Andy McNab: Avenger

Fergus let the words sink in before speaking again. 'Any questions?'

'Yeah,' said Elena. 'Tell me about this powder that makes the IED safe.'

Fergus smiled. 'Don't worry. You'll know all about it when the time's right.'

Elena took a deep breath as she gathered her thoughts and began to type. I READ ABOUT JAPAN AND AMERICA. THEY WERE AMAZING!!! THEY SHOWED THE WAY FOR US ALL!!!

She hesitated and her eyes flicked towards Danny and Dr Jacobson for reassurance. She was meant to write more but it was difficult.

'Go on,' urged Deveraux quickly. 'Tell him.'

Dr Jacobson glared at Deveraux, but wisely said nothing. The atmosphere in the operations room was already as tense as stretched wire.

Elena's fingers went back to the keyboard.

The reply was instantaneous.

Elena began to write swiftly, as though she was no longer thinking about each carefully placed word, as though her thoughts were just spilling out. Ignoring errors and spelling mistakes, she hammered the keys. TOTALLY!!! DAD RUNNING OUT AGAIN WAS THE END FOR ME, IVE HAD ENOUGH! I HATE HIM!! EVERYONE LETS ME DOWN, EVERYONE!!! IT WAS MY BIRTHDAY THE OTHER WEEK AND NORT EVEN MY BEST FRIEND REMEMBERED!!!

She kept pounding away at the keyboard, knowing that Danny was looking at her. YOURE THE ONLY PERSON WHO TALKS STRAIUGHJT TO ME. I WANT OUT, REALLY! COMPELETLY, TOTALLY, FOR GOOD!!! AND I WANNA MAKE THEM ALL SORRY FOR ALL THE SHIT THEYVE GIVEN ME FOR TOO LONG!! SHOW ME THE WAY, PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Elena sat back, her eyes wide as she waited for Black Star's response. The others were all staring at her. She'd gone off script; she'd gone further than she'd been instructed, but Deveraux was delighted. 'Good, Elena, very good. The birthday was brilliant, and telling him the way you feel about your father was excellent.'

'Just piss off,' hissed Elena, still staring at the screen.

Deveraux glanced towards Fergus, who was glaring at her accusingly. She held the stare for a moment but then returned to the computer screen.

Charles Pointer II had invited his faithful servant Herman Ramirez into the gloom of his huge mansion in The Hamptons to witness him reeling in the latest and most highly prized Angel.

'I have her,' he whispered without looking away from his computer screen. 'My first female Angel. Everything she's told me has checked out. The father in jail and then disappearing, the residential home, and now this dead-end hotel job. She's perfect, and her timing is perfect. Exactly when I need her – and I have no need to push. She's mine, and no one is watching over her.'

'Only you, sir,' said Herman as his master reverted to his Black Star persona. I'LL SHOW YOU THE WAY, GOLA. AND I'M SO PROUD OF YA!!! I'LL START MAKING ARRANGEMENTS. YOU'RE-GONNA WAKE A DIFFERENCE AND BE FAMOUS!!! YOU GOT A PASSPORT??? In the operations room at the hotel there was a sudden moment of confusion. No one had been expecting a question like this – the other Angels had killed themselves in their own countries. Elena looked anxiously at Fergus and then at Deveraux.

'Do you?' said Deveraux.

Elena shook her head.

'Say you do. Tell him you have a passport.'

'No!' said Fergus. 'Tell him the truth.' He looked at Deveraux. 'He can hack into secure sites. Lie to him now and he just might go and discover the truth for himself. Details – keep thinking details or we get caught out.'

Deveraux realized that Fergus was right. She nodded at Elena to continue.

NO WAY ARE U SAD, GOLA, NO WAY. BUT THE PASSPORT IS THE ONE THING YOU GOTTA ORGANIZE. AND QUICKLY. THAT'S ALL YOU HAVE 2 DO. WILL YOU 00 IT???

'Tell him you will,' said Fergus.

GREAT!!! LEAVE EVERYTHING ELSE 2 ME, EVERYTHING! I'LL HAVE SUMTHING FOR U VERY SOON. BYE FOR NOW!!!!!!

Black Star was gone and Elena quickly logged off.

Danny turned to Deveraux. 'What about me? I haven't got a passport.'

'We can arrange it. We can arrange everything.'

'But Elena must go through the proper channels,' said Fergus. 'Passport Office, countersignature – I think we'd better get Dave Brooker to do that; none of us can sign the form without possibly alerting Black Star. Everything has to be done properly.'

Deveraux nodded. 'You were right back there. It was quick thinking.' She made for the door but stopped short and glanced back at Fergus. 'Thank you,' she added, and then left without another word.

Danny raised his eyebrows and glanced at his grandfather. The first words of praise from Deveraux, however reluctantly spoken, had been a long time in coming.

But Fergus wasn't looking at Danny; he was deep in thought. They were going overseas in the hunt for Black Star, and that meant a change to his plans for keeping them safe. Fergus was accustomed to having to alter his tactics when an operation took an unexpected turn. This one had; he would turn it to his advantage – but he had to ensure that Danny and Elena were not spooked by the last-minute change.

He knew that Deveraux had gone to send her daily sit rep to Dudley and he waited until Dr Jacobson had left the room too before speaking to the two teenagers. 'Listen,' he said quietly, 'that powder I was telling you about. I'll have to wait until we get to wherever Black Star is taking us before I give it to you.'

'Why?' said Elena. 'What is it, anyway?'

'You don't need to worry about that. I'll get some more in the country we're going to, that's all.'

Danny was getting tired of the way his grandfather was keeping so much information from them. This was the old Fergus, the one he'd first known. 'One minute you're telling us we're a team, and then the next you won't tell us what's going on. We are worried – don't you see that?'

Fergus nodded. 'Yeah, course I do. But some things are best kept on a need-to-know basis. If you don't know about it, you can't speak about it.'

'So you don't trust us?'

'You two are the only ones I do trust. For now, all you need to know is that the powder I'm going to give to Elena neutralizes the acid in the mix. Which means no big bang. OK?'

Danny realized that he should have known there was always a sound operational reason for his grandfather's decisions. 'Yeah, sorry.'

'No problem.' Fergus smiled at Elena. 'And anyway, like I told you before, we'll get him long before Elena starts mixing up the brew.'

Elena didn't look convinced.

Returning to Foxcroft was going to be strange. Spring was moving towards summer, but it felt as though years had passed.

Elena was with Deveraux in the front of the gunmetal-grey Nissan Almera, and Danny was in the back. Deveraux had made it perfectly clear that Danny would be going nowhere near Foxcroft itself, because as far as Dave and Jane Brooker were concerned, he had long since left the area with his grandfather.

But with Fergus booked in for a physiotherapy session on his injured leg back in Oxford, Deveraux had decided that the journey to Camberwell in southeast London, and then on to the Passport Office, located in Eccleston Square, Victoria, would be a good opportunity for her to question the youngsters to see how they were progressing with their training.

A complete cover story had been invented by MI5 to get Elena away from Foxcroft on a temporary basis: Marcie Deveraux was her aunt, her late mother's sister. All the necessary paperwork and documentation had been provided to convince social services that it was quite natural for aunt and niece to spend some time together before deciding whether or not to make the arrangement permanent.