The Hundred Year Wait (9 page)

Despite the
coldness of the reply she couldn't help but grin. It was a reply
with a question that invited a response and she knew she was right
about his implications. If anyone found either of the phones they
would assume she had herself a controlling elder boyfriend and
little more.

You do have my
gratitude. Thank you. And I enjoyed my first lesson. Will there be
more soon?

She sent another
question hoping to keep things going and get more information from
him. This time she did scurry to brush her teeth and get ready for
bed, excitement flooding through her.

When she came
back, ready to sleep, she had yet another reply and she couldn't
help but feel delighted that her tactic was working. She curled up
under the covers and read it.

There will be more when
I wish there to be. It's late and you should be sleeping.

She grinned at his
air of authority and thought about her reply. Being cheeky was her
first temptation but she wasn't sure how he would respond to that.
After biting her lip a moment she went with her initial thoughts
anyway.

I'm in bed, so I'm
almost there, but I'm not ready to sleep yet. And you're awake as
well. Do you need my help with anything?

After snuggling
down so she could lay her head on her pillow, she waited, staring
at the phone. Amelia knew it was a little obsessive of her to wait
for a reply like this but she couldn't help it. Now she had him
talking she didn't want him to stop. It took several minutes longer
for is response to come through and it made her sigh with
disappointment.

It's late and you
agreed to obey me. Don't make me tell you again. Go to sleep.
You'll get your next lesson when I'm ready to teach it to you and
not before.

She put the phone
on the bed side table, before picking it up again.

As you command, I shall
obey.

She hit send and
turned the light out with a grin on her face. A moment later the
phone chime made her sit up and grab it.

As you should.

Her finger hovered
over the reply button. He'd messaged her again when she'd expected
their conversation to be over and it puzzled her slightly. Either
he really was going all out on making it appear they were in a
relationship or he had enjoyed their conversation as well, but she
didn't know if it was wise to continue. He'd already warned her
once to go to sleep and not disobey him. If she replied again he
could see it as a deliberate act to break the rules and she knew
that might end badly.

With reluctance
she put the phone back on the bedside cabinet and placed her head
on the pillow. Hopefully the following day would give her another
opportunity to see Myron and might result in a further challenging
message to translate.

An hour later she
flicked the light back on. Tossing and turning in the dark was
making her frustrated. Too many thoughts, possibilities and
what-ifs ran through her head, and not just about Myron. There was
a group of terrorists trying to destroy some or all of London and
Myron and Sebastian were struggling to find out what their target
was to stop them.

Somehow she'd
managed to get tied up in all this. Normally she was a story writer
who left the adventures to her characters but now she found herself
on adventures of her own. One learning from a genius who, according
to his younger brother, ran the entire government, and the second,
helping them both keep her country safe. The adrenaline that buzzed
through her was enough to keep any normal person awake, long after
they would normally be sleeping.

All she could do
to try and quiet her mind was write for a little while. She hoped
Myron would understand she'd tried to sleep if he noticed her
tiredness the following day. She knew Sebastian would.

She worked on her
previous novel for a few hours, taking a look at where she could
change it if she needed to. Myron's assistant had emailed her some
guidelines to work with for the re-writes late on Friday but this
was the first time she'd looked over them.

By the time she'd
distracted herself she felt like she might be able to get some
sleep but her alarm was set for less than five hours later. When it
went off she felt like only seconds had passed.

She hurried to
make herself presentable and wolf down some breakfast before
gathering all her belongings up and getting a taxi to Sebastian's.
Just in case she wasn't needed much longer she checked out of the
hotel. There was almost always space if she arrived before it got
too late and she didn't want to pay for another night if she didn't
need it.

Mrs Wintern let
her in and smiled at her, patting her shoulder on the way past. The
elderly woman seemed to have a soft spot for Amelia and welcomed
her into the building with a warmer greeting than she probably
deserved. She wasn't there for Sebastian as Mrs Wintern wanted.

Both Myron and
Sebastian were in the living room when she walked in. They turned
to her.

“Have I missed
something?” she asked.

“Nothing in
particular yet.” Myron glanced over her and frowned. “You look very
tired, Miss Jones. You can't have slept much.”

“Not for lack of
trying. I spent plenty of time in bed, but my mind didn't want to
stop.” She hoped her explanation would satisfy him but couldn't be
sure it would. As she'd expected, he'd noticed her tiredness right
away.

“My network are
only now reporting in and so far nothing,” Sebastian said as he got
up from the armchair and passed her a cup of tea. She took it
grateful for the drink.

“Has anywhere been
ruled out at least?”

“A few places.” He
pointed at several areas of London on the map. “Nothing that gives
us much to go on.”

She sighed. With
both of them working on finding answers she'd have expected more
information by now.

It took them a few
minutes to pass on the few findings they already had and then the
three sat and tried to suggest what was the most likely target.

Thankfully, Mrs
Wintern came into the room with several pieces of paper, stopping
them from wasting more time.

“They said, these
were the last,” she explained before she handed them over and
hurried away again.

Sebastian read
through them before passing each one to Myron. All Amelia could do
was wait, but none of them came her way. She wondered if he was
punishing her for not getting enough sleep before putting the
thought out of her mind. She knew it was unlikely.

“This isn't that
helpful, brother of mine,” Myron said a few minutes later

“There do seem to
be several locations.” Sherlock shook his head in frustration.

“Which ones?”
Amelia asked, fed up of not being included.

“Silvertown,
Teddington Lock, Dartford and near the Thames in Greenwich.” Myron
threw the pieces of paper down on the coffee table and stood up.
“This is a waste of time.”

