The Legacy

wasn’t scared. Not for herself or for her children. Because she’d faced her nightmares, faced her worst fears, and she was still standing – they all were. ‘If you’re going to take us to see Richard Pincent, can we move a bit more quickly?’ she said sharply to the guard. ‘There are a few things I’d like to say to him.’
    The guard opened his mouth to respond, then appeared to change his mind. Instead he upped his pace and Anna lifted Ben up and, carrying him and Molly in her arms, strode after him.
    Peter willed Jude to hurry. Without the ring, he had nothing to offer for Anna’s freedom, her life. He could play for time, but it would run out eventually.
    His grandfather was pacing up and down, sweat dripping from his forehead.
    ‘Why do you need the ring anyway?’ Peter asked. ‘What do you want with it?’
    ‘What do I want with it?’ His grandfather rounded on him angrily. ‘I want what should have been mine years ago.’ He stumbled slightly, grabbed hold of his desk. Then he snatched up a glass of water and drank it in one, looking at Peter insolently as he did so. He picked up his phone. ‘Where is the girl? She should be here by now. And get me some more water.’
    He turned back to Peter, as though almost surprised to see him there. His eyes were glassy; they appeared confused. ‘Water,’ he gasped. ‘Water. Give me water.’
    Peter watched him wide-eyed, then darted forward and wrestled him to the floor. This was his chance, he realised. Grabbing a computer lead, he managed to wrap it round his grandfather’s hands. It wasn’t much but it was enough. He would get out of this room, he would find Anna, they would escape. He didn’t care about anything else.
    His grandfather’s eyes were bulging in anger as he wrestled with the lead, still calling for water.
    Peter wasn’t listening. He jumped up and ran to the door. He would surprise the guard bringing Anna and the children. He would overpower him, he would . . .
    But as he got to the door it opened, knocking him sideways, and into the room walked a woman dressed in pale blue, her face covered in heavy make-up, her eyes dead, a large jug of water in her hands. Hillary Wright looked from Richard to Peter, then turned back to the corridor and called a guard to restrain Peter before putting the jug down on the desk. ‘Your secretary gave me this,’ she said to Richard as he struggled up off the floor. ‘Perhaps you can explain to me what’s going on here.’
    Jude looked back at the images. There was one more person he needed to find, one more cross to mark in his mental matrix of the building. Frantically he sped through the images for the first floor, the second, the third. He couldn’t see into Richard Pincent’s office using this hub and could only guess that Peter was there waiting for him, wondering . . . He would have no idea that Anna was close by, Jude realised. But no matter. He had to stay focused.
    At last he found what he was looking for – a simple room containing a single bed with no mattress. A fraillooking man was sitting on it, his face calm, his limbs still. Only his eyes were animated, their intense blue making Jude forget himself for a second. Pip looked old. Had they taken his Longevity away? Of course they had. His hair was white now, his skin thin and pale, but his jaw was still determined. This was not a man who had given up. Was it?
    Something moved in the corner of the screen and Jude jumped as the door opened and his old adversary walked in. Derek Samuels. The man who would have had him killed given the chance. Jude felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. Would he beat Pip? Would Jude be forced to watch the leader of the Underground being subjected to torture? To interrogation? Would he be able to save Pip before . . .
    But as he watched, he felt his head clouding with confusion. Because as Derek approached Pip, his hands moved towards him not in a threatening way but in what Jude knew was a gesture of friendship. It was small – a hand on the arm – but unmistakable. Pip stood up, spoke, his face animated then serious. He nodded and Derek smiled.
    Jude shuddered. The smile. He remembered it too well. The smile of an evil man. The smile of the devil.
    He closed his eyes. He needed to think and the images in front of him were blurring his thoughts. This must be part of the plan, but how? Jude thought quickly.
    Pip had brought him here. Pip, with his messages sent to Richard