June

Published on 17 September 2024 at 16:51

'There’s nothing we can do until Alain or one of the others get in touch. Let’s have that coffee and then I suggest we get some sleep and worry about it tomorrow,’ said Joe.

The coffee drunk and cleared away, Emma and Delphine took themselves upstairs. When Kim went upstairs a little later, all was silent.

‘I think they must have gone to bed,’ she told Joe when she came down. ‘They looked absolutely panic-stricken earlier, poor things. Xavier, do you have any more information - from Euron, for example?’

He shook his head. ‘There’s been no communication link with anyone since we returned. I know no more than you do. We should be safe enough here, for the time being. If they had a tracker or something similar on one or all of us, somebody would be here by now.’

Joe nodded. ‘Makes sense. I’m off to bed. You coming Kim?’

‘In a minute,’ she said. She waited until she heard Joe’s footsteps on the stairs before turning back to Xavier.

‘You haven’t told us the whole truth have you?’

‘What do you mean?’ he hedged.

‘I can plainly see the girls are very ill at ease, far more so than you. Why would that be? What do you know that they don’t?’ Kim was not usually this direct, finding one could catch more flies with honey than vinegar, as her mother used to say, but she had learned that when talking to a sentient clone there was no advantage in ambiguity. She watched Xavier for any signs of an internal struggle before he spoke again. There were none. His impassive face was impossible to read.

‘I have not heard from Euron since we returned. I saw what you saw on the television bulletin, that there is a security group, who may or may not be the police, looking for three people who seem similar to us.’

‘Do you think that means Alain, Hugo and Brontë?’

He nodded. 

‘Where do you think they are?’

He shrugged. ‘I have no idea. I expected them to be here when we returned. I do not think trying to contact them would be a good idea, since it could either expose them, or us to risk from these people.’

’So - what? We wait?’

Xavier said nothing.

‘Joe and I think getting in touch with Jean-Claude would be helpful. He might know what’s going on. What do you think?’

Xavier did not reply and avoided her gaze.

‘Xavier?’

‘I’m not sure he will be able to help us. He was not in the complex for a few days and now I think he will be out of action, at least until June. He had a special project, he said.’

‘June? But it’s only mid-May now.’

Another shrug. ‘I think I will rest now - I’ll use the camp bed in the utility room, if that is permissible?’

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