Amelia grabbed
each one and read the the information.

“No it's not,” she
said as her eyes fixed on the same details. “These are all the
locations of the Thames barriers. The main one is in Silvertown,
then there's...”

“We know where
they all are, thank you.” Myron rolled his eyes and pulled out his
phone. A second later his call was connected to someone. He
repeated the information to them and then listened for a few
seconds.

“Understood.” He
hung up and looked at his brother. “I've got teams going out to two
of the major barriers at Dartford and Greenwich. We should go to
the other two.”

“I'll head to
Teddington. You should go to the main barrier at Silvertown, you
know its construction better than I do and it's the most
important.” Sebastian grabbed his coat and put it on before Amelia
could move.

By the time she
was suitably attired he was already rushing down the stairs and
Myron wasn't far behind, leaving her to trail after.

She walked outside
in time to see the taxi Sebastian had hailed pull off, giving her
no choice but to hurry after Myron.

“I guess that
means I'm coming with you,” she said loud enough that his chauffeur
would hear. Within seconds Daniels was holding the door open for
her whether Myron wanted her company or not.

Mycroft almost
swore as Amelia got into the car with him. He knew his brother had
left her behind because she would slow him down and that just meant
Mycroft now had the same problem. While they travelled she had the
sense to keep quiet, however.

Just as they got
out at the other end he received a phone call from his
assistant.

“The first team
have found evidence of tampering at the King George Lock.”

“What kind of
tampering?” he asked as he waited by the car. He noticed Amelia
lingering nearby.

“Alone it wouldn't
cause any problems and the next inspection would have picked up on
it, but the gates wouldn't have held against an abnormal tide or
flood waters from upstream.”

“All right, it
looks like a multilevel attack. Do what you can to get it
repaired.”

He hung up and put
his phone back inside his jacket pocket.

“Stay here with
the car, Daniels.”

Mycroft surveyed
the area, trying to remember where he needed to go to check the
mechanism. He hadn't been here since they'd built it.

“We should be
careful,” he said and led her off towards the river. He heard her
footsteps on the ground behind him and wished she'd stayed behind
at the flat. “Do try to keep up.”

The pattering pace
increased and grew louder until she was beside him. They continued
to the Thames Barrier information centre but rather than going
inside he went off to the left and along a narrow walkway. The
bottom was made of a metal mesh in square grids and as soon as
Amelia stepped out her skirts were whipped around by the strong
winds. It took her by surprise and Mycroft had to reach out to grab
her arm and steady her.

“Careful.” He
sneered, growing even angrier at her.

“Sorry,” she
replied and took a step closer to shield herself from the wind
behind him. His fierceness instantly softened and he let her hang
onto his arm as they walked across to the nearest barrier house.
The recent rains had made the metal slippery and even he wondered
if he could keep his footing as they walked across. Thankfully he
kept upright and protected Amelia from any further mishap.

At the other end
he expected to find a locked door but he noticed the metal that
normally housed the lock mechanism was cut right out of the door.
He pointed at it so Amelia would notice and then put his fingers to
his lips so she wouldn't make a sound. She nodded and took a couple
of breaths to steady herself.

Given the time
that had passed since the attack was meant to happen he didn't
really expect anyone to be inside, but with Amelia at his side he
needed to take more care.

The door creaked
softly as he pushed it open, but the wind howled enough inside the
building that no one would have heard it. He stepped inside and
Amelia followed close behind. One of the barrier's weighted
mechanisms towered up in front of them. He glanced around the small
room but didn't see anyone lingering, so he took another few steps
forward.

The wind howled
around the structure so loudly he couldn't hear the sound of
Amelia's booted feet coming up behind him. Wanting to make sure she
still followed, he turned to her just in time to see an arm snake
around her waist and a gun appear by her head.

“Don't move,” a
male voice said in Korean. Mycroft gritted his teeth.

“What did they
say?” Amelia asked, barely above a whisper.

“Just stay calm,
and don't fight them, Amelia. They won't want to hurt you.” He put
both hands out palms upwards and glanced between Amelia and the
Korean behind her. Along the side of her neck he could see the
rapid drumbeat of her pulse and knew she was afraid, but she
allowed the Korean to pull her backwards out of the building.

“Come,” the
terrorist said. As Mycroft emerged in the light of day he saw
another two burly men behind. Neither had guns out, but he wouldn't
be surprised if they had them somewhere.

They walked Amelia
backwards along the whole length of walkway and then waited for him
to catch up. As soon as he reached them his arms were grabbed and a
gun nozzle was pressed into his back.

A few seconds
later both he and Amelia were marched off to one side and down a
path to a small jetty floating on the higher tide. A boat waited,
tied to the edge. Mycroft could only comply as Amelia, and then
himself, were handed over to the men aboard. He listened as they
talked to each other, catching a few words in Russian but nothing
more.

He frowned at the
idea of this being a joint operation and furrowed his brow as both
his and Amelia's hands were bound. They were then escorted below
decks and shoved into one of the cabins. Hope filled him as it
looked like they would be left alone, but one of the men came in as
well and locked the door from the inside. He sat down so he could
see them both and Mycroft knew they were going to be there until
they were identified. Whether Amelia fared the worse after or he
did would depend. The brute in the room with them didn't look to
want any sort of violence but that didn't mean the others
wouldn't.

Being much calmer
than Mycroft had expected of her, Amelia also sat down and gave him
a small smile. He nodded at her and went to sit beside. The Russian
lifted his hand and pointed at the other end of the bench to her.
He huffed his annoyance at the arrangement but did as the guy
asked, sitting as far from her as the wooden platform would
allow.