âLondon, huh,â says Rick, nodding gently after you relay what happened inside the travel agent to him. You catch a ghost of a smile playing across his features.
âYou knew,â you ask, half knowing the answer.
âI suspected, I had a few ideas about where she might have goneâ he replies. âYou confirmed it for me.â
âWell at least I did something,â you mutter unhappily.
âYou did ok squirt,â says Rick in a tone you guess is supposed to be encouraging. âYou had the presence of mind to make sure the blonde didnât see you before you raided her skull. And you hid her away somewhere she wouldnât think too much about when she came to,â he nods. âBut did you remember to lock her computer after you were finished?â
âFuck,â you swear. âShould I have?â
âYouâre gonna be invisible squirt,â explains Rick. âBut that doesnât mean people canât see you. Not where you are but where youâve been. The ripples you leave behind. Blondieâs gonna come out in a few minutes and wonder why her computer isnât locked. Someone like her, it isnât going to matter so much, but the kind of guys youâre gonna be dealing with? Some of them are clever and some of them are paranoid.â For a moment you wonder exactly how paranoid someone has to be before Rick considers them so. âThatâs a dangerous combination,â he adds.
âLike you,â you ask, the words slipping out before you have a chance to consider them.
Rick snorts. âWorse than me squirt, worse,â he explains. âNow, if I was going to grade you â which Iâm not, because youâre here to learn, not to get bullshit grades â youâd be barely scraping a pass. Until you can pull jobs like this off without leaving any trace at all, you ainât ready.â
âI see,â you say, staring at your feet crestfallen.
âCheer up squirt,â says Rick grimly. âIt ainât that bad: Youâre heading in the right direction. You just need more practice.â
âThanks,â you reply quietly. âActually, how did you know Kali would be going to London.â
âOxford actually,â explains Rick with a shrug. âLondonâs just the closest airport. Sheâs gonna see Margaret. Margaret Dillon, her old mentor.â
âThatâs a good thing right?â
âItâs the right thing to do, given the mess sheâs gotten herself into squirt, yeah,â explains Rick. âGiven all the different ways she might have reacted, this is probably for the best. Itâs nice to be pleasantly surprised rather than have my cynicism proven correct again.â Rick grins again for a brief moment. âI guess Iâd forgotten what a good little choirgirl Kali can be. Of course, she should have gotten help months ago,â adds Rick with a frown. âBut Margaret will forgive that lapse.â
The way Rick stresses the name suggests that there are others in the Stellae that would not. You think better of asking though. âWhat happens now,â you ask instead.
âWell,â says Rick drawing out the word. âI should go to England and check that Kali has gone to Margaret and not laid out some clever diversion for us. Like I said before squirt â You always check, and then check again just to make sure.â He looks into the distance. âI hate flying,â he says under his breath.
âCool,â you interrupt. âIâve never been to England.â
âYou ainât going now squirt,â replies Rick. âI canât stretch to paying your fare as well. Besides, this is just a formality, Iâll be back again in a few days. Miko will look after you till then.â
You try to hide your disappointment. Itâs unfair, you think. Youâve helped out so much and now youâve just been switched off and told to go home. You donât even want to think what the next few days are going to be like with just Miko for company.
âHere,â says Rick, fishing about inside his faded sports jacket. He pull out a set of car keys and tosses them to you. âThisâll help you get back to Kaliâs place,â he explains walking towards the travel agents. He only takes a few steps before turning back round to add something. âOh, and squirt,â he says, his face solemn. âTake good care of my baby.â
You suppress a snort. Rickâs car is a banged up heap that looks like itâs ready to break down at any minute. Or fall apart, one or the other. Still, you guess itâs important to him, so you nod gravely. âSure Rick.â He actually smiles at you before turning back round and heading inside to book his own flight.
The crowd on the concourse is a little easier to navigate now that you arenât following along in Rickâs wake. Of course, you still have to deal with the airportâs architecture and confusing approach to signage to make your way back out to the short stay car park where Rickâs car awaits. You stop for a few seconds to puzzle out a sign that seems to indicate your way out goes through the roof as a group of three flight attendants walk by, small travelling cases trundling along behind them.
They work for the airline that Kali flew out on, you realise. In fact, they might even be the going to fly out to London given the time of day. Itâs a little stray memory from the blonde in the travel agent that getâs jogged by seeing the uniform. You hadnât even realised you were still holding her thoughts close.
A crazy, crazy idea forms in your head. Rick said he couldnât afford to buy you a ticket. Youâre sure if he could have done, he would have let you come. Ok, youâre not sure about that at all, but itâs a good excuse. After all, Rick never explicitly told you to go back to Kaliâs apartment. What if you could stow away on the flight? Keeping your cloak wound round a jet full of passengers for the duration of a long haul flight would be impossible, but if you used the imago of someone who was supposed to be on the flightâŚ
You watch as the three flight attendants continue away from you. Two women, one man, their red uniforms immaculate. If you could just split one off from the group and steal their face, their clothes and their suitcase, then you could be on your way to London, assuming thatâs where they are bound for. Even if those three arenât it wouldnât be too hard to find the cabin crew for Rickâs flight and swap places with one of them.
An inner voice tells you that what youâre thinking of is a really bad idea. Not disobeying orders as such, but itâs certainly it certainly has the feel of something utterly stupid.
But then again, you always were stupid.
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