goods.”
“What are these consignments?” said Sabre. He was currently on the underside of a table in a meeting room at the government’s offices on Whitehall.
“All but one were large deliveries of electronic spare parts. They were ordered from various different suppliers by Miranda Knowles – or rather, her duplicate – over the past three weeks.”
“So that particular android has been operating for nearly a month!” said Chopper.
“All the suppliers were told that the parts were for Ministry of Defence projects, and all were told to make their delivery to a remote government airfield in the north-west of England. It’s located close to a woodland area in Cumbria, and is designated 11-88.”
“These Ministry of Defence projects were fake?” said Chopper.
“Yes,” said Morph. “After arriving at airfield11-88, records of the deliveries vanish without trace.”
“The people controlling the androids must have picked them up,” said Sabre. “At least we now know why Miranda Knowles was targeted for replacement. She’s in charge of the Ministry’s budget and could order those spares without arousing suspicion.”
“She was probably the first person to be replaced,” said Chopper. “Perhaps the spare parts were used to build more androids?”
“It’s the final consignment that’s the most worrying one,” said Morph. “It’s an order for advanced weapons, due to be delivered later today. Three large crates filled with guns, grenades and explosives.”
“Another faked Ministry project?” said Chopper.
“No,” said Morph. “Weapons can’t be ordered or moved around like other things. It’s a security measure. This is a regular order, coded AE-X-4567-beta, which was supposed to go to an army base in Dorset for use in training exercises.”
“It’s been re-routed to 11-88?” said Chopper.
“Late last night,” said Morph, “by the only person who would have the correct authority, namely the Secretary of State for Defence, Sir Godfrey Kite.”
“Surely a genuine order would be missed?” said Chopper.
“Yes,” said Morph, “but not until it becomes clear that nobody in the Ministry’s system has actually received the weapons. By then, it will be too late. The World Leaders’ Security Conference has its first session tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. According to the SWARM database, leaders are expected to begin arriving in London tonight.”
“When is this re-routed delivery supposed to take place?”
“In four hours’ time,” said Morph. “11-88 is three hundred and ten miles away from us. What can we do?”
“Sirena,” transmitted Chopper, “hold your position at the Palace of Westminster and remain on full alert.”
“Logged,” said Sirena.
“Sabre and Morph, we’ll update Queen Bee and intercept that delivery. It’s our best lead yet.The weapons should take us directly to whoever made the androids.”
“So far, none of the android replacements here have been armed,” said Morph. “If they get hold of those weapons, they’ll have all they need to wipe out the conference.”
CHAPTER 6
“Switching to stealth mode.”
Hercules, Nero and Widow could all sense the extra power drain on their systems. They were now less than thirty metres away from the dark blue car carrying Drake and the three androids who’d freed him from the MI5 safe house. Traffic honked and shuffled below them. The micro-robots dropped down close to ground level, so that they could remain unnoticed by the drivers and passengers in the slow-moving cars.
They scuttled across the road’s surface until they were beneath the car. Then they hoppedup and gripped tightly on to its dirt-encrusted underside. Shortly after, the car suddenly turned left and began to accelerate.
“We’re on the exhaust system muffler here,” said Hercules. “I’ll get us inside.”
He flew up behind a tangle of pipes. The noise of the car’s engine reverberated off the road, and the rear wheels spun