Two Mercs: Part Fifteen

Dave was sitting against the back of the sofa, a selection of papers spread in front of him. Emily paused after closing the flat's door and then crouched down next to him, glancing at the papers.
"What are you looking for?"
"Someone who will benefit from the panic we've just unleashed."
"But we've looked at the supply charts. There aren't any companies in the wings to take over Sentinel Aegis."
Dave frowned before nodding to himself.
"It has to be the Union then." He rose and moved over to the bed, reaching under it for a battered little suitcase. "We can't stay here."
Emily was confused for a moment, just watching Dave start packing what few possessions he had.
"Hold on a moment! What do you mean we can't stay here?"
"Agent Khem, a trained MI6 officer, also works for the Union. And you said the trawler that found his name was destroyed. What if they managed to trace it back to you?"
Emily moaned as the words sank in and began scooping up a handful of her gadgets from a table before stuffing them into a nearby bag.
"Where are we going then?"
"We'll go deeper, maybe even leave the city. If there is anything you want to do before we leave here do so now."
Emily wrapped the handles of the bag around her wrist before turning to walk from the flat. Her mind was on the bank siphon program she had given to Mitchell, planning to write one for her and Dave, but she paused when she realised that their Central Bank accounts would probably be a target if she had been traced.

Arriving at her van Emily put the bag of gadgets on the passenger seat, going to round to open the vehicle's side door. Most of the junk she was looking at would have to be thrown out if they were going to end up living out of the van and she began sorting through the pieces of equipment, stacking the things she'd get rid off outside the van. A small crowd had gathered as she'd worked, anticipating a free-for-all after she and Dave moved on, and Emily glanced at them, picking a woman she'd often helped out from the crowd.
"You'll make sure that all this gets to people who need them." The woman nodded and settled down with her back resting against the van, almost glaring out at the crowd. "Thank you Alexa."
"Of course Emily."
Several people disappeared from the crowd when Dave walked from the tower block, gazing impassively at them. Rounding the side of the van he grinned upon noticing Alexa, bending down to haul the woman to her feet.
"She roped you in did she?"
Alexa glanced at Emily as she pushed a crate full of circuit boards out of the van.
"Someone has to look after all this." Turning to look Dave full on Alexa carefully watched his face. "Why are you leaving?"
"It's best that you don't know."
Alexa frowned at Dave's words and took his right arm, guiding him round to the other side of the van.
"You're in trouble?"
"Maybe. It could be that our moving is just a needless precaution."
Alexa released Dave's arm, turning to go back to her spot by the open door.
"Look after Emily then."

---

They drove off during the afternoon, getting onto the Great Ringroad as the rush hour started. They were both nervous, their fears bouncing off each other and being amplified, but Dave was providing the stabilising voice. Emily took them south and then turned off away from London and into the surrounding countryside, heading towards the vast wooded area of the Hastings Forest. A score of villages hid within the forest and Dave glanced at Emily as the sun disappeared behind the canopy.
"Where are we going?"
"I have a friend in Sandhurst. I think I met her in a club while I was still a party-girl."
"And she won't give us up if Khem does come for us?"
Emily took her eye off the road for a second so that she could grin at Dave.
"The daughter of a big crime lord won't really want the security services poking around her family home. She'll be fine."
Dave gently grunted and turned to look at the trees as they flashed past. After a while, as they drove through the abandoned remains of a small town just inside Hastings Forest, Dave glanced at Emily, bored by the boarded-up buildings and rusting cars around them.
"Do you often visit your friend?"
"A few times each year. She sometimes gives me tech smuggled out of the Union." Dave grunted again, unimpressed by Emily's mentioning of the Union, and she glanced at him. "What's wrong with the Union?"
"They were behind the bombing of Westminster Palace and the collapse of the UK. We're at war with them, and have been since they destroyed Westminster."

The rest of the drive, through a protected national park, was quiet, both Dave and Emily wrapped up in their own thoughts. Emily shook her head as they approached Sandhurst, focusing on the roadsigns they passed, and bought the van to a halt when they came across a checkpoint blocking the road. Men in combat armour surrounded the vehicle, the squad leader banging on the driver-side door, and Emily rolled down her window.
"Care to say where you're going?"
Emily glanced at the squad leader before leaning out through the window and pointing off down the road.
"I have business with the family of Sir Basil Yardley. I'm not expected but they won't turn me away."
The men stepped away from the van after the squad leader had contacted the Yardley estate and the checkpoint barrier was raised. Emily left the window open as she started up the van, the squad leader waving her forward, and they soon left the checkpoint far behind, the walls that encircled the estate coming into view in the distance.