part unit.’ He turned his head and lifted a lock of blonde hair to reveal a mesh covered circle, a couple of centimetres across, neatly tucked behind his ear.
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