An elderly official turns to me. “We now require your choice for
Navigator. If you need any ideas, Winston Churchill, Hermione Granger, Spock, and Storm are currently trending,” he says. “And Captain Nemo and the twenty-fifth Doctor seem to be making yet another comeback.”
Theo’s grin is wide, and he bounces from foot to foot. He lowers his voice. “I can merge Navigation duties with Housekeeping—kind of like a super-Housekeeper, if you want, Leyla?”
No way! My very own Housekeeper? Wow. I’ve only ever had the standard Jeeves.
I smile at them both. “I’d like you guys to choose my Navigator for me, please.”
They brighten and huddle away from me, whispering. Reaching a swift conclusion, they write the name down for the officials and refuse to tell me.
“We want it to be a surprise,” Theo insists.
I fidget, beaming.
“I shall begin updating the navigation system at once,” a technician assures me, and sets to work in the background.
A bearded official waves his hand. “Miss McQueen, before the vessel deeds may be issued, we need a name for the vehicle. The previous one was deleted per the donor’s request. Again, should you find yourself at a loss for ideas, we can recommend several: the Victoriana, Waterloo, Nautilus—”
“I know what I want to call it.” I scribble the name down and hand it to the man, who glances at the paper and narrows his eyes.
“Are you certain? I mean, this isn’t even—”
“Yes, no doubt about it.” I return the twins’ inquisitive looks with a mysterious smile.
Finally we’re done with all legalities and necessities, including the official photographs of the handover. We make our way out of the vessel.
“It’s bloody brilliant,” Theo says, nudging me and smiling. His face grows serious. “And don’t worry about your place or anything you lost, Leyla; we’ll soon have you sorted, all right? We need to make sure you’re really safe—both inside and out there. It’s madness.”
I look at the twins, and then glance at the camera whizzing around us once more, waiting until it’s at a safe distance. I need to be extra careful. Theo and Tabby both raise their eyebrows and lean in.
“It doesn’t matter,” I say, “about the state of the flat or anything else, really. Because as soon as the vessel’s ready, I’m leaving London to search for Papa.”
“They were definitely looking for something specific in your files, too,” Theo says quietly. His brow is furrowed as he swiftly checks and then swipes away file after file on my far wall.
Tabby and I fix our stares on him.
“They searched everywhere,” he continues. “Your personal docs, public records, contacts, even your finances. They’re after something. And now we know more about your dad, it must be connected to his situation. Erm, and that’s not the worst part. The security override? It came from a governmental source. In Westminster.”
The government. My hands and legs tremble, and my insides turn cold.
Tabby shakes her head. “What the actual hell is going on? And whatever it is, surely you don’t need to leave London because of it? I don’t get it, Leyla. I mean you’ve always dreaded the thought of trav—”
“Please, Tabs,” I say. “We’ve already gone through all this. I’m definitely leaving to search for Papa. I’m going to ask Grandpa for help. I think he knows even more than he’s finally let on and I’m going to ask him to set me on the right course. He kept saying ‘we.’ They know Papa’s not in London; they might know more. It’s a start at least.”
Theo looks wide-eyed at the destruction around the room. “You know I’ll back you on anything you decide, but traveling alone with Anthropoids out there . . .” His expression clouds over.
“I know.” I move closer. “I can’t bear to even think about them—or any of the actual traveling beyond London part, really. But I’ve no choice. Papa’s not just arrested, but missing. And the government is involved somehow. They’re lying to us. I have the submarine now, so I can go search for him myself.”
Tabby throws her hands up, her color pale. “Even if you do manage to find out where they’re keeping him—then what? Leyla, you think you can outmaneuver the Blackwatch?”
“No. But I’ll finally know where he is and hopefully why, too. And then I’ll take it from there. Beats waiting around here.” I point to the chaotic lounge. “I’m not exactly safe here anymore, am I? I can’t search for Papa if I disappear, too.”
“But this Ari guy you mentioned, he’s looking out for you now,” Tabby says.
I shrug. “Didn’t stop the flat from being ransacked, though, did it?”
“No.” Tabby sighs. “Imagine if you or Jojo had been at home. You could’ve been hurt. . . .”
I sit on the cushionless sofa and hold my head in my hands. I wish I knew everything being kept from me.
Theo shakes his head. “And now they’ve tried to access your private info. . . . I can kind of understand why your grandpa kept things from you for as long as possible. This is seriously messed-up stuff. Look, I’m going to send you a program soon as I get home. Activate it the second you get it, Leyla. Once it’s uploaded, with only a one-word command, your messages, files, everything can be deleted. I mean really gone. Trust me.”
“Wow, thank you.”
He waves it off. “It’s nothing, last year’s project. This year’s is bigger and better, only I’ve not had the chance to test—” He breaks off when the far wall flashes. “Just a tracer I was running,” he explains, moving closer to the communications wall and checking the stream of data.
I get up and walk over to the window, stepping around one of the large piles of wrecked belongings. Tabby joins me.
Wireless Man blares out around the flat, congratulating somebody in Surrey on killing a basking shark that had dared to drift into urban waters, scaring the residents.
“Sleep!” Tabby shouts at him, sounding more like she’s hissing.
It goes quiet as we both stare out at the water.
She shakes her head. “Surely you don’t have to leave, Leyla? We could try—”
“You have to leave, Leyla,” comes Theo’s voice from across the room. It’s subdued and tight. “You need to leave as soon as you possibly can.”
A cold nausea sweeps through me. Tabby and I exchange similar looks of dread before joining him. I follow his gaze to the coded text glimmering on my wall.
“What is it, Theo? What does it mean?”
He turns to me, swallowing before he speaks. “It means the Blackwatch themselves have you in their sights. You’ve been marked as a security threat.” He shakes his head. “There’s nothing left for them to do after that, Leyla—except to take you in.” Theo covers his mouth and turns back to the wall, deep in thought.
Tabby’s shoulders rise and fall. “Hell, no . . .”
The quivering in my legs is instant. I stagger back a few steps and Tabby grabs me.
“I knew it was bad,” I whisper breathlessly. “But I just didn’t realize how bad.”