The Legacy

tourists snapping photographs, understanding nothing? Would Richard die here, in this large white tomb, to be discovered centuries later? He shook his head. Who would find him? Who would be left to find him?
    Sighing, he turned to his computer and pressed a but on, bringing it out of hibernation.Work had to go on. Memos must be answered, the veneer of normality maintained.
    As if on autopilot, he started to decline appointments, agree budgets, delete anything that didn’t interest him. Perhaps if he continued as normal things would be normal, he found himself thinking. But he knew this was a fal acy. Others might believe his lies, but he could no longer deny the gravity of the situation, could no longer avoid the terrible truth. He was the captain of the Titanic ; he alone knew about the iceberg, knew that the ship was sinking, that no one would survive.
    He felt sick. Felt like crying out. But as he wondered to himself if ever a man had felt more wretched than he, his at ention was drawn by an icon at the bot om right-hand corner of his screen tel ing him that he had a network message. Messages were rare – al were filtered by his secretary and her team, ensuring that only the essential got through. But this message was even more curious because it had bypassed the usual route – it had come direct to him instead of through the Pincent server. Only Derek Samuels had a direct line to Richard’s mailbox; only his messages arrived in this way. And yet this message was not from Derek. He looked at the time badge – the message had arrived just seconds before. Apprehensively, Richard opened it. And then his heart lurched.
    ‘If you want the circle of life, I can give it to you.’
    Richard stared at the message, blinked several times to make sure he wasn’t imagining it, then looked around the room fearful y. Was this a joke? Had someone imagining it, then looked around the room fearful y. Was this a joke? Had someone been watching him? No, impossible. There were cameras in his room now –introduced after the Underground broke into the building when Peter had worked here – but only he had the code to watch the images captured. So how did this person know? Who was it?
    He sat, unable to move for several minutes. Then tentatively he leant forward.
    ‘Who is this?’ he typed back, his heart thudding in his chest.
    ‘That doesn’t mat er. If you want the circle of life you can have it. But there’s something I want too.’
    Richard’s eyes widened, then he pul ed his chair towards his desk. It was a trick.
    It had to be a trap. But what kind of trap? And what if it wasn’t? What if this person real y had what he so desperately needed? If they had a lifeboat, if they had the ability to mend the ship, then he had to accept their offer. Didn’t he?
    ‘I want it,’ he typed slowly, tentatively. ‘What do you want?’
    ‘I’l come to that. You know you gave it away once. If you want it back, you’re going to have to do as I say.’
    Richard’s mind was racing. He’d given it away? Was it a riddle?
    ‘I gave it away? I don’t understand.’
    ‘No. I imagine you don’t. You had a ring, didn’t you? Peter’s ring?’
    Richard’s stomach lurched. Peter’s ring. His grandson – the grandson Richard thought was dead until he was discovered by the Catchers. The ring had been with him, had been taken into custody, had found its way to Richard because of its initials – AF. Albert Fern. It had been Albert’s ring. Given to Margaret, then to Peter. And Richard had never even thought to look at it properly. It was an ugly thing – he remembered Albert wearing it. Was it real y the circle of life? Why would Albert have wanted to protect it? Why was it so important?
    He closed his eyes and tried to picture it, turning it over in his mind. On the inside, Albert’s initials. On the top, an engraving – a poor one, as if Albert had done it himself. Of a flower. Some kind of flower.
    Richard opened a drawer and pul ed out Albert’s notes and scribblings. Frantical y, he turned over pages until he found it. A sketch only, but it was unmistakable – the flower. But what did it mean? He picked up his phone. ‘Derek,’ he said urgently.
    ‘Derek, I need you in here now.’
    A minute later, Derek was by his side, his eyes widening as he saw the messages. ‘How?’ he asked, his face paling as he realised it was his own security system that had been breached.
    ‘That doesn’t mat er now,’ Richard said